Hey everyone. Hope you enjoyed the first few chapters. This story is mostly an experiment to see what I can do with these two universes. I'm one of the people helping with the development of the Magitech Chronicles RPG, and the characters on the Magitech side will mostly be taken from the games I've run or played in (the ones in the previous chapters are from a Play by Post game).

Anyway, hope you enjoy, and if you want more information on the RPG, check out this link: w/the-magitech-chronicles-scholarlyfox

On with the story

Lyra

She stood in the vacuum of space. Her scholar's mind telling her that by all accounts, she should have suffocated or died of hypothermia right now, but she felt neither cold, nor short of breath. In her hands, she held a long spear, the metal seeming to tug at her very soul as she faced the wyrm across from her.

"When did Krox bind you, Shivan?" the wyrm asked. She was gargantuan, the light reflecting off the world behind her glistening off her beautiful blue scales.

The scene faded, and she was on the bridge of a battleship the mind she was apart of identified as the Shivan's Echo, as energy poured out of her into the spellmatrix. Then again, and she was crouching behind a woman who she had just driven a dagger through her heart. Scattered images flashed before her, too fast and confusing for her to comprehend.

She was suddenly back in the Temple of Shi, and Silvaine was standing nearby.

"What happened?" she asked, as Pantalaimon emerged beside her, distracting her from the answer to Silvaine's question. A purple streak had appeared in the pinemarten's fur, running almost the full length of his back.

"Interesting. It seems your- what did you call it? Demon? has catalysed as if it were an item, not a person. If you go back to your universe, I should like to go with you. You are curioser and curioser the more I learn about you."
Lyra looked down at her shoes, not liking the attention.

"I feel something. Like an energy inside me. Is that normal?"
The woman drew something in the air with her hand, and a flame appeared in the other. Lyra raised her gyptian fighting stick in a defensive position.

"Calm yourself. I am merely performing a flame reading."
Lyra looked into the flames, and saw an image of herself, with various energies around her. One was a thread of white that connected her with Pantalaimon. A second was a purplish energy that seemed to be around where her heart was, and a similar purple energy in Pantalaimon's body.

"Ah. It seems my mother has gifted both you and your demon with dream magic. A powerful gift to be sure. You should use it wisely."

Lyra nodded. "What can it do?"

"Basic illusions, like masking the sound of your footsteps or creating a scent that isn't there. You'd need to gain Air Magic for more complex illusions. For now, you can fire a bolt that can put people to sleep, but I can teach you a few other spells if you'd like."

"I can do magic?" Lyra said, still not quite believing of Silvaine.

She laughs. "Of course. My goddesses gifts will aid you in your travels. If you can find a way to master Fire, finding what you're seeking will be made trivial."

Lyra nods. "Teach me."

Deven

Deven emerged from the catalyst to see a lesson already in progress. Lyra had manifested a blade of dream energy, and was attempting to deflect beams coming from multiple illusory versions of Silvaine. He sat down at the edge of the circle, watching with rapt attention, as Lyra faded from view. On a whim, Deven activated his spellarmour's senses. Lyra hadn't moved, but was using Dream magic to make herself difficult to perceive. He examined his own aura. His spellarmour had become more resilient, and he had gained Greater Dream Magic, supplementing his existing Dream Magic by a significant margin. He could sense that the intelligence in his spellarmour and spellstave had grown, and in the place of the spellstave, it had become better at predicting his movements, and aiding him in achieving what he was trying to do. He was distracted as Lyra reformed her dream blade into a whip, knocking Silvaine off her feet, before firing a Dream Bolt from her other hand. It hit Silvaine in the chest, and she pretended to fall to the ground, unconscious, though Deven suspected Silvaine's Dream Resistance was high enough, a single dream bolt from a newly catalysed tech mage would not be enough to have the effect it did.
"Well done, child. You are learning well. You will be a powerful mage in the future, I am sure."

"Thank you for your lesson," Lyra and Pantalaimon bowed respectfully, and Silvaine laughs

"There's no need for that. I am not one of those old Terran martial arts masters."
Lyra stood back up. "Nevertheless, I really appreciate this."

Lyra was silent for a moment. Then a thought seemed to occur to her.

"You said I might be able to use Fire magic combined with this Dream Magic to find Will? Do you know where I could get that?"

"There is the Wrath of Van, the nearby Fire catalyst, or Crewes, who is a still living god. But he's offworld right now. And remember, child, that while it is possible, I do not think you will have enough magical power to give you much more than a vague direction."

She nods.

"You could come with us," Deven offered "We tend to stumble into quite alot of catalysations in our travels, through favours of the gods and other means."
"Hmm. I'd like that. I don't know much about this universe, so having a guide would be useful."

"Well, you have the right person," Deven says, with a laugh "I'm what's called a Relic Hunter. Kind of like one of the old Terran archeologists. It means I'm good at research. I'll be able to teach you what you need to know."

"That's fantastic. Thank you."

Catalysations for the characters
Deven: Fire (Fire Magic), Fire (Greater Fire Magic), Dream (Dream Magic), Dream (Greater Dream Magic), Air (Air Magic)
Lyra: Dream (Dream Magic)
Pantalaimon: Dream (Edge on Stealth checks)
Anya: Life (Life Magic), Dream (Dream Magic)

Dos: Fire (Fire Magic), Air (Air Magic), Spirit (Spirit Magic)

Lucinda (not introduced yet, but she's the artificer friend who made Devens armour): Air Magic, Life Magic, Greater Air Magic, Fire Magic, Dream Magic