There was a palpable thickness in the air as the wards fused themselves to the physical anchors I had set up, like the taut inhalation held in expectation of a moment of achievement. Under careful scrutiny the manascape shimmered and sparked with tiny flickers of mana still settling into the alarm ward.
Current Magic 8 + WIL 5 sustained -4 = 3 hits; Force 1 alarm ward will last for 3 weeks. Drain v. 1 = 4 hits
In the foggy quiet of the island, as the crew schemed in the corner, I was reaching out for the next ward. I prepared myself grimly as the mana built, teasing its way through the carefully placed formulae inscribed into the floor and walls. This ritual would last long into the night.
Gray's question caught my attention. After a moment to ensure everything was smooth, I replied. "Don't bother. There nothing to find here yet, and if we're blown this early in the caper then it was a setup from the beginning. Besides, it's simply not cost effective to task a bound spirit to something like this. They're a valuable resource, best spent on other things. Thanks for the offer, though."
Hours passed as the group carried out their assigned tasks. I listened to their reports as they came in, commenting when there were convenient breaks in the process. Each moment demanded more focus than the last, each piece of the puzzle necessary and important.
Finally, at the moment of sunrise, the runes glowed white hot, channeling the ambient mana through my astral form and into contact with the physical plane. I had spent hours preparing for this moment and braced myself against the sudden rush and still it was like standing at the edge of a waterfall and letting the water pass through me without teetering off the edge. The heat started out as deceptively pleasant until its intensity infused my whole self with bittersweet anguish. I narrowed my focus to predict every flow potential, every mana-fluid dynamic, and tried to keep ahead of the surges.
Magic 4 + WIL 5 = 4 hits; Force 8 ward for 4 weeks; Drain v. 8: 5 hits; Damage equals body, subject to knockdown.
It all peaked in a moment of transcendent clarity. The pain only sharpened the sense of satisfaction at a job well done. As I sank to my knees, I let my head hang back and surveyed my work. From nothing, I had called it into being. This is what it was to be Man.
