Dream Magic: Awakenings (19 page)

"One story only, and no profanities," Annie said.

"Okay. This is a true story with a sort of happy ending." Ashley cracked her knuckles. "So there I was, away from the Pulse at nighttime, in the middle of a zombie onslaught. I thought I could push through, but I overestimated my power and found myself alone. After mindlessly hacking apart zombies for what felt like days, I was pushed to the ground, exhausted. That putrid odor was so overwhelming. I really thought I was done for. And then..."

Ashley paused. All eyes were on her, and few were even holding back their breaths. "In a flash of light, nearby zombies got blasted off. An elven warrior charged in on a horse, swinging his sword. He had a robust, shiny armor which emanated light."

"The elves were supposedly wiped out when their realms collapsed in the Elven Cataclysm," Lucy explained, whispering.

"He most likely wore plain clothes befitting a nature-loving elf," Annie muttered.

"Shh,
I'm
telling the story here!"

"Sorry."

"So there was this elven warrior in shiny armor, which made the sun shine in the sky, rescuing me. He reached down from his beautiful horse, offered his hand, and pulled me up. He had the most gorgeous eyes. He asked me with a deep, singing voice: 'Are you all right?'"

"Wow..."

"Yeah. Speechless, I nodded. By the time I dusted off my clothes, he was gone, galloping into the sunset," Ashley gestured into the distance.

"I wasn't bothered by zombies after that, but when I got back, nobody believed me! I was told that the few elves who survived the obliteration of their realms were only shells of their former selves. But he wasn't! And nobody believed me."

"I believe you," Annie put her arm around Ashley. "Mostly."

"Thanks."

"Will you tell another story?" A student asked.

Ashley shook her head. "I'll go back to the Outpost soon, and I have stuff to take care of before I do."

"Oh, not yet you don't," Annie said. "Come, tell me more about this elven prince of yours in private. Class dismissed!"

Elfs, zwölfs...
Eric frowned. Despite never having seen an elf, he was now sure he didn't like them. Especially the ones in shiny armor.

One benefit of nature magic should be obvious even to an outsider: leverage. Be elegant as a butterfly flapping its wings, and you'll whip up a storm in no time.

- Balance of Natural Systems and Complexes,
Dreamer's Handbook

Snow painted the freezing landscape white.
I hate winter.
Eric's fire-shield cantrip kept him reasonably warm and resisted the tugs of the chilling wind.

The interlocked treehouses stood out of place this far from the Playground. There were six in total, their rooftops covered with sparkling snow.

One of the kids climbed the ladder, and others, like Eric, just hopped up to the entrance.

Eric looked around while waiting for the others to pass through the door. Dream Camp was always kind of bare: nothing but grass, leaves, and sunlight. Even so, it was filled with fulfilling feelings only the best of dreams could provide. Ambushed by the winter, the grass hidden under the snow and the bare trees told a solemn goodbye, of death, and of things that will never be.

Eric closed the door behind him.

Inside was warm and little globes of light floated above like little suns.
This place is enormous!
Eric was used to the slight distortions of distance that were common and natural to Dream Camp, but the discrepancy between the small treehouse on the outside and the huge warehouse on the inside was both impressive and disorienting.

Eric saw row upon row of earth-filled wooden boxes, many of which were home to lush and colorful plants. Large flower pots hanged from the ceiling containing the more unique ones.

"Wow," Rose murmured.

While most youngsters stood politely along the same row, others couldn't help but embrace the vastness and run around.

Eric spotted Maeve, who was already talking to a group of students.

"...It's not simply about needing power; power is everywhere. You want processable power you're accustomed to use, power that you can resist, power that remains under control of your identity. You don't just draw power from nature; expand and contract..."

Another group of students gathered around a young woman, who guided them along, pointed at various plants, and occasionally barked warnings to the kids running around.

"What is she saying?" Eric asked.

"Not to touch the plants," Rose said.

Eric frowned. "I know that. The other stuff."

"She's reciting botanical names in another language," Lucy said.

"Latin?" Rose asked.

Lucy nodded. "Romanes eunt domus."

"You speak Latin?" Eric asked incredulously.

"That's all I know."

"Oh."

Much of the greenery was just different kinds of grass - dark and long, wide and sturdy. Some looked sharp. The flowers Eric saw were mostly the kind they weed out rather than sell in a flower shop. He didn't know enough about saplings to know what kinds of trees they would grow into.
Such variety...

"Hi, I'm Linda, Maeve's assistant," the young blonde said. "Welcome to our garden! I can point you to our prettier botanical marvels, or would you prefer to look around on your own?"

Eric shrugged.

"This isn't really a garden, is it?" Lucy asked. "It's more like a jungle warehouse."

Linda winced. "You're right. Most of these plants were outside, but we had to move them due to the changing weather conditions. We gathered all these from surrounding realms, and we're trying to determine which will be good fits for the ecosystems about to be implemented."

"I see," Lucy said. "Experiments?"

"Kind of. My job is only to take care of the plants. Maeve does the actual testing, most of it in her head. 'Projecting miniature realms to observe energetical and biological compatibility', something like that."

Lucy contemplated silently.

They heard Maeve laugh. "Everyone, gather around! We have to start with the theory."

Eric moved closer along with the others, and leaned on the edge of one of the wooden boxes.

"Winter in a bare-bones system is better suited to elemental and not nature magic... I was hoping to hold this class in a more tranquil setting, however, our realm is undergoing transformative changes and this will have to do."

"I really hope you paid attention in school, because nature magic uses all the knowledge you acquired, especially natural sciences." She continued by muttering under her breath, "Except for all the thick-headed misconceptions stuck like thorns in your brain."

Maeve looked around to make sure she had everyone's attention.

"On the rudimentary level, nature magic requires comprehension of systems; when we talk about understanding something, we usually mean understanding the system in which it functions. How does a plant grow? How is a house built? How do we cast spells? Stuff like that."

"'System' means 'standing together'. The notion of 'system' is valid in the context of the existence of an external observer and the process of analysis. With analysis, we break things into pieces in order to understand them."

A boy raised his hand. "That sounds like computers... Where does the magic come from?"

Maeve smirked. "An observant pipsqueak, aren't you? Well, you're right."

"A mage does not insist on external observation nor analysis, but the lack of such assumptions is enough to drive a scientist crazy." She chuckled. "But, they are very useful, and it's easier if you understand the systemic approach first before skipping to higher-order abstractions."

"When discussing advanced nature magic theory, instead of 'system' we use the term 'stand-alone complex'. What stands alone cannot be broken apart, right? A system has discrete parts, and a stand-alone complex has aspects. We can think of such complexes as emanations of the Holistic Principle. If we trade in hard analysis for softer discernment, systems can be explained as a stand-alone complexes reduced through analytic understanding."

"And of course, we get rid of the problem of emergence in systems. That whole idea is not better than saying god did it, which while not technically incorrect, lacks certain finesse. It's not that awareness emerges in a sufficiently complex system, but that a stand-alone complex with sufficient diversity becomes evident to an external observer. A mage prefers not to get reduced to externality."

"This way, awareness is inherent as much as time is inherent. Psychologists also like to call it 'individuality', but..." Maeve's head shook gently from one side to the other. "...that context is messy."

"All in all, the advanced approach is less hands-on than operating with systems, but if you can warp and wrap your head around these concepts, it all fits together more nicely."

Blank and disinterested looks surrounded Maeve. The boy from before stared at her with his mouth agape.

Maeve opened her arms and said loudly, "Everything has soul. That's where the magic comes from!"

'Ah's and 'oh's escaped the audience, along with a few shrugs of pondering why something so obvious and matter-of-fact needed to be pointed out.

* * *

"Stop that! You're giving cancer to my plant," Linda admonished.

Eric pulled back his hovering hands from around the plant. "Sorry?"

"Your life-force is overpowering it. Just be gentle."

"I'll try."

Linda walked on to the next student.

Eric resumed the exercise. He placed his hands on the pot and tried again. Helping a plant grow wasn't easy.
Maybe instead of just giving it energy everywhere, I'll give only where it's needed. But how do I know what it needs? Hmm...

Eric remembered Maeve talking about breaking things apart to understand them.
Maybe that's what I have to do... But where to start? I hope she didn't mean it literally.

Eric looked at the plant again.
Leaves, stalk, bud. These are its parts. The veins on the leaves are lighter than the rest, and the third leaf is smaller than the other two. The stalk is very thin and uniform everywhere. Except where the leaves grow out. The bud at the top is tiny, and it looks like there are even tinier leaves and stuff inside. And of course! It also has roots which I don't see.

Eric categorized the plant's parts, but wasn't sure how to proceed. A plant doesn't have a nervous system, blood coursing through its body, or a brain to think with.
It doesn't eat, it doesn't drink, it doesn't breathe air.

Eric watched the glint of a tiniest droplet, which was sliding down from one of the leaves and into the soil.

But it does eat and drink! Not like me, but it does! Obvious really. And light! It does that green photo-thingy stuff with it. It also transports all this to all the cells.

Happy to have remembered some of the stuff he learned in biology class, he now knew what to do.

Eric prepared tiny packets of energy, which he projected into the soil and pushed up through the plant's roots. With a different kind of energy, he caressed the leaves of the plant, like the gentle touch of the wind.

Content that he figured it out, he let his conscious mind descend into a meditative state while engaged with the minutiae of this task. There was stillness, and there was movement. He might not have understood the microcosm of balances within the plant, but with an occasional glimpse, he felt it.

Time passed while Eric offered the plant everything he thought it needed - but not more. Eric felt happy because of his modest breakthrough.

"What are you doing? No, no, stop," Maeve said.

Eric broke his reverie and looked up to Maeve.

"When I instructed to help the plant grow, I didn't mean that you should
make
the plant grow. The exercise is about becoming aware of a connection. Be here for the plant; offer, and let the plant take what it needs instead of you shoving energy up its roots. It's almost the same as the crystal-charging exercise, see? Just watch it grow - these plants are vain, they like to be watched. Do by not doing. Got it?"

Eric took a deep breath, nodded, and turned his attention back to the plant. He grabbed the pot again and drove his thumbs into the soil.

* * *

"Are you meditating?" Lucy asked.

Master Joe opened his eyes. He was sitting on the snowy ground, legs crossed. The cold didn't bother him, even though he was wearing only a thin, white robe.
A bathrobe?

"I'm preparing for a ritual - a nice trick I learned from druids long time ago."

"What kind of trick?"

"Well, being one with nature isn't quite the tranquil experience people make it out to be. If you push such oneness to the extreme, there is no 'you', only nature. Essentially, you push yourself out of existence! That's what those monks with vows of non-violence aspire to, but they fail to understand that the very act of existing is an act of violence. In my opinion, a better goal is to be one with nature as it accepts you as part of itself. Such a druidic approach is more about accepting higher responsibility and less about chasing a feeling of ecstasy."

"In this state, you project the structure of existence of the world around you - and inside equals outside, to the degree you're able to preserve your individuality. Energy is the back-and-forth movement, leylines are lines of existence your being projected on the world, and the angles of your existential intersection with the realm are also sometimes called 'angels'. But, you know, it's just terminology."

"You're confusing them, Joe," Maeve said.

"Right. Have you brought the seeds? I'm almost done preparing."

Maeve nodded. "Give it to him," she said to Rose.

Rose offered Master Joe a small sack of seeds.

"My projections show this should do," Maeve said.

Master Joe nodded, and took his time examining the contents of the sack.

"Come," Maeve beckoned the students. "We'll watch the ritual from a distance."