#also his wizard tower is genuinely sick i love all the colors

[maigetheplatypus57]

Man look at my little guy I love him

[olivertreespirit-blog]

damian warlock the dark prince ~

** second installment of the elven chronicles trilogy ~ **

book i ~ the dragon prince

chapter i there are three phases of the moons

it was dawn; the trees glowed with the eerie but warming and peaceful dim greyish - blue light of morning

in a small clearing in the center of the small woods, two young girls were not so much arguing but whining to each other and blowing off steam about their shared favourite hobby : magic ~

in addition to having magic in common, the girls were of course best friends and had grown up together from birth; living in the nearby hubcity central of forlorn, where their parents had been neighbors ... but i'm getting ahead of myself

it may be important to mention that the girls in question's names were megenne and starphira; and they were fae and elven of blood, respectively, but it may not

"it's not my fault you know!!" megenne scolded the universe in the company of her best friend; "everyone knows magic is harder for fae than humans, ask any of the kiddos! it's because we already have natural powers..."

her best friend nodded, condolingly; "don't look at me as if i've let you down dear, i'm elven i should be way better at magic.. my mother agrees i'm hopeless hahaha~" in the way only fae and elves could the heartfelt understanding of the nature of the joke and it's born conversation passed between them, and they each laughed

"let's try it once again shall we?" starphira then offered "one last time!" megenne agreed, "then we should go check on the kiddos anywho" "agreed"

with that, they stood at a short stance and made eye contact, then bowed, concentrated, and assumed a shared traditional and instinctive dance, though it was very short; at the end, they pressed their fists together in a dragon stance, and, pausing only for an instant as if deciding between themselves where to aim, they focused the fists of fury at the sky, safe from any brances in the clearing, and produced a tower of flame that according to any observer may well have been capable of scorching the moons

"that was awesoooooome!!!!!!!!!!" megenne screamed "oh my god!!!.." starphira was laughing

after a moment, megenne offered, "should we try it again? ~ " "after we check on the kiddos," starphira smiled

"right, always end practice on a high note" "yes, always end practise on a high note; and there are three phases of the moons" "yes my dear friend, there are three phases of the moons"

there are three phases of the moons was the sylliloquey or in human familiar phrasology the motto of the school for magical youngsters the two best friends taught; and today, they were supposed to introduce a returning special guest, the avatar of forlorn, damian warlock

chapter ii a shaman loves the earth, an alchemist loves their laboratory, a witch loves the skies

"that's very excellent," damian nodded at a young boy who had produced a mystical hologram of a blue and purple glowing dragon, though he seemed to be off in space as it were, and was staring intently at one tree in the outskirts of the small woods megenne and starphira had gone into to practice that morning he sort of shook himself as if to bring himself back down to earth, and in doing so managed to offer as he looked back down at the young boy, "you've improved since you showed me that trick before .." "yes, i used the techniques you taught me! ~ " that brought damian fully back to reality, and he smiled, as if recognizing the child in front of him for the first time "why you've adapted them quite nicely! here, i'd say you're ready to learn a few more advanced techniques," "really?!?! ~ " "yes, how would you like to make the dragon fly, and if you get good at it even land on your shoulder? but it will take lots of practise" "that's alright thanks my friend!!!!!!" the boy screamed, his elven ears twitching excitedly

with that, megenne and starphira emerged from the clearing, coming down the trail to the small outpost school, skipping as they drew nearer, happily

"guess who VERILYMASTERED the FIREBREATH this morning!!!" megenne shouted greetingly, and the children cheered as they swarmed around the best friends

damian smiled oddly, standing up slowly as his companion left to join his friends in welcoming their teaches home

"you mastered the firebreath? .." he at last offered, half- calling "VERILYMASTERED!!!" megenne reiterated "what color was it?" damian asked, tilting his head to one side and genuinely implying the friends actually paused for a second "uh.. normal fire color?" starphira offered "that's perfect for an elf and fae together!" damian exclaimed, but the brief awkward pause between the three let him know that his compliment had been ambiguous, and he smiled widely, grinning with nerdy approval, which fortunately seeing as his friends were fae and elven allowed the emotional communication to be felt

megenne resolved internally to ask him about other colors of mystical fire later, and went about arranging her hand-made setup display for story time, the first part of the school day, leaving starphira to counsel with damian

"what exactly did you mean what color was it?" she obviously asked when they sat down together "it wasn't a bad thing," damian sought to assure her, "the fact that you produced a natural flame between yourselves shows that you have .. verily mastered? it" "verilymastered," starphira agreed smilingly, "it's what the kiddos are saying ~ " damian nodded, smiling, and seemed to drift off "have you heard from melrae lately?" she then asked

melrae was the domain spirit of the lands of forlorn, a mystical lady who was elven - fae and communed with damian as the avatar of forlorn, though she could of course be seen by the elves and fae living in forlorn and she was the heroin of many legends, elven fae and human

"actually, we were supposed to commune today," damian offered roused by her question and looked once again at the one single tree in the small woods

starphira seemed not to understand what he was looking at

"will you ask her about the river please? i am worried about it.."

"i promise" damian assured her, and she could of course sense he meant it

with that, it was almost as if brought on suddenly by the words he had uttered, he was struck with a look of revelation or purpose, got up, and, nodding friendily but distractedly to his friend, who smiled and excused him silently, wandered to the edge of the forest and to the tree he had been intently staring at all morning

he approached it, and, pausing in his steps and inhaling briskly, pressed his hand against the bark of the tree. when he took it away, the tree bore a carved heart, which had clearly appeared as if it could well have appeared on any given tree, but was glowing like metal out of the blacksmith's oven, and as this subsided it appeared to all tangible evidence to have been carved into the tree possibly since before damian was born

"a shaman loves the earth," damian murmurred "an alchemist loves their laboratory, a witch loves the skies"

he stood there for a second, gazing up at the tree as if clearly examining it up close for the first time, when suddenly, and just like that, a girl appeared from behind the tree, smiling cutely, her nose winced up in greeting

starphira and megenne noticed when the girl appeared as it were in the clearing, and smiled at her from where they were at the school, but just like that the girl took damian's hand and they vanished into the forest

chapter iii my friend

damian and melrae walked together, hand in hand, sometimes seeming like reunited friends and sometimes like old lovers, silently, through the forest as time seemed to fade and finally all but stop, around the time they arrived at a bridge carved of eldritch stone, silhoutted along with their respective elven - fae well all of the colors of nature and witch black attire against a bright blue clear waterfall

she spoke first

"it's so good to see you damian, my friend, it always seems like an eternity" "it does always seem like an eternity, my friend," he answered her with the tired and deep droll of a wise wizard "before i forget, our friend starphira wanted me to ask you about the river that supplies our outpost school with drinking water," he began, and she listened and nodded intently "we started using more advanced cleaning magic on it because .. i recall one or two of the kiddos and megenne got sick and we weren't sure why, there were no seasonals .. it was awhile ago but we've remained careful, is that a bad sign?" he finished, gazing at her intently

"it is," she answered, "but if you seem to have made it better it may not likely be a big problem, i would counsel you all to meditate if you know of any new sources of pollution that may be in the forest,"

"very well," he answered her in custom, committing her words to memory to be shared with starphira and megenne

"now there is something i wanted to ask you damian," she began "what is it melrae?" he answered "how has the trade been doing on the edges of forlorn?" "better than the last time we talked," he answered, somewhat happily, "megina and megorn have told me that tobaccos and mystical serums are on the rise in the human - elven joint rock island colonies; and tapestries are on the rise in candleshire and also forlorn actually"

megina and megorn were of course more friends of damian's, who shall be properly introduced later, but suffice it to say they were a sea sailor of acemia and 'verilymaster' blacksmith living in forlorn, and were sister and brother, respectively respectively

"that's very good," she smiled seeming reassured, "i've been sensing outside allies strengthening will be very good for forlorn .. i've wanted to suggest introducing trying worldly foods, perhaps you could have a day at your school? .." "that's an excellent idea!" damian beamed, and also committed their continued conversation to his memory

"now it's your turn to ask me something,"

damian paused, not sure what to ask actually

"well .. is there anything we should usually hear about the spirit realm?" "nothing new," "well at any rate it's your turn then," damian smiled successfully

she smiled back

"how's dear ogglblorn doing? ~ "

ogglblorn was another of damian's friends; suffice it to say he was -verily- magically talented

"fine as ever, he taught me some finetechniques in my crafts' pyromancy the other day," he beamed

"wonderful! ~ well, i should be getting back to high candleshire"

"of course, my friend; it was good to speak with you"

"it was good to speak with you, my friend"

and with that, she was gone, even to damian's vision

chapter iv care to join us for dinner

if anyone managed to make it to the bridge of allworlds, usually they were hopelessly lost, and would call on either their totem spirit or just some benevolent kind spirit to guide them home; damian's totem spirit was the everyever, but he also found that if he just walked from the bridge and didn't think about where he was going he would arrive .. where he needed to be

in this case it appeared where he needed to be was the home of another of his friends, pixie, the human princess of forlorn

pixie was at the edge of her stone - fenced upper level terrapace, and seemed to look down suddenly as he approached then see him, smiling and calling out to him

"hey cutie," it was her customary teasing and affectionate greeting for him, "what's new in wizard world? ~ " "not much, trade's doing good is good, we should try to get people to try food from around acemia .." he wobbled

"wonderful!" she called back, sort of in the back of her mind remembering what he had said for later "care to join us for dinner?" "i'd love to!" damian answered sincerely, for he was starving

chapter v verilymastered

as it happened, whom damian was joining for dinner in pixie's court were his aforementioned friends megina and megorn, and their father geirgon, as well as pixie's half-brother who was the official resident wizard of forlorn, suade

all greeted him happily, and he took a conveniently empty at the time seat next to pixie, who was at one head of the table, as a proper and unapologetic princess of acemia, and at the other head was geirgon as the oldest, flanked by his children and at the side of his long time among other things drinking buddy suade

"how are megenne and starphira and the school?" was the first thing pixie asked him on behalf of the whole group assembled "wonderful, wonderful, you know those two 'verilymastered' the firebreath this morning! ~ " at his use of the term 'verilymastered,' megina and megorn smiled, while suade maintained an expression that might have been at home on damian's face

"have you seen melrae lately?" megina asked "oh this morning, we spoke a little" with that, damian seemed to all but nod off and consumed himself with voraciously wolfing down the vegetarian friendly items on the generous dinner table

the conversation among long friends continued

"you were telling us about the new dragon figurines that have come out in hoggles'ford!" pixie volunteered to megina "of course," she answered, and the group including damian listened encapturedly "as i was saying, they have sort of moving limbs, joints like a stuffed creature but in a figurine.. they're calling them moving figures or action figures"

the group laughed and smiled "action figures!" geirgon offered "what do they really do, fly around like a mystical hologram? can they dance or play music or do dance moves?" he laughed heartily with all and teased his daughter

"so far they just make different poses," she laughed back, "but some people have been talking about making mechanical versions," "they could enchant them" damian butted in, looking up suddenly as if struck by his realization then realising only somewhat sheepishly that it was in fact obvious suade took a wide-eyed expression briefly

pixie interjected, "damian, would you make me the first ever enchanted moving dragon buddy, as princess of forlorn? ~ " she laughed and beamed

"of course i could, if that's a sincere request, what kind would you like?" damian answered her in all sincerity

at this even pixie was taken aback briefly, then smiled, and nodded chuckling, "i'll honestly think about it and let you know" "very well" damian answered

with that, the conversation returned to one that was well relatively normal for forlorn or acemia, about sea sailing and blacksmith'ship and magic and forlorn in general, and friends present and in other parts of forlorn or the world

chapter vi so how're you holding up then

unfortunately, not all having to do with being the avatar of forlorn or of acemia was pleasantness; after his deeply satisfying feast in the company of good friends, damian wandered through the darkening sunset streets of inner forlorn to find himself imbibing enormous amounts of absinthe with his friend and contracts- man or in human terms lawyer, the devil

it didn't matter where the warmly dim lit pub was because it probably wasn't real anyway, or at the very least not a real place in forlorn usually, but the devil was regailing a very trippingly drunk and happily full damian about the expenses the crown of forlorn had delegated for his duties of state, in this instance repelling gremlins (smaller once domesticated wild dragons) from crops at the outer edges of settled forlorn

"mmhmlbglorp," damian agreed, to something that sounded both positive and a conclusion the devil was dressed this late night in what could only be described as resembling an acupulco shirt, a flamboyant collar and bright colors that contrasted damian's jet black nicely and probably from lands somewhere either near or far from forlorn, maybe where they were and maybe not at all

"so how're you holding up then?" the devil asked, in a sincere attempt at expressing human affection, which was received in the way only a wizard could receive it

"not bad; uhm forlorn is doing nicely" "good," the devil nodded, appreciating the friendly offering of "small talk" as it were as only a spiritual being could "i'll see you same time same place," he excused himself extending his hand to grasp damian's in an other - worldly sort of well secret handshake they had, and without a trace of the humor at the expression he had used given their relationship in his face, and stepped into a black fur rug which became a steep chasm in the floor behind them, the bar began to swirl and blur and blend colors of people and backgrounds together and damian promptly finished his absinthe, set his glass down, closed his eyes, and .. found himself at his desk in his room behind the stables of the ever - gracious royal head of forlorn, princess pixie

he smiled and chuckled to himself, noddingly, then got up and proceeded to do a face plant onto his nice warm and unmade bed, disappearing into dreamland

chapter vii spells ~

damian met ogglblorn in a number of weird as well as normal places over the time they had known each other

so it only made sense that one of those places was in dreams

at present, ogglblorn was reclining relexedly on a magic carpet levitating blusterily next to damian; he offered him some more purple grapes, and took a puff of his purple porcelain hookah floating on a saucer next to him

the nature of ogglblorn's magical talents were; well .. very magical very

and it showed in his personality, which was of course the most charming thing about him

the nature of their conversation, over which they probably shared many intricacies and techniques and spells of magic, or otherwise nerd talk, didn't really matter anyway because it would not be remembered; it was a dream

what damian retained consciously as opposed to subconsciously was an idea that the kiddos could make a symbol art tapestry for the foods of acemia fair

so when he awoke that following morning, although he was all over the place in visiting the school with the demands of his career as it were, he found himself returning there as he had the previous morning, happy to see starphira and megenne again

~

book ii ~ the crestfallen ascension

chapter i like all of you

acemia foods day was a true success; the students had taken ogglblorn's idea to create a massive and impressive tapestry, which to their interpretation commemorated all the various settled lands of acemia, as well as the event, which was to become an annual tradition at the school

no one had been able to come up with where what if anything had gotten into the water from the river that supplied the school - its source was within the very forest so it was hard to imagine any kind of settled pollution but no one had had any more problems from it so all things considered the little school for magical talents was going swimmingly ~

and today, the students had not only the regular special guest avatar damian in addition to their dear teachers, but also the beloved ogglblorn ~

"and this is how you make it do the hokey-pokey!" he finished, and the mystical hologram dragon flying in place in front of him, which was as tall as any of the kids, performed an amusing anthropomorphic dance that involved swirling its tail like a hip sway, and of course the children exploded with catterballing enthusiastic laughter

damian smiled himself, as did everyone, because he would -never- be that skilled at hologram magic ~

then it was time for questions and answers

"why are you so talented ogglblorn?" a darling young elven girl asked out loud

"i was just born that way, like all of you!" to which the children smiled agreeingly

"how old are you?" a young human boy asked "old enough to be your.. older brother.. or maybe father," he joked, and the kids once again smiled and laughed, agreeingly

"i've got a question i'm sure we all would like to know .." damian offered from where he leaned against a tree in the grove of a school grounds

"what is it buddy?" ogglblorn answered

damian seemed to pause for a second and, stare off into space as if searching for the perfect question for the class and everybody gathered

".. what was your favourite food at acemian food day?" he finally managed, smiling with all

ogglblorn paused too, considering all the different treats he'd tried that day

"i love them all!" he finally managed, and once again the kids all agreed ~

"will you come back to teach a proper class some day ogglblorn, as well as entertain?" starphira asked on behalf of the class, who agreed with her eagerly "why of course i will!" ogglblorn answered her cheerily "i can't let damian have all the fun," he laughed, smiling at his friend ~

chapter ii steady as she goes

"how's the helm?" maegina called to maegorn "steady as she goes," he called back, as their rented but quite serviceable ship charted across the surface of the waters of acemia they were on route to port in holves old with a shipment of commission cargo assorted from the regrional islands; pretty everyday stuff for sailors of acemia pretty everyday stuff, which maegorn of course disliked compared to maegina; she took more after their mother, even though she had only loved the sea and never been beyond a sea passenger maegorn longed to be home in his blacksmith shop, working on something or other contentedly

still, it was time for the two of them to hang out

"how are things with rhody?" he asked her, once they had a chance to just talk as they went about tending to the ship rhody was a boyfriend maegina had started seeing at the time; being a sea sailor of acemia, she really had the run of the world, and this gem of a gentleman was from a place maegorn had never heard of but maegina loved, called elvensword creek

"lovely," she answered him, "he's doing so well in his alchemy classes, we had dinner at the port of old candle creek the other night ~ " "that place is like, literally enchanted right?" "yeah, i mean of course it's elven but yeah they have enchantment performers as a theme," she tried to explain the magical restaurant "sounds really cool," he said, then wondered, "is he elven or anything? you hadn't brought it up," "i thought i had? she answered casually. no, none of his parents are either like mom, he lives in one of the sharing settlements" "i see," maegorn nodded smiling

"have you had any interesting customers lately?" maegina cheerily occurred to ask her older brother

"oh i'm so glad you asked! i couldn't wait to tell you; someone the other day ordered a metal figure dragon, only they wanted to joints to move like a moving figure!!! i had to use furniture hinges hahaha," he offered her grinning

"that's priceless," she answered grinningly

the ship sailed on toward holves old, and the two drifted in and out of warm friendly and nostalgic conversation and watching the sunset

chapter iii kinetic magic is the hardest

mikeing and maelina were best friends at the school for magical youngsters starphira and megenne taught; they were a spriteling boy (a spriteling aged faster than normal humans; though, in contrast to ordinary humans who simply mature faster than their peers, they live shorter but quite enchanted lives) and a comparatively normal and normal kind of human girl, though she had quite the talent for magic mikeing of course had no magical talent, in a way related to how fae already had natural powers but a lot, a lot more so

so today, maelina was trying to teach him how to project a force field

"it's the most rudimentary of kinetic magic," she kept insisting, "you have to learn at least any to graduate the school, all the classes of magic"

"kinetic magic is the hardest!!" mikeing repeated

"it is," she consoled him, "but this is the only trick you have to learn"

"sigh"

mikeing gathered his will, and, focusing on his hands projected in front of him, managed to create the glowing shimmery other - white magical color of a spark of force, but sadly and somewhat frustratingly not to then sculpt it into the shape of a shield

he sighed dejectedly

"that was better," his best friend interjected, "remember you have to be thinking about the shape even before you make the spark," "i know," he volunteered, "but i wanna take a break. will you play catch the flying scarf with me?" "mikeing, that game is for children," she laughed and smiled at her friend he looked her in the eye, with the most sympathetic and cheerful and loving yet deeply sad and understanding look that one could possibly find in the eyes of a creature they do not fully understand, and she agreed, enchanted one of the scarves in the games box, and the two went careening off through the forests together ~

chapter iv which do your instincts tell you

at times like these, damian understood what it meant to have friends who were also male, even though he usually found it easier to convene with females; they were just more .. conversational, in reality

the testosterone in the air as they struck at the massive berserk dragon from literally in the air was so palpable that you could only appreciate the scene if you were into things like fighting dragons with flight magic

suade skated through the air on glowing black enchanted shoes, hurling mystically conjured glowing spears from overhead to draw the dragon's fire .. breath

"what do you recommend we do to dissuade its path?" ogglblorn asked seemingly sliding on an invisible slide in midair next to the not so much floating or levitating as completely stationary posed standing damian, who winced as a cloud blew across his face "it's not like i can call on the everyever to be our umbudsman," he volunteered

indeed he was correct, for the dragon was in fact berserk; not evil or ill-intentioned, but anciently and supernaturally feral, and it did not matter right now that the humans of the nearbye village had accidentally disturbed his den, or that they were genuinely sorry; the most respectful thing that could be done toward the dragon was to defeat it in fair and sportsmanly magical combat in such a way that it would well wander away from the spot and inevitably calm down and feel better

of course as wizards all three men knew this from the time they were little

it didn't make defeating a dragon any easier, even to the avatar of forlorn

"perhaps you can cast some kind of .. confusion spell that will redirect it?"

ogglblorn seemed only to need a second to think about it

"which do your instincts tell you would be better, hallucination or air current?"

"hallucination or air current?" they weren't familiar types of spells in damian's vocabulary

"hallucination sounds .. like it'll be too smart being a dragon, try air current?"

"air current it is," ogglblorn agreed, and uhm well literally blasted the dragon safely and unharmed but hundreds and hundreds or possibly thousands of sea lengths away with a gust of wind that came quite out of nowhere and somehow managed to only ruffle damian's coat a bit

"i'd say that's that," he volunteered jaw - dropped

"i'd never tried that before," ogglblorn explained,

"thought not"

suade joined them, out of breath, and gasped, "can we please -land- now?!" "right, absolutely .." damian agreed, and with that, they stood in a tri - formation assuming the same intangible rigidity damian possessed, and then slowly descended the heavens feet first, not so much like base jumping as a mystical elevator towering into the sky

chapter v every end is a beginning

suade joined damian on his weekly - but - never - on - the - same - day meeting with his trusted attorney, the devil, which today as near as either could tell was certainly not anywhere in acemia .. perhaps it was another real planet

the devil, who today was wearing jet black like damian, only his was a sort of long cozy - looking robe with a hood he had down, approached the two of them "hot springs?"

suade actually winced; the fact that his personal specialty was necronmancy, or black magic, not to be confused with necromancy, unfortunately did not mean that he had an instinctual wealth of knowledge about spiritual beings as damian seemed to

with a nod, his friend let him know it was fine and no this wasn't the devil in some of the more for - fun legends and mythologies

suade smiled, relieved "that sounds lovely"

in point of fact, the only correlation this devil had with evil was that he was an academic (or the eternal approximation of academic) expert on it, as well as good, and many other things, and most importantly to damian business

he really was the best attorney in acemia

as they relaxed in a hot spring in an oasis of what seemed to be some kind of bizarre beautiful red - orange desert planet, at night time no less with an empty sky filled with stars, damian counseled with him for ideas about bolstering cross - acemian trade he had plenty; suade listened, enthralled and curiously

then at long last it was time for the devil to sink blowing bubbles into the hot spring and spontaneously disappear; and damian and suade to walk home together from an alien planet

as it turned out it was simply a matter of happening to blink at the same time (after a breathtaking other - worldly night walk no less), and they were back in forlorn

damian shared his gained ideas with pixie, and suade went upstairs to intake and meditate on his wizardly encounter with "the devil"

meanwhile, somewhere in acemia, .. a new, young dragon was born ~

book iii ~ the dark of heart

chapter i the suns shine

most mornings in forlorn, damian went out wandering but this morning found him not really feeling like there was somewhere for him to show up as he usually would; and so he was contenting himself with bustling about his little shack behind the stable of the small castle, polishing and rearranging things, with a seeming mad method that brought decoration into the everyday objects and even clutter

at sudden long last, his long known friend pixie appeared

"and how's the unnofficial resident wizard of forlorn holding up this morning? ~ " she knocked, entering on seeing him through the ajar doorframe, as always cajoling and smiling

"tired, .." was his answer .. he was, even though he had slept in it had been a busy last few weeks between the school all of his royal wizard and avatar duties and getting to see his friends from around acemia

"what would it take to get you to move your things out of this old shack and into one of the guest rooms in the castle? or maybe my room," she chuckled, and he could tell by her tone that she was half kidding or somewhere around like she always did with him

"elven stone not interfering with shamanic celestial magic, .." he answered her, trailing off into space as he realised what he had knowledgeably answered her might have come off as ingracious and he assumed his trademark sheepish expression

she laughed, seemingly amused by the well nerdiness of his answer and plopped down, without being the least tangible bit shy or rude as only a princess could, on his empty and for once made bed

"whatchu doin?" "just arranging my things," "exubitant," was her whimsical answer she rolled over lazily as if about to go back to sleep on damian's bed, and he absent - mindedly considered taking her offer of a guestroom for a few hours and doing the same thing if she did, once he was done arranging his things

"how was your morning pixie?" his voice conveyed enough drolling warmth to make up for not looking up in her eyes

"i went on a horseback ride with suade," she recalled cheerily, "you know the poor dear hardly ever sees natural light?"

"he seems to like it that way," damian offered, "he's got a night owl streak like any wizard .."

"yes, but he needs to get outside," she laughed, teasing damian now in a tone she might use with her half - brother

"vitamin w right?" he laughed back

"exactly! the suns shine vitamin," she all but sang, and damian glanced up to notice to his distant amusement that she had gone from falling asleep on his bed to jumping on it it wasn't made anymore but it normally wasn't anyway

"the suns were orange right when we went out this morning ~ " she went on chiming

"orange sunshine," damian completely absently drolled, gazing over the pages of some old black and dark red trim book of spells he had lying around

"hey, how come we've never gone horseback riding together?" she suddenly offered "even geirgon and i have ridden around forlorn on state days," she laughed horseback riding was her favorite thing, other than magic which she wasn't aware of any talent in but was an undying patron of none the less, and of course being the princess

 "we could this morning .." he came down from space slowly to answer her, tossing the book aside with an out - of - place air that even he had to double take at

"really?!" she all but beamed

"why not?" he smiled "i'm all but done arranging my things; which do you think looks better here?" he asked his friend as he held up two of his nicest hand drawings, as if to have a guest's touch in his home ~

she thought with the instinctive love and care of a princess

one was on black parchment with phosphorescent inks, of a dragon, she presumed the everyever; the other was of a girl she didn't know, who held a lyre and wore a hawk headdress

"who's that?" she asked

"the constellation lyra, .." he answered her, and she felt as if she understood that damian knew this girl as he knew many spiritual and naturally celestial beings in acemia; but perhaps in a way that was different from how he knew the everyever

"which is your favorite?" she asked, having had the chance to think about it

"i like them both," he answered instinctively, then reflected on the truth of his statement

"then put them both there!" "alright!" to damian's deep joy, both of his drawings fit on the tiny outgrove shelf at the top of his altar bookshelf next to his desk

pixie beamed at his silent pioneering headspace like royalty any beloved countryfriend; and with that, they were off to the stables conveniently in front of damian's room on a quest to teach the avatar of forlorn and all acemia how to ride horses

chapter ii science that has not existed before

later that day, with all else on his slate cleared including riding horseback, damian at last had time to convene with his closest and totem spirit, the everyever

he had appeared to damian on this day as he customarily did, through a vision in a waterfall, but today damian found himself standing on a tall cliff alongside his air born friend

and today he had at last managed to enquire of the everyever about the drinking water river in the forest of their school for magical youngsters

the everyever had pondered his answer for a good while, almost as if the all - knowing spirit dragon or dragon spirit or whatever the everyever ever was was himself surprised by the answer

at long last it sought to explain to damian : "the pollution is of course not a natural one; but a truly unnatural one .. magical," "magical?" damian asked and answered "yes," the dragon spirit went on, "it is the magic of your magic school"

damian was shocked "we would never .." he started

"it is not your fault," the dragon further explained, "but forlorn is an elven and human land, more to the point the forests on its outskirts are by the nature of its history unsettled," damian had to realise that they were

"the presence of magic in unsettled lands especially affects the flora and fauna in .. unpredictable ways," the spirit went on, "it is not a bad thing, but a beautiful thing, the very thing which made life on acemia"

damian paused and considered what his spirit guide had said

"you can never blame yourself for not understanding science that has not existed before; only react to it responsibly" the dragon finished

and so, damian found himself wandering home down the side of a cliff next to a waterfall, having properly thanked his old friend for his counsel, humming to himself thoughtfully

the task at hand was to invent a new kind of spell : one which would preemptively protect the essentials of nature such as drinking water in a settling situation like the outpost school

if anyone could do it, damian could, but only because he had help; and that must have been why, by the time it occurred to him, he was standing if front of ogglblorn's door

chapter iii turn to gold ~

as it happened, ogglblorn and damian ended up recruiting suade for the magic - fueled all nighter of mad genius frantic crazy nerd buff arcane mystical psychedelic research times, and then starphira and megenne at sunrise no less to help finish it up, but the spell was written, versed, tested, copied, and sent to be published by the pressbudsmen of the seas of acemia to schools all over the world, most of them for big people

the spell would sactify the drinking water as well as flora vegetation and well everything in an environment that was being settled; but of course that wouldn't have any kind of stifling affect on magic, its users or its ability to evolve the world around it

only keep people safe

and it wasn't a total downside given no lasting harm had been done that the 'magical pollution' their little school had managed to conjure or rather transmutate was a riverbed of gold through the outpost clearing (gold was completely worthless in acemia except as decoration, on par with glitter or even dare i say it glitter glue, but it was the one that alchemists were still trying to crack)

pixie had been gathering up souvenirs of her friends' discovery to preserve in the castle and forlorn's historical science museums like a child amassing bits and pieces for a dear - to - heart scrapbook ~

even magina and meigorn had made it home from another bonding sea journey to join the grand celebration; it was indeed a proud moment for forlorn, even if it had been inspired by an all - knowing spirit dragon ~

melrae found damian on the outskirts of the party, like a true explorer; smiling and waving briefly at the elves and fae at the gathering who could see her, she took his hand in a gesture of spiritual friendship and asked, "what are you doing out here all alone?"

"i hadn't felt like talking to anybody just this moment, .." he was taken aback realizing and tried to apologetically explain, "i just felt like thinking"

"even when you are talking with people you feel like thinking ~ " she laughed, beaming, and he had to agree

then they gazed out at the stars together in contented silence

"you miss her, don't you?"

"lyra?"

"yes"

"every day that isn't winter, .." he answered, staring off into the stars

melrae nodded

acemia was indeed filled with magic; with beautiful creatures, enchanted, and with many different and beautiful people; but it would still take the stars aligning for some people to find happiness

even as a fae - elven spirit all but free of worldly turmoil, melrae had to be glad that damian was on the side of good, her side - no one in acemia understood the nature of his connection to the earth, or the spirit world .. even fully his past .. perhaps him least of all

damian was glad he was on the side of good too - however he'd been lucky, acemia was a good world during his lifetime; there were no wars, and in fact he had never encountered true evil, only truly weird and of course berserker dragons

it wasn't to say that his life was without hardship - and the way he was now rationalizing staying awake until the following day to stay caught up on his wizard duties after attending what was in actuality a royal holiday, likely by spending a good portion of the time in the spirit realm where he wouldn't feel affected by fatigue and where nothing would remind him of well .. being terrabound did more than enough to speak to that

but when he did take the time to come down to earth - when he could - damian was glad to live in a world like acemia, in a place like forlorn no less

he had all he could ask for : true friends, and, when the stars aligned, love

and failing that he could always simply focus on exploring the universe ~