by Saless
Chapter 108

"Did you have something specific in mind?" Mana asked.

Well, if I could somehow conceal my wings, that would be helpful. And I'd like to have my claws and poisoned fangs back. And perhaps...you could make it so my paws unfold into something resembling the hands I used to have, so that I can manipulate objects better? I still want to look like a cat so I can blend in, but if I can fold them up to still look like they do now, that should work. Vash replied.

Mana nodded, "Certainly, I can manage that. Would you like to be stronger and tougher while I'm at it?"

I already am, but the incident with John shows I'm not tough enough. Yes, I think that would be helpful. Vash said.

"Okay. Did you have anything else you'd like to change?" Mana asked.

Vash looked down in thought and then turned towards Jill, I have no other ideas. What about you?

"Me?! Why ask me?" Jill asked in astonishment.

You are my Mistress. You should have a say in such changes. Vash replied.

"You haven't called me that in a long time." Jill said.

That's because it annoyed you...and because I think of you more as a friend than as a Mistress. Vash said.

"Good, I'd rather be your friend than your Mistress. I don't have any ideas, and I don't think you should let anyone else but you decide on any changes you should have." Jill said.

Very well, I think that will do. Vash said, turning to look at Mana again.

"Okay, just give me a moment and I'll have you squared away." Mana replied. She closed her eyes in thought for a couple minutes and then opened them. With a casual gesture towards Vash he began to glow. His wings seemed to settle down into his fur, blending in seamlessly. No other changes were visible until Vash stretched out his new fingers and extended his newly sharpened claws.

Ah, much better! Thank you Mana! Vash sent happily.

"My pleasure Vash. Just be careful, your new strength combined with those claws could result in significant injury to Jill or the others if you're not." Mana replied.

Hmm, yes, that's a good point. But I can retract them much like a cat does, so I should be alright. Vash said.

"Are your wings still there? I can't tell." Tiffany said, looking curiously at Vash's back.

In answer Vash spread his wings. Then he settled them back down and they disappeared into his fur again. When she looked closely she could just make out the feathers mixed in with the fur.

"Mana," Erica said thoughtfully, "how much do you know about what happened last night?"

"Probably more than you do. Was there something you wanted to know?" Mana asked.

"Yes. What was that noise right before I was shot?" Erica replied.

"Oh that! There's no great mystery there, I'm afraid, it was just a car backfiring. Agent Peters was very tense, apparently, and was so startled that he pulled the trigger reflexively. I gather that he is very uncomfortable with the idea of magic being real." Mana said.

"A car backfiring, huh? Okay, then my other question is what kind of injuries Agent Peters had." Erica said.

"Nearly every one of his ribs was broken, and he has a concussion from hitting his head on the asphalt when he landed. He also has some other cuts and bruises from landing and sliding across the pavement. He'll be out of action for some time." Mana replied.

"I did all that?!" Sarah exclaimed, horrified.

"Don't worry about it honey. He'll recover, and if I'd been anybody else I'd probably be dead." Erica soothed.

"Marvin certainly seems to think so." Mana agreed. "He's now very interested in talking to all three of you. He believes Tiffany has some kind of life-stealing ability that is tied to her more obvious shadow powers, though he thinks of them as being darkness powers. He believes Sarah simply has a blasting ability, though he also suspects that Sarah's transformation is more complete than modern medicine can account for. He simply believes Erica heals rapidly, but he's still interested in her for that. He suspects Mike and Jill may have some kind of ability as well, but has no basis for this besides association with the rest of you. He's still unaware of Vash's existence, though."

"What about you?" Jill asked.

"He's uncertain whether the distractions I orchestrated are a result of one person or a group of people, and he's also uncertain whether that person or group is one or all of you, or someone looking out for you. He knows nothing of me besides what I've shown during my distractions. I've considered introducing myself to him, but I'm afraid that would upset him more than it would help. He's just now beginning to accept magic, speaking to Magic herself might be too much for him." Mana replied.

"Are you the incarnation of magic or something?" Tiffany asked.

"No, I am Magic. All the Forces that are the building blocks of reality became sentient and sapient after a time. I am one of them." Mana said.

"So there's other Forces out there like you, like matter, energy, time, and like that?" Mike asked.

Mana nodded, "Yes, those are my brothers. Most of them are responsible for me being 'asleep' in the first place. Only Time tried to protect me."

"You mean your being asleep wasn't by choice?" Sarah asked.

"No, it was in essence a curse. It was more complicated than simply being asleep, and far more cruel, but that is basically what happened." Mana replied.

"Wow, and I thought I had family troubles!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Yes, it gets quite complicated. Fortunately, as the architect of the Weave, I have enough power to protect myself from further actions from my brothers. They took advantage of a weakness I didn't even know I had last time, but I'm aware of it now so it has lost much of its power." Mana said.

"What's this weave thing you keep mentioning?" Erica asked.

"When I was first born, reality was chaotic." Mana said. "The only mature Forces were my parents, Chaos and Void. They had come to love each other and had ceased to oppose each other as they had in the beginning, but that only gave the chaos that makes up my mother more control over reality. Giving birth to us reduced her hold on reality, but we were too young to have developed sentience as yet and some of us fought with each other. As we matured that lessened, at first. But then my brothers began to reshape reality to their whim, which put them into conflict with each other. Time and I, along with a few others, stayed out of it. But when they began destroying entire universes and all the life in them, I intervened. I tried to play peacemaker, but they would not listen to me. I was always stronger than the others, so I could force one or even two of them to stop at a time, but there were too many of them.

Realizing the futility of trying to talk them out of it, and that I did not have the power to hold them all back myself, I wove all the Forces together with my power to form the Weave. It is the fabric of reality. It governs how each Force affects each part of reality, and prevents them from causing so much trouble. They could no longer reform reality, or even a single universe, to their whim. As you can imagine, many of them were very unhappy with that."

"I don't get it. If you weren't powerful enough to force them all to stop fighting, how were you able to weave them all together like that?" Erica asked.

"It's part of the function of Magic. It was my birth that allowed my mother to keep from disintegrating from her own chaotic nature. I am chaos balanced. I took the chaotic nature of reality and balanced it. The resulting weave was held together by one long thread; Magic. Since it was my power that balanced and connected every other power, it gave me a great deal more power than I had before. I didn't plan that, you understand, it was an unanticipated side effect. But many of my brothers chose to believe that I had been plotting against them from the start and this was the culmination of that. Others didn't believe that, but were still angry with me for permanently preventing them from taking control for themselves. Suddenly all my brothers that had been fighting amongst themselves had found a common enemy; me." Mana explained.