Discordant Note: Crescendo | TBATE

Chapter 250: Puzzles in Powers

Thank you to my beta reader and editor, GlassThreads!

Toren Daen

"It's difficult to explain," I said, frowning at the three patches of blood in the sand. I could hear the little flickers of my heartfire within as they stayed for a short time in the crimson. "But the aether within kind of... pushes the mana along. Squeezes it and perpetuates its flow."

Seris stared down at Circe's array with a very, very speculative face. "When you said you would tell me of your abilities, Toren," she said slowly, "I'll admit I was expecting something more..." She hesitated, finding her words. "Impactful."

I snorted. After Seris had agreed to help me refine my abilities in combat, I'd taken her up to the sands above Burim, and immediately laid out this little array. "It doesn't look like much, I know," I said, sensing my tenuous connection to the dissipating lifeforce, "but just watch."

I reached out a tendril of invisible heartfire, connecting me once more to the burning embers in my blood. Then, as I felt the strange connection between me and the blood, I snapped my fingers.

The array flared to life, and mana and heartfire began to cycle. They perpetuated each other in a feedback loop as I withdrew the active touch of my heartfire, cycling round and round as they hummed with light. The effect was palpable in the ambient mana, a beacon to any nearby.

Seris' eyebrows rose. "I think I see now," she said, stalking around the array as she scanned it over. "The mana flow is far higher than it should be considering the previous dormancy of the mana you inputted into your blood. There is something else I cannot sense influencing this... heartfire?"

I nodded. "I'm not able to use this exactly in the way the person I studied could. It was only when I realized that I can't influence lifeforce beyond my body that I truly realized my limitations–and my strengths."

My insight into heartfire was derived from my personal experiences and a mesh of phoenix and djinnic insight. Circe Milview only had the touch of djinnic ancestry to guide her, as well as an entirely different perception of the world and all that was in it.

Maybe somebody else could, but I wouldn't ever be able to manipulate heartfire that was no longer connected to me. Why could I? When a limb was severed, was one still able to move it? To twitch a finger or draw lines in the sand?

It was contrary to my path of aetheric insight. Only with this understanding did I begin to focus inward instead of outward, leading to Resonant Flow.

Seris' eyes widened as they traced the rebounding path of mana and aether. She moved a bit closer, seeming entranced by the interplay. "And all it took was a little blood... No, lifeforce. Such a ritualized magic could be used for many, many more applications than just a beacon."

A slight smile rose on my face. "You're right about that," I said a bit smugly, thinking of the technique I'd developed using this concept.

Seris strode from point to point to point, following each node of blood. Her eyes were fixed on the mana rather than me. "Theoretically, the excess energy could be siphoned off and used to power artifacts," she mused. "It is an effective way to essentially increase mana production. Just use a little blood and an ignition primer of some sort..."

My excitement very quickly started to dwindle. My arrogant smirk felt very frozen on my face as Seris continued nonchalantly.

"And if these flows were tuned correctly... Hmmm... Perhaps they could even be used to... No, that would be supremely difficult."

Damn... I probably should have thought of that, though doing so would be contrary to my insight.

Seris looked up from her inventor's ramble, blinking as she saw the uncertain expression on my face. "Why the look, Toren?" she queried, raising a brow.