A Jaded Life

It took almost an hour of snuggling for Luna to have her fill of physical affection. During that time, she told me in fairly general terms how her time in Lady Hecate’s realm had been, making me realise just how long that had been for her. It sounded like she had experienced at least a year, maybe even two, in the span of a night, an idea that felt incredibly strange. Doubly so when considering that Luna was just a little over six years old and had already experienced multiple sessions in Lady Hecate’s realm, though only this last one had been that long from what I could tell. Still, if I had to guess, I’d estimate that she had spent about three years total in the grey expanse that was her patron’s realm, compared to the six on Earth. Briefly, I wondered how it altered her development compared to that of others, though given that her ever-growing levels added an unnatural amount of physical maturity to her body, the added years of pseudo-time likely kept things fairly balanced. Additionally, she also gained mental attributes that changed the equation even further, meaning there was little point in speculating.

When she told me about the lessons, I felt quite pleased, it sounded as if Lady Hecate had focused on the basics, meaning simple maths, reading and writing, with an interesting bias towards somewhat Arcane texts. Simplified stories of clever witches and sorcerers who used their guile, intelligence and magical power to change the world as they desired, with some moral tales thrown in to teach the responsible use of such powers. It wasn’t indoctrination into the Cult of Hecate, though she had been given lessons on that, too, but remarkably balanced lessons from what I could tell.

Amusingly, she groused a little about the lack of practical magic lessons, it sounded like Lady Hecate’s teachings had been focused on helping Luna establish firm foundations that she now could use to build her own magical style. If anything, it made me think of the way she had given me magical processes to study, allowing me to make my own observations and craft practical applications from those observations instead of simply giving me a bunch of spells to practise. Sure, I’d be able to eventually reverse-engineer those spells, likely after a long, long time of trying and failing, but by making me do my own work, I would find different ways to make things happen. Likely worse ways, simply due to the amount of experience and knowledge a literal deity of magic had to have on the subject of magic, but maybe I would find something interesting in the process. One never knew, but I was willing to find out.

Finally, with Luna’s craving for physical contact sated, I suggested that we move outside and begin discussing the shrine we had been asked to build here. It would take some effort, and I was wondering how to make it so the Charland wouldn’t swallow the shrine up whole, but I could see a few places where construction could take place.

As we walked, we began talking, especially about the possibilities of using Life Magic to influence souls. The way Luna perked up at the idea, I had a feeling she’d be happy to help me test things, a feeling that was confirmed moments later when she stopped to stare at a small bush.

“Can you check if I’m doing it right?” she asked, her eyes sparkling with glee that made me wonder if she had been allowed to use any magic in Lady Hecate’s realm. When I nodded and activated my Soul Sight, she used her own ocular ability and made her eyes glow with the faint, silver sheen I already knew before she started to channel her magic into the plant.

For once, she wasn’t trying to physically alter the plant but was aiming for its essence and the result was not quite what I had expected. Granted, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to expect but certainly not that the plant would reach up and try grabbing Luna.

At least that was what it looked like, the movement was far faster than any mundane shrub had any business to move and its attempt at engulfing Luna was surprisingly coordinated for something that was supposed to subsist of air, light and soil. Sure, Luna had overdone it and channelled far too much Life Magic into the plant, likely enough to sprout an entire new shrub, but from what I could see, the magic wasn’t really moving into the physical plant. Instead, it looked like the Life Magic was doing something fairly similar to the mix of Dark and Death Magic that animated Lia, only with a lot less purpose involved.

As the plant tried to grab Luna, my munchkin dodged aside while I started pulling on my Death Magic, curious about what would happen if Life and Death started to mix within the plant. When I channelled the magic into its structure, taking care to keep it beyond the physical realm and fairly low-powered, things became interesting. Even more interesting than an animated shrub.

For a moment, I was reminded of the ritual that had brought Alex into existence, the way the energies of the Withering Fungus had clashed and competed with the energy of Lia’s ritual until Lia’s energy had finally managed to overcome the energy that the Withering Fungus had used to control its victims.

Back then, Lia’s ritual had allowed Alex to become a lot more than a simple vampiric racoon if such a thing could ever be called simple. No, Alex was likely a unique fluke, as the energy from the Withering Fungus had provided some vitally important intelligence to the animating force from Lia. I wasn’t sure just how much that influence was lingering, though I was confident that Alex wasn’t a threat, nor did they carry any leftover spores or influence from the fungus.

Now, I could see two completely opposing energies battling for dominance within the plant, the physical structure changing rapidly under the influence of the energy that ravaged its metaphysical existence. Parts under the direct influence of my Death Magic started to turn thin, dried up and almost skeletal, while those under the lingering influence of Luna’s Life Magic, now apparently under the control of the plant, were a little thicker, radiating strength and almost endless vitality. When I studied the plant for another moment, I realised that I had been wrong, it wasn’t that Luna’s Life Magic was under the control of the plant, the energy of the plant had merged with the Life Magic and, for lack of a better expression, taken on a life of its own. The plant was, thanks to Luna’s influence, now almost as animated as an animal of similar size and thanks to the magic changing its essence equipped with similar drives. Chief amongst those drives, the drive to survive, something it desperately tried, despite the deadly energy I had channelled into its structure.

The stalemate lasted for a few seconds, seconds during which the essence of the plant was in extreme turmoil, with its physical structure changing rapidly. Then, the necrotic energy I had channelled into it managed to overcome the vital energy of the plant and Luna’s Life Magic, likely because I kept supplying fresh necrotic energy while the vital energy was limited. In that brief moment of change, the necrotic energy surged into the almost imperceivably tiny spark, the core of the plant’s vital essence, changing its very nature. Its foundation, the core of its soul, whatever one wanted to call it, it was utterly changed, turned into something that bore little resemblance to its previous form.

Instead of a tiny spark that radiated vital essence, similar to the spark I had observed in Silva, though this one on a far smaller scale, there was now a void, somewhat similar to that within Lia and Alex, but not quite the same. Where their void was at least partially composed of Darkness, this one was pure Death and it was rapidly drawing energy in from everywhere around it.

It even tried to rip out my own vitality but where Luna and I had decent resistance to such effects, the plants in the surrounding area lacked such resistance and in mere moments, the effect had turned a few square metres of grass and shrubbery into an empty expanse of chalky, grey dust.

Blinking with a mix of disbelief and surprise, I quickly lashed out, using nothing but pure Ice Magic, aiming for the physical structure of the plant. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I were to use Death or Darkness, let alone Blood, and I didn’t really want to find out, not while the plant tried to drain the life of my Munchkin and me.

Luckily, the blast of freezing cold energy was enough to freeze the plant solid, leaving a brittle and incredibly strange structure for a few moments before yet another exertion of my magic shattered the plant into small shards of Ice, unleashing an unpleasant surge of necrotic energy into the environment.

“That happened,” I muttered, breathing a sigh of relief and wondering what the Hel had just happened.