The Quantum Wanderer

The next day was what what one would expect in the invaded city in Elator. Most nobles had already evaded the city. The mayor was the last one that tried to run, and was caught by Skylar. He stayed. There is some speculation going around about that in the guild, saying that the nobles would accuse him of desertion if he had left before all the nobles were gone. He just wasn’t lucky.

There are a lot soldiers roaming the city, it is of course under martial law. Romuelan officials are dealing with the issues in the city, there is a lot of movement around the main manor. The military is starting to integrate some of the city’s forces in the constant movement around the city.

The city’s surrender helped a lot the invaders. They had a very protectable position.

Very few merchants risked placing their goods for sale in the city. The gates were kept shut, but they would open if someone wanted to get out of the city.

Some caravans were crossing the road that would lead to the city, but they would not turn to reach it. All of them were escorted by guild adventurers, bearing the ‘immunity banner’.

After taking a look at what happened in the morning, I decide to go to the guild, to hear what news had traveled. The guild, through the use of Comm Gems, was a very well informed island of information. A lot of it were rumors, repeated accounts of fourth or fifth person, but that is the quick information available. The well know voice greets me there.

“Lionheart!! How are you?”

As always, he was around a table, lots of people. I remembered a saying, ‘extroverts make friends, introverts are adopted by an extrovert, like a cat.’ Griffin points towards the board, that has a lot of pages with written news to one side, the quests are in the other. I start taking a look. Some of them inform that the city has fallen. Another one talks about the ‘immunity banner’, as it was now called. Some other information talked about precautions to be taken when traveling the area.

I get to the counter, and I grab a cup of ale. I come back to the table. I raise my cup. Griffin and a couple of other guys repeat the gesture. I sit on a chair. They are having a whole conversation whether this new guy is Wrax’s messenger. There is a rumor that he receives orders from crows. From crows!

I have some fun with that. The harder rumors about the corridor of earth magic, the way he fought the soldiers, and what happened didn’t arrive yet. This was not Comm Gem worth. The rest of the time in the guild was spent hearing the rumors. Some adventurers were discussing the impacts on war, on costs of escort missions and the like.

After a couple of hours, I go back home. I read some more of the history book, and I practice some magic like always.

The rest of the day go on calmly. The girls get home, we have dinner and get to bed.

BUM…

I wake up, still dazed because of the sleep. Shandon is holding her stomach, the other girls are waking up, looking at her and me. I open the portal, and carry Shandon on my arms. The girls and brâns follow us.

I remove the neutron crystals in Shandon and lay her down on the beach. The sun has just risen here. It is still behind some mountains, but the sky is already lit up.

BUM…

I feel the mana heart beat on my soul, just like one can hear base drum sound through the stomach. I open the portals to the ley lines, and I cast the sanctuary spell. We take some steps back, and she reverts to her natural shape. The nightgown she was wearing are made into some strips of cloth on the sand.

Muninn and Huginn use the chance and assume their normal shapes.

I add the spells to feed her as much mana as she is going to need. Now it is a waiting game. The same process takes place. I do some numbing magic, so that she feels little or no pain. The mana heartbeats still attract some dragons. They show less fear now, but they still keep a respectful distance. Specially because Ruby is in a protective position. It wasn’t needed, though.

Shandon starts morphing, enlarging. The ley lines’ mana being sucked into her, feeding the whole process. Her head transforming, she got a horn crown like Ruby, but her features stayed a little softer than her sister’s.

I open a portal, and grab our sheet again, and I arrange the sand again. The sun is now fully risen, it is around 10 o’clock. I lay down on the sheet, facing the water. The waves relax me. I end up dozing off.

I wake up a couple of hours later. The other girls are laying around me, looking at the waves. Shandon is aslept on the sand, close to us. The sun is going to rise shortly over Andrea. I move back, so that I can kind of sit up a little bit. The girls also sit up. Ruby’s stomach rumbles.

“My lord, when can we have our breakfast?”

“The normal time for that is one hour from now. I can open a portal for you. Do you mind going over and asking Roberta? Just please don’t wake them up necessarily. I can always get some kraken or dragon meat if you want. Most of it is with me, anyway.”

“A portal will do fine, my lord.”

I open a portal, and Ruby jumps through. Aquamarine, Cecilia and Opal are hugging me. Aquamarine turns to me.

“My lord, do you think my time is near?”

“I am not a specialist… I don’t know what exactly makes it faster or slower. I can say that you have the same initial symptoms, so… Soon?”

I kiss all three of them, and we keep looking at the waves. After some time, Ruby jumps out of the portal, with a tray with a lot steaks. She has a happy face on her. I notice she has some sauce in the corner of her lips.

We all have our breakfast on the beach. Shandon is in deep asleep. Muninn and Huginn are both closing and opening their paws, enjoying the sand. I turn to Muninn.

“Since everything is calm… Are there any developments on the war?”

“Oh, the Elatorian army arrived at the city… They encircled it… This is fun…”

“Why?”

“The commanders are having a lot of discussions. They don’t know the amount of force that they should use. Some argue that they have to show themselves, and wait for the gates to eventually come down. Some say that they should invade it normally. And then get remembered that the city is not an enemy, it is just a place with some enemies.”

I laugh a little bit. Muninn starts laughing. I turn to him.

“What now?”

“Oh, you are going to love this!”

She shares with me the point of view of some bird, that flies to the walls of the city, just out of reach of humans. He is looking down.

The soldiers on top of the wall are mostly Romuelans, but there are a couple of Elatorians in the mix. Those are a little divided, but their colleagues tell them that they are now Romuelans as well, and desertion is punishable.

A messenger gets close to the city walls.

“INVADERS! CALL UP YOUR CAPTAIN!”

I can see the soldiers running down the wall, to a protected place. They come back with the captain, some 20 minutes later. The messenger is adjusting his gear around him, clearly bored. He has a with cloth tied to his left arm. He checks the knot in the cloth.

“WHAT IS IT YOU WANT, MESSENGER? ARE YOU HERE TO DELIVER YOUR SURRENDER?”

“WE DEMAND A DOZEN CHALLENGE!”

The captain looks down.

“VERY WELL, WE ACCEPT! AT NOON, TOMORROW!”

The captain goes back to his protected space near the wall. Shortly after, several riders leave the position, on galloping at full speed on their horses.

I shake off the connection and turn to Cecilia.

“Cecs, what is a dozen challenge?”

“A dozen challenge? What context?”

“The war around the city in Elator.”

“Oh! That’s when two armies are too balanced, they don’t want a lot of blood shed. So they select a dozen soldiers or officers on each army, and they fight. The group that wins, wins the whole battle.”

“This is going to be fun!” I say.

“Yes!” Muninn agrees.

“What?”

“Elatorian army arrived at the city that the romuelans invaded and conquered. They proposed that challenge. Basically, if they can get Skylar to participate, they win. If they don’t, then it can go either way.”

She turns to the other dragonesses.

“Sisters, do you think he is going to participate?”

The girls keep thinking for a moment. Opal is the one to answer.

“If they can convince him, obviously. They just have to get a good spin on it. I would imagine that telling him about enlarging the hunting grounds would work. The thing you humans call honor… We don’t really care for it. It all depends on the person doing the talking.”

Ruby makes a disappointed sound. I arrange her coiled hair around her ear.

“What is it, love?”

“Those things don’t happen to me!”

I laughed.

“I told you that having too much power makes things boring.”

Ruby crossed her arms, pouting. I look Shandon.

“She is going to be your new sparring partner. I don’t think you two are going to be able to spar in the knight school, though.”

“Do you think there might be something out there worth fighting, my lord?”

“You mean something stronger? I have no idea. The strength you have is already something that should not exist. Just like mine. We are kind of phreaks. You can go to the elder’s caves, see if any elder would like to challenge you. Or would accept your challenge.”

Ruby smiles at the idea, and Muninn starts laughing. She stares at him and tilts her head.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. With your luck, you are going to end up in a challenge for all you are, you are going to win, and then get half a dozen new dragonesses for yourself… I can only imagine the confusion around the house… Father wouldn’t mind, though…”

Ruby smirks. I think she gave up on the idea. I smile, with a cheeky face. She hits me on the shoulder. It hurts. It really hurts. Muninn and I start laughing, while I massage my shoulder.

We keep talking about how their schools are going. I decide to talk to Cecilia.

“Cecs, I am thinking. It may be time you learned the railgun spell.”

“The what, now?”

“Just bear with me for a little. Have you ever seen those rocks that attract nails? Magnets?”

“Yes.”

I open a portal as big as my hand, and I reach for my bag of nails.

“Come here, sit between my legs. Feel the mana I am going to shape.”

I use mana to create a magnetic wave, in a very low frequency. She is looking at me, paying attention. I remember that I can just ask Muninn to teach her.

“Actually, if Muninn doesn’t mind, he can transfer the knowledge to you. Would you prefer that or do you want to learn it old school?”

Cecilia holds her chin.

“What is the downside of having him transfer the knowledge?”

Muninn is the one to answer.

“You are not going to be able to teach anyone else to do this. You are going to know how to do it, but it will be a lot more instinctive than conscious. You are not going to go through the hard phases, so you are not going to be able to tell what other people have to go through to learn it.”

Cecilia thinks more about her options. After some time, she turns to Muninn.

“Can you please do it, then?”

“Sure, auntie…”

Muninn stands up, shaking sand off. Of course, a lot of it fall on top of us. We complain, he apologizes. With that smile that makes me feel like the apology is not all that sincere.

He lowers his head, and touches Cecilia’s head. They stay like that for a while. Then he steps back, and Cecilia is now sleeping soundly.

“I am amazed with her new mind resistances, father. I don’t have to be as careful as I was with that demon soldier.”

“I think she will appreciate that. Thank you.”

“Of course, father.”

Muninn gets close to Huginn and stand coops up on the sand. The sun is already setting by this time. Shandon starts moving around. Her stomach growls. Ruby jumps in through the portal. I come close to Shandon. She gets her nozzle close to me. I pet it a little bit.

“How are you feeling?”

“I feel a little sore, my lord. Other than that, I feel great. The world feels lighter around me. The colors feel a tad weird, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“The colors are different. I don’t know how to explain. Some things feel less solid somehow. The colors are different from what they were. It’s like I can pick which set of colors I want to see. If I pick the right colors, I can see the stars, even now during the day. With a different set of colors, I can see way more stars than normal. It’s a little weird.”

“Ok, that is easy to understand. You are seeing unusual light frequencies. I am going to explain it in a quick way. Light can be described as wave. Do you see the waves in the sea? I can count how many waves happen in a minute, and that average gives me the frequency. Light also has a frequency, that is way higher, it moves back and forth billions of times in a second.

“Our eyes are prepared to see a specific range of frequencies. Your eyes are probably seeing more frequencies than it used to.”

She smiles at me, and in her dragon shape, it looks weird. She gets her nose close to me. I pet it. She takes her head back.

“Do you happen to know everything?”

I laugh at the thought.

“Not even close. And this is common knowledge in the place I come from. There are a lot of other interesting things that happen with light. The interference fringe is an example of something funny that happens.”

“What is an interference fringe?”

“When you shine the exact same light from two different spots, they don’t just reinforce the light. You get strips of light and dark.”

“Are you sure? This is the first time I hear about something like that. And I am way older than you, my lord.”

“Yes, I am sure. That is something that I can show you later.”

At this point, Ruby jumps out of the portal that remained open, with a tray with some steaks on it. Shandon starts salivating. Ruby places the tray in front of her. Shandon starts eating.

“There, sister.” Ruby says. Ruby is a lot more observant and dedicated than normal, I can’t help but think that there just might be some ulterior motives underneath.

We watch as Shandon eat. Ruby approaches her side, far away from the silver tray, and starts examining the scales and the new muscles in Shandon. Shandon’s new size is about as big as Ruby’s in her dragon form. The scales let out a rainbow reflection from the sun. It looks like each scale breaks the light down.

Next, Ruby starts looking at the claws. The claws are drawing holes in the sand, they are apparently as sharp as Ruby’s. Ruby circles around and starts inspecting the tale. Ruby has a smile on her face. She is apparently happy with something.

I look at her. I look at Muninn. I can’t help but getting chills when either of them get too happy.

At some point, Shandon finishes the plate. In the meantime, Cecilia starts to wake up from her learning sleep. She stands up and stretches, while yawning.

Cecilia looks at Shandon, inspecting the changes. The bigger size, the horn crown, the claws.

“Hello, sister. Congratulations!”

“Thank you.”

Ruby comes closer to us.

“A spar?”

Shandon looks at her sister, and assumes her human form. Naked, obviously. She holds her breasts, that swing with her hands.

“Let’s get some appropriate clothing, then we may.”

Ruby grabs her hand and pulls her through the portal. The other girls follow them. Once they enter the portal, Troggar comes closer.

“Are they going to have a friendly spar, my lord? Would I be allowed to watch?”

“Sure. Just keep your distance because things can get dangerous otherwise. We are going to the central part of the desert once they are dresses appropriately. They are going to come back, they we are going to go there through a portal.”

“Thank you for the honor, my lord.”

“How are things?”

“Changes are not common, my lord. You have been the catalyst for most of them. The new peace, since we are all under the same councilor. The soul eater imposing order. Other than that, our lives are normal, slow and fulfilling.”

“Good to know.”

“Talking about changes, my lord, what happened to your mates?”

“Oh, they evolved.”

“What do you mean?”

“They evolved. Ruby is strong now. I am guessing that Shandon must be as strong as her.”

“How strong?”

“Well, you are going to see. You could ask Ruby to spar with her, she would enjoy it, but I don’t know if she can hold back enough.”

“What, my lord?”

I open a portal to my holding bag, I pull it out. It contains the two cities’ worth of treasures. I take a look at it, and I find what I am looking for. I pick the enchanted adamantite shield out and lay it on the ground. Troggar has lowered his head, paying attention. I take a couple of steps back.

“Try scratching this. You can try to scratch or bite into it. Be careful, though, it may be stronger than your teeth, you may break them if you use too much strength. It might feel like biting something way stronger than a rock.”

Troggar approaches the shield. He tries to scratch at first. It doesn’t work. He applies more strength. He keeps trying, increasing the strength he is using. The claw slips and bites into the sand around. He puts more strength, the shield sinks in the sand. He forces some more, and a tip of the claw breaks. He holds it with his other front paw, gets it close to his face and takes a look at the shield. Nothing.

He puts the shield in his mouth, and tries to bite it. He uses some caution, and stops at some point. He holds the shield, and takes a long look at it. He lowers himself and gives me the shield back.

“This is definitely stronger than a scale, my lord. Much stronger, in fact. What is the material?”

“It is something called enchanted adamantite. There is one race of humanoids that are able to work with it.” I put the shield back in the bag, and I pull out my breast plate. I show it to him.

“This breast plate was made from same material. Ruby scratched it during the friendly spar.”

Troggar lowers his head so he can take a close look at the breast plate. He sighs.

“Definitely a first, my lord.”

I put the breast plate back. We stay in silence, I keep imagining what the spar is going to look like. We didn’t even test Shandon’s breath. I wonder if it is the same as Ruby’s.

The girls step out of the portal, dressed in their armors. All of them, not just Shandon and Ruby.

“Hi, my lord. Can we go?” Ruby asks.

“Sure. Do you mind if Troggar watches the match?”

“I don’t mind.” Ruby answers.

“Me neither.” Shandon complements.

I open the portal, big enough for Troggar to go through as well. We get out in the middle of the desert, nothing to see for several hundreds of miles. Safe enough.

The two evolved dragonesses are looking at each other, Ruby is hopping around, she is really excited. Shandon is calmer, but she is also excited with the situation.

“Girls, some rules first. No breath, no teeth and no claws.  We don’t know if you can resist a breath from each other. We want to go slow on the other stuff as well. We don’t know how deep your claws would get, or how much damage your teeth would generate. First sign of blood, stop. Above all, remember that this is a friendly spar. BETWEEN SISTERS! Ok?”

Both of them nod. I continue.

“Let us get to a safe distance, I will signal the start of the match.”

The other girls, Huginn, Muninn, Troggar and I get to a safer distance. Several tens of miles from the point. With the vision enhancement we all have, it is not that hard to see them.

The two girls are about a quarter of a mile apart. I look at Ruby, she is hopping around. I look at Shandon, and… I have a weird feeling about this. I look again, and the sensation I have is akin to looking at my hands through a vr helmet, but the image puts my hands in the wrong place. It feels wrong somehow.

I take a peek Shandon’s feet. There are no footprints.

I enhance my vision and brain, a lot. I want to see how the fight develops. I raise my hand and then lower it, signaling the start of the match.

Ruby flies like a missile towards Shandon. She breaks the sound barrier several times. When she tries to hit Shandon, she gets perplexed to hit only the air. Then she gets kicked in the stomach, really hard. Sound is flowing slowly, with this amount of brain enhancement, it is going to take sometime for the sound to get to us. But I can see the disturbance that it caused in the air.

Ruby is flying up, but she stops mid-air, and comes back down. This time she targets the footprints on the sand, to the left of Shandon’s position. The image that was there disappears, and as Shandon start focusing on the fight, she appears again, on top of the footprints.

The two girls start exchanging punches. Ruby is a little faster, but Shandon is better with techniques. They are actually balanced. But they start to get angry. Some hits start to happen with open hands. Scratched bracers. Scratched breast plate. This is starting to escalate.

I fly over, at maximum speed. Shandon hits a kick. I arrive in time to hold Ruby’s hand, her fingers bent in 90 degrees, nails out, three inches away from Shandon’s face. Shandon’s right hand is in shape of a knife, nails forward, moving towards Ruby’s lower stomach.

“ENOUGH!”

Shandon looks at Ruby’s hand that I am holding by her wrist. She realizes what was going to happen. I may be worried over something insignificant, but I would rather not risk it. Time comes back to normal, I let their hands go.

“Like I said before, girls. Let’s do some tests before we ease into something wild, ok?”

They both straighten up.

“What would you do if this killed your sister?”

Shandon is looking down. Ruby is looking at me.

“Eat her?”

I put my hands around her cheek. I am sad with her response. She stops moving immediately, and focus on me.

“Ruby, do you still not understand that I love you girls? Do you still not understand how each one of you contribute to our family? If one of you died, a piece of me would die with you.”

…

…

“I am sorry. Things got out of hand.”

“It’s ok.”

I hug both of them.

I look at the girls that are still far away, and Troggar, that is by their side. Troggar bows, and starts flying towards home. The three of us come closer to Cecilia, Opal, Aquamarine and the brâns. It is night already.

We get down. Ruby turns to Shandon.

“Sister, what is your breath like, now?”

I point up, and Shandon aims in the air before shooting. Nothing. We all look at each other. Ruby gets in front of Shandon, and opens her mouth with her index finger.

“Is it broken?”

“I don’t know.” Shandon answers.

“Shoot against the top of that sand dune, Shandon.”

She shoots her breath, and the light that hits the sand dune makes the area around brighter than the day. As if the sun was out. And then everything goes dark. Everyone except Shandon is crying out. The brâns, the other dragonesses, even Ruby. Cecilia is the one to complain first.

“WHAT THE FUCKETTY WAS THIS SHIT?!?”

“I’MSORRYI’MSORRYI’MSORRY…” Shandon keeps repeating.

“This should get better in some time. After that, we can try to understand what is going on. I think I have a clue.” I say, to get everyone calmer.

I throw mana into my regeneration, and I can feel my optical nerve getting restored. After some minutes, the images start to appear, first blurry, then unfocused, then they all take shape. Shandon jumps into a hug with me.

I help the regeneration of the girls, starting with Cecilia. Then Ruby, Opal and Aquamarine. The brâns are moving normally, as if they were not affected by it. I get close to Muninn, but his eyes are milky as well. I look up, there are a couple of birds that are flying above us. I heal him, then Huginn.

“Is everyone alright?”

The whole family nods. I open a portal home. We have some dinner and retire for the day.