Prodigies

I wake up as normal and go eat breakfast. After that, Low calls Lex from her bracelet that Lex gave her. It's the same as the rings that Aktor and I have. Low asked if Lex could send us to the place where those cultists might be next, but Lex told us that he will bring us to his tower. When we were there, Lex told us to wait a bit for the person to arive. He didn't tell us who yet, so we just waited for a couple of minutes.

Then we saw him. A man with strange white clothes and, what I didn't expect, elf ears and cat ears with greenish hair. He even had a cat tail too. Then he waved at us, smiled and started talking cheerfully.

- Hi! So you two are the people teach told me about.

He points his fingers at us.

- You must be Nor and you must be Low. Nice to meet you.

He shakes bouth of our hands.

- Oh! Almost forgot. My name is Mortimer Tiran, but you can just call me Morty.

- Hi... Morty. Why do you have four ears?

- Oh, you are on that?! Well let me explain. AHEM! For you see, I'm a rare half elf.

- I thought that your race is determined by your mother's race.

- That is correct. Let me further explain. My grandmother was e beast folk, or more precisely cat folk, and my grandfather was an elf. They had a baby that was cat folk but shared elf genetics who was my mother. Then my mother made a child, me, with my father, who was an elf also. And for that reason I share bouth cat folk qualities and elf qualities. Thus, four ear canals.

- So what you are saying is. If your mother has genetics of a same race, while not being that race, as your father, you can make a child who is half bouth.

- Not always, but sometimes it happens. It also is likelier to happen if same proses repeats while not getting a half breed.

- So what your children are going to be?

- They are likely going to be the mother's race, but if it's an elf or someone carrying elf genetics, then it can also be a half breed.

- Can you move all of your ears independently?

- Sure, watch.

He proceeds to move his ears one by one from right to left, then from left to right.

- Interesting, now why did you want us to meet Lex?

- Let me inroduce him further, his name is Mortimer Tiran and he is former finger of the priests of the one who dreams.

- Former finger?! Isn't that supposed to be one of the highest ranks.

Morty answers.

- That is correct.

- Then why should we trust you? You've probably done horrible things.

- That's true. In my younger days, I was quite a menace,

- Again, why should we trust you?

- You heard the term "former" right?

- Can you truly quit such a job?

- Well, yes and no. Yes, in the matter of positions in the cult. But no, in the sense that the proses of getting there doesn't go away.

- Then what did you need to do to become a finger?

- I had to comit most of my time in doing horrible things to people and impressing the patriarch. I managed to do so, so she planted in me a spell that, in the event of his true death, I would be one of the ones that could inherit his powers and become next her.

- So what changed you then?

- Well, I fell in love with my current wife.

- And that changes things how?

- I suddenly felt like it wasn't right to do things like that behind her back, so I quit and became one of the few researchers of illusion type magic in Taican. I have made many atonements in my time.

- Wait, it is legal to practice illusion magic in Taican?

- Well you should know how teach is.

- You have a very good point.

- So do you trust me now?

- Not entirely. You Low?

She looks at Morty a bit puzzled.

- Are you happy now?

- I am.

- Then I trust you.

I look at her and say.

- I didn't expect you to be so trusting.

-If he is happy about his current life, then I feel like he has truly left it behind him.

- If you say so.

I also don't feel anything wrong with him. Then again, I didn't notice anything strange when we were at Atlas. The Morty says.

- Oh, by the way, cat folk are usually more adept with illusion type magic. Well, the proper term is feline folk, but most people call us just cat folk. Just be carefull to not call beast folk tha resemble tigers, lions or other bigger cats as cat folk.

- Why not?

- Then you might end up angering them. they are usually quite proud of their heritage. Just call them by their respective types name or call them just feline folk. Now then, should we continue with the experiment?

- What experiment?

- Teach, haven't you explained anything to them?

Lex looked calmly at us and says with confidence.

- I thought that it would be better if you, the matter expert, explain it to them.

- Right, right. Then Nor, can you put as much of your soul in to this device?

He pulls out a weird looking device and points it at me.

- Sure, but why?

- We are just going to find out, how much of your soul's power can block the illusions that are targeted to the object.

- Right, then here we go.

I push as much as I could to the device.

- Excellent, now Low, could you take a hold of this?

Low takes the device from Morty.

- Now, say when you start to see anything.

- Understood.

Morty started doing something to Low from a distance, until Low said he saw something. He wrote the results down and said.

- Interetsing. So that is the strenght it can block. Now Nor, we will do the same to you.

- Okay.

Morty did the same thing to me, until I saw an picture of a cat. I said that I saw it, then Morty writes the results on paper and says.

- Interesting. So the results seem to indicate that Nor's ability to resist the illusion is much more powerfull on himself than it is to a person who he gifts parts of his soul. That means, that there is a posibility to increase the power that is gifted to others. As I suspected.

- What are we going to do with those results?

- We are going to improve your ability to have give resistance to others. And if my theory is correct, it could improve your resistance as a whole.

- We can do that?

- Of course. Now this will require hard training from you. Are you willing to do that?

- Of course!

- Then, next couple of days, you'll be inside my lab and try to put parts of your soul in me. Then I will cast illusion to myself and see if there is improvement.

- Is that realy effective?

- I mean, we could use another person to join us, but since they would only be sitting there and doing nothing else but to say when they start to see things, I think it's better to do it with the two of us.

- Then Low, you will be doing something else.

Low looks a bit saddened. Then Morty says.

- If you'd like, you could go to the locations I provide and crush the opposing cultists.

- Wouldn't she be vulnerable to illusions?

- If she meets another finger, there would be trouble, but if she carries that device around, most of the illusions casted should be blocked out. And trust me, I wont tell her to go to the places where there might be a finger around, so rest easy.

- Are you okay with this Low?

Low nods and says.

- Leave it to me. With this thingy, it's like you are with me.

- Will it hold the power of my soul for that long?

Morty answers.

- Don't worry, you can always resupply your soul to the device when she returns.

- I see, then good luck to you Low.

Then Morty hands Lex some papers which contain the cordinates of the cultist bases. The Lex teleports Low to somewhere and Morty starts to push me alongside him to his lab. Then we spend 3 days on training while Low was making progress. After the third day, we tested how much my indivitual and gifted resistances improved. Morty said that we made a good progress, so we spend the next week improving my resistance to illusion. After the week, Morty said that I have improved drastically. He also said.

- While it wont stop patriarch from doing his thing, we have made it significantly harder for her to do so.

Then me and Low went to the southern islands of Ihm to destroy one of the bases that they have. Here they acted like common bandits. They kidnaped people and played games with them. Some of them they even made to drink that liquid that me and Low drank. While we were there, we run across Stella, who was flying from the west. She noticed us and landed to the ground right next to us. Then she said.

- Didn't expect to see you here Nor. Who is this person?

- Her name is Low and she's a girl.

Low nudges me and says.

- Correction, I'm a woman.

- Low huh, you two seem pretty close.

Low speaks proudly.

- Correct, we even sleep together.

- You sleep... !? Are... are you two then married?

- No we aren't.

- How... how shameles!

- What is the issue. We just sleep.

- Wait, so you don't do the other stuff?

Low tilts her head.

- What other stuff?

- Like... like intercourse or something.

- No, we don't do that.

- Then that is good. Though it's still improper to sleep with the opposite sex if you aren't married.

- We thought about it, and didn't feel like it was for us. Should we Nor?

- You... you should just stop sleeping together! It's just improper!

- What does that fancy word mean?

- Well... improper means... that you aren't in accordance with accepted rules, morality or honesty.

- There are rules like that I can't sleep with Nor? I haven't heard them.

- Well... they aren't exactly rules, but the morals are the problem.

Low tilts her head.

- What are morals?

- They are... wait... it's an understanding of right and wrong.

Low tilts her head again to other dirrection.

- What is so wrong about me sleeping with Nor?

- It's... it just is!

Low looks smug and says proudly.

- Well I can't sleep well without him.

- Thats...

- Are you saying I should not get proper rest?

- Well...

- Hey, are you, are you?

Stella looks embarrassed and tries to hide herself with her staff. Then I say.

- Let's move to something else. Why are you here Stella?

- Oh, I should ask you the same question.

- We are looking for evil cult members and end their plans.

- Cultists huh. Not the first time I've heard of them. The priests of the one who dreams.

- You know of them then.

- They cause problems anywhere they go. I heard westpoint is having a lot of trouble because of them.

- Then we should go there when we are done with southern islands. What were you doing here then?

- I've come to investigate rise in dragon aggressions. They seem to be coordinating in a weird sort of way.

- Coordinating? I know some dragons are smart, but why would they suddenly decide to make coordinated attacks?

- Thats what I'm here to invetigate. Do you want to come with me?

- We can't fly, so...

- No worries. I can help you fly with my magic. Are you in?

Low enthusiastically says.

- I'm in!

- Then I guess I'm in too.

Then we start flying while searching for the dragons. Some time later, we found a group of dragon. Accoring to Stella, they were headed towards a village not far from here, so we attacked. I say we, but Stella was the only one of us that had decent long range attacks. Then most of the dragons fell down the mountains and Stella send me and Low to handle the ones that fell. She would take care of the still flying ones.

She droped us and we were in for a fight. One of the dragons breathed fire and others frost. I took on the ones who breathed frost and Low took care of the fire dragon. It took her a moment to get it done, but with great speed and power, she managed to kill the dragon. I was taking care of care of the four frost ones while Low handled the fire one. I managed to kill one before Low was done, so now we bouth had three to fight. She took the biggest one and I took the two smaller ones. With great speed, I managed to slay the dragons with minor injuries and Low was also about done.

Then we saw two bigger dragons breathing lightning at Stella while she shot big icicles at them. One of the dragons got heavily injured and fell to the ground and we made sure it stayed down. Stella casted couple of more spells and the last dragon finally fell. It was over.

Then Stella came to the ground and made double sure the dragons were dead. When she was done double checking, she started talking to us.

- Now we have few less dragons to deal with. But the question is, why are they attacking the villages now. We have lived in relative peace with them for a while now. So why?

- Do you know where most of the dragons, who attack the villages, come from?

- I do have some directions to go to, but not anything specific.

- Then let's follow your lead and go there.

- If you think thats a good idea.

We then return flying for couple of days. Stella was used to the mountain enviroment, so she knew how to find proper places for rest. She even conjured a small camp for us where the cold wind didn't blow. Low seemed to not like the cold weather, so Stella conjured her an extra set of clothers.

Then we visited one of the villages. They seemed alright, but something seemed fishy. It was just a gut feeling I had. We rested there for a the night and then Stella came in a hurry to us and said.

- We must act quickly.

- What's the matter now?

- I found dragon eggs in one of the houses. Gathering them is illegal if you're not connected to institute of magic.

- Then what do we do?

- We must alert the nearest town with some sort of guards and tell them about this. But first, we must figure out if they are working alone or with someone else.

- What are we supposed to do then?

- You play along as a pair of travelers. I will be invisible for a while and sneak around to find more information. If they ask me where I am, then answer that I already left to visit the next town and will return as fast as I can.

- Got it.

Then she turns invisible and leaves the cottage we were in. We then played along being a pair of travelers from affar and chated with them like nothing is wrong. We talked about the local wildlife and how do they deal with them. We heard that there is magical beast that is a lizard who walks with its two legs and stays crouched all the time. It's local name was "hoeiza". It also had tentacles hanging around it's back that it could move independently. The tentacles were apparently covered in paralyzing venom and it would put that venom to its sharp razor like claws. Its color was mostly black on summer months, but turns to gray or complete white in winter months. It was one of the most dangerous magical beasts that roamed around here. Luckily, if its not hungry, it rarely attacks people if not provoked. If you disturb them once they get hungry, then you might end up as their next prey. They sometimes work in groups, but hunt mostly alone. But when they mate, they mate for life and will never change their partners. Even in death.

Then they told us about a birds that magicaly could spread fire around them. They are called "dragon birds" since their ability to cast fire is so famous. They don't share anything else with dragons other than being able to cast fire around them. Their feathers are known as fireproof and is used in firearrows to make it extra damagin. They are quite rare species, so you don't see them often. They apparently try to find a nesting place somewhere in the crevices on the mountain. If they can't find a crevice that suits them, they will melt the mountainside enough to create a place to nest. They aren't phoenixes, they are completely different birds. They like to eat berries that grow on the trees high up in the mountain.

Then later at night, we heard a emergency bell ringing. What we saw was a fire dragon coming this way. When it landed on the outskirts of the village, it started to prepare it's firebreath. Me and Low managed to get just in the middle of the dragon and the village before the fire hit the village. I managed to cast a barrier that managed to protect the village. When the firebreath was over, Low told me.

- Wait a bit, I want to test something.

Then we heard a thudering roar of another, twice as big, dragon on the skies. Then it landed between Low and the fire dragon and started to roar at the fire dragon. The fire dragon then looked skared and decided to fly back where it came. Then we were left with the bigger dragon. When the fire dragon was far away, the bigger dragon disapeared. I was little cofused, until I realized what Low had done. I must say, I was fooled completely. The town then cheered Low and we had a small feast.

Later that night, Stella came to the cottage. There she said.

- I found something interesting. I found out that the people here are being manipulated with some sort of illusion magic.

- Of course they are.

- I have come to the conclusion that most villages are being forced to steal the dragon eggs from their nests around the island.

- Then we need to find who is behind this.

- I think you know who it already is, but where they are is the bigger question.

- Do you have any leads?

- I have, take this Low.

She hands Low some device. Low then asked.

- What is this?

- It's a device that will light up if it detects some type of illusion magic. The closer you are, the brighter it shines

- Wow, where did you get this?

- I made it myself before I headed out to this mission.

- Then what do you want me to do with this?

- I need you to run to the closest town southeast of here. Just follow the road. When you are there, investigate if there is any illusion mages and aprehend them if you deem necessary. However, do not cause a disturbance in the town.

- Understood. Then what will you and Nor do?

- We will go scout for a possible base of operation for the cult. When week is up, or you find something worth it, contact us and we will see where we are. Use the bracelet that master Lexinor has gave you to contact Nor.

- Understood.

Then Low starts running to the town with great speeds. Stella then said.

- I didn't tell her to do it now.

- Don't worry, she only gets tired when she chooses.

- What's up with that?

- Short story, she is homunculus.

- That makes some sense. Now let's sleep.

She starts to undress and go to the bed I sleep in.

- Wait, you are sleeping here?

- There is no other place to sleep in. You should also come to sleep.

- We are sleeping together?

- Well... since you have no problem sleeping with Low, why don't you try sleeping with me? And no funny business.

- Well, with Low there is an actual reason she sleeps with me. But with you its just...

- I'm not good enough for you?

- No its... ugh... fine let's sleep.

I snuggle in after I undress a bit. Then we sleep for the night, though it was a bit awkward. The next day, I said our goodbyes to the villagers and I left with Stella. The next couple of days were bit on the boring side, but we still had to do it. After couple of days of this, Low found us a map of where the base should be, so we headed there.

During the nights, me and Stella slept together for some reason. I tried to tell Stella that we needed to take guard shifts, but then she told me.

- The barrier on this will keep us safe, now come back to bed.

So went our nights. After two days of travel, we finally found the base. It was an old mine that was abandoned for a while. We went in and wreck some stuff. Stella told me that I shouldn't worry about killing them, because they were too far gone, so I didn't hesitate. Strangely, when I was killing them, I felt a strange joy inside me. I started laughing for small periods and I couldn't stop smiling. What was this? Is the effect of the liquid still in me?

I blanked out for a second and I found myself being shaken by Stella, telling me to come to my senses. I was also in bindings for some reason.

- What happened?

- You started acting strange after a while and I became worried. Your speed and agility seemed to increase after a while and you were devestating the cultists. They even started screaming after a while that "Dreamer's chosen has arived, run for your lives!" and such. You even started attacking me when there weren't any cultists to kill, so I casted binding towards you. It seems that you've come to your senses, so I will let you go now.

She cancels her binding.

- Thanks, and... sorry.

- For what?

- For... loosing control.

- I'm sure you have your fair share of reasons to go berserk. I dealt with similar teammates before.

- Sorry.

- Don't appologise. You couldn't control yourself for some reason, and it likely wasn't your fault. I want you to explain it to me later, but for now, let's take whatever is worth taking and leave.

- Didn't take you for pilfering type.

- It's not pilfering! I just... take what I rightfully earned as a bonus.

- Right. Let me help.

We take anything valuable that we can carry and we head out. Apparently Stella can use thing like subspace to store her things, so she took quite a few things. We then started our travel back to the town where Low was in. During this travel, Stella told me that when we were close enough, we could teleport there. She said.

- I'm not yet that good with teleportation. But in time, I will get better at it.

We then were hit by a storm so we rested the night in some cabin out in the wild. Stella told me.

- Common understanding is, if you are lost in the woods and find a cabin of sorts. You are free to use it. As long as you don't wreck the place, that is.

Then we went inside this pretty comfy looking cabin. There we put fire in the fireplace and we just sat there and waited to get some sleep. Stella conjured us a blankets and scooted in with me in the same blanket. Then she asked.

- So what is the deal of you going berserk.

- I had to infiltrate the priests of the one who dreams back in Atlas. There in one part of the initiation, we had to drink some liquid that was blessed by their patriarch.

- And you drank this drink.

- Yes.

- What happened then?

- Our head started to hurt and we did some horrible things to a sertain village. Others couldn't remember it, but I saw a dreamlike memory where we did all those things. The drinks could apparently destroy your existing personality or memories, so me and Low were really lucky.

- So even Low experienced this. How did it end?

- We...were called in to the mouth's, the higher up's, office and I was...

- You were?

- I was raped by my female superior since they had almost complete control over my actions.

- You were... I'm sorry I made you remember.

- it's fine.

- Are you fine being with women?

- I feel some unease now, even if it's Low.

- Do you want me to stop being close?

- Its fine. Its just bit unease.

- I see.

We stare blankly at the fire in silence for a while until Stella rose up and put on the other blanket and went to sleep. She said.

- Good night.

- Good night.

We then fall asleep. The next morning we leave after a quick breakfast that Stella cooked. It was better than I expected given the ingredients that we had. After day and a half of flying, we got in the range that she could teleport us.

And soon after we were in the town and Low told us that she was invited to the baron's house after what she had done. Apparently she had saved the baron's son and daughter from the cultists. We went to that house as well to make sure nothing fishy is going on. The baron was surprised to see Stella and he looked bit worried. Then we went to the meeting room and had a cup of tea. The daughter and son were there as well, so it was a bit crowded with the servants around. Then the Baron said.

- Now, pray tell, why are you here southpoint?

- I was on my way to reconvene with Low as our mission was done.

- And what was that mission?

- To remove the reason why dragons are attacking the villagers. Turned out that the priests of the one who dreams were behind it by making people steal their eggs.

- So the cult was behind that as well. Now this has gotten even more serious.

- Has the cult caused you trouble as well?

- Yes, few people went missing in couple of weeks and returned with other personalities. Even my son and daughter were kidnaped by that group. You say that your mission is now over. What makes you say that?

- We cleared the cult's main base of operation in the southern islands. While some of them are still scatered around the islands, we can rest assured that the their head of command was taken out. But we still have to be carefull for the remaining cultists.

- I agree. We will keep our guard up for any suspicious activity.

- That's good to hear. Now why did you call Low here?

- Good question. Low, we thank you for your service for the town Argin. To show our gratitude, we offer you Elisabeth's, my daughter's, hand in marriage.

- What?!

- You see, she has taken quite the liking to you since you saved her. It would honor us if you could join our family.

Me and Stella look at Low. Then she says.

- You are aware that I'm a woman, right?

- I thought that might be posibility, but didn't know for sertain. So you really are. That complicates things. Well we still have Bernard, he was quite inriqued by you as well.

- Undersood. I would like to refuse your offer.

- Wh-why is that?

- I don't plan to settle down for long. I'm always on the move.

- Free spirit huh. That shouldn't be a problem.

- And I don't want to build a family yet.

- Then how about in four years. That is when he turns 18.

- I refuse.

- Is that so.

The baron looks bit defeated and says.

- Well, there is no helping it then I suppose. Though I need you to accept this.

He gestures to the servant to brong something. It was a bag full of money.

- Here, 10 000 lux for your services.

Stella speaks up with surprised voice.

- Ten... Ten thousand lux?!

- It is not that much for us to spend on services like these.

Stella starts to mumble

- That's... more than double the money I receive from this mission. We even had to deal with actual dragons. Not to mention the part where we cleared the mine of cultists. And I onl receive 4000 lux from this. Oh, this is so funny. Hahaha... hahaha... hah.

Now she looks defeated. I try to cheer her up.

- Well, look at me. I basically don't get any lux from my work this time. And you should ask for a bonus of some sort.

She continues to mumble.

- Even if you two split the lux, I still receive less than you two. And asking more is out of the question. We points aren't in for this for money. We are supposed to be there for the people. The king is not going to like me requesting more lux as payment.

Low puts her hand to Stella's shoulder and says.

- You did more work than I did. I will give you half of my earnings.

- But that would be disrespectful for the baron.

Baron says.

- If it's her choise to give the lux to you, then I feel honored to aid southpoint in her time of need. I should have a word with that young king and explain that points are major part of the military and should be paid as such.

- He has actually lowered the military budget.

- That little... We will have proper meeting about this one of these days.

- Do as you like.

Then we drink the remaining tea, shake hands with the baron and leave his house. When we were out, I asked Stella to teach me about subspace. Then she said.

- You first need to grow your undersanding on space magic and that includes teleportation. Come with me.

She teleports all of us outside of the town and starts explaining.

- First of all, there is three ways you can fast travel. First option is teleportaion, which trasferes copy of you to another place while using your current self as fuel. Don't worry about are you the original you. The memory that was in your soul makes sure you stay you. There is a slight delay while using it. Second option is transportation. It will transport you instantaneously to a place your soul has been. To use it on any other than yourself requires lots of skill and practice. Third option is portals. To do that, you will need to connect two places to each other by magical means. This however, is considered the worst form of fast travel, since you actually need to take a step in to get through first and if you don't maintain the portal long enough, it can chop you in half. Are we still on the same page?

- I think I got the gist of it.

Low says.

- Me too.

- Then start to practise.

It took a couple of days to get results, but I finally managed to fast travel. Low managed to learn to teleport to some distances, when I could only figure out how to fast travel by using portals. During this time, Stella gave us some tips and actually recomended that I will try to use portals. No idea how she figured that one out. Then bagan our subspace training.

- First you need to imagine the space in front of your hand. Doesnt have to be big junk of space, just some space. Then you need imagine space within that space. And lastly, you apply magic to widen that space within space and you got yourself a subspace of your own. It will always be close to your soul, so you can do it anywhere. Be mindfull though that some experts can access your subspace without your permission, though they must first come close enough to do so. Understood?

We bouth answer.

- Understood.

Then we spend couple of more days practising to open our own subspace. We bouth managed to open one, though Low was much faster than me and managed to make her space bigger. She must have some talent when it comes to magic, since she learns so much faster than me. Then Stella starts speaking.

- Remember to never put any living beings in your subspace, as they might evolve into something terrifying. Those creatures can trave the world withing their own subspace and wreack havoc on the real world. And no, they aren't ghosts. There also people who can planeshift to other realities, but that is something I will not teach you.

- Why not?

- Because planeshifting, while usefull to evade attack, can bring devastating consequences if you don't do it properly. You may even end up stuck there if you're not carefull.

- Maybe some other time then when we get better at space magic.

- Sure, if you ever get in the level that I aprove, perhaps I would consider teaching it to you.

- It's a deal then.

- But don't expect it to be easy!

- And then a question. What happens to the stuff that is on your subspace when you die?

- Good question. More often than not, they try to get out near you body. It can make quite a mess sometimes.

- Then do things age in subspace.

- No, they wont.

Before we part ways, we say farewell.

- Farewell Stella.

- See you later Stella.

Stella smiles a bit and says.

- Don't get youselfs killed, you hear. And Nor.

- What is it.

- Be sure to get better, okay. Now see you later then.

We wave and leave. It is now starting to get dark, so we go to sleep.