Wow!I haven’t felt this good in ages!Ever since something awful happened a long time ago, I hadn’t been as happy as before, but now everything is fantastic.Also, this sunlight beaming down feels absolutely incredible on my skin!I’m going to fly closer.
“Aki! Come back down here, please.”
Fly to mum instead?Yeah, sure, that’s great too!But there’s so little light under the trees boughs where she’s standing.Not a problem, that’s easily solved!
With a quick spin and a nudge of intent, my wings leave a band of shimmering golden energy around me that, a moment ter, vanishes into the sunlight.Immediately, the rays of light passing near me begin to multiply and bend until the entire meadow is in full daylight.Much better!
“Coming! I feel magnificent mum! Absolutely amazing! I should just stay this way forever!”
“Uh-huh, it certainly does what you described, and this pce is rather bright now, but are there any other effects?”
“Who cares!? I can handle anything! Nothing will ever be a problem for us again! *ditiditi*”
“Sis, can you come here?”
“Certainly! Oh, your hands make a great perch!”
“What do you think we should do next?”
“Whatever we want! I know, how about you come fly with me!?”
She would surely enjoy joining me in the sunlight above!
“But I don’t have wings? How would I do that?”
“I’m certain we could remedy that somehow!”
There’s a solution to be found for any problem, if one tries hard enough.
“Aki, turn around.”
“Okay! Wheee! *ditiditi*”
This is fun!
“I didn’t mean that you should keep spinning. Okay, I think it’s time we moved on.”
“Oh, where are we going!? It must be as awesome a pce as here!”
“We’re going to get some wind essence. Could you do that?”
“Of course I can!”
Can I do that?Hah.I don’t see why not.There’s no reason one cannot do anything.Everything in this world is wonderful!There’s fresh, crisp, wind energy surrounding me, so while standing on Talia’s delightful nding ptform, I draw in as much as I can.
Once again, my wings drastically change color, this time from gold to cyan, while sparkling golden dust pours like water onto Talia’s hands.And shadows return to the gde.
Oh…Right, we came here for a reason.Ugh, I still have quite a few problems that need solving.Made worse by becoming a tiny fairy.So what am I waiting around for?I can’t fix them standing here can I!?I need to move!
With a strong fp of my wings, I shoot off of my sister's hands, bsting the fallen dust at her.
“Puh, eww, pleh, it’s in my mouth! It’s weirdly sweet but, blech! What is this stuff!? Next time, you’re changing colors on the ground! Ugh, it’s everywhere!”
Oops!That was an accident.But why is she talking so slowly?
“Why-didn’t-you-just-dodge-You-have-to-be-faster-Just-practice-You-can-do-it.”
“Akari! Wait till I… right. Helping, my magic possessed fairy sister today.”
I really should fly more often.It was pleasant before, but it’s such a rush when I zoom freely about.And I wager I can go even faster!
“How quickly can you circle this gde like that?”
It’s even better when mum asks me to do it.No time to talk, I’ll just show her.My flying skills have vastly improved since I first started.If anything tried chasing me, there’s no way they could catch me now!Hey!Nibi passed me!Get back here!!!
“Sis, can you do flips?”
Can I?Of course I can!Even while I chase Nibi!I proceed to perform a slew of aerial maneuvers.Some of them I don’t manage quite perfectly.But I will soon enough!
Aha!I caught her!I finally did it!Then Talia proposes another exceptional idea.
“You two want to race? First one to this tree wins!”
“Miep!”
“No-I’m-going-to-be-first!”
Speeding back towards Talia, I give it my all.Just a quick release of essence, and I hurtle forward.Hah, I’ll win for sure!Oh no!My wing catches slightly too much wind on one side.At this speed, even such a tiny mistake sends me spinning.I recover quickly just to see Nibi fly ahead.
“No-you-don’t!”
Another boost, and again, I shoot forwardI almost have it!But it’s not enough.Nibi beats me by an arm’s length.
I need to be better!So I return to zooming around the gde.Around and around I go, adjusting my wings just slightly differently there, catching the wind fractionally more efficiently here.Soon, I’ll be the fastest!But mum interrupts.
“Alright, I think it’s time you come back down here.”
“But-I’m-practicing-I-want-to-excel!”
“Why don’t you practice your essence control? Try to perfectly bance some earth essence with what you have.”
I can do that.Weren’t we here for magic practice anyways?
So I nd on the ground and draw in the sluggish essence.Stopping once my wings are half of one color and half the other.The urge to fly fades away.
“All-done! How’s this mum?”
“Very good. How are you doing?”
“Um, I think I’m okay. Racing like that was awfully fun. Although, when the sunlight first left… The light felt incredible, mum.”
“I’m sure it did. It also appears to make you quite susceptible to anything you’re told. It’s the closest I’ve ever seen you to being drunk. Now I know I’ve taught you the consequences of that, so I suggest you treat light magic the same way.”
“*diti* yeah, sure, I’ll do that.”
She must never know about my birthday party!
“Was it painful to fully switch colors?”
“Switching between them didn’t seem to impact my body. At least so far, I don’t feel any effects whatsoever. And changing essences isn’t jarring either. One moment I’m normal me, the next, I’m still me, but everything else feels different, either more or less important. With this much energy, it’s hard to even notice anything unusual about my thoughts at first. Everything about myself feels ordinary, till something seems just a little odd in my own mind. Umm, now I’m getting a little worried, mum. What if I just never notice? What if I forget I’m not acting normally? Would I stay that way forever? Could my personality actually disappear?”
“You needn’t worry about that here, not with us watching, but you should probably avoid being full of only one type. Unless it’s only for a short time, and you tell one of us first.”
Talia approaches with Nibi on her shoulder.
“We won’t let that happen, even if it felt like you sneezed on me. What is this dust anyways? I’ll need to wash it off before going home, or someone might ask me where I discovered the gold mine.”
“That’s another piece of myself that I don’t exactly know. If I absorb essence when I’m already full, that dust appears on my skin and then falls off. My current guess is that it’s used up magic as I can’t feel any energy from it.”
“So you eat essence, then this appears… Uh, yes, this is nothing but shiny dust. Best to leave it at that.”
With a rather bnk expression, she then turns and moves away.
“Okay?”
“That isn’t harming you in any way, is it Aki? Do you feel anything when it emerges?”
“No, nothing at all. Most of the time I don’t even notice it.”
“Well then, would you like to progress to the next one?”
“Yeah, sure, mum. But I’d prefer to save water for st. Since I’m already here, I’ll use earth next, but you’ll probably have to carry me to a rge pnt afterwards. Although, this essence is the one I’m the least worried about going unnoticed as it’s an exceptionally poor fit for me. I remember how it was with a lesser amount, it just doesn’t feel right.”
Again, I soak up essence, and this time cyan sparkles fall.
The grass here acts as a perfect bed.Just the right height for me to y and watch the clouds go by…Someone is noisy.Do I need to respond?Nah…
Hey, stop poking me.I’m ying here.
Woah.Mum picked me up.Why’d she move me?I can’t see the clouds from here.Also, this tree isn’t nearly as comfortable.And something keeps bothering me.It’s making it hard to rex.But I can manage…
Oh, right.I actually didn’t want to just lounge around.I think?Mum said this essence needs to leave.She’s probably correct.This much of it feels...irritating?And also, there’s another feeling, as if I ate something that was just a little spoiled.So I absorb a portion of the trees essence.
“Aki! Talk to me!”
“Mum, I’m fine. You don’t need to shout.”
“Oh, thank goodness! It must have been at least five minutes since you said anything to me. You just id there!”
“Honestly, I’m okay. I was merely rexing for a bit.”
“Usually, you continue chatting while rexing.”
“It required too much energy at the time. But truly, that one I’m not afraid of. I can feel something is amiss after only a short while. Earth essence is the opposite of me, I think.”
“Told you she would be fine, mum. She’s allergic to sitting idle for long.”
It would seem Talia washed her hands and face in the stream, as she is not quite as covered in sparkles now.She and Nibi have some sort of game going, drawing lines in the dirt with a stick.At least someone is having fun, I suppose.
“No, I just don’t enjoy doing nothing.”
“Uh-huh. Your turn, Nibi.”
“Either way, Aki, earth essence doesn’t seem to be the most useful for you.”
“Agreed. It has some utility for countering too much wind essence, but as I’ve grown more accustomed to my magic, a rge quantity of it doesn’t sit well.”
“Would you like to stop here? That st one worried me.”
Oh, would I ever!Any time I collect sufficient essence, the whole world subtly, but inexorably, changes around me.Things I was interested in lose their luster, while other topics or activities become fresh and fascinating.Earlier, the feeling of sunlight on my skin transformed into the best thing I’ve ever experienced.Yes, I know that, in reality, it’s my own thoughts shifting in my mind, but at the time, it doesn’t appear that way to me, and it’s difficult to tell how exactly I am affected.I must say, knowing that my mind can be so easily altered is rather frightening.Of course I’d like to stop!
But…I don’t have the option to not be a fairy.That was stolen from me in the fairy circle.The best I can do is master my new self, and this practice has helped.So far, filling myself entirely with each element has left impressions in me, and with them, it’s become easier to notice when my desires and impulses are pushed away from my norm.Like threads tying me from multiple directions that get taut or lose when the center shifts.The more there are, the easier it is to see the effect.
I need to finish the rest.
“I’ve already come this far, mum. I’d like to continue. As long as you’re still willing to watch?”
“Of course, but try not to scare me again, alright?”
“No promises? The next one is the safest though. I doubt anything can go wrong with nature essence.”
“Still, be careful.”
Bearing in mind my first experiment with a pnt’s life force, I take a small amount of essence from one tree, then fly to another, repeating this process till I’m full of only one essence once more.With this method, none of the trees die.A few of them appear somewhat sickly, but they should recover.All of these cute seeds on the ground need my assistance much more desperately.
So I fly down and begin dispersing the potential new flowers to more fertile and less crowded locations.A few here, a few there, a gentle tap into the soil for this tiny one, a pruning for the overgrown bush nearby…
“Sis, what are you doing?”
Oh, looks like she’s finished pying.
“These pnts wouldn’t do well as they are, so I’m helping them.”
“Why? Don’t the pnts grow on their own in the forest?”
“All of these precious seeds will have a better chance of survival if spread and pnted properly. Just because they can grow on their own, it doesn’t mean it’s the best for them.”
“And how do you know what is ‘properly’?”
How?Uh.I have no idea…
It seems nature magic’s influence of tending to the young doesn’t only extend to children.These infant pnts pull on my attention like a crying baby.And I somehow just know what is good for them.
Also, I can feel the life force of nearly every pnt in the entire gde from here.Some worse off than others.Surprisingly, mum and Talia’s life force is vague, I can barely feel it from where I’m standing.Because they aren’t pnts, I suppose?
“It just feels correct when they’re in the right pce. They each have a spot in the web of life here. I can feel yours and mum’s life force as well, but it’s different somehow. Muted.”
At this, Mum speaks up from where she’s been writing.
“That is intriguing. Maybe we should bring you an animal to absorb essence from at some point. You haven’t absorbed from a person, have you Aki?”
“Absolutely not! I have no clue what I’m doing most of the time, and I don’t want to harm anyone.”
“Hmm. Okay, are you ready to move on? This essence appears simple enough. You just enjoy life and growing pnts.”
“Let me get this st one into pce. Alright, now I’m ready.”
“Would you like to experience fire? I brought equipment in my pack, but considering your track record with it, maybe its best if you don’t?
“Yeah, sure, I don’t intend to use fire, so you needn’t worry.”
“Well then, there’s only one left.”
The primary reason for me doing this experiment, but also the one I least wish to do.Time to dive back into water.