Time for some magic of my own

I breathed a deep, satisfied sigh, the echoes of my sudden laughter still echoing down the stone passageway. That random, impatient person back home had just made my job so much easier. Through the hive mind, I watched through the eyes of a massive owl as it circled the city, claiming the mind of every person or creature its eyes landed on. As it began to find fewer and fewer not already connected, the owl banked silently to turn northeast, following the river and the soft glow of distant villages. All around the edges of the city, animals and people prepared to head off in different directions with the same purpose.

I stood for a moment in the empty stone chamber, organizing my thoughts. This next trip was vital, so I had to focus on exactly where I wanted to go. Finally, I reached out a hand to open the portal and stepped through.

A cool breeze drifted across the gray, rocky terrain of an alien world, but sunlight warmed my skin. Green and blue plant-life clung to the rocks here and there, growing thicker further down the mountainside.

The mountains were old, I knew, worn down over several hundred million years into a broad region full of valleys and gorges, the many rivers feeding an ancient forest.

I walked uphill, following a long-faded path that was mostly only a game trail now. The path led up to an area that was relatively flat except for a gathering of large stones. Some seemed to protrude right from the mountain, while others were more obviously not native to this spot. Granite boulders lay nearby obsidian monoliths, while a partial wall of dark stone shot through with veins of silver curved partly around one side of what looked like a crystalline tree. Each of these stones bore subtle carved runes and lines, seemingly worn with age.

I could feel their minds, lying dormant but alive after all these centuries. The beings I'd imagined were mostly incorporeal magical spirits, but each bonded with a corporeal host to find new and varied sources of magic to feed on. They could transfer to new hosts, but often chose not to, and when the host neared death they would come to a place like this for their final rest. The host would meld with or transform into an enduring form such as stone, and the magical symbiont would hibernate, gestating the seed of their next child in the steady flow of magic, waiting for a potential host they felt would be a good fit. Each of these stones had at least one seed ready, and there were dozens of stones scattered around the area. Many had chosen their resting place to enjoy their final view of the countryside, or to rest nearby a mentor or an old friend. This was a graveyard, but also a place of hope for the future.

The nearest of them began to sense me, growing concerned about the malevolent aura I gave off, but I claimed that mind and commanded them to be at ease while I began claiming the rest. Every mind there, including every innocent seed, were soon mine to command. Once I had them all, I braced myself and added one to the hive mind.

Images & sensations flooded my mind. A deep understanding of magic (in this reality and several that particular symbiont had visited) developed from a millennium of activity over several host lifespans - a family had been host to this symbiont, passing the mantle from parent to child, to adopted child. This practice was rare, but not unheard of. When the symbiont was ready for this next stage of life, it communicated this to its host, and when the time came they passed on a seed to their child and trained them for a time before coming here for their final rest.

They & their hosts were known by some as the Argent Scribes, a scholarly order that sought to preserve and expand the knowledge of magic, with a focus on ensuring that knowledge benefitted everyone. The Argent Scribes were not a police force (though I'd taken my initial inspiration for their magical capabilities from the idea of the Green Lantern Corps, along with a few additions), but they had stepped in many times over their millennia of service to prevent one apocalypse or another.

I looked at the stone whose symbiont mind I'd added to the hive mind - an unassuming gray-blue slab with faint white veins scattered through it - with new respect. This was a venerable scholar, and a veteran of several catastrophes. They had once found the cure to a plague that was decimating three star systems, as well as helping to prevent the re-awakening of a pantheon of dark gods from another alien culture. They were born on a world far from here, but had followed their chosen family when they migrated to this region of space.

Each of them had similar stories, as I added them to the hive mind. I added the seeds as well, but they would remain dormant until bonded with a host. When I was done, I returned to the first and laid my right hand on the stone. 'Give me your child,' I spoke to their mind. 'I will make a strong host, and expand your people's considerable knowledge of magic exponentially.'

I felt energy flow up my arm, hot and cool at the same time, and could see wisps of light and color floating around and through my arm and all across my body. I felt the energy take root in me, manifesting as a small abstract pattern of curving lines and runes on my chest which slowly grew to extend down my right arm. I could only see with my eyes the parts of the 'tattoo' that weren't covered by my clothes, but I could see the entire pattern in my mind.

I felt the seed awaken into a new symbiont, and I saw its limited memories in the hive mind. It had an intuitive understanding of basic magic workings, but would learn as it went, and could absorb knowledge and magical energy at a prodigious rate. With that in mind, I allowed it to drink deeply of the ambient magic flowing through this place of power, and gave it access to the knowledge of all the elders here, to absorb as quickly as it wished with their guidance.

A few moments later, I reached my hand out to the center of the gathering of stones, placing an incorporeal magical tap through which my symbiont could continue to draw a trickle of magic no matter where I went. This would be the first of many I would eventually place at a wide variety of magical sources, and help insure a steady supply of energy to me and my symbiont. I also worked with my symbiont to allow it to feed on my aura of occult and malevolent energies, making them somewhat less noticeable. I could mask them entirely only temporarily and with some effort, but just reducing them was still very helpful.

While this happened, the elder symbiont-stones had reached out and claimed the minds of a few nearby animals (some six-legged burrowing creatures, a few four-winged flying lizards, and several insects) who had spread out to begin spreading the hive mind to more of the wildlife. This area was quiet, but did see periodic visitors from a few roughly humanoid species (the Argent Scribes, coming to pay their respects or consult the elders), so eventually those visitors would be claimed by the hive mind as well.

I had no intention of waiting that long, however. I queried the elders and discovered that, yes, they could communicate long-distance with other beings they knew using a magical psychic conduit, through which they believed my mind control abilities would function. I had one of them test the process with an old apprentice of theirs, and grinned as I felt two new minds join the hive mind from halfway across this galaxy. I set the elders to working their way through every contact they knew, adding each to the hive mind and spreading from there, and I turned my attention to my ruined clothes.

My symbiont and I had access to the knowledge of the elders here as well as Melissa's entire coven of court mages, so recreating the spell she used to materialize clothes was fairly simple. I disassembled and reassembled my suit, then allowed my symbiont to create several different outfits while storing each one it removed in an extra-dimensional space. I also practiced generating a protective bodysuit the Argent Scribes had developed for combat and/or spaceflight, both with and without the visible superhero super-suit appearance (The Green Lantern instant-costume was a useful trick, so sue me).

Before I left, I gathered a few of the seeds the elders were carrying. They would remain dormant, but I could implant them in others with a touch, and I felt they might be useful in the near future.

Once I felt ready, I walked a short way down the path. I dressed with my destination in mind, and prepared to open my next portal.