//------------------------------// // 1 - 0: Trying to find a new world (CEL) // Story: Four Stars // by Moterius //------------------------------// Stumbling out of the tear in the air, I noticed that I was still in my human form, but my hair had changed to adapt a four-colored scheme. Interestingly, the magic density in this area was really high in comparison to earth. However, when looking around, I realized I was alone. I could not sense my other bodies, and that worried me greatly. For now, I will try to find the other three, but it’s more likely that they will find me first. After all, that was the type of person Celestia was, right? My smile slowly fell, and I scowled. “GODDAMMIT!” I roared, punching the earth below me. I heard a loud crushing sound, and a crater appeared below me, way over ten meters in diameter. It nearly looked as one would imagine a meteor strike to look. “The hell?” I said, looking at my hands. Whatever this world is, being in it had strengthened me considerably. Turning around, I noticed a tear in reality. I could tell that it would lead me back to the void, and while I may could find the others by going back in there, I did not want to risk getting lost in infinity, so I closed it as far as I could. After that, I sat down and closed my eyes. Reaching out with my magic senses, I first noticed that the galaxy I was in currently was far smaller than the one I was in before. Barely ten thousand light-years in diameter, in fact. Now knowing that I wasn’t just cut off from the others by some weird sort of phenomena, I shrunk down the radius of my perception again, once again only encompassing the solar system I was in. I spotted six planets and eight moons that were laid with more than just the ‘default’ amount of magic. Three gas giants, three rock planets, who surprisingly were all inhabited, two moons around the planet I stood on, one moon around the innermost gas giant the size of the earth (the moon, not the planet), and for some reason also inhabited, one other, smaller moon around that planet, and one moon around every one of the other planet’s. The two outer gas giants had more moons than that, but I decided not to bother with them since they were both small and lacked an atmosphere. Focusing my senses on this planet only, I could get a rough shape of the continents. There were two ice caps on the north and south pole, a big continent on the hemisphere I was not on, and two slightly smaller continents on the hemisphere I stood on. Unluckily, the whole planet was covered in a good amount of magic, which made it near impossible for me to feel anything that could help me finding dimensional weak points. I knew about the one behind me, but I could not sense it itself, just the abrupt cutoff of my magic at that point. However, I could feel a good amount of magic energy to my ‘east’ (I’m just going to call the hemisphere on I’m right now the northern one), and I stood up before starting to move in that direction since that was about the only place I could imagine another rip to be. But, that concentration of energy was quite far away, and since I could not see anything in the skies, I decided to take a risk and raised my hand up to my horn, touching it. Originally, I wanted to take the ring off, but to my surprise, when I touched it with the intent to return to my ‘real’ form, it did so without me removing it. Feeling around in my robe, I then realized that I still had the magic guide in my pocket and could not help but worry for the other three. But then I remembered what they were. They will be fine. After swinging myself into the air and raising so high that I was flying just below the clouds, I just enjoyed the flight. It was peaceful up here, and the sweat I was working up felt good. I knew that I would need to quickly learn how to clean my wings, but that was a small price to pay for such freedom. After about half an hour, I could see other skyborn, too. A few wyverns were playing to the south, and I decided to head over to them. The first one to notice me was about six meters long and had grey scales, and he flew over to a bigger, green one. He tapped the green one before looking back in my direction, and then the green one started to head towards me. »Thou art not one of us. What is it thou art here for?« I knew he spoke a different language than I did, but I somehow still understood him. ››› This one is a wanderer, ‹‹‹ I responded, my speech broken by my throat not used to such words. …dammit. It is not him, it’s the language. »So, thou wish to see the world,« the male voice responded, and I nodded. ››› Yes, for I wish to find something to bring me back to the three sisters of mine. ‹‹‹ »Thee art lost?« ››› It seems so. ‹‹‹ He stared at me for a minute, but then he smiled. »I see. Thou seem to be a kind soul, and we shan’t hinder you. If thee wish, you shall stay with us for a while,« he said, and I bowed my head. ››› I offer my thanks to thee, ‹‹‹ I responded, and he then nodded, flying to one of the other wyverns that seemingly wanted to talk to him as well. As soon as he did so, the grey wyvern flew over to me, and I could tell that he was but a child. I smiled, thinking it was good that he seemed like he was able to live such a carefree life. …dammit. I am becoming Celestia. But… was that really something bad? I ignored the voice that was screaming ‘yes!’ over and over again in my head, and just played with the young wyvern, smiling the whole time. Eventually, when my wings became heavy, the elder wyvern approached me again. »Thee seem unable to stay afloat much longer. Does this mean thou will leave for the ground now?« he asked, and I smiled before shaking my head. ››› No. I have another solution that thee will be surprised about, ‹‹‹ I responded, and then flew towards a nearby cloud. »What do thee wish to do with the wet air?« I snorted. That’s also something you can call clouds. ››› As thou have noticed, I art not a wyvern. ‹‹‹ »Thou art correct. But, what does that change for thee?« I started to break off pieces of the cloud with my hands, then removed a big chunk from it, about twice my size. ››› What thee call ‘wet air’ is something that I, and only I, can touch and form, ‹‹‹ I responded, watching him get wide-eyed upon my demonstration of that ability. »Thou could cover something in eternal darkness or dry it by removing all cover from the sun. That art a frightening power.« I shook my head. ››› No. I shan’t do anything else than this. I cannot move much on my own, and to do something as thou describest, this one wouldest need to do this without sleep or any break. ‹‹‹ »‘Tis a relief. How does it feel for thou?« ››› This is the softest I have ever touched, ‹‹‹ I responded, finishing forming it into a floating mattress. Would usually cause a few stares, but I doubted anyone would spot a two-by-two-meter cloud fragment almost a kilometer above the ground. »So, thee can stay in the air even when asleep. This one has never seen such a thing!« ››› Thank thee for thy praise, ‹‹‹ I responded, and he chuckled. »It seems solid. Can I touch it without disturbing it?« ››› This one does not know. Please, feel free to try, I can always do this again, ‹‹‹ I responded, and he nodded, then tried to push it with his nose. To both our amazement, he could move the cloud. »Thee look like thou expected something else,« he said, mirth in his eyes. ››› ‘Tis true. I thought thee would fall or fly through it, ‹‹‹ I responded. We talked for a moment longer, and then the elder wyvern headed off, wishing me a good night. I turned around on the cloud, watching the sunset in the distance, and I felt myself slowly falling asleep. The day caught up to me, I felt the soreness in my wings, and I closed my eyes, quickly falling asleep. When I woke up, the first thing my sleep-addled mind decided to do was to straighten out the feathers of my wings, and by the time I realized what I was doing, I already finished fishing out all the loose or broken feathers from my wings and had realigned the rest. »What do thee eat?« ››› I am a plant-eater, ‹‹‹ I responded, my mouth switching out ‘herbivore’ for ‘plant-eater’. »I see. Before thee go, will thee listen to a request of this one?« ››› What do thee want? ‹‹‹ »If thee find what thee search… thou will leave, right?« ››› That is true. ‹‹‹ »Then, could thee leave something for the young one you played with?« ››› Why him? ‹‹‹ I found myself asking. »He adores thee. Thou art friendly and only wish the best for others, and it would be good if he became like that, too,« the wyvern exclaimed, and I started to think about it. ››› Your scales… do thee shed them or do thee keep them? ‹‹‹ I asked, and he smiled. »We do keep them. They do heal, but only if heavily damaged. Thee wish to leave a mark on him?« ››› I do, ‹‹‹ I responded, and he nodded. »Very well, I will trust thee.« He then called something I could not write down because whatever he spoke was a string of growls and grunts that I could not translate, and the young wyvern that I played with flew over to me, tackling me onto the cloud and then going cross-eyed upon seeing that he was lying on it. ››› Art thee surprised, young one? ‹‹‹ I smiled, then placed my hands on the scales on his chest, infusing them with my magic. A sun symbol started to form, and I could tell that it sucked in a part of my power, before fading away. The scales were a bit warmer to the touch now, and I smiled. ››› That is what I will give thee to remember me. A part of me will stay with thee, and it will protect thee, ‹‹‹ I said, getting an approving look from the older wyvern. The old wyvern smiled and then touched a wing to my forehead. I felt something shift, and then I found myself understanding the way the clouds moved and the way the wind flowed a little bit better. I thanked the wyverns for their hospitality, and after a few goodbyes, I continued towards the big amount of magic I was sensing to the east. It took me another day of travel to finally see whatever was responsible for that magical aura. To my surprise, it was an enormous city, with a big, complex castle atop of it. I could only spot it thanks to the perfect weather and my pegasi eyes. If I had to guess, it was still around four more hours of flight from where I was. Another cloud made for my bed that night, but since I could now sense many beings nearby, I slept atop of it and did not change its form. Additionally, I also concealed as much of my magic as I could without falling through the cloud I was lying on. I did this by simply ‘pulling’ on it, and to my surprise, it worked. ... I woke up about half an hour before sunrise, and I started flying towards that city above the clouds. I had no intention of exposing myself if I didn’t need to. It took me another three hours to arrive at the outer perimeter of the city, and I shot down, using the lower clouds to cover myself before letting myself fall the last few hundred meters. Thanks to the quite high acceleration of gravity, it took me only a few seconds to arrive at the ground, and tapping the ring atop my head again caused me to revert back to my human form. Interestingly, my clothes did not switch, but I should have expected that from a world of magic, where robes are a more common piece of clothing than t-shirts. Remembering a street I noticed, I walked around one hundred meters north to meet with it, then started to move towards the city. There were two guards in front of the gate, and when I approached it, they stepped in my way. “Halt! Speak your name and your intent here!” the one on the right commanded, and I decided to honor him. ››› My name art Samantha Faust, and this one came to find her sisters, ‹‹‹ I said, getting incomprehensible stares from them, and one moment later, I realized why. I was still speaking in the language of the wyverns. “Ah, sorry. I spoke with magic beasts earlier and forgot what language to use,” I excused myself, then repeated what I just said. He seemed to check a list, then looked at me. “You have not visited before.” It wasn’t a question. “No, I have not. Is that a problem?” He shook his head. “No. What is your affinity?” “What’s an affinity?” He raised an eyebrow. “From where do you come that you do not know of affinities? Everyone on the four planets knows about them.” “If you can travel between the planets of your star system, is it truly so hard to believe that I came from another planet than this one?” I asked, and he shook his head. “Not really. I would recommend going to the academy. You should get an identification card first so that you can prove your identity.” I nodded and thanked him, then started to make my way towards the castle, which I now knew was the ‘academy’. While walking through the city, I could see a great number of people, some summoning water, some crating fires. Magic was strong in this world, and I smiled. It seemed like I could easily reunite with my sisters now. I lost almost an hour strolling through the city, and when I arrived at the gates of the academy, I realized that it was almost noon. Arriving at the gates, I walked up to the guard standing next to it. “Excuse me?” “Yes? What can I do for you?” “I’d like to know my affinity and get an identification card.” “Then please enter and ask either a student or a teacher. They should be able to point you to the respective rooms,” he responded, and I nodded. “You have another question,” he then said, and I was once again surprised how accurate their predictions were. “Yes. Is the academy always open?” He chuckled. “No, but I see why you could get that impression. There's always someone working here, and the academy is responsible for monitoring the eastern half of the continent.” I blinked. Eastern half of the continent? How far did I fly? My eyes blazed with arcane might for a second, then I just said “huh,” realizing that I traveled over nearly half of the continent. That was… surprisingly fast. I didn’t break the sound barrier, did I? “I did not realize how far I had traveled,” I admitted, and the guard chuckled. “Most do not. The world is far bigger than people give it credit for,” he said, and I found myself nodding in agreement. Entering the academy, the sound of the city abruptly cut off, and I found myself in a long, empty hall. However, it was not empty for long. After a few minutes, someone walked in. It was a young man, wearing a light blue robe with a lightning symbol on it. “A visitor? Are you here to get your affinity tested?” “Along with an identification card, yes. Could you guide me?” He thought a moment about it. “Yeah, I have enough time before my next assignment. What’s your name?” “Samantha Faust. You?” “Leonard Clef.” He opened a door at the end of the hall and started to walk up a flight of stairs in the hallway behind it. “Do you wish to join the academy?” I shook my head. “No, I just wish to find something that allows me to get to my sisters,” I responded, and he nodded. “I see. Why do you think you could find it here?” “Because the magic of the planet is here at its strongest,” I responded, getting a snort of him. “There's no such thing as ‘magic’. There are elemental energies, like the lightning energy my lightning attribute allows me to control, but magic is just a legend.” “I see…” I responded, frowning. I knew for a fact this was wrong, so why did they think magic doesn’t exist? “Well, if it is one of the artifacts the academy owns, you probably will need to stay for a while before you will get allowed to use them, but the strongest ones you probably will never see.” I shrugged. “What I am searching cannot be easily contained,” I responded, and he shrugged. “That can be said for a lot of the artifacts that the academy watches over,” he responded, opening the door to another room. It was a lecture room, but the professor wasn’t here yet. I noticed a bunch of other people sitting on a few of the chairs, but none of them wore robes. “Are those people who don’t know their affinity, either?” I asked while taking a seat, getting a nod from him. Eventually, a professor entered the room, recognizable by the white robe he wore. “Attention!” he called, and it eventually became quiet. “So, I’ll start with the elephant in the room,” he said, looking at me. “You’re new, and you want something that probably only the academy can provide, right? You are hopefully aware that joining the academy outside of the regular half-year period is near impossible.” I shrugged in response. “Well, I know that, but this cannot wait for me. I need something that is probably property of the academy.” “Many do. Your name, for the record?” “Samantha Faust.” He was silent for a second. “You don’t have an identity card.” “That’s one of the things I’m here for,” I returned, and he nodded. “Very well. See me after class, I will evaluate your affinity and create an identification card for you. Coincidentally, today is a basic class anyways, so you should be able to participate.” “Now, on the tables in front of you, you can see orbs with the base affinities, as well as lightning and light affinities. They’re called foci. If you don’t have a training focus of your own yet, pick up the one that’s your affinity, of, if you only have affinities that aren’t present, the one that feels the warmest to each of you.” Picking up each of them, I noticed that they all felt warm in one way or another. The hottest one was the fire, closely followed by the light, earth and air stone. After that was the lightning, and water was the coolest of the bunch, but not by much. Picking up the fire focus, I then tilted my head at it. Now that I was focusing on it, I found that it had an odd resonance with my magic. It seemed to enhance the flow of it and shaped it into an aggressive, glowing flow. I could see why the people here never discovered magic. Those ‘formations’ of the magic they called attributes were far easier to rely on than actual magic. Aside from instinctual spells, magic had to be shaped properly and given a very specific purpose to prevent it from causing undesired effects, and such ‘misfires’ could be attributed to someone not properly controlling their attribute yet. On the other hand, while my hand was closed around the stone, I could feel my power flowing through it, waiting to be released. It was almost like cheating. That also explained the stones that were added to the robes and the hundreds of small trinkets I saw in the city. One could just touch one to utilize their magic through them. I wasn’t sure if I liked this dominance over magic those stones had, but they only acted as powerful foci for one type of magic, they weren’t blocking other classes of magic or inhibiting normal magic from being cast aside from the fact they were incredibly easy to use. For now, I decided to ignore this. “So, now that you have each a focus stone that resonates with you, push a small amount in it. And I MEAN small!” he exclaimed, his shout stopping some from moving when he looked at them directly. “If you use too much energy, it will lash out! I only want to see you activating your attribute, not starting to throw it around! And that’s also why I took away the lightning and fire stone from your desk, Lina!” he exclaimed, pointing at one of the girls in the front row. Silently chuckling to myself, I then pushed the smallest bit of magic I could into the stone. It still caused a rather big flame to appear above my hand, originating from the stone. To his credit, the professor only blinked once. “Well. Not exactly a small flame, but impressive control. Take notes, guys, that’s how it’s done!” he exclaimed, pointing at me. I, in turn, reduced the energy inside and around the stone more and more until there was only a small flame left. I then tried to move that energy over to the lightning crystal but was only rewarded with a small electric shock. When I pushed a spark of magic in the lightning focus it worked, though. This magic is weird. After class ended, the professor led me to a small adjacent room. “So, let’s introduce ourselves again. My name is Professor Simon Stone.” “Samantha Faust,” I responded, shaking his outstretched hand. “Now, let’s start with your attribute evaluation, miss Faust.” “I… don’t really think that’s necessary,” I responded, and he chuckled. “You have an affinity with fire, that I don’t doubt. But you might have affinities in other areas, too,” he said, then led me to a row of eight crystal orbs. They kind of looked like the stones he had in the lecture room, but I could tell they were different. “Just place your hands on them, and they will light up when you have an affinity with them.” I swallowed. Even from where I was standing, I could feel all eight resonating with me. So, I cut off my magic completely for the time being, then touched the seven orbs save for the fire orb. None of them lit up. As soon as that was done, I reconnected my magic. That moment I felt incredibly weak, and I decided I did not, in fact, like it. “Seems like you were right. No reaction from the other attributes. Can I ask you to touch the fire orb, though?” Shrugging, I placed my hand on it, causing a big flame to light up in it. “Yep. That’s one of the strongest affinities I’ve seen this year. Consider yourself welcomed in the academy, in that case,” he said, and I chuckled. “Now, your ID,” he said, holding a sheet of paper out to me. It had some standard blank boxes, like name, age, and place of birth. Since the latter one wasn’t mandatory, I didn’t put in a town that wasn’t even existing in this dimension. For the unusual fields, I noticed that the professor already filled in my attribute and marked it as strength ‘S+’. Then, there was the ‘amount of energy’, ‘stamina’, and ‘elemental resistance’ field, on which I choose the option ‘very high’. After a minute or so, I handed it back to him, and he nodded. “It’ll be ready at the end of the week.” “I see. Now, I am a temporal guest of the academy, right?” “Yes. I’ve seen you with Leonard, he’s one of the few people who never get lost in the academy. He’ll be your guide for the time being.” That surprised me a bit, but I didn't comment on it. “Also, your next classes will be of year two.” I tilted my head. “Why?” “Well, you already demonstrated that you could bring out and manipulate the amount of energy you use to bring out your inner flame, but I haven’t seen you doing anything fancy with it. I think you’ll fit good into with the second years.” “I see,” I responded, then left in search of the area I would sleep in. In the end, I shared a room with Lina and someone else from a second year. They weren’t there yet, so I decided to take a good look at the fire essence stone that I was given along with another robe and two books, one about fire essence and one about the manipulation of inner energy. I’ll just call it magic from here on out. “Oh! You’re the new one!” I heard a bubbly voice next to me, and I turned around, noticing Lina. “Hello. I’m Samantha.” “Lina, but you probably already knew that. You have a fire affinity, right? Mine’s water!” I shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t know that much about water. I could maybe tell you something about lightning and light, but not water.” “Naah, it’s okay. You got your affinity tested, right? How strong is it? And have you more than one?” I blinked. “Thanks, yes, very strong, no,” I responded in order of her questions. “Ah, I see. My water attribute is only strong,” she responded, and I nodded. “Sup,” I then heard a voice behind me, and turning around, I could see the other girl that was sleeping here. I could tell so from the color scheme she and her bed had: both were painted in dark, almost black colors. If I had to guess, she had either the wind or water attribute, as the sun here was quite strong, and otherwise, she couldn’t wear such thick clothes all the time. “You new here?” “Yes. I’m Samantha Faust.” “Nice,” she responded, then laid down on her bed and fell asleep instantly. “Uuh…” I stated my confusion, not really understanding what just happened. “Don’t worry, she means well. That’s just how she is,” I heard Lina say. I shrugged, and then I picked up the book about the fire affinity. I decided I would focus on it first, as about the only thing this world could teach me about magic was moderation. Interestingly, it seemed like it was meant for use through all the years, as the few pages that actually described what one could do with a fire affinity and how were barely a fifth of the whole book. The rest were technical diagrams, describing how to craft the fire ‘foci’. My eyes narrowed. That looked awfully familiar to what I imagined runes to look like. Maybe I could reverse engineer them? Lina tapped me a few hours later, I had a bunch of diagrams lying next to the book, all holding one group of runes. When I tried to draw them with my magic earlier, I discovered that the rune group that was depicted first was responsible for forming inner energy – AKA, magic – into a ‘empty’ stone. I had marked which runes were responsible for drawing on my magic, and separated them from the rest on my copies, as I could do that on my own. They appeared in most of the other rune complexes as well, too. It was interesting and explained why they were so easy to use. I had no idea how they worked exactly, but it was useful to be able to spawn in objects using only my magic. While the books said that the process would take days of pushing one’s energy into a form, I could do so in seconds. My capacity for magic was simply so far off the charts that I had not to wait for my magic to trickle into the gem, instead I could simply buffer it with my reserves. This also explained why humans in my world did not use magic. They had it, but it was so weak that it was practically non-existent. And without training like with the attribute gems? It was bound to stay like that. “Samantha?” “Ah, sorry. I got lost in thought,” I said, pocketing the orb I created and putting the books into my nightstand. Walking down to the eating hall, I chatted a bit with her about ‘attributes’. “I don’t think you should only learn how to use the water attribute.” “I have fire and lightning, but what can I do with it?” she asked in response. “No matter what I try, they just explode on me!” “Seriously?” I asked, remembering what the professor said, then winced. “Yeah… I can see that being an issue. What’s on the menu, anyway?” “Stew. May sound boring, but our cook can make that really well,” she said, then tilted her head. “Still… my attributes only started to act up when I started using the water attribute I had,” she said, and I tilted my head. “I may have a solution for you, then,” I responded, fishing out the orb I created not an hour earlier from magic, dumb luck, and very fine motion control over both my hands and magic. “What is that? I remember seeing the fire orb the academy gave you on your nightstand; it looked similar to this.” “I made this one myself,” I responded, then pointed at the runes in it. “It is laid with suppression runes. Usually, they’re only used to keep the energy from breaking out of the circuits the runes form, but in this case, they heavily limit the flow of energy as a whole. That in turn means, your mind becomes far more influential over the energy that does flow through it,” I said, handing it to her. “Don’t tell me you had the same problem as I had…” “Not exactly,” I responded, not sure how she would react to me telling her that my reserves were at least several hundred times stronger than hers. The cafeteria was nice enough, and after each of us grabbed themselves a bowl of stew, we sat down at a random table. I attracked a bit of attention thanks to my hair, but thankfully not too much. Leonard and someone that was with him came over and asked if they could sit with us, but that was it. “So, you two ended up sharing a room, I assume?” I nodded. “Correct. By the way, what should I expect from the academy?” “There are some nobles here, but the academy has a strict policy about them. Nobody here is allowed to use any other resources than what they have themselves. Then, there’s the obligatory monster hunt.” “Monster hunts? What exactly does the academy hunt down?” “Well, mostly small fry like kobolds or snakes, but also sometimes ogres or wolves. It’s good training to use your powers in battle, because from time to time, some wyverns come here, too.” I tilted my head. “I encountered them on my way here. They did not attack me and seemed friendly.” “Yeah, they are usually docile. But for some reason, near the academy, they get antsy and if they get too close, they attack. We don’t really know why,” the guy next to Leonard said, causing me to nod. “Ah, I see. By the way, what’s your name?” “You can call me September. It’s not my real name, but I won’t use that one for private reasons.” I shrugged. “You can call me Samantha, but it’s not my original name, either. My reason is probably different from yours, though.” He tilted his head. “How can you be so sure?” “Well, if I had to guess, I’d just say that you have some sort of connection to a powerful individual or family, and since the academy forbids other resources than what you yourself have with you, it’s either because it would scare people of approaching you and thereby breaking that rule, or to hide yourself because something went wrong. Am I right?” “Mostly,” he said, and I nodded. “Well, in my case it’s because when I got my strength, my body also changed. I am way healthier than before, and I am sure I’ll live for a few years longer than I would have before. Then, before that happened, I only had the inner energy of a child, and my hair was also different. Nobody would recognize me like this, so I decided it was time for a new start,” I responded, and he nodded. “Yeah, that also happens from time to time. You say the way your hair looks now is natural?” I nodded. “Not sure why, but it’s not really bad unless I’m playing hide and seek.” A snort was my response. Putting the empty bowl aside, I then looked at a clock on the wall. “Recess was at nine, right?” “Yeah, why?” It was eight. “I’d like to visit the library. There's something I’d like to check.” “You won’t be able to take books with you.” I shrugged. “Not really a problem. My memory is pretty good.” That actually came as a surprise to me, but I could remember almost everything perfectly that happened to me since the moment that self-proclaimed god turned me into alicorns. “In that case, I’ll show you where it is,” Leonard said, and I nodded. “The library and our dorm are quite far apart,” Lina then cut in. “You should start coming back when it’s eight forty-five,” she commented, and I tried to remember that time as good as I could. “Thank you,” I responded, then followed Leonard. In the library, I grabbed the same book I was given before, as well as books about the earth, water, air, lightning, darkness, light and life essences. I then ordered them in front of me, so that the four ‘elements’ formed edges and the other four laid between them: Life between earth and water, lightning between air and fire, light between water and fire and darkness between earth and air. That made it even easier to memorize what I was searching for. Flipping through them, I looked into the creation of the essence stones. That was what I was after. As expected, the first few steps were pretty much the same for each of the stones, but I also discovered a part of the rune that was responsible for giving the resulting essence stone it’s color. When I removed that part, it became white, and when I filled it with a simple circle, it became black. Next, the runes holding the magic in check. They were a bit different for each essence, but they only varied in strength. Lightning and fire were more prone to misfires than water or light, after all. Life was a special case. That rune was far more complex than any of the other attributes, and when I looked over it, the best I could tell was that it redirected the energy back into the caster. Maybe the life attribute was capable of consuming life force? Now that was a scary thought. Wait. They consumed life time, not life force. I barked out a laugh, I was immortal. The runes that caused an easier connection between the magic of the holder and the stone were the same on each of them. After copying them once, I glanced at the clock, still having time. Next were the different conversion runes. Those were the last part, but the biggest one, too. Fire and lighting looked like less more than a few random lines, but there was an order in it. Water and earth, on the other hand, were made up of few, carefully placed lines. The same with life and light. All four had variations of the same circular muster. Air was somewhat a mix out of them. And then there was darkness. It was a circle with four runes attached to it, each forming a small part of the complete rune. I had no idea what the four smaller runes meant, but I could tell that one was responsible for illusions and one for making sure that the magic got cast on the intended target instead of on the caster. Another look at the clock told me it was time to clean up, so I closed the books and put them back on the shelves before starting to walk back to my dorm. One thought stayed in my head, though: If those stones were so easy to interact with, why do the people only have attributes for a few of them instead of all of them? The next morning, I was visiting a combat class. It was different from the other classes in the sense that you weren’t grouped after year but after what you could do, and technic and strategy were favored over brute-forcing wins. “Someone new?” I then heard someone right from me call out. Raising an eyebrow, I turned to whoever said that. He wore a grey robe that had a light green and a light blue essence stone attached to it. He was fighting with life and lightning essence, something that I heard was quite rare as a combination. “Yes. And you are?” “I’m the ruler of this place!” he responded, self-confidence and overinflated ego clearly audible in his voice. “Yea I’m not bowing to you.” “WHAT?” I crossed my arms. “What I said. You look like an arrogant ass to me, not like someone I’d follow.” He started to get angry more and more. “Don’t think you can just say things like that and get away, or that I’d go easy on you because you’re a girl! I challenge you to a duel!” he exclaimed, and I thought a moment about it. A bit of real combat experience would be good for me, so why not? “I accept,” I said, and he got an almost wolf-like grin. “Perfect! See that circle over there? In five minutes, I’ll meet you there,” he said, walking away. I then turned around, noticing the worried look the nearby students gave me. “Is something the matter?” “Well, he’s a… problem, to say the least,” someone I didn’t recognize said. “He beats the new guys and sometimes girls to show that he’s stronger than them. The problem is, even the stronger ones here cannot measure up to him, and I’ve scarcely seen him with such anger.” “Soo… on a scale from one to done, that’s up there with kicking an elder wyvern?” “Pretty much.” I then gave a grin. “For normal people, you mean.” I walked over to one side of the circle while he stood at the other side. We were about one-third of the way from the border of it to the center, the circle itself being around ninety meters in diameter. “So, what are the rules of this?” I asked, and he grinned. “I’m glad you asked! We will attack each other until one of us is in no state to continue the fight! If that’s you – which it will be – you will drop out of the academy – if you’re still alive by then, that is.” “Tie?” “Won’t happen.” “I’d still like to know. What happens when I win, too.” “If you tie or win, you’d be able to partake in the same combat classes as me.” “Is this an ‘anything goes’ duel?” “Yes. But nothing you could conjure up will be able to stand against me,” he responded, laughing. “I see. Then, I should allow you to attack me first, as the fight would be unfair otherwise,” I said, causing him to turn red from anger in a few seconds. “WHAT? Do you think you can beat me without dodging?! Have at you, then!” he screamed, launching a white beam of energy at me. It hit me square in the chest and pushed me back a bit, then a tingle ran over my entire body. However, other than that, nothing seemed to happen. My magic seemed to become a bit more stable, though. “Odd feeling,” I commented, getting a surprised look from my opponent. “You should have aged half a century and fainted on the spot. I’m impressed, you actually were unaffected by that.” That should explain it. If my body is now a century older, of course my magic is more settled down now. That means, whatever magic actually was in this body. I decided that I should attack him now as well, collecting mana in my fingertip and shooting a beam of yellow energy at him. He dodged, and it exploded in the sand behind him in a fireball. “Ah, you have a fire affinity. Unluckily, that won’t help you against me,” he responded, before collecting energy again in his hand. I rushed forwards, bringing my fist down where he was, but he had moved to the side. Using that moment of surprise, he slammed the energy in my back, and I could tell that it started changing my body. Then, I realized that I felt like I was slowly losing control, like Luna when turning into Nightmare. “What did… you do?” I asked, my voice cracking for a moment. “Why, I just awakened the beast inside of you! You’ll turn into some low-level, unintelligent monster, and then I can easily kill you!” he responded, laughing. However, I felt not like I was turning into an animal, and my anger at him seemed what allowed me to stay in control. I could tell that I was changing under the illusion the ring provided, and energy started to flow around me, obstructing my body from view. Not a second too soon, as in that moment, the ring flickered out, returning me to my alicorn form. Or, what was left of it. I had lost almost all of my fur, and my tail seemed to have become both much longer and much thicker than before. My neck was lengthening, and I could tell that my face was changing. My horn also was growing longer. It took me not long to realize my robe would rip when I would not put it away, and the ring still seemed to work well enough to store it away. When I looked down, I could see grey scales on my chest, and they ran down, through my crotch and along my tail, which now was more like that of a snake’s, with the aurora hair that was attached to it now on its tip instead on my back. The rest of my body aside from my wings was covered in white, much smaller scales. On my hip, my cutie mark still existed, now made up of yellow and orange scales instead of fur. My feet and hands had changed into claws, but my hands still were similar enough to actual hands that I probably could grasp stuff with them. I just would have to mind the claws. (AN: Why the hell are ‘claws’ (paws) and ‘claws’ (fingernails) named the same?!) Interestingly, my now visible jewelry stayed, and the rings on my arms had turned into golden gloves that left my fingers free, while the golden shoes I had turned into something similar along my feet and lower legs. I looked like a dragon, but with all the jewels, my mane, tail, and my still feathery wings, I also kind of didn’t. The transformation finished, and the energies around me died down, revealing my form. “A wyvern? You must have had impressive potential. Too bad it ends here,” he said, firing a lightning bolt at me. I just tilted my head. That little zap was supposed to do what, exactly? When the lightning bolt touched me, I realized that he was more than just bark, and had the tiniest bit bite to him. I actually felt that! “Impressive,” I commented, getting a shocked look from him. “You’re still sentient? How? You should be completely taken over by the beast within you!” “Oh, but I am,” I responded, my horn lighting up and burning with more magic than I had used in my whole time on this planet. A fireball twenty meters in diameter appeared out of nowhere above my head, crashing into the area where he stood just a second before. He managed to dodge, but just barely. In return, he sent another lightning bolt in my direction, but I took to the air, now hovering above the battlefield. I decided not to use magic to beat him. I could feel the air around me, and pressure at the back of my throat. Opening my mouth, I let loose a torrent of flames, and I noticed him protecting himself with a shield of some sort. I felt so alive! And I knew I could win every fight, starting with this one! A flap of my wings brought me back to the ground, and a lightning-fast punch shattered his shield, throwing him back. My wings flapped again, causing me to shoot in the air, and another flap sent me downwards. He had no time to react before I made a barrel roll forwards, extending my tail and crashing it into him. The impact once again sent him flying, this time in the opposite direction than my previous attack did. My feet touched the ground, I turned around, and I jumped forwards again, but I was stopped by a red energy field. Turning my head to the side, I noticed someone in a white robe standing there, looking at me. “This duel was not approved.” “I agreed to it,” I responded, my scratchy voice causing him to shudder slightly. The energy holding me in place was quite strong, I noticed. “If you attack him again, we will have to fight you, as right now, you are a wyvern,” he said, and I chuckled. “How about this: You release me now, and I will only end my fight with him,” I responded, pointing at the guy on the other end of the arena, who was gathering energy between his hands, probably for another lightning attack. “I can’t do that,” he said, and I sighed. Who does that guy think he is, holding me back from the fight that was mine! “So be it,” I said, and then dumped about five percent of my magic reserves in my horn, sending a blast of pure energy outwards and shattering whatever was holding me in place. I aimed my horn at him, and then let loose the magic. He got shocked by it, then his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell unconscious, while the magic rubber banded back into my horn and into my reserves from there. “That took you far too long! Now die! To the Magnificent Lightning!” my real other opponent screamed, launching an impressive lightning bolt at me. I extended my wings, caught it with my right one, and then redirected it with my pegasus magic. The amount of power it contained was staggering, and I nearly lost control, but only nearly. The lighting arched along my wings, and after stopping at my wingtip of my left wing for a second before jumping forwards, hitting him and causing such an impact that the area around us was tinted blue for a second. Afterwards, he fell over forwards, smoldering and fainted. Now that I thought about it, wasn’t this quite a bit like that agnikai or how it was called from the avatar the last airbender series? Feeling a sense of dread, I then jumped to the side, evading another lightning bolt. Behind me someone with far more strength stood, his right hand coated in electricity. “Leave, Monster,” he said, and I stared at him. “That is what I came here for,” I deadpanned in response, causing him to raise an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” “I need to leave this world to find my sisters again. The academy was my best bet thanks to the number of artifacts and energy that is around this place,” I responded, and he sighed. “You will not get any of those artifacts. For that, I will guarantee personally,” he said, and I snorted before turning to the sidelines. “Who is this guy?” I asked, jabbing a thumb in his direction. Everything was silent for a moment, but then I received an answer. “…the headmaster.” I turned to him. “Don’t make me laugh. You don’t even have a chance at stopping me,” I said, a blue fireball appearing atop my horn, small, but with incredible amounts of heat everyone nearby felt. “I wanted a fair fight, so I only used my body and a bit of my power to make my body lighter, so that I could fly. Against you, I’d fight seriously,” I said, drawing upon my magic again and this time radiating it, pushing everything else in close proximity away, including his lightning energy. His eyes widened when he realized that I could suppress his power. “I am a goddess in all but NAME! I came here in the hope to get help with finding those I lost, but I got attacked time and time again by ARROGANT IDIOTS! They can’t beat me!” I exclaimed, gesturing to the idiot behind me, before pointing at him. “YOU can’t beat me! And if you try, there won’t be much left of the academy afterwards!” “Very well, I know an impossible fight when I see one. What is it that you want, then?” he asked, and I smirked. “Not much,” I responded, feeling the anger slowly flow out of me. My form started to revert, and in two flashes of light, I once again stood there in my human form (including robe, luckily), nearly kneeling over from the energy loss and the exhaustion, but both the knowledge what would happen if I did and my alicorn body were preventing that from happening. “Now, since you are no longer consumed by your wrath, could you tell us what happened here, miss Faust?” the headmaster asked, quickly changing gears, and I walked over to a nearby bench before letting myself fall onto it. “There is a …condition… in my family. We try our best not to turn into those. What you saw was my secondary form, my opposite, my negative. I loathe hurting people, and I was supposed to one day rule over a small kingdom with a caring hand. No creature would have had to fear me, as I would allow every sentient being that would not attack the others to reside there; including wyverns and other beings you would call monsters.” “I see. And what turned you into this second form of yours? And what was it?” “The guy I was originally fighting was using something that was supposed to turn me into a ‘beast’, his words, not mine. It must have awakened what slumbered deep inside of me. And I turned into something that was a fusion between an alicorn and a dragon.” “What are those?” “An alicorn is a big pony with a horn and wings like you have seen on me, and a mark of their destiny on their flanks. The sun symbol I had in the same area was one such mark. A dragon is a stronger wyvern with arms, legs, only one pair of leathery wings, and a tail. Most older ones are quadruped. They usually have horns and spikes along their spines and tail. Normally, they are smaller than wyverns, but there are also those like lord Torch, who is literally the size of a small mountain. His head is four times as high as you are standing,” I said, then looked around and grabbed a nearby water bottle in my levitation before starting to drink what was left in it. “And your claims about being a goddess? Were they true?” I shook my head. “No. I am practically immortal, but I am no god. I just have an incredible big reservoir of energy, which just means I could act as a god and likely not be found out for decades.” “That is what some see as a god, is it not? And why do you try not to become this ‘opposite’ side of you when it gives you such a big power boost?” I leveled an even look at him. “I was nearly feral. The only thing that held my sapience and sentience together was my burning desire to obliterate the guy that challenged me to a fight. The next time this happens, I might not be able to keep control and start destroying the city. Which would take not too long, all things considered.” A thoughtful look crossed his face. “Yes, that is indeed a considerable drawback for this. Now, I remember you saying you wanted something from us to leave and reunite with your sisters. What is it?” “Somewhere here is probably a quite literal tear in reality. If I find it, I can probably use it to get closer to my sisters again, but with all the life here, I just can’t say where it is.” “I see. Then, how about a deal?” I raised an eyebrow, then drained the last bit of water from the bottle I had picked up. “A deal?”