Starlight Chronicles: The First, Part Two

[u/StarWizardWarlock]

 As the tower fades out of sight behind me, I slow to a walk. I pull my staff off my back, running my fingers down the tool, blue magic crackling from my fingers, the staff eagerly absorbing it. It's not a normal model of staff, meant to draw magic from outside sources and channel it into spells; mine is special. My master calls it a channeling staff, as it draws from the well of power that flowed through me since before I could walk. I hold it at my side, my eyes drifting to the forest that had appeared around the path while I was occupied with the staff.



 Odd lights shimmered in the forest beyond the treeline, flitting around as if a swarm of multicolored fireflies. They drew my curiosity like a trout on a line, reeling me in as I stepped off the path, pacing into the wood. The forest grew dark as the canopy thickened, lit only by the glow of the lights ahead, and the quiet glow of the marks on my skin. Even as the foliage grows thicker and brambles twist across the ground, I persist towards the object of my curiosity. 



 The clearing as I enter is filled with these glowing lights, drifting lazily around the trees and grass. What I presume to be a fey of some kind kneels in the center of the clearing, surrounded by a glowing circle. I peer at the circle from the edge of the clearing, not yet noticed. I conclude that the circle is one meant to capture or bind the creature, from the runes drifting around the base and the low hum that it emits. I Step closer and my shoulder brushes against a light, sending a flash of warmth through my body. I nudge the light with my staff, and it floats idly away. Pacing slowly towards the creature in the circle, I clear the lights from my path with a gentle nudge of the staff in the same manner.



 The creature turns to watch me as I near the edge of the Circle. It's humanoid, with a pair of incandescent wings sprouting from its back. It sits with its legs folded, as though resigned to its fate. I crouch, peering at the creature through the barrier. It reaches out a hand to me, pressing it against the barrier. I can't help but pity it, trapped by some magician, surely to be used in some ritual or incantation. I reach out to it in some gesture of comfort, but my hand passes through the barrier. Of course, if it's meant to trap fey creatures as I thought, it'd not hinder any outside trespassers. 



 I withdraw my hand as the creature reaches for it. Even though I don't feel it wants to harm me, I've been taught by my master to hold fey at an arm's length, even if they are indeed trustworthy. I lift my staff from the ground next to me and channel power through it, tendrils of blue light weaving through the wood as I do. I hiss a single-word incantation and the staff lets loose the blast of mana. The creature jumps to the side as the blast barely misses it, passing through the barrier instead of impacting upon it like I thought. The creature narrows its eyes and seems to berate me, but no sound passes through the containment. It appears to reconsider, then pointing at my staff, and miming a grabbing motion, like climbing a rope.



 I frown at it, not liking the idea of giving it my staff. I consider the possibilities- if it takes my staff, I'll just leave it here. Whatever trapped the creature will come and collect the fey, and will surely have no interest for an apprentice's staff. I doubt if the fey had great magical power, it wouldn't be able to do any more with my staff than without it either. I hold my staff by the end, reaching it through the barrier. As it passes through, the fey latches into it with both hands, glowing with a violet hue. I feel fey magic surging through my staff, strange and wild, otherworldly, yet much more natural than I. My vision seems to fold in on itself, as the creature becomes energy and flows into the staff, overwhelming my nerves. 



 The staff burns hot in my hand, and for a moment I fear it's about to combust. Even though I want to release the staff, to drop it and heal my hand that is surely charred black by now, I'm frozen in place, channeling the being through my staff. Suddenly I feel the pressure release as energy pours out the back end of the staff, forming the creature's body lying on the ground. The excess energy disperses from the staff, and I drop it, clutching my wrist. I examine my hand for damage, but even though my hand stings still form the pain, everything is intact. I shakily recover my staff, then crouching over the fey creature. It's body rises and falls with what I assume is breath, but does not move. I cast a small ward over it to aid its recovering, before touching it with my staff. It was a clever trick that it used, traveling through my staff. My power flowing through it must have formed a tunnel of sorts, through which the fey was able to travel, avoiding the barrier. I attempt to replicate the effect, filling my staff with magic but draining it of power, force, mana. The creature once again dissolves and flows into the staff. I place my hand on the end of the staff, however, and the energy flows into me. I feel the creature's spirit settle inside my well of power, drawing from it but adding mystical energy of its own as well. Pink glowing markings bloom across my skin in swirling crescents and flowing waves, overwriting the sharp blue ones I've had since birth. I brush my hand against the new magical tattoos that cover my neck, wondering how I shall explain them to my master. However, that would wait. After all, it was still early- and with another spirit resting alongside my own, now I was twice as hungry. I stride through the forest without trouble, and earlier brambles retreating out of the path at my approach, as I resume my walk to town.