Flight Journals Day 25-31

Something horrible has happened.

Zam... her crystal, she's hurt. She's hurt and it's my fault.

That's what AJ says at least, that we all take turns throwing ourselves into harm's way to save each other. At least we care about each other... at least we're honest that we care.

The Professor sent us to a nearby mining town to find some sort of rare metal. There was a wolf there, it attacked Zam... it broke the crystal that powers her suit... she was shaking so much, she was so heavy as I tried to hold her up, to recall us home. THe professor had me summon the wheel to contain her mana, to hold it in place. I cast it over 15 times, until my hands were cold and I couldn't feel my face anymore. THe Professor had to bond to her to keep her alive, and we just barely succeeded.

Now Zam is hurt, and it's my fault. She got hurt protecting the rest of us, because she's the best fighter out of all of us, because she's stonger than all of us.

AJ was just trying to get under my skin, but I got angry, maybe angrier than she was expecting. I almost dropper her off the front steps of the school, or held her inside my blades. I could only see red when she said that, she blamed me for Zam getting hurt. Just because we all actually care about each other and aren't constantly cracking jokes at each other's expense... I really hate her. I don't care that she isn't responsible for all of the things she's been accused of, I don't care if she was blackmailed into doing bad things. She's said awful things about my friends, and I hate her. I don't think I'll ever forgive her.

Graecie was able to find some shattered pieces of Zam's crystal, so at least we have that. We'll have to use that plus some ritual that will accellerate the natural crystal formation to potentially make a replacement power source for her suit while the Professor keeps her stable. Graecie won't leave Zam's side, just like Zam woudn't leave Graecie's. I can see the sadness in both of their eyes when the other was hurt. I'm sad too, but I see just how sad Graecie is, and I'm starting to figure out just how important they are to each other. We're all friends, we all care, but there's no seperating the two of them... and I think I can figure out why.

So I got to work, helping however I can.

I was able to find a small cave under one of the houses in the mining town. It's not perfectly well hidden, but at least it's SOMETHING and somewhere far enough from the school that if something goes horribly wrong I won't be endangering anyone. Juniper, Sausage, Megii, and Amber helped me get started with getting things cleared out and cleaned up and a basic ritual circle installed. It's not perfect, it's nowhere near sanitary, but it's a viable workspace for now. I even hung a giant ring of metal from the ceiling, but apparently just a big cirle of metal does not an Iron Wheel make... no idea why I thought it would be that simple...

Ritual craft is a bit harder than I expected. It's not just about finding the right components to create a chemical reaction, intent is such a key element. I don't understand how, at least not quite yet, but even combining the same ingredients in the same order will yield different results per implementation. This isn't a science, no matter how much I'm trying to treat it like one, it's more of an artform. Like writing a poem with no plan, which is awful for me because I'm not exactly the poetic type. We finally actually started getting some successes in establishing new rituals, but half a dozen were sock-based on account of Graecie thinking that her feet were hurting from the walk over one morning. It was one of the few times I could convince her to actually leave the Academy for a bit and take a breather. It was nice to get some time together, but it was clear pretty quick that she was eagerly wanting to head back to the school at a moment's notice.

It doesn't help that there always seems to be more and more problems piling up. We know for SURE that Maddy and Pyro have been taken. Some of the others cornered a rebel that was bragging about taking two riders prisoner. There's also some missing guard armor which means that the rebels could be impersonating Academy Guards, and can enter the school. Another one jumped Graecie and me on the way to the lab once too, turns out whatever magic they rely on to hide their identities reacts pretty violently when exposed to the Iron Wheel I can cast... I watched one rebel basically dissolve when I pulled them inside the radius.

The worst of it all recently was when we messed up a teleportation ritual. It threw us deep inside the Dragon Crypt, further back than ever before. There were most of those awful history books back there, not worth discussing or writing here. We know the gist of them all by now, and I'd prefer to focus on our story instead of those who failed before us. The problem now is that I was back in the Crypt, and I had promised that I would come back for good one day. I think my old dragon thought that day was today, because when I left they were angry.

I still don't have my mana. Only Graecie knows right now, but I don't expect that to be a big secret for long. Once Sausage knows basically everyone will know within the day. I was just starting to get a hang of being a mage, and a Dragon Rider. I was just coming to terms with being this Iron Soul, this person who has so much on my shoulders, and it's gone. I don't know if it's gone for forever, or what I will have to do to fix this, but for now I'm just... me again.

Cindy arrived back at the school the next day, with a note on her collar. She had run back from where Pyro and Maddy were captured.

Magic or no magic, we're heading out at first light to rescue them. We're going to bring them home.