Ar'Kendrithyst

“As I said yesterday, we will begin with a few preliminary tests to see where I need to start with my instruction, but almost all of that can be skipped.” Singer Kaffi said, “Let us move right along to the creation of the Rift that you have planned. Explain the tier work you have done and the goal of your final outcome.”

The privacy functions were off, but the stone amphitheater room was still exceedingly quiet. Ezekiel could hear his heartbeat. He could hear the heartbeats of Kaffi, sitting three meters away from him, on the same stone ledge as himself. He could even hear the heartbeats of his people, Julia, Paul, and Tiffany, sitting on the other side of the room. They were nervous in their own unique ways.

Kaffi was not nervous at all, which was normal, he supposed, for an Enforcer for a High Clan. If Ezekiel were to be even more exact about what he was seeing there, he would say that Kaffi was relaxed. As though it was finally testing day after preparing for so long. Which made sense. His own presence here was sort of like a test, and at least it was an event that Kaffi had said that the entirety of the Highlands had prepared for.

Ezekiel wondered, briefly, how nervous or excited the High Clans had been when they had found out that he was creating magic on the other side of the world by singing at the manasphere? A question for the future, for sure.

Ezekiel answered, “[Force Wave] and [Force Bomb] combined into [Prime Area] for tier 2, which I already have, then shifted to Firelight for tier 3 which I also already have, in [Firelight Shift]. The next step is to take [Firelight Shift] and a Rift-understanding of [Force Wall] to make a tier 4 spell. Alternatively, I could ignore my [Firelight Shift] spell and remake the Rift at tier 3, putting [Force Wall], Mana Altering to Firelight, [Prime Area], and the working for a Rift into one step.”

Kaffi asked, “Do you have a successful Rift version of a [Force Wall]?”

“No.”

“Explain your understanding of a Rift.”

“… Okay. Well.” Ezekiel considered, then he said, “Rifts are sort of like Shifts, but not... Shifts can only affect what happens inside of their own designated area, with minimal affect outside of the area, but a Rift’s effects linger as a buff or debuff well after someone has stepped out of its area of effect, only vanishing after the ‘cloying’-Shift has been used up. But a Rift is not a true buff or debuff, though, since it isn’t actually shifting a person’s aura into something else; it’s just stacking power onto the top of the aura.” He said, “A different way to work a shift is into a direction of personal control, instead of random empowerment. This other direction is known as a Domain.”

Kaffi paused, then said, “Though Rift, Shift, and Domain exist on the same axis, this is not how I would explain that axis at all. You have listed the breakdowns between each field of magic related to Rift work like some warband general fresh from the academy, listing out all the enemy’s forces before you attack, and before you have any experience in the field.

“There is an easier way to think of Rifts, and it is this: A Rift is the imposition of a resonance in the manasphere which causes the magics of everyone nearby to heighten due to harmonic sympathy. A side-effect of this magic is that spells which are harmonically opposed to the Rift are lessened. This resonance lingers on the people it touches, as opposed to Shifts, which have that resonance contained into a specific area.”

“Huh.” Ezekiel said, “That’s a more elegant philosophy, for sure.”

“Do you still want to make your Rift today? I can show you a few examples of Rifts if you wish.”

“Yes, and yes.” Ezekiel gestured to the large space in the middle of the room. “I’d like to see some Rift examples. The adjustments I need to make to my own Rift experiment will be minimal, I think.”

Kaffi gestured to the center of the room. A pulse of light appeared, like a crack in Reality, rapidly becoming a ball of ethereal water that cascaded blue glows into the rest of the room and kicked up a shimmering ripple on the edges of everyone exposed; outlining them in white-blue glows. The epicenter of the spell reminded Ezekiel of his own [Cascade Imaging] spell, but as seen from underwater.

Ezekiel felt like he was at the bottom of a pool, in a good way.

With a second gesture, Kaffi handed him a blue box.