Soaking the staff in my hands with my magical senses, I felt the striations of silver and iron shot through it and the crystals and their molecular bond to the magical wood. The golden ring was at the perfect height for my hand to rest while walking with it. Through it, I could feel the power and versatility of my new tool. I don’t even know what it's capable of, but I could test it out. The tree in front of me kept right on growing as I took a minute to examine my staff. It was already taller than a house. I lifted my staff like Gandalf and stabbed it into the earth. Through it, I felt the tree chugging from the ley line like a dehydrated dog. Thinking fast, I crafted an intent enchantment and forced it into the tree, shoving it into the heartwood. The tree felt the intent that it was done growing, nearing the end of its maturation, and no longer needed the energy provided by the ley line. I watched the root it had grown that was stabbed directly into it dry up and detach. One possible disaster averted, although I don’t know what would have happened had I just let it go.

One thing I noticed about this experience as I flopped on my back. I didn’t have to touch any of the energy I was carrying around this whole time. The ley line provided everything. This means if I’m away from home, I could find places to recharge my batteries, or build places to function off the overflow from ley lines. Turning my head, I looked at my staff. This was a great start, but I had a lot left to do. My drudging walk back home wasn’t painful due to my healing amulet, but my mind was tired. Handling that kind of energy straight from the source of the earth is draining. It also carried a kind of emotion with it, a kind of whimsical peace balanced by solid gravity. The mana my amulet generates is different, almost sterile. I want to say cleaner, but that’s not quite right either. I guess the mana from ley lines is aspected in some way due to its very nature. And I don’t really know what that means, but my sorcery confirmed that was correct.

My musings were interrupted on my way home by a blaze of light. This heat wasn’t unbearable, but it Rippled.

“THE BLACK HOLE SPOUTS, ANOTHER OCTAVE WAVES.”

The pounding cymbals in my brain rang with that announcement. I was in the street on my hands and knees retching my guts out. My house was forty feet away.

“Earth joins the rest, spiral arm in arm.”

I’m crawling, one arm over the other. My ears are bleeding. I’m ten feet from my porch. The grass is soft and hot. This is not how I want to die. I’m clutching my staff; I feel it shielding me, absorbing whatever energy is crushing me. I feel like an ant meeting a boot.

“Prepare remnant, peace never lasts.”