Mark of the Fool

Chapter 808: What is Mana?

Alex didn't tell Professor ValRok everything about the Ravener.

He couldn't.

The archwizard left out the parts about the god being the one whod made the construct, about him being dead, and that hed engineered the Raveners endless cycles. He also left out the hidden church.

What he did talk about was how they wanted to shut the Ravener down forever, some of what theyd learned about the construct, and the challenges they were facing putting the different pieces together.

We think the Ravener is going to escalate soon, he said. Or do something completely unexpected. So the faster we can figure out how to permanently shut it down, the better. It doesn't matter much if we find it, but still can't stop it from coming back every hundred years to terrorise and kill people.

That sounds like quite the problem, Professor ValRok said. I don't know how much help I'll be able to give you, but everything you've told me about this construct sounds very interesting

Do you have any thoughts on how mana would flow between the dungeon cores and the Ravener, professor? Alex asked. Would there be a way to manipulate the mana in those pathways to our advantage? Anything you can think of?

Hmmmm, ValRok considered the question, staring at the ceiling for a moment while thinking aloud. How mana could flow across from one core to the nexthow you could manipulate that mana. Maybe it's a hiveno, that doesn't sound right. Or it could be that it's for an artificialno, that wouldn't be right either since it would require the cores to be very close in proximity. He looked at Alex. You said it converts fear into power?

Thats right, the young wizard said. So it must have its own mana producing ability, and an additional power source from all the fear it gets from the Thameish people, which is then channelled through the dungeon cores.

Alex remembered Hobbs words that fear would give the Ravener power over him. He tried not to dwell on that.

That's an interesting notion, ValRok said. That's something we haven't actually been able to do as wizards. Turning basic emotions and concepts into energythat's the domain of higher order beings from the outer planes. Demons, devils, engelithose sorts of creatures. I wonder

What is it, professor? Alex asked. Something about manipulating its mana pathways?

ValRok shook his head. No, not that. With the amount of mana youre theorising this thing has, I think trying to manipulate its mana through its pathways is a dead end. It'd be like trying to redirect the ocean with a single oar.

Could we build something that would be powerful enough to match its mana? Alex asked. Like some kind of super powerful construct?

The dungeon core essence is already centuries beyond what we've been able to achieve. I dont think we could make anything that would outdo the Ravener itself, as youre describing it. No, I'm wondering about something else.

What is it? Alex asked him. What are you thinking?

ValRok replied with a question. What is magic?

Pardon?

What is magic? the professor asked again.

Supernatural phenomenaoften outside the bounds of physics as we understand itcontrolled by mana or any other similar energy. By some definitions, divinity is a form of magic, but it behaves differently enough that most people don't consider it magic, Alex said.

Very good, ValRok said. And what is a magic circuit?

A magic circuit is the basic building block to all modern forms of spellcraft, Alex defined the term. Its a flowing, directed structure of energy that underpins a spell array. A magic circuits design tames mana, and makes it perform a function thats desired by a spellcaster.

Can a spell function without mana? ValRok asked.

No.

Can a construct function without mana?

no, Alex said. Are you suggesting we find a way to stop the Ravener from producing mana? That could work, but then it could still draw on the energy of the peoples fear. Also, any damage we do to it would just be repaired when it reconstitutes a hundred years from now.

Right, ValRok considered the idea. When it reconstitutes one hundred years from now. Huhthats interesting. Okay, so let's say there's a wagon at the top of a hill. What does the wagon do?

It sits there, Alex said. Unless there's something to pull or push it, a spell to animate it, or wind to push it down the hill.

Right, and once it starts going downhill? ValRok asked.

Itll keep going until something stops it. Friction, if nothing else, Alex said.

Exactly, Professor ValRok continued. And what would happen if there was no friction?

It would just keep moving, Alex said.

And what happens to it as it rolls down the hill, even with friction in place?

It would build up energy and momentum, Alex said.

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Very good, Professor ValRok said. So, that would be how the process continues, through momentum. Now what started the process? What started the wagon rolling down the hill?

Someone pushing it, animals pulling it, or wind pushing it, as in our example, Alex considered each question carefully.

And what would happen if none of those things occurred? Professor ValRok asked.

Itit wouldn't move. Alexs eyes narrowed. Because the wagon wouldnt have any energy on its own.

You are quite correct, Professor ValRok said. The wagon could not start its journey downhill, without an initial burst of energy to get it moving. Kinetic energy, in this case. At the same time, what does a golem need in order to function?

Alexs eyebrows rose. A golem core. The golem core is its brain, and its source of energybut He thought back to when he was first activating Claygons golem core, and activating other golems since he started working at Shales. But golems need an injection of energy to start their mana production. Without the initial energya golem core would only be a very expensive paperweight.

The young wizard frowned at the professor. Are you sayingthat the Ravener needs a source of energy to reconstitute itself?

I don't know, Professor ValRok said. All I know is that nothing in the universeas far as we knowcan be active without energy. Kinetic energy, electrical energy, mana, divinity, other forms of energy we cant even comprehend yetenergy is needed for anything to be done. When a lich re-creates its own body, it draws the power of its soul and the mana within it to reconstruct its form. When a phoenix rises from its own asheswell, to be truly honest, we don't fully understand how that works, but, we do know that a massive amount of energy is released when the firebirds are reborn.

Alex suddenly jumped out of his chair and started pacing. EnergyI think youre right. The Ravener would need a lot of power to rebuild itself from scratch, but it cant produce mana while its dead: it crumblesto dust when it's destroyed at the end of each cycle. There's no mana generator to generate mana.

He was considering his thought, when something occurred to him. Hold on now, its got two energy sources to drive it. Mana and peoples fear. It channels fear through its dungeon cores, but is that the only way it can access fear?

I honestly couldnt say, Professor ValRok said. Ive only gotten as far as the idea that energy must have a role in its resurrection process. Do you have any ideas?

Maybe. Alex thought about mana rising from the mana vents in the world. No one knew where those vents originated from, or where mana truly originated from. There were lots of theories, but nothing provable. Mana permeated the air, giving rise to people being born with mana pools as well as other creatures having mana flowing through their bodies andsouls.

But how Alex murmured. Professor, do we know how people gain mana pools in the first place?

When people are born in mana affected areas the professor started.

Alex cut him off. No, I know that people born in mana resourced areas tend to have mana poolsbut how do mana pools form? Do they form in the womb? In the eggs of egg-laying beings? Do they form in the soul?

Professor ValRok spread his hands helplessly. We don't know. We might never know.

But! Alex said. What we do know is that incorporeal creatureslike ghostscan have mana. You dont need a physical body in order to have mana. You just need to be able to absorb it from the air.

What are you saying? Professor ValRok asked.

What ifthe Ravener can draw on power while its physical body is destroyed, Alex said. What ifwhen its destroyedit can still draw on fear to power its resurrection? Cycles occur in Thameland every hundred yearswhen the end of a century gets closer, people worry, then dread sets in, then tension, and fear grows. Those things keep building until the Ravener comes back and then full blown terror takes over.

ValRoks eyes narrowed. Hold on, Alex, I think you might be looking at things a bit wrong.

What do you mean? the young archwizard asked.

We're focusing on mana and how it works, the professor said. But it sounds like the process you're describing is closer to divinity. Gods are powered by faith andif you have enough faith focused on a particular purposeyou can accomplish miracles, even without a deity.

Alex thought of Uldars body. Priests were still able to draw on his power without the god being alive. Their faith was simply focused on what the god symbolised: the divine king of Thameland, the prophet god on his throne.

Faith that fueled him, gathered in his sanctum

You might be right, professor, what if it is similar to divinity? Alex asked. All that fear would be focused on the Ravener: on what it symbolises, even when its dead, it increases as the end of a century approaches. Fear gathers in Thameland, and that energy buildsletting it resurrect itself.

Alex felt a sudden sense of dread. Wouldn't that mean that it was invincible? Wouldn't that mean they could never get rid of it? As long as there were people who knew what it had done in the past; and as long as there were people to remember the horrors of a cycle, the construct would always be feared.

It would always have that fear to draw on, and that would never end because it would never be forgotten, it would be expected to return. So what was he supposed to do? Find a way to wipe everyones memory?

Was that the only way to stop it from reforming?

Was the fact that people believed the Ravener would always come backwas that all that was needed for it to return? If so, what were they going to do?

Hobbs words came back again.

To fear it, would be to give it power over him.

Alex took a deep breath, acknowledging his rising panic and the fear that was building inside him, and let them pass.

What I need to do is to look at this from a different angle, he thought. Treat it like divinity, like Professor ValRok suggested. Okay, so it's true that you can accomplish miracles as long as you have enough faith, even if there is no deity to wield and channel that faithbut there would be limits to that wouldnt there? Uldar wasnt able to heal himself on faith alone, no matter how hard he tried.

His eyes narrowed, nearly closing. After he died, faith didn't resurrect him. It didn't resurrect Oreca, either, no matter how much his priests still believed in him. Baelin said you can't bring the dead back to life, as far as we know. Let's just say, that that holds truebut

Something kept nagging at him.

He'd seen Careys soultransformed by Hannahs divine powerreturn to the material world. Her transformation likely continued in the after-world. If or when she returned to the material world again, alongside Hannahif she couldshe would be different.

The Ravener keeps coming back, but its always the same, its still the same Ravener, Alex thought. And it has no soul to bring back from the after-world. So, what am I missing here? How does it reform? Maybe looking at it like divinity is the wrong tack? Maybe

He stopped.

His eyes grew wide.

Hed been looking at Uldar and Careybut what about Hannah?

Uldar hadnt been able to heal himself or resurrect after dying, but Hannah had the ability to grow, to affect the material world, even from across the veil between life and death. And there was a lot less faith being channelled to her than there was to Uldar.

Alex suspected why that difference could be.

Hannah's teleportation power allowed her to cross distances and boundaries. It allowed Alex's faith in her to pour into the after-world, empowering her soul to become a demigoddess. That power was what was sparking her ascension.

The Ravener didnt share that powerhe, Kelda and Hannah would have sensed it, if it had teleportation energybut what if there was something else?

What if there was some inner process that Uldar had put into the Ravener, allowing it to gather fear even when it had been destroyed?

What would happen if that process was rewritten?

An idea hit him.

Something Selina had talked about.