Chapter 1: Chapter One – Full Moon

The first two chapters are double length, about 3k words. Future chapters will be around 1500 words. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

Bzzzzzt! Bzzzzzt! Bzzzzzt!

Blissful silence, suddenly shattered. Bright, piercing light sears my eyes. My agony filled screams mix with the cacophony of sound raging around me.

Bzzzzzt! Bzzzzzt! Bzzzzzt!

When will it end? When did it begin? All I’ve ever known is pain. How can humans feel this much pain?

Bzzzzzt! Bzzzzzt! Bzz-

A firm smack is enough to silence my alarm clock. Goddess, I hate mornings! Well, technically it’s late afternoon, but I just woke up so that makes it morning to me. I lazily let out a big wide-armed stretch and give one last hug to Tiamat, my pink, fluffy stuffed dragon, before slowly rolling out of my bed. If I can get ready quickly I should have an hour or two to spend in the Pastelaria with Neblina before work.

I somehow manage to get my hair tied up into a ponytail that satisfies me, with little strands of curly blond hair hanging down to frame my face. If I have to be awake this early, I’m at least going to look cute doing it! Luckily it only takes me 20 minutes to pick out a sundress I want to wear today. I settle on a thin white wrap up dress, covered in little pink flowers, that flares out delightfully whenever I spin just right. 

One quick teeth brushing, and a light face of makeup later and I’m galloping down the stairs at the speed of excitement, to the Pastelaria below our apartment.

“Lina!” I shout as I run behind the counter to jump into my roommate, and best friend’s arms. Wow, her arms are really strong.

“Lua! Good to see you're finally awake. Did you sleep well?” Neblina says, smiling down to me.

I look up into her dark brown eyes, and incredibly beautiful face. Even after all these years I still haven’t gotten used to it. Lina isn’t just beautiful, she’s intimidatingly beautiful. Lina wields the kind of beauty that you just don’t see in real life.

“Of course I did! But I’m definitely going to need a meia de leite to wake up properly.” I lean in for one last squeeze and reluctantly pull away. All hugs are good of course, but there's something so warm and comforting about hugging Lina. Maybe because she’s so tall. Lina is probably the only woman in Lisbon that’s taller than me. We both certainly stand out in a crowd. Me for my light, almost platinum blond hair, and Lina, well, just for being Lina.

With a delightfully melodious laugh Lina ties her apron behind her back, and tucks her perfectly groomed dark brown hair behind her ears, before turning around to the espresso machine behind her. I swear I’ve never seen one fly away hair, or a single spec of frizz on that woman’s head.

“I’ll throw in a pastel de nata for you too. I know you need it!” she calls out to me as I make my way to my usual table in the back corner.

“You know me too well” I shout back with a big grin as I sit down. The Pastellaria Lina's parents left her is almost empty this late in the day. The half dozen tables scattered across the small, yellow wallpapered room all sit empty. A pair of pensioners chatting by the door are all the customers Lina seems to have. 

“So, any big plans today?” Lina asks as she sits down across from me, sliding my coffee and custard tart pastry across to me.

“I thought I would just hang out here with you until I have to work tonight!” I say with a big smile, and a little tilt of my head. “Anything interesting happen today?”

“Oh today was wonderful! It rained this morning…”

Lina excitedly launched into a very animated tale of a group of British tourists who slipped and fell all the way down the big hill we live on. Almost everyone in Lisbon lives on a big hill, but ours is nice because it’s just North of the Rossio, so we get a lot of tourist foot traffic. That’s great for business, and even better for entertainment. Lina and I love to sit next to the window in the Pastelaria when it rains and watch all the tourists fall down the street. They usually don't get hurt, so it’s probably ok to laugh at them.

Some of my best memories were made with Lina in this little Pastelaria. I don’t know what I would do without her. When Lina’s parents retired and moved to Madeira, Lina offered me the spare bedroom in the apartment they left her. She’s so kind, thoughtful, and fun to be around. I can honestly say it’s been the best time of my life living with her. 

She's always asking to see little displays of my water magic around the apartment, even though the European Federation made in-home magic use illegal after the Hamburg attacks. People can be so hateful these days. Lina is the only person I’ve ever felt truly accepts me for who I am, magic and all.

A short laughter-filled hour later and Lina was hugging me goodbye. "Be safe out there Lua. You know I worry about you walking alone at night." She says as she holds me by the shoulders.

"I know, but Lisbon is one of the safest cities in the Federation. I should be ok."

"I just worry is all. I've seen the things people say to you on the street. Just make sure you stay safe out there." 

"I'm a channeler." I say back. "That's just how mundane people treat us these days. But I'll be safe, for you." I promise as I go in for a final hug. 

"Thanks. I'll stay up until you get home. We still have 3 episodes of Forbidden Bite to watch tonight." 

"Ughh, I can't believe you make me watch those trashy romance shows. You have no culture." I tease her with a small smile. 

"I know you love them!" She teases back. 

"Sorry, can't hear you!" I shout over my shoulder, as I quickly grab my bag and slip out the door.

The setting sun makes for a beautiful walk through the city. I slide around groups of tourists as I make my way down our hill and to the river on the south end of the city. The last rays of sunlight reflect beautifully off the endless rows of orange tiled roofs. The light says one final goodbye to the battle scarred walls of the Castelo de Santa Geórgia atop the eastern hill, before slipping below the horizon for a well earned rest. 

It's dark by the time I make it to the club. O Celeiro de Lixo is not the fanciest club in town. It's little more than a warehouse really. A warehouse full of drunk, drugged up tourists who paid 5 euros to see a cheap magic show.

Performing at a place like this certainly isn't the most prestigious job in the city, but it's pretty much the only place that a water channeler can earn an honest living these days. If I was born a few centuries earlier I could have made a fortune guiding fishing fleets to magically located schools of fish, or navigated for the great Portuguese explorers like Vitória da Gama, or Fernanda Magellan. Although I would certainly want to commit less genocide. Those woman sure loved genocide.

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Actually, maybe it's a good thing modern technology has made most magic obsolete. It may not make me much money, but at least my cheap mermaid show doesn't hurt anyone. 

"Hi Lua!" A gruff voice calls out to me.

I look up and realize I'm already at the employee entrance. Wow, my mind sure does wander on my walks. "Hey Chama! How's it going?" I grin down at my enthusiastic friend. 

"Really good! I'm finally ready to perform my new act! You're gonna have to step up your game if you want to keep up with me." She declares as she stretches out on her tippy toes to just barely reach up and poke me in the chest.

"I look forward to seeing it. Just try not to light the building on fire again" I jibe as I poke her back. 

"Don't worry, I'm sure you can put it out for me." She laughs as we make our way to the dressing room. 

She may not be the best chest poker, but the rest of her appearance more than makes up for her lack of height. Her short arms wrapped in thick muscles combine with her shaved head to create a very intimidating appearance. Not to mention that almost every centimeter of Chama's skin is covered in deep burn scars. It's a look that's truly at odds with her bubbly, teddy bear personality. But Chama pulls it off with an enviable level of confidence.

In another life she probably would have been gleefully flinging fireballs at the walls of some castle, fighting as an artillery thaumaturgist in some queen or duchess's army. But the modern world has left all that far behind. Why pay a premium for a channeller to throw a fireball at a wall from 500 meters away, when a 120mm mortar can hit the same wall from 7200 meters, with more accuracy and twice as large of an explosion. The glory days of channeling are over. Now Chama uses her magic for mundane people’s entertainment, just like me.

Chama holds the door for me as we make our way into the dressing room. "Chama, you know I’m always happy to put out your fires, but you need to be careful. The federation is really cracking down on mages these days. If you light another British tourist on fire you're gonna get your magical license revoked. All the new Channeler Regulation Bureau agents in town are from France and Germany. You can't just bribe them away like Portuguese agents."

"I know, I know. But if it's so wrong to light British people on fire, then why are they so flammable?" 

"That's not funny Chama, I'm serious." I say with the most serious look I could muster. 

Chama isn't impressed by it. "Oh lighten up Lua! Here, be a good little mermaid and put your costume on." The fire channeler says as she grabs my costume off its rack and shoves it into my arms. 

"You're the only little one here" I quip back with a big grin as I take my costume and quickly retreat to the changing stalls. I tune out her distant cries of protest as I get dressed. 

It's a simple outfit, a pair of sea shells held together with some flimsy straps are all that passes as an excuse for a top in this establishment. I pull on some bikini bottoms and drag my shimmering rainbow prosthetic fish tail to the makeup chairs. I'll put that on right before going on stage. No point hopping around on my tail fin for the next hour.

30 minutes in the makeup chair later and I’m looking like a propper mermaid princess, with bright colorful makeup, and seashell and starfish hair pins clipping my wavy blond hair into shape. But I don’t have time to stare at my reflection all night, I have to charge my artifacts.

I drag my bag and bulky fish tail to the back of the employee area, where a very buff woman guards the door to the channeling vault. Wow I bet she lifts a lot of weights. She interrupts my thoughts of her muscles to check my magic license and restricted channeling permit before quickly shoving me inside the vault and slamming the heavy door behind me.

The vault is a simple 4 walled room, with blast proof walls. In each corner rests a simple and cheap magical anchor. An electrical fan blowing air across the room in the north, a barrel of ash in the West, a Box of dirt in the South, and a small tub of water in the East. One anchor for each of the four elements. In the center is a small table on wheels, with a large slab of salt on top, roughly the size and shape of a cutting board.

I push the table with the salt neutralizing plate over to the tub of water. After digging in my bag for a moment, I place my first artifact onto the neutralizing plate. A simple necklace with a thin brass chain, with a small, dangling aquamarine gemstone attached. Aquamarine isn’t a very powerful channeling artifact, but it’s cheap and well attuned for water magic. Anything stronger is illegal for me to own anyway.

Standing hunched over the table I take a moment to focus. The first step to charging an artifact is always grounding. I hold my hands out in front of my face, focusing on the tips of my long slender fingers, and my pretty manicured pink nails. I slowly breathe in through my nose, and out through my mouth. Once I feel connected to my hands, I move them to my head, placing one on my forehead, and one on the back of my head. I hold my head like this while slowly breathing in and out. Once satisfied I move my hands lower, placing one on my chest, and one on my stomach, repeating my breathing.

A few minutes of this and I am feeling very present and grounded. The tub of water is already swirling and churning in anticipation of the charge I’ve worked up in my body’s aether. Not one to keep good water waiting, I place one hand into the tub, and the other onto my artifact. The water swirls around my hand faster and faster as I focus on my intent. The ambient aether in the water connects with my own, and anchors me to my element, focusing my intent into the spell I desire. The aquamarine gem sits empty, devoid of aether of its own, but full of so much potential. I focus on that void of aether below my fingertips. It’s almost calling out to me, desperately desiring to be connected with the water aligned aether of my body.

At the height of my focus I strain as I push a small amount of aether down my arm, into my fingers, and finally into the small gemstone on the table. I slowly increase the pace of the channel, so as not to overload the stone and shatter it. After a few minutes I’m confident I have enough aether channeled into the stone to last me my whole performance. The spell I put into this artifact will allow me to breathe water, allowing my lungs to filter the oxygen out of the water like a set of gills. I’ve learned how much charge I’ll need in my artifact to last my whole performance. I don’t want to risk shattering the artifact, so I only add what I need.

As the explosions from Chama’s performance gently shake the walls of the vault, I go through the process again with a coral ring that will let me manipulate and move water. I decided to reinforce the coral ring with a bit of quartz to increase its aether capacity. I think I’ll need it if I want to compete with Chama, judging by the muffled sounds from outside the vault.

My final artifacts are a pair of shark tooth earrings that I channel a spell into that will let me swim quickly underwater. Organic material has a very low aether capacity, so these earrings are reinforced by 3 additional quartz stud earrings on each ear, curling up the side of my ear to fill 4 of my 7 piercings on each side.

I put on all my jewelry and leave the vault to make my way to the stage, dragging my absurd fish tail behind me. I can hear the full force of what is surely Chama’s grand finale. Powerful explosions rock the whole building. The walls and ceiling shake with each thump, with bits of plaster raining down on me as I walk. I’m starting to wish I had more artifacts to use, but I’m only licensed for four.

With a final flurry of explosions and a giant woosh of what could only be a massive fireball the building suddenly goes silent. I hope Chama’s performance went well. Maybe the tourists are too concussed to cheer? Just as I start to worry and pick up my pace towards the stage, the building erupts in thunderous cheers and shouts, rivaling the volume of the performance itself. If it wasn’t before, the ceiling is truly raining plaster now.

I peek around the curtains to see a heavily scorched Chama bowing to the most frenzied crowd I’ve ever seen in O Celeiro de Lixo. A group of French tourists in the front row, too drunk to notice their recent loss of eyebrows are screaming their heads off, spraying a bottle of champagne into the air, and onto the crowd behind them. The room is so hot that there’s a thick layer of steam forming over the crowd. Maybe I can use that in my performance. If anything, the atmospheric moisture should make my job a little easier.

A thoroughly soot covered Chama runs up to me after making her way off stage.

“Lua! Did you see my act? It was incredible! I nailed it!”

“Ahhh, I’m so sorry Chama, I was taking extra time in the vault and I just missed it. It sounded amazing though, and the crowd seems to have loved it.” I give my friend’s shoulder an apologetic squeeze.

“Awww, Lua! I made a dragon! Out of fire! I made it dance to Nicki Minaj.” Chama whines with a pout.

“Wow, that sounds really impressive. I’m glad I reinforced my artifacts, I honestly don’t know how I can follow that act up.” I say.

Chama’s pout quickly inverts into a big grin. “Don’t worry Lua, you don’t have to compete with me. As long as you do your best, and have fun I’m sure you’ll be great!”

I stick out my arm and hold Chama by the forehead to stop her from running into my torso for a very ashy hug.

“Please dont ruin my outfit Chama." I say as I struggle to hold her back.

“Sorry! I’ll go get changed and come back out to watch your performance. But you owe me a hug after!” Chama declares with a wag of her finger, before turning and happily bouncing away from me.

“Ok deal, one hug IOU for my favorite little fireball”! I shout after my friend, but I don't think she hears me as she runs away to the changing rooms. All her hearing damage probably doesn’t help.

I wipe my hand clean on the curtains, they’re already covered in soot anyway, and turn to the stage as it finishes transforming for my act. The stage has opened up to reveal a large pool, and panels on the front of the stage have dropped to reveal glass windows in the tank. Aquatic decorations are scattered around the bottom of the pool, and have emerged from the walls around the dark room. The lighting changes to blue and purple strobes. 

I slip my long slender legs into my tail and waddle up to my platform at the back of the tank, hidden by a small curtain. My first song starts to play, and with a deep breath to steady myself, I begin my performance.

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