Chapter 109: Returning To The Gray |
Lukas loved his spindle.
The only reason he accepted a familiar was because he loved the idea of a spell-casting assistant. It manifested as a forearm-wide wooden cylinder with a half-as-thick metal cylinder growing out of it. The latter had luminous threads wrapped around them. There was an equal division of colorless and black, and a small distribution of electric blue speckled with grey.
Stitch, as Lukas called it, wasn’t intelligent and lacked the necessary parts to complete any tasks. When he gave it instructions related to fetching something, it just hung in the air doing nothing. However, it had no trouble casting any spell in Lukas’s arsenal. He started by having it cast Silencing Shadows, and it did just that. Stitch had no difficulty moving to an indicated spot and casting a spell at the designated location.
While camping at night, Lukas told his familiar to assault a boulder with lightning-infused Shadowsteel needles. First, black and clear threads broke free and wove themselves into a simple cat’s cradle, hanging just under the metal spike. Then, the electric blue snaked through the center, adding a splash of color to the simple weave. Crackling Shadowsteel needles manifested, floating around Spindle’s cylinder a moment later. Lightning danced between them.
The process took approximately twenty seconds, double the time Lukas needed, before the projectiles flew free, flying at his peak projection speed. They embedded themselves in the boulder, bathing it in lightning. Stitch didn’t stop until all of the electric-blue threads had run out. It took a couple of hours for the familiar to recover.
The following morning, he had the spindle repeat the exercise. It managed the same as before, but in only eighteen seconds. It seemed the familiar needed to practise and improve its skills. It also recovered swifter than the previous evening. Before setting off, Spindle used the spell again, shaving another second off its casting time. Since they were going to be on the road, Lukas didn’t want to get caught with his familiar depleted. He fed it magic, and the threads regrew.
Stitch’s magic stores appeared an eighth of Lukas’s, making it the same as a newly created clone. Unlike the familiar, they could draw in ambient energy and achieve Lukas’s maximum capacity. Mage clones with Spellweaver were the only ones who could exceed it. Therefore, they gained the right to play the role of Flukas. He would occasionally summon Stitch when heading into battle in Lukas’s stead.
Next on the agenda was practising tandem-casting with Stitch. But that would have to wait until he had privacy. Lukas had theorycrafted several powerful spells that needed time and focus to cast, but he hadn’t put them into practice yet. He imagined the process would involve letting his familiar take over part of the spellform formation using its arcane threads. It was an easy enough task on paper, but he and the clones struggled with it. Even though they were all essentially the same person and had impeccable teamwork, it seemed they failed to achieve perfect harmony.
Meanwhile, Mira progressed by leaps and bounds. She proved to be a mage of incredible drive. It seemed she had grown sick of fortification magic and the roles they forced her into. She desired to be more than the subordinate who created defences and obstacles for her leaders. Mira had dreams of independence, which required her to be capable of more.
The greatest obstacle in her path was giving the silverfire purpose. It was raw, purposeless magic. Mira just about managed to use them as force spheres and increased their concussive force using rapid rotations and revolutions.
“My Body Pillar is dedicated to physical recovery, agility, and overall fortitude,” Mira said. “Ephram suggested it before the ritual so I’d survive the strain of black flame. I received my Heart and Mind shards long before meeting him, to help me get the most out of my original dragonfire.” She hesitated. “The people who forced me to absorb them were desperate to awaken my dragonfire.”
“Would you mind sharing the abilities they gave you?” Lukas asked. “So that I can figure out how to proceed from the flame spheres.”
“Of course! My Heart Pillar grants me resistance to extreme temperatures and shock while also increasing my arcane recovery.”
“Sounds like they were trying to protect you from the common dragonfire elements so you wouldn’t hurt yourself.”
Mira nodded. “Lightning dragon descendants are incredibly rare. More importantly, the resistances are to help counter the most common mage killer tools. They use heat, cold, and often lightning to halt or interrupt casting before swooping in for the kill.”
“I’m familiar with the strategy,” Lukas said, recalling his first outing with Penelope. Hired thugs had targeted her with lightning-wrapped crossbow bolts. “Is your Mind Pillar more of the same?”
“Not quite. I’ve always been good at arcane projection and manipulation. Shaping is where I’m weakest. The Shard of Arcane Shaping compensated for the limitation.” Mira flashed a proud smile. “I managed to push the shard to the third tier with compatible essences. Fortification magic helped with the rapid progress.”
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“What tier is your Heart Pillar?”
“It’s at the cusp of tier two. The threshold is close. I can feel it.”
“Perhaps use an essence that will grant you an attunement to give the silver dragonfire purpose. Wild Magic is too unpredictable. If the dice don’t roll in your favor, things could turn against you or your allies. Perhaps go with something that will help increase your control over the black flame.”
“I imagine fire attunement would be best,” Mira said. “Maybe it will grant control over both and help give the silver flames greater purpose.”
“Alternatively, you could make attunements your Soul Pillar’s primary purpose,” Lukas told her. “I adore my Storm and Lightningfires, and I’m not even dragonblooded or a flame mage. I just happened to train under one.”
“This job has great pay attached to it, and my savings are substantial. I resisted awakening the Soul Pillar until I figured out how to use the black flame better or found a greater purpose besides fortification magic. Now that I do, I don’t see a point in holding back.”
“And I’m sure the Aquila have access to shards that the general public can only dream of. Splurge on something potent. Don’t limit yourself to elemental attunements because that’s what I and everyone else does. Think outside the box.”
Mira nodded, staring thoughtfully at the trio of silver spheres rotating in front of her. “I’ll use our journey to explore ideas. The reason the black flame is so difficult to control is that it continually tries to overpower and consume the silver. Controlling it without all other magic getting erased also comes with too much strain. I need something that is independently potent in combat, but can also work with the black.”
“I know it's a lot, but I’m sure you can figure it out.”
It came as no surprise when the scouting clones detected more Jotun parties on the road. Lukas had reinforced the wagon’s arcane containment wards and used Spellweaver’s new ability and Silencing Shadows to mask their compact campsite. However, a handful of times, they had no choice but to push the goats late into the evening, take longer winding paths, or set off extra early because of Jotun scouts. Lukas couldn’t tell if Liesel knew the truth, but Tori often sent him concerned glances. The party was none the wiser, and they treated it as a mystery for another mission.
Despite endless practising, Thunderstorm’s Eye didn’t reach the necessary threshold for ascension. Lukas couldn’t figure out why, but didn’t sweat it too much. The ability’s rapid growth was unexpected, and things didn’t feel dire. He was content with his current situation. That didn’t mean he didn’t want the pillar to ascend. It would spawn conjunction abilities with Alter Metal Mass and Spellweaver. Morph would also get a new tool for his arsenal that already consisted of Biomancy, Shade’s Mantle, Shadowsteel, Shadow Illusion, and Shadow Mimic. Lukas couldn’t begin to imagine what conjunction Biomancy would spawn with Thunderstorm’s Eye.
If we’re lucky, Morph might achieve his draconic aspirations.
Lukas kept an eye on Morph during the journey. He was extra chipper about his ascension but didn’t talk about it. As far as the party was concerned, his Body Pillar had already reached the second tier. The road wasn’t short of animal carcasses. He had also stored biomass before reaching Reistein. Morph got into the habit of creating body modifications using shadows or biomass and changing their appearance to look like the other. Shaping the former took less time, but he could almost instantly change their appearance, especially if he intended to make them appear organic.
When Lukas got time, he also played with Shadow Mimic, pushing his Shaping abilities to their limit. He stuck to simple immobile shapes, using the party members as models. He just needed a clear image of what he wanted, sufficient magic, and absolute focus. A lone mage weaving a spell in the middle of the battlefield was a tempting target. It was one illusion Lukas hoped to perfect and combine with trapping wards crafted using Spellweaver’s tier-two ability.
The process took several times longer than casting the spell as usual. It required Lukas to stand still, clearly picture the spellform, and then weave it into the fabric of reality. There was no painted spellscript or ward. Spellweaver’s second tier involved shaping spells directly into the physical world.
There is still a lot for me to figure out and even more to master. I can’t just settle for catching up to Penelope. To become a greater being, I need to exceed her.
“Gaining a confluence ability involves more than just awakening and ascending all the Pillars of Self,” Esther had said while explaining the theoretical side of Fracture’s magic system. “You need to understand and master their base forms truly, and also the conjunction abilities. It's not just a confluence of all your gifts but also who you are and your desires.
My home is my confluence. It bends the rules of reality within my domain, creating perfect conditions for all my animals to live, bending the rules of time and space for more room and to slow aging, and also makes it impossible to infiltrate.”
“Are all confluences related to imminent domains?” Lukas had researched the topic intensively, using the public libraries, Esther’s collection, and also whatever books he could find in the arcane research facility Penelope frequented.
“Confluence abilities primarily involve changing reality or the laws of the world. This might be specifically related to you, the world immediately around you, or a set chosen area. I knew a man who called his confluence ability Final Symphony. It turned the battlefield into an auditorium filled with music that empowered his allies, improving their morale, and doing the opposite to his enemies.” Esther chuckled. “An old companion embraced chaos. Bringing his ridiculous humor into the world, turning himself into a clown capable of the impossible. There are no exact rules when it comes to confluence abilities.”
“So, it’s something I’ll need to build?”
“When the time comes, you’ll get a sense of what paths are available to you. Then it's a matter of committing and building on it.”
The party returned to the Gray four days after leaving Reistein. Leisel and Tori reported to the Frozen Phoenix spires. Xander and Mira returned to the Aquila. Only Lukas didn’t meet with Ogden straight away. Instead, he set stalker clones on both pairs to eavesdrop and gather information. His investigation was far from complete.
