Ar'Kendrithyst

Erick stood on dry, rocky land, east of the mountains of Oceanside. All around him lay dips and crags and broken rock, old streambeds and dried ponds. Small brushes and scraggly trees dotted the sunswept stone. A sheen of sweat layered Erick’s skin, but his billowy clothes made in Spur were good attire for this sort of location. This land didn’t get much rain or water at all, aside from when the Autumnal rains swelled all the rivers and streams of Oceanside for a single month out of the year. When that happened, this land washed away.

Which is why Erick was here. He planned on some very large explosions and this rocky land was well acquainted with flooding rains and complete destruction. Some of the students came out here to experiment with big, damaging spells, but most students at Oceanside just unloaded into the ocean if they had to level a spell, or practice with higher tier magic.

Erick, Poi, and Kiri had already scouted the area; they were alone. Five Ophiel also kept their eyes open for other people. Ophiel knew something was up since Erick had summoned four extras and set him to generally keep his eyes open for others, but mostly, the five of them quietly trilled in violins as they watched Erick work.

Erick began with [Stoneshape], carving a dry streambed in front of him into something deeper. The land dipped down, then flexed into an oval five meters across at its widest point, and two meters deep. This size was the beginning of ‘Large’ sized spells, so Erick was the only person on Veird who could make spells this big. He would have liked to have done this experiment on a smaller scale but several of the pieces of today’s magic had already been discovered, and Erick’s Particular Insight with Phagar revealed that Rozeta was cracking down on the massive variety of spells coming out of Particle magic. Kiri had had some luck with her [Hermetic Seal] line of spells, but only the truly unique Particle Magic was being allowed into the Script.

That crackdown was one of the reasons Erick decided to try for this kind of magic, to see if he could help bring Particle Magic more in line with what had come before, and to cut a path for others to follow.

And he was going to do it with a highschool-level experiment.

Erick looked up at the blue sky.

[Weather Ward].

A Shaped white glitter filled the air above Erick, forming a funnel to channel water into the pool in front of him.

[Exalted Storm Aura].

Mist lifted from the land. Tiny flashes of white light skittered here and there in the air as fog turned to clouds then rose into the sky like a pillar directly above; a line of clouds straight up. Platinum rain fell from that pillar, crashing down against the [Weather Ward], crushing down into the rocky pool. Erick cut his aura. Platinum rain still fell, but tapered off. The pond filled and overfilled, spilling platinum waters down the rocky land but turning nothing vibrant. The land remained dead. Erick wasn’t about to [Grow] the nearby plants just to destroy them later.

Platinum water sloshed in the pond in front of Erick as the last remnants of his [Exalted Storm Aura] tapered off. He dismissed the [Weather Ward] hanging above.

Erick turned around to see the supplies he had brought for today’s experiment: two dozen bars of wrought-quality copper, a few bars of iron, and bags of salt he hoped he wouldn’t have to use. Erick looked back to the pool of platinum water. With a rod of [Treat Wounds] in his pocket, in addition to Poi and Kiri each having their own rod of [Treat Wounds], Erick prepared for a long day of rhyming.

He spoke to the water,

“A time of rest, all parts to their places

“Cheer remains alongside good will

“But separated thus does purity grace us

“As water shifts, revelations [Distill].”

Ophiel hummed around the edges of the pool, as white flashed across the water. Countless bubbles rose to the white surface for one rushing second, as magic flashed downward. Platinum glows and muddy swirls and everything that was not pure, clear water, sank down, to the bottom of the pool. Notifications appeared.