The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 16

Part 4

"I can tell you this; they were far deeper into Kragorram and the Sylvan's minds than they have ever been in ours, despite the many hours we've spent Linked with them. They gained access to our surface thoughts and emotions with no resistance from us, and so they were well contented with what we gave them. But they had to break into the minds they shared tonight, and were still pushing hard when they broke past the Shields. They probably now know a significant portion of everything Kragorram has experienced or learned in some nine thousand years of life. They certainly know everything that the Sylvan ever thought or experienced.

"Only in war have I ever encountered anyone who was so thoroughly mind-raped by another as that Sylvan was by Helemia. In the girl's defense, the Sylvan did attack her when he detected her psionic probe. She counter-attacked, crushed his psionic Shields like egg shells, and took all that she found within.

"This episode brings back many memories for me. Not my own memories of course, but memories of what my mother told me of her experiences with me. I am the only person known to have cast the power before birth, in the form of primitive Force Bolts. I was just doing the magical equivalent of kicking in the womb for exercise, and venting my frustration at my confinement.

"Reggie and Helemia have found their own way to escape the confinement of the womb, and like my use of Force, their psionics are completely inherent and intuitive. And so far as I know, they are the only babies to have ever used psionics before birth, though I would not be surprised to find the phenomenon among the unicorns. Perhaps we should have expected that the babies would go exploring, psionicly speaking. If they had chosen to do so in the day, we would have been awake and would have dealt with it before it became a problem. It was quite a stroke of bad luck that even Povon and Kragorram were asleep, considering draconian sleeping habits.

"As it is, this will have many repercussions. As my mother had to do, we will need to make sure that one of us is awake and monitoring the children whenever Talia is asleep.

"Now, I don't remember my adventures in my mother's womb; my first memories are from when I was just less than two years old. But there is no doubt that those experiences had an effect on me, and helped shape my development.

"Similarly, I doubt that the twins will retain any conscious memory of their experiences tonight. But I am sure that they will be affected. They may retain some of the character and qualities of Kragorram's mind, especially Reggie, which would probably not be a bad thing.

"The Sylvan that Helemia attacked is quite another matter. The Sylvan that are here on these islands lack even the minimum of restraint that Zarkog imposed on Serminak, let alone the civilizing influence of the vow of justice. They still believe that might makes right, and that they have the right to do whatever they have the power to do. They have no inhibitions against violence, torture, and killing, not from the day they're born. And every individual among them still believes, with all of their evil little hearts, that it is their own personal eventual destiny to conquer the world and enslave the rest of us under the iron fist of their tyranny.

"This is not an influence that would be good for your children, to say the least. We'll have to make certain that we counter that influence, particularly in Helemia, and shape it into something positive. I suggest you do that by giving both of your twins complete access to your minds, as they had complete access to Kragorram and the Sylvan's, and that you do so as often as possible. This will have the side effect of further accelerating their mental development, which may create it's own problems, but that's a better choice than risking them ending up thinking like an unsworn Sylvan.

"I must admit to feeling a bit lucky that this happened. Talia, your family is known for strength in the power, as is mine, and yours is known for intellectual ability, mine for intuitive ability. But you and I and our families are not known for particularly noteworthy psionic abilities, among the elves at least. I think it's safe to assume that your children have inherited their psionic ability from Mark, and so it's likely that my daughter will also share those abilities."

She paused and smiled and caressed her own tummy, which had not begun to swell yet, before she continued.

"Forewarned is forearmed, and I'll certainly be monitoring her psionics constantly, even when I'm asleep, from now on."

"Thanks Alilia, that's good thinking." Mark chuckled as he gave her a one-armed hug. "With the way you act around us lately, and the way you look, it's easy to forget how incredibly capable and experienced you are, in every way. I'm glad you're with us in this.

"And I think you're right about countering the Sylvan's influence, and the effects of the twins' experiences tonight. Not even born, and they've already faced combat and pain. I still can't believe they broke Kragorram's mental Shields, even if he was asleep! Since Quewanak's training, I know he's got some of the best shielding I've ever encountered!"

"It is indeed amazing." Alilia smiled. "Raising exceptional children can be more challenging, but it's definitely more rewarding as well. Bezedil was a handful and then some, but I've loved every minute I've spen with him. And there's little doubt that yours are the most exceptional children ever conceived. With the possible exception of myself, of course." she added with a giggle.

"Gods, I marvel to consider what your daughter will be like!" Talia laughed. "I mean after all, I know that Mark is truly the exceptional one in our mating, not me! As you say, it's likely his blood that's given the twins their amazing abilities, not mine, and you're the only female I know of who's almost as exceptional as he is! It boggles my mind to think of the abilities she might have!"

"I know." Alilia nodded. "It's both thrilling and worrisome to consider the possibilities."

Mark's face firmed in concentration. "We need a spell to monitor all three of them constantly, so if they develop any new abilities, or more importantly, if they use any new abilities, we'll know about it right away. Unfortunately, I don't have anything that does that specifically, and I'm still really crappy at designing new spells. I can copy anyone else's spells with no effort, but when it comes to making any new ones, I'm still no better at it than most other wizards with less than a year of experience."

"Ah." Alilia smiled. "Well I for one learned a great deal about curses, blessings, and other automated spells from Povon after you all underwent Quewanak's training. And with that knowledge firmly in mind, and with my own intuitive ability, I can design a spell such as you've described by doing little more than wanting to do it.

"Here. What do you think of it?" she giggled as she held her cupped hand palm up, and a tiny but intense blue light appeared in it.

"Gods! What is it?" Talia asked as she squinted a bit from the brightness of it.

"It's an uncast blessing, or a beneficial automated spell in the new terminology you've introduced, complete with the power required to cast it."

"That's amazing!" Mark marveled as he considered it with his sense of magic. "I mean, it's a very nice spell for sure, but beyond that I've never heard of anyone making any spell manifest like that without actually casting it, or casting it into an object at least!"

"Neither have I, actually." Alilia agreed. "I may have invented that technique just now, so I could show you the spell before I cast it on our children. I suppose I didn't have to; you both could have checked my work psionicly before I cast it. But it was a spontaneous thing, like all of my best work."

"And like all my best work, I can copy what you've done." Mark laughed, holding out his hand and casting two more of the blue lights in it.

"Bah, you're being ridiculously humble again." Talia grinned as she considered the beauty of the uncast spells. "You invented more groundbreaking new spellcraft on the day you dealt with the curse and saved Dalia and Bezedil than most wizards come up with in their entire lifetimes!"

"And I notice you didn't cast those with Talia's elven wizard power." Alilia pointed out. "Those are cast with your own power from the second source. They're warlock's spells. Amazing how you've still matched the power cost exactly.00000000☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

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