Chapter 18: A Fizzle and a Weekly Report
For the tenth time that day, the green-violet rune fizzled and died out. The wound on the artificially-maintained corpse remained open, weeping, cut deep into the tissue and muscle fibres. Seiren let out a groan of frustration.
"Where am I going wrong?" she said out loud, running her hands through her blonde hair and tugging it. She tugged the pad of designs close to her and scrutinised her sketches. "They're the right design. There are enough gradients. They're aligned correctly. The violet should augment it and make the wound penetrable. So why is nothing working?"
She stamped around, running her arms in windmills and making gargling noises. What was she missing? There must be something. Too many gradients? Too few? The triangles? The circles? The half-lines? Three days of work. Thirty hours of slaving, bent over that table, straining her eyes until she thought she might go blind. She groaned, clutching her face, and whistled, her cheeks puffed.
Oh dear. My sister's gone insane.
"Why is it not working?" Seiren yelled, kicking her chair over. "Ten runes, Madeleine. They were flawless! How are they not working at all? How can they have no effect whatsoever? It's almost like... almost like..."
Almost like the subject wasn't even affected.
"Because it's already dead," breathed Seiren. No living tissue to remain in a dead body. No healing potential to be stimulated by her altered green runes. Not even chaos magic could fix that, surely.
I need living bodies.
Madeleine took in a sharp breath. You can't.
"I can't progress without testing this. And I can't test healing runes on dead bodies that can't heal. I'll make no progress. My research will get terminated and I can't bring you back."
That's morally reprehensible to test on living people!
"So what do you suggest? That I wait till people are literally dying on me then I'll take it out and see what happens? You saw that dog back in Benover. And besides, the military would never permit me to try this on the battlefield. They'll never let me even near the battlefield, for starters. They won't want a non-military mage there."
You're saying we should just grab randomers and try it on them and to hell with the consequences? Are you even hearing what you're saying?
"Maybe not randomers! Maybe... I don't know! People who deserve it if it goes wrong?" An idea struck her. "Criminals on death row or something! It means their lives will be worth something, at least, even if they're going to die anyway."
That's not for you to decide!
Seiren was already grabbing a piece of paper and scribbling a letter of request. Madeleine continued to yell at her, but Seiren blocked it out, chewing the inside of her cheeks as she pondered over the words. The cadaver came in useful for studying human anatomy, but her runes wouldn't work on it. To truly ascertain its powers and limitations, she would need a living body and would request that the council provide to that need so she might continue her progress. She paused, and added she had created ten new runes to try.
Madeleine stayed in sullen silence as Seiren left the Institute with the sun beginning to set. Seiren ignored her in return, marching to the mail store in Bicknor and seeking a fat pigeon to send her request. She paid the man there.
"Hey, Seiren, is it? How's the work going?" he said. What was the man's name? Ingurd? Ingo? Ingolfur?
"Fine. Just need to send more paperwork to Benover," she said, pressing a violet sealing rune to the paper. It glowed and secured the paper. She stroked the fat bird and released it into the air. It soon became a dot in the sky.
Seiren ate alone that night. Loren was working an extra-long shift as her co-worker called in sick. Her rota was quite full and, although she had promised to show Seiren more chaos magic, it was unlikely to be earlier than next week. Madeleine made her resentment known, a little black pulsing cloud in the corner of Seiren's mind. Five days now in Bicknor and she'd made no progress. Her report to the council wasn't due for another few weeks, which would be scrutinised by those in charge of funding and they would decide if she would be permitted to continue her work. The growing desperation made her feel sick. She hadn't counted on it being this difficult. Nothing at King's had stumped her before. And runes had always been predictable.
Two days passed without another pigeon. She travelled to Benover, mulling over what to tell Rowan for his weekly verbal report and lesson. She'd completely neglected her burst magic during all this. Considering how Madeleine had given her the silent treatment for the past two days straight, Seiren was tempted to take off the necklace as Rowan had suggested just to get the dark energy out of her head.
Seeing that carefree young face irritated her, but Seiren swallowed that. Her pride had cost her twice, now. She didn't want to upset anyone again just to get karma smacked in her face. Rowan was her tutor and she couldn't do anything about it but suck it up. Loren possessed extraordinary knowledge in rune and chaos magic and was a close friend of his. These two people – she needed to get on their good sides.
Madeleine snorted in the corner. Seiren's back prickled. In one smooth movement, she yanked the pendant off her neck and stuffed it in her cloak before throwing the cloak on a nearby chair. Her mind settled with a clarity she'd never realised. It was lonely but calm and she could feel each ebb and flow of the magic inside her.
"Let's see what you can do, Seiren," said Rowan from across the hall, arms crossed, his face neutral.
Seiren closed her eyes. Peace, calm, tranquillity. Her mind settled into a pristine silence. No Madeleine, no idle thoughts, no emotions. Just an absolute emptiness. She'd never been able to feel the waves of magic with such sensitivity before.
She took several breaths, evening them out and slowing her heart rate. She felt with tentativeness the magic.
In one fluid movement, her eyes flashed open. She wrenched the magic with her mind power and threw it in front of her. For a fleeting moment, she could see its solid form: glistening, colourless, translucent. She slammed her palms together.
There was a boom loud enough to rock the whole stadium. Seiren wobbled and sat down, her mouth opened in shock. The ground cracked, jagged lines spreading from beneath her in all four directions. Dust fell from the ceiling. That was rather unexpected.
It seemed Rowan felt the same. He opened and shut his mouth a few times. He shook his head, rolling up the sleeves of his skirted excrement-brown uniform and marched to her.
"You all right?"
Seiren nodded, numb. She let him help her to her feet and stepped away from the epicentre. Rowan studied it, eyebrows raised.
"So did that burst manifest as earth magic? Or was it pure burst that just cracked the earth?"
Seiren stared back. "You're the burst mage. You tell me. I just did what you told me to do."
A smile curled at his lips. "How considerate of you to actually do that. But talk me through what you did."
Seiren relayed what she did. "I just threw it all out there."
"No particular commands for flames, air...?"
"No. Just... energy. I didn't expect it to work at all."
His eyes jumped to her neck where Madeleine's pendant no longer sat. "Ah. You see? You can actually do burst. It's your sister's presence that's masked it all."
"Don't—" Seiren bit her tongue. Watch her words. Watch her words. She needed to learn. "Fine. You were right."
He grinned. "Now, let's try again. Try to force it into flames and angle it away, or you'll burn yourself – or worse, me. You have the magic reservoir to do burst. Probably more costly than rune, but go for it. Get back that level of focus you had just now."
Seiren cleared her mind again, this time with a little more confidence and speed. She found the flow of magic quicker the second time round. Burn. They turned yellow, warming in her mind.
She sucked in a breath and threw her energy forward. Again, it fleetingly materialised as a thick, glistening liquid, but it was tinged in yellow. She slammed her hands together. There was a roar; hot air whipped her hair backwards. She and Rowan both took a step back, shielding their eyes from the light and heat. An explosion of flames jumped up to the ceiling and spread across the ground. Fireballs cascaded off, rolling across the floor and leaving jet black trails in their wake.
Rowan clapped his hands together. If Seiren focused, she could make out a flash of blue-tinged solid magic before him and then a jet of water shot from his palms, dousing the fireballs.
"Not bad, not bad." He almost looked proud. His eyes crinkled at the corners. "Now that's more like it. You're looking more like a well-rounded mage. The energy control is lacking, but we can work on that now you're actually producing energy. A common mistake is that people think the bigger the gesture, the bigger the burst of energy. That's actually not the case. You can make any gesture – a wink, a snap of finger, a clap. I think I once met a burst mage who blew kisses."
Seiren shuddered. Rowan chuckled.
"Yes, my reaction precisely. But it can be anything to activate that magic, just like with the runes. What controls the magnitude of the energy is how much you take when your mind is relaxed. The explosion just now? I'm guessing you just grabbed as much as you could and hurled it?"
She nodded.
"I thought so. That's why it was uncontrolled and could probably bring down a small building. But it's okay. That's what this place is for. I want you to practise in a controlled environment like this and see how small you can make your burst. See if you can titrate yourself up. Again, it's just practice. I don't have much else to offer until I see what you can do."
"You think I'm making progress?"
"Oh yeah. Much better. You were worse than a newbie last time." He gestured. She followed him to the edge of the stadium where their cloaks lay. He sat with his legs crossed, leaning back. Seiren perched beside him. "Right. Give me your report."
Seiren slid the amulet back over her neck. Madeleine's presence stirred.
You took me off! She sounded stunned. You actually took me off!
I needed it to use burst magic.
Since when did you care so much about Rowan and doing what he wants?
I need to be on his good side.
So you can pull more strings and experiment on innocent people? Madeleine seethed.
"Seiren? Are you talking to Madeleine again?" Rowan studied her with those piercing blue-green eyes. Seiren avoided his gaze. "Is there a disagreement?"
"No." She imagined he would also be repulsed by her desire to trial her runes on living people.
I wonder why. Why don't you experiment on those kids – you're doing exactly the same thing!
Seiren closed her eyes, pushing Madeleine's indignant voice aside. She yelled, resisting Seiren's mind, but she soon quietened against her will, becoming a simmering ball of resentment.
"I met with Loren Rummage. She's housing me."
"Ah. So she got her hands on you at last."
"I'm working at the Bicknor Institute. The council has granted me funding to work on research. Loren's kindly agreed to teach me a bit on chaos magic in the meantime."
"Hmm." Rowan scrutinised her with those all-seeing eyes, his chin resting in his hand. "Loren is certainly the best person to learn chaos magic from. She's probably the only one, actually. I've known her for years; she's a good mage."
"She said she used to beat you up when you were kids."
He scowled and then sighed. "Those aren't stories she can share! Just... I'd be careful about trying chaos magic in anything outside of what Loren teaches you. It's still untested territories. Nobody knows how much potential it has."
It was almost as if he knew she'd submitted that request, but that was impossible. He had no jurisdiction or permission to access her council files beyond the duties the council assigned her.
Seiren met his gaze steadily. "I will."
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