So that's how the voice works now.

"Oooo-kay. That doesn't quiet explain one thing, though."

What's that?

"Why is my left eye black?!"

Oh. Um. What?

Looking through her short term memory and looking at what she sees, sure enough, Celestine's normally brown left eye is now a black as Charcoal-eye's eyes are.

Is this some side effect to the identification magic school?

"How should I know? You're the one who did this!"

I only wanted to make Voice useful and I did! I didn't know this would happen. Why are you so upset? It's only noticeable if someone is close to your head anyway because your right eye is dark brown. Besides, men from my world seemed to have a thing for heterochromia anyway. Bumps up your sex appeal.

"I'm seven!"

That doesn't mean you can't start thinking about your future.

"Stop changing the subject! I hate that about you! ...what's heterochromia?"

Okay. So I know what I said before when I was making the improvements to Voice might have made it seem like I did all of that in one night. That isn't correct. Little literary trick. It took over half a year to iron out most of the kinks. I just condensed it like that because that was all that was relevant. It's not hard to manipulate existing egos, it just takes time and repetition. Nothing important really happened between then and now anyway. Celestine is still struggling with spacial magic and light magic, Daemon's outbursts at night have become more frequent, Sylvianna is still cleaning up the messes, Warran is still Celestine's tutor, and Sullivan is still learning how to be an apothecary from their father.

Oh, and at some point Sylvianna finally had 'the talk' with Celestine. It went about as well as you'd think. Sylvianna had attempted to explain little things here and there every other couple of weeks so that Celestine would understand that, one, there are physical differences between men and women that weren't apparent. Then she'd explain where babies came from, but not how they were made. And at some point before her 7th birthday, Sylvianna explained to Celestine what sex was. If Celestine had any questions, I would fill in the blanks, but I didn't overstep my bounds. Rather uneventful, really. No great big surprises, really. In fact, Celestine was starting to connect the dots herself. I wonder if my own 'talk' was any different? I can't remember. If I could, it might have given me a clue as to what sex I was.

So that brings us to today. Celestine has a day off of magic training and Sullivan had a rare day off of apothecary training since Daemon was sick (and Sylvianna forced him to stay in bed). So what does that mean they do? Run through the city, that's what! Celestine grabbed her little brother's hand and drug him outside. It has been a long time since Celestine had been allowed to wander outside without her mother. She hasn't since she was living with her mother in their first house. And that was just with friends. Can't really call those friends any more since it's been so long since she's played with them. Former childhood playmates. That works.

"Stop dragging your feet, bubby!" Celestine shouted, forcing her little brother to keep up at her pace. They were wandering through stone-brick streets, the more expensive looking streets in the city. The more I see this city, the more I begin to hate it. It's a mess. If Celestine didn't have a photographic memory map of the city, it would be impossible to find anything here. I feel sorry for everyone else. And that means 'bubby' is completely dependent on his big sister for navigation. Oh that's so adorable. The first time she called him that his face lit redder than a tomato. Okay, she didn't actually call him 'bubby', that's just the best translation of their word for it I could think of. Basically a silly name for 'brother'.

"Slow down, sis! I can't walk as fast as you!" Sullivan's nickname for her is very uninspired.

"It's going to be crowded if we don't hurry up!" Celestine picked up her pace, to Sullivan's dismay. You could collapse and she'd still drag you, bubby. Celestine is growing faster than her little brother, so her legs are longer and she's stronger than he is.

They rounded a corner and walked through a plaza full of wooden shop stalls before ducking through an alley and emerging in front of a huge building. It wasn't tall, just wide and long. Two floors tall to match with the surrounding buildings, but it took up 6 of the regular buildings in area. The city's library, gallery, and pretty much cultural center that wasn't the church. This building houses a lot of historical records, references, fictional books, and biographies in one section, then a gallery of art in another section. Then there are several empty rooms on the second floor for parties, diplomatic meetings, and various other functions that didn't concern Celestine. She was here for one thing today. They were having an art show. She wanted to burn the pictures into her mind for inspiration or something. Sometimes it's hard to understand what goes through her head. Myself included.

Oh well. Art might not really be my thing, but since she wants to do this then I can't really say no. I have no right to say no. What made her want to become a painter anyway? It's so random.

The gallery entry was free for children, so there was no reason not to go. They were guided to one of the, normally empty, large rooms upstairs. There were paintings on the walls, easels standing up with more paintings, tables with pottery and small sculptures, and a few large sculptures of stone in the middle of the room. The sunlight from the windows lit up the white room with its white light, which made everything so bright that it was hard for Celestine to keep her eyes open fully. We might need to go to a shop later and buy some sunglasses if they exist in this world. This world's sun is unforgiving. I can't imagine the UV rays from it being too healthy.

There were a few people in the room still setting up their displays. Were these all locals? Ah, no, one is a thin lamia boy in a decorated burlap gown setting up a display of carved teeth and bone.

Celestine's eyes wandered everywhere. From the portraits, which seemed to be the most abundant works, to the few landscapes. She eyed a painting of a nude man a little too long before she noticed Sullivan's dirty look. Then the opposite happened when Sullivan was about to reach out and grope a statue of a woman from the waist up wearing nothing but a thin cloth draped over her shoulder. Wait, that cloth is part of the statue? It's stone, I could have sworn it was just cloth draped over the statue. That's some great work. Oh, Celestine punched Sullivan. Moving on~

A few of the landscapes were of cities. Only a couple were paintings from within Arture. The ones of Arture were prettier than the reality counterparts. There were a few fantasy works like a floating city. A few of some monsters. Many different pictures of the stars. Some metal work was on display, too. A few brass utensils, some decoration swords, and a golden telescope. Ooooo. Okay, I'm enjoying myself more than I thought I would.

A huge tapestry hung on the wall featuring giant beings of legend atop a pantheon with a backdrop of stars and nebulae. There were seven beings. I guess these are representations of Arture's seven great gods with the stars meant to represent the many more? Regardless of the origins of their religion, their imaginations are on point.

There was a poster by the entrance asking visitors to speak to staff before they leave to say which piece of the gallery they liked the most. Apparently the city was going to pay the artists for their work and put them on permanent display in the main gallery downstairs if enough people liked them. That poster was just placed there so they must have written it up after we walked in. The thought of deciding the fate of the pieces of art lit something up in Celestine and she went back to scour through the whole gallery with Sullivan right beside her. She never let go of his hand. Super protective of her little bro.

They spent a great deal of time going over everything at least three times. The sunlight through the window waned as the sun rose higher. With less light, it gave a lot of the sculptures different appearances, so she eyed them the most, even ignoring Sullivan's wandering eyes as they looked around near the nude woman with realistic thin cloth bust. There were many visitors, but never many at one time. So Celestine's worry of a crowd was for naught.

At the end of their visit, when Celestine was finally satisfied (and hungry) they visited the staff member by the room's entrance, who was holding a board with a notebook attached to it. In the end, Celestine's favorite was a painting I overlooked. One of the many galaxy paintings. What was so special about that painting? She'll probably want to add it to the cabin in my wonderland, so I'll get an earful of it tonight. Sullivan's was... want to take a guess? Like father like son I suppose.

Outside, everything was a bit quieter than usual. They ducked back through the alley again, back into the plaza. Everyone was silent. Heads upturned staring into space. Celestine looked at what was so interesting and saw it. An enormous rock. Not either of the moons, but an asteroid. And it was about to become a meteor. Oop, just did. Now it's on fire. Cue the screaming.

"IT'S HEADING FOR US!" Shouted a man. Hey, that was Charcoal-eyes. Haven't seen him in a while! "GODS SAVE US!"

Everybody started to panic. Stalls were upturned, goods and produce scattered, people crying and tripping over each other. Not good.

Celestine! Grab Sullivan. Don't let him go.

She did as I said without response. She wrapped her arms around him tightly and pulled him against the wall of the building next to the alley. There's no possible way that this meteor won't destroy the entire city.

Celestine, switch with me. I might be able to slow it down.

"Okay!" She shouted, but no one could hear it except me. Control of the body was being relinquished and I gained control. Senses, feeling, motor control. Damn it, Celestine, you pissed yourself! Oh, wait, that's Sullivan. I guess we were in the gallery a while.

"SULLIVAN!" I shouted into his ear. "GET BEHIND ME. WRAP YOUR ARMS AROUND MY WAIST AND DON'T LET GO!" I quickly repositioned him so he was at my back, Celestine's back. It's so weird having to think in third person when you're in control. Sullivan's arms wrapped tightly around Celestine's waist.

I looked up at the ball of fire. It was getting closer. No time. Just no time. Every second counts! I have no idea if I can do anything, but if I do nothing then we die anyway. I feel the ripple of the worms in the bones coiling around the body, every movement, every pulse. I force every ounce of magical energy at my disposal to my arms. I sure as hell hope asteroids aren't made of anything different in this universe. I begin to call on elementalism, atomic manipulation in my hands, and reach for the meteor. Iron is what meteors are made of in the Earth's solar system. Iron and trace heavy metals like titanium and platinum. But predominantly iron. Please work! I command any and all atoms of iron in the sky above. And I hit something!

I heard something crunch beneath my feet. Shit, I hit something heavy. The meteor hopefully. It sent my feet through the brick road. Wasn't the only thing that broke, though.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH, SULIVAN, HOLD ME UP!" Both legs broke with that grip on the iron in the meteor. Sharp pain. Oh god the pain.

"SIS! STOP, YOUR LEGS!" His voice was shouting and crying.

"WE'RE BOTH DEAD IF THAT THING HITS US! HOLD ME UP!"

Sullivan's grip changed, now he held Celestine's body up from under her arms, his arms wrapped over her chest and with her back against his chest. This is a quirk about magic that I don't quite understand. When a mage attempts to move something heavy, their body takes the force of the weight. But someone can still pick up the mage with the weight on their body as if they were just standing there. It's very bizarre. Must be something about the law of nature that stops mages from using spacial magic to fly. And if we survive this, I have an idea for a mage outfit. Exoskeleton!

More power than I have ever called upon is now coursing through Celestine's bones. I continue to hold the arms up and command the iron to slow. Pushing it up as hard as possible without making the same mistake twice. At first I was trying to stop it. That's why I went through the road. If I didn't let go the instant I felt pain, the force of the meteor falling would have transferred through to Celestine and it wouldn't have been the meteor that destroyed the city, it would have been Celestine's body as she was vaporized and her atoms would have blasted through the ground. That's a very scary thought. With great power comes great THINK BEFORE YOU ACT.

The meteor was slowly losing speed. The ball of fire was still a ball of fire, but it was now a slightly colder ball of fire. Pieces of it were breaking off. I did my best to send those flying outside of the city, but a few houses might not be so lucky with the tiny bits. A few more seconds and the fire around the ball was out. Good. If it hits at this speed, maybe a tiny bit of the city might survive. We won't, though. Keep working!

Ten seconds later, the meteor crashed into the ground inside the plaza. Most people vacated the plaza, but there were still some nearby. The crash kicked up dirt, dust, and rocks everywhere. But luckily I managed to slow it down enough to where the city could be spared. All of that in the space of 20 seconds. Oh, I want to sleep. But I can't do that yet, we need to get Sullivan home.

Enemy IdentifiedName:NullSpecies:Armored TigerAge:27,525 Erde YearsGender:MaleConduit Strength:80Magic Affinity:Atomic Manipulation: Metal (Major)

Spacial Manipulation (Minor)Hostility:Attacks on sightClass:Continental Disaster

The meteor cracked and groaned. Um... Identify...

Voice spoke in my head as I looked at the meteorite, which was bubbling and churning like you would expect with something exhibiting atomic manipulation magic on it.

Is it too late to let it hit the town at full speed? That might kill it... Of course it is. Oh gods, if you really do exist, I'm sorry for pretending to be one of you. If you have to smite me, can you at least leave the rest of the continent alone, please? Oh gods...

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, guiz. I kinda burned myself out and needed a break to brainstorm. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, now with added plot!