Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Alise sat at the table enjoying some of the magic meat Dalvin had cooked for their lunch. It tasted a lot like deer and she liked the strong flavor. "Man draining your mana sure makes you hungry." He snorted,"It's not mana, its....oh nevermind I suppose it is an easy term of reference. Plus it's a little shorter than personal electromagnetic projection field." She smiled, "I knew you would see it my way." Today was so amazing even better than yesterday and that had been the best day of her life. But today she had used magic and it was easier and more amazing than she could have ever dreamed. She even got her first 'mind down'. She felt like she would just burst from the sheer joy she felt. Dalvin began talking, "So all those attacks you performed, it seems your grasp on the principles of water are very good. I take it you are well educated?" Alise knew why he might think that but he was way off the mark, "No I'm a C+ student at most everything, but when it comes to magic I have loads of knowledge." He looked at her puzzled," I'm afraid I don't follow there is no source...err magic in this world." she laughed, "Yea, but there are a heck of a lot a people who wish there was. Movies, books, plays, video games, anime, and manga, there are tons of sources about magic. And yours truly is a devout follower of such things. After my mountain, manga is my next love." He nodded, "I see, so what exactly is this manga?" She pulled out her cellphone and went to her favorite site. Thankfully she was getting a signal right now, it could be a little spotty on the mountain. Finding one of her favorites '10 Things I Hate About Other Worlds' she showed it to Dalvin. He scrolled through it for a few minutes and handed her phone back, "I can't read any of that but from the pictures, I get a rough idea of how you thought of so many source uses so quickly." That was a surprise,"You can't read it? I figured you would work that out in like ten seconds." He gave a wry laugh, "No, speaking is not so hard. After learning twenty languages or so you get a knack for it. But writing has different rules. For example, I could tell you in my language water is 'touga' and you would be able to repeat that and remember, but to write it you need to learn runes and their relationship with each other." Yea she could understand that. They were kinda different even though she was used to them being directly linked."So anyway watcha think of my awesome spell casting?","You did very well, perhaps there really is an aptitude for source use. I have never really looked at it that way. What would you say to staying here and studying source full time?" She wanted to scream yes but she knew that wasn't a real possibility, "My parents would never go for something like that. Hey mama, papa, I found an old man in the mountains who wants me to live with him ok. Yea not gonna fly." Dalvin blushed a little, "Well I wouldn't phrase it like that first off. What if I went to them and told them, I'm, a great scholar and want to take you under my wing." Alise shook her head, "That might be even worse besides that is not how my world works. Students don't go live with their 'master' and even if they did you would need a real nice school not a cave in a mountain." Dalvin seemed to be thinking hard, "What about telling them the truth, would not allowing their daughter to become this planet's first source user be a great thing?" Alise dreaded the very thought of that, she slammed her palm on the table, "No! Anything but that. If people found out...I don't think you understand the power of social media. The whole world would know in hours. It would be bad, real bad." He looked at her thoughtfully, "Would you consider running away to study?", she thought about it. He could probably hide them from everyone but it could create more problems than it solved. She would also miss her family very much."Let's save that as a last resort. I don't wish to hurt my family if I don't have to. For now, we should just keep going as we are, right? I won't be able to come much during the week but ill have all weekend to spend. Plus summer break is coming soon and ill have tons of time." Dalvin nodded, "Yes that is fine. I'm sorry I got ahead of myself. You did so well today I saw the timeline I had laid out being shortened drastically. But caution is far more important than speed after all I had planned on studying for at least a hundred years." Alise did not finish the drink she was taking, instead, she sprayed it in Davin's direction, "A hundred years! I hate to break it to you but I might not live that long....goodness how old are you even?","Oh, about twelve hundred or so, wait, you won't live that long. What do you mean?" He was twelve hundred....oh my god."Humans only live for a hundred or so years if you're lucky. How long do dwarves live forever?" He smiled at her, "Yes more or less. With source stones, age and death lose some of their meaning. Someone is more prone to fall to the bleakness before they actually die. That is to say on source worlds you are more likely to lose interest in living any longer before death actually claims you." That was actually really sad despite being so awesome. Did that also mean if she learned magic she could also live forever? Did she want that? Alise recalled stories of immortals and how they lamented watching those they loved grow old and die. But as the real possibility of it stood in front of her those characters seemed more and more like crybabies. She stirred from her thoughts and asked Dalvin, "Will I too be able to live forever?" He nodded, "Yes it is possible but you must always make clear goals for yourself. It is all too easy to lose yourself in the flow of time. Then before you know it your mind will be swallowed by the bleakness and you will be no more, just an empty shell." She swallowed hard, "Not as scary as vampire warnings but still a little scary. So like when do I stop aging...", a sudden and terrible thought just came to her. What if it already started the moment she used magic. Now she was doomed to the body of a child forever! Dalvin's words woke her from her internal nightmare, "Whenever you want to. It's not that you will stop aging but that we can make a source double that you can transfer to whenever you wish." She let out a huge sigh of relief. Thank god, that had given her a real scare there for a moment. A double huh, it seemed Dalvin wasn't lying magic can do anything. Just then her phone buzzed, she swiped the screen on. It was a text from her papa, 'time to come home little lady', well that sucked it was only two p.m.," Sorry Dalvin that's my papa I had better get home. If I get in trouble they won't let me come to the mountain at all. But don't worry tomorrow is still the weekend so ill come early again." He nodded, "I understand, I'll see you tomorrow then." Alise grabbed her things and headed back down the mountain. She felt strange, this was all so much fun and exciting but other emotions were starting to creep in. More serious ones like responsibility and duty....she wasn't sure how she felt about that.