The Halfyn Heir is still in the Fonlands, on the Disc of Xêvioso despite his desire to stay in the Shifting Planes of the Disc of Lêgba to help with the resettlement of refugees.
“I assure you,” Xêvioso says when it’s clear that the Heir is distracted, “the refugees will be fine, including Ali who I invited to join us when he is settled.”
“I know they are fine but after what happened…” the Heir trails off. Alia, Agê, Pultine, and Maxx are also there waiting with Xêvioso for Lêgba who will travel with them to the Paradise universe. Alia looks at the Heir sympathetically, understanding that he had witnessed a great loss that rattled him to his core; if the enemy could damage Talj so much that it died even after they cleared the Pito, then they should all fear for their home existences and the Heir did. “So many were lost, we saved so few that it was insignificant. That entire existence is just gone.”
“It will not claim another victim,” Xêvioso says resolutely. “It is our resolve in the face of its unspeakable horror that will be the end of it. The death that it represents, the wanton destruction, is an imbalance that we will correct. You, Halfyn Heir…”
“Call me Tot,” he says, but not explaining that being called the name is the connection to his home existence that he needs in the moment.
“Tot, you are a master of the pattern, I have observed you, I have hardly seen one as adept as you at hand magic. It is like you are touching the pattern and not even bending it, but feeling its natural vibrations to absorb or subtly change them. It has been a lesson to watch you.”
“Truly,” Agê adds. “Hand magic always seemed stylistic to me, just physical choices you make with your hands to do the magic you want to do, but like Xêvioso said, watching you is a lesson. I want to learn how to touch the pattern with my fingertips as you do.”
“I’d just like to see this pattern,” Alia says sarcastically and elbows Maxx.
“I’m good, Hyperion, the pulse of death and rage is good enough for me. How do you wield their magic so easily if you can’t see the pattern?” he asks and Alia shrugs.
“She is a natural vessel of the pattern and by extension, life itself,” Agê explains. “The source of your power encompasses mine, Xêvioso’s and Jo’s, and you are like us Vodun, every move you make is a magical one, you don’t need spells or formations or any of that. The Halfyn Heir, Tot, you are the exact opposite, I presume. Did you gain your mastery of hand magic through rigorous practice?”
The Heir nods and smiles, looking back into his memory on Halfyn learning magecraft with the High Mage, an old man who was only slightly taller than Tot when he was a child student. An important component of controlling elemental magic is hand magic, though it is not referred to as such in the Heir’s existence. It is called magecraft and includes everything from gestures with the body, verbal spells and magical intonations, potions and anything else that can call forth or manipulate elemental magic. The magecraft movements were his daily routine before his teacher and he would zap the Heir if he was even slightly off in any of the movements. He had never heard of the pattern before arriving in the Fonlands, but he does remember the moment when he was almost an adult and had been very studiously practicing his magecraft and he realized exactly what he was tapping when he enacted the movements and it was like an extremely intricate network of glowing strings that connected everything in existence that the mages referred to as the elemental structure. It was in this moment that he became a true mage and wielder of elemental magic. He explained much of this to the others.
“We share things across existences,” Xêvioso says with wonder. “I was so skeptical of Ogi and her Ascendant when I saw that they wielded magic of the same strange color as the enemy, but I think that there are only those elemental magics, and the additional ones of the Vodun, in every existence. I cannot wait for you to teach us your daily movements, Tot, I’m sure they will be helpful for everyone to familiarize themselves with pattern magic.”
Maxx and Alia agree to learn from the Heir and he gives his first lesson as they wait for Lêgba.
PRL Serials 