3rd of Ashan, 719
When she got there, she was surprised to be greeted by Stefan Harper, the Inquisitor who had initiated Vivian into Hone. The older mage was looking drained and concerned and when she entered the tent, he gave her a sharp look. "There you are. Have you used your magic since the season change?" he asked, his tone intent.
Vivian stopped in surprise at the sudden interrogation, but shook her head. "No, I haven't had reason to use my magic. I know I should be practicing, but I haven't wanted to drain my ether supply needlessly while this whole business with Ellasin is still active." she said, her tone calm. To her surprise, Stefan let out a sigh of relief, causing Vivian to give him a sharp look. "What's going on?" she asked her tone intent.
Stefan frowned, then gestured Vivian from the tent, leading her to a secluded area away from the rest of the camp. When they were alone, he sat down and let out a sigh. "There's been an incident in Emea. I'm sure you're aware of the collapse of the dream world," he said, looking up at his pupil.
Vivian thought for a moment, then shrugged and nodded. "If you mean that business with the cathedral and nobody dreaming, then yes, I am. What does that have to do with magic?" she asked, confusion evident in her voice.
Stefan gave a brief laugh and then let out a sigh. "Right, we didn't get to that part of your lessons, did we?" he asked, rhetorically. Vivian raised an eyebrow at him and he continued. "Ether, the fuel for magic, comes from Emea. With Emea down, our supply of Ether is limited to whatever we had on us at the time of the collapse, which is never very much. Once deprived of Ether, the Spark starts looking for other sources. The most common of which is Flaying, the act of using the Spark to destroy another persons very essence for power." he said, his tone grim.
Vivian recoiled in revulsion at the very idea of doing such a horrible thing and felt a flicker from her Hone spark, a sort echo of disgust. "I didn't even know we could do that. That's horrible." she said, her disdain for the idea of doing such a thing very clear in her voice.
Stefan smiled at her reaction and nodded. "Most mages would agree with you, honestly. However, they do not necessarily have a choice in the matter in this situation. Without Ether, the Spark starves, and it's that starvation that drives the Spark to flay other beings in search of Ether." he said, before giving a slight shrug. "Some mages have had luck in finding other sources of Ether for their Spark, but what works for each mage appears to be, unfortunately, unique to each mage, so there's no universal solution to the starvation problem.
Vivian nodded at his explanation, then paused in thought. "If the Spark is searching for Ether, then each solution must have an Ether source of some sort. Since Emea isn't generating Ether naturally, that means it's getting into the world through other means." she said, sitting down across from Stefan as she thought. Stefan, for his part, merely gazed at her in interest. "I've been to Emea before, on assignment from Ilaren." she said, dropping one hand to tap against her sword, which had been forged on that assignment. "There were other Immortals there, during that mission, and Jesnine, as well. They way they spoke, it was like they had some connection to the place. Almost like it was home for them, or at least for Jesnine." she said, her voice thoughtful.
Stefan nodded at her musing. "Yes. According to the more learned Thunder Priestesses, the Immortals do indeed call Emea home. Where are you going with this, Shiryu?" he asked, his tone intent.
Vivian grimaced at his question, then shrugged. "Possibly somewhere stupid, but if Immortals are from Emea, then it just seems to me like their Blessings might get part of their power from Emea, and I know my Blessing haven't gone sideways. Given how Palenon works, it would be very evident if it had." she said, feeling a leap of interest from her Spark at the same time that Stefan gave her a look of dawning comprehension.
Giving a laugh, she shrugged. "Well, my Spark seems to like the idea, so I'm going to try it. Knock me out if this goes wrong, yeah?" she said, holding out her arm and raising a hand. The blue trail that marked Vivian using her Hone magic appeared on the finger of her other hand and she started to draw the Rune of Strength on her arm, gathering lightning under her feet as she did so, as if she were going to use Rising Lightning. As she did, she tried to instruct her Spark to try draining the lightning at her feet for Ether.
She felt her Spark reach for the Blessed lightning at her feet and, after a few moments, the lightning fizzled out as if deprived of power. At the same time, Vivian felt a sharp pain in her chest over her Witchmark, causing her Rune to fade as she reached up to her Witchmark in surprise. Stefan, who had been watching with interest as she made the attempt stood up, but she waved him back down. "I can feel my Spark growing stronger from the lightning." she said, noting the sudden joy her Spark was taking in having successfully absorbed Ether from the Rising Lightning. "It worked, but not enough to power a Rune. I'm going to try again, now I know the pain is coming. If I can prepare for it, it shouldn't be as bad. I think I can do this." she said, before igniting her magic and gathering lightning at her feet again.
This time she was prepared for the pain that accompanied her Spark feeding off the Lightning, and as she expected, her Witchmark gave another sharp pain. This time, she was expecting it and didn't drop the spell, but she did have to gather more lightning in order to keep feeding her Spark. This made the process of feeding her spark a very herky-jerky affair, and it meant it took longer than usual for Vivian to complete the Strength Rune she was making. Still, eventually she had enough Ether to finalize the Rune, which meant she could stop using her Blessing. Pausing a moment, Vivian took a deep breath and braced herself, feeling a sense of anticipation in her spark. "Well, here goes." she said, before finalizing the Rune and pouring the Spark's gathered Ether into the Rune.
The result was not what she had expected. Her Witchmark burned like it was being freshly administered, and she felt the Ether from the Rune flood the rest of her, and for a moment she was certain she had overstepped, possibly very badly. When the sensation passed however, there were no signs of overstepping, and when she looked down at her Rune, she noticed that it had changed. Before it had been all blue, but now it had a core of electric yellow to it. The veins around the Rune were also glowing blue, so brightly she could see it through the sleeve of her coat. She looked up at Stefan in confusion and he seemed surprised as well.
"Well, it worked. And you appear to have had your Spark grow in power as well. I think the jolt from the Blessing gave it a boost." he said, some surprise in his voice. "Also, your eyes are glowing." he said, gesturing to his own eyes. Vivian was surprised at that, but she was more interested in the fact that she could actually see how much Ether was left in the Strength Rune. After a moment, she reached up and drew the Ether from the Rune back into her Spark so that it could use that Ether later. "Good idea. We don't have time for it now, but when we get a break, I'll have more to teach you about Hone." he said.
Vivian nodded at Stefan, then stood up. "I look forward to the lessons. But for now, I must return to my duty. Would you please pass along what I learned here. I can't be the only mage in the knights with Palenon." she said, her tone solemn. Stefan said that he would and then dismissed her to resume her duty. Vivian gave her teacher a salute, then returned to Faith's house, just in time to very firmly boot a messenger who was not on the list of people approved to enter the Augustine's residence. Faris gave her superior a wry grin and Vivian just shrugged. "Back to work, Faris. I'll take over command." she said, getting a nod from her assistant as Vivian went to make sure no unknowns had slipped into the house while she had been away.
