Mana burn

Jodah cast a healthy sprinkling of the bone out in the air and the crystals changed their pitch. Jodah smiled and cast another sprinkling. Again the crystals changed their pitch, vibrating at a still higher frequency. The glyph— plate now glowed of its own heat. The mana in Jodah’s mind was an intense, white ball now, and he opened that part of his brain to the spell, letting the radiance flow into the framework of the spell he had created.

And nothing happened.

The whiteness at the base of Jodah’s brain refused to move, refused to pass through the mental conduit into the predetermined part of the ritual. At first Jodah thought that he had not pulled sufficient mana from the land, and in a panic—stricken moment he brought forth more memories of the gardens and wheat fields, and the ball in the base of his brain grew hotter still as it accreted the mana.

And the whiteness did not move from his mind.

Jodah could feel the sweat running down his temples now. He opened his eyes, but his vision was blurry and the room indistinct. He could hear Mairsil say something, but the part of his brain that listened would not or could not decipher the words.

The hot white ball at the base of his brain began to burn, scorching its way through his flesh. Jodah tried to force the mana into the framework of the spell, but it would not go.

Jodah felt the hairs in his nostrils begin to catch fire, and they smelled of ammonia.

He thought of Shannan’s story of the Fallen.

With a cry, Jodah reached upward and cast loose the mana. He quickly pulled another spell from his memory and threw the burning ball of memories into that. Hot, white fireworks shot from each of the young man’s out. stretched hands, and Jodah thought he screamed.

Then he blacked out from the pain.

He awoke to Mairsil’s calm, dispassionate face, framed by stars. No, not entirely dispassionate, but rather curious, as if Jodah was a frog laid out for dissection. What he had thought were the stars were instead glowing white embers that were now embedded in the ceiling of Mairsil’s private study.

“What happened, Jodah?” said Mairsil. There was no “Friend” here, but rather the terse demanding tone of a disappointed patron.

“I don’t know.” said Jodah. “l summoned the mana successfully, but I failed to move it into the framework of the spell.”

***

The Gathering Dark, Chapter 14