After only a few steps, I was plunged into near complete darkness and could not even see my hands in front of my face. Reaching to the side, I felt the rough walls of the cave and carefully began moving forward, feeling with my feet for any unseen slopes or pits. As I listened, I could only hear my breathing, which I involuntarily noticed sounded louder and more rapid than I would prefer.

I could feel the wall begin to turn away from my outstretched hand, and I suspected I had entered another chamber of this cave system. I regretted that I had not bothered to bring along any sort of torch but realized after a second that was a foolish annoyance. I had no reason to suspect I was going to end up down here, and there was no point either way. Past mistakes would not fix my current issue and the best I could do was keep moving.

Suddenly remembering my dinner earlier, I realized I may have a source of light after all. Closing my eyes and focusing internally, I located my Core within a few minutes and began pulling a mote of Mana down my left arm. I had not tried this yet, but if Sophia could do it after a week of training, I should be able to after nearly three weeks. Pushing my Mana down the Channel that led to my hand, I felt it resist before spiraling out of my control. It took me four more attempts, before I was able to push a single mote of Mana through the skin in my left hand and into the air.

Opening my eyes, I saw a tiny green speck hovering over my palm, providing as much light as a dim candle. The mental exertion to hold the Mana in place was uncomfortable but bearable, and a few experimental steps proved I could maintain it while moving. My satisfaction was tempered a bit when I realized that Sophia’s own demonstration had produced a sphere ten times as large as my own, though she was unable to hold her own Mana for just a second.

The light showed that I was now standing in what appeared to be a circular room, with several cylindrical columns likely supporting an unseen ceiling and a flat, level floor beneath my boots. I was unable to see the far side of the room, but I did notice a small sconce on the nearby pillar, that held a large crystal. All these details led me to realize this was not a natural cave, but rather a man-made structure of some kind. Leaning a little closer to examine the crystal, my Mana suddenly was pulled from my hand and into the stone against my will.

Stumbling backwards, I looked closer and noticed the dimmest bit of light was now shining from inside the crystalline structure, providing about as much illumination as my make-shift candle. Working off a theory, I placed my left hand on the crystal and focused again on my Mana. Over the next half hour, I painstakingly pulled a single mote at a time through my Channels and into the sconce, until I began to see the hints of light even through my closed eyelids.

Opening my eyes again, the crystal now shone as bright as a torch, and revealed most of the darkened room. Eleven other similar columns ringed the room, each with their own sconce and crystal structure. The space was easily forty feet across and in the light, I could now see each column was covered in unfamiliar runes, and the floor had an intricate design carved into its tiled face. The walls were ringed with tables, bookshelves and workbenches holding unfamiliar looking tools. As far as I could see, there were no other doorways and this room seemed to be a dead-end.

Walking over to a particularly large table, I found a thin unlabeled book sitting on its surface, bound in worn brown leather. Opening it to the first page, I noticed that it was written in an archaic dialect, not spoken in centuries which I had to translate mentally into something closer to modern Ferren.

If you are reading this, then congratulations are in order. Not many are worthy to find my sanctums, and if you did then you have passed the security measures I put in place. I designed these places to store the tools I created to speed the growth and development of a Mage, in the hopes my future successor will carry on my legacy.

I doubt I will live to see you grow as a Mage, as the king of my era has declared me guilty of treason and even now plots my downfall. I hope to be wrong, as I would love to continue living but I must prepare for the worst-case scenario. However, though they may take my life, I will ensure my secrets pass to my designated apprentice and heir, rather than fall into the hands of the unworthy.

I must warn you that my methods are unpleasant, difficult to follow and not for the faint of heart, but if my enchantments work as I intend, and they usually do, that should not pose a problem to you. I have left several other sanctums across the world containing the rest of my knowledge, but I would recommend you master the technique stored here before searching for them.

Oh, and make sure to keep the cat happy. He is the designated caretaker of this place and is the one responsible for leading you here. If you get him angry, he will gladly banish you from this place and bar you from ever finding it again.

Good luck my apprentice,

Archon Cortos

Archmagi of Ferris

I reread the page a few more times to make sure I had not been mistaken the first time, before stepping back and feeling a smile come across my face involuntarily. I had found a one of a kind treasure, the legacy of one of the most powerful Mages in history. What sort of secrets did he store here, and what did he mean when he said I was worthy? A tugging at my pant leg broke me out of my thoughts, and I looked down to see the kitten staring at me.

“So, you are the one in charge of this place?” I asked, feeling a bit odd talking to a cat. While Cortos’ journal had said as much, I still somewhat doubted his words.

Any awkwardness disappeared when the cat distinctly rolled his eyes, before nodding yes in a strangely human manner. I blinked a few times, but I was sure my eyes had not deceived me. The cat meowed loudly, before hopping onto the table and walking to one end before batting at something sitting on its surface. Walking over, I found a small silver ring with a reflective but unmarked surface. Slipping it onto one finger, the ring seemed to shrink down to a snug but not uncomfortable fit.

I heard a sound coming from the far end of the room, of stone sliding past stone and I looked to see a piece of the wall slide into the ground. It seemed I had a way out of this cave, which was a welcome surprise. Of course, I was also curious how I would manage to find my way back here afterwards, without anyone else following me at least. But that was a problem for later, after I was familiar with how exactly this place worked. I flipped forward a few pages in Cortos’ journal until I found a section describing the basic functions of this particular sanctum.

The functions of this sanctum are linked to my ring, which acts as a key to the various locks I designed for your protection and secrecy. All the enchantments are powered by Aether, pulled from natural ley lines running in the ground below the cavern and stored inside the crystals. When you attune to the ring, the Mana gathering enchantments should activate and start filling the crystals, to power the sanctum. Be warned, when they are completely full of Mana, each stone has enough energy to vaporize you in an instant, and if all of them are destroyed it could level a hundred square miles.

The main room is designed to allow for experimentation and research for an average Mage. It includes fully prepared alchemy and enchanting stations, along with several hundred books I have painstakingly collected from my predecessors and contemporaries which may be useful for your own studies. However, the primary feature of this location is the circle built into the main room.

I have, through my own research, found that one major reason our life spans decrease inversely to our power is due to the human body’s natural inability to withstand Mana. Essentially, as the energy increases in power, volume and density, it slowly outpaces the body's ability to keep up, much like a muscle which tears when overworked. One method of mitigating this effect is to increase the durability of your Mana carrying organs as much as possible, to more efficiently contain the energy and keep it from bleeding into your body.

The circle represents one of my attempts to minimize the potential damage from cultivation, by forcing pure Mana into your Channels and Cores while using a secondary enchantment to hold the walls together and accelerate healing using this same Mana. A warning, it is an agonizing process and will likely be the worst pain you have ever felt, but the results will be a dramatically increased tempering speed. I would recommend an hour at most, as my enchantment is not perfect and still carries a risk of overtraining.

It seemed I would owe Cortos a sizable debt if his enchantment did what he claimed it would. I would have to experiment with it soon, though his warning left me a bit hesitant to immediately jump into training. Flipping through the next several pages, I found that he had left extremely detailed notes on the process of producing this effect, which may be useful to replicate it in the future.

Slipping the journal into my pocket, I walked down the opening on the other side of the room and found myself in another smaller chamber only a half dozen feet across with five crystals in sconces on the walls. The ground was covered in an intricate circle, less complex than the tempering circle but still extremely detailed. I pulled the journal back out, and flipped forward until I found a section labeled “Secondary Chamber”

The transportation room in the back will allow you to teleport to and from the sanctum instantly, as long as you keep the ring on you. Be warned, the enchantment is limited and will only work within a few thousand feet and can only transport you to extremely familiar locations. To operate it, stand in the middle while focusing on where you want to teleport. The ring is built to recognize your thoughts and activate the circle based upon intent. Each teleportation drains one crystal worth of Mana and requires approximately four hours to refill.

Looking down, I saw that the cat had followed me into this room and sat in the center of the circle. I leaned down, running my hand along the carved tile before looking at the cat and smiling broadly.

“I owe you quite a bit of a debt for bringing me here, though I am still not sure why exactly you did. I can guess that Cortos left some sort of criteria for you to follow, but I have no idea what they would be. Is there any chance you can talk and have been hiding it from me?” I said, laughing a little at my last question.

The kitten pointedly turned away from me and began cleaning his back, apparently ignoring my question. I sighed before straightening up and moving back into the main room. Unfortunately, though it was already rapidly approaching when I would normally go to bed, it would take a full four hours for the teleportation room to be ready for use.

Sitting down closest to the crystal I had filled with my own Mana, I skimmed through the rest of the journal, and found that most of it was additional research notes describing the details of how Cortos had built this place. A large portion of its functions were sophisticated spells designed to hide the location and Mana signature of the sanctum, and I realized that it was a clever hiding spot. After all, when you publicly state your dislike of the Academy, right under their noses is the last place anyone would expect you to hide your secrets.

The rest of his collection was far too advanced for me to understand, and I knew I was likely years from making use of the rest of his knowledge. After several hours filled with exploration and reading, the crystals around the room had begun to glow dimly with light and the circle in the center was beginning to shine with Mana.

Standing up, I decided I may as well test Cortos’ enchantment and see how effective it really was at tempering my body. If it worked as he claimed, this could be a massive boon that saved me months or even years of practice and gradual progression. I walked forward and sat cross legged in the exact center of the room, inside a smaller circle that his journal noted was the focal point of the tempering enchantment. Just like the teleportation room, this enchantment ran off intent and would activate when mentally commanded.

Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I mentally reached out and thought of my desire to cultivate my Channels and Core. As I began wondering if I was being a bit hasty, I felt a massive surge of Mana come from the ground beneath me and enter my body. And in that instant, all I felt was unending agony, as vast as the water in an ocean.