Multiverse of Magic & Mistakes (Completed)

2.1.5 Chapter 5

The Red Dunes, Ashein, 329 years ago.

A few months had passed since Lissa, Reinard and Calem had unlocked the secret of unlimited power. So accustomed now to full use of her power, Lissa could barely remember her previous struggles moving boulders around the desert with Reinard. She still went out there often to work undisturbed and would look upon the boulders, a hilltop memento of all that they had achieved.

Today, Lissa was out in the dunes practising her transformations, master level magic that was previously forbidden to her. She sat in a hollow, back resting against a steep red slope, knees pulled up to her chest, red grains trickling down her legs from the handful in her outstretched palms. She checked the required transformation rune that she had memorised from one of Reinard's books, and had sketched out into the sand beside her. She did not usually write runes out before casting, that was the habit of a cautious novice, but this was the most complex rune Lissa has ever attempted to cast. It had layers of lines, layers of meaning all interconnected and overlapping, outward lines for breaking apart matter into its constituent subatomic parts, and then inward lines for recombining and rebuilding the tiny parts into whatever new form she desired. If Lissa could maters this rune, then she could change the nature of the world around her, she could create and construct. She would essentially be a deity of the desert, and who was anyone in the city to prevent her from being able to test the limits of her power?

Satisfied that she had the master transformation rune fully committed to memory, and understood how it functioned, Lissa took a deep breath of warm dry air and closed her eyes. She focused on the transformation rune and its layers of meaning, whilst simultaneously focussing on the sand in her hands, its comfortable familiar weight. And she willed the red sand to change. As she had anticipated, and as stated in Reinard's book, the drain on her power was immense, Lissa felt the casting drain nearly all her power. And then suddenly the sand in her hands was sand no longer.

Lissa gasped, eyes snapping open in amazement, as clear freshwater spilt from her fingers and dripped on to her knees. She rubbed her wet palms in delight. It had worked! She had turned sand into water! Using a master level spell that was many years ahead of what she was officially permitted to use! She'd try putting the sand in a container next time, saving the water she created to test it was safe to drink. But that would be for tomorrow. Her magic would be replenished by then.

She reached into her knapsack and pulled out her flask, and a nearly full notebook. Lissa took a long drink, thirsty from the desert heat and her magical exertions. Then she set herself to updating her diary of mastering higher-level magic.

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Lissa pushed open the door to the storage room inside Tower Fourteen's east growing chamber, intending to tell Reinard and Calem of her latest success, but instead of just the two older mages, the small space was filled with a group of unfamiliar faces. Ten or so mages, all looking to be in their early twenties, were sitting on upturned crates or standing against the walls in a cramped circle. The space was brighter than usual, with all of the older mages having cast their own hovering candle lights. She stepped over a pile of bags and cloaks which had been made near the entrance.

"Lissa, there you are!" greeted Calem, who was sitting on an upturned box in the centre. A mages necklace, clearly not his own, for that was in its usual place around his neck, was in his palm. A beautiful tanned woman, with close-cropped dark hair and shiny new sandals, was standing at his side. The necklace he held was obviously hers. What the fuck was going on here?

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked. It came out ruder than she had meant.

"These are all friends of ours," said Reinard, from his crate on Calem's left. "We've known them all for a long time, and they can all be trusted."