Through the Living Heir

“Whoa. How?” Nick seems astonished.

“It’s obviously a scaled gift. I’ve heard of people who can strengthen or active a gift with a touch, but to make it permanent would imply a nearly unheard of level of power. This isn’t even how my power is supposed to work. I change the direction things move, not make them levitate. And I have no idea what a dragonheir is.” He pulls the circlet from the memory from his pocket. “This was a gift. It gives you a sort of magical proprioception. It may help you.”

Nick tries to put his hand in the way, but fails. “What is that thing?” he asks, unfurling the artificial wings so his friends can take cover behind them.

Arrows fly through the air, then change direction, spinning. The archers dive for cover. Perfect awareness of all the movement in the room flows from the spellsteel circle on Veer’s head. The charging guards are redirected up, then then their fall is sent sideways, slamming them into walls. Veer throws open the doors to the king’s throne room. “I’ve come to take you down, tyrant!” The king laughs. “I have measures in place. And really, if you took me down, there’d be fighting and war, then another king would take my place. It might even be you.” “I would never-“ Veer cuts off as a hand grabs his arm. “How didn’t I sense you?” The woman in the outfit of a king’s adviser smirks. “I can do anything I want. Out of canon, I don’t have to follow the rules. Bye, now, little deagonheir.” A tingling sensation runs up his arm, like channeling power through spellsteel, then Veer feels his own scaled gift lifting himself up, and is hurled at the wall. Then, as if there’d been another direction things could be redirected to, the movement shifts and Veer finds himself on the ground, lying in a gravel road.

“That’s a useful gift.” Back in the lobby, Veer’s miscellaneous levitated objects clatter to the ground. “Ok. You may start now.” He sits down and closes his eyes.

“We should probably move to somewhere that getting thrown into a wall won’t hurt, first. The more I think about something, the more likely it is that I’ll mess with it.”

“Ok. This probably isn’t the best time for this conversation, anyway.”

“Once I get far enough away, you should stop floating. Just hold on to something so you don’t get pulled after me. I’m going to find Trevor.” Veer walks back to the front desk, still surrounded by floating objects. “You said you’d help me after I had breakfast.” @Spark of Hope

“Good plan. Hmm. If the crystals can cool air, then I can make you a cannon.” Nick turns his flashlight up higher, not caring about power consumption.

They hit him, bouncing off. "Ow! SIMON, throw in bulletproofing and force distribution. And a painkiller." The three impact spots are shinier than the rest of his suit. "This thing has at least some tool use. I don't think we should kill it."

“Uh oh. I’ll turn on your combat program.” Nick stands next to Aki, with no visible weapons. A biofabric hood springs up and wraps back around his head. His artificial wings are collapsed around his back, the struts folded in half, and he stands in a decent fighting stance.

"Yeah. Now the things you stab will also fall asleep, even if you don't kill them."

Nick comes up behind him, then takes his fingers and runs them down the knife blade. “Tranquilizer. Earth-compatible.” he whispers.

"Anti tear, concussive, right? You want sedative claws, or something?" Nick nods, pressing against the wall.

"Excellent! Hopefully there are more further in." Nick puts a small biofabric patch on each, absorbing them.

"Yesterday we were in the desert for over ten hours. But yes, it likely that this will eventually go off again."

"Me too. We could survive down here indefinitely, but we'd probably go insane. I can start synthesizing more oil, so you don't run out. Or make a flash light."

“Huh. I guess that’s what teleporting feels like. SIMON?” A light clicks on in Nick’s glasses. “Glad that still works.” Nick turns back to the others. @Ancient Elantrian @J. Magi “Do you two want lights? It’ll take me thirty seconds. I’m going to see if there’s any metal deposits here.” Looks around, occasionally pressing his hand to the wall. Does he find anything?

This is fewer people than I would like, but it’ll probably work. I’ll set up an actual thread in a day or two.

“Nope. I think this is what’s teleporting us, or at least what powers it. Its energy density is incredible; my crystal exploded.” Nick turns to Kaleb. “Hey, is there a way to only take as much energy as the crystals can store? If so, can I have another one?” @Ancient Elantrian

You forgot @J. Magi. “Yeah. Definitely a teleporter. You’re recording, right?” “Of course.”

“Whoa. SIMON, estimate how much energy that was. I think we’ve found our teleporter.” @Ancient Elantrian, would there be shrapnel in a crystal explosion?”

“Thank you. Sorry for picking you up. I’m glad you didn’t trip.” Veer munches on the floating waffle, still looking at the ground.