Chapter 1436 (Patreon)

It took me about an hour and a few more trips through Lady Hecate’s realm to declare Luna a competent teleporter. Her method, or rather, Lady Hecate’s method, was a lot safer than what Lia and I used, but it came with numerous limitations, especially when it came to targeting. Mostly because Lady Hecate had, amusingly, not added all the anchors I had created to her list of available targets. This made me idly wonder if she was planning to, or if she’d only add anchors with something interesting to her list, possibly using the rest as a grid system to allow targeting beyond those anchors. I was fairly confident I’d be able to accomplish something similar, and I was similarly confident that Lady Hecate could do the same. Or, in the incredibly unlikely scenario that she could not, she had undoubtedly some nifty magic trick she’d trade me for it.

Luna and I even tested some of the other features Lady Hecate had come up with, not that I thought we would regularly use them. One of her ideas was to make an even more restricted teleportation spell, only allowing teleportation from one of her shrines to another. The advantage of that version was that it took only a smidgen of power, to the point that Luna was fairly confident anyone with knowledge of Lady Hecate, and thus access to any of her power, would be able to use it. If the Lady allowed it, that is. But purely from a power and level standpoint, anyone could power that spell, making it rather useful for the lower end of people. Or, if Lady Hecate was so inclined, to make it available for abused children or something similar, allowing anyone with enough faith in Lady Hecate to escape their torment. 

When that idea came to me, I wondered if I could reverse-engineer enough of that spell to make it available to anyone praying to the Mother and asking to be rescued. I didn’t think I could do it just yet, but I made a mental note to consider the issue and work on it, if I ever had too much time on my hands and nothing better to do. Unlikely, given the extensive list of things I wanted to accomplish, but miracles were possible, so…

Regardless, once Luna was declared a competent teleporter, I sadly had to break her stride. 

“Do you have the dragon’s den, or a similar name, on that list of yours? Should be close to Jademoon Tower, a little to the east. It’s where I discovered a bunch of small, flying dragons, or at least creatures that looked like them,” I asked Luna, the question making her frown. 

“No, there’s no such place on my list,” she admitted, looking disappointed. 

“Well, I guess that means I have to take you,” I told her, ignoring the pout she immediately sported. 

“And here I hoped I was done with that,” she grumbled, “But at least I’ll be able to go from tower to tower without your help, and generally visit a few places. Maybe Lady Hecate will even add some places where you’ve never been; then I can take you.” 

“I think the Lady would need someone to place the correct anchor. I’m not sure that just anyone can do so; that thing is quite complex, but she might be able to have a mortal cast a spell that does nothing but carve the anchor,” I frowned, wondering if that much precision in a spell was possible without direct guidance. I didn’t think so, but I was curious if there might be a way. Something to ask Lady Hecate at some point. 

“Plus, we already tried to have you take someone; it’s..:” I paused for a moment, trying to find the right word. Or words, because I immediately thought of several, from disconcerting to confusing, with a bit of weird and disorienting thrown in for good measure. But, at the same time, the experience wasn’t purely unpleasant; even the brief contact with Lady Hecate’s realm was strangely comforting, giving me a somewhat familiar and certainly welcoming sensation as we brushed up against it. 

“Regardless,” I shook my head, never finishing my previous sentence. “Let’s get going. Lia wanted to visit and study the small dragons; maybe you’ll find it interesting, too.”

With that, I took Luna’s hand, and after making sure she was ready, we both disappeared into the shadows. 

We emerged a lot further south, and a little to the east, of our previous position, with Luna stumbling for just a moment. 

“Yeah, Lady Hecate’s way is much better,” she complained quietly. “Or maybe it’s better to be in control; this is, and always will be, a weird way to travel.” 

“To each their own,” I shrugged. “I’m just happy that I can travel across continental distances with ease; just think of our first trip north, to the Nexus Tower. And now, imagine making that trip every time we want to go from the Nexus Tower to Jademoon, or anywhere, really.” I paused for a moment, letting my words sink in. Then, I continued, somewhat amused by the expression on Luna’s face. 

“Just think how small the world is for most people. I doubt that anyone in Maggie’s community has been further than maybe a hundred kilometres or so from their community since the Change happened. You, my dear, might be among the people who have travelled the furthest since then.”

By the time I was done with my little speech, Luna looked a lot more appreciative of the Darkness Magic I used to travel, and the anchors Lady Hecate’s version coopted. After all, hanging around Apple Gate Farm, or some similar place, was fine and interesting for a few weeks, but for a longer time? I had a feeling that Luna would go just as insane as I would if she had to remain in the same area for a long time, or maybe she would find something to make the area less boring. And given Luna’s abilities with Life Magic, I was confident that she could match me in the horror department, or even surpass me, if she put her mind to it. 

“Let’s go and meet Lia,” Luna suggested, after shaking her head to remove the unpleasant images I had just put there.

Together, we went upstairs, making sure to remain mostly quiet. Thanks to that, we weren’t noticed, and got to see Lia, sitting at the foot of the statue I had built here, all those weeks ago, with one of the small dragons sitting in front of her. They seemed to be engaged in a staring contest of some sort, making me wonder just how that had happened.

Back when I visited this place the first time, the small dragons had been rather unwelcoming and hostile, but now, Lia was having a staring contest with one? Something didn’t make sense here, though I wasn’t quite sure what it was. Either Lia had a much better relationship with animals than I thought, or she was cheating with magic. Or maybe the small dragons had undergone some sort of fundamental change, or there was something else going on.

“We should keep our distance,” Luna suggested, her voice an almost silent whisper. “We don’t want to disturb them.” 

“True,” I replied, nodding sagely. “Maybe Lia really wants a new friend, or pet, or whatever. After all, it has been quite a while since Alex decided to stay behind and start a family.” 

“Well, she could do a lot worse than one of those micro-dragons,” Lia chuckled. “They are awfully cute, don’t you think?” 

“Dragons shouldn’t be small and cute, and they certainly shouldn’t be pets. Or dumb animals, for that matter,” I grumbled, despite knowing how ludicrous that stance was. Especially the dumb animal part; I wasn’t sure if any of my experiments and attempts to make dragons had managed to create anything sufficiently intelligent, let alone if such a change would be inheritable. 

“She noticed us,” Luna quietly told me, and I focused on my daughter and had to agree with her assessment. While Lia was still staring into the small dragon’s eyes, her body had shifted a little, and I was fairly confident that she had a small grin on her face. 

Suddenly, Lia reached out with one arm, the small dragon hopping onto it, still staring into her eyes. It looked somewhat amusing, as the dragon wasn’t that small, but my daughter had enough strength to hold it, and more than enough agility to gracefully stand up and start walking towards us. The small dragon remained on her arm as she walked over, and just before she reached us, it made a soft, chirping sound and moved up her arm and onto her shoulder.

“He followed me home. Can I keep him?” Lia asked, a massive grin on her face, promising large amounts of mischief and mayhem. For a moment, I was tempted to just shake my head and disappear into the shadows, but that would have been mean. So, I simply looked the pair over and nodded.

“You’ll have to feed him, clean up after him, and any mischief will be on your head,” I warned her, though my warning only managed to make her grin grow. This would be… something. I wasn’t sure what, but it would be something.