Mark of the Fool
Chapter 569: The First Spell of a New Generation

“That’s…a magic circuit I drew,” Selina said suspiciously. “It was for my assignment. What’s wrong with it?”

“Well that’s the thing, Selina. There’s nothing wrong with it.” He said, pointing to the diagram. “Honestly, there’s suspiciously nothing wrong with it. Your teacher told me that—there have been eleven year olds that have drawn magic circuits this accurate. But they’ve been few and far between. And honestly? Most of those had cheated.”

“Oh…” she said, not sure how to feel about that. “Well, I didn’t.”

“And I convinced her of that,” Alex assured her. “Honestly, I’m super impressed. I couldn’t draw a magic circuit this accurate at your age.”

“Okay…” she said, carefully. “What’s this all about, then?”

“Well, your teacher also said you’ve been asking more questions about heat and how it moves.”

Selina paused. “And?”

“And I noticed that the magic circuit you chose to draw for this assignment was a Spark spell.”

The young girl swallowed, her heart pounding. Old feelings of guilt rose in her. “Is that okay?”

“Are you kidding me? It’s great!” Alex’s voice echoed through the lab. “You said that you wanted to get more used to fire, didn’t you? Well it sounds like you’re really working toward that.”

She swallowed as the guilt rose inside of her. A part of her wanted to tell Alex the truth: that she loved fire, and how much that made her wonder about herself. What kind of person would love the thing that killed their parents? But there was another part of her that screamed: not yet!

Her brother’s eyes were so serious right now. What would she do if they suddenly clouded over from rage? Or hate?

She kept silent.

For an instant, Alex’s gaze seemed to sharpen—as though he was looking right through her, seeing everything that was going on in her mind—but as quickly as that feeling came, it left; his eyes softened again.

“Listen, there’s something else about this that’s important: it’s not just about you drawing a spell array or a mana circuit. Anyone with a pen—and like, at least a little bit of drawing skill—can trace a spell array from a book,” he explained, tracing his fingers along the mana pathways of her diagram. “But you took a description of a spell, what it did, and how the mana flowed through the circuit and you were able to accurately draft a diagram from that. You know what that’s like? That’s like walking through a house, and being able to accurately draw its schematics after a few measurements.”

“So?” Selina asked. “I drew the inn’s floorplan when I was a lot younger.”

“That’s the thing: not everyone can do that. You always had a talent for building things, and it looks like that talent crosses over into understanding mana structures,” he said carefully.

She felt a bit of pride over that, and beamed at Claygon, who’d been with her every time she’d done her homework. All those hours pouring over her books sounded like they’d paid off. Still, she could only wonder what all of this had to do with her birthday.

The golem nodded at her. “You have worked…very hard…and you can still teach me. You are…very smart, Selina.”

“Thanks!” she grinned, before looking back at Alex.

Her smile died.

Again, her older brother was looking down at her with that same piercing gaze, like he was looking inside her mind and taking apart her thoughts.

“Hmm,” he mused. “So, I bet you’re wondering what this has to do with your birthday?”

A chill went through her. “Y-yeah, how’d you know?”

“Well, I’d be wondering the same thing if I were in your shoes,” he said. “So…listen, I was going to bring this up when you got older, but honestly? I think you’re ready now.”

Her brother glanced at the bookshelf.

Instantly, a crimson glowing Wizard’s Hand flew up to the book shelf and fetched a thin volume off of a shelf. Something about the book looked very familiar as the glowing spell floated down and placed it in Alex’s hand.

“Listen, it’s not technically recommended that you start learning actual spells now,” Alex said. “Remember when you started learning about magic in school? Remember that I asked you to promise never to start learning spells on your own?”

“Yes…” she said, as a desperate hope began burning in her chest.

‘Is…is this what I think it is?!’ she thought excitedly.

“Technically, the junior school won’t teach you spells. Not for years, but I think you’re more advanced and more mature than I was at your age,” Alex said. “And I started teaching myself magic when I was only a little older than you, and—when I look back—that was probably one of the stupidest and most dangerous things I could have done. But hey, thankfully, it worked out.”

“Okay…yeah it did,” she said slowly, almost afraid that if she said too much, he’d second-guess what she thought he was about to do.

“Honestly, Selina.” Alex tapped the book in thought. “You know a lot more magic than I did at your age, and I didn’t have a teacher. And I think you deserve one. Not later. Now.” He flipped the book toward her, and she caught it, finally recognising it: a spell-guide for Forceball. “That’s the spell I started with, and there’s few spells I know more inside and out, than Forceball. So—for your birthday gift—I’d like to start teaching you magic using the same spell I started with years ago. You’ve earned it, Selina. When you start to—Oof!”

Selina had leapt from her chair and nearly hug-tackled him out of his, almost sending them both flying to the floor. “Thank you, Alex!” she cried. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Yes, that’d be the best gift ever!”

“Good…for you…Selina…” Claygon congratulated her.

“Listen, Alex, you won’t regret this, I’ll do my very best!”

“I expect you too,” he said, seriously. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right. You have to follow everythingI say. All my instructions. You can never try casting spells without me there to supervise you. You can’t show off to anyone else, or tell anyone—besides our family and the cabal—that you’re learning spells. If you break any rules, I’ll stop teaching you, put the book away, and we won’t try it again until the school starts teaching you years from now. Okay?”

“Okay, okay! I promise!” she said quickly.

“I’m putting a lot of trust in you, Selina.” He patted her on the back. “Don’t make me regret that: it’s too dangerous for you not to listen to me.”

“I got it, I got it! But wait…” She leaned away from him. “You do your own thing with magic all the time.” Selina pointed out. “Professor Jules always gets mad at you, you said.”

“Look, Selina, I’m not stupid.” Alex took her by the shoulders, looking her in the eyes. “I know that—eventually—you’re probably going to do the exact same kinda stuff I did. Blazing your own path, doing crazy things….but that’s not going to be how you start. I’m going to teach you properly, safely and thoroughly. That way, if you want to explore the wilder parts of wizardry later, you’re going to have a very stable foundation. And all good houses need good foundations, right?”

“Yes,” she agreed.

“Good. Stick with me, and by the time you’re my age? I bet you’ll be twice the wizard I am. Well, maybe not twice the alchemist or summoner I am, but for certain spells? I guarantee you’ll be better. But that’ll only work if you do exactlyas I say. If you don’t? You could destroy your ability to work mana.”

“Right,” she said, imagining herself as a mighty wizard, building wonders and saving people from demons and fire. “I’ll pay attention, and I’ll be an awesome wizard.”

“That’s the spirit!” Alex laughed, picking up his little sister and hugging her tightly. “You’re gonna be an awesome wizard! Happy birthday, Selina!”

She giggled as her brother twirled her around, laughing as Claygon watched them both in silence. But as Alex spun with her, she saw part of the room that had been previously blocked by the bookshelf.

And the strangest thing hung from the stone wall.

There was a massive sheet of parchment there—large enough to cover the entirety of a big table—and on it was a diagram of a familiar shape. It looked like an…what did her brother call them?

Anatomical diagrams?

She’d seen them in his blood magic textbooks: they were drawings of people and animals, with all the bones, organs and other internal stuff drawn and labelled in great detail.

This drawing looked like those, but instead of organs and bones being labelled, Alex had drawn a series of strange pathways which were labelled ‘lifeforce’. She had no clue what those pathways meant, but there were some things about the drawing that made her pause.

For one, it was canine in shape.

For another, it had three heads.

“Is that Brutus?” she asked.

Alex looked at the diagram. “I can’t say.”

“What is it?’

He smiled. “Oh, you’ll find out soon enough. Before summer’s end.”

At last the snows of winter and the rains of spring had passed in Greymoor, leaving summer’s warmth in their wake.

The days were still cloudy, but the air had finally lost that briskness of winter’s final chill. Summer was high, and the bugs were out in force, only driven away and picked off by Alex’s swarms of elemental beetles.

Hills around the Research Castle were dotted with watchtowers, outposts and other fortifications that would make future invasion a nightmare for Ravener-spawn coming overland. Each tower was topped by a ballista with a mighty enchantment on it, capable of launching entire storms of spears with one pull of a trigger. They would devastate all creatures attacking by air, while other defences were readied against attack from beneath the earth.

Every tunnel was now inlaid with glyphs that would suppress mana seeking to warp the earth around them, and magic to detect the presence of dungeon cores within a one mile radius.

The researchers had now quantified enough of the cores’ energies to be able to detect them at far distances with the right equipment, which made both early detection, and hunting them far easier than before.

Now, as soon as a dungeon core was detected by the wards, high tier summoning circles would be activated, conjuring elder earth elementals to dive into the earth and crush both Ravener-spawn and their cores before a dungeon could establish itself.

Teams of Watchers were now always on stand-by, ready to use Planar Doorway and Earth Glide spells to strike deep into the earth. In addition, each outpost had additional dwarven-crafted fortifications beneath their surfaces, serving as waypoints, mustering grounds, and healing centres.

If Ravener-spawn attacked, the expedition would be more than ready this time.

In addition, the Generasians lead more and more strike forces out into the wild, hunting for samples. Within the Research Castle, analysis had progressed to the point of active experimentation with dungeon core substances.

There had been exciting chattering about a possible breakthrough in communications devices and other wonders…as well as lots of talk of the innovative golems that Toraka Shale was starting to produce.

The golem crafter hadn’t advertised what went into her new, cutting-edge constructs, but it didn’t take a genius to make the connection: Alex Roth, one of the main figures of the expedition, worked closely with Toraka and it was an open secret that he and his friends regularly went into the wilds to harvest dungeon cores.

Spurred by the goals of glory and coin, more expedition members had begun putting together their own private teams to go in search of their own fortunes. Meanwhile, those Thameish nobles who paid attention to the expedition’s works and movements, quickly realised what a proverbial platinum mine their country was sitting on.

In short order, they had arranged their own private forces out of their vassals to join with Generasians—or act on their own—to harvest the Ravener’s prized orbs.

It was the summer of the second year of the cycle when ‘The Dungeon Core’ rush began, and it was already showing signs of spreading through much of Thameland.

Of course, to others—like the Heroes of Thameland—such activity meant less work for them, and more time to train for the real battle that was to come.

And that was what they were doing on this cloudy summer day.

The Games of Roal loomed close for Alex and his cabal, so they trained whenever they could.

On the moors, Theresa, and Grimloch tested their skill against the mightiest opponent they could find.

Hart Redfletcher, the Champion of Uldar.

While Alex searched for the Traveller’s power, and Claygon practised forms with his spear, and Thundar taught Drestra more illusion magic; the three warriors prepared for an epic mock battle.

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