Figuring things out

Silence reigned for several minutes until Celine finally spoke. “I don’t know what’s worse. Hearing about the fate of Leonis or that all of Nede sacrificed itself to stop the Symbol of Annihilation.”

“At least Nede got a choice,” Rena’s voice was soft and sad.

“Regardless,” Claude tried to pull everyone out of their despondence. “I think it’s safe to assume the meteor that broke the wards and freed Dominariel was an energy stone from the Quadratic Sphere.”

“But it doesn’t tell us what Dominariel did to it to turn it into that symbology sphere we found.” Celine was eyeing Claude with a hint of concern. “And if it was an energy stone, well…we’ve seen what happens to people who absorb their essence.”

Now everyone’s eyes were on Claude. Opera’s hand twitched at her side where her photon pistol was holstered. Rena’s eyes were large with worry and Precis looked troubled. Only Ernest seemed calm as he spoke. “Speaking from experience, what I remember of my own possession was an immediate compulsion to seek out more energy stones. Now whether that was the Wise Men influencing me, a passive side effect of the stone itself, or something else altogether, I can’t say.”

Celine bravely approached Claude and peered into his eyes. “So how do you feel Claude?”

With everyone’s attention fixed on him, Claude swallowed nervously. Trying to ease the tension he joked. “Hahahahaha. You fools! Now that you’ve found me out, I must turn you all into my mindless servants.”

Celine jumped at the suddenness of his outburst more than fear. Everyone else stared at him balefully. “Oh he’s fine.” Precis deadpanned. “Even Ashton makes better jokes than that.”

“Just trying to lighten the mood.” Claude grinned sheepishly. “But seriously, I think I feel fine. No compulsion to seek out energy stones, beyond wanting to prove what happened on Expel and Nede.”

Celine quickly regained her composure. “There is another thing I hadn’t initially thought about. Symbologists are able to cast spells because they inscribe a symbol of power upon themselves to focus their powers. You may be able to use symbology because of the symbol that’s been inscribed on you.”

Claude was stunned. He had a vague understanding that symbology was possible for anyone because of his mother’s research, but really he just looked at it as magic. Either you could do it or you couldn’t. Could he really do symbology? “H…how could we find out?” He didn’t want to sound too excited, in case it turned out all for naught, but being able to use symbology sounded pretty exciting.

“Keep in mind, that it takes a lot of study and practice.” Celine could see the sudden disappointment in Claude’s eyes. “Buuuut…we can probably try something.” She smiled at seeing the excitement rekindle.

Celine led Claude off the bridge and out of the ship. She doubted Claude would be able to do anything immediately, but best to not take any chances. Curiosity pulled everyone else along. Celine moved a decent distance from the ship and then turned to face Claude while everyone else found comfortable seating. “The first thing you need to know about symbology is that it is sort of like writing with your mind, but at the same time painting a picture of reality as you see it.” Claude nodded thoughtfully. “Part of it is about training and understanding what you’re creating, but the other part is willing it into being.” She drew a single rune in the air. “What do you think this means?”

Claude looked at the rune. It glowed yellow and green and pulsed faintly. “It…means…I got nothing.”

Celine sighed and rolled her eyes. “I figured you’d put at least a little more effort into it. This is a simple little wind rune.” She focused on the rune and smaller runes began to form a circle around it. The whole symbol flashed and then disappeared. As soon as it was gone, a gust of wind blew into Claude. Not strong enough to do more than tussle his hair and jacket though. “You’ll note that I had to describe the entire effect I wanted and then **** it all to manifest. If the runes didn’t mean anything to you, that’s fine. Different people learn different runes. And others…” she glanced at Rena for a second before focusing back on Claude. “Just imagine what you would say if you wanted to make the wind blow and try to focus it into reality.”

Claude closed his eyes and held his hand up. He tried to think about how he’d tell wind to blow. In his mind, he pictured simple lines moving forward and curving back, like a basic cartoon gust. He then imagined those lines appearing before him. When he opened his eyes, there was nothing. He let his hand drop in frustration.

Celine stepped forward and patted his shoulder consolingly. “Don’t give up after one attempt. Like I said, it takes years of practice and study. The runes you craft are just as important as the will to do so. I can give you some of my symbology books if you want to try and study and then we can try again.”

Claude shrugged. “I guess.” He doubted it would matter. After a second of despondence, he realized he was getting upset over powers he never even had and shook his head ruefully. “Anyways, I guess we need to figure out our next steps. Seems like we’ve hit another dead end here. We know the Quadratic Sphere passed by this planet, but we’re still no closer to proving anything about the Ten Wise Men.”

Ernest stretched and stood. “I suppose Opera and I can go figure out the next planet we could check.”

“How about we take a vacation?” Opera quickly interrupted. “No offense, Claude, but after two years of searching, we haven’t found anything. It’s been about six months since our last resupply and I think everyone could use a break. We can plot a potential planet to check before we leave, but let’s go back to civilization for some R&R before we head over to check it out?”

Claude sighed and rubbed his chin. Opera was only voicing thoughts he’d had himself. “Honestly, I’m beginning to wonder if this search is going anywhere at all.” He looked up at his friends. Opera’s hopes were clearly visible on her face, but everyone else seemed to be hiding what they were thinking. Is this all just a wild goose chase? He sighed again. “You know what? Some R&R sounds great.”

“Excellent!” Opera practically bounced with excitement. “Even traveling by warp, the closest Federation settlement is probably several days out, and if we want something specific it could be longer.”

“I wouldn’t mind reaching out to some of my colleagues back on Tetragenesis.” Ernest looked thoughtful. “The discoveries on this planet have some serious implications.”

Opera rolled her eyes and punched him in the shoulder. “I said R&R, not work.” Then she smiled playfully. “But if you’re serious about documenting your research.” She leaned in to whisper something in Ernest’s ear. All Claude could make out was, “practice the ritual.” Ernest blushed slightly but then nodded his head, which seemed to please Opera greatly.

As everyone started to head back into the ship, Rena leaned up against Claude’s arm. “I’m a little excited and also nervous about seeing some more advanced worlds. Will it be like Fun City on Nede?”

Claude slipped his hand around her waist. “Depends on where Opera decides to take us. There are lots of different places in the Federation. Some are like Nede but others are vastly different.” He noticed Precis glance at them, stiffen, and then quickly shuffled onto the ship. Celine also noticed them, but she gave him a wink when he noticed her glance. He couldn’t help but smirk back at Celine, but he did ponder Precis’s reaction.