Chapter 13 - Monsters

She wasn’t sure how long it actually took for Lucas to bring her the rest of the books. Mentally, she allocated some of the platinum coin that Stephen gave her to getting a pocket watch if Raphael hadn’t procured one for her like she asked him to this morning. It was probably outside of his job description, but what his job description actually entailed, she didn’t actually know. Other than keeping the students in line, of course. And overseeing Jessica and Kaylee, obviously.

But the question was, was he a counselor? A butler? A drill instructor? A dorm RA? One of the teachers? There were so many possibilities and no answers so she’d have to give it up for now. 

In the meantime, Lucas had arrived with a giant stack of books in his arms. It looked really heavy. She mused aloud softly, “You need a book cart.” 

With a loud whump, he set the books down and looked curiously at her. “A book cart? What’s that?” He thankfully seemed to have lost the hostility he had shown towards her before. 

“Oh, it’s a table on wheels? Or like a small bookshelf on wheels so that you can set stuff down on it and wheel it around and you don’t have to carry everything by hand.” She smiled, starting to take inventory of what he’d brought her. There were several that looked like story books, and she figured those were the ones travelers might have written about. It was a good idea; she needed to write stuff down so she knew what to invent.  

What she was the most surprised about was several volumes labeled things like Wielding Water Magic and Lighting the World. They were probably books about those specific elements, and she grinned, pointing at them. “Are there books for all the elements?”

He looked thoughtful and then said simply, “Most of the more common ones, yes.” She grinned gleefully and he sighed. “I’ll get them for you.” 

She didn’t even glance at the rest of them, hopping up as she said, “Wait a sec.” He turned to look at her questioningly. “I just wanted to say thank you for helping me find these. I’m actually going to go get something to eat, but I’ll be back, so no rush. These will probably last me for a bit anyways.” He nodded again, since that made sense. She paused, then thought of something that she had yet to ask anyone about. “Why is everyone carrying weapons all the time? Do fights break out a lot or something?” 

His gaze turned complicated, and he finally answered after a moment with his own question. “Was your world particularly peaceful?” 

She thought about it for a minute. There were wars, but they were far away from her. She’d never seen much violence personally, though she supposed she’d heard about the aftereffects of it when people came into the hospital mangled. Not quite sure where he was going with his question, she tried to explain. “There were wars, but infrequently. On the whole, I suppose most people lived their lives peacefully. Only the soldiers or police saw much violence up close and in person. I guess there were people in bad areas too, like gang violence, but I think for the most part, people were fairly removed from it. So I guess you could call it a little peaceful? What the average person saw was mostly a fistfight at best.” 

He looked thoughtful, then asked again, “You had no monsters to fight?” 

She frowned. “I mean, I guess in Africa they fought lions and stuff, but no. Humans in my world were the top of the food chain, and we had… Well, let’s say hunting was a pastime for some people.” With a sigh, he seemed to be considering how best to tell her what she needed to know. A little light bulb went on in her mind as she thought about some of the videogames she’d watched streamers play. “Wait, is it like… Humans live in tiny concentrated patches here, and everywhere else is pretty much overrun by monsters?” Usually people in the games were hunting the monsters for experience or gold. She supposed it was probably similar here, in that they would get experience in their skills…

He looked surprised at her guess and nodded. “Yeah, that’s actually about right. Here, the monster threat is ever present. We’ve claimed a certain amount of land, but we have to constantly subjugate and eliminate the monsters so they don’t invade our villages and cities. Most people carry weapons in case one of them manages to infiltrate the city, which happens occasionally, despite our best efforts.” 

Okay, so that made her feel slightly less safe wandering around on her own, but she figured if almost everyone aside from her was armed, she was still probably fairly safe. With a frown, she asked. “Wait, that means I’m probably going to have to hunt them, aren’t I?” She wasn’t sure she liked that. When she had pictured her new, normal life, she hadn’t included actually killing things on her list of things she’d do. Was accepting violence part of the price she had to pay for being here?

Lucas had a thoughtful look on his face as he said quietly, “As a healer, you probably won’t be put on the front lines. You’d be fairly protected on any raids you went on, simply because healers are so rare, but in such high demand. But yes, you’ll probably be asked to go. It’s part of the training of Dracona.” 

She sighed, staring at the pile of books in front of her. Suddenly, this seemed a bit less fun. However… She was determined to succeed in this world. She’d just be so strong that nothing could hurt her. Steeling her resolution, she nodded to herself and looked back at Lucas. “Do you have something like a monster book of monsters?” If Harry could deal with monsters, so could she! 

“You mean the Monster Compendium?” He asked quizzically.

“Yeah, that.” Sigh. No Potter references would ever make sense to these people. Such a sad thing. You were practically shunned in her old world if you didn’t know your stuff. Unless you were one of those people who thought it was of the devil, of course. 

He nodded. “I’ll add it to the list of things to bring.” He glanced at the large pile of books on the table. “You said you wanted to go eat?” She nodded a little sullenly, still a bit put out by the thought of monsters attacking her randomly, or her having to attack them in their homes. “Then might I suggest you try Evergreen? It’s just down the street, and they’ve got the best steak around.” 

At the mention of steak, her stomach grumbled, and she smiled despite herself, aware that he was trying to cheer her up. “I’d like that. Where do I go?” He gave her directions and then excused himself to go find books and tend the front desk. She glanced at the books on the table, running her hands across the letters. First thing I’m going to do when I create the printing press is get rid of cursive. I can’t believe I miss Times New Roman and Calibri or Arial. Shaking her head, she left the room, closing the door behind her and making her way quietly out of the library. 

Stepping into the sunshine, she found herself relaxing. Somehow, thinking about monsters in the darkened library made it seem so much scarier. She knew Eric meant well by giving her that room, but she really needed to see if there was somewhere with a window that she could read. Trapping herself alone in the dark to read was bound to make her paranoid.  

She wandered down the street in the direction Lucas had told her, doing her best to brush up gently against people, her fingers feather light as she grazed their arms. Whenever someone looked at her strangely, she gave her best innocent smile and said sorry quietly. She was nearly there when she stopped in her tracks, staring into a window. 

The most fantastical little glass creatures were suspended in the air, much like christmas ornament stores would do. They were so colorful, lifelike and beautiful in their design. It was almost as if they were in motion. Entranced, she found herself entering the store. Inside was a little stuffy, as heat was escaping from what she guessed was a workshop in the back room. The little bell above the door tinkled, announcing her entry. 

She drifted, mesmerized, to the display of fantastical animals. Whoever made them was a master. A beautiful phoenix in flight caught her attention. It almost seemed alive, and the only thing that would make it better was if it glowed from within. She glanced around, but seeing that no one had come to greet her yet, she reached out a finger, delicately touching the cool glass.

Glow for me. She imagined a light burning glow of light coming from within the phoenix, and was delighted when the warm in her fingers moved into the glass. The light played with the glass, and it truly seemed as if the phoenix was now on fire.  She sighed in satisfaction, drawing her hand away. Only, the glow didn’t disappear when her hand left it. She stared, mystified, realizing she had just magicked someone else’s wares without their permission.

“Hello there. Can I help you?” The gentleman’s gruff voice made her straighten and turn, blocking the phoenix from his view guiltily. He seemed to notice her action and sighed, asking quietly, “You didn’t break anything, did you?” 

She shook her head, squeaking quietly, intimidated by his burly frame and bushy beard, “No, I didn’t break it… But…uhmm…I did change it?” He looked confused, walking over and peering around her as she scooted away with a little sigh. 

“What the…” He looked at the phoenix, then at her, asking incredulously. “What exactly did you do?” 

She smiled a little warily and said guiltily, “I just… I thought it would be prettier if it glowed with a fire within, and I’m a new light mage, so I thought it would just be temporary, but it kinda…stuck? I’m sorry, I didn’t know it would happen… I’ll buy it off you. If it’s too expensive, I might not be able to buy it today, but I can probably borrow some from Eric or Stephen until I earn it myself...” She rambled on in her guilt.  

He seemed to take pity on her, patting her on the head briefly to shut her up like a doting parent. “It’s okay, little one. I’m not mad, and you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m Damian. What’s your name?”

She smiled up at him, happy that a new little blinking light had appeared in the corner of her vision as much as that he wasn’t angry. Something who could make this beautiful stuff was bound to be awesomely skilled! “I’m Jade. It’s very nice to meet you, Damian. Your work is absolutely beautiful.”

He grinned at her. Everyone liked having their work sincerely complimented, after all.

“Thank you. It’s always nice to find someone who appreciates what you do. But I must admit, I quite like what you’ve done to my little phoenix. You said you’re new to light magic?”

He liked what she’d done! She beamed, and then it sunk in. What she’d done would actually probably help the sell value. If she could do this as another source of income… Maybe it would help. She needed all the capital she could get to start her inventing business. And then she realized… She was in a glass shop! There were things she needed… So eyes sparkling, she nodded and decided he was going to help her make her prototypes, if he’d agree, that was. 

“Yes, I’m actually a traveler. I only got here yesterday, and it’s all been a bit overwhelming trying to adjust. But apparently I have an aptitude for magic.” Looking down at the little figurines, she asked quietly, “How much do you normally sell these for?” 

She had a shrewd spark in her eye, and she knew he saw it. He laughed and said simply, “Aye, you’re a sharp one. I normally sell them for about five laurels, but if you magicked them up, I could probably sell them for a crown.” She nodded. Doubling the price for a little bit of magic, but probably only if it was well done. 

She tried to do the calculations in her head, but then gave up. Might as well make it simple so he’d do her favors. She spoke honestly, “I’d like to make a deal with you. As I said, I only got here yesterday, so even though I was accepted to Dracona, I’d like to secure my own funding. With my magic, you’ll net 5 more laurels. I’ll do it for 2, giving you a net gain of 3 if they sell well.  We could do a test batch to make sure the math works out. However, there’s a few things from my world that I miss, and I think you could help me with them. They’re fairly simple and I would, of course, deduct the cost from what you would pay me. What do you think?” 

He looked thoughtful, considering what she’d said as he studied her. Finally, he nodded. “That sounds fair.” Of course it was fair, without him having to do anything, she’d come in and make his product twice as valuable! It was basically giving him free money, plus she figured the extra wow factor would make people more likely to buy them, so he’d sell more of them. It was a win-win for everyone! He proved his acumen by saying simply, “I think I would like to start off with a test batch though, and then we can get a contract written up.”

She beamed. “Perfect! Let’s do the test batch. Which ones do you want me to do?” She glanced around the room, excited. “Actually, can I pick?”

He laughed. “Go ahead and choose what you want.” The implied connotation was that he wanted to see what she could do. Well, she was going to rise to the challenge! He stayed where he was, watching her. It seemed he wanted to see the process and what she chose, but he also wasn’t hovering like a helicopter mom, much to her relief.  Thankfully, she’d started walking a lot more normally at this point, so there was a much lower chance of her tripping and ruining everything, but she was a little nervous about that all the same. 

Looking around, she realized that many of the figurines were based off of what she assumed were the monsters of this world. There were some of the things she associated with animals of her world, but most of them looked wilder and fiercer.  She came to a shark-like one, but it wasn’t...quite right. It still looked beautiful, but not totally like a shark, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on what was different. 

Concentrating, she gently touched the glass. It was already a light bluish gray color, so she tried to match that within the glow of the shark, picturing a dark blue light for the splashes of water it was emerging from, adding little white light tips at the end like foam as well as his teeth. She felt the warmth, and when she pulled her hand away, the sharkey thing was now gently glowing from within. The teeth looked especially menacing, shining as they were.  She grinned. It looked awesome! 

About six glass statues later, she sank to the floor when she finished infusing light into it. Damian hurried over, a worried look all over his face. “Are you okay?” 

She smiled wearily. “I’m fine, I think my body is just telling me my limits and that I’m hungry. I originally came out for food, but I was distracted by your pretties.”  Okay, her limit was pitifully low. She wondered if it had anything to do with her stamina. Probably. She should touch more people. 

Anyway, she could tell she was getting distracted, and had to forcefully bring herself back to present. With a smile, she said simply, “I’ll be fine after I eat. So why don’t I explain what I need for my special projects, and then I’d probably better go eat something…”