Ascension of the elder

Chapter 24: Crystal Mansion

"Well now that's different."

When the mana had completed the start up cycle and began powering the associated arrays there was a burst of light. This wasn't unexpected as when a mana crystal reaches saturation it would release a mana burst initiating the surrounding arrays so they would in turn start absorbing the mana, it's like jump starting a car.

What was unusual was in this burst Kyle could see a series of arrays. These arrays didn't come from the ones install in the room or in the mansion itself but instead from the mana crystal. The ability to inscribe arrays in mana crystals doesn't exist or at least it has been lost to history. Even Kyle didn't think this was possible but seeing this realised he was limiting himself to the knowledge of this world even if he was advancing it using his own views and mindset, he was still being influenced by the common knowledge available to him.

The arrays that were contained in this mana burst were invisible to everyone else's eyes but Kyle could see it due to his soul sight. The arrays were beautiful and artfully constructed, however the glyphs used in these arrays were unusual, looking at their layout it appeared more precise and somehow more elegant than the glyphs currently used.

Kyle decided the most likely situation was that language had evolved over time. As these arrays must be ancient they used an older form or dialect in the creation of the glyphs like comparing old English to contemporary English. As the arrays were passing his eyes Kyle was concentrating on the glyphs which composed these arrays as they may hold a different power or strength than those currently in use.

As the light began to pass Kyle noticed that the arrays being projected in the light were all damaged or out of tune somehow. Connecting this to the state of the other forts like this within the city Kyle believed that something must have occurred causing the mana to somehow run wild and either destroyed or damaged the other buildings of this type, just leaving this lone sentry standing to this time.

The damaged arrays began to return to the crystal as the light dimmed but Kyle wanted to know more, so he approached the crystal and placed his hand directly on it and extended his soul sight hoping to get some answers. As his soul sight resolved within the mana crystal Kyle inspected the location his mind generated. It appeared nothing more and nothing less than a crystal copy of his manor. He could see through the walls in the mana to where all the arrays connected to the mana stone were.

Turning his sight to the location of the formation chamber Kyle could see many arrays within the room. Some of these arrays were new and must have been placed by his mother and other array masters over the years, but beneath these new rougher arrays Kyle began to uncover the older arrays. He could tell the older ones from the newer as the older arrays appeared gold whereas the newer arrays appeared to be almost red in colouration.

Delving into the older arrays Kyle found several which had a more elegant form of the glyph for defence and the control ring around them was far more complicated. These arrays were for the most part damaged, they were still receiving mana which kept them from deteriorating further but they are by no means functional. He could feel his mana trace within these arrays so he knew they had recognised him as the master of the manor and would do no damage to him and e could repair them without fear of response.

Focusing on the defence arrays Kyle began the task of untangling the connections to the power source and repairing the control ring. Kyle didn't know what could damage an array in this way but then again he never knew you could inscribe arrays in a mana crystal so he decided to treat this as a learning experience.

Starting with the simplest array that he could recognise the language of clearly Kyle progressed with the repair quite easily circulating his mana through the damaged array before it responded and began directing his mana itself. This was a function of the more complex control ring which if it hadn't been past a certain point would have allowed the array to heal itself. When the array began its self repair Kyle could see which glyph was drawing and directing his mana.

"It wouldn't be sensible that if they had this facility to maintain the arrays they wouldn't have a repair array for the whole formation."

Talking to himself Kyle began to look for occurrences of this 'healing' glyph as the centre of any arrays. In short order Kyle found one of these arrays, noting its location he looked for other arrays of this and similar types while the defensive array was still using his mana to repair itself.

After inspecting the 'crystal mansion' from top to bottom Kyle had found 5 'healing' arrays. 1 of the arrays was located at each of the 4 corners of the mansion while the last was within the crystal itself. Each of these arrays was in turn protected by 2 small scale defensive arrays. These arrays were of the 'barrier' type but still used the more elegant glyphs which Kyle had decided were the root of the current use of glyphs in array craftsmanship. There was an additional 8 defensive arrays of a larger scale which when activated would overlap creating a defence over the whole mansion this array was different as this carried a glyph meaning 'shield'. This 'shield' array has been in use in its contemporary form but only on a small scale.

A 'shield' array would usually be used when you didn't want things to pass as it created a physical defence blocking things from passing through but due to a lack of flexibility in use people tended to use 'barrier' arrays instead. His 'shield' arrays were far more complex than those seen today and as the controller of the formation chose he could allow things to pass the shield in a single direction.

There were many other arrays but Kyle needed to study them to learn their secrets but he became distracted by a series of arrays around the outer walls. These arrays had glyphs like 'lightning', 'fire', 'sword', 'arrow' and 'banish'. Yup you guessed it these were offensive arrays and Kyle got all hot and bothered when he saw this as who wouldn't want to summon fire and lightning on their enemies.

This place was truly a fortress which begs the question who and how did they destroy the arrays and possibly other places like this? Deciding not to worry for now Kyle focused on repairing the defence array first. This was completed shortly before Kyle concentrated on repairing the 'healing' array in the centre of the formation.

It took a good 30 minutes of concentration before Kyle could complete the repair on this array as he had to be careful with all its complexities. Once Kyle finished he took a breath relaxing his tired mind. Repairing this array was a much harder process than he thought it would be as the mana and concentration required almost drained his tank. Looking towards one of the other 'healing' arrays Kyle wondered how long it would take to complete the repairs.

Fortunately when Kyle looked at this array he saw a flow of mana already circulating within it. Tracing this back he found this energy was coming from the central 'healing' array which was drawing its mana directly from the mana crystal. Deciding to step back and just watch Kyle looked at the other arrays and found the 4 'healing' arrays were being repaired simultaneously but none of the others were. This self repair was much faster as the array was programmed in how to repair the other arrays and Kyle could see the correct way to repair and create these arrays.

Once the other 4 arrays were functional 1 of these arrays sent some energy back to the core 'healing' array cleaning up the patch job Kyle had done to it before all of these arrays started repairing the other arrays. This was just awesome like seeing a behemoth coming back to life.

As the arrays were being repaired there were some changes. Once a 'banishment' array was functional it began to eradicate the newer arrays, some of these were just removed while others were replaced with different arrays mimicking the functionality of those removed like the 'light' and 'water' arrays leading Kyle to believe that the mansion may be in some form intelligent or t least adaptive. This was probably due to some of the arrays which Kyle didn't know the meaning of. But he decided to take this as a good thing as his mana was now traced throughout all the arrays in the mansion due to him being the source at the first 'healing' array.

The others had found Kyle a while ago but had seen him standing with his hand on the mana crystal and his eyes were closed. What made them not approach him however was that where his hand was in contact with the crystal was surrounded by a glowing gold array. Not knowing what to do they decided to just wait for Kyle to finish what he was doing and they would only step in if he appeared to be in danger.

After about 50 minutes Kyle opened his eyes before blinking slightly and turning to the others.

"Oh sorry did I make you wait long?"

"It's okay it has only been about an hour. What were you doing?"

Shauna was the first to respond but she really wanted to know what Kyle was doing.

"Okay as long as you're fine. I was just fixing some of the arrays, we've got company."

Kyle responded as he looked up almost as if he could see through the floor. As his mana was in all the arrays he could tap into the sensor arrays allowing him to know that someone was approaching.

The others froze for a second not knowing how to respond to Kyle's sudden statement before he began to head out of the formation chamber and towards the entranceway. The others began to follow after a moment's hesitation.

"By the way Bruno, Miranda you should go and speak to your parents as soon as possible to see about the living situation. If you need me I'll be either here or at the craftsmen's dining hall."

Kyle hadn't forgotten his promise to Randall and as soon as he'd finished with his guests he would head over there. Bruno and Miranda knew Kyle was talking about them moving into the mansion as he'd said earlier. So they hurried behind him so they could discuss this with their families.

"Good evening."