Inari’s Gift

Cera and Falron returned inside and began to cook, the older man still looking disturbed at what he had seen.  On the other hand, Cera remained calm.

“You see, I was proud of my skill, but not how I gained it.  I was always fighting, ever since I learned about magic, normally against nonphysical entities, but occasionally against other mages as well.  Most things have a ‘one of us, or one of the enemy’ mindset, so trying to be neutral gets absolutely everyone to turn on you, and I refused to join any faction.  This continued for many, many years, the scale of it only growing as my power increased,” Cera began, her tail swaying side to side as she dredged up her old memories, finding herself amused at the insanity she had been caught up in.

After a short pause, she continued, “In time, others finally realized I truly was neutral, but by then, I had discovered a threat that needed to be dealt with.  Few others were willing to take action, so I made it my mission to oppose it, despite its scale and power.  As such, even when others quit attacking me, I ended up attacking an ever greater force and remained in combat with it for many, many years.”

She shook her head, remembering the vast increases in strength as she struggled against her foes, then resumed, “In time, I learned to create life, and protect their souls from the corruption I opposed.  What I showed you earlier was from long before I ran into those creatures, and I improved immensely during the time I opposed them.  Fortunately, it appears that my old methods do still work here; I merely need to adapt them to the local rules of magic if I want to do automated casting.”

She sighed before finishing, “I do hope I can have a more peaceful life here; however, it looks as though I will have trouble with that merely due to being non-human.  I’m hoping my illusions will handle most issues, but I’m also planning to learn how to alter my body; that way, even people who can see through illusions won’t reveal me, though I’ll miss this form when I do manage that.  I used to be good at altering crystalline bodies, but biological has always been something I’ve avoided.  Evidently, that needs to change.”

Falron promptly inquired, “You were always fighting?  How often is ‘always’ in this context?”

Cera laughed and shook her head, then answered, “I mean always.  Day and night without break.  I learned how to maintain my shields subconsciously quite quickly, as I was a bother to others, having to be healed constantly.  Not many are willing to heal you while you’re still under attack, as well.”

After a short pause, she continued, “I had to become extremely skilled at defense just to stay intact.  In short order, I had also turned my shields into weapons, having them rebound attacks.  In time, I even had them amplify what they redirected.  Eventually, I reached the point where I no longer worried about my defenses, but I still continued to advance out of worry that something stronger might come along.”

“That sounds unbelievable to me, literally nonstop attacks for years?  That is absolute madness!” Falron exclaimed as he turned to stare at Cera.

With a nod, Cera replied, “I am well aware.  If it were only one being, it would be insane, but imagine a dozen different factions all attacking with rotating groups of attackers.  Sometimes I’d get a break, and the intensity would drop as one group would turn on another due to being enemies with them, but largely, they focused on me.  After all, within the astral, distance doesn’t matter much and acts oddly.  Two beings can both be ten feet from a third, yet miles from each other, depending on dimensional fluctuations.”

Falron shook his head and remarked, “What is the astral?  I don’t recall hearing of that before.”

This time, Cera was the one to stop and stare, pausing for a moment, even her tail going still in disbelief, before answering, “I forgot that this world may not be aware.  So where to begin…  I suppose I should start with the nature of this plane of existence.  Everything that you know of is part of a single plane within the astral.  Each plane has its own rules, strength, and durability.  Each plane can be considered a fabric of sorts, and too strong of a being will tear through it rather than be able to interact with it, unless specific techniques are used.  Imagine trying to walk over a spiderweb compared to carefully touching it with a blade of grass.  A spider can wander across its web without any issues, but a person will pass right through it and damage it along the way.”

She sighed and took a moment to catch her breath before continuing, “There are, as far as I can tell, infinite planes within the astral realm.  Strong enough of a being can shift their will into the greater astral realm, beyond their own plane and interact with existences beyond individual planes, or reach into others.  I am uncertain if that is possible for a being on this plane to reach that point, however.  In other places, the most powerful beings are able to physically move into the astral.  I was from a plane where even relatively weak individuals could cast their will out, yet none I knew of ever moved there directly.  It was an interesting difference from most.”

Cera stopped to think for a moment before adding, “I had my will projected into the astral at all times once I learned of magic, with no way to withdraw it fully due to how I’d gone about projecting it.  In a way, I split my mind into two halves, one within my physical body, and one that existed within the astral.  As such, I was exposed to beings native to the greater astral at all times, and my refusal to join them led to a great deal of hostility.  This happened because distance, and with skill, time as well are non-linear.  Teleportation is easy, as is operating at significant distance from yourself.”

After a chuckle, she explained, “If I could simply contact my old creations, I could take over this world in seconds.  But I intentionally let myself be significantly weakened because I wanted a new life, not merely a quick break from my old life.  I certainly don’t mind abusing my knowledge, however.  If I can make my life safer, that is certainly a good idea.  Though I would like to eventually reach the point that I can interact with remnants of my old life.”

Falron took a moment to take in all he had been told before remarking, “That certainly sounds quite…  Impressive?  Unbelievable?  Insane?  I don’t know exactly how to respond.  But if you were constantly under attack, how were you able to survive?  Did they conveniently just send weak beings one after another?”

Cera laughed in response before answering, “Exactly that!  We had an ‘evil overlord list’ some people came up with as a fictional bit of amusement, and one of the points was to never send slowly escalating groups after the enemy.  That is exactly what happened, with few exceptions.  I certainly never made that mistake myself.  But aside from a few unrelated attacks, they slowly grew in intensity over time rather than having significant jumps.”

She paused to shake her head before joking, “Clearly, they must have been trying to help me improve!”

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