"This is... not... what I asked for."
Alwyn inspected the ingredients I brought back. Apparently, not one of them was what I was tasked with finding.
"What is this?" he said, trying to unstick his hands from the thread. "And that wood doesn't even look like wyrdroot at all... it's supposed to be a pale wood, didn't you see in my drawing?"
No!? Not at all!?
"And that... that's the strangest of them all."
The chunk of meteorite was ever so slightly vibrating there on the grass. The entire camp had come to observe my return, and were captivated by the stone.
"Woah, I feel weird..." Liora said, poking the meteorite.
"Let me try next," Prince said.
"Don't touch it! Where did that even come from!?" Mari said from behind Aliza.
She was cowering. Aliza, though, was probably the most interested.
"Wooww... this is totally awesome. You said it came from the sky?"
'Totally awesome'?
"Hmmm, though, I suppose the wood and thread are similar enough. I'm not sure the meteor will work, but if this is what you found, it might as well be meant to be," he shrugged.
You don't even sound like you've convinced yourself though!?
"Okay, well how do I make it into a staff? Isn't that the whole point?"
"Oh that's simple," Aliza laughed. "Did you think we carved and assembled our staves ourselves?"
"Ha! That's right! Creating a staff would be too much work. There's a simple enchantment you can use. If the materials are compatible and each accept becoming your staff, it'll come together!"
He told me the enchantment, and I put the materials in a pile together. I put my hands over it and chanted.
"Bydded y wialen fy nghalon."
The mana was immediately dispersed by the meteorite, and the enchantment failed.
"I can't do it. It's the rock, it doesn't let you cast spells."
"Wrong! Look closer. Observe the flow of the mana. It's not dispersing your mana, at least not in the way that you think."
I focused on the mana in the air. The meteorite was almost inhaling the mana and then exhaling it into the air. It wasn't exactly interrupting the patterns I formed in order to cast the spell, like mana dispersal did, but forcibly took the mana away from me.
It was inherently different than mana dispersal, but for someone of my skill, I wasn't able to resist it.
"It's functionally no different though, is it? What am I supposed to do? Keep the spell together with sheer will?"
"Yes, that's exactly it. That's why only powerful wizards are capable of defending against mana dispersing weapons and armor. It should be a lot easier against something like this, which keeps the pattern intact. Just keep it to your chest until the spell is cast, you got it!"
He patted my back and gave a thumbs up. I stepped forwards and raised my hands again.
"Bydded y wialen fy nghalon!"
I felt the mana getting tugged away from me, and I was forced into a game of tug-of-war with the meteorite.
Almost...! Almost!
The materials started to levitate a few inches off the ground and subtly glowed. I focused on the mana so intently that I didn't even notice my surroundings disappearing from around me.
"### ### ### ## ## ###### ### ## ######?"
I opened my eyes and found myself in a void. In front of me was the meteorite in full, molten core sliding into the void like an infinite lavafall.
"Who are you? The meteor?"
"## # #### #### # ######."
"I can't understand you."
It's just like with the shadow and Bishan. Is this a deity? A spirit? From the sky?
"What makes you think you can harness the power of the great Istahn?"
The voice boomed through my skull like thunder.
"Istahn? Is that your name?"
"Are you uncultured? You truly don't recognize me?"
"I'm sorry, Miss Istahn. Are you the meteor? A sky spirit?"
"A sky spirit?" she laughed. "I am no spirit, boy. I am your goddess, Istahn. Or does Hestara work better for you?"
"Sorry... I've never heard of a goddess that goes by that name," I apologized.
"...So I've fallen that far?"
"Sorry miss. But, ahem, what have you called me here for?"
"You're making a staff, are you not? You've taken a piece of what remains of me and are binding it to yourself. Don't you understand the severity? I would be right to smite you down right now."
She seemed more sullen than angry.
"So why haven't you?"
"I am a shell of my former self. But, that doesn't mean I'll allow myself to become some wizard's tool."
"I understand. But what else can you do? You're a rock."
"..."
"Is that an okay?"
"I'm at your mercy, boy."
"Bydded y wialen fy nghalon."
I opened my eyes and a dark coiling staff was floating in front of me. Lodged inside of the top of the wood was a glowing orange orb. The meteorite had refined itself and become almost crystalline. Shortly after, though, the light faded, and the orb cooled into a black, obsidian rock.
Alwyn grabbed it from the air before I could, and waved it around.
"How odd, it's..."
"What? Did I do something wrong?"
"No, you executed the enchantment perfectly. I'll help you apply the various other basic staff enchants later... but the staff itself. It's strange. The meteorite you used has quite interesting properties."
"Like what?"
"See for yourself," he offered, handing me the staff.
I nearly fell to the ground and had to steady myself. The obsidian orb lit once again into a swirling orange glow. My mana was being drawn into the staff, just like the meteorite had done before.
"It's terrible!?"
"What? You're surprised? You already knew what the meteorite did, yet you put it in your staff."
"I thought it would lose the mana dispersing property or something! Why didn't you tell me?!"
"Calm down, it's not all bad, alright? I can tell from holding it. The mana draw may be intense, but the amplifying capabilities are even better than my staff. No, much better. And I made my staff with some of the best materials in the world!"
"Let me," Aliza said.
Alwyn kicked the staff from her hand as she grabbed it.
"Absolutely not," he said. "That thing may kill someone like you. Forget it."
"Me!" Liora dove and caught the staff.
She started to writhe on the ground. Prince went to grab it from her but passed out as he touched it. I walked over and grabbed it from the two idiots and turned back to Alwyn.
"Can't I just scrap this one?"
"Scrap it!? Give it to me if you don't want it! Not like it'd work all that well... staves bind to the wizard, Lin. But seriously, that staff is seriously... awesome..."
"I still don't see what's so great about it."
"Hand it over. If I'm correct, you have a uniquely incredible staff. If I'm wrong... well, you'll probably need to make a new staff."
He waved my staff in the air and a massive magic circle appeared at the end. I'd only ever seen a magic circle appear when I'd cast the explosion chant, so I braced for a massive explosion.
"But I thought you couldn't cast spells this powerful with a staff!?"
See, Alwyn had warned us before against using particularly powerful spells with staves. Staves were meant for the common wizard, people who weren't even able to use such spells in the first place.
If a wizard like Alwyn, Liora, or I wanted to cast a spell that powerful, they'd simply cast it with their hands. If they didn't the staff would splinter and explode under the pressure of the mana's flow. This wasn't a real problem, since spells that powerful didn't really need the amplification of a staff in the first place.
But if a spell of that level was amplified by a staff, it would be devastating. It could wipe out entire armies with one cast.
"Watch, my apprentice."
Aliza punched him in the gut, causing the spell to cancel and the staff to fall to the ground.
"Absolutely not, you dumbass!"
Aliza kicked the staff over to me.
"Cast these on it, alright?" she said.
The four enchantments she taught me were "Sefyll yn dawel, peidiwch â disgyn," "Rhwymddail, llusg di'r ffon fel plu yn y gwynt," "Dod yn ôl ataf, fy nghyfaill ffyddlon," and "Clymu'n gysur, oeri ac ymbellhau."
I wasn't sure what they all did, but once I cast them, my staff started to behave just like Alwyn's. It floated in the air where I left it, and when I called it, the staff flew right to my hand.
Convenient.
"That's so cool! I want one!"
"Should've practiced your magic then, rather than acting like a mindless beast."
Liora was staring at my staff earnestly. She was inches from touching it, reluctant due to its effects.
"I really tried, okay? I don't like studying, though. I can't stand it. How do you sit there and practice for hours?"
Because I'm a genius! I'm awesome! And you're a talentless simpleton!
"It was hard at first, you know... but I want to get stronger. So I try."
Heh.
"Wooow. That's cool. I wish I was more like you and Mari. Prince and I are just useless simple fools, aren't we?"
"Why are you lying on my sack? Get off!"
"Don't you want it? My fangs? You haven't slept in days..."
"Why are you making it sound so strange!?"
"I'm hungry..."
"Stop that," I grimaced.
I am quite tired, though...
"Fine."
"Nom!" she chomped.