52: Disruption
“We make a really tiny hole,” explained Korrigan, “Like we’re letting air out of a balloon! But we have to do it gently or else it will make a noise and everyone will know we’re here and then we’d have to fight! Oh! But you might not know what a balloon is! Its a rubber thing filled with air and—”
“I think our Faerie Princess gets it, Korrie,” said Ceres, cutting short her partner’s spiel before it could fly further off tangent, “’Tasia, you just stand back an’ keep watch, okay? Let us know if ya see anything crazy goin’ on. Now come on, Korrie, let’s get this over with,”
As Korrigan placed her arms on Ceres’s shoulders, the purple-haired witch took out her ceremonial knife and lifted it towards the crystal. Korrigan’s aura enveloped Ceres, slipping around her own spiritual power until the two blended into a single flow – something Phantasia had never witnessed before. The combined power twisted and spiralled and flowed towards the knife’s edge, creating an ethereal extension to the blade that gently sliced a nick into the corrosive green miasma of the crystal. From that tiny incision a trail of mana began to escape, floating into the streams surrounding them, freed from its prison.
The witches’ aura disentangled themselves and they turned around, happy with their handiwork.
“It’ll be kinda like a valve lettin’ off steam,” said Ceres, “That crystal’s a focal point, but the less power it ‘as the less it’ll focus. It oughta be dead by the time its important, and it’ll be too late to do anythin’ ’bout it,”
But then something began to change. The mana around them started to flutter, as if caught in a sudden wind. The aura of the crystal flared up, a green beam of energy shooting out from one side as a yellow beam struck into the other, funnelling energy into a cycle – a growing cyclone of mana.
“They’ve started the second phase!” squealed Korrigan, yanking Ceres away from the crystal.
Their little incision was devoured by the torrent of energy now flowing around them, destroying their hopes of de-powering the circle – at least by their means. If the ‘second phase’ had started, that meant the spell couldn’t be revoked.
“Get outta the way,” said Phantasa. The two witches looked surprised, them scrambled to the side. Without stopping to think things through, Phantasia jumped towards the crystal and thrust her hand inside, releasing her own energy into the cyclone. The corruption clawed at her hand, struggling to tear her ethereal form to pieces, but was met with her purifying force. When she pulled away, the crystal point was lifeless, the green hue of wind missing from the circular torrent. Phantasia fell to her knees, gasping from breath. Ceres and Korrigan didn’t hesitate to leap to her aid.
“So that’s what you do,” said Korrigan, “That was awesome!”
“Don’t suppose you could’ve done that to the whole circle?” asked Ceres, “Would save us a lot of bother…”
Phantasia wished she could. Dispelling a solitary crystal was no different than fighting the leansídhe that created it, but the whole circle, backed up by other crystals and the spiritual force of the shamans, required more power than she could wield. Simple magical economics were not on her side.
“Ooh, the circle’s turning all yellow!” cooed Korrigan, “Someone must’ve done something to the Water crystal!”
“I think we got other things to worry about,” said Ceres.
Phantasia could already tell without looking. The moment she dispelled the crystal’s power it would have alerted them. The shamans were on a lower plane, but they still had influence here – influence that now surrounded them as manifest shadows, consciousnesses rising through the planes to confront the intruders.
~ The ritual cannot be stopped! ~
~ Next: Innocence Destroyed ~
With this chapter the story passes the 200k word mark. That’s around 800 real-book pages. Well done for making it this far!
Struggling to think of much to say. I should really write this commentary when I’ve finished writing the chapter, not a week later! I can’t even think of an interesting or fun poll to run. Maybe I should just let the chapter speak for itself?
For the observant among you, the title change from ‘Breaking the Circle’ was primarily so it didn’t clash with the next chapter, ‘The Inner Circle’. Too many circles!
I know I have stuff to say about the next one. It’s all downhill from here…!
[edit]
And now I’ve posted it, I can at least think of a few points to make…!
~ After all her manipulations, you can finally see that Faye can’t predict everything. Emotional outbursts are difficult for her to understand.
~ Theseus has really been pushing himself, don’t you think? All that exertion and heroics have to rebound sometime, surely?
~ Contrary to their fangirlie gossiping, Phoenie and Andromeda would probably be sad to hear that Faye isn’t likely to reciprocate any sort of romantic interest. She just isn’t capable of such a thing!
~ Originally Joel’s blundering was spared for a later event, but I decided to take some of the weight off his shoulders and transfer it to someone else. You’ll understand soon enough…
*facepalms* joel screwed up again, he needs a chance to redeem himself, I hope he gets it… Altho I guess if he HADN’T blundered there wouldn’t have been a use for Lyra’s captured Leanshide eh?
He just keeps on blundering! He’s just too brash, too emotionally immature to be dealing with this sort of situation.
In a perfect world he would see what’s happening and decide to change himself, calm his temperament and try to think with his head. He’s learn to work alongside his friends and work hard to develop his natural talents.
In an imperfect world he would see what’s happening…but find something or someone else to blame other than himself. He would likely decide “I’m useless until I’ve gained some kind of special power”, ignorant to the truth that acquiring such a power with his mindset could be a very bad idea indeed!
Good chapter!
Theseus and John get to show of again. Faye gets a little remainder she may not be completely in control of every situation involving the humans. Sadly the newspaper girls don’t get to do anything yet but their time will come!
I liked Joel’s fit of rage. And I think everyone in that party (aside from his girlfriend) will be extremely annoyed by him. I just wait till Theseus snaps the Guitar-thingy and snaps it in half or something like that
I thought it interesting that Joel’s complaining caused something akin to an emotional outburst from Faye. When he was complaining about having to sit around and wait for Theseus, Faye more or less told him that dead weight should be seen and not heard if that, even. My summary, anyway. Although now I’m kinda curious about the material his RagnaRock(lol) is made out of because he smashed it against a hard crystalline surface with enough force to cause it to smash against a wall into stardust.
Does John’s grapple-hook device use nano machines for the rope and the spear head of the grapple and just how far can it be shot or does it have a minor rocket boost for longer distances?
The guitarblade would be made out some kind of crazyawesome nanomaterial that’s both light and tough. It was given to him by Kaori’s father, who would have the contacts to acquire such things.
The grapple will, like a lot of advanced firearms, use magnets. Or something. The ‘rope’ would be some kind of adaptable material, it can be as strong as a chain or elastic like a bungie cord – its length would be dependant on its form (since it would have to retain the same physical mass). The actual hook would use some form of simple nano-tech and have systems designed to latch on to most surfaces (it would adapt itself to whatever it strikes). John’s tech isn’t the height of advancement by any means, though. He’s using stuff developed perhaps hundreds of years ago.
I try not to worry too much about scientific accuracy. It’s the 31st century, trying to predict what it would REALLY be like would be akin to vikings contemplating quantum mechanics XD
NANITES! They can do anything!
http://www.redscull.com/swat/readmeafter.html Where it came from.
http://www.night.org/swat2/comics/comic.php?comic=WatchmanP2.jpg This comic particularly. Have fun.
I’m still pulling for Joel, there is still something brewing under the surface with him. I think it may be a spectacular show when (if?) it does happen. Or maybe I just have a weakness for the underdog… hmmms.
Joel certainly has his own overarching story (like most of the characters). Can’t really say much more other than his constant failing to do much of use will start to have an effect…
This tale does not disappoint. I have a question though: Does the blade unsheathe from the guitar or something? In one of the pictures I seem to remember the silhouette of a person with a katana raised, and then later a picture of the blade being one side of the guitar neck. Also it is interesting to see John’s reaction to forces beyond his understanding. For me anyway(I’m an engineering student who loves fantasy) the distinction between science and magic seems fundamentally semantic, for science is merely the study and attempt to understand how the world works, and if there were a real series of energies, forces and interactions that were called magic that affected the world, then by definition they would be within the realm of science. Basically since physics is the study of the behavior and laws of matter and energy, if magic were to exist it would be part of that definition. But It is often the nature of some people who think they have a grasp on how the world works, who are used to knowing, to deny and reject new information that would crush their well formed view of the world. But maybe I’m biased by the image of a magic accepting John ten years later, wielding transmutational power and forging infinitely variable technology from the mater around him as the situation calls for it. What could someone with intimate understanding of the physical world do if they could suddenly directly control some of the forces that compose it? >8]>
I was thinking about that sort of thing earlier, when writing a scene between John and his father. What it eventually comes down to is that we humans are brought up in a very linear sense. The metaphor I was thinking at the time was number: they go in a straight line, but what if someone found out there were a whole system of numbers that went off in a different direction? In a sense that’s how the planes of reality work.
There’s a whole load of potential stories to tell about how ‘magic’ and science began to intermingle. Those scientists who decided to study this world-changing new power were ridiculed by others who, deep down, were shit scared of what it could do to the world they were trying to save. Suffice to say that now, in the highest levels of the cities (because they have a whole tier/pseudo-karma system going on) the height of technology is biological, not mechanical as it is everywhere else.
As for the guitar – the blade is a part of it, running along the neck. It’s more efficient that way, and the materials are strong and light enough to not make too much difference. It wouldn’t make a very good duelling weapon, for sure, but it’s not designed for that. The blade is more of a back-up weapon in case the user is caught off-guard while trying to use audiomacy. Just don’t tell Joel that, because he’s convinced its some kind of legendary blade forged to fight the darkest of evils XD