by Kyle West
“What is Fergus’s primary?”
Erymmo chuckled. “Worried about our dear captain?”
“A little.”
“Fergus is a gifted Radiant, and the most powerful mage in our village. His wards are second-to-none, and he can do them well in almost every Aspect. Like most Radiants, he’s also greatly sensitive to any abnormal deviations in the ethereal field. Don’t think you can defend yourself against him with just one lesson from me.”
“Could you teach me to stream a ward, anyway?”
“Certainly,” Erymmo said. “Especially since I do not believe you are close to fraying. But I’m interested in how you’ve developed your Binding stream so . . . cleanly. I daresay it is near one hundred percent purity, with hardly any trace of Manifoldic toxin . . . if any. Of course, that cannot be possible.”
Lucian tried to play it off with a shrug. If other mages learned how “pure” his Binding streams were, it might make them suspicious.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I had a good teacher at the Academy.”
“I see,” Erymmo said, his tone suggesting he knew Lucian was hiding something. “First, back to wards. As I said before, a ward can only defend against a specific Aspect. A Radiant ward, for example, can only defend against Radiant Magic. So, if you are in a duel with a Radiant, you better have a strong ward prepared. Now, to stream the ward, you must open a dualstream, with the warding stream as the primary, and a cohered stream as the secondary. That second stream is called the shell. Its only purpose is to hold the primary stream in place.”
“I think I understand. So, how do I stream one?”
“Patience, young mage,” Erymmo said. “You must imagine the primary stream diffusing around your entire person. If hostile magic is streamed at you, your ward will focus on the point of attack and counteract it. Of course, a ward can be broken with a powerful enough stream, but it will take much more magic to undo a ward than to form one. That is part of their advantage. Then again, if you waste your ether on a ward and another mage comes at you with a differing Aspect, then you will be at a disadvantage.”
“So, how is warding different from shielding? Like a Thermal shield or a Dynamistic shield.”
“Shields require only one Aspect and are active streams. That means they burn ether as you use them. Wards require a subset of your pool in advance and remain active for hours or longer, depending on the total ether a mage dedicates to the ward, and they unravel on their own after a certain amount of time, and must be restreamed. A shield can be advantageous, as upfront the ether investment is less, but over time, will be greater than that of a ward. And of course, active streams cannot be maintained during sleep, while wards can. That makes wards useful if you’re out in the wilds and want to be protected from frays, for example. Radiant wards can detect deviations in the ethereal field, allowing a mage to wake up in time to defend themselves. As said before, wards require at least two Aspects to set, while shields require only one.”
“Wait. You said at least. You can add more than one Aspect to a ward?”
“You can. You still need a shell Aspect, and coherence between all three. But obviously, it requires a greater supply of ether, and you can only stream one ward at a time, and a ward as strong as the total supply of your ether pool. That is something that can only be guessed at; a ward will collapse if there is not enough ether to supply it. If you decide to ward against two Aspects, the Aspects still need to be complementary – that is, within two spaces of each other on the Septagon. And obviously, a dual ward in effect is a tristream, only streamable by the most powerful of mages with large pools of ether. Anything above that is theoretical. As I’m sure you know from your training, a dualstream uses four times as much ether as a single stream, and a tristream uses nine times as much. Of course, a quadrastream would use sixteen times as much. So on and so forth. So yes, you could make a Dynamistic and Radiant ward with an Atomic shell, for example, which would defend you from Dynamistic and Radiant Magic. Or alternately, you could create a Dynamistic ward with an Atomic and Radiant shell, which would last for an exceptionally long time before needing to be refreshed. The more streams in the shell, the longer the ward will last. In theory, six Aspects could be used to shell just one, leading to a ward that would, in theory, last an infinite amount of time.”
Lucian was learning far more than he had ever bargained for. These lessons were no doubt reserved for the Talents in the Volsung Academy. “Could multiple mages join streams and create a ward like that?”
“In theory, yes. If they worked together closely, with intense concentration and no mistakes by anyone. And it would require a great many powerful mages. I don’t know the purpose of such a ward, which is why it has likely never been done. But assuming you got enough powerful mages – no doubt dozens at the least, and you had a leader whose Focus was trained and powerful enough to direct all that magic, to the point where the leader didn’t pass out or fray from it, then yes, it is possible. Or you could do any variation thereof – six Aspects, five, or four, so on and so forth. But if any one of those mages loses their Focus, then that Focus will slip out of the lead mage’s control, making creating such a theoretical ward extremely problematic. And it’s likely having access to that amount of magic will fray the mind of anyone controlling the stream.”
“So, how about when a mage completely cuts you off from magic? How is that done?”
“By using a brand. I won’t show you how to do that, but essentially, a brand is a ward that you place on another mage, or in the world itself. It requires more magic than a ward – the farther you stream the brand, the more ether required. You can create a branded light sphere, for example, that will remain in place for hours and specify it to remain a certain distance from you.”
Lucian had always thought light spheres were active streams. “That would be useful.”
Erymmo nodded. “Indeed. Advantageous if you’re traveling at night, and it uses less magic than an active Radiant stream. And to answer your original question about being blocked, that would be a Psionic brand formed around a target mage’s Focus. You would have to contend with their own defenses, be they wards or shields, and it takes at least a few seconds for even the most accomplished of mages to lock the brand in place. Basically, once you’re experienced enough, you can feel it happening and hurry to defend against it.”
“So, how do I defend against it?”
“A Psionic ward is usually sufficient, and you can get one up faster than it takes a rival mage to block you, assuming a fast reaction time. But as discussed before, a ward itself can be overpowered, especially if you’re caught by surprise.”
“Okay. I think I’m ready to learn how to ward, now.”
“I should first say, I have not had a Psion in many years, young mage. As with Elder Jalisa, my role is that of healer and prophet for Kiro.”
“A prophet? Does that mean you interpret dreams?”
“I do. Depending on the dream. Why do you ask?”
If Lucian told him his dream, he would have to reveal his knowledge about the Orb of Binding and the Orb of Psionics. Perhaps he could only tell part of it, but of course that risked Erymmo figuring out the rest on his own.
“Have you ever heard of Shantozar?”
Erymmo went stiff at the mention of that name. It clearly meant something to him. “What do you know of that? Where did you hear that name?”
“It was mentioned in my dream. Who was he?”
“Who mentioned him?”
Lucian hadn’t expected that question. But Erymmo’s steely gaze could not be denied.
“Someone calling herself the Sorceress-Queen.”
Erymmo’s expression went ashen under the light of his light sphere. Whatever answer he had been expecting, it clearly hadn’t been that. Lucian had made a mistake in saying that much.
“We must return to the village,” Elder Erymmo said. “It’s safe to say our lesson on wards must come at another time, but certainly before you go to sle
ep tonight. Elder Ytrib must hear of this.”
10
Apparently, Elder Erymmo judged Lucian’s dream important enough to even gather the other Elders, despite the early hour. Elders Jalisa and Sina joined Lucian and Elder Erymmo in Elder Ytrib’s hut. Elder Gia set before them a meal of flatbread, rice, and fish, and they ate as Lucian explained his dream. He left out plenty of crucial details, essentially only telling them that the Sorceress-Queen wanted him to find the Orb of Psionics, saying he was something called “Chosen.”
As soon as he finished, Elder Sina scoffed, her bone jewelry rattling as she shook her head.
“Why do you lie, boy? What would the Sorceress-Queen want with a young whelp like you?”
“I agree that it doesn’t make sense,” Elder Ytrib said, eyeing Lucian anew. “It would seem that you are far from what any of us expected, though in what way, it’s hard to decide.”
“He has great potential,” Elder Erymmo said. “Never in all of my life have I felt a Binding stream so pure. Even the Masters of the Mako Academy never approached this level of purity.”
“Might we see for ourselves?” Elder Gia asked gently.
Lucian realized he had no choice. How soon before they guessed the truth? Or was the truth so unbelievable that they would never consider it in a million years?
He had to hope it was the second one. He focused on a nearby empty cookpot, tethering it to the ceiling above. It floated in midair, and Lucian’s skin prickled. That feeling was every single Elder following his stream.
“That will suffice,” Elder Ytrib said. “Rotting fish guts. You weren’t kidding, Erymmo.”
Elder Sina gave him a hardened stare, as if suspecting some trick. Elder Gia’s face was ashen, as if what he was doing was impossible. Elder Jalisa watched curiously, her dark eyes shrewd.
“You must explain,” Elder Jalisa said, her voice reedy. “If my estimation is correct, then you can stream that Aspect indefinitely, almost without limit. That is not something even the greatest Binders can do.”
Lucian cleared his throat. “I don’t know how I can. Binding has always been my strongest Aspect.”
“You said last night your primary was Psionics,” Elder Ytrib said. “Why are you changing your story?”
“What you are doing is impossible,” Elder Sina added. “I’ve seen nearly eighty percent purity before, and never thought I’d see anything exceeding that. Your stream, Lucian . . . unless I miss my guess, is one hundred percent pure magic. Manifoldic toxin is absent from your stream entirely.”
“What of the other Aspects, Elder Erymmo?” Elder Ytrib asked.
“What I’ve tested so far is all polluted, as might be expected. His Psionic stream is quite pure for a mage of his ability level, while his Radiant stream is of middling purity. I suspect his tertiaries will be even more inefficient and didn’t deign to test them.”
“I see.” Ytrib’s brow furrowed in thought. “Since all this is so highly irregular, it might behoove us to test all his Aspects. Even the quaternaries.”
“If I’m expected to stream later today in the valley,” Lucian said, “that might exhaust me.”
“Maybe so,” Ytrib said. “But if your Binding is truly this pure, then you will at least have access to that Aspect. I don’t see how you can possibly mask the purity of your stream.” He nodded, stroking his beard. “Go ahead, Lucian. Let’s test the other Aspects.”
The Elders watched carefully as he streamed each Aspect, except for Atomicism. As with Elder Erymmo, he performed the same basic tests – lifting the pot with Psionics and streaming a light sphere. Next, they had him lift the pot with a Gravitonic stream, which Lucian did with a bit more difficulty. He was starting to feel drained, and it would only be harder to stream as he drifted further from his primary.
“His Radiance is nowhere near as pure as his Psionics,” Elder Jalisa said. “Which is not what we should expect if both are secondaries. And his Radiance is less pure than Gravitonics. Most curious.”
He next streamed Dynamism, a simple shielding that he couldn’t hold for more than five seconds.
“Quite weak,” Elder Sina said. “Now for Thermalism.”
He was able to boil a pot of water quite easily, though he was pushing his limits. The taste on his tongue became acrid, enough for him to cough.
“Stop,” Elder Gia said. “You are close to overdrawing.”
Lucian cut off his stream.
“Given these results,” Elder Gia continued, “we can expect Atomicism and Dynamism to be his weakest Aspects.”
“But that’s not consistent with Binding being his primary,” Elder Ytrib said. “His weakest should be Thermalism and Atomicism.”
“We can’t be entirely sure unless we ask him to stream Atomic Magic,” Elder Ytrib said. “And I would not have him do that. At least, not here.”
The Elders settled into silence. He was a puzzle to be figured out, and it was a puzzle that could only be solved if he opened his mouth and told the truth. But the risk was too great. If any of them knew what he had, they might kill him for it. The Oracle had said that friends and family turned on each other for the mere chance to hold an Orb.
For that reason alone, Lucian couldn’t trust anyone with what he had.
“Well, friends,” Elder Ytrib said, after a long silence. “I believe we have exhausted every other possibility.”
At once, their gazes fixated on him. Those eyes were knowing, judging, seeming to see to the marrow of his bones.
“Lucian,” Elder Jalisa said, “I don’t believe you are tricking us in any way, nor do I believe you were simply born this way. Nor do my fellow Elders here. There is only one explanation that makes sense.”
She paused, as if to give him an opportunity to confess. But Lucian wasn’t going to say anything.
If they wanted to say it, then they would say it.
“It would seem legends have come to life,” Elder Gia said. “We know the truth, Lucian, for there is only one explanation for why your Binding stream would be of perfect purity. Our only question is, where in the Worlds did you find the Orb of Binding?”
There was no use denying it. If they really wanted the Orb, then they would kill him for it. But despite this fear, it didn’t seem as if any one of them had that in mind.
The least he could do now was tell his story, hopefully to convince them that killing him was a bad idea. With some prodding, he told the full story, leaving nothing out this time. He even told them about his dream with the Sorceress-Queen, at which all their expressions darkened.
Once done, Elder Erymmo cleared his throat. “When he mentioned Shantozar, I suspected the truth. But I didn’t believe it until now, until I saw that the purity of his stream was not my madness.”
“How do you even know about the Orbs?” Lucian asked. “Where I come from, few know about them.”
“It’s no story,” Elder Gia said, her expression one of reverence. “It’s history. I don’t know how it is outside Psyche, but here, most believe in the Orbs. Not everyone, but most.”
“I didn’t,” Elder Jalisa said, faintly. “I once studied Arian’s Prophecy of the Seven from a scholarly perspective as a Talent of the Irion Academy, long ago. I sought to disprove it. But when I was sent to Psyche, I took my memories of the prophecy with me. I wrote out everything I remembered, and discovered things in those lines that were closed to others. I supposed you could say it was . . . a revelation.”
“What revelation, Elder?”
Elder Jalisa watched him closely. It seemed the other Elders were deferring to her. This was clearly her area of expertise.
“There were Seven Orbs, keys to the Manifold and called the Jewels of Starsea. Starsea was the ancient empire of the Builders. Of course, their existence was prophesied by Arian in the days when magic was new to the galaxy. Well, new to us humans. Magic has always existed, but was somehow lost during the days of Starsea. None can say just how much time has passed since then, but certainly over a million Ea
rth years. The Builders, sometimes called the Ancients, used it to create their gates, but that is the only remnant of magic that has remained. When magic returned, Arian had his prophecy about the Seven Orbs. But his revelation from the Manifold was . . . garbled. It was impossible for mages to understand his words, or at best, they might understand a small fraction of it. Even so, many mages took these fractions of truth and used them to seek the Orbs, though none were ever found. At least, not that we know of.”
Lucian wondered how she could have even memorized Arian, especially if what he had written was garbled. The words of his prophecy were indecipherable. The times he had read it, nothing made sense outside one passage, which had described the Orbs and their existence. But apparently, Jalisa had gleaned enough information to know what he knew – and perhaps more.
“Where did you find the Orb, Lucian?” Elder Sina asked. “You haven’t told us yet.”
“Volsung. There is an island far to the north, near the ice cap. I’m not sure where it is on a map, but it’s where the Academy sends their exiles. I sort of . . . stumbled upon it without realizing what it was.”
“Of all the places in all the Worlds,” Jalisa said, not believing. “The odds are insurmountable.”
“Unless the Manifold meant him to find it,” Elder Gia said. She turned her attention to Lucian. “I believe you were meant to go to that island, to find that cave, and finally, to hold that Orb. And likewise, you were meant to come here to Psyche to find the Orb of Psionics.”
“The Queen-Mage means to use him to locate it,” Elder Erymmo said. “But we can never allow that.”
