B4 - Chapter 9 - Soaring Sisters

Lily continued to draw as Rose stared at her intently, and the reaction on her face when the magical creation progressed from glyph to inscription was priceless. Lily could even imagine her now swearing to "never get involved in this stuff" upon seeing the sudden jump in difficulty, after all, Arakil himself said many people, even in his time, would choose not to progress to inscriptions.

I know it's tricky, but it's not that much of a jump? Or am I only saying that because I've been taught by Arakil himself?

Lily found it hard to compare herself to what was normal for multiple reasons, and having Arakil as her primary teacher was definitely a significant factor. She would've liked to have said she had a talent or affinity for it, but Arakil was rather adamant that anyone with enough dedication could learn the craft.

Since Lily was still relatively unfamiliar with this inscription, having not studied it for personal reasons, Arakil would occasionally chime in with a small correction from time to time. Eventually, the inscription was completed, and after receiving his seal of approval, she saved and stored it in the wand per his instructions.

"Wait, where did the drawing go?" Rose asked. "Is it already activated? Can you fly now?"

"No and no, I just saved it for later," Lily replied with a giggle, although that was short-lived as she realized now she'd have to demonstrate it.

Sighing, she activated the wand's replication function, and it spat out a perfect copy of her previous drawing, much to Rose's surprise. Lily gave a brief explanation, since Rose often didn't care about the nitty-gritty details, and then all that was left was the actual demonstration.

[Don't worry. You've proven it works multiple times before.]

Despite Arakil's reassurance and her knowing better, she still couldn't just get over it. If she'd been completely honest, she knew she was being weird about it, as she'd shown much more bravery during her mock test. It wasn't even an argument; this inscription was hundreds of times safer than her crazy act of throwing gust talismans together and activating them at once, but in the heat of the moment, she hadn't even considered what a stupid, reckless thing she was doing.

Lily was about to activate the inscription when Arakil's voice rang out again, [And don't forget the gesture. You recorded it previously. That finger pinching thing you did.]

She paused and looked at her hand, once again pinching her two fingers against her thumb while raising the other two.

"Why are you making a fox with your hand?" Rose asked.

"A fox?" Lily asked, looking at her hand and trying to imagine it.

"Don't you think it looks like a fox? Look, there's the snout, and there's the pointy ears," Rose explained, pointing at Lily's hand.

Lily could vaguely see it, although she wasn't sure why a fox came to Rose's mind; it could've also been seen as a wolf. Lily shrugged and quickly explained that this was the emergency gesture to stop and land while flying.

"Wait… You can control your flying with this inscription with your hands? How the heck does that work?"

"It requires a control glyph, and then you configure it. There's more, but I haven't really gotten there yet."

"More glyphs… It's really sounding like there's a glyph for everything, huh?"

[While not exactly for everything, it was pretty darn close. The attitude used to be that if there wasn't a glyph or inscription yet, eventually one would be made. Although I wonder if anyone kept that flame of passion burning…]

"Did Arakil say something?" Rose asked.

"How'd you know?" Lily asked.

"You tend to get a bit of a look on your face, and your one ear twitches a bit as if you're listening to something."

Lily touched her ear and frowned, but when Rose started grinning, she wasn't sure if she was being serious or joking. Sighing again, she relayed what Arakil had said.

"Yeah, that's definitely too much for me. I'll leave the glyphs up to you and stick to burning and punching things. Anyway, can I finally see you fly?"

Lily reluctantly nodded and then touched the inscription, activating it with a pulse of Mana. As before, the inscription enveloped her in a glow as the winds began to gather, sending her hurtling forward at an upward trajectory. Thankfully, this time she didn't scream, but she did very nearly activate the override immediately.

As Lily soared forward, she heard Rose shout various expletives in shock, then flip to laughter and begin frantically chasing after her. She didn't have to sprint for long, as very soon Lily activated the gesture and brought herself safely to the ground.

"That was amazing!" Rose shouted, arriving soon after.

Wow, Rose is pretty fast, and she's not even slightly out of breath. I didn't see if she used magic or what, but I bet she could give even Hana a run for her money.

"I'm glad you liked it… I prefer keeping my feet on the ground."

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"Oh, come on. Imagine how quickly you could pass this floor and many others with the help of that spell," Rose insisted.

Lily had to admit she was slightly tempted by that remark, and compared to her first time trying it, it was a far more pleasant experience. While Lily was debating with herself, Rose held out her hands, revealing the grimoire.

"You left Arakil behind."

[Yes, please remember to put me in your pocket next time.]

"Sorry!" Lily frantically apologized, grabbed the book, and patted it reassuringly.

After Lily finally calmed down and Rose stopped laughing, they returned to the original topic.

"So… Can I also use that inscription?" Rose asked, excitement flashing in her eyes.

"If you touch and activate it, yes."

"Awesome! Please draw one for me, I want to experience flying!"

"Okay, but first practice the stop gesture. Otherwise, you might crash into a tree!"

Rose quickly pinched her fingers together. "Yup, I can make a hand fox too!"

I still think it looks like a wolf more than a fox… Lily thought to herself before nodding.

Repeating the wand's secret function gesture twice, Lily produced two more copies of the flight inscription, leaving Rose excitedly fidgeting on the spot. Lily expected her to basically rush to touch it immediately, but she was unexpectedly resisting that temptation.

"Are we going to fly together?"

"Yes, that was my plan," Lily answered.

Rose's fidgeting turned into bouncing, and she quickly positioned herself in front of one of the inscriptions, waiting for Lily to join her. Lily didn't keep her waiting for long, and after this time, securely pocketing Arakil's book, she took her position. They counted down together and reached out to touch their respective inscriptions, allowing the magical winds to envelop the two of them.

Together they took off with a burst, and this time Lily managed to keep all her emotions in check as having Rose by her side was actually comforting. Rose, on the other hand, was laughing like she was having the time of her life, practically screaming at the top of her lungs with unbridled joy.

"Let's stop here!" Lily eventually shouted.

"Okay!" Rose agreed.

After that, they both made the gesture at the same time and safely landed only a few feet apart. Upon landing, Rose rushed to Lily's side, grabbing her in a big hug and sweeping her off her feet.

"Lily, that was amazing! I've never felt so alive before!"

"I'm glad you enjoyed it… But please… Not so tight…"

Rose giggled and, after one more squeeze, eventually released Lily, who breathed a sigh of relief.

"I have a question, though…" Rose said, now scratching her chin.

"What's on your mind?"

"So the gesture is to land safely in case there's a tree in the way. But why not just go over the trees? Wouldn't that be better? I imagine you could also get a much better vantage of the surroundings, too."

Lily sighed, almost expecting this to come up. "I was scared to go any higher."

"Really? I think hitting a tree is much scarier than a bit of extra height."

[I have to agree with Rose here. If something, somehow, went wrong, as unlikely as that is, mind you, and you took a tumble, you could wrap yourself up in your Nebula Veil for protection.]

"Okay! Fine! We can try going a bit higher then…"

"Yes! Thank you, Lily, you're the best!" Rose cheered, jumping for joy.

Seeing how happy her big sister was almost made up for the bubbling fear at the bottom of her stomach. Almost. Lily sucked it up and produced another glyph before making the necessary modifications to it so that the height would be above the treetops.

She would've liked to have made the control-switch version Arakil spoke of, so they could go higher and lower on the fly, but that was still a bit beyond her current capabilities. She could have asked Arakil to make something for her to copy, but part of her felt that would be cheating, skipping so many steps without earning them herself.

After confirming the adjustment was correct, Lily overwrote the stored blueprint with the modified version and produced two more copies for herself and Rose.

"I'm surprised you don't do this more often," Rose said, clearly admiring the two quickly produced inscriptions.

"I don't want to get lazy," Lily answered. "If I copied inscriptions all the time, then I wouldn't get to practice them myself."

"I get that, but what about the time saved?"

"I'm actually working on that…" Lily mumbled. "Hopefully, soon I'll be able to rapidly draw glyphs and maybe even inscriptions."

"Ah, okay, I think I get it."

Lily wasn't sure if Rose actually got it, but regardless, she was happy that she didn't continue pestering her to effectively cheat. Even Lily had to admit this was just too convenient, and using it this way today was like a recurring temptation to do this more often. It was no wonder Arakil had been so strict regarding its usage; he knew full well how alluring it could be.

"In the meantime, I still have my Astral magic if I need a quick solution," Lily replied with a smile.

The pair then lined up at their respective inscriptions and, after a countdown, reached out and activated them together. This time, Lily was almost holding her breath, terrified of the new height they would reach. Again, the magic enveloped them, and they continued to rise, soon reaching above the treetops, where Lily very nearly shut her eyes tight.

"Lily, look how beautiful it is up here!"

Rose's passionate words caused Lily to hesitate for a moment and release the clamping down on her eyelids. The world above the treetops was indeed a sight to behold, a sight that you normally wouldn't get to experience. Looking down, it wasn't just rushing scenery, and you got to see a more picturesque view of everything.

Maybe it isn't so bad…

Already, the benefit of a higher height could be seen, as there was no need to activate the emergency landing, so Lily found her hand relaxing, no longer tensed and ready to make a fox-wolf.

[Tell Rose she should open up her wings. She should use this opportunity for image training.]

"Rose! Arakil says open your wings!" Lily shouted.

"Okay?" Rose replied, evidently confused.

Lily watched as her sister's folded wings slowly unfurled, revealing the full length of the scaled, leathery wingspan. Now that she thought about it, she'd only seen them revealed the one time she asked, as it appeared Rose preferred keeping them effectively sealed away.

I wonder why she never shows them off? I think they look amazing… Although I guess they might get in the way from time to time…

Maybe admitted that maybe she was reading too much into it, but she could've sworn that Rose was somewhat hesitant about opening them. She hoped the wings weren't part of some trauma, especially if they'd violently grown from a situation like her tail had. There was, of course, another possibility that came to Lily's overactive imagination.

Is she embarrassed by them because she can't use them to fly?

For some reason, Lily felt like she was right on the money with that prediction. Rose was extremely prideful, so having wings but being unable to use them would be a repeated reminder of her failure. If Lily were in her situation, she wouldn't know what to do, probably also keep them sealed away and try to make people forget about them.

However, Lily's hypothetical worries about her sister's unknown situation soon began to fade, as she witnessed her face once again take on that same rapturous joy from earlier.

I swear, Arakil only pretends to be stiff with emotions, and underneath it all, he's a big softie.