aterat | Imagine a fancy title here, you will

"I wouldn't know. I've never met a wizard," Nida said. "Only sorceresses and witches."

One witch with stars for eyes and pulsating blue power in his heart and Nida could remember nothing more of the man he had loved and lost. Instead he absolutely reached out to take that hand and shake it. He had no clue that a measure of him could be taken with merely a touch. Of course, he need not worry about that, not at all.

Because any push to read him, any senses reaching out to try and get his measure, would only serve to arouse the attention of a guardian force. While back home Siren wasn't the most powerful of the GFs native to his world, here she was the only one, so she could easily be called the best. No matter how good or bad she was, she was still a raw elemental force, a wellspring of magic and power, perhaps even a fragment of the long dead and shattered god of his world, no one really knew. What mattered was she was protective, and any invasive senses might likely be met with her awareness, with the rush and roar of waves and winds slamming against a rocky coast. And to punctuate it all, the discordant sound of a harp not being played for music but for noise, and the sense of being buffeted by wings.

Of course, there was always the chance that he didn't press his senses, in which case there would just be a pleasant, firm handshake.

"Well, we're basically those, only men." Not that Harry had any idea what that might suggest about him to Nida. He was more intent on what was inside him, because that physical touch told the wizard that much: there was something inside this perfectly normal human, and by the familiar feeling there, it had been invited. It was powerful, possibly ancient, but benevolent. If he wanted to get anything else, he'd have to open up his Sight, and that was a can of worms he'd rather leave on the shelf for now.

He does smile, though, thinking of his own recent quasi-possession, and the hole he still felt where the fallen angel's shade had dwelled.

"So, this is probably forward, but did you know you were possessed?"

Possessed? Nida laughs as he takes his hand back.

"First, I've known male witches. Perhaps your definitions are not progressive enough. Secondly, it's hardly possession."

Siren, in his mind, was shuddering with offense at the idea of it.

"It's more like... symbiosis."

"We usually call those Sorcerers. Wizards have standards." Like not using magic to harm another human being, things like that.

He frowned at Nida's explanation, though. It was never a good idea to form a symbiotic relationship with a spiritual being.

"I don't mean to be harsh or anything, but what you're saying is you have a spiritual parasite, right?"

Nida had to laugh at the idea of his former boyfriend not having standards.

"Perhaps it's different across different worlds. Because the witch I knew, he would have been highly offended to have a suggestion that he didn't have high standards."

But the very suggestion that she was a parasite made Nida bristle. His arms crossed over his chest and he let the magic in his body resettle to better junction to his needs. This could get dangerous.

"No, parasites are like leeches. They take and take and you get nothing for it. I have a magical bond that benefits both parties in a mutually beneficial way, where while both could survive together separate, life is better together. More like bees and flowers."

"Maybe, but if he used magic to hurt people, I know some guys who'd cut off his head." There was a note of bitterness in his voice at the thought. Even having attended executions, wielding the sword himself, donning he Grey, it still put a bad taste in his mouth. The only reason Harry himself hadn't been decapitated was on a technicality.

"You obviously don't know much about psychic parasites, unless you can tell me it doesn't take anything from your mind, because that would be rare."

"You obviously don't know anything about Guardian Forces," Nida countered, not amused. "What she takes it freely given. And in exchange, I have the power to keep the people and places I love safe."

He knew exactly what her cost was, and lived it freely.

"You're right, I don't." It wasn't even a term he'd ever heard before, and he wondered if he might find something more about them in the Historium. He'd found weirder stuff there. "And it's pretty clear you've got a strong opinion on it. It's none of my business anyway." At least not until such time as this entity becomes a problem for the other people around here.

"And I'm sure you didn't stop by here to get a lecture." Which he was pretty sure was an understatement, and the impression he was making wasn't the best way to make new business.

Well, at least he's absolutely agreeing with it. Nida took a deep breath, and it was a bit easier to talk to the man when he was being a bit more accepting.

"I didn't. I came because Siren could sense your power and she wanted to know what was happening. Like reaching to like I think."

"See, the weird thing is, I don't think I'm anything like, what did you call her? Siren? I'm just a magic user, and completely mortal."

Even if Harry didn't agree with someone, he could be diplomatic when he needed to be.

"And her powers allow me to make use of magic as well, while I am only mortal. After all, there's only one sort of natural magic user on my world."

And they were evil. Corrupted by the very magic they wielded. There you have that.

"Still, she senses magic. Enhances all of my senses, including that of magic."

"So, not a true magus, then." A true magus, capable of manipulating the currents of life that flow through everything, easily corruptible but highly trained to resist, executed sometimes without trial for stepping out of line.

He nodded. "Well, I can promise I don't bite, and you can pass that along to her."

"Only Sorceresses have natural magic, it passes on at their death. And they can be rather... dangerous if they lose control. The power can corrupt."

Often does in his day. They took over and destroyed so much and so many.

"If you tried to bite me, I think she'd have less of a problem than my fiance would."

It passes on at their death. That was interesting, enough that Harry crossed his arms thoughtfully, nodding. "Like a mantle, a sort of...cloak of power that needs a host." He'd been thinking about this magic thing in Nida's world the wrong way. It wasn't the same because magic was a thing there, an entity, not a force. The concept was fascinating if not completely alien.

"Well, you can tell your fiance you're safe with me. Never been a biter."

"More like a possession by the power itself. There are supposedly less of them these days than their were in the past, but more powerful. Because if a Sorceress passes away and another sorceress is near, the power is drawn to them before any other women. It can be passed only to women so far as we know."

So yes, magic was a true and living thing in his world. And the GFs were a part of that.

"Good, Ignis is possessive of being the one that does, when he's up to it. But if you're interested in magic, he carries some as well. Elemental."

"Hell's bells, that's weird." It was honestly not like anything he'd ever encountered before, and he made a mental note to look j to it at his first opportunity. It sounded pretty send fascinating, and he'd need to understand academically how the whole thing worked if he was going to be any sort of use to the man anyway.

"Ignis, huh? I'll have to look him up, strictly professional, of course."

"What's hell?" Nida asked, definitely confused by that. Sorry, some things just didn't translate.

"That seems fair," Nida agreed with a nod. He definitely respected the guy needing to look into things for professional reasons. "For now, though, what is it that you do here?'

He shook his head. "It means different things to different people. Academically, Hell is the plane where demons come from." What that meant in a religious stance was open to interpretation. "It's not a nice place for mortals, full of fire and brimstone and a lot of things that want to eat you."

"I take commissions, mostly. The hunters down south like getting protection charms before they go hunting, things like that. I also help some of the locals with magical talent understand it a little better." He didn't need to go into detail about how he could Look at something and see the patterns of magic as it flowed through them. That was insider info.

"I don't know about fire and brimstone, but I've been plenty of places full of things that want to eat me, so that's nto exactly something new."

Ah, hunters. Yes, that made sense.

"I'm surprised that locals have magical talent. I hadn't noticed it as much here."

"That's the thing about charms and enchantments. They give people without magical talent the ability to use it, or at least to wear it."

He reached into his pocket, pulling out his shield bracelet, which he wasn't wearing at the moment, but kept on him as a demonstration. "Take this, for instance. When you wear it, it casts a barrier around you that slows attacks, making it harder to kill you. You don't need to have magical talent to reap its benefits."

"Siren does the same for me," Nida answered. "And it sounds like you're talking about a protect or shell spell. I can definitely respect that. More people could stand to have those."

Protects had saved his life before.

"Yeah, I'm starting to understand." It wasn't necessarily that Siren was an actual entity, or it may even be that she was a spirit, much like Bob. Either way, she and Nida were in some sort of partnership, and there wasn't anything wrong with that.

"And yeah, something like that, I guess." He didn't think of spells in such finite terms.

She was absolutely a partner to Nida, and he loved her for it. They both gained, they both lost, but in the end, he was left feeling supported in a way that was hard to quantify to those who didn't experience it.

"What about your magic. Is it learned or innate?"

That was a complicated question. While people could learn magic, the depths from which they could pull were greatly dependent upon innate skill.

"Basically, it's innate. I was born with the ability to tap into magical energies, but years of study have honed that skill."

So like a Sorceress. Or like his Seb.

"Perhaps your world is better than mine for that ability. But we do the best we can to survive with what we have, even if it's new. Even if the cost is high. It helps, magic. After all, taking down monsters without them can be difficult."

Imagine a fancy title here, you will

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wow that wasn't the icon I wanted

I didn't notice anything off >.>

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