I looked up from my plate, and frowned with annoyance.
Jareth laughed, “I’m not that bad, am I? Sorry I came on so strong that first day, I underestimated you badly. I also see your still wearing a dress for armor.”
I smirked, “It’s my wedding day, again.”
Jareth shook his head, “I’ll behave, promise. So, what do you see in that old man anyway?”
I snorted, Gerard was about ten years older than I was, but late twenties was hardly old.
“I thought you were going to behave?”
Jareth snickered, “Me behaving means I won’t leer or make a pass, I’m afraid this is as good as it gets love.”
I sighed, and went back to eating, and mercifully he backed off. I really couldn’t see whatever Cynthia did, the man was a pig. Then again, Cynthia wasn’t an empath, so maybe she just saw what she wanted to see.
Gerard wasn’t perfect, and he could be grumpy at times. But he was strong, faithful, and when he saw me he saw who I was along with the body that he loved to worship in bed. It was impossible to doubt how we felt about each other, when I could feel it, and his actions backed up his feelings.
There was more to it than that, but when had love ever yielded to logic and specific reasons? It just was, and I’d fallen hard. I didn’t bother answering his question out loud, and surprisingly this time around, I wasn’t nervous at all.
I was eager to marry him, and even my parents approved. Of course, the approval of supervillains isn’t always the best recommendation, but I’d take it.
I finished my plate, “Things to do,” and got up and left the table.
The mage shop was just how I remembered it, and I wasn’t the only one there. I started to browse the aisles as I let the two mages finish their transaction. I read a few of the cards, curious what mages could do. There were some enchantments to light fires, detect magic, simple lights, identify types of magic, glasses that would translate writing into a language the reader understood, detect curses on an individual or an object, and the list went on and on.
The identify types of magic device was the only one I was really interested in, it would have come in handy when trying to figure out the origins of the grub. According to the plaque, the grub would have glowed both a darker green for witch, and lighter green for elf magic. White for clerical magic, blue for mage magic, and reddish brown for dwarven magic. A black aura would indicate evil magic, such as the inherent magic of demons, necromancy, or curses.
After a moment of arguing with myself, I picked it up off the shelf. It might come in handy if I came across similar circumstances, and since I was blind to magical energies outside of clerical magic it would be useful.
The other mage left, and I walked over to the counter.
“Good morning.”
The mage smiled, “I was expecting you, and that item is ready. I chose to bind it in a ring, since that would be less of a problem than a bracelet or necklace when you sleep. You’ll have to wear it for it to work.”
He reached under the counter and pulled out a ring made of silver, with a sparkling diamond on top in a gorgeous setting, “Go ahead and try it on,” he urged.
I picked it up and slipped it on the ring finger of my right hand, and then admired how it looked. After a moment, I felt a strange and disturbing vibration in my hand, and a tingle all over my skin that wasn’t painful, but was really uncomfortable.
“What’s it doing?”
He smiled, and barked a word, and the vibration stopped.
“I just dispelled the shield I had over me. Do you think that will wake you up?”
I nodded, “No doubt about it. Thank you. I was also wondering if I could use this device?”
I placed the magical identifier on the counter.
He nodded slowly, “This device has a command word to make it activate, and one to turn it off, so anyone can use it. It will last several hours for each charge of the diamond, so it should last years if used sparingly. Since you’re turning into such a good customer, how about I let it go for the low price of five gold.”
Crap, here we go again…
In the end, I was twelve gold and seven silvers poorer. Ten for the ring as agreed when I commissioned it, and two and seven silvers for the magic identifier. With a thought, that went into my black bag in the chest in my room at the temple, and the ring stayed on my finger.
“Can I ask you a question about magic?”
He nodded, “One or two, but I don’t promise to answer.”
“I understand, dwarven magic, I haven’t heard much about it. Is it racial like Elven magic?”
He smiled, “That’s a complicated question, but I have time to give you the easy answer. It is racial, all dwarves have magic to different extents. You know mages draw their power from the four elements?”
I nodded in agreement, and he continued, “The dwarves also pull their magic from elements, but only from fire and earth. It’s why dwarves live in the mountains, and make excellent miners and are the best at forging weapons. Their magic isn’t as diverse as a mages, but their ability to wield earth and fire is much more powerful, and almost instinctive though some instruction is necessary. At that level though, their magic is crude, like a pick or a hammer.
“They also have rune mystics, who are basically the races enchanters, and true masters of the forge. They inscribe the runes, which guides the magic and adds subtlety to it. They’re extremely dangerous under the earth or near any fire, but put a dwarf high up in the air, or in a pool of water, and they’re virtually helpless. Did that answer your question?”
“Yes, but it also prompted twenty more questions, but I’ll spare you. Thanks for your forbearance.”
He nodded once, and I left his store to head for the market proper. It was still relatively early morning, but maybe my dresses were ready…
Chapter Eight
The dresses had been done, and I’d also stopped by a number of stores which finished off my morning. I’d decided to keep my travel stuff, along with my weapons and valuables in the temple room, but figured it would be weird not to put any clothes in the wardrobe in our castle suite. It wasn’t the home I wanted, but it was home for now and needed some of our things in it. I didn’t want it to feel like a hotel room, and my temple room a suitcase.
I also put out several candles and other knickknacks to make the place look a bit more personalized, and I’d made an effort to go for gender neutral so I didn’t give Gerard an aneurism. I hoped he liked the surprise. The last thing I’d purchased had been a wedding gift, this world didn’t exchange rings like my old one. I just hoped he liked it.
I was excited, restless, and a little anxious again as I sunk into the hot water of the tub. I didn’t need another bath, but it was my wedding day and I wanted to be perfect. It was only when I felt lonely as I painstakingly tried to get my hair to behave, that I realized I was being stupid. It was good that I’d become independent, and I was very capable of doing it alone. I’d needed to be self-reliant on this new world, and the more I handled and learned, the more confident I was becoming in my path.
But this wasn’t meant to be done alone, and my mother was back in my life.
I pulled out my communicator.
“Sia, is mom around?”
Sia replied, “One moment please.”
Mom came on a moment later.
“Is it time?”
I replied, “Not yet, I was just wondering if you wanted to help me get ready.”
There was silence for a moment, and then Havoc, my supervillain mom who’d struck fear into the hearts of millions, sounded ridiculously girlish, happy, and vulnerable when she replied, “I’d love too.”
I smiled, “Be in the lounge in a minute.”
I got up, grabbed the dress I’d picked for the wedding, and teleported over…
When I appeared in the lounge, I was suddenly being hugged.
“You look beautiful Kat,” she pushed me back, “Hold still.”
I froze, and she lifted her hand in front of my face and sprayed a mist right into it. I blinked and stepped away.
“What was that?”
She beamed, “I got it ready just in case.”
The fact that she didn’t elucidate a bit more worried me. What had she just done? My whole face started to tingle, and then my scalp.
“Ooh, look at that.”
She was staring at the screen, and I turned. There were tiny little balls floating in mid-air and flying through a goblin tribes’ tent village, and goblins were falling quickly.
“What are we watching?”
She smirked, “This is the last goblin tribe in the northwest of Chilik, which seemed to be the only uncontested area by a true power in this place. The anti-grav orbs are firing darts with mind control nano-tech and a sedative. They’ll sleep while Sia programs them.”
I frowned, “Was that a human?”
She nodded, “The powerful mage and witch to the south according to the history aren’t the only ones, he’s a decent mage, better than the goblin ones, and under my control too. Things are going swimmingly. We’ll be ready to go after the witch in a couple of days. I thought it a good idea to claim the entire eastern side first, then go after the west.”
“But you’ll be careful right, when you go after those two?”
She frowned, “Are you the fun police, lighten up daughter. I’ll be prepared, though I’m having trouble figuring out magic. So far, the underlying scientific rules are evading me, and I haven’t found a technique to gather or control the particles yet. You need to learn to relax, and have fun.”
Magic particles? Oh boy.
I sighed, “Of course mom, I have had fun since I’ve been here, but there’s serious stuff as well.”
She shrugged, “Never mind, I don’t want to argue about that. Your father knows we’ve had that conversation enough before.”
I looked at my mother, and she was wearing an ugly dress, I think it was some shade of puce. It was… bad. Which was really sweet, but she still looked amazing despite her efforts. She did have makeup on, and her hair was down to her shoulders. She wore a light brown leather belt around the dress with her sonic gun in the holster, and she had arm bracelets that I wasn’t sure exactly what they did.
It totally clashed, and on anyone else it would look absurd, but Havoc pulled off the look somehow.
“Okay, and I’ll stop too.”
She smiled, “I do have other advice. Marriage is about compromise, and giving of yourself, but don’t be a doormat either. If you’re doing it right, you should both feel like you have the better end of the deal.”
Her father walked in, “I did get the better end of the deal.”
My dad was in a tux, black bowtie, the whole works.
My mother winked, “He says that, because he knows he can’t escape my evil clutches. I have knockout gas, and ropes.”
Dear goddess, parental flirting alert.
He looked at me and said, “You look beautiful. I’m proud of you, even if I think you’re way too young to get married.”
I said, “Thanks dad, but I still haven’t gotten ready yet, mom and I have just been talking.”
He shook his head as if he didn’t know what I was talking about.
Mom laughed, and the large display turned into a mirror, “What did you think that nano-cloud I sprayed in your face was for.”
I gaped at myself. I’d normally call myself attractive, but I was truly beautiful in that moment. My eyelashes were plucked, my complexion even smoother than normal for a super. There was just a light layer of blush, eyeshadow, and a subtle tone of lipstick. My reddish blonde hair was artfully arranged into a high bun slightly to the side. I looked like I’d just left a salon after hours of work. Then I looked down a little, and notice my nails and cuticles weren’t colored, but they were flawless.
So that’s why it itched. The goddess knows why I thought my mother helping me get ready would be the normal way, nothing else in my life had been. I gave her a hug and a smile.
“Thanks mom, I didn’t realize.”
She grinned and waggled her eyebrows, “It will drive Gerard crazy.”
I blushed, and my father looked uncomfortable with that concept.
I changed the subject.
“So… magical particles?”
She sighed, “Magic is on a huge frequency spectrum, and is made up of almost endless types of exotic particles and there seem to be little to no rules. At least, not that I understand yet. It isn’t like light or sound, or even telepathy or empathy, its… complicated. It may take me years to even begin to understand the basics. Even then, I might only be able to come up with ways to block it, or shield from it. Like my telepathy blockers, yet I can’t build a device to communicate that way, you know? Like telepathy, magic works best with a flesh and blood interface for the humans who can interact with it.”
Sort of got it, but I nodded.
“It should keep you busy.”
She asked, “Have you given any thought to my theories on your powers, as it relates to quantum phenomena.”
I cringed, “I didn’t really understand it mom. Can you dumb it down to a genius level?”
She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then said, “You should be able to shield yourself from any type of energy or magic. In theory. Just like you can use telekinesis to shield yourself from physical harm. Which is good, because your body is weak. You should also be able to break through any shield and literally make an enemy’s molecular structure break down at the sub-atomic level.”
That sounded too good to be true, and a bit gross for the latter one. It would also make me virtually unbeatable, unless I wasn’t paying attention, or was betrayed or asleep. I was sure it wouldn’t be something I could do all the time, even if I could figure out how to do it.
“And how do I do that?”
She rolled her eyes, “Quantum level instability, you should be able to literally break down any organized particle emission aimed at you including magic, or even just bend it around you. Sort of like you teleport, but instead of you going anywhere, anything coming at you just… goes around you, or is moved somewhere it can’t harm you.”
I shook my head, “In theory maybe. Teleporting myself, others, or objects is simple to visualize, I’m not consciously using my powers in a quantum way, my powers figure that out. So how do I visualize something like that? I can’t see or feel magic, outside of Arella’s I mean. That means unless I was in a straight forward fight, I’d never see it coming.”
She frowned, “We can experiment, I imagine you’d just visualize a bubble around you that would destroy or move anything that touched it somewhere else. I could have one of my mages cast stuff at you.”
I thought about it for a moment, and then figured out the major flaw.
I shook my head, “I think I might have some success with getting through shielding with some kind of quantum level attack, or just teleport them into space or something. That would be immediate and probably use the same amount of power that teleporting does. But think about it, teleporting is both pico-second fast, and very draining on my abilities. It takes a minute or even longer to recover from, that means holding some kind of a quantum shield for even a few milliseconds would completely drain me.”
Which meant I’d have to live with the way thing were. If a mage or witch struck with a true spell without physical effects, like paralysis, sleep, a curse, or something similar, I’d be screwed. But then, if I struck first so would they. Which is why I needed to be careful, so far I’d gotten lucky, only Jareth had gotten me with a non-physical spell and that was just a friendly match.
I was more powerful on this world because of my unique type of power, it wasn’t magic, but the reverse was also true, I was far more vulnerable to pure magic than any of the true magic users. I wished Arella had shield options for her paladins, but she wasn’t a goddess of battle or war so that wasn’t an option. Still, I wasn’t doing too badly, and my true pur
pose as I saw it wasn’t to be a fighter anyway.
I was a dreamer who wanted to solve problems, and improve things. So far, that had involved averting destruction, and had almost killed me at least once, but it wouldn’t always be like that. At least, I didn’t think so.
I had the shield detection ring, telekinetic scanning, and my empathy to let me know if an enemy was coming, that would have to be enough to give me the edge. Maybe one day my mom would figure out a magical shield technology that I could use, but until then life was full of risks, and what I did was worth it.
My mom thought about what I’d said and sighed, “You might be right, a shield would drain you and knock you out in under a second. You should still look into the attack angle though.”
“I will,” I promised.
My mom sighed, “You know what this means right, if you work out that attack. You’d have been able to take out Omega easily.”
I shrugged, and it was a total slip of the tongue, “I already could do that.”
My mother’s eyes narrowed, and my dad stared at me. Oops. Well, it was too late for them to kill him anyway, no harm done. And I still hadn’t told them about Omegas weakness, only that he had one.
I cleared my throat nervously, “I think it’s about that time mom.”
My mother smiled with false sweetness, “Sia, set course for the temple district in Magehaven, and execute. We’re not done with this conversation my sweet daughter.”
My dad must have decided it was funny, because he was clearly trying not to laugh.
The thrum of the reactor got louder, and I saw the landscape in the wall screen blur as the ship jumped forward. I had to admit, this ship was the coolest invention my mom ever made…
Chapter Nine
“Follow me. So, you knew how to destroy Omega?”
I shrugged guiltily as we left the lounge, and turned left toward the back of the ship.
“Umm, I was friends with his son, who got picked up by Omega one day after school. I don’t know why, but my telepathy was still acting up back then and wasn’t under perfect control, and I skimmed it right out of Omega’s head by accident. That was right at the time I firmed up my shields so dad couldn’t read me anymore.”
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