Chapter 16
“You have used your heka for healing purposes mainly and while that’s admirable and certainly helpful, you will have to be able to access more of your power.
Technically there is hardly any limit to what you can do.
Your heka isn’t specialized to a certain area, like the magic of other beings.
We are all-rounders, so to speak,” Lydia explained.
“You learned to control your magic by drawing and writing what you wanted, putting the things into words and pictures, which made it easier for you to achieve a certain task,” she summed up my experience in one sentence.
“But you also told me that as a baby and very young child, it seemed like you always got what you wanted. So I assume that even before you knew how to steer your powers, you have been using them.”
I nodded, my mother had come to the same conclusion when she started teaching me about my heka.
“The thing that’s holding you back is not the lack of magic, but that you are channeling it all wrong.
Writing the spells down helped you control it, but it also meant you never learned how to harness the magic and access its full power.
So today, I want you to use your magic without a pen and paper. ”
I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. Was she being serious? Was that something she believed I could do? I sighed and rubbed my temples.
“I don’t even know where to start. How am I supposed to know what to do?”
Lydia got up from where she was sitting on the boulder and carefully walked towards me.
“Let’s start by taking off your shoes and socks and by joining me in the river here.”
The water was ice-cold, but after a few minutes my feet were numb I couldn’t feel the cold anymore.
Lydia walked into the middle of the river and motioned me to turn my back towards the mountain and turn my gaze in the direction the water was flowing.
“Now, close your eyes and focus on my voice. The water at your feet is coming straight from the holy mountain. It carries the essence of life, for it replenishes the valley around us, pumping life into every tree and animal and insect around. Feel the water rushing past you, the strength and vitality behind it. Your magic is like that water, it was sent by the Fates and it’s running through you, pumping through your veins, responding to your will.
It is your purpose to access this power, to decide where it’s flowing and to let it nurture you. ”
Maybe it was pure imagination, but I felt my hands beginning to tingle. I could see the magic flowing through me before my inner eye, pooling in my stomach and flowing towards my arms and legs and heart.
“I can feel the magic,” I said quietly, as if the magic would disappear if I spooked it.
“Good, the Fates are in touch with you now. If it makes it easier for you, you can repeat those little sentences you used to write down for your spells in your head. Calling upon the Fates to help you use that magic. I want you to start with something easy. Choose a color and change the color of the water.”
I tried to clear my head. This was fine, nothing bad was going to happen. I was in control.
One breath. One act. One choice.
Do good. Stay clean. Hold steady.
I kept my eyes closed and my focus on the magic in my stomach.
“All right, I am ready.”
Taking a deep breath, I let my senses reach out around me. I heard the river swooshing by and the wind picking up. My palms were tingling, and I raised my arms up so my palms were facing the water. I knew it had worked the second I sent out the spell in my head.
“Fates, I call upon your age-old wisdom.
Turn the water in this river purple.
As I command, so it goes.”
I didn’t dare open my eyes, but I knew something had happened because I felt the usual surge of happiness and giddiness in my body. Like taking a shot and standing up too quickly at the bar. I reveled in the feeling and slowly started opening my eyes.
Lydia looked at me happily and pointed around us. The river was tinged with purple, the sunlight making it look more like lilac, but I guess that was close enough.
“Whew, so that worked well,” Lydia summed up, but although she seemed relieved, I knew we were only beginning.
“If we are ever under attack, you’d be dead before you could even close your eyes,” she stated matter-of-factually, and of course she was right as always.
“But first things first, we need to make sure your way of communicating with your magic is foolproof before we can tackle your speed. How are you feeling?”
I was giddy with excitement and for the first time in a while, I actually felt hopeful.
“I am feeling great, let’s do this!” I said a little too enthusiastically.
Lydia frowned in response.
“I forgot the effect magic can have on someone if they are inexperienced. We will have to raise your tolerance towards magic, otherwise you’ll be drunk on magic after the first 10 minutes of the battle.”
I chuckled, not because what she said had been particularly funny, but because I felt laughter bubbling in my belly from sheer excitement.
“The next thing I want you to do is try a spell with some force behind it. See that old tree over there? It’s been dead for a while, so I think it won’t mind us using it for practice. I want you to focus on that tree and tip it over, so it lands somewhere along the river,” Lydia explained.
I tried to calm down the tingling all over my body and locked my gaze on the tree, taking a mental picture of it.
Then I closed my eyes and let the magic gather in my palms. I lifted my palms towards the tree and pulled the tree towards me with my magic.
A crack erupted and I opened my eyes in time to see the tree hurling towards me at lightning speed.
* * *
Theo
I was bent over the ledger, Caelan murmuring beside me, when the strange sensation started. Like a ripple on a calm lake, a hiccup in time, a skip in ones step. Someone was meddling with time. I moved before I fully understood, a dumbfounded Caelan hot on my heels.
“Where are you going?” He shouted.
“I need to check on Maelis. Something isn’t right,” I answered and stepped onto the Luminaris. In an instant, I was transported outside, landing right next to the river.
The air hummed with untrained magic, and a tree hung frozen in mid-flight. Lydia stood frozen, eyes wide with fear. Where was Maelis?
Water splashed behind me. To my relief, Maelis appeared from the bank of the river, waving and smiling.
“Theo. Theo! Theeeeooooo!”
“What happened, Mae? Are you all right?” I asked breathlessly, taking in the scene before me. She was completely soaked, her workout clothes clinging to her body. I quickly looked away, trying not to stare.
“Theo, I can’t believe you’re here! Isn’t this water wonderful? I am so so so happy to see you, I’ve missed you so much!”
A small smile tugged at my lips, despite myself.
Her energy was contagious; bright, bubbly, impossible not to like, but something in the way she flailed and gushed set off an uneasy hum in my chest. I wanted to say it back: I missed you too.
But the gleam in her eyes, the erratic motion in her limbs, the unsteady joy, it wasn’t her.
The magic had her high, not uncommon in untrained magic wielders.
She might have meant what she said, but she would never have admitted it like this sober.
“That is very nice to hear, but you are drunk on magic right now, so maybe you should get out of the water. You stopped time, that is pretty impressive, but I think it’s time to bring back Lydia, don’t you think?”
She nodded fervently and turned away from me to start dancing.
I turned my attention towards Lydia and with a twist of my hand, time started flowing again.
The tree crashed into the river and a scream escaped Lydia. She called out Mae’s name in panic and then noticed that she was not in front of the tree anymore, but happily dancing on the other side of the river.
“Theo, what happened here?” Lydia asked, and I could see the exact moment it clicked.
“She stopped time?” she said.
“She stopped time.” I repeated.
The implication hung between us, there would be time later to dissect this information.
I turned around and watched her moving through the water with a carefree energy that made my chest tighten in the best kind of way.
Every laugh, every splash, every wild, unrestrained gesture reminded me of why I had missed her so much.
Being near her like this made the world feel less lonely, less heavy.
I wanted to hold her hand, to teach her everything I knew, to learn everything I didn’t from her.
She was so impossibly unique, so alive, it made me ache just to be close.
And then she started taking off her clothes.
My gut twisted, and I clenched my jaw. Fuck. I’d seen women naked before, but this wasn’t just nudity—it was her, entirely herself, reckless and unaware, and there was no way I could let myself look. My face heated, my hands curled into fists at my sides.
“Lydia,” I said quickly, keeping my gaze firmly on the horizon, “make sure she gets home safely.”
Lydia smirked, ever so amused, but nodded.
“You can take the Pathways. I’ll send for the horses,” I added curtly. The moment I vanished, I willed myself to stop thinking of her like that, to contain the heat rising through me.
* * *
Maelis
I didn’t remember much after that or how exactly I got home, but I woke up a few hours later on a sofa in the living room at the Lodge. Fates, my head was throbbing and my mouth was dry as the desert.
I groaned when I sat up. What the Fates had happened?
I peeled my eyes open and was greeted with a big grin on Caelan’s face. He was sitting on one of the chairs opposite of me.
“Our little streaker is awake again. How are you feeling?” He laughed.
“I feel awful, what happened?” I rasped.
Caelan leaned over and handed me a glass of water and a little bag of white powder.