• Published 1st Apr 2016
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Group Precipitation - FanOfMostEverything



Stories set in the Oversaturated World, some silly, some less so.

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Absentee Lords and Ladies, by Masterweaver

For so many years, they had hidden. Hidden from history, from humans, from help and horror. And then...

She.

Even if she did not know of they, and so did not speak, it was not hard to see. A mere glance at humans, and the shift in the world...

Whispers in a thousand thousand places unmapped began to clamor and echo and sing.

The old games were afoot again, but new rules came with them. And now.... now humans were playing too.

They were cautious, of course—who wouldn't be?

But it was time. Time to emerge.

Time to become part of the world again.


"Iron? Or cold iron?"

"Not iron, definitely. Maybe cold iron. They call it aluminum."

"Hmm. What is contained within?"

"Sugary water, with flavors and chemical treatment."

"...what."

"They've found a way to... extract it. Reforge it. It's so common, this is a disposable drink container. Don't shake, the drink froths."

"Change... is to be expected, I suppose. It has been a long time since magic sang, and never has it sung like this."

"There is more. They have... I do not know how to explain it. It is like starfolk magic, only... not magic."

"Not magic?"

"Not how we describe it. If magic were to fall again, it would not be effected. It sings now too, with the new magic and old, but..."

"How common is this?"

"Very common. Households have it whisper through the walls. Carts without beasts move swiftly across great distances. Tiny bricks shout across the void to floating watchers. Sometimes this lets the bricks talk to each other."

"Have they... found the starfolk?"

"I cannot say, it is unclear. But they did make a journey to the moon and back, before magic sang again."

"...if something is this common, there must be knowledge of it in their libraries. Take care, and find us the words of this not magic starfolk magic."

"There is..."

"Yes?"

"There is... an invisible library. Knowledge for all, from all, accessed with not magic, and... now that magic sings, there are creatures in it. But it is common enough."

"How trustworthy is this knowledge?"

"Oh, it depends. I call it a library, but it is more a library of libraries. Some are lies. Some are truth. I could... bring you a gate, but..."

"Iron and cold iron."

"Contained in strange false bone, but... yes. And rare is the gatekeeper that does not demand money. Or proof that we lie not of ourself."

"I see... perhaps take another's gate, then."

"It could be done."

"Good. And have you, at least, found why magic sings again?"

"...The Belled Sorcerer left his gate open. Magic from his world poisoned ours. Then another Sorcerer stepped in... and now the magics are blended, and she keeps the world together as it heals."

"Does she know of us?"

"...I cannot say. I cannot say."

Author's Note:

Magic hadn't always been as skittish as it was before Sunset reached out to it. Once this world was a bit more magical... and then it suddenly wasn't. This came as quite a shock to those who'd depended on it.

Almost as much as when it came back.

For more on the starfolk, see Masterweaver's Crossworlds Guardian, Sailor Orbital!

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