A nice change in scenery

[Dane Regan]

Continuation of I'll take it as a compliment. This one isn't open because I've got to get Dane ready for DA.

Any edits in this thread are just minor polishes before I submit it for grading. I haven't changed any of the actual plot or content.

Out of the stone gateway and into the realm of Camelot walked Dane. His stride slowing to a more relaxed, casual pace; his legs were starting to tire, and without a clear destination in mind he saw no reason to waste energy. He wasn't here with some supreme, ulterior motive - he'd just chosen this gate because it looked the least messy. Others were covered in moss or vines, while the entrance to Camelot was smooth, well cut, stone. That and it happened to be in the opposite direction from Axemerax. In retrospect, the vines could have been a better choice, he thought. After all, he wanted magical knowledge and moss or vines were typical things hermit wizards had. At least, Dane's many places of refuge were covered in the things - mostly by choice because some small part of him wanted to fit the fictional stereotype. Regardless, he'd "chosen" this one. Stone cut as well this either had a lot of time invested - or magic. Then again, it could have just been "summoned" similarly to Dane's old, itchy hat (many imaginary tears were shed at its loss).

The actual journey from the fountain had been uneventful since he ran away from Axemerax, but he didn't plan to get involved with the metal clad alien. Axe was as clueless as he was, after all, and he was bound to meet someone else with similar or better technology, and hopefully, they'd be much less eccentric. That and the guy was on the verge of killing him. Anyway, Dane wasn't a user of tools; he desired to understand and make them - while he may have been wrong, he suspected Axe couldn't replicate his equipment if given standard supplies and enough time. Yes, Omnilium could be used since it seemed to be able to fill the mechanical gaps in knowledge, but Dane hated missing information and relying on more tools to simply fill the holes was just a big fudge. He'd much rather have an actual understanding of the process involved in their manufacture.

He’d passed a few scouts coming from the direction of the gate, some of which rode on horseback, but they'd all ignored him. He reckoned he might have looked too sure of himself, and they were perhaps looking for new, struggling primes. Or maybe they were actually checking for foes, and he simply didn't look dangerous to them. Dane had nodded his head at a few of them, receiving similar motions in response. So they probably weren't just antisocial, he'd reasoned.

Nonetheless, he was feeling the loss of that hat strongly in his eyes. While relieved that there was a sun, its rays continued to stab him in the face. Viciously. He could make a new one, but that would undermine the first's legacy (and it would probably be itchy as well). So he decided to stop overreacting and just deal with it. Raising a hand above his eyes to get a better look at the unknown land, he walked onward, scanning the horizon. A large, multi-tiered city rose up into the sky, daring to reach for the clouds. Yet, higher still, was a smaller city; one that succeeded in fighting and conquering the clouds to gain dominance over its pocket of the sky. In almost no time, Dane decided that that would be his destination. It looked cool, so it probably was cool.

Of course, lacking any method of aerial locomotion, he deemed it would be reasonable to head to the city he could actually reach on foot first, and perhaps gain some information should he pass any smaller towns on the way.

Dane's stomach grumbled.

And some food. It occurred to him that he had been due a meal before he arrived in the Omniverse. But, the process of getting food was effort. And he was lazy. If he didn't absolutely have to do it now, he reasoned that it’d be perfectly fine to do later. Shrugging, he trudged onwards with a general lack of awareness of his surroundings; thinking was more important, and he had a lot to think about.

[Dane Regan]

Summoning was weird. It still had rules, yes. But that didn't change how the process seemed to disregard everything Dane knew about physics. The Omnilium he could access felt infinite in potential, yet also limited. Like someone was stopping him using too much. With regards to what he could create, it seemed as if any thoughts he had over an object were sent through a complex flowchart, which boiled down to a simple question: "Can I summon this? (Yes/No)". He didn't even have to go to the trouble of actually attempting to create anything: just thinking and visualising something while holding the coalescing orb of colours (or simply focusing enough) gave him the mental feedback. Sort of. It was a bit more instinctive; like he himself knew - he just had to consider it to find out. For example, he could think about shields all day, but would never know for sure if he could summon one until he tried.

And so, that's what Dane did. But first, he set about keeping track. Sitting down with his back against a tree for a little over five minutes, a book with blank A5 size pages along with a few pencils weaved themselves into existence. He scribbled a quick table with the headers: "Date", "Object", "Can summon?", "___". Not knowing what to put in the first column, he wrote 0. Using the days since his arrival would work well enough until he found a standard calendar. The object column was to be filled with brief words and descriptions; the "Can summon?" one he planned to use ticks and crosses; the last column was left blank, simply in case he later needed to add additional notes.

Lazily stumbling to his feet, his mind swam with ideas. Writing while walking was nothing new to him. With a thick enough book, it was easy enough. Which just meant he could only write on one side of the page. Once in the past, he'd been ambushed while working on one of his books, but usually, he was aware enough to avoid walking into trees, tripping over rocks, or straying from his intended path. In the time his lack of attention had backfired, they'd just been common thieves. People who fled at the slightest hint of magic. One might think Dane would have been warier in a foreign land. Those people didn't know him. For an intelligent person, he was pretty careless. Thus, he worked on his notes without a care for the world.

• Can I summon a new hat, exactly the same as my one from before? Yes.
  
• Can I summon a new hat, the same as before but not itchy? No.
  

Huh. That was strange. Or maybe not. Itchy isn't a parameter we can change without modifying the design. In other words, if you summon the same thing twice, it'll probably turn out the same.
Yeah, that should mean we can do something like...

• Can I summon a hat, similar to before, but with smoother and neater weaving? Yes.
  
• Would it be itchy? ...
  

It was worth a try, but it doesn't look the Omnilium can output specific information on summons, nor can we instinctively find out - though if we don't visualise it with itchy characteristics, it shouldn't be itchy. We'll have to test that.

• Can I summon a set of loose-fitting leather armour, with lots of pockets? Yes.
  
• Can I summon a set of Axemerax's armour? No.
  
• Can I summon a set of thick plate armour that just happens to enforce movements, and work and look similar to Axemerax's armour - but in my size?
  

The last of these wasn't given the usual feedback. Dane felt he could create it, but something was denying him. Like he'd have to wait. To get stronger. In other words, it was essentially saying 'not yet'.

Not yet? That doesn't make sense.
Perhaps it means we don't have enough Omnilium? Yes... it does mean that.
Then how do we get more?
We'll probably find out eventually. But, it's either like magic, where the more you use it, the stronger your core gets. Or we can mine, make or steal it.

• Can I summon Omnilium? ...
  

I can't say that was unexpected. It's a bit like the wishing for more wishes gimmick.
Perhaps Omnilium is just a medium? Our connection to Omni, or some energy.

• Can I summon a greatsword? Yes.
  
• Can I summon a dagger? Yes.
  
• Can I summon a longbow? Yes.
  
• Can I summon a quiver of arrows? Yes.
  
• Can I summon a crossbow? Yes.
  

All weapons we've personally seen are probably a yes.
What about ones we haven't seen. Like pikes, which no one back home uses anymore. They all prefer halberds.

• Can I summon a pike? Yes.
  

It's simple, and we've seen pictures.

• Can I summon a ballista? Yes.
  

OK, so if I'm right we just need to know the mechanism. So, basically, what something is, and hence be able to visualise it.
We've never seen an avocado before, even in a picture.
We don't even know what they are, so it's probably going to be a no.

• Can I summon an avocado? No.
  
• Can I summon an apple? Yes.
  

We can summon fruit, then.

• Pears? Yes.
  
• Oranges? Yes.
  
• A bunch of grapes? Yes.
  

We can summon lots of fruit. Good job guys. We've solved all our problems.
Yaaaay.
That was sarcastic. 
Actually, it does give me ideas.

• A tree? Yes.
  
• An apple tree? Yes.
  
• A bacon tree? Yes.
  

I take back my sarcasm. We have solved all our problems.
So we can summon things that don't actually exist, as long as we can define them. That makes sense. We just need an appearance and purpose - I think.
We do need to test all these things, though. I mean, we've just briefly thought about summoning each object and got an OK. We don't know if the outcome would actually be as expected.

Finally deciding on a use for the blank space he left earlier, Dane noted "Have summoned?" at the top. Most boxes were left blank, besides the hat and writing tools Dane summoned previously. He

Dane did have brief aims, and the slowly setting sun reminded him of that. The experimentation, if it could even be called that, was effortless. It was easy to continue and he soon found many pages filled with possibilities. Dane had already spotted a pattern. But now it was glaringly obvious that anything he could describe seemed to be able to summonable - although in some cases the process of doing so felt restricted. In other words, he just needed to know the key properties but knowing the mechanism itself didn't matter. So he could probably make a stick that just happened to shoot lightning, which was infuriating to his logical mind. Unspecific requests could still get a yes as a response from the Omnilium as long as he could imagine the outcome and none of the previous rules were violated. Thinking fruit made a basket of apples, oranges, peaches, pears, grapes, and the like appear in his head, with a yes as feedback. There was still a few anomalies. Anything with a key benefit to Dane, primarily combat focused, of with benefits in that area, felt like it would actually cost him Omnilium - that it would drain his supply or his allowance. Not that food and hats wouldn't, just that their "cost" was minuscule in comparison. Anything larger than about a cart or small shack was also like that. Which was strange. Couldn't he just individually summon the parts and make something larger by hand? 

He'd have to test that at some point, he decided. He also had to properly test whether or not he could summon the stuff he'd ticked off. And everything he'd crossed - but he didn't want to try those. It was similar to holding a hand near a fire; you could touch it, but why would you? Trying to summon something he'd crossed out felt just like that. It was getting dark, he could try that tomorrow, now was time to make some food, a tent, and test out the bacon tree. So that's what he did.

And it worked. It took the better part of an hour, but it actually worked. There was a tree, twenty feet tall, and on it grew raw rashers of bacon; the trunk was still brown, but the leaves were a dark, crispy, reddish-pink. It looked weird. It shouldn't be able to exist, and it would probably die out due to the nutrients required to produce bacon instead of normal fruit. But that was OK. It was alive now, and any specifics in the biology could be modified at a later date. It smelt nice too.

Jumping into the air like a kangaroo, Dane plucked a handful of the rashers off. The leaves definitely smelt like cooked bacon, which was no surprise. It was how he'd imagined it after all. He set up a campfire and reread his notes, leaving the bacon to cook. A better stove would have been nice, but Dane was feeling lazy. His current setup would do. Living on bacon was a perfectly good way to go.

What haven't we considered?
Making two bacon trees?
Testing some other alien-like thing?
Wait... that gives me an idea.

• Can I summon Axemerax? No.
  

What did you think was going to happen?
It was worth a try. But, beings as we're not familiar with him, I doubt we could replicate him. 
What about:

• The blacksmith from Aerun, back home? Yes.
  
• The town guard from back home? Yes.
  
• The Demon King? No.
  

We never met them, nor do we know what they look like. So that makes sense. But we can summon people who are actually alive back home and bring them here. Or... make a copy of them?
How would we tell the difference?
We can't. So, it sort of wouldn't matter.
Then are we a copy?
We have no way of knowing. Probably not. Or maybe. I don't know and it doesn't matter. Clones that are the exact same as the original might as well not be a clone at all.
Then maybe...

• Can I summon Ivy Flower? Yes.
  
• John Drake? Yes.
  
• Steve Ishmir? Yes.
  

Well then.
Indeed.
But they're dead... how?
They'd be a clone. But we don't care about that.
Hmm... should we though? Wouldn't they remember? And we killed two of them.
Technically it was three...
No. No, it was two.
Regardless, I'm sure they'd be grateful to be alive. And anyway, we could just kill them again if they're not. It was for a good cause the first time, though.
You sound like a sociopath.
Psychopath.
We saved lives. They'd have got the village and our men killed. Just because the protocol says to do something doesn't mean it's the best cause of action. We won that battle. And they were going to kill us for "having the nerve" to suggest they were wrong. If anything, they should be thanking us.
Let's sleep on it.

The bacon, as expected, tasted like bacon. It was good. Dane packed up his small collection of things, flopped into his tent, and fell asleep. While thoughts and ideas plagued his mind, he was able to push them back well enough.

This felt a bit grindy. But, Dane testing all this is definitely something he'd do. I don't want to handwave it. Though I think Dane is a more interesting character when put near to others. 

[Dane Regan]

Dane's flashback/dream can be found here: (Flashback) Usurping Command. (I swear I'll finish that thread one day.)

Dane awoke early in the morning to the smell of bacon. Sweaty clothes clung to his skin, sticky. That night wasn't the first time he'd had that dream, nor would it be the last. He'd be lying if he claimed to not have felt the slightest bit of sick satisfaction at killing Ishmir - at least, that's probably what a normal person would call it. How he was supposed to think. In truth, he couldn't care less. The world was relieved of a shitty person. He'd always held some resentment towards Drake as well for forcing his hand, but, in all fairness, the dude was just doing his job. That didn't stop him being an idiot. Regardless, that was in the past. He could bring them back, if he wanted. Clear the part of his 'conscience' he'd long forgotten and justified away, or gain the closure he wanted. Dane had thoroughly convinced himself the outcome of the battle would have been much worse should he not have acted, even if the initial steps didn't go as planned.

The real question that lingered in his mind was: should he? Should he bring them back or recreate them here? They'd get another shot at life, potentially. But was bringing back and abandoning someone he'd previously killed really a good idea? Probably not. But what could they do? Maybe they'd be thankful, and if not he'd just have to waste his time killing them again. But he didn't want to do that. Nonetheless, Dane decided for once that he should do this. It'd linger and drag on him and wear away at his mind until he at least tested it. Then maybe he could consider Ivy. In general, though, Ishmir was a crap leader, but he did follow rules at least - even if he did the bare minimum of his own thinking. Using a follower like that wasn't bad. And Drake, while being a typical brute, would at least recognise messing with Dane to be a bad idea. He was one of the later joiners to Dane's battalion, aged at twenty or so. Maybe closer to thirty. Dane didn't understand how he'd avoided military service for that long, unlike the others who were mostly much younger adults: only just aged enough to join combat. But The Kingdom had needed soldiers, so soldiers they had to be.

Who should he pick first? Could he do both at once? Probably not. Ishmir might stab him in the back while he summoned Drake. And Drake... well, he wasn't exactly sure. But, going for him first was probably the best cause of action. Maybe. Dane didn't have a prepared dialogue for this sort of situation. No one did. Or at least, he couldn't see why anyone would. So, he figured he'd just shove a bunch of information at Drake's face at once and leave him to cope with it. Not exactly a considerate cause of action, but an easier and faster choice for Dane at least.

Before making any progress towards resurrecting the dead, he reabsorbed the tent and campsite back into his Omnilium orb. He didn't think they took much Omnilium to create, but every little helped - it was better than finding out he needed the Omnilium two weeks from now. As an afterthought, he fused a small metal plaque into the side of his glorious natural creation.

This tree, does in fact, grow bacon. Help yourself. 

- Dane Regan.

He was sure many a traveller would appreciate it. Even if they still had to go to the effort of cooking it themselves, and it was seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

Omnilium in hand, Dane thought of Drake. It took a while, Dane wasn't sure how long, but eventually the buff man was standing in front of him. He wore light plate armour and had a longsword strapped to his side. His beard was bushy and black, his hair short and roughly cut, and his skin pale with a reddish tint. The only think missing was, luckily, the sword sized hole in his back.

Drake shook his head, his body wobbled, and he placed his palm on the bacon tree to balance himself. "What in His Majesty's name just happened... urgh."

Dane was just about to open his mouth before Drake interrupted. "Wait a moment... you. You killed me. You bastard. And you killed Steve." He drew his sword with one hand and pointed it at Dane, keeping the other palm placed on the tree. "Explain yourself."

"This is quite a biggie, mate. But here ya go: I complained to Ishmir, we argued, he tried to kill me. I killed him. You screamed about it so I killed you - couldn't have me getting attacked by literally everyone else in the camp now, could we? Anyway, we won the battle, the war ended like a month later. Fast forward three years or whatever and I'm in some other world or whatever with fancy summoning powers. I figured I'd use 'em to give you another shot. Felt kinda bad about it, ya know? I was gonna do the same for Stevie, cuz I don't have any reason not to." Dane did consider not being so nonchalant and informal about the whole explanation, but in his years of solitude he picked up the habit of preferring to explain himself this way, even if it wasn't the best method. It just felt easier to him to wave it all off like it was nothing, even if it clearly was not nothing. He'd always struggled taking things seriously.

"So yeah, you're alive. You can screw off and do whatever. Wait 'til I bring back Steve and screw off with him. Or you can follow me and go on a merry adventure," Dane finished, although he wasn't entirely sure if he'd really end up going on an adventure, given how he spent basically a whole day thinking about summoning stuff, and he still had questions on the topic.

Drake looked at Dane in confusion. "You've changed. You're nothing like the rash teenager I remember. But you need to relearn some respect, I can see that much."

"What makes you think that? I have respect for myself. I don't disrespect anyone 'til they act like an idiot. And if you do a smart, I'll probably acknowledge ya."

Drake shook his head. "I need to think about this... is that... is that bacon?" He looked up at the tree.

"Yes, it is. I made the tree myself. Dunno if you can do the same, though. I just sort of... made it - there's not really an explanation for it that I can give you right now. Anyway, you've got 'til Ishmir joins the party to make a decision. And he probably won't tag along." And with that statement, Dane ignored Drake and began focusing on Ishmir. Unlike the summoning of objects, when summoning people they just appeared in full after a while, rather than piece by piece - which would be both disgusting and amusing if someone stopped halfway through. Drake watched with a mix of bemusement and confusion, still visibly guarded.

A sword swung through the air, clipping Dane's right cheek. The breeze it wrought ruffled Dane's hair; only a short shift in his centre of mass was needed to avoid the blow.

Ishmir didn't look very happy to see him, and despite being lightheaded, he seemed to be able to stand fairly well. He wore loose clothes, no armour, had well-cut straight brown hair, and glared at Dane with his cold blue eyes. 

Dane jumped back to the side, Ishmir's shortsword missing by an inch this time. 

Ungrateful jerk.

Three years ago, Dane would have killed him for that, and much of him still wanted to end the feral man.

"Piss off, mate. I didn't have to bring you back from the dead. You owe me."

Ishmir growled. "I know not what happened, fool. But I know enough to spot a devil in sheep's clothing when I see one."

It's wolf, not devil. Idiot.

"You've got one minute to convince me not to kill you again. If you keep this up, you'll find out if there really is a Devil." Dane drew both his swords, dodging the strikes effortlessly.

So predictable.

Drake watched the exchange with a blank expression on his face. He didn't look like he had any plan to interfere.

Good, he's learning.

"Stay still and fight like a man. You only slew me before through trickery. Traitor." Ishmir sprouted more of his useless words, as Dane would describe them.

"I slew you because you gave me no other choice. I won the battle. I saved lives you would have lost. It was through my achievement that the village and its inhabitants were saved. But that war is over now, time has passed and we are in a different realm. You have the chance for another life here, but if you neglect to listen to reason I will not allow you that opportunity."

"Reason? Reason! You dare lecture me on reason - boy - when you barely understand its concepts yourself. My tactics and my orders. They were reason. And you defied it for some childish cause and refusal to accept facts." Ishmir stabbed his sword forwards, cutting Dane's arm. It was a small scratch, so Dane didn't particularly care.

"Five seconds until I kill you Ishmir. Stand down." Dane gritted his teeth. 

Ishmir screamed and charged forward, burying himself on Dane's now bloodied sword. Dane had no idea what the guy expected to happen. He blatantly exposed himself, so Dane took the opportunity like even a sub-par fighter would... although technically it did stop him from killing Ishmir in five seconds.

"Idiot." Dane shrugged and removed his sword as Ishmir fell to the ground, limp.

Dane felt no regret for those actions. He didn't kill Ishmir. Ishmir used Dane to kill himself, Dane thought. He had warnings, yet he still persisted. Suicide by proxy, he reasoned. 

"I guess we should bury him, eh John?" Dane turned around with a grim expression, glancing in John's direction. Except he wasn't there. 

Must have fled during the fight. I wish him luck in his new life.
We could track him down if we wanted. But it's not worth it.
He's probably going to be pretty confused for a while. Let's just leave him.

Dane dug a hole by with a shovel and chucked the body in. It wasn't neat. But Ishmir was dead, so he wouldn't care. No tombstone. Just a hole filled with a body and dirt. It wasn't pretty, but at least now the body would rot below the ground rather than above it. The thought did occur to him that the bacon tree might technically end up eating Steve-bits, as morbid as that might be.

Looking up at the sky, Dane realised it was already midday. If he moved quickly enough, he might just make it to the large city before nightfall. He had strayed from the straight route quite a lot yesterday, but the distance was not quite enough to make a large difference. Not if he ran, anyway.

Or we could just summon something to make our lives easier.
Yeah, we could summon a horse. Presumably, that would work.
Or a Pegasus? The bacon tree worked. Why not a horse with wings?
That would make flying a lot easier, but I'd still rather check out the big city before we go to the floating island.
Agreed. It's slightly closer anyway.

After writing down some notes in his book, Dane focused his mind on the image of Pegasus. A majestic white winged horse spoken of only in old tomes and mediums derived from them. Many scholars and common folk believed them to be extinct, with some more pious individuals believing them to be the carriers of their god's messengers. That one could be found in places where their god intervened to help the world. Dane wasn't really sure they ever existed in the first place. Information regarding them was too contradictory. It was more of a childish story, one to be discarded as you aged. Still, that didn't matter now, because he was going to ride one. Assuming it was similar to the technique of riding a horse.

It better be similar, I don't feel like plummeting to my doom any time soon.

[Dane Regan]

"Got any food?" Female voice. Nonchalant. A tad deep.

Dane stared blankly.

"You know. Apples, carrots, the good stuff. I'm not a fan of those meaty things you've got growing up there. Good job on that by the way, I never was a fan of the farm animals you humans use."

Dane blinked.

"Oh come on man. Did you expect me to just neigh a bit and happily take you places? I don't mind flying you about, but I'd like some food first."

"I just didn't expect you to have the vocal cords required to talk." Dane hadn't specified anything besides the general concept of a Pegasus when using his Omnilium to summon one. He expected the white creature in front of him to just be a horse with wings, though this development was interesting to say the least. He'd presumed there would be more visible physical changes to showcase the different biology - namely the intelligence and vocal cords, but apparently, that was an incorrect assumption. He made a physical and mental note to be more specific in the future when using the prismatic orb. Heck, he'd barely thought of anything. Just imagined the concept of a Pegasus and closed his eyes, when Bam! There was one in front of him. Not that the outcome, in this case, was a bad thing.

"Hey! Don't make notes like that. I feel like you're tearing me apart with your eyes." The Pegasus flapped her wings and kicked off with her hooves, raising the front half of her body into the air, reached out and snatched Dane's notebook out of his hands. "And anyway, who says I'm talking normally? I could just be making normal horse noises and you could just be imagining this whole conversation."

"You know what, I'll get started on an apple tree."

"Wh-Hey! Don't ignore me. I am hungry, but you could at least talk to me first. I've only been alive here for like a minute and you're already giving me the cold shoulder."

Meanwhile, a tree slowly began to sprout out of the ground as Dane stood and focused besides it, ignoring the white winged horse. He was interested to see how it, or rather she, would act. That and he wasn't used to anything displaying an active interest towards him unrelated to any benefits he could give them - even if it was just a talking horse with wings.

A book was tossed on the floor near to Dane's feet. "I'm sorry for taking your book."

The tree got taller. "I'm sorry for suggesting you're crazy in the head. I'm sure you're a totally sane person." Dane snickered, intentionally trying to wind her up just a bit.

Haha! Totally sane, as if.

"Hey! Don't laugh at me. I'm serious."

Now was probably a good time to say something, Dane thought. "Hello Serious, I'm Dane. Nice to meet you."

"Argh. You're terrible."

People, or horses, never learn. "No, I'm not, I'm Dane. Didn't I just tell you that, Serious?"

The Pegasus glared at Dane, not that he could see it, being as busy making a tree as he was.

"Seriously though, Serious. Do you have a name? I do seriously want to know. In all seriousness, I seriously can't just keep calling you Serious all the time. That would sound weird and totally un-serious." With an immense amount of effort, Dane managed to keep a straight face throughout. The tree continued growing taller.

"Cepheya. My name is Cepheya."

"Stephia?"

"No. Cepheya. Seth-ee-ya."

"Cepheya. Got it. Well, anyway, I finished the tree." Dane gestured at the apple covered branches. Strangely, though, he wasn't actually hungry right now. He'd been hungry when he arrived in the Omniverse, but since eating, he hadn't really felt the need for food. That said, he still took an apple to avoid looking awkward while Ceph flew up and demolished half a branch. He was fairly sure horses shouldn't eat that much sugar, but Ceph was probably smart enough not to kill herself though sweetness overload, he reasoned.

"So where are we headed Daney? Oh, and you might want a saddle you can hook yourself onto. Don't want you falling off now, do we?" Cepheya flapped her large wings loosely, shaking off the leaves that had got stuck to them.

"First off: Never call me that again, seriously." Cepheya groaned. "Secondly, probably that big city over there. And thirdly, I'm right ahead of you, I made one while you were murdering those defenceless apples." Dane raised the saddle up in the air.

"Hey! You ate one too. Jerk."

"Yes, but you destroyed an entire branch. Keep that up and you'll be too heavy to fly."

Cepheya pouted. Which looked both weird and amusing from Dane's perspective. "You're infuriating." Cepheya realised her mistake just after finishing the word and quickly tried to cover it up by continuing her sentence. "You make me wish I chose an honourable rich knight as a partner instead."

"I told you, Cephy, I'm Dane."

---

"Stop pulling my mane."

"Stop trying to get us killed."

"I am flying at a reasonable speed and at a reasonable altitude."

"You're flying at thirty-five meters per second, and you almost crashed into a tree!"

"But I didn't. And we'll be at the big city in a minute, don't be such a baby. There's nothing scary about flying so fast."

"It's the bit where we're suddenly not flying I'm afraid of," Dane muttered as he continued to pull Cepheya's mane. This Pegasus seemed to have a death wish. The tree they'd almost crashed into definitely lost at least a few leaves. Still, he could finally make it to the big city and find answers to his many questions about this alien world. And if not here, there were seven more gates back at the Nexus to give a shot. But, he'd probably be able to check out the magic theory and disciplines available, assuming the flying city wasn't off limits. If that didn't hold magical knowledge, what did?

"I was wondering, Dane."

"Hmm?" 

"How did you get those cuts earlier, they looked pretty recent."

Without thinking, Dane replied. "Some jerk attacked me. Nothing to worry your silly little head about. He's gone now." 

We probably should have patched those up first.
Actually, where are the cuts? They're gone now.

That was indeed the case. Dane's prior injuries had fully healed, which made him question whether his biology or magic had been altered since he'd come here.

"Did you beat them up with super cool sword skills? Like a ninja pirate samurai warrior? Also, you heal pretty fast. I bet we could crash-land and you'd totally be fi- oww! Don't pull my hair."

"Don't you dare test that. "

"Okay, fine. Sheesh, you're such a wimp. I bet you just at complained whoever attacked you until their eardrums melted away and liquefied their braaiiin... aaaaannnd we're landing now."

Cepheya gracefully, to the bewilderment of Dane (which confirmed in his mind she was flying poorly earlier, just to spite him), spiralled down and landed in front of the large city gates, barely disturbing the grass. Dane didn't hop off because he was feeling lazy and inconsiderate. 

"I'll give you two apples if you carry me about the city."

"Three."

"Done." Dane reached into his satchel and pulled out three of the apples he stashed earlier and systematically fed them all to Cepheya while examining the area.

Many people were travelling in and out of the large city. Traders, maybe some tourists, the occasional soldier or scout, and some farmers presumably selling their crops. By the gate stood some guards, eyeing up Dane and likely waiting for him to try to enter. Some of the travellers had stopped to look at Dane, but most then moved on to go about their days. He did spot the rare elf in the crowds and thought he may have caught a glimpse of some other non-human beings.

Dane patted Cepheya's side and loosened the straps securing him to her saddle. "Let's go."

She neighed and started trotting forwards. "I'm on it master."

Master?
Unlike the other "smart" people, or Pegasi, we've summoned, we know nothing about her. Is she a fictional being of our accidental creation, brought into reality? Or pulled or copied from some world?
That came out of nowhere. Anyway, we can always ask later.
We could just not. She's happy working for use, so let's leave it at that.
We need to make sure she stays happy and continues working for us. And we need to know about her to insure that.
Fair enough.

Her words did turn a few heads, some gave a questioning look to Dane, and others a curious look towards Cephy. Were talking Pegasi uncommon? Dane questioned. Regardless, they both ignored it for now as Cephy trotted on the city gate, the traffic separating slightly around them to accommodate for the two. Like they were a stick jabbed into a stream of water, bending the current around them.

"I haven't seen you around before, are you just new to Camelot? Or new as a Prime?" One of the guards questioned.

"I'm new to this Omniverse place if that's what you mean?" Dane responded.

"Ah, then welcome to Camelot, and to Minas Tirith, our capitol. Cause no trouble and there will be no problems with your stay." The guard stepped to the side.

"Thanks. What was that Prime thing you mentioned before? And I don't suppose I could have directions to any libraries or magical institutes you may have?"

"A Prime is a being summoned by Omni, while secondaries are people Primes have summoned. And if you want books and magic, you've got Dalaran." A different guard interjected, pointing towards the flying city. "I trust you'll have no trouble getting there."

"Nope. I could fly up there easily." Cepheya commented, flicking her wings slightly.

The guard blinked. "You talk, huh? I haven't seen any talking Pegasi about before. And we've got quite a few Pegasi about and such. Anyway, take care, and have a good day."

"You too." Dane and Cepheya replied in sync.

Now, time to explore the city, Dane thought, as Cepheya trotted on through the gate. He had to be on his best behaviour. No arguing randomly for funsies. No pissing people off just to see what would happen. No verbally provoking fights. He wanted to form a good reputation for himself, if possible. Maybe not in this realm specifically, but though one of the gates, he wanted to work his way up the social hierarchy - and at least gain influence and the acknowledgement he desired.

---

"So, Cepheya. Tell me about yourself." 

"I'm just your friendly neighbourhood Pegasus. Didn't we establish that?" She replied, vaguely, while navigating the crowded streets. Dane was looking about at the buildings. There were inns, taverns, various item stores, a blacksmith, and a few stables. He wondered what the currency was, or if Omnilium was used instead. If worst came to worst he could just set up a tent outside the city should he have to. But he'd rather stay on a comfy bed. And summoning stuff all the time would get annoying - as cool as the concept was.

"We did. But, come on. I want to know more about your past. What happened before I summoned you?" Dane was wondering who exactly he did summon. He was thinking of Pegasi in general, when kablam. Suddenly there's a talking white horse with wings in front of him. He racked his mind for any mythology he might have slightly remembered, but nothing came to mine.

"Just... Pegasus things, flying about, eating apples, the usual, ya know." She was probably hiding something, Dane figured. "What about you? What did you do before you came to the Omniverse?"

"I wrote a few books. Made a few people angry by spreading knowledge they didn't want to get around. Vocalised some controversial opinions, and somehow convinced a small collection of people that spiders have six legs. Some people wrote some folk songs about me, I think. I don't remember them that well though. What about you though, any fancy achievements? Where were you from, anyway?" Dane idly petted her mane and they continued on through the streets. Nothing directly stood out. Sure the city was beautiful with its uniform white walls and style, but besides that, there wasn't anything Dane hadn't seen before of was particularly interested in.

Cepheya giggled a bit, her ears twitching. "Wh- how? How did anyone believe that spider thing?" She paused, not answering his questions. "Couldn't they just... look at one?"

"I really don't know. I think they assumed the eight legged things they were calling spiders were actually something else. And that the real spiders had six legs. That, and I'd spread some useful information that was definitely true, or at least helpful. I just wanted to see if anyone would spot a mistake in my work, but people accepted it pretty blindly or assumed it was a typo. Mostly the latter. Also, Ceph. If you don't want to talk about it, just say so. OK. You're not going to fool me by beating about the bush, but nor am I going to try to read between the lines and guess what's wrong." Dane reached into his bag. "Want another apple?"

"Yeah." 

"You don't sound very enthusiastic. I don't know if you deserve it."

"Wooo. Apples. Yeah!" She ruffled her wings.

"That's the spirit. Come on Cepheya, after we've done some exploring about, we can go on a magical adventure." To complement this statement, the apple magically disappeared from Dane's hand, almost instantly, the moment it approached Cepheya's mouth. 

"I wouldn't call a library an adventure."

"Shut your mouth you overgrown turkey."

Cepheya laughed. "You're silly."

The pair continued on and up through the city, neither oblivious nor caring to the occasional weird looks they were getting.

Cepheya isn't some fancy mythology name. I made it up based on Cepheus - which has no relation to the character I've written. Also, iunno if you should feed horses that many apples, but Ceph is a fancy magic pegasus so I'mma do what I want.

[Dane Regan]

Dane had learned or confirmed a few things. Firstly, Omnilium was, in fact, the currency here. And he easily had enough to get what he wanted, within reason. Secondly, if he wanted to make a standing here, he should probably take a look at Coruscant first. The Kingdom (at Camelot) and The Empire (at Coruscant) were pretty much at war with each other, though any fights were small skirmishes, each had a stigma against the other. Dane could either choose one or the other. For now, he'd openly ally with neither. Thirdly, he discovered some general information on Camelot and its ruling system. Someone called Aragorn was pretty much the king, but he didn't want to do the whole dictator thing. He had a close circle of advisers, and joining that could be a worthy aim, should he decide against Coruscant.
 
After eating something for lunch, and getting Cepheya some actual horse food, the pair found themselves on one of the higher city rings. "So, Ceph, was there anything you wanted to do?"
 
"Huh... oh. Not really. What about you, Dane? Aren't you excited to learn new magic?"
 
"Well... I already know a lot of magic, and how to cast the spells. I just have a really poor amount of mana so I can't cast them. I'm too far below the threshold to cast field magic effectively, but I can manage core magic fairly well. Still, comparing theory would be nice. Do you know any magic, Ceph?"
 
"I don't know what that core or field things are that you were talking about, but I've dabbled a bit to help me fly faster." Cepheya flapped her wings, hitting Dane in the face by accident. They felt pretty soft, all things considered. "O-oops. Sooorrrryyy."
 
Dane let out a deep breath. "That's probably core magic. Core magic uses your own mana directly on your body or immediate surroundings. Field magic is when you use your mana to influence the magic around you, which is much harder but can be a lot more powerful - but it's the only way to do things at considerate range. Unless you're bending the magic field around you and using the waves to move the air, it's probably just your core magic decreasing the effect of gravity on you or strengthening your wings, and such. While still large, I did think your wings looked a bit too short to-"
 
"Okaaayy. I get it. Magic is cool and interesting and stuff. We've only just had lunch, no need to put me to sleep already."
 
"Having more interest in these things could help you fly faster. But fine, your loss." It was a shame really. Ceph was a great partner, at least from what he'd seen of her so far. Maintaining a friendly relationship had been fairly easy. She was a fast mode of transport. She could think for herself. She was fairly good at lightening the mood. All Dane could really ask for was more interest in his hobbies - though to be fair he did consider how he probably wasn't interested in hers. Whatever her hobbies actually were. But all this was fair considering the only payment she seemed to want was company and food.
 
"I thought you didn't want me to fly any faster, Dane? I seem to remember you pulling my mane and nearly crying in our earlier expedition."
 
"You almost crashed into a tree. And you definitely knocked a few leaves off. Anyway, let's get going to Dalaran." Dane clapped his hands and swiftly climbed into the saddle, making Cepheya squeak before she tried to mask it with a cough. Dane laughed.
 
"Give me a warning before you do that. Jerk."
 
"Give me a warning before you almost crash into trees."
 
"Will you let that go already? You're fine, aren't you?"
 
Dane sighed, then perked up. "Wait a second... what's that poster over there?"
 
Cepheya looked up at where Dane was pointing and trotted over. "Dan-te's A-byss," she said, sounding out the syllables. “Looks interesting, I guess. You planning on entering? Looks like there’s probably a prize. Oooh, you might have to do a few fights though. You sure?”
 
“I might. It’s not like I can permanently die, I think. And anyway, for competitions like these, I’ve got literally nothing to lose besides some time. No one expects the new guy to win after all, and it might be fun.” Dane shrugged. “I can’t enter for a little while anyway, but it’s something to keep in mind. And I might meet some other Primes and snag some useful info from them. Doesn’t look like I can bring you along though.”
 
“Oh, I see how it is. You just want to abandon me and take all the apples for yourself.”
 
Dane nodded, although Cepheya couldn’t see it. She might have felt the motion though. He wasn't sure how much she could deduce from the slight shifting of his weight on her back. “Pretty much, yeah.”
 
“Aww, I love you too Dane.”

Dane expected her to act more annoyed, even if she didn't mean it, so was a bit put off by her response. Just for a second.

Dammit, she's figured us out.
She's got past our teasing too fast, rip.
She's becoming self-aware.
Those were our only source of jokes dammit, not that they were any good.

"What a coincidence! I love Dane as well." Dane paused and started adjusting his harness. "Anyway, let's stop this dilly-dallying and get moving." He patted Cepheya's side. Dane was anxious to check out Dalaran, then likely go exploring for a short while before the Dante's Abyss thing.

Cepheya slowly walked over to the rim of the city level at a casual pace before extending her wings, hopping off, and falling into a dive - following the curve of the city as she fell in what she'd call a controlled descent. She did keep a reasonable distance from the tops of buildings, but the speed made Dane feel as if they were a lot closer. And any other fliers were distant enough not to be a problem. That didn't mean Dane liked it, not that he wanted to give Cepheya the satisfaction of knowing that, so he bent forwards in his saddle and held on to a handhold he'd added earlier. 

"Can't you go any faster, Ceph?" Dane choked out, forcing himself to speak as they reached the outer wall. He was curious how long and fast the Pegasus could actually fly, even if he'd rather not find out first hand. That said, he did feel a need to practice getting used to the speed of the motions Cepheya made in the air. One thing he had noticed was that the strength of the air blowing in his face was lessened compared to his expectations. Now Cepheya had pointed out the magic she used to Dane, it was easier to notice she'd also used it to make her flight paths more dynamic.

Cepheya's wings flared, and beat quickly, as she sharply arced upwards towards the sun. The centripetal force of the parabolic curve made Dane shift in his saddle slightly and tighten his grip. That force levelled off as she became almost perpendicular to the horizon, with Dane feeling the need to hold on to avoid gravity pulling him off. It didn't take long to reach a point level to Dalaran, yet Cepheya rose higher. She began to pant with each flap of her wings, and the air began to feel empty until she eventually stopped and started to hover.

The view was pretty good, as far as appearances go, in Dane's opinion. Although he didn't really care for those things. Views were views and looking at things was more boring than doing things. And looking at things that didn't open up possibilities of doing things. An example would be your average nice view compared with reading a book or watching an experiment: the latter could be used to enhance a skill; the former was only useful for pathfinding, or before a battle. 

Cepheya seemed happy to be so high up, even if she appeared strained after the effort. Maintaining a high speed in the thinning air must have been hard. Still, she'd made it far up, and for that Dane was impressed. He'd tried climbing mountains before a few times, but those were three kilometres high at most. Cepheya was getting on for five thousand metres, and as cool as being high up was once he'd gotten over his reluctance (in general, it wasn't that bad - there was something good to be said about the feeling of looking down on the world), the air wasn't easy to breathe. It was slightly easier than he expected though, so he chalked that up to Cepheya's magic. 

"I... I expected you... to complain a... a bit more," Cepheya said between pants. "Do you... do you finally appreciate the world of flying, Dane?"

"I can see the appeal. But can you give me some warning next time." He sported a soft grin, taking care to hide any breathy tones in his own voice.

"But the surprise is part of the fun. Seeing where the air takes you. Having the wind brush across your face." She shook her head lightly from side to side, letting her mane sway. "I don't think I should try to go much higher though."

"I don't think we should either."

Little happened for about ten minutes as the pair hovered above the clouds. It was a tad cold, despite the sun shining on them. Dane spent the time thinking - just general things, no specific topic. Camelot was fairly large. He couldn't spot any defining end or border from where he was, but he knew each world in the Omniverse did have a limited size. He could see many towns and villages on the ground, but nothing close to rivalling Minas Tirith. Besides that, there wasn't much Dane could really say.

"Let's get going now, Ceph." Dane breathed in, and then out, before saying something he felt he might regret - but he did still want to see what would happen. "You can do tricks if you really want."

"You sure about that, boss? I don't know if your weak heart can take it."

"I'll be fine." It shouldn't be too bad, Dane reminded himself. The worst that could happen is them crashing into the ground or a building. But Cepheya acted experienced enough that that shouldn't be a worry. Going fast or getting high shouldn't be a worry in itself, it was when they were stopped permanently that worried him.

"Okie-dokie." Cepheya pulled in her wings and legs, while Dane bent down and grabbed on tightly, as she tilted forwards plummeting into a dive.

After a short moment, she re-extended her wings and flapped hard, pushing the two down faster. Dane was starting to get the hang of the jerky motions Cepheya used when flying. He knew she was perfectly capable of flying gracefully, she landed as such earlier, but she seemed to take joy in pushing her body hard with each thrust of her wings. It was almost as if she wanted to avoid any smooth motions, or maybe that was just the cost of speed. Dane was inclined to believe the former more in that case.

The Pegasus curved up sharply to follow the horizon, corkscrewing twice at the same time, then continued to curve upwards in three-quarters of a loop, so she ended it facing down - still with most of her speed intact. Dalaran came closer quickly as Cepheya continued to curve and arc in the air, sometimes bringing Dane upside down. He braced. There wasn't much of a pattern, but the Pegasus could certainly turn and accelerate quickly. While Dane had never done aerial combat before, nor had anyone from his homeland that he knew of, he anticipated that Cepheya could certainly be a useful asset should the need arise. But he did want to first know why she followed him. He summoned her, yes. But he didn't think there was some requirement that forced secondaries to obey their summoners. If that was true, Ishmir would still be alive and Drake would be his henchman.

Cepheya straightened out her wings fully and stopped flapping, letting the two glide the rest of the way to the floating city. From what Dane could see, it looked advanced, like the drawings he'd seen of that foreign human city across the sea back home. They had still been fearful of the demons, but their navy had been successful at holding ground, allowing them to focus more on magicks and sciences. Dane had planned to visit one some time ago, but he hated ships and sea travel, and he hadn't had a reliable ship he could travel on. There'd been too many guards patrolling the accessible coastal cities, all who were happy to arrest or kill him. Without any links with smugglers an the like, he'd had no chance at securing transport safely. It would have been like running around the high church with a big sign saying "I'm a heretic". Every other town person wouldn't care if they spotted him; usually, he carried about potions and the like as bribery for silence - good healing potions sold for a lot. But guards, to their merit, were usually pretty good at actually doing their job. The woes of being a wanted criminal.

Finishing the rest of the glide in a spiral, Cepheya landed, yet again, gently. Dane couldn't hear the sound of her hooves on the stone floor, which surprised him.

"Can I have an apple now."

This girl's got her priorities, at least. I think we're just her personal food dispenser.
You'd think she'd get tired of apples. Is eating this much even healthy for a horse?

Dane reached into bad and took out one of the last two apples to sacrifice as payment to the all-consuming Pegasus. It disappeared quickly. "How do you even eat them so fast?" Dane asked rhetorically, not expecting an answer.

"I just do. I like apples, okay? Surely you eat cakes quickly?"

"No, I take my time and savour the taste."

"What if you had an unlimited supply of cake?"

"Then I'd still take my time because eating too much cake is unhealthy."

"What if you had an unlimited supply of healthy cakes?" 

Dane knew the point Cepheya was trying to make: i.e. that he was an unlimited supply of apples. Something like that, he figured. But, he wasn't going to try and make it easy for her. "Then I'd still take my time because eating too much of anything is unhealthy."

Cepheya groaned. "What if you had an unlimited supply of healthy cakes that tasted really nice and you could eat as much of them as you wanted with no negative side effects."

"Then I'd still eat at a reasonable pace because I like to chew my food before I swallow."

"You're impossible."

"No, I'm not. I'm Dane, silly."

Cepheya groaned again, then shuffled her wings. "Wait, are you Dane or Not? You're confusing me."

Oh boy, she's adopting our bad sense of humour.

"Good one." Dane laughed. "Wait. Who's Me and why are they confused?"

"I'm not sure what They's confusion has to do with Me being confused," Cepheya said, making an obvious effort to keep the pride out of her voice.

"Close, Ceph. But that one doesn't work because of how I used 'they' in the sentence. You can't replace it with a name and still have it make sense. For example, shove Jeff and James into it and see what it sounds like: 'Wait, who's James and why are Jeff confused?'. See, that doesn't make sense, I'd need to have said 'is' instead of 'are'. Though, really, when you start needing to use pronouns to make your bad jokes it's probably gone wrong anyway. So at that point, you should probably abort and laugh or sigh or groan."

"I didn't need an in-depth analysis of your bad taste in humour, Dane." 

Dane laughed. "Anway, as I was going to say before, You just need to think of a better analogy for your point, whatever it is. An unlimited cake supply does sound nice though."

Cepheya sighed, before breathing in sharply. "Surely though, the speed at which you eat when trying to do so safely without choking is different from the speed you eat while savouring something. Because I bet you eat... umm... cabbage faster than cake."

A few passers-by had overheard the pairs obscure conversation and subtly laughed, nodded, or walked on with a scornful or confused look on their face. This general reaction had been happening since the unlimited cake was first mentioned by Cepheya - not that either of the two cared how others acted. "You're correct, yes. I don't see your point though."

"My point is, say we replace the cakes with apples. Suddenly my quick eating of apples is completely justified." Cepheya grinned and her wings twitched.

"Except you don't have an unlimited supply of apples. I only ever give you a few at a time at best."

Cepheya's wings flattened back down, before perking up again. "When have you ever refused me an apple, huh? Exactly, you are my unlimited supply of apples."

Huh, she has a point.
She's not wrong.
She's not wrong yet.

"That's great Ceph, except I asked how you were able to eat apples so fast. Not why you tried to eat them so quickly. I've seen normal horses take three times longer, at least."

"Oh... well that's because... umm... I really really like apples... I said all that for nothing, didn't I?"

"At least I can be forever safe in the knowledge that my companion is able to fully explain and justify her eating habits," Dane said. laughing at the end.

Cepheya sighed. "Come on, let's go find that library."

---

"Urgh, where is the bloody thing. I swear we've explored the whole city by now."

It had been ten minutes since the pair started looking for Dalaran's library. They had definitely not explored the whole city in that time. Back at Minas Tirith, one of the shopkeepers they talked to said it could be found in one of the back alleys, and later elaborated to explaining how its location seemed to be random and if you wandered about long enough you could find it. Apparently, the guy got some of his goods from up here, so knew a bit about the place.

"Then why don't you try asking for directions." Cepheya blew air out of her mouth, pushing the front of her mane up in the air.

"I don't need that attitude from you, missy," Dane commented, lightheartedly.

"Excuse me sir, and madam, are you two looking for Dalaran's Unseen Library? If so, perhaps I might come with you. I too find myself looking for it this afternoon, and three pairs of eyes are better than two, I dare say." The man wore a long purple robe and had short, well-cut, dark black hair.

"Please do, we're lost and Dane refuses to ask for directions," Cepheya interjected before Dane got the chance to speak. He heard the slight mutter of 'men' from under her breath.

"Well my dear, the library isn't a place one can simply locate on a map. It doesn't always show itself, though spend enough time looking and you'll be sure to find it. Why it's likely at least one of us has walked past it already." The man reached his hand out for Dane to shake, which he did. "My name is James. A pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Cepheya," Cepheya commented happily.

"And, as Ceph mentioned, my name is Dane. Do you have a plan of where to start looking for this library, or are we just going to wander about?" Dane unfixed himself from the Pegasus and hopped off, landing next to James.

"I do hope you weren't in a hurry. But I find the latter approach is my plan, as frustrating as that may be," said James.

Dane clapped his hands. "We better get started then. I'd rather have some sunlight left by the time we get there."

[Dane Regan]

"So, James, why are you heading to the Library?" Dane inquired.
 
"Oh, I just wanted to brush up on some magic. I promised to help teach a young lass down at one of the villages west of here, but I felt I should probably check the books first. Don't want to teach the wrong things, now do we?" James said while continuing the glance down the streets. He had a good walking speed, which Dane appreciated. Cepheya probably didn't care though. "What about you, Dane? And you Cepheya?" Cepheya turned her head sharply at the mention of her name, before looking back to the streets.
 
"I have a similar reason to you, except I'm doing more of a knowledge comparison. I'm pretty new here, so I want to see if you guys have anything to add to my research from back home. Hopefully, there'll be something I can use to get around my mana deficiency. And see if there's any other theory that could be useful." Dane explained. "Although, teaching Ceph some stuff might be worthwhile. I know she has more natural aptitude than me, at least. As is, she's just my ride. I think we'd both agree that a ride that can shoot lightning is much cooler."
 
"And he's my key to free food," Cepheya cheerfully interjected, before giggling a little. "Maybe if I keep getting all those apples I'll develop superpowers."
 
"Ah, but if your transportation is required for your meals, then is the food really free, or did you just work for it?" James questioned.
 
Dane laughed and spoke while Cepheya looked confused. "Shhhh. You're not supposed to tell her that." He said, exaggerating the seriousness of the message.

---

Idle chatter and conversation continued for some time until, finally, while backtracking near to where the group first met, James, spoke. "Ah. I think I see it."
 
Dane and Cepheya blinked. "How'd we miss that?" They commented in near unison.
 
Before they hadn't noticed, or maybe they had and just simply dismissed it. Or maybe it simply wasn't there prior to now. Any of those could have been the case for the inconspicuous alleyway. Luckily, at the end of it was the entrance to the library, much to Dane's relief. The alley itself was just generic, hidden off near a side road. It fit the description perfectly, it did look, after all, much too normal. Dane couldn't quite put his finger on why though. Hopefully, he'd find it easier to locate next time, should he return.

Dane tossed an apple up in the air, laughing as Cepheya scrambled to catch it, before succeeding with a loud crunching sound as it joined the fate of those before it.

"Yes, now I understand why the place has been called 'Unseen'," James said, taking the lead and entering through the wooden door.

---

The library itself looked unremarkable to Cepheya. Just shelves of books. Books. Books. Books. And more books. The shelves were just plain old dark wood. To Dane, however, the fact there were no discernable features besides books meant nothing. Books were, after all, the only feature of a library he cared about - besides the filing system and other book-related things. James, however, looked amazed. His head tilted back. Following his gaze, Cepheya looked up at the ceiling. 

Plastered on the domed roof was a wondrous collection of artwork, flowing with the curves of the building. "Hey, Dane. Look up." Cepheya poked Dane with one of her wings.

"I saw when we came in, Ceph. But I'd rather focus on finding the books of interest right now." Of which there were many candidates. Assuming they all contained adequate contents pages, it could take a week to check them all. And maybe longer to get the information he wanted. It all depended on how much overlap there was between Dane's and the library's knowledge sets.
 
Cepheya sighed, wings drooping. "Don't be such a killjoy. Can't you just invent magic batteries or something using Omnilium now that you're a Prime? I don't get why you're so fascinated with going through all these books."
 
Dane looked up from a book he'd already taken from the nearest shelf. "Ceph. I'm not going to summon random stuff without knowing how it works. Admittedly, last time I tried to do that you appeared, which was worthwhile-" Cepheya looked away, hiding her face. "... but I have no way of knowing specifically what I'll get. Anyway, I'm pretty sure using the Omnilium just to wish for more strength probably won't work effectively. I really doubt that's what Omni intended for it. I can get plenty strong all on my own. Maybe I'll try that later. For now, knowledge is all the power I need."

"Then why do you carry two swords and a shield?" Cepheya snarked while James listened in on the conversation.

"They are just tools to apply my combat knowledge with. Just as magical knowledge will help someone a lot more than raw strength, having a good grasp of combat is much more useful than having a strong blade. Anyway, I said "for now", Cephy. I don't need these swords and my shield at the moment, I can just summon new ones as needed. All I need or want is more knowledge, at present, anyway. I could probably still win an average fight without weapons, but using pointy things usually provides a solid advantage." Dane paused and looked down at the book he was pretending to read. The words he did glance over mentioned elementary magic theory with some diagrams he actually recognised, which was reassuring. "And my weapons look cool."

"What, no. Surely knowing how to hit someone with a sword is useless without a sword of your own?" Cepheya looked towards James, who seemed to be idly browsing while listening in on the pair. He did, however, still notice her glance. "Right?"

James returned the look with an expression that tried to say: 'don't ask me'.

"OK, Ceph. If I swung my sword at you, what would you do?" Dane folded the book and placed it back on the shelf while talking.

"I'd dodge it obviously. I'm super fast."

"What if-" Dane pounced forwards towards Cepheya, closing the few metres between them in the blink of an eye, and stopped very close in front of her. He poked her nose before she could react, making her blink and go cross-eyed. "I attacked super fast?" Dane finished. The rush of air ruffled some of the books on a nearby table, partially or completely opening some of them.

A few mages, scholars and other occupants of the library scoffed at Dane disapprovingly, others ignored him completely - choosing to focus on their books instead or perhaps discretely listening in.

"N-no fair. I wasn't ready." Cepheya shifted from side to side, changing her weight distribution and shuffling her wings while scrunching her nose.

"If you want a rematch, we can do that another time. But for now, my point is: if you know how someone's going to fight, you can dodge a lot easier. If you're skilled with a sword or know the theory, yet use a spear, you can find the gaps in a foe's guard, dodge their attacks, and parry much more effectively than simply buying or making the best spear you can and solely understanding spears. If you know all the magical theory, this works even more so. All spells have parameters or weaknesses. Anyway, I'm going to stop disrupting the Library and get back to reading. Go for a fly if you want, Ceph. I'll go find you where we landed on Dalaran once I'm done." 

"Pfft. I don't get bored that easily. I could totally stay here with you for the rest of the day. There might be something I want to read here as well," Cepheya replied, immediately spying a book titled The Magic in Footwork with speed arrows drawn down the sides. She'd definitely beat Dane in a duel once that Dante's Abyss event was done and over. She could train while he tired himself out in that competition. Fair or not, she wanted a victory over him. Though he'd probably feel cheated should she reveal the tricks she had hidden up her metaphorical sleeves. Not that she planned to anytime soon. But if needed, she figured it might be worth it for a well-deserved victory. He'd find out eventually.

---

The trio went about their business in the library for the next hour, with Dane blitzing his way through the large collection of books. So far, at least in the first bookshelf, there wasn't really anything really new. Just slight additions and minor contradictions to his already large plethora of magical knowledge. All of which he'd noted in a second notebook he made for himself, though none seemed very important.

There were two main types of magic Dane knew of; Core Magic and Field Magic. And perhaps there would be others mentioned in other books here, and he just happened to pick the shelf corresponding to what he already knew. There were a lot of other books after all, and what he'd found so far almost covered his entire magical knowledge, with the exception of some of his own experiments and theories which could have easily all be wrong - he never had the funding or resources to do large-scale testing, nor the required mana.

Core Magic, also known as Linked Energy Manipulation and very rarely Self or Innate Magic, was about directly using your own mana to control your body and influence your immediate surroundings. Field Magic, which was much more complicated and, despite not using the user's mana directly, it required them to have more than a certain threshold; a threshold Dane was painstakingly close to, yet could never quite reach. In the past, Dane had researched his magic deficiency and found it was fairly common for the first born out of a pair of twins to get the majority of the mana. Field Magic requires an individual to expel mana to cause ripples in the magic field, thus providing them with the desired effect. It's the only reliable way to cast a major spell at distance, with some exceptions.

Magic was, in general, pretty weird. The more simplified explanation Dane would give consisted of explaining that magic was everywhere. Literally everywhere. Inside you. In the sky. In the ground. In rocks. This magic acts like an omnipresent ocean. You are a magnet that attracts this ocean. All living things do this to some extent, some more than others. This pulls magic inside you. Mana is just another word for magic, specifically magic inside someone (which wasn't entirely true, but it's a more simple answer). So, someone's mana depends on the strength of their magnet. The magnet was often referred to as the core. You can train your core by using or expelling mana to force it to draw more back in - like how repetitively lifting heavy things will make your muscles stronger, this will strengthen your core allowing you to get more mana. However, train too much and you can damage it severely (which Dane had never done, he knew his limits). Don't train at all, and it will deteriorate or stagnate (which happened to Dane's brother). 

Core magic works by imposing your will on yourself. Field magic works by causing ripples in the magic ocean that converge specifically to provide the desired effect. Despite the apparent randomness of the field (it is very much not a three-dimensional volume, yet still related to physical space and influenced by temperature and density - yes, both, even though temperature can affect density, compression tests with gases have significant evidence to suggest both) due to so many small unmeasurable influences, spells do still ripple as intended by the caster due to magical signatures. That, however, was not something worth explaining to a novice. Most spellcasting was done innately, like how babies are surprisingly good swimmers. That said, there were ways of teaching unskilled people how to use their magic. The best method was to use their mana for them to help them figure out the sensations. Like moving someone's arm for them should they forget how to use it.

A very common question made by novice mages is why field magic requires the set mana above the natural magic level. Surely, after all, if the density if higher inside your body than outside, you can expel it and cause ripples and thus spells? No. This requires a very large knowledge of magic theory to understand, but one of the books Dane just read had a reasonable analogy of a heavy boulder at the top of a grassy hill. Once pushed, it will roll down, however, you need to supply the force to start pushing it. Obviously, on a smooth hard surface, even the smallest force would suffice. But magic was not a smooth hard surface. It was a wibbly-wobbly seemingly random mesh of particles and waves. The same was true for your average grassy hill in that the boulder would sink into the ground. So, you need force to get it moving. With Core Magic, you're essentially mining ore from the boulder and occasionally chucking it out. With Field Magic, you're trying to ram the entire boulder at something. 

Not the most accurate analogy, but the best one Dane had. Really though, it was best to just teach someone how to cast spells first. And Dane hated that. He wanted to know how and why things worked as that would always, in his opinion, give a much greater advantage than simply following steps. In addition, following steps was too easy and if he was forced to do so to progress, Dane would quickly grow bored - with the exception of steps that he devised or knew the full reasoning and logic behind. Perhaps that was why his brother slacked off and wasted his chance with magic, although Dane more strongly believed it was simply due to arrogance, laziness, and a general lack of insight.

Obviously, there were many flaws in the prior analogies Dane considered, even the one from the book. Each analogy only worked on a very small scale or aspect of magic. For example, considering the boulder on the hill, what part of that represented mana and what part represented the Core? The height of the hill was presumably the Core strength, and the boulder was the mana the collected there. But, wasn't the Core meant to attract magic? How did the boulder get to the top of the hill to start with, and if the hill magically attracted boulder bits, why didn't the boulder roll right back up. It also brought to fruition that there was more to casting magic than simply having a strong Core. You'd need the strength to push the boulder out of its indent on the soft ground. 

This whole dilemma of trying to explain without causing a bunch of contradictions was why Dane had focused his explanations and help towards people who could already cast magic or had already felt it directly. He'd previously devised a reaction that could be done with common wildflowers, crushed chalk, water, blood, and a quill. Not a lot of blood was needed, but the general process revolved around making a specific Rune with fresh blood, mixed with the essence of the flowers (you could technically use grass, but it had a lower density of the needed compounds, something with pollen was usually better) and then some chalk for the composition. Water was needed to dilute and allow the mixture to flow better, and the quill or brush for drawing it. When two cut fingers were pressed against it as the designated points, it caused a magical deficiency making the body emit mana across the Rune like an electric circuit. 

This allowed someone to feel what magic was like, even if most people were left with numb hands for half a week. So, anyone could do it; providing they had the materials or viable substitutes (crushed clay pots worked OK as a chalk replacement) and used their own blood, it would allow them to understand the contents of Dane's magic books much more easily. Alternatively, they could just get any novice mage to guide their mana into a spell instead. But with the secrecy of most mages, particularly those in the capital, that wasn't an option.

He hadn't looked through much of the Library so far, so he was still hopeful he'd either find something to help his mana problem or find some inspiration to devise a way on his own. Failing that, he'd just chuck the Omnilium about a bunch and hope for the best. Maybe he could use it for a spell source instead, but it probably wouldn't interact with magic given that it didn't seem to resonate on the spectrum, so really it would be an entirely different combat type. 

Dane was very efficient at using magic. As a consequence of training, while his Core didn't increase in strength by much, his ability to expel mana and quickly regain it increased. So much so, he could almost cast normal, generic, spells. By sending out a concentrated blob, which normally would have no impact on anyone, nor even be visible, he could modify it slightly at launch to fulfil a small program of its own. His cantrip, "ping", could do this. But unless he actually killed himself and ejected his entire Core with all his mana, it would never reach the level of true field magic in strength. All that said, for general combat purposes, simply converting his mana into usable mechanical energy was much more useful. If he wanted to attack at range, he could just use the mana to let him move faster, or get a bow. Only acts affecting a large area or healing were outside his capabilities. And the latter was possible with Omnilium. However, a blast of fire or lightning to the face would probably hurt a lot more than an arrow.

Something hard hit Dane's back, waking him from his very convoluted train of thought.

"-ou even listening to me?" Cepheya's voice echoed from behind him. She sounded tired.

"Huh. What do you want?" Dane asked while turning around to face the Pegasus. There was no sign of James about, and the Library looked considerably more empty than earlier.

"It's getting really late. We've been here for hours. I left you alone for a while because you looked like you were really focused on those books, but..." Cepheya yawned. "But, I'm ti-" She paused and glared at Dane, he snickered. "I need food and sleep. James left a few hours ago. We can just come back tomorrow, but I don't want to wait for you to read out the Library in one whole sitting."

"Can't you just go on ahead. I'll catch up later. Or we can meet back here tomorrow. If you want food, I can summon something for you, I guess. Or give you some Omnilium to buy stuff or whatever." Dane waved one hand while looking at the book in the other.

"No. You're coming back with me. If I leave you here alone, you'd probably be up all night. We've got over a week before that Dante's Abyss thing." Cepheya swiped Dane's book away with a wing. Her... feather(?) seemed to be fairly dexterous and able to it reasonably well, making him blink in surprise. 

"Urgh, fine. Whatever. Let's just find an inn or something."

---

"I told you so." Dane quipped.

Cepheya ruffled her feathers, mumbling complaints about 'dumb humans' under her breath.

Dane merely shrugged back. "What's so bad about sleeping in a stable anyway? I mean, they were made for horses and pegasi."

"If Pegasi were intelligent and kept stupid human animals in little kennels, would you want to stay there? And they smell like manure."

Fair enough. It's not her fault there weren't any open inns with large enough beds for her.

"I guess, let's just fly down to the ground. I'll fashion up a little shack with a couple of rooms for ya," he sighed.

---

"You'd think after finding this place once, it'd be easier to spot a second time," Dane grumbled. The night had been uneventful.

"I thought you liked going on adventures. I remember yesterday you going on and on about how we were totally going to go on a great adventure together or something," Cepheya cheerfully said with her lively voice. "Come on, it can't take that long." Cepheya giggled. "Turn that frown upside down."

---

"This time I am definitely staying overnight," Dane muttered as he continued where he left off. Cepheya stuck around for a short while before agreeing to meet him back where they landed on Dalaran come nightfall, saying if he wasn't there within an hour of the sun going down, she'd be off sleeping in their shack and he'd be stuck here.

Over the course of the day, Dane powered though bookshelf after bookshelf. True, there were other disciplines of magic, such as some that required wands or belief in yourself. But, with his trained eye, it didn't take much to spot the glaring similarities. Using a wand merely provided a focus for your Core, allowing more precision with field magic. It didn't actually provide any benefits for Dane's current abilities. Belief in yourself or emotion based magic was just another way of influencing your Core. Chakra, Ki, and the many other variants listed were all exactly the same as what Dane had, but with different wording. Some specialised in Core Magic, others in Field Magic. 

There were fancy spell designs, ideas, and concepts Dane hadn't considered or seen before. And there were devisings of a mana potion - however that could only restore mana up to your maximum, not increase it. One particular book on creating life was interesting, but Dane could already use the Omnilium to do that; it seemed the particular spell was actually inspired by it. Some spells harnessed physical objects or components to shift the drain off of the user, gems such as diamonds and rubies, or sometimes plants, were common in some schools. 

But, in essence, they were all the same. They all had an equivalent for mana. Some claimed your body produced it, or you had an unlimited supply and merely not enough energy to expel/use it all at once. Most of which, Dane concluded were actually wrong, but with the scope of the spells or abilities used within the school, they would never lead to any contradictions or unexplainable phenomenon. 

That said, Dane did find the ones the physically used the user's body, such as their blood, interesting. By harvesting the magic stored in blood by manipulating the composition and thus reducing the latent magic density, magic would be expelled for use in a spell. You could theoretically do that with a rock or a leaf, but the gain was incredibly small. Given that the magic in your own blood already resonates with the caster's Core, it could allow a spell to become stronger. Dane wasn't sure on the proportionality, but he guessed the increased spell strength (as a percentage) was probably directly proportional to some function in B (where B is the amount of blood). It could be exponential, but he figured the amount of blood present was probably more of a defining factor that the rate at which blood was expelled. And having the power double for every additional litre of blood didn't seem likely. He could be wrong though, but he wasn't testing anything that destructive without a good idea of what would happen first.

Without collecting any data, he considered it was most likely that simply doubling the amount of blood would double the increase in spell strength. Doubling the fuel (assuming all the fuel was of the same quality) for a fire wouldn't necessarily double the brightness, heat, or burn time. Assuming it all combusted the energy released would double. Hence, he wanted to experiment at some point because sitting around all day making assumptions could easily lead to oversight.

But, the "blood" magic did give him an idea. It utilised changing the energy state of a substance housing magic to cause it to expel it. It was effectively like converting a sphere into a cube of the same surface area, some volume would be lost, and hence magic would be expelled. Now, what if he did the opposite. What if he changed a low-density magic material to a high density one, thus causing a partial mana-vacuum (very low-pressure area of magic) that sucked magic in. Or, even better: what if he were able to drain the magic from a high-density area so much that a partial vacuum is formed? Normally this could never occur inside someone, as everyone had a larger mana pool than their magical strength would allow to be expelled at once (i.e. their Core could drain magic in faster than they could push it out due to the rate at which mana is restored is higher if you have less mana).

Physically, Dane couldn't drain himself by magic much, and all that would really do is maybe allow a larger Core Magic usage. However, as with all Core Magic users, the real problem was fatigue rather than running out of mana. So, he'd have to utilise Runes or implants to manually force the process. Which would be painful without the proper care taken, and take a lot of time. Dane got out a pencil and some paper then got to work, musing over his prototypes.

---

Numerical methods were the worst. But as far as he knew, there wasn't any easy way to integrate anything in the form of x/ln(x) - at least in terms of elementary functions. Maybe he was missing something (there could be a workaround in his calculations or an easier way to integrate it), but as long as it was approximated within plus or minus a tenth of a percent, there wouldn't be any problems. He just needed to figure out the exact compositions and magical requirements, and how much stress the thing would be able to withstand. It wasn't something he'd summon. Well, maybe he would. But he'd definitely test it a lot first. Theoretically, with his plans, he could drain his Core of mana and store it in a sealed secondary location, using the new mana intake to fuel it and keep the process going. Once a low enough density was reached in his Core, the process would be able to maintain itself with no intervention. The downside of which would mean magic would build up indefinitely until the thing broke, or he used it. And, with that much at his disposal, field magic would be easy. Another problem would be the charge time, but for basic spells, it could potentially mirror the efficiency and speed in processing. That said, he'd need someone to install it inside him, which may be a possibility at Coruscant given what he'd heard of their technology.

He also considered that he should probably compose an apology for Cepheya given that he was pretty sure he'd been in the library for about three days. He'd fallen asleep on the books a few times, and without hunger to remind him about meals he'd done nothing but read and write. Any really useful books, chapters, or diagrams he'd made a copy of and stashed in his bag, so at this point he was ready to leave and continue elsewhere. But, as each hour went by, he was more than content to stay and just finish the next bit. He'd gained a few odd glances from the other occupants, and the orangutan that seemed to run the place had helped him reach a few books. Dane hadn't really questioned it.

Papers scattered the area around him, some scrunched up and nearly filling the bin that had slowly drifted towards Dane's working area. Others were plastered across the table. At this point, he was now basically done. He was just writing up a near copy in ink. There had actually been a few claps across the library when he'd stretched back, pronouncing "I've done it" to all who were listening. Daily, some would comment on his diligence as they went to do their day's research. There were questions about the topic of his work, but most had been more of an idle attempt at light conversation by people quickly intimidated by his writing. 

Just one page left on his neater proof of concept, and a diagram to add. Then he'd be golden. Well, then he'd start testing. He kept copies of all the "dead ends" and only threw away notes that he knew were definitely wrong or ones he'd rewritten in a better way. He had side comments, explanations, and justifications appended or scribbled neatly on each section so hopefully, another mage or scientist familiar with general magic theory would understand after doing enough reading.

"Dane Regan, you look at me this instant." That would be Cepheya. "You ignored me yesterday, waved me off the days before that, and sat here writing and reading whatever it is you're working on for the better part of a fortnight." She snorted.

Wait? Did she visit earlier? I don't remember that. I thought she just left us here.
She can't have tried to talk to us much. 
Were we that engrossed in our work?

Dane turned his head to the side, looking at the Pegasus. "I don't remember you coming in here? And anyway, it's just been a few days. Surely it hasn't been a week? Has it?" He looked forwards towards the librarian.

The orangutan nodded and spun on hand around his head and pointed the other at Dane, trying to signal that Dane was going crazy and Cepheya was indeed correct here.

"Huh." Dane looked at Cepheya and pulled out a fresh apple - he wasn't entirely unprepared for her. "Sorry. I'm nearly done though. I won't take more than half an hour."

"Dane," Cepheya asserted, "Dante's Abyss signups end in just over an hour. You can finish this another time." She then picked the apple up in her mouth, crunching it into submission, and swept the loose papers into a neat pile.

"Fine." He stood up and stretched, filling up his bag with the papers afterwards. "So how was your week?"

"I did some flight practice and said hi to some of the villages. It turns out kids love talking Pegasi." Cepheya's mood had flipped quickly to showcasing her lighter side. Or, as Dane suspected, her only side. Maybe it was partially faked at first, but if it was a mask she'd definitely been using it for long enough that it had become her. "I won't ask how your week was because I'm pretty sure you had lots of fun doing magic stuff, and if you tell me I'll just get jealous."

Huh, so she can talk in complete deadpan.

Dane laughed upon noticing her forced serious face. For a horse (or Pegasus), she had a surprisingly large number of facial expressions. Cepheya stifled a giggle as well before half hitting and half hugging Dane with one of her wings. Dane awkwardly wrapped one arm around her neck and played with her mane using the other.

"It's nice to have you back in the party," Dane commented.

"No. It's nice for me to have you back in my party, you're the one who decided to stay behind at the library while I was off adventuring." Cepheya retorted.

"Silly Ceph, the pursuit of knowledge is an adventure. And, you were the one you left the party. The 'I'll leave you and meet you later' thing is definitely a phrase someone who's leaving the party would say."

"Pfft. In your dreams." Cepheya snorted and removed her wing. Dane removed his hands. "Anyway, let's go. But I swear, if you don't come back here the moment this competition ends, I'm gonna... I'm gonna be really mad. Maybe I'll start hanging out with this nice paladin I met on my travels."

"But Ceeeppphh. You're my only friend. If you leave me I might have to resort to talking to the Orangutang for companionship."

She snorted, her wing slapping him on the back of the head while she trotted forward quickly, strolling out into the alley. "Don't be such a baby." Cepheya crouched down a little and spread her wings. "Hop on."