Scientific Sorcery : Beware of Kittens!

I said a quick bye to Cali, ignoring her protests and demands for me to come back at once. She continued to yell as I walked away.

After I departed from the pub and went to gather a variety of supplies and wooden logs from storage, I once again thoroughly interrogated Stormy about my dangerously mad plan with the Codex.

"Is Glinka going to be mad at us about relocation of her rocks?" I asked the kitten.

"Mrwrrr," Stormy's paw slid to [NO].

"Can she even get mad? Does she have feelings like a human? Can she hold a grudge against a person?" I continued and received three negative burrs.

"So you think I can move as many rocks as I want to and she won't stop me, yes?"

"Mrrrrr," Stormy confirmed tapping the 'yes' sign.

"Soooo... she reacts to magical actions then?" I probed the edges of Stormy's understanding of Glinka. "As a... force of nature?"

The kitten's paw slid to 'Yes.'

I asked a few more questions and having confirmed with my tiny furry precognitive committee that the likelihood of our deaths due to my plan was low, I allowed myself to relax just the tiniest bit. The plan was a go.

Whistling a jaunty tune, I adjusted my backpack, grabbed a shovel, and waited for Stormy to leap onto my shoulder before heading towards the river.

The crisp winter air nipped at my face as we made our way to Glinka's domain. Snow crunched beneath my feet, and the dead trees creaked in the wind. As we approached the riverbank, I slipped my Astralscope goggles on.

The river's edge was alive with spiritual energy, pulsing and swirling in ethereal patterns of silver, green and light blue. I began filling my bucket with the most spiritually potent rocks I could find. Each stone prickled at my fingers ever so slightly, glowing with Glinka’s aura through the lenses of my Astralscope, featuring all sorts of aquatic ghosts.

As I worked, I felt a presence watching me.

Glancing up, I saw her. She sat atop her rune-covered megalithic column-type rock, a faceless silver-blue figure woven from floating water droplets. Her form and vague dress shimmered and rippled, constantly in motion yet somehow perfectly still, perhaps frozen due to the ice now covering her.

The Avatar of Glinka observed me in absolute silence, her lack of features making it impossible to read her intentions. I couldn't help but feel mild unease under her scrutiny. Stormy, perched on my shoulder, let out a soft "mrrp".

"This isn't a deal," I told Glinka. "I'm not touching your water, see? I'm just relocating rocks from here to over there, because I can. This is what people do–take rocks to build houses and uh, other things. I bet plenty of Svalbard people stole your rocks before for their gardens, on the account that nobody except for me can see spirits. You can retrieve the rocks yourself later, if you care for them. Or not. Sadly our magic is incompatible. I do wonder what would happen if I made a remote that controls your river-ness?" I ranted, feeling like I was talking to a wall, errr... river.

The river didn't answer.

The bucket quickly filled with spiritually charged rocks, all the while I was acutely aware of Glinka's unwavering, intensifying gaze. The silence of the dead forest and the frozen river was almost oppressive, broken only by the occasional howls of wind and the clinking of stones as I added them to the bucket.

I used my Astralscope to examine Cali's sleigh from a distance. Through the lenses, I could see a shimmering silver-blue field surrounding the vehicle, extending about one meter out in all directions.

It was an impressive sight, the thick magical barrier pulsing with an otherworldly energy. I wondered if it was designed to strike anyone down who purposefully attempted to get inside the sleigh’s interior.

Staying just outside the effect area, I began throwing Glinka's rocks under and at the sleigh. As each stone landed, I watched with fascination as light green-blue radial waves began sparking against the silver-blue of the ward. Rocks that didn't end up under the sleigh, simply bounced off the shield, landing nearby.

As more rocks accumulated, small, small streaks of white, magical lightning started to strike at Glinka's stones from now visibly glowing silver runes covering the sleigh. The intensity of the magical conflict grew with each passing moment as I threw more rocks at the sleigh.

Suddenly, Glinka's face snapped towards the sleigh, her attention completely focused on the magical disturbance.

Intrigued by her reaction, I stepped directly in front of the river's avatar. I moved left and right, waving my arms, but her gaze remained transfixed on the sleigh, staring right past me as if I wasn't even there.

"You can't see or hear me at all, can you?" I asked Glinka.

Another hypothesis began to form in my mind.

Perhaps nature spirits couldn't see or hear men at all. It would explain why male witches and male sorcerers just weren’t a thing in Thornwild. Or maybe the fact that I was wearing 12 of the most radiant of Zemy’s banners as my cape made me invisible to the river spirit. I didn’t feel like taking the banners off to find out.

“Are nature spirits simply blind and deaf to the actions of men?” I asked Stormy who was intently staring at Glinka from my shoulder. “Or is it the virgin banners shielding me? What do you think?”

“Mrrrrr,” Stormy shrugged, not providing me a definite answer.

I waited for the sleigh to run out of power. It did not.

The operation needed more rocks.

I returned to my rock-gathering job with Stormy supervising me from my shoulder. Glinka glared at the sleigh that was harassing her rocks, paying no attention to me whatsoever.

Exhaustion was beginning to set in. Moving magical rocks around that didn’t belong to me spiritually was interfering with my otherwise limitless stamina.

I groaned and stretched, feeling my limbs throb.

I have to approach this in another, more efficient way.

I looked at the megalithic pillar Glinka was inhabiting.

The semi-faded wave-shaped runes along its surface were likely carved by the people of Svalbard long ago. It was people, human belief that manifested Glinka’s avatar in this exact spot of magical power. Belief created potent spiritual manifestations.

I grabbed the shovel and began to dig a trench around the rock column.

It was evening by the time I was done. Keeping away from the extra-magical column housing Glinka’s spirit I swung a large log against its back, while Stormy slapped the mare at the front, ordering the six horses to pull the ropes forward. As the horses pulled and I pushed, the column shuddered and slowly careened forward onto a pile of logs.

When the column ended on its side, I went to the front myself and began to slowly guide the six horses, helping them roll the megalith towards the sleigh. Thankfully, it wasn’t parked far from the river as Cali had traveled along the frozen river from Bernt to Svalbard.

In about two hours of extremely tiresome labor, I got Glinka’s sideways-tipped megalith pillar to the edge of the carriage.

Glinka floated right above the pillar now. Her avatar radiated brilliant blue waves, hair flying in the invisible wind or perhaps floating underwater. She looked like a very annoyed Goddess now. She couldn't see me but she was definitely reacting to what I was doing. With another pull of the horses, Glinka’s column finally breached the edge of the ward of the carriage.

I waited for the sleigh to do something. It didn't. I grabbed the horses, untied the ropes and led them back to the stables.

By the time I was back I heard a deep thrumming hum. The Sleigh's ward noticed that something was screwing with its magic, trying to weaken it.

I picked up another Glinka rock and threw it at the door. An iridescent shield came into existence around the door, but it was weak because of the pillar draining the ward's magic, so the rock struck a window this time, cracking it.

The hum became more intense, the shield growing brighter.

Magical waves pouring from Glinka's pillar struck against the shield, warping it. The sleigh responded in kind by pouring more power into the shield. Glinka reacted in turn, defending herself.

Blinding white lightning suddenly struck from the sleigh into the stone with a resounding crack, the air filled with the smell of ozone.

Stormy buried herself in my neck.

“Oh yeah,” I said. “Now we’re talking business!”

I watched in awe as the magical battle involved greater and greater arcane forces. The air crackled with radiant energy as each lighting bolt fired.

Glinka's avatar, now a wrathful-looking Goddess, faced off against the protective ward of Cali's sleigh.

Bolts of white lightning continued to strike Glinka's column, each impact sending shockwaves through the air, making Svalbard tremble.

The river spirit retaliated, sending waves of blue-green energy rolling over the sleigh. The two forces clashed in a spectacular display of magical might, neither seeming to gain the upper hand.

As the battle raged on, I noticed the ward around the sleigh beginning to flicker and weaken. Cracks appeared in its iridescent surface, spreading like a web across the magical barrier. Glinka's power, fueled by the centuries-long belief, ancient runes and unknown number of humans that drowned in her, was slowly but surely overwhelming the Star-Shard's defenses.

Stormy peeked out from her hiding spot in my neck, her violet eyes wide. I stroked her fur reassuringly.

"Almost there," I murmured, more to myself than to my feline companion. "Just a little longer..."

Just as I thought Glinka was about to overcome the sleigh's defenses, the ward suddenly flared with renewed intensity. The silver barrier brightened, pulsing with an almost blinding light. It was as if the Star-Shard had tapped into some hidden reserve of power, pushing back against Glinka's assault with renewed vigor.

But Glinka was far from defeated.

I watched as the river spirit raised a fist into the air, her form alight with barely contained fury.

The sound of a deafening roar filled the air, and I realized with a start that it was coming from the frozen river itself, rising in intensity echoing from the North and South.

Instinctively, I retreated away from the riverbank, moving closer to the village. Stormy’s tiny body trembled against my neck. She could definitely tell that something terrible was coming. As we moved behind a large boulder to what I thought was a sufficiently safe distance uphill from the river, I kept my eyes fixed on the unfolding spectacle.

Behind Glinka, the thick ice covering the river began to crack. The sound was like thunder, sharp reports echoing across the frozen landscape as fissures spread across the entire width and length of the rushing, roaring river.

My heart pounded in my chest as I witnessed the raw power of nature wielded by Glinka.

Suddenly, the ice exploded upwards, flying in all directions like shrapnel, cutting through trees and ruined buildings. From the churning waters of the newly freed river, a colossal fist made entirely of water emerged. It was easily the size of several houses, glistening and rippling in the fading light of day.

"Oh sheeet," I uttered, watching the liquid hand growing in size as it filled with more rushing water. The female hand loomed above the ruins of Svalbard like an impossible tower, rays of setting sun breaking through it.

Glinka, her avatar still hovering above her fallen column, brought her own fist down in a decisive motion.

The watery fist followed suit, descending upon Cali's sleigh like a hundred-ton sledgehammer.

The impact was catastrophic. The ground shook beneath my feet. A shockwave of air, water and magic exploded outwards from the point of impact as the sleigh's ward shattered. The blastwave sent branches and logs flying. Dead trees around the river snapped, snow billowing outwards in all directions.

Time slowed as a magical, all obliterating wave rushed my way filled with rocks and flying debris.

I hit the ground hard, air rushing from my lungs. Stormy yowled in surprise, digging her claws into my shoulder to keep from being thrown off.

Broken branches and logs fell all round, thankfully none landing on me. My ears were filled with an eeeeeeeeeeeee sound of the explosion. I untied the cap of my healing water waterskin and drank heartily, waiting until I could hear again and then gave some to Stormy to sip too.

As I struggled back to my feet, I saw that Glinka's avatar now stood on her tipped pillar, her arms crossed, somehow looking smug even though she lacked a face.

I stared at the now slightly smoking, soaked and thankfully intact sleigh, the runework around its base blackened and singed.

I waited a few more minutes and relaxed as nothing else happened. Glinka simply sat back down onto her sideways column. I approached the sleigh cautiously, half-expecting some final trap or defense mechanism to spring into action. But nothing happened.

The sleigh just stood there, defenseless and vulnerable, if somewhat wet. Occasionally, weak sparks rained down onto Glinka's rocks beneath it to no effect. The sleigh looked completely dead in the Astralscope otherwise, no longer bothering Glinka.

I noted that the entire river had moved its course, now running about ten meters closer to the village, its edge touching the back end of Glinka’s fallen column.

Damn!

The river spirit paid me no attention. I send her a chef's kiss as I walked by her.

"Well, Stormy," I said, a grin spreading across my face despite my exhaustion, "shall we see what lovely treasures our blonde feline friend has been hiding?"

With trembling hands, I reached out and touched the side of the vehicle.

I didn't get zapped. Hooray!