The arena was just a block away. A short walk, considering I was rearing for action.

  Thankfully, the zest settled somewhat during the walk before I could do something reckless. The city was still largely unexplored, and we were surrounded by unseen dangers. Acting otherwise would spell a quick way to find myself killed and devoured.

  We entered the arena through a long arched hallway. The sight that greeted us was breathtaking. Tiers upon tiers of stone benches surrounded the central stage, enough to seat tens of thousands of people. Skyboxes and private chambers proudly extended from the less fortunate masses.

  The grounds themselves weren't what I was expecting. Instead of a flat field covered with soft sands, we witnessed hard-packed dirt, pocked with collapsed areas.

  I gingerly stepped into the bowl, expecting a shift under my feet, but my steps felt stable. It didn't feel like it was ready to collapse.

  "It must have been what they used to move gladiators," Kenny pointed at a collapsed section. "The tunnels collapsed in places that used wood."

  I did not want to enter the dark tunnels, but nothing of value jumped out to me as we walked the grounds.

  "How likely, that there's an arsenal down there?" I asked.

  "Could be," Kenny answered uncertainly.

  I gave an exaggerated sigh and moved to a sloped section. We had a clear goal in coming here. Being armed would mean a lot for our safety.

  "Be ready to Drain anything that pops out," I instructed.

  A few steps into the tunnel put a stop to any plans I had of exploring them. The illumination around the city was dim at the best of times. It quickly dwindled to none in the confines of the long underground corridor. I couldn't even see my outstretched hand.

  I thought my eyes would take some time to adjust, but there was no improvement, so I retreated.

  "Now we know how the pillar crew felt," I concluded. "It's impossible to see anything."

  "We could try to create a new spell," Kenny suggested. "We were too tired to try anything new, but it's hard to imagine a better time than now."

  "You are right," I agreed. "A simple spell that creates light?"

  "We need to go over our options first," he quickly stopped me.

  "Which are?" I asked.

  We discussed so many possibilities when there was nothing else to do that I had difficulty remembering them all. I was as enthusiastic about learning more magic as Kenny, but I also didn't want it to take too much time.

  "We can try to create a light or a flame," Kenny listed. "This is the most straightforward approach, but the fire would have more utility to it."

  "It could also cost more than simple light," I agreed with his reasoning. "What else?"

  "Maybe, conjure oil or wood and light it on fire," he suggested. "If it's possible, we would also learn to conjure different materials."

  "Two birds with one stone," I liked the idea. Of course, any suggestion to steal a page out of Clare's book got bonus points from me. If it was easy enough, we could even conjure the weapons instead of looking for them.

  "And there's also the possibility of enhancing our eyesight," Kenny added eagerly. "My eyesight was already fixed perfectly, but what if we could make it even better than that? Like an owl's?"

  "I don't know," I hesitated. "That sounds dangerous. I don't wanna damage my eyes."

  "Maybe we could heal if we damage anything," he reassured quickly. "And after we're done, we won't need to use a spell every time we need to see something. It's gonna be permanent."

  "What about the third eye?" I asked, remembering one of the big ideas we talked about.

  The third eye was an idea from Eastern folklore, so on some level, it was more appealing to me than anything from recent fiction—it gave it the air of authenticity. The idea was to open a spiritual sight that could show us anything. The past or the future. Things that are hidden or far away. Show energies or even read minds. It would be invaluable if it could pull off even half of that.

  "You don't wanna risk your eyes, but you would risk your mind?" Kenny asked. "We don't know how you would react to more sensory input if it even works."

  "Look, we don't try to resurrect anyone when we use the Ankh," I reasoned. "We tried it on small cuts. Same here. If I restrict it enough, it'll be lighter on its energy usage and probably won't fry my brains."

  "Probably?" Kenny deadpanned.

  "I think, in this case, the potential benefits outweigh the risks many times over," I explained. "It would also help with every future spell. We may be able to see how much energy is used and how it happens."

  Kenny looked undecided, but I didn't require his approval.

  I sat on the ground and concentrated on the Ankh symbol to help me access my life energy for the spell. I drew a vertical ellipse in the middle of my forehead and put a dot in the middle. It was hard to imagine a sign closer in its meaning to a third eye than an actual drawing of a third eye.

  "Get ready to evade my brain splatter," I joked, trying to hide my apprehension.

  Kenny didn't look reassured by that.

  I closed my eyes and concentrated on the effect. I didn't need the future or the past. I only needed to see now. I didn't need to see far away, only what was in front of me. Not even energies, emotions, or seeing in the dark. I would settle for my normal vision. Nothing special, just my normal vision. My normal vision, without the use of my eyes.

  I willed a small trickle of my energy in exchange for this effect. Such a small detail, but it was key to the whole endeavor.

  "Show me," I commanded.

  And the world showed.

  Kenny's face appeared before me. It was furrowed in a worried expression. The vision was so sudden and indistinguishable from reality that I thought I had opened my eyes by mistake.

  My hand shot out to my eyelids, but they were scrunched shut.

  "What's happening?" Kenny questioned anxiously.

  I looked farther behind him and then looked around to peek into the tunnels. Everything was the same as looking with my eyes. I even had depth perception.

  "I can see," I said.

  I willed my vision to pierce the darkness, and the ground and walls appeared. They were not illuminated or in a different spectrum. I could just see them there plainly without the need for light.

  "And I can see in the dark," I happily told Kenny.

  He looked relieved and brought up his hand in front of me.

  "Two fingers," I supplied without waiting for his question.

  The strain of maintaining the sight was so minuscule I could use it indefinitely.

  I opened my eyes and had to close them again. My vision doubled, tripled even, without any ability to bring anything into focus.

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  "Oof," I grunted, disoriented. "Only use this one with closed eyes."

  "What about a headache? Or pressure?" He asked.

  "Nothing," I told him. "It's as easy as breathing."

  I was surprised. I expected to hit a dead-end like we did during our meditation attempts and to go through the alternatives, but I got the best option on my first try. We invented a new spell—not something someone else already did or told us about, or a twist on the already known Heal. Creating new magic was possible. I wanted to celebrate.

  "Do you see the energies?" Kenny asked curiously.

  I looked at Kenny and willed my vision to show his energy.

  I could see him gently glowing in golden light, the Ankh on his shoulder standing out in a slightly brighter glow through his clothes.

  "I think I can," I said. "If I'm not imagining it, I can also see your magical tattoo."

  "That's not good," he replied. "That means anyone who knows how to look will know we use magic. We can't hide it anymore."

  "Maybe we can hide it," I suggested. "A spell that hides energies."

  "Then, there could be a spell that sees through that spell," Kenny shook his head. "It's gonna be a game of cat and mouse, and we'll never be sure whether we managed to hide or not."

  "So we get rid of the tattoos and only draw the signs when we need them?" I asked.

  That would be a massive pain in the ass. It would even make things more dangerous, as my fumbling with the charm during the battle showed.

  "Could you see the difference between a regular tired person and us when we are full of energy? Like we are right now?" Kenny asked.

  "I didn't see them with this vision yet," I stalled. "But I can see fluctuations in your energy even while we talk. So I think it would be unmistakable."

  The fluctuations were subtle, but I could tell when he was alerted when I mentioned the tattoo. I could guess that a tired person would seem a lot dimmer.

  "The cat is out of the bag," I concluded. "We would stand out either way to anyone with a similar Sight."

  Kenny looked resigned at that.

  "You wanna try this third eye thing before we enter?" I asked, nodding at the corridor.

  "I want to try something else first," he replied.

  He used a single stroke to draw a circle on his palm. Then in quick succession, he added radiating lines, tracing a familiar sketch of the sun that hinted at his intentions.

  I watched in astonishment as his hidden Ankh symbol flashed faintly every time he added a line.

  "I've got just the right trigger words for this one," Kenny proudly remarked. "Let there be light!"

  I saw his Ankh light up, followed by the sun symbol, and then the sun flared in harsh white light.

  "Ahh, too strong," Kenny complained.

  I could feel my closed eyes water.

  "You need to start with a trickle, then build it up," I admonished him. "Every spell you cast is like a punch."

  "Ahh, sorry, sorry," he apologized lightly. "But how cool was that?".

  I could see his energy taking on a more steady shine, and the light stabilized on a more gentle glow. We steadily improved at controlling our energy without using the crutches we used initially.

  He pointed his hand toward the passage and lit it up.

  ***

  We explored the passages for hours, me with my new Sight and Kenny lighting up the way.

  I was hoping to spot trouble ahead of time. Along with being assured by our ability to Drain the life out of the attacker, it was the most secure I had felt since the moment I got here. Luckily the strategy went untested as the tunnels were deserted.

  A whole bunch of dirt, rotten wood, and collapsed sections later, we found what we were looking for.

  The arsenal was filled with unidentifiable forms of rotted wood, ruined leather, and rusted iron. The corrosion was so severe that the metal puffed out in ugly dark clouds. The shapes of the weapons were barely recognizable.

  In the corner, we found a single green shape. I knocked on it, and it produced a rich metallic sound.

  "At least something survived," I cheered, lifting it.

  It was a round shield. Unfortunately, the leather handles were so dry and brittle that hooking my finger through the loop and pulling was all it took to tear one up.

  "A glorified frisbee," I concluded. "Kinda heavy too. I'm thinking if we should even bring it back with us."

  I handed it to Kenny.

  "Bronze, I think," he said, looking it over.

  He tried holding it in front of him, gripping it by the edges, but I could see he struggled with the unwieldy weight.

  "I'll try to make something of it," Kenny decided.

  I disapproved. We were fortunate to have our two latest spells work outright. Every failed attempt would mean wasted energy that we weren't guaranteed to replenish. But Kenny was his own man, and it was his energy to spend. So he could decide for himself if it was acceptable or not.

  We found our way back to the surface or, more appropriately, to the arena grounds.

  Kenny settled the shield on the ground and got to work. He drew a triangle on the back of his hand, parted into four equal parts using a smaller turned triangle. I noticed his sun symbol retained some of its residual energy even when inactive.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked him.

  "It's like a small shape with other objects growing out of it," he explained. "Pretty intuitive to hold the meaning of shaping I'm gonna use."

  It wasn't intuitive for me, but we already determined the symbol only had to hold meaning for the caster.

  He put his hand on the shield and concentrated.

  "Sword," he commanded.

  His Ankh flared, followed by the shaping symbol, and lastly, the shield lit up. The light had the same golden hue that only my Sight spell showed me, so I knew the process wasn't visible to the naked eye.

  I looked with bated breath as the energy slowly left the shield. But nothing happened.

  Kenny touched the shield. It was as solid as before.

  "Reshape! Reform! Change!" He tried unsuccessfully. Each time the magic flared stronger than the last.

  His last spell left him exhausted, taking in labored breaths. He must have used more power than in his first foray into magic when he accidentally managed to restore me completely.

  The energy slowly seeped out of the shield while it remained unchanged.

  "Try draining it," I suggested.

  Kenny listened and was successful in getting some of it back.

  "What am I doing wrong?" he groaned.

  I watched as his energy slowly replenished itself. It took several minutes until it stopped visibly changing. However, while it stopped filling up, it didn't quite manage to reach its previous potency.

  That was good news as it meant we could use a lot of energy in our castings and rest to replenish most of it, but the initial intensity could only be restored by Draining something with the more viscous type.

  I thought over everything I witnessed.

  "The spell triggers," I said. "I could see the energy clinging to the shield."

  Kenny listened with half an ear, tapping at the shield.

  "I could also see the energy holding on for some time after the spell," I added. "And when you hit it with the spells in quick succession, it kept building up."

  "So, I should try hammering away at it?" He asked. "Just throwing spell after spell until it manages to break through?"

  "What are you trying to do?" I asked.

  "Turn this shield into a sword," Kenny answered like it was self-evident.

  "It's too much," I concluded. "Maybe it's possible, but you're gonna need a whole lot more energy than you got right now."

  Kenny tapped the shield with an unsatisfied expression.

  "What about something smaller?" I asked.

  I scooped a small rock and presented it to him.

  "Make this rock flat," I said.

  Kenny held it in his hand and gathered more energy than was necessary.

  "Flat!" He commanded.

  The rock snapped into its new squished shape like an unseen force clapped on it with inhuman power. It didn't crack. It just looked like it always held this shape.

  "Nice!" Kenny cheered. "I can do it in chunks."

  He used his shaping skill to break a part out of the shield. It took him several more minutes to pace himself and construct the knife, the handle followed by the blade, and the last spell sharpened it up.

  His creation looked surprisingly straight and symmetrical. I expected it to come out wonky.

  "That's a heavy knife," he said as he waved it about.

  "Can you polish it?" I asked.

  The knife looked tarnished in some places but not in others. I was curious about how easy it was to clean a piece of metal. Could Claire polish up the silver we gifted her in seconds?

  He cast the spell again, and it was all it took for the knife to shine in a perfect polish.

  "Sun of a bitch! She must've laughed at us when we left her the silver," I groaned.

  Kenny looked undisturbed by that, happily admiring his work.

  I followed his example and fashioned myself a knife. The handle was hollowed in an attempt to make it lighter. I vowed to think of a better sign but used his in the meanwhile.

  Now, if only we could bring the remaining chunk of bronze back with us.