Ar'Kendrithyst

Chapter 145, 1/2

There were no nightmares.

Ezekiel woke up an hour before the sun rose. He relieved Paul from his watch, sending the man back to bed to get a few more hours of sleep. Ezekiel became the only one on guard duty for a little while, and this was fine. Maybe in a few days, or after no one was worried about treachery, they’d all get to sleep at the same time. As it was, Ezekiel needed a lot less sleep than other people, so he took the lion’s share of the watch.

He went about getting ready for the rest of the day.

When Tiffany got up, Paul wasn’t far behind. After Julia checked in and Ezekiel could finally relax again, it was time to head to the Void Temple. He checked his Status, and saw that he could bring up the screen. Everything worked. He wasn’t in a dream.

- - - -

Once again inside the large stone amphitheater, Ezekiel sat beside Kaffi, as she unrolled yet another scroll. No books today. Just scrolls. Some of them were assorted, but the majority of them were bound in red leather with gold-leaf caps.

Kaffi left the red leather ones to the side, for now, and picked up a green leather scroll, saying, “We’ll do a few more assorted aura awakening techniques and then we’ll move on to the red scrolls, which are all based upon what you told me yesterday. I need to ensure that we haven’t missed something obvious, though.” She unfurled the green scroll, and started reading, “For this one, you must gather your aura spell into a shell around yourself, but keep it away from yourself. Imagine your aura spell as a thick-walled sphere that is not touching your body. But, since aura must connect to the body, trace where the connections remain the strongest. You must push away your spherical aura with all your might, for only in the smallest connections are you able to find out where your true aura originates.” She turned the scroll to him, and showed the pictures.

It seemed easy enough.

Ezekiel did as he was instructed, gathering his [Normalize Aura] into a shell against his skin, which he then pushed away, like a bubble expanding. Ten thousand tendrils of power connected him to the bubble. The large bubble. This was not going to work, was it?

Ezekiel pushed the spell hard, away from himself, minimizing—

Nope. He would need to use a smaller spell. His [Normalize Aura] was already threatening to go far beyond the walls of the amphitheater.

Kaffi noticed, her eyes wandering upward, then back to Ezekiel. “A smaller aura?”

Ezekiel turned off [Normalize Aura], and turned on [Lodestar], and did the same.

He became the center of one of those plasma ball toys that Julia absolutely needed when she was a kid, and then discarded a year later, except done in bright white instead of purple and blue. This spell seemed to work. His Domain flared wide, away from his skin, trailing tendrils from the bubble of radiance back to him, sitting in the center. He pushed.

The Domain swept across Kaffi, then out into the room, soaking into the air and the stone and turning both brilliant. And then a darkness crept into the center, near Ezekiel’s skin; the absence of the Domain. That absence became more pronounced as moments passed, and lingering light faded.

Soon, the only tendrils that connected him to his expanded aura came from the center of his chest directly over his heart, from the top of his head, and from his hands.

He could have pushed his aura further away, but he was beginning to feel a tension. A spring pulled tight. A muscle getting ready to snap. Ezekiel relaxed himself, and his aura, then turned his Domain off.

“Head, heart, hands,” Ezekiel said.

Kaffi quickly unrolled a second scroll and read a few lines before quickly discarding that one in favor of a different scroll. This one, she read more, then she smiled a little and lifted her head. “This is good. Now we know where your aura will originate from; your heart, your mind, and your hands. Most people don’t have a set starting point for their aura, but you do!” She set that scroll aside and picked up a red leather scroll. She unfurled it, and, finding her place, she read aloud, “With your mana sense active, concentrate on the beat of your heart, and the flow of your soul. Attempt to see where your soul moves while your extended spell aura is active. Flick your spell aura on and off as needed to begin to understand how to move your natural aura.” She said to him, “Try it with your light Domain.”

Ezekiel did so, flexing his [Lodestar] active and inactive, attempting to see how his control existed when the Script wasn’t assisting him. Mostly, all he saw was his Shroud directly below his skin moving like a thick fog, while his actual soul, existing in the same space as his Shroud, was as solid as ever.

After a while of this, Kaffi called it, saying, “Time.”

Ezekiel relaxed. He flicked his [Cleanse Aura] through the space, erasing the sweat from his body. He said, “That one seemed promising.”

“Hard to tell with your [Personal Ward] active. But yes; I agree.” Kaffi picked up one of two red scrolls she had sitting in front of her, saying, “I have higher hopes now for these two, than I do for the rest, but we will go through them as needed.”

Ezekiel was fine to keep going, but he had questions. “Before we do that: What is the link between the Shroud, the Soul, and the Aura?”

Kaffi paused, thinking. And then she said, “We call them the Outer Soul, the Inner Soul, and the Aura, around here. Functionally, both Outer and Inner souls are the same, and they exist in the same space, but one is the skin of the soul and the other is the meat. To damage the meat, one needs to get through the skin. Some theorize that the Outer Soul is false, and that all we really have is the Inner Soul. The Outer Soul might be like Health is to the body; a shielding force, and a resource, but as to what you could spend that resource on, I have no idea.” Kaffi said, “As for the link to the Aura, the Soul is the expression of our true self in the mana, and through our true self, we can influence the mana around us.

“The Script automates this functionality with every Aurified spell, but if we awaken our auras on our own, we are able to control some of what is out there, without needing to fully rely on the Script. Still can’t do much more than Basic Tier spellwork. But with a working Aura, you can do anything that you could do with a Greater Elemental Body. This was how they cast spells in the Old Cosmology.

“But mostly, Soul work is far, far outside of my expertise.” Kaffi said, “I fear telling you anything beyond the basics, for it is likely wrong, and you shouldn’t believe me about any of that. In particular, my theory that the Outer Soul is a resource is rather odd, and likely wrong. It’s likely more like Health that you cannot spend.

“I only truly know three things about the soul.

“One of them is that I am not able to control my soul; to move it to do anything.

“But I can control my aura, and my body, and my mind, and when my soul has been damaged, these three expressions of myself have suffered. Gaps in the aura. Sores on the skin. Blank spots in the memory.

“And I also know that there is no need to control the soul, or to work from that deep a resource, in order to control and expand the aura.” Kaffi waved a hand, saying, “I don’t do soulwork. You’d have to talk to necromancers to understand more of that.”

Ezekiel nodded, then said, “Thank you.”

Kaffi nodded in return, and unfurled a red leather scroll, saying, “Now for this one, you must…”

They spent two more hours on aura work. There were no breakthroughs.

When it was over, Kaffi invited Ezekiel to lunch again, but Lingxing was not available today. Ezekiel smiled at that, for if he had been invited to another meeting luncheon, he would have said no. But free food? Sure!

Lunch in the VIP space of the fifth floor cafeteria was great, though they were the only ones there in that room and it felt kinda empty. Sitting at his table, with Tiffany and Paul on the other side, Ezekiel had a lot of time to consider the problems he currently faced. None of them were truly pressing any more, which was nice. Even the Converter Angel seemed to be taking her sweet time on the moon, Celes, and the Shades seemed similarly silent.

Things seemed to be calming down, but circumstances could turn horrible at a moment’s notice. With that in mind, and thinking of the thousands of terrible things that he had already seen, what would Hangzi’s ‘true terror’ look like?

- - - -

Hangzi declared, “I have decided not to subject you to the horrors of the Devouring Nightmare. I’ve got too much work to do and not enough time to do it! Rejoice, Scion Phoenix.”

And then the Scion of Devouring Nightmare shut the door in Ezekiel’s face.

… Ezekiel knocked on the door again.

Hangzi whipped it open. “What!”

“You can do it right here, can’t you? Your aunt suggested that you could. I’m curious what form your terror actually takes.”

Was it some sound that triggered the amygdala? That would be rather terrifying, and there was no real way to defend against that. Or maybe it was a [Soul Burn] attack; soul attacks were supposed to make the recipient feel terrified.

Hangzi narrowed his eyes, then said, “Subjecting a warrior to the Nightmare is an easy variable to account for. You? No one knows what any given mage would do inside the Nightmare. Therefore, I will not be held responsible for the collateral damage that always comes about from subjecting a mage to our High Clan’s namesake. It is one of the first things my Clan teaches our disciples, and I will not flout that law.” He added, “Now let me work in peace. Don’t you have some wounds to inflict upon yourself? Learn some healing spells?”

Hangzi shut the door again.

Ezekiel stared at the door for a moment longer, then walked away.

- - - -

Ezekiel knocked on the door.

It opened inward.

Xue stood on the other side, saying, “Greetings, Scion Ezekiel.” He stepped aside, and into his room, saying, “Please come in.”

Ezekiel nodded, walking in, saying, “Thank you for the time and education, Loremaster Xue.”

The room was divided into unequal portions, with the larger section being empty. The smaller part held an office space, bookshelves, and other assorted living space objects, including a lounge, a large mirror, a table, and a tea set. While Paul and Tiffany took their places beside the door, Ezekiel watched Xue walk to the lounge area. Ezekiel followed him.

Xue sat down and gestured to the tea, asking, “Care for a cup while we discuss the lesson plan?”

Ezekiel sat, saying, “I would like some tea. Thank you for the hospitality.”

Xue deftly prepared the tea, and set it to heating in a [Ward], as he asked, “Have you had much experience with healing, yet?”

“I have not.” Ezekiel said, “I am finding it mentally difficult to purposely injure myself.”

Xue smirked. “Would you prefer someone else to injure you?”

“Probably not.”

The tea started bubbling, so Xue poured, and slid a cup to Ezekiel. Then he took his own cup and sipped.

Ezekiel sipped his tea, then set down the cup.

Xue asked, “Would you prefer to injure someone else?”

“Absolutely not.” Ezekiel said, “When I chose this path, I knew it would require injuries to heal, and I assumed I would be able to do it, but I did not think it would be this difficult to do. Difficult mentally, I mean.”

“You could injure me, if you wish.” Xue said, “It’s not an imposition to suffer minor wounds. I offer myself for this. The pain is not intolerable.”

Ezekiel frowned.

“Maybe not, then.” Xue said, “I never suffered from this problem you are facing, but I know that I will never affect as much as you have, or will. I humbly suggest you resign yourself to causing harm now, for there is no way to learn how to heal the injured without having injured subjects in the first place, and you will need this magic more than most going forward.”

Ezekiel was not comfortable with that fact of life. Xue was correct, of course. If Ezekiel had his own healing magics, Ezekiel could not only heal himself the next time he needed to, he could also heal others. He knew this, logically.

Logic and emotion rarely mixed well.

But at the same time, Ezekiel just needed to ‘get over it’, didn’t he?

Xue shrugged, adding, “Or we can move on to injuring and healing rats.”

“Let’s do that.”

“Then follow me.”

Xue stood, and Ezekiel followed.

- - - -

The Rat Room was located near the outside of the clan mountain, facing north. Sun shone through large windows, lighting up a room of solid stone that held comfortable carpets everywhere and walls that were honeycomb cubby holes. Little highways arced across the whole room, suspended in the air, linking space to space, but leaving plenty of room for attendants to see to the needs of the residents of this small paradise.

Happy rats, squeaking out of shredded-paper homes. Playful rats, tussling with each other, playing in the sunlight. Racing rats, chasing each other across the highways of their miniature city. They seemed full of joy, and that was good.

Ezekiel watched the rats from behind a one-way mirror, as initiates saw to the needs of the animals. Feeding them, playing with them, [Cleanse]ing up after them. Adding new shredded paper to a large pile for the rats to take what they needed, when the [Cleanse]s took out half of the rat homes, and the rats needed more building material. Ezekiel was surprised.

He was surprised in a happy way. They were taking care of the rats. Most of them were even neutered. This was a maintained resource, and seeing the rats run to the caretakers inside the space, looking for treats and to play, did more for Ezekiel’s estimation of Star Song than anything else he had seen in the last few days. This was especially true after hearing the warnings of the Rat Master.

The Rat Master was a stern older man with a big white beard and long hair, named Toix, who said, “You will be given a rat that is already sedated, along with enough potion to keep him or her under for an hour, as well as an emergency healing potion. I will be monitoring your first experiment to ensure that you know what you’re doing, but past that, Loremaster Xue has already vouched for you, so next time you can come on your own and get what you need. We know that occasionally the rats die due to student failure, but if you don’t do everything you can to ensure that doesn’t happen, then I will do what is necessary to ban you from this resource.” Toix said, “Happy, healthy rats are easier to work with than caged, stressed animals, and you will ensure that they stay happy and as healthy as you can make them.” He glanced at Xue, and a darkness passed over his face, then he looked to Ezekiel, and said, “We’re losing a lot more rats than usual. Do ensure that you are not abusive to our Healing Magic helpers.”

“I would never want to harm for the purpose of harming, Master Toix,” Ezekiel said.

Toix narrowed his eyes at Ezekiel, but said nothing. He led them to a smaller room on the side. In moments, a door opened between the main rat room and this side room. A young woman brought out a sleeping rat on a tray with the rat in the main box and two small potions in two slots of the tray. She set the specimen down on a table in front of Toix.

He was a beautiful specimen of white and gold fur, at twenty centimeters long, with the tail twice again that length. He was on his back, belly up, with the back half of his body sitting in a layer of blue potion. The tray was designed to hold the rat’s head out of the potion, but to keep him partially submerged in it at the same time.

Toix said, “Blue is for sleep and numbing. Keep the rat in a layer of potion that deep, and he won’t wake up, or feel a thing. Red is for healing, in case you make a mistake. If you make a horrific mistake, grab one of the rat keepers on duty, and they’ll be able to heal your mistake.” He asked, “Do you need tools?”

“No,” Ezekiel said, psyching himself up for what he was about to do.

“Fine.” Toix said, “Don’t harm too deeply. Go ahead. I’m watching.”

With his lightform active, Ezekiel…

Got to it.

A little slice against the abdomen….

… Nothing? Okay. A little deeper. Hmm. Hard skin. Slice a little strong—

Toix said, “I appreciate the restraint, but a sharper knife causes less pain than a dull one, and these rats all have a great deal more Health and Vitality than normal rats.”

… Ezekiel honed his lightform to a sunbeam edge.

Red spilled out from a shallow, half-centimeter deep wound. Ezekiel gasped as he breathed in, and then he focused. He applied [Healing Word] to the wound. Nothing. Ah. He forgot to shape the spell first.

… And he forgot to hold the wound together.

Right.

White light held skin and the barest bit of muscle together, while keeping hair out of the wound. Magenta [Healing Word] sunk into the sleeping, numbed rat, directly shaped to the sliver of flesh that had been parted.

Something shifted inside the wound as magenta light soaked in. Cells regrew. The rat healed. A tiny scar appeared, and Ezekiel let go of the holding light, releasing the wound. Then he went back in with his light and checked. Yes? The wound was gone? Okay? Was it actually gone, though? It was.

Ezekiel stepped back. “Is that… It?”

Toix bent down, inspecting. Xue held back; a small smile on his face. Toix cast a [Cleanse] upon the wound, only, and half of the scar came undone. Ah. Cancers.

Ezekiel paled.

Toix said, “Small cancers are hard to see. Keep going until that doesn’t happen. Don’t [Cleanse] the whole rat, either; just the wound you cause. The potion we use to keep them asleep and numbed is technically a poison, and every time you [Cleanse], some of the potion vanishes from the rat and more soaks into his skin, keeping the rat under and dropping the level of potion in the tray.” He pointed at the blue liquid at the bottom of the tray, that the rat rested in. “Observe how the level has dropped, slightly.” He picked up the blue bottle, and poured a little into the tray. “Keep it at about that level. There’s a mark. Keep it there.”

Ezekiel had already seen all of that, but he said, “I see. Thank you for your instruction.”

Toix stepped back.

Ezekiel stepped and looked down at the rat.

With magenta [Healing Word]s in his lightform, he got to work.

Thirty minutes later, there were still mistakes. Cancers still bloomed. He caused a dozen different small stomach wounds, but each one held the same problem; they wouldn’t heal correctly. Ezekiel added blue potion to the rat’s bath, keeping it under, but he could tell the rat was having problems. It breathed harder, for one. Its little chest went up and down hard whenever Ezekiel inflicted a wound, or tried to heal it.

Ezekiel was pretty sure his problem was his magenta mana altering.

Ezekiel stepped away from the rat, saying, “Please assist in the final healing, Master Toix. I cannot seem to get it right. I need to study more before I come back here.”

Toix had been silently staring and brooding as he watched Ezekiel injure his rat, but at Ezekiel’s declaration, he raised his head, and then nodded, approvingly. He said, “I doubt you need to study, for I’ve seen disciples with much less skill enter these halls and come out as master Healers. You only need more practice. Come back some other time and we’ll get you a new rat.” He reached over and tapped the rat twice; the first spell healed all of the rat’s wounds, and the second returned a brilliant shine to the rat’s coat and body. He picked up the tray and said, “This one can get some pampering and rest before he’s released back in the main room.”

Ezekiel bowed, saying, “Thank you, Rat Master Toix.”

Toix waved him off, and took the tray with the rat into another room.

- - - -

As they walked through the hallway, side by side, back to Xue’s office, Ezekiel said, “That was enlightening. Is that how you learned your specialty?”

Xue wore heavy black and red robes, while Ezekiel wore a similar style in magenta and white. The disciples around them all wore greys, while professors and Elders wore other styles. It was rather easy to tell who was higher class than everyone else.

Xue said, “Somewhat. I was a similar special case as yourself. I awoke my aura at a young age, and thus the normal Healing Quests were unnecessary. But let us continue this conversation back in my office.”

There were a few people in the hallway eyeing them, openly, and a few trying not to eye them, so Ezekiel went along with Xue’s request. Xue was acting a little squirrelly, though. It was an odd look on the man.

A minute later, they were back in Xue’s office, and sitting on the couch where they had taken tea.

“You were doing well with the rat. You simply need to do more, to get a proper feel for it.” Xue asked, “But you talked of needing to study more?”

“A lie.” Ezekiel said, “I know the problem. If I am allowed access to the rats on my own, I will likely overcome that problem.”

Xue said, “Your current value to Star Song is inestimable and there is little chance that you are going to abuse the rats, therefore you will have access to the Rat Room whenever you wish. Rat Master Toix is not happy with our current rate of rat consumption for the chelation experimentation, but the lives of people are worth more than a million rats, and this truth includes whatever gains you will reap on your own.” He added, “Give me a time, and I can make it happen.”

“Thank you. Then… I would like some time in the Rat Room, after our session is over.”

Xue nodded. “It will be done.”

Ezekiel asked, “As for injuring and healing myself… I think I am ready for that, but I am loathe to drop my defenses. Do you have any insight into solving this problem?”

“Yes.” Xue said, “An antirhine-core knife. It won’t break your [Personal Ward], but it will weaken it and also open a hole in your defense, allowing you to cut yourself without dropping your defenses. I have extra, if you wish.”

Ezekiel smiled, saying, “I would like that. I accept. Thank you.”

Xue lifted a hand toward the set of drawers under the large mirror on the wall. A small one near the bottom opened, revealing a thick-walled glass jar filled with clear liquid and a dozen stiletto knives, each of them black and weighty. Ezekiel had noticed them before now, due to their partial absence in his mana sense, but he did not think they would actually be used for cutting oneself without breaking a [Personal Ward]. Upon thinking about it for more than the barest second, though, of course such knives would be useful for someone who needed to break their skin all the time to work with Blood Magic.

But from what they looked like to his mana sense, Ezekiel had considered that the knives were actually weapons, and not tools. They looked rather specifically breakable; as though they could be stabbed into a person and then broken off, leaving behind an antimagical wound.

They probably could do that, too.

The whole jar of knives came floating out, and onto the table between them.

Xue reached forward, uncapping the jar, releasing the scent of alcohol into the air. He plucked out a knife with his hands and set it in front of Ezekiel, saying, “A small gift. I haven’t needed to use one in a long while, but they have all sorts of uses.”

Sure they did.

The center of the knife blade was anti-magic, but the grip was not. Ezekiel picked the knife up by the grip and tested its weight. They were heavy, but it would be child’s play to pick them up the non-lead end with [Telekinesis] and swing them around, or to use them in combat. He set the knife down in front of him.

Ezekiel said, “Thank you.”

“I have more if you lose that one.” Xue said, “They’re not overly expensive or difficult to make, but they are rather cumbersome.” He picked up one of the other blades out of the jar, sending scatters of alcohol onto the table. He exposed his opposing forearm, saying, “They’re sharp, though.”

He sliced through his forearm. Ezekiel’s eyes went wide as vibrant red blood gushed out of the laceration like Xue had opened up the neck of a suspended cow, and not his own comparatively puny arm. In a pair of beating seconds, a red orb the size of a basketball hung above the table and Xue’s arm stopped bleeding. He had healed the wound shut with the barest bit of magic.

The red orb hung there for a moment.

Xue gave Ezekiel a questioning look.

Ezekiel returned his own questioning look.

A tension passed, unremarked by Ezekiel.

Xue turned the orb to broken black dust that swirled away into the mana. A quick [Cleanse] from the Blood Mage cleaned up the blackened blood that was real.

Xue said, “There is some discomfort, but pain isn’t a real problem once you can heal away that pain the moment after it happens. You will end up with many scars while you are learning, but they’re only flesh wounds, and soon enough you will be able to remove those scars yourself.” He said, “But for now, if you will permit, I wish to go back to what you were saying earlier, about ‘you know what your problem is’ with healing the rats.” He asked, “Do you wish to enact a [Privacy Ward] for this conversation? Because I do not think the problem you think you have is the actual problem.”

Ezekiel considered, then cast a [Sealed Privacy Ward] into the room. The spell was disrupted around the small knives, but not enough to prevent the casting, or to break the spell. Ezekiel was sure that some duration was gone, but that might have been the full extent of the disruption. He clipped Paul and Tiffany in the spell, but they were at the very far edge of it.

Erick asked, “It’s not the magenta color altering?”

Xue said, “I am sure that is a small part of it, but we have many disciples in Star Song who try to get away from their base mana color, and they can learn Healing Magic almost as well as any other.” He continued, “No; I think the problem you have is nuanced in a different way. I would not presume to speak of what an Archmage might know, but I do know a fair bit about this school of magic; Do you know of Elemental Healing?”

Erick said, “Yes. Elemental Healing is the pure Element that creates and reinforces life. It is closely linked to Elemental Blood, and also Elemental Mercy.”

“Do you know of Healing Magic, as it relates to Elemental Healing?”

“… I read some, but I am sure I am wrong. Please start at the top.”

Xue nodded, then said, “This particular story starts long, long ago, back in the Old Cosmology. It is a short story, but it is vital to understanding how Elemental Healing and Healing Magic are different.

“Elemental Healing brings forth raw life from the combination of Water and Light, but people back then were combinations of all the Elements. Back then, to expose a person to raw Healing was to turn them into abominations. Even today, the same result holds true, though most of those exposures are easily caught by [Cleanse] and ended before they have a chance to take a person over from the inside out, breaking down the natural barriers to core formation and thus turning a person into a monster of the worst kind.

“Back then, the solution was the same as it was almost here, on Veird, after the Sundering.

“Back then, Gods granted Healing to their followers, and through Divine Might, those spells would take Elemental Healing and filter it through a person, allowing that person to restore what had been lost. Healing Magic is exceedingly difficult, you understand.

“These days, Gods still grant healing, but because of certain forces, that healing is filtered through the Script and granted to anyone who wants it strongly enough.

“When you use the Healing Magic in the Script, what you are doing is taking those perfect, God-made spells and casting them perfectly each time. Most people will Quest for these spells. But you and I? We have to have literally godly levels of control, focus, understanding, and skill, if we are to mutate one of our Goddess-given Healing Spells into another, in order to Remake the rest of Healing Magic. Luckily, this is not as truly impossible as it sounds, for we have already been granted a starting point by those very gods.” Xue said, “All of the healing spells contain the marks of divine hands upon them. What you must do is find that guidance in your starter healing spell, and mold it into the other healing spells. For me, this Remaking was a spiritual journey of finding those markings and applying them in other directions; in understanding the small pieces of power that Rozeta and the Relevant Entities of the Script have left for us to combat the Darkness.” He asked, “Do you now understand why I did not consider a simple color altering to be a problem?”

“Huh. I think so.” Erick said, “According to you, most of the work has already been done for us. I only need to find those markings in the mana and shift them into the other healing spells.”

“Correct.”

Erick asked, “Is that why you specialize in rune work enchanting?”

Erick had taken a small moment to look around the room before now, but at the mention of ‘divine markings’, a few scattered clues fell into place. Runework enchanting. Blood Magic. Core dust into the blood. A vast majority of books which were all written in Ancient Script.

… The various active [Ward]s in the room.

All of it was runework Blood Magic.

Erick added, “Because that is your Truth? That markings make the magic?”

Xue grinned, then said, “That is my Truth, because it is True. This world was founded on language and life; in the Ancient Script, and in the Wrought, and in the bodies of all who live here.”

Erick asked, “But you can’t simply write down a spell and have it work, can you? I’ve tried; in core dust and in metal rods and otherwise.”

“Blood and magic are the ways in which the world communes with itself.” Xue said, “Not to be rude, but you’ve only been here for a year, and it took me fifteen to get to my current capabilities, and I still have a long way to go. If you wish to truly pursue enchanting it will take you a long time in a calm neighborhood, and even then, some people are not great at enchanting in the normal ways. It was only last year that I became able to make a 50-charge rod of [Greater Treat Wounds], and even then, I cannot make more than one a year.”

“Now that’s an interesting problem.” Erick asked, “Why not more than one per year? And why do they cost a quarter million gold? I’ve bought a few, and that price seems astronomical.”

Xue nodded, saying, “This is a multilayered problem, but the basic problem is that it takes fantastic materials in order to hold and stabilize the magic that goes into a rod of [Greater Treat Wounds].

“Getting into the depths: You could buy a lesser rod of [Greater Treat Wounds] for a great deal less gold, maybe as little as 10,000, but such a rod would only have 4 or 5 charges, and it wouldn’t be able to be recharged, and you run the risk of it breaking after every use. These lesser enchanted objects are common, for many people don’t understand what is needed to make a true magical item.

“A real magical item is heavily linked to the Script, which upholds the world. Poor connections to that underlying Truth result in poor items. Good connections result in 50 charges in an item, and the ability to be recharged, at least a little. This is why only items that have 50 charges are able to be sold, and why items are only sold if they have 50 charges; it is an indication that they are quality items that won’t fail on you.

“Or rather, they’re basic quality. As in the most basic application of enchanting theory and implementation.

“As for why I can only make one a year?” Xue smiled, and said, “This is because I make high quality. I cannot make artifacts, but the rods I make are able to be used hundreds of times before they need a rest in a mana condensing formation. Each one should last thousands of uses, and retain their workings for twenty years. This is what it means to make a magical item that truly connects to the Script.”

Erick sat back and had a small, happy laugh. “How much does one of those cost?”

Xue shrugged as he smiled, saying, “They’re not for sale. But I can teach you some of this power. Although, if your Truth is not compatible with my own way of working, then you might need to make adjustments.”

“Probably.”

Erick thought back to what he heard from the Shades, primarily Lapis, and from Quilatalap, back during Shadow’s Feast. They had all spoken of artifact enchanting as the working of soul magic to imbue an item with a soul, and then having that soul cast the spells you tell them to cast, based upon the shape of the soul’s container.

Most people made magical items more like how Xue made them, though.

But Xue, and Elder Arilitilo, were special in their own way.

Erick said, “I’ve never had much luck with runes or Ancient Script, but I can certainly see the usefulness of never needing to gather cores.” He asked, “So when you condense mana into your blood, to make core dust blood, I imagine you simply pressurize the mana?”

“Ah, no.” Xue said, “I want to speak of this, but not until you can heal yourself. I have heard of how you yanked a full core out of your chest in front of a hundred staring orcols, and then smashed it under your foot, only to wait a minute before allowing your retainer to heal you. I do not wish to accidentally be the cause of another such incident.”

Erick chuckled. “Ah. That’s not exactly what happened. It wasn’t that bad. It was just tiny shards that were around the diaphragm. Easy enough to remove with some light tugging. Anyway.” He stood, “You are right. I need to learn those healing spells, and there is only one way to do that.”

Xue stood with him, saying, “The sooner you remake [Treat Wounds], the sooner I can teach you about core refinement, and the sooner Elder Arilitilo can teach you the nuances of esoteric Blood Magic, and normal combat.”

Ezekiel took his new knife in his hand, and he took down the [Seale— He paused. The privacy remained active.

He asked, “So. Warzi? What’s going on there?”

Xue paused as though considering a hundred different, smaller things. “This is a compound problem.” Then he said, “The boy’s condition is well documented and true, but solving such an issue is difficult. All simple and known ways to block mana sense also block normal sight. From my understanding, Devouring Nightmare has scoured the world looking for an answer to the boy’s problem, but they have not found an answer that they are willing to accept. For a time, the boy wore antirhine thread clothing, but even that failed as his condition progressed. It was an untenable solution, anyway, for many of the same reasons that Elixir’d people are not allowed into sensitive areas, but also for the fact that A Child’s Protection would fail when he wore those clothes.” He said, “But the privacy spell you displayed when you interviewed the alchemists and which you have surrounded us with right now, allows for perfect outward vision. If you wish assistance in translating this spell or a lesser spell of the same nature into an object in order to solve Young Master Warzi’s issue, then we can move such magic item creation to the forefront of my lesson plan.” Xue added, “After you learn proper Healing Magic, of course.”

“Thank you for the offer. I will think about it.” Ezekiel said, “But I need to get back to the Rat Room, and then I will be cutting myself some. Thank you for your assistance.”

Xue looked at Ezekiel, and something seemed to crush in the man. A weight became too much to bear.

Ezekiel had wondered if anything was going to happen. It looked like it was.

Xue said, “Taking into account what my new Intelligence is allowing me to grasp, I have a feeling that you will be able to grasp all of this lesson plan soon enough, and then I will have to actually teach you something, instead of simply watching as you cut up rats.”

Xue had almost said what he wanted to say, but then he deflected halfway through.

Erick knew it.

Xue knew that Erick knew it.

But instead of violence, Xue had gone in a different direction.

Erick had warned them of almost all of the problems of Intelligence before he had granted them the New Stat, but now, there was need of another warning of the far more insidious nature of Intelligence. Something that wasn’t a problem unless you made it a problem, and Xue had certainly done that.

Intelligence bred paranoia, and Xue was soaking in it.

The signs had been there when Erick first saw Xue, an hour ago, now.

Xue had been quiet for a teacher. Much less exuberant than Elder Ari had been yesterday. That quietness betrayed his thoughts in small ways. It betrayed his worry, and his pain, and his inner thoughts. Was Erick going to murder him and everyone else at the slightest provocation? What about all of the other problems around him, besides his archmage problems? What about all the things he saw out there? Erick had only guessed at the last part, but from the viewing mirror and its prominence in front of the couches, as well as from the various things he had heard and seen elsewhere, Xue likely spent a lot of time looking at people, and tracking them down.

Xue was paranoid.

And he was losing it.

He had brought out lead-core knives that could easily be controlled to be thrown, and the aura was invisible, so Erick had every bit of confidence that Xue had his aura on all of the knives except for the one he gave Erick.

Was that blood charm on Erick’s wrist capable of truly deflecting his most powerful spells? Maybe not. Not with Intelligence multiplying Xue’s magic capabilities into higher heights. Not with the spells currently emplaced in Xue’s office; his locus of power, filled with spells ready and waiting to activate. They were small spells, and separately they were nothing, but together, and at Xue’s command…

Could he overcome Erick Flatt?

Xue wasn’t sure. His earlier blood orb had been a test to see how he would react, to see if Erick noticed the power Xue commanded. Erick did notice. He noticed a lot. But he did not react, and now Xue was trying a different tactic. Violence was not going to work.

Xue was asking for help, but he didn’t know how.

“Xue.”

The man flinched on the inside; his heart skipped a beat. His blood swirled with power. He did not move, or speak. He waited.

Erick said, “All these new thoughts can drown you if you let them. Intelligence is not doing this to you. You are doing this to you. You are seeing shadows that aren’t there. My own experience with Intelligence has also led me to bouts of paranoia, but at that same time, Intelligence has allowed me to see beyond the paranoia. To see that you are experiencing what I have experienced. To see that you are asking for help, and that I am capable of giving you this help. What is your current Intelligence at?”

Xue gave a small, shaky breath. He said, “It’s at 50.”

“A high base number. Do you know how to make a cursed item, to lower Stats? You might be able to temporarily reduce that number.”

Xue blinked twice, as though realizing a path forward, then deciding to walk it. “I can.” He added, “But I can see you have not chosen this route.”

“You’re right. I have not chosen this path, but I have considered it a few times. I opted not to take this route, because I cannot allow myself to be weak in the face of the threats I face. It’s not paranoia if they truly are out to get you. But… Most of the time, no one is out to get you. I certainly am not out to get you. Even the spells you have imbued into this space, ready to go off at a moment's notice, are more for your own safety, and less to actually try to kill me.”

Xue stared, realizing he had been seen through. And yet he relaxed. It was the same thing Erick had seen most prominently once with a client, long ago back on Earth, when that woman received the bad news that the pain in her gut was the cancer she thought it was. She had gone from nervous wreck to relaxed as though she was sipping a mojito on a beach at sunset. It was an emotion of acceptance, and pain; the relieving of a tight tension.

Erick continued, “This New Stat opens the eyes to the world around you, but it also invents problems that do not need to exist. Not everything you see is a shadow waiting to pounce. Back on Earth, there was a saying: Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by ignorance. And here’s another: Always interpret the actions of the opposition in the most rational and honest way possible.” He added, “Sometimes, the shadows are shadows, and you must defend yourself, but most of the time, people are just people; without subterfuge or malice.”

“Ha.” Xue said, “Your world was peaceful.”

“Extremely, and yet, it was also dangerous in subtler ways.” Erick said, “Here, the worst case scenario is extreme and deadly violence to you and all you hold dear; there, the bad outcomes came about from offending a co-worker or a boss, and thus losing what you’ve worked for. Violence existed, and it was just as deadly, but the vast majority of situations did not have violence as their natural outcome.” He said, “But the daily situations? The normal circumstance of peaceful life? That is the same.”

“Peaceful?” Xue said, “This is not peaceful.”

“It can be.” Erick said, “Nothing happened today, and I have no designs to make anything happen to anyone here. But you are correct. What you almost did was not peaceful, and yet, I never pressed the issue of all the spells and danger around me, and you never pressed back.” Erick said, “I’m still learning which parts of my previous life are useful, and which parts need to be reevaluated or discarded. Most of what I was has been preserved, but a great deal more has been added on top.” Erick said, “For instance: murdering billions of monsters at once! Never imagined that I would need to do that.”

Xue nodded, silently.

“But paranoia isn’t useful. Don’t hop at shadows, or else you will make them real by your hopping.”

Xue breathed out, silent.

Ezekiel tore down the [Sealed Privacy Ward] around them and held his lead-core knife, as he said, “I’m reasonably sure that another private session would be useless tomorrow, as I’m going to need a few days to figure out the rest of these healing spells. So no lessons tomorrow, if you don’t mind. If I have questions, can I reach you here?”

Xue’s fear had faded while Ezekiel talked, and now it was small enough to fully hide behind a professional facade. Xue said, “If not here, then you may leave a message with the initiate outside. Elder Arilitilo told me that you already know where to find her, so I assume she could also answer whatever questions you have.”

Ezekiel held up the knife, saying, “Thank you for the knife.”

Xue nodded.

Ezekiel left the room.

When he passed an open area connected to the outside, he had an Odin hold the knife by its non-lead handle, and fly it up to the balcony outside the room. With a few seconds to recast some of the dense airs inside, he had Odin set the knife down.

Then he went to see a man about some rats.

As they walked, Ezekiel sent to Tiffany and Paul, ‘That could have gone either way, but I’m pretty sure that if he saw telepathic messages from you to me, then that could have gone very wrong. Thanks for not messaging me.’

Tiffany sent, ‘Paul said not to when I reported the spellwork in the room.’

‘Xue was on the edge.’ Paul said, ‘Anything would have set him off.’

‘Did you nudge him, Paul?’ Tiffany asked.

‘No.’ Paul sent, ‘Stopping a random Young Master in a bar is one thing. Stopping a Loremaster? Here? When he was already paranoid? I would have taken him down had he done anything, but I would not have nudged him. Defusing that situation was all Ezekiel.’

- - - -

Xue sat in his chair and sipped his tea. It was good tea.

He had considered serving the blacknight tea to Archmage Erick Flatt, which would have killed him rather quickly, as blacknight killed all humans rather quickly and thoroughly. But he was Archmage Erick Flatt, and Poi Fulisade, his MIND MAGE guard, would have seen through that and then Teressa Rednail, an absolute tank of a woman, would stomp his face in, especially with that Blood Charm on her finger. He wouldn’t have been able to do a thing to any of them.

Even if he had succeeded in the impossible, then his entire Clan would have turned on him.

These were the thoughts swirling through Xue’s mind. He had quite a few variations on the theme, but all of them ended the same way; with his death and destruction.

… He was being paranoid.

Archmage Erick Flatt had been correct about this aspect of Intelligence, but according to the small conversations he had taken with the Alchemists in the Potion House, and Riri, and Arilitilo, only he seemed to be experiencing this side effect. Only he had ignored Archmage Erick Flatt’s advice, and had pumped almost all of his extra points into Intelligence. 32 points! He only had 3 floating points left.

None of the others had said how many points they put into Intelligence, but he had a feeling that most did not go over 25. All of them were benefiting, though.

Riri was restructuring her entire operation. For a short while, she predicted that the income of Star Song would dip, but she projected anywhere from 125% to 250% increase in gross income.

Arilitilo was going over all of her teaching materials. She was planning on writing a book on Healing Magic and a secondary one on Blood Magic. She might even get points from Rozeta for such a publication.

The Alchemists were in constant conference, and though they had not solved Tadashi’s anti-Elixir, they were close. They had also torn apart a library-full of alchemy texts, and reorganized them by Particle Magic effects and True Magic effects. The depths of that unrealized dichotomy were already sending waves through many of the clans participating in the realization of Tadashi’s creation.

And here was Xue.

Paranoid out of his mind.

Paranoid enough to think that Archmage Erick Flatt wanted to kill him.

The depth of his paranoia was unknowable, for why would Archmage Erick Flatt ever want to kill him? Why? It made no sense. And yet… This was what Xue thought.

Xue was also smart enough to know that Archmage Erick Flatt had seen absolutely every way in which he had set up an attack, and yet Archmage Erick Flatt had still walked into firing range of them all. Archmage Erick Flatt did not care about Xue’s meager skills, or spells. He did not see Xue as a threat.

For Xue was not a threat—

No. That wasn’t correct.

That was the paranoia speaking.

Archmage Erick Flatt had seen through Xue, understanding the man’s paranoia in a way that Xue himself hadn’t really understood, because Xue himself had not wanted to understand his weakness in that way. Archmage Erick Flatt was not trying to weaken Xue before he murdered him, either.

Archmage Erick Flatt’s entire existence was public knowledge, if you knew which public to ask, and Archmage Erick Flatt had never killed to silence opposition, or to silence people below him. Archmage Erick Flatt would not try to silence Xue, just because the man was being paranoid.

Ah.

His thoughts were flowing in ever-deepening circles. Again.

… He set down his cold cup of tea, then got up and went to the working side of his office. He opened a specific drawer in his apothecary cabinet, and pulled out a small box with an old object he barely used anymore. A silver ring with a bloodstone diamond set into the band. It wouldn’t hold the curse forever, but it would hold the curse for several days, and he had lots of bloodstones.

He pricked a finger with the focused power of another finger. Blood flowed, in tiny drops. In seconds, the curse was complete. The jewel glinted with the denial of power. He slipped the ring onto his finger.

The effect was instantaneous. The cursed item latched onto his finger, soaking into his aura and his body; it could not be removed except through extreme force, or divine intervention—

Or through one of Erick’s rings.

—and the world went… dim.

It was as though he had taken a shot of distilled rice wine. Color seemed to return. Weights fell away. He breathed easier. He cast a [Cleanse], and the world seemed nicer. Negative 31 to Intelligence. He overshot the mark by several points…

But this was fine.

The shadows didn’t seem to move around him anymore, like they were alive. Like they were watching him.

Xue didn’t know how Erick had done it; living with a high Intelligence all this time. Xue had enemies, for sure. He had been an Enforcer years ago, and he still did some enforcing when it came to those who created new Particle spells that harmed the world and the people of Eralis. But he certainly did not have the whole world watching him. He certainly did not speak to Melemizargo on a semi-regular basis, or have talks with Rozeta and all the other gods and—

Oh holiest of divine shits.

Xue had actually planned on attacking that man!

Fuck! Why did he think that was a good idea?

Xue groaned into his hands, as he laid down on the solid floor, and gently beat his head on the ground. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. And then he sat up, and calmed. He considered what were the real ways in which Erick would ever want to hurt him.

Right now, the whole world might not be watching Star Song, but all the major players were.

… And Erick had been rather vocal about his views, hadn’t he?

Star Song certainly did not qualify as tyrannical. They fully adhered to the Compact of Songli, struck all those years ago. Xue truly had nothing to fear from Erick, did he? Star Song had nothing to fear from the man, either. They killed criminals and agents of shadow all the damned time, but those were functions of a working government, and Erick had even helped to kill all those murderers and otherwise in Treehome, and all the Hunters of the Crystal Forest.

Hmm. There might be a problem with conscripting people for war…

Was that correct? Would that be something that Erick didn’t like?

… Maybe?

Nah. It was necessary to defend oneself from—

Ah. Shit.

Xue looked at his finger, and the ring thereupon.

He had made a mistake.

Terror Peaks was banging at the gates. Soon, there would be an attack. Those bandits who had taken Tadashi had been from Terror Peaks, or at least some of them had been. Erick might not be out to get him, but others were. Sometimes, the malice was real, and the danger was, too.

Xue made a decision.

Xue sliced off his finger, discarding the cursed ring with the discarded digit. The curse lingered for the barest bit, but then it began to fade. As his Intelligence returned to previous levels, and his finger regrew, the paranoia returned, but this time, Xue had a better target for his worries.

For as the archmage had said, ‘It wasn’t paranoia if they were out to get you.’

Some of those people were preparing right now, no doubt.