Lya has a minion!

Gem the Patch-Haunting Cat

he Agicalis once passed from one realm to the next as easily as one might walk a garden path. There were no restrictions in the Golden Age when all forms of life spoke a common tongue and human minds were open to the possibility of magic. I am not the last Agicae who witnessed the fall of the Nameless Sorcerer on Tower Rock. Naso's proficiency in the dark arts was matched only by his cruelty. His true name has been wiped from the collective memories of every being save the first Agicae of the Sorcerer's Council.

Those few stories that have survived the ages claim he was a human born to commoners and that his first Crossing was accidental. It would often happen that way. A child walking home from the fields would stumble through a realm gate, walking amid fluorescent fungi and feathery lilac toads, returning half a mile from their home village and running to tell the village elders about the marvels they'd seen. Realm walking was considered a great honor. No child was ever punished for coming in late to a meal when they could provide their village with tales of new wonders they had seen.

Only three children of Earth learned to walk through force of will before the Naso came. All three were great leaders with epic songs sung in their honor.

Humans could learn the meditation necessary to realm walk, but they were never supposed to be capable of developing skills in magic. The Element Council declared this at the dawn of time. None can say how Naso broke this universal law, yet acquire powers he did. He nearly destroyed all life in the cosmos, forcing the Council to break a rule themselves. They are not to interfere in the affairs of mortals but they were the only ones with enough power to save the many life forms clamouring for their help.

They were forced to borrow power from every active Agicae, killing many overwhelmed beyond their point of endurance. Those of us who had greater strength witnessed as the Naso was stripped first of matter and then of energy. His skin shrivelled and was absorbed into a skeleton that grew brittle and fell to powder. His magical aura hung in the sky, a fierce glow of spectral colors that pulsed and fought but could not overcome all the forces of life working together.

The Council determined that humans were too unstable to be entrusted with the awesome powers their kind was slowly learning to develop. All human knowledge of magic was erased and all histories and memories of the Naso's existence were removed, seared in the Everlasting Flames said to burn eternally on the home world of the Council members. A portal will still open on Earth through chance but no Wielder may use this planet for a crossing.

y connection to sun and moon and stars allows me to see all corners of the universe in the pools of Nosima, my home. I am in the soft morning light that wakes sleeping children and in the blaze of the midday sun that makes laboring hands slick with sweat. I am in the luminous face of the moon that sends pleasant dreams on pale rays. There is not one star born that I cannot call by name.

This forest I call home is in a realm that has never known the ugliness of war. Life can experiment with many forms, taking on shapes and patterns that change by the hour. The flora and fauna are all Aware though few speak in voices as a human would think of a voice. I can hear the sorrow in the sick ones. The light I carry can burn away disease and banish decay with the touch of a single finger.

I can go half a century without seeing an unwilling human traveler. I do not dare approach them directly. They mistake me for one of them at a distance but even the dull senses of humans can sense that there is something different. When they try to look past my flowing tresses and homespun dress, they sense the power that shifts and ripples just beneath my skin and they are afraid. Even the innocent little children begin to tremble though I hold out my hands in a gesture of peace.

I remain hidden, watching the progress of the girl child from a distance. The furs she wears stretch tightly across her body, one a thin white web that barely conceals her woman's form and one a strange blue with the roughness of tree bark that branches to allow for the movement of her legs. Her feet are bare but for thin strips of leather with purple twigs that curl over her toes.

She is astonished by the frilled rabbits with their blazing golden eyes and tales made of flame. She nearly meets with disaster when she reaches for the pale blue fronds of a carnivorous banya plant, snatching back her hand when she notices a fly the size of an earth cat whose instincts do not warn him of the danger in time.

I should leave the girl to her fate but I cannot help being fascinated by humans. I encourage a pack of lion wolves to move east toward an easy hydrobeest kill, preventing them from getting the girl's scent as she continues west. I politely ask the vines that would snare her legs to move aside with a gentle thought. I drape a net of soothing over the child so she will not allow the lurking fear in her heart to send her stumbling down a more dangerous path.

I have helped other humans in such a manner, viewing them briefly on their home world in the moments that follow their visit. Most dismiss the experience as a dream or as the result of too many potent drinks.

The girl is back on the country lane on which the realm gate opened. She blinks and scratches her head, confused and a little afraid. Her image fades in the pool and I know she will not remember her brief journey. She will not spread tales of wonder except perhaps to her grandchildren as she recalls a wonderful dream she once had as a girl.

Human Art by Ivies @ Gaia | Quad Art by Pathos (#3943) @ Aywas

Story by Pureflower | Profile by Bloom