Price of Progress, Part II

By morning, Tercius was as good as new. He resumed his training with Lucky at first daylight. He only stopped when sunlight went away and the progress made for the day could be summed up with a single word.

Monstrous.

Lucky was rapidly turning into a role model of proper behavior, obeying his commands without any fuss whatsoever. In the entire day, he had made only one mistake that Mistress Prime'era promptly pointed out and he then corrected, and on top of that there was only a single riding injury that had to be treated immediately.

On his second potion-free night, Tercius once more dove into his side-project.

*** *** ***

Mentally reaching out to {Energia Manipulation}, he gave the Skill a list of commands to imprint on the energia he kept in his mental grip.

"This energia must hold its current shape. This energia must not leave the boundary of the Core. The energia must…"

The list went on and on, but at the end of it, Tercius let his mental hold on the small white ball of glowing energia fade.

Without a skipped beat, the sphere started to move slowly towards its new destination. He simply observed, but he was ready to get his grip on the ball in an instant, if need be.

As ordered, the small ball started orbiting around the globe, an imitation that brought a small smile to his face. Ignore the massive hovering hands and the silk-like threads that manipulated the globe, and there it was, the Moon still circling the Earth.

A little bit of an old home.

His head bowed down and he closed his eyes for a few moments. When was the last time he thought of his life on Earth? It had to be years.

Shaking his head, Tercius looked up and his eyes narrowed with intent at the energia-Moon. A hand grasped towards it and he took command the old-fashioned way.

As his mental grip took over the entire sphere, it halted it in tracks and headed his way. Tercius smiled. That was good. The connection was strong, stronger than before even. He brought the ball of energia to his side and got a list of commands imprinted.

"This energia must remain inside my anima. Change shape to arrow…"

*** *** ***

A new day arrived and Mistress Prime'era had a new exercise for him and Lucky.

"You've done well so far— both of you did. That is why it's time you move to the next part of the training. As you know, these beasts are adept climbers. Moving up and down these steep cliffsides was part of their daily life since they were born and it will remain so to the day they die. Now, Tercius, you must make it a part of your life. Then, you two must find a way to do it together. Lucky must get accustomed to jumping with your weight on top of his, and you must get accustomed not to change the center of mass for the both of you. A single error—"

Mistress Prime'era raised a finger and pointed down the cliffs. Tercius looked down and swallowed. That was a long way to go.

"—and both of you will likely die. Do it right and this will be an excellent way to escape most land-bound predators found in those mountains. Now, mount that ram, and down you go."

Tercius stood still for a moment.

Mistress Prime'era clapped her hands. "Why the hesitation? Oh… If falling is what's making you hesitant, Tercius, then you can rest at ease. I will be right there to catch you when you do fall… If you're observant, you might even see a trick or two of how to use telekinesis to properly catch someone or something who is falling, without doing any damage…"

Tercius perked up at that. His telekinetic Skill was powerful and versatile, which was a result of the way he created it. Control over it, however, was intentionally left entirely up to him. A clever application of the Skill was far better than a brute one, and learning how to better use his skill would only make things easier for him. Besides, if Mistress Prime'era said that she would catch them if they were to fall…

Well, he believed her. The past few days spent with her had been illuminating in more ways than one. Her scope of knowledge was both broad and detailed and she did not mind sharing with him, as long as it was about a mundane topic. Talk of spellwork, spells, and such topics of magic was off-limits as long as they delved into the details of how things actually worked.

Besides, he better be practical about this experience. This was an excellent opportunity to try otherwise deadly maneuvers, so he might as well milk it for all its worth.

Tercius nodded to Mistress Prime'era, {Acting} far more confident than he was as he turned and marched towards Lucky.

Lucky, the insatiable beast, was ripping grass and feeding it all into its endless stomachs when Tercius approached it. Lucky's ears twitched and his head turned slightly Tercius' way, a single rectangular iris observing.

"I don't know if you've had the same experience, Lucky, but mine taught me that generally good and hard work is always rewarded with even more work," Tercius patted the beast's side. "You've worked hard enough and now you can have your reward."

Tercius pulled down the double-step stirrup and as one foot grabbed it, his hands went for the handles on the sides of the saddle. Hoisting himself up, his other foot reached for the second stirrup and he quickly climbed even further. As he finally reached the saddle, the other leg went flying over it.

Lucky bleated in protest as Tercius made himself comfortable on the beast's back. Tercius pulled the reins, tugging on the left horn, and Lucky obliged quickly. Through the {Teaching Bond}, he could feel that Lucky was already salivating with the idea of getting salt and his berries…

Tercius shook his head. How would he ever motivate this beast without Mistress Kalina's alchemical help? "You'll get your treats after the work is over,"

Tercius guided Lucky to the edge of the cliff, where Mistress Prime'era waited. There, he made the beast halt. When Mistress Prime'era nodded, Tercius gave a squeeze to Lucky's sides with his legs, motioning the beast to go ahead. Lucky bleated back and struck the rock with his hooved feet.

"He's not going, is he?"

"He won't go ahead, not with me on his back…" Tercius said.

The opposition found in Lucky was rock solid. There was no way that he would get the beast to move down the cliffside. Lucky knew instinctively that he was too heavy to jump across in the way he was used to.

"Then… you know what is to be done…"

Tercius' jaw worked, his teeth grinding, but then he nodded. It had to be done. "Do it, Mistress,"

Mistress Prime'era snapped her fingers and a yowl came directly behind them.

Lucky sprang forward.

For a moment they rose and then they fell. A crash rushed through Tercius as Lucky's hooved feet found purchase on a small ledge, but then the beast jumped again. Lucky made split-second decisions about their movement route, riding on a wave of fear and a need for survival. From ledge to ledge, the momentum carried them forwards. Sweat covered Tercius. Each breath was a struggle as he jolted in his saddle, his spine more wet noodle than bone.

Everything happened so quickly. One moment he looked at a cliffside, the next the stone was already to his left, and then he was weightless. His body expected the next impact to come, but it didn't. He kept feeling weightless. The little fuzz of dark hair on his head all pointed upwards, carried by the airstream, the pleasant sensation sending a shiver down his noodle-spine. Lucky was twisting and frantically bleating, already anticipating the end that awaited them. Tercius' eyes went wide as his jaw clenched. The rocks below were rushing at him and Lucky. A few moments and…

Where the fuck was Mistress Prime'era?!

Then he felt something envelop him like a blanket. Small shivers ran across his legs, arms, and torso and the sharp rocks that were less than a dozen meters away remained at that distance.

Mistress Prime'era hovered at their side, her arms and hands glowing with a golden light.

Tercius was hyperventilating and Lucky's legs were twitching as if trying to find the solid ground that stopped them. He would find none. The ground and the rocks were still a while away. His working clothes were stuck to him, glued by sweat that wasn't there moments ago. A drum was still pounding away in his ears and his head had never been heavier. His knees were quivering and his hands were shaking. That… all of that… was… shit. He did it once and it was already one time too many.

"Your first try went… well enough," Mistress Prime'era placed both her hands behind her back, as she made her inspection. With her slight build and the long gray robe of the magi that almost reached to her ankles, she didn't seem like a drill sergeant from hell, but looks were often deceiving.

What did she say? His first try? Then it all came to him. He was here to train this. Training meant repetition. Oh shit…

*** *** ***

Darkness fell on the day but as Mistress Prime'era left for the tent, Tercius remained with his Mentor to forge on. His entire body was sore. He felt as if he could fall asleep at any moment. The potion he drank a while back had yet to kick in.

Then his Mentor said something that woke him up.

"…Mistress Prime'era told me that she thinks that another two or three days will be enough for both of you to have some basics under your proverbial belts—"

Tercius perked up. "Really?"

His Mentor nodded. "But I think the basics are not enough, Tercius."

Tercius' face fell. "Mistress, the basics are enough. Lucky and I will just have to manage the rest on our own. And… if you won't take me there, then the two of us will just go on our way west."

"And pointlessly lose the week I want to ask for?"

Tercius shifted where he sat, casting his gaze to one of the magelights that illuminated the entire meadow. "Mistress, I just keep extending the time over and over again. I cannot do it anymore. At any day, any hour, any moment, my grandmother might die."

"She won't,"

Tercius scoffed. "How do you know?"

"I spoke to your family Tercius. I spoke to you. Even though I don't know the woman, I have an idea of the measure of your grandmother. At no point did she sound like someone who would give up easily."

Tercius shook his head.

"The guidance I, Mistress Prime'era and Helfira will offer you here and now will save you days out there. Think about it. What if you encounter a predator and Lucky gets spooked?"

Tercius frowned. It was all perfectly reasonable and if this was any other situation, he would take the offer immediately, but not here and now. "Mistress and I trained him for that, Mistress. He's no longer so ready to throw himself on his back and I now anticipate something like that at every moment."

"I promised your mother that you will be in my care. That I will watch over you. Since things have turned out as they did, the least I can do is prepare you to the best of my abilities. Give me two weeks. Just two weeks so that I can whip you and the beast into shape and then you can go."

Tercius stayed silent, his unblinking eyes looking at stars above him. Pulling up the Petra card was a fine move, if intentional. Tercius almost scoffed at himself. Well of course it was intentional. Magi spent decades learning how to avoid accidents. All actions made and words spoken by a Magos should always be intentional to the largest degree possible. All angles had to be looked from, and only then actions should be taken or words spoken.

Tercius clenched his jaws. Two weeks…

"Mistress… I need to think of Seliana too," he said. Since she was using his family as leverage, responding in similar ways was only appropriate. "She was the one who signed the papers to take me from the Academy dorms to her home for the winter break. If I'm not back by the time the classes start, Mistress Dea will notify the Magistrate."

"A simple solution for that exists."

"Mistress…" He took a deep breath. "You will not postpone the start of the academic year on my account, Mistress. Hundreds of students, dozens of teachers. Who knows how many people are in the supporting staff. I cannot do that to them."

Mistress Kalina waved a hand dismissively. "Do not make a big issue out of it. The security lapse that happened last year requires a detailed inspection. The only thing preventing it, is that someone of high enough authority needs to be in charge of something like that. On your account, I am willing to do so. I will make my personal time available for it."

"Why?"

"You are my Disciple, Tercius. As your Mentor, I have to educate you in our ways and our magicks, as well as keep away the threats that could take your life easily. The Accords stop me from going to those lands and I…" Mistress Kalina swallowed and looked down.

"I lost one Disciple before, Tercius," she whispered. Her eyes snapped back to him, unyielding. "I will not lose another. You will give me the weeks I ask, or I will take you back to the Pyramid with me tonight, by force if I have to."

Tercius' mouth dried up. "Perdinar—"

"If Master Perdin'nar tries to interfere in any way between us, I will give out a public notice that I took on a Disciple. Of course, the name of that Disciple will also be made known,"

Breathing deeply, Tercius looked at his Mentor's unblinking green eyes in disbelief. "But you need me to remain out of the public eye. If the public knows of me, then how will I do the job you all have proposed?"

"You also need to be alive to be able to do that job. Between keeping you alive and keeping you anonymous, I know what my choice will be."

Tercius fell silent, searching for an angle he could approach this. None he found offered even a glimpse of a victory. She had him.

His fists clenched. "If my grandmother dies before I get there…"

"To start with, your priority should be to reach her. You will help no one if you're dead."

*** *** ***

Over the next two weeks of training, his mood was dark.

He listened a lot, spoke a little. It was like he suspected. These magi wanted to stall him, to let time wash away the urgency he felt. They wanted him to cool down and see reason.

Fuck reason.

He wanted to do this. He needed to do this and he would not be manipulated out of it.

So he pushed himself and did every single training thrown his way. Tercius and Lucky went through hell, but they both advanced, each in their way. Lucky got accustomed to going up and down cliffs with Tercius on his back and the frequency of falls went from seventeen, the record achieved on the first day of cliff scaling, to none on the eighth day of cliff scaling.

The few nights he had to skip the potions and take some rest, he spent two to three hours on his side-projects.

The foremost at his mind was the semi-Skill that would allow him to take the Seal and make a Skill with it, solely if a need for something like that occurred. Problems with it popped up like grass after a rain, but he was adamant to solve each.

Whenever the work on his semi-Skill hit a wall, he turned towards an old project of his. Considering his specific circumstances and the ease with which he could get Skills, and knowing what he now knew of channels and their connection to Skills, Tercius was quite sure that he had to have an option to remove a Skill. After all, it would be better if he had a solution before he actually needed to implement it. The best option came from a procedure called "Stripping", where magi removed the channels of their worst criminals. Without channels, Skills and spells were out of criminal reach.

Essentially a person on whom "Stripping" was performed became your normal person from Earth. A Skill removal like the one he sought could end up being something as simple as a more precise application of "Stripping". It was something to explore, in any case. It gave his mind something to work on. The problem was that he had nothing more than pure conjecture. He had never seen how it was done, nor did he find any literature on the topic. But he could make some guesses…

One of those nights he reserved for a wild harvest of energia, all of which he dumped into the chaotic Core of {Magia Touch}, and in doing so regained his ability to gain new Skills.

Along the way, many tiny potential problems that the future could hold floated around Tercius' head. He always took a little bit of time to make sure he remembered the ones that he could actually see happening.

*** *** ***

For the second time in the first month of the year 1324 of the New Pyramid Calendar or the 783 year of the Empire's Calendar, Trecius laid bare-chested on a table and prepared himself mentally for an open chest operation.

Mistress Prime'era put him to sleep with a spell and by the time he woke up, his Well was sealed again. There was no soreness on his bare chest, no pain, no physical discomfort at all. It was as if he was not cut open minutes earlier.

"There is some erosion to the old medium," Mistress Prime'era said as she peered into a greenish sludge that she had likely taken out of his chest. "But the enchantment that is inside of it… there should have been more erosion to its nature than this. Three weeks have gone by and it all looks as if barely one has passed. How… curious."

Her glacial blue eyes rose to him. "How… interesting."

Tercius put on a shirt and looked at Mistress Kalina. A frown had been on her face the entire afternoon. "So… Mentor. Am I finally up to your standards?"

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***