It was very late when Harry could finally be persuaded to leave off experimenting with his new ability. He was almost like a child, intrigued and fascinated with something utterly new, and this only reminded Shiva and Quetzalcoatl of how different Harry was. Most Summoners grew up being trained in – and therefore used to - the arts of the mind. Even those who were not, technically speaking, psychically-gifted would at least know how to achieve the mental state to send to their Aeons. But not Harry. The wizarding world was rather short on meditation techniques, and meditation was only part of the mental control needed to focus on Aeons. By Hyne, even the non-magical community – what was it they were called, Muggles? – had more idea of meditation than the wizards.
*That's what you get when all your power is channeled by ritual and form.*
"Hey guys!" Harry said, still cheerful from learning how to send, as he suddenly appeared within the garden. Harry stopped short, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. *Hey guys!* His grin, already wide, widened further. *Hey! I can send here too!*
*Of course you can,* Quetzalcoatl sent, flying down from his branch to perch on the back of the bench Harry was sitting on. *I'm surprised it took you this long. Well, at least you're clearer now…*
"Clearer…?" Harry murmured, forgetting to send. His eyes widened. All those times in the past when the Aeons had responded not to what he said, but what he was thinking…he hadn't made the connection then, but now…
"You were reading my mind?!"
*Well, we're sort of living in your mind now, you know,* Quetzalcoatl pointed out. *And we don't exactly go through your thoughts, but you were practically broadcasting…*
*Alright, alright…* Harry sighed, remembering to send this time instead of speak. It got easier the more he did it. *So, what are we going to do now…?*
*Harry…do you know where the ley lines are?*
***
Harry did, of course. Wizards used the power that flowed through those conduits of natural magical energy, and so of course he knew about them. He couldn't spout off the exact configuration of ley lines, or where the most powerful intersections were, like Hermione could – and did, on occasion – but he'd studied the subject for nearly four years now. It was probably the most interesting part of History of Magic – which didn't say much, considering that the rest of it were just goblin rebellions.
The rest of the night was a lot more like a lecture-class than any of his other meetings with the Aeons had been, and it occurred to Harry how lucky he was to be able to do his 'studying' literally in his sleep.
As Shiva and Quetzalcoatl explained it to Harry, wizards' spells called upon the invisible energy that flowed through ley lines of the three dimensions; Summoners used the power that existed in the fourth. This fourth dimension, which many in the Muggle world had theorized about, was the…well, place was the closest concept the Aeons could convey to Harry…beyond the order of the universe and the matter that made it up. This was where the Aeons resided, until a Summoner could link them to the three dimensions.
Some items and beings retained an existence in the fourth dimension; this resulted in some of the energy from that dimension leaking into the world. Summoners drew that energy and stored it. The energy tended to settle into certain patterns, for lack of a better word, depending on the nature of the item/creature from which the energy flowed. For example, a rock would have the energy patterns for an earth-based spell; a tree, for a life-spell.
By the time they had gotten to this point in the discussion, it was day. Harry was walking to the grocery-store to pick up some food, a twice-weekly occurrence when Dudley Dursley is a member of the household, and another is Vernon Dursley. He was taking his time, strolling unconcernedly, hands in pockets. (Pockets which were so huge they could probably fit his head, never mind his hands) There was a distracted look in his green eyes – it was probably a good thing he could walk this route blindfolded, as he was busier sending to the Aeons than paying any real attention to where he was.
*But,* he was at the moment protesting, *what happens to the…subject when I draw energy from him? Does it hurt?*
*Most subjects, as you put it, won't even know you're Drawing from them,* Quetzalcoatl explained. *The only way they would was if they were a Summoner or an Aeon themselves. Only we can use the energy from pleroma…the fourth dimension,* he elaborated, when Harry sent a wordless burst of inquiry at the new term.
*They cannot use it, or feel it, or gain any sort of advantage from it, and in any case whatever you Draw will regenerate within a day or so.*
*I think that maybe you could do with a demonstration,* Shiva sent. *Harry, I want you to place your mind…well, do you know the feeling right before you send? Prepare to send, but don't send anything.*
Harry did so, stopping in his tracks. Fortunately, he had stopped right in front of a storefront so it just looked like he was window-shopping. Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk for no apparent reason would look rather strange. Unfortunately, he had stopped in the front of a store that specialized in baby-things, and by this we mean cribs and bonnets and toys that encourage color-recognition, not just things a boy's peers would consider juvenile.
This would be of particular annoyance to him later, but as of the moment he was concerned with more important things.
*Touch your arm…you have to see me.*
Harry did so, and noticed that when the image of Shiva popped into his mind, this time there was a visible corona of blue-white light around her. And the light just…seemed to move towards him…until he…
Harry almost staggered with the sudden influx of energy as suddenly the light seemed to coalesce into a comet-tailed sphere that hurtled towards him, disappearing into his body.
*There. You can see the spell-energy when you concentrate, and then Draw it,* Shiva explained. *Like right now, you've just Drawn Blizzard.*
And thus it began.
***
Harry later found that a corner of his mind kept track of the amount of energy he had, so that he always knew how many types of spells he had, and how much energy for each.
This proved very useful in another aspect of the Summoners' powers, Junctioning. Harry could use the energy he stored to augment and enhance certain aspects of himself – his strength, agility, endurance, resistance to elements, and the like. The effect's strength depended on the type and amount of energy he chose to Junction, so Harry played around a lot with his ability.
Quetzalcoatl and Shiva wanted him to train up his body so that he'd be able to better use his abilities. Unfortunately, with all the chores the Dursleys piled onto him, there was little time to do so. Harry resorted to playing his trump card – it was a touch on the crass side, and he felt a little guilty about it – but in the end he wrote a letter to Sirius, wherein he ever so casually mentioned that he was having trouble completing his homework, what with the lack of time.
Sirius's answer came in the form of a Howler, which promised dire and direct retribution to the Dursleys if his godson did not have as much free time as he wanted. Harry cast a Silence spell – one of the new ones he'd Drawn, not a wizarding spell – to hide the Howler from the neighbors and this apparent ability of Harry's to do magic without being warned off by the Ministry was an added impetus to his relatives to treat him better.
Harry was now practically left – no, the word was too mild; better to say, abandoned to his own devices. He could stay all day in his room if he wanted; or he could wander about town; or he could go have himself wild orgies, for all the Dursleys would do about it. His meals – apparently they did not want Harry to tell his godfather that his meals were anything to complain about – were still left out, but they were somewhat more appetizing and still hot when Harry ate. Like in his first year, the Dursleys hurriedly scurried out of any part of the house he came into, and so it was probably a good thing he spent most of his time outdoors.
Harry did in fact use some of his new-found free time to do his homework, carefully revising his Charms work as he had planned and even completing his Potions homework, but most of the time he trained.
In this, he followed exactly what the Aeons told him to do – after all, they were the ones who knew what they were doing. For some reason, he expected some heavy-duty combat training, like in those military movies he'd managed to see as a child – slogging through mud, learning fifteen different ways to kill a man, hiking through jungles to wrestle with man-eating bears or something like that.
What they wanted him to do was run. Sometimes the Aeons asked him to do other types of exercises, (he visited the community swimming pool at least twice a week now) but mostly he ran.
In his running all over Little Whinging, he soon memorized all the locations of those things that had energy he could Draw. He as yet found no people he could Draw from, but he stocked up from certain old trees, and rocks, and random places which were veritable fountains of energy – the Aeons called them Drawpoints.
His Aeons were the best source of spells, and soon he had all the Blizzard and Thunder energy he could hold onto. Later in the summer, when his body had become more physically fit, Harry had shocked himself – and the Aeons as well – when, Drawing from Quetzalcoatl, he had seen the lightning-Aeon's aura seem to…intensify. When he'd Drawn it to himself, he found he had Drawn, instead of Thunder, the more powerful Thundara. He was later able to duplicate this feat with Shiva, Drawing Blizzara from her, but this ability to Draw second-level spells was unpredictable. Sometimes it worked. More often, it did not. His Aeons assured him that as he progressed, he would be able to do it more regularly.
He also found out he could Draw from his phoenix-core wand, and appropriately enough, the energy he drew from it were for Fire spells. His Omnioculars yielded enough for a few Scan spells every once in a while. The trees yielded Cure and Esuna, though not in large amounts. A few Float and Silence spells rounded out his repertoire quite nicely.
***
AN
November 26, 2003
I really dislike this chapter, too much exposition. The first part, his 'talk' with the Aeons, was written to replace about a paragraph's worth of exposition in the original chapter. So that's why they sound rather stilted.
Another 'set-up' chapter. I'm so glad it's out of the way, and now Harry can just Draw and Junction and essentially do Final Fantasy-type things without readers telling me that I never mentioned it. I hope.
Next chapter gets more interesting though. Again, this is my hope, not a statement of fact.
About the spells: Quake spells are earth spells, since there aren't any that I can recall from the Final Fantasy series. And I'm making Water spells part of their own series, instead of being the only one. I don't remember any wind spells either, so I made up Gale. If I'm wrong, and there are real wind or earth or second-level water spell from FF, please feel free to point out my idiocy.
The pleroma and some aspects of my whole the-way-magic-works pseudo-theory were drawn from my studies. I take a class in Christian Civilization, and when we discussed the various heresies, imagine my surprise when Gnosticism turned out to have Aeons in it. That's about the only place I can find mention of Aeons as spirits…wonder if the Squaresoft guys got it from there…
Please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please (huff) please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please (pant pant) please please please please please….REVIEW!
(quietly, to side) So, do you think I sounded pathetic and deprived enough?
Wolfie: (Cyberwolf's snarky muse) No, I think you retained a shred of dignity. You might want to get rid of that. (ponders) I take it back. You have none left.
***
November 28, 2003
See front page for details on the revision. ^_^