Bound Evil

Emily lay back against a pile of blankets, eyes tracing the canvas ceiling of Ashe and Selia's tent. By the time they'd returned from the collection, it had already been the early hours of the morning, the city winding down into its strange, hushed rhythm. She'd bunked beside Ashe, but neither of them had much left to say; they'd agreed to save the talk about magic for the next day and simply drifted off to sleep.

At dawn, Emily had woken early and wandered into camp, lured by the smell of food. Fox handed her a steaming bowl of what he proudly called "tuber stew." The name didn't inspire much confidence, but the taste did—rich, earthy, and comforting enough that she went back for seconds, along with half the camp. Recognizable faces milled about doing their work without complaint, and Emily felt the warmth of a familiar environment.

She turned her utensils in, but Fox wasn't done surprising her. With a grin, he produced three small, glossy "fruits," which, on closer inspection, looked more like knotted roots. Back at Ashe's tent, Emily popped one into her mouth. To her surprise, it chewed more like gum than fruit, releasing a cool menthol flavor with every bite. The only disappointment was discovering it was far too tough to blow bubbles with.

So Emily waited, arms folded behind her head, simply relaxing for a time. Selia had already gone out on her duties, but Ashe would return soon enough. It wasn't a surprise when the flap of the tent shifted and the woman in question stepped inside, arms full of supplies.

"I got everything I need," Ashe said as she crossed to the corner and set down what looked like a large bundle of fine rope and three glass disks.

Before Emily could respond, Nox pushed through the entrance. "Morning!" he called in a chipper voice.

Emily raised a finger in lazy acknowledgment, but even that halfhearted response did nothing to dim his mood.

"Guys, I'm so excited. I thought it would be years before I got to try group casting."

Emily glanced toward Ashe but stayed quiet. She hadn't known this was the plan, though she did remember agreeing to try it when the chance came. Clearly, Ashe wasn't wasting any time. And really, it made sense—Emily had already seen how effective groups of Mages could be when they worked together. Not only did they power larger spells, but by combining different bridges, they could weave an array of effects.

Ashe pulled out one of her books and opened it to marked passages for Emily and Nox to read.
"Go through the sections I highlighted while I get things ready."

Emily hummed but didn't hesitate. She bent over the page, trying to make sense of the script with her limited grasp of written language.

From what she could gather, the book outlined the basic rules of group casting. At its heart, the method relied on ratios. If one Mage contributed a certain amount of energy, the others had to match the agreed proportion to keep the spell stable.

That didn't mean every Mage had to provide equal power, nor did stronger bridges exclude weaker ones. What mattered was balance—each contribution had to hold steady relative to the rest.

The group also needed a lead Mage, someone to anchor the casting. Emily had seen such circles before without realizing what they were. The illusionist she had first encountered in this world had almost certainly been using one.

In their case, Ashe would take the lead—she had the experience, and her command of spellwork made her the natural choice.

Still, the book made it clear that in practice, the process was anything but simple. The Blood Mages they had faced had been terrifyingly effective, but joining spells as seamlessly as they had required countless hours of discipline. The opening ratio was ironclad, and it had to remain consistent from start to finish. Too much deviation, and the spell became a nightmare for the lead Mage to control.

And there weren't only benefits. If the leading mage lost control of the spell, they could all suffer lashback. Though the head Mage was in the most danger.

When Emily finished reading through the books, she looked up to see Ashe tying the silky rope into loops.

"For now, all we're going to do is try to find out what works for us. Emily, since you have the most raw power, I'm going to have you take on the largest portion. Is that okay?"

Emily nodded. As far as she was concerned, it only made sense. They need to test out what ratios would serve them the best, and with her bridge shielded from source exposure, it was the obvious call.

"Right, Nox, I'm going to give you the smallest ratio, but your source will add a wide variety of spells we can make use of."

Nox nodded merrily as he wrung his hands.

"Sure!"

Emily considered what she meant by that.

Because Emily had grey source, she could add a large amount of power to the circle; however, there were startlingly few spells that used this source because of its rarity.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Nox's bridge, on the other hand, added a huge variety of spells to their repertoire because of yellow sources' versatile nature. It was accurate to say that while Emily powered the spell, Nox's source would help give it direction.

"For today, all I want is to manage a connection. For that, we'll be using this." Ashe said as she held one of the tied ropes out in front of her.

"Physical contact is the easiest way to transfer source between us, but it's a crutch. In combat, we need to be able to form a circle at a moment's notice. That's where these come in. It's made of burrower silk and can handle a small amount of source running through it. I bought a bunch, so today we'll practice sending the right amount of source through them, plus when they're tied like this, they help us visualize what we're trying to form. Everybody take hold of a side."

Emily glanced down at the loop. It was literally just a piece of silk rope tied at both ends to make a loop.

Nox grabbed a corner, pulling the rope taut, and Emily took hold of the last.

With the three of them holding the rope, it looked more like a triangle than a circle, but the concept was the same.

"Okay, I'm going to add my source, then Nox, then Emily. We'll do thirty, ten, and sixty. Try to copy what I do."

Both Nox and Emily nodded now, concentrating on the task at hand. Her eyes narrowed as he waited to feel the source through the rope.

The green energy arrived a few seconds later. Traveling down the strands of fibre in a spiraling pattern. It was like watching ink spreading down the rope. Her source only took up about a third of the space, leaving room for them to add their own.

Nox was next, and he took a little longer, but his yellow source eventually joined the mix. Dying the delicate strands with his energy. The power was even less than Ashes and accented the glowing greens with yellow highlights.

On the whole, they were only channeling a small amount of power, and now it was Emily's turn. She had grown far more adept at guiding her source, yet still, she hesitated, opening her bridge by only the slightest fraction.

Grey source entered with the stream method and flowed down her hand and into the rope. It felt similar to powering a ward, and Emily let her power flood the rope until she approached the sixty percent mark where she held firm. Her power followed the natural curve of the rope until it had made a full loop.

It took some concentration to maintain that level of control, but she managed, and the rope was now charged with their power.

"Okay, good job. Now the difficult part, everyone take a lens." Ashe said, handing them both one of the glass disks. "This is the part that requires a bit of trust. Maintain your current outputs and let our sources merge. The glass lens will show us when they've mixed enough."

Emily's eye twitched. Ashe had described group casting as personal, but this felt like something deeper. Still, she accepted the lens. The moment she held it up, she saw a muted swirl of yellow and green, surrounded by faint streaks of grey.

She watched as the green and yellow began to blend smoothly along their edges, strengthening one another. Her own transparent grey filled most of the space, and when she carefully eased it toward the green, it mixed hesitantly. Yet where it seeped in, the green brightened and grew more vivid.

That was until the yellow pressed in. The instant it touched her grey, Emily flinched. Her source recoiled, pulling away from both yellow and green, which in turn unraveled their own merging.

The balance of the circle shuddered, ripples spreading outward until the rope almost couldn't contain them.

"Alright, that's enough. Cut the flow," Ashe ordered.

Emily obeyed, frowning.

The lens revealed what happened the moment they let go: green and yellow snapped apart violently, twisting against each other, while her grey shattered into fragments that scattered in every direction. The rope they had been channeling collapsed, fraying like brittle twine before dissolving into dust.

Everyone sighed in relief, and Emily brushed her palms together.
"Well, that didn't go as planned," she muttered.

Ashe grinned. "Are you kidding? That was better than I hoped! I didn't think we'd even reach stable ratios today, but we got to merging our sources. It only unraveled when Nox's source tried to mix with yours. What happened?"

Ashe's cheer contrasted with Emily's guarded silence. She crossed her arms and popped another piece of root into her mouth.
"Mmm. I dunno. It just felt… wrong."

Nox rubbed at the back of his neck, staring at the ground. He was the one most excited for this, but now he just looked deflated.
"It's because you don't trust me, isn't it?" he asked quietly.

Emily chewed, watching him. After Lorethil and the forced rescue, she still wasn't sure what to make of him.
"Can you blame me?"

"No… You've been fair since then, but still. You owed me a favor, and objectively, things worked out. What I did doesn't deserve this level of distrust."

Emily rubbed her chin.
"Everyone deserves a measure of distrust, Nox. Everyone." Her eyes flicked briefly toward Ashe, who shot her a sidelong look, uneasy at the tension sparking between them.

"...But you're not entirely wrong either. I should be able to set it aside long enough to get the job done. We'll try again. This time, I won't pull back."

She knew full well that anyone could betray—even lovers, if the situation was right. That was why she tried not to put herself in that situation. But if her walls got in the way of the mission, then she was only sabotaging herself, and she could not accept that.

If someone wanted to betray her, let them. She would make sure they paid the price.

Nox bit the inside of his cheek but nodded.

"Okay, just… give me a chance to earn it back, alright?"

Emily licked her lips but bobbed her head anyway.

Their second try was –according to Ashe– even more successful than their first. When it came to ratios, both Ashe and Nox dropped by five percent. Emily picked up her contribution to seventy percent, which seemed more stable. The merge took concerted effort on Emily's part, but they progressed further than before. In the end, the lens showed a vibrant mix of their colors, equating to a brilliant lime green.

They weren't able to move to powering and an actual spell because Ashe still needed to make one compatible with their mix of sources, but she said she would have something for them soon.

Eventually, they gave up practicing for the day when Nox ran into his limits.

So when he went to rest, Emily busied herself with recharging the refined source. If it could keep the demons at bay by then, it was worth the time invested, but even if it couldn't, it didn't hurt to have more available source.

It was during this time, as Emily lounged in the tent and clutched several tiles, that Kael came to see her.

He poked his head into the tent and caught her attention with a motion to follow him, and true to her word, she stood and packed the refined source away, following him out of the tent.

Blood points: 722