• Published 19th Nov 2019
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Child of Mine - Starscribe



After discovering a strange animal abandoned in the forest, Kyle is in for far more than he could've bargained for.

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Chapter 40: Exposed Contact

Their grandfather didn't give them very much time. At his insistence, they would meet with Akiko the very next day.

Their grandfather didn't stay for very long. Once the date of their meeting was confirmed, he turned to go, though the crew hadn't finished yet. “I don't believe I'll be attending this particular event,” he explained. “As much as I would like to be there, magic will be involved and I need to minimize exposure. Know that I have the utmost trust in Akiko. Her work has been exemplary thus far. As soon as she has gathered enough information, Akiko will be able to assemble a method to return you both to your original forms. She has yet to fail me. And if she does, I may need to investigate a replacement.”

He walked away, striding up the ramp before either of them could reply. The rest of the day passed more or less uneventfully, though. Kyle did have to retrieve Fay and shelter her from the crew. As they finally reached the bedroom, the baby was sleeping uneasily. She was cranky for the rest of the day, but she didn't blow anything up.

The next morning, Kyle found an email waiting for her.

“I received your spell attempt and was quite impressed with what I found. What you've done here would be unacceptable for an apprentice in any other situation. Funneling information directly into the mind is far too dangerous except in the most desperate situations.

“For that reason I've included several pages on filters at the beginning of the information I’ve attached. You've completed the assignment and I've finished digitizing enough to get you started. You will find a few intermediate level runes here. Study them well, because this time I have a more difficult assignment for you.

“What I require from you now is to assemble a simple communication spell and cast it, sending a message of your choice to me. This will be your first attempt at sympathetic magic, which involves the degree of connection you have with the subject of a spell. Given all we have done is communicate in these letters, you would not ordinarily have any hope of reaching me. I have attached my own magical signature. Use it to create an artificial familiarity between the two of us.

“I suppose you could say that completing this assignment will formalize your elevation from apprentice, since the sympathetic connection it will give you could be used to hurt me. If you're someone fucking with me, I guess I'm screwed.

“If you can get this working, then maybe I can move on to give you some of the information I have on life magic. But I warn you, it is an extremely dangerous practice. When the subject of your spell is your body or the body of another, death is the usual result of failure. Experiment on plants or insects, not people.”

Attached to the message was not a textbook's worth of new information, but only a few pages. A quick skim through them proved their complexity was significantly greater than anything she had experimented with before. It was like moving from simple algebra straight to calculus with a whole suite of new symbols and meanings.

There was a glossary, yet it referenced what she believed must be the entirety of her first instruction. Did Monday really expect her to memorize and master all of them when all she'd asked for was a single spell? I guess I don't have a choice, Kyle thought. It's either working with her or hoping that Akiko can change us back.

As much as Kyle would have liked to begin her new assignment right away, the needs of the day superseded it. Fay was most cooperative early in the morning and the time right after she ate, so Akiko would be arriving soon. Kyle proceeded with the normal business of the morning, waking Fay and feeding her as she usually did.

By the time she was finishing with her own breakfast, she heard the mechanical sound of the gate coming from across the cavern. She scooped Fay up onto her back, then walked slowly towards the study. Kara appeared in a hallway, watching wearily.

“You coming?” Kyle asked.

“After what happened last time? Not a chance in hell,” Kara replied. “Good luck though. I'm going to stay well out of the blast radius, just in case.”

Kyle groaned, but there was really no arguing with her. She crossed to the study and sure enough Akiko was there. This time she had a slim case over one shoulder. She turned, grinning weekly at Kyle.

“It's good to see you again,” she said, looking down at her feet. “I was hoping your sister might be here with you. I meant to apologize for my first attempt.”

Kyle shrugged. “She didn’t take it personally. You did tell her it would hurt. The best way you can apologize is to make this work. What do you think you're going to learn from Fay, exactly?”

Akiko settled her case down on the table, clicking it open. Inside was a flat slab of shiny metal, and several cloth bags that clinked with metallic sounds. She looked up, face flushed with embarrassment. “Forgive me. It’s not that I don't want to answer your question, but it might take several hours and technically it would violate the oaths I’ve made. I serve your grandfather and doing so already tests the boundaries. If I were to share forbidden knowledge, terrible things would happen to me.”

Kyle shrugged. “You think those rules apply to me? I'm not human anymore.”

Akiko selected one of the cloth bags, dumping out its contents on the table. Inside were many symbols Kyle had seen in her training, though most were unfamiliar to her. Each one was formed of stainless steel, probably hand cast with remarkable precision.

Akiko reached into her case and removed the metal plate.

A magical breadboard?

“Well, you do intend to be human again, don't you?” Akiko asked. “If I'm successful, then you'll remember everything I've told you. There are methods to remove memories, but they do terrible damage. So it would be best just not to share anything I'm not supposed to.” She began arranging symbols on the board, occasionally glancing up at them.

Fay watched the stranger with interest, not particularly disturbed by her presence. Kyle observed, considering the markings as they went on to the board one at a time. Maybe if she could run for her laptop, she might be able to figure out what the spell was meant to do. But if she had thought to bring her cell phone, she could have just snapped a picture of it and examined it in detail once Akiko left.

“Shouldn't you start by scanning me?” Kyle asked.

“No,” Akiko said. “I will need detailed measurements of you eventually. I'm not permitted to go into specifics. What matters is every wizard and many magical creatures have their own unique hallmarks, traces left by every spell they cast. This signature will be critical in unraveling what she did to you.

Kyle considered briefly whether she should inform Akiko of Monday and the conversations they'd been having. She would love to ask for a second opinion of the assessment that she would never be human again.

But Monday's last message lingered with her. She had received a great trust now from this stranger and ought to repay it. Besides, her parents hadn't appeared for days now. The longer they stayed away the weaker her trust in her grandfather became. Anything she said to Akiko would eventually reach her grandfather, no matter how well-meaning she was.

“I'll need you to put the baby down while I cast the spell,” Akiko said. “It won't take very long, and I promise it won't hurt. I'm not trying to change anything about her, just take a few quick readings.”

Kyle nodded then crossed the room to one of the comfortable looking armchairs. She levitated Fay off her shoulders, settling her down in the chair. Kyle took one step away from it, reaching over with one wing and draping it over the baby. “How far away do I have to be?” she asked. “Fay doesn't like to be away from people for very long, and there's not much for her to play with in here. I'm sure you've heard some of the things she's done to those who upset her.”

Akiko nodded grimly. “I'm aware, and so is your grandfather. But I don't think there's much risk to you. You've already been transformed and I’m guessing her attacks on her environment will ignore things she has changed. Just break physical contact, and I’ll get this over with as quickly as I can.”

Kyle pulled her wing back. “Do it then.”

Fay squealed in fear and surprise. Her wings covered herself, and she slid into the corner of the chair, reaching towards Kyle. At least she didn’t try to fly away.

“I'm not going to let go for long,” Kyle whispered, her voice as soothing as possible. “Just sit still, sweetheart. This'll be over in a minute. You wouldn't have to be doing this if you hadn't changed me.”

Akiko dug into her pocket for a moment, producing the strange clock device she had used on Kara. She settled it on the edge of the breadboard, then started to read.

Her pronunciation was radically different from what Kyle had used. If that didn't seem to matter, it was really about settling the pattern in their mind. Seconds later, Fay began to glow, lifting out of the chair in a levitation that was not her own.

She squealed in fear, her limbs kicking out beneath her as her wings spread. But the flapping was useless. Her own horn sparked and spluttered, but nothing happened.

“Akiko, I think you should hurry,” Kyle whispered though she didn't dare reach into the spell. After her own experience with a medical scan just yesterday, Kyle didn't want to accidentally interfere and make them start all over.

Akiko looked up, desperation in her eyes. Though from her expression, it seemed she couldn't stop. Akiko began to read faster, the words blurring together so that Kyle couldn't tell them apart anymore. Like a foreign language Kyle had only just begun to learn.

Fay’s body went rigid and her eyes turned to Akiko, furious with anger. Kyle reached out, her voice pleading and desperate, but she didn’t actually touch her. “No, Fay! Please. Calm down for a second, okay? The nice lady is just here to help us. She’s not hurting you.”

It was no use. Kyle watched helplessly as another flash of magic emanated from Fay’s horn. The space around them rippled, the ground transforming into a thick blue crystal spreading away in all directions. The table shifted, growing larger to accommodate their horse size. Furniture appeared from nowhere, and a ceiling grew overhead made of the same structural crystal.

As the wave hit Akiko, she went flying backward, outside the magical radius. Kyle's new magical senses felt as the wave of power continued outward in all directions, expanding down and around and transforming the world around it. She thought she heard the screams of soldiers as they turned and ran, doing their best to escape the magic.

As Akiko smacked into the ground, her little breadboard of symbols exploded in all directions, sending another flash of bright blue light blasting through the room. Fay dropped from the air, landing with a thump in the chair.

She turned towards Kyle, eyes widening with fear. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she cried. She might be an infant, but Kyle was positive she could identify betrayal somewhere in that voice.

Kyle rushed to her side holding her close, but it was too late. The damage was already done.

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