Chapter 4

The following morning found us all on the porch watching a lightning storm. “So much for my run” I thought to myself. I looked at the six of them as I drank my coffee. They were all in their natural forms, so I had four fairies in my lap with two elves at my feet on their knees. I said “This is as good a time as any to ask some questions.”

They all perked up and turned to face me. The four with wings flew into the air facing me. Alecia and Brandy sat on my knees after they were vacated.

“First question, who or what put the curse on you?”

Lisa fielded that one “After the Star Metal Wars we told you about, our creator put the curse on us. There were many humans who died in that war from magical attacks. This planet is the domain of another being that gave intelligence to you humans, so our creator was forced to reign in the magical creatures. The end result was the subjugation of magical beings to you humans. Your various mythologies allude to this, but none of them ever directly states it. Alecia and Brandy come from your Norse mythological ‘Álfheimr’ or elf home. While there are many fairies and nymphs still about, there are fewer of them. Your Roman Catholic Church hunted down any who had command of them and put them to the inquisition. As a result, they died after their masters did. You should be aware that they have an entire group of people still actively hunting down any Elf master. They are embedded in your National Security Agency and others. You have six of us, so make sure you don’t ever mention it anywhere. In fact, we should probably consider relocation after being spotted together.”

I paused to let that sink in. Then continued. “There have been times when one or all of you seem to read my mind. Do any of you do that?”

Alecia took that one. “We are branded to your life force. So yes, we hear what you’re thinking. It’s not a deliberate act, it’s more like someone talking directly into your ear. You need to train your mind not to broadcast as humans normally do. That’s not just for your privacy, it’s for your safety as well. There is no telling when technology will be created to read the thoughts of humans.”

I knew she was right about that one, the government had been open about experiments on trying to read the mind for weapons and flight control. I looked at her and said “Move that to the top of the to do pile.”

I then continued with the questions.

“I’ve read many stories, mostly from Asian myths regarding Xian or immortals. There seems to be several ways to go about achieving what they call immortality. The cleansing I suffered through mirrored many of those fictional accounts. So does that mean, I now have Qi or chi?”

Hitomi answered that one. “We’ve been in your mountain since you first came here. We’ve witnessed you practicing Qigong. Sadly, most humans have no idea what that actually does. More appropriately, it’s known as life energy cultivation. It’s very much the reason your life energy is so strong. Had you continued on your own, you would have suffered a Qigong deviation that may have caused your soul irreparable harm. However, with the removal of the impurities trapped by your practice, it’s become an asset. It’s why your life force is so strong and why you can stamp so many of us.” Pointing at Yoshika, she continued “We intended to intervene when you returned as we were out of time as were you. The sequence of events was quite fortunate in that regards. We are of the opinion that it would be good for all of us if you continued your Qigong exercise now. Unlike your running, it will deliver positive benefits now that your body has been purged. With this a warning, other human practitioners will feel your strength. It would be advisable to stay away from them until you can control the Qi you’re emanating. Your government isn’t the only one looking for people like you. If you search the memories we imparted to you on transference, you will find an upgraded Qigong exercise that will allow you to mask your signature.”

I paused and began searching those memories. Soon enough I found them. With those memories, the ability to mask and refine my lifeforce energy came to me. I ran one cycle of it then opened my eyes to see all of them staring at me.

Brandy said “You obviously found the right memory. Your life force projection just dropped to normal human level.”

I looked at all of them and said “I’ve been remiss in not looking through the knowledge all of you have given me. Give me a few hours to consolidate them.”

They all flashed away at that command.

I closed my eyes and imagined each of them as their own file tabs, then opened them one by one starting with Lisa as she was the oldest. After a few hours, I opened my eyes to sunshine, the storm was long gone. The knowledge base was almost overwhelming, but I’d managed it. I could now foresee the upper limit of fey I could take in, but it was more about the capacity of my mind, not my lifeforce. My lifeforce could support a few hundred of them, but my mind could only take twenty or so. I found through the ‘consolidation’ of the memories that both Hitomi and Yoshika were only younger than Lisa by a century or so. Through them I learned how to perform magical alchemy, forging, and artifact creation.

Through the others, I learned similar skills, but they had different names. The Elves had a long history of artifact creation, only exceeded in depth by the dwarves. I also learned the dwarves of fantasy, long beards, burly builds, etc., were only the outward projections of their race. That projection was used to cover their supernatural strength and abilities in front of humans. The reality was, they were a variety more akin to elves than anything else.

One of the other abilities learned was mind transference. I could speak to anyone with my stamp, mind to mind, without even one vibration of air. It could be done at a great distance as well.

I sent a message to all of them to once again gather together on the porch.

Looking at them I said, “I need a shield over the storage building, I intend to do some artifact creation in there.”

Alecia said ‘‘We can do that easily enough. Would you rather us do the work?”

“No, it will be my first time. But there is something I need gathered. Specifically, I need Jade, Ruby, and Sapphire. What’s the fastest method for collecting them?”

Brandy answered “Old buried or sunken treasure.”

“I have all the memories transferred by all of you, but none that show the location of such specifically. So how do you propose to find them?”

“If we are within 200 kilometers of them, we can sense them. You could probably just gather them from jewelry stores, but that obviously comes with risk of the wrong kind of attention.”

I considered that carefully. The idea of stealing didn’t sit well with me. Especially after all the hard work in my youth to build wealth. I had more than enough to buy what I wanted outright, without resorting to something my personal ethics found distasteful. Especially since it was my own impatience driving the thought. So, I pulled out my laptop and began searching for a dealer nearby. I found one up in Knoxville. I had a vague memory of this shop from my days at UT.

It was Friday already and noon at that, so I needed to move my ass or it would be Monday before I got the next chance. I locked up the house and loaded up in the Winnebago with all six girls. With four of them in fairy mode, it wasn’t particularly crowded. This time, I was driving.