Tears of Dusk

“A 30° alignment for the last sub [Hex]!” Hidrss said out loud.

Isyd, who sat on the opposite side of the room, picked up his pen and added the last notation to the long list. The two young men had secluded themselves in an empty area of the Atelier and had been working on the Blysht since the very early hours of the day. Well... it would be more accurate to say that Hidrss had been working on the Blysht while Isyd had been given the more glorious task of... notetaking. It wasn’t exactly what he had imagined when he’d plotted to enter the Atelier, but he consoled himself by knowing that it was a boring that had to be done eventually.

In the middle of the room, Dmitri Ivanovitch Hidrss was in charge of the more exciting part of [Spell] casting. The man had thrown away his uniform and replaced it with a crumpled tunic and a pair of worn-out trousers. His sandy hair had been tied back in a ponytail but a few strands had managed to escape and fell on his brow wet with sweat. Hidrss had his arm extended wide and his breath was coming more laboriously as if he was in the middle of a jog. In front of him was a piece of Blysht no larger than a thumb and resting on a stool. All around the Tutor, hundreds of Commands were dancing at the orders of his hands and his Idpulse to form the more and more complex [Hexes] that composed the [Storing Hex].

As Isyd watched him do, he couldn’t help but be impressed by his talent. For one thing, he wasn’t oblivious to the Grace singing as it gathered around the Tutor. It wasn’t often that Isyd heard such a cordial and harmonious Song not even when he’d been himself crafting the [Storing Hex] for the first time. Plus, Hidrss was simply more knowledgeable when it came to crafting laborious [Hexes]. Isyd could cast his [Storing Hex] in a bit more than one hour without taking into account the different hiccups along the way. After only watching him do it twice, Hidrss could cast the same [Spell] in less than one hour. And as things stood, he was about to beat his own record.

Hidrss was now trying to refine the [Storing Hex], eliminating the useless redundancies and streamlining the Balance. Isyd was taking track of the modifications Hidrss was doing so that they could repeat it and see what works and what didn’t.

Isyd observed Hidrss’s movement of hands as he finalized his [Hex]. The composing [Hexes] Meshed into one another, the Grace spiked briefly and in a final flash, the [Storing Hex] appeared and inscribed itself on the piece of Blysht.

It was done.

Hidrss’s shoulders slumped and he let out a deep sigh of relief. He gave Isyd a satisfied grin as he approached. Isyd inspected the inert Blysht. Nothing had changed except for the light outlines of the [Hex] on its crystal surface.

“If all goes well, the Blysht should passively suck in the ambient Grace,” Hidrss explained. “We would no longer need to cast a [Spell] at it to Ingrace the crystal, we can simply use the natural Grace Osmosis.”

“So now we wait?”

“Now we wait. In the meantime, let’s review the modifications I made to the [Ingracing Hex].”

Isyd cocked an eyebrow at that. “ [Ingracing Hex] ? Since when do we call it that?”

“Since I decided that [Storing Hex] was a stupid name. Ingracing is a much better one!”

Isyd narrowed his eyes but then shook his head. Technically, as the one who made the [Spell], he had the right to call it whatever he wanted. But this wasn’t a hill he was willing to die on.

“There are in total 139 modifications,” Isyd declared counting down the list.

“Sounds about right,” Hidrss said while flexing his sore muscles.

“That’s a lot of things to change at once. Do you think it will work?”

“Yes.”

The Tutor had not even hesitated a fraction of a second. Isyd rolled his eyes at this absurd level of confidence. Truth be told, what Hidrss was trying to accomplish wasn’t a ridiculous idea. In fact, most Blysht in Old Ziemia used the principle of Grace Osmosis to gradually Ingrace themselves. Isyd had planned to wait a bit before suggesting the idea, but Hidrss had come up with it on his own, faster than anticipated.

Now that he had entered the Atelier, Isyd was curious to learn more about the Master of the Arcanic Arts. He wanted to know how much of a genius Hidrss truly was.

“When we first spoke, you talked of applications for the Blysht,” Isyd said. “Did you come up with any new ideas since then?”

Hidrss’s eyes sparkled wildly. “Ideas? Plenty! So many in fact that it forced me to consider the future constraints of the Blysht. I suspect that eventually, we will be limited by the amount of Grace that can be stored in a single crystal.”

Isyd nodded. It was indeed the ultimate limit of the Blysht and the amount of Grace that could be stored for a given crystal was proportional to its size, something that the Ravasz were bound to discover eventually with their experiments.

“That being said, I still believe that the Blysht can be combined with [Arcanes] for great efficiency,” Hidrss continued. “For one thing, it would allow [Arcanes] to operate without the need of an Artysta. Take the Lightspheres for instance. They are the most common [Arcanes] but also one of the most engineered. From a simple touch of Grace, it uses Resonance and the Meshing of hundreds of Commands to amplify the heat and turn it into light. It was a revolution when it first came up, but nowadays, producing a Lightsphere costs almost nothing. However, it is still not perfect because for a Lightsphere to work, it still requires Grace input. No matter how many amplifications are applied, the Grace will eventually be used up and the light will fade. Someone will need to recharge it.

“With the Blysht, this problem disappears. Imagine a Lightsphere that can burn almost indefinitely, as it is being recharged by the ambient Grace. And that is only for the example of Lightspheres! Thousands of [Arcanes] exist out there that are limited by how much Grace they consume. The Blysht can maintain the [Arcanes] going for longer and longer. It is a boon that will open many avenues for us to explore. For instance, five years ago I was working with colleagues of mine and Apteyka to develop a [Healing Arcane] but we were limited by the Grace Concentration to make it work. From our calculations, it would have required at least 20 Artysta of the 7 th Opening to fuel it. With a stockpile of already Ingraced Blysht, one Apteyk is more than enough.”

It was impossible to miss the excitation that moved Hidrss as he spoke and listening to him, Isyd couldn’t help but be moved with him.

Aye, the Blysht is a boon. Probably our strongest weapon for the War . The things it would allow us to do...

“What about you, Isyd? Surely, you gave some thoughts as well. Let me hear them!”

Isyd was taken aback by the question; he hadn’t expected the man to be interested in what a 1 st Year, 1 st Opening Pupil would have to bring to the table. Isyd hesitated on how much to say.

“Well... Just like you, I have been thinking of possible combinations of Blysht and [Arcanes]... I imagined the installation of [Protective Arcanes] around city walls that can be activated without depriving the army of their Artysta.”

Hidrss gave him a curious glance. “That’s quite a specific idea...”

“Just a random thought I had...”

“Well, I’d say your idea is feasible, though I am not interested in researching further. I am not keen on making weapons of war...”

Isyd frowned. “I have never spoken of making weapons. A shield is a tool of defence.”

“Aye, but one calls for the other; it is a dance of two. History has shown us that a stronger shield only demands a sharper sword. It is a never-ending race between more defensive tools and more offensive weapons, and it is a race that I do not wish to take part in.”

Isyd was about to retort something, but Hidrss beat him to it. “Speaking of weapons, how is your palcat? Any progress?”

“Well, I was actually looking for the right moment to bring it up. I was wondering when we could discuss what to do with it?”

Hidrss’s eyes glinted and he smirked. “Discuss it? I think there was a bit of a misunderstanding here. You’re on your own for this one, kid! I have already let you in my Atelier, you can’t expect me to also repair it for you now, can you? There’s no way I give you everything on a platter!”

“I get it that you won’t help me then,” Isyd said.

“Oh, I will help you! But I won’t repair it for you. If you want to fix your palcat, you have to be the one doing it. Take it as an exercise, a way for you to learn the Arcanic Arts! Learning, isn’t that why you joined the Academy in the first place?”

He had a point. The only reason why Isyd couldn’t repair his palcat was that he wasn’t the one who did it back in Old Ziemia and he never bothered learning how it was done.

“Fair enough, you’re right,” he finally said with a sigh.

God, did he need to look so smug about it as well...

“I will still need your help for the beginning, so when could I come to you?” Isyd asked.

“It will have to wait a bit actually...” Hidrss drawled. He noticed the look Isyd was giving him and he raised his hands in defence. “Look, I am a busy man! It’s not that I don’t want to spend time here, but I am leaving Vilriver for some time to go to the Academy of Holy Honour in the South. I have some business there that I need to sort out. I’ll use that time to present the Blysht to some colleagues of mine in passing.”

“And the research here?”

“Think of it like a war on two fronts! While I am away, you are still part of the research and your task is to help the Ravasz. In case of a problem, ask for Dumnchory’s help, she’s the one in charge in my absence.”

“When will you return?”

Hidrss seemed to think for a second before shrugging. “No idea! Don’t waste time crying over my absence, kid! There’s a lot of work to be done! I count on you to help the Ravasz and find a way to extract the Grace after the Blysht was Ingraced!”

His smile became even wider and his eyes sparkled. He reached down to the stool and picked up the crystal that rested there between his thumb and forefinger.

The Blysht shone with an iridescent light.

“After all, those are exciting times, Isyd Wybrany!”