The only intact cell near the site of the explosion was the one Serenity had noticed with the semi-functional runic shield. It didn’t even have much rubble inside it, even though the adjoining cells had their entrances partially buried. It looked like what little was in the cell had rolled in after the explosion, when the barrier in front of the cell failed again.

The cell would be a good place to dig from, since it seemed less damaged than the corridor. It would also give him a place to put rubble as he removed it; he didn’t know how deeply Tirmanak was buried or even how bad the damage really was. It was entirely possible that the explosion had “only” brought down a single ceiling; after all, it wasn’t all in a hole and there were floors below this one.

After only a few minutes of digging, Serenity noticed a man-shaped figure made of mana digging next to him. It hadn’t been there a moment before and its appearance startled Serenity enough that he dropped the chunk of stone he was carrying.

“Where did you…” Serenity bit off the last two words in the question as he realized that it wasn’t a person; it was a spell. A temporary solid creation. It seemed to be made from a mixture of Light and Darkness Affinity mana, with some sort of mana-thread binding the two Affinities together; perhaps it was the Affinity Tirmanak used for his oathbinding skills?

It almost had to be Tirmanak’s creation. He was the other person alive here, and Serenity had seen him use all of the relevant Affinities. Its presence confirmed that Tirmanak was both alive and trapped under the rubble. “Was this the spell you were working on during the fight?”

There was no response, but it almost had to be. A spell like that would take time to cast, and there simply hadn’t been enough time since the ceiling fell for Tirmanak to do so. It wasn’t even close. A homunculus would also have been very helpful in the fight; it was almost certainly Tirmanak’s plan.

Serenity wasn’t sorry about interrupting the plan.

As he dug through the rubble, shifting it to the back of the intact cell, Serenity kept an eye on the homunculus. He knew several different spells that would have a similar effect, but none of them used a nonphysical Affinity like Light or Darkness; he always had to use a physical base, even if it was only mana imitating the real world.

Solid, Liquid, Vapor; those three Affinities were simple to use to affect the physical world, and he’d used all of them. Earth, Water, and Air in a more traditional magical layout. There were reasons why they were common. The next most common, Fire, wasn’t a state of matter; it was simply a hot, bright Vapor fueled by an exothermic reaction (usually combustion). Serenity had Plasma instead, which was strange to work with and difficult to use for anything that wasn’t destructive. He’d tried using it as the basis for mana constructs in his past life and found that there were very few places where it was better than any of the other alternatives. It worked poorly, not quite as well as Vapor at the same Affinity, but was far more destructive. It was also far more mana-intensive.

Serenity had seen quite a few other Affinities used. Metal and Rock both fell within his Solid affinity, while Wood and Nature were, oddly enough, closer to his old Life Affinity. Vengeance had tried to get his Life Affinity to work, but as with most things about the Affinity, it didn’t. Death, on the other hand, he had managed. It was a horribly inefficient way to build something that was little more than an undead creature; it was better to use existing dead matter if he wanted it to affect the solid world. It did work well for making imitation Wraiths, Nightmares, and Banshees, on the other hand.

Life and Death were the closest he’d ever seen, and they both had a deep relationship with matter even though they weren’t exactly physical properties. He didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone use Light or Darkness; it would almost be like using the Arcane Affinity. How would that even work? Arcane was great for bouncing back magic, but it didn’t work on physical projectiles.

Serenity could understand Light or Darkness including temperature, but how did it move things?

Either there was something weird about Tirmanak’s Light and Darkness Concepts or Serenity was missing something about his Binding Concept. Serenity was leaning towards it being the Binding Concept, since he didn’t understand that well, but he couldn’t be certain.

He’d just reached that conclusion when he saw the rubble shift a little. It was below the floor level by now; apparently the floor was more damaged than he’d realized. “Tirmanak?”

A loud groan came from the rubble pile, followed by Tirmanak’s voice. “Yeah. I’m under here. Thanks for the warning; it gave me time to reinforce my shield, I have some bruises and I’m stuck but I think that’s all. Ugh. I hate that. Why did he Final Strike? It makes no sense.”

Serenity shrugged, then realized Tirmanak couldn’t see him. “No idea, I don’t understand fanatics. You know something about the Eternal Church? I assume that was who he was with?” Serenity went back to digging while he listened to Tirmanak.

“Yeah, the clothing’s pretty distinctive. A priest and four acolytes.” Tirmanak paused and seemed to try to move, because the rubble shifted again. “I almost wish I could stay to see what you find out, but I still need to leave in a day or so. I’d like to hear what you discover the next time you make it to Ranar. I expect that the Eternal Church is the reason a lot of your people aren’t on Zon, but I have no idea why.”

“None?” Serenity doubted that. “It looked like you had several ideas why when we found that stone.”

Tirmanak audibly sighed, but it was more than a minute before he actually replied. “I told you what I could think of then. None of it seems likely. If they were actively invading your planet, there would be several possibilities, but from what you’ve said they can’t be. Perhaps they’re preparing for when Order’s Voice starts allowing additional invaders?”

Serenity frowned. “Do they really want to wait ten years?”

It seemed like a long time to prepare, and yet Serenity could remember the Final Reaper waiting far longer on some of his plans.

“Ten years isn’t that long.” Tirmanak’s words echoed Serenity’s fears. “I doubt that’s the reason, however. More likely they’re going to try to sneak in somehow before that, once the portals are open for anyone to use.”

Serenity frowned, forgetting that Tirmanak still couldn’t see out of the debris. “People should be able to leave Earth in about a week. A few people, at least; it’s restricted so I doubt it’ll be many, and the only destinations are major markets on Asihanya, T’cherna, and Ranar. I figured a few months of very restricted transportation would be best; only Earth natives will be able to travel to Earth without specific permission until I open it up farther.”

Tirmanak didn’t reply, but the rubble shook again.

Serenity figured he had to be getting close now. It would have been so much easier if most of it weren’t in pieces smaller than his head; he could easily lift the few larger pieces, but clearing all the small stuff took time and he had to clear a much wider area to prevent it from collapsing over what he’d already cleared.

He wished he had a wheelbarrow.

Serenity stopped and smacked himself on the forehead. He had a Skill for that! The fact that he’d never used it outside of a small amount of practice meant he’d completely forgotten he had it.

Call on the Origin

The Origin is just that: the beginning of all things. Bring something temporarily into the real world, limited only by your imagination and power. Variable Cost.

While he couldn’t use it in the Tutorial because he couldn’t open the Rift to the Origin, he could and should have been practicing his Call skill the same way he used his Potential of the Rift skill for additional storage.

The first thing he wanted was a wheelbarrow. Something simple, so a large bucket with a connection to a single wheel at one end and a pair of handles connected to a support so it would be flat when not being moved on the other. Two wheels might be more stable, but he was going to take it out onto the rubble; more wheels probably wouldn’t help that much.

It took him three tries to make something functional. The first try looked right, but the wheel was one solid piece, firmly connected to the support, and wouldn’t turn. The second try had a functional wheel, but he’d forgotten the support while concentrating on the wheel. The third try was still crude, but it would do.

Next he wanted a shovel or scoop. Or maybe both.

Those were easier, because they didn’t have any moving parts. The big scoop came out right the first time, but the first try at a shovel was far too flimsy and broke immediately the first time he tried to use it.

Serenity was finishing up filling the wheelbarrow for the first time when he realized that Tirmanak hadn’t replied to his implied question about portal settings. Maybe he should have been clearer? “Tirmanak? You still there?”

“I am.” Tirmanak’s voice was closer than Serenity expected. “I’ve been trying to work my way up while you moved rubble, but I’m not making much progress.” He sounded frustrated.

“You have your shield up, right? It sounds like we’re close and I don’t want to hit you.” Serenity knew that injuries from rescue workers were a real threat, but he didn’t know how common they were. In this case, there was an easy way to prevent them, so they should use it.

Tirmanak chuckled. “It’s always up.”

Digging out enough to see Tirmanak only took about another fifteen minutes, but digging out enough to free his arms took another hour, even with the help of Tirmanak’s construct and Serenity’s tools. It was especially frustrating because the stone wreckage kept falling back down and partially reburying Tirmanak whenever Serenity tried to do a smaller excavation. By the time Tirmanak had his hands free, he’d managed to loosen the rubble around his legs enough that Serenity could simply lift him out of the hole.

At that point, Serenity released the mana stream he’d been sending to the summoned items to prevent them from decaying; he didn’t need them any more. “Is there anything else we need to do before we leave?”

If there wasn’t, he was going to build a portal and get them back to the Duke’s residence. He had what he’d come for and there was no reason to invite trouble.

He also very badly wanted to get all of the rock dust off himself. It might not be irritating his eyes or his nose the way he still thought it should, but it still made him itch.

Tirmanak didn’t look like he’d just been pulled out of a collapsed building after a major mage duel; he looked a bit tired and his clothes were rumpled, but there was no dust on him. “Yes. There should be someone watching the entrance and turning away customers and possibly anyone else who might want to check this out; probably another acolyte. We should see if we can catch him. Before we do that, I need to rebuild some of my protections; can you give me a few minutes?”

Dammit. That was exactly the type of answer Serenity didn’t want: a reasonable one that meant he had to stay itchy.

Unless maybe he could summon some water?