Ascendant

The week went by slowly, with Nym spending most of his time hidden away in his room. Yura would stop by twice a day to check on his progress, and occasionally he’d need a break and just walk around the outpost. Otherwise he barely showed his face except to get food.

His efforts weren’t without fruit, but he did not progress as much as he wanted. Opening a hole in his soul well was unpleasant, a feeling he never got used to. He did manage to flip the state of his matrix so that the damaged nodes could heal, but no one had told him how absolutely exhausting it would be. He could only hold it for a few minutes at a time before the nodes reverted back to their normal state.

Despite all assurances to the contrary, he was making progress on ‘flexing’ part of the matrix. It was nowhere near accurate enough for what he wanted, but he could narrow it down so that only half of it switched. That made it easier to hold it longer, and he felt just a little bit smug that he’d so quickly managed something they’d said was basically impossible.

He squashed that smug feeling immediately. Right now, he had no magic whatsoever. He was entirely dependent on the goodwill of the soldiers around him. If Captain Lygan gave the order to throw him out of the outpost, it would be good fortune and nothing else that kept him alive. He had nothing to be smug about, and looking back on it, he was grateful he hadn’t hurt himself like this fighting the hive queen. He’d have just died out there with no one to save him.

Feeling a bit humbler, Nym got back to work. By the time the new soldiers arrived at the outpost, he’d practiced enough to work on a small portion of the matrix, but still not enough to isolate the damaged nodes. It was so much easier to learn when he could see what was working and what wasn’t. Nym was confident he could continue to refine his ability, given enough time.

What he’d already learned would have to be enough for now. With Yura’s final reminder that the damaged nodes would only heal when he held them in a malleable state, and to do that as often as he could, Nym left with the convoy of soldiers to return to the forward base.

The mood in the outpost hadn’t much improved over the last week, and it was a somber procession that marched home. They moved single file, marching through the trees with heads on a swivel and weapons in hand. Nym was near the back, nervous with each step and watching the boughs overhead for ambushes. Without his night vision spell, it was much scarier. He couldn’t tell if those shadowy patches were empty or not.

They did all make it back without incident. Nym would have liked to retrieve his pack, but it was with the Earth Shapers in the hut they’d built at the third outpost. There wasn’t much in that pack, but it did contain all of his money and a few books, which he needed for obvious reasons.

It only took a few quick questions to determine that he was completely cut off from the outpost. There was no way anyone was letting him tag along with them to go there, no one was going to carry a letter he might draft if he managed to beg the supplies to do so, and despite his at times questionable judgement, Nym was not stupid enough to try the trek on his own.

That left the slower but much safer option: returning to Ebalsan and asking Analia for help. There wasn’t anyone who’d escort him to the third outpost, but wagons full of supplies and people came and went from forward command every day. Nym hitched a ride with one, thankful that he wouldn’t have to walk.

“What’s a kid like you doing out here anyway?” the soldier who’d agreed to give him a ride said once Nym had climbed up onto the bench at the front of the wagon.

“I’m a mage. I was working as a freelancer, but I got involved in that ghoul raid on the ninth outpost and hurt myself.”

“Ah, and you’re short on cash to see the healer, huh?”

“Something like that,” Nym said. “I’ve got a friend in town I’m going to see.”

“Well, you’re looking alright, so it must not be too bad.”

“It’s internal. I can’t use magic anymore.”

The soldier gave him a sideways look. “That’s rough, buddy.”

“Yeah. They told me it would take a long time to heal. I’ve got to see what my options are.”

The soldier was chattier than Nym wanted, but since he was giving Nym a ride, it was only polite to engage with him. Eventually, the soldier seemed to run out of steam and they lapsed into what was for Nym a very welcome and comfortable silence. He watched the trees go by somewhat apprehensively, but they were behind the wall now and the chances of running into a ghoul were significantly slimmer.

Hours and miles rolled by, and Nym passed the time trying to further master control of his matrix. Being able to see what worked and what didn’t was an incalculable advantage, and even with that, he was still frustrated by his overall lack of progress. He reminded himself repeatedly that he was progressing quite quickly by normal standards, but he didn’t intend to spend a year unable to use magic.

It was evening by the time he made it to the Silver Gilder and knocked on Analia’s door. There was no answer. “Of course she’s out,” he muttered, scrubbing his face with his hands. “That’s bad timing.”

“What’s bad timing?” Analia said from behind him.

Nym jumped and spun in place to see her standing there, a book in one hand and a plate balanced on the other. She regarded him quizzically. “You look… off. What’s going on?”

“Let’s talk in private,” Nym said.

* * *

“So I’m pretty much screwed unless we come into a lot of cash and find a master mage who’s specialized in healing,” Nym finished up.

“It’s kind of impressive that you managed to damage three different nodes at once,” Analia said. “Incredibly stupid of you, but weirdly impressive. That must have hurt quite a bit.”

Nym just stared at her. It wasn’t like he’d done it on purpose.

“Alright, well the good news is that I can let Ophelia know you’re not dead. The crew’s all been worried about you for days. I’ll craft a message spell to send to her and let her know we need the money from your pack. It might be a week or two until you get it, but I’ve still got plenty of shields.”

“Any ideas on how I’m going to survive for the next however many months?” he asked. Hopefully it was just months and not a full year.

“You’re really asking the wrong girl if you think I know how to earn money without using magic.”

“Oh. Right. Damn it. What do we do then?”

“Do your rehabilitation exercises for now. Maybe Ophelia will know what to do. I’ll ask if she has any advice. If not, we’ll count up what we’ve got for funds and figure it out.”

Nym paced around while he thought, or rather, he tried to. Analia’s room was somehow even more packed with books than the last time he’d seen it, though they did seem to be mostly new titles. In fact, quite a few of the ones he remembered looking at were missing. “Did you sell off some of your books?” he asked.

“I didn’t have much choice. There just wasn’t enough room and I was already done with them.”

There were a few books Nym was interested in looking through that appeared to be gone now, but he supposed that was his own fault for not asking her to set them aside for him. The idea that she’d sell them when she was done with them had never crossed his mind. He eyed up the new stacks, looking to see if there was anything he needed.

“I don’t suppose you’ve got anything left in here about healing?” he asked. “I might as well have something to study while I’m recovering and I was told there’s a lot of non-magical stuff to learn about anatomy.”

“There’s still a few. Let me look…”

Analia dug through the piles for a bit, eventually coming up with four thin books for him. “Thanks,” he said, skimming through them. Two were on anatomy, one was on various illnesses, and one on diagnostic spells. That last one would have to remain hypothetical for him until he actually regained the ability to use magic.

“I’ll send the message to Ophelia right away. You need some money to get a room, and we’ll talk in the morning?”

“That sounds good. I hate to ask, but maybe some extra for a meal? I haven’t eaten all day.”

Analia dug into a satchel sitting on her bed and pulled out a handful of shields. “This should be enough for a night.”

“Analia, this is enough for close to a month.”

“Well good,” she said. “Plenty of time for you to get your own money back. Though where you’re going to find an inn that’ll take you on for less than two shields a week... I just assumed you’d stay here.”

“How… how much are you paying for this? This room is not that nice.”

Nym was almost afraid to hear the answer. Even knowing that she’d managed to tap into her family’s coffers to cover her expenses again, the frugal part of his soul cringed every time he saw her spending way too much money.

“Three shields a week. It comes with access to their bathhouse and two meals a day.”

“That… is not bad, actually. Maybe I will get a room here.”

It was a little pricier than usual, but Nym could definitely use a bath. Analia had been polite about it, but he knew he stunk and he’d caught her crinkling her nose a few times while they talked. It was one of the reasons he’d remaining standing instead of claiming bed space to sit on. No need to have the stink linger in her furniture.

A quick trip downstairs and an exchange of coins for a key was all it took for Nym to get a room across the hall. He deposited several books he was interested in on his bed, and Analia also loaded him down with about thirty more books she was interested in but didn’t have room for to be piled up in the corner. Then he got a meal, hit the baths, and retired for the night.

It got too dark to read before he could really get started, which was frustrating because a light spell was so easy, but he just couldn’t do it now. Instead, he went back to work on his matrix. It was an unpleasant task, but it didn’t require a light source to perform, so it was work on that or sleep. It needed to be done and he wasn’t tired yet.

There was a knock on the door, and he heard Analia say “Nym? Are you still awake?”

He got up and opened the door to find her holding a book. “I found another book on med- wait, why are you sitting in the dark?”

“No magic,” he told her.

“Oh, right. Uh… I can empower some light runes for you.”

“That… would be very helpful. Thank you.”

They set about writing the rune sequences on sheets of paper, which wouldn’t last very long, but it was a cheap enough way to get a few hours of light when he needed it. Analia left him with the new book, and with a source of light to read by, Nym started diving into the world of human anatomy.

An hour later, he put the book down with a sigh and closed his eyes. That damn headache was back again.