Despite the inferno raging around her — fmes that had shifted from dark blue to an almost white as the battle wore on — each breath Maggy drew was colder than the darkest abditus blizzard. Her exhales came in thick white clouds, and frost crawled up her arm from the floating blue orb hovering over her hand.

  Her face pinched with concentration as she forced more mana through the orb. A choked cry turned into a scream as the artifact unleashed waves of searing cold and frost that crept another centimeter up her arm. The orb pulsed with a blinding white light, and three more fme spears erupted from its twisting surface. They shrieked through the air and smmed into the Kigendoro, leaving rge patches of dried, scorched mud in their wake.

  Maggy’s grip tightened as she fought against the artifact’s votile power, but even through the chaos, a sliver of memory surfaced. The first time she had seen the strange device.

  ——————————————————

  “What is it, Teacher?” she had asked, wide-eyed.

  Her teacher turned the orb over in his gloved hands, his expression thoughtful.

  “I’m not completely sure,” he admitted. “It was found deep within a recently discovered Old Ruin.”

  A younger Maggy leaned forward, staring at the artifact in awe. The relics pulled from the Old Ruins were always as strange as they were powerful, so unlike anything crafted in their world. Theories about their origins abounded, but confirmation was forever elusive.

  Her teacher carefully pced the orb on a small metal disk atop his desk. With a faint hum, it snapped into pce and floated above the disk, utterly still, without the slightest flux of mana. He folded his hands and met Maggy’s curious gaze.

  “According to the records found with the artifact, the builders of the Old Ruins called it a ‘Thermal Flux Regutor.’ What that means exactly, we are still working to understand.”

  “Fascinating…” Maggy whispered, her eyes wide and unblinking, mesmerized by the orb’s soft, otherworldly glow.

  ——————————————————

  A few weeks ter, Maggy and her teacher stood on a scorched training field.

  Her teacher raised his gloved hand, palm up, and summoned the strange blue orb from his storage ring. It floated off his hand with a faint pulse of mana, slowly spinning in pce. Maggy grinned and cpped her hands.

  “You did it!” she cheered.

  He chuckled softly and gave her a proud nod.

  “I couldn’t have done so without your help, my apprentice. Reverse arcanizing the containment disk was quite the challenge.”

  “Do we know what the orb does now?” she asked, nearly bouncing on her heels.

  Her teacher’s only response was a sly grin as he fed fire mana into the orb. It flickered once before bzing with a brilliant blue light. Maggy’s grin widened, then her breath caught.

  The temperature plummeted.

  “Wha—?” Maggy blinked, hugging her arms to herself.

  “Wait for it…” her teacher murmured, his eyes glinting with anticipation.

  In the next instant, a vortex of fire-aligned Spirit Energy from the surrounding area spiraled toward the orb. It sank into the artifact like water draining into a whirlpool. Frost crackled along her teacher’s gloved hand, and Maggy shivered violently as the air grew even colder.

  Then, with a final fsh of light, a colossal beam of pure fire mana erupted from the orb. It screamed across the field, disintegrating the reinforced targets and smming into the massive safety shield with such force that Maggy feared it would shatter. The shield — designed to withstand a full-force attack from a [Soul Fusion] Cultivator or an [11th Circle] Mage — groaned under the strain.

  Her eyes widened in disbelief. Her teacher was a [10th Circle] Mage — the equivalent of an [Core Condensing] Cultivator — and one of the strongest mages in Halirosa. Yet even he shouldn’t have been able to so much as scratch the shield.

  “Teacher… that—” Maggy’s voice faltered. She turned toward her teacher, only to see him colpse to his knees, trembling violently.

  “TEACHER!” she cried, rushing to his side.

  She tried summoning several [Micro Stars] to stabilize the temperature, but the environmental energy had been nearly depleted. Gritting her teeth, she drew directly from her own furnace—a costly move that would hinder her personal progression but was necessary. A dozen tiny red stars flickered into existence, spreading through the area and slowly restoring the warmth.

  The chill in her teacher’s limbs eased, and with her help, he struggled to his feet.

  “Thank you, my dear,” he rasped, voice hoarse. “It seems I overdid it slightly. Or maybe I’m just getting old,” he added with a breathless chuckle, though his grin was warm.

  Maggy gred at him, still trembling slightly from the cold.

  “Well, what did you think?” he asked, raising a single brow.

  She stared at him, then back at the devastation. The deep, glowing trench carved into the training field, the lingering frost steaming under the heat of her stars.

  “I… don’t understand. It seems like some kind of amplifier, but I’ve never seen one so powerful…” She knelt, brushing her fingers across the thin yer of frost. “…or so dangerous.”

  Her teacher’s smile was ced with intrigue.

  “How do you think it works?”

  Maggy’s lips pressed into a thin line.

  “I don’t know. It seemed to absorb environmental spirit energy, almost like a mage’s mana furnace, but the rate was absolutely insane.”

  Her teacher stroked his beard thoughtfully with one hand, the other flicking to dismiss the orb back into his storage ring.

  “That it is. As far as we can determine, the artifact can synchronize with an energy source and then attract and absorb matching energy within a set area. Once it reaches a certain threshold, it expels that energy all at once.”

  He shook his head slightly.

  “I cannot say for what purpose, but those I have shown the artifact to do not believe it was intended as a weapon.”

  Maggy frowned.

  “Because of the side effects?”

  Her teacher nodded.

  “Partly. A proper artifact of this caliber should have safeguards — at the very least, shielding the user from its backsh. But there’s more to it than that. The expunged energy is… chaotic. Directionless. It feels like the artifact’s entire purpose is simply to absorb and release energy.”

  Maggy threw up her arms in frustration.

  “That doesn’t make any sense! Why waste the time and energy like that?!”

  Her teacher’s ughter rang out, rich and genuine. He cpped her lightly on the shoulder.

  “It does seem strange, doesn’t it? But then, many aspects of the Old Ruins defy our understanding. That’s what makes them so very fascinating.”

  His eyes gleamed with mischief as he added,

  “Now, for your next assignment, I want you to perform a tier five aura scan on the artifact and write me a thesis on the—”

  ——————————————————

  Several years ter, shortly before leaving on the expedition, Maggy stood in her teacher’s office, staring down at the same artifact hovering over its containment disk on his desk.

  “Sir, I don’t understand. Why now?” The older, more composed Maggy asked, her voice steady but ced with uncertainty.

  She frowned, arms crossing tightly over her chest. “For everything we’ve learned about the Thermal Flux Regutor over the years, it’s still dangerous. Even with the improved containment glove, it can’t fully shield its user.”

  Her teacher leaned back slightly, his eyes crinkling with warmth as he smiled. “That’s true. But we can learn only so much in these safe, sterile conditions.” He gestured to the neatly organized shelves lining his office, the worn tomes and scattered scrolls he so adored. “I’ve told you before, part of being a Mage is taking risks. You’ll never grow if you spend your entire life in the b or library.”

  Maggy’s jaw tightened, and she gnced away. He had already nagged her into accepting the expedition invitation, insisting it would be good for her. And now he wanted her to take this… thing with her. This dangerous thing.

  Sensing her hesitation, her teacher sighed softly. “Think of it as a precaution, if nothing else.”

  Her eyes narrowed as she turned back toward him. “You think something’s going to happen, don’t you?”

  She knew him too well. Her teacher was a sly man, always keeping his finger on the pulse of Halirosa — and far beyond. He never made decisions lightly. Was that why he had been so insistent that she join the expedition? Did he know something she didn’t?

  The old man simply shrugged, feigning casual indifference. “Anything can happen in these sorts of situations.” His eyes, however, remained sharp, unwavering. “Everyone needs a hidden dagger up their sleeve. The artifact is dangerous, no doubt.” He leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice. “But it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.”

  Maggy gred at him for a long moment, her gaze hard and searching. Yet, he only grinned back, the kind of maddeningly patient smile that always made her want to stomp her foot in frustration. Eventually, she exhaled sharply and snatched the orb off the desk, flicking her wrist to stow it away along with the containment disk and glove into her storage ring.

  “Fine,” she muttered. “I’ll take it. But don’t expect me to use the damned thing unless I have no choice.”

  Her teacher’s grin widened slightly, but his eyes suddenly turned serious. He leaned forward, his voice low and firm. “I pray to the Celestials you never have to.” His weathered hands folded together on the desk. “But if you do, remember your limits. Few victories are worth following your enemy to the grave.”

  Maggy hesitated at the door, her hand briefly gripping the frame. Without looking back, she gave a small, almost imperceptible nod, then walked through, heading toward the expedition party.

  Maggy’s vision blurred as the memories came flooding back. The world swam, and she wobbled unsteadily in the air before slowly sinking to the ground. The Thermal Flux Regutor slipped from her trembling fingers and rolled away, its once brilliant glow now flickering dimly.

  Her legs gave out, and she crumpled to her knees. The biting cold, no longer tempered by her magic, cwed into her limbs like iron talons. Her arms soon failed her, and she curled into a tight ball, shivering violently.

  “I’m sorry… Teacher…” she rasped, her breath a thin, white vapor against the frigid air.

  Her lips cracked, and her limbs felt stiff and brittle, as though they would shatter with the slightest touch. She knew without looking that the hand that had wielded the artifact was likely frostbitten, perhaps beyond saving. Her mana furnace was nearly dry, strained to its breaking point from controlling and converting so much environmental energy. The pathways that once pulsed with warmth and power now felt sluggish and numb, as if filled with icy slush.

  With what little strength she had left, she raised her head. Through the swirling haze of cold and exhaustion, her eyes locked onto the Kigendoro, and her stomach dropped.

  Even after throwing everything she had at the beast, even after nearly killing herself, the damned thing was still standing. Patches of dried, scorched mud marred its hide, but even now, thick bck sludge oozed over the wounds, sealing them shut.

  Her heart sank.

  All that power. All that pain. And it had barely left a scratch.

  And yet… as the haze clouding her mind began to clear, Maggy’s lips slowly curled into a weak, trembling smile. Her breath hitched as she scanned the battlefield and realized what she wasn’t seeing.

  No bodies.

  No fallen allies.

  Even if she hadn’t been able to kill the Kigendoro, she and the others had kept it distracted long enough for everyone to escape. The creature was too consumed by its blind, thrashing rage, too focused on the insects still pecking at it, to chase after the fleeing survivors.

  She exhaled shakily, the st of the tension draining from her body. That would have to be enough. It had to be. Maggy only prayed her teacher would forgive her.

  She was so tired. She just needed to rest. Just a little.

  Her eyes fluttered shut.

  “EEEKKK!”

  Only for them to immediately shoot open as she was lifted into the air. Her heart nearly leaped into her chest as she feared the Kigendoro had taken advantage of her moment of weakness to finish her.

  Her breath hitched, but then she felt the steady grip of rge, armored arms around her.

  Robert came back for me! Maggy instantly thought.

  Though her mind felt hazy and her vision swam at the moment, she turned her head and grinned up at the person carrying her, only to freeze.

  Boarsyer stared down at her with a bemused frown, one brow quirked. “What’s with the look, girl?” she grunted. “You get into the wine before the drake?”

  Maggy’s eyes dulled, her breath catching in her throat. Her weak smile faltered and slipped away. She turned her face away, unwilling to let her see the brief, stunned disappointment flickering in her eyes. As she did, her gaze caught sight of Robert fleeing deeper into the woods, along with a group of strangely armored goblins. Behind them, Bert distracted the Kigendoro.

  A sharp pang nced through her chest, but she smothered it quickly.

  Instead, she forced her gaze back to Boarsyer. Her voice came out hoarse and cracked. “What’s happening? Are we… running away?”

  Boarsyer barely gnced back as she adjusted her grip on the young mage, her weight effortless in her arms. “No, we’re not running,” she grunted, her voice steady with dry humor.

  She picked up speed, following the retreating group.

  “It’s called a tactical retreat.”