Chapter 11

Learning Steps

On the east balcony

Lina's eyes slowly opened when Xellos' lips left her own. Amethyst orbs gazed back at her, telling her something… if only she could figure out what. Xellos smiled a soft expectant smile, glancing over her shoulder and back to her. Blinking she turned to see what he had glanced at, and felt her breath catch. They were surrounded by velvet darkness, but in that darkness gleaming lights and colors swirled. It reminded her of the night sky far to the north, stars and colored lights gleaming in the darkness. It was vast and alien, but beautiful. She realized as she looked around that there was nothing beneath her feet, and she couldn't find a point of reference, which was slightly disorienting. Turning her gaze to Xellos she found that he was watching her with an excited smile.

"What do you think?" he asked with restrained eagerness.

She smiled at him, "it's beautiful." Looking around again she asked, "is this the astral plane?" He nodded. "It looks so different from what I expected… I always thought it would look more like the pocket dimension Mazenda and Kanzeil pulled us into."

"Parts of it do," admitted Xellos.

"How can I be here like this?" she asked gesturing to her body. Humans could project onto the astral plane, but their physical body stayed behind in the real world.

Xellos smiled, "you aren't really. You're in a pocket dimension I took into the astral plane."

Lina blinked and looked around, but couldn't see anything around them.

"Think of it as a Raywing bubble underwater. I created this pocket dimension just around the two of us, then I imposed my will to make the dimension appear here in the astral plane."

Lina's senses had picked up on a magical bubble that surrounded them, but they weren't standing on the base of the bubble like you would in a raywing spell, it felt like she was standing on a flat surface but she could sense the curve of a bubble shape beneath her.

"I can sort of make it out, but why are we standing on a flat surface when the spell is in a bubble around us?"

Xellos smiled triumphantly, "that's the best part. I created the pocket dimension to mirror the physical plane. So it gives you a flat floor and to move in it you just walk around like you would normally. The barrier is a sphere because that is the most basic form, but the sphere just follows your physical movements."

"That's pretty clever! How did you make it? Can you teach me?" The desire for knowledge was burning brightly in her eyes.

Xellos paused, "I'm not sure. It's something I do instinctively, a product of will and ingenuity, but not really spell craft. I could try to teach you how, but I don't know if it's something a human could do or not. And even if you did make it, I don't know how you would pull it onto the astral plane."

Lina thought, "well even if I can't pull it onto the astral plane being able to make a pocket dimension should be something I can master. After all it's similar to what I did to my cloak."

Xellos nodded recalling how she pulled things out of the cloak like a conjuror performing tricks, "the concept is similar. Tell me how you made that and we'll go from there."

Her cloak was something she'd developed herself, her secret, but Lina didn't even pause. The time passed quickly as they put their knowledge together, to try and make a new spell.

Xellos smiled at the beautiful woman, working with her like this was nearly as fun as kissing her. He'd never met anyone who could absorb knowledge so quickly. He probably should have anticipated that she would want to learn something she hadn't seen before. But maybe she'd still dance with him here once her thirst for knowledge was satisfied. She was so fascinating… and she was here with him. I'll find a way to make you mine, and still keep you yourself. Fascinating…