The Gateway

Uhhh, my head. What happened?

Looking around, I see I'm not too far from my campsite, or the river for that matter. Why am I lying in the middle of the clearing again? Suddenly, the memories of yesterday come rearing back at me.

I guess I fell asleep afterwards? I'm still not quite sure. I remember moving the tiniest fraction of power to my horn, but what happened after that. Did I pass out from the effort, or was just so tired I fell asleep instantly? I'll just ask the Overmind, its not too big of a deal and he probably knows what happened anyway.

Standing up and taking in my surroundings in greater detail, the sun had already peeked over the horizon not too long ago, about an hour or so ago. The river looked as pristine as always, allowing the morning light shimmer off of it easily, making it seem more beautiful than it would usually be. The trees surrounded me on all sides as always, stuck in a point of time until I moved on in my training, and the grass underneath was as lush and green as usual. All in all, it was a normal day in the clearing where I would spend my time training.

Looking over my supplies for breakfast, I realized I was running out of fruit, as I don't bring much on my journey's so they don't spoil. Does food even spoil here? Probably, although I'm not sure-my food hasn't seemed to get any worse in the last couple of days. Regardless, I'm going to need to go over the river and get some fruit from the orchard. It shouldn't be too hard, although every time I say that it ends up being harder than expected.

Picking out one of the last of my apples, I start to munch on it happily, leaving bite marks in the skin from my vampire like fangs. Wait, why do I need fangs these big? Changelings are obviously omnivores, otherwise I would have gotten sick by now. I should probably have thought about that too when I first became a changeling, but no bother. Anyway, the only reason I would need fangs these big is for hunting animals with them. Smaller fangs would be fine to eat meat with, but not long enough to hunt with them. I guess hunting will be a part of my training then- that might be considerably harder, but I'll deal with it when the need arises.

It only took me a couple more minutes of chewing and pondering idle thoughts to finish my apple. Chucking the apple core into the forest so it could degrade and provide some nutrients for it, I set out my daily routine of collecting firewood for tonight and anything else I would need. I also rummaged through my camp until I found my makeshift basket that would go on my back so that I could go across the river later. Eventually, there wasn't anything else to do, and with the Overmind apparently deciding not to show up or still resting, or as close as he can get to it, I decided to start working on my connection to magic. Now that I know how to find it, it shouldn't take me nearly as long.

Moving over to the spot I practiced yesterday, I set out to establish the connection again. Lying down, I went through the steps I took yesterday. First, all there was was blackness, the sounds of the clearing, and the feeling of the grass under me. Then all was blackness and the feeling of the ground, until that too faded away, leaving a blackness, then nothing, until all that existed was me in a world without anything. All that existed was the beat of my heart, the breath I exhaled from my lungs, and a flow of energy so indistinguishable it never would be noticed unless all that existed was you, or you knew what to look for. Locating my pool of magical energy, I willed it to move up the flow, to get carried away in the faint trickle, so it would become a bubbling stream. I willed my energy to flow as it was meant to be, and saw yet didn't see it move up and up, higher and higher until the end of the flow, where it would be pushed out. I felt and saw my magic start to build and build, until a small amount was located at the end of the flow... and I let it free of my control.

Opening my eyes quickly, and paying no heed to the ethereal visions that flashed across my eyes briefly, I saw a pulse of green light extend in a circle around me, flattening grass down as a wind would when it blows past. Luckily, it wasn't strong enough to do much more. If I put more power behind it, it might have blown down my entire campsite. If I used all of my power, it would likely blow down an entire circle of trees around me. Is that how much power I naturally have, or how much the Overmind has given me combined with mine? My guess is its the latter, there is no way Id have that much anyway.

Looking up at the sun, I see that only a few hours have passed, a far cry from my last attempt. Before long, I should be able to call it almost instantaneously, perhaps even more if I practice a lot.

Impressive work

"Gahhh," I yelled, jumping into the air, landing on my hooves in a somewhat undignified matter, as in not at all.

Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Are you ok?

I'm fine, I just need a second to calm down. Just... don't scare me like that in the future if you can.

I'll try. Anyway, I didn't just come here to scare you. I'm going to continue to teach you how to use your magic to feed, so that you can practice spells without fear your magic will run out, as that would be problematic. Now that your connection is established, you can use it to start your feeding process. Once its done, feeding will come naturally to you, and you will be able to tell the emotions of others by discerning the taste of their current emotion. All taste different and have differing levels of energy gained, but positive emotions such as friendship usually have the sweetest taste and most energy, with love being the most powerful of emotions power wise and taste. Not to mention you will still feel emotions, so positive emotions will feel better regardless of the taste and power.

The process itself is fairly simple. All it requires is to keep on moving your energy through your flow, but keep it in the flow instead of in your horn. Once you buildup enough magic in the energy currents in your body, the organ that allows shape shifting and feeding will detect the energy and open up, allowing you a way to gather energy from emotions. It will take time, but that is all. I will leave you to it unless you have any questions.

It sounds simple enough, so I think I'm fine.

Get to it then, and I will see you late tomorrow morning

Sitting back down as I had before, I repeated the process of connecting to my energy. First, vision went, followed by sound and feeling of the outside world, until I was in the familiar state of self existence where nothing but me was. Locating my energy storage, I began the process of willing it to flow up, but not too far, and felt it start to build. Soon, a steady flow of energy was going back and forth from my storage to halfway up. Then I felt what it was that made me a changeling. The feeling was as if something I never knew was missing was found, as if I suddenly became aware of something I didn't know existed- a part I knew instinctually was there, but wasn't able to see it fully. What I saw yet didn't see was indescribable, for it was always changing, always blurry and un-defined. What I saw was what made me a changeling, and the feeling that flew through me was as indescribable as the sight. Power. Energy. Hunger. Emotion. A feeling so indescribable that calling it anything seriously wouldn't do it justice. For the first time as a changeling, I felt alive, felt more than human, felt what magic naturally flowing was.

Those where my last senses before blackness, like a comforting old friend, shielded me in its embrace.