Now that the ship was right there, certain details became clear.
Many branches grew all over, but somehow grew so they laid against the trunk and made twisting decals along the hull.
The old dog looked at the teens.
"It is said the elves use magic to grow trees into ships."
A mage in the crowd muttered, "I knew but... I wasn't sure if I believed. What mixture of elements can manipulate wood so gently?"
The hull rose so far out of the water the dock was below the top edge, so none could see what the deck looked like... but it looked like many branches twisted into themselves to create a barrier along the edges of the deck.
Those branches suddenly began to wiggle and writhe as emerald green light with hints of a gold dust in it shone through the cracks in the bark and the whorls and knots.
The entangled to make an opening and then extended to the dock, knitting together to make a ramp, and revealing a figure who stood just behind where they had been.
The figure in a grey cloak held an outstretched hand filled with that emerald-gold light, and as the bridge finished, the glow faded as he stepped aside and bowed to an under figure.
And then the crowd saw her.
Slender, white skin, not just pale but truly white, almost silver in the bright sun.
Golden hair with streaks of green as highlights, and a green robe.
The green cloth of the robe was light, and thin to the point where you could just barely make out what was underneath.
The robe was a single rectangle of cloth wrapped around her figure many times, so despite how hard they tried, the men in the crowd could not see what was underneath the robe, despite the edges being slight see through.
It was evocative, especially because the robe lifted over one shoulder but not the other, meaning some pale flesh do her chest just barely began to be seen through the edges of the cloth... but not enough to be called truly indecent.
She carried an air that did not speak of innocence or sexuality, but merely nature.
She smelled of spring, and a breeze tousling her hair brought that scent to the crowd.
Her sexuality was a part of her nature, femininity and beauty evoking the desires of those who saw her.
She did not seek attention: it was given as naturally as the air gives breath to her lungs.
She was tall, easily over 6 feet, maybe around 6'5, and her slender legs poked out from the dress-robe as it only came to the top of her knees.
Her ears poked out from her hair, and were straight and narrow.
Human ears go up and rounded, but her ears never became wider from top to bottom than where the connected to her head, and they stuck straight out and angled slightly back, sharp and narrow triangles reaching over 2 inches in length.
Most shockingly however... she had green markings from the corners of her eyes, like tattoos of green streaks that curved from the outer corner down her cheeks to stop halfway between the cheekbones and jaw.
The lines were all over her body, swirling yet simple patterns that were thin and left most of her skin still clear.
Silence reigned over the crowd... and then another elf appeared, a man, who wore a gold robe edged in white, folded the same way and showing the clean and chiseled muscle of his limbs and a little of the chest.
In all, 6 elves eventually walked down the gangplank made from branches, followed by the one in the grey cloak.
~ ~ ~
I snuck out that night, silencing any noise and constricting any signs of my passage while also watching for any eyes on me.
Why did I sneak out?
Well... we'll get to that.
I took off, flying with no elemental fusion to help support me seeing how any awakened or even magic sensitive-individuals would sense the movement of that much magic.
I have way too much, and elemental fusion isn't the sorta thing I can hold back on, it's literally activating all the magic fused into my body.
So as I fuse more light, light fusion has become stronger in its effects.
Interestingly the thing that increased most from light fusion isn't my regeneration speed or vitality, but my senses.
My eyesight, hearing, smell, mana sense, and sense of temperature as well as touch are all enhanced from what I started with.
So that's the most direct effect fusion light magic seems to have.
Light is fullness, it's what gives life, it's power is taken in by life to grow, but light is not life itself.
It is simply the fuel.
Light itself is how we see, how we interact with the world, the senses we use rely on it, and even more so, it is what fuels us to grow and move much like food.
So that's probably why it can take away fatigue by directly giving energy and increasing vitality I guess.
I'm still figuring it out to be honest, and my opinions on what light magic is keep fluctuating and changing as I learn more.
I used to think light was the source of life, but now I'm not so sure.
It interacts with it to be sure, but it also feels separate.
Maybe life is a force that no magic exists for. Might be the realm of those "gods".
Hm.
Oh I'm here.
I look out over the dark waters with my night vision.
The ocean.
I walked into the surf, and began to swim, basically doggy baffling with my paws while also moving like a serpent side-to-side, propelling myself faster than I could ever swim as a human.
I took in a breath... and sank beneath the waves.
I slipped into the waters, and swam downwards, and a slight yellow light began to release from golden quills along my body, bioluminescence lighting up the sea, and showing the fish and coral around me.
Then... my will began to extend, reaching out, an invisible force touching and feeling everything around me within a certain area, and as I spread my will further out it began to put more and more stress on my mind.
Finally I hit a limit of what I felt I could sustain.
'Haaaa... okay. Now let's see how this works.'
Light magic began to ripple, and the water began to be dyed gold as light spread out, caressing rocks and coral and shrimp, fish and plankton and seaweed.
Water.
Light and water can be seen as the two ingredients to life, along with the nutrients of the earth, the air, and the heat of fire I suppose.
So life is composed of every element, except darkness?
No, life holds darkness. Sickness, disease, and death. Darkness will always be a part of life.
So rather than life, what is water itself?
It is liquid, sure.
Two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom, yeah thanks science teachers.
But in this world, in magic, what is the MAGIC of water?
What is water on that level of the metaphysical?
I can feel every particle of every element when I focus really hard.
You know when the world slips away as you focus so entirely on a video game or book that you can just react and get into the groove that can do anything?
That's the state I'm in to see the smallest parts.
Every element exists everywhere.
In this ocean, small particles of fire exist because there is still heat, seeing as it is water and not ice.
In the night and even in the black of the ocean, light still exists in such a small way as to be undetectable, but the element still is here.
But yes, I'm the ocean at night, the clearest particles I can "see" are interpreted by my brain as a dark rich blue.
I don't think the particles actually have a "color", it's just how I kinda interpret it I guess?
And a dark purple of the darkness element.
In all, the 6 elements actually make a rainbow.
Red of flame, orange of earth, yellow of light, green of wind, blue of water, purple of shadow.
Sure, fine, we're missing indigo, but that's basically just blue and purple mixed!
It's all the primary and secondary colors okay?!
Jeez.
In the Astral Space(now THAT is a GOOD NAME FOR IT!), water is a large sorta globe that's got a tail being pulled to my Star by its 'gravity' to hit the barrier, much like every other magic.
Of course now it has a mini-tiny comet trail to Kire's Astral Core too, but it's basically a barely noticeable thin stream.
Like water droplet kind of thin.
Water can freeze into ice, and evaporate into air.
It is fluid, always changing and shifting.
And I watched as, in reality, that played out.
Water particles moved among the other elements and flowed everywhere.
Moisture in the air and earth, the condensation created from fire even!
Water flowed in and out of every element unobtrusively, elegant and flexible.
It was agile.