I am NOT avoiding him right now, Nova! an angry script announced as it suddenly crawled across my eyes. I’m just messaging you because it’s—the words suddenly broke off. Hi, Jasper, Vessa announced through her written messages. Apparently I hit the wrong key, somehow. Not sure how that happened.
Given that I had not seen any kind of keyboard on her capsule, I wasn’t either, but I chose to remain silent for now.
I know I’m asking a lot from both of you right now, she typed next. Nova grunted as another roar from the nearby behemoth disrupted the air currents she sailed through. But your positioning is going to help my aim. It will completely reduce collateral damage and allow me to filter a lot of Source energy into Nova, as well as a little bit into you as well, Jas. Make sure Nova knows I will be firing in ten seconds.
I relayed the message. Nova took it rather badly.
“Oh, so you’re avoiding me now?” Nova snapped into the wind as she spun through the air and righted her flight. “That’s why you couldn’t bother just telling me ‘hey, Nova, just keep flying for like five more’—”
A knife-like beam the size of several front doors suddenly sliced down from beyond the sky, parting clouds and making the sky ripple in bronze-colored heat waves. It struck the monstrous bear’s neck and traveled clean through it, passing into the rock, dirt, and grass beneath. Great clumps of earth either blew into the air or sizzled where it lay, turning into some kind of glassy material I had never seen before. Nova screamed in anger and surprise as she desperately twirled and barreled backwards, dodging chunks of rock and streams of super-heated air.
She needn’t have bothered. None of it ever came close to us, although we couldn’t have known that at the time. When the dust and smoke cleared, the bear remained standing where he stood, perfectly still, for a single moment longer. Then the creature’s massive head shifted slightly, then shifted a little more, then finally slid the rest of the way off his neck, landing onto the ground with a thud and a massive cloud of Source energy.
Hey, Jasper? Vessa asked with her next message. Can you tell Nova that I promise I’m not avoiding her, and also to apologize over the fact that the count I gave her may have been off by a bit. Oops.
You are surprisingly mean to yourself, I noted, as Nova continued to spin through the air while screaming expletives.
Thank you, Vessa sent back to me, somehow adding a smiling face at the end of her message.
Far more confused than ever, I convinced Nova to gradually lower us back down. We landed just as the bloodbeast’s source energy flowed into us. It was not nearly as much as it would have been if we had played any role in its death greater than serving as bait, but it was still enough to make both of our bodies and souls shudder. Nova’s wings flared out to their full span, each one at least as long as a human being, as they shimmered with the streaming Source energy. She closed her eyes tightly and grunted with concentration, but otherwise seemed able to handle the massive influx of power.
I did not feel nearly as calm with my own portion of barely earned power.
Steady now, young rider, Elder Mara’s voice said in my mind as my body suddenly felt ready to burst. You can actually handle this amount, which is why your suspiciously powerful master allowed you to be this close in the first place. Just spin your little world about, and focus on your first substage of each Source. They’ll help you process what you’ve just absorbed.
I did as the old dragon said, and sent my Soulscape into its rotation. Power poured into it, including the leftover Source energy that was trying to evaporate into the environment. The spare power instead invigorated my spiritual world, enlarging it ever so slightly and energizing the stored items and spiritual copies of everything inside of it. The energy directly entering me was absorbed into my qi drop, my mana wisp, and my essence crack. They refined the power when it passed through them, sending it directly into the proper places in my body. And while the bulk of the bloodbeast’s power consisted of its essence Source, the amount of mana, qi, and essence it generated naturally was still enough to super-charge my own weak stage of Advancement. A third wisp, and drop, formed immediately, floating aimlessly about and begging me to color them with purpose. But before I could do so, a fourth crack, wisp, and drop all formed immediately, bringing me to the fourth substage of each Source.
Much better, Elder Mara said approvingly in my mind. See? Two substages in one day, and that’s only if we count essence alone. She may be asking much of you, but you’re coming along quite nicely, all things considered. Don’t you think so, young rider?
Yes, I gasped, despite not needing breath to talk to her. I heaved again, struggling to stop the intense shakes my entire body was still going through. Never felt better.
“I’ll be okay, Nova,” I said, to pre-empt my friend’s concerned inquiry before she could ask it. “What about you?”
I turned as I asked to see how she was doing. Her Soulscape wings had vanished back into herself, but other than that she appeared to look steady.
“I’m alright, Jas,” she answered confidently. “I gained one depth of the qi pool stage, and two cracks of essence, which will let me move into the wailing stage soon. I’ll let Vessa guide me with that,” she announced with a frown. “But if she pulls any more surprises on me, I’m drenching her with cold water and locking her in her capsule.”
“Before you do that,” I hazarded saying. “You may wish to make absolutely sure that you won’t feel the same sensations she will. Because I know you hate someone pouring cold water all over you.”
“That’s ridiculous, Jasper,” Nova said as she gave me an incredulous look. “Why would I ever feel anything that my other body feels—” Her mouth quickly snapped shut. She made an annoyed pout with her mouth, and began speaking again. “I mean, that a completely different person feels... drat. I don’t believe me either right now. This is weird and hard, Jas.”
“I believe you,” I told the poor woman sincerely. “What else does Vessa need for us to do?”
“You go ahead and ask her,” Nova replied, tossing her hair. “I don’t feel like speaking to me... her,” she corrected forcefully. “I don’t feel like speaking to her right now. Because she is not me,” the Beacon growled next. “I like myself. If she was really another part of me, we’d get along all the time. This’ll all get sorted out eventually, Jasper. You’ll see,” she said confidently.
“I’ll message her immediately,” I said in as neutral a tone as I could muster, before I could remember that every written conversation I’ve had so far with Vessa had started with her initiating, and that I had no idea if just thinking letters at her would work.
Vessa? I sent to her. Can you read this?
No answer.
Apparently I could do the equivalent of showing up by the ship-woman’s bedside practically at a whim, but contacting her with any kind of messaging system was completely impossible without her permission.
Before I could ponder that issue any further, Vessa finally contacted me herself.
Jasper, please confirm you can respond. Nova’s not answering me right now.
The relationship you two have with each other is confusing to understand and frustrating whenever I have to consider it, I wrote out, too exasperated to keep my thoughts to myself this time. I recommend that you make remedying whatever strange arguments you two are having an immediate priority.
I’ll... take that as a sign I’ve reestablished contact, the ship-woman typed back slowly. My scans are showing that my attack neutralized the bloodbeast, but can either of you confirm my kill?
The monster was beheaded and released a massive cloud of Source energy, I wrote back in my mind. I am assuming it is now dead. Nova and I Advanced in almost every Source by at least one substage.
Great! she wrote back, including the exclamation point. You have both made fantastic progress! Especially you, Jas! Return to my ship-body, and we’ll work out what we can to harvest the monster’s corpse and any other resources we can from t
his world.
Before we come back, I wrote back, be advised that I have a new passenger with me currently riding in my Soulscape. I think I should introduce you to each other.
A passenger? Vessa said in a baffled voice. How did you manage to pick up a passenger inside your Soulscape? Never mind. What’s more important is whether or not they can cause anyone harm. Including you, the person lugging them around inside his soul.
We have exchanged Sourcevows, I advised, and beyond that, I doubt my passenger is capable of even leaving my Soulscape on her own power right now. But you are welcome to examine her more thoroughly when I come aboard.
Her? Vessa seemed confused. How do you even know it’s a her? Is this being a human, or a Sourcebeast?
Sourcebeast, and you’ll see more in a minute. Nova and I are coming aboard, now. I hope you two will stop fighting at random times.
We don’t fight, Jasper, the ship-woman typed back to me. Fighting with myself would be ridiculous. These are just little adjustments, and we’re already getting much better. You’ll see.
I chose not to reply, instead motioning to Nestor and Nova that we were ready to depart. Then I pulled on my link to Vessa’s Soulship and faded from one world to the next.
CHAPTER SEVEN
We reappeared some distance away from Vessa’s capsule, just like I had done a number of times before by now. A quick glance told me that Nova and Nestor had both teleported safely, just as they had always done in the past. But they weren’t the ones I was worried about.
Senior, are you safe? I asked worriedly, but as I looked I noticed the dragon still sitting on my spiritual planet. Elder Mara was looking at the sky of my little world, lashing her tail in anxious curiosity.
Where have you brought me, young rider? she asked carefully. Why does this look so familiar? And why are your only friends a mouse and a woman that speaks so oddly about herself?
You are about to find out, I declared. Though I suspect you have enough clues to figure out the answer, if you could bring yourself to believe it to be possible. Now, should I introduce you to my master, or do you have a way to interact with the world beyond my body?
I am largely blind, deaf, and dumb to anything beyond these false clouds inside of you, young rider. Which is why I am so concerned over the few things I notice beyond the walls of your soul. If your master can examine me, I can speak to her. Until then, however, I will try to remain calm, and assume these memories in me are rising out of mistaken associations.
“Jasper?” Vessa’s voice called from her capsule. “Nova? Nestor? Everything okay?”
“We’re fine, Vessa,” Nova grumbled. “The innocent lives were all protected. Jasper and I survived, despite the fact that you used us to provide a freaking targeting lock for your orbital strike.”
“Sorry, Nova,” Vessa snapped back, sitting up in her bed. Her hair looked frazzled, and there were bags under her eyes, suggesting she had worn herself out again. “I suppose I shouldn’t have performed a planet-saving action so perfectly calculated that not only were you completely safe, you actually walked away from the situation healthier than you were before. Excuse me for being so fabulously competent.”
“Well you’re not excused!” Nova said heatedly, walking toward Vessa’s capsule so that she could yell at her other body up close instead of at a distance. “Because you were so worried about being fabulous, that you couldn’t give your supposed second body something as simple as an accurate countdown, while she was in the middle of doing aerial acrobatics around a house-sized, tetanus-starved ursine wanting to rip her and the other person she was carrying in mid-air to pieces! So in the future, before you expect me to just shut up and go along with whatever—”
“Is it lunch time yet?” I spoke up innocently. “I’m starving, and meat sounds fabulous right now. Why don’t we fire up some wolf steaks?”
“No!” Vessa and Nova snapped at the same time, heads turning toward me in unison. “I mean yes, meat sounds awesome right now, but don’t interrupt!”
Then they realized what they had both done, and turned to glare at each other again.
Nestor, go, I said urgently, and the blessed little mouse understood exactly what he needed to do.
Save-save! he shouted in my mind, probably having no idea how accurate his words were this time. Then he leaped off my shoulder and raced to the top of Vessa’s capsule.
Look-look! he shouted to the two women—that were somehow one woman, that apparently had a massive problem with arguing with herself. I-grew! he said, doing a little leap and actually growing larger, ever so slightly. Strong-now! New-tricks!
The little mouse did a back flip, changing color from gray, to red, to blue, to finally yellow as he landed. Then he waved his fluff-tipped tail over his head, changing its color rapidly, until it resembled a rainbow-like paintbrush, and began firing tiny, harmless mana bolts into the air, changing their colors as well.
Nova and Vessa both crooned, then squealed, in happy surprise.
“He can grow now!” the blonde woman spoke happily. “That’s amazing!”
“And he can also use Jasper’s mana spells!” the dark-haired woman exclaimed next. “Good job, Nestor! You have been working so hard! You both have!” she added, looking at me as well. “And you, too, Nova,” she added guiltily, facing her Beacon again. “You’ve had to do the most amount of adjustment, in the least amount of time. Because you’re a part of me, I’d assumed you’d take everything the same way the rest of me does, and that’s wrong. I’m sorry.”
“I... accept your apology,” Nova said cautiously, while appearing confused. “Even if I do not yet understand or accept your explanation. And I’m sorry too, Vessa. You and I are bonded together far more closely than I’m comfortable with yet, and I’ve reacted by not acknowledging our bond at all. Can you give me more time with all of this?”
“That’s... yes,” Vessa replied with a nod, stumbling over her words. “That’s something you need. I’m going to do a better job of recognizing that.”
Nestor squeaked happily, bounced twice, and then chased his tail in front of them. The two women laughed again, then turned back to look at me, the person who had recently said something about food.
“Fine,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll figure out lunch. Have you repaired any more of your terminals, and can I use one to cook?”
“Yes, actually!” Vessa said happily, as if she hadn’t been fighting with her other self five minutes ago. She tapped the inner side of her capsule bed, and blue light shone into one of the larger terminals to her left. “I was able to activate one of the other emergency capsule beds, and this emergency oven as well! So we can cook now, and eat something other than my emergency food pouches!”
“Oh, thank the Ancient American Gods,” Nova sighed as she brushed the hair out of her face. “I’m already tired of those things.”
You have eaten less than four of them, I wanted to argue with her. I also wondered why there was such a thing as an ‘emergency oven,’ but then I decided that right now, the number of headaches I suffered would rise and fall with the number of questions I asked, so I let it go.
“Vessa,” I said, beginning my own walk to her capsule. “I need to speak to you regarding the assignment you gave me.”
“Yes,” she said, suddenly wincing as she remembered that I had been asked to watch a woman die in front of me. “Right. That. Should we...” she trailed off awkwardly, glancing at Nova. “Do we need to talk in private? I’m not sure that’s... technically possible with Nova and I, but if you want, maybe—”
“This is regarding the passenger I picked up,” I clarified as I walked next to her capsule. Her eyes widened, as she began to consider what might have happened down in that cave.
“Jasper?” she asked. “Were you able to—”
“It will be quicker if you can just examine my Soulscape directly,” I interrupted. “She will wish to speak with you, anyway.”
Vessa’s gray eyes turned to look inside
my Soulscape. She gasped in surprise.
“You saved her,” she said, trembling slightly. “You were able to save her...”
Can you see her yet? I asked Elder Mara. She did not answer me, and when I looked inside I caught her staring beyond the clouds toward where Vessa’s capsule was, trembling herself.
“A part-soul,” Vessa said in awe. “Your Soulscape was able to store a part-soul. I hadn’t even considered whether that was possible...” She turned to look at me. “I just knew that if anyone could have found a way to help her, it would have been you, Jasper.”
I heard that, Elder Mara said in a trembling voice. She wished to save me... she did not know me, but she wished to save me...
“And you said she swore a Sourcevow to you?” Vessa asked, looking back at me. “To what end?”
“For saving her life and the lives of her offspring, she has pledged herself utterly to my own benefit, obeying my commands and assisting in my goals to the best of her ability. The handful of exceptions she gave were things I would never even consider doing and are not worth repeating.”
“I... believe you,” Vessa gasped. “This... she’s a star-dragon, Jas. Those are supposed to have gone extinct even before Nestor’s kind did. How did you find a second miracle, Jasper?”
“Because you apparently sent me to be a miracle myself,” I said with a shrug. “And, like tri-practitioners, miracles are apparently far more common than either of us ever believed. Can you try speaking to her?”
I worked to open up my Soulscape further, allowing the two to talk.
Hello? Vessa spoke into my Soulscape.
Hello, Elder Mara answered in a trembling voice. You’re actually real. You’re actually alive.
What do you mean? Vessa replied. How do you know who I am? You are the first star-dragon I’ve ever seen.
I am not, Elder Mara replied, her voice still quivering. You were just too young to remember us...
The ship-woman’s gray eyes widened.
Senior, I interrupted. Please allow me to introduce my master, Vessa Soulship. The one you mistook for my sister-disciple is her Beacon, Nova. Vessa, and Nova, I added, since Vessa’s awareness was currently spreading to Nova, judging by my friend’s gradually widening eyes. This is the Senior currently residing in my soul, who has chosen the name Mara for herself. She is the dragon responsible for wounding and delaying the bloodbeast until our arrival. Despite her request that I refer to her as Senior myself, I still couldn’t bring myself to think of Elder Mara with such informality. However, I knew I had to use it in speech, especially when introducing her, or she would give me an earful the very first chance she got.
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