The thunder rolled overhead, as the rain fell in steady and heavy drops onto the villagers. Murphy’s hands burned as he gripped the wet rope.

"Heave!" He shouted over the thunder.

Collectively, he and the five men helping him wrenched on the rope, lifting a heavy stone slab into the air. Once it was high enough, three more villagers got to work moving it into place. They held the weight by the rope and pulleys, until the others gave the signal to lower it. The finished structure looked completely useless. It was nothing but a flat stone propped up on four wooden pillars, but Murphy had a bigger plan in mind.

It had been several days of storms and study. The tips his master had given him, led him down a rabbit hole of information he'd never dreamed of knowing. The old man was right in assuming the ledger box contained more useful tomes. The name Qu Fletcher alone summoned six books, Ratter Callister getting him two more. Using common keywords in the titles of his favourite texts, he was able to find enough more that he had no chance of reading it all in the short time he had. He focused on the books that he thought may be the most helpful, and resigned to being fascinated at a better time. With his new found wealth of information, he also devised a ledger of his own. It took some testing to get right. The first time he wrote his ledger, he titled the paper slip with a secret and nonsense word that he made up. That was how he intended to keep it from being summoned by someone else. The problem he faced was that every time he summoned something from the box that was recorded on his ledger, the ledger itself would be summoned along with it, since the same thing was written on it. He attempted devising a short-hand writing system to use, though decided it would be too hard to remember. He eventually discovered the trick to it. If he wrote his secret word on something like a cloth bag, and placed the list inside, the ledger would remain in the box when the book was summoned. He confirmed his understanding, when he attempted to summon a book he was reading by using a phrase he remembered from its pages. It didn’t work. It seemed that the box could only summon things based on text, if it could be read from the outside. He wondered if the box knew how to read, but had to shelve that curiosity for the time as well.

What he was able to learn from the texts he decided on reading, was illuminating. He discovered in the pages, a deeper level of the Runecraft he thought he understood. His runes were based on patterns of symbols that he had memorised over the years. He knew how to make the magic work, but never why it worked that way. The author Qu Fletcher wrote extensively on the process, going as far as to claim to be the one to have devised modern Runecraft. He doubted the man was actually responsible for the common Dolmic alphabet, but he couldn't argue with the results of his findings.

He had for a long time understood that magic worked through aspectral resonation. However now he understood the relationship between frequency and effect.

'The frequency at which an aspect resonates is directly responsible for the outward effect on all surrounding fields and planes, including but not limited to the mortal and physical plane. The value of the frequency, of which we will here refer to as 'Flech', can be altered directly within any given aspect by the use of complex geometric patterns. The process can be achieved by the use of aforementioned geometry, in conjunction with the use of related aspectral inks and Daionic influence.'

That particular book went on to explain the relationship between the Dolmic letters used in Runecraft, and the 'flech' value associated with each symbol. He recognised the symbols he always used when making a ball of force in an example equation, and learned that they were a formula that would resonate aspect at '37.7 flech'. He tried the formula with the fire aspect, and found it to have a wildly different effect. Fire aspect would grow in heat and area of effect the higher the flech value went, but the force aspect seemed to have unpredictable effects outside of the formula he knew. While playing around with the concept, he taught himself an entirely new formula for force, that had the effect of pushing everything in a five metre radius violently to the ground. The effect was consistent, so he decided to record it in the journal he'd been using more often of late. The knowledge of flech values gave him a lot of practical experimentation to do, lending aid to his trap designs. He was also relieved to find a justification behind some of the numbers he'd seen written in other texts. They were most times, followed by the symbol for a flech. The task of going over those books again to memorise the values was added to the growing list of problems for later.

The one book that caught his attention the most, was something written by someone he'd never heard of. The tome was titled 'Daionic Cultivation of Aspect and Material'. The bottom of the cover read 'Reconstitutional laws of Transmutation VI, by Vessen Tane-Wonramah'.

It was a step by step guide on generating usable Daions from aspect and matter. It described the relationship between the physical world, and the aspect that makes it. In its pages, he learned of the true nature of the things around him, and the true potential of the magic he used. The author described the creation of material through aspect as if it was a simple thing to accomplish. He used stone as an example, and explained that with enough aspect and Daionic energy, the aspect of stone could be manifested into a real stone, brought forth into existence through sheer power. The amount of energy required to do such a thing was immense and impractical, unless you understood transmutation. The pages referenced necromancy as a cheap and half hearted alternative, and Murphy made sure to keep both in mind, since he had no idea what either craft was in the first place.

Transmutation was something of a compelling topic for him. It confirmed his ideas about entropic reconstitution, and expanded on the potential. According to Tane-Wonramah, there was in fact a true aspect. He referred to it as Axiom, and referenced it many times. The point of the long winded lesson was that aspects and matter could be reconstituted into Axiom, then degraded intentionally into Daions. It covered a runic method, as well as an alchemical method. Murphy stuck to the runic method, since alchemy was something he still only hoped to understand. The process was to have two or more aspects resonate at values that encouraged the maximum level of entropic reconstitution between the two. Finding the flech to resonate them at was a unique problem to each aspect, though the book thankfully provided an example project using the common analogues of fire and stone aspects. He also needed an empty Daionic crystal to use as storage for the aspects, something that he only learned was possible in setting up for his experiments. He still had the emptied wolf's eye crystal, so he was happy to find a use for it.

The crystal would sit between the runes he created to resonate the aspects. It sat atop a glyph symbol that he'd never seen before, and it was painted with a mix of the two aspects he was using. He followed the instructions in the book to the letter, and painted his connecting lines as instructed. The resulting rune was relatively simple, the lettering was isolated into two circles, separated by a specific distance. The rest of the rune lines hugged the outside of the circles, without ever crossing paths. They met the triangle surrounding the glyph and crystal, painting a pattern that looked like a spider curling its legs up between the outer runes. Near to the outer runes, he included small wells which he filled with silicate powder he scraped from the crystal. He knew the purpose of the wells by now. They were referred to as Daionic transformers, and would assist in carrying the flowing Daions through open air and to their destination. In this case, that destination was the outer runes, since the Daionic symbol to signify the beginning of the rune was located beneath the glyph. Once he empowered that symbol, the result was out of his hands. He had empowered the same symbol countless times before, on countless different runes, never knowing for sure if it would work out. Something about this particular time gave him pause however. Perhaps it was the implications of what he stood to discover beyond that moment, or perhaps it was that he wasn't entirely sure if anything he'd read in that heavy book was true at all.

The result of the first step left him with a hot crystal filled with chaotic aspect. Nearly all of the reconstituted aspect was drawn into the crystal. If done right, he would have only lost nine percent of the aspectral energy he was trying to harness. The next step was to repeat the first process. He didn't have a spare dead crystal to use, so he had to find a way to empty some of his green crystals without them going to waste. The solution he came up with for that, was a trap he called the king slayer. It held the power of three of his green crystals, stewing with raw Daionic energy. He was particularly proud of its functions and creation. If everything went well, he would never fire the king slayer, though a part of him hoped for the opportunity.

With the green crystals emptied, he created his second and third chaotic aspect crystals. He repeated the process one more time, reconstituting the two crystals into the one at the centre. The book referred to the chaotic crystal as being of the second degree. He needed to repeat the entire thing again, to be able to reconstitute to a third degree crystal. From there, he was supposedly able to condense the aspect inside into a small amount of Axiom.

Stolen novel; please report.

He spent two days in total on the reconstitution process, but by the end of it, he had a crystal of an extraordinary colour humming in the palm of his hand. The power he felt coming from the thing was akin to that of a red crystal. Once he wrote the force rune depicted in the book, and condensed the chaos into truth, he felt the energy bleeding from it grow apparently exponential in its power. Tane-Wonramah wrote that the resulting Axiom would have a Daionic potential triple that of the third degree chaos crystal.

The once blue crystal glowed a faint yellow in his palm, still resembling the eye of his former enemy.

The rest of the book explained how to use that small amount of Axiom to harness greater energy, though since he was running out of time, he decided on only using a portion of the next step. With the power of Axiom, he was able to break down matter into its aspectral form. The book detailed how to harness the resulting release of power into a chaotic crystal, one of the sixth degree. He figured he could stick with the middle man, and use the energy at its release.

When he shared his plan with Serril, he was met with a disapproving look. The Demai had reluctantly agreed to the idea, but had made it clear to Murphy that he wanted no part in the process. With permission, he took to asking the townsfolk for assistance. While he prepared his spells and crystals, the people constructed the pillars and quarried the stone. He found time amongst the preparations to teach Cardic the rest of the fireball rune. The boy took to it with a natural grace that made Murphy a little jealous. The preparations took some long nights, but he was successful enough to have three Axiom crystals, and a plan to save the day.

He smiled proudly at the structure in front of him. It had been raining so long that he barely noticed his drenched cloak and muddy boots. The villagers looked haggard. It had been a long few days for them too. Along with his countless requests for their labour, Serril had them drilling outside the pub with their new spears for twelve hours of the day. They were exhausted, but their spirits never wavered. The closer the day of battle loomed, the more inspired they seemed to become. Murphy found their courage to be a great motivation.

Dalley slapped him on the back, causing him to stumble forward.

"You’re half asleep wizard," the stubby man laughed. "Anyone would think it were you that had to build these things."

Murphy smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry smith. I can't imagine how much of a toll this is on you lot. I'll be able to help more now that I'm done with my spells, that's for true."

"Nonsense," Dalley said, shoving the Warlock. "You’re doing plenty enough, I won't have it. I'm just pulling your leg is all. Now where do you want your wire at," he asked, pointing to a large spool of thick copper wire.

"I'll need it to run from here to the closest three secondary structures," Murphy responded, pointing in the directions of three other structures they had built.

They were smaller in size and overall mass, but he didn’t intend on using them for their energy. The smaller structures were thick wooden beams, set to pivot at the base, and raised from the ground to be locked into a vertical position. The purpose of the secondary structure was to act as a focal point for the runes he intended for the offensive. When standing tall, the tops of them could be seen from behind the buildings and hills. They all aimed at the intended meeting place, and had a clear line of sight once erected. The mechanism was satisfyingly complex. The base of the poles were plated in copper, and had a wire running along the shaft to meet the initiation point of the runes carved at the top. The plate would only contact the conductor beneath it in the vertical position, otherwise it was disconnected and out of sight from most vantage points. The incoming Daions from the primary structure would arrive with enough energy to activate a small force rune that would set the pole into position when the time came. Much like his king slayer trap, he set up a runic loop to store the energy that remained. It would work like a temporary crystal, filled with chaotic aspect. The difference was that a runic loop would have to bleed the Daions at a predictable rate, otherwise it would explode. The more energy, the bigger the explosion. In the case of his traps, the chaotic aspect was a lot of energy.

The energy itself would come from an act of transmutation. With a trigger symbol, he wrote a rune that would convert material stone into aspect using Axiom. Another trick he learned from Tane-Wonramah. The Axiom would be spent entirely in the casting, since the power required for such a feat was so great. Once activated, a small portion of the Axiom would go into powering the condensing rune, focusing the aspect towards the glyph that sat etched into the stone foundation, surrounded by a copper loom.

It was an elaborate and expensive plan, but if it worked, the wyvern would be held against the ground at the meeting place for a span of time longer than he'd bothered to calculate. He had three primary structures, and nine secondary structures in total. This was the last one left to connect to its secondaries. He smiled at his creation, and got to work weaving the wire into the loom. The smith barked orders at two of the men standing close by, and the three of them began rolling the spool up the muddy hill.

The places he'd chosen were relatively out of sight. Most were tucked tightly beside buildings or boulders to help hide them from view of the sky, though it still took some clever camouflage to conceal everything properly. May was the one to accomplish that. It turned out that she had a remarkable talent for painting, going as far to include wild magic in her craft. Once she was done, the structures were hard to spot from any angle. It went beyond just clever colouring. Something she did made it hard to focus on the spot. It reminded him of his ugly aspect, and he was impressed by her ingenuity, not that he'd ever tell her that.

~~

With the traps built, and the plan rehearsed countless times, they were somewhat ready for the coming engagement. On the sixth night of the storm, Murphy sat alone in the pub with his party.

"We have fourteen all up, counting us and the villagers willing to fight," Serril said, placing fourteen pebbles onto the table. He moved their drinks around, and began pushing the pebbles to different places. "This is the pub," he tapped a mug of mead. "We'll have five of the villagers stand around its perimeter. That way they can alert the people in the cellar if the beast is coming, we can have one watching from every angle."

He pushed three stones into the middle of the table. "The Kir, May and myself, will meet with the wyvern on the eastern hill. Eseyfirr, you will take post at your camp." He took the smallest pebble, and placed it away from everything. It probably wasn't intentional, but Murphy felt slighted by the gesture all the same.

He moved the remaining pebbles near to his. "The rest will be there to lend a hand if your plan works out," he said, looking at Murphy. "We'll have them hide from sight until the time comes, otherwise they'll fall back to the pub and hide in the cellars with the others. I trust you saw to its defences like I asked?"

Murphy smiled wide and nodded. "That lizard is in for a nasty surprise if he tries to get down there."

His final trap was one of the more resource-expensive things he'd ever created. He used nearly all of his ink to mix together the space bomb aspect he'd invented in the tower. It was a tricky thing to make, and he had many failed attempts before finally having a few vials of the dangerous ink. With his new found knowledge of transmutation, he found a way to power the trap with a chaotic crystal of the second degree. In theory, the energy released from the crystal should be enough to spend the ink in its entirety, and he'd made a lot of ink. The trap was set from the inside with a copper latch. When it was closed, the trap would activate, creating a flow of Daionic energy between a rune loop and the crystal. They would share an average potential, but if the link was interrupted, the loop would close and explode with the stored energy. The energy would be condensed into his new favourite glyph, and immediately empower the space bomb, which was directed exclusively skyward. It was another complex design, but the benefits of transmutation were easily outweighing the tedium of its manifestation.

"Oats, you will keep the people in the cellar informed of what is happening. It's up to you to lock the door, be sure you don't lock it too early. Eseyfirr will have to shut it down, so you're stuck if we're successful but he's dead," Serril said bluntly. "Are there any questions?" He asked, looking back at Murphy.

"There is one thing," Murphy said with his kindest smile.

"Go on then."

"It's just, how do you expect the villagers to fight this thing with spears? I don't know if that's going to do a whole lot."

Serril held a serious stare. "It's not about them fighting the wyvern, Munfiray. It's about them learning that they have to fight whatever comes next. I hope for all our sakes that not one of them have to lift their spears in the coming days, or ever after. But it would be naive to think they won't have to, and it would be wrong to leave them defenceless out here just for a pay day."

Murphy remained silent, and gently nodded. One of the things the Demai valued the most, was strength. Battle was a large part of their culture, going all the way back to their inception. They were created by the gods to fight and to rule, but never saw weakness as pathetic. It was in stead, something to be corrected. The only human equivalent of that facet of Demai culture that Murphy could summon to mind, was the dynamic of an elderly relative cooking you food, because they're concerned you don't eat enough.

"And when the wizard fails?" May questioned in their minds. "What is plan B?"

"Same as it always is," Serril said with a wry smile. "We'll bring it back to the dirt ourselves."