A twisting, pulling sensation in the centre of her being grounds Emily as she blinks and finds herself standing on a soft bed of grass, looking out over a rolling plain. The sun is high in the cool, blue sky, but the rich, vibrant green of the landscape steals all of her attention, almost forcing her to ignore the odd discrepancies in the space surrounding her.

The longer she looks, the easier it becomes to recognise the strange, repetitive nature of the geographical features around her, and, as she finally tears her eyes away from the ground, she notices the lack of clouds in the sky, with not a single bird visible in the vast expanse.

It's almost like the oasis barrier but reversed; an illusion to make the space feel larger than it is.

She turns around towards the only mana signature she can detect, other than the ambient wind and spatial mana suffusing the air, which is faint but recognisable thanks to all her frozen time in The Mist's chamber analysing it.

Emily sees a quaint cottage, built from wood and thatch, and only two stories tall. Its front face is dotted with small windows, and the acacia door stands slightly ajar, as if inviting her in.

She approaches cautiously, letting her own presence wash over the not-so-humble dwelling to alert the sole inhabitant of her arrival.

"Hello?" she calls out, stepping across the threshold of the house and pushing the door out of the way.

She's met with a cross between a kitchen and a living room, with a magical fire burning away in a wooden fireplace. There are two plush chairs set facing the flame, with a coffee table between them and a dining table behind. The kitchen is fully furnished, with a crystal-burning stove and ice-cold food cupboards for convenience, and the light of the mid-morning sun perfectly peeks through the windows behind them, illuminating the food preparation station with natural light.

"One moment," a deep, aged voice calls down from above. "Make yourself comfortable. There's a kettle in the corner and cups in the cupboard below if you want them."

Emily glances towards the narrow stairwell in the opposite corner to the kitchen, but seeing no movement, she decides to follow her host's advice. She settles down in one of the chairs before the fire, taking out her own tea set and beginning her brew as she scans the seat beneath her with mana and machina, admiring the self-cleaning and texture adjustment enchantments woven into the fabric to achieve maximum comfort.

The sound of slow, steady footfall on creaking wood reaches her ears as her herbs finish steeping and she pours two cups. She sets her teapot down and turns her head to watch her host's entrance.

The hem of his deep purple robes comes into view first, covered in faintly-glowing traces of purple and green. Next, his hands, clasped in the small of his back, which look shrivelled but well-kept, with clean, uniformly cut nails. Finally, his face, twisted with age and set in a stern but not unfriendly expression. He has two piercing green eyes that hold Emily's gaze, and she can see faint flecks of purple deep within them. His hair is thin and white, with a bald patch in the centre and the edges growing down to join his equally pale beard that stops halfway down his chest.

"It's been many years since I've had a guest," he says, moving towards the empty seat by the fire with surprising grace. "Let alone one who lets themselves in. I don't believe that's ever happened."

"My apologies," Emily says, choosing to err on the side of caution as she recognises Gaius Longaeva from the many depictions she's seen of his youth, "but I just couldn't resist paying you a visit when I realised what was hiding within The Mist."

"Haha, that's quite alright, lass, I wasn't complaining." He reaches out and takes the cup of tea prepared for him, taking a sip without any concern for possible poisoning. "Mmm, this is exquisite. I have to say, alchemy is not a field I've ever strayed into, but I hold those who have the patience for it in high regard. Not everyone can accept a hundred failures for a single success."

"Personally, I find the process only makes the end result that little bit sweeter."

"Ha, I couldn't have put it better myself. If only more had your mentality, maybe then I wouldn't have kept my solitude for the past few hundred years. I have to say, though, you unravelled my masterpiece unnervingly quickly for someone so comfortable with failure."

"Well," Emily says, pausing to take a sip from her cup. "A woman has her secrets. It's some beautiful runework, though, I've never seen an array quite so complete. I wouldn't even have been able to get here if I weren't so familiar with connecting to nature."

Gaius raises a curious brow, stroking his beard as Emily takes off the scarf half wrapped around her head and lays it in her lap, setting her metal hand down flat on top.

"You tried to commune with the source?" he muses, stating his thoughts as an unsure fact.

"Is that what you call it? I simply reached out to the mana vein, and it didn't reach back. I've found that mana's a lot smarter than people give it credit for."

A flash of realisation strikes in Gaius' gaze, and he straightens as an excited smile graces his features. His hidden circles are unveiled, pulsing with a heavy density Emily's never felt in another mage. The mana filling him is tainted purple and green, and there's at least enough to fill her own reserves by half.

He's started the process of attributing his mana! He's got a lot too, that's probably forty, fifty thousand in the system's terms. I'm surprised he hasn't formed a true elemental connection, but he was probably the closest to becoming the first true elementalist on this planet before I awakened.

"You have some incredible insight," he beams. "I don't believe I've introduced myself. I'm Gaius Longaeva, Founder of The Covenant, and fourth circle spatial mage. It's a pleasure to meet you."

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"Emily Coldstone, Technomancer at the fourth circle and stage, and the pleasure is mine." She lets cold machina dance up her arm, flickering out into the air with a buzzing hum. "I've heard a lot about you, Modo's Demon, and the notes you left in the library were very helpful."

Gaius tears his eyes away from the foreign energy coating her arm at the mention of his hidden pocket tucked away behind a puzzle in The Dome.

"You read them? But I haven't felt it open," he says, his smile only growing as the air twists with his excitement, distorting Emily's spatial senses but doing her no harm as her own energies push back. "Right, a woman has her secrets."

A genuine smile stretches Emily's cheeks as she burns machina to enhance the joy of meeting an equal. Though she's certain she could beat him in a fight, she's also sure she wouldn't come out unscathed, and the thought of challenging him flashes by.

"You mentioned your uncertainty as to the existence of the fifth circle, correct?" she asks, receiving an eager nod to continue. "Do you believe yet?"

Her eyes drop to his heart for a fraction of a second before coming back to meet his.

"Yes," he answers resolutely. "Do you?"

"No." Emily shakes her head, watching Gaius' expression shift to disbelief with a hint of disappointment. "I know."

His eyes narrow in suspicion.

"On what basis?" he asks, his voice dropping a little as his mana sharpens near imperceptibly.

"I've told you already, haven't I?"

She watches the gears turn in his head, savouring a different kind of battle.

"I'm the youngest, and strongest, fourth circle mage on this planet," Emily starts, feeling Gaius' mana soften as he takes her at her word, clearly able to feel the overwhelming level of energy filling her. "I'm a dual awakened who discovered the vocation of mechanic on this world, and I've said mana speaks to me. Through this connection, I've discovered the method to reach fifth circle. Or at least, one of them."

They both take a sip of their tea, letting their presences linger in the space between words, still fighting a peaceful war to claim space as the herbs in the brew inject them with energy.

"You've already begun taking the first steps, and I'm prepared to shine light on a few more if you're open to trade."

"And what would you be asking for in return?" Gaius questions cautiously but not dismissively.

"Your insights into space, and even your baseline affinity, are clearly much greater than mine, and I'd simply quite like to pick your brain. A few good spells would suffice if you're reluctant to go deeper."

"None of that," he responds, waving her off and almost sounding offended, but with no heat behind it. "If you can help me reach the next level, I'd gladly turn over my entire fortune, let alone some answers I'm already willing to give. I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"Perfect," Emily grins, draining her tea and pouring another cup, "well, in that case, I should start with the difference between arcanists and elementalists."

***

"I think that marks the end of my time here, unfortunately," Emily says, drawing the long-cold tea set back into her belt and preparing to leave. "I made a deal with Arthur and only had twenty-four hours to look at The Mist; my advice on improving it was part of that deal."

"Well, thank you, but does it look like you're in that cavern right now? Because it doesn't to me," Gaius responds with a cheeky grin unbecoming of a five hundred and thirty-four-year-old. "If you want to leave, just tell me. Besides, I already sent a message to that child when you got here, and he can't say no to me, so stay as long as you want."

"You hold that much power over the country still?" she questions, relaxing back into her chair to continue analysing the twisting flow of space that makes up Gaius' manifestation.

"I was there when the original laws were written. That had certain benefits, like a clause denying the country any right to my Covenant's leadership and lands. While we're so closely entwined with the country that it's almost impossible to differentiate our members from their nobility, I made sure to ensure the lines could never break, only blur a little."

"Is that why you're ignoring their current disputes?"

"What, their petty squabble over a little mental magic?" Gaius scoffs with obvious disdain. "I couldn't care less about what they do as long as they keep cultivating talents. Some of them were getting a little close to tipping my hand, but I can see you're in the process of fixing that for me, so I'll keep to myself."

"I would have thought you'd be pushing for releasing magical knowledge to increase the rate of talent intake, but you're indifferent?" Emily questions, more than a little curious as she forms some skewers with a drop of metallic mana and pulls chunks of archite flesh from her belt.

"Ah, yes, Ambrosius' ideology." Gaius nods, accepting an offered skewer and holding it out to roast in his fireplace. "She was right, but Arthur the First was set in his ways, and the continent had been through enough unrest when he made his throne that I didn't think it worth dividing our power over such a minor matter. He was already preparing methods to gather talent, so I left it as is. By the time his son came around and saw sense, the system was operating to a sufficient degree. I've never stopped trying to reach the next level and found solitude my best hope."

Emily scoffs, sprinkling a mix of spices on her own skewers and cooking them with a steady stream of steam from her left palm.

"What? You think I made the wrong choice?" Gaius asks, not taking offence.

"I won't comment on the rest, since my stance is clear and my goals are separate from your own, but I completely disagree with solitude being the answer," she explains, letting darkness and water seep from and twine around her metal fingers. "Some of the greatest leaps in my understanding of magic have come from observing others, whether that be people or nature. I'm of the solid belief that only through experiencing the greater wonders of the world can we come to truly bend it to our will."

"I see…" Gaius hums, watching the elements dance across her hand in a mesmerising show as they eat, settling into a comfortable silence.

Emily switches between elements slowly, going from burning earth to frigid winds as smoothly as from dark to light. She forms raging wolves and beating wings, letting her mana swim through the air without a fixed form, occasionally tinting it with space and observing the difference between her own understanding and Gaius' as he joins in, forming stars from wind and motes of twisted light from space.

"Would you care for a tour of my study?" Gaius asks a short while after they've set down their food, finally breaking the silence.

"Of course." Emily nods, rising from her seat and offering her host a hand up. "I'd love to see where you've wasted away for hundreds of years."

He snorts, pulling himself up while testing the grip of her metal hand before letting go and gesturing towards the stairs.

"You've made your point. I'll consider going on a trip later. I do want to see this Abyss you've found, but for now, allow an old man his comforts."

He leads her up the stairs with steps too firm and confident to suggest any issues relating to his age, and, instead of stepping into a quaint space like below, they enter a film of dense mana, several times as thick as downstairs, and a room ten times the size. The runes for a mana gathering array, focused on wind and space, are carved into every surface Emily can see, from the massive bookshelf covering one of the walls to the large desk opposite it, covered in half-written pages.

"I'm quite proud of the expansion charm in here," Gaius says, leading her towards the bookshelf to grab some of the tomes detailing the spell. "It's linked to the mana vein to maintain the maximum comfortable mana density for my meditation while slowly expanding using any excess."

"Fascinating. That gives me several ideas, and you've used a completely different methodology from my approach when I made portable expanded chambers in my airship."

"Really?"

"Yes, you see how you've connected collection and distortion here…"

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