Fresh supplies and a fresh perspective

The supply storage was completely invisible from the outside, hidden deep under the surface of the ice. The terrain was flat here as everywhere around: no landmarks, no hints and signs of traces left by living beings.

Again I wondered how the girls were able to find their hideout here in this flat, icy emptiness, but Illyára revealed, they could trace the minimal amount of mana, radiating from the manærite in the plants and meat they stored nearly one hundred feet under the ice.

“You have to know where it is to find it.” she said. “You have to get close and you need to have a keen sense of orientation to be able to achieve that. Then it's easy, because the concentration of manærite in snow and ice is much less than in living matter, so our preserved food really stands out if you stand close enough.”

Well, to a magician at least…

Reaching the supplies was an adventure in itself. First the ‘Ice Wallow’ came to a standstill in the middle of the ice. Then I felt a lurching feeling and the ice started to fade beneath us, slowly forming a pit that deepened quickly, the ice around us becoming towering walls in the process. The scary thing was, the lower we sank, the more the ice above us started growing together again until we were trapped in a huge air bubble, completely surrounded by ice and sinking lower and lower, until we stopped.

Before us opened a round passageway that led to the actual storage, a small ice cave, completely filled with different bundles the girls quickly and unceremoniously hoisted and carried to the ‘Ice Wallow’. I tried to help them, but could contribute just a fraction of all the work. On earth I could manage to carry about one hundred and fifty pounds. I had no scale with me, but I bet it wasn’t much more than one hundred pounds I was able to handle here.

Of course that’s not entirely true, since one hundred pounds on earth equaled around one hundred and thirty pounds here on Liyúra, and my own weight also had increased fromits one hundred and forty-five pounds to around one hundred and eighty pounds. In reality I still dragged all one hundred and fifty pounds I was able to handle on earth, but all things - myself included - were around one fifth heavier than on earth!

We stored the supplies in the back room of the cabin on the ‘Ice Wallow’ and decided to depart immediately. Despite the evening time we were well rested because our sleeping time was all mangled up. I warmed some of our rations I pre-prepared back at the caldera and we ate mostly in silence.

Then Illyára and Al’Reeza split their shifts amongst themselves, because only they were able to steer and at the same time propel the craft forward. Illyára would start with steering for eight candles, then Reeza would follow while Yára was sleeping before switching places again. Lily and I were left for ourselves to sleep whenever we wanted and also otherwise tend to ourselves.

Our bubble rose again and I noticed once more, that the girls didn’t use any incantations or movements to work their magic. My expectations regarding magic were of course molded by literature and media from home. The reality was far more …unspectacular. Of course authors and regisseurs were bound to entertain their audience and show magic in the most flashy and spectacular way. Reality is different. Here rules the most efficient way.

Back on the surface Lily and Reeza went to sleep and I decided to talk with Illyára a little bit about my observations and thoughts.

She smiled, as always.

“You are right, and I’m glad you noticed. The most effective way prevails, not the most spectacular and eye-catching!”

She outright laughed when I told her about the main depiction of magic in films, series, books and novels.

“That’s really funny!” she giggled.

“Our storytellers also tend to propagate this false assumption, that there’d be some secret incantations or a ‘true language’ with powerful magic properties that can warp reality. Nonsense! Magic just needs a clear mind, a clear focus, enough manærite and the respective talent. Then you do all the work just in your mind.”

I cleared my throat.

“Despite that I have noticed that you and Reeza are in peak physical shape if I may say so.”

An amused grin crept over her face.

“Oh, did you?” she asked sweetly, her grin becoming somewhat predatory.

“Sorry, but doesn’t that contradict your earlier statement? You also hauled all these bags back then physically and not just mentally.”

Her grin faded and she got serious again.

“Well, as you can imagine, it’s not good to concentrate on just one aspect of magic.” she explained.

“Otherwise all magicians would become incredibly fat, lazy slobs just laying around, doing nothing all day long and dying an early death from boredom and physical deprivation.”

I nodded, pictures of the crew from the 'Axiom' in the film WALL-E suddenly dancing before my inner eye.

“There is a physical aspect to magic though.” Illyára cut through this new line of thought.

“Many adventurers and people with passive magical abilities can use mana to strengthen their bodies, soul and health. You know that, right?”

I nodded again.

“But they can only use the mana from the manærite in their bodies. True magicians can reach out and drain mana also from external sources of manærite. That can increase their magic power substantially when they have access to larger amounts of manærite. On the other hand it can also decrease the same way when being situated in an environment with low manærite content.”

She gestured at the ice plain around us.

“As you know, ice has a very low concentration of manærite, fresh basalt on the other hand a very high one. So back at the caldera Reeza and I could do things on a whole other level than here.”

I understood.

“So you were saving your energy in the ice cave?” I guessed.

She shook her head.

“No. Lowering our iceboat down there or constantly manipulating the wind at the right angle into the sail is much more draining. No, we were just training our muscles, using our mana to boost our strength.”

I must’ve looked quite perplexed, because she laughed heartily again.

“We could’ve magically lowered the weight of our load, or boosted our strength. The better and healthier way was boosting our strength.”

“You could’ve helped me by lowering the weight of my load!” I bursted out.

She laughed even more, shaking her head.

“No, you needed the workout to adapt more to Liyúra. Lily is right in that regard. You are too weak to tend to yourself right now. But I have good news.”

She leaned down to me.

“Right now your body is nearly devoid of any manærite, but that changes every time you eat something from our world. Because, you know: mana responds to living beings and mental energy, so manærite tends to accumulate in all liveforms here, and when you eat them, it also starts to accumulate in you.”

She cast an encouraging look at me.

“Soon you’ll notice an increase in your strength, in your health, your senses will sharpen, maybe you’ll even experience a second growth spurt. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll awaken potentially dormant magical abilities some day. Maybe!”

Well, that was some prospect! I felt a huge grin starting to spread over my face.

“How long do you think until these effects start to show?”

I must’ve looked like an eager puppy, judged by the amusement on Yára’s face.

“Hard to say. You are a unique case, coming here with no manærite whatsoever in your body.” she said.

“On the other hand, your soul shines bright, your mental capabilities are truly remarkable, so maybe ...around a sideh? But don’t hold me to that. As I said, your case is unique, there are no precedences, as far as I know. So it may take longer or shorter, hard to say. Based also on your intake and training.”

“When I eat a lot and train hard it manifests earlier?”

“Sure,” she nodded. “The more manærite accumulates in your body, the more mana can interact with your mind and soul and create a positive feedback loop in your body.”

“The mana strengthens my body and mind, which then interacts better with the mana?”

“Exactly!” She beamed. “I knew you were a bright one!”