Dmitri nodded and watched as Claudia placed the vial on the ground and put the bucket face down on top of it. She then came back towards Dmitri and led him to the far side of the room away from the bucket. Once they reached the other side, Claudia turned him to face it, “Fill the vial with heat please.”

Linking was becoming second nature to Dmitri now, so he reached out for his magic, then Claudia, and his magic flared once more. Drawing the glyph for fire, he focused on what the vial looked like inside the bucket. At first nothing happened, but then a roar of noise occurred and not only the vial but the bucket exploded as well! Shards of glass and splinters of wood flew in all directions. Dmitri quickly drew the glyph for air and erected a shield around them both as the debris rained upon them. As the dust began to settle, they heard a pounding on the door. “What’s going on in there?” demanded one of the guardsmen from outside.

Claudia started to reply but choked on some dust that sent her into a coughing fit. “Nothing to worry about,” Dmitri called out, “just some incorrect measurements with our reagents.”

“Well make sure it doesn’t happen again,” came the gruff reply from outside.

Claudia, having recovered from her coughing fit by having some water turned back to Dmitri who shared his thoughts on the experiment, “I was not expecting it to be quite like that.”

The expression on Claudia’s face said that she hadn’t expected it either.

Dmitri was taken aback by this, “What?” he exclaimed, “You weren’t expecting it to be quite like that?”

“No actually,” she replied, “I expected the bucket to be affected, but not to actually explode. I’ve only ever done this sort of thing over a natural flame. Your magical flame must be magnitudes hotter to be able to produce the reaction so fast.”

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“I would expect so,” said Dmitri, “the fire created by elemental magic doesn’t need fuel. If it does use it, the flame can become a natural flame. But otherwise it is a pure elemental fire.” Then an idea struck him, “Can we have this in portable form?”

“Well the vial is portable so yes, what exactly do you mean?” asked Claudia.

“Is there a way that if we threw it, it would explode upon impact?” he asked.

“Oh,” said Claudia catching on, “if we had some way for fire to be sealed in a container with the liquid then have the impact rupture the fire container, then it would explode. But I know of no way to store fire like that.”

“Well magic of course,” said Dmitri with a smile on his face, “I could create a ball of fire first,” he held up one fist representing the fire, and then he enclosed it with his other hand, “surround that with a layer of air, and then a water and earthen shield.”

“We’ll make an alchemist of you yet Dmitri!” exclaimed Claudia with a smile. “You should probably link with Wayte to let him know all is well. I’ll start brewing some of the liquid.”

Dmitri nodded and walked over to where they ate their meals. Sitting down, he closed his eyes and concentrated. Reaching out for his magic, he sought out any receptive spirits. He could sense Claudia nearby, but he pushed himself beyond the boundaries of the room. From the centre of the keep he could feel absolute darkness emanating. Daring not venture too closely, he sent his spirit out towards the town surrounding the castle. There! Patrolling through the market district was the spirit that Dmitri could recognise as Wayte. Dmitri reached out to the spirit and completed the link. To say that the sensation was unusual was an understatement. His body felt lighter and more spry, but stronger and more muscular. But his mind had a pressure on it, as if he was stuffed into a barrel. Wayte himself started as he too felt the connection. But having linked with Claudia earlier, he grew accustomed to the link a lot faster than Dmitri. What Dmitri found particularly odd was that he could still see out his own eyes, but by closing them and concentrating a little, he could see out Wayte’s eyes. After a while, having experienced life through Wayte’s eyes, as well as moving around their own room with a speed and agility he’d not experienced before, Dmitri had felt no attempts at control or any external forces at all. So he sent a feeling of farewell and broke off the link.