The healing platform wasn't ready yet, but it would be soon, so I was going in a day at a time and those who weren't transformed would just go in for another day. We still had quite a few young traumatised girls to get through before we could work on the human helpers and finally the prisoners. Before I started Andi reminded me to contact Katie.
Katie told me that there were no consequences to trying additional connections, there just seemed to be a natural limit and any beyond that just failed to connect. Brett agreed it would be worth trying more in my case so there was a new headset design in progress without a lockout and with twenty connections. A prototype would be ready in a few days and he would bring it to the Isle of Wight. Once we determined how many connections I could manage he would make as many as we wanted.
I checked in with Mia to see how the Isle of Wight was coming along and the answer was slowly but successfully. Simone was sleeping and I didn't feel the need to wake her, so asked Andi to remind me when she knew Simone was available.
Then it was time to dive back into Lagbit's World. I couldn't help but think of the world as real. All the characters that I have met seem far too real and beyond what I thought my mind was capable of creating. Then there were the people I had managed to bring back here and the familiars. I wasn't the only one who had managed to bond with a familiar either. The only discrepancy that jarred was the time factor. Lagbit's World seemed to stop and start when I entered and left. When I was going for one two hour period per day, the equivalent of a week passed for every day on Earth, but now that I was going in more frequently, multiple weeks would pass for every Earth day. I had discussed this with Mary, Kayla, Geri, Leaf and Myra. I had to as it also meant that Vee's pregnancy would become even slower.
This was beyond what Geri thought she could investigate. Mary said that she could do a ceremony of light and ask Lagbit, but that involved Mary undergoing fasting and purification rituals. She was prepared to do it, although I didn't want to put her through that just for my curiosity.
I woke up on Lagbit's World. Our Taigoa session was delayed and when mum appeared with Wendy and a sheepish expression I think we could all guess why. My day went back to my normal routine. Study, lessons and working with communicating with Nadi.
Our discussion in the evening included the healing platform that would have its first trial the next day and that I had talked to Branch and sent her off to communicate with trees. Chances were that we wouldn't hear back from her for a week, which brought the time discussion back again. I mentioned that there were myths from my world about the homes of elves having very strange time differences, where travellers would spend a day in another world and when they returned many years had passed at the same time. It was all speculation though, with no way to find out beyond asking a higher power.
We logged off that evening with only two of the five transformed as I had expected. Those two were replaced and I hit resume.
The next day we tried the healing platform for the first time and it worked! We only had the one healing platform, but since it hadn't taken any of mum's or the other priestesses energy, they were able to do two other transformations to accomplish three in the day without anyone feeling over-strained. Multiple healing platforms were now under construction. It had taken three days for the healing charms to be recharged which meant for the initial target of five transformations a day we would require fifteen healing platforms. I mentioned that after Wendy's situation with Mia was cleared up, we would be able to do six per day and if my plans to increase the number of people I could bring across was successful we would need more still. All very exciting.
The healing platforms were not inherently expensive or difficult, but they did require a combination of pieces of amber, a spell by a mage enchanter and energy given by a priestess. Once all this had been done, because it recharged naturally, further effort was not required. Wood familiars were able to encourage amber production although a mage was also required to speed up the ageing requirement with a spell.
All this meant that although it was a great long term solution it was not instant. Mary had put out a request and the whole city was getting involved, donating healing charms that were already done, knowing that they would be replaced, eventually. Five healing platforms would be ready within a day because of the donations and getting the number to fifteen was doable within a couple of weeks. They would carry on producing the charms to either replace those donated or for more platforms if we needed them. We definitely needed eighteen to manage six per day. Any more than that depended on my ability to bring more people here than usual.
After I had logged on for seven days I took a break. My ability to talk to Nadi was improving and I practised by making stone walls within the warehouse to give people more privacy without making them cold and leaving puddles on the floor by using ice walls. Dani could keep them from melting, but that also meant she was keeping the area around them cold.
I waited for Branch to report back in before I returned to Lagbit's World. The news she delivered was not good. The reason for the lack of magic was clear, someone had killed the World Tree. My world, Earth, was slowly dying.
Chapter 16
I decided to bring Branch with me this time. That only left four spaces for transformation, but right then that was a lesser worry. I was expecting to leave the discussions until after our evening meal, but Branch reported to Leaf who informed the Queen. By mid-morning, we were all gathered for another emergency meeting.
Branch had to explain her experiences with communing with trees. Trees don't exactly speak English or Elvish for that matter, so it was more about being shown fragments of their memory or the memory of other trees. This meant there was no way to say how long ago it was, but a memory of horror when the World Tree was cut down was clear. With no knowledge of when, we couldn't extrapolate and work out how long we had before the mana was completely gone.
The study of mana and magic, in general, was part of the process of becoming a mage. Most were only interested in the practical applications, but over time, those with a scholarly bent had tried to work out the underlying principles. Usually, those scholars would propose hypotheses to explain the obvious manifestation and then devise tests to confirm or reject those thoughts. So far, much about magic had remained elusive. No one knew how fundamental the World Tree was to the production of mana until now.
Geri was horrified and also fascinated. Her main concern was how to make sure that never happened to this world. Or if it did, determine a way to grow a new one. She raised the question, where was the World Tree? and, did it need protection? Since she couldn't add anything further to the conversation she disappeared to scour the library to try and find any information on the subject.
For me the main question was, could we grow a new one on Earth to replace the old one and could we protect it. Branch was sent to commune with the trees on Lagbit's World and Mary made the decision that she was going to perform the ceremony of light and ask Lagbit.
Mary was then not present for the next three days as she prepared herself. Kayla decided to join her. Geri found very little information about the World Tree, apart from the mana concentration near the World Tree was much higher than expected. Branch got the impression that the World Tree was keeping itself hidden and only those who were invited could go and see it. She wasn't invited.
It was a waiting game. We all hoped that Mary would be able to get some answers, but there was nothing we could do to help her. I concentrated on training with Nadi and spoke to some Elven architects who had worked with Earth mages and Earth familiars. Leaf organised all the druids with wood familiars to commune with the trees looking for answers, they all came back with the same answer. To meet the World Tree you needed to be invited.
The ceremony of light was a private ceremony, only two people could be involved. The Queen had to fast for three days, drinking nothing but water from the sacred source and go through these cleansing rituals. Then she would strip naked and place rainbow crystal
s on her major energy centres, lie across the altar and meditate. The idea was Lagbit would then connect to her and answer any question put to her by the second participant. The answers were usually just understanding. Occasionally, Lagbit would speak out directly, but that was very rare.
The Queen invited us for dinner on the fourth day. Again, to our frustration, she refused to discuss business until after the meal, but she looked a lot calmer, so I was hoping for good news.
When the final dish was cleared away we all looked at her expectantly.
“We asked two questions,” Mary started. “Was there a way to re-establish a World Tree on Earth? And then, because Tia was curious, we asked about the time difference between here and Earth. To my surprise, they are both linked.”
She paused and looked at us all. “It is difficult to explain in words, but I will try. When Lagbit realised that our population would decline and that it was our own choices that had caused it, his hands were tied and he was not allowed to intervene directly. So what he did was connect our world to The Dreaming.”
Vee put her hand up as if she was still in class. Mary nodded gently.
“I don't know if I am being ignorant, but I have never heard of The Dreaming,” Vee said.
“There are no stupid questions. I had never heard of it before either, but when Lagbit communicates it is more like concepts are just dropped into your head. From what I understood, all sentient creatures thought's and dream's have power and an element of reality which collects at The Dreaming, creating a place that is both real and illusion or dream. By connecting Lagbit's World to The Dreaming he created the possibility for another sentient to influence our world. That influence could be helpful, but it could also be harmful, so that action was balanced and permitted.
“Tia has the ability to open mental gateways to different worlds through The Dreaming. When she went through her transformation, asking for Lagbit to help, he did, but he didn't just transform her, he gave her a bit of his power so that she could keep a permanent connection to this world, in the hope that she could save us through her choices. Because of this connection and this world's link with The Dreaming, time passes as it does. It felt right and proper, but I can't explain it more than that. It is as it should be. In terms of the World Tree, Lagbit has no influence on another world and normally, nothing could be done, however, because of this link, Tia may be able to help. She will need to meet Nudi, the dryad. To do that she will need to have bonded to a wood familiar and ask for a meeting. There was a warning though. Because of Lagbit's intervention, Tia is in both worlds at the same time. What happens to her in one world will affect her in the other.”
I took a deep breath. No pressure then. Only I could save Earth.
I felt Vee's arms going around me. “You are not alone. We will all help you. I don't think the world is going to end tomorrow. We have time.”
“I got that impression too. I will also say that Lagbit is very proud of you, Tia and all you have done,” Mary added. “From now on all lessons and studying are on hold. Druid training is your only concern.”
So the next morning, I began my new routine, trying to settle in my new Earth familiar. We practised making buildings, beds, chairs and wardrobes. As the healing platforms were created we increased the number of people that were transformed. I didn't have much to do with that. Vee took on the responsibility of making sure that the right people were connected and in the right order.
After seven days of entering Lagbit's World, I needed to swap headsets to prevent the lockout from affecting us and I also had a break. Even though we were only logging on for a day at a time, seven days were still completed in two hours. I would have at least a two-hour break before entering again. I know that Earth has been around a long time and the chances were that it would be a long time before we were in any real danger because of the disappearing mana. Still, the worry was there and I knew our ecosystem was a delicate balance. There was so much of this situation that we didn't know. Were some creatures more susceptible to the low mana and were they critical to our whole ecosystem? I decided that I really couldn't afford to treat this lightly. I needed to ready myself for my next familiar as quickly as possible and because of the time differences, that was best done on Lagbit's World.
The male elves started arriving in Amilyf. There were fifteen who had volunteered including Stanton the Earth druid. We had more than fifteen prisoners who had condemned themselves with their words, so we would also change the strongest female druids as well as some architects, and other professions.
Four weeks Lagbit's World time after I had bonded with Nadi, my Earth familiar, I was back for another familiar ceremony. I wanted a wood familiar, but the whole process is a case of not choosing, but allowing yourself to be available for the right familiar to pick you and I knew I would be happy with any new familiar, even if I was a little disappointed that I couldn't move forward on the World Tree issue. It was just as well that I had worked that all out as my next familiar was not a wood familiar, but a metal one. Dina introduced herself and was very welcome.
Night had come to New York and Lacy organised a hunt for the new names of people in the know about human trafficking. The hunt utilised Leaf, Killash, Berry, Branch, Wendy and Vienne while the male druid elves were left behind to protect me. They weren't familiar with the modern human world and would need time to become acclimatised. There was also a location where the buying and selling of human slaves took place that needed to be raided. Their computer system was supposed to be anonymous and was off-grid, so the plan was to connect them so that Andi could investigate.
Simone was doing very well with her New Amilyf project. She was also organising our travel from New York to the Isle of Wight. She already had a yacht that could be used, but she would have to get it ready or it might be quicker to just buy a new one. She didn't go into details. It was in her hands and we all trusted her to come through.
I was part of all these decisions but not the main driver. My focus was on druid training and now I had Dina, I had more work to do before I could go for another familiar ceremony.
Chapter 17
Lacy's POV
Vee had approached me quietly explaining the situation on Lagbit's World and more importantly what they had discovered regarding the lack of mana on Earth. Tia was now focused on trying to save the fricken' planet, so it was up to the rest of us to not only keep her safe but take as much weight off her shoulders as possible.
I knew what she meant. I had a job to do, or multiple jobs really, and normally I would check in with those in charge to make sure they were happy with what I was doing. I needed to pull up my big girl panties and take more of the responsibility.
Ensuring Tia was safe, my number one priority, was a lot easier now that Tia had brought across a number of male and female elves with druid abilities. Those familiars were game changers on the battlefield, I just had to get them accustomed to modern living and modern weapons. Having been through this before Andi had helped develop VDR simulations to help with that, so I was able to give them an immersion course.
The male elves in particular also needed a mission with concrete objectives. Fortunately, I had discussed this with Tia before, so I didn't have to involve her and could lay out the overall plan for the male elves, slightly amended by our present circumstances.
Tia and Vee needed to be protected. The truth was that Tia was probably more powerful than the rest of us combined, but our job was to make sure she never needed to show us that. Leaf had told us that Tia's familiars were some of the most powerful she had ever seen and because of Tia's natural gift, she was able to channel them indefinitely. To someone who didn't even believe in magic, it was incredible to see some of the things she has done so casually. An iceboat rising out of the ocean in the time it took us to descend to it, walls of ice and more recently, walls of stone, rising rapidly in the warehouse to make everyone's life easier. Before Wendy joined us we had to use matches to light any fires we wanted because when
Tia asked Andi to light it, she casually blasted the wood with lightning and we were left with a blast area and not much else. At least Inda was able to prevent anyone from getting hurt from the flying pieces of wood.
The next mission objective was to help build up the Elven Nation. It wasn't just a case of creating walls with Earth familiars. Tia wanted a self-sufficient Nation, which included power generation, food production, jobs for everyone and security. She was hoping Earth familiars would be able to help set up geothermal power generators, speed up the production of houses, ready the land for cultivation and fortify our islands to secure all our hard work. In other words, work out how to keep it all in Elven hands. When you create something good, someone else will always want to take it off you. Water familiars could help with fishing and creating fresh water. Wood familiars would be able to help with orchards and possibly lumbar production. If we were secure enough, we could even help humanity by creating geothermal power stations, housing for the poor and other projects. Even financially investing in projects that were going to improve living standards and were environmentally friendly.
The final objective, or maybe the word opportunity was more appropriate, was to learn from the modern world and work out what could be safely taken back to Lagbit's World. Humans have been very inventive in creating weapons of war, and if some of that knowledge was able to protect the elves on Lagbit's World the worrying decline in population numbers could be reversed. They could play a role in saving their species. I could see this have a massive motivating effect on all the elves, but especially the male elves. I knew from what Tia had told me before that they blamed themselves for the present precarious situation and giving them the opportunity to reverse it was huge.
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