Double Lives – the multiverses collide
Chapter 10
A/N: Yay, Chapter 10! Double digits! This chapter is going to be fun.
Eragon woke up early as usual. He always liked getting up early, as it gave him time to relax and do what he wanted for a little while before the day's responsibilities and tasks took the rest of his time. He was currently in his room next to Saphira going through the highest stage of Rimgar. The Elven "dance of the snake and crane" was quite a tough physical exercise, the highest stage being so tough that only very fit elves could complete it successfully. No human had ever done it before. Eragon was only half human, and the leader of the Riders.
Once he was finished, he went to his washing room since he was covered in sweat. There he filled a tub with water and used magic to quickly heat it before jumping in.
When he finished bathing, he headed to the training field with Saphira to wait for the four new Riders to arrive. He thought of them and their dragons: John and his blue dragon, the female Ashikia; Cornelius and the orange male Kyloth; Frank and male Camroth , the red and female Kayelinth the white with Emily.
Eragon shook his head and said "I don't think that was very good idea…"
"We talked about it extensively. We wouldn't be able to keep the dragons hidden for ever. And, who knows what the government would try to do if they found out and they managedto take one of us," said John.
"But who says making this public will help? That will just alert them sooner"
"We are not sure, but that seemed like the best option," objected Emily.
"Very well… in this world, I would think it not better to let everyone know, but your world is different. I still don't think your world is prepared" Eragon massaged his temples then continued, "We will need to preparet in case something bad happens. I was not planning on teachingthe four of you magic until I see I will have to make a start today."
Normally, the four teenagers would have been jumping with excitement but not under these circumstances. After a couple minutes' silence, John said "It would be nice if you could see the modern world first hand, and you could help as well. Some people already know about the dragonsand don't think it is a hoax, so Saphira coming too wouldn't make much of a difference." John wanted the two to come to the modern world, and show them around. Eragon would surely have some invisibility spell for Saphira. They would also be able to help in the case of something going wrong.
"Mmm-hmm…" said Eragon, still thinking. "Come, we should start our training. Magic is controlled by the Ancient Language. You can also cast spells without the language to form them, but that is to be avoided at all costs, since if your concentration wavers while you are casting a spell, it could have dire consequences. For example, if you wanted to set a door on fire, but while you were about to cast the spell, you briefly thought about the person next to you,you would most likely end up setting the person on fire. That's why we have the Ancient Language to make sure that magic does exactly what you tell it to. Let us start with making stones float.
"Take a stone in the hand with the mark from touching your dragon. Now, if you search your mind, you will find a small part that you have never used before. It will get easier with practice, but for now it will be quite tough to breach the barrier. Again, with practise, you will also be able to keep the magic for longer. Once you have breached it, you will feel the flow of magic around you. When you are ready, concentrate on the stone in front of you and say 'Stenr rïsa', which means 'Stone, rise'."
Cornelius gasped then said, "In the modern world, studies have shown that humans only use 20% of their brains…maybe it has something to do with this?"
"Maybe, but for now the four of you need to practise."
Eragon watched as for a little while. Nothing happened. Then Cornelius repeated the words and his stone floated upwards, wobbling for a few seconds, and fell down again. Eragon remembered when Brom had first trained him,.He also had trouble staying in the flow of magic for long. Then Frank said "Stenr rïsa" rather forcefully and his pebble shot off a few meters up then hit the ground in front of him. Eragon chuckled. When he had tried to see if Roran could do magic, Roran had said the words with such force, Eragon had expected it to also go flying. Roran… thought Eragon. Roran was very old, for a normal human, now but was still in good health, for his age. Then John and Emily both succeeded in raising their pebbles at the same time, but after a few seconds of wobbling in the air, Emily's fell to her palm again.
He looked at John and was met with a surprising sight. The stone was hovering in front of his face, perfectly stable. John looked very surprised as well. After seeing the others' stones fall so fast, he was almost scared of what his one was doing. "Eragon?! How do I make it stop?!" He asked.
"Leave the flow of magic… move away from that part of your mind," said Eragon, rushing to John. Then the pebble dropped. Eragon stopped, coming to a standstill just in front of John. After a pause, he said, "John how did you do that?"
"I don't know…I did just what you told us to…"
"But how? No-one has ever managed to do it so well on their first attempt. Not even me. Are you sure this is the first time you have done magic?"
"I've never done my magic in my life before… if I have, I certainly don't know about it. But what you said about it being hard to get into the flow of magic…it felt almost too easy…"
"Ok." Said Eragon, then he silently conversed with Saphira alone. It doesn't make sense…he became a rider just four days ago, in his time, how could it be possible…?
I do not know, little one, but he isn't lying. I asked Ashikia. He certainly has no memory of using magic, aside from telepathy the last few days.
This is strange. Maybe it has something to do with him changing worlds?
Maybe… but for now we should continue training, John included, but I think maybe let the others continue practising with the pebbles. You should give him slightly more challenging tasks. Oh, and you forgot to mention at the start about how much energy magic uses.
I shall. Thanks, thought Eragon, then he said, "Ok, John I want to get you working on something harder. You other three, for now continue trying to keep the stones floating. Try to focus on keeping them still and also floating for long. And Frank, keep it more under control. You need to keep it floating in front of you. Also, before you try anything silly, let me tell you something important about magic: It takes as much energy to use the magic as it would have to have actually done it physically. If you want to throw a boulder, it will take the same amount of energy as if you had done it yourself.
"The amount of energy also increases over distance the object is away from you. If you use too much energy, then you will first pass out, and then possibly die. Rather don't do something iIf you are unsure.I Remember that if you set a definite condition for magic to do something, like raise the boulder five feet in the air, it won't stop until it has done that. If you don't have enough strength and energy to reach five feet, you will die. If the commands are vague, like 'stone rise', then you can stop the magic when you choose."
The Riders-in-training nodded, then Eragon walked away with John and said, "Ok, John, for whatever reason, you can use magic easily, so now I am going to teach you more words in the Ancient Language, and also see how much you can do."
First, Eragon had John do a series of physical tests to determine his strength and stamina. It turned out that John had the strength of an ordinary human. Nothing was surprising there.
Then he taught John words and sentences in the Ancient Language, and got him to cast different spells to see how John fared. To both their great surprise, magic came very easily to John. John was too inexperienced at magic to gauge his energy loses, but Eragon thought that he seemed to be tiring slower than he should be. It was as if his magic was more efficient than it should be, not a one toone ratio. This confused and surprised both of them greatly. However as John had not had decades getting fitter and training, nor was he part-elf, his magic was hardly comparable to Eragon's.
Eragon also briefly tested the other's magic 'efficiency' on a large stone, not quite a boulder, but they tired as quickly as expected.
A little later, at the end of the day, the group headed to their respective rooms. John was tired and confused, and Eragon only the latter. He decided he would have a talk with the Eldunarí tomorrow, as it was quite late at the time they had finished.
"John…John! Wake up!" came the voice inside and outside his head. John opened his eyes sleepily and was met with the sight of Eragon's face in front of him.
"Wha-what you doing here?" he asked weakly and sleepily. Was he still in Alagäesia? He sat up. No, he was in his own room.
"I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me," said Eragon.
"I don't know either… how did you even get in my house? How did you find it?"
"Saphira and I woke up in the garden. I sensed you inside. I fixed the door."
"You broke down the door!"
"Normally I would have used magic to unlock it, but I didn't want to waste it afterwards was much quicker, since I went neatly for the hinges."
"Arrgh… next time, wake me up first then I can use the key to unlock it… did you wake anyone else up?"
"No. I don't think so" said Eragon. There was a few minutes' silence then Eragon asked "John, I remember you saying that you wanted me and Saphira to come here…"
"Yeah…So…? I didn't do it…I think…"
"Did you also want Ashikia to come as well, and your friends to Alagäesia?"
"Are you saying I caused this?"
"I am saying it seems the most likely explanation. I have checked your mind before, and you are not doing it deliberately, that's for sure."
"It would explain why I can access magic so easily, but how?"
Eragon remained silent, obviously at a loss for answers. John checked the time on his phone that was next to his bed.
"Why do you wake up so early? It is almost 5 o' clock…"
"I normally do. I take the time to exercise and relax before the day's duties get to me. It has been pretty tough getting my days free to train the four of you. Luckily I have twelve council members to help me, though they also have their fair share of responsibilities."
"Ok, thanks…I guess… I'm going to go and wake my parents."
"Ok. I'll come with you."
"Ok, just wait outside their room's door until I call you."
"Sure…"
They headed out of John's room towards his parent's room. Eragon looked at all the weird things in the house, wandering what they did, but not wanting to fiddle, lest he damage something. John pressed some sort of mini circular lever that made circular patches on the ceiling glow with a bright light. Eragon waited in the passage, looking at the strange light sources.
John quietly opened the door to his parent's room and walked to his dad, who slept on the bed's side nearest the door, and shook him gently. "Dad, wake up." He said quietly. After some shaking his dad, Charles gave off a brief snort and sat up quickly. This gave John a big fright. In doing this, he also woke up Helena, who was a rather light sleeper.
"John, what are you doing up so early?" asked his dad.
"Uhm, well…dad, remember I told you about Eragon and Saphira?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, they are here…"
"What!"
"They are here. Eragon is at the door."
"Ok, John… switch on the lights, then we will call you two in soon."
John nodded and then switched on the lights and then headed out, closing the door behind him. A little later, his parents called to them, "You can come in." John went in ahead of Eragon, his parents now in their clothes sitting on top of the bed.
"Hello, Eragon," said John's dad nervously.
"Hello…uh?" Eragon's sentence faded, since he didn't know their names and didn't want to be impolite and read their minds to find out.
"Charles, and this is my wife Helena."
"Hello Charles and Helena, nice to meet you." Eragon held out his hand to them and they shook his.
"Uh…well, welcome to our home. Where is-" he was interrupted by the screeching of tires from below. John rushed to the window and saw Saphira on the road, a car driving away very fast. In Alagäesia, with all its supersized buildings, he had not really truly realized how big she was. If she stretched her neck only slightly, she would be able to put her head in the window. Actually, she would end up making the majority of the wall into a 'window' if she tried to stick her head in.
John turned away from the window and said "Oh great…someone spotted Saphira in the road." All four of them rushed downstairs and out the front door and to Saphira. John's parents lagged behind somewhat, scared of the gigantic dragon standing halfway in their driveway. "They are probably going to call the police," said John, "Eragon, can you hide Saphira?"
"Yes, I can make her invisible, but she seems to be right in the middle of those strange creatures' pathway. I could fly with her and make her invisible?"
"Yes, do that. Now where is Ashkia?" John searched for her telepathically and found her busy trying to raid the freezer which had a lot of meat in it. She didn't seem as if she was going to succeed any time soon, and he had other things to worry about.
Eragon hopped onto Saphira and said a few words of the Ancient Language. John gasped as they phased out of sight. Then John felt Eragon's presence in his mind and heard Eragon say Let's keep in contact like this.
Ok, responded John. "Cover your ears," John warned his parents and did likewise. The air pressure spiked massively as the invisible dragon took off. Once the pressure spikes had gone, John took his hands away from his ears and then looked around. Glass windows, car windscreens and sliding doors had cracked in most of the nearby houses and cars. Lights were switching on in various houses along the street. John's parents were standing with gaping mouths.
"Don't worry, he can fix it with magic later, our main worry is the police. Let's get inside," John said. His parents still looked worried, but they went in after him.
Soon, there were cars with flashing red and blue lights on top were in the neighbourhood, asking every household questions about a report of a massive reptile. They investigated why many of the glass windows were broken. They focused mainly on the three houses on either side of the road around what seemed to be the centre point of the blast radius, having the cracked windows.
There was a knock on the front door. John stayed in his room and the now-awake George stayed in his. John had Ashikia in his room and told her to stay quiet. She was starting to understand some English. Helena and Charles, who had changed back into their pyjamas and put their nightgowns on, walked to the front door and opened it.
"Hello, officer, what is with all the commotion? Half the windows in the house are cracked… a couple have even broken…" said Charles.
"We are not too sure what is happening, but there was a report of a giant winged reptile and lots of the glass in your house. The closest five houses also seem to have damages. We are need you to answer a few questions and inspect your house. Don't stress, we are searching every house. We are trying to find the source of the incident," said the police officer.
"What would you like to know?"
"Did you see or hear anything?"
"Well, there were a number of pressure spikes just after we heard tires screeching. Could someone have set off some kind of bomb?"
"No, as far as we can tell, the screeching tyres were our informant driving away after seeing the giant reptile. Is there anyone else in the house?"
"Yes, our two sons."
"Ok, stay here, we may need to ask more questions, but for now, ,may we search the house?"
John had told Ashikia to hide in the cupboard and was lying on his bed, pretending to be busy on his was very nervous, he didn't know what to do on it. Then there was a knock on the door and a police officer walked in. "Hello, I take it you are John?" the officer asked.
"Yes," replied John watching as another two officers walked in.
"We would liketo search your room. Just stay calm."
John nodded, and then noticed one of the officers staring at him. "Do I know you?" the officer asked, "Yes…you're the one from that website claiming dragons are real…"
Oh great… thought John. He contacted Eragon and said Eragon, be ready to cast spells through me as I need them. It will be quicker that way. John looked at the officer and said "Well, do you believe it?"
"No," chuckled the officer, "graphic designing these days is getting so good…" John chuckled with him then watched as the three policemen searched his room. They started to openhis cupboards…
A/N: I apologise if the suspense is killing you, but there will be no chapter tomorrow. I am going on a hike for most of the day.