FEB 9 Sunday. as I move my magic through a small birch sapling I try my best to copy its natural life magic flow, I sit concentrating using my will to control the magic keeping it from moving in ways I don't want it to, after some time the tree sapling grows several inches before I stop my magic drained almost completely.

I stand up and make my way to my camp around one hundred feet away from the young tree, after entering the shield I'm greeted by Entropy who flies down from a tree branch near by and lands in front of me with a caw, we have been here for a week now and we've been having a pretty good time.

We've gone on several hikes around the valley, I've gathered a few types of seeds mostly different berries and two tree seeds one for a birch tree and the other a stray maple tree I found, most of our time I've been drawing or simply exploring the valley and spending the rest of my time training my life magic.

I've learned how to grow many plants by copying them but haven't mastered any of them as I'm just learning new patterns for different plants rather then trying to master any of them for now, the process is still much slower then simply forcing plant growth but I'm getting better and this was more about learning how to copy the plants.

Entropy has also been busy, she's spent most of her time with me but she's also been exploring the valley mostly the tree tops, she's even brought me a few interesting fruits although I think she does that so I can tell her if she can eat them or not as whenever she finds a berry or fruit she can eat she hops around celebrating.

Another benefit of this training is creating new plants, right now the only way I can modify a plant species is to selectively breed them and pick out the tiny random changes stacking them over hundreds or thousands of generations like I've been doing with the juniper berries.

I won't be able to create new plants for a long time but this is a step closer to that, right now if I get a decent amount of control over my ability to copy plants magic flows I'll be able to speed up my current process while using less magic meaning more generations of plants every time I sit down to breed them.

Another part of life magic that I've been ignoring is animals and other living things, there are two parts of life magic that aren't considered separate types of magic but as far as I can tell they basically are, so I've decided to name these two paths of life magic floramancy and biomancy.

I've only been practicing floramancy this entire time, mostly because biomany is much more complex as unlike a plant you need to feed animals, things can also go horribly wrong if done incorrectly and I don't want to create some abomination by accident.

I'm planning to start using biomancy only after I get a good hold on healing magic to be safe so I won't be using it for a while probably a few years, that and I'm doing just fine with floramancy right now, I sit next to the embers of my fading fire from last night and use a metal teapot to boil some water.

I wait a few minutes for the water to boil before adding some red leaves to the water and letting the teapot cool on a rock, I spend a while writing down anything of note from the magic flows of the birch tree, I've found that the flows of magic in a plant grow in complexity with a plants size and the amount of magic in the plant.

For magical plants that may just be the biggest benefit from learning this new use of life magic, my normal method of forcing plant growth uses massive amounts of magic to grow a plant with high amounts of magic in it, depending on the plant and how much magic is in it them it can take much more magic and time to grow a magical plant compared to plants with little to almost no magic.

Because these plants are magic growing they will always take more magic, but I can decrease the cost and speed up the growth if I learn its magic flows, but magic plants also have much more complex magical flows than regular plants so it will take me longer to learn them.

I pour some tea in a cup and take a sip of the red tea helping me regain my lost magic, It'll take an hour or two to regain all of my magic even with the tea helping so I decide to finish my tea and go for a walk through the valley, like all my walks Entropy comes with me flying around the area as I walk but never too far away.

As I walk we move a fair distance from our camp we move uphill a distance to a flattish area with thicker brush and taller trees, I keep making my way through the brush and as I walk I hear a noise somewhere to my left through the brushes, I stop walking and listen to the sound.

It sounds like somethings scratching wood but it's hard to tell from here, I stay still for a moment wondering what I should do, I don't have my knife on me and I'm not sure what's making that noise, I war with myself for a while before letting my curiosity win, I follow the noise before entering a small clearing.

I see a birch tree with an animal scratching the trunk, it takes a moment for me to realize what I'm looking at, it's a brown bear cub sitting next to the tree and using it's claws to scratch the tree's bark, I freeze before backing off slowly, I need to leave now, it's mother won't be far away an-.

My thoughts are interrupted by a large brown bear burst out of the bushes heading straight at me, :FUCK!: I turn and run I need to move now, I hear the bear not far behind me and after a moment I still here it I hoped it wouldn't follow me but I guessed wrong it's decided I'm either a threat or food.

I run through bush after bush trying to gain some distance but I hear the bear getting closer, and then at the worst moment I trip hitting the dirt of the forest floor tumbling as I do so, I try getting up only to see the bear far too close to me only a dozen feet away, I panic and freeze.

I don't have time for a spell and I don't have my dagger, I force myself to move trying to draw a spell but right as I start, I see the bear closing the distance between us, and right before the bear reaches me I feel something slam into my side before everything goes black.

For a single moment I think I'm back in the place I was in when I died, but the darkness only lasts for a fraction of a second before everything comes back like getting hit with a wall of color and sound and I feel myself falling for a moment before hitting the ground, I cough as the air is forced out of my lungs.

After a coughing fit I get on my hooves and look around to see, :my camp?: I look around and see Entropy looking at me her feathers disheveled and body slumped on the ground, I panic and move over to her checking her over and notice she seems uninjured she only seems tired and weak, I take her to the tent to rest before checking on the shield making sure it's strong and stable before going back into the tent.

I tend to Entropy keeping her warm and giving her food and some tea for a while, I don't know how but she brought us back to the camp and saved me from a bear the least I can do is take care of her, after an hour or so she regains a decent amount of her strength, she tries to stand looking around but I push her back down.

"It's ok girl we're fine, try to rest", she seems to understand laying back down fully and finally going to sleep almost immediately I let her rest and leave the tent, I take off my bags and add some wood to the last embers of my fire and start checking over my body, I have a few scrapes and a lot of bruises but I'm otherwise fine.

I spend some time casting the only healing spell I know on myself might as well get some practice while thinking over what happened, first from now on always have a weapon with me, second I need a spell I can cast fast of an enchanted object with a spell in it for defense, and third whatever Entropy is can teleport apparently.

I need to calm down some, so I start trying to meditate it takes me a while to calm myself and clear my head but eventually I calm down enough to relax some, I get up and check on Entropy again she seems to be sleeping she probably over taxed her magic when she teleported us.

She's only a little over a month old so while her body is almost fully grown her magic is still somewhat weak even if she is a highly magic creature her magic will take time to grow, she should be fine after a good amount of rest and time, it's still around midday so I have time to do things but I don't think I'll be leaving the camp for the rest of today.

I don't have much to do inside the camp beyond practicing my plant magic, but I require focus to do that so I think I'll spend some time drawing so I start to draw the bear I saw today, I should probably make a new book for animals something like a bestiary I haven't needed one before now but if I plan to go on more camping trips I'll need to learn how to handle more predators.

I should also research some actual combat spells soon but that's for the future, right now all I need is to try and enjoy my vacation the best I can although that might be hard as I'll be spending the rest of my time in this forest looking over my shoulder for bears, I spend the next hour growing plants and training.

I pause as I see Entropy leave the tent and hop over to my side, "hey girl feeling ok?" she chirps to me before hopping on my back and laying down, "I'll take that as a yes then" we stay like this for a while as the sky goes dark and the moon rises into the sky.

I take a break from drawing to cook us some food, it's nothing fancy just potatoes and some dried fish seasoned with some of my spices, we eat in the light of the fire, I sit next to the campfire with Entropy laying against my side now while I draw a
rough star map of the sky above us.

I've done this for a few days now whenever the sky is clear enough that I can see the stars, I could probably find better star maps in the library but I enjoy doing this so I think I'll continue for as long as I'm out here, I won't be able to do this in the city but whenever I'm outside the city I think I'll continue.

I put away my book and check the time, I could stay up but after today I think some more sleep than normal will do me good, I clean things up around the camp before checking the fire and adding some more wood to it before gently picking up Entropy and moving us to the tent before climbing into my blankets and letting sleep claim me.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading my minds unhinged rant disguised as a story. :D