Mana Mirror: Chapter Fifty-Three (Patreon)

“I… Don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “I wasn’t expecting this, though in all honesty, I probably should have been.”

“That’s understandable,” she said, nodding sympathetically. “You have a bit of time. Not as much as I’d like, but a bit.”

“Alright…”

“Let’s eat,” she said, clapping softly as she began to carry plates to the table. Ed joined us, presumably awoken by the smell of breakfast cooking.

The dish was good. The flatbread was crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside, and while the egg-vegetable mixture was spicy thanks to the peppers, the drizzle of honey served as a nice counterbalance to the heat.

“What’s the plan for today?” Ed asked between mouthfuls of food.

“Well, you need to get to working on mastering and ingraining your newly picked out spells for your first gate,” Meadow said, pointing her fork at him, then swung it to me. “And you need to stop neglecting your mana-garden. You’ve done a great deal of work on your spellcraft, but what have you actually done to improve the garden aspect of it?”

“Nothing,” I admitted, a touch of shame and amusement in my voice. “I’ve been pretty busy, in my defense, but you’re right that I should have been working on it.”

While Ed washed up – his punishment for not being there to help cook – Meadow led me out back to the garden I was slowly growing.

“We definitely need to get you started on some other plants,” Meadow commented. “There’re more uses than just serving as an extra bit of mana. For one, if you raised some brambles and briars, you could use them to increase your Briarthreads spell.”

“I can?” I asked.

“Indeed,” she said, nodding. She reached into her dress and withdrew a dried stem, taken from some sort of thorny plant, then channeled the Briarthreads spell. They sprung to life, mixing into the power of the thorny plant, and the sharp briars on the spell grew sharper and denser.

Then she dismissed the spell, and I let out an appreciative whistle.

“I’ll definitely add that to my list,” I said. “Is that true for all plant magic?”

“Generally,” Meadow said, nodding. “There are always fringe cases. Did you read through the full notes on Fungal Lock? It may be the same.”

“Uh,” I said. I’d started to read through them at the library when I first got the spell, but that was so long ago, I didn’t even remember if I finished. I’d meant to go through them in my downtime, but I never had.

She shook her head and laughed.

“Don’t worry, you can go check later. That’s actually one benefit of the staff for us plant mages. We can incorporate them into the staff’s construction.”

“Good to know,” I said, nodding. “But for now, working on my mana-garden?”

“Indeed,” she said, handing me a vial of the inky nothingness potion that would allow her to enter my mana-garden.

As we slipped into it, I looked to Meadow.

“Do you have any advice on where to start?”

“Not with Briarthreads,” she said. “That came from a rive, I’d wait until you’ve used it more. Hmm, well, your Analyze spells are a good place to start.”

“Can you help me?” I asked as I began working to snap the excess branches off of Analyze Life.

“I’m only a projection here,” she said, “I picked the potion up in a six pack from the pharmacy, it’s not powerful enough to let me enter your soul.”

I worked on the tree as she watched, at least until the potion wore off. At that point, I actually stayed in my mana-garden, working away, until Meadow woke me for lunch.

Meadow had cooked a blended, chilled bean soup that was delightfully light and refreshing against the humidity of Suns-Birth, and as I washed up, Meadow broached the next topic.

“Much like I told you earlier, Malachi, the use of plants in plant magic can strengthen them, and the same is true of stone magic. You’ve unknowingly been using this, thanks to your Legacy, Ed. The stone spears you crafted have served to focus the power of your stone spells.”

Ed perked up at that.

“Really? That’s cool!”

She smiled and nodded, then looked to me.

“We’re going to find your brother some wild roses. They’re common enough during this part of the year, and they’ll serve well for his Briarthreads spell. While we’re out there, you should both practice your harvesting spells.”

“Alright,” Ed said, bobbing his head in agreement. “Are we going to fly there?”

“I can’t fly,” Meadow said, shaking her head, “nor do I have a broom here. We’ll jog. That should give you both time to practice your harvesting spells too. And Ed, you can practice your Stoneskate too.”

I replaced my binder with a sports bra, and just as she’d said, we jogged from our bakery and towards Trollstone forest.

Ed used his spell to draw mana from the pavement and skating along the ground while I jogged, using Harvest Distance to keep a steady stream of mana flowing into me, and using the time to sketch out Spatial Anchor while we ran.

Despite her age, Meadow was able to keep with Ed and myself. As I ran, I panted out, “How… Are you… Keeping pace with me?”

“Health is very important as you get older,” Meadow said with a laugh. “I’ve made sure to drink plenty of tea and exercise regularly.”

I grumbled. There was no way that was the entire story. Maybe it was a magical tea? With everything that Meadow had taught me about magical plants, there had to be some that kept you very spry.

Once we arrived in the forest, Meadow had us take a trail until we were about a mile deep in the forest before stopping.

“We depart from the trail here,” she said. “Wild roses that grow along the trail tend to wind up picked, especially this close to civilization.”

“Isn’t one of the very first rules about hiking to never, ever go off the trail?” Ed asked, frowning.

“Oh yes,” Meadow said. “We’re also going to further break the rules by splitting up, and meeting back together in three hours.”

“That seems needlessly dangerous,” I said. “Why would we do that?”

“I’ll be able to find you,” Meadow said. “One of my spells allows me to find anyone within my range, which is currently about a thirty-mile radius from me. We’re all powerful enough to handle any of the threats in a place as mundane as this. Though if you’re uncomfortable with this, I’d be happy to stay with either or both of you. I also have some emergency bracelets you can snap and I’ll be there in an instant.”

I considered it for a moment, then shrugged.

“I like your company, but I’m okay splitting up to cover more ground,” I said.

“I’m… Not,” Ed said. “Malachi, you may have experience wandering around aimlessly in a forest with Kene, but I’m not a Wyldwatch member, and I don’t. Meadow, can you come with me?

“Of course, dear,” Meadow said with a gentle smile. She handed me a bracelet made from flowers, and I put it around my wrist. “Just break that if you run into trouble.”

“Can do!” I said, then stepped off the trail, sweeping out my mana senses around me to search for any sort of danger, or even better, magically infused plants. I also connected a harvesting spell to two of the larger oaks in the area, allowing the mana to flow into me.

After an hour of walking, I’d found… Nothing. A few plants that glowed faintly with mana, but nothing that felt even as strong as first gate.

Until something flickered on my mana senses. It was there for just the shortest of moments, then it was gone again, and my peacepyre, which had been floating over one shoulder as a bit of extra illumination, turned itself curiously, bobbing about.

The flicker I’d felt had been to my left, so I turned and started heading that direction, conjuring my Briarthreads spell, and setting points of space around me for two instances of Pinpoint Boneshard to rotate defensively.

I walked for a few minutes, then I felt a tiny pinprick of mana from behind me. I turned, but saw nothing.

Hmm… Had I walked past it?

I stepped forwards and felt a source of chaotic mana bloom over my head, and then a second source mana envelop me. The second source of mana felt mostly like abnegation, with some elements of telluric and lunar, but the first I’d only felt for a few moments, I hadn’t been able to get a good read on it.

I stretched out my mana, trying to sense for it, but my senses butted up against what felt almost like…

A ward?

“I’m sorry,” came a voice that I didn’t recognize. I jumped and spun to see a tiny woman, only about four inches tall, glowing with magic, with a set of butterfly wings sitting on a branch behind me, kicking her legs. “I don’t think your senses can extend past the bwbatch’s barriers.”

She said bwbatch like boo-batch, but I barely heard her. I was entranced, staring out over the small area I’d somehow found myself in.

A small forest pool, presumably fed by an underground spring, dominated most of the area. Dotted all around the pool were tiny houses, the size of the dollhouses I’d had when I was young, creating a sort of miniature town.

All throughout the town there were people going about their business. I spotted several pixies, like the one who’d spoken to me, what looked like brownies, and small, almost troll-like creatures who I presumed to be the bwbaches. Within the pool itself, I saw tiny people made of water – nixies, most likely.

To my magical senses, the area pulsed strongly with magic. It wasn’t human magic, so I had a bit of trouble evaluating it, but I’d have bet good money that several of the people in this tiny town were stronger than I was.

“Wow…” I said, my eyes wide. “I had… No idea that this was out here.”

The pixie on the branch laughed, and it sounded like the tinkling of a bell.

“Most people don’t,” she said. “Truth be told, we really prefer it that way. The bwbaches wove powerful barriers around us, so that we couldn’t be found, seen, or disturbed. We’re happy to live our lives.”

“Then why am I here?” I asked, curiously. Over my shoulder, the peacepyre spun happily. I wasn’t sure how I knew it was a happy spin, but it distinctly was one.

“Yep!” the pixie said, pointing to my peacepyre. “We’re pretty good friends with will-o-whisps, peacepyres, and spook-lights. One of the peacepyres chose you, so you have to be pretty decent. That’s why I pulled you into the barrier to save you.”

“Thanks?” I said. “I’m sorry, I’m… Not sure what I needed saving from.”

The pixie’s face fell, and the light around her dimmed.

“That’s the other part of why I pulled you into the barrier. None of us are really… fighters? I’m the best one in the village!”

Her tiny chest puffed out with pride at that, and the glow returned.

“But… I mostly just use illusions and flit around like wild. It’s enough that it’s driven away any of the magical beasts who’ve come after us before.”

“But not now?” I asked, frowning.

“Not now,” she said, her wings drooping. “It’s not a matter illusion magic can help with, this time. It’s a matter of raw strength and size. Will you help us?”

“Of course! Just tell me what I need to do.”