The gnome had convinced Omar to stay. The elf was a bit harder for her to convince but on Omar’s insistence, he stayed. Mirabel found the teenager’s grasp of magical theory quite advanced. The boy had even corrected a few of her minor mistakes. Mirabel was curious but didn’t want to examine his past anymore. She had learned her lesson. Qinran had sat at the edge of the room and watched the two construct a spell formation.

The dwarf Mammot arrived with a few other wizards in tow. Upon seeing the elf and the teen, they each fell into the same kind of pain that Mirabelle had not too long ago.

“This is why I hate meeting diviners,” said Omar, “They are so nosy.”

Mirabelle felt her cheeks redden. She had done the exact same thing as the others. She had the advantage of actually knowing a cancellation spell. It was a pain teaching this spell to others currently under the effects of divining magic. It was even harder as the spells were stuck in a loop.

The door to her office opened up again. Eric had arrived. He saw the wizards rolling on the ground holding their heads.

“Did I come to the right place?” he asked.

Mirabelle nodded and pulled the man in, shutting the door behind him. The office was nearly filled to capacity.

“I take it you’re Amie’s husband?” asked Omar as he held out his hand for the man.

“Ah, hello. I’m Eric,” he said as he took Omar’s hand for a shake.

Mirabelle went around trying various techniques to help break the other wizard’s spells. Omar joined in once he learned the spell form from Mirabelle. When the wizards started to gain control of themselves they were astounded by Omar’s skills. They still had been in a bit of pain, but it was miles better than what they had experienced moments before.

The plan for now was observing the prison. The cells themselves tended to disrupt most magic used. The divining magics might not be able to pierce the cells, but they could at least watch the guards that patrolled the prison. Once they got a good look into the patterns, they could form a plan to free Amie.

Omar was secretly excited. He had never had to break into or out of the wizard prison before. This was a unique experience. A part of him was disappointed by the husband. Omar had recognized the man. He was the person that was responsible for Amie’s tome. The man was a genius in his own right. The man belonged to one of the largest trading families in the world. Omar couldn’t fathom how the two had ended up married this time. Each loop had small changes that could completely alter the whole process. This had never been one of them. This loop was a unique experience.

“Alright, is everyone feeling better?” asked Mirabelle.

The gnome’s voice was surprisingly commanding. At times it hardly matched her body. The wizards worked their way into the spell formation positions. Mirabelle looked at Omar for a moment and pushed him into to become the formation master. The room grew silent as they watched this.

“Why him?” asked Mammot.

“His control is far better than mine, and he’s a quick learner,” Mirabelle answered.

The dwarf eyed Omar for a moment.

“Show him,” said Mirabelle.

Omar obliged them. He summoned twelve orbs and sent them into a chaotic orbit around Mirabelle. She stood still, surprised that she was the target.

“Move around,” Omar said.

Mirabelle started to walk around the room. The orbs avoided contact with other objects and people.

“I think he wants to to run,” said Qinran.

The elf sat to the side with his arms crossed. He was not impressed, but the rest of the room was. Mirabelle decided to trust Omar and sprinted from one side of the room to the other. The orbs did not touch her. When she stopped moving, the orbs evaporated. The group was mollified. Mirabelle moved into the second formation and Mammot into the third. Qinran watched as the group started to cast the spell. If he was ever going to learn how to visualize external magic, now was the time.

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They cast the spell.

—

Amie watched the walls. She couldn’t figure out how they drained mana from the room. Amie had started rejecting two out of every three meals. She had noticed that they had started to give her more food on the third meal. It became a game. She started to rejecting them at random just to keep the guard on their toes. They had also tried talking to her through the slot, but she simply never responded.

Something changed in the room. A massive spell popped into existence. The mana being pushed through it was being eaten rapidly. She could feel someone watching her. Something about it was familiar, but at the same time it wasn’t. She guided the divining spell towards the sink. The spell wouldn’t last long enough if it tried to breach one of the rooms. Then it was gone through the drain. That was new. She let the sink run to help replenish her own internal mana. She had found she could expel mana to guide the foreign spell. That was also new. She had learned a lot in just a brief moment.

—

Omar had followed the beacon of mana straight towards the sink. He got quite familiar with the plumbing of the prison. He eventually made it to an empty cell that didn’t have active mana absorbing walls. He mapped the facility in his head. He felt some wizards leave the formation only to be joined by others taking their spots. Omar lost track of time as he watched the guards in the prison walking around.

He found himself in a cafeteria where a group of guards sat around the table, eating some unidentifiable food.

“I heard she managed to cast a spell through the shackles,” a guard said.

“I don’t know why they are keeping a monster like her around, to be honest.” A second guard said as he chewed on something.

“I bet it’s because of the fools at the third tower. I bet they’re keeping her as a form of insurance.”

“Have you heard about what was going on in Ulid? It might be that.” a third guard said.

“She would also be good against the elves that are currently at war with the Wossian Kingdom.”

Omar’s heart skipped. The sea elves had never entered in any major war. This was also something new.

“I think it’s still related to what’s happening in Ulid. They say that a few cities were entirely depopulated by dwarven monsters.”

That was new too. This loop was far more troublesome than any that he had run before. He would have to talk with Qinran.

“There’s no such thing as ancient dwarven corpse eating monsters,” said the only dwarf guard.

The conversation devolved into strange speculations about what kind of monsters could be tearing through the deserts of the west. Omar tuned them out and then went back to watching the prison. He let the waves of mana course through him. It was easy to get lost in a spell. When he grew confident of the guard schedules he pushed to end everything. With a snap, he was back into his body, staring at the wall.

Omar had been drenched in sweat. He hadn’t noticed this. Qinran was sitting in a different chair. A small orb of fire danced between his fingers.

“Did you get everything we need?” asked Mirabelle.

“I think we got too much,” said Omar, “If you’ll excuse me, I need to talk to my guardian.”

Omar grabbed Qinran and they went to the back of the office and talked quietly.

“I heard some strange things as I watched the prison.”

“Oh?” said Qinran, he grinned and continued, “I have some news myself, but you first.”

“Two things are different… with my visions,” Omar said as he looked around.

Qinran let him continue, “Apparently the sea elves are now at war with my people, and there’s a new type of monster that is going wild throughout Ulid.”

Qinran spoke, “I’m not surprised about the war, but what do the western deserts have to do with anything?”

“In my visions they are conquered by an underpaid mercenary band that grew because of support from the common people.”

“Could they be the monsters?”

“No, they didn’t eat the dead.”

Qinran tapped his chin, “Could this be what we’re looking for?”

Omar nodded, “I think so.”

“Well, now it’s my news. I became a pyromancer.” Qinran said with glee, “Watching you channel that obscene amount of mana for the divining spell was enough to get me to learn how to visualize and channel mana for myself.”

Omar was impressed. He patted his friend on the back and they joined the others on the other side of the office. He joined Mammot and Mirabelle and developed a plan for breaking into the prison. Both the gnome and the dwarf were able to watch through the spell, thanks to their second and third positions in the formations. The people that had been swapped in and out of the formation and hadn’t been able to do the same. They were going to break out Amie.

Omar and Qinran were committed. It was something to do before they chose to either respond to the war or investigate the new monster terrorizing the west. That’s how Omar usually began his own quests. He wanted Amie to come along, but didn’t know how she would respond because she was married this time around. At the very least, he could try to convince the wizard Mirabelle or Mammot the crafter. They were ideas he could follow. For now, they just needed to focus on breaking Amie out of her prison. After that, they could afford to decide on what they wanted to do.