Circuits

Upon our return to Tayde, we part ways with Irene, who stays with her ship. Apparently, she already has another delivery the following morning.

"I think we'll get going too," Jonas says, his arm wrapped around the young mage.

I guess there's nothing like death and despair to bring people together. Or maybe there's nothing else to make you realize just how much you've missed out on in life.

The mage gives a soft smile and nods, "I promise we'll repay you for this some day."

After a short goodbye between Jonas and Elizabeth, the two leave, and we make our way back home. Entering the inn, we're greeted by the innkeeper.

"Hey, Vol, there's a package here for you," he says, gesturing to a large crate in the corner.

"Oh, thank you."

Vol looks incredulously at the crate, then picks up a letter lying on top. He scans it, then turns to me, smiling.

"Seb, come look!" he exclaims, excitedly beginning to tear off the lid on the crate.

Elizabeth and I look down into the open crate.

"Special rush order!" he grins, showing me the note.

The paper is signed "- Evelyne." I guess it pays to have friends in high places. Otherwise, we would probably have needed to wait until next week to get the finished manacaster modules.

We sleep to late next day, but once we've woken up and had brunch, we get to work. And there's plenty to do. Vol inscribes the spells into the newly received modules while Elizabeth attaches the completed modules to the manacaster.

In the meantime, I'm implementing our most recent idea for the celestial spell. I'm chaining together a series of mana stone shards between each of 8 AM-stores. Each AM-store contains a different variant of my mana; enough to repeat the celestial sequence.

"Alright, Vol, I think it's done," I say, waving him over.

"Great," he says, letting out a small sigh as he gets up off the floor, "Let's give it a try."

Elizabeth stands up and walks to a corner of the room, outside of the massively complex shape on the ground. With every attempt, she does this to ensure that the sword stays out of the celestial realm, per Risus' words. It has proved rather pointless so far, seeing as none of our attempts have worked, but I appreciate her attention to safety.

We sit down in the center of the circle, much like I've done at the church. The prayer-like action seems to activate the celestial spell, though all the times we've tried it, we've either had duds or uncontrollable explosions.

Vol lets out a sigh. We close our eyes.

In an instant, the sensation of the world around me disappears. With a start, my eyes shoot open.

I find myself in a large, open room. I look around and see Vol getting to his feet, amazed. I follow his lead.

"We did it," he says, simply, mouth agape, "BY THE GODS - SEB - WE DID IT!!!"

His joy is infectious and I can't help but smile a bit.

"A-HAHA-HA" he laughs.

I haven't seen him this excited since he managed to complete the first AM-store. In fact, he might be even more excited now. While Vol can barely contain his joy, I look around the room.

We appear to be in a barn of some sort, but most barns I've seen are a bit run-down. This one looks brand new. Piles of crops - some of which I recognize and some of which I don't - are stacked neatly across the room. I assumed we would appear near Risus, as we have in the past, but I can't see him anywhere.

"Hello? Is anybody here?" I ask.

With no response, I gesture for Vol to follow, and begin heading toward a pair of double-doors at the end of the building. One of the doors is slightly open and the bright light from outside falls beautifully across the floor, reflecting off a marble-like material.

Opening the door, I expect a creak or a squeak from the hinges, but it opens without a sound.

Massive glowing fields fill my vision as the golden light makes me wince. A bench sits is placed a little away from the barn. Atop it sits a figure with a large, circular head.

He turns as we exit the barn.

"Shawl! Lae'vie-crostro, you've done it!" he exclaims, rising from the bench with his usual grin etched on his face. "Excellent work!"

"Thank you. If you don't mind, I'd like you to answer some of my questions now."

"Certainly, certainly. I do believe we're safe from the Cyrene here, at least for the moment."

Having finally gotten here on my own terms, I believe it's about time I got some proper answers. In case we get dragged apart again, I settle on the most important thing first. The Godkiller.

"- and the memories Elizabeth received make it seem like I created it for the Cyrene," I say, finishing my explanation.

"Ah, ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴏᴅᴋɪʟʟᴇʀ is a most traitorous thing, able to kill even the greater gods themselves. Such weapons were outlawed by the greater gods many eons ago. What tools existed were destroyed - even those in the their possession."

"So, what, the Cyrene thought that if they had someone outside of the celestial realm make it, nobody would know?"

"And right they were," Risus says, solemnly, "Despite the many centuries you worked on it, not even Gaia and Grott knew of it."

Glancing to my side, a quiet groan from Vol as he puts his hand to his forehead tells me that he's starting to feel the familiar migraine. I'm starting to sense it, too, but I have more questions and I'm not leaving until I'm done.

"You used to be a part of the Cyrene, didn't you?"

"Indeed," Risus nods.

I've been wondering about this for a while, actually. Risus said that the Cyrene are a group of those who are unsatisfied with their position under the greater gods. So far, Risus has appeared to be on my side, and his information has been solid.

Before we go any further, however, I need to know one thing.

"What made you leave?"