The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic (29 page)

They appeared Levitating above the small rocky island, which was only a couple of hundred meters offshore from the nearest main island.

“Wow!  That’s so nice!” Valentia marveled, still concentrating on her memory of what she’d just experienced.

“I’d like to point out that Mark invented an important improvement to the Translocation spell that Alilia just did.” Talia said as they all cast their own Flight spells.  “After measuring distance and weight, we no longer consciously allocate power to the spell; we let the spell draw the correct amount of power, like this.” She showed them the technique psionicly.  “I think it was the first spell automation technique that Mark invented.”

“Ah, that
is
an improvement!” Alilia marveled.  “Of course, I’m so used to doing it the old way that I don’t even think about it most of the time anymore, so it’s not worth it for me to learn to do that.  But you children should let Mark and Talia be your Translocation guides from now on, and do it that way.  It’s definitely a safer method, and it makes the spell a lot easier too.”

“Wow!  I thought there was not much to disturb here!” Reggie marveled as their surroundings registered.

Though nothing lived on the island except six gnarled, stubborn trees in a clump on the north shore, since Alilia had seen it last it had been temporarily occupied by several million seabirds.  The birds had been fairly quiescent when they’d arrived, but had quickly been stirred up into a cacophony of cawing, honking, and screeching, and many of the birds were taking to the air to flee, investigate, or defend their territory from the intruders who had suddenly arrived above.

“It seems I was wrong!” Alilia laughed as they followed Mark, who flew toward the rocky shore of the main island a few hundred meters away.

They lit on a boulder as big as a castle overlooking a deep pool where the water was relatively calm.

“This would be a good spot to measure our strength with Movement.” Mark said as he looked around, his black hair ruffling in the salt breeze.  “We can lift some water.  It’s probably the safest thing we can lift, and we don’t have to worry about the effects of altering the landscape.”

“Good thinking.  I’ll go first.” Talia agreed as she enjoyed the harsh but beautiful vista, then turned her attention to the water below, and cast.  A huge glob of water rose wo meters out of the sea, then steadied to a hemisphere over fourteen meters wide as an eight centimeter stream rose to join it.  It slowly grew for seven seconds, then the stream stopped.

“That’s it.” she stated through gritted teeth, her expression fierce with concentration, then she dropped her load with a huge splash that would have soaked them all to the skin if Alilia hadn’t blocked it with a quick plane of Force.

The children laughed and clapped with glee at the strength of her lift and the spectacle and power of the splash.

“That’s with the elven magecraft spell of Movement.” she panted.  “I can do more with it now than I can with the wizardry version.”

“Well done, Love!” Mark congratulated, having taken the Measurement.  “You lifted four hundred and one tons of water!  That’s more than double what you could do the last time we did this at Focus Mountain.”

“Thanks, but I’m actually a bit disappointed in myself.” Talia responded.  “I’ve improved so much since then, I was sure I’d do double that at the very least.”

“Are you accounting for the weaker wizards’ rock here, and the weakness of the Source within the time-bubble?” Alilia asked.

“No, actually!” Talia said, brightening.

“As I thought.” Alilia nodded.  “With those factors taken into account, you’re actually six to eight times stronger than you were.

“I know I’ve also improved since we came here.  Working with you has broadened my thinking and my techniques, not to mention that it’s the first time I’ve had any considerable amount of time to dedicate to self-improvement in over three millennia.  I’ve never tested my strength by Movement, but I’ve tested it by heating water, and if my maths are right in the conversion, I would be able to lift about ninety-five thousand tons, allowing for the weaker power here.”

“Wow!  That’s a lot!” Helemia marveled.

“Alilia is likely the strongest living elf in her use of the power.” Talia proudly declared as she ruffled her daughter’s hair.

“Here goes.” Alilia said as she set herself and cast, making a forceful gesture to help focus her effort.  A gigantic hemisphere of water rose six meters out of the sea so suddenly that the water below rushed to fill in the hole and splashed forcefully up against the bottom of the water she was holding.  She held it steady just long enough for the water to settle below it, then carefully lowered it back down before she released it.

“Nice lift, Lover!” Mark told her.  “One hundred and twenty-three thousand tons, and a bit!”

“I
have
improved then, by about a quarter, and in only these few months of occasional work.” Alilia stated with a satisfied smile.  “Truly, you’re all so good for me!  I’m so lucky to have you!” she laughed and spontaneously gave Talia a hug, just because she was closest.

“You do that a lot like me, Mother.” Valentia told her.  “You don’t really cast a spell, you just do it, even though I can tell that yours is still the elven wizard’s Movement spell, just kind of… smoothed out.”

“That’s the intuitive way, my sweet.” Alilia nodded with a loving smile.

“Valentia, before you cast with all your power,” Mark requested, “I’d like to see if you can separate your two sources.  It might be handy sometime to be able to cast with just your elven magic, or with just your warlock’s power.”

“So you want me to lift the water with just my elven magic first?”

“Yes please.”

“Okay.” Valentia nodded as she turned to the water, then cast with a forceful gesture of both arms, as Alilia had done.

“Twenty-four and a half tons!  Good girl!” Talia told her as soon as her lift had steadied.

She dropped it, and they all got a little sprayed from the splash since no one had shielded against it.

“That’s really hard.” Valentia stated, sounding a bit perturbed.  “It was a lot harder to stop myself from using the other power than it was to do the lift.  I’ll try to do it with just the warlock power.”

She cast again, held it, and released it.  This time Alilia definitely felt the need to guard them from the huge splash.

“Sweet missing gods!” Talia breathed.  “Over thirty-seven thousand tons!  What an accomplishment for a one-year-old!”

“That was easier to ignore my wizard’s power that it was for my warlock’s power, but it was still way hard.” Valentia said, and took a deep breath, then let it out.  “Look how much easier it is when I use them both like I normally do.”

She cast again, raising a huge mass of water, her tiny face hard with determination.  “AH!” she yelled as she gestured again, adding another smaller mass to what she was holding, then jumped up and down yelling at the top of her lungs and pounding her fists on her thighs as she added more and more, then growled as she held it for three seconds.

“Almost two hundred and eleven thousand tons!  Let it down carefully child!” Mark marveled.

She did let it down carefully, but she was almost out of strength and released it a bit early, which still raised a huge splash.  Then she let herself slump to the ground, panting hard.

“That was incredible, Valentia!” Mark congratulated as he scooped her up and hugged her, and Alilia checked her with a spell to see if she had dangerously over-exerted herself, but she hadn’t.

“Hah!  I am the champion!” Valentia panted with a grin and two raised fists.

“That’s what it means to be a warlock.” Talia said with pride.  “And there are only four of you in the whole world, Mark and you three.  If the averages of heredity are followed, you would grow up to have half of Alilia’s wizard’s power, plus half of Mark’s warlock power, and the twins would have half of my power plus half of Mark’s.  But you may be able to combine the two in a way that’s greater than the sum of the two parts.”

“It’s all still impossible to say, at this point.” Alilia said.  “Mark is a new thing in the world, and you three children are an even newer development.  What capabilities you’ll develop will depend on your potential, which is still completely unknown, and it will depend on your development; how hard you work at it, what instruction you get, and so on.”

“And you’re claiming the prize a little early, little sister.” Helemia teased.  “Father hasn’t done his lift yet.”

“The way you cast that is amazing.” Mark told his daughter.  “Even more basic and intuitive than how Alilia does it.  You just do it, the technique seems as easy as waving your hand, and it’s very efficient.  Your will just gathers power, shapes it, releases it.  It really does remind me a lot of how the dragons would do it, since it’s so similar functionally, but really they have nothing in common.  I’ve never seen anyone use magic the way you do.”

“I have!” Talia laughed.  “You!  You cast a formal spell when you’re not in a hurry, but when you’re in a battle situation and the excitement and stress is intense, you cast a lot like she does.”

“Do your lift, Father!” Valentia urged.  “I want to see how much you can do!”

“Okay.” he chuckled as he set her down.

He gathered himself, and cast, targeting the water much further away than the others had.  The hemisphere of water he lifted was over a hundred and eighty meters wide.

“By the source!  Almost one and a half million tons!” Alilia exclaimed.

“Let it splash, Father!” Helemia urged, so Mark gritted his teeth and moved his load even farther away and higher, then dropped it.  It hit with a force they could feel through their feet on the rock, and it raised an incredible explosion of water that was too colossal to be called a splash.

The children cheered at the spectacle, and the adults couldn’t help but be impressed.

“And that’s what it means to be an adult warlock at the height of his power.” Talia stated with deep satisfaction.  “And your father is the only one.  Outside the time-bubble, he should be able to do three or four times as much, at least.  All of us should.”

“Hey, I’m not at the height of my power, I’m still a growing boy!” Mark laughed as he caught his breath.  “That’s partly why I’ve improved almost as much as Talia in the last two and a half years.”

“You’re not a boy, Father!” Reggie laughed.

“Seriously, I’m still growing!” Mark asserted with a grin.  “I’m up to two hundred and sixty centimeters tall now, and still going, if slowly.  All the clothes I got as wedding presents are getting tight on me.  I’m not even nineteen and a half yet, and according to Grandfather Mark, I’ll probably keep growing until I’m over twenty-one.  So I expect that my magic strength is still growing too.

“Same with Talia, she won’t be fully physically mature for another six years.  Of course a lot of our improvement is from work and learning and practice, but our raw ability is still growing too.”

“Whereas I’m just an old woman with a new start on life!” Alilia giggled as she flew up two meters and spun in the air in spontaneous joy.

“I want to try some explosions!” Valentia declared.  “And you’re still supposed to give me The Skills of Visinniria.”

“Here.” Helemia said as she and Reggie cast the spell on her.

“Oooh, nice!” Valentia smiled as she felt the spell taking effect, and executed a jumping, spinning double kick combination to try it out.  “This is so nice!” she repeated, delighted with her new abilities.

“We should fly out to sea a ways before we cast any serious destructive spells.” Mark said as he rose off the rock.

“I’d like to try to fly to the edge of the time-bubble.” Reggie announced as the family followed Mark.

“I think it would be a lot closer to fly straight up.” Mark told him.  “I’m pretty sure the roof of the time-bubble is a lot closer than the edge where it meets the water, even here near the coast.  I got the impression from Falgaroth that it would extend out to sea for many kilometers.  Just remember if you try to reach it, you should fly a dart or something far enough in front of you that you can stop when it hits the bubble.  Falgaroth said it would seem like an invisible, impenetrable barrier from inside it, so you don’t want to collide with it while flying at any speed.”

“Let’s see how big an explosion Valentia can cast, then I’ll fly up with you.” Helemia suggested.

“Let’s fly up to the bubble first.” Valentia countered.  “It’ll take a few minutes to get my strength back after my lift.”

“Sounds like fun to me!” Talia laughed as she took out a war dart.  She sent it flying straight up, and took off after it when it was twenty meters above her, with the rest of her family in hot pursuit.

They were almost a kilometer and a half in the air when the dart suddenly impacted the inside of the bubble and bounced off with its nose blunted.  She held it against the bubble as they slowed and approached, then they put their hands against it.

“It’s strange.  I never felt anything that was invisible before.” Valentia commented.

“It’s weird all right.” Helemia observed as she ran her hands back and forth on it.  “Perfectly smooth, with no temperature.  I mean, we’re not really touching anything.  It’s just Force, to keep anything from touching the real inside of the time-bubble.”

“From the angle of it, it must be over kilometers high over the middle of Hiliani.” Mark guessed.  “Assuming that it’s an even dome, like a flattened bubble, though that’s just a guess too.”

“This is really proof of it all.” Reggie quietly marveled.  “The time-bubble, The Just Alliance, how important you are, the gods and the demons and everything.  It’s still hard to believe.”

“I know how you feel, son.” Mark chuckled.  “It all still boggles my mind every time I think about it.  I never even saw any real magic until two years ago, not even once.  Then the destruction of Shinosa Valley, then six months on my own, then the incredible six weeks after I met Yazadril.  Then back to a mostly normal life here.  I tell you, those six weeks were so mind-boggling, I might’ve lost the ability to believe they ever really happened if I wasn’t surrounded by elves and dragons and unicorns all the time.”