Tercius tilted his head. “You mean for me to pay with… Energy, Mistress, if I understood correctly?”
Mistress Kalina nodded. “You must have noticed the effects the presence of Energy has on you, neophyte. I can’t share the answer with you outright, but let me ask you a question. Considering my previous statements, can you tell me what Mana is?”
Tercius licked his lips. One of the big questions that he had thought about for years now was the relation between Energy and Mana. It was quite obvious to him that there was a direct connection between the two for a simple reason— any time he had Energy in him, Mana was present in abundance. For a year following his revelation about Energy to his family, he had so much Energy that he had not even once run out of Mana. After Ciron had volunteered to be the lab rat for Tercius's few initial tries with the transfer of Energy and emerged with no bad side effects— at least none that manifested in a manner that wasn't good for his health— Tercius had started including Rona, then Septimus and finally Petra. Four months later, Tercius started giving Neiran, Aurelia, and even Leo a very small dose of Energy every second day for over eight months, up until he left with Lux for the Academy.
During that year, Tercius had kept extensive notes about the effects of Energy upon the elderly, adults, and children, at least things that he was able to observe on the small sample size that were his household members— all of it destroyed into ashes and scattered across his garden before he departed from Nurium, of course, but the conclusions of the year-long writings and research were still preserved safe and sound in his mind.
Even before that, he had his suspicions, but that little trial confirmed that he was on the right path. Tercius was convinced that Mana was a derived product of Energy, created by a body through some kind of biological or possibly magical process. Maybe even a combination of the two, who knew? His conversation about metaphysical mana channels with Mistress Lovela and their ability to 'collect' Mana from 'somewhere', followed by the months spent at the House of Pain and Pleasure with one of the prime experts on Wells and mana channels in general only further cemented his theory and now he was given confirmation by Mistress Kalina.
The heavenly nectar of being proven right bathed his bones and muscles, from head to toe.
Riding on a wave of ecstasy, Tercius connected old pieces of a puzzle, long known about but forgotten somewhere along the way, to new and he realized why mages encouraged Well expansion. The most likely reason, Tercius tempered his thoughts with some doubt. Is that once the metaphysical side of the Well is big enough, mages have a highway to the non-derived product at the other end! Energy is present inside every being, as skills indicate… This 'presence' of Energy, though… Is there a reservoir somewhere inside and we access it and eventually drain it? Does it replenish or does it stay dry? Maybe Energy passes through us, or do we pass through it? Or maybe something else completely? Tercius's insides kept bubbling with excitement the more he progressed in his line of thought, but he cooled once he saw Mistress Kalina wave at him. Did she say something? She did. What did she say? Focus!
“You drifted off for a minute there…” Mistress Kalina accused.
“Oh… I was just thinking about your question, Mistress,” Tercius answered.
“And…” Mistress Kalina leaned forward in her chair with raised brows, clearly expecting a better answer.
“And…” Tercius began, uncertain how much to share. The fingers of his hands joined in a tense union as his thumbs opposed each other. “Yes, I know of the link between the two,”
"What is Mana, child?" Mistress Kalina questioned again. It suddenly occurred to him that the word 'child' didn't bother him much when spoken by this woman, for in her case he truly was just that even in his fourth decade of mental life.
“Mana is… a product made of Energy. Derived in some way though mana channels.” Tercius answered and observed Mistress Kalina for a reaction.
There was no reaction. No nod for a yes or no, no word spoken, no wave of a hand, no smile or frown. Mistress Kalina simply sat there like a statue, seemingly neither blinking nor breathing. Did I break her? With that kind of answer… I doubt it… “Mistress?” he asked.
“Yes?”
“Is my answer— oh! You can't answer directly, I see,”
She smiled and nodded. “So what do you say? Are you willing to pay the price of transport to Nurium?”
There were no follow-up questions, so he was most likely correct. But… Tercius suppressed a smile. He saw what the woman was doing with this. She was finding out his limits and abilities with Energy. Some basic observation through interaction. How… normal. He could work with that.
“I’m thinking about it, Mistress,” Tercius said. The woman already knew where his family was, so that ship had sailed, but he needed to think things through and try to see other angles… “But… I will need to use Energy externally to send it to you. What if someone passes by and sees?”
Mistress Kalina smiled and said, “We won’t be doing it here, of course. I have a home to the north of the Pyramid, a secure location protected from scrying and prying eyes.”
“You can’t protect Seliana’s home in the same way?” Tercius asked, doing some investigation of his own.
“I could, but quality wards take time to create, neophyte. Besides, spatial magics are not known as being subtle. There will be a lot of noise, physically and magically speaking, on both sides and wards for something like that are magically intensive. If I were to ward Seliana’s home with such powerful magics, someone might start snooping around her and her daughter and I don’t want to involve her into anything she doesn't need to be involved with,”
“That’s… reasonable,” Tercius concluded when he heard movement across the wooden floor above him. “What about Seliana? What do we say to her?”
***
The late lunch with Seliana, Penelope, and Mistress Kalina was very strange for Tercius, and Seliana was the one to blame for it.
Before lunch, the middle-aged woman smothered him with worry and then, satisfied that all was well with him, fangirled Mistress Kalina on her superb skills in Alchemy for creating the "Potion of Youth". That was one way of masking energy mages, he supposed.
Tercius and Penelope mostly stayed quiet and observant of Seliana's behavior that was… quite over the top. The woman was acting like a little girl, literally bouncing at Mistress Kalina's words. The weirdest part was that the revelation that Mistress Kalina was a mage and an Alchemist instead of a non-mage and Brewer that Seliana had probably initially assumed, didn't come up a single time. The two of them kept talking about their time spent together, the potions they made, the funny explosion that almost destroyed their homes in the time following their parting…
It was… bizarre to behold. Seliana was a rocket of words and adoration running on some impressive energy reserves throughout the afternoon.
Tercius observed Mistress Kalina’s measured but… warm interactions with the excited Seliana and weirdly subdued Penelope, as he pondered on Mistress Kalina’s proposal. An afternoon of stewing on the matter had boiled down to his desire to go, and he finally reached his decision. A trip to Nurium, though… he had some preparations to do.
When they had a moment in private, Tercius informed Mistress Kalina of his decision. “Mistress, before we leave I would also like some time to purchase some things at the Pyramid,”
“Anything I can help with? I do have someone who can get me anything you need shortly,” Mistress Kalina interrupted.
“Well…”
“Don’t hesitate to ask for anything you need. All of it can be at my home by the time we arrive,”
“That’s… acceptable, I guess. Let me think about it for a moment, Mistress,”
The first thing that came to his mind, four Potions of Regeneration, seemingly offended the elder mage.
“Child, you are talking to one of the best Alchemists in the world and you are asking me to order premade Potions of Regeneration?" Mistress Kalina shook her head. "On my fiery pyre will that be allowed. I will order raw ingredients and we will make the potions,"
“Oh?” Seliana came into the room, all ears, followed by Penelope. “Are we making potions?”
Tercius and Mistress Kalina exchanged glances. The elder mage then broached the subject of Tercius coming with her to Seliana and it was here that, after a whole afternoon of nods and agreement to her teacher’s words, Seliana finally chose to put her foot down. As soon as Mistress Kalina explained the situation and gave a brief Mentor-Disciple talk, Seliana struck.
“His uncle left him in my care, teacher. Besides, there’s that paper at the Academy I had to sign… I can’t let him go… I simply can’t… there’s simply no way… but wait… I think I have a solution… if I were to go with him then…” Seliana said with a shy smile and let them deduce her desires.
"What about me, mother?" Penelope chimed in after a moment of silence, where Mistress Kalina and Tercius observed Seliana with wide eyes as if a second head had started to grow from her shoulders. Tercius exchanged a look with Mistress Kalina and saw the same question there. Is this for real?
“How about you stay with the neighbors—” Seliana began, obviously just remembering that she had a daughter.
“I won’t! I won’t stay with the neighbors!” Penelope insisted. “If you can go, Mother, then so can I!”
A lot of back and forth followed and Tercius lost the track of time. Cost of transport was mentioned by Mistress Kalina, to which Seliana had a good answer. Then Seliana started lamenting about missed time and the need to catch up as if she hadn't done that during the long hours of the afternoon. The shameless woman left no doubt of her intentions. She wanted in on wherever they were going, and Tercius could bet his left foot that she would leave Penelope behind even alone should that be the necessary sacrifice. Seliana was a master, or should he say Mistress, of turning a no to a maybe and then finally into a yes, Tercius knew on his skin. If he didn't just leave without her blessing, she would wear them down eventually.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and he asked Mistress Kalina in Magik. “Mistress. Can they come? Please?”
Mistress Kalina turned his way as Seliana fell silent.
“Mistress. I will pay. For them,” Tercius said slowly in Magik and inclined his head to Mistress Kalina.
Mistress Kalina looked at Tercius for a few moments, one curious eyebrow raised. He did speak Magik, broken as it sounded. Her fingers drumming on the wooden surface in consideration. “Seliana, you and your daughter can come, under the condition that the word of this can’t spread to anyone who isn’t sitting right now around this table. Not a word. Is that clear?”
“If I need to sign a contract, I will do so, teacher!” Seliana exclaimed, her fists clenched in victory.
Penelope gave her verbal agreement as well.
“I hope you keep that in mind, this time,” Tercius said to Penelope in all seriousness. She threw a weak punch at him and laughed awkwardly as Seliana and Mistress Kalina started drilling her about keeping her silence.
That placed behind him, Tercius resumed with making a list of things he needed. From things he thought that his household would benefit from having, for example, a small enchanted stove plate made at the Pyramid that was five times more effective yet five times cheaper, to gifts for everyone. During his year at the Academy, he had collected and bought seeds of weird flora for Rona and made a small collection of rare rocks for Ciron, but he had thought that he would have more time to think of something to get for others.
Maybe some more rare seeds for Rona? Maybe some strange mycelium or spores? A dress for Petra… no, she would probably like to make one herself… so a good length of high-quality cloth and thread for her. Maybe a few different types? For Septimus… Full body armor is expensive… the cloak, a little bit of money saved there… a sword, maybe a shield? For Neiran… some drawing equipment and a lot of paper? He was fond of that string instrument, wasn't he… Some needles for Aurelia… No… Hopefully, she outgrew that fascination… A storybook… maybe. Leo… hmm…
Since Tercius's Repository Points were on an account that he couldn't access before he became a mage, he ended up using the extra money that Lux had left for him, as well as the money that he had gotten back from the Academy for being in the top three of his class, and he dipped well into the money that he gained for his troubles at the Court. On a single list written on a single side of a paper, he spent fifteen times more money than what he had earned in all of the years he worked for his grandfather.
While the Repository used Repository Points exclusively, most of the merchants and some of the service providers of Chameos and the Pyramid took both the Empire’s money and the points, and they acted as the bridge between the two currencies. He was hemorrhaging money, spending more in a moment than the whole past year, but the opportunity was too good to let it pass by.
Once he made a list, he gave it and the money to Mistress Kalina and the woman sent instructions through her amulet. “Everything will be at my home within six hours. If there is leftover money, that's when you will get it back,” she informed and Tercius glanced at the window. Pure darkness greeted his view as a snowstorm howled. I guess she has privileges?
“Now, I propose we move to my home,” Mistress Kalina said. “We will—”
Seliana interrupted. “Teacher, I’m sorry for interrupting, but we need to wait for the morning. I need to let my neighbors know we are leaving. If we just disappear, someone will start looking. And considering the circumstances— only I don’t know what to say. Nothing I came up with can explain why we are leaving our warm home in the middle of the worst winter I ever saw,”
"Maybe it's best if you stay, you know, since—" Tercius quipped, in the mood to tease her.
"Bite your tongue, wicked child," Seliana said icily. "You're not going anywhere without me." Even a few hours after the conversation in Magik, Seliana was still annoyed that he talked about her, but at the same time, she had no problem with the other speaker. Tercius was amused by her. Double standards right there.
Mistress Kalina nodded. “We will think of something credible and then leave in the morning.”
***
The flight, his first-ever, from Seliana's home to the nearest entrance to the tunnel network was done under the cover of the snowstorm and both magical, optical, and many other maskings. Magical masking was hiding your spells from other mages sensing skills, and the optical from the ordinary eyesight. Mistress Kalina also had spells to mask mana for other senses, at least she told him so. His first flight was not at all what he imagined. The snowstorm was raging, so he saw nothing at all, and Mistress Kalina had a spell that suspended them in the center of a spherical shield firmly. They didn't even bounce. It was… disappointing, to say the least. He did get to catch a glance of all the spells Mistress Kalina had cast, though, but he was only able to get partial glances as the woman kept the essential components of her spells at all times under partial or full magical camouflage…
A spell around a spell, so to speak, like layers of an onion. Spell observation was a perfectly legal way of obtaining spells, the laws stated.
Together, a group of four humans and three animals made their way through the underground tunnels, using a platform, to the Central Platform Station, and instead of making an exit to the surface, they took one of the many tunnels leading north.
It took them almost two hours of ludicrous, image-blurring speed to reach the exit that left them under Mistress Kalina’s home. A few minutes of unlocking the enchanted wall later, a door appeared and they walked down a long corridor. They were still underground, but the walls were now decorated with tapestries and pictures.
“Welcome to my home,” Mistress Kalina said.
“Greetings, Mistress,” a neutral even voice echoed around them as soon as the door behind them closed and vanished. Tercius searched for the source, but there was no one there. His Mana Sight warned him of the magic that ran through this place, though. There was an elephant of mana hidden in plain view, he was able to glimpse.
As three new arrivals searched for the source of the voice, Mistress Kalina said something in coded Magik. It was strange… the language sounded familiar, but none of it made any sense. First came half a Rurd, then a strange new one, along with broken parts… It was a messy jumble keyed to be understood only by those who were supposed to receive the words, almost like a newly created language that had just two speakers. Magik was convenient that way, a morphable language that changed based on the keys.
“What is the state of the instructions from yesterday?” Mistress Kalina asked in the familiar version of the language, lacing each word with Mana.
“Your instructions are completed, Mistress,” the voice answered.
“Excellent. If any guests come, say that I’m currently absent. If someone comes to inquire about me in a professional capacity, say that I am on personal leave. Upon my departure from the Transference Chamber, engage all wards to the medium setting,” Mistress Kalina said and waved after them to follow her.
“Who was that?” Penelope asked, as Tercius went over the conversation he just heard and tried to figure out a few words that puzzled him. He had gone over the standard Rurd dictionaries multiple times and he knew that he could crack it.
Mistress Kalina said, “An employee of mine,”
The elder mage led them through underground hallways to a large room where the walls were filled with Runes upon Runes. The high ceiling was carved like a canyon, along with every wall of the orb-lit room. Most of the floor of the room was also covered in Runes, instructions written on a scale that would take a view from a distance to understand, but a clear path led to the center of the room where a circular indentation awaited. Tercius's eyes took it all in. Near the center of the room was a pile of things, many familiar at the first glance.
“Take your things into your amulet,” Mistress Kalina waved her hand to the pile of things he ordered and he went at it, packing things into compartments of his amulet. “You two take the animals and wait here. You can sit on the floor,”
“Activate—” — Mistress Kalina used a Rurd he didn’t know— “—map of Sogea.” Mistress Kalina said in clear Magik just as Tercius finished packing the last item. Most of his Mana was gone by the time he finished, spent on mere activation of the amulet’s functions.
"Tercius, come over here," Mistress Kalina waved him over to a hovering map— an illusion, a real-life hologram— and he recognized the river running down the middle immediately. Hippotion. "The map is a few decades old, unfortunately," she said.
Tercius gawked. Satellite imaging, were the two words that thundered through his mind. He could see the desert to the northwest, and one along the eastern coast of Sogea. He could see the towns along the giant river as the map moved before his eyes. Of course, the mages would have something like this—
Mistress Kalina woke him from his daze. “The last expedition sent to the Sogean jungles on the other side of the Kortana’s Peaks completed this aerial imaging. Tell me, is there a spot around your hometown that you know to be free of human habitats? I’d rather not have anyone there to witness our arrival,”
“Kortana’s Peaks?” Tercius murmured the name of the monolithic mountain chain that towered to the south of his home. Sky Rending Mountains, they were called in the Empire.
"Most of these areas along the river are now villages,” Tercius said. “The town is two times bigger, at least. This bend in the river is on the outer perimeter of the town, and there’s a wall that begins just there and encircles the town on this side of the river and then another wall on the other side,”
The map Mistress Kalina had was at least four decades old, Tercius knew from the stamps the masons had left on the giant structure. The wall of the town of Nurium was begun thirty-nine cycles ago and finished six cycles later, the stamps told the story.
“I know that few venture directly east of town. There are packs of lions prowling after herds of wild bovines there,” Tercius informed Mistress Kalina. “I heard that no one goes past the Bloody Tooth Rise,” Tercius indicated the gentle hill in question. Lux had once taken him there, despite his protests, on the claim that it was to fortify Tercius’s courage through exposure. It didn’t. “All who go past it never return, Mistress,”
“That sounds like an excellent place for us to go,” Mistress Kalina stated and clapped her hands. “A few kilometers directly east of this point then… let me just do the math,”
With a final wary glance at the map, Tercius focused on the floating images that Mistress Kalina used to… She was measuring the height from which the image was taken and comparing it to a number that was written on the side of the map. She took that data and Tercius observed as illusions of mathematical Runes started appearing and rearranging. Unfortunately, Tercius had only focused on words of Magik, written and spoken. He knew a few Ruges, but … Runic math was not something he had time to process. Move Runic mathematics to the top of the ‘to learn’ list, he thought even as he memorized what he saw. If he didn't know how to do it now, that didn't mean that the situation would always be that way.
“Done,” Mistress Kalina proclaimed. “Now to check and recheck,”
The result of the calculations stayed behind, but the process was erased with a small wave of a hand. Once more she began from the start and came to a similar, but not the same, result.
“Now where did I make a mistake… This might take a while…” Mistress Kalina mumbled, tapping a finger on her lower lip as she observed her work. “Tercius. Go to Seliana and entertain her somehow. Her movement is distracting me.”
Tercius glanced at Seliana that had started touching the Runic part of the floor. The woman was mumbling something to herself. Tercius turned back to Mistress Kalina's floating Runic formulas. If he had to guess, based on her input data, Mistress Kalina was triangulating a location in Sogea most likely in relation to the very room they were in. Suddenly, all of this seemed real to him— more real than it was the day before and the whole journey here. He was going back and a mistake, especially during magical transport, was not a word he wanted present in his trip.
He didn’t know what kinds of effects followed a miscalculation, and he wasn’t keen on finding out. “Mistress, how about I help you with the calculations instead? I know my way around numbers, maybe I can help…”
***
“My work is done,” Mistress Kalina nodded to him, her eyes closed and nose twitching.
“I understand,” Tercius said and took a deep breath. It was showtime. Via Meditation, through the effigy, and to the Core of Energy Manipulation and Flu, Tercius started collecting Energy within ten seconds of his exchange with Mistress Kalina.
But… he wanted to check something first. A few things, actually. He took just a few chains from Flu and claimed them in the way he learned from Amber. Tercius released the Energy and allowed it to scatter around this skill space. He knew where it would wait for him, after all. He returned to find Mistress Kalina closer than ever, her eyes closed and rabbit-nose furious.
“Mistress,” he said and clapped his hands, calling for the Energy that was present inside his Well. To his Energy Sight, a ball of light was present between two palms, Energy that was marked by him.
Mistress Kalina opened her eyes, looking at him curiously. Tercius held her gaze and waited in silence. He saw her eyes debate and finally the corners turned upwards. “...that's not something that I can use… Not without some change… and in any case, I need about eight times that much.”
Tercius smiled and nodded in gratitude. That was all the confirmation he needed. The Energy from Flu was … universal, in some way. Once more he went back to Flu, and mind-numbing pain shot up his arms as Energy started swirling around him under his command, but by now he was used to it. It still hurt the same as the first time it did, but his reaction to the pain was no longer extreme. More and more he took, filling up the space around him with an Energy whirlwind.
As soon as he had a bit more than what was needed, he returned to the real world and gave the Energy to Mistress Kalina, who suddenly seemed to have trouble breathing. “Ohhh…” The woman kept smacking her lips and almost caressing the cloud of Energy he gave her. “It’s…”
Tercius glanced at Penelope and Seliana and saw them observe Mistress Kalina with strange eyes.
“Teacher… are you feeling well?” Seliana asked.
Turning off Energy Sight, Tercius saw what Seliana and Penelope saw. Mistress Kalina was hugging the air, murmuring slowly and gently. He remembered the way his grandparents behaved, during those first few months of Energy use, and he felt a smile come to him. He couldn't count the number of times his family had come to Tercius for an Energy injection, just before bedtime…
Tercius snorted in amusement as he remembered the fumbling answers from Ciron and Rona when he asked what skill they would practice with the Energy he gave them.
Hopefully, she can manage herself, Tercius thought and placed a closed hand to his mouth to mask the smile as a cough.
“Oh yes,” Mistress Kalina said tenderly, between gentle pants. “I’m… good. Never better.”