Chapter 8 - Demi 101-Introduction to Time Magic


It had been 3 days since the Antlion attack, and not once since then had Molly ran a mission or participated in any engagements. She had lost her will, her passion for the Clan scene. She still didn't know when her own clan would return, if they would at all, or her dad for that matter. In fact, she didn't often leave her house anymore either. Life had lost its vibrance.

She had told Mom what happened, and Mom occasionally came to talk to her and comfort her, but there was not a lot she could say to make it better.

The third day, Mom decided it had gone on long enough.

"Molly," she asked her daughter, sitting down next to her on the couch, "how long are you going to keep this up?"

Molly looked back at Mom. "I have no idea, kupo. I don't feel the passion for the Clan Wars anymore. I probably never will again."

"The Molly I raised wouldn't give up so easily."

"That's... true, I guess, kupo..."

"Think of how excited you were when you finally gained the means to become a Time Mage, kupo. You just started, and now you're feeling like you're never going to do it again..."

Molly sighed. "Maybe I would feel better if I got word from Yinns... or Clivia..."

"I know the feeling, sweetie. You can never forget about a good friend, kupo, but at the same time you can move on. You'll probably even see her again someday..."

"The only reason she decided to break the Healing rule in that fight was because I wasn't strong enough to stop that monster, kupo." Molly looked down at the ground, saddened.

"Ohhhhhh honey, don't say that. You're just starting out, kupo... That was your very first battle as a Time Mage, wasn't it?"

She nodded. "That means I have to get stronger, though..."

"So you're not giving up?"

Molly looked at her mom. Mom was smiling. And at that moment a spark lit inside the girl...

Mom spoke again. "I might not understand all the ins and outs about how clans work, kupo... But Molly, you make me the proudest Moogle mother in all of Ivalice for me to know that you're in such a great Clan with such a driven heart. Please, kupo. Don't take that away from me."

Molly leaned her head against Mom's shoulder. "Alright, kupo. I'll give it another try. And I'll become stronger. For Clivia's sake, for the clan, and for everyone I get the chance to help in the future, kupo." She got up off the couch and headed towards the door. "Thank you Mom."


Molly stood beside the treehouse on the cliffside, holding her Stardust Rod in a battle stance.

"For your sake, Clivia, I will get stronger. Wait for me, kupo."

She thrust her Rod forward. "Demi!"

Forces built up inside her as the star-shaped jewel on the Rod glowed the seven colors of the rainbow, and the gravity well began to form in front of her. She practiced holding it as long as she could... Five seconds... Ten seconds... Then the Rod began to heat up again, and she broke the spell. She wiped the sweat from her brow. "Whew, kupo... This is exhausting. Okay, let's try it again." She had no idea that Time Magic was this draining. It might've helped if she had started with a simpler spell...

She walked up to a small tree covered in leaves. "Demi!" Another glowing Rod-thrust, and the gravity well began to form around the tree. The swirling energies twisted the shape of the tree and began ripping the leaves off the branches, pulled to the ground in a compressed heap. Five seconds... Ten seconds... Twelve... Break. The tree was in shambles when she broke the well this time, so she figured she'd practice on air like her first attempt.

"Gonna try for 15 seconds, kupo. Demi!" Thrust, and the well was back up. But this time the Rod heated up after only five seconds, having been strained by an untrained magic user twice in a row already. She pretended to ignore it, and casting the spell became like swimming through molasses. Ten seconds. The Rod was pulsing with magenta and white violent bursts of light. Twelve seconds. Molly felt as if her soul was being blown out of her body...

"J-Just... a little more..."

Thirteen.

Fourteen...

SNAP.

Molly heard a sound she did not want to hear-- the sound of the star-shaped jewel on the Rod cracking from the inside out. It didn't shatter, but it cracked. And when it cracked, the gravity well shattered like glass in a similar fashion. Black ripples of distorted space-time poured out of the shattered energy field, blowing Molly to the ground and warping the air as if a seam had opened.

Maybe one had.

"What have I done, kupopo!??" Molly screamed to herself as the energy pouring from the shattered gravity well continued to grow stronger... Molly held on to the ground, trying not to be blown away by the waves of force rippling outward. She looked up at the pulsing purple orb, which was increasing in brightness... A black shadowy form of some kind was appearing in the eye of the storm, getting bigger...

Then, all at once, the energy finally began to die down and subside, the warped air returning to normal, the colors of the sky and the trees resetting, the rippling waves of force subsiding like the calm after the storm... After half a minute had gone by, you couldn't even tell there had even been such a severe disturbance whatsoever.

Molly stared. A smoldering figure laid on the ground where the gravity well had been... Molly stepped closer to it to try to make it out...

A human boy. Lying seemingly unconscious... But the way he was dressed, Molly had not seen anything like it. He wore thick, blue trousers with metal buttons in many places, and his dark green shirt had the words "i p0wn n00bz" written in a light-green, alien-looking font. Molly had never been around computers before to know that the font was based of MS-DOS print. He wore rounded square-rimmed glasses and had thick, dark-brown hair that seemed to stick out in several places, though it wasn't spiked, like a typical human clanner would have it.

"Who... is he?" Molly whispered to herself, awestruck. "Did I... bring him here?"

Molly was about to find out, as the smoking human boy slowly opened his eyes and stirred...