People like to tell stories about Arcanists. How they can command the forces of nature and perform great feats of magic akin to miracles, but real accounts of such things are rare. For the most part, the general populace, Vance included, have no real idea what a powerful Arcanist is capable of.

Vance knew they can create magical objects. He could do that himself. Sort of. He knows that they can wield magic as a weapon, flinging fire or ice at something to burn or break it. He could do that too. Sort of.

Today was the day that Vance realised that there was so much more potential in magic than he had ever dreamed. He'd been there when two Arcanists stood in the air like it was solid ground. They walked on it like it was a thin, flawless pane of glass.

Mariah had mentioned the possibility of an Arcanist being able to fly, but a story was just that, a story.

The monumental forces of mana that he'd sensed from those two individuals told him exactly how far he'd come. What he considered to be significant progress was nothing more than a child waving around their favourite toy, thinking they knew how it worked. Sure, they knew that when they waved it, it made a sound, but that was simple causality.

These were the thoughts running through his head as he and his companions made their way into a nearby Inn. Vance didn't bother asking about the name, he just wanted to sit down and think about what he'd just experienced.

Vance was certain that up until this point, he'd never experienced real awe. He was faintly aware that Leon and Mariah were talking, he'd occasionally grunt or nod his head, which seemed to appease them, but he was obsessed. He'd never felt like this before, he didn't really know how to describe it, he felt inspired, driven. He'd felt motivation like that before but this time it was mixed in with a strange survival instinct. It was something old and deep inside that told him a predator had its fangs to his throat and it was time to fight or die.

It was the strangest, sweetest desperation he'd ever felt. He sorted through these feelings and came to his conclusion. It was a sort of longing.

He yearned deeply for that power. It was like finding out there was something you'd needed your whole life but never had. He found himself letting fire mana build up in his core, subconsciously battering it down at the last possible second before it got out of control. He wanted to feel that power swelling within him for just the briefest instant, he wanted to see how far he could push it. Could an inferno like before swallow entire buildings? Towns and cities? He wanted to fly too, up high, where he belonged.

"Vance!"

Mariah's concerned voice broke him out of his trance. It made him jump. When he refocused, he'd noticed that he was letting too much of that fire mana seep out and he'd scorched the table where he had gripped it, he could feel the tiny pieces of wood ash coming away with his fingers.

"Sorry. I was in my own world there for a minute." Vance pulled his arms back and placed them in his lap. He beat his fire core back down to normal. When he took stock of himself, he realised that feeling was gone, like it had never been there.

"That was unlike me." He thought.

"Sorry, again. What were you guys talking about? I think what happened back there has left me a little dumbstruck." He shook his head out as he finished his sentence like he was dismissing some errant thought.

"We were saying that since the inquisitor is here, let's get the hell out of town. With her around, the problem is sure to be solved, yes? Besides, we clearly have no business messing with their affairs."

Vance nodded absentmindedly, clearing out his thoughts.

"Yeah, I think you're right, Mariah. That level of power is something I don't think we have any business poking our noses into. It was absurd. With that much mana, they could..." he trailed off, he didn't really know how to put it into words, but he felt it, the potential.

"In short, I think coming here might've been a mistake," he added.

"Good, then we all agree." Leon chimed in. "Let's get some food and get out of town befo-"

The Gods must have a sense of comedic timing. Before Leon finished his sentiment, the world shook. Vance felt it an instant later, he grabbed Mariah who was sat next to him at the table and essentially tackled her to the ground. It would've looked ridiculous had the top floor of the inn not been torn off a moment later, showering the area with debris.

Vance wasn't sure if it was a good idea to move, but it beat sitting still. Leon was sat opposite them and was struck by a few errant pieces of rubble, fortunately, the big man took it in his stride and got out of his chair, heading towards the door.

The other two joined him. The other patrons inside began to scramble out, when they got outside they saw the first floor of the inn had been torn entirely free of the building and had crashed into the shop next door, crushing in the roof.

Leon's eyes went wide when he looked in the opposite direction. He looked across the town to the area of the Aimlee household and the towns ports. That entire area was obscured now by the enormous twisting cyclone of flame that dominated his field of view.

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Mariah had fallen to her knees. It was terrible. She began to try to fathom how many people this had killed before Leon pulled her up by her arm and shouted at her.

"Run!"

She did.

He picked up Vance, he knew it'd be faster. Vance didn't protest. Instead, he was entirely focused on the immense source of fire and wind mana in the distance that assailed his mana sense, drowning him in a sea of sensations. Luckily he'd become somewhat accustomed to that, so it didn't totally incapacitate him.

As Leon ran towards the edge of town, he saw invisible blasts crashing into building in the distance, some behind, some in front. People all over the town were running in every direction, looking for cover. There were quite a lot of bodies in the streets already. The screams were terrible.

Mariah turned to what she assumed was a battle. She saw cascades of lightning tearing through the sky in seemingly impossible arrangements, colliding with other invisible forces and being dispersed in every direction, the bolts arcing off in random directions, obliterating portions of the town.

She saw as a minute figure in the distance, high in the air. It passed through the walls of the blazing inferno. The whole thing began to dissolve away and the smoke and flames began to wisp away into the air. Moments later one of the nearby buildings tore itself free from the ground and was thrown in the direction of the tiny figure, whereupon it was immediately sundered into thousands of tiny pieces which each seemed to come to life and begin an onslaught of their own, only to be turned to dust by another intense blaze of heat coming from the small figure.

She nearly fell over again at the immense sight, but a tug from Leon kept her going.

"Stare later!"

Vance forced his mana sense outwards, he could faintly tell that mana was going rampant all over the place and he had to start keeping an eye out, lest they be torn to pieces by a rogue wind blast. His timing was good. "Take cover, quick!" he yelled. He could sense a huge concentration of wind mana on its way over here, leftover from the dispersing tornado.

Leon dived to the right into an alleyway, he had Vance over one shoulder, but reached out and yanked Mariah with him as he went. They all tumbled to the ground, hard.

The cobbles where they'd been standing exploded a second later, sending a shower of stones through the air, battering them after they'd hit the ground. Leon didn't go back out into the street, he made his way through alleyways, giving them more cover from whatever the hell was going on behind him.

They ran and ran, as fast as they could. With the distance and the cover of this many buildings, they made it out of town. Leon didn't stop to look back until he reached the top of the hill leading into town, the one they'd crested just earlier today. Mariah caught up a moment later, she bent over. She had her hands on her knees and started panting as if she'd never run before in her life.

Leon put Vance down and collapsed into a seated position atop the hill. He looked down at the town. It seemed the fight had calmed down, as he didn't see anyone tossing around enormous spells anymore. Leon found that he didn't really care who'd won.

Vance felt that strange feeling working its way back up, but he shook it off before he let it get the better of him this time.

"Is everyone OK?" Vance asked, his voice shaky.

"Yeah, couple of scrapes, nothing major," Mariah reported through long gasps of air.

"Ditto," Leon added, one syllable at a time.

With a sigh of relief, Vance patted Leon on the back and sat down next to him. A few minutes of silence passed, they saw many other people started to evacuate the town, most choosing to avoid the hill and make their way around.

Mariah mumbled, "So many will have died."

"I think it might be largely my fault," Vance said, sombrely. "I think I might have ruined Gloria's plans, forced her into action somehow. I Probed the man she called Tristan, I provoked him."

Leon wrapped his arm around Vance's next and pulled him over. "No offence little brother, I don't think you could make people like this do anything they didn't want to. I suspect something like this would've happened regardless. Maybe not here and now, but somewhere and eventually."

Mariah scooted over and nodded fervently. "I think Leon's right. I think you're overestimating your involvement here a little bit. Sure, you pissed off the powerful guy. Then, apparently, he decided to obliterate the town half an hour later. I don't think it's as simple as you're thinking. Besides, even if it was because you pissed him off, this..." She gestured vaguely in the direction of the town. "would be the biggest overreaction of all time."

Vance seemed to take their sentiments on board. He couldn't help feeling a little responsible, what if Gloria had some master plan to entice him out of the town, then strike? Or maybe some kind of ambush? Regardless, they were right.

"I'd never imagined that Arcanists could be this powerful. The stories... they don't do it justice." Vance mused aloud.

"Yeah, it'll take months for the town to recover from that, probably longer. The whole ports region was more or less reduced to ash, by the looks of it."

The three just sat there for a while, catching their breaths, mostly silent.

Meanwhile, Gloria sifted through the ashes of the Aimlee household. She really hated having to hunt down Arcanists of this calibre, especially when they hole up in places like this. The moral conversations she was in for over the next few weeks were going to be long and incredibly dull. Not to mention her clothes were ruined.

She really hadn't been planning on fighting today. How was she supposed to know that he'd throw out that fire cyclone the minute he knew what she was looking for? Whoever said, "Honesty is the best policy" never met Tristan Aimlee, apparently.

The empire always wanted proof, all she'd found was a hand, so that'd have to do. She hadn't used that much mana, had she? No matter, the task was done.

Idly, she wondered if that funny little trio got caught in the crossfire, that'd be a shame. She was going to find that blind boy quite interesting if he made any significant progress.

On the plus side, it was quiet around here now. The occasional creak of strained wood was her only companion. Though, it did still smell of fish. How was that even possible? She eventually found what she was looking for. With a flick of her wrist, she lifted a nearby wooden beam. She found it amusing that she had to actually move her arm and gather ambient mana for such a simple task, she'd used more wind mana from her core than she'd expected.

"The man only had three cores, but he definitely knew how to use them. That fire cyclone? Inspired." She mused.

She knelt and lifted a small wooden box. An ordinary box would have been obliterated but this one was very, very special. She opened it up and confirmed that the contents were intact, the small vial filled with vibrant green liquid was perfectly intact, not a drop spilt.

She smiled to herself and tapped the box against a small silver ring on her right thumb. The box vanished and she brushed the ashes off of her hands.

"One down."