Vitaly S Alexius

Technomagica 2 : 44 Soul-mate-ness

Kliss and I met Delta in our parents’ house in the late evening, when violet stars covered the sky overhead and the rings of Lunaria and Inaria cast their radiance down on the valley below, painting it in gold and silver-blue tones.

“Soooooo,” Delta grabbed Kliss. “How’d your date go? Give me the deets.”

“It was nice,” Kliss answered simply, blushing slightly.

“Deets damn it, stop hogging them,” Delta insisted. She spotted the dragonflies flickering about...

Technomagica 2 : 43 Quantum Entanglement

With the final urn claimed, we walked out of the catacombs hand in hand.

As Kliss prepped dinner in the bar’s large hearth she hummed a song under her breath. It took my mind a few seconds to recognize the tune. The song that was becoming louder and clearer with each stanza escaping from her lips was “There is nothing better in the world”.

It was a song sung by Oleg Anofriyev in the 1969 animated film The Bremen Town Musicians.

“Woo-ooo-ooo, yep, yep,” Kliss conclu...

Technomagica 2 : 42 In-Between

We walked down the long winding tunnels with me scoping out hidden alcoves and Kliss smashing them open to claim crustal-filled urns.

“It’s funny to see you this frustrated,” she said.

“I’m usually not this frustrated,” I replied. “I just don’t get why it’s so stable and a rectangle.”

“You got something against rectangles?” Kliss grinned as she bit another gold-rune painted urn with her chompers and then slid it into her backpack.

“Actually, y...

Technomagica 2 : 41 Space

I let go of her hands, staring at her wide, ruby and emerald eyes.

“That was… something,” Kliss muttered, blinking.

Fire crackled beside us in the large hearth of the dim and empty Fox and Fiddle pub.

“She’s lots of words and threats, simply searching for a way to escape her confinement,” I said. “I’ve no reason to trust in any of that doomsday nonsense.”

“I think that the Song of Wormwood is honest about the coming comet,” Kliss murmured. “At ...

Technomagica 2 : 40 The Keymaker’s Burden

The avatar of the Astral Virus spread her pale, lanky hands upwards and the blue sky of Earth generated by Neurovista above us suddenly parted, revealing the view of the infinite, dead world, one that loomed over Novazem.

"When the time comes, which side will you choose?" Sasha asked us.

“What… side?” Kliss demanded.

“Entropy or Syntrophy,” Sasha answered.

“What?” I asked as I stared up at the sky in my dreamscape, at the infinite, shattered city of In...

Technomagica 2 : 39 Claimed

“I see,” Kliss swallowed. 

“Also, I suspect that Dragons sleep for centuries so that they can digest and process all of the magic they’ve absorbed from the environment and convert it to more of their soft-hard crystalline structures. They’re basically walking thaumaturgical reactors and reactors need time to cool down, lest they self-reinforce their core into existence too much and melt right through reality along with their hoard. Remember what I said about thermodynamic...

Technomagica 2 : 38 Syntropic Boundary

As the morning sun struck the valley with hues of gold and orange, I made myself a cup of tea and headed straight to my dad’s workshop. Once there, I grabbed a charcoal stick to sketch out the frame of the glider.

I was no flight engineer, but in my previous life I had used my savant syndrome afflicted mind to absorb a truly ungodly amount of knowledge. This, I simply pulled at the strings of my past, going over the long hours I spent at the Lenin State Library of the USSR, recalling ...

Technomagica 2 : 37 Brainstorming

I mentally relaxed as Kliss claimed Leemy, the dragon girl’s teeth digging gently into the dryad’s hand. I watched as a crimson wave of magic surged from the hoard across Kliss, wrapping itself around Leemy’s souls and planting brilliant sparks all over her. Like before, I carefully and instrumentally trimmed, pruned the connection, snipping away the control mechanism that would eventually turn Leemy into an obedient slave if left unmanaged, leaving only the positively charged flow of m...

Technomagica 2 : 36 Hydroponics

[Dante Alan Skyisle]

“Please, Leemy?” Delta asked. “Trust me? Trust us. Kliss isn’t your enemy or ours and Slava will make sure that she grows up to be a good dragon.”

“There is no such thing as a good dragon,” Leemy insisted.

“There is now,” I said. “I made Kliss, she’s an entirely new type of species–a chimera. I’ll make sure that her skills don’t just destroy forests. In fact, her fire will help you bloom.

“Fire�...

Technomagica 2 : 35 Reunion

[Kliss Eliza Cessna]

Moscow constructed itself brick by brick all around us. I recognized our arrival point right away, Slava had once again taken us to the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy.

As I looked about, I noted something that wasn’t there yesterday.

A giant violet-leafed tree was wrapped around the twisted spire of the Monument to Conquerors of Space. Its violet-orange leaves rusted in the gentle summer breeze, casting int...

Technomagica 2 : 34 The Stormweaver

[Aradria the Stormweaver]

I dreamt of fire, above the endless sky.

I was that fire, living fire that pulled upon a thousand other sparks that belonged to me, fire that swelled from within, blossomed outward, became the storm.

I was Aradria, the Queen of the Sky, the Stormweaver, the Goddess of the Spine of the World, a firstborn, primordial embodiment of power and magic.

My breath was a torrent of molten fury, one that melted mountains, vapori...

Technomagica 2 : 33 The Keymaker

I opened my eyes to the view of the frozen ocean. Strangely enough the wind blowing from the Barents Sea wasn’t cold, it was warm and cosy, one that wrapped itself around me, held me in its embrace. I recognized it as the positively-charged, protective radiating from the dragon girl’s heart.

I didn’t expect to end here again so soon, didn’t think that Sasha could just pull me into her section of my soul while I was sleeping right beside Kliss.

“You think that you’re sl...

Technomagica 2 : 32 The Hoard of Skyisle

I went over the downed Violets. The barmaids were asleep, not responding to my prodding, their bodies still obeying the Charisma-infused order.

Can't you wake them up? Delta asked.

I can, I said, but I want our dragon girl to get experience of purging enemy magic from her kobolds.

I sat down on the floor next to Kliss and resumed my scan of the cavern system around us with my Infoscopes, noting points of interest.

Positively-charged magic now radiated from gold-covered...

Technomagica 2 : 31 - Obelisk Delights

Konstancia’s funeral was held in the small garden behind the Fox and Fiddle pub. The gathered priestesses of Ishira sang a brief hymn in her honor, their voices mixing with the rumble of distant waterfalls and the whispers of the wind coming down the glaciers.

Delta helped Magenta plant a Mystic tree seed over the grave and then used her Agromancy to make the tree rapidly bloom from it. The resulting little tree grew about thirty centimeters up, covered in violet leaves and flowers.&n...

Technomagica 2 : 30 Violets

We gathered around the dining table, my parents already busy preparing breakfast while Kliss nibbled on a piece of toast, her ruby hair reflecting the orange sunrise. Delta, satisfied with eating pastries from the Moscow cafes all night, bounced around the kitchen, humming a cheerful tune as she helped set the table.

“So,” Delta said, plopping down next to Kliss with a smug look, “What should we call our new… joint-posse? The Lilac League? The Ishira Angels? The Dragonheart Bri...

Technomagica 2 : 29 Love

“I very much doubt that you can actually understand what love is,” I addressed the Astral infection.

“It is hard for me to truly experience something while being confined within this simulation. Love… according to your own memories is a chemical cocktail. A set of evolutionary impulses meant to further procreation and ensure species survival. An equation completely missing in your previous life,” Sasha mulled, a hundred of her silver-blue eyes opening and closing. “You think...

Technomagica 2 : 28 Containment

I went to bed that night feeling extremely pleased with myself. Things were working out, Skyisle was mine. All I had to do was prepare the village for the arrival of Inquisitor Jubz and his two legions and then everything would be okay thereafter.

When I tried to activate lucid dreaming to enjoy the dream of Moscow along with my sister and Kliss, something went catastrophically wrong and I felt myself being yanked sideways into elsewhere.

My mind...

Technomagica 2 : 27 The Elders of Skyisle

Archmage Delta, an imposing, armoured figure composed from ants, bees, spider silk and Leemy-grown, polished, white wood, led our procession through the bustling streets of Skyisle. 

My Infoscope, acting as her eyes and control mechanism, streamed the view of the village directly into my mind. Controlling my own body and the ant-mech took extra effort, but I managed it nevertheless as I needed to attend the meeting in person as the Administrator of Skyisle acting on behalf of our n...

Technomagica 2 : 26 Kobolds

“Claim you?” Kliss blinked. “What do you want me to do, bite your hand?”

“What, dragons don't claim living things?” I asked.

“Uhh, I don't know,” Kliss shook her head. “From the Imperial reports on her, she was a solitary hunter.”

“Well, you're not Aradria,” I pointed out. “We have a golden opportunity here to explore the potential of your chimeric nature. Who knows, maybe claiming a living being could unlock some hidden ability, a new power we have...

Technomagica 2 : 25 Moral Compass

I woke up to the gentle caress of sunlight on my face and the soft rustle of leaves. For a moment, I was lost, unsure of where I was. Then I felt it – the comforting warmth beneath my head that rushed across my entire body, a sensation so alien to my usual hands-made-from-ice existence. I opened my eyes and found myself staring into Kliss's emerald-gold gaze.

“You're awake,” she said, a soft smile gracing her lips. Her ruby-violet crystal hair, sparkled like a thousand tiny suns, ...

Technomagica 2 : 24 Orphans of the Beast

Technomagica 2 : 24 Orphans of the Beast

[Delta Alana Skyisle]

Being Great-Aunt Delta wasn't exactly a walk in the park, especially when dealing with a horde of brainwashed cultists who just tried to burn down my family's home. Slava had collared them with Vow-disrupting hexagrams and sent me to deal with the aftermath.

As my brother snoozed on the couch with Kliss keeping him extra warm and cosy, the lucky butt, I surveyed the scene in the back garden, feeling a tad overwhe...

Technomagica 2 : 23 Blood Iron

Magic wasn’t the solution here. According to thirteen years of my research into understanding the nature of magic, the power of Precognition, operating in high level Seers primarily made magi see magical solutions to magical problems. For example, a Seer could see what spell their enemies would use against them, but mundane physical actions, simply didn’t translate into Seer Foresight.

I had arrived at this conclusion after I thoroughly interviewed the Cessna Librarium Administrator...

Technomagica 2 : 22 A Lilac Tide

With the first ray of morning light, the Ward surrounding our parents’ house and workshop produced a ringing, bell-like sound, notifying everyone within that a group of visitors were standing at the entrance gate, demanding entry.

Georgi made the gate with Delta and me at the end of last summer from Moonwood roots reinforced with his magic. The gate stood between a fence formed from massive stones we brought into position from the woods with the [Gravity] spell I had acquired from the...

Technomagica 2 : 21 Nobody expects the…

A gleaming, silver skyship flashed above the Skyisle, cutting through the clouds just as we were enjoying dinner with our parents in the back, outside kitchen.

“Is the Empire here to check up on you?” Our Dad asked, his orange beard twitching.

“I don’t know,” I said, staring up at the evening sky as the skyship decelerated, heading to the landing area atop of the gray tower of the Church of Equality.

“I recognize that ship,” Kliss suddenly declared as her sharp...

Technomagica 2 : 20 Chaetae

“Question?” Delta poked my side as our hovercraft docked at the edge of the village close to our parents’ home.

“Yea?” I stretched.

“Would you be able to cut up the remnants of the Basq ship’s dragonheart core to make me bracelets to keep me warm?” She asked. “Isn’t it just a big crystal? I like Lizz and all, but it seems like if I had to hug her forever it would interfere in the rest of my life.”

“Alas, no. By itself the dragonheart is just a battery...

Technomagica 2 : 19 Treasure

Kliss blushed even deeper. Then I saw the cogs in her head turning.

“You talk to the Hollow Mother… in your dreams?” She demanded.

“Not since I got the Lucid Dreamer skills,” I shook my head. “I’ve been feeding her lies for a year now, running my dreams in parallel using separate soul fragments. So far, she hasn’t noticed.”

“What if she does?” Kliss demanded.

“Then I’ll have to do something about it,” I replied.

“Something like…”...

Technomagica 2 : 18. Brain Hemispheres

Our hovercraft circled several spots of interest around the lake. I jotted down mental notes as my Infoscopes flashed through layers of silt and dirt beneath the clear, blue water.

The presence of Kliss holding onto my hand allowed me to fight the pull of the Astral Ocean, which was far, far worse here. The membrane between the physical and the magical above this lake was incredibly thin, full of holes akin to a slice of cheese.

“Are we doing any diving today?” Delta asked. 2024-03-17 17:38:21 +0000 UTC View Post

Technomagica 2 : 17. Fishing

“I see that you’ve improved on this gliding vessel,” Kliss commented as her slitted eyes moved over the hovercraft that was now slowly moving over the large lake in the middle of the Skyisle Valley. The Church of Equality was visible in the distance, blue stained glass reflecting the glittering caustic reflections coming from the brilliantly-blue azure lake.

“M-h-mmm,” Delta sent Kliss a sly grin. “Are you super-duper impressed? You should be! It now fits three people!” 2024-02-23 05:05:28 +0000 UTC View Post

Technomagica 2 : 16. Sparks

[Kliss Eliza Cessna]

Strange thought it was, Dante’s gift of a Phylactery book filled with esoteric Earth knowledge of radiation… made me feel warm inside. Not simply warm, as in appreciating a gift from a friend, but warm on a physical level. The longer I held onto the magic book, the more it felt like it was something that I craved.

I refused to let go of the book, even as Delta pushed me into the shower. The artefact felt like a little warm kitten ...

Technomagica 2 : 15. Energy

[Dante Alan Skyisle / Vladislav Alexandrovich Kerenski]

I watched as Kliss fell to the ground, standing on her knees, wide, emerald eyes staring up at me.

It reminded me of one of the Medieval knight ceremonies from tales of Kievan Rus conquerors I had read about as a child. Of Vladimir the Great, the Prince of Novgorod and ruler of Kievan Rus and his Vitiyaz knight-errants. The Russian word “Vitiyaz” was derived from Scandinavian “Viking” as Vladimir th...