Sirius once again checked the circle, while leaning on his staff. He have already found a replacement for metal dust in form of crystal powder, but it posed a new problem - all lines looked the same. Same white chalk on a hard flat surface, same purplish-blue glitter. Now he nervously waited for Daughter of Whisper to come. He was pacing left and right, his mind racing at what could go wrong and what would he do if someone finds them. Most will just ignore them or judgingly shake their heads, but what if it is the Whisper of Nature? He will definitely try to stop them. And what if he will find them after that?

  The door opened.

  Sirius got startled out of his thought process and turned towards the entrance, his eyes ablaze with golden light. In both his views he saw Daughter of Whisper.

  "You are finally here," he exhaled with relief. "Are you ready?"

  "Yes. I took off my Life on my way through the fields."

  "No one followed you?"

  "No. At least I didn't see no one..."

  Sirius bit his lip and opened his Eyes wider, surveying the area around the shack. "I see no one besides us. Then, let's begin. You will sweat a lot during the process, so put your stuff there."

  "Yes. Light clothes, like you advised."

  "Great. Stand in the middle, I will describe what will happen in details. I altered the ritual to better suit you, so there shouldn't be any complications, but I will tell you anyways."

  "Go on," Daughter of Whisper nodded

  "I will flood the interior with mana, so much in fact, that your bones will hurt and crystals in your lungs might grow again." Sirius saw her wince a little, but continued, "What you need to do is redirect the mana toward your Astral Body. Like you do with mana, but towards your Spirit, not into the real world where crystals reside."

  "Got it."

  "I will also push the mana as far as I can, and the circle will help too. After that you need to pull all your mana towards the lung pathways in your Spirit. Try to create a sphere and cover in layers. As much layers as you can manage. It will push you in progression without the need to grow your Manapool later. I will be here and will help if something will go awry. Let's begin?"

  She took a deep breath. "Yes. Let's go."

  "Don't fret, Silver Song. In the worst case you will have your Mana Pool underdeveloped and will catch on later. I am beginning." Sirius waiter for her nod and powered the diagram.

  Sirius injected his man in power nodes, while walking around the edge of a big circle. The outer lines lit up one by one as Sirius passed them. When he completed the full circle, the internal mechanisms whirred to life, pulling onto the mana in leyline. Sirius felt the air tingle as the small portion of powerful flow entered the diagram. Some mana seeped out from the inside, but Sirius was expecting that. With careful gaze he observed the condition of Daughter of Whisper and the flow of power through the lines. He heard a grunt.

  "Is it alright?" he asked.

  "It's too much mana... I feel my ribs vibrate..." she struggled to breathe.

  "Towards your Spirit! Not your lungs!" he shouted over the rumbling sounds of the diagram and rattling of the building. The whirlwind began forming around the center of a diagram and Sirius was afraid it will blow away the diagram.

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  Daughter of Whisper stood in the middle of a circle with her eyes shut tight. Despite the pain she took breath after breath, pushing mana away from her real body into her Spirit. She did as Sirius said, but the vibrating bones made her lungs tingly. She began coughing and fell to her knees.

  "Don't you dare stop! You will overload!"

  Daughter of Whisper screamed with each exhale, but continued to maintain a rhythm. The doors began rattling as inside the building formed a manastorm. Chaotic swirls of mana collided and merged into a powerful phenomena, capable of killing them both. What's worse, it is much more noticeable than their covert meeting should have been...

  The doors slammed open.

  Sirius could not care less, as he was busy interfering with the diagram in hopes to stop the swirling mana, and he was achieving exactly that. He disconnected some circles and connected others with new pathways he maintained with his mind. The cyclone was coming to a stop. Until...

  The ripples in the Astral World sent shivers down Sirius' spine. His mind sprung into action, manifesting the ice pillar behind his back. The pillar shattered. The hit to the left shoulder from behind sent Sirius tumbling on the ground covered in ice shards. He lost concentration and the cyclone began picking up the speed again, now more chaotic than earlier. Sirius looked with fear towards his attacker.

  "What?..." turned her head Daughter of Whisper.

  "Don't stop! I will manage!" shouted at her Sirius and manifested the shield out of ice in front on himself, fighting the chaotic mana around. The small stone stick pierced right through his flimsy barrier, missing Sirius by the width of his hair.

  Sirius opened his Eyes and stood up. He opened his belt pouch and a couple of small pebbles flew out. They orbited Sirius, as he strained his mind to predict the next attack. He had the advantage of having both Mind's Eye and Thought Constellation, which gave him a slight precognition. The problem is - his opponent had the same advantage, and was more experienced.

  "It is you again! I knew you were up to no good!" shouted the attacker with rage.

  "And you are already late, Whisper of Nature." Sirius glanced to the side, making sure that the Daughter of Whisper is in control. He was delighted to feel a huge clump of mana inside her chest.

  "Daughter! Stop whatever you are doing!"

  "No stopping now. The Manapool is already condensed!" Sirius answered in her place.

  "Manapool... What!?" Whisper of Nature's eyes were filled with raging greed light.

  Sirius felt the ground dip under his feet. He was expecting that move though, since he was already trapped like that once. He put his weight on his staff and shot his orbiting pebbles one after another. Whisper of Nature waved them away like it was nothing and began walking inside. Two more pebbles left Sirius' pouch and began revolving in front of Sirius.

  "Why are you angry? I helped to heal her!"

  "You destroyed the Path that took generations to build!"

  "You would rather kill your own daughter than disappoint your ancestors?"

  "It is you who are killing her!" Whisper of Nature growled with fury and with a wide and swift motion forced the walls of the building to collapse inside.

  Sirius did not expect him to manipulate the wood in the walls and dashed inside the circle. Casting inside would disrupt the flow in the diagram, but when compared to being crushed by the walls it was nothing. He drained the crystals in the lines of their mana and used it to manifest the large ice pillar. It grew upwards, flaring into an umbrella to shield from raining splinters. Sirius saw the terrified look on Daughter of Whisper's face. She struggled to maintain the process during the battle and was desperately pushing the dense mana away from her body. Sirius quickly made sure that the diagram stopped pushing more mana inside and rolled from under the ice barrier before it reached the ground. He stood up with his staff at the ready, facing Whisper of Nature.

  "Cockroach!" Whisper of Nature made the planks float around Sirius. They began cracking and splitting, turning into sharp splinters, as they were circling Sirius like predators. Sirius stood motionless in the middle. "Last words, demon?" asked Whisper of Nature in domineering tone.

  "Not today."

  Sirius strained his whole body, as dozens of small pebbles rained on Whisper of Nature from all sides. A couple hit his head, disorienting him, while the rest battered his body. Sirius saw the splinters shudder and fall to the ground, and dashed forward. He swirled the staff and took hold of one end, while swinging the whole length of a shaft into Whisper of Nature's knee. The hard oak wood connected with a crack. Whisper of Nature grunted and fell to the other knee.

  Sirius was ready to stop the battle, but the ground in front of him moved. He dodged the stone pillar rushing at him by bending backwards, but fell on his backside in a process. He felt himself sinking into the ground, a feeling that got quickly replaced by hard stone shackles filled with foreign mana.

  "So much for a mage with a long heritage," said familiar voice.