“Go get Magnus, I’ll go start taking a look,” Verdan said as he put the piece of wood aside and grabbed his staff. This was what they’d been waiting for, and he was eager to get to it.

  They’d studied the infusing machine as much as they could without taking it apart, and Natalia had been using it sparingly, which meant that its slow recharging speed had kept it going. Now, though, it sounded like it was finally depleted.

  Heading into the alchemy room, Verdan saw Natalia standing to one side, her arms folded as she glared at the machine in question. Giving it a once-over himself, Verdan could immediately see that it was slowly replenishing its Aether, but the reserves at the rear had been used up.

  “I know you’re going to mess with it, but please don’t break it,” Natalia said, glancing his way with a worried expression.

  “We’ll be careful,” Verdan said, his eyes not leaving the machine as he moved closer. Their concern had always been interfering while the machine was full of Aether. Both to avoid any potential risk of raw Aether being thrown around and to avoid wasting it. The amount within the machine had been reasonably substantial, and Verdan was eager to work out more.

  For one thing, how had it built up so much when it was no doubt used quite regularly?

  The process was Aether-intensive, and Natalia had used up the reserve it held reasonably swiftly, even with her efforts to make it last. That meant that either the Brotherhood had been using it incredibly sparingly, or they had another method for filling it with Aether.

  A sign that they might have Wizards somewhere?

  Examining the structure of the machine carefully, Verdan put aside his theories and guesses while he waited for Magnus to arrive. He had promised they’d do this together.

  Thankfully, he didn’t need to wait long, and within the hour, the two of them were very cautiously taking the machine apart. The outer casing was held in place with metal bolts that were easy enough to remove, and it was only once they’d done so that Verdan saw the hidden lever within.

  There was a spot on the exterior that could be pushed in, which would lift up a section of the casing, exposing the rear where the Aether concentration had been. Carefully triggering the mechanism manually, Verdan felt a catch shift and the inner casing slid back, revealing a metal cradle. Two half-moon loops of metal sat within the cradle, allowing the crystal they held to touch the surrounding metal while keeping it somewhat stable.

  “Should we take it out?” Magnus asked, his voice hushed by the importance of the moment.

  “Yes. Carefully, though.” Verdan saw the Sigils covering the hand-sized piece of Aethite and renewed the protective spells he’d placed on himself, Magnus and the room. Unnecessary, perhaps, but better to be cautious with unknowns like this.

  Nodding absently, Magnus stared at the crystal as he reached in and slowly lifted it free from the cradle, drawing it up out of the machine and placing it on a nearby piece of wood.

  “An easy extraction,” Verdan said, noting the placement of the cradle and how easy it would be to add or remove a crystal. He assumed this was the Aether storage for the machine, but if so, why keep it so close to the exterior?

  “Aether Gathering,” Magnus said, drawing Verdan’s gaze back to the crystal. “That’s all there is.”

  “Truly?” He rubbed his jaw in thought and leaned in, quickly seeing that Magnus was right. The crystal was enchanted with the modern Sigil style, but only to draw in Aether. Even now, it was working to do just that.

  “What should we do with it?” Magnus asked, turning the crystal over for one last inspection before relaxing. “It seems perfectly normal.”

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  “It does, which only makes this more confusing,” Verdan said, rubbing his jaw once more. “Let us take the rest apart.”

  Piece by piece, they slowly took the machine apart, laying each section on its own surface and keeping it all in order to make sure there would be no mistakes.

  The design was simple, but ingenious. The timing mechanism moved a small piece of metal that connected the cradle to the needles that imbued Aether into the container. Whenever the timer was off, the Sigil network was broken, and only the parts on the metal contacts had any active effects. He’d assumed it had worked with the ‘activate’ Sigil, but this was just as effective.

  The rest was more of the same, a careful but simple design using the restricted area Sigil, ‘infict’ and ‘Aether’ to concentrate large amounts of Aether into a small area. The container used a similar Sigil layout to concentrate any Aether it received into a space within it, which would be the potion being made.

  “This wasn’t made by the Brotherhood,” Verdan said once they’d examined the full detail of the machine. “The design isn’t like other items we’ve seen from them. It is too simple, and relies too heavily on the interactions of Sigils. They seem to prefer more on complex but specific Sigil design.”

  “So, if not them, then who made it?”

  “Someone a long time ago,” Verdan said, turning over the bolts the machine had been fastened with. “From a time when efficiency mattered more than efficacy. Fewer Sigils means less raw power, as that would be a waste for the process. At least, that’s my take on it.”

  Magnus nodded slowly. “I can see that, but what about the crystal then?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, if we’re assuming that it was designed to be more efficient, then why have a removable crystal, wouldn’t it be easier to build in the gathering function to the machine itself?”

  Verdan’s eyes widened as he slowly shook his head. “No, because that is just another extension of the same principle. It makes no sense that the machine would be full of Aether if it were being used, unless it was being topped up somehow. That was what we said earlier, but I think we weren’t looking far enough past how we work now.”

  Magnus’s brow furrowed, and he looked from the cradle in the machine to the crystal in front of him before inhaling sharply and nodding. “The crystals are replaceable. They’re charged elsewhere and then swapped over as needed. With enough crystals you could run dozens of machines, all at once!”

  Verdan shook his head. “No, no, think larger, Magnus. I’ve seen the industry of a nation of Wizards, Aether is always the limiting factor. No powerful Wizard wishes to spend their precious reserves more than needed, after all. Crystals like this take all that away. I’m a fool for not realising before, the scope of what I was planning was far too small. This is how Wizards reached the height they did.”

  Magnus’s eyes were bright as he listened intently. “Unlimited Aether.”

  “Perhaps not unlimited,” Verdan said with a laugh. “But enough to power any industry that we few could put together. Come, let us recharge this and put it back together.”

  Magnus clutched the crystal and looked like he wanted to run off with it. “Surely we can keep it for now. We need an example!”

  “We can always come back for it if needed,” Verdan said firmly, taking the crystal from Magnus and placing it into the cradle before starting to rebuild the machine. “We have plenty more to choose from, don’t worry. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll be cursing the very sight of Aethite.”

  A host of expressions flickered across Magnus’s features as Verdan spoke, eventually ending with a look of resignation as he foresaw the work ahead of them.

  Patting his Apprentice on the shoulder, Verdan took a few moments to funnel enough Aether into the crystal to last a day or so. That would keep Natalia happy while they created some replacements.

  Putting the casing back into place, Verdan led the way down to the secure room that held their Aethite. Much of what was present wasn’t especially useful for their current task, at least not without careful shaping, but he had no idea if that would change their Aether capacity.

  Something to test, he supposed.

  “Master?” Magnus asked in a curious tone.

  “Yes?” Verdan grabbed a suitable piece of Aethite before glancing back to see the thoughtful look on Magnus’s face.

  “What did you mean by the ‘industry of a nation of Wizards’, are there more of us out there?”

  Verdan froze, caught off-guard and not at all prepared for such a question. He’d been looser with his knowledge recently, he knew that, but few people knew the truth of his origins.

  “Ah, right, well you see…” Verdan trailed off as he met Magnus’s gaze and shook his head. “No, that’s not right. You deserve more than that. I know Dirk is probably busy, but could you find him and bring him here?”

  Magnus looked even more confused than before but nodded. “I can do that. Is something wrong?”

  “No, it is simply time that I told you the truth. Oh, and bring Sinead as well, if you can.”

  Magnus looked even more confused, but offered no objection and hurried back up the stairs to the rest of the workshop.

  Looking around at the rest of the Aethite, Verdan ignored it and sat down, his gaze turning distant. This was a big step, and he wanted to be sure that he explained it all as succinctly as he could.

  If he was honest with himself, he was also worried about how they’d take it.