Chapter 36

He awoke with a start, jerking upright with a jagged breath. His heart hammered in his chest. The sheets were stuck to his chest, and they felt wet. He peeled them away, grimacing as a twinge of pain shot through his body.

Damien's eyes widened. His body was matted with blood. A rune about the size of his fist had been carved into his chest, directly over his heart. He recognized this particular rune. It was a core one when making a protective circle. It was the symbol for cage.

"What happened to your chest?" Henry asked, shocked.

"That rune— You spoke with It Who Heralds the End of All Light?"

I did. I don't think he—it—is very happy with you.

"I don't suppose it is," Henry said, suspicion in his voice.

"What did it want?"

It believes the Corruption is going to destroy the world and take it out of the cycle of life, or something like that.

Apparently, you're failing at your duties and are dooming us all in the process.

"Bah," Henry replied. "It's not wrong about the Corruption, but a few thousand years won't matter. I can have my fun, and then go about ending the world when you're a step from your death bed. Then both of us can be happy."

I'm not sure I'm a fan of you destroying the world after I die either. I like it better than the alternative, but isn't there an option where the Mortal Plane actually survives?

"That would be the Void destroying it," Henry said, sighing. "If we do it, the Mortal Plane will be reborn. It's not a true death like the Corruption."

How do you know the Corruption would even kill it? Has it happened somewhere before? And why didn't you tell me about it?

Henry didn't respond immediately. Then he let out a slow hum.

"I'm…not sure, actually. I just know it's bad. Really bad.

And I was really hoping you wouldn't have to deal with it, to be honest."

A millennium of existence and you still haven't figured out if this great evil is actually evil?

"Original thought didn't come easily to me," Henry protested. "It's hardly my fault."

Damien rolled his eyes. Yet another mystery he had to deal with, although it didn't seem like it was as imminent as his other problems. He touched the sticky blood drying on his chest and grimaced as the cut skin stung under his finger.

He carefully climbed out from under the covers and swung his legs out of bed. A sudden vertigo washed over him as he tried to stand. Static filled his vision, and he toppled forward. Two hands grabbed him by the shoulders and stopped his fall.

"Damien?" Sylph asked. "What happened?"

He blinked the dizziness away. Sylph looped one of his arms around her shoulders. She drew in a sharp breath at the sight of the rune on his chest.

"Did something happen to your core as well?"

"No," Damien said, the weakness receding from his voice. "I don't think so, at least. This is something else."

"You've lost a lot of blood," Sylph said, helping him toward the shower. "Should I get a healer?"

"The shower's water should be enough," Damien said.

"This is one of those things."

"Understood," Sylph said. She turned the water on, dousing them as it rained from the ceiling. Damien grimaced at the cold. His chest stung as the water pattered against his skin.

The blood covering him washed away. The wound tightened, the bright red lines turning a knotty pink as they faded. Within a few minutes, the wound had sealed. The pain receded as well, although his head still felt light.

"Thank you, Sylph," Damien said, blinking the water out of his eyes. "I think it's okay now."

"Are you sure it's not going to happen again?" Sylph asked, stepping out of the shower and drying herself off.

Her clothes had been completely soaked. Damien realized he was wearing little more than a pair of shorts, but he was too tired to care. His feet weren't as shaky as they had been, so he carefully stepped out as well.

"It probably will," he said. "But not today. I think."

"That's reassuring," Sylph said, wringing her hair out and putting it into a bun. "It's not going to happen while you're out and about, is it? Going to be hard to explain that to Delph."

"I'll make sure it doesn't," Damien said, yawning. "And thank you for catching me. How did you manage to wake up fast enough to realize I was falling?"

"I was already awake and meditating," Sylph replied.

Her voice lowered. "I noticed you stand up and glanced over just as you tipped over. It's a good thing I did. You would have gotten blood all over my bed."

"That would have been tragic," Damien said, a small grin tugging at his lips. "Although now, I've got to wash my own bedsheets. I suppose it was about time for that anyway."

They walked out of the bathroom. Damien let out a sigh.

His sheets were stained completely brown by the tried blood. They stared at it for a second.

"I don't think that's coming out," Sylph said.

"No, I don't think it is," Damien agreed. "Fantastic. I don't suppose you know what time it is?"

"About two hours before sunrise," Sylph replied. "Maybe a little bit less."

"I suppose we might as well start training, then," Damien sighed, not particularly wanting to move more than he had to.

"You sure you're up to it?" Sylph asked worriedly. "I don't think you're fully back to normal yet. The healing water can do a lot, but I'm not sure it can replace blood that quickly. You're going to need to eat something to replenish your energy."

"Good point. And we've also got a class with Delph later today," Damien said with a grimace. "I don't know what he'll have us doing since the tournament just ended, but I guess it might be best to save my energy."

"Breakfast, then?" Sylph suggested. "I think this might be an occasion that allows you to overeat a little bit."

"Yeah," Damien said, his stomach growling at the thought of more pancakes. "I think that might be for the best. Are you coming? You don't have to stop your training if you don't want to."

"I'll live if I skip a day," Sylph said, giving him a slight smile. "And we don't want you face-planting halfway to the mess hall."

"That wouldn't be ideal," Damien agreed, returning the smile. After he got properly dressed, the two set off down the mountain and toward the promise of tasty food.

Damien and Sylph both ordered a hearty breakfast and sped through it in record time. The food did wonders for replenishing Damien's strength, although he still felt slightly dizzy. He was so hungry he ordered a second meal, this time eating it more slowly to savor the taste.

Once they'd finished eating, the two of them wandered around the campus for a few hours, pausing to buy some basic supplies in the general store. After that, the two returned to their room where they found two notes written on dirty brown paper waiting for them before their beds.

"Uh oh. You think he saw my bed?" Damien asked.

"I don't think he possibly could have missed it," Sylph replied. "But it doesn't really look like he cared."

"That's… very Delph of him," Damien said, picking his note up and scanning it.

Unsurprisingly, the note contained instructions to find Delph's class, which was in the arena as it always tended to be. Not a single mention of Damien's bloodied bed was present. There was only a little over half an hour before the class started, so the two students wasted no time in making their way through the portals.

By the time Damien and Sylph got to the sandy arena floor, several of the other students from the class were already waiting for them. Mark and the Gray siblings sat in the sand, and Lucille stood a short distance away from them together with the other students whose names Damien couldn't recall.

"Good job on the tournament," Nolan told them as they arrived. "That was a clever strategy. Buying time for Sylph since you knew you couldn't beat Mark yourself… Ha. I'd rather have taken the quarterfinal win myself, but I think you earned it with that insane play of yours."

"You damn near killed both yourself and Nolan," Reena said crossly, pressing her lips together. "It was stupid. It's a tournament, not a life and death battle."

"That's exactly why I did it," Damien replied, shrugging.

"There were incredibly powerful healers with us focused on making sure we didn't kill ourselves or each other. They would have stopped the spell if they thought it was going to kill anyone. If this was a real fight, I never would have done something that dangerous. Not if I could have helped it, anyway."

Reena grunted, but she didn't look particularly convinced.

"Excuse Reena," Nolan said. "She's a little overly protective, and she's not too happy I placed higher than she did."

"Shut up," Reena said, sulking. A smile cracked Nolan's serious expression, and he ruffled her hair.

"You've still got four years to outperform me, Reena.

You'll get more chances later."

"That goes for all of us," Mark said, cocking his head to the side like a wolf as he examined Sylph. His gaze flicked to Damien for a moment before a half-smile appeared on his lips. "But I don't think any of us can argue Damien and Sylph didn't earn their victory. They followed the rules and realized there were ways to exploit them. Next time, we'll be ready."

"You'd best be," Delph said, his voice coming from the empty air before them.

A gray whirlwind bloomed in the air, expanding outward and transforming into Delph within moments. The man's lips were curled upward, and his eyes were more relaxed than Damien had ever seen them. "But you all did very well. It's important to remember each of you had different starting spots. The ranking battles are important, but there will be more in the future. For those of you who didn't place as high as you'd like, you'll have many more shots to claim your rightful spot."

Everyone scrambled to their feet as Delph paced in a line before them.

"However, I must say I'm incredibly pleased with everyone's results. Everyone won at least one fight, and we claimed three out of the four top spots. On top of that, several students reached the quarterfinals as well. So, I believe a reward is in order."

Everyone watched the professor eagerly. He chuckled and scratched at his beard. "But before we get to that, there's some information the school has mandated I say."

A few groans rose. Delph waited until they passed before he spoke again.

"First, you are now all eligible to go on quests. I will hand out a slip of paper at the end of class that classifies the difficulty of quest you are allowed to take on. Your team may only take on quests at the lowest rank between the two of you. However, it is permitted to take on quests alone if, and only if, they are more than two ranks lower than your current rank. So, if you're given a B rank, you can take an E rank quest alone. I will say that this is heavily discouraged. Mages work in teams to complement each other's strength, and you are more powerful together than you are alone."

"When can we do the quests?" Damien asked. "We're all in school. If we leave to do a quest, it could take weeks.

Won't we miss a lot of information?"

"Good question," Delph said. "There will be weeks throughout the year designated to either training or questing. You're welcome to do whichever you prefer. Some quests are also short and close enough that you can get them finished over the weekends. Does that clear things up?"

Damien nodded.

"Good. Now, the next piece of information. As I'm sure you all expected, there are more classes than just combat.

Blackmist teaches a multitude of things ranging from magic theory to rune drawing. You've all been placed in classes I will inform you of shortly. They have been optimized to the talents you've shown so far in my class and during the ranking battles. And that actually brings us to your reward."

Delph looked around the eager students, a grin stretching across his lips. "I was assigned to teach all your classes. Apparently, the school has a shortage of teachers.

But since you all put in such hard work, I called a few favors to get some other teachers to take over several of the subjects. That means I won't have to see you little goblins constantly, and you'll get to learn from someone other than me. Of course, we'll still have combat classes five times a week, but that was a given. Pretty good reward, eh?"

Nobody said anything, but Damien knew they were all thinking the same thing: That was a pretty good reward.

Of course, Delph made sure the students didn't think he was going soft after their success at the tournament.

Immediately after he finished lecturing them, the man set them all off on several laps around the track.

The moment they finished, he broke everyone off into groups and put them through a brutal workout. When he finally let them stop, everyone was laid out flat on the ground, gasping for breath.

Delph walked around the field of exhausted students, dropping slips of paper on their heads as he passed while humming to himself, not even slightly out of breath.

"You all get a break from me tomorrow," Delph said.

"Your respective teachers will be contacting you for your first lesson. I'm sure they'll use much less interesting methods than I do, but that's just something you have to live with. Don't try comparing them to me. None of your teachers will live up to any of my aspects, no matter how hard they try. Just be happy I teach one of your classes, as most don't even get the privilege of that."

Damien managed to sit up just in time to see Delph give him a small wink before the man's cloak swallowed him, and he disappeared. He let out a groan and flopped back to the ground. He'd barely made it through today's class. His head still felt light from the morning's incident, and the new scars on his chest occasionally ached for no apparent reason.

A few moments later, he reached up with a trembling hand and lifted the slip of paper Delph had dropped up so he could read it. The rising sun lit the paper from behind, making it slightly translucent and highlighting the ink.

"Magic theory, A rank quests," Damien read aloud. A grin stretched across his features. He forced himself upright and tucked the paper into a pocket in his coat.

"Fantastic," Henry said. "This will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about modern magic. Also, I need more books. I got impatient and finished them last night."

Damien sighed, shaking his head and not gracing his companion with a response.

"I got rune drawing," Nolan said, holding his paper out before him like it was slimy. "It feels like the professors are just rubbing my defeat at Damien's hands in."

"Hey, if it works…" Mark said, rolling to his feet with a grunt. He tucked his paper into his belt and let out a yawn.

Sylph walked over to Damien and extended her hand. He took it, and she pulled him to his feet. After he brushed the dirt off his clothes, Damien raised an eyebrow in her direction.

"What class?" he asked.

"Magical control," Sylph said. "Probably to improve my pitiful amounts of energy. And I'm allowed to take on A ranked quests. What about you?"

"Same for the quests, and I got magic theory. I'm just glad they didn't stick me in rune drawing," Damien replied.

"I like it, but there's no point focusing on it further right now. I'd rather learn other stuff."

"I've heard magical theory can be rather difficult," Nolan said, overhearing their conversation. "My dad mentioned something about it once. I think he was just mad he didn't do well in the course, though."

"I'm in that class as well," Reena said, looking down at her paper. A grin flittered across her features. "If I do better than Father, he'll have to acknowledge that."

"Just focus on passing," Nolan said with a smirk. "If he had difficulty, then I'm sure it's an intense class."

Reena grunted. Judging by her expression, Nolan's words had gone in one ear and out the other without stopping for lunch. Speaking of food, Damien's stomach rumbled.

"Lunch?" Sylph suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Damien said.

The two of them bid farewell to the other students and headed over to the mess hall. Sylph got her dumplings courtesy of Delph while Damien ordered the cheapest meal on the menu, a plate of slightly seasoned ground meat and a small hunk of bread.

They polished off their food without much conversation of note, then headed back toward their room in the mountains. Sylph returned to her bed to meditate while Damien headed into the training room.

His notes were still waiting for him on the floor, and the books unmoved from the spots he'd left them. He carefully stepped over the chalk lines, making sure not to smudge any of them, and sat down.

This is what I'm thinking about trying right now.

Damien pointed to a set of three interlocking circles of runes he'd drawn to his right. Henry made a contemplative noise as he examined what Damien had drawn.

"Why don't you walk me through this?" Henry suggested. "It's bad, but salvageable."

Gee, thanks. The top rune is the one that forms the portal. I've got it sent to appear right in front of my hand, or wherever I cast it from, I guess. It also handles the size and shape. I figured the larger it is, the harder it'll be to cast, so I've got it set at about half my height in diameter.

"Good assumption," Henry said. "What about the other two?"

The left one is what's meant to open the portal. I don't fully understand how it works, but I took that rune circle from a portal spell. If I'm not mistaken, it should use space magic to tear open a passage to an extra-dimensional space…somewhere. Without another portal, I just have it open ended.

"I'd like to let you test that, but might blow you up," Henry said. "Leaving a portal open ended like that could set it anywhere. You'd rip open a path to an unknown location, which could be full of poisonous gasses, lava, or all manner of things that would kill you. You need to tell the Ether exactly what to do."

Gotcha. I'll look through my books again and try to find something that would work. What about the right circle? I found some other spells that were meant to block magic, but they were way too complex to just directly use. I tried to make a pattern that would absorb anything that touched it and send it to the location chosen by the second ring.

"It won't blow up if you test it," Henry decided. "Just make sure you fix the runes up. You've got some mistakes that can be fixed, but I'm not pointing them out yet."

Damien nodded. He picked a book up and leafed through it, scanning the pages for the information he'd need to fix the left circle.

Time ticked by. Runes came and went like the tide as Damien smudged them out and drew new ones over the top, modifying his design over the next few hours. Finally, he rocked back, sporting a fierce headache but burning with excitement.

"What about this?" Damien asked, forgetting to speak in his head.

"It… Well, it won't blow up," Henry said, a tiny note of approval in his voice. "You're using a pocket dimension to store anything that enters the spell? Not bad. That's close to what I would have done. It takes a fair amount of magical energy, though."

I've got more than enough of that. I'm going to try casting this.

"This'll be fun," Henry said.

Damien ignored him. He studied the runes he'd prepared on the ground for a few minutes, then stood up and brushed himself off. He opened his mouth to ask Henry how to properly form the Ether so that it would do what he wanted, but an answer swam unbidden to his mind before he could speak.

"You're thinking about something," Henry observed.

"Wanted to know how to manipulate the Ether to make this spell?"

No, I actually think I have an idea how. Three motes, one for each rune circle. I twist them together so they can link.

I'd imagine that, at this level of complexity, I would need to actually use runes so I can communicate with the Ether more precisely.

Henry let out a bark of laughter. "Look at you. That's correct. You need to shape the Ether into runes, but I already know what you're thinking. Too complex, huh?"

Basically. There are at least fifty runes in this thing, there's no way I can get that degree of accuracy by squishing around the Ether with my mental energy.

"Well, you can. Eventually," Henry said. "But, in the meantime, there's a crutch. You can draw out the runes for the spell with your finger, sending the Ether out through it.

So long as you send one mote to each ring and they're properly linked before you do so, the spell will function as normal—just slower."

That's amazing! Why didn't you tell me this before?

"Because you'd have tried something and ended up blowing us both up."

Fair.

Damien took a slow breath, drawing energy into his core from a line of Ether, then gently took the motes and started shaping them within himself. They put up mild resistance, but since he wasn't getting too detailed with the linkage, he was able to put everything together without too much difficulty.

He brought the Ether to his fingertip, letting just enough of it leak out to create a faint purple light just in front of his nail, and drew the pattern that he'd created for the spell in the air. The runes flickered there for a moment, then flared as he sent the last of the energy into it.

With a pop, a wide black circle snapped open before him. It flickered with flares of purple light.

I did it!

"Toss something in," Henry suggested. "Quickly. Before it fades."

Damien knelt, grabbing a pebble from the ground, and threw it at his spell. The stone passed straight through it and clattered to the ground. His face fell and the portal faded away a moment later.

Why didn't it get sent into the portal?

"Take another look at your third circle," Henry said.

Damien sat back down in front of the runes he'd drawn and examined them for several minutes.

"I'm not seeing it," he admitted out loud. The headache building in the back of his head twinged but forced it away.

He was too close to stop now. "I clearly have it set up to absorb any energy or physical components that pass through it."

"How does one absorb something physical?" Henry asked. "That won't work. The rune circle you took from the portal was the one that actually stopped any magical effects from passing through it, not the one that sent someone through. The magic can mess up the location you arrive at, so many portals temporarily try to draw any magic passing through them out so it can't ruin the spell."

Damien pursed his lips in thought. His eyes widened and he scribbled out several runes, redrawing them.

I've got it! If I can't absorb physical components, then a bunch of these runes aren't working correctly and could be messing up other aspects of the circle. But if I set it up to only take in magical energy… "Cast the spell again," Henry suggested.

Damien did just that. The black portal wavered slightly as it pried open, but it remained in the air as he formed a weak gravity sphere and threw it in. There was a subtle pop as the dark orb entered the spell. It vanished without a trace.

"Well done," Henry said. "You've got yourself a new spell. One that you need a lot of work to start casting better, but a new spell nonetheless."

Damien stared at the portal until it closed, practically shivering with excitement. He couldn't even find the proper words to say, and the growing headache wasn't helping his articulation.

"You're going to need a name for it," Henry said. "Make sure it isn't lame."

Devour. Because it eats the magic I put into it.

"That," Henry said, pausing for a moment, "is a good name."

A smile stretched across Damien's face. He staggered into the bathroom holding his head with his hand and took a shower, relaxing under the warm water until opening his eyes didn't make the world pulsate.

The wound on his chest showed no signs of closing any further. It clearly wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Damien tried to get a better look at it, but he couldn't understand what the magic was meant to do. It didn't seem to be active at the moment.

You don't know what this does, do you?

"I don't," Henry said, and it was clear it irritated him. "I recognize the rune, of course, but there are more circles than I can count that utilize it. Did our friend say anything about it?"

Something about containing the full power of your soul, but he made it sound pretty ominous.

"I'll keep an eye on it," Henry said. "Unfortunately, my thoughts and its are no longer the same. I have no way to know what he's planning."

Damien sighed. He turned off the water and stepped out of the shower to dry himself off. He'd have to experiment with whatever the eldritch creature had done to him, but that could come later. For now, he felt he'd earned a well-deserved break. There were spells waiting to be discovered, and Damien wasn't going to let anything, Void or Corruption, stop him from learning them.