The River

Jerking awake once more Midori was again subject to the throes of morning sickness, but as she sat back on the edge of the river and took a slow breath she realized that something about her surroundings had changed.

Moving in tandem with the steady current of the stream was what looked to be a separate stream, different and much further beneath the one she’d drank from. It was not quite there, like if someone had turned the opacity of it way down, or some mad optical illusion that refused to go away.

And as she crawled slightly away was when she realized the strange river was not under the stream, but under her. Tiny rills of it drifted upwards, small glittering butterflies flying out of the golden light before dissolving. And each stream of light seemed to connect to a living thing. Now that she could see them all it was more like glimpsing the vascular system to some type of eldritch creature, it was nearly blinding.

Her hand shifted along the grass and she felt a pulse of energy from within the ground, almost responding to her touch. Each blade of grass a tiny river of power and strength, all connected to the source drawing further strength.

It was so blinding and disorientating that she nearly threw up again before shutting her eyes entirely bringing blissful darkness.

Midori shouted for help and Rune was by her side near instantly, followed by Sahaela. According to her new ghost mentor she was suffering a common side effect of the medication, like discovering sight for the first time it was new to her and would take time to learn how to shift it out of her sight until needed.

For now they wrapped her eyes in cloth, for after a short time even her eyelids could not keep the light out.

Her world now buzzed with new sensations, everything living came with a hum of power that she felt she could draw from. And it was there she learned her first lesson, drawing from an outside source was anathema of the natural order, she would have to learn to draw from her own source, learn to draw in that power and make it her own.

“It’s kind of difficult to explain, it’s like learning to breathe.”

“Okay but that’s like…I didn’t have to learn that.”

"Exactly, but if you did it would be nearly impossible to properly teach."

Midori groaned in frustration from the back of the cart that she previously balked at but had now become the only place she felt safe. The wood and blankets did not hum like other things, they were disconnected from the strange stream below.

“That’s the River.”

“The river of what?”

Sahaela shrugged, “life, souls, all of the above? I never actually got to study the theory of things and all that. That was for mages of the High Tower.”

“High Tower?”

“It’s sort of a school for magick. I never got a chance to go, but I remember hearing they did a lot of research into the nature of magick, the River and its source.”

“Maybe one day we’ll get a chance to visit.” Midori said, wanting to cheer her up after hearing the faint note of regret in Sahaela’s voice.

“Maybe, but for now you’ll have to make due with how I learned.”

It was a gruelling and frustrating ordeal to try and learn something that had no real methods of starting. To some extent it was a game of trial and error: breathing exercises, regular exercise, up to literally reaching out and trying to grasp the stream like it were a physical thing.

“For me it’s cracking my knuckles,” Rune said having led for the better part of the day and now resting in the back with Midori. He demonstrated, and she could now see a flood of aura flow from his heart to his hand.

"Okay, so it’s…like something flowing.” Replacing the blindfold she took a slow breath and tried to focus exclusively on the beating of her heart.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

She listen to the rhythm and tried to feel the blood moving through her body, flexing her fingers and feeling the blood rushing there. Flexing her toes as she tensed her abdominal muscles she felt her body slowly responding to the strange requests.

And then she felt it.

A faint flicker of something moving through her body.

Almost like an extra heartbeat.

“I felt it!”

“Good!” Sahaela said, and though Midori could not see she knew the woman was smiling proudly. “Now remember that feeling, drill it into your body until it become second nature.”

With a faint groan Midori realized this was going to take awhile.

-----

As it turns out “awhile” was being generous.

After two days of intense focusing, flexing practically every muscle, and meditation she had barely begun to grasp the concepts that Sahaela explained to her, and nothing was really making sense to her. The closest she had come was comparing it to filling ones lungs with water, but not choking or suffocating on it but drawing the oxygen from it.

But on the third day she finally had a breakthrough.

They had stopped later in the day that usual for lunch wanting to make it past a particular nasty stretch of road commonly used by bristleheart boars for displays of strength to attract mates. And when they did Midori felt herself drawn to the river, the sound of it was comforting and as she put her hand into the cool water there was something about the feeling of the current against her fingertips that felt right.

“The flow never stops…” She said, to no one in particular.

And suddenly something clicked in her mind.

She imagined the River below her, flowing constantly to anything and everything connected to it. As she did there was a sensation inside her, like an additional heartbeat that had always been there but she’d never heard before.

Thump, thump, thump.

Thump, thump, thump.

Thump, thump, thump.

It had always been there.

Pulling up the blindfold she was initially blinded by the light she had spent three days avoiding, but as soon as she did she realized that her vision was no longer as disorientating. Knowing that the River was always there strangely helped her almost tune it out.

When she informed Sahaela her excitement was immediately tempered by the fact that she had merely finished the first step, now that she had a feel for mana and was no longer disorientating by the mere existence of the River they could begin the learning portion.

“Okay well regardless,” Rune said with a bright smile. “This deserves a celebration, yeah? Gray, what do you think you can whip up for us?”

Gray had taken over the role of camp cook as he had spent much time on the road and learned how to not only make nutritious and delicious meals but how to utilize the variety of ingredients around to substitute. He had opted for a simple but nonetheless delicious meal, a slowly simmered stew he’d let marinate over low embers for nearly six hours.

To say it was delicious though would be selling it short. Midori had never before tasted something so incredible.

When she had graduated high school her parents had taken her out to an extremely elegant and high priced sushi restaurant for they loved sushi, however she had never developed much of a taste for it which left her the butt of many jokes about how she was “born wrong.” But that was the first time she’d ever experienced food that ‘melted in the mouth’ and she always thought it had something to do with the type of meat but now suspected it had far more to do with the skill of the chef.

“This is incredible Gray, thank you.” Midori said with a bright, happy smile. The older man’s face flushed with embarrassment which only worsened as the sentiment was quickly echoed by the rest of the camp.

“To Gray!” Rune began raising a simple wooden cup filled with some bubble juice—of which Midori was abstaining. “For this glorious meal. And to Midori, for figuring out the first step in her magical education.” Raising the glass he drained it in a single gulp before laughing and sitting down to chat with the former soldiers, they had been getting along a lot better and Rune had even begun floating the idea of them training with him.

“I think it would be a good idea, shake the rust off before we get to Nythe.” Gray, who seemed to fall into a mentorship type of role to the other two, said with a small smile. “Plus, Roy can give a demonstration of the Artes.”

“Artes?” Midori asked, overhearing the rambunctious foursome.

“Physical skills enhanced through the use of mana,” Gray responded. “Consider it the physical alternative of magick.”

Rune looked over at Midori with a playful smirk, “want to see?”

There was no way she could say no.