Millennial Mage

Tala felt her own breath catch, and Rane’s immediate tension showed a similarly disbelieving, yet hopeful response within him.

“What?” Her voice was almost too quiet for a mundane to have heard as she tried to clarify, “Are you saying that we can somehow use endingtrees to fix the world?”

Anatalis shook his head. “You? I have no idea. The story goes that the human making the request of the god-tree first asked for the world to be fixed, which was beyond the god-tree to grant. Hopefully that was already evident. If a Sovereign could fix Zeme, it would have been done by this point.” He seemed to hesitate. “I will say that it is theoretically possible that a Sovereign could fix Zeme, if their authority was properly oriented.”

“Or if they sunk all their power into the task? Such as you and Great Vidarra consuming the world to repair it?”

Anatalis huffed. “First, that would be two Sovereign level beings repairing Zeme at our own expense, and to our own detriment, but, yes. If it was possible, it would likely tie up the being's power for a long time to come. We are… the two of us are specifically oriented toward that type of work, and it would still take both of us giving more than was wise to give. Even then, it would likely not be a sure thing. There are others who might be better suited, but similar limitations would afflict them. Some who are powerful enough would be opposed by others, due to the changes that they’d have to make to enact a fix.” His predatory grin returned. “Such as my need to slay all of gated-humanity and other mobile sources of magic before undertaking an attempt.”

She grimaced. That had momentarily slipped her mind. “Right.”

“But we are following rabbit trails as vigorously as a pup. The god-tree could not repair the world on its own, so that boon could not be granted. The human then asked for the means to do it. Specifically, ‘we’ is usually assumed to mean humanity as a whole.”

“So, humanity is to be the savior of the world?”

The wolf chuffed. “You and your kind seemingly have the potential to be, but few beings truly live up to their potential.”

Rane cleared his throat. “So… how could endingtrees possibly be used to repair Zeme?”

“I’ve no idea. The tale goes that the god-tree reluctantly agreed to the boon, then exploded in a wash of power that swept across the known world. One of the things discovered in the wake of that power—still bearing its hallmarks—were endingtrees. The god-tree's final words were—at least according to legend—‘The broken must be worked free and separated, if a remaking is ever to be possible.’”

Tala waited, but the great wolf didn’t say anything further.

The watching crowd of humans began shuffling and muttering. She had honestly somewhat forgotten they were all there too. Well, I'm glad that we don't need to try to keep this secret…

She turned to regard Rane. The big man shrugged. “I mean, the tree’s words are manifestly true, but it isn’t really clear instructions.”

Tala sighed. “Did no one ever follow up on this? Seek to work with the humans to bring about this fix?”

A deep laugh rumbled across the landscape, and Anatalis grunted in amusement. “Firstly, no one believes that Zeme can be fixed without great cost, and few are willing to pay that cost, whatever it is. Vanishingly few are even willing to discover what the cost would be for them.”

Tala frowned. Humanity pays great cost for small gain all the time… is that part of it?

-I mean… maybe? If you have a self-sacrificial fix for something, it makes sense to give it to people who might actually be willing to sacrifice themselves.-

Yeah, but humanity isn’t unique in our ability to be selfless…

-No? …Yeah, I have no idea then.-

“Second, humanity was rather unpopular in that time, even more than now, if in a different sort of way. It was around then that gated-humanity began to gain prevalence, and no one liked how much you all were harming Reality.”

Rane narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean ‘around then?’”

The lupine grin grew. “You have grasped one theory, yes. Human gates should have been beyond any but a Sovereign to have created, but none that I know of ever took credit for the act. Some such results have been achieved in other areas by the less advanced due to rigorous study, collaboration, or other similar methods—and that is what was claimed by the arcanes in general as to the origin of gates—but no person or group ever specifically took credit for the first gates either.”

That was… that was a lot to take in, even if it didn’t make perfect sense with things she’d learned before. He did say it was a theory. Theories can be wrong.

Another possible origin for humanity’s gates wasn’t really something that she was excited about, but she’d never heard the appearance of gated humanity potentially linked to endingtrees before, and that had interesting implications regardless of the truth of the underlying notion.

What would that even mean?

-Well, maybe that a human with a gate and the use of endingtrees in someway can fix Zeme?-

Anatalis huffed again. “I can see it in your faces. You’re thinking that maybe the two together, gates and endingtrees are the solution. If so, I cannot fathom it. The more popular theory is that the endingtrees were given to gateless humanity so that they could overcome and slay gated humanity, thus allowing Zeme to heal more readily. My memory—as well as records of the day—seem to indicate that Zeme was healing before gates came about. Whether it would have ever been truly ‘fixed’ is up for debate, though.”

It was Tala’s turn to grunt. “That’s possible, I suppose.”

She had her mind filled with memories of Reality healing itself naturally as she considered the possibility.

-We need to keep in mind that it never seems to get ‘better’ than Zeme standard now. It doesn’t continue to move toward this.- Alat indicated how the true fragment felt to them. -We can’t even make it feel like this… at least we never have before.-

We should try some more experiments within Kit.

-That would probably be good, yeah.-

Tala took another moment to consider before nodding. “All this to say, my attack is too powerful for use within the Lunar Hunt?”

“No, the attack is of a kind that is annoying to my mate, and so it will not be allowed within the Lunar Hunt.” There was a slight edge to his voice, like the crinkling-crack of ice that suddenly seemed a lot thinner than she’d have thought it was.

“Understood. Thank you.” She gave a deeper than usual bow.

A feminine voice echoed around her, once again seeming to come from Vidarra, “Be at ease, child. We have sworn peace upon you. Unless you purposely reject our hospitality, your safety is all but boon-ensured.”

She sounded… not winded but at least weary. Tala bowed out toward the open drop over the cliff, toward the Hunt in general. “Thank you.”

Anatalis sighed. “But I grow weary of… this. The hunt calls to me.” He glanced toward Terry. “Avian. You have earned a hunt by my side. I shall forge a vessel worthy of your capacities, and we will hunt.”

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Terry looked to Tala and when she smiled and nodded, he trilled in obvious excitement.

Please emphasize to him how much he could and should learn, hunting beside a god-beast.

-Already done. He conveyed that you are a cute hatchling to fret and worry so.-

Tala snorted internally, barely keeping the reaction from her features.

A moment later, Anatalis’ body morphed, reshaping itself until it was just larger than Rane's, mass wise.

It would be a truly massive mundane wolf, but it was very small from the perspective of the Pack and in comparison to those around them.

A moment later, Tala watched in awe as Anatalis’ aura suddenly became visible, blazing a painfully hard to see purple. As she watched, however, the color became a more regular violet, then indigo.

It continued to shift through the colors, arriving at blue, fading down through green before stopping, precisely matching her own—and therefore Terry’s—aura color.

It was far more green than yellow, a spitting distance from true green and Paragon.

Still, there was something about Anatalis’ aura that was… deeper than hers and Terry’s.

It was like the adding of red to yellow pulled it down the color spectrum to orange, rather than like adding red to blue, which pushed the result up to purple.

She frowned. That was a horrible metaphor, but she couldn’t immediately think of a better.

Somehow, Anatalis had added something in order to appear weaker. It seemed like he would actually be functionally weaker as well, even if he kept the same underlying power… under whatever it was that he’d added to himself.

It was probably something beyond her understanding in the moment.

Anatalis shook himself, now seeming like a normal—if diminutive—member of the Pack. “Before we depart, do you have any final questions? I warn you to make them quick, as the hunt calls to me.”

Tala nodded. “Just two: May citizens of my Ironhold come into the Lunar Hunt, or are there restrictions? And, what do you have for Rane and me?”

Anatalis looked longingly out over the terrain below before turning back to regard her. “Your citizens may wander as they wish, but I will not promise nor guarantee their safety. The Pack will not harm them, but there are other dangers about. They are not to kill any creature they find—though they may defend themselves in the unlikely event that such is required—and they are not to harvest from or unnecessarily harm the plant-life. They may talk with any member of the Pack who wishes to engage with them. As for you two, I have already arranged teachers for you. They will find you after I depart, at the appropriate time.”

Tala considered for a moment—doing so quickly in consideration for his desire to leave—but nothing further came to mind. She bowed low once more. “Thank you, Great Anatalis. That is all I can think of at the moment.”

She glanced to Rane, but he shook his head. He had no questions.

Anatalis bobbed his head once, then he and Terry were gone, departed without the slightest evidence of magic or power of any kind.

Lupin stood up to tower over the humans present, projecting his voice to be easily heard, “The feast is concluded. Welcome to the Lunar Hunt. The Pack may disperse or stay at their leisure.”

They’d all heard Anatalis’ words for the humans, and Alat had already updated the display boards in Irondale with the rules and regulations. Tala stepped closer to Lupin. “Where can I place the entrance to my own bound realm?”

-Oh, I like that descriptor.-

It’s nothing special. Just another way of thinking about it.

-Maybe so, but I like it.-

Thank you, I guess?

-You are most welcome.-

Lupin seemed to consider for a moment before flicking his head toward one of the flatter faces of the nearby cliffs. “You may use that surface. We do not use this particular arena often, and it will be easy enough to spar elsewhere for the duration of your stay.”

Tala smiled and gave a small bow. "Thank you.”

With an act of will, Tala extended her aura over to the cliff and tried to open a portal into Kit.

It didn’t instantly work.

What the rust?

Then, the obvious answer came to her. Her portal wasn’t a thing of her magic, not specifically, and her aura was an extension of her magical authority.

That’s ridiculous. It can’t matter like that.

-Or Vidarra is providing you insight through pointed opposition?-

That drew Tala up short. Was that it?

She focused more closely on her ability to sense authority, and… yes, there was something there, almost like a beacon of authority, specifically where Lupin had told her to place the portal.

I wonder if his mother told him where to have us put it…

-Well, she could do the same anywhere, but yeah, it makes sense for him to have consulted her before granting us permission.-

True…

So, the Lunar Hunt herself was putting up an authoritative barrier to her portal into Kit.

She could go over and touch the cliff. That would force enough of her authority to allow a portal to open… in theory.

But that was likely not what Vidarra wanted her to learn…

-You could ask?-

Of course I could ask, but the discovery itself feels like a bit of a test, too.

Alat sighed. -Well, alright, then. Let’s work at this together. What is a portal, exactly?-

It’s a dimensional passage that allows mundane access to Ironhold for as long as it’s open.

-...Yes. Well articulated, I suppose.-

Thank you.

-I think it’s also important that a portal connects through the fourth dimension, and itself has no depth.-

So, it’s a two-dimensional creation bridging across four-dimensional space?

-Essentially. In the same way that a one-dimensional line can connect two points in three-dimensional-space.-

Yeah, I can see that.

-So, now that we have that established, what’s the hangup?-

Tala didn’t know, at least not immediately. Grounding herself in the truth of what the portal was had been nice, but it hadn’t really changed the status quo.

The whole contemplation had taken barely a pair of heartbeats in real time, but Rane had still seemingly noticed that something wasn’t right.

He turned to regard the cliff, and as his attention came into focus, so did his will that a portal would be there—even if not specifically expressed—and Tala felt Vidarra’s hold loosen.

What? Before she fully comprehended the shift, she took advantage of it, and the opening to Ironhold blossomed into being, revealing the closed, heavily reinforced gates that stood at the center of Irondale.

-Well, that’s an interesting lesson. You can’t do anything without your husband’s permission. Be sure to let her know you understand the message.-

Tala sent a feeling of being deeply unamused toward her alternate interface. Hardly.

Vidarra had had some sort of purpose…

We’re soulbound. We know that our marriage strengthens our auras… does it also increase our authority? She almost laughed at herself. She’d only been thinking of them as potentially distinct for a short time and already she’d forgotten that they were, at a base level, parts of a single whole. Of course being married strengthens our authority. That was silly.

-But for aura, it’s unconscious… right? It just happens?-

Maybe? Well yes, but maybe not? We both define ourselves as Mages—and we see each other as Mages too—so what if it is simply that we grant our spouse that support as a matter of course, not exactly unconsciously, but close? Anything more—at the very least—requires our volitional focus, even if just slightly?

-That was a bit convoluted, but I think I understand what you’re getting at.-

Well, if you don’t, no one will.

-True enough. Regardless, that could be it, but I don’t think that was her point.-

No, I think her point was that I’m not using all the tools at my disposal.

-Right. Use your husband. Let her know you understood.-

Tala sighed, shaking her head.

Rane glanced her way, clearly having noticed the movement. “Alat?”

That made her bark out a laugh. “Yeah, actually.”

He grinned in return. “You had that look about you. She really knows how to push your buttons.”

“Isn’t that the truth.” The Irondalians who had come to the feast were passing them, leaving a respectful distance. They had already said goodbyes to their feast companions in the Pack, and they seemed ready to go home, at least for a bit.

One or two were staying behind, already talking with wolves, but most had their eyes set on the open portal and the opening gates within.

Rane gave Tala a sidelong look. “What did she say that got that reaction this time?”

Tala responded flippantly, almost offhandedly, “‘Use your husband.’”

He gave her an incredulous look. “Do I want context, or is it how it sounds?”

Several of the nearby Talons had reddened and picked up their pace. Ah, rust. They have better hearing than mundanes, too.

“Tala?”

She shook her head, then explained briefly what had happened.

“Ahh, I was wondering. So, we should practice using our authority together? You touch something, and I use my magic on it?”

She opened her mouth to respond, then froze. That was an application that she hadn’t yet considered. True, she hadn’t had long to think on it, but he’d thought of that application instantly. She grinned toward her husband in pride and contentment. “Huh. You know what? That would probably be an interesting thing to test.”