Master Zoe led Anthony and Clio to her office, it was still a mess of paperworks and documents scattered around. With one fail swoop she moved aside a bunch of paper on her desk and made sure that was nice and flat. Then she turned to Anthony with an eye as sharp as a knife looking at the bag he had carried all the way from the city of Kosa in the Middling States.

“Bios, may I see that book you’ve been carrying?” He had lent it to her to read on the trip back, but didn’t see why she needed it now.

“Of course Master Zoe.” He said taking the book out of his bag and handed it to her.

She placed the hand bound tome of assorted pages on the table and started flipping through the pages scanning her bony finger up and down the text looking for a specific passage.

“Ah, ha!” She pointed to a certain page of interest. “Right there, it’s as plain as day but I can’t believe I never saw the connection until now.”

“What is it Ms. Gaia?” Clio asked. “Is there something wrong?” She looked like she was breaking out in a cold sweats but it was sheer excitement dripping down her face.

“Bios, you wrote in your study that the key to understanding elemental energy is understanding the elements are cyclical by nature.”

“It was just a theory, more a critique of how mages tend to work on the first circle magic only to break out their natural element. However, afterwards they focus solely on one force at a time instead of training all forces at once. To me it makes more sense in all forces at once even when you’re focused on one force since they all become vital in the end to achieve fifth circle capabilities.” Master Zoe quickly turned the page to another random passage.

“However, on this page you theorize that the traditional notion of one elemental starting point is flawed because there are cases when fire mages have been known to move like water or earth mages. In much the same way a bird of the same species can alter its traits for survival in different areas.”

“It was a little poetic, but what does that have to do with my examination Master Zoe?” She slammed the book shut.

“Your theories are a little rudimentary, but I think you were onto something but didn’t even notice.” She turned to Anthony and Clio.

“In Elemental Healing, we’re taught that the body is not one piece but a collection of pieces working together.” She touched her leg for emphasis. “When I lost my leg in the mainland, I thought I’d never walk again. However, my body learned to adapt, build my muscles in new ways I didn’t even know I had. In that same way, I think your body has magic, but not as simple as mage craft understands it. It’s so complicated that our sense of rudimentary routines paled in comparison.”

“Um, Ms. Gaia, if this matter concerns Anthony, then why am I needed at all?” Master Zoe smiled then turned to Anthony.

“You remember that light on your head that happened that night near Iasera?”

“It felt like the same time we were near Dotys.”

“I’ve been thinking of the Ion as ending points, but maybe it’s more a starting area. If that’s the case then the true power of the ion is not in the head, but is right here...” She pointed at this stomach area. “...I noticed it when I was checking your vitals when you were unconscious. You have a stronger presence in the spirit force more than I’ve ever seen before, but I didn’t notice because it was only visible in your true awakened state, when you were asleep.”

“Wait, that night at the barn!” Clio looked toward him in surprise. “You compared your spirit force like an invisible wired net, you called it natural ability. That you didn’t dream in a conventional sense, and could sense malicious intent, weather, like how a wind mages sense vibrations in the air.”

“Bios, why didn’t you tell me this before?” She seemed frustrated and curious at the same time.

“It didn’t seem relevant to Master Zoe.” He simply said.

Bonk! She slapped him on the head like a teacher to a student, a feeling he hadn’t felt since he attended regular school.

“A healer seeks knowledge, no matter how insignificant, all knowledge can lead to revelation if you choose to use it.” She turned to Clio as if asking a question.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“The third principle of the Code of Asclepius.” She answered as if she had many times before.

Zoe nodded and then started walking out the door of her office.

“Starting tomorrow, I want both of you to start elemental training with me?”

“Both?!” Anthony and Clio asked together in unison.

“For the benefit of testing out new theories we need a control and a variable. Since Clio is a Water Mage, known for strong spiritual forces it would make sense for her to be the control subjects.”

“Why do I need to be part of this?”

“You want to see if you can replicate my abilities.”

“Not completely.” She corrected him. “Yet, if our new theory is correct it could be the key to opening up a new understanding of magic, a hypothetical sixth circle. Who knows, the both of you working together might learn something from one another. You never know.”

She left the room, leaving both Clio and Anthony to realize that they would be seeing more of each other in near future.

“I’m sorry I told Ms. Gaia about your innate abilities.” Clio apologized.

“No apologies necessary Ms. Clio.” He shook his hand waving off her concerns. “In fact it is my own fault for not recognizing the significance of such a unique ability.”

“Why did you think I was so shocked when I first heard about it?”

“I’ve rarely shared my ability except to those I truly trust, but they either wave it off as a possible unique memory system or as my mother used to say, supreme intuition. It’s something that supposedly runs strong in my family, on my mother’s side or so I am told although I have no references to confirm.”

“Whatever the case, perhaps I should listen to some more of your theories on mage craft. I mean, you did help me out with the Flash Freezing technique.”

“Perhaps there is something you can teach me as well Ms. Clio.” He escorted her out of the study. “This Code of Asclepius, I believe it is not the first time I’ve heard of such a thing. It sounds similar to something Master Zoe once told me about healers at the farm of Niles.”

“Actually, there are five parts...you want me to tell you about them?” She asked curious if he could show any interest.

“I would be delighted Ms. Clio.”

The two walked out the office and talked and discussed this code until it was time to close up the shop for the night. When all was locked up and everyone had gone home, Anthony stayed at the Pharmacy once again sleeping in the barn. As always he kept his knife, ring and newly forged amulet close to him while he slept. While it remained dormant since the night in Iasera, tonight it seemed to glow a pale green luminescence while his body slept comfortably in the barn while his spirit was restless.

As always his spirit was bound to wander and feel around as it normally did, but this night he felt a particularly strong force pushing him into a different direction. It was much like the night he had seen the forest where the Earth Dragon had spawned but now instead of sudden thrust it was more like a gentle push. An unseen force was guiding his spirit down the roads of the city of Gourd, over the hills and forests and plains to an unknown place near the city of Gnoss, the second biggest area in the Lower States. He could tell because Gnoss was a mining city, known for its vast deposits of mineral wealth that included coal, shale, limestone and other such strip mining chasms. The greater problem with deep mines that burrowed deep into the Earth was also what creatures could appear from beneath it.

Anthony had visited many of these mines in the past during his early days of hunting. Hunters were a common companion to have in the deeper sections of mines because of the threat of the Myrrh Ants. He recalled the smell of great beast ants he had hunted in the past, white myrrh ants smelled like sweet pine, while the black myrrh ants smelled like a strong smell of sage. He’d never forget the smell because it reminded him of the night he saw his sister and mother’s dress glistening with these gemstone skins mixed with the hint of their fragrance.

As his spirit drew closer to the mine he felt a rumbling in the air. It was as if the scurrying and scattering of a thousand footsteps marching together without rhythm. His spirit plunged deeper into an unknown chasm. Below levels of dirt, gravel and hard bedrock he found himself virtually surrounded by darkness. There in the darkness of the cavern he saw them, the anxious bustle of swarms of myrrh ants surrounding him like a parade. It was a terrifying sight seeing so many myrrh ants together moving as one swarm. Every hunter knew that their bodies contained traces of diamonds and obsidian but if you knew how to strike them they were easy enough to take down. However, in large numbers they could be almost impossible to defeat which is why they were only hunted when they encroached on existing mining areas.

Unlike your more dangerous sacred beasts like the jade wolf or the brass boar, myrrh ants were not aggressive unless provoked. Yet, here in this spot in this mind they seemed agitated, frenzied, and for why he could not determine. It was when his eyes turned to the greater and monstrous beast of them all, that he saw why they were scurrying. He didn’t know what kind of ant it was but from its size and form it made the other ants tremble with excitement. The large creature gave out a powerful screech, Anthony’s spirit immediately left the dark and jumped right back into his body.

The next words he heard was the sound of Master Zoe, greeting him for the morning dawn. In her hand she held a bell resonating like the scream of a wild siren.

“Rise and shine, Bios.” She said with a smile. “A new day has begun and progress waits for no one.”