Page 69 of Gift from the Source
Him being the master craftsman he is with his earth element, it’s only milliseconds before a vintage door appears on the wall. It’ll never get old to me how his mind can imagine something so creative in only seconds.
The dark stain shines like it were just polished and the arch carved in the wood adds just enough mystery to make you wonder what’s behind it. Instead of a knob, he added a knocker in the center and that makes imagining someone nosy, such as myself, getting shocked from knocking even funnier.
“You both know how to create a pocket dimension, but the difference with this one will be its size and now a key to open it. We’re going to start with putting our signatures on the door, so up you both go, come on,” he orders, waving us over.
We both jump up with unfiltered excitement and I’m happy Oakly’s enthusiasm is now outweighing her nerves.
“The three of us together are going to lay our hands on the door and push our magic into it. Imagine our magic painting it. It needs to travel across every surface and embed itself everywhere.”
Quietly and obediently, we hop up and lay our hands on either side of his. Although we both know how to place our magical signature on something, I still love it when he gets into teaching mode. Even if it’s more of a recap. He gives perfect examples and explains as simply as possible.
“Okay, girls, one, two, three.”
We release our magic at the same time and I smirk as their threads of magic weave excitedly with mine.
“Good. Now don’t remove your hands. We’ll need to keep contact throughout the whole process. Do you both prefer I explain again as I did earlier and you missed it, Willow, or would the two of you like a more hands-on, step-by-step explanation as we go?”
“I’m fine diving in,” I say, looking at Oakly.
She rolls her eyes. “Of course you are. You already know what this feels like.”
“Okay, spill. You had no problem marching up to a relic that could literally kill you, but you’re tripping up over a pocket dimension. What gives?” I ask, chuckling, but the sudden gloominess that covers her silences the sound. “Oak?”
“I don’t want to feel powerless,” she mumbles and my body heats.
I knew it was deeper than the pocket dimension.
“Would you like me to ask Draken to come while we do this? I can tell your guys to come as well just in case,” I offer immediately.
“No…just tell me what’s it going to feel like.”
“I think it’s going to feel a lot different this time than it did for me. One, I wasn’t bonded. Everything was still bound to my Memoria stone, so all I had at my disposal was my air and earth element. No gifts or anything. I don’t know if the location where we weave the pocket dimension has anything to do with it, but mine is woven directly into Elementra’s fabric so I access it anywhere. This one will be stationary right here. Gaster?”
“Everything Willow said is a factor. You won’t be drained, Oakly, I swear it. It’ll be three forces working together rather than one. The locationwon’t affect the process. Also, you have far, far more of a magic reserve now that you’ve completed your true Nexus. You’ll feel a slip of power, but nothing that won’t be fixed instantly with some tea and pastries as soon as we’re done,” Gaster says gently.
“We don’t have to do this at all if you don’t want to,” I say.
She takes a few deep breaths. Her eyes trace the door and our hands before she shakes her head. “No, we’re doing it. I’m safe and everything and everyone I need to make it better is within my reach. Just having a moment.”
“Take as much time as you need.”
“That’s all I needed. My arm’s getting tired,” she says, shooting me a wink that I know is partially forced, partially her sarcasm.
Regardless, I’m proud of her for both admitting what was going on and overcoming it.
“You heard the girl, Gaster,” I say.
“Okay then. First things first, we need to picture what we want the room to look like. We all need to have the same concept in mind. There will be no furnishings or anything of the sort. We will add that once we have the dimension opened, but we need an example to picture for size.”
The first thing that comes to my mind is his pocket dimension in his office. I’ve loved it since the moment I hauled ass down his mysterious hallway. We have that whole layout mapped out already and I don’t see a reason to change anything when it’s the perfect example.
“How about our other secret room? Hallway and all?”
“Great minds think alike. I couldn’t picture anything else but that room,” Oakly agrees and Gaster smiles warmly at both of us.
“Perfect. Get a good picture of it and hold onto that. Now, going forward, I know this is going to be difficult for the two of you but don’t speak unless I instruct you to or ask questions. Completely focus on my voice and what I’m saying.”
We both start laughing and he tsks at us.
