A small gasp escapes Emily’s lips as she gazes at the scene before her. The roiling wall of fog falls away after a metre to reveal a wide-open clearing broken only by a few large trees, whose canopies stretch wide overhead, blocking a clear view of the sky. The fog seems to pause at the boundary of the space before being pulled down and flowing along the ground like a thick carpet.

In the centre of the clearing, is a crack in the earth. It stretches a few metres wide and over ten long, with dense fog flowing into it like water, clinging close to the surfaces as it drops. Emily’s groupmates break formation, parting the fog on either side of her as they emerge into the clearing with stupefied gazes. After a few moments admiring the mysterious crack in the ground, Oscar breaks everyone out of their daze.

“This is it everyone. Welcome to the entrance to The Crystal Waters!”

Several muttered conversations break out at his words, so he quickly regains control of the group, obviously reeling in his own excitement at the same time.

“Calm down everyone! This is a very exciting moment, but let’s get our arrays set up properly before we relax too much.”

The palpable excitement of the group is barely held in as Oscar quickly pulls out the sound barrier’s stakes and divides them up. With practised motions, they place the stakes around the clearing, forming a bubble of surety around themselves. The moment the barrier is formed, the barely suppressed excitement of the group explodes as everybody gathers around the crack to look in.

Emily joins them, gazing into the dark recess in the ground. She sees the faintly recognisable membrane of the sound isolating barrier spanning the entrance, preventing sound from travelling inside. Upon closer inspection, she realises that the crack isn’t just a hole. Though obscured by the dense fog resting on top of it, there is a path descending further into the depths. It starts off at ground level with a sudden half-metre drop onto a gradual slope that disappears into the billowing fog and darkness below.

Oscar addresses the whole group as they gather around.

“We shall set up camp here for today and move into the cave system in the morning. Make the most of being in the open. This will be the last time we see the sky for a while.”

Everyone slowly disperses, ambling through setting up camp, the usual urgency gone, having stopped far earlier in the day than normal. Emily, Ivor, and Enzo settle down together at the edge of the clearing. After chatting for a while about the mysterious entrance, Ivor and Enzo exchange a glance before both turning to Emily.

“You should take a break for a little bit,” Enzo says.

Emily raises a brow with curiosity as he continues.

“You’ve been scouting at the front all week: you’ve got to be mentally exhausted, right?”

“Not massively. I’m quite resilient.” Emily shrugs.

Enzo sighs, while Ivor rolls his eyes at her.

“Just take a break for an hour to eat. We don’t need all three of us anyway,” Ivor signs.

I guess I can use this as a chance to talk to Callum...

Smiling at her friends’ concern, Emily stands up, patting them both on the shoulders.

“Fine, I’ll take your offer then. Thanks. Try not to annoy each other too much!” she says as she turns and walks towards the main camp.

All the tents have already been set up, and Emily finds the majority of the expedition group gathered together eating. Before she can join them, Dante approaches her, carrying a mass of bread and meat in his arms.

“Hey, Emily! You here to grab food? I was already on my way.”

“Yes and no. Ivor and Enzo told me to come and rest for a bit.”

“Wow, they managed to convince you to rest? Should I be reporting them for using mental magic?”

Rolling her eyes at him, Emily grabs some food out of his arms and walks past.

“Yep, they’re masters of the brain now, so why don’t you go ask them to work out what’s wrong with yours?” she calls teasingly over her shoulder as she leaves.

Chewing on a hunk of bread, Emily scans the group for Callum, frowning when she can’t find him. Instead, she approaches Oscar, who’s sitting at the edge of the gathering, chatting with Fionn, Cian, and Linda.

“Hey,” Emily calls as she gets close, interrupting their conversation.

Fionn and Cian both give her polite smiles, and Linda gives her a friendly wave, her greeting unaffected by the heavy bags under her eyes. Oscar raises a brow with curiosity and Emily sighs, predicting his next question.

“Why are you over here?”

“Ivor and Enzo persuaded me to take a break,” she says, quickly continuing before Oscar can comment. “Where’s Callum? I wanna talk to him?”

Oscar looks shocked at her inquiry, but still answers quickly.

“He’s in his tent, third on the fourth row.”

“Got it, thanks.” Emily nods and turns around.

Glancing at the shoddily organised tents, she quickly works out which counts as the fourth row, heavily judging whoever managed to blend the fourth and fifth rows together.

They had one job! If I did my job this poorly, we’d all be dead...

Shaking her head free of superfluous thoughts, she walks up to Callum’s tent and calls for him.

“Hey, Callum! You in there?”

She hears light shuffling inside, then the front flap is pushed aside as a scruffy head of black hair is shoved through it.

“Emily?” Callum asks with slight confusion, brushing crust out of his eyes.

Was he asleep already? We’ve only been here for like half an hour.

“What do you want?”

“Sorry if I’m bothering you, but I wanted to know if you’d be willing to talk to me about your element,” Emily says apologetically, remembering how many bodies he’d had to dismantle today because of her.

“Why are you interested?” he asks dubiously, standing up to full height, looming two heads above her.

“Well…” Emily raises a hand before her, gathering her current understanding of space and attempting to force a manifestation. Faint purple wisps flicker to life above her palm, glistening before Callum and instantly wiping away his exhaustion as his eyes open wide in shock. “I’m having a bit of trouble with it and wanted to get some fresh perspective.”

“I’d be happy to talk to you. I haven’t met another space mage yet! What do you want to know?” Callum rattles off excitedly, his sudden shift taking Emily by surprise.

“Why don’t we go sit down somewhere first. I have another fifty minutes on break, so we have plenty of time.”

Callum agrees with her, so they make their way to the edge of the clearing, opposite Ivor and Enzo.

“Is it okay to sit at the edge of the camp like this?” Callum asks slightly nervously as Emily drops to the floor, leaning against a tree on the border of the barrier.

“Yeah, it’s fine. Enzo and Ivor are both on watch right now,” she says dismissively, waving her hand towards the dense fog wall behind her. “They’ll know if anything approaches.”

Callum nods and sits down in front of her, waiting impatiently for her to start asking questions.

“Right,” Emily says, opening a notepad window in the corner of her vision. “First, have you done research in the library into spatial theory?”

“Urgh, I’ve tried,” Callum groans. “I read a few books about it, but they’re all so vague and seem to barely say anything.”

Emily nods at his assessment.

“Yeah, I’ve read a lot of them. They have some useful bits of information, but it’s sparse and they often end up repeating themselves and spiralling down the same point for an entire book.”

“Exactly! I found Elemental Quandary more helpful, and that’s not even a book about space!”

Emily raises a brow, noting down the book’s name.

“I haven’t read that one. What does it talk about?”

“I’m not surprised. It’s pretty basic,” Callum says, awkwardly scratching his cheek. “It simply talks about the best method for understanding your own element being creating a connection with it through meditation. A pretty standard concept! It doesn’t say anything special.”

I see, so what I was already attempting then.

“I see. Well, in that case, could you show me your manifestation?”

Callum nods, closing his eyes and bringing both of his hands out before him. Emily watches patiently, and after a few moments, the mana before Callum erupts in purple light.

The wisps of purple mana are denser than Emily’s attempt by at least fifty per cent. Also, unlike Emily’s efforts, the wisps are full of energy, erratically shifting. Gazing at the cloud of energy, she watches as a quickly moving wisp seems to pop out of existence.

Strange, I’ve never seen manifested elemental mana vanish like that. It normally fades and disperses slowly.

She leans in to look closer as the purple light fades and disappears. She looks up and makes eye contact with Callum staring down at her in slight confusion.

“Sorry, I saw something interesting. Could you maintain the manifestation for ten more seconds for me?”

“Sure.” He shrugs, closing his eyes and focusing again.

The cloud of purple energy reforms, so Emily watches closely. Again, she sees a few wisps blink out of existence. However, she also spots the opposite. Several wisps appear out of seemingly nowhere, forming with momentum already.

No, actually they aren’t appearing and disappearing, they’re teleporting!

The realisation hits Emily as she observes a wisp blink away and reappear a few centimetres away while still travelling with the same vector of motion. She watches this process repeat with several different wisps until the cloud fades again.

They always reappear at the instant they vanish. There isn’t any delay at all. I guess it’s not like travelling through a tunnel of mana between points like I guessed. There would be at least a fractional delay then...

“So, what did you see?” Callum asks.

Emily bites her thumb as her brow creases in thought.

“Your manifested mana was teleporting.”

“Well, yeah. That’s pretty obvious. It’s space magic: of course it teleports,” Callum says slightly disappointedly.

“Mine doesn’t, though, and that’s the problem I’m trying to work out,” Emily says with an irritated scowl. “Could you explain to me what you’re thinking of when you attempt manifestation?”

Callum frowns, scratching the side of his head as he thinks.

“Yes? I don’t really think that much though, so it probably won’t help.”

“That’s fine. Anything helps.”

“Okay. So to start with I clear my mind. Then, I feel for everything around me. It’s kind of hard to explain, but since I awakened, I can sort of just feel where everything is within a few metres of me.”

Emily frowns and notes down his heightened spatial awareness as he continues.

“Next, I try and focus on two fixed points in front of me and push them together. I can feel space sort of stretch as they connect, so I focus on that feeling and hold it as my mental image.”

He finishes, looking at Emily to see if she gained anything from his words. Emily sits in silence for a few moments, staring at the pages of notes floating in her view.

Two points, connected by mana, strong force to bend space, instant transmission...

With thoughts and theories swirling around her mind, Emily shifts her posture into meditation stance and closes her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she releases it and empties her mind completely.

First, two points.

In the blank canvas of her mind, Emily paints two stationary purple orbs. They sit a fair distance from each other, with nothing but empty space between.

Next, mana.

Both of the orbs take on a purple glow as Emily imagines mana building up within them.

Now, apply a great force.

The orbs keep gaining mana, maintaining the same size but ballooning in density. They vibrate with immense power as they pull on the space around them, but both remain rooted steadfast.

Finally, bend space.

The orbs both begin to distort, pulling out into cones as they reach for each other. The space between them shakes and twists, distorting as it’s compressed. The two points connect, completing Emily’s mental image with the distance between them both vast and non-existent at the same time.

Pouring mana into the mental image, Emily opens her eyes as power bubbles within her. Ignoring Callum’s gobsmacked expression, her gaze is drawn to the distorted space before her. She sees two vortexes of twisted reality, resembling those in her mind, but formed from folds of space instead of abstract purple shapes.

Emily instinctively knows the points are connected, even though the compressed space between is invisible to the naked eye, a new sense of awareness budding in her core. Through the centre of one of the points, she sees a slightly twisted perception of the view from the other.

“Finally!” she cries with joy, dropping the manifestation.

“Incredible! Was that a full manifestation just from what I said?” Callum asks, with a defeated look on his face.

“Yes. Thank you. Your input helped me finish my mental image,” Emily says, bowing her head slightly in gratitude. “If you want, I can explain to you what I did to achieve it?”

Callum hesitates for a few seconds, before sighing and shaking his head as he stands up.

“No thanks. It was nice to talk about my element with you. Not many would show any interest, but I think I’ll stick to trying to feel out the element myself. I don’t know why, but I get the feeling that, if I let someone else help me now, I’ll never reach fourth circle.”

Emily smiles and waves goodbye to him as he leaves, respecting his decision to follow his own path.

I don’t have a way to repay him at the moment, but I’ll make sure he and his brother make it out of this trip alive.

Turning away from Callum’s receding back, Emily focuses on her new sense of spatial awareness. An odd understanding of the surrounding space fills her, more in feeling than in thought. To try and process it, she shuts her eyes again and focuses on the sensation.

The first thing she notices is the conflicting lack of objects occupying the space, yet constant present force. Following the force, she notices how it pulls on her as well, holding her down to the ground.

Gravity.

She realises the source quickly. Reaching into a pouch on her belt, Emily pulls out a normal bullet. She throws it in the air, watching with fascination as it’s pulled back down.

A constant force acting to hold us to our planet.

She looks closer at the object in her hand, drawing on her new spatial senses with curiosity. Everything else falls away in her perception. She tosses the bullet up again with her eyes shut, feeling space distort as it moves, watching the way the world pulls on it.

As it falls back into her hand, she notices a flicker of distortion as it lands. Intrigued, she looks closer at the connection between the object and her hand. She sees a faint, almost non-existent, force acting between the two, pulling lightly on the fractional space between.

Lightning strikes in her mind as the dots connect.

Gravity, a constant force between objects with mass. Gravity, a force that acts on all within a certain radius with a constant value, forming a field that pulls all together, that connects everything. Gravity, the force of space.