Aeon’s magic washed through Serenity. It was a constant distraction.

Blaze talked Serenity into a quick meal, but Serenity couldn’t eat much. He already felt stuffed from the mana flowing through the nexus. Serenity leaned back and closed his eyes. His awareness of Blaze’s presence didn’t go away, but it became easier to concentrate on the next thing he had to do.

He needed to stop glowing.

Or did he? The glow was simply because he was taking in more mana than he could process. It wasn’t dangerous. He hadn’t glowed in a ley line in months, not even when he was on Zon or in front of Aeon’s core in Lykandeon’s palace. Admittedly, there was no nexus there.

This had to be because it was a nexus; in fact, it might even be because it was a forming nexus. More magic was moving than normal. Once it finished, he might or might not glow. He probably would if he went to Lyka’s core; it was older and far larger, so there was probably a significant nexus there.

If that was the only place he’d glow, he didn’t need to fix it. His mana channels would widen on their own; that was normal and would happen with ordinary use. It was also safer, with a much lower chance of an injury. While he would probably heal from any injuries he gave himself, there was no reason to court injury if he didn’t need to.

Serenity opened his eyes and looked at Blaze. He was still eating. In fact, it looked like he’d already eaten his portion and gone back for seconds. Maybe thirds. It definitely wasn’t the same sandwich he’d started with. “Does healing make you really hungry?”

“It can,” Blaze admitted. “I generally prefer to eat food high in mana when I’m healing, but when that’s not possible I just have to eat more. It’s not ideal; I’ll have to deal with the aftereffects later, but my body needs food to make mana and I don’t drink mana potions if I can avoid it.”

Serenity couldn’t argue with that. Good mana potions were useful in an emergency, but they were a very bad idea for sustained mana use. It’d been so long since Vengeance was alive that he couldn’t really remember if Vengeance had eaten more for big projects or not; it didn’t quite work the same way for undead.

Serenity glanced down at his glow from too much mana and couldn’t help but smile a little. “I could give you some mana if that would help? I can manage Arcane affinity.” The Arcane affinity was about as close to pure mana as possible, so it was preferred when you didn’t have the affinity the person you were giving it to planned to use.

Blaze froze and set the sandwich down. “I forgot you knew how. Stupid of me; I should know better, you shared mana back in the Tutorial. I’m not really used to working with non-Healers. Yes, that would help a lot.”

Serenity grinned. It was always nice to think of something that had simply been missed, especially when it was this easy. He walked around the table and set his hand on Blaze’s shoulder before gathering up the mana and directing it at Blaze. Something this simple didn’t really need a proper spellform; he’d have to keep control of it but that was all.

Blaze accepted the mana at about half the rate Serenity could supply it. That was fast for a Tier Four like Blaze, at least if he was still Tier Four. Realistically, it was fast for a Tier Five, as well; Serenity had a lot more capacity than a normal Tier Eight. “Have you Tiered up?”

Blaze chuckled. “Yes, but not as much as you have. It was after I healed Ekari. I didn’t feel like celebrating. You’re quite a bit stronger than this morning; it shows in your aura.”

Serenity shrugged without moving the hand on Blaze’s shoulder. “Congrats. Tier Five is impressive, especially if you’re as young as I think you are.” He’d just as soon avoid the topic of his increase in Tier. He still didn’t know what to think about it; he’d never jumped like that in the past. It was supposed to be impossible.

“It all depends on the Paths you take,” Blaze noted. “Time in the Tutorial is good for some of them, not good for others. I’ve been through a few, but I guess I won’t get to go anymore.”

“Why not?” Serenity could understand if Blaze didn’t want to, but if he did, why wouldn’t he go?

“I’m Tier Five. Instructor positions only go up to Tier Four.” Blaze said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Serenity blinked a few times. Didn’t Blaze know? Perhaps he didn’t; Serenity remembered that he’d looked into it as Vengeance, back at Blackthorn. He hadn’t been able to find out much, but he’d thought this particular fact was interesting even then. “Most Tutorials are for Tier Zero to Two planets and have an instructor cap of four or five, with four being far more common, but the highest Tier planet ever inducted was Tier Ten. I’m sure you can guess that the instructors were stronger for that one.”

“Why did they even need a Tutorial?” Blaze asked the question as if he couldn’t think of a possible reason people that strong would need help.

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“Fairness?” Serenity shrugged. “Learning how the Voice works, maybe. I don’t know what they were taught. Might be worth looking into at some point; I’d like to know what they knew before they gained the Voice.”

Were the runeworks on Zon pre-Voice as well? They were old and the Voice didn’t seem to know them, so it was possible. It seemed strange to Serenity, since the old civilization on Zon fell to dungeons. Serenity would have expected the Voice to record a different form of magic at the time instead of waiting for someone like Serenity. Maybe dungeons predated the Voice as well?

“That’s enough,” Blaze interrupted Serenity’s thoughts. “I’d better get back to Karin. She’s … you killed Lykandeon, didn’t you? Not that long ago.”

Serenity nodded.

“Thought so. Several of the bindings on her loosened all at once. It’s good, but it means I need to keep her balanced while she starts to heal.” Blaze paused and frowned. “I expect there are some High Priests that are in pretty deep trouble right now.”

Serenity shrugged. He’d prefer not to borrow trouble. “Nothing we can do about that now. I’m more worried about any that aren’t in trouble, people who were doing things because they wanted to and had the power. People who are in trouble, well, we can’t do anything but they’re unlikely to cause us problems.” He hoped.

“You’re thinking of Alanaeon, aren’t you?” Blaze shook his head. “She strikes me as the kind of person Lykandeon probably didn’t need to affect too much.”

Serenity paused at that. “Maybe more than you think. After all, who’s to say that she wouldn’t have been worse if she didn’t have to stay within bounds?”

Blaze seemed to think about that for a moment. He paled and shook his head slightly. “That’s a nightmare waiting to happen. I’ll leave you to it; I have a patient to see.”

Serenity watched Blaze escape then realized he’d just lost his distraction. :Rissa? You still doing good?:

:Yep, we’re fine.: Rissa sounded buoyant and upbeat, completely different from how Serenity felt. It must be because she was acting and he was waiting. :We’ve found two small caches so far; one had gems, the other held greenstone. They were both on the same wall, so we’re checking the others now.:

:Right, good to hear.: Serenity wanted to tell her to come back to him immediately, but that wasn’t the right thing to say. He had to trust her and he had to trust that other people could keep her safe too. :Stay safe. I’m going to look into the Underground and Priest-Inquirer Alanaeon, see if I can figure anything out.:

Why had he said that? It must have been because of Blaze mentioning Alanaeon. It did seem like a good idea, now that he’d told Rissa he was going to. They did need to look into that situation.

:Good idea. Maybe see if you can find Arkandaeon, too? I have a bone to pick with that man. See you when I get back! Love ya!:

:I’ll try. Love you too!: Serenity had no idea where to look for Arkadaeon. He wasn’t even sure he’d recognize the man if he saw him. Perhaps Aeon would know?

Serenity made his way back to Aeon’s core and set his hand on it. While he could still see the odd greenstone visions in the back of his mind, he wanted to ask Aeon a question and that seemed like the best place to try. Unfortunately, Serenity hadn’t really interacted much with the mage-instructor; he wasn’t even certain he remembered what the man looked like.

Aide, do you have an image of Arkandaeon?

Several.

Aide displayed four images for Serenity; it was still a bit of a trip to see them at the same time he saw the outside world, as if he had a second set of eyes.

Serenity picked one and concentrated on it, then projected it towards Aeon. “Do you know where this man is? His name is Arkandaeon, or maybe Priest Arkandaeon?”

There was no response for a long moment, but Serenity had dealt with Gaia enough that he knew to wait. Worlds didn’t think on the same scale as humans; why should they?

The pause stretched on and on. Serenity found himself watching his internal clock. It was a solid five minutes and seventeen seconds after the question when Aeon finally responded with a vision.

The world turned green for a moment. When it cleared, Serenity could see a man and a woman talking. The man matched the image he’d shown Aeon of Arkandaeon. Serenity thought the woman looked familiar, but he couldn’t place her.

The viewpoint was different from the ones he’d seen before. Instead of lying on the floor or even on a bed or “seeing” from an item or a bare stone, Serenity was seeing from about the same height as the two who were talking. In fact, when he thought about it, he could even feel the sensations of the person he was seeing from; he stood there in light armor carrying something held in a sling across his shoulder. It had to be one of the beam weapons. Strangely, the other gear he’d normally expect wasn’t present.

Arkandaeon bowed. “Commander-Priest, I have been sent to aid you in any way I can.”

Serenity felt Aide focus on the woman. Aide thought quickly and passed his conclusion on to Serenity. That is Priestess Alanaeon. The title matches the one in the note and the face matches the vision you had after the ritual. I do not understand her titles.

Titles? Wait, he called her Commander-Priest and the other vision called her Priest-Inquirer. Is that what you mean?

Rourke also called her Priest-Thaumaturge.

Huh. I have no idea. Commander-Priest and Priest-Inquirer both seem to be rank titles of some sort, maybe, while Priest-Thaumaturge could be an achievement, like an advanced degree?

Aide sent Serenity a wordless feeling of puzzlement. Serenity would have grinned at Aide’s improved communication, but he couldn’t move at all. That was strange; it seemed different from the previous vision. He didn’t remember moving then but he hadn’t felt constrained.

Commander-Priest Alanaeon grinned at Arkandaeon. “Yes indeed; no need to stand on formality, nephew. I requested your assistance. You were the one to identify these people for me, after all; I wish to know what you saw in them. I know what I see, but perhaps you know something more.”