by Jay Boyce
“Is Walter okay?” Guy number one was looking warily between her, the blood, and the body…er, boy, on the table. With her little blue dot confirming that the body’s name was indeed Walter, she nodded.
“Yes, he’ll be fine, just a little weak for a few days until the regeneration I set in place completes. He didn’t have enough nutrients for me to work with to do more than set it in motion, so he’s going to feel sick and need to eat a lot.” She could have talked about his red blood cells or the hemoglobin in them, but they wouldn’t understand, so why bother?
Guy number two nodded, and she finally got a good chance to study the three of them. Guy one looked older; he was probably one of the assistant professors like Tristan. His hair was a nice sandy brown and was pulled back into a low ponytail to try and control the light waves she saw. It was Fabio hair pulled back, even if his body didn’t quite match. He was fit, but didn’t have the romance novel vibe. His hazel eyes were still worried. Guy two looked to be an older student, and it was almost as if he was mimicking his idol, the way his dark brown hair was also grown out and pulled back. His slimmer features almost gave him an evil villain vibe if it wasn’t for his panicked baby blue gaze.
Good ol’ body Walter was the only one who didn’t have long hair, and he looked much less fit than the others. He was probably a second year, but maybe it was just that he looked innocent and younger in his passed out state. Looking between the three of them, she asked firmly, “Now, can you please tell me who you are and how on earth this boy got mauled?”
Guy one winced, then said a little guiltily, “Ah, right. Sorry. I’m Baronet Randall Rosen, this is Lord Sean Macmannon, and the guy on the table is Walter Licnus.” He looked hesitant to tell her how he’d gotten injured, but Jade just stared him down with an eyebrow raised. He let out a breath and explained, “He was trying to bond an iompro in the contractual magic class. We thought he had it, but the next thing we knew, it went berserk and started attacking him. He was suffering backlash from the failed bond, so he didn’t block anything. It took a bit before we could uh…dispose of the beast.”
She stared at him as if trying to ascertain that what he was telling her was the truth. Why on earth would anyone try to form a contract with something like a bear!? At least, that’s what the claw marks had reminded her of, and wait…wasn’t contractual magic her next class? Looking at the kid in front of her, she was no longer quite so keen to go to it anymore. First, fire turned out to be a mess, and now she wasn’t sure she wanted to go to contractual… This wasn’t a great omen for her future magic classes.
Realizing she’d overlooked an important piece of information, she zeroed back in on Randall as she asked, “Wait, you said he was suffering backlash from a failed contract? Explain, please.”
Looking confused, Randall answered, “Yes, the backlash from any failed spell is usually pretty mentally debilitating. Some magics are more volatile, of course. Fire and lightning generally explode in your face, contractual magic causes the targets to become hostile to you, and I’m not sure on what happens with the rest.” She nodded thoughtfully, trying to process that new information. It was best she avoid this backlash, but that would require her to know her limits. She was working on it, but it was tricky when you couldn’t measure anything but how it felt, which was totally biased. No respectable scientific journal would ever publish such a study.
Looking down at Walter, she spoke absently, “He’s going to be out for another few hours, but he can’t stay in my workroom.” She was a little protective of it.
Randall looked conflicted, and Sean was bouncing on his feet in anxiety. “You’re not going to stay with him until he wakes up?” Sean’s voice was plaintive.
She sighed, relenting. “Fine, he’s not staying here, but we can bring him with us back to the contractual magic classroom so I can keep an eye on him.” They both looked confused, and she explained slowly, “My next class is beginner contractual magic.” Speaking of, she quickly clicked on her choices, wanting at least a little head start on the whole thing.
Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Magic and Contractual Magic from Walter Licnus underway.
Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Magic and Contractual Magic from Randall Rosen underway.
Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Magic and Contractual Magic from Sean Macmannon underway.
She felt a slight tingle, but it was almost nothing compared to the pain of the past, which was a pleasant surprise. Smiling at the three of them, she explained, “I just need to grab a few things. Then we can head back and reassure everyone that he’s fine.” They nodded, seeming to just be grateful that she had agreed to stay with them. She walked over to her coldboxes, opening them and picking out enough food that would fit in her bag, stuffing it full. She chose to take a few bites, chewing quickly as she closed the boxes and walked back, nodding to them. “Sorry, just need to keep my energy up. Healing him wasn’t exactly easy.”
“Of course. We understand,” Randall quickly replied, and she smiled at him, then motioned for him to grab Walter as she went and opened the door. Thinking about it, she realized that they were literally in the classroom next door. She wasn’t sure how she felt about having wild animals that could tear a person to shreds for neighbors. She waited until they brought Walter out, then closed and locked her workroom behind her. Walking to the room next door with her shadows, she opened the door only to catch the tail end of the professor speaking.
“I’m sure he’s fine. There’s a new healer. We’ll know soon enough, so stop fidgeting! You’re making the creatures nervous.” At this point, he seemed to notice the students were staring at the door and, more particularly, at her. She smiled at him and he asked quizzically, “Can I help you?”
She saluted him a little ironically, opening the door wider so that Randall and Sean could bring Walter in. “Just bringing my patient back.” As soon as Randall and Sean made it into the room, all of the students were rushing forward, and Jade automatically created a wind wall in front of them, causing several of them to crash into it unawares. They were pushed against it by those in back for a moment before people seemed to realize something was stopping them. Jade smiled innocently as she said authoritatively, “He’s fine, but I would prefer you didn’t all rush over. He’s not going to wake up for a few hours anyway, and I don’t want you bumping him around.”
She dropped her wind wall, causing a few people to stumble forward a step. One of them asked her curiously, “How did you do that?”
She smiled. “I’m getting very good with wind walls.”
Walking over, the professor took her hand in his wrinkled ones, bending over and brushing his lips across them. “Thank you for your help, Lady Jade. I’m Count Eamonn Finn. Please, have a seat.” She glanced around only to notice two of the students she’d healed this morning scooting apart to make room for her. Unlike the fire classroom, this one had benches around two sides of the room, and the other two walls held…cages.
Most of the animals looked like they were either subdued or sleeping, but a few watched her with creepy eyes. Most of them were smaller, though she noticed neither cats nor dogs. The wolf-looking beast was the closest thing to a dog, but it didn’t look quite right either. That was when she noticed the blood creating a nice large stain off to one side. Wincing, she gestured to it and asked, “Mind if I take care of that first?”
Eamonn looked confused but intrigued as he nodded. “Go ahead.” She still gestured with her hand for all that she probably didn’t need to. For some reason, it made focusing easier for her. Calling the blood, it separated from the stone floor, leaving no trace behind as it became another globe above her hands.
Looking around, she asked, “Is there somewhere I can put it?”
Eamonn beamed at her, going to one of the few cupboards and pulling out a metal box. He opened it and held it out to her as she dropped the blood in. “Fascinating! A blood mage, too!” His crinkled face became even more wrinkled when he grinned, and
she wondered absently how sane of mind he was. His white hair was poofed around his head like all the mad scientists in movies.
Once she deposited the blood with him, she chose to quickly take a seat between the boy and girl who she’d healed, smiling at them. The girl leaned closer, whispering, “Hey, welcome, and thanks for this morning. You did a great job.”
Jade smiled back at her and whispered, “You’re welcome. Does this whole mauling thing happen a lot?”
The boy on the other side of her answered quietly, “No, not really. Most of us don’t try for something that can eat us. Walter was trying to show off.” Jade nodded, deep in contemplation. This put a new light on the unconscious body.
Meanwhile, apparently satisfied that the blood was maintaining its globular shape, Eamonn put it away and turned back to the class with a giant wrinkly grin. “Well then! Now that that’s all taken care of, let’s go back to the beasts. As I was saying, one of the best ways to start a bond with the animals is to feed them. Take the ioguan,” here he gestured to a cage of creatures that bore a striking resemblance to iguanas, though as with everything else, something didn’t seem quite right, “they’ll eat almost anything,” he paused to pull out another cage from below, “but they prefer to eat fellacai when given the chance.”
Jade stared in awe at the new cage. In it swirled hundreds of gorgeous butterflies, or something like them, seeming to be made up of all the colors of the rainbow. They practically glittered in the light like tiny gems. The professor kept talking, and she could only half bring herself to listen, entranced as she was. “The fellacai are crafty creatures. Their pollen has a multitude of effects, and they can be quite difficult to catch unless you know the tricks. It’s common…”
She had tuned him out, a single thought going through her mind as she whispered, “Mine.”
Chapter Eight – Fellacai
The helpful girl next to her seemed a bit curious at her tiny mutter. She whispered softly, "Have you ever seen a fellacai before?" Jade shook her head almost imperceptibly, not wanting to take her attention off the cage of tiny beings. Seeming to take pity on her, the girl waited until Eamonn had briefly stopped lecturing to interject, "Professor Eamonn, Jade has never seen a fellacai before. Is there any way you can put the cage over here?"
At this point, Eamonn seemed to realize how entranced Jade was by the silly smile on her face as she stared at them. Nodding, he brought the cage over to them as he said, "Of course, thank you for bringing it to my attention, Delia." Jade absently noted her name, happy to finally put it together with one of her notifications from this morning without having to ask.
Tearing her gaze away from the shinies to look up at Eamonn, Jade asked with an innocent smile, "Can I hold the cage?"
Almost indulgently, he nodded, carefully maneuvering the cage so that it was stable on her lap. He then walked back across the room to continue lecturing, while her whole attention was on the cage she now held. She stared into it, entranced by the many sparklies. With a thought, she activated her mana sense, and each little not-a-butterfly began to glow softly, emitting a shining aura. A few of them, however, were different. Their glow was brighter and multicolored. Fascinated, she unlocked the latch of the cage and belatedly dismissed the hiss of breath from her nice neighbors. She stuck her hand in and murmured softly, “Come.” She mentally overlaid her words with a command to the not-butterflies she’d chosen and sent a silent command to the rest of them to stay put.
Without a struggle, five fellacai winged their way gracefully to land on her outstretched fingers, and she pulled them out of the cage. With her free hand, she absently closed it and began to set it on the ground in favor of bringing her chosen five up to eye level so she could study them more closely. She ignored the new dots in her vision as she smiled. She barely noticed that Delia and the boy next to her had both grabbed the cage and finished lowering it gently to the ground before warily watching her bring the fellacai up to her face.
The first one was a beautiful golden color and seemed to embody sunshine itself. The underlying tones of black only heightened the bright gilding. Its tiny face seemed to be looking at her proudly, as if proclaiming it was strong and to be admired. The second fellacai was dark as night, a beautiful velvety black with dark blue streaks. It held a quiet grace and sneakiness that she figured would help it blend into the abyss of night easily. The third was a mix of red, orange, and yellow, like the heart of a fire. It too preened and fluttered, as if discontent to ever be completely still. The fourth had various shades of green and brown, like a forest camouflage. It was slower than the others, more patient and enduring. The last one was hues of light purple mixed with silver, and it seemed to be the friendliest of them, patting her finger with its little paws. All of them sat on her hand, staring, or perhaps studying her as she did them.
She smiled at them and said quietly, “You’re mine now.” Reaching into her bag with her free hand, she brought out a metal flask that she knew was filled with a sweet apple juice. She unstoppered it and tipped it until a bit poured into her palm, then grabbed it with her knees and held that hand up to the fellacai as she whispered, “Let’s see if you like this. Go on, try it.” The fellacai seemed to exchange looks, then alighted on her other hand, drinking the juice quickly. Happy that they seemed to like it, she used her newly freed hand to carefully keep pouring more until they seemed satisfied and stopped drinking. They sat back on her palm and looked up at her again like adorable jeweled figurines.
“I’m Jade,” she whispered, smiling at them.
“Jade,” she heard the tiny voices echo in her mind, and she looked at them in awe, feeling the beginnings of a connection with them. Was it supposed to be this easy? She didn’t care either way because she was just happy they’d acknowledged her. Her bright grin was easy evidence of her joy.
However, her hand was getting a little tired from holding it out so they could drink, so she pictured her braid and them settling there, mentally telling them, “Perch there. You’ll be safe.” She smiled as they alighted from her hand, fluttered around her head for a moment, and then safely latched onto her braid like beautiful hair ornaments. Only when they were safely secured did she come back to reality, looking around and noticing the room was dead silent and that everyone was staring at her. “What?”
Delia asked in an awed voice, “Did you just…bond with five queen fellacai? At the same time?”
Oh, no wonder they were brighter. They were the queens. She smiled, thinking about the beautiful little creatures perched on her hair as she said simply, "I suppose I probably did. I like them."
Even Count Eamonn was staring at her in surprise. He coughed before trying to cover it up. "Well, as you see, sometimes it is…easier for certain people to bond with an animal they connect with. A large part of the bond is trust, since you're able to mentally communicate. That communication goes both ways, so a creature can sense if you intend it ill. When a true partnership is formed and you've become at least intermediate in your skills, you will be able to not only mentally communicate, but see and hear through the eyes of your bonded. With that said, they gain from you as well. The longer you're connected, the more intelligent a creature will become, among other things."
He glanced at Jade before he continued, "This is why we usually encourage students to try and bond with larger animals because they have increased brain capacity." Jade snorted silently. Her fellacai were perfect, and he wasn't going to convince her otherwise.
"Perfect." She smiled as she heard the tiny echo in her head because it seemed like the fellacai were picking up on her emotions. They might not have a very high starting point, but if their intelligence would grow from hers, she wasn't worried at all. They would be perfect as jewelry, messengers, scouts, spies… The possibilities were endless! They were going to be a hit.
Thoughtfully, she mentally asked them, "Do you have names?" It was a little strange talking to tiny butterflies in her hair that she couldn't currently see to assess their
expressions.
"Names?" Their questioning tone was basically the answer she needed. She'd have to think about it carefully because she didn't want to give them bad names. So far they had mostly repeated the important words in what she said. Well, it didn't matter right now. They were sweet and beautiful, and they were hers. Curious, she clicked on the little dots that had appeared after they landed on her.
You have touched a fellacai, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience…
Choose a stat to siphon: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Magic, Charisma, or Luck.
Choose a skill to siphon: Flight, Light Magic, Magic Resistance, Pollen Spores, or Wind Magic.
She was surprised to find that all five of them had basically the same kit, the difference being that light magic was replaced by whatever other magic they seemed to most specialize in: Light, Dark, Fire, Nature, and Illusion magic. Somehow, she knew that these weren’t the only magic each of them possessed. If she had to guess, the pollen spores were turned magical, and then they used wind magic to spread it to their enemies. She would have to experiment with them later to see what they could do. Maybe she would find a willing victim who was okay getting pollen on them, as long as she healed them after.
Deciding that the little ones probably wouldn't mind too much or cause her too much backlash, she clicked on her choices mentally.
Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Magic and Flight from a fellacai underway.
Siphoning complete. Assimilation of Magic and Flight from a fellacai underway.
