The temptation to start figuring out how to modify Ambrose's auric-ambient-flare was almost irresistable, but sothing more imdiate demanded Caden's attention. He could see the damage, but its exact nature was still sothing of a mystery and he could tell that if he didn't fix this, Ambrose might very well die. After all, Caden's very presence here might be interfering with whatever contingency Prophecy might have provided for such a mont. And as interesting at it might be to step back and see whether Prophecy could still manage to do sothing in order to preserve the Chosen One's life, he was also terrified of the possibility that it might necessitate the appearance of a Fateweaver. After all, it seed like the threads of the Prophecy had already been terribly abused at least enough to warrant one Fateweaver's interest.
A new sense of urgency took hold. Caden had to try to save Ambrose now, before a Fateweaver showed up to do it. He turned his mind away from the tantalising opportunity to playact as a rogue Fateweaver, and focused on the task of restoring Ambrose.
Knowledge binds, but knowledge has layers. That was what the augera had told Caden and Emilia just hours ago, and even though that statent itself was just a distillation of what his own mind had managed to grasp from the augera's communication in pure conceptual thought, he thought it quite nicely described the situation before him now as he examined the damage Ambrose had accidentally done to his own auric-ambient-flare.
With his new access to and understanding of the higher dinsions of oblivion, he learned he was actually able to sense and 'see' a little of how frashifting worked. When they held certain concepts in mind and attempted to manipulate arcana through that conceptual frawork, they were twisting the segnts of their auric-ambient-flare in these higher dinsions, and it allowed them to do things that were not normally possible. But frashifting could only get you so far because you were ultimately working with things you couldn't really see, which affected your level of precision. Using conceptual fraworks brought in all kinds of other associations that could unexpectedly pollute your pure intention, even as you co-opted one elent of the frawork to get the arcana to behave in a way you wanted.
And it was only now, in this very mont so many weeks later, that Caden realised sothing. Reeves frawork of instantly capturing a whole area in a field of ensorcelnt relied on frashifting arcana to behave like light, and that was why even the students' makeshift sequences, hobrewed over the course of just a single sester, were capable of holding that version of ensorcelnt at bay. On so level all of them had found, through trial and error, a way to block the arcanic light of his ensorcelnt. But it wasn't perfect, because light bounced off other objects and reflected back on a person from multiple angles, which was why no one's protections managed to completely block Reeves out. The augeric shell, however, was woven at a deeper level than Reeves' ensorcelnt, and so it had shielded Caden completely. Now that Caden understood this, he knew how to deal with Reeves' ensorcelnt fields without the help of the augeric shell, if it ever ca to it.
And this, Caden realised, was how Ambrose had co to be in this state. The damage was too nebulous and undefined to have co from a proper sequence. Even the destructive sequence that he had accidentally detonated back in Geldor was neater than this, in the sense that it had affected the physical world in perfectly understandable ways. So that ant that Ambrose had used a frashift, and it had gone wrong sohow.
As Caden considered the wounds on Ambrose's auric-ambient-flare, he realised that that was a strange sense of familiarity. It took a few monts of hard thinking, but realised he had seen up close the damage that shield-piercing sequences could do to both physical objects and arcanic shields, and the damage profile matched what he was seeing now on Ambrose's auric-ambient-flare. It was clear, then, that Ambrose had simply used that military-grade shield-piercer and applied a frashift to it. But what exactly was the frashift? He needed to figure that out to think about how it might have gone wrong.
Caden thought back to the phenonon of the two distortions in the sky, which had felt to him like twin wounds in the arcanic sea.
"Oh Ambrose," he muttered, shaking his head a little.
Soone heard and directed a question at him, but he simply jerked his head irritably as he turned his full focus to the issue at hand.
It seed like Ambrose had literally torn holes in the fabric of the arcanic sea itself. But if the arcanic sea was a layer of reality... what did this an? What were the implications of that? And if the wounds on his auric-ambient-flare were of the sa nature, was this even sothing that Caden could fix? That would be like having to stitch together a part of the fabric of reality itself. That was far, far beyond stitching flesh and blood and bone. Perhaps he had severely overestimated himself...
It occurred to Caden how utterly absurd it was that Ambrose had managed sothing like that. If reality itself could be damaged by sothing as simple as a shield-piercer with a bad frashift, why hadn't everything already fallen apart? What was keeping reality together in a world full of arcanists?
Perhaps that ant the damage was not really that bad after all. There had to be another explanation for the distortions in the sky.
Caden couldn't wait for Ambrose to regain consciousness so he could be asked about the exact frashift. There was no other option Caden had to get right inside Ambrose's auric-ambient-flare and read it from his mories.
It felt like a violation of sorts to do sothing like this without asking permission, even if it ant possibly saving soone's life. This was very different from simply connecting with soone's thoughts in a gestalt, because even then, people had a degree of control over how much slippage of emotions and thoughts they were allowing. But with Ambrose completely unconscious, Caden would have almost unfettered access.
He let out a sigh and resolved to talk to Ambrose about this later if he managed to fix this problem. With a slight tensing of his mind, he repressed his doubt and slipped his mind into Ambrose's essence.
Having his hand on Ambrose's chest ant that their auric-ambient-flares were in direct contact, and with Ambrose unconscious, there was no resistance at all. The transition was utterly seamless, almost as easy as simply stepping into the arcanic sea.
He was surrounded by stray mories and emotions almost instantly, but it was all too unfocused for him to catch anything aningful beyond just the barest impression. In this hazy soup, finding the core of Ambrose's subdued consciousness was easy it was the roiling storm of thought that sent little pulsations across the entirety of his auric-ambient-flare, sending loose threads and fritters of his life fluttering across Caden's mind as he navigated the essence of the Chosen One.
'... like to study? Maybe Thaumaturgy...'
'... so friends. Shouldn't be alone...'
'... here to see you. He's waiting in the...'
'... hungry for more. An augera is...'
Caden swatted aside the senseless noise and drew close enough to read the general trend of Ambrose's subconscious mind. It was a tangled ss of uncertainty and fear, stewing over hidden knowledge and insidious doubts. None of this was what Caden needed.
But reading a mind wasn't anything like reading a book. There was no chronology clearly laid out for him in the sequence of the pages, or any promise of consistency. The mind flitted from one point of focus to another, dragging a thousand impressions in its wake, each connecting to yet more threads, and as an outsider he was stuck without a sense of how everything ca together into one cohesive whole.
I need a point of reference, he thought. Sothing to navigate mory.
What would Ambrose have tapped on in order to apply a frashift? Perhaps the whole theory of frashifting itself. It'd be hard to find a concept, so perhaps a face would be a better starting point. Caden worked up a ntal image of Reeves, calling forth his own mory of the lecture where they had been taught about frashifting, and gently prompted Ambrose's mind.
Imdiately, the tenor of Ambrose's thoughts shifted as a segnt of his sleeping mind reviewed its own recollection of that event, allowing Caden to trace its path through the auric-ambient-flare and see where it briefly intersected with a thousand other points. But there was too much to sift through in a tily fashion.
I need another pattern, Caden mused. What is the shape of the knowing of frashifting in Ambrose's mind?
That was an easier question to answer. Ambrose himself had given the shape of knowing itself to Caden directly, so Caden had an almost perfect match in both their auric-ambient-flares. It stood out like a sore thumb the mont he thought to look for it. From there, he could trace the intersection between the shape of knowing itself and what Ambrose had learned in Reeves' lecture.
And there it was. The knowledge of frashifting sat in Ambrose's auric-ambient-flare like a distinct whorl. It was shaped differently from Caden's own understanding of frashifting, and this, Caden realised, was how it must look to the augera when they peered into people. They would see analogous patterns, but the details would be different. In the case of him and Ambrose, the difference wasn't too vast because they were both humans, and both arcanists, and had many other things in common. But the augera probably only saw a vague shape, and had to work extra hard to bridge the gap in conceptual understanding. That was why it was so hard for humans to understand the augera.
But fascinating as this was, it was not the ti to study the difference. Caden worked quickly now that he had the thread, and he followed Ambrose's understanding of frashifting to the many other mories where it had co into play. To sift out the ones most likely to have what he needed, he threw in another prompt the image of the twin holes in the sky.
And there it was. A perfect intersection. The mont of decision when he had called upon his understanding of frashifting and made use of it to lash out at the fabric of arcana itself.
Caden gently eased himself into the mory
can't hit them if their auric-ambient-flares are veiled in oblivion, but I've got hold of sothing. Can't aim at it directly. Maybe an area? But they can shield, so I need to work on the arcanic sea itself. Glyph of arcanic field amplification... can be amplified, so does that an... maybe. I can aim at the aranic sea. But how does that work? ...Fields! Scorch it all, set the arcana itself alight, tear it up
Caden wrenched himself out with a shudder. There was such a terrible intensity to Ambrose's thoughts that it was hard to really bring himself out of the mont. An undercurrent of fear because of the danger of the situation was there, but soaring over it all was a single-minded joy, a rush that ca with the sheer power he had at his fingertips, and the utter certainty that he was capable of shaping the world, and was destined to do it.
It was troubling to see how Ambrose was through his own eyes, and Caden was sure he'd be haunted by this, but for now he had what he needed.
Ambrose had used his understanding of an esoteric glyph from the Special Set in order to help him visualise his intention fire and torn earth. Ambrose's shield-piercer had turned into a beam that had told the arcana to burn and tear itself up.
The problem was huge, but it was no longer intractable. Caden had an idea. He slipped out of Ambrose's mind and started his work.
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