Reincarnator RB Dragons, ch 50

Kevin got ready to leave for Alariel’s tower after the Mountain Fingers left his inn.  “Are you sure you don’t want to come, Lydia?”

“No.  Go ahead.”

“But…this is your last chance.  You got her autograph and you could meet her any time.”

The dragon smiled enigmatically.  “Have you ever heard a saying that goes something like, “If you meet the ones above, the cloud they stand on will be full of holes?”

“Something like that.”  Kevin remembered his life on earth and the saying, “Never meet your heroes.”

“Consider that lizardman friend of yours.  Eventually, he will probably be grateful for meeting me, but right now, he is likely having a difficult time.  We are about to go on a journey.  I do not want to risk having a difficult time while traveling.”

Kevin stared at her.  “How is it you act like such a doofus sometimes, but sometimes also say such wise, or profound things?”

Lydia sniffed.  “As you keep saying over and over again, I am a hatchling.  But I am still a dragon.”

“Yeah, yeah.”  He looked over his shoulder as he left the inn.  “Maybe I’ll get her to sign something else for you.”

“You will!?”  All pretense at poise or a calm demeanor was thrown away in an instant.  Lydia’s eyes sparkled.  “Really!?”

“I’ll see what I can do.”  Kevin chuckled.  He was really glad he was able to impress his cousin with Alchemy and magic.  It was much easier to deal with her now that they’d established that he was, “In charge.”

Alariel’s tower looked the same as usual, but Kevin felt different as he walked through the gate.  This might be the last time he saw this place for a long, long time.

The door opened before he even got to it, as was expected.

Kevin made his way to his regular Alchemy room and began working on the first of the day’s potions, reading out of the book that Alariel had left open for him.  It was comforting to go through the motions, attempting to create the potion and memorizing each step.

Soon after he was done creating his first batch of the day, Alariel glided into the room and to her credit, she immediately noticed something was amiss.  “I knew this day would come,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you not leaving soon?”

“I…am.  But how did you know?”

“Call it intuition.”  She gave a mysterious smile and for the first time, Kevin truly wondered how powerful Alariel really was.  Perhaps part of why he’d never really been concerned about it before was the familiarity he had with his parents, two of the mightiest existences on the planet.  He also grew up with his cousin Lydia, who, although young, and sometimes boneheaded, was still a dragon.  Without someone like Alariel nearby to stop her, Lydia could legitimately have a good chance at destroying many small cities by herself.

Alariel was here all by herself in this backwater, frontier mining town.  Maybe one day Kevin would uncover more about the mystery of that particular state of affairs.  

But what did it really mean to be one of the strongest mortal mages in the world?  Kevin realized how skewed his perspective really was in this life.  He was happy for it, though.  Without his lack of self consciousness around the truly powerful, he might not have ever developed a friendly relationship with Alariel, who had been quite possibly the best mentor he could ever have.

“Thank you,” he suddenly said.

“For what?”

“For everything.”

She turned down to look at her tea, but Kevin saw a few spots of emotion on her cheeks.  The great mage hid her feelings as she slowly swirled the colorful liquid in her cup.  “That is kind to say.  But I must say no, thank you.  Not only have I discovered an amazing, if unconventional apprentice–by chance no less!–I have also been building a friendship with the most interesting and mysterious goblin I have ever met.”

“That’s flattering, but you can’t be serious,” said Kevin.

“Oh, but I am very serious.  A natural Alchemist, a Soul Mage, connection with dragons, marked by evil as a blood-sworn enemy, and carrying the weight of several lifetimes.  There are not many other existences in this world I can relate to as a peer.  Most are either beneath me, like most other people, or above me, like dragons and elemental lords.  However, I have felt a sense of…comfort…while teaching you.  It has brought a sense of peace I did not even know I was lacking.”

Kevin’s jaw dropped, and Alariel smiled in good humor at his reaction.  Before he could recover, she said, “As I’ve said before, my eyes see much.  But rest assured, my apprentice, never betray me and I will repay the loyalty in kind.  I will be your ally for life.”

“...Thank you.”  Kevin’s eyes misted up and he took a sip of his own excellent tea.

“I have two gifts to give you since you are departing, although I am not sure you will accept one of them.”

“Gifts?”

“Yes. The first is something I have given to each of my apprentices if they have left or traveled.”  She produced what looked like a marble.  But then she held it above the table.  When she did, it protected dim light with lines downwards.  It took Kevin a moment to recognize what he was seeing on the table, now.

“That’s your Alchemy book!”

“The same.  If you inject a bit of mana and think about what kind of potion you are looking for, the scryer will display it, if possible.  It will only work for you.  There is a limit to two potions it can search per day, though.”

Kevin was impressed, shocked even.  This was an incredibly complex magic tool.  Someone who had not studied magic engineering might not understand, but Kevin did.  He accepted the marble reverently.  “Thank you!  And I believe I can share any new potions I want to, right?”

“Yes!  You were quick to catch on.  Excellent.  This is part of how I grow the book.  If you ever find other potions you can share with me to add to the main book, it benefits us all.  And of course, if you invent a new potion and wish to share your notes for some reason, this would be an easy way to do so.”

Kevin nodded.  “What is the other gift?”

“Ah.”  She sipped her tea and said, “Remember when you first came here, when I read your tea leaves?”

“Yes.”

“I am offering to do so again, but a general divination.”

“Isn’t temporal magic shaky at best?”

“Yes.  But it still borrows from the same basic principles as the magic I used to read your aura and discover what magic you were suited for.”

Kevin thought about it for a few seconds.  He understood why Alariel thought he might refuse.  People in this world could be squirrely about fortunes, or even revealing too much of themselves.  

That thought decided the matter for him.  By this point, he was fairly convinced that Alariel might know as much about him as his parents.  She had already proven she knew at least some of his secrets, and Kevin felt secure in the fact she would maintain the fact they were, in fact, secret. “Alright, let’s do it.”

“Well, finish your tea first.”  The two of them slipped into an easy, comfortable silence, just enjoying their tea.  When Kevin was done, he handed his cup over.

Now that Kevin was a Soul Mage, he noticed a very subtle movement of the mana around Alariel, but he still couldn’t actually directly see or sense her power directly.  A moment later, as she peered into the cup, he did see power in her eyes, though.

Fascinating, he thought.  But Kevin was startled as Alariel suddenly hissed and recoiled.  She looked up from the cup with a dismayed expression.  

“I cannot see any specifics, but you have great danger in your future.  Great danger!  And you are connected somehow to the unrest I see for the land!  You are not the cause, but it will engulf you!”  She squeezed the bridge of her nose.  “I apologize.  That has been one of my most intense readings in a long time.”

Kevin didn’t know what to say.  “Is there anything I can do to avoid…whatever it is you saw?”

“I didn’t see much.”  She pushed the cup away with a shaky hand.  “And this is why so many avoid this sort of divination.  Sometimes, what someone Sees can be easily misunderstood.  But although the future is not written, and fates can be rewritten, simply knowing what might transpire can sometimes be enough to nudge a person into making decisions that bring about the very thing they wish to avoid.”

“So I should probably stop asking questions, then, huh?”

“Probably, yes.”  Alariel looked glum for the first time since Kevin had known her.  She muttered, “I was hoping to give you good news about your magic or love life or finances.”

Kevin found sudden humor in the situation and began to laugh.  Alariel joined him, and luckily, the mood lifted before he said goodbye.