LesbeanAda
Mia
The barrier crumbles as Mia’s fractal magially takes hold, having taken lohan a barrier of this size would usually take, though even then, it hadn’t been more than an hour.
As it es down, it reveals a small hill with a tree on it, a grave restih it. The stark ck of a magical presehat natural treasures usually exude, and which would usually be the source of a barrier like this in the middle of nowhere, is quite a surprise for Mia. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t pce what. That is, until her eyes finally fall onto a creature, sitting in the middle of the grass in front of her, staring up at her.
The prese exudes is odd, almost ent. Even less mana leaks from it than from an old world rabbit. Even ambush predators like the shade leopards, which this creature does resemble in some ways, leak more mana uhey are actively hiding. This creature, however, was not making any attempt to do that. Instead it just sits there, looking up at her with its big eyes, a frankly massive tail swaying in the air behind it.
Upon closer scrutiny, there are a few humanoid features to the creature, though they are mostly subsumed by the more animalistic parts. The skin is covered in some form of scales. It’s an odd sight to Mia, not one she had seen before, almost like a mix between some kind of lizard, human and cat. Finally she meets its eyes. It doesn’t shy away, and there is a clear curiosity in its eyes, more so than most beasts have, though while intelligent and even sapient animals arely unon anymore, they do tend to have a very domineering preseo them.
“Hey there, little one.” Mia starts to speak in the on tongue. If the creature is intelligent, it should be able to uahe magiate to the nguage allows almost ao speak and uand it, given enough long term exposure to the ambient mana.
In reply however, the creature sitting in front of her just tilts its head, small red streaks passing across its scales as something squirms beh. The squirming stops after a sed, and the creature finally replies. “Hello, I don’t think I uand you.” It does not speak in the on tohe words iake her a few moments tnize. English, albeit ohat has some peculiarity to its pronunciation, as if the mouth that forms the words is not made for them. She hadn’t spoken English in well over two turies, whe of the people from her hometown died in battle, not long after the genesis.
It takes Mia a mio figure out a reply. “I uand you. You speak English?” She takes a step closer and squats down, to get on the same eye level as the creature in front of her. “I’m Mia, and you?”
The creature tilts its head again, sidering her words, another flicker of coes across its skin before it replies. “Ada, I’m…” Ada hesitates for a moment before tinuing. “new here, just arrived, so to say.” Ada clearly doesn’t trust Mia, she cludes, though it isn’t surprising, they did just meet.
Mia nods and reaches out a hand, palm fag up, for Ada to familiarize itself with her. “Where are you from? I’m from the kingdom's outpost up in the mountains.”
Ada siders the outstretched hand for a few moments before taking a step closer, looking at it more closely and giving it a little sniff. “Yic smells funny. It also looked funny when you used it, at least this one doesn’t give me a migraine.” Ada grimaces a little and reaches its front paw, or hand? Mia isn’t quite sure, towards its throat. “Sorry, words are harder in this body than I thought. I’m from a small town that’s around here, it’s…” Ada motions towards the north-east. ”well, was over there? I guess it’s gone now? Just how much has ged?”
It takes Mia a little bit to process what Ada had told her. It, or she? There was a slight femiilt to Ada’s speech, but nothing quite distinct, probably due to the difficulties speaking. Ada had been a human before, probably. And wherever they are now, would’ve been close to where she had lived before, not that that quite mattered with the genesis ging the geography to su extreme extent.
“Well, Ada, have you been here long? The barrier I broke seemed quite sturdy, and I don’t think you were the oo cast it.” Mia slightly ines her head upwards to where the barrier had been, her eyes still staying on Ada’s as she observes her.
Ada tilts her head before shrugging her shoulders a little. “I don’t know, I woke up a little while ago o my wife's grave.” Her tail points towards a gravestone Mia had missed before. “And well, I was ged! And there’s magiow! You probably know that already though.” Her eyes move towards Mia’s halo for a sed before returning to her eyes, the movement elicits a slight bit of surprise from Mia. Most people never noticed it unless she was actively using magic. “You used some after all. Not sure I should eveelling you this.” Ada rights her head as a few lines of color flow across her skin.
Mia patiently listens as Ada talks, sidering her words for a moment before speaking again. “So, you were human before? Wouldn’t be the only ohat ged.” She points towards her horns. “Though I’ve not seen many with ges quite this extreme, not involuntarily at least. Most end up with some slightly differeures, like mine. Magi do more if directed to do so.”
“So, you ged your eyes to have that same magi them? Wait, no, the exact meics aren’t really relevant right now. I am… a bit lost. The barrier, I think it was meant to protect me, though I am not sure who or ced it.” Ada hops up from the ground, nding on all fours as she heads up the hill, her tail splitting in two and motioning for Mia to follow her. Though, she stops for a sed at that motion, looking back towards the split tail with a curious expression, the curiosity intensifying as lines flow across her skin. There seems to be a differing pattern to them every time they show up. There’s a quiet “huh” from Ada before she tinues leading them up the hill.
She stops o a gravestohat looks much less weathered than anything should be in this area; storms were retively frequent here. “This is Anya’s.” Ada’s voice has a clear note of hurt to it, though she looks back towards Mia after just a moment, her tails merging back together. “I… know I shouldn’t, and probably ’t stay here. I taste the magic ging already from when the barrier was there.” Her eyes turn to the tree hem. “I think the tree had to do with it, you came here looking for something, no?”
Mia had e looking for natural treasures, but if the tree was it, then it wouldn’t do much good. The closer they had gotten, the more clear it became that it was almost entirely drained of its power. It’d take another tury to recover at least. So, instead, she just shakes her head. “I did, but there’s nothing here for me, not anymore. You e with me, you are right that you ’t stay here, you probably won’t st long this far out into the frontiers.”
There’s a slightly dejected look on her face, apanied by yet another pattern of lines, before she gives a sharp nod. “I’ll e back eventually. She always wanted me to live to the best of my ability, regardless of what others think or say. Staying here would defy that. You said you’re from a kingdom? In the mountains? What is it like? And… how long has it been?” Mia chuckles slightly as she starts leading them down the hill again.
“A few turies, it’s hard to keep track of the exact time, especially with all the chaos iermath of the genesis… and well, as we grow older our perception does also ge quite drastically, it starts to bee a bit of a blur eventually.” She shrugs a little as her fractal magic starts flowing from her halo. “The kingdom is… not great. Has never been. But it’s the stro power this side of the great wastes. There’s not much choie sadly. Try not to get tangled up in the mess once we get there, you don’t have enough power for ao really care.”
The magic stops flowing as it mas in the air around her, solidifying and shifting her body into her preferred form, one mostly made up of magic as her wings stretch high into the sky, and a roar, both high and low pierces through the air, shattering its physical bounds as the magi it tears apart any obstru. Her little panion takes it all a little too well, most people are afraid when they see her drai, the blue luster of her scales proudly dispyed. Ada though, seems mostly ued, the roar flowing around Ada as it reaches her, her eyes fixate on Mia’s form a momehough the strain is clearly showing, it doesn’t seem tinate in fear, more in the plexity of Mia’s magid in appreciation of her form.
Ada
I am still processing my new friend's words whearts leaking magic all over the pce, the same kind of migraine indug magic as before, but this time it’s more manageable. Either I’ve gotten more used to it, or there is a differeo how it works. Some of it es close to my body and I get a closer feeling for it. It’s not warm like the tree, but rather a diy betwee and cold, switg betwee a rapid pace. Pulling a little at it, my body happily absorbs it, just like the ambient magic. As it courses through me it quickly is subsumed by the rest of the magic, making me wonder how it would feel like to someone else.
My thoughts are interrupted when Mia lets out a roar, the sound just as tradictory as the magic it is suffused in, and as it washes over me I focus on abs some of it. It resists the attempt, only allowio eat a tiny wisp. The vast majority of it flows arouhough, leaving me unharmed. I look towards Mia. The body she now has causes me a slight bit of disfort, though it is also beautiful. Her scales are the same blue as the ohat had surrounded her eyes, and her wings are almost translut, the membrane is covered in a myriad of tiny patterns, most likely from her magiiffing the air, I tell that her body has an overwhelming smell of magic, but there is still that same smell as when I smelled her hand, the smell of her body. I am not sure where the magic starts and where her body ends, but I tell that this is her, just like her humanoid form is.
As I slowly start pag closer towards her, Mia es her long neck around. She is, overall, rather slim, though not so slim as to be a serpent. “Get on my back, little one, I’ll carry you.” Her voice is deep and the earth rumbles as she speaks. A thump makes me look towards her tail as she pces it on the ground to form a ramp. I hop onto it and climb onto her back, my movements quid sure, the extra bance my tail provides ing in quite handy.
Settling on her back, I raise my voice slightly so she hear me well. “You said several turies passed. I… have been asleep since magic came back. I am, admittedly, a bit lost.” The words are still rather difficult to speak. While they are familiar, my tongue and mouth are not, straining them in the process.
Mia lets out a small rumble in aowledgement as she spreads her wings, and I feel the air press down as she beats them, lifting into the air far quicker than someone of her size has any right to. I mutter a silent goodbye to Anya as Mia starts to gain more height. She replies to me iween the beat of her wings. “I wasn’t sure whether that was the case, but thank you for firming. When magic came back, that day is called the genesis now. It’s been a long time, and society, or at least, the few surviving dregs of it, adjusted long ago and things have ged. A lot of people don’t even remember the before, most because they were born after, some for other reasons. You’ll have a lot of adjusting to do.” Mia accelerates and the grouh us turns into a blur as she rushes us higher into the sky and across the pins.
When Mia finally evens out into a steady flight, I appreciate the surroundings of us. The sun is slowly cresting the horizon far in the distance, illuminating a wide river crossing through the grassy pins. Ohing I hough, is that the entire pins do not seem to have a siree growing on them, except the willow at the grave. That is, until far in the distaowards the west, a massive forest starts sprouting out of the ground. I am not quite certaio the distance, but it looks like it reaches all the way to the horizon in the south, and the mountains we are flying towards in the north. The mountains in the north seem to be the tail end of a mountain range, reag all the way into the clouds and beyond. I assume that is where the outpost Mia had talked about previously is located.
“This is amazing, Mia, do you often fly like this?” I feel giddy and want to start prang around on her back, but I stop myself, unsure of whether I keep my bah the strong winds buffeting us.
Mia’s voice is still a rumble, even more intensified by the direct tact with her. It feels soothing in a way. “Whenever I , there’s nothier than being able to fly.” A small giggle escapes me at the etion in her words, a giggle that turns into a surprised yelp as she banks to the side, spiraling downwards before steadying out again. Her body rumbles again in what I think is ughter.
“That was mean!” I grumble a little before speaking again. “You said others have ged in appearaoo? Is it on? I feel… right, so I don’t mind it, but it was a bit of a surprise! And it does take some getting used to!”
It takes a few long moments until Mia replies to me, her voice siderate and slow. “Yes, most people have ged, in fact. Though usually it is rather involuntary, and more often than not it is a ge that is ambivalent at best. Very few people have ged in a way that feels right to them. The magic responsible for it usually is wild, and covers entire areas, ging people to its own whims. It is rare that the magic is so personal and, I suspect, malleable, as it was in your case.” She raises us higher into the sky, breag the clouds and c us in water vapor as she does so. Water vapor that curiously just flows off of me, barely any of the drops stig to my new skin. A smile splits my face, revealing my teeth again, as the reality of my new body sets in.
“That’s sad, I think I really like my new body. I hadn’t felt any ge be this right in many years. Though not that many for your perspective.” I giggle a little at that. “Do people generally sider themselves still human? You seem quite… draiot that that’s a bad thing! You’re beautiful!” Heat rises into my cheeks as I realize what I said, though my worries are quickly dissipated as I feel anh rumble through her.
“Beautiful indeed! It took a lot of effort to be able to transform like this, but as you said, it does feel right! I am gd your transformation wasn’t one of the less savory ones.” She banks slightly, turning towards a specific mountain peak. We aren’t far now, having passed much more distahan I thought.
We tio fly for another few minutes before Mia starts slowing dowually ing to a halt in midair, about a hundred meters away from the mountain. I feel her inhale beh me, clearly takiime so I prepare myself for what is to e. Quickly I hunker down on her bad y eyes, and just a moment ter, she releases another roar, this time it feels slightly different, and when the energy finishes passing over me, I crack open my eyes again.
In front of us, the mountain ges. A rge, busy nding ptform is revealed, cut into the side of the mountain. On top of it are several things which look a lot like pnes and airships, though they don’t seem very aerodynamic, more like what one would find in a fantasy book.
Mia tinues her approach after a spot is cleared for her to nd, the people around the ptfiving her a wide berth and not b us much, aside from a few curious gnces. After toug down, Mia lowers her tail to the ground, signalio get down from her back. I quickly follow her wishes and walk up to her snout. Looking up into it I see a hint of amusement in her pupils before I feel the magic that is partially making up her body start to retreat. It still feels odd to me, and the magi my body seems to react to it in a strange manner, almost like it wants to leap out and ge the magic Mia is using. I wrestle it down, though it is something to sider and ask about ter.
After turning bato her humanoid figure, her decy during the ge protected by a gust of mist that engulfs both of us, she motions for me to follow her. She’s oddly quiet for the moment, but I follow her regardless. The expression on her face seems a little strained everytime she looks around us.
It doesn’t take long before we reach a quiet er, away from the other people, and Mia finally starts talking again. “I’m sorry little o, I have something to take care of, report bad all that. I don’t really want to leave you alone here, but you ’t e along if we want to keep you safe for now.” Her expression is clearly torn, so I bring forward a tail, gently brushing it along her cheek.
“It’s okay. I uand.” My as elicit a small smile from her and she kneels down, brushing a hand against my cheek, which I ’t help but lean into, the warmth of the gesture making me feel a little bit safer. I see the patterns cross ay tail again, probably my entire body. They’re involuntary and ever since I first saw them I’ve been trying to find what is causing them.
Mia’s eyes follow the patterns as well, and she smiles at them. “Happy?” She chuckles slightly. “Since I ’t take you with me, we’ll have to meet up again ter. Not here though, there’s an inn iy, the Shadow Hare. Meet me there in two hours, when the clock strikes twelve, okay?” I nod in agreement as she gives me dires to find the inn, knowing that if I try to speak my words will fail me, heat having risen into my cheeks, my entire skin actually, when she asked whether I am happy. I was. Sort of. And the patterns on my skirayed that fact to her!
She chuckles again slightly as I don’t respond with words, but eventually gets up on her feet again. “Alright, I’ll see you ter. Stay out of trouble if you .” She waves goodbye as she walks away, and I return the gesture with my hand-paws.
Once she leaves my sight, I look around myself. The er we had been in was rather well hidden from sight, so no one was b me quite yet, but there were some crates around, so they would eventually e here. I decide not to try my luck with being found alo the equivalent to an airport, and start making my way into the mountain itself. There's a gate, but the guards only seem to care about who is leaving the mountain, not who is entering, so I am let through without issue and into a tunnel leading deeper into the mountain. It’s time to go on an adventure!
LesbeanAda
