When Galdrehln told Renkyk to leave his chamber for a couple of hours before dawn and that Renkyk would come back to a surprise, Renkyk had only one suspicion as to what it could be: Breakfast. Galdrehln hadn't been subtle about it after bringing in two black iron pots the night before, but nonetheless he demurred when Renkyk asked him if he was planning any cooking.

If he insists, Renkyk laughed to himself thinking about how Galdrehln pretended to be secretive about something so obvious.

To pass the time, Renkyk returned to the study where he had faced Dastov a week previously. He'd scarcely spoken to the commander since that, except for the typical perfunctory courtesy. There were a couple of other mages studying there, one a blue-skinned Caylanchan and the other a green-haired Nimorsian. They paid Renkyk little mind as they, ironically, pored over reproductions of Renkyk's own notes on the Auras.

In one sense, Renkyk was dismayed that his words were being used to train men and women for a purpose he never could endorse. In another, he was pleased that his copious notes found a purpose after all. Even if they were currently being used for ill, he felt nothing but the greatest optimism that one day something better would come out of them.

The thin Caylanchan man glanced up from his reading and jolted, his angular face twisting in shock.

"You're Renkyk!" he blurted, his yellow eyes flashing. The plain round-faced Nimorsian woman studying at one of the other tables glanced up from her notes languidly, but returned to them quickly. "I was just reading your..."

"My notes, yes," Renkyk said meekly and stepped toward the man. "I hope they're of some use."

"Oh! Definitely!" the man chirped. "I'm Ufpran, from the city of Laetho in the far southeast. You've probably never heard of it."

"I haven't, no," Renkyk smiled.

"I've heard a lot about you from Commander Dastov," Ufpran excitedly spluttered. "He holds you in such high regard."

"Does he?" Renkyk replied nervously.

"I'd like to know more about the Silver Aura, but he says I'm not the 'right material' for it or something like that."

That certainly sounded like a determination Dastov would make. Renkyk could tell that Ufpran hadn't sufficiently marinated in tragedy to have a connection to the Silver Aura. He decided to leave that issue by itself.

"And I am not much use at the other Auras," Renkyk offered as he pulled up a chair. "Hence, Galdrehln is the one who has taught you."

"I knew some things before coming here! But, yeah," Ufpran said with a note of embarrassment. "So, you actually knew Nethron?"

"I did," Renkyk said with a twinge of pain. Even though Nethron's voice still spoke to him, the memory of Forynda's destruction of Nethron's physical form was such a terrible thing to recall.

"Did he ever show you how to blend the Auras?" Ufpran asked, lunging forward with his small mouth dangling open.

"Did you read all the way to the end of what I wrote?"

"Well, no, but..."

"We were starting to learn that, or rather Galdrehln was. I simply started writing it down."

Ufpran smiled and lunged in even closer, drawing another scornful glance from the Nimorsian girl before she returned to her studies.

"So you do know!" Ufpran blurted.

"Not exactly. It seemed very difficult and Galdrehln has some sense of it, but..." Renkyk started explaining, but then the faintest whisper skittered around his head. He couldn't hear any of the words, but he was fairly certain it was Nethron. "I shouldn't say anything more about something I don't understand."

With a strong disappointed sigh, Ufpran leaned back in his chair and put his hands into his robe's pockets, letting off a quick shiver. Even with the fireplace on the left wall roaring, the room was still quite cold. Renkyk didn't mind it as much, being from the far north, but the Caylanchans and Nimorsians and their southerly climates had different standards.

"Well, we're training today on wielding several Auras at once and I want to make a good show of it!" he whined to Renkyk.

"And is Galdrehln training you?" Renkyk asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I think so!"

Why didn't he tell me that? Renkyk ruminated. He has a hard time keeping any secrets to himself. Why this one?

Renkyk decided to pass the time until Galdrehln would likely be done with breakfast by continuing to chat with Ufpran on unrelated matters, largely their backgrounds and hometowns. Ufpran confirmed one of Renkyk's suspicions in that the Caylanchan was a son of wealth and had never encountered much adversity at all. Both of his parents still lived, as did all of his siblings. It was no wonder to Renkyk that Ufpran had proved unable to make progress with the Silver Aura.

Once he was certain that sufficient time had elapsed, Renkyk decided to return to his chamber. Even before he opened the door, he could smell strong aromas of different kinds, far stronger than he assumed for a typical breakfast. As he stepped into the chamber, he found Galdrehln energetically setting the modest round wood table in the room's center.

"Ren! Could you have waited another five minutes?" Galdrehln shouted, his chubby face jiggling.

"You said two hours. I gave it two hours," Renkyk said with a smile as he closed the door. He looked at the usual breakfast fare of sausages and flat bread as well as some spicier and more colorful peppered dishes that seemed more appropriate for lunch. "You've been busy."

"Ah yes!" Galdrehln clapped and hopped in place. "I had a moment of inspiration. Dastov told me that I was to train in blends of the Auras today and so I thought I'd blend our meals. Probably won't have time for lunch anyway."

His hunger getting the better of him, Renkyk sat down and began eating right away, drawing a shocked expression from Galdrehln.

"Hey! You can at least wait for me to sit down! Who taught you manners?" Galdrehln objected.

Ren stopped chewing for a second and looked up from his plate with a sheepish expression.

"It's very good," he said. "Sorry."

"Eh, forget it," Galdrehln sighed and plopped down in his own chair and started in. "Ah! I really outdid myself this time, didn't I?"

"Your cooking is only exceeded by your modesty," Renkyk murmured in jest.

Galdrehln winked and stuffed his face with bred that he dipped in the peppered sauce of one of his other dishes.

"I think the most I've ever done is mixing three Auras together, you know," his tone suddenly shifted toward melancholy. "I don't know that this is a good idea. Some of these people are barely able to handle one Aura at a time. I'm going to do my best today, but I'd be shitting you if I told you this will go smoothly."

Such an admission caused Renkyk to give his friend a look as though he had sprouted another head. A confession of inadequacy was such a rare thing to leave Galdrehln's lips that Renkyk almost wondered if he had fallen asleep in the study and was now dreaming.

"You're actually worried?" Renkyk queried as he choked on a spicy pepper.

"Heh. I'll let you think that," Galdrehln chuckled, downing his food with a mug of heavy dark ale. "Is drinking this early in bad form? You think Dastov will notice if I'm a bit drunk?"

"He notices everything, including if you had anything to drink two weeks ago," Renkyk sighed, scratching at his right eyebrow. "I wouldn't worry about it. No sense in worrying. He'll do what he wants when he wants to do it at this point."

Galdrehln's face drooped at that declaration.

"Fucking depressing," he grumbled and downed the remainder of his ale. He then reached out and grasped Renkyk's left hand with his left. "Please tell me that there's a way out of this."

Renkyk clasped Galdrehln's hand and nodded with a smile.

"We'll find it. Together."

After finishing their meal, Galdrehln went down into the south courtyard to instruct some two dozen other mages while Renkyk stood at the second story balcony overlooking the courtyard. He smiled as he saw Galdrehln take on a different demeanor standing before the initiates. Ordinarily slouching, Galdrehln now stood tall and proud and took effortlessly to barking instructions.

The exercise he had planned involved reagents linked to six Auras, specifically water, wind, stone, earth, metal, and fire. Renkyk was amazed at how organized Galdrehln had been, portioning the reagents out in precise amounts in little bowls before each initiate.

"He's come a long way, don't you agree?" Dastov's voice rumbled behind him, causing his blood to run cold. Renkyk didn't turn to face the commander and instead stood as each click of Dastov's cane fell closer. "You're wondering why I'm pursuing this path in addition to what I've told you to do."

"I did wonder," Renkyk said as Dastov took up alongside him, bringing a waft of liquor with him. That sensation surprised Renkyk, but he dared not address it.

"Multiple avenues. I've told you that before and I think you're smart enough to comprehend that," Dastov scratched at his beard. "I was utterly fascinated by what I've understand about the ways in which the Auras can be combined. That was, after all, how the angels created us and so many things we see in our world. I know you're thinking about the possibilities right now."

The first combination that Galdrehln demonstrated was a simple blending of fire and water to create a burst of hot vapor straight into the air above him.

"Don't do too much!" Galdrehln shouted. "That shit will burn your skin off if you're not careful!"

Dastov smirked and leaned against his cane as he looked out at the mages mostly successfully accomplish that feat. He then pointed down at some of the struggling students.

"Maybe we can have those ones study under you with the Silver Aura," he said to Renkyk with a chuckle. "Or they'll simply fail and then I will recommend they be put on the front lines with the ordinary infantry. You probably think that's cruel."

"Wars are inherently cruel," Renkyk mumbled.

"Hrm. It doesn't surprise me you think that," Dastov scoffed. Galdrehn encouraged those who had failed to try on a smaller scale elsewhere in the courtyard while the majority continued on to the next combination, this time combining three Auras together. Galdrehln want to add lightning to the mixture to add further lethality to the cloud of vapor. Renkyk, little as he knew of war, certainly understood the applications of that. "War simply comes about when problems can't be solved another way. If you think about the current war, that's precisely what is happening. The angels tried to reach a settlement. They couldn't. Now this conflict will resolve the issue."

Galdrehln stumbled slightly when trying to combine the three fluidly, but ultimately managed to create the horrifying cloud of crackling vapor he desired above him. He almost immediately suppressed it and cast it aside.

"Heh," he tried to laugh it off. "Make sure you do it all in the right sequence. Think about it carefully. If your mind slips in its focus, if your bond to whichever Aura you're concentrating on at that moment breaks, it can fizzle out. Don't do that."

Renkyk smiled as he watched Galdrehln relentlessly pace in front of his students.

"It might resolve it, yes," Renkyk replied to Dastov's observation. "But so many of the people who are dying don't even understand what they're dying for."

"Gah," Dastov dismissively growled. "Pointless sentimentality. It's not important that they understand, only that they do what they need to do."

Every time I speak to Dastov, he somehow manages to say something that scares me more than the time before, Renkyk shuddered as he thought about what Dastov said.

A strange deadening sensation closed in around his heart. It struck suddenly, without any warning.

"There is someone in trouble near you, Renkyk," Nethron's voice echoed in his head. "An overreach of their abilities. I only became aware of it because they tried to seize upon the Silver Aura as part of their panicked response to losing focus. You should all flee from him. He has made a terrible mistake."

Renkyk looked at the back rank of the students trying to master using three Auras simultaneously. A tall and thin initiate wearing a green and gold robe spasmed and traces of every Aura imaginable flickered around him, swelling into a strange sphere of incomprehensible composition.

"Everyone! Run!" Renkyk shouted from the balcony.

Dastov withdrew only a few paces back into the citadel and kept his eyes on the strange spectacle. Galdrehln and most of the other initiates fled into the citadel with admirable speed, except for a few who tried to help their comrade by peeling away portions of the excess Aura energy that built around him.

Then, that sphere of varying colors, textures, and sounds all collapsed into a single point and loosed a dull wave that was transparent, clear, and almost imperceptible. It tore across the courtyard, ripping monuments, ground, and people into their constituent Aura strands that all got swept into the place where the mage had stood before utterly disappearing. The radius of destruction was so severe that it even grazed the balcony from which Renkyk had stood just moments earlier.

As soon as the wave had started, it was over. Within a handful of seconds, virtually the entire courtyard had been obliterated, entirely unmade, for at least a hundred feet in all directions. All that was left of everything the wave had touched was utterly destroyed, a simple perfectly uniform deformation in the ground and in the citadel's stonework remaining. The depression in the ground was staggering, but it was also captivating as the whole surface was covered in a simple ghostly film.

Renkyk observed that the stones on the balcony grazed by the wave suffered much the same fate. Wherever it had hit, there was nothing left, not even the remnants of what had once been there.

"Fascinating," Dastov gasped as he recovered from his initial shock. "If we can't figure out a method for using that, we deserve to lose this war."

Appalled by Dastov's lack of decency, a single response built on Renkyk's lips, but never slipped out.

If anyone uses such a horror, they not only deserve to lose, but they must lose.