Devouring the Neverglades (Beta Version) Chapter 11

Bitey was back in his enclosure, and I was pacing.

Mana. Wavelength. Magic circles. 

The concepts spun around in my head. 

Mana was energy, but… Just on its own, it didn’t actually do much for me. I couldn’t really control it well because of my weak Wavelength.

Wavelength was the ability of a mage to control Mana inside, and outside of their bodies… Although I think it was mostly meant to be about outside? I could move Mana through my body pretty easily in comparison to even just a centimeter past my skin.

And Magic Circles, guidelines for Mana to cause an effect. 

They also had exact rules. I didn’t know how specific each circle could be, or how variable, but the Iron Flesh Spell for instance only worked on what the spell circle was connected to. 

And now… Bitey had turned his mana into rock, earth? Then through a circle had entirely become a rock.

I looked at him, and he was pleased, surrounded by a massacre of crawdads I’d thrown into the enclosure. His rock body was still active, and it let him stomp around crushing everything beneath him and he ate well.

Becoming a Rock was way better than Iron Flesh, and it seemed to last a lot longer too…

But why? Why was Bitey able to get so much out of his Mana, when the Giant Mouth Catfish had burned tons of mana to get the Iron Flesh spell… Why didn’t the Giant Mouth just become water or something?

My fingers found my temples and I scratched furiously. It was so annoying! Every time I discovered something new, a million new questions popped up!

Okay. Time for some experiments. 

I settled in and started preparing some Mana Fuel. 

As always it was slow, and I noticed it was actually a bit slower than normal as Bitey, now well fed, had opened his own mouth and was slowly drawing in Mana around him.

The little shit.

I considered splashing him or something to distract him, but it was fine. It was barely a trickle of the mana that I caught flowing around me, and tried to drag in that was pulled into him instead. 

So I focused and gathered more and more. 

Only when I had plenty to work with did I finally stop and decide to make step number one.

How do I turn my Mana from normal Mana into… 

I think… It had almost been instinctual at first, hadn’t it? I remember my first feelings of Mana had smelled like that space in between, I hadn’t even had to think, but at some point along the way, I’d started learning with Mana Fuel, and sensing Mana, and the feeling had gone away.

Had I… Just stupidly skipped past something and not realized it?

Okay fine. It was okay. I discovered it again. Now I just had to… I turned all the mana I’d been gathering into Mana fuel and put it in a cup. 

“Okay.” I grabbed a little piece of wood. James had once etched the circle into the wood for me so I wouldn’t have to practice and potentially damage the circle.

I’d activated, or tried to activate the circle multiple times, but…

I’d never done it while trying to draw on that feeling of the other space, never done it while trying to influence mana. 

I put the cup right on top of the circle, and pressed my hand onto the circle. My thumb touching the cup, the rest flat against the circle.

Mana flowed, slowly at first, as always it was slippery outside my body, like trying to hold water, but I had a whole cup of it, and the circle didn’t need much. Heck I’d managed to activate it without any Mana all the way back… Although I had that Mana Shard in the card so that probably supplied it, but I was doing the same thing here. Using the mana in the cup, to then convert itself.

Suddenly I felt cold. Like I was dropped into ice water, and yet my body didn’t shiver. That smell was back, and more. I could hear it. A sound of silence, so infinite it became a horrendous cacophony.

And it was… Relaxing. 

Soothing.

I opened my eyes, and I wasn’t drifting in nothingness, but sitting out on the compound's second floor porch. Bitey just a few feet from me, and… I looked down into the cup.

Swallowing a bit harshly, I stared into infinite darkness. 

Black as Ink, the mana fuel wasn’t normal anymore. The buzzing feeling of Mana was stronger…

“What?” I whispered as I felt the amount of energy in the cup just felt like more than it had been before. 

But that made no sense. How would there be more?

I reached for my notebook, and wrote that down. Making the Mana… Attuned? Sure, let’s go with that. Attuning the Mana meant you got more bang for your buck. So what was the negative? Why didn’t all monsters do it?

More questions again.

I wrote those down under it, and then looked back at the cup of darkness.

“I guess I should test it.” I whispered, although I felt… Cautious. It didn’t look safe. Trying to put some in my mouth was right out. Instead I reached into Bitey’s Enclosure and took a stick much to his irritation, and then I poked the darkness.

The stick disappeared inside, but… It felt thick. Not like the pure glowing water of Mana Fuel, this was almost gooey, thick, and as I pulled it out strands of black goo clung to the stick, as I held it up and watched. 

Slowly the goo slipped away but when it did…

The stick looked like it had been partially melted.

It ate the stick.

I very carefully put the stick back into the cup and then checked the cup. It was tin, like most of our utensils and things, and thankfully didn’t look melted… I’d keep an eye on it. If the goo started eating through a metal cup that would be bad.

So I just… Watched. That’s right. There was no rush. I had time to do science. So I grabbed my notebook and wrote down what I’d done, what I saw. I started paying attention to time as I realized the stick was being melted, and waited until the entire thing dropped below the level of the good as it was eaten away.

Worse, the cup was more full than it had been. Did it make more Mana goo? Or did the stick's remains just end up at the bottom?

I needed a few more things to test. Would it… Melt me? It was my mana right? Technically? It was supposed to be attuned with my Mana… I’d made this, so it shouldn’t hurt me right?

Pointedly, I didn’t just stick my finger in it, and instead looked around. What could I?

Then a strand of hair fell in front of my face, and that made sense to me.

I pulled a hair and took the golden strand and dipped it in the darkness. Watching as there was a tiny disturbance in the darkness as the golden hair slipped in. I waited for a while. Just letting it sit in there before raising my hand.

The hair came out coated black, but to my surprise it was just… There. The darkness slipped off revealing the blonde hair unharmed…

“Okay that’s… Good.”

I looked at the darkness… No wait. Be smart about this. I hurried away and got another cup with water, and then returned to my spot. Swallowing I put the water cup next to the dark cup and then stuck my finger into that inky darkness.

“Oooh.” I shivered as I felt the coldness inside that cup, instantly my sinuses were filled with that smell, that sense of the place between and… I kept sticking my finger deeper and deeper, and it almost felt like it just kept going.

I pulled my finger out slowly watching the goop stick to me with oozing tendrils, as it slowly flowed down my finger back into the cup. And… I was fine. 

Other than the buzzing feel of Mana, and that cloying cold, it felt fine. Nothing about it was overly uncomfortable.

It was mine. I actually waved my hand over it and with ease that shocked me, it swirled and shifted at my direction. The mana inside the goo even a bit farther away from me was so much easier to control! It still felt like water, but unlike normal mana outside of my skin I felt like I had some control over this.

“Okay good job. You figured shit out.” I told myself quietly looking around and just trying to process what had just happened. 

I’d attuned some mana, and it came out as crazy black goo that melted stuff… What the fuck does that mean!?

“Uuughh! Why can’t any of this just make sense!” I yelled despite myself up into the sky as I shifted and flopped backwards. The concrete was warm being out in the sun all day, so it wasn’t a pleasant attempt to pout.

“Everything okay?” Old Man Williams' voice called out from inside, and I looked over as he poked his head out. 

“No… Yes?”

“Ah, I see.” He said half smiling as he stepped out onto the balcony, his eyes flashing to make sure he could see Bitey and that he was in his enclosure before coming out. “What’s wrong Vicky?”

“Every time I learn something about Magic it just makes me more confused about what I’m doing.” I said, looking up into the clouds above us.

I saw out of the corner of my eye that he slumped a little.

“I’m sorry child. I wish we had answers for you.”

“I know. I don’t blame you.” I told him, still pouting. “I… I found something out, but it’s kinda scary. So I’m not sure what to do. What if it’s dangerous?” 

“Hmm? Want to explain it a bit more?”

I licked my lips as I forced myself up and carefully picked up the cup of goo. 

“So, Bitey did something that made everything click a bit. He… Altered his mana? Instead of just being normal mana, it became like a rock. And then he turned himself into a rock. Like literally a rock. To protect himself when a Crawdad almost got the better of him.”

“Oh? I’ve seen Crocs do similar things.”

“Right. So I realized, I hadn’t been doing that. Turning mana into…My Mana? An Element? I’m not sure how to explain it, or if it even makes sense. I decided to call it Attuning… Anyway, Bitey made his mana into rock, or earth I guess… Mine turned the mana into this.” I revealed the cup a bit and as Old man William looked in, there was a look on his face as he took in what he was seeing.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know…” I admitted. Not wanting to get into how it reminded me of the place between. “I think it’s… My Mana Alignment? Like how Bitey’s is Rock.” I told him and then pulled it away as he went to get a closer look.  

“Vicky?”

“It… Melted? A stick when I used it. It doesn’t do anything to me, but I'm not sure about anyone else.”

“Oh.” He sort of scooted back a bit. “That sounds dangerous.”

“It… Is? I just don’t know. I could try sticking a crawdad inside, and see what happens…” That sounded kinda cruel if it was like acid mana.

“Well… What are you thinking? I don’t know anything about this magic stuff.”

“I think… I should try casting a spell through it. I got the Iron Flesh spell, or I could do the transformation like Bitey. I copied the spell circle he used for that. But I don’t know what it’ll do to me.” I said waving at my notebook.

“Hmm. Is there anything else you can try, or is that your only option to figure things out?”

“I think… I could try some mana infusion on something. Or I guess… I could cast the Iron Flesh spell on something else…”

“Perhaps try that first. There’s no rush child. Just see what happens while being careful.”

“Right… I can just be slow. No need to rush.” I nodded and looked up at Old William. “Thanks. I’m just… Frustrated?”

“You have nothing to be frustrated about child. You’ve worked hard, and already helped us all. Be proud of your accomplishments.”

“Hmm.” I agreed, but probably didn’t sound like I believed him.

He reached out and dropped a heavy hand on my head. “If you aren’t sure what to do, child. Then instead of trying to struggle with grand things, go play. You aren’t responsible for figuring out everything about Magic.”

I smiled at his words, but honestly, I was.

Because I wanted to know magic too. More than anything. 

“I should use up this mana… I don’t know if it’s safe to just leave it. So I’m going to experiment. I can use the Iron Flesh wood block.”

“Alright… Perhaps not here.” He offered and I nodded at this advice, and started gathering up some things. He held the doors open for me so I wouldn’t accidentally spill my dark Mana or anything, and I headed out into the courtyard, looking around and finding a big open space. I had no idea what was going to happen.

I sat down and placed the block in front of me. 

Then I settled in.

“Testing Iron Flesh with… Goo Mana.” I decided to speak it aloud to help. This was an experiment. It’s okay.

I poured a bit of the dark viscous mana onto the spell circle, and then placed the cup beside it. I placed my fingertips into the goo on the circle, and then my thumb into the cup.

A breath and my entire sense was filled with that luminal space. That place between that I could recall brighter and brighter the longer I did this. 

The darkness, and absence of everything, and yet… It wasn’t empty, I recall. I had been there, but not alone. Never alone.

I activated the spell Circle, and I could feel the draw of mana. Just like Mana Fuel, the goo moved, even stronger than anything I’d used before. It felt… Eager. And I cast the spell. Empowered it with more and more goo mana, before realizing something wasn’t quite right. 

I opened my eyes and stared at the Wooden Block.

It… Looked normal? The goo was gone having been consumed by the spell, leaving the wooden block. Although I noticed the spots the goo had been were a bit worn away. 

Still dangerous.

So I tested it. Bringing the block up I smacked it against the ground. My teeth felt like they were rattling as the wood felt like solid stone against the rocks.

“Okay… It’s more efficient… That’s good.” I couldn’t help but feel actually a little hopeful. Nothing was exploding, and the block was mostly fine. 

I’d made the mana stronger, by attuning it, and I could use that in spells.

I guess… I’d actually managed to take a further step forward.

So… Did the attuned mana change anything with the spell? Besides making it a bit stronger?

I settled in to experiment. First flinging some rocks at it, just to see, and then feeling it out with my Mana sense.

Mostly just pushing my hands against the block. I could feel the odd Mana buzz underneath my palms. It felt heavier than normal mana. Instead of a sparking almost feverish buzzing feeling like a live wire spraying sparks, this mana felt like ripples in oil. Slow but still there, and yet heavier, weightier.

It was interesting, interesting enough I was monitoring it when I felt it.

As always the air was full of mana. I’d gotten better and better at sensing it as long as it was close to me, and for once I felt something different.

As the ambient mana reached the wooden block it was absorbed. I ‘watched’ as the faint sparks touched the reinforced block and the mana was sucked inside…

Fueling it?

Was the spell absorbing ambient mana to fuel the spell? Was that a thing?

There was only one way to find out. I needed to test how long the reinforcement lasted, and then cast it again, and then try pouring mana fuel on it to see if it lasted longer.

But for now, I got my notepad out and made some notes. 

—--

As much as I would want to spend all day experimenting… Well as much as I wanted answers to all my questions. I still had things to do.

Gathering Mana took time, and I was hungry. Plus today, my little troupe had been given a mission!

I happily took the next day off from trying to figure out complicated magical mysteries, and instead headed out with the boys, all four of us leaving early in the morning with our equipment. 

Away from the river on the opposite bank from the Neverglades we turned and headed out into the marshy grasslands that eventually turned into beaches, and went hunting for specific prey.

“Hear anything?” Sammy asked me for the tenth time, but instead of getting irritated, I just shook my head and put my fingers to my lips as we all kept slowly crawling forward.

You had to be very quiet when hunting birds, especially since we didn’t have guns or anything. We were forced to get pretty close. 

Thankfully these weren’t going to fly away. We were on the hunt for Turkey.

The birds were quite happy to gooble all over the place, but would happily take off the moment they heard people for short flights, so hunting them was a chore.

But it was Suzies birthday, and the girl’s favorite meal was Turkey.

So instead of one of them heading off, Old Man William had asked if I would try and nab one. Which I was more than happy to do, because I liked Turkey too!

Well… I liked everything really, but Turkey were tasty!

Besides, as we moved farther from the Neverglades, the chance of big monsters dropped, and there was less mana in the air. It meant the four of us could really hunt around without worrying about something big jumping us in turn. 

Almost all animals seemed to want to stay around the Neverglades for all the ambient mana. Heck even I noticed the difference now. Just walking away from the river, the farther we went, the more mana sparse the air felt.

It was a weird sensation, since ever since I got the feel for mana, I’d never felt anything quite like it.

But I shook that off. 

“Sammy.” I whispered quietly and pointed. Willas was waving above the grass we were crawling through. 

He’d found one.

“Yessss.” Sammy hissed and while I shushed him, I was smiling when I did it. We shifted course to head and meet with the other two. Keeping low to the grass letting the swaying reeds keep us hidden as we caught up. 

And there right past the grass that Willas and Erik were looking through was a small pack of Turkeys gobbling around picking at things.

“Yummy.” I whispered and got quiet laughs from the boys. I reached into my pack and pulled out the object that lets us hunt these birds.

Calls were good, but trying to use a rock, sling, or any other ranged attack we could think of wasn’t super reliable.

We could also just wait until the Turkeys roosted if we wanted, but we didn’t have time for that. Instead the Compound had our own way of getting a Turkey.

I nodded and the boys pulled out the net from their bag and I had the Turkey tail fan in front of me.

Basically it was a bunch of Turkey feathers connected together. A shield that I carefully kept from getting ruined.

Pushing it ahead of me. I led the way, taking a bit of the net with me as I wandered around. Never letting any part of me get seen past the feathers, and placing the net down.

With our trap set, I moved back and kept my tail fan shifting looking like a happy Turkey. Then I nodded to Erik who pulled out a Turkey call, and started gobbing.

Or at least making Turkey noises, I don’t know. I’m not a Turkey Scientist. I just eat the damn things.

I liked my lips as I kept the fan going, and soon I saw Willas peering out flat on his belly through the grass nod at me, eyes locked.

We got one interested!

We waited and waited, until I could hear the gobbling as a Turkey approached to figure out what was going on with me.

Then Willas and Sammy suddenly moved. Tugging on the net strings.

The sound of panic was funny, but I just raised the fan to keep it from getting damaged, as Erik charged in, and started smacking and stabbing with the harpoon.

“Yes!” I cheered laughing as the rest of the pack of Turkeys that had been coming over took off, but the two in the net were ours. “We got two of them! Great job!” I cheered, careful with the feather fan while laughing as the boys went to their work.

I quickly folded the fan back up, and put it in a bag that would protect it, before helping. Two of us each holding a Turkey between us, and like Goblins laughing evilly we hauled the birds back. 

“Maybe we should go after Turkey more often?” I asked, and the boys hummed at that as we walked along.

“Maybe? They do taste good. Big too.” Erik offered, and Sammy hummed.

“But it’s a much longer trip, and they aren’t always around.” He whined a bit. Usually a trip from a hunt to our camp was like five minutes max. We’d be lugging these birds back for at least an hour at this rate.

“Suzy will be happy though. Good job everyone!” I said cheerfully, and Sammy and Willas both smiled proud to have helped.

“She better be.” Erik gumbled, the odd man out, but he was happy too. Getting a real task from the adults that wasn’t just a chore or something was kinda rare for us kids. 

“Maybe I’ll ask James to make me a fan of my own.”

“Heh.” Erik finally broke his grumbling with a short laugh at me. “You just want more Turkey. These things are pretty big for just animals.”

“Of course I do! Turkey are yummy!”

“I kinda wish they were monsters.” Sammy offered surprising all of us. “You know like… A giant Turkey! That makes a big wind and flies into the sky and then drops on its prey.”

“No way! It would definitely make its feathers hard and sharp like metal and cut its prey.” I argued, and that turned the rest of the trip into a happy contest of who could come up with the most insane Turkey monster. 

Willas won with his nonsense about an underwater Turkey. Why would a Turkey want to breathe underwater? It was a bird!