Since Victoria and Sarah left, Selene and I settled into a routine together. Occasionally I'd miss having the others around, but other times I appreciated the solitude. The best thing about it though, was that neither Selene or I had any responsibilities to prevent us from training.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
"Berenike."
I look up from the long table I'm making to test my knowledge of joints. "Yes Selene?"
"We need to talk about your encounter with the Sleeper and how you could have done better."
I lay the stick of charcoaled wood on the wood, and stand up to face Selene, "I thought my problems stemmed from my overconfidence due to destroying my memories, my in ability to hide fast enough due to exhaustion, and not checking in with you when I started having trouble."
Selene smiles, "Come, join me by the fire." As I walk beside her she continues, "It is good that you recognize those failings. However, I was referring to my own failings as well as your own. Much like so many of my failings, I erroneously assumed that you would have time to learn and grow as my apprentice."
"How much time were you expecting?"
Selene laughs, "At least a couple of decades, maybe even a mortal lifetime. Time enough for each of the basic techniques to become as natural as breathing. Time enough for you to explore your own magic and chart your own path with me as a mentor. Instead."
"Instead?"
Selene looks up at the sky with a faraway look, "When I last roamed the world, there were many people who erroneously assumed that if they could just get rid of all the gods and magical people and monsters. Well, it was rare that we didn't have at least one Sleeper incursion every century. They believed that they were attracted to magic use."
"Were they wrong?"
Selene chuckles and looks down at me, "Why not answer that yourself Berenike?"
I think about the answer for a few minutes before I say, "I'm the black swan, aren't I."
"I am unfamiliar with that phrase."
I lean back on my elbows so that I can watch the clouds run across the sky, "I sort of remember it from one of the books I read when I was younger. For a long time they believed that all swans were white. That was until someone found a black swan. Since then it means the thing that disproves a theory."
Selene nods, "It is an apt analogy. You are unlikely to be the first one since your myths and legends tell of people who used magic. Merlin and Morgana, Flamel and his wife, both spring to mind. You are merely the first to not only travel so deep, but also survive the process. As things stand, the discomfort you have felt about being unable to return to the mortal world. I have also been feeling about being unable to return to the sea for the next few decades. It is not something I had envisaged doing, but knowing I could take the time to put space between memories was something I took comfort in."
"Why can't you go out there?"
"Berenike, while we cannot die. That does not mean that we cannot be killed. Without a body I am particularly vulnerable, as I cannot shield my presence the way you could. Not only would I be revealing the location of Gaia after all the effort and sacrifice you gave to ensure she stayed hidden. With whatever conflict is happening around that iron sphere you made, I would be eliminated in order to protect their chance at getting a scrap of iron."
Quietly, I ask, "How could they kill you."
"Much like you would kill someone with your spear. Except, once you've stabbed them, you draw out everything that is them until their body can no longer hold itself together. That could have easily happened to you because I wanted you to have time to grow."
I take a deep breath, "What do you need me to do?"
"I have been teaching you to deflect stones I have thrown at you. Once you stopped thinking about it, that would have led into creating an area around you that you control. Typically the maximum reach of your favored weapon. Inside this area you have total awareness. After that, you would learn to make that area one of total control. I would have taught you to bring your magic back into that area whenever you are pressed, and hold it as a bulwark against anything that comes."
I wince as I say, "And now?"
Selene looks at me seriously, "Now, I take a tablet from Ares library, and teach you to be a bulwark. I do not wish to do this, as it makes many things harder as you will need to learn how to relax your control and work out from the bulwark. In this, maybe the fact that you have not regained most of your school memories will be a boon. For I would not have considered teaching you this way with your learned paranoia."
I frown, "Was I really that bad?"
Selene shakes her head, "No. But the bulwark will give you a sense of security that can feed into paranoia, and make it hard to let go and relax. While you would be far from unbeatable for one such as I or a Sleeper. Against most mortal threats…"
"Against mortal threats?"
"Taylor, Berenike, you need to understand that Ares taught this to his followers so that they could stand on the battlefield against a Sleeper and hope to survive. If you wished to render everything that enters your bulwark down to dust, you could do so. But to do so you sacrifice your range. Against most opponents, it is simply more than you would ever need. Think back on your fight with Lung, and what you know now. Do you believe that he would be able to overcome you?"
I nod my head, "He fought Leviathan to a standstill, I wouldn't stand a chance."
"Berenike, you could hold him off for long enough to move the entirety of your city through one level of the dream like they did with Atlantis. You can teleport and he cannot. You can lift mountains if you wished, he weighs far less than a mountain. As you are now, what you lack is experience and confidence. Both of which will only take time to resolve, and is far more preferable to lacking experience and being overconfident."
When I look at Selene skeptically she says, "Come, I shall prove it to you."
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Month 13 addendum
Note: iron fucks magic up something chronic. Lifting a mountain in the next world was as hard as lifting the iron sphere.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Month 13 addendum 2
I hate bulwark training, as it involves being crushed by Selene's magic until I can create a small dome of my own magic, or I collapse. Guess what, I haven't managed to create the dome yet. On the plus side, I've found out how to hide myself so completely that Selene can't find me. Yay for traumatic school memories and wanting to be unnoticed.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Month 18
I managed to get the Bulwark to work for a couple of seconds. Long enough to escape at any rate. Then I had a panic attack, and the locker memory grew two feet.
"Berenike."
I look up from my diary as Selene sits down next to me. "Yes?"
"I just want to say that you did well today. You had the beginning of the technique. What happened?"
I look down at my diary before handing it over for her to read.
Selene looks up and takes my hand, "Berenike. How are you visualizing your bulwark?"
I shrug, "An impenetrable barrier, why?"
Selene sighs, "Because it is supposed to be a fortress, not a tomb. This is why I don't like teaching it the way Ares did. The point is to have somewhere unassailable that you can retreat to, not that you are trapped in. For a courier or a gate keeper, your visualization of Ares method was ideal, as it would allow mortals to fight against the thralls of a Sleeper. But for near immortals and immortals, you are sacrificing most of your ability if you lock yourself away behind an impenetrable barrier."
I nod as my mind races with the distinction that Selene's making. I was thinking of something more like an Endbringer shelter, but she called it a tomb. Well, I didn't exactly tell her that I was thinking about an Endbringer shelter, but that's what they are isn't it. They're tombs that people hope they can survive in. Fuck, they even have memorial services outside the New York shelter Behemoth hit in 94.
Wait, didn't I do something like this when I survived Lung? I created a very small area where his fire couldn't burn because I made it so cold.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Month 19
Training is on hold, as dad's just made it for his therapy sessions. Is it wrong that I resent him being here now? I mean I need to spend more time in the mortal world. Given what I just wrote, I definitely need to spend more time around mortals normal people.
And Lacey's just turned up with Kurt in tow. Right, I'm off hunting before she starts trying to get me to teach her stuff I barely understand myself.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
Month 20
How do you explain to someone who's old enough to be your mother that they just have to practice, practice, and perfect the basics before they move on. I mean, I appreciate that she turned up to provide support. I can't even head back to th Earth Bet for a few hours, as my legs have only regrown down to just above my knees.
Ok, Sarah's just turned up, at least I get on with her. Well, I guess that's not really fair on Kurt. But he's spent most of his time with Dad.
I almost had a go at Sarah for not keeping an eye on Victoria. But I can't really do that as it's not like keeping an eye on a mortal child who can only run away. I've got her started on Jedi training instead, that way she'll have half a chance of following Victoria's teleports in future.
Athena's tits, I can't believe I missed that. I can set up my bulwark inside my awareness rather than squeezing my magic inside my bulwark. I am so stupid. It's like those old European forts that sat on hills. Oh, and Susan's complained about how she couldn't feel the magic I was using to throw stones after I tested her progress after she and Lacey got into a match together. I pointed out that she was supposed to be feeling the stones, not my magic. I guess it also means that my practice at hiding my magic is becoming second nature too. I do not want to be caught unable to hide again, as next time I might not be so lucky.
═══════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════
As Selene and I finish dressing a kill ready for Victoria's return, I ask, "Selene, is it me or does Victoria feel closer than she did?"
Selene looks off into the distance for a moment, "The way between worlds has opened, that is probably what you're feeling."
I cock my head to one side, "You can tell that from here?"
Selene laughs, "Tartarus no, I just checked on Catlin. Connor has been a bit unwell today, so she is not coming till after the way closes."
"Is he ok?"
Selene nods, "Just wind, but she doesn't want to risk him waking up while the way is open."
I sigh with relief, "That's good. Also, way?"
Selene smiles, "It is what we used to call what you call the canyon."
"Ok, I'll bite. Couriers, gate keepers, and now the way. What's going on?"
"Those who were born blessed in the cities generally had one of two jobs. They could be a courier, running deliveries and messages between the different worlds. Or they could be a gate keeper, transferring goods and people between the different worlds using way stones. In a few mortal days, we are going to play host to the first representatives of the mortal government. How long do you believe it will be before those jobs become common once more? Or that people will start to follow the way out into the dream?"
I hesitate before I answer, as I realize that it's not just the PRT that are coming, it's also a reporter. How many people would want to leave Earth Bet for a world with no Endbringers. Even if it does have its own dangers. I'm not sure I want to answer that question just yet. I'm not even sure that Selene wants me to answer either.
Selene interrupts my thoughts as she says, "I'm going to gift the PRT and the reporter with the designs for the way stones. They are not exactly secret anyway, as just about every Greek town had at least one. They just need well trained blessed in order to activate them."
I nod and change the subject, "I've been meaning to ask, but how do you preserve the meat and vegetables with magic. I've tried to…"
I trail off as I feel Victoria get a little closer, and then her resonance goes flat. With a hurried "Something's happened to Victoria!" I disappear into the next world closer to Earth Bet, heedless of the fact my knees and lower legs have just disappeared.