Chapter 366: No More Than a Theory
Trigger warning: This Chapter contains a depiction of self-inflicted injury as a fictional plot device within the story’s magic system. This is not an endorsement of self-harm in any form. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to a mental health professional or a crisis line in your country.
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Five minutes pass in complete silence. No one tries to speak or break the atmosphere. Linus looks at each of them in turn. He, too, is at a loss for what to say.
Elder Loujt finally breaks the silence. He sets his hot chocolate down on the kitchen island and straightens his back.
"I apologize. If it were not for my own arrogance, we would not have wasted our mana and our time." He bows deeply to the room.
"El—" Sonia catches herself before the name slips out and clears her throat instead. "Uncle, please do not do this. No one here is to blame." She moves instinctively to soothe him.
"Yes, Mr. Loujt." Both Dae and Huri jump in quickly. He is their Elder, and watching him bow this humbly does not sit well with either of them.
"Mr. Loujt, please. There is no need." Theo says quietly. "If there is anyone to blame, it should be me. I told all of you confidently that I could lead this, and I failed. So please."
"No." Maeve cuts in. "Everyone. It is no one’s fault. This was the first time any of us has ever done something like this. So we failed on the first attempt. That does not mean anything except that we try again." She tries to lift the room.
Liam and Julian say nothing for a moment. Then Liam takes a breath.
"I am at fault here too. Not only was I reluctant to work with him, I actually volunteered for the competition with enthusiasm. I should have known better. I have dealt with the snow before. I should have known it would not be easy."
Silence again.
Linus exhales.
"Look." He starts. His tone is flat, but somehow neither dismissive nor unkind.
"There is no use apologizing in turns like this. It already happened. Two hours ago, none of you were eager to work together, let alone link your magic with people you barely knew. That is a fact. Some of you resisted harder than others. That is also a fact."
"But it is also a fact that you did work together. All nine of you. You worked together well enough that you did not just stop the weather from escalating further, you brought it back down to where it started."
"All of that in two hours." He pauses. "I would call that a success. Not a failure."
"You stopped, not because you wanted to give up, but because you genuinely could not continue. You were exhausted."
"That is not a failure. All of you now know how to work together. You know it actually works. You know what to watch for going forward. I would not call that a failure. You were experimenting, and you got results. The question is what you do with them now."
Slowly, heads begin to lift around the kitchen, eyes turning toward Linus.
"Julian." He calls. "When you run your experiments, do they ever succeed on the first try?"
Julian lets out a short laugh. "Never, Uncle Linus."
"So what do you do when one fails?"
Julian smiles. He can already see where this is going. "I try again. Make some adjustments, run it again. And again. And again. Until it works."
"That is exactly what the rest of you need to do."
The silence that follows is still quiet, but it no longer feels heavy. The weight has lifted out of it.
Theo smiles.
"Thank you, Uncle Linus. You are completely right."
He looks around at the others. "We are all exhausted. We should rest first. Then we try again." His eyes move across the group. "Are you all willing to try again?"
One by one, they exchange glances.
Then they nod.
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One hour later, ten people are back on the patio, ready to try again. They have already grouped themselves according to their elements and roles, settling into position without needing to be told.
"We try again. This time, Liam leads." Theo starts. "He knows this snow better than any of us. He decides when to break it apart, when to group the elements, when to purify, and when to release. He is the field commander now."
He pauses. "He should be able to do this more effectively, since he can sense all of your mana directly."
This time, no one protests. Each of them understands, after two hours on that patio, exactly how much working together actually matters.
"Begin when you are ready."
Theo steps back a few paces. He needs room to observe, in case he is needed himself.
I genuinely hope they can do this without me having to step in. He thinks.
The mages begin.
It starts slow. Liam moves carefully, deliberately, aware this is his first time leading and unwilling to provoke the snow again. He directs with his mana rather than his voice, and the others respond without needing words, each of them already certain of their role from the failed attempt before.
Theo keeps his attention locked on the weather. His right hand rests in his coat pocket, ready to move the moment he is needed.
He tightens his grip on the object hidden inside his coat and hopes, quietly, that he will not need it.
Thirty minutes pass without incident. The snow eases gradually. The temperature climbs, slow but steady.
Another ten minutes pass. There is no more falling snow. It has stopped completely. Theo and Linus exchange a glance and a small smile, but neither of them speaks, careful not to break the group’s concentration.
A few more minutes pass. But the weather does not change beyond that.
Even with the snowfall stopped, the sky has not cleared. It remains gloomy, heavy with cloud cover. The snow already on the ground, blanketing everything, has not moved. The garden is still buried in white.
Liam’s brow furrows. He feels stuck. His mana, and the combined mana of the group, is still active, still present, but there is nothing left in front of them to break apart or purify.
He opens his eyes slowly, half expecting to see blue sky, the sun finally breaking through.
He finds neither. He gasps.
The others open their eyes at the sound, following him into the same stunned silence.
"What is happening? Why is the weather not improving?" Sonia looks genuinely confused.
"It has improved. The snow is no longer falling." Maeve offers.
"Does that mean we are finished?" Julian does not sound convinced of his own question.
"No. It is not finished." Elder Loujt steps off the patio and into the garden, looking up at the sky, then down at the ground.
"The sky is still clouded over. The snow on the ground is still thick. The temperature has not risen." He finishes his assessment.
"But there is nothing left to break apart or purify. We all sensed it stop!" Julian insists.
All eight mages turn toward Theo at once, waiting.
"Alicia. What do you sense?" Theo asks.
She shakes her head. "I do not know what I am supposed to be looking for."
"Anything that feels unnatural to you."
Alicia’s expression falls. "Everything still feels unnatural, Thea. The snow on the ground, the clouds, even the breeze. All of it."
"But I cannot reach any of it. It is like there is a wall between me and all of it."
As the confusion spreads through the group, the sky darkens further. Thunder rolls somewhere in the distance, low and building.
"Damn it. It is coming back." Liam says. He can feel the rain forming before a single drop falls.
Everyone looks to Theo.
He takes a breath. There is no other option left.
"Everyone, back into position. Same as before. Liam still leads. Maeve, Sonia, I need you tracking the corruption magic specifically now. Find it, destroy it, purify it."
They all look at him, confused.
He only smiles. "Trust me. It will work. I have a way to give my mana." His eyes find Liam’s. "When you feel it arrive, use it to break the storm apart entirely. It should work. It has to."
Liam does not get the chance to ask what he means. Thunder cracks overhead and the first drops of rain are already falling. It will not be long before it returns in full force.
He closes his eyes. The others follow, and the work begins again.
Theo crosses to Linus.
"Uncle. I am about to do something. I need you not to stop me. Not until they succeed."
Linus has no time to respond before Theo pulls a small knife from his coat pocket and draws it across his own wrist.
"I’m sorry, Thea." Theo whispers a split second before he does it.
"Thea!" Linus nearly shouts, catching himself at the last second.
Liam, fully absorbed in tracking Theo’s mana for the operation, feels it the instant it appears.
So do Elder Loujt and Sonia, both of whom recognize the signature immediately.
All three draw it in at once, blending it seamlessly into their own.
None of them realize what they are actually sensing is not mana in the conventional sense. It is the mana within Thea Montrose’s blood.
It is, at its core, a theory. Nothing more.
Personal mana carries a mage’s unique signature, embedded in their very being, in their flesh and in their blood. Theo has never had to test this theory before, because he has never been without mana entirely. Even at his most depleted, there had always been another way to recover it. Rest alone would eventually refill what had been spent.
And right now, Theo can no longer access Thea’s mana. The rainstorm carries her signature, not his, because it is her body that summoned it in the first place.
So he is gambling everything on a single, untested possibility: that her blood still carries her signature, even when her mana no longer answers to him.
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Reminder: the events in this Chapter are fictional and form part of the story’s established magic system. Self-harm is never the answer in real life. If this Chapter affected you or you’re going through something difficult, please talk to someone you trust or a mental health professional.
