Chapter 24: Troublemakers P4
~24.4~
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"Restrictions?" Rei asked.
Kye nodded. "Time magic can be dangerous. Kyra?"
"Yeah, so..." and Kyra began explaining. There were many restrictions on time magic. Time travel is possible, but strictly prohibited without permission. Reversing time or adjusting the speed of time is prohibited. Long-form time magic, such as the aging magic Kyra used, cannot be cast on another person without their approval.
What exactly could a time mage do, then? Any of those things, but not without good reason. In her original body, Kyra could do anything she wanted so long as she had a reason, except influence people more powerful than herself. She could not time travel back before Elysia existed, for example.
In her mortal body, she was limited by the amount of mana she could channel. She could still view the past and future. In a fight, she could easily dodge attacks since she knew where they would hit. She could also augment the speed of her perception, a skill she called Thought Acceleration.
There existed several combat spells that could manipulate time in a controlled space, and Kyra could easily use those. Kye and Alethea used one in the battle above Arslade in their first year called Temporal Barrier to slow time so much that they virtually froze a demon beast in place.
"My magic will rapidly age your bodies. I added seventeen years to myself and Liya. I don't want to make anyone as old as Aunt Yami, so I won't advance anyone beyond that."
Does everyone have their aethersilk bands?" Kye asked.
"Yes." "Sure do!" "Yep!"
"Okay. Everyone sit in a circle with Kyra and me, and hold hands." They all sat down together and formed a circle. Liliana and Aliana sat in the circle with their three on their laps, intent on soul diving with them. Once they were all sitting, Kye wrapped them all with white aether and pulled them into her soul space.
Surprisingly, everyone had an adult form, even Liliana and Aliana's children.
Kye smiled as she looked at their adult inner selves.
"Leo, Luci, Leti?" Liliana and Aliana were taken aback. Each touched their child's faces.
"Leti, is that really you?" Aliana asked as she examined her adult daughter. She had the same long black hair, albeit some of it tied into a side ponytail.
"Hi, Mom!"
Kyra was the only one that understood why. "So you three have had a handful of previous lives, including in Athas. Eve was very thorough with the souls she placed here. Wow. Your mana signatures don't match closely enough to be parent and child, but it seems you were only a few generations apart in Athas from your mothers."
"I was initially concerned about allowing mortal children to undergo this rapid growth," Kye said. "I wasn't going to even consider allowing it after we entered the soul space if they didn't have an adult soul. But since they do..." She shook her head. "Liliana, Aliana, this is also your choice. I won't allow it if you don't consent to this. Leo, Luci, Leti, do you consent? I won't allow it for any of you if all five of you don't consent."
The three looked between each other. Luciana asked, "If we do this, what happens to us outside? We were excited for it outside, but in here with an adult mind, I'm concerned for the child version of me outside."
"Oh, that's a question for me," Kyra said. "So, this magic does not simply age your bodies. It ages your mind. Your child selves outside will grow into your adult selves in here in the process. And you will remember all your past lives as well if you do this."
"I see..."
Liliana and Aliana exchanged glances. Liliana said, "Our kids will grow up in an instant."
"They are already very mature for their ages. I'm okay with this, Lily. But if you are not, it's okay."
Liliana shook her head. "I'm mixed about it, but the kids were excited about it outside." She looked at the three. "I will give my consent, but only because you must also give your consent. I want you to be happy. I am willing to allow this if you truly want it."
Leonardo looked at the others first, then at his mother. "If we don't, and everyone else does, I know for sure I'll be frustrated. Please allow it."
"Luci?"
"I agree with Leo."
"Leti?" Aliana asked. Her daughter nodded.
"Kyra, go ahead," Kye said. "Everyone consents. You may use my mana for everyone."
Kyra blinked in surprise. "Your mana?"
"Yes."
"Mom, that's nine people. Even-"
"It's fine, Kyra. My mana pool is greater than all of you put together several times over. The nine of them won't even equate to a tenth of a percent for me."
Kyra smiled. "Very well." She began channeling. "This spell will only function if you allow it. You must will it to work. Your minds will not perceive the time passing, though your bodies will experience the several years in mere seconds. I suggest taking it slow when the spell is over. Is everyone ready?" She looked around and received a nod from each. "One more thing. This will only age your bodies. Your physical strength will reflect that, but your mana output will not change too much. It will increase proportional to your mass, but no more. You'll have to train on your own to catch up. Here goes..."
She paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "Target: Kaede; born: December 10, 12000A100; shift target: 6205 days; current: 1757 days; shift degree: 4448 days. Targets: Rei, Joey, Ariel, Adriel, Anna, Leonardo IV, Luciana, Letizia; born: September 1, 12001A100; shift target 6205 days; current: 1492 days; shift degree 4713 days. Parameters set. Execute. <<Time Dilation>>."
Each of their bodies began glowing the color of their soul and quickly grew too bright to see. When the light faded, Kye ended the soul dive.
All nine of them had grown to the equivalent of seventeen years old, with their clothes adjusted to their new sizes. Rei and Joey grew to be five feet and three inches tall. Anna was the next at five-six, Ariel, Luciana, and Letizia grew to five-seven, Kaede at five-eight, Leonardo at five-ten, and Adriel at five-eleven.
"Hey, what? No fair!" Rei said. "I was five-nine when I was Suzuka! Why are you three so tall?!"
Joey hugged her fraternal twin. "I wanted to be taller, too."
"Joey! We're so shooooort!" They hugged and cried together.
Kyra and Liya were both five-eight, the same as Kaede. The older Layla, Allison, James, and Hannah teleported in, having sensed the spike in mana and were concerned.
"So it's true..." Hannah mumbled.
"The hell?" James said.
"Kye?" older Layla asked.
Allison said nothing. Nothing surprised her anymore.
"Kye, what happened?" Her mother looked around at the now-grown children. "Did all of you...? Kye?"
Kye was looking at Rei with a tear in each eye.
"Kye?" Layla stepped closer and saw her tears. "Sweetie?"
Kye stood up and buried her face in her mother's chest. "My kids are all grown up!"
Adele was just sitting there quietly, staring at her now-grown kids, and Alethea was staring blankly at nothing, as though the life had drained out of her.
"I think I'm getting that empty nest feeling..." Michelle said. "Is this one gonna do the same thing?" She had a tear in each eye, too.
After a few minutes of crying into her mother's chest, Kye pulled away. With her eyes red and still watery, she angrily looked at all eight of their now-grown kids. "Hey. All of you! I'm training you hard! You wanna skip your childhood? Fine, okay. We're gonna put a whole childhood's worth of time together by the end of the year, then you're all starting school! And you're all gonna have me for mana class!"
"And me for magic!" Alethea said, jumping up from her blank state. "I'm starting as an instructor next year, myself.
"Hey Allison, can we do a specialty class for sword training?" Adele asked. "I think I have a handful of students lined up already."
She shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I'll make that happen."
Michelle smirked. "And they'll also take a staff class with me."
"Whoa, all four of you are gonna be instructors?" Kye's mother asked.
Kye pounded one fist into another and smirked, her red eyes finally dried up. "Get ready kids! You just ripped your parents out of ten childhoods! We're getting our dues one way or another!"
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Revision: 2024-8-15