Hope

Irwyn used the same way to access the top floor of the mall. He had actually used the same way to exit the day prior. There were most certainly others and he might go uncover them in the future but for the moment this… sufficed.

He was not too surprised to find that another kind of musical performance was taking place close by the entrance. It had been the same way when he had been leaving so he assumed it was probably common if not a daily occurrence here.

The musician was different this time around. Instead of playing a dozen instruments at once, they only played three: A flute, a guitar-adjacent tool of some kind, and a small drum. Though their appearance was distinct to say the least, mostly because the woman in a thick, layered black dress had no arms. Not even a stump coming from her shoulders. Instead, magical hands of solid black Void wielded the instruments with impressive accuracy.

He also noticed Desir on the stage again, dancing a slow dance with a full-bearded middle-aged man. A scan of the audience and then a second take at the stage did not let Irwyn find Alice anywhere. Considering Desir was supposed to be keeping her company during Daut’s stay at Abonisle she was most likely still alongside her father. Perhaps it was simply too early, considering Irwyn had headed out right after dawn.

Well, Irwyn certainly had no intention to interrupt. He knew the way now and his destination was clear. He walked through several areas many already relatively bustling with activity. He had noticed yesterday that there were a lot of mages of considerable skill spending time on this floor, gathering in the individual sections. Perhaps he should ask Desir for a proper explanation, though it seemed to be a gathering place for people from a significant area. How significant, Irwyn did not know. It could frankly be deceivingly small considering how densely built Abonisle was.

It did not take long for Irwyn to reach what he had come to call the ‘artificer section’ considering the multiple workshops in the area and the general lack of loud gatherings or entertainment. He walked into the lobby where Alice already awaited him.

“Rematch!” she declared the moment he stepped in, pointing at Irwyn with her eyes borderline burning with competitive spirit. It was clear the possibility of refusal had not crossed her mind.

He could not help but compare the other young woman to Elizabeth. They were both naive in their own way but with a stark difference. While Elizabeth could misstep on account of inexperience or wrong assumptions, she had a kind of gravity to her acts. It was the most apparent in training where Elizabeth took wound after wound without complaint. Even if Dervish was far gentler with her than with Irwyn, it was still undoubtedly painful even if the wondrous hall took most of it away. The best comparison Irwyn had was to street thugs. Elizabeth was like someone who had been through a really bad fight; where three lads jumped one and held them down while taking turns to kick their teeth in. Like someone had beat overconfidence out of her in a way that would not let it set back in easily.

Alice was not like that… Or at least appeared to not be like that; Irwyn was barely acquainted with the girl. But she seemed so… casual. Unworried. Like there was nothing sitting on her shoulders, weighing her down. And that made Irwyn think - about when had last met someone who was simply unburdened.

That was the thing, people had problems. Worries and scars. And it came into how they acted, the hints in their behaviour. Desir had worries, obviously considering the man had been on the run with a downright paranoid approach to secrecy. Elizabeth, despite her extraordinarily high birth, did not seem relaxed in this way whatsoever. Old Ibis… Well, that did not really count. Because Old Crow had taught Irwyn, among many things, that with enough experience and dedication, all hints could be erased, as any Old Fowls ought to; especially one focused to the social aspects of underground work. Dervish was excluded for the same reason. Besides them… Irwyn realised he had not really interacted with anyone else in Abonisle. Not anyone he cared to remember the name of at least.

Not that he felt the need for more. He had been doing just fine focusing on self-improvement.

In the meantime, Alice had brought him to the same table where they had played that game the day prior which returned Irwyn’s train of thought to her. The thing about Alice was, she appeared naive in… almost childish way. Like some of the kids Old Crow had taken in to the Tears. Not all of them mind you - most had gone through a rough patch before joining, Irwyn certainly had; even if those memories were distant nowadays - but some… some were just so blissfully unaware of all the struggles and danger and injustice that life would inevitably bring.

Maybe Irwyn was just being too judgmental of the girl though. Not having to think about if there would be enough to eat tomorrow, or in a week, or a month was probably a good thing. It just meant she lacked that edge Irwyn had learned to respect in people.

Either way, Irwyn humored her. Frankly, more for her father than Alice herself. Master Hen Daut - which after meeting the man Irwyn was even surer was an intentional pun - was certainly someone Irwyn wanted to stay on the good side of and the man seemed to approve of him humbling Alice a bit the day prior.

This time around, the girl decided to involve some of those ‘additional rules’ she had mentioned, perhaps hoping to get the advantage she needed to prevail. And Irwyn got to witness the wonders of the enchanted board, because with just a bit of fiddling from Alice, the whole thing turned into a Finity amplifier.

Irwyn was not sure how exactly, however, the Planar law of Finity simply affected the area inside and around the ward far more. He had only heard such enchantment mentioned so he had to try what it actually did. Simply put, it made the breakpoints appear… faster. The Law of Finity affected both duration and area. The exact numbers were different for both, however, they were consistent in that they worked in the patern of nine out of ten parts having consistent cost on mana and focus, then sharply rising during the tenth followed by another similar pattern of nine to one; going down all the way to the smallest distance that had been measured; same applying to the greatest. What the amplifier, at least as far as Irwyn could tell, did was make this happen much more frequently, make the individual stretches far shorter.

Irwyn formed a small, really small sphere of light and fiddled with it’s magic ever so slightly until he was pretty sure he had found the exact breakpoint. Then, from memory, he tried to compare the actual mana output this bit of magic required. As he would have suspected, the total rise in the cost was the exact same as the usual breakpoint that he could feel out if the magic was significantly larger. The cost of Finity on area was not too noticeable at a smaller scale - Irwyn had not noticed it for damn years - but once the rise became noticeable it started increasing sharply. And the same was the case here. The cost increased by the same amount, it just happened over a much smaller increase in overall area. Irwyn did some mental math and comparison and estimated that Finity was cumulating somewhere between 25 to 30 times quicker than normal.

That could add up very quickly. It was different from just having the spells cost 25 times more. On really small areas, such as the strings of mana that seemed optimal for this game, the effect would be barely noticeable, not even doubling the magic’s cost. But for anything remotely large, it would be a problem. Each breakpoint increased the cost of magic by an increasingly massive margin and if he passed several compared to the usual, that could become way more than 20 or 30 times multiplier. Even in the hundreds perhaps. Irwyn had not done the math.

That made Irwyn’s previous strategy to counter Alice’s last-ditch teleportation effort by flooding the entire area inefficient at best and impossible at worst. It had still been 2 concept magic after all and while Irwyn could manage a decent number of such spells, his focus could not bear the load of multiplying them by a hundred times.

That obviously forced Irwyn to think about different countermeasures, which he started as soon as Alice turned the 2 minute hourglass. The majority of time would pass in a one-sided landslide victory again, though they both knew what was coming. And an idea had struck Irwyn in the first few seconds of the match. A simple principle really. They were not allowed to speak incantations according to the rules they had set, however, that did not mean they were forbidden from using them. It was just that if Irwyn was not getting any support from actually saying at least the name, the restriction on flexibility was simply not worth it compared to just directly manipulating the magic.

But this could be an exception. The Finity amplifier stopped him from just engulfing the whole area in his mana, however, it would be absolutely possible just to cover the whole area with thousands of small pinpoints of light; at a small enough scale they were not noticeably more difficult to create or maintain. Of course, just these tiny little bits of magic would not do anything by themselves. They required intention and Irwyn could not do a thousand two or even one intention spells. But there was a way around that, making it an order of magnitude easier. Just like he had done with his original spell, The Stars scourge all. If he bound many magical creations into a single spell, gave them all the same purpose and uniform composition, it became much easier to control and manifest such great numbers. One spell, thousand dots a part of it.

But spells needed an incantation, which Irwyn did not possess. What he did have was about two minutes to make something usable from scratch. That was the thing about incantations: Saying them out loud made them more efficient, especially the name of the spell itself, but what was really the most important part was that the caster knew the whole incantation. Even if it was shortened, it mattered. Each additional line added less and less, however, knowing at least a couple was needed to make the spell possible at all. Even if he did not speak anything out loud. Before Alice started with her attempt at reversal, Irwyn was ready:

And they are a billion

Hung in the dominion

Which the skies amass,

The Stars allow no trespass

It was hardly perfect and lacked a personal touch. But it spoke of the skies and stars and was dedicated to dealing with Alice’s tactic precisely. Hand-made to stop her. As Alice began with her teleportation trick he cast it, creating countless dots of Light, each imbued with the intention to disrupt and interrupt. He also enveloped the sphere Alice’s magic was gathering around with a film of the same intentions. If those did not work he would switch them around. The effect was clear though as Alice struggled to reach anywhere with her teleportation; all possible destinations obstructed. It was not quite as effective as flooding the entire area had been, letting Alice barely finish one translocation after almost ten full seconds, however, by then she was already out of time to make a reversal. She still tried to move a second one as the last grains of sand fell down announcing the end of their match.

“Damn it,” she grumbled. “You are too good at this. How did you even do that?”

“I thank you for the compliment,” Irwyn nodded respectfully. Fighting against space magic was something he would like more experience in so he was not opposed to more matches even if the rest had been less… challenging. “I would normally not be able to handle so many imbued constructs, so I improvised a frankly subpar spell to simply merge them into one effect that is much easier to control.”

But before Alice could demand another match or say anything else, Master Daut emerged from his workshop and immediately invited Irwyn to come on in, much to Alice’s chagrin as the girl rolled her eyes. At almost the exact same time Desir entered, immediately ready to distract her. The timing was rather fortunate… Or perhaps not considering Irwyn was pretty sure the clerk which had accompanied Desir was blushing. She too was a mage of some kind and could have had a way of telling when the ideal time to enter would be.

Not that it mattered too much. For all that the practice was useful, it was not the main reason he was here.

“Master Daut,” Irwyn gave the man a respectful nod as he took they took their seats.

“Well, have a go at it, Irwyn,” the man only half acknowledged the greeting, immediately presenting Irwyn with the same wooden enchantment from the day prior. It looked exactly the same from the outside, in fact; just a smallish rectangle of orange wood with a single entry funnel. Irwyn knew that inside there was a symbol of a Weeping Star, whatever that actually meant, that he was completely sure it was impossible to recreate in just 3-dimensional space; he had made a few attempts before giving up prior to going to sleep the previous night. “I think I have fixed everything that had caused any issues yesterday and being exposed to Starfire rather than Light will actually make it far more durable since that is what it’s meant for in the first place.”

“I will do my best,” Irwyn nodded. “Though please confirm for me that you have protections in place,” a shower of Starfire was an order of magnitude more deadly than just searingly bright light after all.

“I have warded both myself and the workshop extensively,” Daut nodded. “It should be able to withstand a 5-intention attack magic at the very least.”

“Is it easy for you to create such a powerful defensive layer?” Irwyn’s eyes widened slightly. The artisan could have only had time since the day before, not to mention he had also been repairing and fixing the tested item itself.

“The one good thing about Finity is that if I am making an enchantment that only needs to last half a day it feels almost ridiculously easy when compared to what I usually work on,” Daut shrugged. “Now if you would please get on with it. The sooner I can confirm this damn thing works the sooner I can leave this City and return to my lovable wife.”

And so Irwyn did. He called upon his Starfire, condense, flow, perceive, the exact same intentions as before. And he let his magic surge like a flood. A dam sundered open. And he was ready for that mark’s impression and amplification which he had experienced the day prior, waiting for it.

It’s just… he had not expected them to be so, so much more intense.

And so they star in flesh wept, scarred for all eternity. Nothing would ever be able to mend those wounds. Such utter loss was, is, and forever will be beyond mere words. And from it, the first crack showed. The first sign of change. The most radical shift since before the beginning of Time was sown that day. And know that all Stars will follow the son’s hate, until the kinslayer’s stain is erased.

Irwyn took a deep breath, not completely losing composure this time around. It was more coherent than the day prior, though longer and even more… omnipresent; impossible to ignore as the words and impressions coursed through his mind. He came to a realization that perhaps the vision from the previous night might not have necessarily been warning him about anything and was simply related to… this. The Star son wounded by indescribable loss? He had just experienced exactly such a thing. Then he caught himself and shoved that thought process out for later. At the moment, he had something else to focus on.

To his surprise, the rectangle was not breaking. Its inner structure was not so much as cracking. Not even really straining despite Irwyn genuinely pouring nearly as much magic as he could through. And it flowed out, uncontrolled and lashing all around. But it never hit neither Irwyn nor Daut, simply diverted to the corners where it seemingly vanished. However the defensive enchantments worked, they did not let so much as a spark land on either man’s clothes.

And the empowerment the cube provided… It was just a league above what it had done with the light. There the magic had increased by a noticeable but not truly significant amount. This… this was as much as a damn a fifth more. The miraculous box enhanced the raw magical power of Starfire by actual 20 percent. That was simply ridiculous. One in five parts extra power just for channeling it through this box. It might have limited uses in dueling where speed and initiative were everything but otherwise… When preparing an ambush, when in a match of magical endurance, when casting great magics uncontested? This was beyond anything Irwyn had so much as heard about. He legitimately wondered if Elizabeth could access something like this.

“I do not suppose you would be willing to make another one of these,” Irwyn sighed, knowing the answer but still asking against all hope.

“House Blackburg does not have enough wealth to convince into another project like this,” Daut scoffed. “Biggest pain in the bum I have had to deal with all decade. And that includes a teleporting adolescent on a ‘practical joke’ spree,” then he took the cube away, making it disappear with one motion of his wrist; actually very similar to how Elizabeth spirited away items. “All right, I am very happy we could finish this today, not that I would expect anything less of my craftsmanship. As per our agreement, here is your bonus,” then a little leather badge with no insignia materialized in Daut’s hand, already mid-motion to throw it at Irwyn.

The moment Irwyn caught it he immediately realised that it was not leather. Rather, it was some kind of cold metal that simply looked like it, even up close, however, the sensation was distinct to the touch. He could also not feel a smidgen of magic from it.

“This is?” Irwyn raised an eyebrow slightly. He obviously could not figure out magic that completely eluded his senses.

“This is what I would call a lifeline,” Daut explained. “Simpl… ish, one use item with a singular purpose: Whisk you out of your doom. Equipped with state-of-the-art breaching and disrupting sub-effects. It can get through a complete temporal lockdown and leaves behind two dozen false leads for any trackers trying to follow.”

“Surely it is not omnipotent at breaking defences,” Irwyn looked at Daut though he really liked what he was hearing so far.

“Well, a really good Time mage can obviously get around it,” Daut nodded. “But if you have a Time mage of that caliber going after you, well, you would be a dead man walking either way. I usually make these for the upper upper classes of the three Duchies that border Steelmire. Notice how the badge is empty? They like to have their affiliated heraldry drawn onto these. Not that I am complaining since I have someone else do the painting and charge a ridiculous premium for it; and they gobble those prices up without a second look. If you ever need to use it, just shatter the badge with any kind of magic and it will take hold of you, then just choose a direction. Just keep in mind that there is no canceling it and don’t aim it down or into a hill or something extremely magical. It is designed to prevent you from turning into string cheese, however, as you have said: No enchantment has no blind spots.”

“How far can it reach,” Irwyn was already suppressing a grin, taking that last comment mostly as a joke. He could not imagine someone like Daut willingly selling something actually dangerous to use to House Blackburg, ignoring the other Duchies for the moment. Daut had after all – at least according to Desir – once been a Fowl and would have kept by the third Tennet even after chaning into a more legitimate career. This was genuinely amazing and far above anything Irwyn had found for sale. Assuming it could actually bring him far enough to make a difference.

“Not the main focus of the thing but still miles beyond anything you are probably comparing it to,” Daut grinned lightly. “I don’t have the exact number but if someone wanted to hypothetically… let’s say get the hell out of Abonisle on an emergency schedule I would not use the badge from further than the inner moat if I wanted to end up with both feet on solid ground rather than in the black lake… if I were them,” then Daut gave Irwyn an intent stare.

Irwyn fought against the instinct to twitch. It was most likely a bluff on Daut’s part, or a good guess, just trying to fish for information from Irwyn’s reaction. Well, he did not give the artisan that, though the advice was appreciated.

Irwyn now had a potent card in the deck called ‘plan B’ in case this whole deal with Elizabeth’s family suddenly soured beyond reconciliation. Best he arranges for stashes with supplies somewhere near the city. But it would have to be done carefully, through intermediaries. Maybe even arranged completely in code. There was no guarantee he was not under surveillance.

The only time he was reasonably confident was private was in fact right in the room with Hen Daut considering the craftsman would have most likely either noticed any such intrusion too far above Irwyn’s level or would have outright perfectly warded against it. Unless the man was allowing any foreign eyes to watch and ears to hear, of course, but those were worries beyond Irwyn’s ability to affect.

House Blackburg could not have infinite resources after all and with Elizabeth not even in the city Irwyn would have fallen lower on the priority list at least for the moment, especially given that their agents were probably desperately searching for the cause of the attack not long ago.

“Thank you, it has been a pleasure doing business with you,” Irwyn nodded.

“And me with you,” Daut nodded. “If you ever happen to be by Steelmire you should drop by. Especially if you happen to have business to discuss. With that dealt with, have a pleasant rest of your day.”

Hearing the dismissal, Irwyn left. Alice and Desir had been long gone by then, though Irwyn decided it might not be bad to explore the floor a bit more.