MagiStream

"I gotchu, Lupe, it won't happen again."

Still she held her gaze, amber-brown eyes hardening as she swept a stray curly hair out of her face. "I'm so serious I will kick you out of here."

"Alright."

Clearly not charmed by his exasperation, she now planted both fists on her full hips, leaning in. "If you hurl on that Donec fish book I swear--"

He slaps the book in question closed. "I'm finished anyway." And pushes it toward her, standing up with a slight sway. Grounding himself with another deep breath, he raises his head high and walks fluidly to the exit, not looking back as he says, "Inviting as always, Lupe."

+++

While clouds blocked out their light here and there, the stars above were still ever-brilliant. But Nikolas couldn't look up at them anymore, not after the countless visual trips thrust upon him by rowdy celestial butterflies. Instead he buried his hands and face into the coarse manticore mane of his traveling companion, shivering against the swift wind.

He could feel every time another Magi passed by on winged companion, because the air would get faster and colder for a couple seconds. But tonight, he supposed, it was just windy and cold, because that feeling of being followed wasn't going away.

The great beast roared back at him. "Yeah I'm fine," Nikolas said, pressing his mouth against the back of the manticore's ear, and giving a kiss. The wind was growing warmer, a sign of their descent. Nikolas counted the wing beats as they landed. The smooth sensation of flight suddenly gave way to the awkward stability of land.

Dismounting, he looked around for a sign of any other Magi who may have also traveled to the Keep. But it was only him and his manticore, and the soft shush of the Stream. He dipped his hands into it, oily from his friend's mane. The icy-coldness of the water soothed his nerves, so he left them in, watching several Lakiran Platypi eggs flood by.

"Ooh, flying in on a manticore, eh? Tough guy."

Nikolas froze instantly at the sudden introduction of this gruff, unfamiliar voice. "His name's Seth," he said harshly, actively wondering why he thought that would be a threatening thing to say.

"Edgy," the voice chuckled in condescent.

Standing to face him, Nikolas poised his cold-water-armed fingers with intent to flick. He blinked, taken aback by this stranger's shorter stature. "So are you a Magi or just like a hater?"

The man pulled a very animated shrug face, bald spot glistening in the night lights. "Let's call me a hater. I don't do no magic, I don't collect no beasts. An' I don't spend hours on end pourin' over no books."

"Hey, amen brother."

The man chuckled. No, giggled, and clapped his thick, gloved hands a couple times. "Spineless, aren't ya! All right, I'll be straight: I followed ya from Triathe."

Ever the expressive man, Nikolas was very grateful to the cover of night for hiding his blushing face.

"Saw ya walk out with some papers in your pocket, edgy boy."

"Okay well that's like none of your business," said Nikolas, wiping his wet hands off on his robes and incidentally patting the pocket he had stashed the pages in. "Can you get to the point of why you stalked me? Because you said you don't collect no beasts and I have a very loyal manticore right here and if we had to fight I'd lose but Seth would win for sure."

"Gods, you're insecure. But I guess...what with all the gender-swappin' you do, it makes sense."

Taking a step back, Nikolas put his fist behind his back, preparing to signal Seth. "What are you talking about."

The man sighed. "You're not a careful boy. I've seen ye at Lake Lakira more oftentimes than even the nerdiest Magi visit. An' I've seen yer other form, too. Beautiful."

"Listen, man." Dammit, voice crack. "That's creepy."

"All right, I'll lay off the compliments. But here's the thing. I think you could help me. And I know I could help you, back."

Nikolas tightened his fist behind his back, listening for the subtle sound of Seth's paws shuffling closer. His claws unfurling into the dirt. "Get to the point."

"Look al'ight I'm not here ta judge. I know you're taking Donec hatchlings to the lake hag--"

"She has a name actually and it's Lady Alua."

"You really are a woman. Gods. Can ya quit interruptin'. I know you've been using those potions to change your own gender. Don't you start fumin' again. I'm gettin' to the point. You and I both know that those potions are intended for critters, only. And you're starting to feel some really intense effects from switchin' yerself back and forth so much. That's a nice beard you've grown; a long time since you've switched back. You know you can't keep doing it this way forever."

Nikolas flashed a number to his companion. "It's really creepy that you know all this and I've never seen you."

"Yer not a very private person." The man sighed and took a seat on a boulder. "Look, we're both breakin' rules. You've been stealin' Donec eggs and taking potions meant for critters. And me, well...I've a bounty out on one of those precious little do-no-harm critters that Magi love so much more than their own kin."

"You want me to kill something? I'm out." As he said this, two other manticores landed softly, surrounding them.

"The secret to your gender-changing isn't in Donec fish, okay?" He huffed. "You can study the magic all ya want. Donec fish are capable of changin' their sex if there ain't one to mate with, Lady Alua somehow knows how to extract that power, and it's got ya feelin' fishy, because it's supposed ter be for fish. But only I know where the stone is."

"Stone?"

"Aye, kiddo." He nods. "You want to feel like a real man without yer guts swimmin' round the place? You've got to get the stone. Small enough to put on a necklace. You could change your looks whenever ya please. No side-effects."

Nikolas unclenched his shoulders and looked at the man in his now stern, serious face. He then looked to his other manticores, all obediently poised but none seeming to take this guy as an apparent threat. "Okay...so like...I kill this thing for you and you give me this stone?"

"Even better. You kill this thing for me and you'll be led right to the stone. You don't even have to trust me."

"Okay well how do I know it's real. Like how do I know you're not making up some mystical thing to match a weakness you've seen in me."

He shrugged, a sparkle coming into his eyes. "Now that part you might have to trust. An' I know it's hard for you to trust anyone these days, you're about the age."

"Hey."

"But if ya want to keep tryin' to puzzle out this Donec situation, playin' out this edgy-boy fantasy of stealin' pages from books, be my guest. It's just that finding this horrendous sea basilisk is probably a more fitting adventure for you than all those silly field trips ya probly went on as a young student."

Suddenly Nikolas didn't care if he trusted this dude. The world was in a slightly larger perspective. He saw himself swimming deep down into uncharted waters, shrouded in darkness and mystery.

He looked around at his manticores, down at the humble Stream, up at the familiar Keep. "Look man...it's late. I wanna believe there's some freaky sea basilisk out there and that you weren't spooked by a reef leviathan, but if I'm gonna take you up on this, let's crack the deal tomorrow morning."

He expected some pushback but the man gave him a kind nod. "I'll be out here tomorrow mornin'."

With that said, he stood from the boulder and walked off until the darkness swallowed him.

Nikolas watched him fade out into the night, then looked at Seth. "Okay but if he don't keep no beasts then what did he follow us on? Was that bothering you too? Damn I forgot to ask him. Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll ask."

He chuckled, placing a finger under the sentence he was on. "I'm in here all the time."

"It's long past the middle of the night, Nikki. These days you go to bed when the sun does."

"Yeah, well..." His eyes drifted up to the crackling fire. "I decided I wasn't having many adventures, living that way. Hey...have you ever heard about something like a sea basilisk?"

"A sea--like a leviathan."

"I mean, yeah that's what--I dunno. I dunno. It's something I heard some guy say. My first thought was leviathan, but then there's of course the thought..."

"Why wouldn't he just say leviathan, I agree. Hm..." She entered his line of sight, a hand on her chin, face toward the fire, eyes deep in space. "Perhaps he's never seen a--"

"Silt leviathan, maybe. That's what I'm running with right now, but he--well." He settled his eyes back on the page. "I mean, it's just a thing I heard in passing. Probably nothing to it. Hmhm."

She didn't chuckle along.

Still looking into space.

Naomi sighed. "I don't know why you restrain yourself so."

"Excuse me?"

"You've always been...well, how to say this...meticulous in your adventures. You have the heart of the Magi who spend their lives wandering, exploring, mapping, collecting, but...a perfectionist mind." She moved her hand to her cheek. "Forgive me if I seem too familiar, it's hard not to pick up on people's lives. What I'm trying to say is, none of these books have what you're looking for."

He looked up from his book, taking her out of his periphery and into plain sight.

"To find this new, mysterious creature, you have to go out. These books were all written by adventurers who explored."

"I--I think it's a healthy practice to study something a little before just diving into it."

"That's what you went to school for, my dear."

"Yeah, well, I didn't know that was the primary objective at the time. I kind of wasted my youth in that."

She shook her head, looking back at him. "No such thing. Nobody going through school understands what they ultimately need to take from it at the time. Even the most prepared student. Now listen. You can sit here all night in this library and re-read all these books. You can stare into the fire and let your thoughts spiral into darkness. You've always been welcome to do that here. But none of that is going to get you closer to solving this mystery."

Nikolas closed the book, put it atop his stack, and took a deep breath, nodding solemnly. "I have to be honest, I don't know if that made a lot of sense to me but I get where you're coming from. Thanks."

She smiled a you're-welcome and bid adeu to the books with a wave, leaving him once again in the glow of the fire.

He sighed, long and low, and pushed aside all the books he had gathered. Neatly pushed aside.

On his way toward the library's exit, he secretly hoped he wouldn't bump into Naomi again. What she had said was helpful, but she didn't know the full story. And bless her for not pushing.

Within a few meters of the exit, he ducked into a row of books, suddenly remembering a section he hadn't ever spent much time thinking about.

It almost resembled a dragon hoard, this part of the library. You had to walk through an arch of books to get to it, almost a room itself, walls built out of tables, chairs, books, and crystals.

An anxiously frustrating thought occurred to him that he had no idea where to even start. The plan was kind of just to grab a couple target books and walk out, but uh...this was overwhelming.

"Well, guess I'll have to judge the cover," he muttered. Standing in the center of the roomlet, he lowered his eyes until they were almost closed. As he registered the colors of the books, he allowed the blue ones to stand out. Deep breath. He listened for something that was softer than sound. Then he saw a slight shimmer to the left. A thick, deep blue book, with a texture like scales. "That's almost too perfect," he said under his breath, willing the universe to just let it be that easy this time.

In as low a register as he could speak, he said the summoning incantation, spine of the book landed right into the palm of his hand. It was heavy, it was flashy, and it had, "Noooo title. Perfection."

Flipping through the pages was a little anticlimactic as well. "No illustrations either." Huff. "To bed I go. Awh...nope, not yet."

+++

The lights leading to Lady Alua's place sparkled off of Nikolas's borrowed koi and reflected through the water like a purple-hued disco ball. Nikolas watched as the color latched onto the edges of rising bubbles, which disappeared into the absolute pitch darkness above them.

Spooky at night. He had already felt the presence of several kraken pass him by, anxious imagination inflating their sizes in the darkness.He shivered as a leviathan's tail fluttered past his leg. He touched his friend Loren's amethyst koi, remembering to breathe, reminding himself he was just being ridiculous and that none of the creatures here would harm him.

She seemed to be waiting for him.

He shivered, able to pick up the slightest traces of something amiss in her face. He tried to kick faster through the water, toward her plant-rich sanctum. Bioluminescent flowers of blue and fuschia set the mood of this holy space. Nikolas watched her wave him in, as she backed into a magical bubble of air.

"Thank you, Lacy," he whispered to the koi as he broke from her. He swam directly forward into the bubble, hands together atop each other, and in he flew like an arrow. "WaaAAH!"

Thud.

Lady Alua let off a disappointed sigh. "I've told you a thousand times that gravity works in this bubble."

"Whatever, ladies like scars," he said, popping right up, and pouting at the shallow scrape in his palm. "I didn't used to be this sensitive."

"I will not mince words. A man came down here looking for you recently."

"Oh so that creep was harassing you too? The nerve of that guy."

"I cannot give you the potion anymore, I'm sorry."

Nikolas blinked. "Look, if this is about the stolen fish I won't bring you any stolen fish anymore. And I'll pay my tab, how many do I owe you? 6 male hatchlings?"

She shook her head. "I have given this a lot of consideration. It will not bode well for me if the word gets out that you have been using these for yourself."

"Dude like it's a mystery to anyone?"

"You are a very direct person. Many Magi are not. Many Magi will not ask questions about your changing appearance, out of respect, and haven't."

Nikolas paused, but nodded. "Kay."

"When I found you out, I kept giving it to you on the grounds that you are discreet. A man came down here asking for the Magi that has been stealing Donec eggs and changing their own gender. That is too far already."

"What, you don't want other Magi in my position to know they can come to you for this?"

"Yes! Because they can't!" She raised her delicate fingers, letting her hands float to the side. "I apologize for raising my voice. But I never intended this potion for human ingestion. And I have seen the toll it takes on your health. I cannot supply you any longer."

He couldn't register this. Shaking his head a few times, he squished from one foot to the other on the soggy lake floor. "Like okay, I get that...ugh. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to put you in an awkward position like that. It makes sense, it does. I just...hhh. I was...finally excited to look like what I feel like."

"Believe me when I tell you that it hurts to take something away from you like that. But it is for the safety of so many others. And you."

He nodded, and nodded some more, unable to look at her now.

"Well I--okay. How about this. I'm going on a quest to find some stupid rock, do you know about it?"

"A rock?"

"A gender-changing rock."

"A gender-changing rock," she parroted, obviously unfamiliar with the concept.

He shook his head. "Forget it. The point is...thank you for everything you've done for me. And I know you just said you're cutting me off. But...I don't know what this quest has in store for me. It might be helpful to have some of that potion on hand."

Now he looked at her, only to try to decipher her vevex-egg-blue eyes as they switched between him and her brew. "As a gift," she said. "But this is the last."

"A hundred thousand thank's, my lady," he said with a smile and a bow.