Alex's adventures

Marie glanced at her daughter as she walked into the kitchen, “So how are things going with your project, you’ve been at it for a couple of weeks now and I've been busy with work.”

Alex smiled, “It’s going well. We’ve unlocked a couple more buildings and we have all of the street lamps working so that’s a plus.”

“Which buildings?” Marie asked with interest.

“We got the blacksmith open though it’s more like a metal shop than a traditional blacksmith though it does have a magic powered forge that we can use if we want to make anything.”

Marie frowned. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

“We use safety equipment, besides I would dull a blade on my skin before the blade could cut it.” She decided not to mention the fact that a heavily enchanted blade might be able to actually hurt her. She didn’t think her mother would let her mess around in the arena if she thought it was actually dangerous.

“Still, just be careful please.” Marie didn’t want her daughter to get hurt but she trusted her not to get into too much trouble.

“We’re being careful. We actually managed to get one of the moon’s working as well…” Alex had to force herself not to twitch too much as she remembered the horrible fight that had convinced everyone to take a break for a week to let everyone recharge and relax. She was just happy that Dr. Jinn could reattach limbs as well as she could otherwise Matt and Devon both wouldn’t be walking any time soon. She glanced away from her mother as the last part of the fight with the rather fearsome five headed black dragon played out in her mind. It had taken everything her group had in order to defeat the rather large regenerating fire breathing beast. She'd had to use as much mana as she could channel just to damage the creature’s hide enough that the rest of the gang could finish it off while she focused on keeping it from regenerating the opening. Cael had shielded the group from its fiery breath while Devon and Abby had attacked it with everything they had.

“I bet the place is pretty,” Marie replied oblivious to her daughter's creative shading of the truth.

Alex grinned as she thought about the way the moonlight reflected off the black stone buildings. “It has a certain amount of charm. Oh speaking of pretty, we got the tailor’s shop and the cobbler’s up and running as well.”

Marie smiled brightly at the idea of picking up handmade shoes. “Oh, so how soon can we take a look?”

Alex turned back to look at her mother. “That reminds me, a girl at the college showed me a spell this morning that should tell me how badly people will react to a realm. I should probably cast it at some point.”

Marie was looking forward to seeing her daughter's project but she was a bit leery about her daughter picking up spells from random students. “I remember you mentioning a spell but you didn’t say what was involved. Are you sure you trust the girl or that she knows what she's talking about?”

“Yeah, she's the club president for a club that makes realms and a friend of Abby's brothers. As for how it works, I basically take a piece of the realm and use a touch of magic on it. Then I touch it to your skin or dribble some of your blood on it.”

Marie raised an eyebrow and gave her daughter a mock suspicious scowl. “Does that count as blood magic?”

Alex shrugged as she smiled innocently. “It’s blood and magic but it’s not evil blood magic. Blood just happens to be part of you and works rather well in various spells. Legends have to come from somewhere… well other than the crap that people make up.”

“Is it going to hurt if you just touch it to my skin?” Marie asked warily.  

“Probably not. On most people I would probably test things by putting a drop of blood on the piece of the realm but you’re blood so the chances of the test actually being dangerous are practically zero. Worst case is a minor burn, probably.”

Marie raised an eyebrow skeptically, “Practically zero? And what do you mean probably?”

Alex shifted uncomfortably. “It’s magic not science, there is always a chance of something strange happening. You’re my mother, if you weren’t at least a little magical, I wouldn’t be magical so you should be fine but I would be heartbroken if I just assumed and something bad happened when you visited the realm.”

“Let’s try to avoid that,” Marie replied with a healthy mix of amusement and concern.

She chuckled as she fished a small black pebble out of her pocket. “We can still go with the blood method if you want.”

Marie snorted as she held her arm out. “I’d rather not stab myself in the hand like some idiot from a bad Hollywood movie.”

Alex tapped into her mana pool and sent a trickle of magic into the pebble while focusing on what she wanted to happen then lightly touched it to her mom’s outstretched arm. “Tell me if that hurts.”

“Oh sure, you ask after you already touch my arm. It feels cool but no stranger than a normal rock.”

Alex pulled the pebble away from her mom’s arm and examined the area where it had touched. She noticed that the rock left a faint trace of shadowy magic that was quickly vanishing as it soaked into her mother’s arm without causing any damage. “I’ve got good news and great news. The good news is that you should be fine exploring the realm for a while.”

“The great news?” Marie asked warily, sometimes her daughter's sense of humor was a bit questionable.

“If you stay there long enough you’ll likely start to develop some shadow based magical powers.”

Marie looked down her nose at Alex. “How long are we talking and would that make me a magic user?”

Alex snickered at the look on her mother's face. “In a way though not really. We‘re likely looking at weeks or longer of exposure before you start noticing anything strange. The longer you‘re there the more interesting powers you might end up with, at least up to a point.”

“Can you explain the not really part?” Marie glanced down at the dark rock that Alex was holding then back at her daughter's face.  

“According to my aetherial control book you would basically have a mana pool and be able to use it for a couple of shadow tricks and maybe some other minor things but you wouldn’t have an aetherial connection so you wouldn’t recharge your mana pool unless you were in the shadow world, near a magic user or if a magic user pushed power into you.”

Marie grinned as she thought about finally being able to share a small part of a large part of her daughter‘s life. “Before I sign up, are there any downsides to acquiring magic this way?”

Alex laughed as she was reminded once again that her mother was a lawyer. “You might require some training but other than that not really.”

“Then what stops magic users from giving magic to just anyone?” Marie asked warily.

Alex shrugged. “Visiting a realm doesn’t bestow power on everyone and even if it did the recharge requirements make it useless for most people. Most warlocks would rather trust monsters they build from the ground up.”

Marie frowned slightly as she leaned against the counter. “I can see where that would lead to problems… magical drug pushers and such. You should see about testing Daniel and Alisa before we decide anything. Then we can go for a visit right?”

Alex smirked. “You’re just eager to check out the dresses and shoes.”

“You’ve been talking about this place for a while, is it so strange that I want to see it?” Marie asked curiously.

Alex shrugged. “I guess not.”

“The dresses and shoes shops are just a nice perk.” Marie smirked.

“I’m looking forward to getting some nice boots,” Alex admitted.

Marie shook her head at her daughter’s sense of style. “The sooner you check Daniel and Alisa the sooner we can go.”

“Sounds good.” Alex was looking forward to showing off Abby’s realm.

0o0o0

Daniel looked around the moonlit courtyard. The purple flames glowing cheerfully in the streetlamps that surrounded the courtyard gave everything a slightly creepy Halloween look. He stopped looking around and stared at the mist shrouded gate built into the giant black stone wall that surrounded the town, “Nah, that’s not spooky…”

Alisa giggled as she looked around. “It's weird to see the place in person rather than in Alex’s pictures. It‘s almost like walking into a video game.”

“Hopefully it’s not too large of a disappointment.” Alex gestured toward the building that contained the tailors and cobblers. “We have a couple of buildings in working order though not as many as I would like.”

Marie nodded. “What did you want to show us first?”

“I don’t know… I guess I should start by explaining a bit about the town then we can walk around a bit. There are two main black stone roads through the center of town. Well paths, they twist a bit too much to be called roads. They have a couple of side paths that lead to the various stores. If you head up the path and right you’ll get to the lake or at least what will eventually be a lake. It’s empty right now.”

Daniel glanced at the tailor’s shop. “If we let the girls in there they’ll be there for a while.”

Alex chuckled. “True but if we don’t they’ll complain.”

He grinned then asked, “Do the paths loop back around?”

“Yeah, it’s not a large town,” Alex admitted.

He turned to look at Marie and Alisa. “Are you alright with walking around first?”

Alisa glanced around the darkened town. “Sure, it will give us a better idea of where things are… I mean I have an idea because of the pictures but I don‘t mind walking around first.”

Marie looked away from the tailor’s shop. “I’m not working tomorrow so I’m in no hurry.”

Alex snickered as she started walking down the path to show her family around. She was glad that her dad and Alisa had both gotten similar results to her mother on the test to see if they could come here. It was nice being able to show off what she had been working on.  

0o0o0

Daniel smiled as he looked between the arena and the restaurant, “How good is the food?”

“I haven’t found a reason to complain yet, well other than the fact that they don’t have any fish but that’s more my fault than theirs,” Alex admitted.

Alisa frowned at Alex. “How is it your fault?”

“We haven’t restored the lake yet and we’re too far from the ocean to get shipments of fish.”

“I guess that would do it.”

Daniel asked, “Does that mean there is more stuff beyond the gate?”

Alex shook her head. “Not for us, at least not yet but for the people here sort of. The surrounding area is mostly background right now.”

“Sort of like a computer game right? Heroes come in and leave but never really ask where the food or supplies comes from?”

“More or less.” Alex agreed with amusement. “Once we get the town finished there will probably be visitors from outside the town but for now it’s just what we’ve unlocked so far. If we ever choose to expand the town we’ll be able to interact directly with more people. Until then we’re stuck interacting with just the town and everything in it.”

He chuckled, “I remember all of the times I wished I could have stepped into a computer game as a kid. Is the arena fun to watch or should we get food first?”

Alex chuckled as she looked at her mother and Alisa. “It’s up to you guys, I had lunch already.”

Alisa shrugged. “I could eat or we could see what they have for clothes first so we can discuss it over food.”

Marie smiled as she grabbed Alisa’s hand. “I like that idea.” She looked over at Alex, “You could show your father the arena while we’re window shopping.”

“That works.” Alex gestured toward the arena. “Onward to amusement.”

Daniel laughed. “Isn’t that supposed to be onward to victory?”

“Details,” Alex replied as she headed toward the arena.

0o0o0

Daniel stared down at the pack of goblins fighting a pack of humanoid wolf like creatures with spears in the middle of the arena. “How dangerous is the arena? I know you’re fairly durable but according to your martial arts text, magical weapons cut through a lot of that protection.”

Alex stared at the fight rather than look at her father. “Yeah… I was hoping you missed that part. Have you told mom yet?”

He turned to look at her. “I wasn’t going to worry her before I talked with you…” He trailed off as he noticed that she was avoiding looking at him. “So honestly how dangerous is the arena?”

She shifted uncomfortably. “As long as we have enough magic to pull out all of the stops and protect ourselves, we should be all right.”

“In other words you’re saying that if you don’t rush things you’ll be safe?” He asked hopefully.

She turned and looked at him. “For the most part… we also have the magical doctor’s office up and she’s good at reattaching limbs…” she trailed off as she realized she probably shouldn’t have said that last bit.

He raised his eyebrows. “Reattaching limbs?”

“I probably shouldn’t have said that should I?” She asked warily.

He rubbed at his face in frustration with his right hand. “No, probably not…” He sighed, “Have you actually needed her to do that?”

“Not for myself but Matt’s armor spell wasn’t quite strong enough to stop the five headed dragon from biting through his leg… I probably shouldn‘t have said that either.”

He stared at his daughter in surprise. “Five headed dragon? You’re not helping your case here.”

She sighed. “I know, my armor spell held up fine… I’m more worried about my friends trying to defeat everything without me. For example we also fought a sphinx right before the dragon, if I hadn‘t been there to answer the sphinx‘s riddles then I‘m not sure what would have happened.”

He briefly wondered if there was a support group for parents of teenagers with magical powers that could help with this sort of thing. “I don’t even know where to start Alexandra…”

She asked nervously, “Are you going to tell me that I can’t fight in the arena?”

“I don’t know, the parent in me wants to wrap you up in cotton and keep you safe… the realist knows that I can’t actually stop you from fighting if your heart is set on it. I’d be a lot happier if you didn’t fight any more hard battles until after you have more training under your belt and maybe a few dozen magical items to keep you safe.”

She was just glad that he hadn’t asked her to give up practicing completely. “I can agree to that. The arena lets us organize the fights from weakest to strongest if we want so that shouldn’t be too hard.”

He sighed in relief. “Thanks. How long do you think Alisa and Marie are going to be in the clothes shop?”

She snickered. “Probably until we go and grab them, the seamstress is nice and likes to chat.”

He took a last look at the arena floor and winced as one of the wolfmen bit through the last goblin’s neck and ripped it apart. “This place is more than a bit bloody…”

Alex frowned slightly as she listened to the surviving wolfmen howl in victory. “If it makes you feel better they’re basically magical robots with some basic programming.”

He’d read through her aether book so he knew what she meant but that didn’t change the fact that they looked real enough. “Let’s go collect the girls.”

“Sure thing.”

0o0o0

Marie smiled as she walked through the lobby of the hotel and into the restaurant with her family trailing behind her. Her gaze shifted over the various people in the restaurant as she took in her surroundings. At one table a young red faced man was examining a number of large sheets of paper while he absently stuffed food in his mouth. Every now and then he would sneak glances at the rather attractive waitress that wandered between the bar and the tables in a white t-shirt and a short black skirt that showed off her long legs. She glanced over at where Abby was sitting with her older brother Raven. “Depending on the food this might be my new favorite place to eat lunch.”

Alisa snickered as she glanced at the attractive female elf behind the bar. “Agreed.”

Daniel glanced away from the rather attractive staff and back at his daughter. “I can see why you like eating here.”

Alex replied with amusement in her voice, “That and the food is excellent.”

Abby waved at Alex, “Hey, over here.”

Alex was grinning brightly as she skipped over toward her girlfriend’s table. “Hey, how’s it going?”

Abby stood up and pulled Alex into a hug then let her go, “It’s going, I hope you don’t mind that I brought Raven along.”

Alex shook her head then turned to look at Raven, “Nah, the more the merrier.”

Raven smiled at Alex then glanced over at her family then back to Alex. “Abby told me about it, I wanted to come see how her first large project was coming.”

Alex slipped into the chair next to Abby, “So, what do you think?”

“I’m enjoying the scenery, I think everyone here is other than perhaps Matt.” He glanced over at the table where Matt had a bunch of charts spread out.

Matt looked up from his charts. “I’m enjoying, I just have an interesting idea I’m working on.” He smiled as he went back to working on his calculations.

Alex looked up at her parents as they walked over. “Pull up a chair.”

Alisa took the empty chair on the end which left Marie and Daniel to take the two seats next to Raven. “Good to see you again Raven, been keeping busy?”

“This and that, working on cars and enjoying my summer,” Raven replied with amusement.  

“That’s good to hear, what do you think of their realm so far?” Alisa asked curiously.

“It’s a nice long term project.” Raven would have been happier if his sister had included a couple more safety features but the realm was shaping up to be rather interesting for a first attempt.

Alisa smiled as she glanced over at the attractive barkeep. “At least someone has good taste in staff.”

Marie reached over and playfully flicked her girlfriend’s arm. “Bad doggie, no biscuit.”

Raven laughed softly. “I can’t really argue about the choice of staff.”

Abby hid her amusement as she sighed dramatically. “That’s probably my fault, when I created the world I might have let my mind wander more than I should have.”

Alex smiled slightly as she glanced over at the cute waitresses. “Just a bit.”

Abby snickered. “Shoot me, it was my first attempt at a medium scale realm creation.”

Raven smirked at his sister. “I’ve seen worse first attempts.”

“Gee thanks,” Abby replied sarcastically.  

He glanced around at the tasteful wooden tables and bar then looked back at his sister. “Still, I can‘t fault the décor.”

Alisa glanced over at the bartender, “I think I need a drink.”

Alex raised her hand so that the waitress knew to come over, “That’s actually a good idea, well that and food.”

Marie rolled her eyes. “I could go for some food.”

The waitress walked up with a smile, “What would you like?”

Alex smiled at the waitress. “How about a raspberry lemonade and steak and potatoes?”

The waitress wrote down Alex’s order, “That’s fine and for the rest?”

Marie said, “Same as Alex.”

Alisa asked curiously, “How’s your wine selection?”

“I’ve heard it’s drinkable,” the waitress replied dryly.

“Wine and steak then.”  

Daniel said, “Same as Alex and Marie.”

“I’ll be back with your drinks shortly.” The waitress headed to the kitchen to drop off the order and grab their drinks.

Alex smiled as she half listened to her mother discuss the clothing store with Abby. ‘Now if I can just figure out how to keep Mom from going ballistic over the arena, I’ll be in the clear.’