Chapter 28: 26 : Folkvang and Ether

Sitting on a broken pillar protecting soft moss, with light seeping like a waterfall from a broken ceiling, and surrounded by trees displaying a memorial of the dying summer, was Tsuki who brushed her delicate hair as if having missed them.

She was in a mostly unknown location while in front of her was an unknown man who caressed the beak of a falcon resting on his shoulder. A cape of crunchy leaves moved behind him with a will of its own, creating wisps of orange-colored shards that danced softly in the wind like waves on the sea.

“Sister Tsuki, perhaps you remember me?” Said he. His lone eye judged the girl as he himself seemed to not even know who she really was.

“…” Tsuki chose not to say anything. She absolutely didn’t know him, and he had yet to earn her trust. Also, she felt deep in her heart that any words she might say could and would be used against her. Silence was better than spouting nonsense in this situation.

The man simply chuckled at this little girl and presented himself to try and break the ice. “You may call me Folkvang the great!”

“…” she absolutely didn’t know who he was and neither did she know how to say that name.

“Ha well, doesn’t really matter anyway…Still, do you have any memories of this place by any chance?” He said while getting up to then moved around while brushing his hand against the old structure. “Over there was the kitchen…I saw the little guy who spent all his day in there not long ago. He was old and went by the name of Sator for some reason...”

Tsuki was unsure of what he was getting at with this rambling. She did have some memories of this place when she had an awful nightmare not long after coming to the world lacking Alice. But the things she knew of this place were shoddy at best as they only amounted to a really short moment. A cook and whatnot, she didn’t even know there was a kitchen in the first place as it was behind a door she didn’t open in the nightmare.

“What do you want?” she said while observing this man’s every movement. His long eyelashes moving up and down, his chest taking in air slowly, and his lips hard pressed against one another…She observed him trying to find his intention in minute details.

“Nay, what is it that you want sister?” he said as a smile barely showed on his calm face.

But for Tsuki observing him intently, she didn’t miss this detail and it worried her slightly. Was he toying with her, was he trying to trick her, did he want to do her wrong…Like always, she wasn’t able to trust anyone. She thought for a moment that she might be able to trust Yuu, a spirit that said couldn’t lie while also saying she wasn’t someone good and thus shouldn’t be trusted…

“I think,” he added. “Her name was Yuu. She tasked me with finding the spell you wanted.”

Maybe she could trust them in the end. “Why is it you then? Couldn’t she be the one asking me this question?”

“Her imagination is bad. Everything she proposed to me was awful.”

“How so?”

“A sword made from your bones, a way to move between worlds, an invocation of mind-melting being…A fireball should be enough in my op—“—No, boring!” Why are all the girls I met insane…”

“Why is moving between worlds bad? I understand the other but…” asked Tsuki who was still intrigued by those spells. She dreamed of mastering all the dark and unusual spells that would make her a queen of magic.

“Then those things between worlds kill you…Nice in theory but awful in practice.”

“…”

“So, attack, defense, movement, support, or other? The annoying spirit will try and make something with your specification in mind. Ho, and know that I was planning to teach you a movement spell.”

Following this declaration, the man turned himself into a bundle of leaves that danced around the only standing pillar until he reformed on the roof and came back down using the same method.

“…”

“What? Not impressed?”

Tsuki wasn’t impressed. Her conclusion was that it was useless whenever there weren’t any leaves. Maybe if it was winter, it could be used with snow, but what about a cave made from solid stone or a bustling city? ‘Maybe it’s why he’s wearing that ugly cape,’ she thought to herself. “What if there are no leaves?”

“No what?”

“…”

“Wait! That’s really a thing? There are places without leaves?”

“…”

“I guess you learn some every day. Don’t worry about it much. You just need to make use of something that’s everywhere in your world instead of leaves.”

“…”

“Soooo, what kind of spell did you want from that insane witch?”

“Support…” responded Tsuki after understanding that Yuu’s perception was a bit strange. In the end, a support spell might end up able to kill other people instead. Something like giving people armor, but made from their own bones…

“Any elements?”

“…All of them!”

“Rarity of usage?”

“Always!”

“…Activation type?”

“Chanting! A spell without chanting isn’t a spell!”

“Transformative, mutating, adaptive. Do you want your spell to change, and how?” he said while not commenting that his own spells didn’t require chanting.

“Mutation!”

“Any limitation, requirement, or cost in mind. No matter what you get, it will have a cost, so it is best that you get to choose and not Yuu.”

“Can the cost be my surroundings?”

“Maybe, I’m not that insane witch. I need ether to cast spells which I guess can be considered my surroundings… Any built-in safety?”

“No! No limit!”

“Activation time? A delay, instant, consistent, and such.”

“Adaptative!”

“…That’s not…whatever. Anything else before I start teaching you the basis of magic?”

“It needs to be really cool and flashy!”

“Alright, alright. I’m honestly curious about what that awful witch will make.” With this, Folkvang closed a book he used to note Tsuki’s instructions. He then cut his palm to draw strange runes on the cover. When done, the book disappeared as if it never existed. “Time for your lesson now”

❀

 

Tsuki was tasked with breathing exercises while having to listen to Folkvang rambling about things she simply didn’t understand.

“Super-positioned worlds. We are surrounded by things we can’t imagine. People living their life, working, eating, and building houses, all mostly made from matters we can’t interact with nor understand. Some things can be interacted with. Ether, a power source for magic, is like oxygen in one of those worlds.”

“Hhhhhh…Suuuuuuu…” Tsuki breathed the same way the man told her to.

“We use ether to strengthen the connection between our body and our soul without realizing it. It’s like breathing. We do it unconsciously until we focus on it. Breathe and feel the air spread in your lungs. Feel your lungs expanding, your muscles contracting, the air that allows you to live.”

“Hhhhhh…Suuuuuuu…”

“Your every breath takes more than just oxygen, and you breathe out what isn’t needed.”

“Hhhhhh…Suuuuuu…”

“You take in the ether, from your every cell overlapping this super-positioned world. You breathe in it and breathe it out.”

“Hhhhhh…Suuuuuu…”

“Ether comes in and you guide it to your soul. Like lungs, it expands.”

“Hhhhhh…Suuuuuu…”

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“You break the ether into a shell and prima materia. Then breathe out the empty shells.”

“Hhhhhh…Suuuuuu…”

“It’s this prima materia that allows you to exist, and it’s what is at the core of making magic.”

“Hhhhhh……….Suuuuuu……….”

“So, breathe in and breathe out. Learn how it feels. You will need to do it with ether.”

“Hhhhhh………….….Suuuuuu………….….”

“…”

“Hhhhhh…………….….….Suuuuuu……………….….zzzz”

Folkvang was then forced to wake Tsuki and restart his explanation. Strangely, Tsuki understood everything with ease. Her eagerness to learn magic motivated her as if it was a question of life or death. And this was even if she did fall asleep. She somehow understood what was said as if she was awake.

The hardest part of making use of this ether was, well, simply using it. To really manipulate ether, the comparison wouldn’t be like learning to consciously breathe but to consciously make a heart beat.

After this was to force this new kind of oxygen into an inexistent respiratory system powered by muscles that don’t exist. To change something that you can’t even touch. To make something that should be impossible. To create and rewrite the laws of existence. So is the first step for really learning magic. This wasn’t even an impossible wall that the girl needed to climb. The wall didn’t even exist, yet she needed to ‘go’ over it.

Her first step was to detect something that didn’t exist. “You will have to do some kind of ritual in place of ether if you can’t use it.”

“Yuu told me to sacrifice things like fat, muscles, and such…”

“Whoa wait? Really? Is she insane or…Yeah, she’s insane. The prima materia is just pure energy, so it exists in every single matter…but…Have you done some kind of sacrifice?”

“…”

“Oh my. By Luk Brotsjor’s beard…You really did.”

“…”

“Tell me, what did you have to sacrifice?”

“…Don’t remember…”

“Obviously…Try not to do it anymore. That witch tricked you.”

“No! How dare you say that!”

“…” Folkvang was silent after that as he tried to demystify Yuu’s plans with this weak girl. “That witch. Never. Trust. That. Witch. I’m willing to help because you were someone who saved me in the past. I’m repaying a debt. But that insane witch…I’d have her put on a cross and burned alive if I had the strength.”

“And she’s helping me.”

“Until she’s done with you and throws you to the sideway. She’s an insane witch that deserves death a million times over.”

“And when the time comes, I’ll simply have to make my own path.”

*crunch*

With the tension between the two going up, a loud cracking coming from outside could be heard.

Tsuki jumped from this, going for the cloth usually by her wrist only to be shocked when finding it wasn’t present. As for Folkvang, he sighed completely discouraged by whatever made that sound. “Tom-Tuska, just come already you big oaf.” Said the man.

With this, a large boar showed the tips of his nose from a hole in the wall. He breathed so loud that Tsuki thought this large beast was trying to unravel the truth of the world with only its nose.

“Sorry about him,” added Folkvang. “He’s just a shy little boy without any bad intentions. He’s just…a bit dumb.”

Tsuki was done listening to the man and was mostly curious about this big creature. She was still a kid after all. Large animals were more interesting than weird theories of how the world might work. Also, the little shepherd, in her, loved animals more than anything. She promised herself that when she could create her own spell, the first she would make would be related to animals.

“Hi there good boy.” She said after sneaking up on the big boar. It froze seeing her, terrified to have been found. “I’m friendly. You don’t have to be scared. Look…” the girl held up both her hands for the beast to see.

It did understand she wasn’t going to hurt him as his master didn’t smell distressed or anything, but there was a strange smell sticking to the girl that was annoying its nostrils.

“What’s wrong good boy?” Added Tsuki after seeing the boar get closer to her and start smelling her left hand. “Hey, hihihi. Th-that tickle. Stop that. Hey…Huh?” Because of the animal, she finally noticed her left arm which was now fused with many black flowers up to her shoulder. They didn’t hurt nor did they feel discomfortable. They were instead warm and nostalgic. It was strange yet she didn’t care for the reason her arm was now like that. As if it was normal for flowers to grow from her body…

“Hungry? Want some?” she asked after tearing a few petals. The boar reacted negatively to this which made the girl slightly sad. In the end, she ate the petals herself as if they were a delicacy.

❀

 

After Tsuki came back inside riding Tom-Tuska, Folkvang tried to make her feel ether moving around but…

“I’ll be moving some ether up and down. Tell me how high and how low it goes.”

“Hey mister piggy, there’s a hole in your ear. A wolf bit it? Maybe I can make you a pretty earring.”

“Tsuki…focus a bit. The ball of ether is going to go up. Tell me if you sense it moving.”

“Hey…why does Tao have so many scars under his fur? Are you bleeding him?”

“His name ISN’T Tao! And I’m not bleeding him. Did you feel the ball of ether move? It’s moving right now.”

“He likes being called Tao. He said the other name was mean. I’m not sensing anything. There’s nothing moving! Tao, do you know where mister ducky might be hiding? You have a big nose.”

“F-o-c-u-s! I made a ball of ether move around your head. How can’t you feel that?”

“Liar. You are bullying Tao!”

“I’m what now?! Tsuki, if you don’t focus, you will never be able to use ether. You know what? I’ll make one of those annoying ether crystals. Don’t you dare touch it.” Said Folkvang before focusing so much ether into one point that it created a visible ember-like crystal. “You have to be able to see that, right?”

“Hmmmm, I don’t see it, but I do feel it…” Said Tsuki who wasn’t lying.

This girl was simply awful at feeling ether. Usually, every being born with a soul could feel and manipulate ether with a little training as it was necessary to keep their soul and body safe from strange instabilities. Without it, a small explosion on the other side of the universe could accidentally kill someone for no real reason. And this girl right there had an incredibly hard time sensing ether…

“Alright, I give up on that for now,” said Folkvang. “If you can’t use it, you can’t. simple as that. You may be just more adapted to something else. The end goal is just to use something and get the prima materia from it.”

“Noooo! I want to do magic!” cried the girl suddenly, not fully understanding the man’s words.

“We’ll just skip the first step, for now, that’s all. No need to panic.”

“Yahooo. Level two already! Tao Tao, I already graduated from the first step!”

*Buuuuuhuuuu*Added the boar infected by the girl’s happiness.

“I beg of you, Lukk Brotsjor, please help me.”

❀

 

In the end, Folkvang was forced to end the session because the girl wasn’t making any progress. He guessed after doing some testing that Tsuki was protecting her soul using something completely different than the ether he was so used to. Even if he wanted her to learn how to manipulate this unknown resource, not knowing what it was meant there were too many dangers with it.

Even ether was dangerous if abused as it was just a useful matter in an overlapping world that had beings existing inside. Those beings living inside this potent power source could easily wound or kill people abusing their world. It was possible that something existed in the plane Tsuki took her own kind of ether from that was more dangerous than what she could handle.

“You will wake up in a bit and until there are leaves accessible around you, I’ll do my best to teach you magic. For now at least, I’ll try to see if I can’t find any information on the plane you are taking your power from. I wish you good luck, and don’t die.” With this, Folkvang clapped his hands and Tsuki fell asleep, disappearing from this strange world only to wake up in a wooden cart with one leg in a cast.

While she was sleeping, people took the wounded and placed them inside carts to escape as far as they could. They only stopped to rest when night came. Cries from people who had their loved one killed cursed the night while hungry and wounded people pleaded to some unknown god to bless their travel. The only path forward was between the forest of vorpal shards and the moonlit forest which Tsuki first came to in this world…