The Crucible Campaign

23: Choosing A Path

.^^ The DemiPlane of Knowledge ^^

— Tommy —

I nodded calmly, listening to Sandy explain the process of my use of the two options I'd brought along; 1: the potion that completely halted my period, but also made my womb useless for a month, meaning I couldn't get pregnant. 2: the two that only lessened the bleeding, and then I had to make do with the rest, like normal, while also lessening my cramps and pains.

The Ginger-Lily required application inside my cooch, while the Lady-Of-The-Valley was to be drank, and how much of it I needed would apparently be specific to the strength of my period. Oddly enough, while I'd always had really strong periods, (every woman in my family did,) this one wasn't that bad at all, the cramps barely bothering me, and the bloating well within acceptable parameters. Only vaguely noticeable.

Slightly unnerved by the knowledge that my body was physically different from before, (duh,) I finished the business, and then went back to camp. I sat next to Glade again, playing with his hair casually as I extended my senses, and closed my eyes.

I heard Sandy and Cassidy coming back from the River, carrying something that smelled of ozone. "What's that?" I asked calmly, not opening my eyes yet.

"Baby golden dragon. Sandy says I can keep him, for now." She smirked.

I opened one eye, and frowned. "Bully for you. You're on watch, now. I've decided I'm sleeping."

"Alright. Sleep." She shrugged, and then sat down, settling Sandy in her lap, then the dragon on top of both of them, petting the little golden reptile gently.

He purred loudly, and I smiled, closing my eyes.

—

A blue sky greeted my vision, as I opened my eyes, but no trees. I was suddenly on hard wood planks, not dirt. As I sat up, I gasped at the sight of a massive cloud of bookshelves, as far as I could see. Some as tall as mountains, some normal-sized, and everything in between.

I was on a ship, heading into the cloud, floating on invisible waves or currents. The books began coming down off the shelves, showing themselves to me, and allowing me to glean words here and there.

'Artificer'
'Alchemist'
'Formula'
'Greek Fire'

So on and so forth, the words continued, until I could memorize them, and then the pages turned, and the process continued. I realized that this place, this... entity, was teaching me things, in its own unique way.

This continued for what felt like hours, or maybe longer. I felt something inside myself blossom, (and not in a weird way,) as if new avenues of power were open to me. My grimoire appeared next to me, when I reached for it, and I held it open, towards the sea of knowledge.

Instantly, everything stopped, and the books and bookshelves all sucked into the grimoire, leaving the air around me barren and lonely. The ship I was on shivered, and I looked up, gasping.

Beyond the normal ship design, wings made of sailcloth were on either side, flanked by two large crystals. A third sat inside the bow-well, and I sensed a fourth, somewhere in the ship. A large fin, not unlike a shark's tail, held course at the stern, waving ever so slightly to propel us forward.