Pondering Problems

“Is there any way it can be done?” I ask Olivia, hopefully. If anybody we know would know a way to be able to introduce a mundane into the abyss and circumvent Gaia’s rules, it would be her. Olivia rubs her chin thoughtfully. The silence weighs on me, I’m anxious to hear the answer. The easiest way to get another guild member, potentially two, is to figure this out.

Finally, Olivia shakes her head. “I have never heard of such a case. That is not to say that it is completely impossible, only that I have never heard of it happening. There may be ways around it, but such information would be a highly guarded secret, since the separation as far as most people know, is absolute.” She lays out.

I sigh. It was always a long shot that I’d be able to find something this easily. If Lena hadn’t been able to find an answer in her 3 years of looking, any answer that can be found isn’t something that’s easy to find. Still, I was hoping asking Olivia might yield a better result than this.

“You could always search on the abyss auction for an information package. It is likely that you have considerably more wealth than this ‘Lena’ does, from what you have told me. You may be able to pay more than she could to find the information that she could not. The other possibility is your powers.” Olivia suggests.

“I have seen you do things that should not be possible. That mark-” She says, gesturing to the Mark of Love on my wrist. “-should not be possible. It should not be possible for you to elevate the potential power levels of others by magic of being connected to you through love alone. Yet, you do.” My mentor continues.

“It should not be possible for you to have progressed this quickly in the magical fields you have. You have a fully conscious artificial spirit with healing powers, you are adept at ice and arcane magic, and you are proficient in melee combat on top of that, all whilst being able to elevate those around you in power.”

“You are powerful Gemma, your magic is something special. There may be a way for you to use your ‘Mark of Love’ to elevate Lena’s partner in a similar fashion. There may be another way to use your powers to bypass Gaia’s separation rule. I do not know. You must explore those options for yourself.” Olivia concludes. I sigh again.

“I guess it was foolish of me to hope for an easy answer.” I say, giving Olivia a wry smile. She smiles back at me sincerely, kindly. “There is no shame in wishing for an easy way to do things, as long as you are willing to put the work in when it becomes clear that an easy answer is not the correct answer.” She replies. “Thank you Olivia.” I tell you. “You are welcome dear.” She says.

I turn to walk away and she stops me. “I think you should meet her first before you make any decisions. It may be that we would not want either of them in our guild. Your ‘observe’ spell may come in handy in revealing something that they want hidden, or it might even find that she has hidden abilities that have no manifested yet. The only way to know for sure is to meet her.” Olivia advises.

I nod in understanding. “I wasn’t gonna let them live in the barrier with us without meeting Emma first at least once, but thank you. I won’t be stupid about this, I promise.” I pledge to her. She smiles fondly at me. “I know you will not be. If you were, you would not be worthy to lead us. Reckless and impulsive? At times, yes, you are. But not stupid.” She says. “Thanks, I think.” I reply, smiling softly.

I walk around the castle in search of Mia. It takes a sec but I eventually manage to find her outside, playing fetch with Dave and Skylar. Mia turns to me as I approach, and I give her a greeting kiss. Skylar looks at me with a slightly pouty expression, and I giggle, kissing her as well. Then Mia kisses Skylar and the platinum haired shadow mage blushes.

I turn back to Mia and get straight to the point. “We gotta meet Emma before we make any decisions. We need to feel out the vibes, and I wanna use observe on her. It might tell us if there’s anything we can do about introducing her specifically to the abyss.” I say. The aeromancer nods in agreement. “I’ll text Lena tonight and ask her about it. I reckon she’ll be pretty keen.” Mia comments. “Here’s hoping. She seemed really cool.” I agree.

“Wanna come along babes?” Mia asks Skylar. Skylar shakes her head. “Nope, not this time. Can you tell me your impressions of her and Emma together, and if they’re good, I’ll meet them after?” She returns. Mia smiles, nodding emphatically. “Yeah definitely.” She replies, wrapping her arms around our girlfriend and kissing her on the forehead. “We should ask Paige.” I suggest. Mia nods in agreement. We fall silent for a few seconds, watching Dave come back with the giant stick they’re using for the game.

“Wanna stay and play fetch with us?” Mia asks me. “Nah I haven’t seen Luna in all of five minutes, so I wanna play with her a bit. We still watching a Barbie movie tonight? Which one was it again? The horse girl one?” I ask, solely to rile her up. Mia gives an exasperated sigh. “Barbie and The Magic Of The Pegasus. Yes we’re watching it. Buttface.” She replies. I manage to stifle my laughter for the bit.

“Right right, yes of course. I’ll remember it next time.” I say, grinning. Mia rolls her eyes, unable to hold back a smile herself. “Did you manage to convince Olivia to stay and watch it with us?” She instead asks Skylar. “She didn’t need much convincing, she does enjoy being around you lot, even if she doesn’t show it very much.” The shadow mage answers.

“Yes!” Mia exclaims, pumping her fist. Skylar chuckles at her reaction. “Now we gotta convince her to sleep over, girl’s night style!” The aeromancer says. “I’m not sure she’d go for that.” Skylar replies, a small smile on her face. Mia shakes her head. “Bah, she’s a grumpy old lady, that’s why.” She jokes. “You don’t have to be jealous over her having class when you don’t.”

Mia places a hand on her chest, looking offended. I chuckle at the banter and lean in to kiss them both once more. “I love you!” I call as I walk away, my heart fluttering when I hear the joint response. ““I love you!”” A broad smile plasters itself onto my face. How could it not? My life is amazing.

I walk back inside the castle, and Luna makes her presence known, meowing furiously from the ground. “Yes my baby, I’m sorry I haven’t held you in two seconds.” I say, picking her up and holding her up against my chest, kissing the top of her head. She mews once, seeming satisfied, and begins to purr. I chuckle happily, scratching her gently behind the ears, just the way she likes it.

Luna’s fluffy ears flutter gently, and I enjoy the feeling of her soft fur under my fingers. I walk to the couch next to Luna’s little safe area, careful not to let my movement disturb the purring kitten in my arms. I sit down gently, cradling the adorable little kitten and kissing her soft forehead.

I take advantage of my skill in ice magic, and raise a small platform of ice from the ground, lifting up Luna’s toys within arms reach in the process. This way I don’t have to get up and disturb the little bundle of fluff I currently having laying over me. I pick up her favourite one, a little moon plush I bought for her on a whim.

She loves it, and I think it’s really fitting for her. She sees the toy and immediately cries out, paws outstretched, demanding to hold it. I hand it to her, not able to resist her adorable little face. Luna latches onto it immediately, clinging it tightly in her tiny paws.

She chirps happily and stretches her legs out. I giggle quietly and scratch her chest gently. She closes her eyes and purrs, cuddling her little moon plush and allowing me to scratch her small chest softly. It’s hard to imagine how something so small and cute is a living, breathing creature. My kitten’s chest rises and falls with her deep, relaxed breaths.

Introducing a mundane into the abyss huh? I guess if there’s somebody suited to working miracles, it’s me. I’ll do a search later in the abyss auction for any information related to the subject. If it’s not too expensive, I can buy some information packages. Meeting Emma and observing her to check if she somehow has powers is definitely still the best bet.

If neither of those work, I’m really not sure what I’ll do. I don’t know if I can manifest things in my classes or ability set by wishing for it, but it seems to have worked so far. Whenever I’ve levelled my focus on getting some ability in particular, it’s worked out so far.

I have to wonder if I’m even locked into a particular class? Like, if I tried to get some thief or rogue type abilities, would I be allowed to? I wouldn’t think so, there does seem to be some kind of limitations on the number of different types of powers I can get. I can’t get a class for more than one element, as is shown by the fact that I don’t have a pyromancy class.

Maybe I can get some basic abilities from different playstyles but I can only get more advanced abilities from the playstyle I’ve chosen? I’m not really sure, but it’s definitely something to test. I file it away in my brain to try later. My mind goes back to the problem at hand as I play gently with Luna. Hopefully Paige says yes to coming along, I’m really interested to see how she interacts with Lena and Emma.