The faint magic shimmering around Emily ebbed in and out of existence as it struggled to find any purchase in the outside world in the face of Noah’s domain. Keeping it thin enough to let Emily use her power while also making sure it would snuff anything that might be too dangerous was proving to be considerably more difficult than Noah had expected. He needed to keep the invisible energy at the perfect level, and he just wasn’t quite a master of manipulating it yet.

But, even in spite of that, Emily continued pouring energy and effort into her pattern. Her strikes flew through the air aimed at nothing in particular, the howling gales of a snowstorm embodied within her. The air around Emily dropped just faintly enough in temperature to make Noah’s skin prickle.

He said nothing. Any words might have interrupted her focus and there was nothing that Noah needed to say. Emily was doing everything exactly how he wanted her to. Even though her magic-infused pattern was still relatively useless, the important part was that she was using it.

Her hands finally dropped at her sides and she released the pattern, kneeling over to brace her hands against her knees and breathing heavily. After she caught her breath she looked up at Noah. Pushing the hair out of her face, she straightened.

“Did I do it?” Emily asked.

He released his domain and let it return to its normal form around both of them. “Did you do it? You did fantastic!”

“I did?” Emily blinked. “Seriously?”

“You couldn’t tell?”

“Not really.” A grin spread across Emily’s lips. “I mean, it felt a bit cold and I could tell I was doing something, but I didn’t know if that something was the thing I was meant to be doing or if I was just floundering around.”

“I would have stopped you if it was wrong. You did great.”

“What exactly did I do?”

Noah coughed into his fist. “Well, nothing. But, if we’re speaking strictly technically, you started making a Formation.”

Emily stared at Noah, her grin twitching. It fell away when it became clear that Noah was telling the truth. Emily looked down at her hands, then back to Noah, a befuddled frown on her face. “What? That was a Formation? I used a Formation?”

“The beginning of one,” Noah corrected. “If anything, you can think of that as the first step of laying the guidelines for a Formation.”

“Don’t you need to combine a bunch of runes for a Formation?”

“Yes and no. You need to find a way to balance it. Just like the runes in your own soul. If you’ve got 7 identical runes in your soul, it can eventually cause an imbalance in pressure. This is a somewhat similar principle. You need a way to hold in the runes that you use in the formation. The pattern itself handles a good portion of that – why do you think that is?”

Emily chewed the insides of her cheeks and tapped a foot on the ground as she thought. “Is it something to do with what you were talking about regarding patterns and runes? Like patterns are kind of runes… or something like that?”

“Exactly,” Noah said. “At least, that’s my running theory. Runes are just patterns that hold power. The patterns in a Formation can have a similar effect to having other Runes in opposition to balance out the pressure.”

“So I can make a Formation with just one rune?”

“You could make the housing with one rune. There wouldn’t be much reason making a whole Formation with just one rune because the whole point of a Formation is to amplify the rune’s power or combine them with other runes. I’ve frequently made Formations that are focused on maximizing the power of a single rune, but other runes go into the rest of the Formation in order to help its pattern contain the power running through it.”

Emily nodded her understanding. “Okay. So I’m basically halfway to making the first half of a Formation.”

“Precisely.”

“Can I try again?”

“Nope.”

“What?” Emily blinked. “Why not?”

“Given how long you kept that up, I know you’ve already used most of your magical energy. This isn’t something you should be practicing when you’re even a nudge worse than peak condition. That’s how things go wrong.”

That’s how you blow yourself up.

“Can I try again once I’ve got my energy back, then?”

“No,” Noah said. “I’m all too aware of how tempting it is, but this isn’t something you can practice on your own – or with anyone other than me, for that matter. I’ll let you know once you get to the level where you can safely use Formations without me present, but until you reach that point, it’s too dangerous. You’re liable to kill yourself.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“How does you being present stop me from messing up, though? I mean, you can warn me I’m screwing up, but it likely be too late to stop anything from happening. The only way you'd be able to stop something preemptively is–” Her words trailed off as the confused furrow in her brow faded. Emily’s eyes widened with realization. “You’re Rank 4. You have a domain.”

Well, that cat came out of the bag earlier than I’d planned it to. I can’t say I’m surprised, but I was hoping to get a bit more of a dramatic reveal to the whole class. I suppose this isn’t too objectionable, and Emily has already gotten far enough into her practice that it won’t affect her for today.

“You got me,” Noah admitted. “It’s the only reason I decided it would be safe to teach all of you how to use Formations. It would be way too dangerous otherwise.”

“But… when did you reach Rank 4? You were Rank 1 just a little while ago!” Emily exclaimed. Her eyes widened even further as another thought struck her. “Wait. Is Moxie also–”

“No, Moxie is still Rank 3,” Noah said. “But she’s not far from reaching the next Rank. The incident at Blancwood delayed her. She would have gotten Rank 4 by now if it hadn’t been for that. I trust I can count on you to keep all of this between us, though?”

“Why, though?” Emily asked. “What’s the point of hiding this?”

“Part of it is purely ego,” Noah admitted with a sheepish laugh. His grin fell away as a serious expression replaced it. “But the real reason is I don’t want you all relying on it, consciously or subconsciously. You need to believe that your own actions are the ones keeping you alive whilst working with Formations, not mine. I could screw up or fail to catch something in time.”

“Is it really that dangerous?” Emily asked.

“More than you believe. But there’s a lot of power that comes with it as well. Just don’t practice on your own and you’ll be fine,” Noah promised. He put a hand on Emily’s shoulder and shook it slightly. “Don’t get caught up in danger or potential. Just focus on doing what you’re comfortable with and continuously improving. You’ll eventually get there.”

Emily drew in a slow breath and let it out, shaking her head. “Okay. When are you going to tell everyone else?”

“Probably pretty soon. I don’t know if we’ll have time to get through everyone today, so I’ll probably do Alexandra next since it would be cruel to do it to just one of Isabel and Todd – and I don’t think James cares either way.”

“You’re probably right about that,” Emily said with a snort of laughter. “He’s such a lazy idiot.”

Lazy, yes. Idiot, I’m not so sure. Then again, I don’t think Emily actually thinks that way either. The way she talks about James isn’t the way you’d speak about someone you don’t like. You aren’t fooling anyone, kid.

Noah stepped onto his flying sword and nodded to Emily. “Let’s head back down there and swap you out for someone else, shall we? And remember, don’t tell anyone about what we covered. Not yet. I don’t want someone getting overexcited and blowing themselves up by accident.”

“The way you say that makes me think you’ve got firsthand experience with it,” Emily said as she got on behind him and held onto his shoulders. Noah activated the flying sword and it lifted into the air.

“I do.”

The sword zipped into motion, taking them over the edge of the plateau before Emily could say anything else. Wind streaked past them in swirls that nipped at their eyes and hair. They flew in, touching down on the ground a short distance from the others. Isabel and James were both in a sparring match against Lee, and it didn’t look like they’d yet to land a single blow on her.

Isabel’s sword streaked through the air. Nothing but wind from its passing came close to Lee. James faded in and out of sight, using flashes of light in attempt to blind Lee, but she wasn’t even fighting with her eyes open. The only thing she needed to know where they were was her sense of smell.

Emily headed over to join the others and Noah approached Alexandra. He tapped her on the shoulder, then jerked his head toward the flying sword, not wanting to make noise that would distract anyone sparring.

Alexandra didn’t need to be told twice. She followed Noah back to the sword and, after he waved to Moxie, they took off and flew back up to the plateau that he and Emily had just been on.

“Well then,” Noah said as he stepped off the sword and turned to Alexandra. “As I’m sure you’ve come to realize, you’re probably the farthest along in patterns from everyone in the class. You’ve taken to them really well.”

“Thank you,” Alexandra said simply. “Practicing with the others has helped me a lot as well. Todd gave me some particularly insightful comments recently and I’ve been working on incorporating them. I don’t think I’ve mastered my pattern just yet.”

“I haven’t mastered my own pattern yet,” Noah said with a laugh. “I’d be seriously concerned if you thought you’d mastered anything already. You’re still leagues ahead of the others, which is not something I say to disparage them but to acknowledge all the effort you’ve put in yourself.”

Alexandra glanced over her shoulder and down the plateau at the class below. Her hand shifted to the hilt of her sword and she drummed her fingers against it. “I am only ahead because I have no choice. I’m a rank up on them, and yet I can feel them closing in. My Body Runes can only take me so far. I need to work harder. But no matter how hard I work, I’ll eventually fall behind. I just want to delay that for as long as possible.”

I don’t think now is the right time to tell her I can modify her runes. I trust Alexandra enough to repair the damage she did to herself at some point, but if she knows there’s a way out, it might distract her from patterns. The last thing I want right now is any sources of distraction.

Perhaps this is a bit scummy, but having all the extra motivation from thinking this is her only good option to get stronger can’t hurt either. It’s a very powerful driving force. Sorry, Alexandra. I won’t be adjusting your thoughts there quite yet.

“Which is what we’re doing here,” Noah said. “I believe you’re ready for the next step so long as you’re comfortable with taking your patterns farther.”

Alexandra nodded. “I’m ready. But… I have a question I’d like to ask about the next step.”

“Feel free. What is it?”

“Is it inserting magical energy into your pattern?”

“Yeah.” Noah nodded. “Good guess. Why do you ask?”

“Because I’ve been doing some thinking,” Alexandra said, shifting from foot to foot and frowning uncomfortably. “And I think I may have already done that by accident.”