Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Awakening came with a start, and a pant. She was drenched with sweat and panting hard. It jolted Queenie out of her sleep, and the woman woke to coherency quickly, reaching out a hand to touch the clammy hand of Kiko.

“Kiko? Are you ok?” Queenie asked, stroking the Kitsune’s hair softly.

“Y-yea. Strange dream. Is all” Kiko replied, staring into the distance. That feeling inside her, inside him…She absently reached out her hand and repeated the same feeling as she had felt in him. Near-instantly, the blade set with the rest of her uniform launched from across the room and into her hand.

“Neat trick” Queenie commented, staring at Kiko softly.

“Like I said” she muttered, throwing back the covers and standing up. “Strange dream” she finished. Drawing the sword and looking into the clear blade, she took a breath and channelled more of the energy into the blade. She didn’t get to see the results, as she was back in bed a moment later. Not Queenie’s bed, but the infirmary bed she got well acquainted with after her knife-based meeting with that man.

 

“Well, good to see all Kitsunes are fools” the infirmary doctor exclaimed as Kiko’s eyes opened. Her body felt exhausted. But, not sore from the kind of exertion that would cause this. This, was more than the run of the track, more than anything in the last week. Her body could scarcely move from the strain. And with him, a strange woman in a coat, with a cloak that reached her feet and the hood over her eyes, hands clasped behind her back. Kiko couldn’t see her eyes but felt she was being stared at rather intimidatingly. And another thing, the lines across her cloak were the same blue as the sword that Za was wielding. It was all, very strange.

“So, apparently what happened to you isn’t physical. I am just here to make sure that it hasn’t done anything physical in addition. Your neat trick pulled out quite a reclusive branch of ODD. I’ll let her introduce herself” The doctor told Kiko, scrawling a final note on the clipboard and then putting it down on her bed, and going off to look to the other patients.

 

“Good day, Kiko Ator. I am Eteria Normis, of the Disciples of the Crab. As Doctor Haedan has said, we are somewhat reclusive due to the rarity of our order’s calling, but you are one of them. We oversee, maintain and support the Mages of the world” the hooded woman did as she was prompted and introduced herself. 

“M…magic? That’s just… a simple explanation of natural Quasi-Human biology, no?” Kiko asked. Sure, she couldn’t give a reason for why she could bring tails out of nowhere without saying ‘magic’ but surely it was just a simple thing?

“It is technically. But Magic is also a thing, you can learn both. Kitsunes are well versed to learn it as their God, Vanaet-” Kiko felt Vanaet perk up at the mention of her name “-is one that is said to be well acquainted with the Magical Arts. Your father was Drax, yes?” the woman asked.

“Y…yea. Was he a Mage as well?” Kiko asked. Her father was not one to talk about his job, but being able to do magic was a bitch move to keep secret.

“Not precisely. He was good at Borrowing, but never learned true Magic” Eteria saw Kiko’s confused face, and took a seat next to her. “You’ll be taught all this going forward, as your little trick has blown open the first Gate, and so you need to learn to control your magic or die in a catastrophic manner that will put everyone around you are risk” Eteria gave a deadpan explanation for what was going to happen, but it panicked Kiko, enough to push herself up and try to leave the bed.

 

“T-then come on. I don’t want to put anyone at risk!” Kiko exclaimed, but was held down by a strange force. Oppressive but not too strong, just enough to keep her down.

“You need to keep yourself calm. Mana, the source of power, reacts to emotion. You get to riled and it will act” that, would explain the woman’s softly spoken, demure tone, but didn’t help Kiko.

“Why the fuck!...” she took a breath and calmed herself down. “Why would anyone want to be a Mage if it has so many issues inherent?” Kiko asked. Still a bit pissed at the whole situation but getting better at staying calm.

“A .50 caliber rifle can dislocate your shoulder with one shot if you hold it wrong. But people still use it” Eteria replied, her soft and warm smiling doing well to simmer down Kiko.

“That’s because we need that against…………ok, I get it. People become Mages because we need their magic.  Never heard of Mages before though” Kiko paused for a long moment, and then finished.

“We don’t precisely advertise, and even here people will rationalise what seems fantastical. Now. I shall let you rest you can come see me later. Here’s hoping that you do not decide to do anything else foolish” Eteria gave a soft giggle at the last tease, almost to show that she was capable of emotion after all, and then left Kiko to her slumber. And slumber, she did. The tiredness was a strange thing that she couldn’t explain but was pervasive. She wasn’t tired but at the same time she was amazed at her fortitude of staying awake. A terrible duality that she decided to put an end to by just going to sleep.

 

Morning came in an instant. Despite not being physically tired, the spiritual tiredness was something that more than made up for it and dragged her under in merely a second. Waking and feeling refreshed, if a bit stiff from sleeping most of the day. She heard from the nurse that Queenie had come to see her, but Kiko was dead to the world, so just made sure she was alright. And alright she was, getting out of the bed and stretching, letting out the loud cry of stretching that just seemed to come unbidden from most. Maybe one day she’d ask Vannet about it. But still, she needed to go talk to that woman person from the crab people about magic so she didn’t frigging blow up or whatever. She was deceptively vague about the issues. Though, she did get a little lost on the way to it and had to ask for directions, she eventually arrived and found everyone was dressed the same. The coat and cloak combo seemed to differ only by colour, and it was no personal choice for the woman to hold her hands behind her back, since everyone here did so.

 

Approaching a bored looking person at the desk and asking for Eteria Normis, she got directed to some room with nobody in. Great. Seeing nothing else to do, she just slumped in a chair and groaned.

“Here’s hoping that being bored to death by this whole confusing situation is one of the situations I have to go through for a tail” she grumbled, kicking an imaginary rock.

‘If it helps. Vana are magically inclined beings, coming from my bloodline. So you do actually grow a tail on the Third Gate’ Vanaet explained, coming back into Kiko’s head.

‘Ugh! So this whole First Gate Fuckery is not going to net me anything?’ Kiko complained, leaning back on the chair.

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‘Not every hardship in life is going to be rewarding beyond the experience you gain of it. But yes, this first gate Fuckery is not going to net you anything’ Vanaet replied. Kiko groaned more and then let out a sigh as nobody turned up.

‘Explain these gates to me then. You say you are really good at this magic thing so I assume you’ve got some knowledge of it’ Kiko asked, leaning back to settle into one of them long lectures like Sagi gave about the planet and people in general.

‘Mmm. The Gate is a concept rather than anything that is ‘real’. The First Gate is opened when you first come into contact with your Mana. The First Gate is what stands between you and Magic, and it is the safeguard that prevents a vast majority of people from dying horribly. It is opened, most of the time, by training in the Art of Magic and spiritual meditation. Sometimes it is accidental though, in your case. The Second Gate is opened with Manifestation of Mana, The actual usage of spells, and such. It is the gate that stands between you and the auxiliary magic you accumulate through your life. It’s an energy like any other, and beings soak it up simply by living. The Third Gate is opened after you successfully grasp the three Major Pillars of Magic. It is the Gate that stands between you and your Soul. This is the most important gate, as this is where your magic will take off, becoming powerful and much less limited than the usual. You can only soak up so much mana in a day, after all. But when it comes from within, you unlimited, if you keep the casting reasonable.

 

The Three Major Pillars of Magic, are; Terrestrial Magic, which is magic of your own soul. Celestial Magic, which is magic that comes from prayer, often known as Miracles. It is the magic I use naturally, and that I can grant to supplicants. And Sidereal Magic, which is magic of the stars. The most complex of the three magics, Sidereal Magic requires very specific understanding of stellar constellations, rooting natural Mana through the Ley-Lines from these constellations and then harnessing it into the spell you want to use. Terrestrial Magic is generally the weakest, but with a long time to work on it and aptitude, it can be very powerful. Celestial Magic is limited in scope because it does not work with Terrestrial Magic very well. You must never use these two together, as it is extremely dangerous. But, it has good power and the added benefit that it is not strenuous on you at all since you are simply directing it. Sidereal Magic is the one with the greatest raw power, since Stars draw in vast amounts of Mana, mostly due to their size but also due to the fact that the Ley-Lines are connected to them as dumps in case of large explosions of energy are released somewhere that can’t handle it. I could go into the lecture of how the Ley-Lines work but I’ll leave that one for another day.

 

Te-’ Vanaet was cut off by Eteria coming into the room, and nodding to Kiko.

“Good morning Kiko. I am sorry for the vagueness of yesterday, you were exhausted, and Terrestrial Magic does not deal with that” she paused for a second, and then spoke. “I, should probably explain before carrying on. There are three Major Pillars of Magic-” Eteria was then cut off by Kiko, who held out her hand.

“I’ve already gotten that lecture. Vanaet has a nice voice, though no offence to you but I don’t think you could hold my interest the way she does” Kiko replied. Eteria threw back her hood and pulled a chair up, sitting down in front of Kiko and staring at her. Beautiful purple eye turned silver and a delighted expression came across her face.

‘Hello Eteria’ Vanaet spoke, which made the woman recoil slightly.

“You…can really see me. That’s an impressive connection you have. And...is that an Aeonic Bridge? Are you trying to pass through?” Eteria asked.

‘How personal. We’ve only just met’ Vanaet replied, grinning slightly. Though, Kiko wasn’t sure if Eteria could see the grin.

“S-sorry...Talking to divine beings is an extremely rare experience. Terrestrial Magic does not work with Celestial Magic, so Gods can’t come to the universe anymore, at least not properly. So we don’t talk to them very often and etiquette is lax” Kiko, just along for the ride at this point, gave a bored glare but gave up and just let her ramble.

‘Mmm, you know I made that. At least, the V1 concept. Teltatitia made the “Walks Among Us” version and then Sean and his daughter made the one that lets us actually use Celestial Magic to a degree while we are here’ Vanaet was talking with a passion in her heart that really melted Kiko’s irritation. Well, she did take three hundredish years breaking into libraries despite the risk to read about magic, so one would assume she was into it.

“I have been writing a dissertation of Aeonic Theory, and the Avatars are a fascinating subject. The idea of concentrated energy being used for form makes the possibility of prosthetics made in the same vein a field I would love to see come to fruition”

 

Kiko didn’t hear Vanaet’s reply. There was only so much talk about a subject way over your head you could take before you just started to have a little monkey with cymbals in your head. Eventually she was brought back to reality by Eteria shaking her shoulder.

“I am sorry, Kiko. I got excited talking to the Goddess Vanaet, and let my emotions get the better of me. I shall ensure to have a way to communicate around you in future” that chipper little school girl tone was gone, and was replaced by the formal school teacher tone.

“Mmm. You know, she doesn’t sound like a Goddess. Or feel like a Goddess. She just seems like any other person” Kiko replied, sitting up properly.

“Admittedly, they are people. The founder of my order was said to be…God-Adjacent, and that all Divine Beings were just really powerful people. Having followers and being able to perform Miracles loses it’d uniqueness when a person like yourself can do exactly the same. The separating line is scale and potency. The Weakest God is still a very powerful Magus, and the Greater Gods are on a scale beyond what we can comprehend. But that in no way means there are no none-divine Magus who also have power beyond what we can comprehend” Eteria replied, pulling her hood back up and standing.

 

Kiko just sat and stared. It was quite hard to be told Gods were real and existed in the universe. And it was infinitely more hard to hear that they weren’t any more special than a normal person who put the work in to match them. She’d be equal to a God if she worked on it, was the kicker. And that, well…really brought everything into stark contrast.

“Alright. So, how do we do this casting thing?” Kiko asked, grinning broadly. There was a real inspiration from the idea that she had just had. However, to curb such enthusiasm, Eteria called the table from the other side of the room and slammed a tower of books on it.

“You don’t get to even think about using Magic until you pass the tests that say it’s safe for you to” her hooded teacher exclaimed, which made the poor Kitsune’s face fall.

“What? It’s Magic! It’s meant to be flashy and wow, not frigging…books!” Kiko exclaimed, whining loudly.

“Keep it up and I’ll add your high school tests to it. I don’t like the idea of you skipping education, but I will settle with what SIR says. Now, get studying”

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