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J ai stared into the roiled mass of mana, watching as it swirled through the strange channels in the stone. He was standing in the hollow beneath the peak, the great spiral filter beneath the perforated platform above.

The Speaker was there, as he so often was, soulbreathing at the cavern’s entrance. In his half-trance, Jai could see the mana coiling away from the rushing torrent within, passing through the man’s nostrils.

Jai strode to the torrent’s edge, the rope and dagger he had used to climb there clutched in his hands.

‘What are you doing, Jai?’ the Speaker asked.

‘What I have to,’ Jai replied.

He reached out a hand, feeling the rush of mana, tingling like pins and needles in his hand. As an acolyte, he was allowed here now. To touch, and explore the crucible, through which all the mana above poured.

This place filtered the mana, emerging in a purified form above. Not so pure as if filtered through a blossomed core, or indeed any core at all. But a good start.

Jai’s eyes turned skywards to where the spinning mana emerged into the stone above. Only, it was not perforated holes in the ceiling, but a single tunnel, one that divided into a network to send the mana to the great source above.

He took a breath, and reached for the wall, digging the blade into a furrow there. Then he began to climb.

It was strange to climb in this hollow, in one world dark and silent, another glittering, swirling, golden light. He found it easier to progress with the former, able to see his handholds in the gloom.

Every few yards, he yanked the blade free from its purchase, and made another hold for him to move further. Finally, he reached the ceiling, where the runnels that guided the mana to the exit above made for handholds, allowing him to monkey his way across the ceiling, his legs dangling, one slip from a bone-breaking fall below.

So it was some relief when he made it to the tunnel itself, manoeuvring his body to spreadeagle across the entrance, looking down into the warren of channels, holes and strange carvings beneath.

He secured his place with the dagger, digging it deep into a fissure in the rock within. If this was to be the moment of his blossoming, he knew he might fall in the distraction of his pain. This, at least, would keep him from death.

He was almost scared to enter the trance. For he could feel the mana coating his body, his body tingling all over as it was covered in the invisible golden dust. This was different to above. For here, the mana was concentrated into a single pipe, blasting him with fast-moving particles he could not yet see.

Jai pulled the vial free from his pocket, yanking its cork with his teeth. He gulped it down, grimacing at the acrid taste. It was metallic, and earthy. Mushrooms, then.

I should have guessed.

He thought he might have to wait to feel its effects, but it was almost immediate. His body felt... liquid. It was hard to keep his limbs stiffened, holding him in place. And his vision... it was alive.

The world was a mess of fractal lines, patterns appearing in searing blue in his vision. Within the dark cavern, he was seeing the mathematics of the carvings, the patterns in the stone. A hallucinogen, he was sure. But something else too was happening to his core. Its surface rippled, the raised lines of his core seeming to shift and move. Rearranging themselves into cleaner patterns, merging and melding mathematical perfection.

‘Jai!’ the Speaker called. ‘I know what you’re doing. It’s too dangerous!’

Jai ignored that, steeling himself. He could die here. He knew that.

But he also knew, if he did not reach the seventh level soon, he could not join the Caelite, and ask his favour of them. And he was beginning to understand what he had to do.

‘Come on,’ Jai hissed, urging himself on. ‘Come on!’

‘Jai!’ the Speaker yelled.

He gritted his teeth... and entered the trance.

Instantly, his world became filled with golden light, so bright he had to close his eyes. He could feel the rushing mana, the gale so strong he felt it might sand the flesh from his bones, so thick and voluminous it was.

He almost choked on his first lungful of mana, for it came the moment he entered the trance. But he centred himself and found it easier to take it in before it could overwhelm him.

His channels were swiftly alive with mana, the pale motes swirling through him, blazing into the chamber that held his core. Already, the mana was piling up against his core, the very surface rippling as more and more mana oozed through its surface, gathering thick and gelatinous within. It was not long before his core was full to the brim, and Jai could feel the pressure building. He could hardly see his core for the mana, the current that blasted it into his lungs like a roaring river.

His crystalline core swelled... the pressure continuing to grow. Jai felt the pain, at first dull and specific, then fierce and overwhelming, as he felt the very borders of his core begin to stretch. It was—

Agony.

He did not know where his mind began and his body ended. All was pain. He hung there, his hands and legs shaking as he held himself in place, the mana burning down his throat, bursting out of his eyes in glowing points of light.

His core rippled. Creaked.

His mind stayed firm:

More .

Jai took a huge, gasping breath, filling his body with a great lungful of mana. Felt it flood his core chamber, another layer upon the thick carpet of golden light that surrounded it, drawn there like a moth to a flame.

And with that, his core stretched... and Jai screamed, his soul splitting.

He did not feel his limbs fall limp. Nor did he hear the snap of the rope that held him. Only felt the lurch of his fall, and his core swelling.

Then nothing. Darkness.