General Verne stared at him. She hated when he was right, but she knew he was the smartest man in the room. She slowly lowered her hands."Then what do we do?" Verne asked. Her voice was cold, but it was desperate. "If we do not protect them, the Crimson Alliance will slaughter us. Thorpe’s weapons are too strong. Our normal blue magical wards melt like butter against his red energy."Caster looked down at his empty hands. He thought about Elias Thorpe. He remembered his old friend. He remembered how Thorpe’s mind worked. Thorpe loved chaos. Thorpe loved pushing magic until it screamed and broke. The red energy weapons were pure, violent noise. They were a chaotic, screaming mess of blood and ash."If you fight a screaming man by screaming louder, you just break your own throat," Caster whispered to himself."What?" Verne asked, frowning.Caster looked up at her. His gray eyes were sharp and brilliant again. The old genius was back at work."You cannot fight Thorpe’s chaos with more

Chief Artificer Vane laughed his harsh, metallic laugh."He built a pretty, shiny rock," Vane mocked, pointing his metal claw at the glass. "He used clear quartz. There is no heavy magic in that stone. When the red energy hits him, Sergeant Rane is going to melt into a puddle of bloody soup. You failed, old man."Caster ignored Vane completely. He looked calmly at General Verne. "It is a Resonant Shard," Caster explained quietly. "It does not use the dark ash. It does not use heavy, dead magic. It uses the soldier's own life."Verne frowned. "His life?""The crystal is synced to Sergeant Rane’s bio-rhythms," Caster said, pointing at the soldier behind the glass. "It feels his heartbeat. It feels his electrical pulse. When Elias Thorpe’s chaotic red magic attacks, a stiff wall will shatter. But this crystal will read the incoming attack, match its frequency in a fraction of a second, and bend around it."Caster looked into the General’s icy blue eyes. "It runs clean, General," Caster p

The War Foundry was a place of endless, deafening noise. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. Giant steel hammers smashed down onto heavy anvils. Thick black smoke poured out of the massive iron furnaces. The air was incredibly hot. It smelled like burning sulfur, sweat, and melting copper. Thousands of tired, dirty workers moved like tiny ants across the massive factory floor. They were building the new armor. They were building the Resonant Shards. Caster Spellbound stood on a high metal balcony, looking down at the factory. He wore his dark gray military coat. The silver moons on his shoulder shone in the bright light of the fires. He leaned heavily on his broken wooden walking stick. He watched the workers. They were taking raw, clear quartz crystals and placing them into heavy iron pressing machines. They were following Caster’s exact instructions. They bathed the stones in boiling silver water. They locked them into small, round brass housings. Every minute, a hundred new, glowing blue

The giant face smiled one last, terrifying time. "I will see you soon, old friend," Thorpe whispered. The whisper was incredibly quiet, but it echoed perfectly in Caster’s ears. Then, the red light exploded. BZZZZ-CRASH! The broadcast ended violently. The massive red communication crystals hanging from the factory ceiling could not handle the hostile magic anymore. The crystals shattered. Thousands of sharp pieces of broken red glass rained down onto the factory floor. The workers screamed and covered their heads. The dark, swirling smoke vanished into thin air. The War Foundry plunged into sudden, dark, heavy silence. The only sound was the crackle of the hot furnaces and the quiet sobbing of a terrified worker. General Verne stood on the balcony. Her face was completely red with fury. Her chest heaved. She turned to Chief Artificer Vane. "Why did you not stop the signal?!" Verne screamed at the top of her lungs. She raised her silver sword and slammed the flat side of the b

Elias stepped around the table. He stood very close to Caster. He lowered his voice so the other students in the large room could not hear him. "I have been reading the forbidden texts in the lower basement," Elias whispered. His eyes danced with a dangerous, forbidden thrill. Caster frowned. "The Pre-Blackthorn texts? Elias, those books are sealed for a reason. The magic in them is unstable. It requires blood. It requires taking life to make power.""It requires sacrifice to achieve greatness!" Elias corrected him. "Listen to me, Caster. I have figured out a way to create a perpetual energy loop. An engine that never stops. We would not have to pull from the leylines anymore. We could generate our own infinite power."Caster felt a cold chill run down his spine. "Infinite power violates the law of consequence. Where does the energy come from, Elias?"Elias smiled a dark, secret smile. "It comes from inside us. The human soul is a battery, Caster. If you mix a drop of your own livin