"You don't have to push yourself this hard, Lisa," Vista tried again, attempting to get the would-be mage to sit down and eat something, "there's plenty of time." The medical staff, the other Wards, even the Director told her she was pushing herself too far.īut Lisa, weary and stressed as she was, would not be deflected from her course by anything short of death. Practiced meditation and focusing exercises almost to the exclusion of normal sleep. She filled notebook after notebook with theories, experiments, prototype runes and glyphs. She devoured Taylor's lessons on the nature of magic, on the components and structure of spells, on the different forms and schools of magic, and more. This is not a discipline I have studied myself, but I can set you on the path."įrom that moment on, the former villain was like a woman obsessed. Fortunately", she continued, before Lisa's face could fall any further, "you are eminently suited for the other approach to arcane magic. "This approach is open to few unfortunately, you have neither the gift nor the disposition necessary for this path. Few in number, yet all the more precious for it." Odd at the best of times, Silverheart seemed positively fey at this moment, with her soft, lyrical tones and far-away gaze. Spells and knowledge came to me through practice and self-knowledge, rather than the study of tomes and grimoires. "Mine was the former path, that of one who bears the spark of magic within their very blood and bone. "To wield magical power in your own right, rather than as an endowment from a higher being, requires one of two things that you possess it as an innate part of your being, or that you acquire it through study and mental discipline." Pausing for her audience to absorb this salient fact, she continued. Taylor Hebert, wearing an open-necked shirt, blue jeans and an air of authority, held the undivided attention of the former Undersider, who stared at her as if she held The Answer To All Things. "To begin with, you must understand the fundamental difference between a Sorceror and a Wizard."
REALFLIGHT 7 RING RACE III LEVEL 9 SERIES
Vista and Clockblocker both managed to establish a tentative friendship (the former with ice-cream, the latter with a series of embarrassing stories regarding his teammates) which paved the way for acceptance by the rest of the team.Īll in all, Carlos had felt quite satisfied with how she was settling in, and looked forward to the day she joined them officially in the Wards.Īnd then Silverheart told her about magic. She was still escorted when outside of her quarters, but it was increasingly only for her own protection against the threat of Coil. Gradually, she became a fixture in the base. She compiled with all orders given, stayed within the areas she was permitted to access, didn't put a foot out of line or speak an unkind word to anyone (though she appeared to experience some difficulty with the latter). Gallant had confirmed she wasn't faking she hated Coil, worried about her ex-teammates, expressed both nervousness and hope regarding her future as a probationary Ward. Her relief at being out from under Coil's thumb, at being given a chance, had been palpable. Tattletale (new cape name pending) had seemed eager to please. Initially, their fears had seemed unwarranted. What if this was all some scheme of hers, or of her employer? She could ferret out secrets, seed deception, turn people against each other. A high-level Thinker (seven, according to the preliminary assessment) could be capable of deceiving any number of intelligent, paranoid people. When the former villain had been allowed out of her cell (under close supervision) most of them had been worried about her intentions.
Standing in the Wards break room, watching a manic, strung-out Lisa Wilbourn as she attempted to bend the forces of the universe to her will, Aegis tried very hard to convince himself that there was no reason to be feeling as if doom was about to befall them all.
Worrying about luck and omens was not, in his opinion, the act of a rational being. His time in the Wards had reinforced this he'd seen successes born from good planning and training, failures from poor intelligence and lack of communication. He was raised on the usual suspects broken mirrors, walking under ladders, etc.
With that knowledge (and the mental image of turning Coil into a toad) she can probably invent her own form of Wizardry through deduction and sheer persistence.Ĭarlos did not consider himself to be a particularly superstitious man. All she has to do is explain the basics of how magic works and show her that it's possible. She doesn't have to be able to directly teach Tattletale magic.