When I awake it's already nighttime. The only light in the room comes from a lit candle which, upon further observation, illuminated May's sleeping figure, slouched in a chair beside my bed. If I had a marker, I'd be tempted to doodle on her face as revenge for not waking me up sooner but I know she must have been worrying about me all afternoon.
I sit still for a moment thinking about what happened. I had somehow tapped into a power I was unaware I had. AND it's somehow linked to the ability to use magic. All the terms her mother used were foreign except for the word "ether". Ether or Ether Points (EP) were used as the catalyst for magic-users in Azure Blue Online; the melee-oriented classes used Action Points (AP), and of course there were Health Points (HP) that all characters needed. There were, of course, multi-class abilities for those wanting a hybrid build that used both EP and AP at varying levels, but all characters had those three stats in varying amounts. I have no way to view mine as I don't seem to be "plugged" into anything; Azure Blue had become my reality and populated with living people, not simple NPCs.
I stare at May for a second. May is around my age I'd guess – when I was a guy of course. I would have been infatuated with a redhead like her, especially the rise and fall of her figure in the chair. If this were any other story, you could take advantage of this situation. However, my feelings now are more affectionate as if she's an older sister. Memories of playing tag, memories that don't seem my own, play in the back of my mind alongside my memories as seventeen year-old Ichiro. I didn't know how to live as a female, let alone relive a childhood. It's discombobulating to say the least but I have to make the best out of what I have.
Masculine leers, childbirth, among other things . . . I can worry about the things that come with being a female when I am older. What is more important is finding the place I have in this new world; to become knowledgeable and strong; to learn magic and become a High Mage.
My nose twitches. My stomach growls.
I quietly slip out of bed and leave the room. The upstairs corridor is eerily lit by candlelight. I reach up on my tippy toes, grabbing a lit candle from the sconce and proceed down the stairs. I didn't know what there'd be in the kitchen but at this point even a bread slice will help soothe my stomach. I pass through the foyer and am just about to reach the kitchen when I notice the door slightly ajar. Not so much that it'd alarm me like a burglar had broken in, but more like someone left it slightly open intent on returning soon. I grip the doorknob and open the door, stepping outside.
The grass feels soft beneath my bare feet, and a cool summer breeze, without the humidity I remembered back home, soothed my face. The same breeze ushers the flame out and I sigh, the candle now useless. If only I knew a spell to reignite it. Soon enough, I hope.
Countless stars in intricate constellations spangle the night sky. You could never see this in the bustling metro area that blanketed the sky with artificial light. It's amazingly beautiful and I can't help but smile like a damn fool. The evening breeze is relaxing on my face and I almost forget the reason why I came out here. In the distance in the meadow that surrounded our abode is the tall, lengthy lithe figure of mother. Her hands are outstretched in the air as if giving praise to the gods. In fact, that might actually be what she's doing.
I only vaguely remember the core ones. Pelanore, Eurana, and Leux: the Goddess Three, also known as the Three Divines. There were countless other minor gods and demigods the developers worked into the game's mythos, but these three formed the main pantheon.
Light momentarily reflects in my eye and I blink, not sure of what I had just seen. My eyes refocus on my mother's outstretched palms, held skyward, motes of flecked light droplets suspended in the air around them. I hadn't noticed them before upon my approach but now they are as bright as any of the stars in the sky. Even her eyes glowed a brighter amber than they had before.
My mother's ears twitch and she turns to me in a momentary alarm, then with a smile.
"You were asleep all afternoon, I thought you would be asleep until daybreak," Silda says, closing her palms and extinguishing the light around her hands. Her eyes also seem to dim by several degrees from their previous brightness.
"What was that?" I ask. "What were you doing?"
Silda smiles at the question and approaches me, kneeling to my level.
"We call it 'Resonance'," she replies.
"Resonance?"
Silda nods. "You could see it now, couldn't you? The rises and ebbs in the etheric air."
"Etheric . . . air?"
"Ether is all around us, even if we can't normally see it," Silda says, reaching out and grasping my hand.
"However, when it interacts with our Eth – our spiritual nature – it resonates and becomes visible."
A warm sensation begins to fill my hand, somehow strangely familiar akin to the scent of a favorite cologne/perfume. Then I see it, hovering in my palm like a torch bug, ethereal light that sparkled above my hand. I know at once that this "etheric" signature had come from my mother— she had transferred a bit of her power into my hand.
"It's not potent enough to be seen by normal eyes, the eyes of Man. However, our eyes can pick up the traces easily enough," Silda explains.
"And this is magic?" I ask.
Silda chuckles and shakes her head.
"Not quite," she says, letting go of my hand and causing the dancing light to cease. "But it is the first step prior to casting an incantation. Without combining our Eth and nature's Ether, one could never begin weaving a spell."
"Can you teach me, right now?" I say. Inherently I know I'd be able to learn magic sooner or later (emphasis on sooner), but I can't stop my excitement. It's as if my brain were salivating to the ring of a bell.
Silda smiles, placing a hand against my cheek.
"I am glad that you are so eager, but we must wait a day. The best time to start will be your Naming Hour"
"Naming Hour?"
"Yes, the hour you were born. Some even call it the Witching Hour. It will be the best time to initiate you."
"So, it could be done sooner then?"
" Y'Raelle," she says firmly using the Vasque address.
I bite my lip in frustration. I want to learn magic in equal desperation.
"The tree bides its time lest the root falter and the fruit grow bitter" Silda says.
"Huh?" I say.
"Your enthusiasm pleases me but patience, my blood. Patience. Let us return to bed anon," my mother says in finality. I sigh inwardly and follow her back under the starlit sky.