Jean looked a little worse for wear after the disassembly process.

  “It just feels disrespectful. These were thinking, feeling creatures.” Jean said.

  “Are you a vegetarian?” Chandrika asked, cleaning off a sharp knife.

  “Well… no,” Jean replied.

  “Most livestock are thinking and feeling creatures, even if they cannot communicate with us through speech. Balancing a respect for life with pragmatism and practicality is essential for any proper leader- or at least that’s what my Grandmother says.” Chandrika said.

  Jean frowned slightly, but kept his other thoughts to himself.

  After testing the scales, fur, and bones, they had returned most of the “meat” of the Telchines to the water to fulfill their promise to the spirit. Gio watched with a sense of unease as some larger fish nipped at fleshy bits that were floating near the surface.

  Hatra and Sapphire approached, with Hatra taking the lead in reporting their findings.

  “So, let’s talk about material properties. Their blood is largely mundane, with a few notable exceptions. Firstly, it conducts a few types of mana particularly well based on what we’ve tested, and there might be more that we haven’t tried. So far, Water mana seems to provoke the most dramatic resonance. Secondly, there’s a fairly high albumin concentration in their blood. That’s the protein responsible for maintaining fluid balance. It makes sense, considering that they’re semi-aquatic, but even still, there’s a lot of it. In essence, this means that the blood we’re working with is thinner than usual, which is great in that it means that it won’t coagulate as quickly as other types of blood… but bad because it means we’re going to need a stabilizing agent to make the ink consistency feel right. Luckily, Saph and I accounted for this- we’re gonna grind up some bones.” She explained.

  “Because of the high collagen content?” Gio guessed.

  “Yes. There’s a bit of a gamble involved there, though. Using so many parts of a Telchine in the ink might make for some… weird properties in the spell.” Sapphire explained.

  Gio furrowed his brow. “I don’t know if I follow. Why would that be the case?” he asked.

  It was Sapphire’s turn to look at him oddly.

  “Right. First years. I keep forgetting that I’m a year older than you all. It’s just confusing that you’re all so competent… but anyways, one of the things you might be learning as you begin to scribe is a theory called material resonance.” She said.

  “If I remember correctly, Material resonance describes the effect wherein if the properties of the materials used to write a spellform are more potent than the grade of spell being scribed, the material’s properties can leak into the effect of the spell.” Gio recited.

  “Good memory!” Sapphire cheered. “But you’re missing a few details that might seem minor, but are crucial. The first being that if you use conflicting properties, it can change the resultant effect of the spell. For example, if your goal was to create a spell that heats water, and you wrote a heating glyph formation that used ink with an amount of ice mana, your resultant spell might conjure some amount of water, either as an unintended byproduct, or in drastic cases entirely hijacking the result of the spell.” Sapphire said.

  “That makes enough sense. But what does that have to do with the Telchine blood? You said that the Telchines have a higher-than-average water mana attunement, right? I don’t know exactly what that would do to a mirror, but it doesn’t sound like it would directly conflict with the intent of my spell.” Gio replied.

  “That’s the other part of material resonance. Like affects like. The more of a specific kind of foreign influence you include in the spell, the more exaggerated the effect can become. Therefore, if you’re using both the blood and bone of Telchines in your spell, you’re skirting close to the territory of necromancy,” she explained.

  “N-necromancy?!” Gio exclaimed.

  “Not as you’re imagining it.” Chandrika interjected. “But I can understand what Sapphire is saying. To use so much of the deceased in a magical working would be to invoke them, similarly to how spiritualist practitioners would. Namely, Witches like my culture, Carniola’s Shamans, Great Grassland’s Haruspex, and the like. I’ve heard of many different cultures that have some variation of death magic. It’s not all spiritual subjugation and dark arts like the Goldwatch Empire would have you believe.”

  “I… don’t want to be disrespectful and disagree with you, but I’ve already been cursed by some form of necromancer,” Gio replied.

  Chandrika scowled. “And as I said previously, the man who cursed you would have been sentenced to death in my country. I do not know how a person who practices such foul desecration could manage to survive in a just society.” She replied.

  Gio frowned.

  “Let’s not rehash this conversation, please. I’m not saying that all necromancy is bad. I’m just… nervous about anything that would be similar to the magic that guy used on me… especially since I am still cursed, and I don’t want to accidentally trigger some sort of reaction.” Gio said.

  “Uhh… sorry to bring up a sore subject,” Sapphire sheepishly said.

  Chandrika cleared her throat. “Ahem. I’m the one who should apologize. I just… have been going through something today, is all. As you were saying, Sapphire?”

  “Right. So, what I meant to say is that using that much of a dead creature in constructing a spellform, be it a person or a livestock animal, can invite a resonance of some kind. In some cases, it’s something minor, like a change in how the spell’s visual feedback manifests, like vibrant colored flames that match a bird’s plumage. Other times… spectral manifestations of dead creatures.” Sapphire explained.

  “That sounds… spooky.” Gio said.

  “In the example we were given in class, A mage made a spell that allowed him to charge forward like a stampeding beast. The unintended side effect of the material resonance was that a herd of illusory animals charged forth with him. We discussed as a group, and most of the class was of the opinion that it was not a bad thing. Quite the striking visual, to be able to conjure your own stampede and all that. But, as with all magic- unintended side effects are usually frowned upon.” Sapphire finished.

  “But… what if it’s not unintended?” Gio asked.

  “What, like trying to draw a certain result out of the resonance?” Sapphire remarked.

  “Or… at least factor it in enough to reduce potential negative side effects.” Gio said.

  “Hmmm… well, if that is possible, it would be above my skill level. I didn’t get as invested in scribing as you have. I passed the class with flying colors, but it was only an introductory class.” Sapphire said.

  “I’ve studied a bit about glyphic-pattern spellforms… albeit I didn’t manage to actually complete one. I was right about ready to try and delve into them just before… The dragon situation.” Gio said.

  “Ah. So it’s been a while.” Chandrika said.

  “Yeah. After I woke up in Professor March’s office, Headmaster Vespertine ordered me to use my second commendation, which is how I ended up as Saint Baphelus’ mentee… I’ve been so preoccupied with his assignments that I never managed to make it back to glyptic patterns, but I still have my notes from that time. I can think of a few ways to try and draw out more potency from the materials used in the construction of the spell… not that the methods I’ve read about are meant to be used in exactly this manner…” Gio began.

  “Hmm… I think I remember what that means, but if you wouldn’t mind jogging my memory, what does ‘glyphic-pattern’ mean?” Sapphire asked.

  “It’s one of the many ways to make a spell, essentially. It’s not very common because glyphic-pattern spellforms tend to be a lot larger than sigilic spellforms, like most of the spells in your spellbook probably are.” Gio said.

  “Then what’s the point, if they don’t fit into a spellbook? How would you even… use the spell?” Hatra asked.

  “For portable magic, Grimoires, mostly. But also murals, druidic tree circles, even city-spanning formations. There are plenty of ways to shape magic, if you’re okay with not having your spells at the tip of a finger. I’ve even read that the merfolk of the lost cities of the great sea would engrave glyphic patterns onto sprawling crystal structures at the bottom of the ocean and activate them in groups as a ritual. Though to my knowledge, I don’t think any theories as to the actual purpose of those constructs were ever agreed upon.” Gio said, allowing the thought to trail off.

  “Whoa. That’s… actually pretty neat. You almost make me want to read more.” Jean said.

  “I used to have him read my history homework to me. He’s a good storyteller.” Hatra said, gently nudging Gio in the ribs with her elbow.

  Gio blushed slightly.

  “Uh, thanks… I think. Anyway, the point is that there’s a common thread between glyphic patterns and material resonance. Without the focused intent and purpose that a charged sigil provides, each symbol in a glyphic pattern is imbued with only simple Instructions, or aspects provided by materials.” he explained.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “And you'd need to be able to guide those aspects towards a specific goal somehow, so I imagine that there are ways to constrain the manner in which they manifest.” Sapphire noted.

  “Exactly.”

  “But… the spell that you're trying to scribe uses sigils, right?” Jean asked.

  “Well, yes. But there's precedent for blending scribing styles. Angelica Hart stole from several different styles that I haven't fully delved into. Make no mistake, I could not have made [Mirrorwalker] work even a fraction as well as it does without her work.” Gio mentioned.

  “So… what do you have to do to adjust the spell?” Chandrika asked.

  “To start with, I’ll need to run a few tests-”

  “More tests?” Jean guffawed.

  “Yes. I know that a regimented, scholarly approach to spellcasting doesn’t align with your ‘blast-it-until-it-stops-moving’ approach, but I need to be sure that I’m not going to accidentally turn myself into a shiny statue or something.” Gio deadpanned.

  “You do realize that I’m one of the highest scoring test takers in our class, right? I’m not exactly a barbarian.” Jean said, defending himself.

  “But is that born out of a desire to learn and seek knowledge, or-”

  Jean loudly sighed.

  “You got me, okay? I don’t love learning the same way that you do. I enjoy casting magic, and learning to be a better mage… but I don’t want to be a scribe… or an enchanter… or a scholar, meta-magic theorist, astrologian, or whatever. I want to be a battle-mage like my father.” Jean said.

  “And there’s nothing wrong with that, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. I am sorry that it’s going to take longer than I had initially promised… but I promise that once I figure this out, we’ll be headed to the gate.” Gio promised.

  Jean looked off to the side.

  “Don’t rush for my sake. I don’t mean to be impatient, I’m just feeling a bit antsy about this whole goddess deal, and I don’t really have anything to do while we’re not moving,” he said.

  “You could help us grind the bones!” Sapphire chimed.

  “Preferably something that isn’t related to taking apart the bodies of victims to some godly conspiracy,” Jean said.

  “Hmm… then how about we spar?” Chandrika offered.

  Jean balked.

  “Spar… you?” He asked.

  “Certainly. I’m not very combat-oriented, but If it takes your mind off of things, I would love the opportunity to try out some spells.” Chandrika said.

  “Any other time, I’d take you up on your offer, but it might be a little difficult to do that here. I can fly, but we would need more space, as I don’t want to accidentally hit someone.” Jean said.

  Chandrika opened her spellbook, and gossamer threads spun behind her, forming a set of golden moths’ wings affixed to her back. She jumped up off the boat, fluttering unsteadily a few feet in the air. She instantly began to veer off to the side.

  “Then perhaps you could teach me how to fly a bit steadier? I never got the hang of it.” She said.

  Jean’s eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.

  “You never told me you could fly!” he shouted.

  Chandrika hit the wall, losing concentration on her wings and skidding down, narrowly avoiding the water’s edge by landing onto the ice. She stumbled back and landed on her butt, inches away from Gio’s setup.

  “Ow. As you can see, I can’t fly. I just have a spell that summons wings.” Chandrika replied.

  “We can work on that,” Jean said, smiling and helping her to her feet.

  With Jean and Chandrika flying off a bit further down the channel, the remaining three got to work. Hatra and Sapphire were trading ideas about ratios and consistency, borrowing some of Gio’s other ink to compare.

  Gio sat down in the boat, where it was dry and slightly warmer. With a small test batch of ink, he began to try out a few preliminary sketches. One by one, he worked on the various components of the mirror conjuring spell, straining to try and find any way that the spell might be being changed by the properties of the ink.

  Huh. That’s odd.

  There was something wrong with the spellform. He could feel something. A sense of disharmony- of some vague dissatisfaction, whispering at the edges of his perception. a small detail that was so miniscule as to not directly draw his attention. It dawned on him that this might be feedback from a skill.

  But what skill? Something that doesn’t usually give me feedback like this, to be certain.

  He looked down to the symmetrical ring-shaped symbol that was the core where the mysterious intent of “reflection” had previously eluded him. Now that he knew what the spell was supposed to do, the symbolic core sung to his senses with the intent of mirror magic. This part, at least, would be wholly unaffected by any foreign influences, as it was the most potent intent present in the spell. Gio traced his eyes upward to the part where the spellform created matter, or Simple Conjured Matter, as Sapphire had taught him. It was a half-circle of linked symbols right above the core. The magical “instructions” present in the linked symbols of the spell itself didn’t give any specific commands or intentions as to what would be created from mana when the spell was cast, but there were certain considerations being made to how the material should present itself. Gio traced with his finger along a bisected circle that emanated a faint feeling that he had previously decoded. The roundness of the circle was pronounced to his spell-sense, calling the mana around it to be both smooth and free of defect. It was a pleasant feeling, but one that if left unchecked would cause the spell as a whole to create nothing more than a perfectly glassy orb. This symbol was bisected by a limiting line that grounded it, causing it to only smooth out the flat surfaces of the conjured object, while allowing it to have edges.

  What would happen if this function was corrupted? Gio wondered.

  Maybe the mirror wouldn’t be as smooth? If it went far enough to cause the mirror to be tarnished or foggy, that would probably be a pretty big issue… but I feel like the core sigil would directly oppose such a change. This isn’t what is wrong with the spell. What else?

  Gio followed the trail he was on, tracing the line through each intent. The spell was so aggravatingly non-specific, but there were rough outlines that told the magic the spell produced to create thin panes of material, no thicker than a dinnerplate. The edges could be rounded, boxy, or even sharpened, which was an interesting thing to note.

  Could I use this spell as a sort of cutting edge? Perhaps not as it is now… there’s nothing in the current spell that would make this any more durable than a sheet of glass… assuming that the material it summons would take on the properties of glass… but why would it?

  Gio’s eyes raced back to the properties of the conjured materials.

  It’s around here… There!

  Almost directly next to the symbol for ‘round and free of defect’ was another circular symbol. Less perfectly round, and with a smaller circle and a dot inside. From his notes, Gio knew this to be a symbol that called the conjured material to be more lustrous, but beyond that, he hadn’t paid more attention to it than was required to understand the spell at a base level.

  Is it supposed to be… an eye?

  With almost no logical reasoning, Gio knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the eye symbol was the source of the strange feeling.

  “Hey… Saph?” Gio called.

  “What’s up?” She said, swirling a flask of deep red liquid.

  “This symbol… I think it’s supposed to make the material shiny. But there’s something that isn’t clicking for me. Does an eye symbol that means ‘shiny’ mean anything to you?” Gio asked.

  “Oh! Easy-peasy. That’s an alchemical placeholder, called “Vitreous solid”. Basically, it’s shorthand for a material with a glassy or crystalline appearance.” She noted.

  “Huh. Vitreous solid. So… crystals.” Gio noted.

  “Well, yes… but actually no.” Sapphire said.

  Gio blinked at her.

  “Okay, so you’ve taken at least some mundane chemistry at school before joining CRA, right?” She asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. So do you recall that a ‘crystal’ is defined as any material whose constituent parts are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic lattice?” She asked.

  “...Yes?”

  “Okay. So crystalline solids describe more than just shiny things you can see through. Not all crystals are shiny… like metal. Many metals are considered polycrystalline… but I’ll save that point for another day. The point is, the alchemical placeholder that you’re pointing to doesn’t describe a specific kind of crystal, or even glass, which is not a crystal.” Sapphire explained.

  “Glass isn’t a crystal?” Gio interjected.

  “Amorphous solid. Mundane glasses lack the structural uniformity at a microscopic level to be described as crystals. But… in the olden days before we knew as much about the world, glass, gemstones, and anything shiny and transparent were classified as the same thing. That placeholder was sometimes used as a shorthand way of saying: “This recipe should produce something that looks like crystals,” or something of the sort when used in ancient alchemic transcripts.” Sapphire continued.

  “So… why would the spell use that shorthand? To make the result… either glassy or crystalline? Seems like extra work for no reason, if the core of the spell will make the end result reflective no matter what the material is.” Gio asked.

  “Hmm… I don’t know. You said that the spell left a lot of details out, right?”

  “Yes. This symbol, combined with a few others that modify it, is the only thing guiding the conjuration. At this point, I barely understand how it will be functional.” Gio answered.

  “Maybe it’s like… a filter? If you look at it through a certain lens, it’s almost like the spell is giving you the option to make your mirror out of anything shiny that you can imagine.” Sapphire answered.

  “Huh. I didn’t think of it like that. That… makes a lot of sense. I can’t really think of a reason why I’d need anything more than just plain old glass, though. Actually, I think it might be a lot easier to modify the spell to only use glass…” Gio wondered.

  “To use your own words against you, I think that might defeat the point of whatever Saint Baphelus had intended for you to learn from this spell.” Sapphire jibbed.

  “Ugh… But you’re right. Thanks, Saph.” Gio groaned.

  Turning back to the symbol, Gio tried to focus on what exactly about the ‘Vitreous’ nature of the symbol was being challenged by being scribed in the blood of Telchines.

  A foreign and breathy voice whispered into Gio’s ear, like it was creeping along the back of his neck.

  “Justification.”

  Gio shivered, jumping back slightly. He looked around, seeing that nobody was paying attention to him. He felt at the back of his neck, trying to place the sensation.

  “...hello?” Gio whispered.