Training

  It was not too long after the birth rate’s change became widely known and obvious that the people of Argent began to accept it as the new norm. Over the next century, cultures accepted the larger pool of women in varying ways: baby girls drowned or cast away from birth in some places, while in others the excess female population was put to forced labor. Across the world polygamy became commonplace, for the fact was undeniable that more women meant more breeding, more potential children and thus more potential males.

  — From Secrets of Mani, by Sor the Lark

  (Firvaen 28, 997—Night Season)

  We pulled these same stunts in the next town of Lorcost. I was beginning to like it. It had taken a bit of explaining before Inno, Ruel and Kath understood and trusted me. They knew that there was something special about me, and they knew the stories of Kaen and me infiltrating the Palace in order to break out our friends from the inside.

  Each night after the arm-wrestling, it seemed I had another dream with that girl, showing me visions of . . . well, not really much. Old memories of Kaen and my other friends, mostly. And Lentha. I wondered if it was my exhaustion that brought on the dreams, or the expenditure of whatever fueled my eerie strength.

  Sadly, Rhidea put a stop to it after the third town, saying that I should learn to make money more honestly—and also, we were beginning to draw more widespread attention. Mydia and I stuck to our nightly Coaction practice with Rhidea. She wasn’t going to let us get out of that, no matter how tired we were. Kath would often join Rhidea to give us pointers, although his pertained more to me, as he had more practical knowledge of using Coaction in combat or other dangerous situations. And of course, he was a fire mage like me.

  Over the course of the trip, I grew in my control of fire Coaction. I had very little in the way of Authority, but according to Rhidea, I was getting close to my first command. One night when Kath was busy with the soldiers, Rhidea finally let Mydia and me in on one of her secrets that she guarded closely.

  This secret was her three treasures, some of which I had glimpsed before but none of which I had actually seen in use. They were magical artifacts forged by strong magi long ago: A nondescript copper coin that returned to her hand upon a snap of the fingers, a small, pinecone-shaped silver trinket imbued with a restorative energy that drew from the earth to heal wounds and other injuries slowly, and lastly a whitish gemstone that gave its bearer the power of instant transportation. This last one, which Rhidea called a Reality Stone, interested me the most.

  “It is a gift from a friend long ago,” she explained. “I prize it very highly. It grants a high level of Authority in the art of Reality. If you hold it and imbue it with energy, the stone allows you to instantly teleport up to a distance of one hundred yards to any place in sight.”

  “You have Authority over Reality already, though, don’t you?” I asked.

  “I do. But this is far simpler oftentimes. I can only use it twice in succession, though. Then it needs to . . . cool down, you might say. If you promise to be careful, I will let you try it out. Here, hold it just like this . . .”

  After giving me a couple of pointers, she nodded, and I focused energy into the device and decided on a point in the close distance, and next I knew, I was there. It was the most unsettling experience I’d had in a while, but the wonder of it brought a smile to my lips. I had just leaped through space using an ancient magical artifact. . . .

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  I asked my teacher afterward if the mage soldiers back at Nytaea had used similar stones when they teleported. “Yes,” she said in answer, voice thoughtful. “That is the most likely explanation.”

  I loved our little practice sessions. Some were fun little discov-eries like this, while others included me almost burning down the forest whilst Rhidea yelled at me and Mydia gathered water from around us to douse it—so . . . something interesting. Rhidea taught me to “work with” the flames instead of just letting them run rampant, and in time I built enough control to apply heat to the smallest point, for instance the innards of a lock (not, she added, that self-respecting magi went about breaking into locked places, but it could come in handy in that way and many others).

  Mydia learned to use her newly-attained Water Authority to assess bodily problems in a person and better heal them. Cuts and bruises were the extent of her healing abilities, but Rhidea said they could grow far stronger. She also improved her ability to “speak” to plant life, asking it to grow, bend or change to help her out. She managed to wrap Rhidea up in grass and weeds one time before her teacher politely requested to be let go. The girl giggled like it was the funniest thing she’d ever seen.

  Kaen and the others began including me in their sparring sessions. Mydia practiced her tree-shaping Authority by crafting us wooden practice swords. Inno and Ruel were, of course, a bit leery of the monstrous strength that I had displayed in our arm-wrestling shenanigans, but I made sure to temper my strength and avoid tapping into that reserve that I always kept on hand. Kaen said that it would be good practice for my control as well.

  I picked it up reasonably well. I lacked the deftness and hand-eye coordination that Kaen had, but I was quick on my feet and precise enough to practice what they taught me and master it at a steady rate. Any one of them could best me in a duel—sword to sword, by the rules, skill for skill. That was why, when it came to a real fight, I never played fair. When Kaen and I had fought the mage soldiers and spearmen at the Nytaean Palace, I had made sure to dispatch my opponents in whatever way was quickest, as long as it didn’t mean needless death.

  Mydia would simply watch and laugh whenever I got myself cornered by Kaen or one of the two soldiers. And she wondered why I fell asleep so quickly every night. . . .

  (Norvaen 12, 997—Waning Day)

  At long last, on the twelfth day of the sixth month of the year, we approached Ti’Vaeth. Here at the center of Argent, that meant the sun hung midway between its zenith and the far horizon. Three weeks of journeying, finally at an end.

  Ti’Vaeth was more breathtaking than I had ever heard. It was for good reason that it was known as the “Birthplace of Magic.” First, we led our horses through the Veil—a giant, twisting, roiling wall of water—which was the first visible landmark we had seen as we approached. It was wet, but did not have the force that I had assumed it would. Neither was the noise of it overwhelming.

  Soon, we were out—or in, rather—and I found myself gasping alongside my companions. Before us stretched a road made from sparkling blue stones, leading all the way down a long slope that ended abruptly at Lake Lucia. Around the glittering lake hung the tallest waterfalls I had ever seen. And upon that lake, across a multi-arched bridge, on an island called Kysedon, sat the city of Ti’Vaeth, crowned in gold by the great citadel upon a smoothly-rounded hill.

  All around us, the land was richly fertile, and all manner of plants grew amidst a lush savannah of grasses. It was . . . green. The grass was not grey but vivid green here. So much green, as though the thrum of life overpowered the subterranean silver that tinged most life on Mani. Towering Cyvil trees shaded the area with frondlike leaves—tinged with silver only on the tips—and Kystrean Gazelles grazed upon it. Mist hung everywhere in the air, and the temperature was of a perfect warmth.

  But perhaps the centerpiece of the whole scene was the Sky Funnel, the great geyser that sprang up from the Wellspring of Life deep underneath Ti’Vaeth. It seemed to pierce right through the center of the citadel. The geyser reached all the way up to the sky, streaking out and spraying in all directions. The water from it was drawn by its ancient magic upward and outward in an arc, streaming along the Veil that protected Ti’Vaeth, coming down in the sheets that made up the Veil.

  “Impressed yet?” Rhidea asked over the sound of falling water. She waved us onward, remounting her horse. We followed her along the road, overcome by the sheer beauty around us, dripping as we went. As we grew closer to Lake Lucia, we got a better look at the Sky Funnel and the golden city that spread underneath it on the Isle of Kysedon. We rode down the smooth decline and over the bridge toward the capital city of Kystrea:

  Ti’Vaeth, the Veiled City.