Alex pointed to an instrument resembling a temperature gauge filled with blue glowing liquid.

“I've put enough of Hannah’s energy into the controls so you’ll be able to use them, Birger,” he said to the giant. “As long as the gauge has liquid in it, you’ll have enough energy to operate the sanctum without me. Kelda’s foresight’s really something to admire: she installed an energy storage compartment inside the controls that takes and holds Hannah's energy for a while. I believe she put it in so her assistants could use the sanctum’s functions if she wasn't around.”

“Good on her,” Birger said, his voice sounding well pleased. “Of course she’d think of something like that. So…my question is, what do you want me to do?

“Operate the traps.” The General of Thameland nodded to a swarm of small portals hovering above the controls, each a window to a different room in the sanctum. “You'll be able to see into every room through these portals, but you’ll have to learn which portal corresponds to which room. When you know that,” Alex pointed to rows of buttons on the controls. “You'll be able to use these buttons to turn the traps on and off.”

The old giant raised an eyebrow. “But why would I be turning the traps off? Shouldn’t I just leave them on so that secret church lot gets slaughtered?”

Alex shook his head. “That's what I was thinking at first: until I realised it wouldn’t work. Not if our plan is to get rid of all of them at once. If we want them dead, we’ll have to lure them deep into the sanctum.”

“And why is that?” Birger asked. “Seems to me that once you lure them here, you can just close the portals behind them and they’ll be trapped. Doesn't matter how many traps they walk into.” The old firbolg smiled viciously as he imagined their hunters being cut down like dying trees.

The young wizard smiled weakly. “I wish it was so simple: but there's a problem with that. The first time my friends and I came up against the hidden church—back in Thameland—they escaped using some kind of miracle. The ones who we didn’t kill became these pulses of light that streaked away through the sky, and just disappeared. If it wasn’t for that, we probably could have finished them off.”

“So you think they might be able to escape again? Birger asked.

“There's a distinct possibility they could,” Alex said grimly. “And they're smart: if we lure them into a trap, and they start taking losses early, they'll retreat, and if they get away, they'll be a lot more cautious in the future. They've been after us for months now and—as far as they know—we’re still completely vulnerable to them: so the moment they get a whiff of our trail, they’ll come running like the dinner bell’s ringing. But, if we only kill some of them, and the rest get away…”

“…I doubt they’ll take the bait a second time. Then if we ever want our lives back, we’ll have to be the ones trying to hunt them down,” Birger nodded. “Makes sense. So you want to lure those rats as deep into the sanctum as we can get them before we start turning up the heat?”

“Exactly,” Alex smiled viciously. “We want to make sure they're well into the trap before we really spring it on them. To start off with—ah! Bjorgrund, you’re back!”

The young giant stepped from a portal and into the lab with an easy, excited swagger to his gait. “Nice collection of traps in here. I looked over all of them,” he said. “You asked me which of them we should use first, right?”

Bjorgrund came up beside his father and Alex and pointed at one of the window-portals hovering above the controls. “My first choice would be those goddess statues with the fire-beams, they’re what I’d pick to use on the church first.”

Alex shook his head. “I don’t think so, because if we hit them with those fire-beams, whoever doesn’t get fried, will immediately turn tail and run. We've got to lure them in, like we're slow-boiling a frog.”

Bjorgrund’s eyes went wide. “Why would anyone slow boil a frog? That's sick!”

“It's just an expression…even though in some places people actually eat frogs…” Alex shook his head. “Nevermind! The point is, if we start with fire-beams and blow most of them up, the rest'll just retreat right away. We've got to get them deep enough into the sanctum that we can kill all of them.”

The young giant sighed in disappointment. “Alright—but, I still wanna see those fire-beams in action—but you've got a point. Then, I think that room there’s a good choice.” He pointed to another window-portal.

“Ah, is that the trap that shoots poisoned spears?” Birger asked.

“Yeah! It's deadly, and it'll kill some of them, but probably not enough to make them anything but really mad. They'll just keep coming for us.”

“Perfect, and then we can hit them with the deadlier traps, good thinking Bjorgrund,” Alex said. “So, keeping that in mind…could I get you two to plan a route through the sanctum?”

Father and son looked at each other. “A route?” Birger asked. “What do you mean by a route?”

Alex pointed at the map. “We should ‘gently guide’ them through the sanctum. By opening and closing portals to different rooms, we can herd them where we want them to go, and keep them away from places we don't want them in. So what you’ll need to do is look at the different traps and make a corridor through the sanctum. Don't just choose one path, if we leave a couple of portals open, it won’t seem like we're purposely directing them to where we want them to go. It gives the illusion of choice, which is what we want them to believe.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Right…” Birger said. “So they'll go from room to room, running into traps along the way, which will gradually decrease their numbers.”

“Exactly,” Alex said. “I'll also leave some summoned monsters in every room to do more damage.”

“And where’s this route going to end up?” Bjorgrund asked. “Where are we herding them to?”

“To you and me,” Alex said. “Once their numbers are down enough, we’ll be waiting with an army of summoned monsters to crush the rest of them.”

The young giant rubbed his hands together. “I like the sound of that.”

“I'm not so sure I do,” Birger said. “I'm worried about you two facing that First Apostle, no matter how big your army of summoned monsters is.”

Alex smiled. “Not just any army, Birger. There's something I have to do, but after that, I’ll be learning some seventh, eighth and—hopefully—ninth-tier summoning spells. At those levels, I'll be able to summon things that’ll make even the First Apostle nervous. Well, at least, I hope so.”

“We’ll have a whole army, Father, just like the one Alex used against the rune-marked,” Bjorgrund said.

The young wizard shook his head. “Oh, we'll have a lot more than what we faced the rune-marked with, and many of them will be a lot more powerful.”

“It still makes me nervous…” Birger said.

“After you see some of my new monsters, maybe you'll be less afraid,” Alex offered.

“Maybe,” Birger said. “Can you summon some right now?”

Alex shook his head. “Not yet. My mana pool isn’t quite powerful enough for eighth and ninth-tier spells. Maybe only seventh for now.”

“Then we can't rely on them. It takes a long time for a wizard to build up their mana pool,” Birger said. “How long do you think it would take you to strengthen yours enough for ninth-tier spells?”

“If I have my way?” Alex said, taking a small bottle of glowing liquid from his satchel. “About a day.”

“That's the bottle of soul stuff you've been collecting, right?” Bjorgrund asked.

“That it is,” Alex said. “And now I finally have enough to implant my artificial mana pool. That's one reason I'd like you to spend the next little while planning out the trap route in the sanctum: while you're doing that, I'll be doing a bit more soul-surgery.”

The young wizard looked at Kelda’s equipment. “Since I have this amazing lab to use, I'll probably be able to make it even better than I initially thought.”

###

Once again, Alex lay naked inside the Cage.

He’d modified the machine, preparing it to do more than simply cut threads on the soul, but surgically attach something new.

First, he’d have to construct the artificial mana pool.

Above him the bane knife that Val’Rok had lent him hovered, gripped by a glowing Wizard’s Hand surrounded by the arms—tipped with bane–scalpels—attached to Kelda’s machine.

Floating above him was a clear, magically treated basin, ready to hold his soul-stuff. Inside the vessel was where he’d be constructing his artificial mana pool. His heart was pounding, but he breathed deeply, trying to relax.

‘Remember,’ he thought. ‘This’ll be a lot easier than removing the Mark’s patch. Much easier. Just follow the design you created, let the Mark of the General guide you, and get it done. No point in waiting.’

Another Wizard’s Hand floated to the basin, carrying the bottle of soul stuff, and poured the shining liquid. It ran into the waiting vessel freely. Then the scalpels began their work.

The blades cut, pierced and kneaded the soul stuff with Alex's precise control. He called on the Mark of the General to guide him, producing images of his previous work harvesting pieces of his soul, as well as mana manipulation.

The substance was a formless liquid at first, Alex pressed a mana conductor to the bottom of the basin, sending careful pulses of energy into it, changing the liquid, turning it to a gel that was reacting to the mana and the blades’ actions. Soon, what was once a runny liquid began forming into a thicker, syrupy substance.

As the blades continued kneading the mana charged soul stuff, it kept thickening, turning viscous. Thick liquid formed, settling into the precise pathways of an artificial mana pool. Artificial fibres, for mana generation—even more efficient than his natural ones—were shaped by the knives—preparing to begin creating the power for his spells.

He shaped tiny ‘threads’ of soul stuff to connect the fibres of his natural mana pool, to allow them to power each other. Finally, he carved the general structure of the pool so it would occupy the exact space as his ‘natural’ mana pool.

It was a difficult concept to wrap one's head around: from what he'd read, most wizards had simply implanted the artificial mana pool beside their natural one then connected the two.

But a mana pool didn't occupy physical space, much like the soul.

There was no reason he couldn't position the artificial version around the original one through mana manipulation techniques.

‘Almost like a patch.’ He grinned, looking at the image of his mana pool that the Cage projected. ‘Thanks for the ‘help’, Uldar. Your design inspired this concept. Connecting the pools together, side by side, would provide a lot more power, just as Val’Rok had said. But laying one atop the other would also create more efficiency, and allow them to support each other better. The power output should be exponentially greater.’

At last, he was almost through, he’d finished constructing the mana pool in the basin.

It gleamed like a miniature sun, ready to generate even more power than his natural mana could. He couldn't wait to see what it would do in conjunction with what he already had.

With the greatest care, Alex let the bane knives hold the artificial mana like tongs, then lowered the construction into his being. He could feel it slide into him, burrowing into his essence and very soul, joining with them.

Controlled with mana manipulation the Cage’s arms set the artificial mana pool in place, adhering it to his natural one. Bane blades gently snipped the fibres of his pool, joining them with the strands of his new one.

He took care, controlling his mana, keeping it flowing away from the new pool until it was fully connected. The work was slow, tedious, and had to be meticulous, as he attached each artificial strand to his natural fibres.

Alex was dimly aware of the giants, breaking for supper, going off to bed while he continued his work.

At last, the finicky task was almost done.

He connected the last strand to the final fibre of his mana pool, joining the two together.

Then, taking a deep breath, he poured energy into the artificial pool.

Its inner energies sparked.

Alex felt like a new star had come to life deep within the pit of his core.