Trough 14, Rocky Underground Shelf Beneath the Avery Manse

  It took nearly two hours for me to find the corpse of the sand-borne salamander that I had seen during my time piggybacking on the senses of Seline and Rocky.

  I was not sure if this was due to the fact the time was somehow dilated while using the skill or if I was too focused at the time of my experience. Honestly, I was still unsure of how to classify almost anything involving time in this world since I arrived.

  “More thoughts for my future self.” I muttered, earning me a look from Ignis. He had done some growing up since we first started our walk, not physically mind you. He was still between three and four feet in length and still pulsing with warmth. My own little heater bug – or lizard.

  He had come to pick up on smaller things, matching my stride with his steadily flopping feet. I had even changed my pace a few times, earning me more of those wide-mouthed glaring frowns. It helped keep my thoughts on the goal, honestly.

  Up ahead was the bending wall that snaked its way along the winding stream, a wall made of long stone fingers reaching to and from the floor and ceiling of the cave. I saw the shaft of light beaming down on the remains of the beast, and it looked off.

  Not the light, the corpse. It looked small and deflated, and it seemed to be shrinking. I stared for several more minutes, focusing on the thing before my brain was able to process what I saw. I could see faint traces of matter leaving the body, or rather I saw something leaving the body.

  I had only truly noticed it as the pace was not steady, it even seemed to be speeding up. Fine motes of multicolored energy were leaving the body on the ground, as if the world were reclaiming the energy spent on its existence.

  Okay, I may have been adding some sentiment to the comparison that was all my own, but it sure seemed as if that was the case. Maybe the world was indifferent and there was something else at play, maybe that was also why no one seemed to mind when I left the bodies of fallen rats in the alleys back home in South Jaga; they just disappeared over time.

  I felt a nudge at my leg and a marked increase in the temperature as my salamander friend retrieved me from my thoughts.

  “Right, yeah.” I said apologetically, “The mission!” I nodded to the little guy whose head was just above the level of my knee and marched on.

  I needed to find out how far down I was, and the easiest way to do that would be simply climbing up.

  Looking up into the source of the pale light above I could see that it wove in zigs and zags the entire way up, or at least as far as I could see. I was beginning to wonder about how the light was so strong after bending through the hole before I saw the many sharp crystals lining the walls.

  Honestly, I was just as amazed that I had lived this long with my low attention to details like this. Sometimes my mind was a little slower than I thought it would be, as if I had been growing more closed in. Tunnel vision and such, a whole new level of attentiveness that shunted the peripheral world whether it was to my detriment or not.

  More future me problems and thoughts.

  “Okay, time for testing.” I said as my mind recalled one spell that was sure to become my favorite very soon, I was honestly somewhat hyped that I would get to use this feature of the spell.

  Yes, it was time to try out my Wind Walk spell, more importantly the constructs that the spell was centered around creating.

  I recalled the pertinent information form the system spell logs.

  Wind Walk: This spell creates a field of moderate wind control for use by the wielder. It can be subtly altered by the target of the spell to shift the winds and allow for faster movement while lowering stamina consumption. Unlike other spells you will benefit from both Intelligence and Wisdom while receiving minor bonuses from your overall Dexterity and Constitution.

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  Rank Two: This rank adds a passive effect, similar to gravity magic, allowing you to somewhat alleviate the pull on your body by external forces, be they natural or other. Further decreases the Stamina cost of many actions. Further, it increases control over the magics of Air.

  Rank Three: Spell duration increased to Level multiplied by two while Mana and Stamina costs are further reduced. Weight is also decreased while actively using the spell as you become less bound by external forces. You may now construct a thin membrane of air to use as a temporary contact point.

  Rank Four: At this Rank you will see an increase in the strength of your elemental constructs, allowing you to exert more pressure upon them before they fail. Your passive will now also give a bonus to your overall speed, and to be less bound by the forces of nature that would hold you back. Steps and other constructs of air created while making use of this spell now have reduced costs and shall exist far longer before they expire. Range of construct conjuration greatly increased.

  I cast my senses inward, verifying that the magical spell was still active. It felt as if it were. I then checked my mana reserves to find that I was only a few points shy, the two-hour walk having seen me to a nearly full tank.

  I focused my thoughts as best I could with the sounds of flowing water echoing through the cavern and the foul stench of poisoned lizard meats as it broke down into its baser parts; it took a little doing. After a brief moment when I thought I was going about it all wrong I felt space condensing in front of me, or rather I felt the air condensing.

  In front of me at about knee height I could make out a faint bending of the ambient light as it passed through what I assumed was my new air step. I poked the side with a finger and felt my hand enter into the side of the construct, the feeling was similar to dipping your hand in water but without getting wet. I felt the sensation of pressure upon every inch of skin that was embedded in the construct up until the moment that it fell apart, air dispersing in a whoosh.

  It had not lasted as long as I had hoped it would, dispersing after two or three seconds. My mind was puzzled over that as another thought occurred to me and I summoned another step.

  This time I watched the construct, counting the seconds as they passed. After a solid ten seconds I poked it again, and the thing fell apart two seconds later.

  “Interesting.” I mused aloud, which earned me another look from Ignis. Really you would think he was getting offended on behalf of his air-borne elemental cousins, it’s not like I was playing with fire. Why was he acting all superior while observing me play with air, he was a fire type!

  I shrugged and conjured a new step, this time casting it in a way that placed it behind me before I leaned into the step that I had summoned at a steep angle to support me as I did not want to lean so precariously that a dissipating would put me on my backside.

  Nope, Ignis would definitely judge me for that.

  I waited for the two seconds it took before the step would dissipate and kept waiting, the step held strong. I turned around and shoved at the step while not expressing any intent that it should give way, as I somehow knew that thinking it should move would indeed make it move; that was not the goal here.

  The step didn’t budge as I pressed my shoulder into it, not even a little. One thing that did budge though was me. I soon found myself stumbling forward as the step fell apart only righting myself a moment before I toppled over.

  I had lost track of the time I spent pushing onto the step and my mind had wandered causing the summoned platform to fall apart. It seemed that the constructs would only fall apart when I lost focus on them, or if they were somehow pierced from a side that was not firmed up, or rather a side that was not meant to bear the weight. My finger poking into the side of the construct seemed to be like putting a hole in a tire, whereas resting against the top was more like making use of the surface of the tire that hit the asphalt. It had more resistance to being broken when used as intended.

  I summoned another one, this time willing it to appear in front of me at chest level. The moment it came into existence I placed my finger underneath the step and verified that yet again it fell apart after two seconds.

  I summoned another one slightly lower before placing my thumb down upon the surface and it held. My digit did not so much as dent the surface of the construct.

  I smiled to myself, having fully exercised a bastard version of the scientific method before I got back to work.

  I summoned another step at the height of my knee before leaping from the ground and standing on it.

  It held, no surprise there.

  I summoned another while still perching on the previous construct and leapt forward keeping my intent in mind as I landed upon the step, pinwheeling my arms a little as I stopped myself from pitching forward.

  This would be easier if I had more room to maneuver and I glared at the low ceiling and looming walls. It would just be much easier if I could do this while in constant motion. The experience of ice skating came to mind where I could just use my momentum to take the next steps and continue ever onward picking up speed and doing some really nifty spins and twirls before I felt myself falling.

  I had gotten distracted again and soon found myself looking up into the eyes of my new judgy friend from my backside after landing on my bum and collapsing in embarrassment. It wasn’t the fall that had wounded me so; nay, it was the shame of being defeated by my own mind.

  “Right.” I said as I climbed back to my feet and started again. I needed a great deal of practice.

  And so it was that I spent the next hour summoning and dismissing the little steps of air, jumping back and forth upon the constructs with an ever-increasing level of confidence and control. I still couldn’t flit about and do fancy tricks in the way that I had envisioned my first use of the spell, but a girl had to have goals.