166 Ecclesia 1

One fine weekday morning, Remian and Mindy slipped into an open lecture in one of Ecclesia's Forums on the topic of the Sixteen Elements.

In the lecture hall, seated at multi-levels of desk-and-chair sets, roughly two hundred fresh or sleepy students dropped in to listen to a robed graying mage tap a chart with a walking stick.

"The sixteen elements can generally be categorized in four groups of four." The man was saying. "The easiest and most basic of the elements are these; earth, fire, air and water…"

Mindy, after a long flight from Itarim, almost nodded off to sleep at that very first sentence. This stuff was so basic, she had to wonder why Remian dragged her here all the way from Itarim.

"Now, these four basic elements can be combined to form what we call the four composite elements. For example, a popular combination is water and air to form ice. Another popular combination is fire and air for lightning. Less popular is the magma combination, which also works for explosive powders, the combination of earth and fire. Least popular of all, but in my opinion the most useful, is the combination of earth and water, which miraculously, results in what we call the wood element."

Mindy snapped bolt upright. "Wait. What?!"

"Now, sometimes a student asks, what about fire and water? Or air and earth? Could those, maybe, somehow, be merged and combined into a whole new element also? Well, sadly, I have yet to see such an actual effect. The closest application I've ever seen to air and earth combining together is Professor Lopez's Sandstorm magic, but in that application, the elements, while united and intermixed, do not actually combine or merge into anything other than what they are. Similarly, the steam baths of the Rocher Family Spa might also be said to be a combination of fire and water magic, but again, it is more of fire affecting water; while both magics are certainly applied and operational, the elements do not combine."

Remian watched as Mindy's sleepiness vanished and she started to pay rapt attention. On the other hand, on the other side of him, Death yawned. "You know he's totally wrong, right?"

"Hmm?" Remian spared Death a glance.

"All those theories about elements. Utter nonsense." Death snorted.

But it seemed to make perfect sense to the hundreds of students gathered around the forum.

"Now, above the basic and composite elements are what we call the Higher Elements. We call them that, because for many mages, they are beyond reach for most of their lives. They are difficult to evoke and often require greater expenditure of energy to manipulate. Light and sound, kinesis, which is the force of movement, and gravity, also called magnetism. These four are generally more difficult to use, unless you have a special bloodline or talent for it."

"Is it really that hard?" Remian asked, in a low voice.

"It is!" Mindy flat out replied.

"Only if you think of it in certain ways." Death snorted. "Which is exactly the ways they have been teaching all this time."

"And then there are the Sacred Elements." The lecturer went on. "Which are the hardest to reach and affect. These are; space, time, life, and anti-magic. Of these, the easiest for us to affect is Life Magic, because we ourselves are living beings. The other three, however, are extremely difficult even in the best of circumstances."

"Is it, really?" Remian wondered again.

"It totally is!" Mindy fumed. "Only YOU find it easy!"

Death just snorted and shook his head wordlessly.

Someone raised a hand.

"Yes? You have a question?" the lecturer turned to him.

"What about mana? Where does magic power come from?" the student asked.

"Why, from living things, of course." The lecturer said. "Every living being has mana."

"But what about mana crystals?"

"They're from living beings too. Crystallized magical energy forms over thousands of years from the blood and corpses of magical creatures who died and crystallized long, long ago."

"What beings are those, and how long, exactly?"

"We don't know." The lecturer said frankly. "Whatever they were, we don't see them around any more. Most of the animals we see today turn to stone or liquid after they die."

Death snorted again. "He's lying."

"What…?" Remian stared.

"He knows exactly where and how to make new ones today. He's just not going to tell them."

"Why…?"

"It's one of Ecclesia's most highly guarded secrets."

"So the mana crystal shortage…?"

"Is definitely happening and revealing the secret isn't going to help much."

"Sir, there are rumors of a way to manufacture mana crystals." The student objected. "The Ivory Tower is trying to create artificial crystals and they say they're near a breakthrough."

"You mean those storage crystals they're cooking up? That's different. That's just stuffing your own mana into a crystal to save for later. Those crystals are weak, and they lose their charge over time. The amount you put in is less than the amount you'll be able to take out, they won't last more than a week after you fill them up, and they can only store so much power."

"But with time and research, the design can improve…"

"Either way, in the long run, it's going to be someone's energy, yours or someone else's. You may as well ask others to help you directly. The only advantage it has is convenience, and its limitations put it far, far short of the value of real mana crystals."

"Then what can be done about the mana shortage?" the student wanted to know.

The lecturer sighed. "Nothing. I'm afraid these are dark days ahead for magic everywhere. I'm sorry, but this is the end of magic's golden age. Much like the martial age before us, sheer exhaustion of natural resources has taken its toll and we must close the book on the good old days."

"No…" the students around groaned. "Surely there's some way, somewhere…"

"There is a new vein of mana crystals discovered in the neutral zone, recently. Experts estimate roughly five billion yellow crystals worth. That's about five years' worth of Ecclesia's consumption. Fifty years, for Itarim's. Out of sixty prospected sites in the past year, that was the only new lode that was found."

"But… but aren't we sitting on top of a mana vein right now? That's why Ecclesia was founded here, right? That's why the church moved its headquarters from Itarim to come here!"

"The vein's already been completely dug up. There's a lot of ambient energy left resonating in the land, but that's about all the advantage we're getting from it today."

"And we've really looked everywhere in the world? Everywhere?"

"Not everywhere." The lecturer cleared his throat. "The deep seas, for instance, likely has some lodes, but reaching that deep is difficult even for the most powerful magi. The frozen icelands in the north and far south might have something. There could be some in unexplored caverns in some mountain somewhere. But basically, all the easily accessible mana crystals on or near the surface world has been claimed, and likely about to be fought over. This includes the stockpiles kept by every country and many private organizations. There's no telling how much mana has been stashed away by others."

Remian suddenly felt an odd sort of desperate killing intent rising on all sides. As a Psionic, he found it so tangible, he could almost taste it.

"Can we really do that? I mean… can we win?" another student asked.

"Who do you think we are?" the lecturer snorted. "We are Ecclesia! We have the greatest number of powerful magicians in the world! Who could stand before our combined arcane might?"

"That's right! Magic is ours!" one heated student shouted.

"It's just a question of picking our fights, cutting our losses, reaping the greatest benefits for the lowest cost." The lecturer went on. "War is most certainly about to break out over mana and we will simply have to make the most of it."