If you have any last resonance theories, share them now!

No, I totally didn't make up 90% of the magic technobabble here on the spot, I don't know what you're talking about.

Life stayed surprisingly normal after making contact with the Enderknights, after revealing Voltar to Kittrian and the twins. Kittrian had been stunned, of course, but once the shock wore off she still treated him just the same as she had before. Ingressus had received a handful of messages from Crown Peak in the past year, asking for the Voltaris's side of the story about their banishment and seeking details about his plans for reparations and rebuilding relations with the other clans. But for the most part things were still simply… life as usual. Hunting monsters. Researching Songs and other magic. Training the kids and helping out in the forge. Even the suspicious glances the more paranoid Ataraxians had given him since word got out of his contact with the enderknights had partially faded, and Ingressus had gotten accustomed to what remained.

It was a different ally who was occupying Ingressus's mind now, though, as he rested under a tree near the market. He and Aegus had been sending messages back and forth about the matter of the Prime Songs, and what could be done with them after the war was over. Ingressus couldn't let the clans have sole control over them, yet after multiple past and violent attempts by the Voltaris to reclaim them, it was no use pretending the other clans could be convinced to return them to their discoverers. The clans feared what the Voltaris would do with the Primes, just as the Voltaris feared the clans' actions. He and Aegus had both contemplated several ideas, each with their own pros and cons.

There is a lot to consider where the Primes are concerned, Aegus had said in his last message. Unfortunately, this will never be easy. But this conversation may be easier to have in person– perhaps I could come to Ataraxia and we could discuss this face-to-face? I await your answer.

When Ingressus had first agreed to speak to Aegus, he hadn't expected the Nestoris Master to help as much as he did. He had been hoping for an ally to have in reserve, to be able to call on when the time came for negotiating with the other clans. Ingressus hadn't gotten his hopes up for much in the meantime beyond simply keeping him secret, but Aegus had gone beyond that: seeking out resources for Ingressus on the resonances, setting aside what supplies he could for the Voltaris who contacted him, giving Ingressus advice on how to handle inter-clan politics and helping him plan for negotiations. It was a testament to the old Voltaris paranoia how long Ingressus had felt that Aegus's willingness to guide him so much was too good to be true. But over the years he had come to accept, even count on and respect the elder Nestoris's advice.

"Ingressus!"

Ingressus was pulled from his thoughts at the sound of his name being called, spotting Saylor hurrying across the street towards him.

"Yeah?"

"Question," Saylor said. "How do you feel about hunting phantoms?"

"Phantoms?" Ingressus echoed.

He had seen the flying undead on occasion before, circling above the mountains as they searched for prey impaired enough to take down. He had even seen one up close once, pierced through by an arrow after it had targeted Zaurak, exhausted and stumbling after fleeing from a near-disastrous encounter with a raider scout. Phantoms liked open spaces to hunt in, and weren't the most maneuverable. They tended to circle high above, from what he knew, then swoop down in quick strikes meant to wear down their target. Lurae's bow could bring them down from afar, and if they could funnel the phantoms into a single approach, then they could catch the mobs on their dives…

"We could handle it," he said. "But why would we go after them?"

"That bunch of enchanters that came by yesterday? They want the skin for…" Saylor shrugged. "Some kind of research thing. Something about its necro-bio-something, and binding itself with, um… You know, I'll leave that for you to ask them if you care about it. But they're willing to help out with the fight if we want it."

Ingressus nodded. "But phantoms only go for prey that are impaired somehow. Exhausted, blackout drunk, feverish… Who's going to be the bait?"

"One of the enchanters volunteered," Saylor said. "He's already gone without sleep last night, apparently, and is willing to get himself drunk tonight to draw them in. I can't decide if I'm impressed or concerned for him."

Ingressus thought for a moment, considering the battlegrounds. "All right. You know the cliff below the birch forest? We can have the fight at its base. The cliff will keep them from sneaking up on us, and there's a cave there we can retreat to if we're overwhelmed. Bring some torches to light up the area around us– I don't think phantoms are as deterred by light as other mobs. Have you told the others yet?"

"Lurae knows," Saylor answered. "She was with me when the enchanter asked us about it. She's gone to tell Rigeleus. I told the enchanters that we'd meet up with them this evening if the rest of us agreed to take the job."

"That'll work." Ingressus glanced up at the sun. Early afternoon. "If they're up to facing hostile mobs– or dealing with their drunk friend– they're welcome to join us."

There were three enchanters waiting and chatting with the other hunters as Ingressus arrived at Gateway Island– two Human, and one an unfamiliar species. All three wore traveling cloaks for the occasion, and two were armed– the Human with a simple mace and shield and the other, a being with a ruff of feathers behind her ears and a reptilian tail emerging from under her cloak, had a poleax whose blade shimmered faintly white. The third was clearly the one who had offered himself as bait– he was leaning heavily on his friend and squinting at Ingressus as he approached. His greeting was more yawn than words, but Ingressus made out some mumbled phrase about "short for a Magnorite."

"Forgive him," the second Human said, giving her friend a smack on the head. "He's sleep-deprived. But once he's drunk he'll probably just babble randomly."

"Heyy…"

"He isn't the first," Ingressus said.

"Thank you for agreeing to this," the enchanter with the poleax said, a slight trilling behind her words. "It's hard to find phantom membranes to buy."

"No problem," Rigeleus said. "You give us money, we give you monster corpses. It's how we do things."

Lurae shrugged. "He's… not wrong."

"Do you have experience in hunting mobs?" Ingressus asked the enchanters.

"Some," the Human replied. "It's an elective in Etherea, 'cause you've got to have experience in something to put into enchanting, and it's counterintuitive to make you lose stuff they taught you about magic every time you actually put it to use."

"I've never quite understood that," Ingressus admitted. "The concept of enchanting costing someone experience– what exactly does that mean?"

The exhausted Human yawned widely again. "Can you all just introduce yourselves and get going, already? M'tired… wanna go to bed…"

"You volunteered for this," the other Human pointed out.

"He does have a point," the last enchanter said. "I am Saraze. These are Mara and James."

Ingressus tapped a hand to his chest. "Ingressus. And I assume you've already met the others."

"Yep," Mara said. "Pleasure to meet you all. Now, let's go before James starts complaining again."

The seven left Ataraxia, Saylor taking the lead with torch held high. Mara was in the middle supporting James, and the rest walked in a protective ring around their impaired companion. Ingressus carried a torch of his own, eyes scanning the trees for dangers.

"Anyway," Mara piped up. "To answer your question about experience– turns out it's actually literal. I used to think it was a kind of mysterious energy that they just called experience because of some ancient joke that caught on or whatever, but nope. To cast an enchantment you have to literally give up some bits of what you learned or can do from experience. If you could fold a paper cat with your eyes closed? Maybe you need to look the next time you try to do it. You have the muscle memory to hit a bulls-eye in darts every time? Maybe your throws are off to the side now and you have to practice again to get your aim back. Saraze lost some knitting skills after she enchanted her weapon, and she had to learn the patterns again."

Ingressus looked at the white glow around the poleax. "What kind of enchantment does it have?"

"Simple unbreaking," Saraze said. "It's not fancy, but it's the first enchantment I ever cast, and I'm proud of it."

She glanced at Ingressus's sword. "What about yours? It's very bright, it must be a high-level one."

"Fire," Ingressus said.

Mara ooohed appreciatively. "How much did that cost you?"

"I didn't enchant it," Ingressus said. "It's an inherited weapon."

"Can I meet whoever enchanted it?"

Ingressus shook his head. "Whoever it was, they're probably gone by now."

The group walked a while longer before reaching the cliff base. The group set up torches around the site, and Saylor decapitated a zombie lurking in the cave as Ingressus climbed the cliff to stick a few torches up above. With luck, that would give them a few extra moments of visibility on the phantoms as they swooped in. He drew his sword and held the flame to the torches to light them, then sheathed the weapon again and dropped back to the ground.

Mara held out a flask to James. "Bottoms up."

James muttered as he took it. "Never volunteering for this again…"

"This whole project was your idea," Mara pointed out. "You were the obvious choice."

James ignored her and just took a swig of the alcohol.

They all watched the skies as they waited for the phantoms to come. Lurae had an arrow nocked in her bow, green eyes scanning for danger. James was idly singing a refrain of "come and get me, come and get meee…" from where he was slumped against the cliff behind the rest of them, the flask empty in his hand. Ingressus held his sword at the ready, searching the skies for movement.

Saraze saw them first. She let out a sharp whistle and pointed her weapon at the sky, her tail sweeping back and forth across the grass as she fell into a defensive stance. Ingressus followed her gaze and saw a patch of darkness hiding the stars, then another, then a third.

Lurae aimed her bow at the sky, waiting still as a statue, then loosed an arrow at a streak of green. The phantom's dive turned into a plummet, its wings and tail trailing behind it as it dropped through the torchlight and crashed into a tree. Its two companions paid no heed to its demise, swooping towards James with mouths wide open in a snarling cry. Saylor's sword tore into the wing of one and the phantom crashed to the ground, thrashing like a giant fish and snapping at anything it could reach. The third banked and came around from the other direction, mouth gaping to reveal jagged triangular teeth. It slammed into Mara's shield and locked its wing-claws into the wood, shrieking in anger and hunger as its bony tail lashed past the shield. Mara winced and struck at it with her mace, and the phantom launched off the shield again. Ingressus leapt forward and lashed at it with his sword as the phantom struck, causing it to retreat before the swathe of flame. Its final attempt was met with a slash across its underside and it beat its wings in agony, retreating to the safety of the sky as a trail of cinders drifted down behind it.

Mara lowered her shield. "Wow. For something that looks so weightless, they sure are heavy."

Ingressus lowered his sword, extinguishing the fire and glancing over at the rest. Saraze had brought the blade of her poleax down on the phantom's head, leaving it still and devoid of whatever pieces of life the undead had in them. Its wide wings were sprawled across the ground like a collapsed tent, its once-bright eyes now dull and faded. Ingressus glanced at the first phantom, tangled in the branches it had crashed in.

"Is two enough for you?" he asked.

Mara nudged the downed phantom with her foot. "They're bigger than I thought they were, but… hmmm. Saraze, what do you think?"

"We'll need enough to bond to at least one full set of elytra," Saraze said. "Two should cover that, but we won't have much left to run tests on." She glanced at the Ataraxians. "One or two more would be ideal, if that's doable?"

"Awww…" James muttered.

Saylor climbed into the tree to shake the first phantom's body loose. Saraze went to cut the membranes from the wings, and the rest of them went back to watching the sky.

"So what did your class come to these mountains for?" Ingressus asked Mara as they waited.

"Field trip," Mara said simply. "The Heart of Ardonia is a huge thing for magic, apparently– how, I don't know yet. But we're gonna find out."

"This is a long way to come just to learn about something," Rigeleus observed.

Saraze shrugged. "Professor Nirani always likes getting out and letting us see things for ourselves. It can be a pain, like when she dragged us off to the Mistflats swamp with only two days' notice, but it is nice to be seeing new things all the time."

"Speak for yourself," Mara said. "Mistflats was amazing."

"You didn't get lured through knee-deep mud by a fog sprite."

"Magic is stronger the closer you are to the Heart," Lurae said. "That's the extent of what we know about that place."

"Even Nirani wouldn't bring our class all this way if that was all there is to it," Mara mused. "So there's probably more." She paused, glancing at the rest. "Actually, you could probably come along if you wanted, as a thanks for this."

"Wouldn't it take days to get there, though?" Saylor asked. "The mountain range isn't small."

"Well, technically," Mara said. "But apparently there's a cave system that runs through these mountains where space and distance are warped. It'll only take a few hours to get from Ataraxia to the Heart, or so our teacher said. Do you not use those caves here?"

Lurae shook her head. "No need to. There's not much in these mountains– there's Ataraxia and that's about it. Everyone knows about them, though– specifically, they know not to take their kids near them for fear of getting lost."

"I gave the caves a try once," Ingressus admitted. "With Matt and a couple other miners. They backed out, though, when they kept losing track of the markings they left to find their way back. After that, I didn't think going in alone would be a good idea."

"Probably a wise call."

Two days later, the enchanters were preparing to leave for the Heart of Ardonia. It was a larger group than just the three who'd gone on the phantom adventure, around half a dozen students and their teacher, an older Felina woman. The Felina– Nirani, Saraze had said? –Was reading over a map when Ingressus, Lurae, and Saylor joined them on the mainland, but she glanced up as the Ardoni approached the group.

"Ah, hello," she said. "Are you the locals my students invited along?"

Saylor nodded. "That's us. Is that all right with you?"

Nirani nodded. "That's fine. As long as you're all right with a spot of hiking."

James squinted at them– the look the result of confusion this time rather than exhaustion. "Wasn't there a blue one of you?"

"Rigeleus passed on this," Lurae explained. "He isn't very interested in magic. He said to give you his regards, though."

"Well that's a shame," Nirani said with a frown. "He'll be missing out on something spectacular."

Saylor shrugged. "I told him we weren't likely to have another chance for this anytime soon, but he just wasn't interested."

"Not likely to have another chance?" one enchanter said. "You live within sight of the Heart, you could go see it anytime you wanted!"

"Within sight, across an entire mountain range of wild magic," Lurae pointed out. "It's not exactly just a walk to the next town. I'd rather not risk getting turned into a frog or something because I stumbled into the wrong stand of trees."

"The only site that's ever transfigured someone is an old shrine," Ingressus said. "It's far to the southwest from the Heart, and it's one of the few places in these mountains believed to have any sentience to it. And most of the magic sites in the mountains have been mapped already, they'd be avoidable."

Saylor opened his mouth to argue, closed it again, then shook his head. "Well… not everyone is you."

Nirani looked at Ingressus with interest. "Oh? Are you a student of magic?"

"Self-taught," Ingressus said. "I've explored these mountains a few times before."

"Self— how do you teach yourself magic, do you know how hard it is?"

Ingressus startled at the yell, turning to see James staring at him and looking like an entirely different person from the sleep-deprived, intoxicated wreck from a few days before. Ingressus gestured back at the islands.

"Lots of enchanters who came through here have donated books to our library," Ingressus told him. "There's plenty to learn from."

"Still! How?"

"That is impressive," Nirani observed.

"Well thank you," Ingressus said.

"What's your secret?" James demanded.

"Dedication?" Ingressus said. "Dealing more with theory than performing the actual spells? Reading the same things over and over until they make sense with each other? I don't know what to tell you."

The caves looked the same as Ingressus remembered them. Almost completely ordinary, but with an odd strangeness to its interior, a skewed sense of depth and a parallax that didn't work as it should. Saraze took two steps and tripped on a rock that should've been well in the distance. It took James five steps to pass a narrow coal vein in one wall, and barely a minute later a single step nearly made Ingressus run into a wall. Lurae and Saylor were walking hand in hand, keeping one another from tripping but also nearly yanking each other off balance whenever their strides suddenly took them too far. Several people had resorted to holding their hands out in front of them as they walked, as a barrier against any collisions.

"Let me give you a hint," Nirani said, amusement in her voice as she held out a torch. She gestured to the glow, stretching far out ahead of them. "The light is affected by the caves' warping, too. The further out the torchlight goes, the further your steps will take you."

The advice worked. It still took some concentration to traverse the caverns but collisions reduced dramatically, and Ingressus fell back next to Nirani.

"There's something I've been wondering about," he said to her. "Is it possible to scry the history of magical objects?"

Nirani glanced up at him curiously. "Well, it is more difficult. The fluctuations of the enchantment energy around the object would distort the senses of the scrying spell and make the visions more unclear. It's possible, but it would take a much more skilled spellcaster to get a coherent image out of it." She glanced at Ingressus's weapon. "Are you hoping to learn the history of your sword?"

"No, I know its history already," Ingressus said. "I need to find the history of a Song."

Nirani bit her lip. "I assume you mean the kind of Song that your species uses? That's not just an enchanted object, it's a magic core."

"Yes, but they do still have a physical form," Ingressus said. "So it should be possible for the events around it to leave imprints for the spell to read, right?"

"Possible, yes…" Nirani said. "But a scrying spell reads the energy field around an object. The more steady the field, the easier it is for the spell to pick out the imprints. For a magic core like a Song, the field is always in motion, so it would be very hard for the spell to identify what changes are actually the results of what the Song had witnessed. The motion may also make the imprints deteriorate over time, I'm not sure."

Crud. That would complicate things. If the Protosongs still held the memory of whatever had happened during the Silencing, Ingressus would have a fresh lead to chase down. But maybe the chest they were stored in could've preserved the imprints the Silencing had left, holding the Songs in stasis since they had been abandoned? If it had, there would only be a few decades of deterioration in their fields, rather than centuries…

"I've read that it's possible to tailor spells to account for certain things," he said aloud. "A Song's aura changes, yes, but it's a fairly regular, predictable pattern. Could a spellcaster construct a scrying spell that would ignore those changes, and focus only on the imprint that its history would've left?"

Nirani bit her lip, thinking. "I should admit that this isn't my area of expertise," she said. "My prediction would be that it's not impossible, but I can't say that with confidence." She blew out a breath. "If you really want to do this, your best bet would be to bring your Song to Etherea. Nicholas Ellman is the leading expert on that order of spells, he's the most likely one to be able to figure this out with you. If you decide to come and talk to him, I could introduce you."

"I'll… keep that in mind," Ingressus said.

They walked for another few hours through the caves, frequently consulting a map Nirani carried. The cave system apparently had branches that ran all throughout the mountain range, but true to plan, the group emerged in a valley right near the center of the mountains. The Heart of Ardonia pierced the sky just beyond the ridgeline, rippling with power and energy. The air itself was charged with power, manifesting in every sense: brighter colors, a distant humming in the ears, a prickling on the skin, a faint but sharp smell that was reflected as a taste, a crystalline aura like a strange, omnipresent Song.

Ingressus drew his sword in curiosity, studying the red enchantment shimmer. Spells and other manifestations of magic became exponentially stronger with proximity to the Heart– the flames weren't significantly stronger in Ataraxia than they had been in the Barrier Mountains but maybe here, nearly at the foot of the beam…

He held out the sword and ignited the blade. The fire blazed to life with a whoosh, the near-white flames licking up the sword and reaching beyond the raised tip towards the sky like a signal fire. The air warped around the sword from the heat haze, making the distant trees ripple like a reflection in a pond. Ingressus heard a chorus of ooohs from the others as he gave the sword an experimental swing, the flame trailing behind it in a comet's tail and painting faint afterimages in his eyes.

"Oh, that's just the start of what's interesting about this place," Nirani said, shifting back and forth in eagerness. "We're nearly there, just a little mountain climbing to go!"

Ingressus heard a distinct groan from one of the other enchanters, but Nirani didn't seem deterred. "Come on! You'll never see anything like this anywhere else. Believe me, it'll be worth it."

The Felina was clearly excited, and Ingressus didn't think it was simply from a naturally enthusiastic personality. The Heart's power seemed to grow stronger as they hiked up towards the ridgeline, and even the more reluctant enchanters were warming up to the prospect.

They were approaching the ridgeline when Ingressus saw a spark of yellow up ahead. Saylor let out a startled yelp and everyone turned to look at him. The Kaltaris was stopped midway through climbing over a boulder, staring at his outstretched hand.

"What is it?" Lurae asked, frowning in concern.

"My Song just…" Saylor said. "I didn't summon it, but it just… sparked for a moment…"

Mara blinked. "Is that a problem?"

"I don't know…" Saylor trailed off, glancing back at Ingressus. "Is this like…"

"Like what happened to your brother?" Lurae finished for him, realizing.

The enchanters were looking back and forth between the Ardoni. Ingressus didn't answer right away, turning his focus to the Songs. His own Mobilium Song would drown out Saylor's so he turned his focus inward instead, listening to the circling arcs of energy spiraling within. The Song did seem brighter than usual, its tune louder and pressing outwards more than it did back in Ataraxia. He hadn't considered the risks of approaching the Heart this closely while still bonded to a Song, but…

He looked at Saylor again. Saylor was still staring at him, no Mobilium power in sight. When Mirzam had been caught by Mobilium all those years ago, Ingressus remembered arcs of energy appearing constantly around him, circling around like swirling snow. Aireus had had Protiseum shards flickering in and out of existence over his skin, shifting around but never fading out entirely.

"Song-trances come on more quickly than this," he said slowly. "You still seem fine, do you feel normal?"

Saylor nodded, glancing at Lurae for confirmation. Lurae nodded back, squeezing her boyfriend's shoulder in encouragement.

Nirani had turned back from her position at the lead of the group, joining the Ardoni. "What's wrong?"

"I didn't account for Songs being stronger here as well…" Ingressus looked at Saylor. "Try summoning it."

Saylor nodded, his Song manifesting barely a moment afterwards. He slid a short way back down the mountainside, dropping from the ribbon of light next to Ingressus. The yellow glow faded away again as usual, with no hint of uncontrolled energy remaining.

"That was easier than usual…" Saylor observed.

"How do you feel?"

"Still normal…" Saylor said, looking down at his hands.

Nirani looked between them. "Are you all right to be this close? Do you need to wait down below?"

Ingressus considered the situation. Proximity to the Heart was empowering their Songs. If Saylor's was starting to semi-manifest itself, then Ingressus's would likely do the same sooner or later– yep, there it was. A spark of yellow arced through the air between them, materializing and disappearing again in a heartbeat. Ingressus felt his Song's tune briefly spike in volume in time with the spark, louder but not overpowering.

He glanced at Nirani, then up at the ridgeline. Not too far away. He could play it safe– retreat down the mountain again and not risk a possible Song-trance or his Song being discovered. But Songs became louder when you summoned them, and Saylor hadn't suffered any ill effects from using his. If that hadn't sent him into a trance, then the last leg of the journey likely wouldn't, either. And they were so close already…

Ingressus looked at Saylor. "It should be fine. A Song-trance is more to do with the person than the Song itself– the Primes don't make their users pass out–" unfortunately– "And they're naturally louder than standard Songs." He glanced up at the ridgeline again. "You can turn back if you want, but if you keep going, just pay attention. If you think you're starting to lose yourself, stop and turn back. In this case, simple distance should be enough to quiet the Song again and let you recover."

Saylor nodded, glancing at Nirani. "Will the Heart get even stronger going over the ridge? Like once we're out of the shadow the mountain casts?"

Nirani shook her head. "Not significantly so. The energy from the Heart flows through the ground as well as air; the mountains don't cast a shadow to it."

"Don't worry," Lurae said. "If you pass out, I'll carry you back down the mountain to safety."

"I—" Saylor blushed. "Yeah. Okay."

There was a stifled snicker from one of the nearby enchanters. Lurae merely gave them a superior look.

The last hundred feet of the hike were steep, but hardly impassable. Ingressus clambered over boulders and along scree slopes, keeping close to Saylor as the Mobilium sparks continued to arc around both of them. With luck, Saylor's Song would disguise Ingressus's. And then, after a last stretch of loose dirt, they reached the ridgeline and gazed down into the valley.

"Wow…" Saylor whispered.

The land dropped away in front of them, the sheer valley walls plunging downwards in a massive sinkhole. Broken rings of land hung suspended in the air, smaller than Ataraxia's islands but slowly orbiting the bright spire of energy that had brought them all this way. The entire valley shone with the Heart's power, far stronger and clearer than in the valley they had just come from. Ingressus could hear the magic itself, a chorus singing in his ears from everything around him. The air carried a smell of lightning and ice and starlight and something far older and greater than any of it, something embodied by the rippling beam of light that painted the land in hues that were vibrant and alive and made even the most stunning aurora feel pale and dull. The world seemed to shine in his mind with the tune of a Song more powerful than even the four Primes, growing and branching like bright crystals and radiating its tune across the land. He could taste the power, could feel it washing over and through him and continuing on to the rest of Ardonia.

The Heart was ancient. It had stood there since the world began, Ingressus was sure of it. Its power couldn't be fathomed, couldn't be defined or quantified. It was beyond any spell, any construction, any tale or achievement any species could ever build.

"Now you see why I brought you all this way," Nirani said quietly, a smile in her voice.

Ingressus did. He could understand why someone would travel so far. This put everything else he had seen in the Heart Mountains to shame.

"What is this place?" Lurae asked, her voice low in awe.

"This is a wellspring of pure Void power," Nirani said. "The oldest, most primordial form of energy or matter in existence. Everything you know or have ever heard of was once something just like this, eons ago. Some say that this is the oldest part of the world, where everything came into existence."

"The Voltaris began here."

Ingressus could feel the eyes on him, both from the Ataraxians and the enchanters. He hadn't intended to speak aloud but the words had come regardless. He knew the landscape wouldn't be the same after so long but for a moment he could see the valley before him as his long-distant predecessor would have, the memory overlaying his vision in a reflection of the past.

Ingressus remembered the insults muttered against the Voltaris over the years. Merciless, bloodthirsty, blood-striped, conniving, can't leave well enough alone, they care nothing for anyone, they live to put others in graves, spat with utter confidence and with no idea how wrong they were about what the Voltaris had once been.

"It was a time of war," he said, spinning out the tale that every Voltaris knew. "Northwind had wanted to break away from the control of Crown Peak, and the Ardoni territories were caught in between. The four clans– the only four, back then– suffered much from the crossfire, and the Masters of those days weren't helping the matter. The Sendaris Master let battles be fought in his province in exchange for money, from both sides. The Kaltaris Master let her people become glorified arms dealers, benefitting from the bloodshed for as long as it would go on. Nestoria was all but playing the warring factions against each other, and the Mendoris Master was too weak-willed to stand up to the others. The provinces were falling apart from corruption and a war that wasn't even ours, and many Ardoni knew it. Those who could left the provinces behind, trying to find somewhere better– anywhere that would take them.

"There was one Ardoni– Estere– who was leading a band of refugees away from the provinces. She had once been a guard for one of the clans, no one knows which anymore. She abandoned her place on realizing that the Master she'd served was no longer worthy of her respect or loyalty and set out on her own. She was good at keeping her group together, provided for, and safe from danger, even when they crossed paths with the forces from the warring factions. Those who followed her respected her and looked up to her, trusting in her to lead them to safety. The provinces had fallen too far for them to stay, and so Estere led her group further and further away, heading south in search of somewhere to call home. With Crown Peak's attention focused on Northwind, bandits and mercenaries were taking full advantage of the Enderknights' distraction to do as they would across Ardonia. One particularly powerful crime band came across Estere and her group, and they escaped into these mountains. One night, when her group had settled down for shelter near here, Estere went out alone to this very valley, looking for some peace and solitude after a long journey."

Ingressus could see the moment in his head, the memories from Voltar playing in his mind as clearly as though he were holding the staff in his hands. He saw Estere crest the ridgeline, staring at the beam of light that rose from the ground and pierced the sky. He felt the faint limp in her step, from a healing wound taken when she squared off against a robber threatening a child from her band. He felt her tiredness as she leaned slightly on her staff, watching the night breeze flowing across the land. He saw her glance back at where her band had made camp, taking in the distant green, yellow, white markings down in the valley and knowing that pink, blue, and purple were sheltered there as well.

"She ended up falling asleep here," Ingressus said. "When she woke, her old guard staff had been transformed. She picked it up and her markings changed to red."

Ingressus lifted his hand, looking down at the flame-red light that traced itself along his arm. He saw Estere's vibrant scarlet in his mind, shining brighter than they ever had in their old colors as the newly-formed, still-unnamed staff embraced the first Master of its clan.

"Estere returned to her people as a leader named by Ardonia itself, and offered any who wished it a place in her clan. Nearly all in her group accepted, glad to follow a Master who had proven herself to them time and again. Estere vowed to always match their loyalty to her, to the end of her days. But she didn't just stop with them– she swore to shelter any Ardoni from the corruption and darkness that had fallen over the provinces, to let the lost and displaced always have somewhere safe to run to and to shield them from danger. She named our clan and its people Voltaris, meaning refuge and protection."

Ingressus gazed out at the Heart, a yellow spark flickering in the corner of his eye. "Estere kept that promise, through the war and beyond. As word of the Voltaris spread other refugees would come to find us, and she wouldn't turn any away. She went back to the provinces over and over as Crown Peak and Northwind battled each other, looking for refugees to bring to safety and demanding that the other Masters get their acts together. After the fighting was over and we had settled in Voltaria, we became known as a place of asylum; for Ardoni and for all species. Anyone under our protection, we would defend as though they were our own. For centuries, that's what we were. A sanctuary for anyone who needed it."

The ridgeline was quiet again as Ingressus stopped speaking, only the Heart's music and the occasional Mobilium spark disrupting the silence.

"I never knew that," Lurae said finally.

Ingressus managed a half-shrug. "Well, it's not like there's been many people to tell you."

He knew that there was scarcely anyone in Ardonia who knew what his clan had once been. Few Ardoni would believe it, or care– they only saw enemies who would kill unless they were killed first. The Voltaris could no longer afford to protect others, not when they could barely help themselves.

Nirani let her students take in the Heart valley in awe for a while longer before starting her lecture. Ingressus scanned the ridgeline around the valley, finally pinpointing the place where Estere had stood all those years ago. He wondered what she would think if she could see what had become of her clan– maybe she would feel how Voltar did; mournful and sorrowed, but enduring and fiercely proud of how her clan had managed to cling on despite all the odds.

Ingressus heard Nirani begin to speak, and wandered over before Saylor could get too far away from him. The Mobilium sparks would be a dead giveaway that he held a Song he shouldn't.

"All magic in the Overworld comes from here," Nirani was saying. "Well, both here, as in the Heart of Ardonia, and here, as in these mountains. Which one depends on when you start counting."

She gestured at the rippling beam of magic. "This right here is where it all starts, the raw power in the Heart. But raw magic can't be used like this– it's just too powerful, too chaotic, too uncontrollable, too everything. The energy needs to be converted into its various strains before we can use it, and all of that happens here in these mountains. The converters work as a kind of example for how the raw magic should manifest aren't always obvious– the caves we came through work on the same magic as beacons do, even though—"

All magic comes from here.

The wellspring of the tune lines' magic eludes us…

These Prime Songs hold every kind of Song magic within them…

Ingressus knew what it felt like to be thunderstruck. And now he understood why that description was used as a metaphor. He felt the pieces falling together, the picture forming, felt Voltar humming away in his mind as if to say yes, yes, this is the truth!

"Ingressus?" Saylor asked.

Ingressus was drawn back to the here and now, meeting Saylor's gaze as he focused again. The Kaltaris was looking at him in concern, the yellow sparks swirling around both of them like fireflies.

"You look like someone just punched you in the gut," Saylor observed. "You all right?"

Ingressus's first instinct was to keep quiet. He had the answer, he was sure of it. But he needed to be certain. He had to go back, to see it again, this time with all the knowledge he had gained over the years to make sure that the answer he found was true. Because once be reached out to the other Masters, there would be no going back.

"The resonance we found in the mines," Ingressus said. "Do you think you could find it again?"

(6606 words)

Ehhehehe….

Kudos to the ones who figured it out early, you will be acknowledged in the next chapter.

Am I the only one who feels like phantoms are kind of forgotten about in Minecraft stuff? I'm really not sure I've seen them in very much at all. Is that just me?

This idea for the founding of the Voltaris clan came from noticing that the spears Zulius and the arena guards used had a kind of similar shape to Voltar, with the double arcs of diamond. Was it coincidence? Yeah, probably. But my brain ran with it and here we are.