“Question?” Delta asked as Cassandra brought us a basket of lunch sandwiches and departed quickly.

“Uh-huh?” I asked as I grabbed one of the sandwiches.

“Why is she soooo friggin’ warm?” Delta pawed the somewhat bothered-looking Kliss like a small kitten.

“The nature of the Astral Ocean is gradual decay and conceptual destabilisation,” I explained. “Back in the USSR, my institute professor Viktor Safronov proposed to us his mathematical theory of how everything was connected with everything. The theory he postulated connected planetary cosmogony, astrophysics, geophysics and…”

“Nuuuooo boring lecturing pls, you’re going to make my brain melt if you start going on another long-ass rant about Soviet people and places and how you found a shiny rock and applied math to it for everything to make sense,” Delta made a sour face. “I’m used to your yappiness but Kliss… err Lizzy here is a poor, impressionable dragon-child! Have mercy on her!”

“I’m not a dragon-child,” Kliss deadpanned. “Neither one of my parents was a dragon.”

“Don’t ask me a question and then whine when I try to answer it,” I shot back at Delta.

My twin stuck her tongue out at us. She was clearly having fun at our expense and loving it. She looked like she was already busy constructing a fictional story in her head about the whimsical, draconic origins of Kliss.

“As I was saying, Viktor Safronov’s planetesimal hypothesis is what led me to construct my own theory of everything in 1992,” I resumed.

“Doesn’t ‘planetesimal’ sound like a made up word?” Delta whispered to Kliss.

“Planetesimal is an accretion of dust and ice particles in a rock-like formation,” I waved a hand at Delta. “Anyhow, I’ve never published my research because in 1992 everything went to shit when our Empire - the USSR fell apart,” I added ignoring the smug face of my rambunctious twin. “But I called it ‘The Assembly Theory’.”

“Don’t ask him what the Assembly Theory is,” Delta whispered. “He’ll never stop ranting.”

“The Assembly Theory is a hypothesis that characterizes object complexity. When applied to molecule complexity…” I started and then I saw that Kliss’ eyes glazed over. I tried to readjust my words to match her less scientifically-inclined understanding of the world.

“Imagine if you had an amazing set of bricks, each with different shapes, sizes, and colors. Now, you want to build something really cool, like a castle, but you don't exactly know how to assemble them properly,” I began. “The Assembly Theory is kind of like a guide for these bricks, but instead of bricks, we’re dealing with tiny particles called molecules. The Assembly Theory helps understand how molecules fit together to form different substances and objects, kind of like how you can use different materials to make a castle, a skyship, or anything you want!”

“The question was about why Kliss is warm,” Delta commented.

“I’m getting to that!” I said. “I’ve been studying the nature of the Astral Ocean for thirteen years now, trying to apply Assembly Theory to it. You see, the Astral pulls at everything physical, producing near-perfect magical duplicates, magical imprints sort of like paintings that slowly begin to decay.”

“The Astral Ocean is what decays magic over time,” Kliss nodded. “Some magi speculate that if there was no Astral, the spells hanging on hexagrams would be permanent.”

“Wrong. If there were no Astral Ocean, magic wouldn’t be possible at all,” I shook my head.

“Say what?” Kliss blinked.

“The Astral Ocean is what allows us and everything on Novazem to manifest magic,” I said. “It’s not simply a negative, not simply decay and death. It’s also a positive.”

Kliss stared at me, emerald-gold eyes filled with curiosity.

“Beneath molecules exist even smaller particles called atoms. Think of an atom as a tiny solar system. In this solar system, the sun in the middle is like the nucleus of an atom, where there are particles called protons that have a positive charge, like the warm, positive sunshine,” I explained.

The Gregarious Empire knew about the Solar System and had maps of Novazem orbiting the sun and Lunaria orbiting Novazem in turn.

“Now, imagine tiny particles called electrons that move around this sun, just like planets circling around in space. These electrons have a negative charge, like the cool, dark night sky,” I added.

“Even though one is positive like the warm sun and the other is negative like the cool night, they need each other to keep everything in balance, just like day and night!” I said. “This sort of balance also exists in magic. In my theory of Assembly of Magic, you Kliss, are magically positive… while Delta and I are magically negative.”

The chimera girl blinked at me.

“I’ve read all of the Imperial books on magic in the Equality Church of Skyisle,” I said. “The magi of the Empire of Equality tried to quantify and understand magic, but did so like a blind man trying to find his way in the dark - without knowledge of the physical world and its fundamental balance or the deep mathematical aspects of everything.”

“Hrm,” Kliss pursed her lips.

“In Assembly Theory, the positive and negative charges of protons and electrons play an incredibly crucial role,” I added. “Remember when I tricked the archangel of Equality by attracting your armor to a rock? That was done with my knowledge of electricity and manifestation of magnetism.

“A similar sort of attraction, or bond, 'assembles' atoms together to form molecules. The way these atoms arrange or 'assemble' themselves based on their charges can determine the properties of the substance they form. The Assembly Theory is basically the ultimate rulebook for molecular construction!”

“Uh-huh,” Kliss tried to process my words. “So what you’re saying is that… dragons and Astral Phantoms are positive and negative aspects of magic or something?”

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“I’ve studied the movement of magical currents by observing Astral Phantoms and Dragon hearts,” I nodded eagerly. “Visually, they’re both funnels, but they spin in opposite directions.”

“Sooo… it’s like Fire and Ice?” Kliss mulled. “I’m fire and you two are ice?”

“Not exactly,” I shook my head. “Ice is the absence of energy, lack of motion in electrons. Astral Phantoms aren’t lacking energy, their energy signature simply matches the directional current of the Astral Ocean which makes them more susceptible to decay.”

Kliss blinked, looking confused. Delta tilted her head at me.

“We aren’t feeling cold,” I told my twin sister. “What we’re sensing is Astral currents going through us very rapidly, quickly enough to nearly wash us away. Kliss, on the other hand, is an inverted magical funnel - the dragon heart in her chest spins mana in the opposite direction, producing what our Phantom bodies are interpreting as warmth. What we’re sensing from Kliss isn’t heat - it’s stillness, peace. Kliss is an island of safety in an otherwise raging, dangerous river.”

“Mkay, I can sorta understand what you’re saying,” Delta commented. “But what does Assembly Theory have to do with anything?”

“The Assembly Theory are rules that helped me understand how molecules assemble to form living things,” I said. “I’ve applied its principles to magic to understand how different types of magic crystallography can assemble magical creatures. Kliss is part magical creature. Without the foundational knowledge of the rules of magic, without knowing how to assemble something with specific magic I wouldn’t be able to bring Kliss back to life using the specific magical power within microscopic crystalline structures in dragon organs and bones.”

“Magic has specific alignment in different people, at least according to the Soul-Song,” Kliss commented.

“Just like light,” I nodded.

“What?” Kliss asked.

“Visible light is a specific type of electromagnetic radiation. It is made up of different colors, each corresponding to a different wavelength of light. These colors, listed from longest wavelength to shortest, are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet,” I explained. “The Empire of Equality unfortunately disregards the power of specificity of magical alignment due to the Soul-Wheel dogma.”

The ex-Overseer opened and closed her mouth.

“I can design spells not simply because of my knowledge of mathematics,” I said. “It’s also because I understand the principles of Assembly Theory and how specific magical alignment correlates to specific fundamental forces or fundamental interactions.”

“Fundamental interactions?” Kliss mulled my words.

“Gravity,” I bent my fingers as I spoke, “electromagnetism, weak interaction, strong interaction. Magic correlates to all of these four forces as the fifth fundamental interaction.” I bent my little finger in. “The Empire of Equality has only a vague understanding of gravity, your people know almost nothing about electromagnetism and absolutely nothing about the weak and strong interaction of particles.”

“How are you so certain that Equality’s Archmagi are clueless?” Kliss demanded. “Surely the library in the Church of Skyisle is but a tiny tithe of the greater knowledge of the librariums of Cessna!”

“I’ve used the voicecast crystal orb in the office of the Overseer to make numerous calls over the past year,” I confessed. “I asked questions, reached out to the Administrators of Librariums of Cessna and other Imperial cities as Administrator of Skyisle. I’ve introduced myself as an apprentice of Overseer Ignatius to some and Skyisle’s Administrator to others. As far as the Empire is concerned, nobody has even the barest understanding of chemistry or subatomic particles!”

“I see,” Kliss chewed on her bottom lip. “That’s neat and all, but what if the Empire comes here, sees that Inian obelisk? Charisma magi could pry all of this information from your mind.”

“It’s not an Inian obelisk anymore,” I shook my head. “It’s an Astral Engine, sure, but I’ve altered some of its fundamental properties. It doesn’t feed on souls anymore.”

“How?” Kliss asked.

“The obelisk in the centre of town is part of a massive array I’m building with Delta and Leemy,” I explained. “A gargantuan, incredibly precise hexagram, one spanning all of Skyisle. A weapon against the Empire, one that can repeatedly project a single, magnified spell across the entire town.”

“By Equality,” Kliss murmured. “Which spell?”

“Rewind,” I said.

“Rewind?” Kliss asked.

“A subset of Vitality alignment,” I said. “Green magic wielded by our Dryad friend who’s roots and trees we’ve been spreading across Skyisle using Agromancy. The wards, armaci and crystal necklaces worn by the locals will define who gets to be rewound and who’s souls will decay away whenever the Rewind spellchain resonance fires across the valley.”

The ex-Overseer’s eyes bulged. “That’s…”

“It’s science,” I said. “Assembly Theory, or the fundamental principles of science applied to magic. Every leaf of the crystalline Vitality tree within the valley will project Rewind at the people, animals and trees of Skyisle while taking magic away from anyone who dares invade our home.”

“W-what?”

“Decay, the spiral of magic produced by Astral Phantoms. The breath of the Valley of Death and dragonfire weaponized on mass scale,” I grinned dangerously. “The same kind of magical radiance that is manifested by the mists of the Valley of Death. They won’t even know what will hit them, will think that Skyisle is poisoned, doomed.”

“By Equality,” Kliss muttered.

“No outsiders will be able to stay in Skyisle without great suffering. Everyone in the Empire fears the loss of their skills, everyone is terrified of soul decay, and is deeply afraid of Astral Phantoms. I’ll make this place feel extra-cursed, impossible to live in for anyone but the people of Skyisle. It will also help eradicate the local Astral Phantom infestation.”

“So you’re planning to scare both Imperial legionnaires and phantoms from coming here?” Kliss asked.

“Not just that,” I said. “Rewind will literally feel like time itself is being rewound for a select few. Lemmy, Delta and I… and now you will be tied into the mass-spellchain hexagram as its anchors. From our point of view our enemies will repeat their actions and lose magical power, while we gain a greater understanding of how to win. Thus, while we’re together in Skyisle and the spellchain is running, we should theoretically… be unbeatable.”

“How is this even possible?” Kliss blinked.

“I understand how to design self-propagating weapons,” I shrugged, distantly recalling the monstrous viruses I’ve made in Aralsk-7. “The Astral Ocean imprints all magic. Vitality-aligned magic already relies on this fundamental principle to repair and rewind the human body back to health. Whenever a mage, a beast or a tree with high Vitality stat is injured their body heals itself basing the information of a healthy state on the Astral Imprint, sending a specific magical pulse through the Astral to align the imprint atop of the injury. I’m doing that, but as a massive spell running across all of Skyisle,” I waved my hands.

“Soo… how close are you to finishing this valley-wide hexagram thing?” The ex-Overseer demanded.

“Not close at all,” I confessed. “There’s the obelisk and lots of trees, but we still need to tie more Alanian batteries into the network, to distribute more crystals to everyone, to modify more wards and so forth.”

“Slava likes to make big plans,” Delta nodded, still hugging Kliss from the side.

“You’ve raised my hopes and dashed them in a flash,” Kliss rolled her eyes. “Well done.”

“I didn’t say it’s impossible,” I shrugged. “I’m simply telling you what we’re going to be working on and why it’s urgent that we get started.”

“Very well,” the dragon-human girl stood up from the bench, prying Delta off herself. “Let's get to it. I’m ready to lift rocks or whatever.”