-For?! Kon?! You good?

For a second I was honestly worried. I didn’t expect for something like this to be a problem for them.

But, after a moment of tense silence, I got an answer.

-Yeah.

-Buried, but fine.

-And you?

-We’re good. Do you need some help?

-We should be fine…

-It’s just…

They went silent for a moment.

-Well, scratch that. We aren’t fine. I can’t cast for shit.

-Excuse me?!

-Yeah. My magic doesn’t work. Or rather works but barely. What about you, Kon?

-Same thing. I can’t get out…

-Yeah, without magic getting unburied is going to take a good moment. And you, Mor? And Il?

-I am good… - I replied climbing out of the pile of ash. - And Il…

I started looking for familiar flailing and without much of a problem I noticed her completely buried in the ash.

-She’s good. Just a moment…

I approached her and reflexively cast a wind spell to move the pile of ash away from her.

-Wipvu gmyo.

But… There was something wrong with my spell.

It came out just as it should, a burst of air straight from my palm started blowing towards the buried Il, but as soon as it reached her, or rather when it reached the ash, it diminished in power considerably.

Weird. So that’s what they meant by not being able to cast.

I just increased the amount of mana I was pouring into the spell and overpowered the “pull” without much of an issue.

If Il had a mouth, she’d probably be spitting ash everywhere.

After moving most of the ash away, I just reached for her and with one good pull I managed to get her out of the pile.

-Thanks… - she said as soon as I grabbed her hand. - I don’t know what’s going on, this ash is making it hard to cast spells…

-Yeah, I noticed.

-Didn’t you get hindered by it too?

-A bit. But I managed to climb out of it without magic, so…

-Ah. Lucky.

-Yep. I’d probably be able to overpower it given enough perseverance, but I’d rather not…

-Hm.

-Come on, For and Kon are also stuck. I guess I am the only one that didn’t get buried completely.

We managed to find them pretty easily.

The ashen pile was mostly devoid of mana, so the two bright spots were sticking out like a sore thumb in the gray mass.

-Kon!? For?!

I didn’t get an audible reply, instead they reached me with their thoughts again.

-Yeah, we’re here.

-Just a bit to the left… here…!

-Yeah, yeah, I can feel you… give me a second…

Again, I cast the same spell, but this time I gave it a lot more mana from the get go.

I might have overdid it a little bit, because the following dust cloud was enormous and covered us once more, just like another avalanche.

-Careful!

-I am!

It took me a minute, but I managed to get both of them out.

They were now sitting on top of the ashen hill, completely covered in gray ash, coughing and trying to get the remaining dust from their clothes, eyes and everywhere else.

-What even happened? - asked For when she finally was able to get most of the ash off her face.

-The palace collapsed. Go figure.

-I mean, yeah, I know, but I meant about magic! I can’t cast any spells!

-You mean’t you couldn’t.

She looked at me confused, but instead of arguing with me just repeated my own spell that I used to free them.

-Wipvu gmyo!

Of course it worked. And on top of that she just undid all the work she made to get rid of the ash from her face.

-Khe! Pfeh…!

-The fuck, enough of this shit…! - I said, trying to shield myself from the dust cloud.

-Sorry! Sorry, my bad! - she said, also coughing. - Khe! Shit, I didn’t want it to be so violent, sorry.

-So violent? You dumped so much mana and you expect me to believe that?

-I… It didn’t work before! I barely was able to move a bit of this stuff using this much before!

-Eh… sure.

-But why did it work this time though? - asked Kon. - I also had problems with this, and now it seems like there’s no problem…

-I wouldn’t say “no problem”, but yeah… - I muttered.

-What do you mean?

-Well, considering the amount of mana she used, the ash cloud should be at least twice as big… I guess we’re lucky…

-Twice!? I didn’t…

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She wasn’t able to finish, choking on more of the ash.

-Calm down. And try not inhaling this stuff, it’s not good for you.

-Yeah no shit - she replied. - So do you know what’s up with spells then? Being so inconsistent lately?

-Lately? You mean only just now? - I laughed. - Yeah, it’s not hard to deduce.

-So can you enlighten me then?

-I mean, it’s quite obvious. This thing is draining mana. Or rather to be precise, it’s trying to at least.

-Trying to? Okay, first things first, it’s draining mana? How!?

-Hell if I know. But It’s most likely Axelrod’s fault.

-Mhgr…

-Don’t look at me like that! You know that’s true!

-I guess…

-But if it’s draining mana, shouldn’t we move from here as soon as possible? It’s draining us, too, right? - asked Kon.

-Look for yourself and check. Is it?

He went silent and focused on our surroundings.

-No… I don’t understand. The ash seems so… barren?

-It’s ash… you don’t say…

-I mean, yeah, of course. But I mean in mana… If it’s draining from us, I can’t see it. Neither the flow, nor the drained amounts in the ash… It’s completely dry.

-It’s not like it has much to drain…

-Okay, don’s sell us short! - puffed For. - You said it yourself, our mana capacity has improved drastically from before!

-Oh, it did, but I never said it was draining from you.

-Huh?

-Remember when I had some mana deficit? Or when you yourself had the same problem not so long ago?

-Er… yes?

-Apparently not. Tell me then, what’s the symptoms then?

-Exhaustion, sometimes coma-like state, and in the worst case, even death. I know how that works!

-Great. And if it’s draining you, shouldn’t you be experiencing some of those?

-I…

-Exactly. None of that.

-And you do know why. I told you before, the changes to your body made you immune to those kinds of issues. I guess that also makes you immune to the effects of this ash. I mean, no wonder, it has been made using Origin Crystal, after all.

-So why didn’t your spells work?!

-Because they were drained.

-You said…

-Listen to me! - I interrupted her. - THEY were drained. Not YOU were drained.

She finally looked at me with some recognition.

-Finally… - I sighed. - The mana released by you, in the shape of a spell in this case, got absorbed. It didn’t touch you directly, it just got whatever was loose in the air, breaking your spell in the process.

-But… What's the point, though? - asked Kon. - It’s not like it can regenerate.. Can it?

-I wouldn’t count on that being impossible - I truthfully admitted. - We are dealing with one of Axelrod’s creations.

I noticed them looking at the ash covering the place in fear.

-But don't worry, even if that was going to work, it would take ages.

-How do you know?

-I mean, you said it yourself. You can’t really see it’s mana.

-I… well, yes, but why does it matter? Can’t it just burn and use it as soon as it gets it.

-If it’s doing that, you’d also notice, don’t you think? Nah, we are good. Besides, it probably still would need some kind of “heart” to startup.

I might have taken a glimpse towards Il when I was saying that.

-But we’re not going to provide it - I immediately assured the party. - We better get moving though, immune or not, breathing in any kind of ash can be problematic and definitely not healthy in the long run.

-Yeah…

-Damn, you’re lucky… I guess it’s just us two that still are bound by those rules.

-Rules?

-You know, breathing, drinking, eating… Basic needs and stuff.

-And how do you know that? I am pretty sure you conquered some of those already. If not all…

-What the hell?

-I can definitely not ascend to “godhood” yet, I am not ready! - said For jokingly, but I almost felt like she was lying.

I guess jokes are not something to be checked….

-What, did you forget? You spent so long on that desert without any additional provisions or anything. And that includes sleep. I feel like that’s an achievement in itself.

-Don’t.

-What? It’s…

That also made me think.

Breathing.

I already knew I didn’t need that to survive. Neither did Il. Not like she had a mouth of any kind. I mean, she was made out of wood, did she work as a tree as well? Photosynthesis and all that?

I was about to ask her, but stopped short.

Wasn’t I the same? I already confirmed that the sunlight was energizing me lately and was helping regenerate my mana. I did attribute it to the Origin Crystal, or at least its “upgraded” version, so I guess she was similar to that…

What about the rest?

When the palace collapsed, they got trapped under a pile of ash. They definitely didn’t have any air to breathe, and yet they managed to survive long enough to get pulled out. Hell, they weren’t even winded after that, just shook themselves off and were good to go.

Did they even notice that?

Judging by the earlier answer, I didn’t think so.

Damn.

Who knew that Origin Crystal would be so… versatile.

It really seemed that there was nothing it wasn’t capable of.

I was VERY correct in that statement.

But, before we were going to need to come to terms with issues that brought, there were other things we had to deal with first.

Of course, I instantly shared my observation with the rest of the group.

They didn’t really think much of that, but that’s to be expected. In their ears I was just tooting my own horn for the n-th time, so I guess my words were losing its weight.

That, and also a tiny detail that we noticed.

When the palace collapsed, we thought we were already past the worst problems this place brought onto us.

But that was not correct.

As we were talking, the ash was lying under us and definitely was not turning into a harmless dust. Instead, it was still trying to “revive” its heart.

Too bad there was no heart any more. And no tree to revive.

What that ended up in creating was just a mass of mana-draining material, destroying the houses and other wooden creations.

And since the whole city was made out of wood, it was spreading pretty fast, leaving only more and more piles of ash behind.

When we realized what was happening, we realized we were in trouble. Or rather, the whole forest was.

-This thing is not stopping! - I heard, almost echoing in my mind.

For, left for the edge of the “drain cloud” was giving me an update on the spread.

It was not good.

-It has already claimed most of the district. And that includes the place belonging to our certain “broker”.

Ah.

So it already was on the outskirts?

I did remember his bar… or hideout rather, being not that far off the city. And it was already there? We had to stop it.

-Do we really have to act…? - asked For, not convinced about the issue. - If we are immune, that means whatever happens we can just ignore it. It’s not like it’s going to destroy…

-Destroy? - I interrupted her. - Think for a second. What do you think is going to happen?

-Err…

-Let me answer for you: it’s not going to stop. And what do we have close by to this mana font? A very fresh and tasty source in the forest.

-What, are you insinuating that this… cloud is going to try and destroy the forest?

-Try? It’s already actively going for just that.

-I…

-That’s not good - agreed with me Kon, but I was not listening any more.

I was trying to figure out what exactly to do to somehow limit the spread.

Contain it with magic?

Hardly possible.

Any spell that I’d conjure would just be drained. Sooner or later, this thing would have escaped.

Try and bait it?

Would that even work?

It was barely an organism, more like… homing instinct…

It probably was possible to get it to move towards one place, but what next? We sink it into the ocean?

It would be possible to dilute it so hard it wasn’t a threat to anything, but besides massive pollution, it would still be free. We’d have to figure out some kind of shackle…

Was that even possible?

To have that much of a problem from a regular pile of ash!

Talk about getting back to old habits.