

The bear was thin, looking more like a bear skin wrapped around a frame than the solidly built murder-floofs I had seen at the zoo. The view of the world that Laran and I seemed to share zoomed in on the animal, and I was surprised by what I saw. I glanced at the bear again, really taking some time to look at it. "Make yourself look big" was about scaring off a bear, not fighting one, and it seemed like the time to scare the bear off was long past.

My mind flashed through several answers to that question, and in the moment approximately none of them felt useful. With time frozen and a tactical view of the battlefield, it is up to Aiden to ensure that he and Laran live to eat lunch instead of becoming it A bear came charging out of the woods, clearly threatening them both. As they were wrapping up and contemplating finding food, however, their quiet morning was interrupted. Fascinated, Aiden and Laran struck up a conversation and kept it going for a long time. He also got the chance to see magic in action as Laran uses his abilities as a Geomancer to foretell the right way to plant crops in the Aganas’ garden. He learned that he could see a level associated with people, though not much else beyond that. Last Time: After encountering a manifestation of his strange new powers in the bathroom, Aiden rejoined the Aganas and decided to test out his ability to gather information.
