Orange-yellow light pooled and flowed unnaturally around the tips of my finger. I shook my hand and watched with interest how the fluid-like mana construct bounced and deformed, tracing the movements of my hand like a glowing echo. Several drops separated from the main mass, and, once they got too far from my hand to rejoin, fell to the floor like sun-kissed raindrops. They burst when they hit the ground, dissipating into short-lived clouds of warm, brightly-colored smoke.

Unfortunately, despite some rather interesting properties, the spell had proven much less useful than I had hoped. I’d found a fascinating old book while searching for some of the specific spells Brenda had mentioned might be able to help me. It was a thin, weathered text titled ‘A Treatise on the Imbuement of Ectoplasmic Spell Constructs with Extraneous Spell Effects’ and I would have walked right past it if I hadn’t noticed the author’s name written out in tiny gold lettering at the bottom of its spine: ‘Transcribed from the teachings of Eldest Endless-Stains-of-Bloodshed’.

I hadn’t thought much of it initially, mostly just grabbing it on the way and borrowing it along with nearly a dozen spellbooks and other reference materials. It was mostly just idle curiosity. I didn’t particularly like elves, but there was no denying that their millenia-old elders were treasure troves of information. Not that they ever seemed keen on sharing any of that wisdom or near-forgotten secrets. They tended to instruct exclusively their most promising descendants and the few books written by Elven elders rarely left their ancient strongholds. Even in Avalon’s fabled library, I’d only heard of a half dozen such books, most of which had a waiting list measured in decades to borrow. Thus, something like this, even if it wasn’t exactly written by such an elder, was still potentially an interesting read.

I wasn’t familiar with this particular elder, though like most people I only knew the names of a few of the most powerful and famous so that was no surprise. Elven elders tended to be reclusive at the best of times, with very few ever choosing to venture out into the world. Still, I knew the title of ‘Eldest’ was only given to elves over five-thousand years of age and the name itself was rather… ominous. I was rather curious what this mysterious elf had done to be saddled with something like that.

Over the next few days, in between long hours of studying divination related spellforms, practicing some of the second and third circle divinations I’d found, and taking care of my other responsibilities, I’d managed to find the time to peruse the old book. What I’d found was both more and less than I’d hoped. On one hand, there weren’t any ancient secrets or long-forgotten spells of great power, not that I’d really expected to find something like that. Avalon’s library had long been scoured by generations of power-hungry mages and I’d heard rumors that our current head librarian had actually read every single book in her domain. In any case, I doubted I would have been able to cast such a spell, even if I’d found something no one else had. I was only barely a fourth-circle mage.

What it did have though, was a very detailed breakdown of, well, exactly what the title said. Imbuing the effects of other spells into an ectoplasmic shell. It didn’t give any specific examples, but using the provided diagrams and instructions I’d managed to construct a fully-functional spell in the space of a single afternoon. Sure, it didn’t really do anything, I didn’t think I’d done a particularly good job on the conversion and apparently the ectoplasmic form of a simple candlelight spell was a second-circle spell that produced slightly warm magic goop, but the fact that I’d managed to do it in an afternoon was insane. Making spells, gods above, even modifying spells was not supposed to be that easy. I’d never even considered that you could just… make a formula on how to do it and have it actually work.

Unfortunately, after that first initial success, I’d had to put the book aside and focus on the issues at hand. Lea’s attackers still had to answer for their crimes and I had too many projects to work on to focus on something new right now. Still, I was absolutely going to come back to this book. Even if the ectoplasmic shells themselves weren’t useful, the book’s methodologies and diagrams had a lot left to teach me. I still occasionally cast the spell I’d created, observing the spellforms and playing with the resulting water-like ectoplasm until it sublimated into raw mana. If nothing else, it was comfortingly warm and felt fantastic after a walk through Avalon’s rather chilly stone halls.

I let the spell dissipate as I turned onto the last street leading up towards the Earthshadow mansion. My monitoring spells had reported an increased amount of movement around Leana’s bed, leading me to believe that she was probably either awake or something had changed with her healing. Either way, I wanted to be there.

The guard at the gate let me in without much difficulty, I had become something of a frequent guest at this point. Adonia met me just inside the manor itself, my guide’s ambling path through the estate’s extensive gardens giving her plenty of time to prepare herself. I didn’t particularly appreciate the delay, realistically the gate was barely a minute’s walk away from the main building while we had taken closer to seven, but I was willing to indulge the pointless niceties of nobles. Well, to an extent at least.

I bowed my head slightly, “Heiress Earthshadow, a pleasure”

“You have excellent timing, Orion. She’s asking for you.”

“Then let’s not keep her waiting.”

Adonia and her invisible guard led me through one of the hidden doors lining the elegant entrance hall and down towards where Lea was waiting for me. I followed a step behind Adonia, listening intently as she gave me a brief rundown of Lea’s current condition. My friend had emerged from her healing sleep earlier this afternoon. She was not yet fully recovered, but had reached the stage where she could safely move around without damaging anything further.

Unfortunately, her mental state was a different issue entirely. She had spent the entire morning crying, was refusing to be touched by anyone, and hadn’t managed to keep anything down since she’d woken up. Adonia looked thoroughly heartbroken when she described how Lea nearly fell out of her bed when Adonia had tried to hug her. Even though it hurt to hear what my confident, willful friend had been reduced to, I was glad Adonia had told me ahead of time. Seeing her like that without knowing… it would have been even worse.

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She was curled up into a ball when we arrived, her face pressed tightly into the fully pillow hugged against her chest. One of her uncles, Erwin, was sitting in a hardback chair at the edge of the room, watching her silently as he fiddled with one of the buttons on his coat. The two had recovered fully after just a few hours under the care of the Earthshadow’s family healer and had been living in the servants quarters while they tried to recover what they could from their old lives. One of them always stayed with Lea during the day while the other was out and about. It was good to know that my Lea had found such a loyal, loving family.

In a daze, I silently moved towards her. The room was almost eerily quiet, only Lea’s muffled sobs breaking the somber stillness. I stopped a foot away from the bed and just stood there for a long moment, watching her shoulders shake and how she clutched tighter and tighter to the pure-white linen between her arms.

Eventually, I decided I had to say something. “Oh Lea,” I mumbled, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there. Not this time, not… then.”

Lea shifted slightly, but didn’t pull away from the pillow. After a moment, she mumbled something almost too quietly to hear. “Orion… Orion, why does it hurt?” She paused for a moment, a powerful sob wracking her body. “Why… me?” she choked out, “Why… me… again? Is… is it me? My fault?”

My chest felt like I had been hit by a fireball. “No,” I said vehemently, “No. You did nothing wrong Lea, you never did anything wrong.” The shimmering rage that filled me whenever I thought of him blazed brightly, and I silently added three more hazy, indistinct faces to that pyre. This time though, they were not ancient elven mages far beyond my reach. I was close. Oh, so close.

“I’m going to find who did this to you, Lea. They won’t get away with this,” I swore.

“I… love you too, Orion,” Lea mumbled.

Adonia stepped up beside me, her lips drawn into a tight line. “Yes,” she stated imperiously, “they will learn the danger of crossing Earthshadow.”

We stayed with Lea for another half hour, and, by the end of it, she had even stopped crying. She still hadn’t let go of the pillow, eventually dozing off still wrapped around it like a limpet, but it was still progress. At that point, Adonia and I retreated to a nearby sitting room to ensure our conversation wouldn’t risk waking her again.

“You’ve found something?” she asked once the servant that had brought us tea and refreshments left the room.

“I believe so. But I’ll need some help with it.”

“Ask.”

“It's a ritual that should be able to track down our attackers. I can perform it, but it has a limited range and requires a proper room to cast. I could do it in Avalon, but I’m concerned the dimensional boundary might disrupt things.”

“Well,” she began after a moment, “I can’t say I am an expert in divination rituals, but my family does have several rooms set aside for ritual magic. Perhaps one of them would be sufficient?”

“I was hoping you’d say that. I’ll need another day or two to prepare, but then, as long as they haven’t left the country, we’ll have them.”

“Excellent,” she said viciously, “Then once we have a location, my family’s men can strike. There will be no escape for such beasts!” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then brushed away a phantom crumb from her green gown. “I shall make sure my men are prepared. Would you like to take a look at the rooms ahead of time?”

“Definitely.”

“Very well.” She took a small crystal bell from a hidden pocket on her dress and rang it once. After a moment, a well dressed maid stepped into the room.”

“Yes, my lady?”

“Ensure the ritual rooms are prepared for an inspection. I will be by soon.”

“Yes, my lady.” She curtsied deeply, then vanished.

Adonia glanced around, then turned to fix me with a hard stare. It probably would have been intimidating if I wasn’t used to spending time around much scarier people. “What are your intentions towards Leana?” she asked sharply.

I took a second to respond, surprised by the sudden turn in conversation. “What do you mean?”

“It's a simple question. What. Are. Your. Intentions. Towards. My beloved?”

A spike of annoyance shot through me when I heard her refer to my Lea as somehow belonging to her, but I didn’t let it show on my face. Now was not the time. “She’s a childhood friend that I care deeply for, nothing else,” I said evenly. “Your relationship is not my concern. As long as Lea is happy, I’m happy for her.”

Adonia gave me a searching look, then relaxed. “That's… good to hear. I wouldn’t want any conflicts to come between our friendship. My beautiful Leana is a gentle flower. She has room for boundless love within her heart.”

“Yes, she is a wonderful friend.”

We continued to speak for another several minutes until the maid returned and led us up to look at the Earthshadow’s ritual rooms. Throughout all of it, I had to fight to keep an even, pleasant expression on my face. No, I decided, I was not willing to leave my Lea with this girl. I hadn’t been sold on their relationship before, and I certainly wasn’t now.

An image of Adonia, naked and hanging from the hooks I’d originally prepared for Rea drifted to the forefront of my mind. She was a beautiful young woman and held a very attractive political position. She certainly seemed to love my friend and maybe a relationship between the two of them could be good for my Lea. Maybe. However, I could not allow her to drive a wedge between me and my Lea. Mine. Never hers.

For now, I would bide my time. She was far too useful in the short term to disappear, and I had no idea how I could get to her without it being far too obvious that something had happened. Soon though… Hurting me and mine was unforgivable. Trying to steal from me was unforgivable. Lea deserved everything I could give her and more. A perfect, loving, doting, caring girlfriend was the least of it. Adonia’s time would come.