Amelia lost the first spell immediately.

Her excitement had caused her to reach out and accidentally counter Aidan’s lightning. It fizzled and hissed the whole time it vanished. Leave it to one of his spells to be a drama queen. She started to turn her head to demand he fire off another one when she saw he was lifting the Unfair Stick to do so.

Her eyes followed the lightning as it leaped into the sky.

She raised her right hand again, taking a step forward almost like she was trying to follow it before checking herself. The cowl of her blue hood slipped onto her shoulders. Brown-hair shot in different directions, untamed and mussed from being contained.

This time she had the lightning. Her hand moved back and forth, noticing the way the lightning didn’t expand in the same way the aquatic shot had. This lightning thickened in the middle and grew in strange directions like the gnarled roots of an old tree. The length of the spell stretched out further, becoming so long that it gave the illusion of a great serpent of light meandering slowly in the sky.

Amelia had no target in mind.

If anything, there were a great many things that were threatening to distract her from what she was doing.

Menus and notices that were quietly asking for her attention. She tried to glance at one of them but the brief distraction almost cost her the spell. Grimly she pressed her lips together and ignored the notices.

[Profound Beginner 2 …].

[Profound Beginner 3 …].

…

Aidan started to say something and she shook her head irritably, taking another step forward to remove as many people from her view as possible.

She was so glad that she didn’t have to blink.

Her smile became casual, hand moving back and forth in front of her, trying to get the lightning in the distance to dance across her fingertips. The ground and the fighting faded from her view slowly, so subtly that she didn’t catch it.

It seemed perfectly natural that her point of view was the lightning now.

[...4…]

[...5…]

She grunted, aggravated that B-3 and Vienne had jumped in front of her in the sky.

B-3 glanced over once, hopping back in the sky to avoid getting struck. Amelia moved the other direction to avoid striking her, both going their own way. B-3 tilted her head slightly, following the progress of the lightning until she was forced to deal with Vienne. A quick exchange and B-3 was hacked apart. Amelia looked back, pleased that Vienne had removed B-3 from her vision. The evil construct was annoying. Thanks friend.

Amelia felt the lightning was slipping through her fingers and once again reflected it, taking it a different direction. On impulse, she chose to send it closer to the portal. Not because she wanted to get too close to it, but because that was where the Cloudkill was. The lightning stretched out, so long now that it felt like it took forever to cross the distance.

Amelia came abreast of the ship and noticed that the closer she got the easier to see the deck it was. As the silver light gently touched the ship she could see the astonished faces of the wizards on deck. Ah! Elisha! Nice work. Amelia moved the ribbon of lightning from side to side, doing her best to make a little waving motion. Elisha didn’t wave back, but then, she did have a lot going on. Keep up the good work.

The lightning started to bleed through her fingers again. The feeling of holding a thick warm syrup between her fingers. Refreshing the reflect, she sent the lightning toward the Mountain that served as an entrance to the Half to see if she could see the Half Kingdom from the sky.

First though, she veered to the side so that she could take the longish way through the sky above the ocean. She looked down, admiring the lightning as it lit up the water, more than a little amused that the light brought up entire schools of fish that began hopping up toward the sky. While they were only able to jump a few inches above the water, it still made Amelia, who was flying a quarter mile above them, feel like they were along for the ride.

I suppose they can sense the excess mana?

[...8…] [!]

[...10…] [!]

[...Intermediate 1…] [!]

The numbers that had been climbing reset, probably a different tier or something, Amelia absentmindedly thought. There was another, newer, notification. After she refreshed the reflect once more, she tried to take a quick look at it. It had something to do with the lightning, she felt.

[Current Form Exceeding Base Spell Threshold: Expand Base?]

Yes. Why wouldn’t she continue?

[Base Expanded. Profound [One] Established]

We must never tell Aidan.

There was another message that popped up but Amelia no longer had a moment. She was approaching the shoreline once more, and needed to start turning now. It was a bit embarrassing but her train was longer than a reality V-star’s wedding train.

Let’s just turn this… a bit and… sheesh.

The Half Mountain flew into view beneath her, and her mood brightened considerably. Almost as if it were in response to her mood, the light she was producing expanded outward, so brilliant that she could pick out the individual veins of the leaves on top of the trees now. That was a little much, she should try to dim a bit. The light reduced once more.

Nice.

[...4…] [!]

She didn’t see Victoria but she suspected her small friend was down there.

Friend Victoria. It’d be nice if I could wave at you, but you’re probably busy.

Amelia reflected the spell and started winding her way back to the city.

[!][!][!]

There were quite the number of notifications.

Amelia didn’t like ignoring them, but it was taking all of her focus to maintain a hold on the lightning spell. It was so long and cagey that it was hard to imagine it dancing on the fingertips of just one hand. Hmm. Illusory fingers stretched up in front of her, and she imagined the lightning coiling around her arm, too. It seemed more manageable. The lightning began to coil upward in the sky, great loops and extended curls. Then it began to resume it’s journey toward the city, now twisting in on itself to keep it more together.

B-3 appeared in front of her path, smile gone. There was a grim line on her face. Amelia wasn’t sure what her problem was. Vienne appeared behind her, stabbing her through the back. The flaming sword came out her left collarbone but B-3 didn’t move. Amelia increasingly got the impression that B-3 was staring at her.

Amelia almost felt like frowning. Some of the lightning started to fork in different directions at the head.

[...6…]

I really dislike you.