When Calen woke up, he had only a vague recollection of his dream.
He remembered that someone told him to search the roots of the Great tree, and that someone was going to meet him at their next destination.
Communication through dreams wasn't particularly common, so Calen decided to keep the second part to himself, just in case it was simply a really weird dream.
He was going to tell his companions about the roots though, Elira tours various parts of the tree during her lessons with Vinifer, so she should able to find anything strange.
Once they locate whatever they were looking for, they will send Isara to investigate, since she was almost finished with the first masking cloak.
If she manages to understand the thing that's down there, they'll formulate a proper plan on how to deal with it.
'I suppose it's a sensible plan, I'll let others know, and get ready for the day.'
***
To his surprise, Lydia wasn't waiting for him in the same place as before - she greeted him in the main hall of the building they were staying in, and told him to follow.
She wasn't dressed in her usual revealing training garb, instead she was wearing a ceremonial looking robe, made of green silk and embroidered with delicate bronze patterns depicting various plants.
Even the the battle-hardened and menacing Elder looked very lady-like in such expensive clothes.
Noticing his gaze, Lydia turned to him with a smirk.
"Stop staring at me kiddo, what, did you think I have only one set of clothes that looks like a potato sack?"
"Considering the state of the world? Yes, that's exactly what I thought. I didn't even imagine there could still be clothes like that around."
The Elder chuckled.
"I suppose it is a logical conclusion, but no, some people still wear fancy clothes. Most of them serve some specific function, and they are pretty mostly because they come from a different time."
They walked in silence, going deeper and deeper into the city.
"Where are you taking me, exactly?" Asked Calen.
"You'll see in a moment." Answered Lydia.
The buildings around them were on the older side, and most of the them were visibly damaged. The streets around them were empty and silent, this section of the city was clear uninhabited.
They stopped in front of a small stone structure that was strangely well preserved.
"It's a... chapel?" Said Calen.
"It is. Come, I'll explain what we'll be doing today one were inside."
The interior of the building was rather empty, there was a stone altar in the middle, and afew wooden benches near the entrance.
Lydia stood next to the elevated stone platform, and gestured for Calen to take place opposite to her. Between them laid a metal orb, no larger than an apple, cast from bronze or brass. It was dotted with holes of various sizes spaced in equal distances, and inside one could see a faint green light.
"Today we will be focusing on your control of the flame, and practice recharging divine energy in an artefact." Lydia tapped the orb with a finger. "This thing over here is what we call a source oasis. It was designed to allow druids to bring a piece of divine power with them even to the most desolate places."
"So that's how you can grow plants even outside the city." Realised Calen.
The Elder nodded.
"Before the invasion they were only used when one of us went on a dangerous journey to remote lands, nowadays they're standard equipment for any druid who ventures beyond the safety of human settlements."
"Whose is it, then?" Calen gestured at the orb.
"I dug it out of some forgotten storage, so if everything goes well and you manage to recharge it, it'll go to Elira."
"Okay, but why are we doing this here, and why are you dressed like that?" Asked Calen.
"The chapel was consecrated, which means that any activity involving the divine power won't be detectable from outside." She took out a small tree shaped emblem from a hidden pocket. "And I'm wearing this stupid dress to help me reform the power of nature in the oasis in case you fuck up."
The amount of the divine energy she could control was insufficient to fully charge the device, but with the help of the robe she could give it a little bit, that Calen would then power up with his flame.
It was quite simple in theory - Calen had to simply increase the amount of the divine power in the device.
In practice it turned out to be much harder.
The task required fine control over the amount and speed of the delivered energy - too much or too quickly, and the attribute inside changes, too little or too slowly and the power fizzles out completely.
Calen was struggling, to say the least.
This aspect of power was completely new to him, when he handled magic the enchantments and spells took only as much as they needed to function, there was no need to regulate the power.
His first two attempts ended in spectacular failure.
Both times the moment he sent his power inside the sphere, the light disappeared completely.
On his next try he overdid, and used almost half of his power.
This caused the orb to explode with light and bounce around the entire building at astonishing speeds. It took him and Lydia almost half an hour to catch the device, and drain it from power so that he could try again.
His next attempts were significantly less destructive, but still nowhere near the desirable result. He did manage to make the power inside grow briefly, but only once.
It was almost noon, and Calen felt he wasn't any closer to his goal than when he began.
"Maybe try a different method?" Suggested Lydia with a smile.
Surprisingly, the Elder was having a great time. His failure and annoyance were seemingly a source of constant amusement to her.
"Care to share what is so funny?"
Calen's voice came out a bit more aggressive than he intended.
Lydia coughed and looked away, slightly embarrassed.
"I'm sorry Calen, it's just that you remind me of Ba so much."
He didn't expect to hear that.
"...how so?"
"He was around your age when he got his first shapeshifter stigma, and I vividly remember how pissed off he was that he wasn't able to activate it. It took him almost to weeks before he could actually transform into something."
Calen had hard time imagining the confident, powerful and experienced druid as a bumbling, frustrated twenty-something youth.
Lydia grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it in reassurance.
"So what I mean by that is: don't worry, you'll get it eventually. Try one more time and we'll take a break."
Calen nodded.
He took a deep breath and placed both his hands on the sphere. So far he tried to mix the two divine powers, treating them similar to liquids, but it clearly wasn't working.
He grasped the invisible energy, and strained his will to shape it into a sharp, long needle. Maintaining his focus he forced the tip of the needle to penetrate the other power, and started carefully sending energy inside at a steady pace.
Everything around him blurred together, the only thing in his mind were the two powers slowly merging together.
After a minute he felt himself run out of power, so he extracted the metaphorical needle and returned to reality.
His hands were shaking, and he was breathing heavily.
He looked inside the device to confirm the results - the green orb of light was still there, bigger and significantly brighter. The sphere wasn't charged to the maximum, but after a short break he could repeat the process and finish it.
"Congratulations, it seems you've found a proper way to do it." Said Lydia.
Between gasps of air, Calen asked:
"How often will I have to recharge this for Elira?"
The Elder shrugged.
"Probably every day."
He could only groan loudly.
"It's a good thing, it will very quickly improve your control by leaps and bounds." Lydia sat on one of the benches and patted the place next to her. "Come, have a sit."
She offered him a canteen with water and a loaf of spiced bread, and they sat in silence as he scarfed down the humble meal.
Lydia looked at him, and asked hesitantly:
"I don't want to pry, but I can feel multiple powers around you... where you maybe visited by spirits?"
Calen froze, could she really tell things like that from just his aura? Since the cat was out of the bag anyway, he decided to tell her about the strange dream.
"Someone is supposed to meet you in Mountainfall, huh? I think their leader might be a spirit, I never met anyone quite as powerful as her." She was pacing back and forth "And the thing in the roots most likely refers to the main runic array of the tree. We don't know all of its functions so it very well might have some kind of kill switch or something."
She stopped and put her hands on her hips.
"Alright, end of break. Let's get this thing charged fully, and you're free to go."