Chapter 48 - Deep Marks

Daniel pulled the papers closer, trying to hold his anger. But his mind decrypted the formations before he could stop himself.

Every part of their bodies was mapped in high detail, showing exactly what the intentions behind the formations were. Mana-gathering circuits on the arms and legs, with runes and circles leading to right below their navels, where the mana pool was centered around.

The mana gathered through the formation from the surroundings would be forcefully pushed into their mana pools, expanding them until they either burst or grew enough to handle it.

"Mana batteries?!" Daniel's voice shook with anger. "Were they planning to use them as bombs?! Or were they even more incompetent than it looks?!"

Then he saw the formations on their backs. His hands trembled as he traced those patterns with his finger. Somehow even more inhumane than the front, these were meant to inflict great pain if the proper signal was received. A torture device to control their actions, plain and simple.

Revolting. Inhumane. And not even slightly competent work. Daniel could already see hundreds of improvements, even if he would never use them. The formations were wasteful in their cruelty.

No wonder they’re the only ones who survived. They must have had a great mana pool from the start, letting them survive this ‘training.’ It’s fucking disgusting.

"Why haven’t you removed the tattoos?"

Daniel looked up from the papers. His jaw was clenched tight enough to ache.

"They're engraved into their skin, so how would I?" Zoltran spread his small hands helplessly. "Besides, I don't know what will happen if I do. As far as I can tell, the circuits have already altered their natural pathways."

Right, of course that would happen—they’re children, still developing their bodies…

The formations had likely become part of the twins' magical infrastructure. Removing them might be like cutting out vital organs.

“...What have you done, then?”

“I made sure their environment is low in natural mana, especially their bedrooms. I considered trying to sever the connections to their mana pools, but I’m afraid of what might happen.”

Daniel shook his head, more to himself than Zoltran. “It’s all so sloppy… I could easily improve the designs to make their lives easier, but that would require adding new patterns. We can't predict what might happen when formations interact with existing magical pathways."

The risk was too high. One wrong rune and he could cause exactly what he was trying to prevent.

“...I can show you the notes and journals left behind from the experiments. Unlike me, you might be able to help them.”

There was a clear hint of frustration in Zoltran’s voice as he spoke. He’d been useless in terms of finding a solution, only managing to mend the symptoms.

But the thought of reading those journals was not enticing, despite Daniel's scientific curiosity. There would be detailed descriptions of the effects, of the failed experiments, of the numbers involved, the torture…

“I’m not sure I could handle reading that.”

“It is not an easy read. I will leave it up to you. They haven’t worsened since arriving, but I’m afraid of what might happen once they leave. I don’t want to imprison them here—one prisoner is enough.”

Zoltran was quite clearly referring to himself, though he didn't show it on his face. After thousands of years, imprisonment had become nothing but the truth to him. This academy was his cage, gilded and vast, but still a cage.

"As long as they grow stronger, these flimsy formations won't be a threat to their pools." Daniel forced himself to look back at the diagrams. "But I'm worried about the formations on their shoulders and hips."

Four lesser formations placed in a cross pattern. The right shoulder sending some kind of mana signal to the left hip, and vice versa. The signals would cross in the middle, somewhere near the solar plexus. But their function remained a complete mystery to him.

What were they trying to accomplish?

“Yes, those were more experimental, I believe. Some way to stabilize the effects of the other formations on the body. I’ve asked plenty of doctors about it, but none of them could say anything with certainty.”

“...I’ll take a look at the notes, then. Do you mind if I keep these papers?”

“Not at all. I’ve done what I can already.”

Daniel pulled the papers into his hand and then quickly stored them away in his index. The diagrams vanished with a pulse of mana. 

“Anything else you need my brilliant mind for?”

Zoltran gave a brief smile. “You never were a humble one. But no, not really. I’ve already tricked you into teaching two classes on formations today, so I believe it will have to wait until tomorrow.”

Daniel scoffed at the suggestion he'd been tricked. "That was all fate, old man. You could have easily convinced me by telling me the current state of formations, though."

The revelation that formation studies had degraded into mere memorization would have been enough on its own.

"Better it be your own decision." Zoltran stood from the couch. "Anything else, while I'm still here?"

"Well, we still have a thousand years of academy history to get through." Daniel leaned back. "Have there ever been geniuses at my level? Since I vanished?"

He tried to keep the question casual, but curiosity leaked through. Had the world produced anyone comparable? Or had Artorias truly been unique?

"Ahh, I don't know what answer you're hoping for…" Zoltran sat back down. "But there has."

"Really?" Daniel sat up straighter. "Tell me about them."

"...There was a young girl by the name of Marie Sinclaire, born only a few decades after your supposed death." Zoltran's expression softened with memory. "To this day, I've never seen anyone grasp space like she did. Gods, how she would annoy me by suddenly popping up in my office, telling me how she was just in Patropil or some other distant land…"

His voice carried fondness despite the complaint. Clearly, the annoyance had been more endearing than irritating.

"Oh, you should have met her, Art. Teleportation formations would be just around the corner if you two could research them together…"

The wistfulness in Zoltran's tone spoke volumes.

“She sounds brilliant. I would have loved to meet her.”

“She really was something special… Oh, she was the one who implemented spatial storage in the indexes.”

“Oh! Then I can say with certainty she was brilliant. The index didn’t improve much since I created it, but some parts surprised me, like the storage. That was one of the few improvements I would never have managed to create myself.”

"I believe it." Zoltran nodded slowly. "Then there's Timothy Doyle, a few centuries later. A genius, perhaps beyond any I've taught… But maddened by his research."

The shift in tone was impossible to miss. From fondness to something darker.

"Oh?"

"He… saw patterns in the world. Patterns that led him to discover a new sarun magic—a time magic, very unlike any we've known before." Zoltran's small hands clasped together. "This didn't simply slow or speed up time; it broke it into pieces."

“Time travel?”

"Yes, I suppose you could call it that. A leap through time rather than space. Though only for seconds at a time—at least of what I saw." Zoltran's expression grew distant. "The boy was driven by his regrets, desperately searching for a way to go back far enough to undo his mistakes."

Daniel felt a pang of sympathy. He understood that desperation all too well. The desire to go back, to change just one thing, to make it right. 

If magic existed on Earth, maybe I’d do the same thing…

"...It's a powerful motivator."

"Too powerful, I'd say. And with a mind like his, sufficient motivation can shake the world…" Zoltran's voice dropped. "But his story never had a conclusion, because he died before graduating."

“Hmm. You saw him dead?”

"I know what you're thinking, and yes. He died in my arms, shortly after an experiment went wrong." Zoltran met Daniel's eyes. "His hair had suddenly grayed, so it's possible he had a breakthrough, but was unprepared for the effects."

“Another sealed magic, I assume?”

“Not even sealed. It only exists in my mind now.”

“Good call.”

Zoltran's expression lightened slightly. "After him, only Kasim Norkon can really be said to measure up. He made significant contributions to the study of the stars and the cosmos. Not much of a mage, but his theories were incredible, unheard of in most astrologer circles. He died a hundred years ago, and still they haven't managed to disprove his findings."

"Oh, I've never really considered the stars." Daniel leaned forward with interest. "What was his most significant theory?"

"That would have to be… Black holes."

"Black holes?"

The same ones he knew from Earth?

"Yes. He theorized that matter could become so dense after the death of a star that it would start pulling other matter into itself, condensing to the point where even light can't escape its gravity."

"That's… incredible."

He kept his expression neutral, but internally, he was blown away. The man had theorized black holes without telescopes, without Einstein, without any of the foundation Earth scientists had built upon. Pure observational genius and mathematical reasoning combined with whatever magical perception he'd developed.

“This was his room, actually.” Zoltran glanced around the chamber, stopping briefly on the telescope by the window. “And Marie’s, many centuries before that.”

“I’m honored.”

Zoltran laughed. "Marie wanted your room when she first became a professor. But an accident destroyed that room, unfortunately, so I had this one built to make up for it."

Daniel had to laugh at that. "Ahh, time… It's so hard to put things into perspective after so long. But you would know everything about that."

"More than most elves, even." Zoltran jumped down from the couch. He was too small to get out easily and landed with a soft thud. "But I should be going. I'll make sure to call you Daniel in class tomorrow."

"Professor Daniel to you, young man."

"Sure, sure." Zoltran waved dismissively. "Now remove this block of light."

Daniel dismissed the gold light with a thought. The barrier fragmented into tiny motes of luminance before disappearing entirely. "See you tomorrow."

The old boy only waved in response. He walked out the door and closed it gently behind him.

Daniel sighed. He briefly cataloged everything they'd talked about in his mind—the serpent, the queen, the twins, the geniuses of the past. Too many problems, too many variables, too many unknowns.

Then he called out, "You can come out now, Fillie."

The door to her room opened barely a second later. Felicia practically burst through. "I'm so hungry!"

The sudden shift from world-ending disasters to teenage complaints made Daniel smile. 

"Ah, yes, sorry about that. The talk lasted a bit longer than planned." He stood from the couch and stretched. "You want to head out for dinner tonight?"

“Sure! Let’s go.”

Ch.47 --I-- Ch.49