Chapter Nine.

“Keep up, my boy. Scientific progress waits for no man!” Came Veris’s cheerful call from somewhere ahead of me. We’d left a couple of hours after unlocking my Ideal, making our way to a location ‘particularly conducive to experimentation’. I had no idea where we actually were at this point in the twisting network of tunnels and small caverns we’d hiked through.

“I’m… Coming. Not all of us… can fly, you know.”

My speech was still halting, and the tone was off from what I was trying to project. It was surprisingly difficult since I didn’t have to breathe so any time I wasn’t focusing on it, I stopped. My ‘lungs’ weren’t perfect either, losing shape (and air) depending on my concentration. Which wasn’t helped by sprinting haphazardly through a cave tunnel in a body with some very unusual proportions.

After my first few stumbling minutes (and more than a few times smacking my new head) I’d been forced to adopt a semi-quadrupedal gait to travel. It took some getting used to, but once I got it down I actually managed some decent speed- probably a little faster than I could sprint before as a human.

Veris came zipping back towards me before he stopped, hovering a few meters ahead.

“Are you certain you’d rather I didn’t just carry you? We’d have made the journey in a quarter the time and already begun testing by now.”

Shuddering at the thought of being stuck back in that stupid bubble I shook my head.

“No, need to work on… movement.”

He sighed dramatically, “Oh it can’t have been that bad. Very well, I shall await you at the next intersection.” Turning back to leave, he paused and frowned at a section of wall before shooting a small spark of electricity at it. Striking a darker patch of shadow the spark spread out, revealing an impressive monster coiled to strike.

Skritter! Stop that and get down here right now. I practically shouted at him through the link. The monster deflated and sulked over to my side while Veris continued on, and I took a moment to admire Skritter’s spectacular upgrade as he approached.

Attention.

Minion [Blightling Hunter] has evolved to a new type.

Type: [Blightstalker]

A highly evolved form specialized to take down powerful prey. Enhanced senses, dexterity and intelligence. Greatly enhanced lethality. Reduced defense and manual dexterity. Can be summoned directly for increased cost if requirements met.

Confronted by powers beyond its ability, this former [Blightling] has evolved into a terrifying form with only a single purpose in mind. Kill.

Note: Adult form. Additional evolutions possible, but at greatly increased cost.

The description for Skritter’s new form was entirely on the nose; he looked terrifying, like a cross between a xenomorph, a praying mantis and a black panther. His blade-arms had gotten longer and much sharper on top of a series of venom glands covering them in an oily sheen. The other two pairs of limbs had shifted into stretched cat legs, with sharp sets of elongated claws perfect for climbing. His face kept mostly the same, though it had gotten longer and gained an additional row of teeth in his already impressive jaws.

Oh, and he’d gotten to use magic before me. Not jealous at all.

We weren’t sure exactly how it worked but he seemed able to cloak himself in a thin, dark mist that deadened sound and absorbed light. Positioned properly he was effectively invisible, and given that he was now larger than any big cat I’d ever seen on Earth this made him a ridiculously op ambush predator. I just wished he didn’t keep trying to ambush Veris.

We’re allies now Skritter, he’s teaching me about magic and we need him.

Skritter’s frustration boiled in the link and I knew I was going to have to take a stance on this one.

I brought you with us because I thought you’d be an asset with your evolution. If you cannot behave yourself then you’re more liability than help and I’m going to have to send you back to the others.

No! Came his quick reply. I will behave but… he attacked us! He growled angrily and grit his claws against the floor. He captured us and threatened the family! I thought with this change I could challenge him and free us but... I wake to us as friends. The last word was practically spat out, if you can spit through a telepathic link.

I know buddy, but sometimes things change. You’ll have to trust my judgement on this. Glancing briefly down the tunnel where Veris had flown off before continuing, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to have Skritter’s paranoid gaze on lookout- just in case. Keep your eyes and ears open, ok? I don’t think we have anything to fear from Veris, but I’ll be counting on you to warn me of anything suspicious.

After a brief grumble that everything about Veris was suspicious he agreed and we resumed loping down the tunnel.

As we made our way forward I couldn’t help from glancing a bit proudly to my minion. Skritter’s intellect had grown by leaps and bounds since he had first spawned in as a cheerful little murder monster. Going from basically a toddler with fangs to what felt like a mature middle-schooler- with even bigger fangs- in a short few days was a hell of a ride, I only hoped it didn’t mean something similar for his overall longevity.

Another hour or so of travel later and we entered an eerily similar cavern to Veris’s garden. Same large, high ceilings stretching into the distance. Same trickles of water flowing here and there. Only thing different was the wildlife, or more appropriately the lack of it.

There was nothing alive in the entire cavern.

Skritter and I immediately went on guard as we entered, the whole place screaming danger to our combined instincts.

“I applaud your caution, but it’s quite unnecessary.” Veris’s voice spooked both of us, coming from far away in the cavern as he zipped back towards us. A few seconds was all it took before he was hovering in front of me again.

“Even without my wards the cavern is quite large, it would be some time before we are noticed by its current denizens.”

Skritter glared distrustfully but otherwise kept himself calm this time, so I considered that a win. I started questioning Veris about our new location.

“What is… this place? Looks the same as... where you found me, but nothing alive.”

“Indeed it should look similar, my lad. This was my first- and much more ambitious- attempt at what became the garden, many years ago.” He looked around with an air of nostalgia clouding his features. “My pride far outstripped my abilities at the time. I had thought to create an almost… evolutionary cauldron if you will. Rather than the balanced system you know, this cavern was to be a place where powerful species that would normally stay well clear of each other would fight for ultimate supremacy!”

Waving his hand at the now barren expanse he continued, “As you can observe, not the success I’d hoped for. Instead of a battle for supremacy I inadvertently caused a one-sided genocide that rapidly extinguished all life here. I’m still forced to come here periodically and cull my mistakes to keep them from spreading out of control. A costly lesson on the danger of invasive species.”

Shaking his head, he focused back on me. “Today, you shall be culling the monsters that infest this cave with your new magic. Now, a word if you will since you appear to be in ignorance about the many principles of magic.” Gesturing for me to follow, he set out at a sedate pace into the cavern’s depths.

I couldn’t help but get excited at the prospect of learning real magic. Especially with my new Ideal resonating comfortably throughout my soul.

“In a moment, we shall attempt to cast your first spell. Ideals will manifest power based upon a combination of your will and the nature of the Ideal in question. I will not say that it is impossible to use the Ideal of Water to cast a fire spell, but the absurd level of mental gymnastics required makes it most impractical.” Coming to a stop, we found ourselves in a large open space, several times bigger than Veris’s home cavern.

“Another thing to note in such visualization is the scope of the Ideal. An advantage of humankind is our ability to divide Ideals into smaller and more specialized subsets. A perfect example of which would be my own ability to fly.” Soaring off without another word, he performed an impressive series of aerial acrobatics. Zooming through the cavern at breakneck speeds, dodging stalagmites by centimeters, he blasted through our immediate vicinity like a whirlwind before stopping in front of me without a hair out of place.

“That was the Ideal of Flight. Much the same could be accomplished with the broader Ideal of Air, but the level of effort required to achieve such precision is much greater. On the other hand…” With a wave of his hand, the air howled.

Like someone had summoned a hurricane the wind ripped through the entire cavern with a deafening scream. Every speck of dust and drop of water was flung into the distance as Veris exerted his power over the air, keeping a bubble of perfect calm around us until he lowered his hand. Without so much as a whimper the wind died and everything was calm again.

Whoa…

I didn’t even attempt to hide how impressed I was over that display, much to Veris’s amusement.

“Merely a trifle, but you see now the difference in scope. Of course not every novice has it in them to call the wind so.” He preened a little before he resumed. “I suspect this will be an area that your Cosmos will suffer with quite a bit.”

Immediately catching on I realized his point. My Ideal was one to encompass the freaking universe- small in scope it was not.

“I see you understand my point. This does not mean that delicate applications are beyond you, merely that we shall have to be… creative for a time to achieve success. Thankfully you have bonded deeply to your Ideal in a way that Humans simply cannot, which will ease the process greatly. Even with my own vast experience, attempting to practice such an Ideal would take me decades of deep study. I suggest you take advantage of this.” Clapping his hands once, he flew back by several hundred meters (taking a surprised and disgruntled Skritter with him) and continued in the link.

“Now, for your first attempt you will simply reach out to the Ideal in your mind and will it to come forth. Take your time and do not attempt to force the Ideal into a shape just yet. Complexity will come later, when you’re at less risk spell failure reducing you to dust.”

“Uh… Why’d you go so far back?” I sent back to him

“Merely a precaution my boy, you have my complete confidence!”

With those ever so encouraging words in mind, I sat on the floor and did my best to follow his instructions. Assuming a meditative pose I reached into my mind for my Ideal. Without any fanfare or effort it was suddenly there and I realized something important, it never left. How could it? Cosmos was everywhere and the concept was branded onto my very soul. In a very real sense I embodied my Ideal, I could no more be separate from it than I could be from my own soul.

Words bubbled up from my Ideal/soul and I felt them reverberate in the air around me

We are Cosmos, and our will is [LAW].

A sense of presence ballooned out from me, filling the air with images of the starry sky from my soul and stopping after just over a hundred meters in a sphere that I knew was absolutely perfect. I had a perfect mental image of everything in this sphere, from the various particles floating in the air above me to the ores scattered in the rock beneath my feet. There was an odd feeling of malleability to everything contained in the sphere. Like should I but will it be so the stones would annihilate themselves to accommodate me. I felt godlike, powerful, invincible.

A screech from nearby rudely interrupted my musings and brought my attention back to the two mortals cowering beyond my reach- for now. The man had conjured a pathetic tongue of flame and directed it towards me while the creature howled and screeched within the force bubble. He seemed to be trying to speak but his words were so small, so I didn’t bother to listen.

[Law] does not bow to men.

A vague memory of the man trying to show his superiority to me by flying came across my mind. It took only a simple effort of will to raise myself into the air, the stars of my domain orbiting around like a galaxy with me as the rightful center.

More words from the mortal, louder this time. He shouts with his magic, trying to press against my will in useless defiance. I would have laughed, but such insects are too far beneath my notice to warrant it. Seeing my apathy the man sends out a blast of flame at me.

Pathetic.

The fire barely touched my domain before I crushed it out. The laws contained within are weak- lesser. They cannot stop a god. The mortals continued to cower outside my domain and as the man readied more flames- this time in a cloud- I tired of their antics. My will flexed and the sphere grew, spreading as fast as thought to encompass the entire cavern.

I AM ORDER. I AM LAW. I AM… out of juice apparently.

Abruptly as they appeared all the lights and stellar phenomena vanished. I felt the air whistling past me as I started falling back to the ground, consciousness rapidly fading to black just as my rationality returned. My last thoughts were a vain hope that the ground was softer than it looked, because otherwise this was gonna hurt.