by Eric Vall
“They worked perfectly,” Markus assured me. “Even the rain didn’t slow the burn, so we were able to keep moving without too many delays.”
I furrowed my brow. “You got hit with a few storms?”
“One storm,” Pindor clarified. “One raging storm no matter where we were. It got so bad last night, we thought we’d just power through and finish up before we got struck by lightning. That’s why we’re back early.”
I glanced in the rearview mirror, and Markus’ muddy green eyes looked as skeptical about this as I was.
“Was the storm like the one described?” I asked.
“Exactly the same,” Markus reported. “Purple lightning, strange masses of green clouds, and the wind never let up. It was blowing in from all different directions, too. Bagneera said we almost went off the rails three times.”
“Shit,” I cursed as I turned off the main road, and Bobbie lurched down the grassy hill before she took us up into the rocky foothills.
“Yeah, arriving in Falmount to sunny skies felt like a punchline,” Pindor snorted. “It looks like this area is the only one not getting any bad weather.”
“It was clear when we first started out in the west,” Markus countered. “We were maybe two hours past Rajeen when it hit.”
“Maybe it is a fluke, then,” I muttered. “Shoshanne hasn’t sensed any magery in it, but if the Master was behind it, I’d expect Falmount to get pounded worse than anywhere after we ambushed his troops.”
“Can rune magic influence storms like this?” Markus asked.
“I asked Dragir about it,” I replied. “It’s possible, but not at such a large scale without multiple people wielding it, and the likelihood of that is slim. There aren’t enough elves in Nalnora with an advanced understanding of rune magic to pull it off. The possessed beings are too erratic to handle it for the Master by force, too, so we’ve got no ideas at the moment.”
“Is that why you’re going to the fortress?” Pindor asked.
“No, I need to study the silencing runes the Master has out there, but we need to make sure he hasn’t set up any other enchantments throughout the foothills,” I explained. “I brought you along since you’re the only other mages who know how to sense rune magic. I want to divvy up the work and get out of there as quickly as possible. How taxed is your magery?”
“Fine,” the kid assured me, and Markus nodded in agreement. “The work got easier as we went, and Markus has been teaching me a few things when we had time. It was mostly the storm that wore us out.”
“Did you cross into Cedis?” I asked.
“We did,” Markus assured me. “There weren’t any portals in or around Eyton. Bagneera took us along a route to the east, though, and we found about forty or so in the villages around there.”
I nodded. “The smoke lands aren’t far from the eastern border of Cedis. My guess is that’s about as well as the Master can do working so far from his headquarters. Thanks for checking, though. Cayla’s been concerned about her kingdom being targeted since her army fought at the tunnels.”
“Well, the villages we cleared were in bad shape when we came through,” Markus admitted. “Some of them looked abandoned, and it was clear some kind of attacks had taken place, but not too recently.”
“I’ll let King Davit know,” I muttered, and I brought us to a stop in a thick grove of trees. “What about Illaria’s eastern border?”
“There were maybe a hundred along the whole stretch,” Pindor said as we climbed out of the Mustang. “The Oculus is still cleared, though, and I did a quick check of the eastern woods when we got back to Falmount. Only twelve out there.”
I turned toward the kid. “Where in the woods?”
“The first one was five-minutes past the station,” Pindor answered. “The rest were littered around within ten minutes of there.”
“Godsdamnit,” I growled as I unsealed the trunk. “I cleared the eastern woods right after the battle at the tunnels.”
“You did?” Markus asked with concern.
“Yep,” I sighed. “Big Guy’s been keeping a constant patrol, too, so whoever was out there recently managed to slip under our radar. I’ll send ten Boms out to join him once we get back.”
Markus furrowed his brow. “Do you think the Master will go over our route and undo the progress we made?”
“He certainly could try,” I admitted, and I handed the pair a couple of fresh magazines before I hitched four to my belt as well. “The fact that there were only twelve portals is a good sign, though. That’s a lot less than the hundreds we had before, and if that’s all we’ve gotten in twelve days, he can’t have many minions left who are capable of doing his engravings.”
I sealed the trunk before I led the others into the woods, and I kept my magic scanning the soil ahead of us as we made our way toward the barren stretch of rocky terrain surrounding the Master’s headquarters. Markus spent most of the walk continuing a lesson he’d started with Pindor at the pub, and I was glad to hear the pair had gotten along as well as I expected.
Despite their close ages, Pindor was respectful about Markus’ superior knowledge base, but they still bantered like friends, especially once the topic of lava came up.
“It can’t be that large of a leap,” Pindor argued, “and I’m already altering the state of the soil.”
“You altered it once successfully,” Markus corrected. “Get it down to an art form, and you’re still at least six months away from lava. If you’re consistent.”
“Challenge accepted,” Pindor muttered. “I’ll be there in three months.”
I smirked as Markus sighed.
“Magery isn’t a race to a finish line,” the mage snorted. “It’s a lifelong pursuit of mastery, and just because you can comprehend the instructions in front of you, doesn’t mean you’ve achieved anything.”
“I don’t have the instructions in front of me,” Pindor reminded him. “Because you won’t give them up.”
“You’re not ready,” Markus sighed. “You’ve never even seen lava before, and the effort required to work with it is nothing like stone or soil. You have to be able to steel yourself against the energy of it or your connection won’t last more than seconds.”
“I don’t know… ” I mused as I scanned the trees around us. “I got the impression lava feeds its own energy into a mage pretty readily.”
“Wait, you’ve done it?” Pindor clarified.
“I’m not surprised,” Markus snorted.
“There’s lava falls in Jagruel,” I replied.
“No, no, no,” the kid chuckled. “We’re not just talking about playing with it. We mean creating it.”
I stopped in my tracks, and when I turned around, the two young men exchanged an amused smirk.
“How do you do it?” I asked.
Pindor didn’t skip a beat. “A hundred gold says he gets it in thirty minutes.”
“Two hundred,” Markus countered. “And I say one hour, because I actually know what I’m talking about.”
“I’m holding firm at thirty,” Pindor decided. “He broke a fucking mountain range apart.”
“Didn’t we just decide magery isn’t a race?” I checked.
“For him, it shouldn’t be,” Markus allowed as he jutted his thumb toward Pindor. “You’re a head of the Order, and you didn’t pass out the first time you tapped into the schematics of the Oculus. Two very different horses.”
“Nice,” I snorted. “So, how do I do it?”
“First of all, the lava you mentioned lent its energy to you rather than draining it because this is one of the rawest forms of our element,” Markus began. “Magma is one level beyond, but I think we can skip a lot of rudimentary points since you’ve already learned how to maintain a connection with lava. Pindor, ignore most of this lesson.”
“No,” the kid said with a shameless grin, and Markus shook his head as he turned back to me.
“So, are you saying all mages can charge from the rawest form of th
eir elements?” I asked the mage.
“Actually, no,” Markus replied. “It depends on the mage, but also, not all elements are created equal in every aspect. For example, we’ll never be able to fly like the Aer Mages have been learning to do, and I’ve read about Flumen Mages who used their magic to retrain the systems of their body in order to live underwater for extended periods of time. This is because their bodies contain their elements.”
“What?” Pindor groaned. “That’s awesome.”
“It is,” Markus allowed, “but there’s no raw form of their elements. They just have some intricate means of wielding them. Terra and Ignis Mages have raw forms, so they can charge from these if they learn to connect with them safely.”
“What about the last two elements, though?” Pindor asked.
“I’m unclear about most things having to do with Tenebrae and Lux Mages,” Markus admitted.
“Tenebrae Mages influence perception more than anything since darkness isn’t a concrete substance,” I explained. “They can embody darkness and cast shadows wherever they please, but I wouldn’t imagine there’s a raw form of either. Given how Tenebrae Magic functions, it would make sense if Lux Mages work in a similar plane.”
“Huh,” Markus muttered. “I never thought of it that way, but the logic does stand.”
“So, what’s the rawest form of fire?” Pindor asked.
“The sun,” Markus replied, and Pindor and I raised our eyebrows. “But I have yet to hear of an Ignis Mage within the current Order who’s achieved the ability to connect with the sun through their magery. Some believe it’s only a myth, but I don’t. Too many Terra Mages have been able to attest to the influence lava has on their magery, so my guess is it’s possible for Ignis Mages as well, only highly difficult.”
“Okay, that’s awesome,” I muttered, and Pindor let out a low whistle in agreement.
“Back to creating lava, though,” Markus chuckled. “To accomplish the task requires a source of heat, of course, which we can’t generate ourselves since we’re obviously not Ignis or Aer Mages. So, we have to tap into a source we can influence and translate it, so to speak. This is why it can take mages anywhere between months to years to achieve the skill. There are a lot of variables coming into play, and while some mages can balance a handful of them, very few can keep them all in line at once.”
I nodded. “What’s the heat source?”
“I don’t know how much you’ve learned about geothermal gradation, but--”
“Oh, shit,” I snorted. “We’re pulling it up from the mantle? Are you serious?”
“Close,” Markus said with pleasant surprise. “I guess you know a bit. So, from my understanding--”
“Hold on, have you never done this?” I checked.
“No,” Markus said with a shrug. “I’m not there yet, but I’ve studied the process in depth, and mages have died attempting to tap directly into the mantle. However, advanced mages have harnessed enough heat from what they call the ferox stratum. It’s supposed to be between two and three hundred miles down.”
“Damn,” I muttered. “That’s deep.”
“Yeah, emphasis on advanced,” the young mage said with a nod, “but if you can make it to the ferox stratum, you can transfer the proper temperature through the gradation to create a pocket of magma at a safer depth that’s closer to the surface. From there, summoning a lava flow is a lot like a Flumen Mage drawing water from an underground stream.”
“Why can’t you just create the magma in the ferox stratum and draw it up from there?” Pindor interrupted.
“Increased pressure prevents melting,” I replied. “There’s higher pressure at a lower depth.”
Markus nodded as the kid furrowed his brow in utter confusion.
“Anyways,” Markus continued, “you need to let your magery embody the heated substrate of the ferox stratum, much like when you embody the soil to alter its makeup. Then, using the same process, you gradually alter the layers while you return to the surface. That’s trickier than it sounds, though, because you can’t just push the heat itself upward. That’s out of our element range. You have to match the substrate to the heated state of the ferox stratum in order to mimic the temperature’s influence on the minerals. If you can do that, you’ll create magma as the pressure lowers.”
It took me five seconds to consider how ridiculously awesome all of this sounded before I knelt and placed my hands against the soil, but I’d only just summoned my magery when Pindor and Markus crouched to connect with my circuit.
“I guess you’re coming along for this?” I asked.
“As far as we can make it,” Markus muttered while he pulled a pocket watch from his robes. “If you could get the magma pocket to reach the ten-mile mark, that’d be nice. I tap out around there these days, but I’ve always wanted to study the energy difference between the two raw forms, and so far, I haven’t come across magma anywhere I can access it.”
I nodded and closed my eyes, and then I took a deep breath before I allowed my magery to sink lower into the substrate.
Unlike at the Oculus, there weren’t thousands of magical imprints from previous mages lingering in this area, so delving into the layers of rock beneath me felt infinitely more comfortable than it had then. Testing my ability to send my magery outside myself had strengthened my connection to my powers, as well, and I was able to plummet several miles down without reaching my limit.
Pindor had cursed under his breath miles ago when his connection broke from the circuit, but Markus kept up for another few minutes. Around the ten mile-point, his connection broke off as well, and he let out an amused chuckle as I kept sending my powers deeper.
An ache started building behind my eyes when I hit forty miles, though, and I finally let my magic ease outside myself. Then I passed the hundred-mile mark, and my body temperature began to rise to an uncomfortable degree from the effort.
I dug my fingertips into the soil as my veins began to twinge painfully, and I could feel how tenuous my connection was becoming at this distance. It wasn’t impossible to hold on, though, and I only had to bring the speed of my descent to a slow crawl when my heartbeat fell into an uneven rhythm.
“How will I know when I get there?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“You have to gauge it based on the solidity of the stratum,” Markus said, and I could hear how nervous he’d become. “You should feel a spongy sort of give in the layer, but you’re gonna be working at around fifteen hundred degrees, and your magery may not be able to handle the heat. So, don’t keep going if you start to feel a sharp stabbing pressure at the base of your skull.”
I wasn’t there yet, at least, so I just nodded and kept at it, and slowing down seemed to help with the pain. My body adjusted more easily to the distance as I started taking longer breaths, too, and I was so surprised when I sensed the slightest give in the solidity of my surroundings that I almost broke the connection in my relief.
I managed to keep my magic in a steady hold, though, as I leveled off a few feet beyond this point, and I took a long resting period to make sure I had a firm enough grasp on my powers to try anything else. Then I carefully adjusted my focus, and instead of merely drifting at this depth, I attempted to ease into the mineral makeup.
The first thing that hit me was how blistering the temperature became the moment I attempted to fuse with anything, and it took several minutes of warring against the burning in my veins to figure out how to maintain my presence.
The acute flaring sensation made my hands shake as my breathing became more difficult, but while I stubbornly held out, my consciousness seeped more fully into my element. Then it was as if the heat was fusing itself to me rather than trying to scald me from the inside out, and with this tenuous balance in place, the ferox stratum felt like nothing I could have imagined without exploring it firsthand.
Soil and stone had always felt as familiar to me as breathing, but exploring this depth was like plunging into a whole other real
m.
I couldn’t help smirking at the thought, and I figured I knew a thing or two about adapting to alien surroundings as quickly as possible. So, I didn’t waste another moment as my magic waned a few more degrees, and I sent an extra surge of power through the stratum instead.
Then I absorbed every detail I could in bursts while I focused on the fibrous way it all connected, and each pulse of my magery sent back a clearer sense of the way the minerals held onto the heat. I used the lulls between bursts to regulate my own temperature again as my exhaustion began to heighten, and when I felt ready to ease back a few feet, I shifted my mindset to the same one I used to alter the state of soil and create my malleable steel.
At first, every mineral steadily altered to match the lower layers while I pulled my powers back to me, but as the pressure decreased, I noticed a sudden shift in my magic.
The strata I sifted through began to alter on its own in response to the state of my magic, and only a couple minutes later, I sensed the rock beginning to melt. I immediately halted at this point while the distinct energy of the magma surged through me, and just like in Jagruel, my magic latched onto the substance readily.
Except this time, the magnetic presence was twice as potent as it fed into my veins with a vengeance.
The pain behind my eyes subsided while my strength was restored tenfold, and in my mind, I could see the strata around me reforming into a pocket of molten rock. Then I heard a sharp intake of breath from Markus as the melt reached the ten-mile mark, and I opened my eyes to see Pindor fidgeting anxiously while he watched the two of us.
Markus was crouched with a slack jaw and an incredulous stare plastered on his face, and I kept my magery fused to the magma chamber miles below us as I grinned at Pindor.
“Wanna see some lava?” I asked the kid.
“You did it?” Pindor gasped, but I just closed my eyes again.
Two minutes later, lava began to ooze out from the ground fifteen feet to my right, and when Markus turned his stare toward the flow, Pindor burst out laughing.
“Give me the pocket watch,” the kid rasped.
