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The World Walkers: Quiar: The Case of the Counterfeit Enchantments (part 9, 27th continuation)
“Even though the fae didn’t like it there was nothing they could do to stop it, not once the decision was made to leave the doors as they were. Had the Moonjumpers not evolved things would have been very different, although I don’t doubt that there would have still been natural doors evolving, because it was what the worlds seemed to want. They always wanted people to be able to travel between them.” Meriwether smiled. “Unfortunately they just haven’t realised that sometimes they don’t always chose the right person, as there are plenty of people who have no interest in travelling to another world but end up doing exactly that.”
“A lot of the time it isn’t that they’re meant to be on the world they’ve been dragged to, but that their children or grandchildren are.” Lucille shook her head. “The problem with the world being sentient and able to talk to themselves from the future is that they know what they need to change, and yet they don’t always make the right choice as to exactly how they change it.”
“Then you add into the equation the natural Moonjumpers, the people who travel through time, and the chance that someone may make a different decision, and it becomes even more difficult for the worlds to know exactly what they need to do in order to change the future they’re so worried about.”
“When it comes to being one of the sentient worlds there are so many variables they have to take into consideration when they’re attempting to change the future and then there are others who want to do the same thing, because they’ve got the fae’s ability to travel through time, which makes things even harder.” Lucille sighed. “Plus there’s the wish magic of the Breeders of Siaral, which can have a huge affect on the Web if someone grants a wish they probably shouldn’t.”
“Sometimes I think that the evolution of the Breeders wish magic was one of the most dangerous things to happen to the Web, because there are so many people wishing for so many things, and they can’t know for certain exactly what effect granting a wish may have.” Meriwether rubbed his antler. “At the same time it’s one of the most wonderful things to have happened, for exactly the same reason.”
“When has someone granted a wish they shouldn’t?” Sini asked, fascinated once again by the conversation going on between a Moonjumper and a deer who was once fae. It was so wonderful to have a day together where they weren’t focusing so much on the counterfeiters and more on what was going to happen when the problem was solved, even though she knew they were having the day off because of what had happened to the raccoons. “In general and an example.”
Lucille smiled. “In general it’s normal for someone with wish magic to grant a couple of wishes based on emotion rather than logic when they first realise what ability they have. After that they follow the rules that were created when the first Breeders really began to understand the magic their children had been born with. They probably have a better understand of the history of the Web than we do, because no one feels like they’re being controlled by them, while a lot of the races don’t have such a good relationship with the Council.” She lent back in her chair. “The one example I can think of that really affected a world quite badly was when the Breeders granted the wish of one of the people of Janoch.”
“I’m not sure you’ve mentioned Janoch before,” Bertram said, looking just as interested as Sini felt.
“The world isn’t one I know well, although I have studied it, because it’s a very strange place. All of the races there have bonded magic and how it works is slightly different for all of them. One of the races can’t use their magic fully if they don’t have a bond mate, one of the races have a magic that may destroy them if they don’t find a mate, and another has it so that their abilities change depending on the number of mates they have.” Lucille ran a hand through her hair. “I know what happened because it was something I learnt as part of my history studies, because of how if affected the world, and I can understand why the Breeder would have granted the wish. I think I would have done the same thing if I was in their position… and, if Meriwether is right, there’s a chance I may have been that Breeder.”
“I was on Janoch when it happened,” Meriwether said, his voice quiet, and Sini could tell it had affected him. “I was a part of the same race and it was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen.”
With one hand Lucille reached out to squeeze Meriwether’s. “The wish that was granted was one Janochian’s wish to not have magic any longer. Unfortunately no one realised that her wish had been granted until it was too late and the magic built up so strongly in her bond mate that it ended up destroying half the village.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure exactly how no one realised, because the Moonjumpers didn’t get there until after, so Merry, is that a question you can answer?”
“I wish I couldn’t. I wish I hadn’t been there, but I was and no one realised because they didn’t know it could happen. At that point the Janochians had no idea that there was such a thing as wish magic, that it was possible for someone to remove any magic, and when her mate told the elders that he thought something might be wrong they didn’t believe him. They though the problem was all in his mind.” Meriwether stared into the distance. “If they’d known it was possible I’m not sure they would even have believed him then, but I hope I’m wrong. I hope if something like that ever happens again they will listen and they’ll do something to stop the catastrophe that followed.”
“The destruction of the village happened in the middle of the night, when everyone was in their houses, and it was bad.” Lucille bit her lip. “After searching through all the wreckage they managed to rescue three people and the rest, over three hundred people, had died.”
“Saying this makes me feel disgusted with myself, but we did get lucky with the timing, because it meant that other people didn’t lose their bond mates. Instead it was mostly already bonded people, and their families, who ended up dying, and after that the system changed. People were bonded from the time of birth rather than later on in their lives, which did cause some problems, but in general it was good for our village. The rest of our race stuck with the system they thought worked better, as they hadn’t dealt with the disaster and didn’t seem to be worried it might happen to them in the future.”
“What happened to the girl without magic?” Sini asked.
“From what I heard she moved to Athare, as she was one of the three people who got out alive, but she was forced to return to Janoch when her daughter was born with magic.” Meriwether shook his head. “I think she was more surprised than anyone else, because she thought as she was freed from her magic it was something she wouldn’t be able to pass on, but that wasn’t a part of her wish. She only wished for herself, which is normal for a girl when she’s having to deal with being bonded to a boy she didn’t particularly like and wasn’t thinking much of the future. Her daughter ended up being bonded to one of the boys who hadn’t been lucky enough to find a bond mate at birth.”
“Children are bonded that young?” Peric asked, sounding unsure.
“It seemed to be the most logical way of stopping what happened. When the elders realised she’d made the wish because she didn’t like her mate it made sense for them to change the rules so that mates would grow up together, in an attempt to stop the same thing from happening again, and it did, mostly, work. There were some cases where being bonded from such a young age made things worse and I knew a girl who ended up changing things for her race when she and her bond mate decided they needed something different.”
“How long did you spend on Janoch?” Lucille asked, looking at Meriwether.
“Three lifetimes. As I’ve lived since the creation of the Web almost three millennia ago it wasn’t that long a time, especially not if I compare it to the time I spent on Gaelom or the time I spent on Aerith.”
“You lived on Aerith?” Sini asked, unable to quite believe he said that while being entirely unsurprised at the same time.
Meriwether nodded. “For over six lifetimes. I liked the world, even though he could never entirely get used to me being there.”
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.