Chapter 6: Art of the Arcane

When Bradan woke up the next morning, he was delighted to see Katrine snuggled up in his arms. A soft grin grew on his face seeing her so peaceful in her rest, hearing the sounds of her soft breathing. Ever so gently, he raised his hand and caressed the feathers on her cheek, only to hear her lightly coo in response. It warmed his heart to see how precious she was.

As much as he wanted for this moment to last forever between them, he did have his obligations to the magicians guild to be there as the leader of the group, and the head for research and development. Memories from yesterday came back to him about how much Katrine was displeased with his work, how he would sometimes not even come home at the end of the day when all of the other magicians did. Work had consumed much of his time for homelife, and it tugged on his heart, more than it had before.

But it didn't always have to be like it was. Even though there was so much to do and not a lot of time or help to do it, at least now he intended on fixing it. There was still a stash of green gems in the vaults of the palace, and it would be from those green gems that their magical energies would be extracted and exploited for their gain.

Eventually, the gentle caressing of Katrine's cheek was enough for her eyes to flutter, and she shifted under the covers as the hawk began to come to consciousness. The avian yawned and blinked more of the sleep out of her eyes before she looked into his eyes and smiled softly. "Good morning," she spoke softly with a hint of sleepiness still in her voice.

"Good morning, Kat…" Bradan answered with the same soft tone. "Did you sleep well?"

"I always sleep better when I'm in your arms…" she replied, snuggling a little closer to him. Those words cut a little deeper than he thought they would. Just another thing to be guilty about. Rather than let it weigh him down, be brushed it off. Things were gonna change though.

"That's good; you can start looking forward to these nights more often…"

She cooed a little at his words. "I like the sound of that… getting back to just me and you…" Katrine giggled a little as she leaned up and pecked his cheek, then shifted away from him, letting Bradan get up. Begrudgingly, he did so.

First and foremost, he went to the bathroom and got washed up and ready for the day. A nice warm shower, followed by dental care, then time to get dressed. Bradan's wardrobe was bare and basic at best, with most of his wardrobe consisting of his work clothes with some casual and formal attire, but not nearly as much compared to either of his other choices. In short order, he was dressed for the day.

Downstairs though, Katrine had put on a surprise for him. While he was showering and getting dressed, she with her nightgown still on went downstairs and began preparing a good breakfast for the two of them. With a short amount of time to keep it a surprise, it wouldn't be fancy by any means. Eggs and bacon was as simple of a breakfast that could be made, but that didn't mean that it didn't have her heart and soul poured into it while both cooked on the stove.

As Bradan walked down the stairs, it was hard not to notice the smell of sizzling pork not even halfway down. Already, his mouth was watering. He entered the kitchen and saw her take the pans off the stove and over to the table, placing them on cooling racks. "Aww, Kat… you didn't have to do that," he said, flattered by her little, but meaningful surprise.

"Why not? I was craving eggs and bacon anyway. It would be rude not to offer you any now, would it?" she asked faciously, giggling cutely.

"Heh, I suppose it would be. Thank you, Kat…" he said, ambling over and pecking her on the beak. Katrine gladly returned the favor, pecking him back.

They both procured plates from the cupboard and silverware from the drawer, and both dug into the simple but scrumptious breakfast. Who knew that such a simple meal could be so delicious?

Both of their plates were cleared quickly, and the couple's appetites were satisfied. Now with breakfast over, there was nothing else that could in reason keep Bradan here. Now, he had to leave; neither of them really wanted that, but it had to be done. The avian got up from his chair and went to the front door, and so did Katrine.

"I'll be home this evening," Bradan declared, wanting to make that promise to her right away. Her demeanor visibly improved after he had said that. "I know that I've been neglecting you here in pursuit of progress, well, I'm gonna take your word from yesterday. I'll see about getting some more magicians."

She looked up at him musingly, and there was a twinkle of hope in her eyes that seemed to light up after he said that. Finally, he would come home and they would be able to spend time with one another just like they used to do before. "Are you sure of it? I don't like being told empty promises and having my heart hurt, Bradan."

"I mean it this time, I promise to do better. I'll have to go into the vaults to see how many gems we have left, then after that, well…" There was one thing that had become a bit of an issue.

The methods that they used before eighteen years ago was, by those that were actually involved, a very experimental affair. Never before had anything like the spirit gems had ever been found in the lands of Traeblesh, and there was no certainty that anything that they tried to do in order to extract the magic would work. It was only the suggestion of a local brewer who suggested that he throw the magical items into his mash for brewing. To their surprise, it seemed to work, and they knew it did because the color had been drained from the gems and the beverage produced had a greenish color to it.

Not everything was so fortunate though. After the war against the Dark Army, that brewer died in an unfortunate accident where his brewery caught on fire, taking with it the equipment, the recipe that he used to make the original potion brew, and his personal experience. Anything in the process of making beer could have drawn the magic from the gems, anything. And because of the brewer's untimely demise, they would have to experiment to see just what part of the brewing process it was that took the magic into the waters.

"Well what…?" she asked.

The magician sighed as he shook his head. "We'll have to rediscover how to do that…"

Right away, there was an indignant look on her face as she scoffed. "Are you serious? Why?" She had every right to ask why, and it brought a tinge of pain to Bradan's heart. He knew that she was assuming that he was making another excuse right after he promised not to make excuses.

"Here's the thing…" He laid it all out to her, explaining how the story that the army and royal family told about the origin of their magician was not as grandiose as it seemed. Not many knew the truth that their success in unlocking the secret of magic was merely the product of a joking suggestion because the actual scientists were stumped on how to extract the magic.

Katrine was, naturally, skeptical of his claims. The propaganda that the kingdom put out there was easier and more logical to believe than the underwhelming truth. If there was anything to go off, there was nobody that could better vouch for that than the man that stood before her.

"Bradan, please, this better not be a lie…"

"It's not. I'm being one hundred percent truthful. We were at a complete loss and were looking for anything that would work, and it somehow did. I don't know how it did — nobody bothered to ask because of the state that we were in. It worked, and that was all that mattered to us…"

Katrine's skepticism faded away with a somewhat defeated sigh as she shrunk on herself a little bit. Bradan soon wrapped his arms around her in a hug, though she didn't return the favor and left hers by her side. "It's hard to believe you…" she said. "I don't have anything else other than your word, and your word has become hard to trust…"

"Please, Katrine, give me a chance. I mean to be better this time around, and I'm being truthful. I'll figure out how to extract the magic from the gems one again…"

The smaller avian looked him into the eyes. "Okay…" she said softly. "Don't let me down, okay?"

"I won't; I promise I won't."

Finally, Katrine wrapped her arms around him. He held her close and cooed softly as they enjoyed the loving embrace. Things were going to change for the better, and the tension and damage between them could slowly start to repair.

…

It was late afternoon, and Bradan was in his office. He had made his plans known to the other magicians in the guild to mixed reception. On one hand, one side was welcoming of the idea of bringing up a second generation of magicians and looking forward to the assistance that they would provide. On the other hand were those opposed, who expressed valid concerns such as the time to train and the vetting process that would be involved to ensure they would have the right candidate.

The decision was not for them to make, rather, it was up to Bradan. He was the one in charge, and even if everyone was against the idea, they had to put up with it. It was rare that he ever exercised this level of direct authority, and it wasn't like this was an issue that would warrant the usage of it, though it was nice to have it and the ability to exercise it when it was needed.

Earlier in the day, he had helped the others with the projects they were working on, and spent the rest of his time after lunch working on a way to extract the magic from the green gems. While the rest of his fellow magicians were out eating their midday meal elsewhere in the palace, Bradan had made a quick excursion to to the royal vaults where not only the wealth of the Raemes family was located in the form of gold bullion, but also where the remaining stash of green gems were stored safely away from pilfering hands.

It was easy enough to get into the vault once he got approval from the royal guardsmen to open the large vault doors. King Bevan had given the standing order to all the vault guards that should Bradan need to enter and withdraw gems, then he was free to do so as long as he was monitored to ensure that he didn't take any of the bullion with him. Despite being close friends with the monarchs, it was still a grave offense to be caught stealing, even if it were accidental in nature.

Now that he had the gems, it was time to get to work. Out of all the things to consider, the best thing that he could think of was to try recreating the potions by going through the process of brewing the potions like they did before. Not everyone was trustworthy now that there was an age of peace — with an external threat, there was no benefit to going behind anyone's back when their detriment was also yours. With the threat of the Dark Army gone, it was not out of the realm of possibility that any brewer that he could go to wouldn't try to sneak out the potion and try to sell it on the market for exorbitant prices.

Knowing that, he came to the conclusion that he would just have to make it himself, which was going to be an interesting experience in itself, given that he was not a brewer. Sure, there was the chance that the library in Castletown would have a book on beer brewing, but brewing was, much like magic, a profession that was built by skill and experience. It was likely that his first attempt to make the potions would result in a concoction that was borderline undrinkable.

Despite that lament, he went to a palace servant with a request for distilling equipment, which would inevitably be fulfilled, but not today. Given that little setback, there was still something to do, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do. From a locked drawer, he procured all of his notes on the religious symbology across Quillum and Traeblesh, and got to work on that.

Later in the early evening when all of the other magicians were packing their things and leaving for the day, the lead magician was left with the perfect opportunity to have the lab to himself. With nobody around to see it, his personal project could remain to himself, not having to worry about word slipping out of the palace and into the rest of the kingdom. Who knows what kind of reaction it would get from people when they discovered that the magicians that had slayed the dragons of the Dark Army were poking around with the symbols of the people's gods?

Once the last magician was gone, he eagerly took every note, book, and scrap of paper about the subject out into the lab and laid it all out on one of the tables. During his afternoon musings, there was something in particular that he wanted to attempt. In one of the books, controversially about witchcraft, it was written that the power of symbols and representations could be harnessed if they were enclosed in a complete circle, often (and somewhat stereotypically) with a pentagram inside, but any other geometric shape could work just as well.

With that in mind, there were some symbols in particular that he wanted to experiment with, and that's what he intended on doing. It was by all means a risky procedure, as despite them being magicians, the idea of witchcraft being practiced in the palace would be a nightmare for public relations, who still viewed the practice with suspicion and superstition.

Bradan gathered some materials that he would need to make all of this work. There was plenty of chalk available, given their use of chalkboards in the lab. He took the stick of chalk and first drew out the inner geometry of the circle, an enneagram, or nine-pointed star. After completing the star, he began to fill the area up with the symbols in question that he had picked out.

There already seemed to be an energy in the air that made the feathers in the back of his neck floof up, sending a tingle down his spine to his tail feathers. That little sensation alone would have swayed any other person, yet Bradan wasn't. He had spent months on this project, and he was not going to give up now when there was something to be discovered.

Soon, all of the symbols were on the floor, inside and around the nine-pointed star. Now all that was needed was to bound all of it together into the circle, and see what would happen. To his own detriment, he found himself within the circle as he worked to complete it, something that was, to those who regularly drew sigils on the ground, a rather big no-no. Finally, the circle was complete.

Immediately, every feather on his body was ruffled as his eyes went wide. Something was wrong, and there was no time to fix it. No sooner than when that happened, he groaned lightly and flopped over onto the floor, falling unconscious with a noticeable thud as his body slumped over and hit the floor.

To Bradan, it felt like he had came to almost instantly, as if he had only fainted for a moment, and then woke right back up. He groaned a little, rubbing his head, and slowly lifting himself up off the floor. Once up, he dusted himself off, still in disbelief that he let something like that happen to him. Then, he looked around to see if anyone had heard the embarrassment, only to freeze in shock and confusion.

He saw himself still laying on the floor, unconscious.

Briefly, all the avian could do was to stare down in awe as he saw a copy of himself just laying there. Did this have something to do with the sigil that he drew on the floor? It must have been. Seeing himself on the floor like that brought a question to his mind though. He looked down over his body, inspecting himself, and saw the floor of the lab through his hands.

There had been only a few times that he had been this scared before, but this one had to be the most frightening to date. Right away, Bradan wailed with fear and a bit of agony. He had made a promise to Katrine that everything was going to get better from here on, and this was the exact opposite to just that. There was no denying now what had just happened, as one didn't need to be experienced in drawing sigils to figure it out. It seemed that the sigil he drew contained enough power to knock the soul right out of his body.

In what was a logical action, given the very illogical occurrences that was presented with him, Bradan attempted to re-enter his body, whatever that meant. Perhaps it was just touching his body to see if that would work. No matter where his hand touched his body, it would just phase right through. Now the panic was really beginning to set in. Was this it? Would this accident be the thing that ends his life?

At that moment, the magician broke down crying. Despite his crying, there was no certainty that anyone would hear him when he was in this state. The situation was looking bleak, when there was a knock on the door. In from the door was the same palace servant that he had ordered the brewing equipment from. Seeing that he had collapsed onto the floor, he rushed to him.

"Hey, Hey! Bradan, are you alright?" the servant asked, only to be met with silence. After not getting an answer, he took his body and dragged it across the floor and propped him up against a wall.

Seeing that his body was moved from the circle, he got a hold of himself long enough for him to at least try again. If it was the sigil that was responsible for this and what might have kept him from returning him to his body, it was worth a shot to try again. Bradan glided over the floor towards his body and the servant. Reaching out with his trembling hand, he placed his hand on his body's chest, and everything went dark.

Gasping loudly, Bradan's eyes shot open, much to the shock of the servant that was tending to him.

"H-Hey, is everything alright, s-sir? I-I was coming by to tell you that your request for a miniature brewer was approved and would be on it's way, and, well, I saw you just crumpled on the floor." He then looked over to the circle on the floor with a puzzled look on his face. He enquired, "What are you doing anyway?"

"Just..." Bradan paused for a moment to think of an excuse to give, otherwise his fear of rumours spreading might come true. "I was doing some research into symbology, but—" He faked a yawn, which was somewhat convincing. "I've been working a little too hard."

"I know that I don't have any right to tell you what to do, but you might want to go home and get some rest," the servant replied back. He bought the excuse, thankfully.

"Yeah… I think you're right…" With a light groan, Bradan lifted himself up off the floor and back to his feet. Again, he looked down at the sigil below. To say that there was something both amazing and terrifying about the discovery that had been made was an understatement.

"Well… I hope you get the rest that you need sir," the servant said, then rather hastily made his way out of the lab. Bradan sighed once the door was closed.

The mess on the floor was copied to a sheet of paper for record-keeping purposes, and then the floor was quickly mopped up of the chalk. No evidence of what had transpired was left. The time on the clock on the wall read a quarter past give in the evening. Already, he was breaking his promise to Katrine by not being home once the work day had ended. He hated to make an excuse, but there was some truth when he would tell her then he cleaned up the lab. Plus, he was sloppy with a mop, and always got his shoes and pants wet somehow, every time.

Departing from the lab, he made haste to his home, using his strong wings to get there as quickly as possible. He landed gracefully before the front porch, and made his way into the humble abode. Katrine was in the living room, beak in the middle of a thick book when he ambled in and kicked his shoes off. Katrine broke off her focus and looked over to see him walking into the living room with a smile on his face.

"I told you that I'd make things right…"

"You have… and you're still terrible at mopping as ever."

Bradan lightly chuckled, and nodded.