Chapter 14
Positive and Negative
Miasma paused on the long stair to catch her breath. The Outer Waste may be boring, but at least it was flat, she thought to herself. She was trying to be dutiful and not waste mana using the Academy teleportation system. After reporting Goatha's request to Jacques, he suggested that she update Lilly with their findings. As luck would have it, she was currently experimenting at the very top of the highest tower in the academy. Since the academy was erected with magic it didn't know the limitations of stonemasons. So the tower was high indeed.
While her heart returned to a semblance of a normal beat she admired the view. It was quite spectacular from this high. Troops drilling on the parade ground. Smoke drifting from the great ironwood chimney. The delicate shapes of the great Elfin gate amongst the Ancient ruins. The endless line of troglodyte wagons bringing iron infused bark chips to the smelter.
With a deep breath she pushed herself up and began to climb again. She was not young, but, thanks to the new magic, she wasn't old either. This was her third or possibly fourth career. If you counted motherhood. It was new, and interesting, and kept her busy. And then there was the whole making the world a better place aspect. She liked that too. But it didn't drive her quite the same way it drove many of the others. If was a good thing to do, so she did it. But she didn't let it stop her doing other things, like her art. If it did, then she'd have a harder time seeing it as a good thing.
Finally she reached the top of the tower. She took a swig from flask and mopped her brow with a bit of the cool water. So refreshed, she pushed the trap door up to the topmost room.
Only it was no longer a room. The conical roof had split and separated out of the way like the petals of a great flower. The view was even more amazing, but rather dizzying, there being no balustrade. She swayed slightly, caught herself, and looked to Lilly.
Lilly stood in the center of what was now a platform, staring upward with a look of intense concentration. Above her outstretched hands she could see two containment orbs, slowly filling. The one on Lilly's left throbbed with darkness. The light dimmed at its edges and faded to absolute black in the middle. She guessed it contained a gate to the extreme elemental plane of negative energy. The orb to Lilly's right made up for it by glowing with bright energy. The light was more than bright; it stabbed at the eyes in ways that were beyond what one could see. There was no doubt that it was filling with positive elemental energy.
Miasma could infer the patterns from the results and Lilly's motions. Lilly exerted herself both maintaining the fields, and also keeping them this close together. Positive and negative energy were the results of decayed elemental matter. They were polar opposites and formed the alternate ends of the mystical spectrum. They were not natural to the material plane and both repelled each other and sought to disperse.
Evidently the orbs were full enough, as Miasma saw a small canceling gesture from Lilly and they stopped getting larger. She left them drift further apart and worked another field between them. This contained the pattern Miasma was all too familiar with: the rectifier, but not in a configuration she understood. But when Lilly finished erecting that she left it unfettered and returned her concentration to the two containment orbs.
Miasma watched curiously as they drifted further apart, stopped for a moment, and then with a sudden gesture from Lilly they raced forcibly towards one another. They slowed slightly at the end, halfway through the rectifying field, as their repellant force started to overwhelm their velocity. At that point Lilly breached the containment on the inner side. Their force of dispersal got the better of them and jets of opposite energy raced out and combined in the middle.
There was a small yelp and a titanic explosion.
Lilly lowered her arms and observed the result. Stray strands of energy rocketed far and wide, degenerating into random elements and molecules. The main force of the blast had been caught by the rectifying field and drained into a mana bottle that slowly drifted down towards the platform. Lilly reached out, touched it, and drained the mana into the strategic mana reserve. She took out a notebook and began logging some figures. That was when she noticed the large brown egg next to her.
She looked at it curiously and removed a pair of plugs from her ears. She looked up at the drifting smoke, and back down at the egg. She walked around it and sent out a few probing spells.
“Most odd,” she said to herself. She could detect nothing through it. Not even a soul. She touched it with her hand and it felt smooth with no temperature at all. She pushed it and it wobbled slightly. She rapped it with her knuckled and it was unyielding.
Lilly put her notebook away and took out a small ring. From it hung samples of a variety of metals. All matter was made from the four basic elements. However they could be arranged in near infinite varieties producing the wealth of materials in the world. Different arrangements, however, had different properties. Some, such as Plubonium, also known as 'true lead', were inimical to magic. She selected this, grasped it firmly in her hand, and brought it down hard on the egg.
There was a loud crack and the egg disappeared with a resinous scent, releasing a startled looking Miasma, mid-yelp.
“Hello Miasma,” said Lilly unperturbed. “How did you get in there?”
“In where?” asked Miasma, trying to get her bearings.
“There was a large brown ellipsoid here a moment ago,” said Lilly.
“Oh, right,” said Miasma, sheepishly. “I was watching your spell, and when it went off I guess it triggered my stasis field.”
“I'm sorry,” Lilly apologized. “I must not have heard you through the earplugs.” She offered her a hand up.
“That's OK,” said Miasma. “You looked kind of busy.”
“Annihilation is a tricky thing,” said Lilly.
“A new weapon?” asked Miasma.
Lilly cocked her head. “That's a possibility, I guess. Mostly it is for energy research. It does not take much mana to open a small gate to the extreme ends of the elemental planes. The natural pressure brings the substance forth. When forced to interact it annihilates, releasing energy.”
“Does it release more than it takes to contain?” asked Miasma.
“Almost,” said Lilly. “But it's quite... erratic.”
Miasma looked up at the dispersing cloud, and then swayed. “I don't suppose you could close the roof?”
Lilly made a gesture and the flower segments started to close up again. She then looked back to Miasma. “What is the nature of this... stasis field?”
“It's a double anmanic field with an added physical repellent in the middle,” she explained. “It's something Moss and I cooked up in the outer waste to try to keep Eadwyn alive.”
They discussed the specifics of the field for a while. Lilly brought out some wine and fruit which she shared with a grateful Miasma. “I keep a stock up here,” Lilly explained. “It's a long walk.”
“You don't need to tell me that!” said Miasma. She then brought Lilly up to date with their possible breakthrough with the vortices in the Outer Waste.
“I'm glad to hear that,” said Lilly. “I will suspend the annihilation work then. At least until we know the vector of their progress.”
“Have the neighbors complained?” asked Miasma, laughing.
“No,” said Lilly. “It isn't in their nature to complain. It's a military town after all. But, based on your experience with the vortex storms I fear that a random fluctuation would exceed my safety controls.”
“Boom,” said Miasma. “I'll write down the pattern combinations for the stasis field. Sounds like you could use it.”
“Thank you,” said Lilly. “But I think I know someone who might be able to use it more.”