William kept his head bowed as senior Weavers walked on past down the long windowed corridor of their School embassy. A Spider headed the group although he didn't dare try to take in her appearance. Instead, he kept his head clear, showing all but respect, and perhaps a little reverence too. One never knew when the Spiders could be peeking after all. It wasn't long before the retinue fully went on by luckily, leaving him alone as he raised his head and stared out of the windows towards the rest of Harth.

His mind was clear and thoughtless, simply taking in the view in its entirety. The black smokestacks of factories; smog lingering around the edges of the factory districts; the countless people walking on to wherever they wanted, or needed, to be; the imposing central Mage association building barely visible on the edges of the far window, shadowed and ominous.

Shaking his head, a working sprang up from his fingertips, weaving its way up to his head and brain. Twisting Mind sank deep into it and cleaned it of fog and doubt. It became one with the permanent mana enhancements constructed around the brain itself like a spider's web wrapped around prey and into a cocoon. It too cleared the mana of foreign attunement and corruption. With a new freshness breathed into his mind after the drab and boring after-report he had to do, William continued onwards.

William ignored the odd looks he got from passer-by's as he went deeper into the complex, no one there particularly familiar with the outsider in their halls, as he focused on his FPG. Not needing the regular interface normal Mages did, he directly sent a stream of coordinated Mind mana into the bracelet, activating a particular function and sending a message.

[William Becker: Come meet me at that café we went to?]

Knowing Matty, he'll take a while to respond. Let's take a look at some books in the meantime, William decided, turning a corner and following the sudden 'hunches' he had to head towards the library. Keeping to the mental signage he received from the building itself, it wasn't long before he reached the library itself, dainty in comparison to the main School's own, but large enough for an embassy of this size. The librarian on duty was a Spider, as was needed for such an important position, with the head librarian back at the School even being one of the Spider Queens.

He turned towards the librarian himself, who was sitting bored at a desk to the side of the door, bookcases surrounding the pair on all sides. By now as a somewhat experienced Apprentice Weaver, William was more than familiar with the library process, as he cleared his mind of distractions and focused on the books he wanted to read. As was polite, he felt the light touch of the Spider on his psyche, reading and interpreting the jumbled mess that was a human consciousness.

"You won't be able to loan any of the books," The librarian said, taking a piece of paper and writing on it without even looking at William, "But the ones you want to read are here on copy."

"Thank you, Mr. Spider."

"It is my pleasure, Apprentice," He smiled, passing him the small note, directions to the books written down on it. "The first one on the list is the closest to what you seek, and the other two stray a little from your request. However, I believe you would still like to read them based upon what you thought."

"Got it. Have a good day," William nodded, taking the note and beginning to decipher the library's sorting system while he backed away.

"Enjoy your stay."

Despite the small size of the library, it felt like a labyrinth to navigate, even more so than the one back at the main School which was more well organised than whatever mess this was. Only to be expected from a branch I suppose.

It luckily only took a few minutes to find the books however, and soon William was sat down on one of the centre tables, three books stacked on top. Pulling the one he had been looking for out, he let his hand run across the title embossed onto the leather cover.

"Dreams - Dangers and The Art"

William opened the book.

* * *

Amy's tired eyes glanced over the breakfast meal she had ordered, brought to her by Brandon, the same serving boy from the day before. It was the classic King's Breakfast, supposedly what the original King Iyrtir had back in the day and before he became known as Emperor. Composed of egg, bacon, sausages, rye bread and blood pudding, it was a staple sold practically everywhere nice enough to serve breakfast food.

Felin sat perched next to her bed, a distant look on his face as if her wasn't really all there. He had been like that since yesterday evening, after lecturing her all about Monstrous Visage's Spellform. As she had discovered, the Spellform was faulty. Although not as faulty as she'd first assumed. It was in the inclusion of Unknowable where things went a bit wrong, her hasty decision perhaps making things a bit too unfocused for the Spell. Due to the interactions it had with Fae one had to be careful with how it mixes within the Spellform itself which, without prior experience, she couldn't have known about. Everything else though was pretty much perfect, Felin not needing to correct anything else. He did say there were a couple things he might change further, Amy recalled, cutting into her egg, and letting the runny yellow yolk spill over the meats, but that was according to his preferences, not because of anything wrong with the Spellform itself.

"When do you reckon I can cast the Spell again then?" Amy asked, looking at the cat from where she sat at her table.

"Now if you so wish," Felin responded absentmindedly, "Even if I don't recommend it. You should get more rest, but you know yourself better than I do."

"Alright then," Amy smiled, speeding up and trying to finish her food quicker. Is... Is that a bit of sass, maybe pettiness I sense there? No... I'm probably just reading into it too much.

Soon Amy was scraping the last scraps of pudding crumbs and yolk off her plate, getting up and moving towards the full-body mirror. She tried her best to calm herself, taking deep breaths in and out.

"Do you remember what I said yesterday?"

"Yes," She nodded firmly.

"Repeat it back to me. To be sure," Felin said, turning towards her for the first time in the conversation, his eyes lucid once more.

"Keep my Fae and Illusion a bit more separate, while making sure Unknowable touches both Elements too, not just Fae. That way the Illusion isn't too realistic and then it doesn't actually affect my perception of reality, still keeping that hint of horror I want from Unknowable though."

"Great," Felin smiled softly, "You may begin, if you wish."

Focusing inwards towards her mana pool, Amy retreaded mostly the same steps as she had done the day before. However, there was a noticeable dip in her mana supply, despite the time it had spent regenerating the night before. Still enough for the Spell I hope.

The only time her Magecraft changed, was when she was forming the bridge of Fae mana between the not-yet formed Illusion and curtain of Unknowable upon that stage. Amy allowed the twisting Unknowable to creep into Fae, as if embracing it on the sides, letting the curtains draw slightly on the play, the dance of the Witch. It was on top of that support those curtains gave, rather than the Fae, that Illusion took place. Still using the backdrop of unreality to frame the heist of Illusion, rather than connecting directly to the interfering Fae, it attached itself on top of the Unknowable, the verdant mana behind simply acting as the background. It was only in that last step, did she allow the Fae to briefly touch upon Illusion, just enough so that the Illusion was no longer that. It became real.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Her visualisation broke away, as a similar chaos of coalesced mana presented itself to her, swirling around her mana pool in an aurora of colours. Fae and Illusion were now less like a woven weave and now like two streams dancing around each other, interacting yet never truly touching, running parallel instead. Unknowable, the grey and purple mist, was the backdrop to it all suffusing the entire setting. However, something she didn't quite expect was that the streams went in and out of the Unknowable, like flying fishes emerging from a river playfully. It seemed the connections between the Elements had worked.

Pulling the mana out from her, along with her innate Pure mana, the Spellform spun into life in front of her, a resplendent mask that wrapped around her face and cloaked her upper body. This time her reflection blurred for only an instant before that familiar appearance revealed itself to her. The Witch was back.

Only, the Witch seemed... less. As if she wasn't really there, only a projection of her once divine self into a mortal's body. It was, as Amy realised, coming back to herself, simply an Illusion of what could've been, of what it had indeed been. She couldn't deny that her appearance was as magical and enchanting as before, but Amy herself didn't feel that same magnetic attraction, merely an inclination to the welcoming insanity of absurdity. Yet, as Amy stared deeper into the Witch's eyes, there was a greater hint of what it used to be. If... as if she stared any longer, she would fall back under the Witch's spell, unable to return to herself ever again. It was in that realisation, that Amy became aware of her mana trickling into the Spell, tiny compared to the rapids that she imagined the original Spell to be, and what she felt it to be in those last moments that she was aware.

Amy's eyes suddenly widening in realisation, the Witch's amethyst pearls widening in turn, she became aware of the control she had over that flow, the ability to widen the opening to her mana pool, and allow possibility to run free and amok. The Witch could return in true, and Amy could command it. This is what Felin meant about Fae interacting too much with the Illusion, isn't it? Without the Fae intruding so much, I can actually control the Illusion now like I do with Lesser Illusion, adjusting how much 'reality' I put into it. Likewise, I can seemingly tune the horror as well, no doubt because the Unknowable is connected not just to the Fae too, so it can be interfaced upon with the Illusion instead. This... this really is a versatile Spell. No wonder Felin said it was Tier 4, not 3 as I anticipated. Now, if only I could-

With only her brief, unrealised demand in thought, the mana flow towards the Spell changed slightly, shifting in some strange unknown way. Maybe even in a truly Unknowable way. The Witch's appearance squirmed, as if worms, maggots and flies were wriggling under the rotten flesh of a dead corpse. Her eyes and hair also shimmered and shifted as her appearance changed to her will. In the end, as the revolting alterations took place, Amy stared back at herself once more, her skin darker and more tanned, her hair lighter and chestnut, and her eyes back to that same dull green. In spite of her familiar appearance, Amy's face still felt different, as if something terrible was lurking underneath; something Unknowable. It carried with it that same hint of attraction, a morbid curiosity towards seeing something disturbing only twisted towards a horrid beauty. This feels... somehow wrong. I... I think I'm done for now.

Dispelling the Magick with a thought, the Spell unravelled into a mist of green, purple and grey mana, spinning and swirling in strange shapes. Shapes that Amy seemed to recognise. They look like the Spellform. Why would the mana twist itself into the Spellform while it's dispelling?

The shapes continued to form and then break, spinning into fractal spirals that faded into nothing, becoming indiscernible as they became smaller and smaller. With each making and breaking of that Spellform-like shape, the attunement of the mana slowly faded, becoming one once more with the Pure of the Mana Ocean.

"Is the mana supposed to be doing that?" Amy asked, narrowing her eyes at the disappearing fractal forms.

"I assume you're referring to the Spellform imprints?" Felin grinned, walking in the air towards her.

"The what?"

"Once you start reaching higher Tier magic, the mana begins to become more and more 'in tune' with your will, and that will lingers even well after the Spell finishes. In becoming more 'in tune', the mana attunes not only to Elements but to you. So, even if you deaspect the Elements from the mana, as all proper Spellforms should do, you persist, you are constant, so the mana still holds some attunement towards you. This makes the Spellform, that lingering will of yours, manifest again and again, in a never-ending cycle of weakening attunement, going on into infinity until a limiting point is reached where it is practically identical again to Pure.

"It's for this reason that we drill into Mages so early the importance of proper deaspecting. The 'aspect' of the mana that remains you will only increase with Tier until Ascendant, where- actually, maybe let's not discuss that complication right now," Felin winced, pausing in his walk. "At Monarch then is where it becomes the worst, where if you don't deaspect the mana then not only does the Ocean struggle to not be corrupted from Pure into otherwise, making the Ocean polluted and unusable, but it also becomes tainted towards the Mage, until that mana can only be used by the Mage. To an extent, at least."

"These Spellform imprints are harmless then? If deaspecting is done correctly that is."

"Indeed. They are merely remnants, with no actual Mage's will driving it."

"What's this about Ascendants then?" Amy wondered, looking back at the mirror from the mana and Felin, looking at her normal face once more.

"At Ascendant Tier... this is where arguably the ultimate sin of a Mage is committed. Not only is mana purposefully corrupted and tainted, but it is fully turned towards the Mage's will, made unusable to anyone else."

"What?" Amy blurted out, spinning back around to Felin, stopped in the air.

"In becoming a true Elemental of mana, an Ascendant, a Mage creates their Ascendant Element. The Mage then, for lack of better word, swallows a portion of the Mana Ocean, taking it into themselves and attuning it towards that Ascendant Element. The Mage then fully merges with the mana, forsaking their mortal coil once and for all. That mana is now permanently removed from the Mana Ocean, at least until the Ascendant is killed or choses to pass on and die. From there on out, the only mana the Ascendant uses, whether that be for their mana 'pool' or their coalesced mana comes only from that mana cloud, that which they consumed. Their new 'Pure' is their Ascendant Element."

"And this is good for the Mana Ocean, how?" Amy scowled. "The more Ascendants there are, practically immortal and unkillable entities may I remind you, the less mana is in the Mana Ocean. Then, as more mana is taken, all that remains in the Ocean is a trickle; no more Spells, no more magic, and no more Ascendants."

"That is the fear of all Mages, and Ascendants too. This is why they used to be regulated. A Mage Ascended under strict supervision from other Ascendants, making sure they didn't absorb too much, to conserve the mana in the Mana Ocean. When I was last on this plane, there were a little under a hundred Ascendants, with the Mana Ocean showing negligible signs of draining, likely due to our acts of preservation."

"That's... better than I expected then."

"All we Ascendants can do is hope that the Mana Ocean never truly drains. Otherwise that spells our own death, not just that of magic."

"What-... Oh," Amy frowned. "If there's no mana other than Ascendants, then, as the old adage goes, mana likens onto mana. The Ascendants would all sort of... attract together and... merge I guess?"

"You would be correct. We hypothesised that a new sort of Mana Ocean would be created after the 'merge', one out of the corpses of every living Ascendant and, due to what would arguably be a balanced equilibrium of Elements, it would be of a new kind of Pure too."

"When do you think that would happen? At what amount of Ascendants?"

"We had no true idea," Felin shrugged. "Even if we were Ascendants, we had no way of truly determining the amount of mana in the Mana Ocean, not really. Mana mixes with mana from other planes too, so we are never truly sure of what is the actual size of the collective Mana Ocean of all planes and realms. We predicted though, with what we know of how mana behaves, that merge would occur when there's only around a third of the Ocean left."

"Hopefully that never-"

A sudden buzz from her bracelet interrupted her for a moment, a bit of mana coming out of it and towards her eyes. In the projection of the screen in front of her, made visible to Felin according to her wishes, a message presented itself towards her.

[William Becker: My friend I was talking about has an idea of where to take the chicks. He wants to meet you and the birds first though. Any place you'd prefer?]

Looking back and forth between the message and Felin, she creased her brow as she stared into the message box more, looking around the screen for something.

"...Do you know how to reply to this?"

"I have no idea, my dear Apprentice."

"Fantastic."