Chapter 16 — Omens

A few hundred meters from where the group had been attacked, Gao Yang found the little wooden cabin, now reduced to ruins.

It lay fallen among the trees. From the charred marks one could judge that the blaze which destroyed it had come from within and spread outward, yet the fire had not reached farther afield—perhaps a timely rain had saved the surrounding forest. Sir Byron examined the traces left around the cabin and concluded that the fire must have broken out over half a month ago.

Heidi, meanwhile, detected a magic reaction at the site, already grown exceedingly faint.

"What we saw in the Shadow Realm must have been a reflection," Gao Yang said, studying the ruined cabin in the forest clearing and setting out his judgment. "This wild mage lived in seclusion here for years. The place lies outside the domain—not even hunters come this way—so no one ever knew a hermit had dwelt here."

"The question is... how did the accident happen?" Heidi frowned. "There is only one feeble magic focal point here, and the wild mage who lived here was himself quite weak. Even if one of his magic experiments had run out of control and burned the house down, it could not have produced a long-lasting projection in the Shadow Realm—let alone generated such a powerful wraith mist... The magic all of that would require is far beyond what some paltry wild mage could supply."

"Perhaps this notebook can answer your doubts." Gao Yang handed a worn, battered notebook to Heidi.

It was the very notebook they had taken from Betty in the Shadow Realm earlier—at once the diary of that nameless wild mage and his research notes.

Following Gao Yang's direction, Heidi opened the notebook to its latter half and read carefully.

"...Year 729 of Ans, Fire Moon, day. Half a year now since I moved to this place. At the edge of the Cecil domain I found a magic focal point. Its strength is nothing compared to the public focal point of Emberfall City, but it is enough to sustain my laboratory. The elemental power here is uniform and stable; Annie's condition should be alleviated.

"Year 729 of Ans, Harvest Moon, day. Annie's condition seems to have improved. She has not had an episode for a very long time now, but I cannot yet tell whether it is the environment here taking effect, or whether my rituals and potions are truly working. The magic focal point here is too weak; even with the aid of an amplification array, the effects of my rituals are greatly diminished. Perhaps I should reconsider those formulas I once derived... The people of the Arcane Society always mocked my calculations, but I have left the Society anyway, and they have no jurisdiction here...

"Year 730 of Ans, Mist Moon, day. Those formulas and derivations match expectations perfectly! No—rather, the facts have unfolded just as I calculated. Under the new amplification method, the power of the magic focal point has been enormously enhanced! With the aid of the additional magic, I can at last begin the next stage of Annie's treatment. She has scarcely had an episode these past months, but the treatment must go on, for she can bear no more ordeals...

"Year 731 of Ans, Frost Moon, day. After the treatment, Annie could actually get out of bed and walk about—she even made me a meal! Fried sausages and vegetable soup. I feel as though I have not eaten anything so good in a hundred years—though the sausages were burnt and she forgot to salt the soup... The facts prove my treatment plan effective, and so long as this magic focal point here can continue to supply magic steadily, Annie's full recovery will be only a matter of time...

After that, the diary's contents were mostly accounts of the writer's daily life with his daughter. Heidi skimmed quickly through this portion, until a stretch of hasty, disordered entries appeared on the final pages:

"Year 734 of Ans, Frost Moon, day. Annie has had an episode. Damn it!!

"I do not know what went wrong. All the treatments proceeded as planned; every step of the ritual was without error; I have used the potions for years without a single problem! Yet Annie had an episode—and a severe one... worse than any before. I must find the cause as quickly as possible. I will record every detail, everything... I will find the cause. Annie will be all right...

"Year 734 of Ans, Frost Moon, day. Annie still has not improved. The new potions have no effect; she continues to weaken, and... she is gradually drifting away from this world. This morning I saw her hands turn transparent as mist, and her face broke out in blisters. This world is rejecting her, pushing her toward the Shadow Realm. What am I to do...

"Year 734 of Ans, Mist Moon, day. That accursed sun—its dark red veins seem to mock my helplessness! I have finally found the problem, but I am utterly powerless to solve it... The elements are accumulating, accumulating abnormally; magic is surging upward. This feeble magic focal point cannot contain the excess magic, and even after I removed the amplification arrays it was no use. The wise course now would be to take Annie far from the place where elements gather—but she has stayed here too long; her body resonates with the elemental environment here, and that resonance has prolonged her life... and yet it will be the death of her!

"Year 734 of Ans, Mist Moon, day. The magic of the whole region is wrong—churning violently, as though the borders of the Cecil domain had fallen into the legendary Sea of Magic. I can no longer reverse the change in Annie. Half her body has already left the material world; this morning she even said she saw the whole house turn black and white. Perhaps... I can only seek another way...

"Year 735 of Ans, Fire Moon. The long preparation is finally over, and Annie's weakness has reached its limit.

"This is my only chance. There is no other choice.

"Since I cannot keep Annie alive in the material world, then I may as well choose another path.

"The ritual of shadow conversion is recorded in the books; only the magic it requires is vast beyond imagining—and yet, for me, perhaps it is not beyond achieving. I have used the new amplification formulas and the new method of drawing arrays, and I will draw upon the power of the surging magic. The magic of this region is in an abnormal state of activity; the energy stored in the focal point has been suppressed by me for months, and today it is at last barely sufficient. Next, I need only wait until the sun reaches its zenith, when the magic is strongest, and I can begin the conversion.

"Annie, hold on. Father will save you, and Father will go with you to the Shadow Realm. We will live there a long, long time, and you will never hurt again."

The diary ended there.

Heidi was about to close the notebook when Gao Yang suddenly pointed at a corner of the last page. "There are a few more words here, actually."

Heidi quickly looked closely. In that corner was a dark blotch of ink; she had taken it at first for a stain from an overturned ink bottle, but now, examining it carefully, she realized it was hasty handwriting scrawled with ink-smudged fingers:

"The magic has run out of control... the sun is red..."

Heidi repeated the words, uncomprehending: "The sun is red... how could the sun be red?"

"Could it have been during the last sunspot eruption?" Rebecca said suddenly, as though something had just occurred to her. "That was over half a month ago—far more sunspots than usual appeared on the sun's surface. If the wild mage's mind was not clear at the time, he might well have thought the sun was red..."