The Price of Knowledge

The path was not long, a couple hours at best, but for Sirius it was bringing back painful memories. We grew up here, learned magic, hunted, helped his master around, played with Seth. Manasnake was giving him some courage, tightly tied around his body. Something about its behaviour made Sirius feel like nothing had happened. However, it was not the case.

The closer Gregor led Sirius to the hut, the more pronounced changes were. Thick roots sprawled for kilometers around the trunk, bulging the earth in some places and opening a pitfalls in others. Gregor carefully threaded the path, leading Sirius closer and closer to the epicentre. Seeing the boy's distress, he decided to distract him with a stories of the past.

"Sirius, did you know that Verden was a member of the clergy?"

"What?"

"In Kingdom it is forbidden to practice magic if you are not in the church."

"But why he was not a believer? I thought everyone is."

"The thing is, he wasn't born in the Kingdom."

"Seriously? I thought you two were old friends."

"Well, we knew each other for a very long time, but we met when we were adults. I was born in Rivervale, and we was a child of druids."

"Who are they?"

"Oh, he didn't tell you. Figures, they exiled him for his specialisation. Some old fart decided that healing is 'against the will of the world', huh."

"Wow..."

"Yeah, Verden invented the healing by studying his own body and the flow of mana. He was given a choice either to stop studying medicine, or be exiled. Of course he decided that other people will be more grateful and left."

"Is it when you met him?"

"Yes, I was stranded in the forest, my lungs filled with fluid and I was dying alone, far from home. He found me when I was losing consciousness in these areas. Back then I was young and rather zealous young man, so at first I was terrified. But we talked and I gave up the idea of selling him out to the Order."

"Why? Wasn't he a mage as well? And he wasn't going against their belief."

"Oh no, he did. He studied magic by himself."

"And that's it? Is it enough to be sentenced by Order?"

"Not only that. Did he teach you about astral bodies?"

"He only told that it is like a soul and mages can build their souls to become stronger, or something like that."

"Almost. Astral body, just like your physical one has a number of organs, and mage can condense them when their control of mana reaches a certain point."

"What did Verden do wrong with his Astral Body?"

"In the church Mana Pool must be the first, it is a requirement to become a part of the clergy. Without it a regular person cannot store mana, and townsfolk needs it to participate in sermons. The ritual you witnessed today at sermon was people donating their own mana and recharging the church's reserves. The sudden flow of mana scared you, I think."

"Yes, it did. But that night a mana was sucked from the world. It was very painful as well."

"I can not imagine. Your soul is also made of mana, so it have been pulled as well."

"So... What did Uncle Verden do?"

"Oh, yes, of course. Verden, just like any druid, possessed a Mind's Eye. It is an organ which heightens one's perception of mana and astral world. That is how he studied human body and why I can't learn it, since I have no Mind's Eye."

"And what happened after you met?"

"We became friends and after he condensed a Mana Pool I introduced him to the church and the village. He didn't live there because he was used to living alone, but he often visited Rivervale and cured diseases. Needless to say, for his help he was accepted. The Order was not happy, but they were willing to close their eyes this time, since he helped the townsfolk. They only forbade him from travelling, but either way he didn't want to."

By this time they have finally arrived. From below the view was even more terrifying. Thick trunk hanged over them, blotting out the sky, purple leaves shimmering in the last rays of light. From up close, green wood emitted dim light, as if a small suns were trapped inside translucent crystals. Being here was hard for Sirius, he felt the mana move inside these massive branches and in the roots, carrying a powerful flow of world's energy. Seth was also drawn towards the crystals. Perhaps, as a manasnake that fed of energy, he viewed this whole tree as a nourishment. Not that he could bite into the hard rocks, but clinging to it gave him a lot of pleasure. As for Sirius, he wasn't as scared like earlier, and it took him a moment to understand why. The whole tree emanated a familiar aura, that of Master Verden's spells.

"So it was him..." Whispered Sirius, falling to the knees.

"What?"

"It is his spell... He wasn't killed by the Order... He did it himself..."

"I knew you would notice that. Yes, it was his Final Flash, an extremely potent spell which united him with the world, like he believed. I even helped him to perfect it."