The man appeared in the courtyard, face shadowed by the setting sun.  Wandering knights paused at the sight, apprentices halted mid-stride.  No one ever left the prison block without being let out of it.  Every one of the apprentices and knights who had been trained here had put their magic into the walls of the castle and prison during each grueling practice.  It was impossible for one single person to break out. 

And to do it without tripping the monitors?  That was even more impossible. 

"Halt!"

One of the knights had the presence of mind to recover quicker and he challenged the man standing at the main door. 

"Why should I?" the man asked. 

"You are being held for the murder of Rethas in an unofficial duel," the knight said, "I don't know how you got out but now I'm here-"

The man interrupted the knight, "I have done nothing wrong, Rethas was the person who issued the challenge.  "

"That is still under investigation.  "

"Then I shall await the result at my own leisure," the man said calmly. 

"You will do no such-"

"And you will be the one to stop me?"

The knight unsheathed his sword, "if-"

He never completed his sentence.  Before anyone could even react, a magical blade shot out of the ground from underneath the knight's feet and pierced his body from below.  It swept through the body and condensed back into a ball of magic above the prisoner's hand. 

The whole action took less than a second, and the knight collapsed to the ground bonelessly. 

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"You didn't kill him?" Batho asked the star mentally. 

"No," the star replied, "like we said, we do not kill unnecessarily.  He's just drained of power.  "

"Well, it seems that every single knight in the place is coming for us now," Batho observed, "you have a plan to get out of this?"

The star radiated agreement. 

The enchantment on the prison walls was connected to the castle's and ultimately the city's walls.  A weak point anywhere could be shored up by magic from another section.  The automatic distribution network was what made Arc's defenses impregnable.  That scheme backfired now. 

The star drew heavily on the compromised network, and as the powerful shield around Batho turned aside and absorbed spellfire from all directions, the network automatically refilled the shortage in the prison.  The star drank it all, like water down a drain. 

Batho laughed, the storm of magic around him was futile, futile!  For all the knights' trying, not a hair on his head stirred.  Inside the bubble generated from the defense of the city itself, no number of knights would be able to penetrate. 

At last the storm subsided, revealing a much emptier courtyard.  The few knights still trying to attack him were rapidly running out of steam and Batho's shield was... stronger?

"Let us go, we have to look for a place," the star said. 

"Aren't you going to retaliate?" Batho asked. 

"Why?" the star seemed to be amused, "why should we strike those who were kind enough to donate their magic for our gain?  And now with this much magic, there are much better sources of lifeforce than a few puny knights.  "

They left the prison unopposed.  A few fireballs and gale blasts were not real opposition after all. 

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The star led him out of the city into the forest.  It was heading towards a mountain on the other side of the city from the crash site. 

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"Don't we have enough power yet?" Batho asked. 

"No, we do not," the star said. 

"But we just drained the entire Arc defence enchantment!" Batho exclaimed, "how much power do you need?"

"More.  The defence enchantment is but a drop compared to the sea we require.  "

Batho staggered over a root, trying to imagine what the star needed it for.  And how they were going to acquire it.  The power contained in the deceptively small ball in his left hand was already beyond imagining, enough to demolish whole cities.  And the star wanted more? 

"Um, I thought you wanted power?  Why are we heading this way?" Batho asked, "the city is to the north, if you want to get the magic, we should head there.  "

"People are not the only source of power," the star explained, "and people bring trouble.  Like the knights.  Weren't they troublesome?"

Batho could only agree. 

"Wouldn't it be nice if we could work without their interference?" the star asked.  Was it actually trying to tease him?  Batho shook his head, there was no way the star would do that. 

The star ignored his stray thoughts and guided him deeper into the forest, "look around you, Batho.  Sense the magic.  "

Batho looked obediently but there was no magic to be seen.  "What do you mean?  I don't see anything from my magic sense.  "

"Look deeper," the star said.  Then it took control of his lifeforce again, and unconscious filters seemed to drop away. 

It was like looking at the world with new eyes, seeing things that he noticed before but paid no attention to.  Every tree, bush and fern was glowing with magic.  Through the soil, he could see the roots that shot downwards into the earth, the fine mesh of tiny roots broken through with the massive spikes of the tap roots.  Amidst that, dim wriggles of earthworms and the lights of small creatures dotted the surface. 

The star showed him more, as his magic sense continued to sharpen.  The soil glowed with a faint cloud and tiny sparks floated by in the air, showering down from trees that were like columns of light shooting up into the sky.  Batho looked down and saw his own hand, pulsing with the beat of life, echoing the riotous cacophony of lifeforce all around and under him. 

Another last layer dropped away, the life around him building into an intolerable glow.  But beyond the trees and soil, another even fainter ocean of magic became visible.  For all its feather light touch, it was vaster than the thin layer of foliage clinging to the surface of the ground.  Amorphous clouds of unshaped magic danced through the sky, condensed streams flowing beneath the ground and far below, the pulsing of the greatest concentration of raw mana.  A long and slow breath like the lungs of a giant that took months to complete a single ebb and flow cycle, and it promised power.

Then the star retreated, leaving Batho kneeling on the mundane forest floor, his magic sense wavering after the overload. 

"Is that what you see?  All the time?" Batho whispered.  He couldn't help but feel like an ant after that revelation, having had a glimpse of the forces around him. 

"Indeed, it is what we see," the star replied, "and indeed what we have in mind.  We are near the mountains and should be far enough.  It is time to begin the harvest.  "