ULTRAMagic Prelude

Chapter 8

Auda could not help but be enthralled by Blood-Wraith, following him wherever he went. He was such a strange person. How did fire that did not burn even exist? Something Tree People were privy to was one's life force. Blood-Wraith had a very odd one on the grounds that his entire being was his life force. The body everyone saw was just a physical manifestation of himself. This also caused his body to be warm to the touch. Naturally Auda felt the need to leap onto his back.

"Um hey, pardon me?"

Auda giggled. "You're warm, Mr. Fire."

"Excuse me, but do I look like a bovidae or an equine to you?"

She laughed. "What are those?"

"Goats and Horses..."

"Okay." Auda stared at him, then smiled.

With a sigh, Blood-Wraith returned to his business. Despite being unwanted, Auda's presence was not a hindrance. He was busy looking through the various Alchemical texts the Tree People had. Occasionally Auda would ask about what he was reading, with that being the extent of her disruptions. Some of the texts available were very intriguing, giving Blood-Wraith new insights into some of the things he had been learning. Midway through reading a scroll, Auda got off his back and snatched it from him.

"Hey!?"

"What's all this yellow stuff?" Auda asked.

"That's Citrinitas, The Yellowing. It's an excluded step in the 7 step process for making a Philosopher's stone..."

"Cool! Grandpa has one of these stone thingies." She then handed the scroll back to him. "Mr. Fire? Can you help me out with something?"

Blood-Wraith tilted his head. "With what?"

"Follow me! Follow!"

Auda led Blood-Wraith through the village and into a densely wooded area. They then walked down a path that went beyond the buildings and tents, stopping at a tree with incredibly dark bark. Notably it felt more alive than the others. If one looked closely, what appeared to be breathing could be seen. Sizing up the tree, Auda reared up and headbutted it... It shook, but nothing happened. She headbutted it again, this time causing it to groan. Giggling, Auda gave it one more Headbutt. This caused a face to appear on the tree.

"GEEZ! What Auda?! What is it this time?! Would you just let me be a tree already!?" He snapped angrily.

"Uncle Tusk! Look, fire that doesn't burn!"

"That's what you...? Hold on a second..." Tusk groaned and creaked as his body reverted back to a humanoid shape. He looked slightly different from the usual Tree Person. Bark covered his entire body and his core was an eerie, yellow glow that filled his body. "So you're the entity that disembodied weirdo told me about. So much for being a tree" he lamented as he straightened out his messy, brown hair.

"Forgive me, but what disembodied weirdo?" Blood-Wraith inquired.

"He told me to tell you that's not important right now. I'm Tusk Willfort by the way. I know this is sudden, but let me ask you a question: Do you know what ULTRAMagic is?" He then began to work the kinks out of his joints, waiting for an answer.

"Um...I think I've read about it briefly in my books. The most I see are footnotes though..."

Tusk nodded. "Right. Now what if I told you that your soul can be strengthened, allowing you to learn more than just Alchemy? Which is what I assume you're learning at the moment."

"Really? But I've just started studying that."

"No problem, this is a passive trait that will take time to accomplish. You also don't have to jump into other types of magic right away. This unique trait is intended to give you the insight necessary to allow you to learn more than what you're learning right now. Whether you actually do that is completely up to you" Tusk explained.