The endless waste

[aestrix]

Once, this planet teemed with life. It doesn't do that, anymore. The ground is dry and cracked and occasionally broken up by charred remains of trees. There are no birds, no bugs, no living plants - nothing but an empty, endless waste.

With one exception.

But the world is so very big, and the exception so very small. If someone showed up away from it, they could be quite forgiven for thinking this world is completely dead.




with Sable (Kappa)

with Aisilian (Link)

with Grendyne (Rockeye)

with Temple (Curiousdiscoverer)

Comments

[light_another_life]

"... I get some help from people in the dream world on how to do things and what to aim for next, but. It's literally just me actually doing everything."

[copycast]

"Dream world? Why don't the others do anything? Sorry, but I just literally arrived here so I'm completely clueless."

[light_another_life]

She blinks.

"If you're connected to the dream world, your mind goes there when you sleep, and if you then die, you wake up there instead of - ceasing to exist. You can be retrieved, but it's not exactly easy. The end of the world killed - well, everyone. I'm only special because my body can be remade without outside help. And I don't have the resources to make new bodies yet, so. It's kind of just me."

[copycast]

Temple blinks, multiple times, when she explains this and after a pause he says "Yeeesh. That is an interesting mix of ups and downs. At this point I should mention that I am not a tourist type of traveler. I'm originally from a cluster of worlds where everyone gets to be reincarnated once per world. I was sent world-hopping as a means to add more worlds to the cycle and to find a world with some sort of eternal life. Also, I have foreign magic. At least one of which can feed the magic-hungry-things, and another that should be suited to help with the task."

[light_another_life]

"This world," she says, "offers eternal life. You can't die in the dream world. How willing are you to help save the world...?"

[copycast]

"Extremely" He says. "Well, I have some magical constraints. Guardianship, one of my kinds of magic, is all about preserving, nurturing and healing. Mine is a guardianship of magic, which aligns pretty well with solving the situation."

[light_another_life]

"Quite. Can you feed sickly nodes? Those would be the hungry-magic-things that don't leave holes in the ground."

[copycast]

"Yep!" Temple says satisfied "Found one and fed him a little light spell, could even sense that it shouldn't eat more. Also found a hole-making one and it ate a spell while I was trying my magic-healing magic."

[light_another_life]

"Oh, excellent. That'll save me loads of time. I can handle the hungry nodes - the ones that make holes - but I need to get equipment set up for it. Do you have anything that could rip a node apart?"

[copycast]

"I could try some of my anti-magic spells or the nonword. The latter might have the reverse effect because it is an incoherent burst of pure magic meant to break spells by brute force, it might rip the node or feed it." He shrugs. "Aaand I have magic-granting magic if you are interested."

[light_another_life]

"You will not break a hungry node by brute force, and would strengthen it trying," she states with certainty. "And - uh, I am, but what's involved with the magic and are there nasty effects as a result of having it?"

[copycast]

"There is a completely preventable nasty side effect to one. So, the magics are Spellcasting, Guardianship and Perception. Well, I have a gloriously impractical magic system based on magical rocks, if you are a bigger magic geek than me, which would be impressive. Spellcasting involves words with magical effects for example: Minimal Light." A small dot of light appears on Temple's finger. "Guardianship is the nurturing magic that I mentioned, it requires that you dedicate yourself to what the Guardianship wants to protect. Perception allows you to detect something through one of your senses, like if someone lies to you their breath smell bad or similar. It is the one with the nasty side effect, the detection gets stronger with time and by the time you are old it can be painfully strong, but I have a spell that counters that problem. I have spells to give Spellcasting and Perception. Guardianship is trickier... Basically I have to know you well enough and long enough that my magic will feel okay to transplant a bit of itself to spark your own Guardianship. I could also deputize you as an agent of my Guardianship, which requires less time but then you would just be a conduit to my magic."

[light_another_life]

"Spellcasting, yes please. And Perception - maybe, what things can be detected?"

[copycast]

"Perception is not from my original world-cluster, it can be very useless and random. Some things I have seen detected includes: lies, probability of death, the most competent person to perform a task, emotions, but also the last time you ate, how many times a person blinked since they woke up, the direction of the nearest person speaking the vowel 'o', random. It will take a few days until you start noticing what it does, and the overloading-preventing spell allows you to shut it off completely."

[light_another_life]

"... Spellcasting first, so I can be assured that I can turn it off before I touch Perception at all." Pause. "I also have magic, but it's - less easy to categorize."

[copycast]

"Do you mind if I cast a small truth detection on you first? I can't conceive why you would lie about any of this, but one of the biggest headaches about being a Guardian is that being suspicious is an useful skill. And I would love to hear about your magic system."

[light_another_life]

"Go ahead. The magic system's - about moving something called essence around, which comes in lots of different types but exists in some capacity in just about everything, and universally in living things."

[copycast]

"Okay, you just need to tell me that what you said was honest to the best of your capabilities and that you don't see reason to hurt me without provocation. Lesser Discern Lies."

[light_another_life]

"What I said was honest to the best of my capabilities, and I don't see a reason to hurt you without provocation."

Truth!

[copycast]

"Honest!" Temple says merrily. "Okay, the way I give spellcasting to people is casting a spell repeatedly, I will cast it with hand sign language instead of speech to explain spellcasting further. Sorry if the hand signs are disorienting, you don't need to look." With that said he gestures and she understand as clear as day that the completely unfamiliar gestures mean. "Bring Forth Spell-Word." Each hand is casting a different iteration of the spell. "Okay, so the first time I casted this on you it gave you latent spellcasting, which means you can memorize spells from books or use scrolls and spellbooks. A memorized spell can be used only once then you have to memorize it again. Eventually, my spell will give you your own innate spellword, which you can cast as many times you like and it fits you. All innate magic from my original world-cluster fits the person."

All this with explained with a background sensation of "Bring Forth Spell-Word. Bring Forth Spell-Word. Bring Forth Spell-Word. Bring Forth Spell-Word."