Just Add Mana

The amount of time Cale was spending in the Black Vault probably wasn't very healthy, but he had spent entire lifetimes in realms that had been conquered by the forces of the Dark. He was far more tolerant of divine voids than the average mage. The Black Vault was a little more oppressive than the average divine void, since he was surrounded by void and nothingness, but even months inside its depths would do him no great harm.

Besides, he needed to make sure none of the other students wandered out of the magically stabilized region that had been marked for training. This part of the Vault might have been safe, but Cale knew his fellow mages well. No matter how many warnings or precautionary measures they took, it was only a matter of time before someone's curiosity got the better of them and they decided to explore outside the range of the Vault's protective wards.

In the meantime, Cale busied himself with what became a steady stream of mages looking to train various aspects of their magic. Akkau didn't know exactly how or when the records of the Black Vault had been lost, but now that Leo had rediscovered it, the academy made full use of it.

The Fettered Divinity tournament was one of the greatest magical events of the realm, and there would be plenty of smaller competitions and games held at the event; as a result, even those mages that weren't directly competing wanted to be able to show off their skills to their fellow mages.

That, and Utelia's dark lord would soon rise and begin his attack on the rest of the realm. No one liked to talk about it, but everyone knew it would happen. There was an unspoken tension in the air, a knowledge that there was every chance they would soon need their magic to defend their very lives.

Cale would prefer it didn't come to that. It was one of the other reasons he stayed within the Black Vault as much as he did—it was such a magically isolated region that he thought it could slow the effects of his Thread of Fate.

On top of that, the longer he stayed within a divine void, the more it would strip away any divine influences that might be lingering in his system. His barriers were mostly impermeable to such things, but there was always the chance something had managed to slip through when he'd first been summoned to this realm. Or that something already had, a long time ago. If there was any chance it would help him recover some of those memories that had been sealed away, he would take it.

He didn't spend much time thinking about all that, though. Most of his attention was preoccupied by his apprentices, his visitors, and the various problems they came to work on with their magic.

Alina the lunchlady's first visit came soon after the incident with Threek, and she carried with her a truly enormous array of food all balanced delicately on a massive silver platter. She grinned at Cale's gobsmacked expression.

"Had to thank ya for the help with my magic!" she told him, beaming. "That Inspiration helped me something fierce, let me tell you. I've been using regular fire magic to cook my food all this time, but it turns out I can use all sorts of different fires! I've been experimenting with [Seasoning Flare], which burns whatever seasoning I choose into whatever food I want, as long as I have a sample of that seasoning."

Cale brightened immediately, intrigued. "Do you know if it retains the benefits of magical seasoning?" he asked.

Alina snapped her fingers. "I knew you'd think of something I hadn't tried yet!" she said. "I could boost the whole school if it did, couldn't I? Awesome. Okay, hang on, I'm going to go get my stash of herbs and bring 'em here. This weird void thing isn't gonna destroy them, is it?"

"Not as long as you don't keep it here too long," Cale said, considering it for a moment. "I'd avoid anything holy or sacred, just in case. Anything infernal should thrive in here, though, so if you've got any plants or peppers..."

Alina's eyes gleamed with delight. "Perfect!" she declared, grabbing him in all four of her arms and squeezing him tight. Cale was forced to tap rapidly on her bicep so she remembered to let him go—he still needed to breathe, after all.

Not that he hadn't appreciated that. And from Alina's smirk, she knew it, too.

She came back wielding no less than four potted plants in each hand, each one terrifying and macabre in one way or another. Cale recognized the jawdropper plant, so named for the fact that its fruits bore the shape of the jawbones of a variety of different species; there was the hellfire pepper, which was actually on fire; the snappertrap, so named for its leaves snapping shut on anyone that touched them...

The last one was foreign to him, though it looked just as dangerous as the others. Alina noticed him staring and grinned. "Brought these babies over from the infernal realms," she said proudly. "Haven't been able to grow 'em well here, though. Too much holy magic all over the place! But if you say the Black Vault can help 'em, I trust ya. Where should I put 'em?"

"Probably near Syphus?" Cale suggested, pointing at the boulder construct. It was currently deep in meditation, which in this case meant it was chanting some ominous infernal phrase it had learned would help control its new eye. "Its eye should provide your plants with the kind of light they need."

"Perfect," Alina said cheerfully, and went to place down her plants.

To Cale's amusement, Draak's friends—the ones that had proclaimed to doubt his knowledge—seemed rather jealous of his apparent closeness with the resident archdemon. They seemed especially jealous when she began to visit regularly, in part to take care of her plants and in part to deliver freshly-cooked food at all the designated meal times.

"Don't see what she sees in you," Irides muttered at one point, far too loudly.

Irides was one of those friends, though at this point, friend was perhaps not the right word. He was a darkwood mage that made no secret of the fact that he thought Cale's absurd expressions of power was a matter of dumb, barbaric luck. He was convinced that Cale had simply had the fortune of picking up some artifact or relic that had dramatically boosted his power, and he was equally convinced that by sticking around, he would find some way to expose him as a fraud.

None of his knowledge was real, Irides claimed. He was successful because he was surrounded by other, genuinely powerful mages, and he was piggybacking off of their success. His breakthroughs were the result of more dumb luck and simple observation—anyone could have provided Threek with that cure if they'd noticed their ability to cast when sufficiently split and had the recipe for a core-reconstitution potion at hand.

Cale was both delighted and fascinated by the roundabout way in which Irides arrived at his conclusions. None of his apprentices or friends seemed to share that fascination, though. They were mostly just annoyed by him. Cale wasn't, because how could he be annoyed by the fact that he was being followed around by a sassy cube? He would've paid for the experience, if anything.

Come to think of it, he needed to check with Akkau if he was getting paid for all this work. He still didn't like dealing with money, but it would be nice to spoil his apprentices every once in a while.

Irides being a floating cube was a result of his nature as a fellrune, a species that had emerged some eons ago as a result of an archmage's failed attempt to ascend to Monolith. That archmage had wanted to become the Law of Language, a Monolith that embodied the various runic scripts of the Great Realms.

He had failed, of course. Cale had been forced to stop him, because a Monolith that embodied the very concept of language, both magical and mundane, was pretty much asking for trouble. As a result of that, his soul had been fractured and split, scattering across all of space and time to imbue various runes in various runic languages with some of his sapience.

He'd accomplished his goals, in a way. A part of him was now joined to the runic scripts he had been so fond of. He'd birthed an entire species of living runes. Each one took the form of one of the runes he'd used in his attempted ascension, and they floated around as sapient, talking geometric shapes.

Many of them carried some semblance of the original mage's arrogance, though after eons of growth, they'd managed to separate themselves from his legacy and become a people in their own right.

All this to say Irides's arrogance was entirely his own. Cale couldn't really take him seriously, given he was essentially just a funny floating tesseract that kept trying to roast him. It was kind of adorable.

"Why are you staring at me?" Irides demanded, floating up into his face.

"Oh, no reason." Cale grinned brightly, which seemed to infuriate the floating tesseract further; he spun with agitation, then turned a brilliant red when Cale just ignored him and kept walking. Probably because there was a brief moment where Cale's face intersected with him.

"H-hey!" he said. "Don't shove your meaty parts into me!"

"You're the one that floated into my face," Cale pointed out. "You're lucky I didn't stick my tongue out."

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He left Irides sputtering, and pondered instead on how he was glad Alina had solved his greatest problem—he no longer needed to leave the Black Vault if she was delivering food, which meant he now had more time to watch for that shadow.

Orguk Fangtruth was panting for breath when he burst into the Black Vault, and Cale glanced at him, briefly concerned. This was... the orc that wanted a massive mana core, if he remembered correctly. They'd first met during the joint Fire Resonance class they'd had with Haelforge Academy, but Orguk looked as though he'd run a marathon to get here.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "Is there some sort of attack on the academy?"

"What?" Orguk seemed confused for a moment. "No, no. Orguk run here when Orguk learned you were teaching magic! Orguk ran all the way from Haelforge. Very long run. Very tired. But Orguk will be fine! Just... give Orguk a moment."

"You ran here all the way from Haelforge?" Cale asked incredulously. "That's—Haelforge is on another continent!"

"Orguk knew he needed to get here on time or you won't teach Orguk how to build a big mana core!" The orc finally seemed to catch his breath and stood, but he managed to stand only for a moment before he collapsed again, shaking.

Cale winced. The poor guy had undoubtedly exhausted his core running all the way here. Even if he had the strength to resist the effects of a divine void in normal circumstances, he'd burned himself out to the point where the void was undoubtedly scouring away his soul. "Damien!" he called. "Can you check on this guy?"

"Orguk is fine!" Orguk insisted. "Orguk knows... you only teach... those strong enough to stay in the Vault. Orguk strong!"

"I'm not disputing that, but you just ran across a continent," Cale said dryly. "You've earned your question and then some, so let my apprentice help you and then we'll talk."

Orguk, to his credit, seemed mollified by this. He stayed still as Damien summoned the Verdant Flame and a wave of emerald fire washed over his body. Then he blinked, astonished.

"...Orguk not expect green fire to help so much," he said. "Your magic did this, little shadow?"

"Um," Damien said, looking helplessly at Cale, who said nothing and just grinned at him. "Y-yes?"

"Your magic is powerful," Orguk told him. "Tell me your name. Orguk will remember it."

"It's Damien," the dreadshade offered.

"Damien is powerful healer," Orguk said. "Orguk remember now. You beat Orguk at scale! Orguk will not forget again."

"Dumb luck," Irides muttered. His last encounter with Cale had done nothing to dissuade him from hovering around him; if anything, the fellrune stuck even closer. "Won the lottery on apprentices, too. Is there anything you don't get ridiculously lucky at?"

"Now, now," Cale said. "My apprentices worked hard to refine their spells and mana, you know? It's got nothing to do with my luck. Although I am pretty lucky. Part of that Thread of Fate thing I told you about."

"Cheater," Irides grumbled. "I'd be a powerful wyldfire mage too if I had a Thread of Fate."

"You're welcome to take mine," Cale offered cheerfully, and for some reason Irides flickered red again and flew to hide behind Damien.

"Absolutely not!" Irides declared.

Damien just looked between Irides and Cale, clearly confused. "Is, um... is everything alright between you two?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine!" Cale grinned at his apprentice. "I was just thinking about how Irides here is adorable."

"Wha—I am not—you are a dumb brute!" Irides sputtered, flying out from behind Damien, the glowing lines of magic that made up his body rotating wildly in outrage. "I will expose you for the fraud you are!"

"Anyway," Cale said, turning back to Orguk, who was staring curiously at Irides. "I'm guessing you came all the way here to ask me for help expanding your mana core?"

Orguk nodded. "Orguk will stay in the Black Vault as long as needed, as long as you teach me," he swore.

"Well, first of all, don't do that," Cale said, glancing briefly off into the void. Had he seen something in its depths that time? He wondered if it was triggered by something, instead of just occasionally appearing near them. "Second, it's not that easy, and the way I got all my mana isn't really replicable."

"Aha!" Irides said, spinning in triumph. "Fraud! Fraud, I say!"

"But there are a couple of exercises you can try, especially since we've got the Black Vault now," Cale continued as if Irides hadn't said a word. "All core training is essentially soul training. The stronger your soul, the more mana you can hold. The Black Vault will continually scour away at your soul for as long as you're here—any divine void will do that, really. Without divine assistance, your soul has to do all the work of keeping your body and magic together. That's why most mages feel 'heavy' when they visit. Their souls have to carry the weight of their existence."

"Fraud!" Irides continued to yell. "I do not feel heavy! I am floating!"

Cale tried not to laugh, but he couldn't help the snicker; he shook his head fondly. "Point is, the Black Vault is the perfect place for you to train, if you want to increase your mana," he said. "I've got my apprentices working to refine their palewater, and most of the darkwoods that visit are working on successfully casting a spell, but for you... are you at palewater yet?"

"No," Orguk said, looking embarrassed. "Orguk trying, but have not yet made palewater."

"Good," Cale said. "This exercise works best at plainroot. It means you have some divine intent in your mana that's holding you together in here. If you want to train your soul and mana capacity, you'll want to expend all your mana—as much as you can—and then stay in here as long as possible with an empty mana core. Don't overdo it, though. Your soul needs time to heal and expand. Leave as soon as you start to feel dizzy and make sure you have a partner watching you so you don't collapse before you leave, and then wait at least an hour before coming back in. Got it?"

Orguk seemed overjoyed. "Thank you, Void Sage!" he told him, wrapping Cale in an enormous and alarmingly sweaty hug. Once again, Cale was forced to tap out before he suffocated in the muscular orc's pectorals.

"Don't call me that," he said, giving Orguk a stern glare. He smiled a bit, though. "Good luck, though. What are you even going to do with all that mana?"

"Orguk doesn't know yet," Orguk said. "But Orguk thinks great mana is a sign of great virility. Orguk must have the biggest mana core, and have lots of little orc children."

Cale laughed. "Well, good luck with that, too," he said, watching as Orguk went off to find a corner of the Black Vault to sit in. Once again, he went to rejoin his apprentices, Irides floating and fuming next to him. He gave the fellrune a sidelong glance.

"What?" Irides asked, sulking. "I am not calling you the Void Sage, human."

"Oh, just wondering how long this will last," Cale said, grinning. "I think I'm going to be sad when you finally figure it out."

"I will never figure it out!" Irides spat immediately, then seemed to realize what he'd said. He rotated a few times in confusion. "...That is to say, I will figure you out! You are only pretending at knowledge!"

"Can I pet you?"

"Absolutely not!" Irides flared an angry red once more, and Cale just chuckled. He was going to miss the guy when he finally figured him out.

His apprentices were making good progress. By his estimations, they had each eliminated most of the impurities within their palewater except for their greatest roadblocks—and they all seemed to have identified what each of those roadblocks were, which was important. Some of them were a little uncomfortable, but that was the nature of these things; it wouldn't be a roadblock if it were something they could solve with a bit of meditation.

Syphus had perhaps the easiest time of it, though it seemed uncharacteristically nervous. All it had said was that it knew what it was, and that it had something to do with what it wanted to use its magic for. What that was it refused to say, for now; it would only do that when it was ready.

Flia's was the second-easiest, but there was something of a restriction: they needed to wait before they could actually deal with it.

"Basically, I need to beat the crap out of the Grand Magus of Orstrahl," she said. "That's kind of annoying. I wanted to hit darkwood before beating the crap out of him. I might be able to do it at palewater, but it feels like I'm taking an unnecessary risk."

"Unless your magics directly clash in some way, I'm pretty sure you can beat him," Leo offered. "You care about your familiars, at least. The Grand Magus..."

"Yeah." Flia's eyes darkened slightly. "I've been working on a spell that can turn that against him, I hope. It'd be easier to cast if I didn't have to worry about his magic. You're sure he's at darkwood? I would've thought someone with the title of Grand Magus would be wyldfire, at least."

Leo nodded. "Every book I can find says he's darkwood," he said. "Uh, it's kind of rare for a wyldfire mage to take a political position, apparently?"

"Yep," Cale said cheerfully. "If you're gonna hit wyldfire, you need to not care about what people think. Petty positions of political power are pretty much the antithesis of that... whoa. Try saying that three times fast."

"Are you sure you're not spending too much time in here?" Damien asked, concerned. "I don't think you've left the Vault for days."

"I'll be fine," Cale said. "I'm just a little more distractible than usual! Nothing I haven't done before."

Damien's and Leo's were the more complex of the two. Damien needed to talk to the Source of Vitality—that was on Cale, he knew. Maybe that was one of the reasons he was staying in the Black Vault. He knew Damien was trying to give him the time he needed to say goodbye, and so the dreadshade wouldn't press, but he couldn't hold his apprentice back forever.

As for Leo... he felt for his apprentice, really. The minotaur was quite hesitant to admit to what he needed, but admit it he did.

"I think it's my parents," Leo said quietly. "I have a bunch of things to think about still with Asterion and the Nothing and all that, but at the core of it... I think I need to figure out how I feel about my parents first. I don't even know if they still care about me. They haven't contacted me, even after you ki—defeated the Red Commander."

Cale winced, but nodded. "You know we're here for you, whatever happens with them, right?"

"I know." Leo attempted a weak smile. "Thanks. I don't know how I'm going to confront them, but... I think it has to happen soon, one way or another. But, uh, in the meantime!"

He took a scroll out of his satchel. "I was hoping we could work on Professor Imrys's assignment," he said. "I figured that the Streaming ritual might actually be easier to refine in here. There's probably all kinds of divine intent interfering with a cross-realm Stream, right?"

"That's a fascinating thought," Cale said thoughtfully, leaning forward. His eyes were bright. "Keep going."