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again bringing Swift-wing with her. "How goes your research now, Raven?"
Arella asked.
I sighed. "Well, I'm done. Unfortunately, the answer isn't good. I'm afraid
the idea you gave me won't work - but at least I understand what's happened in
the Dead Zones better, now."
"Can you explain it to me?" Arella asked, smiling.
"Hrm. Well, the math is a bit complicated and would take me several days to go
through with you, but I can try to explain it by analogy. You see, I was
trying to solve the problems with the assumption that the mana-flow in the
areas was totally disordered, like the random flames of a fire. It's not. It's
more like each frequency of Mana is the strings of a harp. Normally, each
spell sounds only a specific string on the harp. The spell that made each of
the Dead zones doesn't sound just one string of the harp, or even a handful of
strings. It sounded ALL of them, at once, and hard. It's as though you went up
to the harp, and slapped a board across all the strings at once. The result is
a discordant sound, a noise - but it's not pure chaos. As time passes, the
harmonics inherent in each string will cancel out many of the others, and
slowly the noise from the harp will fade into a few chords, then finally
silence. My idea was that a large enough blast might snuff out the fire if it
was weak enough - like snapping my staff in a Dead Zone, for instance.
Unfortunately, it's not a fire, and the type of energy released by snapping my
staff would only spark a Mana-storm in a Dead Zone - and the larger the
dead-zone, the bigger the Mana-storm."
"Well, if we're plucking the strings in the first place, can't you reach out
and grasp each vibrating string of the harp and still it, then move onto the
next?" Swift-wing asked.
"No, I'm afraid not. The gods might have the power to reach out and still each
string, but no mortal does. The way we are getting the 'harp' to sound when we
cast spells is not by physically plucking the strings. It's more like singing
a clear note next to the harp - the string closest to the note you sing
vibrates sympathetically. It's tiring to sing loud enough to do it, and it
takes a great deal of training and skill to hit the right note you want, but
if you do it right, the string vibrates, and the spell happens."
"Ah - so with that analogy, the reason why you and Arella can cast spells and
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an ordinary person can't is because they were born mute," Swift-wing said,
brightening.
"In essence, yes," I said, smiling at him.
"So how did the mages who made the Dead Zones sound all the strings at once?"
Swift-wing asked.
"By devising a spell that literally ripped their bodies apart, blasting them
to vapor - one voice, for a brief moment, split into an infinity of voices,
the energy of their dying strike lending force to their sound. Literally, they
sounded the 'harp' in this analogy with their death-scream," I said, and both
Arella and Swift-wing shuddered while I tapped the formula on one of the
sheets before me. "This is the formula for the spell they used. Having finally
understood what it was they did, I reverse-engineered the formula from the
effect. It's a greater, more refined version of the Spell of the Final Strike.
Whoever discovered this in the first place must have truly been a genius."
"Why do you say that?" Swift wing asked, fluffing his feathers nervously. "It
seems to me a rather silly thing to do to even consider a spell that causes
your own destruction."
"Precisely the reason why this person was a genius, my friend. You can't
experiment with a spell like this to see if you have the formula right. If you
have it wrong, nothing happens. If you have it right, you die. That means
whoever discovered how to do this in the first place did it entirely from
theory - no experimentation at all. A true genius. I wish I had met him in my
previous life. I'd have loved to have had the opportunity to sit down with a
mind of that quality and discuss theory for a few hours," I said, and smiled.
Arella sighed. "It's just so sad, Raven. To even consider a spell like this...
Who were they, I wonder, to have made such a sacrifice?"
"I don't know, Arella. The Invaders came to Hyperborea at least two decades
after I died. It's possible this was someone I knew, but it's also possible
they were a mere child when I was in my declining years. Whoever he or she
was, they were very brave and noble to make such a sacrifice," I replied
quietly. 'Or very desperate and suicidal,' I thought to myself.
"Oh! Raven! If you figured out the formula, couldn't another person figure it
out, too?! We might be in danger!" Swift-wing squawked. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
