Niles

  Niles had often daydreamed about living in a magical world, imagining all the different things he would do, but he had never imagined he’d end up tutoring math. But here he was, helping Birgit get ready for a math test. It had taken him a little while to figure out the different symbols and conventions the professor had been using, but the principles were all the same. Evidently, math transcended planar boundaries.

  Birgit had been pretty lost when they started, but she was starting to get it. He admired her work ethic, at least. As her familiar, he was allowed to help her during tests, so he could have just taken the test for her, but she’d insisted on learning it, anyway.

  “I think I have had all the math I can take for this evening,” Birgit announced after solving the latest practice problem Niles had given her. “Now it is my turn to be the teacher. I will start you with the first spell I learned. It is a simple light spell.”

  After that, she showed Niles the symbol that had to be drawn either on the object that was to light up, or simply in the air. She told him the arcane words that were needed and helped him get the pronunciation perfect. There was a simple gesture that was needed as well, and she had him practice that until he had it down. Niles practiced all three things several times until he could do them all without fail.

  “Now all you have to do is channel a little light magic into the spell,” Birgit instructed. “You should be able to feel the magic in your core. The incantation, gesture, and symbol should call to it, so you should feel it flowing from your core into your hand. Simply let it flow out."

  As Birgit demonstrated it, Niles saw the elemental magic flow out of her fingertip, glowing the pale white Niles recognized as light elemental magic. It hit the symbol she’d drawn in the air and ignited into a brighter white light that lit up the room. Niles focused and tried to reproduce her effect. He thought he felt something stirring in his lower abdomen as he went through the steps. It even made it partway up his arm, but then it just flowed right back. He tried it over and over. Sometimes it felt like it made it all the way to his fingertip, but not a single drop of magic ever flowed out of his finger. No matter how hard he strained, the magic would not leave him. He began to doubt that he was really feeling anything. Maybe it was all just his imagination.

  “Perhaps it is time for us to rest,” Birgit suggested.

  Niles had lost track of how many times he’d tried the spell, but he saw through the window of Birgit’s living room that it was now completely dark outside.

  “Do not feel bad,” Susi added, gliding up behind Niles and beginning to rub his shoulders. “Not everyone has the potential to cast magic. I practiced that spell for years and never managed to make more than the very faintest glow. That is why Birgit is the student, and I am her companion. And even Birgit, despite how brilliant she is at magic, cannot match the magic strength of many of the students here, despite how hard she works at it. Magic potential is just not something you can change.”

  “And you have so many other useful talents and skills,” Birgit pointed out in a soothing voice. “I have never heard of anyone who can see magic like you can without the use of a spell. And Mona said you have the makings of an excellent warrior. Plus, there was the way you resisted that lightning bolt and then healed so quickly…”

  “And do not forget how big and strong you are,” Susi added, leaning against Niles' back and wrapping her arms around his neck, the move causing Ruby to shift around in her usual position at Niles' throat.

  “Thanks,” Niles said, patting Susi’s arm and forcing a smile. “But you’re right. We should get to sleep. You’ve got a math test in the morning, and then we’ve got a trip to the mountains.”

  Niles was greatly disappointed that he wasn’t some sort of magic prodigy, but he did his best to hide it as they got ready for bed. Watching the students in Birgit’s combat casting class throw lightning bolts and fireballs around the practice field, Niles had imagined finding out he had some sort of huge, untapped potential that would allow him to become the greatest wizard in the kingdom. That’s the way it always worked in anime, but it looked like he was just going to end up being a warrior in a world full of mages. It was fitting, he supposed. He was a guardian familiar, after all. But it still sucked.

  At least Mona had shown him the basics of spear and club use while Birgit’s class was casting their spells. That had gone well. Mona really seemed to know what she was doing and had given him some good pointers and exercises to work on to get the basic moves burned into his muscle memory. His previous martial arts training hadn’t been a complete waste, either. Many of the principles, like balance, center of gravity, and ring distance, still applied, and beyond that, he was pretty sure he was both stronger and faster here. He felt more energetic, and his stamina seemed better, too. He could have easily practiced for another hour or two with Mona. Maybe it was related to whatever had caused him to heal so quickly. Could this world have supercharged him somehow? He wished they had magic character sheets in the world so he could check his stats to see if he had really gotten a boost. Or maybe this was just more wishful thinking on his part.

  He really only had a short sparring session with Mona to go by. He was several inches taller than her and at least fifty pounds heavier, so of course, he was stronger than her. She’d obviously been more skilled with weapons than he was, but he felt like he was a hair faster. He didn’t know how she compared with other warriors in this world, though, and she might have been taking it easy on him since he was just learning. Well, tomorrow they’d be heading off into the wilderness to fight monsters, so he might have a chance to test himself against a real monster. He was undeniably excited by the idea, but more than a little apprehensive, too.

  Niles washed up and changed into his workout clothes from Earth, which had been laundered for him. Susi had found a cot for him to sleep on, so he wouldn’t have to share her mat again. Hopefully, she’d stay on her side of the room, and he wouldn’t have another shock in the morning. She’d flirted with him a little more this evening, but not quite as outrageously as yesterday, and again only when Birgit was there.

  It took Niles a while to calm down enough to sleep, but he felt refreshed when he woke up the next morning alone on his cot, with no one wrapped around him. No one walked in on him while he bathed, and his new clothes were clean and comfortable. He felt ready for anything. Having discovered food was free for him at the academy, he ate a big breakfast of eggs, sausage, fruit, and porridge, which was pretty close to oatmeal. He’d been extra hungry ever since he got here and figured he’d better eat well now before they went out camping.

  After breakfast was the math test, which Niles thought was fairly easy. Birgit took the test herself, and Niles just checked her work. She made a few mistakes, but she caught and corrected them all when he pointed them out, so by the end, Niles was pretty confident she’d aced it.

  Birgit’s mood was noticeably more upbeat with the test behind her. It was so bizarre to think she was more tense about a math test than going out crystal hunting in the monster-haunted wilderness. Maybe it wasn’t as dangerous as Niles had worked it up to be in his head.

  They got everything ready for the trip and met up with Uma, Mona, and Hilaria for lunch. Mona was the only one who had armor, but the three other women had all changed into outfits that were more suited to outdoor exploration. Their outfits for the expedition weren’t that different from the male students, surcoats over shirts and pants, though the pants were wide-legged enough that they almost looked like dresses. They only came down to mid-calf instead of all the way to their ankles like their normal dresses, but boots that disappeared into their pant legs kept any skin from showing. They still wore all their jewelry, which further solidified Niles' conviction that the baubles had prepared spells on them. On top of that, they each had two or three wands in holsters on their belts and carried staves covered with copper and silver bands and crystals that glowed with magic.

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  “Woah, is that a griffin?” Niles asked when Birgit summoned her mount. It had the head of an eagle, massive wings, birdlike front legs, and a back half that could have belonged to a very large lion. Covered in blue and white feathers and fur, it was the size of a large horse. Birgit had told Niles she had a mount familiar, but he’d just assumed it would be ground-based. A flying mount was definitely cool, but it also made him more than a little nervous.

  “This is Sapphire,” Birgit introduced. “She is a greater air elemental spirit, but this is her preferred form. You can ride behind me.”

  There was no saddle on Sapphire’s back, but there was a harness of sorts with a pair of large saddlebags for their camping supplies. Niles helped Birgit up onto the mount and then used the harness to climb up. Birgit showed him how to use some straps on the harness to attach his belt to it to keep him in place, doing the same herself. He was glad he was wearing a good, thick leather belt now and not just a sash.

  Uma and Hilaria had both summoned their mount familiars as well, two more greater air elemental spirits that took the forms of a giant owl and a hippogryph. Mona mounted up behind Uma, and once everyone was strapped in, they took to the sky. Sapphire just leaped into the air, beat her huge wings, and they surged up twenty feet in an instant. From there, she shot up at an angel so steep Niles was sure he would have slid off if he hadn’t been strapped in. It was exhilarating and terrifying.

  “You don’t have to hold on quite so tight," Birgit shouted over her shoulder once they leveled out, hundreds of feet in the air.

  Niles realized he had his arms wrapped around Birgit’s waist and was pulling her tightly against him. “Sorry, I’ve never ridden a flying mount before.”

  Niles loosened his grip some, but did not let go. He couldn't tell exactly how fast they were going, but judging by how fast the ground below was flying past, they had to be going at least ten or twenty miles an hour. Flying in a V formation, the three elements took turns at the point, and Niles saw Birgit periodically channeling air magic into Sapphire.

  They flew north toward mountains that grew larger and larger as they traveled. For the first couple of hours, they traveled mostly over farmland with occasional towns and villages, but slowly larger and larger patches of forest appeared between farms, and finally the forest took over entirely. As they neared the mountains, the ground below became rougher and rougher.

  “This is about where we usually hunt,” Birgit called out after they’d been flying for a few hours. The ground below was hilly, with large, rocky areas showing through the tree cover.

  They continued on as the ground became even rougher, and soon they had to start flying around rocky obstacles even though they were steadily increasing their altitude. After another hour, they shifted their course to fly between two large peaks. Uma had the point position when they flew over a sharp, rocky ridge and began descending into a valley. A stream ran through the middle of it, and there was a fair amount of scrubby trees and other vegetation growing on both sides. Spotting a clear area, they landed near a wide spot in the stream that formed a small pond.

  “This should be a good spot to camp,” Mona announced, and everyone dismounted.

  It was still only late afternoon, but the peak to their west was already blocking the sun, so they began setting up their camp before it became too dark. Dismissing their home plane, Uma and Hilaria both summoned their own guardian familiars. Both guardians were greater earth elemental spirits, roughly the size of black bears, but they looked completely different. Uma’s familiar looked like a giant turtle with a rocky shell and a long tail that ended in a jagged, rocky club, while Hilaria’s looked more like a giant badger with long claws that seemed to be made of rock.

  The two elementals took up guard positions while Niles helped Mona set up the single large tent they’d brought, and the others surrounded the campsite with a ring of protective spells. The tent went up faster than the spells, so Mona drilled Niles on his spear use for a time. Yesterday, Mona had him run through the forms with a wooden staff, but now Niles used the real spear she’d loaned him. Five and a half feet of wooden shaft led to a narrow, leaf-shaped steel blade about a foot long, with a short steel crosspiece separating the two sections. Mona explained the cross piece was to keep monsters from pushing up the blade to get at you. The balance of the weapons was a little different from the staff he’d used yesterday, but Niles hadn’t practiced with it enough to really get used to the feel, so he adjusted quickly.

  By the time they were done with their practice, the spellwork was done, and the others already had a fire going and a simple meal prepared. It was nothing fancy, just a simple stew made from dried ingredients they’d brought with them, served with tough, dense biscuits, and hot tea.

  “You seem tired,” Niles noted as he sat down next to Birgit.

  Birgit yawned. “I had to channel magic into Sapphire while we traveled to keep her going. Prolonged magic use is quite exhausting for me, since my magic reserve is so small. But I will be fine after a good night’s sleep.”

  “So, what will those spells you guys put around the camp do?”

  “They will sound a loud alarm and generate a bright light if any creature larger than a rabbit comes within range. That will usually drive off most animals and at least give us a warning if it is something more dangerous. But we will still keep watch, just in case.”

  “I will take the first watch,” Hilaria volunteered. “I did not have to use as much magic to keep my mount going, since I was the only passenger.”

  “Mona and I will take the second watch, then,” Uma added.

  Birgit nodded. “That leaves the last watch for us, Niles.”

  “If you need more sleep, I can probably watch on my own,” Niles offered.

  “No, I will be fine,” Birgit insisted. “I will do my part, but thank you for offering.”

  “So, how does this whole crystal hunting work?” Niles asked. “I assume they’re stationary, so we don’t have to actually track them or anything, but how do we find them? Do we just wander around looking, or are there some signs to look for?”

  Birgit fished around in one of their packs and pulled out what looked like a glass ball about the size of a grapefruit, with something floating in the middle of it. “We use one of these, a crystal resonance detector. It is enchanted to send out pulses of magical energy that sweep through the frequencies of the various magical element types. If there is an unharvested crystal nearby, it will resonate, which will cause the crystal in the center of the detector to glow and move from the center of the sphere toward the crystal. Then we just follow in the direction the detector indicates and look for the crystal.”

  “Sometimes they are really hard to spot, though,” Hilaria warned. “They can be as small as a pea.”

  Niles examined the device. “What kind of range do the detectors have?”

  “The range on mine is only about ten to thirty paces, depending on the crystal,” Birgit answered. “They make some that can pick up crystals at as much as one-hundred paces. But those are incredibly expensive.”

  “Tomorrow morning, we will spread out and sweep through this valley,” Mona said. “We can split into three groups now that you are here to protect Birgit, Niles. So that will let us cover much more ground.”

  They continued to discuss their plans for the hunt as they ate, and by the time they were finished and had everything cleaned up, true night had fallen.

  “Are you not going to return to your home plane to rest?” Uma asked as Niles made a place for himself to sleep in the tent.

  “I asked him to stay,” Birgit said quickly. “I feel safer with him nearby. We are much further into the wilderness than we have ever ventured before, after all.”

  “You certainly are a devoted familiar, Niles, to spend so much time with Birgit,” Uma noted.

  Niles smirked. “How could I pass up an opportunity to share a tent with so many beautiful ladies?”