Andrew Rowe - On the Shoulders of Titans

The devices themselves were myriad and wondrous. On the left side of the room, dozens of human-sized mana crystal were housed inside crystalline tubes, suspended in some kind of liquid. I’d never seen even a single mana crystal that large before. I couldn’t imagine the kinds of items they could power.

On the right side of the room were dozens of bookshelves, but rather than books, they contained more crystals, stored in labeled jars.

They’re memory crystals , I realized. They might be a more efficient means of storage for someone like Tenjin that can access them easily.

In the center of the room was a single titanic pillar filled with liquid, not unlike the one that had contained Selys-Lyann, but on a massively larger scale. I could see numerous runes etched into the surface and mana glimmering within the waters.

I could see multiple ways to reach the higher levels – stairways on each side of the room, and a few rune-activated platforms that looked like they might serve as elevators.

“…wow,” Researcher mumbled, her eyes widening.

“Yeah,” was all I managed to reply.

“This way,” Tristan gestured, following the wall to the right.

“Are you sure we can’t stay here a little while?” Researcher asked. “I’d really like to know what that thing is. And that one. And…”

I completely agreed with her. Just seeing that place…I had so many questions.

I couldn’t stay. I knew that.

…But I wasn’t going to let Researcher be disappointed, just because I couldn’t stay myself. “Sera, can you re-summon Researcher later, even if we leave her in the spire?”

Sera nodded. “Sure, the type of contract we made supports that.”

“Tristan, can she stay here for a bit? It would make her happy, and she might be able to help you a bit while she’s here.”

Tristan sighed. “Fine, she can stay a little while. But I’m going to be very strict about what I give her access to.”

Researcher clapped her hands together, beaming. “Thank you! Thank you!”

I was happy that Tristan had accepted. Mostly for Researcher’s sake, because she was clearly thrilled.

But in truth? I wanted to know how much information she could gather that might be useful to the rest of us, too.

I leaned over and whispered to her, “Get me some notes on the giant crystals and the pillar if you can.”

I wished I had time to give her more detailed instructions, or to properly prioritize.

Researcher gave me a conspiratorial grin. “Of course!”

Her reply was a little too loud, spoiling any effect at secrecy, but Tristan didn’t seem to notice. He was walking quickly, until he finally stopped near a door.

“Okay. This is it.”

The door had a “21” over it. The floor number, maybe?

He turned to the mirror-like panel next to it and ran a finger across it.

An image appeared in the surface, showing a room from above.

I saw Marissa, Patrick, and Sheridan sitting in the center of the room, talking.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized Mizuchi wasn’t there.

“They seem safe. You should go to them now, before Mizuchi finds them, and leave the spire immediately.” Tristan shook his head. “I’m sorry I can’t talk to you longer. It’s been good to see you both.”

He extended a hand to me.

I felt several emotions converge there. Doubt. Fear. Relief.

I clasped his hand. “I’m…glad you’re alive, Tristan.”

“Thanks.” He took a breath and pulled his hand away, reaching out to Sera. “Sera, it’s good to see you as well.”

Sera looked Tristan up and down, then frowned. “Yeah.” She didn’t reach for his hand. “Sure.”

Tristan put his hand back down. “Go on, you two. Given how things have been going, I suspect I’ll see you again soon enough.”

I wasn’t so certain about that.

Tristan opened the door. I could see a glimmering portal there.

I gave Tristan one last look.

“Goodbye, Corin.”

“Goodbye, Tristan.”

And I stepped through the door.

Sheridan, Marissa, and Patrick were somewhat surprised when I appeared in the room.

They were more surprised Sera appeared a moment later.

I didn’t fill them in on the whole situation. Instead, I told them that we needed to leave the spire immediately, because Mizuchi was presumably going to be looking for us.

We got an immediate chorus of agreements.

I sent a message to Keras with my necklace and told him we were leaving the spire, and that he should meet us outside. He sounded a little disappointed, but he agreed.

We used one of the return bells and exited the spire.

Keras did the same.

Then, with everyone else together, we headed back to the Theas household to talk.

Sheridan checked Sera over on the way and confirmed that Sera hadn’t done herself any more permanent damage, but advised that she’d strained her entire body with those invocations, and that she shouldn’t do it again.

Preferably ever.

When we arrived back at the manor, we gathered everyone together, including Derek and Elora, and filled them in on what had happened.

I was somewhat hesitant to say anything around Elora or Sheridan, since I knew they both most likely had their own agendas, but I was exhausted with keeping secrets. If they were going to be my allies, I wanted to treat them with respect.

Elora couldn’t confirm anything Tristan had told us — she still had a brand on her neck, and it clearly had different restrictions than his did.

She did, however, confirm that she was still considered a part of his “Ascension” faction…she simply had fallen “out of touch” with most of their organization.

Meaning she was probably lying low and waiting to see how the infighting resolved itself, rather than risking herself further.

Derek was uncharacteristically silent throughout the discussion.

After we finished sharing what we’d learned, Sera and I went to talk alone in the bedroom I’d been assigned.

“So.” I sat down on the bed. Sera sat next to me. “You’ve got an ascended attunement, apparently?”

Sera nodded. “I didn’t even know for certain that was what it was until Mizuchi mentioned it. But I’ve been feeling a stronger connection to my summoned monsters while I’ve been recovering. After the ball, Vanniv and I started practicing with it, and I figured out I could draw a bunch of his mana into me all at once. It makes me a lot stronger. It’s a little scary, though.”

“Yeah, after what happened with the water, I don’t blame you for being cautious. But you do feel okay now?”

“Yeah. I think the attunement is built for doing that sort of thing. It was handling most of the burden of all that mana coming in…but I don’t think I’ll be able to do it often. When I first practiced with Vanniv, he said he thought it worked more like a Soulblade summon. The kind of thing you can’t do more than once every few weeks, or it gets dangerous.”

“Dangerous how?”

“It puts a lot of strain on both of us. It’s almost like we’re merging our mana together for a while. That could permanently alter how our mana works if we do it too much.”

“Makes sense.” Keras had mentioned something similar about not being able to use some of his abilities too often because of how they altered his mana. “Could you have done that with Seiryu?”

Sera shook her head. “Not a chance. It still costs some of my mana to try to do that invoking thing, just like summoning something does. I still don’t have enough mana to summon Seiryu, so I wouldn’t be able to invoke her, either.”

“What about using Vanniv’s mana to summon Seiryu?”