AN: I'm not dead I'm just doing some stuff. Summer stuff. I'm actually in California at the moment spending time with my Dad, who I don't see all that often. I hope you guys like the new chapter, though it's not the most exciting one but it was necessary. Next chapter has the actual interesting stuff. Now, I'm hungry so I'm going to get some leftover chinese food. Mmm…
Chapter 4
Adopted
"Oh good, you're finally awake." My mother's voice said, sounding pleased.
"Mom?" I groaned and opened my eyes, not seeing anything clearly for a moment other than a lot of indistinct shades of brown and a little green. I closed my eyes again and rubbed them before flicking the sleep out of them just to see an odd woman in front of me that was certainly NOT my mother.
"Who are you?" I asked, instantly defensive.
"Nerthus." She said amusedly. I paused and the memories started flooding in.
"Shit." I said simply. I instantly looked for possible exits.
"No there aren't any exits, child," She chided. "And don't be so obvious about it." I froze and did a double take at the area around me. It looked like bark but it was too smooth. Was I… in a giant tree? I suddenly realized at just how much magical power was flowing through the room. Nerthus' magical power. I was so fucked.
"Why am I not dead?" I asked, deciding to get it over with.
"Because you are a child," She said simply. "I had believed you to be a rogue spirit, yet you did not know what it was you were doing wrong." I was silent and Nerthus continued.
"You are a spirit. Spirits do not attack the creatures of the forest, yet you did. It is not that spirits know by experience to not attack the creatures of the forest, but that their instincts demand that they do not attack the forest creatures. It is no different than a mother's instinct to not harm her child. Only the most depraved of souls would do otherwise. This is what I believed you to be. Yet, you did not go against your instincts but you did not have any in the first place. An odd occurrence, to be sure, and I am responsible for it in part. You are born of my magic and as some fault was in your birth to hinder your natural instincs it falls to me to properly educate you.
"Well, and to fix all the damage you wrought." Nerthus muttered the last part, likely not intending for me to hear her.
"I… what?" I asked confusedly. Then it struck me. It was anime logic. I wasn't allowed to die unless it was for a dramatic powerup. I had to at least meet the protagonist and take his first kiss or something before dying. POintless death in anime wasn't allowed and especially not in the ecchi/harem genre. It simply wasn't that dark.
"I am to teach you the rules of the forest," Nerthus said simply. "It is my responsibility as I am partially at fault for your ignorance. However, there is another issue. You said that Fate had her attention on you," she looked to me gravely. "Is this true?" I nodded and she sighed wearily.
"I figured as such," Nerthus sounded tired. "Fate is a fickle thing but her fixations are ironclad. You will likely not rest until you have followed her plots or died. If you are lucky you will tire her and she will cast you loose to live freely. I had her attentions once. I was able to evade her but it was still the most arduous time of my life."
I was silent, not really knowing what to say. Nerthus hummed briefly. "What is it that you can do already?"
"I can do a lot. It might take awhile." I warned her.
"I have time. You do as well. This will help me know how to appropriately teach you. I'd prefer to not stunt you by attempting to teach something you already know."
I shrugged. "Alright."
"You are horribly weak." Nerthus said to me. Despite the bluntness of her statement she managed to sound elegant.
"I'm not going to try to fight anything directly! I've been trying to avoid doin exactly that!" Nerthus shook her head, looking slightly disgusted.
"Even the most amateur magician has at least basic defenses up at all times." She lectured. "You have none whatsoever."
"I-"
"What if a simple spiderling were to appear behind you?" She cut in. I blinked.
"A… spiderling?"
"A small spider - roughly the size of your torso," Nerthus explained. I didn't think that a spider the size of my torso was small at all. "Their mandibles are easily capable of transmitting magical energy. Their magical energies are tainted and upon being injected to a magician or other magical creature they poison their ability to use magic. In large quantities it may permanently cripple even strong magical creatures or your average magician."
I blinked, confused and a little scared. "Wouldn't my large amount of amgical energy make me immune to their poison? Like dilution?" Nerthus snorted, somehow still sounding elegant.
"You are dependant on your magic. Poisons of the magical variety are extremely effective against all spirits."
"They couldn't get me in smoke form." I continued to defend myself.
"Their poison is tainted magical energy, child. Were you not listening? They could poison you easily and rip you apart so long as their mandibles were infused with energy." I was silent.
"You are lucky that you did not venture into the eastern part of the forest." Nerthus pointed out ominously.
"So I need to learn magical defenses," I said, forcing a smile onto my face. "Easy.
"Should you take the easy path and simply consume a magical artifact, yes. Extremely." Nerthus smiled and I knew that she was one of those teachers. The ones that drove you to the ground to learn.
"I expect you to learn every classical Nordic spell within six months. Since all Nordic spells utilize magical circles we will start with deciphering those. Knowing which spell an opponent has prepared from their magical circle is equally important for your education and an extremely underutilized skill amongst almost every magical faction, save the Yokai and a scant few old yet minor sects of magicians. Now, the first quarter of every day will be devoted to magical training. The second quarter will be devoted to studying conventional magical subjects such as the aforementioned factions and magical history and magical theory. The third quarter will continue magical training. The final six hours of the day, from dawn to noon, will be your free time."
I felt a pressure come on me. Learn magical circles? A whole style of magic? She's already planned six months ahead of now for training? Isn't magic more important than history?
"No, magic is not more important than history. We will be studying magical theory first to assist in your learning of spellcraft but do not mistake it's precedence for importance." Nerthus said suddenly. I looked at her in mild horror. She smiled beautifically, not saying a thing. I shivered. I was SO fucked.
I hated it I hated it I hated it I hated it I hated it I hated it I HATED IT-
"Fifth rotation, third alignment, seventeenth variety." Nerthus instructed, not bothering to look up from the flower in front of her she was doing something magical with. I looked down at the book in front of me and flipped the page urgently twice to the appropriate page. I gripped my magic, weak and dying as it was, and wrenched out a little more juice for the circle. Light bended for me into an intricate purple circle, a figure of six different leaves in the center of it connected at the buds pointing outwards.
There were hundreds of magical circles in just the classical Nordic style alone. Then there was the modern Nordic style, which required you to know the classical style for a few things. Besides just the Nordic types of magical circles there were the Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Russian, Arabian, North African, South African, Central African, Fucking eastern African, and more. Thankfully the differences in European styles were mostly stylistic so there wasn't a French or British style but rather a large and extensive 'European' style of magical circles.
There were also a few hundred other styles from magical creatures. Centaur magical circles, various fey magical circles from Pixies to old elvish to draconic to plantaic, plantaic being born from the studies of some sentient plant species liky dryads except less spiritual and more physical.
"Only the first and third system are acceptable, albeit not ideal. Fix the others." I held back a groan. The systems were the 'layers' of a magical circle, going from the center outwards in rings. The most complex magical circles had hundreds of systems but those were rare and often related to time dilation or something similarly complex. Ritual circles could have several thousand.
The reason Nordic magic circles were often the first learned magic circles was because they had three, five, seven, nine, or thirteen systems. No exceptions. Using prime or numerically significant numbers was extremely common amongst magical styles, though there were some that didn't adhere to the rule like the inuits.
Oh, how I knew all of this? Well Nerthus had been drilling me in all of this for a day and a half! Six hours of constant magic practice and then six more hours of studying magical theory. We hadn't gone past studying magical topics yet but I had faith that my constant work would only get worse.
"Alright, we're done for today." Nerthus said in a satisfied manner. I stopped feeding magic into the circle I made and stared at her.
"It's been six hours," She pointed out. "You have six hours to do as you please starting now. However, we do have to discuss your agreement to meet with that mage. Georg." It took me a moment to remember what she was talking about.
"Right… Georg." I said tiredly.
"It was in three days at noon so you will be meeting with him in, hm, twelve hours. You'll be leaving in, let's say, ten hours so that you may run some errands for me." I blinked slowly as I added up how I had spent my time recently. I had spent about half a day hunting, twelve hours knocked out, and eighteen straight hours of magic theory and practice. I was so busy…
"As you are clearly exhausted I will allow you an extra six hours to rest in preparation for your outing. However, there are objects in Germany that you must retrieve for me in the market. I will have a list prepared for you later. You are dismissed." Nerthus waved her hand at me and returned to playing with the flower in front of her and I sluggishly thought through what had just occurred. I had six extra hours of rest? And then I had to meet with Georg…
I walked over to a comfortable looking corner and sat down, instantly nodding off to sleep away the torment of the past sessions.
"Sleeping in a corner? Truly?" I distantly heard Nerthus mutter. "There is a bed just… there. Your spiritual form would do equally well to relieve physical fatigue. Children… fine. Sleep, child."
Sunlight beat on my eyes mercilessly and I groaned softly. Wait, wasn't I a spirit? Oh, Nerthus. Right. My eyes opened and I noted that I didn't have any of the crustiness usually related to waking up. In fact, I felt great!
"Your regenerative factor is indeed quite useful." Nerthus, still fiddling with that damned flower, said vacantly. "I do not believe that you will ever require makeup to any degree. Oh, yes, I nearly forgot, you slept for but four hours. I would attribute this to your regeneration and abundance of magic helping your body to function. Now up, child, unless you'd prefer that I revoke your allotted time for dalliance and instead have you practice your magic circles."
I was up quickly, stretching myself out needlessly before looking around the room. Right, giant tree house. "Is there anything to do around here?" I asked Nerthus a little timidly. She was a goddess who had kicked my ass handedly not even a day earlier. She still scared me.
"You could practice your magics. It would ease your future sessions." She suggested. I gave her a look and she sighed softly. "I spend most of my time watching over the forest. At the moment I am preparing plants to assist in recovering the recent damages wrought on the forest. Healing the flora of the forest is the easiest task of mine. Repopulating the animal species shall be the most difficult task, though regrettably not one I am foreign to."
"I think I have an idea." I lied, hoping to wander around and find something to do. Nerthus nodded and hummed an affirmative and I walked out a semicircular doorway out of the room.
In front of me was a hollowed out trunk of a giant tree. I was a little amused by the stereotype but then I recalled the enormous amounts of magical power flowing through the tree. Opening up my magical senses I could feel it in the air, wood, and ground. It was sunken in there like… like it had been there so long that it was a part of the land itself.
A small shiver went through me and I looked around the trunk. There were two parallel staircases spiraling up the tree, occasionally flattening out briefly to allow easy access to a doorway like the one I was standing in, presumably to hallways or rooms. A few old wooden bridges went between the two staircases, linking the two sides of the tree up. A few of them looked to be in disrepair, though I couldn't quite tell since I was around the middle of the tree and it was hard to tell from above or below the bridges.
I walked up the tree casually, taking my time. I passed a few bridges, confirming that they were in disrepair and missing a few planks in some places as well as looking into the doorways. I saw a few different hallways and rooms. It seemed chaotic, how it was set up. There was what looked like an alchemy laboratory, a bowery, two storerooms, and two hallways I didn't go down. Why would Nerthus need a bowery or a laboratory? Maybe they were hobbies she dropped long ago? She was immortal, after all. It would make sense that she flitted between a few different hobbies in her long life.
However, the laboratory and bowery both looked unused. Not dusty but more forgotten in a way. It was something in how there were no projects on the few tables, how everything was neatly packed up, and how everything was arranged just so. It was like a toy that had never been taken out of it's packaging in a way. Maybe she had used the rooms long ago and purposely arranged them to look like that. I decided to ask her later.
Eventually, though, I arrived at the r-... top of the tree. Roof didn't really apply to the tree. The ground was flat at the top, mostly. It seemed a bit like a rooftop garden, actually.
To my amusement trees were actually on top of the tree in planter boxes that seemed to have been magically grown out of the tree, adding to the 'garden' feeling. They providing a leafy covering to the otherwise open staircase. If it rained then the trees would likely keep the staircase mostly dry. A few smaller planter boxes had flowers in them, more than I could name. I recognized a few orchid species and chrysanthemums but there were also stranger flowers, a few of which were definitely magical.
I looked over the garden for a moment and simply walked to the edge, where there was a small lip to the wood but no railing. The black forest was peaceful, almost. Moonlight shined softly down on the treetops and just enough that I could see the slopes of hills in the distance. I walked around the top of the tree and saw practically the whole forest. I wasn't that much higher than the trees but I was about a hundred feet up from the forest floor.
It took me a minute to circle around the tree before I paused for a moment and walked back down the tree from the other staircase. I looked idly into the rooms, taking note of them for later. Herbal workshop, what looks like a wood-carving station, hallway, hallway, a sitting room, and… something interesting.
I walked into the unknown room and glanced around. It mirrored the other workshops I saw but everything looked more esoteric. There was a display case of multicolored crystals, a few figurines on a shelf that had some sort of magical effect on them, and an obsidian altar with a pure white cloth folded on it sitting against a wall.
I tried to puzzle out what the room was for when I walked to one of the cupboards and opened it, showing a number of books. The first one I saw immediately caught my eye. The Basics of Enchantments by Richard Oriole. Just like that I knew what I was going to be doing for the next eight or so hours. I always liked reading anyways.
I was deep into the book when I was finally interrupted.
"Iris." Nerthus was standing right in front of me, her hand pulling my book down from in front of me. I immediately stiffened.
"Oh, I-sorry, did you-"
"I called you twice. You didn't hear me." She said, sounding both irritated and amused. "You've thirty minutes before you use Georg's portkey. I took the liberty of having a servant retrieve the portkey yet there is more we must go over."
"I… right," I said. I set the book aside and resolved to finish it later. Studying enchantments was oddly relaxing. It was work, sure, but from what I had learned of it so far it seemed more like something not normally taught to mages. It was like learning to sew to the larger magical world. It was useful but it wasn't something people often made a career on nor was it considered something particularly noteworthy.
"Come," Nerthus said. I didn't protest and followed along. "Magicians are a strange people. They are insular, somewhat parinoid, xenophobic, and yet they have an odd form of cunning in which common sense is dismissed in place of the unexpected. This 'Georg' magician seems to be not far off, judging by his ability to trust a stranger he met in the forest." I blushed a little as Nerthus looked flatly at me. I had given him a fair bit of trust. Not a lot but more than I probably should have. I blamed my lack of human contact. I was attention starved.
"At any rate," Nerthus continued, "I have some faith that you will avoid burning bridges with the magicians. Do not reveal that you are a spirit and you will likely be fine. Here," Nerthus handed me a list she procured from somewhere and I blinked several times at it. "Those are artifacts you are to procure. They are common and cheap. I will be giving you gold that you are to convert at the nearest bank. Don't worry, it's common for magicians to be a bit strange. Converting gold is hardly an outstanding event."
I was just a little bit skeptical about converting gold, much less carrying it around a place I had no knowledge about. Then I took a look at the list she gave me.
"Augendae?" I asked, "I don't know what an augendae is, or what you-"
"An augendae," Nerthus interrupted, "Is a magical artifact that enhances an aspect or skill artificially. They are weak, typically, only having a noticable effect if used on an amateur. The most common one is the augendae discite, which directly translates to enhance learning in latin. It improves your ability to retain information and is very common. Or, at least, was common. I highly doubt that the trend of using the items has changed."
"Ah… alright then." I said, deciding to not ask any more questions. We walked in silence for a little while down the stairs before crossing a bridge and ending up at the room I had practiced magic circles in before.
Without talking Nerthus plucked up a small pouch and handed it to me. It felt heavy, like somebody had filled it up with quarters or something. "It's enchanted to be bigger on the inside than the outside. It contains a thousand troy ounces of gold. In modern measurements I believe that is something similar to thirty kilograms." I paused and looked at the little pouch in a whole new light.
"Oh." I said weakly. I took another look at the pouch warily, wondering if it could get stolen.
"Feel free to use whatever funds are leftover to buy a few trinkets for yourself. I rarely venture into civilization anyways. Gold has little value to me other than how others value it. There is a portkey to return here inside that pouch as well. Simply focus on the pouch for a moment and it will switch from the compartment containing the valuables to the smaller one containing the porkey and an empty compartment. Now, I must return to my work. Be back before dusk." She sat down with a finality that made me not want to ask anymore questions and I noticed the portkey Georg had given me on the corner of the table. I picked it up and my throat felt thick.
Going back into civilization… it seemed like a big deal. I had been in the wilds of the black forest for how long? Two weeks? A month? Longer? I had no idea. Keeping track of time wasn't something I had focused much on. I had settled into life in the forest fairly quickly, in fact. Going back now felt… I didn't have a word for it. In a way I liked the forest. I did what I wanted when I wanted to. It was an interesting feeling and one I liked.
Hopefully going back would be a good thing and I don't horribly screw something up… I just jixed it, didn't I?
AN:
Abilities gained so far
Magical abilities
-Smoke form/physical form (Natural ability)
-Shadow control (Medium)
Upgraded potency from a Shadow Panther
-Telepathy (Minor)
Gained from a Psychic imp
-Natural instinct (Minor)
Gained from a Horned rabbit
-Transmutation (Earth based) (Minor)
Gained from a Metallic slime
-Temperature control (Moderate)
Gained from a lava golem (Infant)
-Magic sensing (Innate) (Medium)
Upgraded from (Minor) via numerous monsters
-Regeneration (Medium)
Gained from Dire wolves
-Faefire (Minor)
Gained from a Pixy
-Illusions (Minor)
Gained from a Pixy
-Light manipulation (minor)
Gained from a Pixy
-Empath (Minor)
Gained from a Hypno-plant (juvenile)
-Tactile telekinesis (Medium)
Gained from a Tosser plant
-Pheromone control (Medium)
Gained from a Dragonlily (Infant)
Magical techniques
-Raw/primal magic (Natural ability)
Upgraded potency via numerous monsters
-Metalhide
Gained from a Terradon (Juvenile)
-Air defense
Gained from Magical dragonfly (Common western variety)
-Shadow walking (Minor)
Gained from a Mantis (Shadow affinity)