Life was a little simpler for the Opportunity crew after the first run-in with the cyclops. Over the following month, they constructed a dock off the beach, so the rest of their ship could join in. A week of festivities was set off by the reunion of the whole crew. Malysseus participated the first night, at urging from Kewari and Gurten, but kept to himself on subsequent nights.

The base camp sprung up into a small, livable village during that month. Each person had their own small wooden structure. The doors were just simple slats that pulled up and down, but the crew had their own space. It was a nice change, even though it was nothing like home since the crew didn’t even get their own space on the ship.

Malysseus, keeping out of most of the construction, practiced his magic. His tests were becoming more violent, so he remained several hundred yards from base camp. After another failed circuit of exercises, he growled at the flaky crystal shards left dotting the beach. Slowly, he used his wind magic to send the fragments floating away from the ocean. The tiny flakes soared above the forest—as tall as the trees were—landing somewhere in the forest’s depths.

He sat down on the sand, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes. He couldn’t understand why the Arcane magic was utterly impossible even after a week of intense study. He had tried balancing the essences, so all four were present in equal amounts. The balancing act was nearly impossible. The elements wanted to combine together to form combination spells.

He had tried filtering out all traces of essence, leaving only regular Mana. This method caused spells to thoroughly fall apart. He searched for other ideas as he sat. An hour later, that’s how Gurten found him. Malysseus still didn’t have a plan for how to proceed.

“I heard the explosions stopped,” Gurten joked. “Came to check and make sure everything was alright.”

“Could be better, to be honest, my friend,” Malysseus said. “But, then again,” he continued, raising his eyebrows conspiratorially, “it could certainly be worse.”

“What seems to be the problem?”

“I’m having problems using a new form of magic. It’s not exactly new. I had the same problem with lightning magic, but the issue is much different.”

“What kind of magic is it?” Gurten asked, sitting down on the sand and folding his legs across from Malysseus.

“It’s called Arcane magic. It’s supposed to be an ancient or legendary form of magic. The magic doesn’t use any of the essences we find in normal spells. It’s raw magic.”

Gurten nodded his head, “I feel like I’ve heard something about Arcane magic. Maybe, a story.” He folded his hands in his lap, eyes briefly drifting off to the sea. The sound of sea birds and their squawking sounds reverberated around the pair. “Well, what have you tried?”

“Everything,” Malysseus sighed.

“Have you tried hopping up and down on one foot while you cast with hands covered in butter?”

“Obviously not, Gurten.”

“You haven’t tried everything, then.”

Malysseus cracked, chuckling slightly at his friend. He knew Gurten was taking his words literally, but the perspective was appreciated. Magic was a broad art form; there was no chance he tried everything in a single month.

“I suppose it’s possible I need some magical implement or material to filter the essence from the magic. There’s no way it’s a balance of all four elements. Those spells are severely unstable from the effort of keeping the essences apart. That’s how we get explosions.”

“What haven’t you tried, though, really?” Gurten challenged. “What if you just let the four elements crash into each other.”

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“That’s just going to make a combination spell depending on which essences have the scale most tipped in their favor,” Malysseus argued. His frustration was growing slightly. He knew Gurten was trying to help, but he’d been a Wizard his whole life. Magic was strange and challenging, but it always followed the rules. That was a simple truth. Once the rules were known, a Wizard simply worked within them.

“But you haven’t tried it?” Gurten confirmed.

“No.”

Gurten stood from the stand and eyed him meaningfully. He clasped Malysseus on the shoulder, wishing him good luck. Then, the Second Mate returned to his other duties, leaving the Captain alone.

Malysseus tried the magical exercise forms his own way for several more hours. He continued working until the seagulls started to quiet and the sun’s light began to fall. He failed again and again. And again. The Arcane magic simply wouldn’t hold itself together. Every time he was close, the magic fell in on itself. Any time the filtration became pure, the spell fell apart. Any time he tried to balance the other four spells, they unraveled into four separate elemental attacks leaving craters all over the beach.

The whole time Malysseus worked, he could only hear Gurten’s voice bouncing around his skull. The voice reminded him repeatedly that he hadn’t tried everything yet. He couldn’t shake the voice.

His most recent attempt unraveled as he was distracted by Kewari approaching him. Whatever she saw in his work, she decided not to finish her trek, stopping a hundred feet away from him. She smiled gently, turned around, and walked back to camp without another word. As he watched her go, he heard Gurten’s voice again: But you haven’t tried it?

“Fine,” Malysseus said to no one in particular. “We’ll have it your way, then.”

A gust of wind cleaned the sand from his pants. He focused his mind, clearing out the other distractions. He filtered out thoughts of his crew and pushed away thoughts of Kewari. Most of all, he ignored the pestering voice of Gurten. When everything was clear, he started anew.

Pulling up Mana from his core, he tugged threads of it to the surface. Each thread was converted to an element of air, earth, water, or fire. The four distinct hostile magics warred as they pooled in his hand. Malysseus forced the magics to stay apart with his own will. The power of his intention managed to keep the essences apart, which was an essential first step.

More magic pooled in his palm, fueling all four essences. He tried to keep their amounts in equal proportion. With a grunt of effort, he summoned enough magic to form a base spell. His Mana reservoir was running dry, meaning this would be his last attempt for the day. He needed actual sleep. His body was aching with the pain of meditations forcibly refilling his Mana.

The spell stabilized, draining away his willpower quickly. He didn’t care. Malysseus forced the stable spell to combine the essences. With his force of will, he cemented his intention to avoid creating combination spells. Instead, he swirled the four parts together in equal proportion. He pushed fire and water together. He threw earth and air essences against each other as the magics swirled.

Once the two combinations were formed, he pushed his willpower further. The spells were kept from activating, so he swirled the two resulting mixtures together. Instead of creating combination spells, the essences counterbalanced each other. He watched in amazement as, through Gurten’s urging, his first Arcane spell formed. Gurten was far enough away from the work to see the basic ideas Malysseus was missing.

At that moment, he understood why Arcane magic was so rare. He understood why the magic was said to be ancient instead of regarded as the pinnacle of Wizardry. To accomplish such magic, a Wizard was required to give up his belief in the rules as they were learned. Every single Wizard was taught that combining essences would result in combination spells.

With wonder, Malysseus watched the spell. In his palm, a small orb of white-hot energy hovered gently. The energy was brutal. He could sense the absolute destructive power inside the sphere. In a bout of what would be called insanity, Malysseus, the formerly secret Wizard, turned to the forest. Aiming his hand into the distance, he sent the blast of destructive force into the tree line.

At that moment, he didn’t think of any animals in the distance. The Captain didn’t worry about any sailors scouting the surrounding area. He completely forgot about the encounter with a cyclops one month previous. The only thought on his mind was to see the brutal power of Arcane magic in action.

The blast hurtled through the tree line. Malysseus tried to count the trees it blasted through: four, five, six, and more. The raw energy tore through the plant material as if it were nothing. It ignored the immense size of the gigantic trees. The power simply destroyed. As the blast soared further and further away, he lost track of it.

When the energy was gone, Malysseus stared after it in amazement. Kewari walked over to him. This time she marched. He heard the sounds; she was already yelling at him. He turned, seeing that she was waving her hands repeatedly. She urged him forward, calling him closer to her and the base camp.

He felt it, then. The violent shaking of the earth around him as his legs, weak from expending so much Mana, tried to carry him toward his crew.