Merlin inadvertently gave me something to think about. Why was he terrified of connecting people’s mana channels to their cores? Why was it taboo? It didn’t matter. Ulli and Marcelle were done, and I wasn’t in a hurry to connect anyone else in the tower.

We made our way to the hangar early in the morning. Marcelle carried a plate of food for Alfred. We found him waiting next to his chariot when we arrived. He bowed when he saw me. “Good morning, Melvin. Where are we headed today?”

“Atlantis,” I replied, taking a seat in the back.

“Excellent choice, sir,” Alfred said, holding open the other door for the girls. “Will you be adding a trident replica to your weapon collection?”

“I think I will,” I replied with a chuckle.

I spent the journey teaching the girls how to push mana around their bodies while focusing my own on Kalli’s wand. While the fire element did speed things up, it wasn’t enough. The first thing I tried was more than one element. That took some getting used to. Many of the elements didn’t want to play nice together. Fire wanted to melt ice and water wanted to douse fire. Eventually, I discovered that certain elements paired well together while others opposed one another.

In the absence of a handy chart to explain everything, I experimented and discovered wind worked as an excellent accelerant for fire. The discovery took the form of a massive explosion that burst from the wand and penetrated the blue force field that surrounded the chariot. The wind whipped through my hair as emergency klaxons went off and the chariot began to spiral toward the ground far below.

“Hang on back there,” Alfred screamed over the roaring wind as he did his best to stabilize the craft. “We're going to crash.”

Deciding awkwardness was preferable to death, I wrapped mana around the chariot and we smashed into the lobby outside of the throne room sending several artifacts to the floor. There was a commotion on the other side of the door and heavy footsteps echoed through the air as someone approached. The doors swept open and Merlin stood there, looking at us in annoyance as we tried to clear ourselves of the flaming vehicle. Before I could try to explain, the chariot vanished and the artifacts flew back to their pedestals.

“Explain yourself,” he demanded, staring at me.

“Fire and wind,” I replied, holding up the still-glowing wand.

“I see,” he replied turning to leave. He waved his hand once over his shoulder and we found ourselves back in my room.

“I don’t think it’s normal,” Alred said. He was still dressed in his suit even though he hadn’t been able to chauffeur me anywhere in the week since the accident. “Normally, a replacement chariot is assigned to me right away.”

“Yeah, you’re definitely being punished,” Ulli giggled.

Marcelle grunted as she struggled to keep up with me doing push-ups. “You, ugh, did, mmm, crash, ahh, the safest transportation on Origin.”

With her mana awakened, she decided to train control alongside me and follow my exercise regimen. Ulli did the same but she preferred to get her workout by dancing. Personally, I was happy she trained that way. Her dances were mesmerizing.

One thing I learned about Kalli’s wand was that while it loved fire, it hated wind. The explosion in the chariot was the result of the wand amplifying and expelling the unwanted mana without absorbing any of it. After a little trial and error, it was apparent that much like Kalli, the wand only preferred fire. I sat staring at the wand when I should have been training my core by transitioning between the elements. There had to be a quicker way to make an artifact. Something was missing.

I went over the elements in my head again. First, there was light and void. While, technically, I didn’t have an element, my body seemed to default to light. Alariel was a void knight, though I knew little about the element. The wand rejected it outright when I tried to infuse it with the dark element. Kalli’s sister had an affinity with ice but wand didn’t care for it one bit. Water and wind were also a no-go. I was hopeful when I tried a wood element, thinking the fact that the wand was made of wood would somehow make it grow faster. While leaves did sprout from the wand, they quickly withered and fell to the ground. The wand rejected the mana. I tried the other elements even though there was little chance of them working. I made a chart to document my findings.

Fire

Works

Wind

Bad idea

Wood (Nature?)

Makes leaves?

Light

Works slowly

Void

Rejected

Ice

Rejected

Water

Rejected

Lightning

Rejected

Earth

Rejected

Metal

Rejected

Ulli sat next to me and watched me write. I handed her the paper and asked, “Am I missing anything?”

She shrugged. “I’m sorry. As a dancer, I don’t think I have an element. If you want, I can try dancing with it. I’m pretty passionate about dancing. Maybe something will rub off.”

“Passion!” I exclaimed, jumping to my feet.

Ulli flinched away from me and squealed. “What? Now? What?”

She looked confused, so I explained. “That is a great idea. I need to infuse it with passion. Well, maybe not passion but emotion for sure. I need to think of something that Kalli and I shared.”

I closed my eyes and focused on the wand trying to remember the emotions Kalli went through when she purged herself. The conviction in her soul burned in mine when I remembered her fiery defiance of her lot in life. I tried to funnel that into the wand but once again, I was rejected. Flames went everywhere as the wand spat the mana back at me. I felt as though it was telling me to try again. Images of Kalli flashed through my mind and I went through a gamut of emotions. I felt fear for her safety, anger that she was taken from me, and pride in virtually everything she accomplished. There was one emotion at the heart of it all. I was truly, deeply, and hopelessly in love with her. That was the true feeling we shared. At the risk of making a very sappy love wand, I armed my mana with the power of love and combined it with Kalli’s fire. The wand devoured my offering, going so far as to pull it from me until I thought I was going to pass out. The experience reminded me of the first time I summoned Kalli. The ritual drained me to the point where I puked my brains out before passing out.

The tugging sensation stopped while I was lost in thought. I looked down at the wand and found it glowing with an intense aura of flame around it. The wood felt warm in my hand and I knew I’d pulled it off.

“Are you okay?” Marcelle asked, kneeling in front of me to look at the wand. “You’re covered in sweat and you seem to be out of breath.”

I’d been so caught up in what I was doing, I hadn’t even realized. It took me a few minutes to calm down enough to catch my breath. Mana was no help because I was completely spent. All of the mana I generated desperately struggled to refill my depleted core.

“Why is it glowing?” Ulli asked, reaching out to touch it.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Merlin’s voice said from behind us, causing Ulli to jump off the bench and Marcelle to stiffen. “Some artifacts don’t like to be handled by strangers.”

“I think I did it,” I said in a quiet voice as he walked around me to look at my handiwork. Ulli and Marcelle made themselves scarce while Merlin’s attention was on me.

He waved his hand over the wand, causing the flame to flicker. “Do you mind if I hold it?”

“Won’t it hurt you?” I asked, remembering what he just said.

He laughed, taking the wand from my hands. “An unruly artifact is no match for me. A curse, now, that can be dangerous. I haven’t taught you how to do that, so we’re safe..”

The wand flared as Merlin held it out in front of him. I saw his mana emerge and push against the flame, having a small battle before retracting into himself. He handed the wand back to me. “You’ve done a good job. While I did expect you to be successful, I didn’t think you would do it quite this fast. Be warned though, it is the relationship you have with the want than it was the technique you used. Affinity for an artifact is much more important than the quality of mana you infuse it with. This would not have been possible with any other combination.”

“Thanks for the lesson,” I said, putting the wand back in my bag. “Is it a fully grown artifact now?”

Merlin replied. “The answer to that specific question is no. An artifact never stops growing. If you use it for ten thousand years, it will continue to evolve and grow more powerful than it is now. That’s why items in the system are assigned levels. Similar to your training, they grow through use. Even non-artifacts gain essence when mana users handle them. The silverware you eat with absorbs mana from your consumption. The clothes on your back pick up mana as you go about your day. It’s usually a negligible amount but if you focus, anything can become an artifact. It just takes time.”

“Speaking of time, how long until I can have another chariot?” I asked, eager to continue my exploration.

“Soon,” Merlin answered, sitting beside me. “How about I correct a flaw in your training in the meantime.”

“A flaw?” I asked. “What am I doing wrong?”

“What aren’t you doing wrong?” He chuckled. “Let’s focus on a big one though. Who taught you how to teleport?”

I thought back to the first time I’d teleported. It had been with The Man in Red, Nestor Bellview. It happened several times after that but in the end, he taught me how to do it by showing me and telling me what he knew. I smiled at the memory and said, “The Man in Red taught me.”

“He didn’t do you any favors,” Merlin sighed, taking my hand. “Just because you can step into the void, doesn’t mean you should. What you have been doing is the equivalent of running with your eyes closed. I know that is how a lot of people choose to do it but that doesn’t make it correct. You are so blind don’t see the road despite treading on it.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Hold your breath,” he replied, taking my hand.

I did as instructed and felt the familiar tug at my chest associated with teleportation. However, the feeling didn’t go away. Merlin’s voice echoed in the distance. “Open your eyes.”

He sounded like he was far away but he was still holding my hand. We weren’t in the garden anymore. In fact, we weren’t on Origin. I exhaled loudly as I realized we were floating in the void. I panicked for a moment when I thought I was going to suffocate but quickly discovered I could breathe in the void.

Merlin saw my surprise and explained. “We are special, son. While you may find breathing a habit, you don’t need to. The mana in your body will sustain you. This is the void. It is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It exists between worlds and within them. It is outer space and inner space. You pass through this place every time you teleport. Dreams occur in the void. That is how you were able to visit me the first time. You passed through your dream and broke the barrier that blocks this world from reality. Only my true heir could have pulled that off.”

“You said I do it wrong,” I reminded him, staring in awe at the beauty of the void. Shimmering stars twinkled in the distance as a backdrop to well-formed planets that rotated around me. “Can you teach me how to do it?”

He smiled, tugging my hand toward one of the planets. It enlarged as we approached. The planet in the void was too small to be real. About the size of a two-story house, I had no problem taking it all in as we floated nearer. The closer we got, the more detail I managed to make out on the planet. Merlin pointed to a tall tower. “As I am sure you’ve already surmised, this is Origin. The tower here is where we are now. These clusters of buildings are the various cities spread out across the planet.”

“How do I use it?” I asked, my heart racing at the prospect of teleporting again.

“It’s simple,” he replied. “Focus.”

He pointed to a castle on a hill a short distance from the tower and the planet grew in front of us. Actually, we were shrinking. I forgot to close my eyes and the void vanished, replaced by a crowd of startled people. They immediately recognized Merlin and fell to their knees. Merlin ignored them and turned to me. “Do you feel confident enough to take us back to the tower?”

“I can try,” I said, still not sure how he did what he did.

Merlin frowned. “Do or do not, there is no try.”

I groaned. "Of course, you’ve watched Star Wars.”

He waved me off. “Just do it already.”

I sucked in a deep breath and folded mana around us. Suddenly, we were back in the void. Merlin waited patiently as I fumbled my way back to Origin and then to the tower. We appeared on the ground floor, just inside the entrance doors. He shrugged. “Close enough. One more thing you should know is that time does not pass in the void. You can spend hours deciding where to teleport only to appear instantaneously to those in reality. You have my permission to practice whenever you see fit. I’m giving you free rein of the planet. You can take your attendants with you if you so choose. However, I must warn you, you are not yet strong enough to pass through the barrier surrounding this planet. While the exertion of trying will not kill you, it will hurt. Your friends will not survive if they are with you when you try.”

“Still stuck on this planet, check,” I replied, sagging slightly.

“It’s not as bad as you make it out to be,” Merlin replied. “Many would kill to be trained by me. In fact, many have killed.”

“But I…” I started to reply before realizing he was already gone. I hated when he did that.