4 4. Magical Revelations

Whilst Aiz was calling the other executives, Marnet and Loki continued their conversation, "so Loki, now that you have an idea of a possible future. What will you do?" Ceasing her childish act the goddess put on a serious face and looked her newest child in the eyes. "We'll continue as we have" she simply shrugged, " we'll still keep going to the dungeon to get stronger and bring back resources for anyone putting up requests. You and I will keep the future knowledge between us and I'll discuss with Finn when it's appropriate, otherwise you can knock yourself out" was the goddess's response with a carefree smile "if we worry about what ifs, we can't live in the now."

At that moment Aiz walked in with Finn and the other highest ranking familia members casting curious looks between the two. "I guess I should introduce myself as I am your captain, name's Finn Deimne also known as Braver. The others around me are Riveria, who has been taking care of you up until now, Gareth the dwarf, Aiz whom you have already seen and Bete, the one who caught you during your escape attempt" each member nodding their heads as they were mentioned. Bete only clicked his tongue in annoyance when he was mentioned and looked away. This led to everyone present to look at their goddess awaiting how they would continue going forward. "For the time being, I want Marlet to stay with Riveria in her room until we can figure out what her magic is, and yes," she gave a mischievous smile at the elf "she got magic the moment I gave her my falna." Hearing what she said Riveria became ecstatic hearing about a possible new magic presented to her on a silver platter and snapped her head at the young girl before her, "have you tried casting magic before? Do you know your affinities? I know it's rude to ask but what did it say in your status?" Riveria shot question after question. Seeing that the conversation had nothing more to do with him Bete left the room muttering about weaklings and Gareth only gave a wry smile at Marlet before following the werewolf. Finn asked Loki how they should proceed in the immediate future, there were plans of heading down to the middle floors and finish some commissions that the guild had posted but now with Riveria indisposed figuring out the new magic they were going to have to change some of the plans a little. "Why not take Lefiya with you, she should be getting closer to levelling up and Aiz can protect her if it becomes anything dire. This give the familia members enough time to rest before we do another large expedition" reasoned Riveria. "That works for me, let's give it 2 months and in that time we'll let her get used to a weapon as well. We can all have a little peace of mind if we know everyone is safer in the dungeon" Finn replied stroking his chin and receiving a nod from Riveria and Loki.

Marlet could only accept these plans made for her by everyone and be grateful that they would accommodate their plans for her. Once everyone had left to inform the entire Familia about the minor change in plans Riveria locked eyes with Marlet and went straight into teacher mode. "First you must understand where magic comes from and how to feel it. From there, we can see what your strong suites would be. Before we start, do you have any questions for me?" Thinking about what Riveria said Marlet wanted to start casting spells immediately, who wouldn't want to be throwing fireballs and glacier spikes at their enemies? "I think I might have 2 different sets of Magic" came her reply with a finger on her chin. Receiving only a raised eyebrow and a hand prompt that said to continue, "I have my Magic to myself which is represented by the Falna and seen by goddess Loki but I also have this gut feeling that I can cast curses upon people. It's a strange feeling I can't really describe, the one I still have to figure out but the other is as though I could curse something or someone like it was second nature. I believe the latter to maybe be due to my race" further explained Marlet. "Fascinating" muttered Reveria while pulling out a piece of paper and pencil while sketching a small picture of Marlet and another rough copy of the Loki insignia on all familia member's backs. Following this she started scribbling down two columns with magic written as a heading. "So you say that your race is naturally inclined to curses of your choosing, being maybe as powerful as the individual themselves otherwise every other race would have been conquered a long time ago…" the elf started muttering softer and softer as she spoke.

"But then what's really interesting is that you say goddess Loki's falna unlocked a magic unique to only you!" Riveria suddenly said out loud. Writing down a few more notes on the paper she looked up at her new subject of study, *Cough*, ward and couldn't help but marvel at the implications if this discovery was true for only the girl before her or everyone else. On the one hand, if this was true for everyone it would mean that every race had a certain magic intrinsic to themselves and although the elves have a higher affinity for magic, something of this calibre was never proven. If this was unique to the individual before her, which made her a magic anomaly, her magic could hold insights to different use or applications of magic never before seen. Again writing down furiously the implications both instances would have as well as how to go about it Riveria lost herself within her own thoughts and unknowingly moved to her desk to write more comfortably all whilst under the incredulous look of the girl before her.

'I guess that's to be expected, although she is a noble elf. She just can't contain her enthusiasm for magic' thought Marlet while shaking her head, 'going off a few stories from my past, the best thing to do would be to try and feel the magic (or in this case mind) inside of me and try manifesting it naturally' and thus following her own advice Marlet sat down in a comfortable position and started relaxing her mind. Closing her eyes so as to better comprehend this introspection of herself, Marlet felt a pull on her conscience and felt a warmth within her mind. Focusing on this new warmth a picture formed in her mind that caused great surprise and confusion. Before her was the all too familiar Skyrim compass with Skills to the North, Inventory at her East, Map found South and Magic facing West. In her surprise Marlet lost concentration and broke the connection she had with her Skyrim compass. Marlet started giggling maniacally breaking Riveria out of her own thoughts and looking at the still giggling girl with curiosity and amusement, "something interesting happen?" Coughing once to break herself out of her giggling fit Marlet explained how she mage accessed her own magic, leaving out the specifics and only mentioning that she can determine the direction she wants her magic to go.

Being the overenthusiastic magic researcher she was, Riveria couldn't contain herself and barraged Marlet with questions so fast that the girl couldn't even keep up. Waving both her hands before the elf's face to get her to stop she further explained "I've only unlocked it and still need to work out how to use it Riveria. Let me see what I can do and from there we can decide how to continue." Realising she got a little to excited, Riveria took in a deep breath and composed herself. Nodding towards Marlet to continue what she was doing the girl closed her eyes again and tried bringing up her choice compass again.

Seeing the 4 options before her Marlet mentally said 'Skills' for nothing to happen. Sighing within her thoughts 'of course it won't be that easy', Marlet started thinking how to get into the skills section of her compass. Almost as through reading her inner thoughts, Marlet felt a nudge within her mind pushing her upwards, realising what was required for her to do she tried pushing her mind up towards the Skills heading and watched as the compass focused out and different constellations to choose from came before her. Below the constellations she could see that she had 5 perk points ready to open up different star clusters. This got her to think about how she wanted to go forward, 'There is no way I'm going to go running into the dungeon like some idiot or battle freak. Learn my limitations first, then improve what I can. After I've consolidated my abilities I can start breaking my limits' Marlet thought with a smile on her face whilst nodding her head.

Happy with her thought processes she started going through all the different star clusters until she came across the Restoration school of magic and immediately drop her first skill point into the first star. This in her mind was a no brainier, a world where any wound could be fatal made any restoration magic a necessity. Going further along the different schools of magic Marlet also opened up the school of destruction because who wouldn't want magic that could later destroy anything in its path. Scrolling through Marlet wanted something for defence as well always remembering the golden rule learnt from one of her favourite fictional (or maybe not) characters, 'there is always a bigger fish.' This prompted her to put a perk point into the Light Armour constellation. Realising there were only 2 more perk points left Marlet went into deep thought about what she needed. Wanting to remain away from any close conflicts at the moment she opted to put her second last perk point into Archery, no need to fight if they get shot in the face before even getting close to me. That left her with the last one last perk point and going into deep thought where to spend it and slowly going through the different constellations, thinking Loki might not appreciate her pickpocketing her familia members or unlocking doors with lock picks she has no business in. Finally stopping on Enchanting, her eyes sparkled, not only will this make her unique to anyone else but also become an extra source of income until she can get more skill points and unlock the Smithing and One Handed constellations. Seeing as there was nothing left for her to do here Marlet tried to shift her focus back 'down' to the compass.

Returning before the 4 options, Marlet immediately went to the Magic category and saw that she had received the 3 basic destruction spells: Flames, Sparks and Frostbite. Being excited that she now has her own magic she also saw she received the novice restoration spell of healing. About to go back to her compass, the word 'Shouts' caught her attention. Not being able to contain her excitement Marlet opened the sub-category straight away only to see the greyed out names of all the shouts in Dragon Tongue. To say she was shocked to see she had a single dragon soul available to her made her infinitely happier as well as seeing the first part of Unrelenting force unlocked: FUS. Thinking about what would be very useful in any situation would be Whirlwind Sprint, this prompting her to unlock the first word: Wuld

Coming back to Riveria who had an expectant smile on her face and asked "did you figure anything out?" Only to receive a happy smile back. "I have 4, maybe 6 different things to test out. I just need to know how to manifest the different spells" said Marlet with a frown on her face and looking at her hands. 'If I could get Flames on my right hand and healing on my left I can put it all to the test. I'll need to test the shouts outside though, I doubt they would appreciate me blowing a hole in their wall if it's even that strong?' Nodding her head in understanding Riveria led Marlet out of her room, not ready for what was to come.