Chapter 45: Time Passing
Day 2:
Falling was getting stronger, his breathing was smoothing out, his magic was fluctuating less and less. It’ll only be a matter of time before he has enough energy to stay awake, thankfully he hasn’t had any nightmares since my lion took to comforting him. Today is the day David and Morgana are going to go out and forage for herbs and ingredients. I wanted to go as well but Morgana made a good point and said I should stay with Falling in case he needs me. I asked if she could keep an eye out for any healing herbs while she’s out, which she agreed to. Calcifer wanted to explore the city a bit more now that we’re not pressed for time. I warned him to be careful around the other players but let him fly off. I'm glad he’s beginning to enjoy his new freedom. Aaron’s ritual will be later on in the day so I'm free to practice my magic for a few hours before I have to head over to Spike’s citadel and set up the ritual of open soul.
Morgana wasn’t around to help me figure out Earth magic so I decided to just power level my lower level skills. A few sparks and volts arced out from my horn as I kept a constant charge running through it, maybe I could head out to the destroyed part of the city and use the rubble for target practice. That idea was quickly nixed in my mind, I was still worried about Falling. Even though he’s out of danger now I don’t want to leave him alone and bringing him with me while he’s weak isn’t a good idea.
Lightbulb! I do have a few skills that I could level without it being too destructive, I stood from the old ratty couch and turned my horn on it. With a flash of magic the old, dusty couch was now completely clean. Now would be the perfect time to level my cleaning skill and figure out how to change the spent mana smell. I kept a ball of lightning floating nearby to help level my lighting magic while I cleaned. The floors were odd to clean as my magic didn’t fix the various cracks and scuffs on the old wood flooring, but at least they were nice and shiny again. The cleaning spell worked the best on the old ratty curtains that were hanging next to the balcony window, the curtains went from dark gray to white. They still had moth holes here and there but still the living room was looking much better. The smell was really digging into my nose though, I propped all the windows open to let the breeze through. This is the perfect time to figure out wind magic!
I let the lightning ball dissipate and focused, I was extremely sensitive to the clean winds that came through the window. The contrast between the spent mana in the air and the clean air was even more apparent once I started to slowly leak my mana into the air. I spread the silver aura out in a wide net and let it get carried away with the wind, memorizing the feeling of the air moving. Once the wind began to wane I started to move my mana, continuing the weaving and swirling pattern the wind was making. I whirled the artificial wind around the room, pushing the spent mana smell around and out of the room.
Adept Wind Magic: Grants a semblance of control over the vital element of air, the wind is the element of freedom and dislikes being told what to do. One must dance and play with the wind, not command it.
Skill Level 5: 0.00%
Cost: 1 Sp
I smiled at the notification, that’s one more element down and only one more to go. The silver gale glowing around the room began to settle as the smell of spent mana fully disappeared, The sound of an awed gasp from behind me broke me from my focus. I whipped around and saw Falling Star slowly limping into the room being supported by my lion. I had a couple of conflicting feelings about this. My first and loudest would be happiness that Falling was awake and walking around! The second and much more reasonable voice said he really shouldn’t be walking around yet, the third voice was just Calcifer celebrating in my mind.
In a blink of an eye I was next to Falling and lifting him up, I didn't know how his internal magic would react to my levitation so I just used my hooves. “What are you doing out of bed, you still need rest, are you sore anywhere? Are you hungry? Let me get you something to eat” The whole time while I'm asking my questions I'm lifting Falling and putting him on the back of my lion, who held perfectly still so Falling could get comfortable on their back. I looked back up at Falling’s face after checking his bandages and froze at what I saw, he was crying.
“You saved me… I knew you would save m-me” His words trembled as he tried to hold back a sob. I leaned over and gave him a hug, his hooves immediately wrapping around my neck and his muzzle coming to rest in my hair. Neither of us spoke for a while, after his breathing started to even out I started to walk us back to his room. Transferring him over to the bed I took a moment to wipe a few tears off his face. My lion hopped up onto the bed with him and started a low rumbling purr. Almost subconsciously Falling started to lean into the soft fur of my summon, Falling just stared at me silently while I checked over his legs. There would be quite a few scars but those would fade once his body was back in order, his bones had mended fully thankfully. Nothing had healed wrong but his legs were still a bit too thin, a bit more time and some food is all he needed before he’s completely healed… at least physically speaking.
“Did you get him… did you get the monster?” Falling fragile tone told me more than his actual question did, I gave him as gentle of a smile as I could before I spoke. Falling looked at me with so much pain and hope in his eyes, I felt like I failed him. I failed him once when I didn’t immediately call out Aaron back at the beginning of our adventure, then I failed him again by not killing the living waste of good air that did this to him. I gave a firm nod and said.
“I did, I'm so proud of you for reaching me. I know you don’t want to hear this but… instead of ‘dealing’ with him, I captured hi-”
“Wha- why! He’s a monster and you’re a hero! He k-killed Coral! He hurt so many other ponies in the towns we left, he needs to di-!” Tears were running down his face as his voice strained from his yells.
“Falling!” My stern voice broke him out of his tirade, he heaved for breath after his yelling ceased. He sniffled in an attempt to stop his tears, I gave a deep sigh as I thought of a way to explain this to the kid… foal. “Falling, death is not something to give lightly. While I do agree that someone like A- Sterling deserves to suffer for his crimes, I also believe that we shouldn’t sink to his level. We need to be better than ponies like him, to cure their sickness instead of just cutting them off” Falling’s hard expression began to soften slightly as he thought about my words, I felt like the world's biggest hypocrite. I didn’t even believe my own words, the only reason why Aaron wasn’t a pile of ash right now is because of some stupid timeline nonsense… but I have to be better now. I need to be a good influence for Falling, I'm not going to be leaving him again.
“S-so… what are you going to do to him?” I felt my smile grow as Falling slowly started to come around, I leaned back slightly and tried to think of a way to explain the ritual I plan to use on Aaron.
“Remember what I said about curing sickness? It turns out that Sterling might actually be sick, of course that doesn’t change that he’s a horrible pony but I still need to see what the sickness is and if we can treat it so no other ponies fall victim to it.” Falling is a smart kid, I'm not surprised when I see his eyes light up in understanding. I could see that he was really curious about the whole thing and it was a massive relief to see that part of himself was still intact.
“Really! Can I come too?” Falling released my lion and leaned towards me in excitement, I was extremely surprised by him wanting to come. He was still willing to enter a room with the man that tried to kill him… though I guess that fact that said murderer is going to be heavily restrained in multiple ways probably helps.
“It’s not going to happen until later, so let’s see how you’re feeling when the time comes. In the meantime, how about we get some food for you.” The heaviness in the air quickly dissipated at the sound of Falling’s tummy rumbling. Seeing how he’s completely awake right now, I loaded Falling onto my lion’s back once again and walked the two back over to the couch. After making sure he was comfortable I began to reheat the both we had been feeding him, I could feel his eyes on me as I levitated some wood over to light the stone oven we had been using to heat my cauldron. I smirked slightly as I took out one of my Annealed Flasks and popped the top open, I upended the flask into the pot and watched as way more broth poured out of the flask than it should be able to hold. I heard a soft confused ‘what?’ from behind me and smothered my laughter, i’m gonna enjoy showing Falling all of the absurd and magical things we all can do. I let my magic stir the broth on its own before turning to check on Falling who had continued to watch me unabashedly.
“In case you were wondering, Morgana and David are out foraging in the nearby forest and Calicer is-” “SCRAAA!” “- right there apparently” Diving in through the open window was my phoenix making a dramatic entrance. Falling jumped from the fire raptor’s cry and for a moment I was worried he would panic but thankfully he was distracted by Calcifer landing on the armrest of the couch. Looking at the two I quickly realized that he had never seen Calcifer
“ I guess introductions are in order. Falling Star I would like you to meet Calcifer the Phoenix. Calcifer started out as a magical summon of mine but transformed into his own creature not long ago, I hope you two will get along” There was a short period of silence as Calcifer looked over Falling Star, I purposely kept out of Calcifer’s mind so I don’t influence his feelings on Falling. The firebird hopped down from the armrest and stood next to a slightly skittish Falling, Calcifer was actually larger than Falling while he was sitting. With slow tender moments Calcifer opened his wings and completely encircled Falling in a hug, the injured child flinched at first contact but quickly relaxed as Calcifer’s warmth reached him. His eyes falling shut almost immediately from comfort.
“He’s so warm… “ My smile was so large that it was starting to make my face cramp. Calcifer lifted his head and gave me a look that translated faster than the following thought he sent me. ‘I will protect this child at all costs!’
“I’m glad you like him, have some food before you fall asleep again” I laughed under my breath at Calcifer’s sudden paternal instincts, I was then pleasantly surprised to feel a mirror of those protective feelings from my lion. It seems having a child to protect and comfort is helping my lion rapidly mature. Calcifer crooned in sadness as he had to extract himself from Falling’s side so he could eat, I sat a wooden bowl down before him and started to feed him. He tried to feed himself at first but the magical field on his hooves wasn’t strong enough to hold the spoon yet.
I was born an only child, I was always the one being taken care of or having to rely on someone else for something. Taking care of someone else for once is… nice. I softly wiped a few drops of broth off of Falling’s face and was reminded that he needed to take a bath at some point. Falling was able to get down over half of the bowl before feeling full, this was good as before I could barely get him to keep down a quarter of the bowl. I watched Falling’s eyes struggle to stay open, his head starting to fall only to jerk back up as he forced himself to stay awake. My expression was stuck in a permanent smile while watching him, I sent a thought to my lion and watched them stand up and position themselves next to the couch. I took Falling into my hooves and listened to him grumble his discontent. I couldn’t help but laugh slightly at his unwillingness to sleep.
“Go ahead and take a nap, I'll wake you when it’s time to go, okay?” I felt more than heard Falling hum his assent as he fell asleep in my hooves. I don’t think I've ever been quieter than when I walked Falling back to bed, I tucked him back into bed and felt something in my chest tighten. I’m not going to fail him again, I refuse. I need to be better… for him.