The group had safely made it back to their campsite by nightfall. Jahora and Leaf retired to the wagon early, the gnome dragging her feet from a long day of spellcasting while the half elf wished to take a break from covering all of their - mostly Helbram’s - tracks. The armored man was once again standing guard at the edge of their clearing, his ears listening for any sounds from within the forest’s shadowy depths.

The claymore remained embedded in the ground like before. He had not picked it back up since his previous failure at spellcasting and recent events had left his body too tired to practice with it. Still, in the dead of night, his thoughts could not help but wander back to it, back to the prospect of casting that spell correctly this time.

He scoffed, “Best not to tempt fate this day…” he said.

In less than a minute, he was back in front of the sword, hand wrapped around the handle and a resigned sigh parting from his lips.

“Well, it seems I truly am a fool.”

He kept his hand wrapped around the handle as he prepared the spell, a small hope in his mind that this act would somehow facilitate a successful cast. Once again he formed the image of the glyph in his mind, bending the scant amount of Aether he could harness in the same tedious process as before. A gentle warm gathered at his palm with time, and when he felt the glyph form in its entirety he released the spell onto the sword. Like before, a thin line of pale blue light traced down the blade and into the ground. Like before, the Aether surged back, bursting from the handle and knocking Helbram’s hand back. Unlike before, he held little hope in the spell succeeding, and his hand left the handle by the time the weapon started to reject the spell, leaving him with little more than a light sting at his fingertips.

“Truly a fool…” he muttered

“Helbram?”

Jahora’s head poked out from her illusion, a mix exhaustion and curiosity on her face, “I didn’t know you were a mage.”

Helbram laughed, “Hardly. Think of me more like an infant waddling about.”

“Oh come now, no need to disparage yourself so,” she said, the tiredness slowly leaving her face. She walked over to him and examined the sword, irises glowing with their familiar purple light, “Judging from the structure… a storage spell correct?”

Helbram nodded, “That’s the intent at least,”

“Mind if I take a look?”

“By all means, but it may be inadequate compared to the ones you’ve been casting all day…”

He repeated the spell, taking note of Jahora’s increasingly widening eyes the longer he took to form the spell. When the glyph fully formed at his palm he held it out for Jahora to see.

“Let’s see… the formation is correct and the spell itself is structurally sound, but the Aether stored in the spell is…”

“Too little?”

“That, and unstable. You have the shape but the Aether within it does not match the structure. Think of it like pounding a blade into the mold of a hammer head.”

“I see. Well, as you can tell it takes quite a bit to even manage such a meager attempt. No doubt that there are issues with my own manipulation of Aether during the process.”

“Yes… how long have you been practicing?”

Helbram snorted, “Near around a decade and a half now.”

Jahora choked, “I… well,”

“Quite a bit of time for such failure, correct? No need to sweeten such words, I’ve already accepted it,” he let the spell dissipate from his palm, “doesn’t stop me from running a fool's errand from time to time, however.”

“M-maybe you just need guidance, if you’d let me I could help you direct the Aether into the spell properly…”

Helbram wanted to tell her that he was already familiar with such methods. That he’d gone through it time and time again, memorized the flow of Aether across his fingertips to the point that he’d be able to paint it with his eyes closed, illustrate the fiction that his mind refuses to make a reality. The words were at his throat; bitterness and bile lining the voice that was to say them, but the pity in her tone gave him pause. He released it all in a sigh.

“Please do,” he said as he held his hand out.

When Jahora took his hand he felt the familiar buzz of Aether surround them, first flowing to the gnome before transferring over to him. In this connected state, he could see two rings of Aether circling around Jahora’s head.

“A second circle mage? Quite impressive.”

She smiled sheepishly, “Well I still have a ways to go…”

Her hand tensed for a moment before the Aether around them condensed once again to the palm of his hand. The glyph had formed once more, this time in a near instant and with a steady pulse of Aether radiating from its center. Even with his limited sense for Aether, Helbram could tell that this was a far superior version of the spell, but that was to be expected.

“Give it a try,” Jahora said.

He nodded and reached for the claymore once more. As his hand wrapped around the hilt the sword was enveloped by Aether. The Aether then compressed, squeezing itself into a small bead before him before disappearing, taking the weapon along with it. As it did, he felt a presence at the back of his mind. It was faint, like a thought that had just begun to form but paused at the moment of realization. He just had to reach out for it and…

The bead of Aether returned, forming at his palm and eventually growing into the shape of the sword it took with it. He grasped that handle of the sword once more, but as he did the Aether sparked, jolting the air with erratic discharges of energy. The blade warped, snapping back into its bead-like form before dispersing in a violent burst of Aether that snapped his hand back and sent fire through his arm once again. He bit back the hiss at his lips and shook his hand to lessen the pain for a moment.

“I-I”m sor-”

“No need for apologies, truly,” Helbram said, “I’ve felt this many times before, and I will many times yet as the foolish notion strikes me again.”

“Maybe there is something I can do to help. I know its a two part spell so if I guided you through the release you could-”

“Jahora, it’s fine, really. No need to waste anymore of your energy,” he knelt down and put his burning hand on her shoulder, “You’ve a great help, I’ll be seeking your aid after we’ve taken care of all this business, if you’ll continue to guide me, of course.”

She smiled at him, “Of course.”

“In the meantime I’ve interrupted your sleep for long enough, we’ve got a fairly busy day tomorrow so get your rest.”

She nodded and bid him goodnight before returning back to the wagon, leaving Helbram alone once again in the clearing. He held out his hand, reaching once again for the presence that sat at the back of his mind. Before he pulled on it, he stopped, clenching his hand before returning it back to his side.

“That’s enough foolishness for now…”

He did nothing but keep watch for the next couple of hours before Leaf came out to replace him. Little words were exchanged between the two men at first, but as Helbram turned to leave Leaf stopped him.

“The Quetali, do you think we handle it?”

“It is said that they can manipulate Ether as easily as breathing, so there is a good chance that he is the Awoken that we’re going to have to deal with,” Helbram said, “So if we were to face him head on without a plan? No, I’d say not.”

He raised his fist towards Leaf, “But we have a plan, don’t we?”

Leaf smirked and bumped his fist against Helbram’s, “Aye, that we do.”

Helbram waved at the bowman before retiring to the wagon, where he quickly fell asleep as the day’s fatigue washed over him. Once again he found himself standing in the void, the faceless shape materializing in front of him. He stared at it for a moment, weapons hanging loosely in his hands. The figure readied itself, but did not strike.

The armored man sighed, “Well, let’s just get this over with.”