History And Companionship
I took in deep breaths of air, trying to satisfy my body's need for oxygen. When I started flying, I had begun to wonder what that voice was, but those thoughts were driven out of my mind by the difficulty of trying to go so high in an atmosphere this thin. I realized that it wasn't just because it was a high mountain. It was actually a rather low one. The problem was the spell surrounding the mountain that thinned out the air and prevented other spells.
My four wings all beat the air powerfully, their tips touching above and below me when they flapped. I gasped for more breath, forcing myself to go higher and higher, slowly making progress up the steep mountain. The fog got thicker, and I was just about to give up, rest and try again, when suddenly, the cliff stopped going up and instead chose to be at an even level. Naturally, I immediately dove for the ground and lay there, panting. After some time spent on the rock, I rose to my claws and started walking forward. Absentmindedly, I noticed that I could cast a spell again if I wanted to. The mist wasn't so bad that I couldn't see five inches in front of my face, but it wasn't perfectly clear either. Out of the corner of my eye, I suddenly saw movement. I immediately drew Thunderhilt and held it in a defensive stance.
'A bit nervous, are we?', said the strange voice in my head.
'Shut up, what or whoever you are. I don't want to deal with you at this moment.'
'Ooh, touchy, are we?'
I pushed those thoughts away and slowly advanced towards the source of movement. As I approached, I put Thunderhilt back, as what I saw was a waterfall.
'Waterfall? So I'm not at the top? Or am I?'
I examined the cascade curiously. There was no cliff around, just flat ground, except for a few stray boulders. The water seemed to just come from the fog above, me being unable to see the source, and fall down onto a boulder, where, to my surprise, it made absolutely no sound. No splash, no crash, nothing. In fact, there was no sound at all. No wind, no birds, just silence. I took off my bag and Thunderhilt, and laid them by a large stone. Thunderhilt crackled in protest, so I decided to hold onto him. I leaped onto the boulder and slowly went under the waterfall, assuming a human cross-legged position, with Thunderhilt laid across my knees. Almost immediately, stray thoughts vanished and left me thinking about one thing: the flow of magic that I wanted to feel. I extended my senses, trying to detect anything that would point me in the right direction. At first, nothing. Only the steady rise and fall of my chest. The seconds ticked by. How much time I spent there I don't know, but somehow I managed to only think about the flow of magic. It was as if the waterfall was a focus for concentration. I remained with my eyes closed, looking for the one thing that would guide me to magic.
Gradually, something came up. A weird feeling, undescribable. I could see something there, though I didn't have my eyes open. I knew there were tendrils of something, but didn't know how I knew. The feeling got stronger. I felt a stronger source running through myself, through my veins, and through Thunderhilt. I opened my eyes.
"I see it."
I could sense it. Magic, throughout the air, and through me, enchantments woven into something in the distance. I reached inside of me and tried to control the magic. My wings flared open, and I was certain that my eyes were glowing(don't ask me how). I felt some fatigue. I shook it off and observed what had happened. A medium-sized boulder was floating at the same height of my head. I made a move to spin it, and another small wave of fatigue hit me. I dropped the rock.
"I can't be that bad at magic, can I?"
I reviewed what I had heard about magic. Wizards used magic words and wands, according to legend. Witches made potions with reagents and used a less flashy magic to fly around and other minor things. Some legends of unicorns that used their horns to cast spells. Little elves that used magic songs. Dragons and other mythical beings roaring, spitting out fire and inducing fear. Casting using staffs. Geocraf holding out his hammer and casting a spell.
'I see a paaaaaaatteeeern!', sing-songed the weird voice.
"They all channel their magic through something. Magic words, wands, reagents, waving of claws and hands, extreme mental powers, magic songs, horns, roars, fire glands, staffs, Geocraf's hammer, they're all methods of channeling magic. Some are probably better than others. I just channeled magic using my wings and possibly my eyes. The zebras used ingredients to make potions, Geocraf used his hammer. Objects other than the source of magic work best, the caster is not the best channeler, he just directs the magic through something else. Reagents hold magic and when combined with other reagents obtain potions that release certain magic spells when consumed. Some magic is more passive, like plant spirits and how they radiate a certain amount of magic power that helps plants grow. Terradores need something to focus their magic through, in Geocraf's case, his weapon. Ventolians probably need to as well. Thus, an easier way to cast magic would be using Thunderhilt."
'Brilliant deduction, Sherlock. You figure that out all by yourself?'
"You know, I don't know what's scarier, the fact that you are a mysterious voice in my head or the fact that you are a mirror image of my inner personality."
I stood up, hopped off the rock and headed towards the area in which I felt enchantments, putting my bag back on on the way. As I got closer, I could tell that the spells were ancient, yet familiar.
'So, how about we play I Spy on the way? I spy, with my little eye, something... misty.'
"The mist?"
'How'd ya know? Okay, I'll go again. I spy, with my little eye, something... white.'
"Mist?"
'Well, point for the bird. Me, again. I spy, something... clear.'
"Mist.", I responded immediately.
'Not bad, not bad. Okay, I spy, with my little eye, something...'
"Mist.", I deadpanned.
'Dang, you're good.'
I rolled my eyes and shut out the voice. It was creeping me out. Then, I saw a building. A big building. It was made of a light grey rock, and seemed to be something like an ancient Greek temple, castle size. Weird symbols were above the large doorway, not Equestrian, nor Zebrican, or English. It wasn't Egyptian hieroglyphics, and yes, I knew how to read those. Comes with having a brain which is a cross between a sponge and a black hole. Nothing like I had ever seen. But I still knew how to read it. Before my eyes, holographic images of the symbols rose from the real versions, shifted amongst themselves and changed shape until there was a translation I could see.
Mistpeak Castle
"Well, I'm certainly glad they didn't put Kilimanejaro right there."
'No kiddin'. That is one lame horse pun.'
"I concur. Now, let's see what's inside."
I briefly wondered how I had come to accept the voice, then disregarded it as unimportant and pushed the door open. It didn't creak, or rasp. It just slid right open.
"That's a handy enchantment. Anti-creak doorways."
I stepped inside. The area had a lot of space, presumably for flight capability. And it was huge. I slowly flapped up. It seemed like dust was non-existent here. Either that, or another enchantment. And it might have been just my coat of feathers, but it was warm. There were no rugs or anything, but the floor wasn't cold either. But the silence was eerie. A bit sad too. Such a large place, and no one in it. I saw that in the walls there were various holes with tunnels leading from them. I went through one marked Workshop and ended up in a large space that was most definitely hollowed out of the ground. Over in one corner were a few anvils, and a couple large furnaces, with lumber piled up. There were also a few buckets and a spring of water. Over in another area, there were a few tables. Hanging on the walls were various tools used in woodworking, blacksmithing, tinkering, and various other tools. And even stranger, opposite from the furnace, there was a small pedestal, and a book on top of it. Naturally, I became curious, and approached it. It wasn't extremely thick, but browsing through it, it was larger than it looked, and had various pictures in great detail accompanying the text, which translated itself fairly quickly with practice.
"Dang... Whoever wrote this was a good artist."
I came upon a page that had the title of Lighting A Fire. I was about to turn the page, rolling my eyes because it would be simple to just use flint and steel, when I saw the picture of a gemstone. I then proceeded to read the text that was there.
If circumstance allows the fact that a fire has gone out, a new type of magic spell may be used to light a new fire. Despite the fact that ventolians use only wind and lightning magic, as well as some related spells and some of the more useful enchantments, a new method has been discovered. For this, it is necessary to have a capable weapon, including a material that can hold magic before channeling it, such as dragon scale, ursa fur, or a similar object, or a simple gemstone. The method used is to pour an amount of neutral, raw magic into the weapon and/or gemstone, leaving it charged. With the thought of the wood burning in mind, the word "ignis" must be muttered with all confidence. Bear in mind that you must be having thoughts of the wood burning, else the spell backfires and affects something else, or uses the flames in a different manner, or in some cases, causes lightning. The history of this word is unknown, being passed down through the generations, but it is thought to have simply been happened upon by one of the first ventolians. Many have sought words similar to "ignis", but none have managed to trigger a response from the stored arcane energy.
I looked up, and deduced what I could.
"Ignis is latin for fire, in some circumstances lightning. That would explain the response of the stored magic. Magic is now considered a type of energy, arcane energy to be exact. Gemstones, dragon scale, ursa, which I don't know what it is, fur and others can hold magic. Some other materials can channel, but can't hold. When using magic, must have a clear image of what you want. Otherwise, it could turn out unexpected. For better or for worse. Latin. Chaos told me that latin is magic in this world. Latin is commonly associated with magic, and by golly, the humans were right. So, theoretically speaking, "aqua" would trigger a result with water, "tenebris" would use darkness, "glaciem" is ice, "lux" is light, "fulgur" is another word for lightning. Of course, it's probably not just elemental words. "Timore", fear, would be an interesting experiment. Oh, I'm gonna have fun with this."
I continued my exploration of the castle. I happened upon a useful room, the library, which contained various stories, both fictional and historical, biology of the ventolians, and numerous other stories. I also came upon a mess hall of sorts, and seeing it made me wish that I could've seen it filled with legendary birds. After a while, I came upon a courtyard. Trees and flowers bloomed, though they hadn't had tenders in millennia. They were still healthy, and many had fruit. I could see, after examination, that there was a spell cast to keep them healthy.
In the center of the garden, I could sense a powerful enchantment. I approached slowly, rounded a corner, and there was a pyramid, built Aztec style, with steps leading up from four directions. I cautiously approached, not wanting to set off any danger. Then I saw what was at the top. A pedestal, upon which was a pillow, that had a large egg on top of it. It was red, with yellow markings on it.
'Breakfast!', yelled the voice.
'Don't. Even. Joke. Like that.', I responded.
'Okay.', it replied dejected.
I walked a bit further towards it, but was then cut off by a cracking sound. I blinked. The egg was splitting down the middle. I could sense the spell fading. With a resounding crack, it split open completely, the bits of eggshell falling around the cushion. I saw what was inside the egg. It was a very small reptilian. A dragon to be exact. A shiny red dragon with orange stripe marking at a few points on its body. It yawned and stretched its arms, displaying a sharp set of teeth and surprisingly well-sized muscles, considering it just hatched. I was torn between 'That is so adorable I wanna glomp it.' and 'That is one awesome-looking dude'. A couple of miniscule wings on its back buzzed as he rose to his feet and glanced around. Seeing me, he hopped down on two feet and trotted up to me until he was looking up at me and I looking down at him.
"Who are you?", he asked.
I was flabbergasted. The dude wasn't a minute old and he already knew how to talk. I found my voice.
"You may call me Truenis. Do you have a name?"
He scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"I think I do. No, I know I do. What was it?"
He clutched his head.
"Come on, come on, think. I know what my name is, I just know it. It began with an F, or was it an E, or maybe a B... Grrrr, all I remember are feathers. A lot of feathers and a bit of yellow."
I cocked my head.
"Well then, if you can't remember your name just yet, what should we call you now?"
"Call me now?", he asked, confused.
"Of course. Until you can remember, you should have something for someone to call you by."
"That's... understandable. I guess you can just call me.... Flare, for now."
I knelt down so as to put myself at his eye level.
"Well then, Flare. Would you like to travel with me?"
His face brightened.
"Sure. I can try to remember my name too."
Without hesitating, he went to my side, climbed up and nestled himself in my feathers, slipping inside the strap that held Thunderhilt. I smiled at him.
"Welcome aboard, Flare."
"Thank you. So, uh, now what?"
I pondered this. I had already learned much about ventolians, and even went through a spell book and selected a few to practice.
"We could go north, if you would like. Search out some curiosities. What do you say?"
"Sure."
He slipped out of the strap and stood in a triumphant pose, finger pointing ahead.
"Onwards, to adventure!"
I had to smile at the little guy. He was gifted. He was smart, and could be adorable and totally awesome at the same time. He was going to be a good companion.
Hey, y'all. Chapter 7 is done. And before you say anything, the wings on Flare are meant to be there, and I am aware that baby dragons don't have them. Just wait and see about him. Also, HAPPY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY, FIMFICTION!!!!! Oh, in case someone was wondering, the bumblebee body count is 300 in the last six days. Yes, we started counting. Anyways, thanks for reading, and keep your stick on the ice.