Chapter 172: Vulkarius |
The following hours passed in what felt like minutes. Vivi didn’t think she’d ever been so engrossed in a discussion before. While she had worked with a number of geniuses, none were as learned as Solfirus. How could they be? The eldest de Caldaros prince was one of the oldest sapient beings in the world.
Even she wasn’t as knowledgeable as he was. She only possessed higher aptitude and natural intuition for magic. A gargantuan advantage, yes, but in at least one way, Solfirus was undoubtedly her superior.
One major factor complicated their collaboration. Dragons didn’t use the same methods as mortals to cast. They manipulated mana the same way they wore scales as armor and wielded claws as blades. Magic was an intrinsic part of them. Seeing how Solfirus had lived for thousands of years and had a deep fascination for all things arcane, he did, of course, have a thorough academic understanding of High Arcana and how mortals cast their spells. They were plentiful in the Sky-Pillar Range, after all, and Solfirus worked with many on a regular basis.
But he didn’t use those methods himself. In some sense, Vivi’s techniques were strictly inferior. No matter her skill in drawing diagrams that could harness the arcane, she still had to use a harness. In contrast, magic responded to Solfirus’s command like his own arms did. There were similarities between their methods—in visualization and theory, for example—but they were limited.
As far as Vivi cared, the hurdle merely added another layer of intrigue to the endeavor.
It took two hours for their efforts to yield a major breakthrough. Vivi had walked Solfirus through her theories on how voidbeasts stored their energy as physical material and how their bodies were possibly one giant mana core, and from there, they began exploring ways to turn potential energy into kinetic. It wasn’t easy. They effectively needed to reinvent a pseudo-biological process while having no idea how said biology worked.
But, as mentioned, Solfirus had a greater breadth of experience than even Vivi, and she herself had excellent intuition and could near-instantly implement their theories, and so they made for a fearsome team. He referenced and provided dozens of experiments, hypotheses, and methodologies for alchemizing materials into raw energy and described how they might hold parallels to the task at hand. Some of the tomes he pulled out were millennia old. She took those abstracts and turned them into reality, iterating with a speed that left him incredulous yet also increasingly animated. She wasn’t the only one excited to have a capable partner.
Before she knew it, they succeeded.
Admittedly, it wasn’t an elegant first victory. After invoking her most recent spellcircle, her magic burrowed into the segment of voidling resting on the table and converted stored energy into active, exactly as they had aimed for.
Vivi had at least one responsible bone in her body, and since she and Solfirus were out in public with a lot of squishy mortals about, she’d thrown up barriers around herself, her research partner, and their surrounding area.
That said, she hadn’t spelled the table itself. The finely carved piece of furniture disintegrated into splinters with a detonation to bring the entire courtyard’s celebration to a temporary halt. Much of the environment around them also was obliterated. Void energy rampaged in every direction, and while it slammed into the protective barriers and was rebuffed without issue, wherever it did touch—meaning the interior dome she’d placed the two of them in—matter was shredded and erased.
It happened in an instant, fast enough that even Vivi’s senses perceived it as a flash. Afterward, they sat in a bubble of ruination.
Solfirus’s lips turned up in self-satisfaction. “A chain reaction,” he noted, rubbing his chin. “The material is volatile once activated. Interesting. I wonder how difficult drawing out precise amounts will be?”
Vivi was equally fascinated, but she had blown up a small section of the courtyard, and as the guest, she couldn’t quite ignore that fact. “Sorry about that. Should I fix everything?”
Solfirus waved his hand dismissively. Without a spoken word, earth began filling the devastated ground, tile began repairing, and even the table slowly reconstructed. The restorations weren’t as comprehensive as what reversing time would have allowed, but when he had finished, their environment had more or less been reverted to its previous state.
“Do that again, exactly as before,” he said. “I wish to observe more carefully.”
She didn’t need to be convinced. This time, she wrapped a protective barrier around the chunk of voidling carapace to contain the blast. She probably should’ve done that from the start.
Once they had carved out a handhold on what had seemed like a glass cliff face, progress came faster and faster. Half an hour passed, and they discovered how to prevent the chain reaction and convert only portions of the material into energy.
The discovery meant that Caldimore’s voidglass dagger would eventually run out of fuel; it used a finite resource. Though based on preliminary results, it might take eons for that to happen in practice. Even fingernail-sized bits of voidling-tier material could produce a substantial explosion. It served as an extremely dense storage medium.
And maybe eons is how long those creatures live, she thought. Breaches between worlds can’t happen often. So they must be stuck there, wandering around, for a very long time before their next meal. Assuming they don’t eat each other. She still didn’t know much about their lifecycle.
Once they’d learned how to draw out discretionary amounts of energy, they began trying to shape it. Guiding the energy as it was released, in specific quantities and configurations. Simply forcing it to go in a chosen direction didn’t prove to be difficult, but it fast became apparent that more nuanced and comprehensive control would be the task of weeks or months.
Still, though. They’d done it. She had a functional way to manifest void energy.
Holding a chunk of voidbeast—stronger material than in their previous tests—she repeatedly summoned thin beams to slice through barriers she created. The interaction appeared to her senses the same as how the dagger cut through energy.
Stolen novel; please report.
Now I just need to carve out a blade and figure out how to make it constantly emit an aura. Once she managed to build such an enchantment, she’d have recreated Caldimore’s weapon, thus fulfilling that promise she’d made to him. And I have a voidgod arm. I can make something even stronger. I wonder if that’s a good idea, though?
“As thrilling as this has been, genuinely, we should conclude our efforts for the night, Vivisari.”
The words brought her back to reality, and she stopped blasting off thin rays of void energy. She blinked and looked around. It was late, with the moon hanging high in the sky. The celebration seemed to be tapering off.
“Ah. I should talk to Vulkarius. And your father.” She’d gotten distracted by the void problem, which was her highest priority, but she hadn’t meant to spend the whole night ignoring the festivities and other members of the de Caldaros family.
“I’ll formalize our findings and provide you a copy. I have much to think about, and much to practice.”
Indeed, while he’d been instrumental to their rapid progress, Solfirus hadn’t managed to tap into and draw out void energies. Due to their differing styles of casting, she couldn’t help him with the practical side.
Not that I could help a regular mage much either. There was a personal component to reaching invocation that she simply couldn’t solve for another person. He had the theory; he needed to learn how to execute on it.
“Thank you,” she told him. “I’ll do the same. We should stay in touch. This was a good start, but until this new field is fully explored, it should be our primary focus. There’s still too much I don’t know about the void—besides that there are very powerful monsters there, and that using their own magic against them might be a weapon we need in our arsenal.”
“Quite.”
Sensing that as a cue their collaboration was over, she stood and said, “Thanks again, Solfirus.”
“It was my pleasure.” He sounded like he meant it. “Vulkarius is that way.” He gestured with an open palm to indicate the direction. “Perhaps it’s for the best that you’re seeking him out,” he added dryly. “I believe he’s had too much to drink. He is a rather reckless person, you will discover.” His tone was long-suffering rather than disapproving.
A bit surprised by Solfirus’s appraisal of his brother, she scanned the courtyard and found the dragon. She paused at what she saw. He was in the dueling area brawling with Zael. For some reason only the heavens knew, both participants had removed all clothing and armor above their waists—they were bare-chested and wrestling, grappling, punching, and kicking, having discarded their weapons for a more direct form of combat.
Amusement flickered through her at the sight. Yes, it was immediately apparent the Second Prince didn’t possess the same desire to appear refined that Solfirus did.
She nodded at the eldest as one last farewell, then strode for the younger brother.
His and Zael’s fight had drawn a crowd of onlookers, though the match was decidedly one-sided. Vivi sensed a siphoning effect on the bracers around Vulkarius’s wrists, presumably dampening his strength and bringing the dragon down to roughly the demon’s level, but raw power didn’t alone determine the outcome of a battle. Zael might have been trained by Mizar Keresi, but he wasn’t a dragon. He didn’t have thousands of years of experience behind him, and even his teacher couldn’t compare to Vulkarius’s—the King of Dragons.
The bout ended with Zael’s face planted in the ground, body bruised and bloody, and Vulkarius grinning down at him, hands on hips and not a visible sign of a scuffle marring him. Looking around at the spectators, he basked in their cheers—though he paused when his eyes landed on Vivi. She nodded, hoping he understood that it meant she wished to speak with him.
Some of the joviality seemed to vanish as he perhaps realized he’d gotten more involved in the celebrations than a de Caldaros should have.
He helped Zael up and patted him on the shoulder. The demon swayed before steadying himself. He waved at the crowd, who cheered louder. The two men traded words that Vivi didn’t eavesdrop on. Zael, despite seeming half-concussed, looked to be absolutely thrilled about having gotten to throw punches with a dragon.
As he would be. Demons.
Vulkarius threw on a dress shirt and approached Vivi, appearing abashed even as he wore a broad smile. “Lady Sorceress.” His words were boisterous but unslurred, though just by his behavior she knew Solfirus was correct—he’d indulged in more than a few drinks tonight. “You chose your guild members wisely. He is well trained. I would have accepted him into the Royal Guard on the spot, had he been one of ours.”
That’s high praise. After seeing Vulkarius dismantle Zael with seemingly no effort, Vivi had assumed the dragon would be dismissive.
“He’ll be happy to hear that.”
“Told him myself!” He clapped his hands together. “How can I help you, Lady Sorceress? Come to settle my grievance?”
The persistent warmth in his tone put her off-kilter. He really wasn’t like the rest of his family. “There is a grievance between us?”
“Indeed. You let my little sister maul me, you fiend! One against three, no less.” He laughed, a booming sound that echoed around the courtyard. “Alchemical help or not, I will be hearing of it until the end of days. And then she’s gone and left before I can knock her around to remind her who trained who.”
His own words appeared to sober him, and a frown replaced the obvious mirth. He stepped closer and leaned down, tone dropping in volume.
“How is she?” he asked, orange eyes concerned. “Don’t let her fool you, our little cinder is a sensitive one. Her heart is too big. And this will be her first time away from the Palace for so long.” An enormous sigh escaped him, and he rubbed his forehead as he straightened up again. “What an unfortunate series of events. I wish they had turned out differently.”
Vivi continued to be caught off guard, but Vulkarius’s genuine worry for his sister endeared him to her. “She’s doing well. She has a place at our guild for as long as she wants it, and I can tell she’s enjoying her exploration of Meridian.”
“The mortal realms are fascinating,” he agreed. Then he froze and seemed to calculate something. “Though I’ve only been there on official business, once or twice, of course.”
Definitely not like his brother or father, she thought, amused at what had certainly been an accidental admission that he’d gallivanted off and explored the mortal realm. Perhaps without his father’s permission.
He truly did seem to be much more Ember’s sibling than Solfirus’s.
“I can relay messages between you two, if you want,” Vivi offered.
He stiffened. “No, she is exiled,” he said after too long a delay. “We are not to speak.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Perhaps I’ll deliver news of her whether you wish to receive it or not, then.”
His next response came even slower than before, deliberately neutral. “Admittedly, I am not to interfere with the Sorceress’s whims.”
Vivi nodded, pleased by the silent approval. “I’ll pass along your concern for her when I get back to the guild.”
Vulkarius seemed tempted to continue down that line of conversation, but he must have viewed it as too close to rebellion, since he shook his head and changed the topic. “Is there a particular reason you sought me out, Sorceress?”
“Vivisari is fine. And no, nothing specific. I just felt I should greet you. I actually need to go and speak with Cinereus, since it seems like the night is coming to a close.”
“Your regards are well appreciated, then.” He gave a slight bow. “For both recent deeds and future, I thank you for your generosity.”
“That’s not necessary, but thank you. I’ll watch over Ember, I promise.”
“You have my deepest gratitude for that as well.”
Satisfied with how smoothly the conversation had gone, Vivi parted ways with him to seek out Cinereus. The Dragon King had maintained his seat at the front of the courtyard, having played host to a rotating procession of people throughout the night. No doubt politicking. Or perhaps he enjoyed it. She wouldn’t know.
She paused at seeing who his current guest was—Rafael.
I wonder what that conversation is like, she thought with a shudder. Each question and answer probably came with five hidden meanings. If Vivi sat among them, there wouldn’t be much difference if they chose to speak in a foreign language.
Bracing herself, she strode over to the monarch’s table.
