The weekend had come along faster than expected, with Truvius taking the day to finish Káel's stash of earthly textbooks and Jeremiah on his way with a thank you letter in tow to whatever rock his uncle was hiding under. Káel hadn't seen Ray since their last encounter, so he'd awoken at an ungodly hour with the intent of getting the battery out of the way for good.

          They wandered into the half-clean room and Káel approached the second Ceptrum he had concealed under a grimy, metal chest plate, opening the 'secret' secret room.  

          "Alright, one more time." Phantom cooed.

          "I think I've got it," Káel sighed, holding up a crumpled slip of paper that he'd scrawled the spell on. 

Silunas rictarun ilmnavrus cafktarinthuros,

lorlempxita kelzhantrilo limnari

          Even after ten minutes of Phantom berating him for messing up the sounds, the phrase still looked like murder.

          He sucked in a breath, reading it out and stopping dead when Phantom's repeated nods ceased.

          "What did I do? I'm saying it right, yeah?"

          Phantom bobbed his head from side to side as he twirled his hands. "Well yes, but there's a pause between cafktarinthuros and lorlempxita."

          Káel sighed. "Does it really matter?"

          "Definitely. Never mess up a single thing when you're using ancient spells. I accidentally lit a field on fire instead of making a flower sprout, that did not go over well with the locals."

          "Alright I get it, how do we do this?"

          "First things first, we need chalk, ink, and a lumience crystal clear enough to pass as ice," Phantom announced, a wash of excitement tingling his heart as Káel went straight to business, seizing the largest chunk of cobwebbed chalk he could find and turning out all the drawers for a bottle of ink.

          He finally found a small vial, corked and unlabeled with a thick black pool of liquid inside as the only hint to it's nature. Káel grimaced, knowing full well how deceiving looks could be without a proper label. "Is this ink?"

          Phantom gave it a solid minute of contemplation, bouncing his shoulders with lackluster enthusiasm. "I don't know, but it's enchanted so let's use it."

          "No! What if it's poison or something?"

          Phantom snorted. "Then don't lick your hand."

          Káel placed the vial with his chunk of chalk, giving Phantom a condescending point as he moved towards the uncleaned half of the room. "If I die, I'm haunting you." 

          "Not Ray? I feel special," Phantom chimed, hovering over Káel's shoulder as he sifted through the mess for a crystal. "By the way, the crystals are too valuable to be lying in this mess, Zalius had a thing for storing chests in..." Phantom trailed off, staring at the ceiling until he deemed a corner to be best suited for his mysterious phrase. "Roof hidey holes."

          Káel stared at the stretch of smooth ceiling, a perfect square of lines so thin you would have missed it with a glance. "You're kidding."

  —————  

          Káel winced as Puff pressed him against the ceiling, the dragon's nubby horns scraping against his tailbone as he balanced on his guardian's head to punch open the secret latch. With a drawn groan, his scrawny muscle finally drew a loud scrape, a perfect square of tiling resting on his hands as a waterfall of dust fell around him.

          "Finally," he sighed, tossing the piece over to pull himself into the hole, his only source of balance shattered as Puff ducked down to let out a powerful sneeze. Káel latched onto the edge of the ceiling, looking down at his guardian who had the misfortune of facing the brunt of the dust, and the less than appealing stacks of messy books and armour that were anything but a landing pad. 

          "Please be careful," Phantom called, watching Káel dangle dangerously from the roof as he instinctively held his hands up.

          "Yeah I know," he wheezed, kicking his legs around as he pulled himself up through the dark hole.

          A bone biting chill struck him as he wormed into the tight space, plunged into a darkness so thick he couldn't even see his hands. 

          "Rastastrill," Káel muttered, forming a fat and dimly glowing orb in his palms. "Good enough."

          He lifted the light to skim the small room, lined with organised shelves that were packed with boxes and a few pieces of equipment. Káel went at opening every chest like thing he could see, turning up with anything but crystals. After looking over everything in sight, he decided to look out of sight, tossing the fat orb up to get a better look at the top of the shelves where a small black chest sat, cruelly placed on the very top of the shelf.

          Káel sighed and looked around the room for anything useful in retrieving it, finding a reddish cane with a smooth crimson orb fastened on top that was the perfect length. He grabbed it and poked at the chest, turning it to its side so it jutted out over the shelf, and slowly slid it to eventually fall into his arms.

          He dropped everything to catch the chest, fumbling in the dark as his orb of light shattered and he was left to place the chest and conjure up a new light enchantment. With one hand on the lid of the chest, he formed a blindingly bright tiny orb in his hand that seared his gaze, lighting up the entire space like a hand held watch tower.

          He opened the small chest, squinting to make out its contents without going blind. It had a few small, clear crystals, sitting gently in its padded interior. "Finally," Káel sighed, closing the chest and making his way back to the opening.

          He stepped towards the hole, flying forwards in a frantic fumble when he stepped on the reddish cane, the strangely familiar weapon rolling away on it's own accord and slipping through the hole. 

          Káel caught his racing heart, carefully walking to the opening and slipping down to land on Puff's exposed back.

          "Did you find them?" Phantom called, watching Káel tumble off the surprised drake and pick his face off the floor.

          He nodded and held the small box out.

          "Excellent." Phantom replied, his hands clasped behind his back as he crouched to stare at the cane. "Was that up there?"

          "Yeah, damn thing tripped me," Káel huffed, smacking the coat of dust off his pants in a vain attempt to keep away from suspicion. "That was in the drawing Zalius made of you, right?"

          "Well of course, it's my weapon after all. Good thing Zalius went and hid it from everyone."

          Káel scrunched his brow, snatching the weapon and rolling it in his palms. "It's a cane, how much harm could it do?"

          "He's not a cane, he's my whacking stick, and trust me, he can do a lot of damage," Phantom retorted, sighing when he went to poke it and his finger passed through. "You should keep him down here and hide him from blondie."

          "Him?" Káel gave Phantom a weird look.

          "Yes, his name's Jraelskin, he's a weapon imbued with a living soul, so treat him nicely."

          Káel gave Jraelskin a weird look, tossing the possessed cane back up into the ceiling. He opened the small chest of crystals to present to Phantom, but he didn't seem as impressed as Káel was expecting.

          "Uh oh, I hope there's a good one in here," he said, pushing his face up to the bed of crystals with a worried hum. "They can't be dinted or cloudy, or we'll make one magnificent explosion."

          Káel sifted through the tinkling mass, finally coming out with a small gem that suited Phantom's description.  He turned it in the light as Phantom appraised it, his gut clenching at what his friend had to say.

          "It's good, I think..."

          Káel squinted. "It's either a yes or no. Cause I don't feel like blowing myself up."

          "Yes then..."

          Káel placed remaining crystals back in the chest and lightly closed the lid. With the utmost care he took the delicate crystal to the other room, cradling it in his pocket to avoid the chance of dropping it.

          "Alright, we need to do some drawing first," Phantom said, pointing at the chunk of chalk. "We'll do the chalk first."

          Káel hesitently grabbed the chalk, standing astutely in preparation for more orders.

          "I want you to start with a circle three steps wide all around," Phantom instructed, waiting for Káel to do a wonky dance with his feet before managing a wobbly circle.

          To the man's confusion, a devious grin dimpled Káel's cheeks as he admired his work. "Let me guess, you want me to draw a star in it?"

          "What?" Phantom said, even more perplexed at Káel's growing smile. "What silly crap is that going to do?" 

  —————  

          Káel gulped, flexing his palm that was laced with the sticky hold of the strange black liquid, a wobbly ritual circle painted to his skin so he could hold Phantom's rock and tap into his assistance. He drew his gaze to the chalked circle he was standing in, identical to the one on his palm and the one Puff obediently sat in, all of them laced with indecipherable runes. 

          With a heavy sigh to relax his jittering heart, he focused on inspecting the Zodraic Battery's ritual circle, vast and complex with a swath of details to draw his focus. 

          Phantom took one last look at everything to ensure it was perfect, before cracking his knuckles. "Let's begin."

          Káel grabbed the piece of paper and read it over in his head before saying anything. "Silunas rictarun ilmnavrus cafktarinthuros, lorlempxita kelzhantrilo limnari."

          The lines of chalk glowed, and the entire atmosphere in the room became heavy, prompting him to grab Phantom's rock and keep it in the stretch of ink. "Say it again."

          Káel repeated the phrase, and the lines grew brighter and the room heavier, with the soft sound of humming singing in his ears.

          "One more time."

          After repeating the phrase for the third time, a thin translucent force field enveloped the large circle, squealing with blue streaks of electricity that bit at the battery and pulled a thick veil of white mist from the small contraption.

          The humming intensified, taking its toll on Káel's energy while Puff cringed as the electric zaps grew more frequent, pounding at the force field and ready to break it at any second.

          Phantom cursed as the zapping and humming reached its peak. "Step out of the circle, we don't have enough power."

          Káel followed Phantom's instructions, and as soon as his foot crossed the line the humming died down and the field containing the electric zaps melted away, releasing the built up cluster of white mist into the air.

          "We just needed a little more and it would've worked! Stupid rock," Phantom spat, kicking at an innocent patch of air to distribute his frustration.

          Káel waved the rest of the white mist away to get a look at the Zodraic battery, it hadn't changed at all, spare the hissing steam distorting it.

          "Let that cool down before you go grabbing it," Phantom warned, watching Káel lean over to look closer at their work.

          "What are we supposed to do now?"

          "We need more power," Phantom sighed.

          "Yeah? What does that mean?" Káel bit at his cheek as he traced along the maze of chalk he'd created. "Should I try harder?"

          "If you want to faint again then by all means," Phantom retorted. " If we were using magic this would be way easier."

          Káel eyed Puff as he groomed his paws in the corner of the room. "Can't Puff use magic?"

          "Yeah, but we probably still don't have enough juice for it. This ritual only uses lumience, but if it deems its subjects incapable of providing a sufficient amount of lumience, it simply won't work. rather than sapping everyone dry for no reason. I can't say the same for magic rituals though, they're way harsher."

          Káel stopped, staring at the ritual with a brick in his stomach. 

          There was one solution to their mess.

          If it could even count as one.

          "So we need another person?"

          Phantom nodded. "Unfortunately. Anyone on this planet you trust not to snitch? Because what we're currently doing is slightly illegal."

          "Not really," Káel replied, sucking in another breath as he rested against the wall to will his energy back. 

          Jeremiah would tell his uncle, and Ray was too shifty and driven by his own secret agendas for Káel to trust. Not to mention doing this with someone would run the risk of exposing Phantom, which wouldn't work for Truvius and terrify Talli to a whole new level; who was bad enough at keeping secrets.

          Alestra? Káel thought.

          She was his 'friend' and seemed relaxed with most things, but he also didn't know her enough to throw such a secret at her, and Leon was entirely out of the question. 

          Then there was Vera. 

          She was incredibly unpredictable and liked to stick her nose in potentially dangerous situations without a second thought. Putting aside her knack for chilling moods and haunting his friends with snappy demands, If Káel told her, he knew the discovery of Phantom's existence would be a matter of time, not chance.

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Quality Quip #17:

'It is surprising how many friends a man has until he needs one.'

~ Anon