ORIGIN

Pride turned with some surprise to see the shimmering barrier held up before his daughter. It was well-formed, he noted: strong, clear. He stepped back, and spoke with approval and encouragement in his tone. "Yes! Good, very good, Acheron. That's a strong shield," he noted. "And you can practice that alone, but try to hold it up for a moment, all right-? I'll show you what it can do."

He glanced around, hoping his magic would come, this time.

His gaze fell upon a small rock--barely more than a pebble--and he fastened his magic around it. We just needed to move farther away, he reasoned, finding that his magic responded to him now. The rock levitated into the air, and he glanced at Acheron.

"Hold the shield up. Are you ready-? Watch," he said, and then lightly lobbed the pebble for her. If her shield failed in the meanwhile, it was far too small to do any harm, but if she held it, it would be a good demonstration of its power.

"Very good," he said, his tone still calmly encouraging. Her question, though, gave him pause; and he thought about it.

"I have never really tested its limits, I think," he began slowly, musing over his memories. It took him a moment to rack his brain; so far as he could remember, he'd mostly only ever used the shield in training. In fact, he remembered pebbles just like this one being hurled at his. Oh, but- and his eyes widened slightly as he remembered. "The strongest thing I think I have repelled with it was fire. A blast of flame another Gembound burst from its mouth, during a battle. That was strong, and while the heat still burned some, the shield did protect me from being caught on fire."

He eyed Acheron thoughtfully. "You'll need to practice with it, though. And speaking of repelling--there's the other shield I want to teach you. You can imbue your own body with this magic, this... kinetic power. Ahh--the magic of movement, of energy," he explained. "Like your ability to bounce very far, or to throw things--but you leave it waiting in your skin. The moment something impacts you, that energy is expended to throw them back. Because it is something you can cast and then go about your business without thinking of, it is a good preparation for danger, or even to simply leave active, so long as you remember to warn friends not to hit you in play!" Pride seemed to smile, a little. "Try it now, if you like? Try to gather your magicka up, and hold it like a cloak, and then fix it there for later. A magic to bounce, as your other magic does, but to throw an enemy away instead."

In the meantime, he readied a pebble--"Tell me when you're ready"--and lobbed it toward her.

"It can hurl away another Gembound, if you're attacked," he answered, amused by her amazement. "I don't know how big, but I assume very large. That's why it's so good to simply keep on you. There's no real reason not to," he added.

Well--there was always the possibility of needlessly-cast magic backfiring, but Pride didn't really know how this spell could truly cause harm. It had always seemed useful, nothing more.

"You're doing well," he went on, praise in his voice again. "You master magic quickly. Practice on your own--the safer spells, at least--and you will be quite skilled in no time. Do you want to move on to offensive magic-?" he went on, tilting his head a little as he studied her.

He'd not push her, of course, but he got the impression she enjoyed offensive magic use, and anyway he wanted her to use it first while he was present. If something bad happened, he didn't want her lying wounded somewhere, no help in sight.

Pride glanced at some alarm to the object of his daughter's interest.

"It--would be best not to," he hastened to say. "I can try to pry a piece off for you when we're finished--a small one. But it could be dangerous," he warned. He didn't think attacking the Spire was exactly the smartest idea, especially for a child in training.

"Hit me, first, for now." He concentrated on raising a barrier, for a moment. And when he had it prepared, he nodded to Acheron.

"Whenever you are ready--let's see if you can break my barrier, hm?"

There was humor in his voice.

One moment he'd been on his feet--confident, ready--and the next, the world had flashed by in a spinning whirl. The sharp, sudden pain of rock impacting his flank and ribs was surprising; he caught, in a brief glimpse, his own spindly legs flailing at the air. Then he was blinking--a little dazed--as he pulled himself upright.

Ears cupped forward, and he peered at Acheron as she ran for him. Part of him was awed--he didn't realize he'd failed his magic; he thought she'd somehow just blown straight through it and sent him flying. And the other part of him wrenched with pain at the fear in her voice. "I'm all right," he hastened to answer, reassuring her--the throbbing in his ribs didn't feel all that bad, though it would bruise, he knew. But--his head hurt, some, and a glance around found one of the tips of an antler tine broken on the floor. He nodded to it with a snort of amusement. "You can have that as a souvenir," he offered, and then glanced to her, noting the alarm in her eyes. "They grow back. They fall off and grow back, now and then."

He shook out his legs, testing them, then shook his coat too, like a wet dog; dust and little pebbles fell away.

"That was very good! It's my fault for not preparing my barrier properly--at least, I think I didn't. Don't let it worry you," he added, warmly.