Aerien’s POV

After Taminarda… or rather, Logim left, I took a good hard look over what I had written down. It was a crazy map of terms. I had actually based it, in part, on the way the human endocrine system works, with a master control in the form of the hypothalamus, a secondary control in the form of the pituitary, and then additional signaling going everywhere, with several cross-interactions.

The language of the whole thing was based on the structure of a function. I didn’t know a lot about computer programing, but I knew enough about functions from my Algebra class to do a pretty good job with this kind of set-up.

All that being the case, the language of the spell was still rather vague. It was something I recalled from Gaerien’s advice on spells. A lot of the finer details are supplied by the caster’s own intent and understanding of the subject. The wording of the spell itself only guided it, the important stuff though was all in the caster’s mind. More specific language being used in the spell’s writing would lower the burden in energy used, making it more efficient. However, making it more vague would allow for greater versatility, making it more useful at the expense of efficiency and giving it a far higher energy cost. Well, since energy supply was not a huge problem for me, I could afford to leave it rather vague in areas. However, I most likely couldn’t just make it as simple as “perform magic and make it do what you want” and get away with it. Even for me the energy burden for that would be insane.

Well, this was supposed to be something I only had one chance to write down, and it had to be perfect the first time. That meant that I really couldn’t make it too specific in the language, it had to strike the perfect balance between being specific enough to be usable and vague enough to give plenty of room to grow. For the best I could tell, I think I had done a pretty good job with it.

Yeah, it definitely got complicated, especially the master control function. Well, I couldn’t see any way to improve it at this point, but once again, I would have only one chance to get this thing right. I would have to run it by the others to see if they could find any problems. I had already told them what I was doing and asked them ahead of time to look at it when I was finished, so now all I had to do is bring it over to them.

“Ummm… I really don’t understand this at all.” Levin said immediately when I placed the paper between the three of them for their review. “Why are they numbered from seven to one?”

“That’s the way the chakras are actually numbered.” I told him. “The count starts at the root chakra located in your pelvic region, and then it counts up to seven as you go up the body, with the seventh located just above the head and outside of the body. I decided to arrange them on the paper relative to their actual position from top to bottom.”

Rolwen seemed to have a bit more of a serious look as he read it, like someone who was actually processing what he was reading. “So…” he said, “If I’m understanding this wright, the four upper ones are for the spell and the lower three are to control the other four?”

“Sort-of.” I told them. “The third chakra is supposed to actually be able to cause effects even if nothing is being summoned.”

“What kind of effects?” Rolwen asked.

“Well, like stopping combustion maybe? I thought it would be a good way to protect against fire magic from others. The effect of the third module is to control things outside of the spell, so it controls whatever’s summoned after the summoning happens. It’s basically what drives the spell after it’s already cast. That’s what makes it different from the master control.”

“Ok, so, how ‘bout the second one?” He asks.

“That controls how big the spell is.” I tell him.

“Yeah, I know, bud why cand it be part of the other two control progwams?”

“That…” Huh, yeah, he’s probably right. I should be able to make the spell more efficient by doing that. “I guess I just didn’t know what I should put there, so I just added something. You’re right, I should probably find something else to put there, but I don’t really know what.”

“Umm…” Levin spoke up. “Gaerien, do you know? You’re subbosta be the one who knows magic stuff!”

“I don know whad any of dis is even saaaying.” She protests. “How can you read dis wowen!?”

“Id is writted in a language that’s like computer pwogwaming a little.” He says. “It’s cwude, but id is good enough for me to read it Ok.”

“Alwight, then expwain it!” She demands.

“Well, how about Aerien explain it? She wrote it.”

“Ok,” I agreed to it. “This is a bit of a basic explanation, but the seventh chakra supplies all the energy for the summoning spell. The sixth summons energy of every type, including elemental energy and kinetic and heat energy as well as the mystic energies.”

“canwetic? Whad’s dat?”

“It means the energy if you throw something or hit something.” Rolwen answers.

“Oh. Wow! That can be powerful!” Gaerien responds in excitement.

“Anyway, the fifth chakra summons matter, just bringing things like gold and silver out of nowhere. Or, actually, it’s summoned from my spirit realm since it seems the earth element actually generates things like that. Then the fourth summons creatures, people, or already existing objects.”

“Ok,” Gaerien responds, “so do you have a gate magic to get the summoned people to you?”

“Uhh… yeah, it’s in the master control portion of the program. It’s special for the people only. I think it might be the highest demand part of the spell in terms of energy, so I might have to get a lot stronger before I can summon any people or objects.”

“Can you go through the gate magic?” Gaerien asks.

“Uhh… no, not really. It’s just designed to get the people or things to me or send them back. Yeah, that’s somewhere it can be improved.”

“Ok,” Rolwen chimes in. “The gate magic sounds like it’s a really high powered part of this. How ‘bout switching the scale control with the gate magic? Make the second chakra all about gate magic and managing that part of it.”

“Awlesow” Gaerien spoke up again. “Does your gate magic go to other planes?”

“Other planes?” I ask.

“Like, could it be used to escape fwrom Earth back when we were there.”

“Didn’t you say nobody, even the other gods, could do that?” I asked her, of course subconsciously holding my own god outside of the count when I said “other gods.”

“Well, you hab an abawity dad awows you to pice world bawriers.” (Well, you have an ability that allows you to pierce world barriers.) “Iv you are going to becwom more powerfull, you will need to be able to use magic to do dat more easiwy lader.” (If you are going to become more powerful, you will need to be able to use magic to do that more easily later) Gaerien advised. I guess that did make sense.

“Well…” I said. “The current version just allows for the folding of space-time on this three dimensional plane, and can connect pieces of space-time with a wormhole when they touch. I guess I could come up with something to just punch a hole in space-time when it’s not touching.”

“Huh? Space dime?” Gaerien responds and looks over to Rolwen with a questioning gaze.

“It’s Einstein-ian physics.” He says. “It… uhh… is from a liddle over 50 years ago.”

“Uhhh…” Gaerien is still looking at him with a blank stare.

“I don’t think that explanation helps her much.” I commented. “Also, I think we are all going to have to work on speech next for you all.

Well, I guess I’ve got my work cut out for me to re-draw that concept map for this grand spell that does almost everything using the seven chakra. I think I might even be tweaking that master control portion for quite a while. I might very well have to wait at least a week before I take the step of actually giving this to my child side and having her write it onto her spirit. Gotta make certain there are no mistakes, it will be too late for last-minute changes once it’s written.

-

Veronica’s POV

While her kids were busy doing whatever it was they wanted to get busy with, Veronica was sitting by a desk as she did her best to improve her skills at using this “green word” magic that was so essential in this world. Her kids, Joshua and Malissa, had picked it up very quickly. However, she couldn’t be embarrassed by having to rely on her children to get by in this world. At the very least she had learned to use it well enough to open doors. Right now, though, she was attempting to figure out how to make more complicated shapes in the walls. She had recently figured out how to make a book shelf, but her children had demonstrated a lot more was possible. Almost every day they are making crazy artistic patterns appear in the floor. If this was a home back on Earth, she would pull her hair out at seeing something like that. Here though, such a thing could be erased with the wave of a hand, so she figured it was no big deal at all to let them play like that.

She suddenly felt a jolt of energy through the wood, a signal she had learned meant there was someone opening the door. This was one thing in this world she had never quite grown used to, it seemed absolutely no-one knocked, they all just came right in whenever they pleased.

She stood up and smoothed out her robes and went to greet whoever it was that had come, hoping that maybe it was Mr. Hashcord. Or rather, Steven. She was simultaneously surprised and disappointed though to see it was some strange blue-skinned white-haired alien looking man with huge eyes.

“Mam.” The alien man said, his huge black eyes blinking closed for a moment as he tilted his head in her direction.

“Wow! An alien!” Joshua rudely said as he popped up from where he was crouched.

The man chuckled. “Well, I suppose I ought to have expected that reaction, other people from Earth have said the same thing about me.” It was at this point that it clicked for Veronica. This man was speaking English! But, he just said something that almost made it sound like he wasn’t from Earth. If it wasn’t for that… She looked over toward Kelly, who seemed rather stunned by everything going on as well.

The alien man cleared his throat and turned back to Veronica. “Forgive me, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sagel, and I am the familiar to her highness princess Aerien.”

“What!? The princess!? Really!?” Joshua sprung up and ran toward the man.

“Joshua!” Veronica shouted at him. “Don’t bother him.” Oh what a nightmare. In the two years since they had been here, there was certainly one thing made exceptionally clear to her. This whole concept of nobility and such here was incredibly serious, and slights against the nobility could be harshly punished. They might be able to get off easy in this case, Steven had told her that the princess was from Earth like them so she might show them liniency, but she still had to get her children to behave. “I apologize for my son.” She said, approaching the man and bowing. “What can I do for you Mr. Sagal?”

“Hey! Hey! Can I ask a question?” Joshua speaks up again. She had never considered hitting her child before, but in this case his rudeness scared her so much that she seriously wondered if doing so might just keep him safe from a much worse result at this man’s hands. She was glad to see that Kelly was running over and quickly grabbed him from behind. “Hey! Hey! My wings! My wings!” He protested and struggled in her grip as his wings were being bent forward around his body while she was dragging him backwards.

“You should probably stop that.” The man said. “A fairy at your level ought to be able to heal an injury to their wings within seconds, but I am unsure an inexperienced child would be able to do it so easily.” Kelly looked up and met the man’s gaze as he said this, and then let Joshua go.

“Aww man! That hurt!” He complained and fluttered his wings. A shimmering light ran through the veins like a rainbow passing through them.

“Oh!?” The alien man’s almost non-existent eyebrows raised as he looked at this. “The kid has some talent.” Veronica glanced back at the man, she realized that he wasn’t going to do anything to her son at this point and he didn’t seem like the short-tempered type, so she could afford to give Joshua a proper scolding on his behavior in this case.

“Joshua, please do not bother any strange adults when they come in. We have had this talk before. You can’t be rude to people around here. Bad things can happen. Now, please go play with Malissa and Kelly while I talk to this man, Ok?”

“Ok.” Her son replied and then sulked off.

She turned back to the alien-like man. Despite the foreign feeling his huge eyes gave him, she could tell he was fairly amused by what he saw. “You care for your son, I can tell. He is going to have to learn some better manners though if he is going to survive in this world. You are doing a good job though, your instincts as a mother are correct.”

“Thank you, and sorry for the interruption.” Veronica said. Under normal circumstances, she might avoid eye contact out of submissiveness, but the huge completely black eyes of this man were something that was just impossible to look away from. She hoped she wasn’t being rude, but then, well… it WAS his eyes she was staring at, right? Normally that’s considered polite, but under these circumstances it was hard to really tell what was correct. “Umm… anyway, what was it that you needed?”

“Ahem! Yes!” The man said, bringing a hand to his mouth for a moment as though to cover a cough. “Ms, umm… Veronica, is that right?” He asked. “Her highness has requested to meet with you, your assistance may be needed for a project she will soon be starting on her majesty’s orders.”

Upon hearing this, Veronica couldn’t help but glance back toward her son. He had been going on about the princess ever since he had heard about her, and she saw that he was definitely looking over with interest. Fortunately though, he seemed to be properly reigned in this time as Kelly had placed a hand on his shoulder and seemed to be saying something to him in a low tone. That was good, even if this princess was from Earth, Veronica was plenty aware that meeting with a real royal was a big deal and not something you just dragged your children along to.

“Alright.” She said with a bow toward the man. “When would she like to see me?”

“You may make some arrangements with your family if you need to.” The man said. “The summons is for as soon as is convenient.”

She indicated her understanding to the man and then looked to her children once more. “Alright, Kelly, can you please watch Malissa and Joshua while I am out?” She asks.

“Uhh… sure!” She replies, after which Veronica gives a nod to the man who came to them.

“Alright, I am ready.” She tells him, and then follows him out, very thankful that Joshua had not made a scene.

---

Author's Note: Invitation to reader participation.

Obviously, I also have my own ideas about how Aerien's final spell should look and this current version is one that was designed to look pretty good but in need of improvements. However, given the nature of the situation and the fact that I KNOW you all have your own wonderful ideas (because you've been sharing them all over last chapter, thank you BTW) I am going to invite all of you to give your own input in place of Rolwen, Levin, and Gaerien here.

The chapter where Aerien presents her final version of the spell has not been written yet, so feel free to suggest away. I will be writing the chapter soon, but if there is an especially good idea presented then I can still revise it any time between now and when the chapter is finally released. The best stated version of any idea I decide to use will likely get placed into the mouth of one of the three depending on which one I feel is best suited to present it.

(BTW: I also plan for young Aerien to give her own input as well, there is a very specific portion of this rough version of the spell she REALLY wants changed.)

Anyway, I am actually working on the chapter in which Aerien finishes the spell right now. So, because it has wound up slightly delayed due to accepting suggestions, the release of the next chapter will be a little delayed. (Hey, this thing is going to affect the entire rest of the series, gotta have it be as perfect as a group of enthusiastic humans putting their minds together can possibly be.)