Stronger Together chapter 83 (Patreon)

We all headed to bed after that, and sleep came oddly quickly. We had  all been on a hair trigger through the mess with the vampires. The next  morning came quickly and without dreams, I woke next to Barb, spooning  with the gorgeous redhead and sat up, refreshed. My Aura was back to  full, thrumming with power under my skin, and I knew today would be the  day I would get my defensive magic perfected. They had given us a week,  but then they had been surprised by our progress at every turn. I was  going to master this shit on day one and learn to make some fucking  potions.

Barb  sat up as I did, rubbing here eyes and letting the blanket fall to show  her bare tits, which was very distracting. She grinned as she saw me  looking and shot me a wink before asking in a sleepy voice. "What are  you doing up so early babe?" She glanced out the window "The sun isn't  even really up yet, it can't be after six am. Barely any light in the  sky means too damn early to be awake.Come back to bed an get up in a few  hours when my brain is alive." It was a testament to how unusual it was  for me to be up this early that she wasn't snarling at me like a rabid  wolverine.

I  chuckled and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Go back to sleep love,  I'm just heading out to train. I need a head start since I'm not all  brainy and brilliant like you. Get your rest and we can meet up later  on." I expected her to fight me on it but honestly Barb hates mornings  with a passion and any reasonable excuse to go back to bed was good with  her. She slipped back under the blanket and was snoring away again  within seconds. The funny thing was I'd seen the girl stay up for two or  three nights in a row no problem, but once she got to sleep woe betide  anyone who woke her up.

I  slipped out of the hotel into the dawning light. I could see the sky  beginning to turn but not the actual sun coming up yet. Apparently the  wizards were back already because I saw River leaned up against a tree  napping. At least he looked like he was napping, as I focused on his he  opened one eye, gave a slight nod, then closed it again. Light sleeper  that River shoulders. Satisfied I wasn't going to get jumped by the  Skinwalker while I trained in the pre-dawn light I headed to the nearest  clearing, though I made sure to keep River in sight, just in case.

I  trekked through the snow to the clear spot I was going to use. Unlike  Cinder I'd had warm clothes to bring with me. We'd done all our initial  shopping in Chicago in February so my clothes were all pretty much made  for snow and cold. I stopped in the middle of the clearing and took a  deep breath, feeling the chill creep into my lungs. It was bracing and a  quick way to wake up and shake off all the grogginess left over from  just getting up.

I felt the cold  air on my skin and the chill wind on my face and smiled, this place was  really beautiful. I would be a bit sad to leave this peaceful place  behind when it was time to go home. I was more excited to see Raven  again than I would be to leave this place behind though, and I knew Barb  felt the same. Our nightly phone calls with her just weren't enough.  Shaking my head to dislodge thoughts of my bombshell goth I focused on  the task at hand, trying to figure out how I was going to do this. The  defensive spell wasn't the same as the force spell, Ebenezar's trick  with splitting my focus wouldn't work with this one.

I  considered what I should do, the different tools I had at my disposal  and how to use them. I had a shield, but it was pretty much automatic I  couldn't use my party trick to imbue the spell into my Aura cloak. But  what if I did it the other way around. Magic was Aura was magic, if I  could shove a spell into my Aura I should be able to pull one out of it  too. The trick would be figuring out how. I closed my eyes considering  the feeling of the part of me where my Aura cloak lay dormant. Turning  it on was like a light switch in my head, click and then I was  protected.

I  considered how I pushed magic into the Aura shield and followed those  mental steps but with no spell formed, then once I touched it I tried  doing it backwards. Soulfire sparked and power poured from my shield  into my mind, but it was just power, unaspected strength. I needed magic  that was already shaped into the defensive format by the cloak. I  needed to find that concept of defense I wanted to imbue into my  defensive spell and pull it out of the cloak. At this point it might be  easier to just make my own defensive spell but somehow I knew that the  form it would take if I did this would be better.

I  could feel the complexity and flexibility of this cloak. I could feel  that if I could cast the spell like that I would be able to use it to do  some amazing things. I thought about how safe I felt when I used the  magic, how strong, and I focused on that feeling, then I reached out the  same way and I pulled again. It came slow, a trickle at first, but the  magic of the Aura shield dripped into the power I'd been holding into my  brain since pulling it out and they recombined, and suddenly I knew how  to cast it I knew how to make a shield every bit as good.

I lashed out with a hand and barked "Tuebor!" and  cast that new spell out into the air. A wall of emerald green  shimmering force appeared. It didn't even pull too much soulfire because  I'd gotten the energy from the cloak. I stared at my new shield in  wonder. This was it. This was a shield as flexible and nuanced as the  native shield aura could give. I thought of something else and cast a  new spell, a very gentle lightning spell and imbued it into the new  shield. The green wall began to crackle with power.

I  grinned and imbued my own Aura with force, seeing the ripples, but the  shield stayed there in the air, crackling with electricity. I whooped  with joy. This was amazing. My shield could hold spells like my Aura  could, and at the same time. I could use one aspect and two different  imbued spells at once, and still be able to cast freely. Granted it  would drain the shit out of me and maybe kill me but my Aura would get  big enough eventually that this would be useful. I thought of something  and dropped the lightning shield, letting it spark away into nothing.

Focusing  on the way the spell had felt when I cast it I did it again, making a  new spell, also with force this time. Having force imbued into both the  Aura and the shield was easy enough, but that wasn't what I wanted. I  focused on the new rippling green wall of force and tried to make it  move. I stared at it, and stared at it. It didn't budge. I focused as  hard as I could, willing it to move, to shift even a little bit. The  wall of power exploded forward smashing a swath of trees flat like it  was a damn bulldozer.

My  head swam and the shield dropped immediately. I stumbled and almost  fell over before catching myself on a nearby tree trunk. Okay, that was  awesome, but really hard to control. I had this mental image of  constructs made from the shield imbued with magic like sawblades or  drills, but I couldn't even get the damn thing to drift an inch forward.  I had quite a ways to go before that was possible. Still, I had  completed my goal, I made a shield spell and it fucking worked. I  grinned woozily over at the destroyed trees.

I  heard a deep chuckle and looked over to see River leaning against a  tree. "An impressive display. Shield spells with that kind of utility  are difficult to manage. I expect you used your own native shields as a  basis. An interesting idea. A word of warning though. Flexibility in  battle is key, and a variety of options will serve you well, but trying  to do too much at once can hurt more than help. Never forget that while  you might be able cast several spells at the same time you also need to  make sure your mind has enough attention left for the actual battle."

I  paused in my internal celebrating. He was right. I'd work on this trick  and it would help me keep the girls safe, but I shouldn't rely on it  too much. If I tried to juggle too many things before I was ready I  would get killed by something I could have avoided if I'd paid more  attention. I slide down the trunk to sit in the snow, wincing at my now  freezing cold ass. I looked up at River Shoulders "How did you know what  I was thinking?" It had been like he'd read my mind just then.

His  deep chuckle rumbled out again "Wizards like to seem infallible,  nothing makes them look more impressive than casting multiple spells  like a virtuoso. Most new magic users try to do too much at one time or  another. I'm aware you can dump magic into your Aura and leave it to  work on its own, knowing you can do the same with this spell and cast  another besides, not to mention your strange gift for augmentation  magic, what being wouldn't be tempted to do all that at once. But never  forget that you use your soul to cast. Doing too much will knock an  average wizard out, but it will destroy you utterly."

Without  the excitement of a new spell blinding me to it I could see what he  meant. I'd recognized the dangers but I'd shoved them aside for the  potential power. I sighed and let my shoulder slump. "I won't cast any  spells if I have my shield and Aura active. I'll try not to use my  aspects either but I can't promise that. I won't do more than three of  those four at once though. That's still probably too much but I need to  use these skills to improve." River looked party mollified and gave me a  respectful nod.

I  leaned back against the tree as I watched the sun finally crest over  the horizon knowing we were done talking. I'd done it. I finally had a  defensive spell. I still had to see how each type of magic affected the  defensive properties but I had a unique new tool that was flexible and  would definitely help in battle. Unlike my Aura the shield spell could  protect the girls too, and I could cast it on them even if they were  farther away from me.  Not to mention the possibilities if I could get the hang of changing the shape or moving it.

Soulfire would actually help with that, I knew it gave constructs added flexibility after casting from Harry's little accident with his magic hand construct. I couldn't wait to be good enough at magic to use an  ability like that. With my shield spell I could make a giant lightning  fist or once imbued with force. I couldn't even begin to imagine the  possibilities here. I had another path to follow to create new magical  effects. Of course I still needed to learn to refine my Aura control and  learn new types of spells. I had plenty to do, but for now I would just  enjoy the sunrise with a Big Foot.