#so remember when i said that i didn't know what aven gressel got up to in the future

[sparrowwritings]

Writing Challenge Day 24: World

Day Twenty-Three -- Masterpost -- Day Twenty-Five

Aven Gressel bit her lip as she looked over her calculations for the seventeenth time. Dozens of papers were scattered about her desk, each detailing the mathematical and magical formulas needed to get this spell to work. After all, even if her theory was correct and she succeeded in casting the spell, Aven still had to ensure that neither she nor anyone else would get hurt in the process.

Teleportation had never been done before. Only a few mages had even considered the possibility. Even fewer thought that it could be done by several people, much less a single caster. Also, the possibilities for failure were high. There were any number of ways that the spell’s casting--or the result--could end in the death or maiming of at least one person (namely, Aven herself). 

And yet, she knew that she had to do this. She owed it to her family, who had to deal with the exorbitant costs of shipping goods; she owed it to the researchers who came before her and helped her get to where she was; but most of all she owed this discovery to the late Gwion “Giantkiller” Pitan. Aven had babbled about her ideas for changing the world of magic to him while they had been giant hunting and he hadn’t laughed. In fact, he’d encouraged her to pursue her dreams.

Now the culmination of it all was finally here.

She took a deep breath and focused on the calculations in her mind. As she called her inner magic to the fore, Aven’s hands raised without her consciously thinking about it. Once her magic spread to all parts of her she inhaled sharply and let loose the spell.

If she’d had an observer, they would have seen her vanish from her office. Only the fluttering of papers would have left any sign that she had been there at all.

Aven’s eyes hadn’t been closed. Her target had been the inside of a cabin her family owned, some miles away from her home. The idea had been to create an absolutely empty space to focus on so that she wouldn’t accidentally collide with any objects when she arrived. 

As her spell ended, what she saw wasn’t paneled wood. She bore witness to Carégarn itself. 

The shadow of the sun setting on her home covered roughly half of her sight, giving her a contrast between day and night. She could see the rich dark colors of the mountain range that separated the continent of Adronis from its Western neighbors Bibliano and Sanatig. In fact, Aven could see some of the vast yellow-and-orange desert of the latter. The ocean bordering the Eastern and Southern coasts of Adronis had more shades of blue than she thought were possible. The mage was so high in the air that only the curvature of the world prevented her from gazing upon her home planet like it was a map.

It was absolutely stunning, nevermind the fact that Aven hadn’t taken a breath in several seconds.

Her mind caught up with her situation just in time for her to make a very necessary and panicked gasp. She flailed in place to no avail: there were no bearings to be had while floating in the world’s upper atmosphere. It occurred to her that she could use magic to move around, but Aven couldn’t even feel wind from this height. Even if she could concentrate for long enough to cast a spell, she wasn’t sure if it would work. 

Except, she was breathing just fine. Aven wasn’t short of breath at all, even though the mountains were so far below her that she could cover them with a finger. How was that possible?

“Oh good, you’ve stopped flailing. That’s gonna make things easier.” Aven’s head jerked in the direction of the voice. There, standing some distance away from her as if he were standing on a platform, was a god. Even if the ease at being this high up in the air wasn’t a clue, his appearance made it even more obvious. His nearly pitch black hair brushed his shoulders in messy waves. His clothing was fairly simple, if darkly colored, except for one piece. The vest he wore was silver, and closed by white buttons that showed the phases of the two moons. The man’s skin was gray. A bit darker than the color of ash, but gray nonetheless. It made his purely white eyes stand out even more than it had any right to be.

Shardo, the God of Shadows, gave a wry grin at Aven’s scrutiny. “I’m not really accustomed to doing the whole Divine Intervention thing, but Rotin likes the way your ideas are going and I was already in the area so to speak.”

A great many questions filled up the entirety of Aven’s mind in seconds. The one that managed to get out of her mouth first was, “What do you mean you were in the area?” His smile widened and instead of answering he nodded at something behind her. Whether it was the magic he was using to help her breathe or something else, she twisted in place to look. One of the moons held its place behind her. The gigantic dark hole seemed to have her in its gaze. 

Her attention went back to Shardo just in time to see him wink. For the first time in her life, it occurred to Aven that Kitchren and her brother could share similar personality traits. A quickly squashed thought wondered if Lita, Shardo’s twin, also had a mischievous streak. “Like I said.” He offered a hand to her. “I’ll get you back down just fine, Aven Gressel.”

Too shocked to do much else, she took the hand that was offered. Despite its appearance, Shardo’s skin was quite warm. As she thought that, darkness consumed her sight. Only the solid strength of the God of Shadows’ hand kept her from panicking again.

And then the moment was over and she was back in her office, sitting in a chair. The sun had only just set, but the shadows seemed more alive with Shardo here than they ever had been. He was looking at her papers with interest. “I wouldn’t stand up for a little bit. Travelling can be a bit taxing on a mortal body.” He handed a paper to her. “Pretty good try, though. You were missing the calculations for the position of the world in space is all. Sent you up instead of over.”

Aven grasped at the paper without really thinking about it. She was too focused on the fact that there was a god in her office. Her mouth didn’t seem to get the memo about being stunned silent, though. “H-how, how do you know what to calculate? To teleport?”

He winced and scratched at his face as he looked away. (Was that stubble on his face? Do gods need to shave? And was his face looking darker because of the lack of light or because he was embarrassed?) “I uh, let’s just say I was in a similar position as yourself when I was getting the hang of my powers.”

“Oh. Okay,” Was all Aven had the capacity to say to that.

“Anyway, you should be good to go after you get that handled. Can’t wait to see what you and other mortals end up doing with this.” Shardo went to the darkest wall of the room. “And uh, don’t feel like you have to mention me in your findings. I’m fine not getting any credit.” He gave a little wave and walked backwards into the wall. “Gotta get back to work, myself.” With that, the God of Shadows merged into the darkness. A few seconds later, the office was merely dim with the fading light.

Aven sat in her chair in the dark until her brother found her. She had her hands pressed together in front of her face, concentrating on the air in front of her. Thinking she’d had another breakthrough, her brother just shrugged and lit the lamps of the room himself. The dancing flames kept Aven company all through her sleepless night.