The Third Portal: Chapter Forty-Eight

Dusk considered it for some time, before she chirped like a choruk and said that she thought that the second option was likely the best. As a worldspirit, her dominion was already tightly bound to her inhabitants, and being able to weave a portion of the cloud’s power in through the spells she drew was going to present the best long-term advantage, especially since as a growth item, it should grow that effect as well. 

“True. It would require you to focus more, especially in the beginning, which isn’t a disadvantage you should lightly discard,” the old dragon said. “Though if you are able to successfully incorporate it as a part of your Authority’s projection…” 

Dusk responded that she was up to the task, and given how often she flew around, she thought she should be able to adapt quickly. With that confirmed, Elio set to work. 

I had thought that the creation of a growth item, something that bound to a person’s spirit and had the capacity to reach even the highest heights of power, would be interesting. I had imagined massive channels of glowing energy weaving into arcane shapes in the air, surges of lightning streaking down from the sky to scour the item clean, or waves of multicolored light that would be seen for miles. 

The reality was much more disappointing. Even for an old, powerful master of enchanting magic like Elio, creating a growth item took time, and a great deal of it was spent in the design phase. I left the Runelight Lens with him, and he told us that he would be done and deliver everything back to us in a week or two. 

Just as I was preparing to open a portal back to Port Ruby and leave, Idyll manifested herself, her body still somewhat smokey and insubstantial. In fact, she looked even weaker and whisper than she had during the times she’d appeared in Port Ruby. 

“Hello children,” she said, clearly addressing Dusk and Dawn. She spared a moment to incline her head to me in a nod. “And Malachi.” 

“Hello Idyll. Are you doing alright? You seem… Less corporeal than before.” 

“I am adapting to the implementations and limits of my new self,” Idyll said, shaking her head. “I will be quite alright. Thank you. I came to speak to Dusk on the integration of a growth item into her dominion, as well as to work on factors of Dawn's.”

“She means that as a genius loci, it takes more effort for her to project her form outside of territory she’s woven herself into,” Elio snorted. “The only reason she can get this far out is the fact that I’ve enchanted my lair to help with it.” 

“I see, thank you. And what factors of Dawn’s dominion are you working on?” I asked, placing my hand on the young soul dragon’s snout protectively. I couldn’t stop Elio or Idyll if they chose to work against me, but it was the intention that mattered. 

“Her well,” Idyll said, then her voice took on a trace of scorn. “Neither Elio nor I have one, since the Sage’s chains prevented such a thing. But I was able to watch him, and see how he wove its power into his title. This is not the same, but it is similar.”

I flicked my eyes to Dawn, who seemed unconcerned and drifted out of my hands and over towards Idyll. 

“As long as she’s willing,” I said. “Is there any way to remove the bindings?” 

“Orykson is working on it,” Elio rumbled. “He has already removed more than half of the bindings in me, but Idyll’s soul is still in a precarious state. She must stabilize.”

“If there’s anything we can do, you only need to ask.” 

“I appreciate it,” Idyll said. “Now, children?”

Dusk straddled Dawn’s back, and the pair floated off to speak with Idyll outside, leaving me alone with Elio. 

While they were busy, I looked around. So much of the room’s space was vertical that I was forced to use a combination of Immovable Lock and Foxstep to wander upwards, looking at the bookshelves, the treasures, and the magical items. All of them seemed to range wildly in just about every conceivable aspect: age, power, quality, origin, and value, though I was mostly guessing about the last one.

As I was examining an old glass orb that reminded me a little of the ancient artifacts that Kene and I had found in the ruins of the castle beneath his home village, Elio finally blew a ring of smoke at me and sighed, addressing me. 

“I have heard that you are going to see the Amethyst Mask soon,” he said. “I do not know him, but I would have you bear him a gift, as I work on the formation of my Title.”

I Foxstepped down next to him and was opening my mouth to say I would be happy to, but I wasn’t sure when Meadow would arrange for that to happen, since as far as I knew, the Amethyst Mask was still working on storing mana up for his breakthrough. Before I could get that out, though, Elio continued speaking. 

“As recompense for being caught in the game of politics, serving as a messenger between myself and a power not aligned with the Mossford Alliance, I offer you three spells in recompense. With your mana, especially as it is now, you are likely one of the few who can make true use of them.”

“That isn’t necessary, I’m ha–” I started to say, but he cut me off again. 

“It is. Do you accept?” 

I waited a few beats to consider it, and so he wouldn’t think I was being flippant with his concerns. Honestly, though, I didn’t see a downside to carrying a gift, serving as a messenger to another of Meadow’s apprentices. 

And given the way Elio had expressed feelings for the mantle estragon, and the comment about me being one of the few who was able to use the techniques… Was this his way of wanting to pass on some of his species? It seemed likely, at least to me. 

“I will,” I said seriously. Elio nodded and extended an absolutely enormous alexandrite, roughly the size of a goose egg – which was to say more than three times the size of an ordinary chicken egg. It was immensely heavy, both to my hands, and to my mana senses. 

I expected at first that it would be densely forged mana, like the wardstones I’d seen a few times, or the walls around Port Ruby, but to my surprise, it didn’t register as such to my mana senses. Rather, it felt more like a natural gemstone that had been wrapped in layer upon layer of enchantments and spellcraft until it radiated with intense, crackling magic. 

I’d been crushed under the power of Orykson’s seventh gate mana before, as well as experienced the smoldering weight around the Ascending Death Crystal, so just holding it didn’t hurt, but it was slightly uncomfortable, and probing it for what the spellwork actually did was well beyond my current capabilities.

It took me a concentrated moment to pull it into Dusk’s vault, but once I did, I looked at Elio. 

“I’ve placed it in the most secure location I have access to that will also be available when I meet the Amethyst Mask.” 

“Good. I’ll show you one of the spells now, and the other two after you’ve delivered it,” Elio instructed. Shimming multicolored smoke flowed from his fingertips and into the shape of a spell that hung in the air. 

It looked to be third gate, and I could definitely see that it was partially a meta spell, but it was also large and had several things in common with forging spells, and even somewhat reminded me of the sky dragon spells. 

“The Gemstone Loupe,” the dragon said. “It’s a meta spell that uses the lensing properties of gemstones to improve the efficacy of harvesting spells, as well as pick up on minute traces of ambient environmental energies.” 

As he spoke, he waved his hand and cast the spell. A circular lens about the size of a dinner plate and shimmering with every color of the rainbow appeared. I felt him cast another spell, a harvesting one, and power flowed up through the earth. Instead of feeding into him, the mana surged through the Gemstone Loupe, concentrating and swirling in bits of energy from the air, cold, and light, and directed the power into Elio. When he finished, the mana that made up the lens flowed back into him, making it shockingly mana efficient. 

“Not exactly a combat spell, but it’s very useful,” Elio stated. “And its ingrained effect boosts your mana regeneration in the gate that has it. I do not believe there are any hudau harvesting spells until fifth gate. This should help some.” 

There was one from a project I’d found, but it was first gate, and my first gate hudau mana was entirely full. It also had horrific efficiency, and needed to be entirely reworked, so I didn’t bring it up. 

“Thank you,” I said. “The moment I break into peak third gate and have the room to cast this spell, it’s going into my garden.” 

Elio nodded and lapsed back into silence, leaving me to wander around the roof and look at all of his stuff again. 

When Idyll’s lesson to the younger spirits finished, Dusk opened a portal back to Port Ruby and we left. I started working on the array, putting up with the grumbling of the ghost of the enchanter for Elio not letting her look around such a futuristic enchanting workshop, when I felt it happen. 

There was a slight burning sensation that dug into my spirit, almost akin to what I felt when ingraining a spell, and then the Hudau Heart started to feel funky, as it began attempting to direct some of my mana regeneration into something that was absolutely full. 

It took me a moment to figure out what had happened: Ephemeral Rebirth, the power I’d unlocked from bonding my full-gate intersection point to my spirit, had finally been filled. 

The amount of mana and energy it took to completely fill the resurrection ability was frankly absurd, but it was finally ready. I wasn’t looking forward to stress testing it, but at the same time, having it ready gave me a sense of relief. I could, theoretically, survive a fatal blow, even from an opponent much stronger than me. 

If the ability activated in a fight, there were good odds that I wasn't going to be winning, but just being able to survive some dangerous situations was a win in my book. 

It would probably have been a good idea to experiment with it, since relying on a power I didn’t understand could be quite dangerous in a combat situation, but at the same time, it had taken me the better part of a year to build up all of the power for a single casting. Even with Hudau Heart automating the feeding in the last three months or so, it was still very much a time sink. 

Well, maybe it was for the best. I needed to not rely on it, after all. Taking fatal blows and surviving, even once or twice, could potentially lead to some pretty awful habits.

I cast Hudau Heart and shifted my mana regeneration around a little more, trying to even out all of my gates the best I could, then settled back down, continuing my work on the array.