Kuja leaned back, slowly revolving around the silver well. She had to wrap a band of thin shadow around her eyes to stop them from burning, but the mana here was quite refreshing.

  Every now and again she would glance down at the ground where hundreds of witches slumbered and felt a nap coming on.

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great time to take a break. That said, she couldn’t glean a whole lot off this marvel of the sky.

  What would Io look for were he in my position? Or Cira for that matter? I bet she’d just float right into the thing.

  It was tempting, she could not deny, yet Kuja’s control over earth was pitiful to say the least. It took decades to bury her friends and family.

  And thus, her resistance was much lower. If it weren’t for the robes Io put her in, just flying a stones throw away as she was would melt her skin back to the aether.

  Well, it sure is beautiful, but if I don’t get something useful out of this the favor Io owes me is sure to depreciate in value.

  So Kuja rose to meet the spiraling megalith she and the silver well were encaged within. The inscriptions sure were interesting, but…

  I haven’t the faintest clue what I’m looking at. How do they do it?

  Kuja fancied herself a decent artificer after grinding out so many Sunbearer tokens, but the enchantments here were gibberish to her.

  When in doubt, however, there was always the simpler approach. Artificer or not, Kuja could at least be considered clever.

  So, Kuja got to work on what she estimated was a 1/1000th scale model. Instead of silver, she used shadow. Enchantments were both recorded and replicated with light.

  Here and there a new witch would pop in while she coasted around the structure gazing at the horizon beyond, but they didn’t last long before plummeting to the ground. Kuja fulfilled her role by not even glancing at them. These witches must have been tougher than they looked though, because not a single one left a stain on the silver below.

  A speck of silver caught in Kuja’s throat and she nearly choked on it. During, a witch appeared to watch her coughing fit and passed out in line with the spiral structure. Her limp body caught on it, and she rode it down like a slide.

  Kuja felt like she was in a sandstorm now, and it got worse the further she strayed from the center.

  The mana well itself exuded a burning silver mana, but go far enough away and it began to condense into a fine powder. Silver in its solid form, naturally. And this close to the edge thin strips formed like the thin slivers of ash that fell from the sky as her village burned.

  It was a worthy discovery, but Kuja figured Io would have expected something like this. She only didn’t because the shadows which flowed around her home had no solid form.

  Let’s see, what else can I do while I wait for him? I guess I have this spatial ring. Yeah, that’s good. Let’s see just how much silver this fog contains.

  There was never a better time to train than the present, and Kuja was lacking in wind prowess. Just keeping the silver sands out of her mouth took almost all of her concentration. Expanding on that, however, she could simply pull the wind into her ring without fighting its momentum. At that point she could let earth take over and deflect itself away from her face.

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  Nice. I should really do stuff like this more often. The battle Jimbo and the boys are fighting or even that kid Shores is completely different, but aren’t there more wonders like this silver well that Elysia would surely benefit from investigating? I think I’ll stop in at the next council meeting.

  Kuja couldn’t believe how many witches were stationed here. Either the Silver Witch was a woman vain beyond comprehension, or this structure was weirdly important. On one hand it could essentially provide infinite money, but on another, that seemed so drab.

  I think I can rule out this island being a secret superweapon. It’s clearly a gathering array, but who needs this much silver? Where do they take it? Surely much of the metal hits distant markets, but there can’t be that much demand for a constant supply.

  I’m more curious what she’s doing with the mana though. There is a ridiculous amount of it in here and that’s not considering how much is flowing away from the source.

  In a dim flash, Io appeared before her, “Having fun?”

  She was laying down and quickly took the position of standing up, “I am. Look at this!” She urged him toward the shadow model she had been making with not-so subtle pride.

  “How fascinating,” Io said without even looking at the model, “This array contains nearly one hundred percent of the well’s mana. It honestly surprises me that this island has not met holy ruin. You know, I met a seraph once.” He chuckled before finally inspecting my work, “Good job recording this, but you have only scratched the surface.”

  “What do you mean?” I tried not to pout. My model was practically an exact copy.

  “Did you know that the reason holy light can travel through walls has nothing to do with Vercephus at all?” I never looked at the stars much nor practiced holy magic, but that was new information to me. “It’s called mana permeation. The more solid the material you conjure, the more rigid this property becomes. With just a little extra force, light can be an even more efficient method of perception than space, for a short range at least.”

  “Okay…” Kuja looked between him and the mana well with a tad of confusion, “And?”

  “And your model only recorded surface enchantments. Here, watch.” The entire compound was flooded with a light so bright I thought witches were going to wake up. Suddenly, my model turned into a brilliant beacon, “See? Now we have an exact copy of this entire structure, inside and out. What say you we go home? I already found what I came here for.”

  “Um, alright…. Sur—” The world disappeared and a golden landscape appeared. More specifically, Kuja was even placed in her seat. “Sure…”

  “Ah, James. I see your team was first to return. I trust it went well?” Kuja had hardly been on the silver island for half an hour, so it must have went well on their end. Io was ecstatic to see his strategy immediately bear fruit.

  “Nope. We killed a guy but we don’t know who because we only got his ankles left.” Jimbo shrugged next to him and offered a swig from his flask in a heartwarming brotherly gesture.

  “I killed him. Don’t regret it. I’d do it again.” As a non-member of the Mortal Council, Kuja didn’t even have to stifle her laugh. Io only looked on with disapproval, but Jimbo had really grown up.

  “Why?!” Io shouted, “There was no reason to—”

  “It was him or me, Io. Pipe down. You’re lucky nobody died. We conquered an island occupied by one of the Gandeux Decadin in like twenty minutes. In fact, what the hell took you so long?” Tawny did not look like she was willing to accept ridicule. “Thanks for the barrier by the way. Blame yourself.”

  I like her. She’s… I wouldn’t say ‘good’ for Jimbo, but… She’s not bad.

  “What can you tell me about this man. Did he wield a staff of any kind?” Io looked hopeless now, like he already knew the answer.

  “Sure did. Its roots wiggled and a flower bloomed in my face.” Tawny watched Io’s face fall into his palm, “It would have tarnished Cira’s reputation if we let him away.”

  “Don’t bring her into this.” He spat. “Fine then. You sent everyone else from Blackwood away right? How goes the reconstruction?”

  “My guys are on it.” Tawny scooped some ale from the tabletop river in front of her and leaned back in her golden chair, “There’s gonna be so many trees they won’t know what to do with them. Palace is burned, by the way.”

  “Excellent… So, this is our first victory of the day. I suppose I shouldn’t be too upset.” Io formed his own glass and scooped some ale in celebration, “Cheers.”

  Everyone at the table returned the gesture and after a good long drink, the silence was broken by Jimbo himself, “Hey, who did I kill anyway? Sounds like you know.”

  The Grandmaster groaned, looking off into the sky, “The man you killed was named Ezekiel Blackwood… Brother to the head of House Blackwood. If this wasn’t already a war, it is now.”

  Silence covered Agora Aurielle like a thick blanket of snow.

  “To be fair,” Jimbo pulled his flask back, “You should have warned us.”