"You did what?!" Darkfire's stared at Arran in disbelief.
"I took ten of the pills," Arran said again. "At the same time."
They sat on the top of a hill about a mile from the estate, taking a short break from training. Ever since Darkfire had opened his Realms two weeks earlier, he had trained relentlessly, with Arran helping as best he could.
"What the hell made you think that was a good idea?!" Darkfire looked like he had just seen a goat sprout wings and fly up into the sky.
"It was either that, or get killed by an Archmage," Arran said, shrugging. "At least the pills gave me a chance."
"And you survived."
"Clearly."
His shocked expression finally easing, Darkfire burst into laughter. "That Archmage must've had quite the look on his face, being defeated by a novice."
"Initiate," Arran corrected him. "I only learned my first spell after that. And really, there wasn't much left of his face after the fight."
"So what happened after that? I took only one Realm Opening Pill, and I'm still amazed at the amount of power I have now."
"It was more Essence than I could handle," Arran replied. "I nearly died, and I had to learn Body Refinement just to withstand it."
"Can you show me?" Darkfire asked, a curious glint in his eyes. "How much Essence you can use if you go all-out?"
"Sure," Arran said. "See that hill over there?" He pointed at a large hill around two hundred paces from the one they sat on.
He stood up and raised his right hand, then willed all the Fire Essence he could control into it. Without the urgency of a fight, he could take his time, ensuring that he gathered every bit of power he could use.
Finally, he felt that he could gather no more, and with a burst of effort, he expelled the Fire Essence from his hand, forcing it into a massive fireball that he sent rushing toward the hill.
When it hit, the entire hill was engulfed in fire. A moment later a booming sound hit them, as loud as a hundred thunderclaps, and Arran could feel the heat of the shockwave when it reached them.
For some moments, all that could be seen was dust filling the air, but when it finally cleared, the entire hilltop had disappeared.
"Wow," Darkfire said. "That was awesome. But…"
"I know," Arran said before he could finish. "The Shadowblood novice was stronger. And I imagine the same holds true for other novices in the Shadowflame Society."
He had already given the matter some thought, but so far, he had failed to come up with an explanation. He knew that in terms of raw power, he came close to matching an Academy Master. Yet when the Shadowblood novice had used magic against him in the arena, the attacks were far stronger than his own.
Darkfire frowned. "Not stronger, exactly. When you use Essence, it's like you're controlling a foreign object. But with them, it's like it's part of their body."
"Watch this," Arran said.
Once again he gathered Essence, Force Essence this time. Even if his Fire Realm was stronger than his Force Realm, the Battering Force spell more than made up for the smaller amount of Essence.
After months of practice, he could now form the Battering Force spell almost effortlessly, and he thrust out his hand again a moment later. Nothing could be seen emerging from his hand, but almost immediately, the remains of the hill exploded violently.
Even if the impact didn't look quite as impressive as when he used Fire, the devastation was even greater. Where the hill had stood, there was now a shallow pit, its edges lined with debris from the explosion.
"See?" Arran said. "This time I used a spell instead of a technique, and the Essence was more concentrated. But still, it wasn't anywhere near as powerful as what that novice used."
"Maybe it's a matter of practice?" Darkfire offered. "How long ago did you learn to cast spells?"
"Not too long ago, but that's not the issue," Arran replied. "I've seen Academy mages use magic, and even the strongest ones lacked the type of control that novice had. They had far more raw power, of course, much of it was just wasted."
Arran was certain it had something to do with the Pillars of Power that Panurge had told him about, but he still hadn't figured out what it was.
"I don't know much about magic," Darkfire said, looking thoughtful. "They never told those of us without opened Realms about it. But… I once overheard my parents talking about something that might be related."
"What did they say?" Arran asked, immediately interested. Darkfire's parents were mages within the Shadowflame Society, and he was certain that they would know more about this.
"It was something about how most of the Empire's mages walked a False Path, making them weaker than Society members." Darkfire shook his head, scrunching his face in thought as he tried to recall the memory. "I don't remember much of it… it was long ago, and back then, it made little sense to me."
Arran nodded thoughtfully. He was certain that the False Path Darkfire had mentioned was somehow connected to Panurge's Pillars, and although the tiny shred of information did little to help him, he committed it to memory nonetheless.
As he stared into the distance, lost in thought, Arran suddenly noticed a small group of people in the distance. Although they were too far away to be recognizable, it looked as if they were heading toward the estate.
"Look!" he said. "They're coming this way!"
Darkfire looked toward the group, and apprehension appeared on his face. "Think they're the ones Governor Eddarin sent for?"
"We'll find out soon enough," Arran said. "But just in case, we should probably prepare for a fight."
They hurried down the hill, back to the estate. When they arrived, the servants looked at them in worry, clearly recognizing that something was wrong.
"There might be trouble," Darkfire said to them. "All of you should hide in the basement, just to be sure. If you don't hear any sounds of battle soon, it should be safe to come out in an hour or so."
The servants immediately rushed off, understandably unwilling to face whatever it was that was about to happen. After the weeks they had seen Arran and Darkfire training, they should know that any fight involving the two young men was something they wanted no part of.
As the servants hid in the basement, Arran and Darkfire made some hasty preparations, even if there wasn't much they could do.
Darkfire changed into an armored coat and belted on two swords. From his tense look, Arran could tell he was worried — and with good reason.
For his part, Arran changed into the black robe Jiang Fei had given him when he left Silvermere. Even if it wasn't as good as armor, it was still enchanted, and it should give him at least some protection if there was a battle.
He wore the sword he had won from the Shadowblood novice, with the starmetal sword and the dragonbone bow at the ready in his void bag.
There wasn't much else they could do after that, and they headed toward the path leading up to the estate. Both of them eyed the road nervously, and it wasn't long before the small group of people they had spotted from the hilltop appeared.
When Arran recognized them, he let out a curse. At the front of the group was a black-robed woman he didn't know, but behind her were the Shadowblood novices, the one he had crippled sitting on horseback.
"Well, damn," Darkfire said. "Think we can still run?"
Arran sighed, his hand grabbing the hilt of his sword as the group slowly approached them.
