“As you know, the size and complexity of a circuit is limited to a mage’s spirit. Inexperienced mages, like yourself,” Krebo said, rubbing it in off-hand, “have yet to exercise their spirits and thus cannot contain high level circuits. Sustained spells likewise occupy space within the spirit, limiting the complexity of additional spell casting, but we needn’t focus on that right now.

“One of the primary advantages of ritual casting is that it allows multiple mages to join their spirits, thereby allowing for greater complexity. In battle, even mere adepts can join together to launch deadly fireballs. But in the hands of experienced mages... well, the results can be quite terrifying, as you can imagine.”

Krebo walked around Shaya, drawing a large circle around her, then stepped into it with her. He lowered into a comfortable kneeling position and motioned for her to do the same.

“Is the drawn circle necessary?” She asked, kneeling across from him.

“No, but it helps new practitioners focus on the ritual connection. Now, hold my hands.”

She did as instructed, and her eyes widened as she realized that they were forming a circle between themselves.

Krebo nodded, “You’ve guessed correctly. The physical contact is necessary, and the ritual’s participants must form a circle with one another.”

“If ritual casting is so powerful, then why doesn’t everyone do it to accomplish everything?”

“Good question,” Krebo cracked his neck from side to side, “there are a few reasons. In many cases, performing even a basic, non-thaumaturgical ritual is more complex and much more time consuming than simply casting a spell yourself, and there are risks to casting a spell this way with those you are not familiar with. Each person must forge the circuit at a similar rate, and it is all too simple for someone to be ignorant of others in the ritual and imbalance the circuit.”

“...what happens when that happens?”

“All sorts of nasty possibilities, but usually the differential just causes everyone to suffer a degree of aether burn as the spell fails. Sanctioned mages will know enough to avoid worse consequences, but untrained hedge mages or apostate covens? Fates can include death, or worse.”

“Worse?”

“Worse.” Krebo answered.

Oh boy, I can’t wait to deal with that at the Academy.

“Now then,” Krebo smiled, “dismiss thoughts of failure from your mind and focus on the ritual. To keep things simple, we’re going to use a spell circuit you’re familiar with – your force chains. You’ll feel my Amber reach out to yours, embrace the connection as you would the Amber you normally draw in. Close your eyes, it helps when you’re new.”

Shaya snorted, but did as instructed.

“Kaiex!”

“Phaedra!”

Her spirits high, she had no difficulty drawing in her own Amber aether. She felt the strain on her spirit as she spent more of her precious stamina on her magic muscles, but the Amber’s firm embrace dismissed her concerns.

Then, she felt an odd sensation, like a scraping of stone in her mind. She opened her spirit to it, and it felt as if she had invoked another Esper. More channels formed within her spirit and she sensed more Amber, considerably more. Through her connection to Krebo, she felt the Amber flowing through him and was awed by how much he could draw in a single breath compared to her own pitiful efforts.

Her Amber shifted a little, recoiling from her thoughts, but she shook away her perspective.

Krebo has at least two decades of experience as a sanctioned mage.

I’ll get there some day.

And then I’ll have to exceed him, of course, like all good students aim to do.

In the connected space between their spirits, she felt Krebo’s aether begin to trace the spell circuit. She joined in, sculpting her Amber into the circuit to the best of her ability, and had to fight more negative emotions when she felt Krebo slow his tracing to match her speed. Shaya had no doubt that Krebo could shape spells much faster than he had shown her, and disappointment rang through her that she didn’t meet the speed he expected her to have already.

Shut up brain.

Shaya had to breathe in aether five times as often as Krebo did in order to keep up with him, and her excitement grew as she considered the possibilities of becoming as strong as him someday. The Amber within her clung to this and raised her hopes onto ever growing pedestals. Each time the excitement grew out of control, she acknowledged it then set it aside so she could focus on the work at hand.

It was painstaking work to trace a spell circuit of this size, and she realized with a start that the size of Krebo’s spirit also dwarfed hers. Based on the size of the circuit they were casting together, her spirit probably contributed less than a tenth of its capacity.

Despite all the distractions of her mind, they completed the ritual and Shaya felt an enormous surge of power move through them. She opened her eyes to see enormous chains of light rise within the cave entrance, each link thicker than even Krebo’s arms. With a burst of ferocious power, they shot up and buried into the cave’s roof, shards of rock spraying everywhere. The cave groaned like some giant beast as the chains snapped taut, then pulled with incredible power. Stone snapped, and the entrance collapsed in a thunderous roar of shattered rubble.

“Well, no one’s going to use that entrance any time soon.” Krebo said. He blanched when he looked at Shaya’s bloodshot eyes. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have you pushed you to do this given the earlier ordeals.”

“That,” Shaya said, feeling sweat running down her forehead from the effort exerted on the ritual spell, “was awesome!”

Krebo shook his head, but he chuckled at her reaction. “You did really well for a first timer, good work.”

Her eyes widened at the praise. “No way, I was really holding you back!”

“You can’t expect to match my ability when you’ve barely been at this for a few years. Don’t compare yourself to me, at least not yet.”

“Yet is right,” she grinned, “I’ll be way stronger than you by the time I’m your age.”

“Ah,” Krebo replied, rolling his eyes, “There’s the student I remember. You had me worried for a moment, it sounded like you were starting to respect me.”

Shaya averted her gaze so he wouldn’t see her blush. “Psht, no way old man. Never.”

She jumped to her feet despite the exhaustion she felt once again. “Alright, we should go find a campsite before you get any more crazy ideas. We’ll want as much rest as possible before heading back to the village tomorrow morning.”

+++++++++++++++

“And that’s all of it,” Shaya said, finishing her story to Rutana, omitting the parts about the cave being an old mine used by Eclipse smugglers. Her squad sat at a long table in the village’s little community building, with Rutana and a few of her veteran hunters across from them.

“Pardon me for asking this,” Rutana said, her brow knit with concern, “but you’re not exaggerating any parts of the tale? Their numbers? Their size? The Ur? I only ask because monster hunters often play up their role.”

Shaya shook her head. “Just the facts, so you know where you stand.”

The gryphlet nipped at her pant leg from under the table.

She fed them another chunk of raw stewing meat Rutana’s people had handy. The gryphlet chomped it down with extreme enthusiasm, a stark difference from their distasteat being fed jerky during the hike back to the village that morning.

Despite Shaya’s concerns, the gryphlet seemed fine around small groups of people. Suspicious and aggressive towards anyone but Shaya (and, begrudgingly, Gaz), but that wasn’t unusual among new pets. Luckily, their beak couldn’t snip off people’s fingers just yet.

Rutana recovered from her shock of absorbing their tale and continued, “Rising Hells, the presence of an Ur here is disconcerting. We normally only get stray spawn, but to hear of an Ur creating a pack so big less than a day’s hike from us...”

Her fists clenched on the table before them, but she forced them to relax before she spoke again. “If the cycle of Titan Wars continues, we’re not due for another until at least a century from now.”

“Most likely a freak occurrence,” Shaya suggested, “My older brother has an army with him, clearing out the coastal regions of the duchy and sweeping inward. It could be this Ur was just located further north or west, and migrated here out of fear of his forces.”

The older woman nodded in response. “Yes, that makes sense. Do you think the Duke will be any more likely to assign forces here, given what you just witnessed?”

Shaya shrugged, “I can’t be certain and I wouldn’t want to give you false hope. Maybe, maybe not. I’m not privy to those kinds of decisions or his rationale, but he would send people to help if he could. That you can believe, at least. He is a good man.”

Rutana snorted. “Apologies, I don’t mean to disparage the Duke, but his good intentions won’t help keep my people safe.”

“I understand, we’re sending one of our own back with a message so he hears of this as soon as possible. That’s all we can do.”

“Well, I do appreciate all you’ve done for us already. I’m afraid we don’t have any spare coin to pay you a bounty for those Cinwolves, but at least we can show you some hospitality. I’m sure you’re tired, we’ll be happy to throw you a feast this evening to help you recuperate. You’re more than welcome to stay the night as well.”

Gaz’s eyes lit up at the mention of a feast.

“No, thank you,” Shaya replied, “We appreciate the offer, but we must be on our way.”

Shaya watched that light die in Gaz’s eyes and knew she’d be hearing about this for the rest of the trip.

“What?” Rutana asked in surprise, “but you’ve only just arrived! Please at least allow us the opportunity to pay you back at least somewhat.”

“I know, I really wish we could,” Shaya said, standing, “I’d love the opportunity to rest and Gaz here would like nothing more than to eat more than his fill, but we have a tight schedule to keep. One that is likely going to be slowed by our newest member.”

The gryphlet looked up at her with their huge eyes – one the normal yellow and the other milky white from where the Ur had scarred it – and squawked in indignation.

“Thank you again for the raw meat, they definitely prefer it to the jerky we keep,” Shaya said, scratching the gryphlet’s head. Their feathers fluffed as they leaned into it, “We’d be happy to pick up any additional provisions you may have and, with any luck, we can take you up on that offer of hospitality the next time we’re in the area. Perhaps with a larger force to help keep your community safe.”

“Of course,” Rutana said, apparently thankful to be able to provide some form of payment. “How long is your journey?”

“Another two weeks.”

“Interesting - are you heading all the way to the Jade Sea then?”

“I am, yes.”

“I’ll see to it that you have provisions for the journey then, including some salted meat for the little one.” Rutana dismissed her hunters and she and Shaya’s squad walked out of the community hall together. “What takes you all the way to the Jade Sea? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Shaya took a moment to consider her response. “I’ve been accepted to the Imperial War Academy.”

“Well congratulations Serra Shaya, I didn’t know they accepted people from Kelahk.”

Shaya chuckled, “The title isn’t necessary, but thank you. It’s a great honour, and one I wasn’t sure I’d receive.”

“Well, I must say that explains how you survived the encounter you just described to me. I’m sure you’ll do fine among the prissy Imperials, just try not to punch any of them out.”

“Ha! I make no promises.”

I really hope Rutana’s not a criminal, but there’s no way the Eclipse was operating in the area without someone here being involved.

“Please don’t encourage her,” Krebo said, glaring at Rutana.

“What?” she asked defensively, “I told her not to punch them out!”

Krebo’s teeth ground together like an avalanche, and Shaya couldn’t help but laugh.