Chapter 1432 (Patreon)

“Mom, do you think you can take a break from your current project? Lia and I need a bit of help,” Luna asked me one day, about a month after Lia and I had accidentally created a new type of vampire. Said vampire was, incidentally, a completely feral monster, worse than any rabid animal. While I didn’t invest enough time to get a full read on its habits and abilities, I had observed enough to watch it kill animals for sport, had seen it torture and stalk for pleasure, alongside a few other, rather unpleasant things. More than once, I had considered putting a permanent stop to the creature and burying it, as would be right and proper, but, so far, I hadn’t done so. At least not yet.

“Certainly,” I immediately agreed, glancing across the table at Lia, who looked quite pleased. Part of my instant agreement was because I wanted to help my daughters be the best versions of themselves they could be. Another reason was that a break might be just what I needed to reset my mind, as the last month had been filled with experiment after experiment, failure after failure and small, gradual improvement after gradual improvement. I might be getting somewhere, but part of me wondered if I was only making small gains on a path ultimately doomed to fail. Or that I might need to fundamentally change my approach, the materials involved or some other primary aspect of my work to remove some of the issues plaguing my work.

“What do you have in mind? What do you need?” I asked, my gaze shifting from one daughter to the other, then back. 

“Well, it’s great that you come visit at least once a week for our weekend family dinner, but we’d both like to learn how to travel properly,” Lia replied. “Luna already communed with Lady Hecate, though the Lady apparently told her that it would be wise to have someone who knows how the process works, and I have worked on my perception of the shadows, so I think I’d be able to take the next step. But as with Luna, I’d like you with me, just in case something goes wrong.” 

“And I agree with the sentiment.” I nodded as soon as my daughter finished explaining. Hel, I was nodding while she was explaining, as having somebody with you while experimenting was always a good idea, especially if the experiments were on your own body and had the potential to go horribly wrong in all sorts of ways.

“Before we even get to experimenting, Luna, do you think you could explain, maybe even show me how Lady Hecate’s spell is supposed to work? Or, if you don’t know and only got the simplified version, I’d prefer to speak to her myself. Just in case, you know?” I tried to make it clear that my worries weren’t aspersions against her arcane abilities, but because teleporting through the shadows was always hazardous, at least until you got good at it. I wasn’t sure if Lady Hecate’s version would be completely safe, and, if I was being honest with myself, I didn’t think it would be. Lady Hecate wanted to grant the option if necessary, but unless I'd completely misjudged the deity, she didn’t want to hand it out willy-nilly. Instead, she would likely want her worshippers to learn to teleport themselves, or to perfect what she gave them. Always pushing her followers, always making them strive and improve.

“She might even prefer that,” Luna nodded after a moment of contemplation. “I mean, I did my best to wrap my head around the theory she tried to teach me, but it’s a bit difficult to get the theoretical framework if you have none of the right affinities. It’s just… complicated,” she admitted, looking mightily embarrassed.

“Understandable,” I agreed, remembering the times she had been rambling about her Life Magic, leaving me with a slow but ever-growing headache, and that was despite my affinity for Blood Magic, which could be considered a subdomain of Life. Though, also a subdomain of the Soul, and maybe a few other disciplines as well. Because Blood is the fundamental link between the physical body and magic, it straddles a whole host of conceptual boundaries. 

“Lia, I know you already travelled through the shadows, but please look the runic anchors over again, just so you have something to do while I go talk with Lady Hecate. That’s okay for you?” I asked. “Though, why don’t we step down into the shrine together? You can lead the way; I’ll follow, just to make sure you have that part of the process down. I don’t think any of the wards here should give you any trouble,” I suggested, realising that it might buoy Lia’s mood a little. 

The expression on her face made me think that I had made the right call; she was positively beaming. I almost felt bad having to stop her, as Lia and I hadn't finished our meal yet. It would be a little disrespectful to the animals that had died to provide meat for our table to just discard their flesh, and I didn’t think the people of Maggie’s community would be happy to hear we wasted the food they worked hard to grow. Sure, we paid them with goods or services, but that wouldn’t make the annoyance disappear. Assuage it a little, maybe, but it wouldn’t just go away.

Luckily, or maybe by design, Luna asked her initial question near the end of our shared meal, so Lia didn’t have to wait long. Then we only had to deal with the dishes, clean everything up, and finally I could watch as Lia stepped into the shadows. She was almost giddy with excitement, and I could somewhat understand her; this was a major milestone. So far, she had only stepped through the shadows in line of sight, mostly moving from a shadow she was in to one she could see. This was a move from a shadow she was in to one she only knew about. Sure, she knew the shrine well, and some dark corners were always in the shadow; I had designed them that way, but that didn’t change the challenge. 

She disappeared ahead of me, and I followed, keeping my spiritual senses locked onto her. It wasn’t easy; following anyone through the shadows was nigh impossible, but because we started at roughly the same place, I knew where we were going, knew the physical path between our origin and destination incredibly well, and I knew Lia well; someone with my affinity could manage. But any change to these parameters would make things much harder, to the point that I didn’t think I could follow Lia to an unfamiliar spot. Or through unfamiliar terrain, which made me realise I had to be creative when working with her later. Maybe have them pull me along, or create some sort of tether that allowed me to stick to them and follow along, no matter where they end up. Something to consider, but later.

Our journey through the shadows took mere seconds, longer than usual because the tower was so saturated with magic that the shadows felt unusually permanent here. Or maybe the tower's fixed structure, imbued with my magic, and the shadows within it, also often imbued with my magic, had developed some sort of sympathetic link; I wasn’t sure. Another thing I should study, but this might make the tower's interior the best place to train this skill, since my magic would instinctively work to protect my daughters. Somewhat like putting down a cushion before doing acrobatic exercise.

When she stepped back out of the shadows without any issues, I couldn’t help but smile as I stepped out on the other side of the alcove. Not too close, not too far away, perfectly placed to take two steps and wrap my arms around my daughter in congratulation. This hadn’t been the longest step, but it was a crucial one: going from travelling to a shadow she could see to one she only knew about. 

“Well done,” I complimented her, and she smiled proudly before ducking her head a little when I petted her hair. 

“Now, I’ll have to converse with Lady Hecate. You know where the public anchor is, and if you are interested, you can go upstairs and take a look at my private anchors, so you can see the differences,” I told her as I walked towards the centre of the shrine.

“Only you, Mom…” Lia chuckled softly as she turned towards one of the alcoves, and for a moment, I wondered what she meant. But it wasn’t too important right now, so I let it go. 

Kneeling in the centre of the shrine, I reached out with my mind, touched the divine power saturating the air down here, and followed it to its source. Well, not quite to the source, but to the boundary of Lady Hecate’s domain, where I knocked and waited for a moment before she granted me entry. Amusingly, this was becoming routine.

“Jade, so good to see you. I’ve been expecting you,” Lady Hecate greeted me, a table appearing between us, already set with cups and a steaming pot of tea. Now, I really couldn’t help but smile.