Just a few hundred meters from where the group had been attacked, Gwayne found the cottage, already reduced to ruins.
It lay collapsed among the trees. From the charring, he could tell it had been destroyed by a fire that burned outward from within, though the blaze hadn't spread much farther, perhaps a timely rainfall had saved the surrounding forest.
Ser Byron examined the remaining traces around the cottage and judged the fire to have occurred a little over two weeks ago.
Hestia detected an extremely faint magical signature at the site.
"What we saw in the Shadow Realm was a reflection," Gwayne said, looking at the ruined cottage in the forest clearing. "This Hedge Mage had been living in seclusion here for years. This spot is beyond the territory's borders, not even hunters come out this far, so nobody ever knew a hermit lived here."
"The question is... how did the accident happen?" Hestia frowned. "There's only a feeble mana focus here, and the Hedge Mage who lived here was quite weak as well. Even if one of his magic experiments went out of control and burned down the house, that alone couldn't have created a persistent projection in the Shadow Realm, let alone generated Wraith Mist that powerful... The amount of mana required for all of that is far beyond what a single Hedge Mage could provide."
"Perhaps this notebook can answer your questions." Gwayne handed a worn notebook to Hestia.
It was the one he'd received from Betty in the Shadow Realm, the unnamed Hedge Mage's diary and research journal in one.
Following Gwayne's instructions, Hestia opened it to the second half and began reading carefully.
...Andraste 729, Firemonth, day XX. Half a year since I moved here. Found a mana focus at the edge of House Seawright territory. Its strength can't begin to compare with the public mana foci in the City of Thousand Towers, but it's enough to sustain my laboratory. The elemental forces here are singular and stable. Annie's condition should improve.
Andraste 729, Harvestmonth, day XX. Annie seems to be getting better. She hasn't had an episode in quite a long time, though I don't yet know if it's the environment here having an effect, or if my rituals and potions are actually working. The mana focus here is too weak. Even with amplification arrays, my ritual effectiveness is greatly reduced. Perhaps I should reconsider those formulas I derived earlier... The people at the Arcane Society always mocked my calculations, but I've left the Society now, they have no authority here...
Andraste 730, Mistfall, day XX. The formulas and derivations match expectations perfectly! No, I should say events unfolded exactly as my calculations predicted. Under the new amplification method, the mana focus's power has been enormously enhanced! With the supplemental mana, I can finally begin Annie's next phase of treatment. She's barely had any episodes these past few months, but the treatment must continue, she can't withstand any more setbacks...
Andraste 731, Coldmonth, day XX. After treatment, Annie was actually able to get out of bed and walk around, she even cooked me a meal! Fried sausages and vegetable soup. I feel like I haven't eaten anything this good in a hundred years, even though the sausages were burnt and she forgot to put salt in the soup... This proves my treatment plan is working. As long as this mana focus continues to supply mana steadily, Annie's full recovery will only be a matter of time..."
After that, the diary entries were mostly about the writer's daily life with his daughter. Hestia skimmed through those quickly, until a set of scrawled, chaotic entries appeared on the final pages.
Andraste 734, Frostmonth, day XX. Annie had an episode. Damn it!!
I don't know what went wrong. All treatments were proceeding according to plan. Every step of the ritual was correct. The potions too, I've been using them for years without a single problem! But Annie still had an episode, and a severe one... worse than any before. I need to find the cause immediately. I'm going to record every detail, everything... I will find the cause. Annie will be fine...
Andraste 734, Frostmonth, day XX. Annie still hasn't improved. The new potions have had no effect. She keeps growing weaker, and... she's gradually slipping away from this world. This morning I saw her hands turn transparent like mist, and blisters appeared all over her face. This world is rejecting her, pushing her into the Shadow Realm. What do I do...
Andraste 734, Mistfall, day XX. That damned sun, those dark red patterns on its surface are like a mockery of my helplessness! I've finally found the problem, but I'm powerless to solve it... Elements are concentrating. Concentrating abnormally. Mana is surging upward. This feeble mana focus simply can't contain the excess, and even dismantling the amplification arrays hasn't helped. The smart thing would be to take Annie away from this elemental concentration zone, but she's been here too long. Her body resonates with the elemental environment here, that resonance has sustained her life... but it will also kill her!
Andraste 734, Mistfall, day XX. The mana across this entire region is wrong, violently turbulent. The borders of Seawright territory feel as though they've fallen into the legendary sea of mana. I can no longer reverse the changes in Annie. Half her body has already left the Prime Material Plane. This morning she even said the whole house had turned black and white. Perhaps... I have no choice but to try another way...
Andraste 735, Firemonth. The long preparations are finally complete. Annie's weakness has reached its limit.
This is my only chance. There is no other option.
Since I cannot keep Annie alive in the Prime Material Plane, I'll choose another path.
The ritual for shadow transformation is documented in the texts. The mana required is unimaginably vast, but for me, perhaps it's not impossible. I've used the new amplification formulas and array designs, and I'll harness the power of the mana surge. The mana in this area is in an abnormally active state. The energy I've been suppressing in the mana focus for months is finally, barely, sufficient. All I need now is to wait until the sun reaches its zenith, when mana is at its strongest, and I can begin the transformation.
Annie, hold on. Daddy will save you. And Daddy will go with you to the Shadow Realm. We'll live there for a long, long time. You'll never hurt again.
The diary ended there.
Hestia was about to close the notebook when Gwayne suddenly pointed at the corner of the last page. "There are actually a few more words here."
Hestia looked closely. In that corner was a dark blotch of ink. She'd initially taken it for a stain from a tipped inkwell, but now, examining it carefully, she realized it was in fact a hasty scrawl written with ink-stained fingers.
Mana went out of control... the sun is red...
Hestia repeated the words without understanding. "The sun is red... How could the sun be red?"
"Could it have been during the last red spot eruption?" Rebecca suddenly spoke up as if remembering something. "That was just over two weeks ago. The sun's surface showed far more red spots than usual. If this Hedge Mage's mind wasn't entirely clear at the time, he might well have perceived the sun as red..."
Hestia blinked, apparently accepting Rebecca's explanation, then waved the notebook.
"With this diary, we can explain quite a lot. It seems this unnamed mage set up a sizable magic array here to treat his daughter's illness, and later came up with the desperate idea of transforming both himself and his daughter into shadow forms to extend their lives. But his transformation ritual went out of control due to the mana surge, causing the fire two weeks ago, and also giving rise to the Wraith Mist, as well as what the Great Ancestor witnessed in the Shadow Realm..."
"None of that is the point," Gwayne suddenly interrupted. "The Wraith Mist and the cottage in the Shadow Realm can all be directly explained by the notebook. What I wanted you to see were two details mentioned in the diary, one about dark red patterns on the sun's surface, and one about a large-scale eruption of red spots."
Hestia noticed the gravity on Gwayne's face and grew tense. "Great Ancestor, those two things..."
Gwayne waved his hand. "Also, the mana surges this Hedge Mage wrote about, as mages, the two of you must have sensed them as well?"
Hestia and Rebecca exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously.
"There have indeed been several mana surges around Seawright territory recently. But mana surges are perfectly normal, all mana in the world originates from the sun, and the sun is constantly shifting and changing, so mana on the ground naturally fluctuates. The surges in the territory lately have been frequent, but not to a degree that would raise alarm."
Gwayne looked at them both, then spoke slowly.
"In the year 1736 of the Gondor Imperial Calendar, reports came in from across the empire of large-scale dark red patterns appearing on the sun's surface. In 1738, the largest eruption of red spots in recorded history was observed, nearly half the sun's surface was covered in red blotches. That same year, twenty-six of the empire's provinces reported widespread mana surges. The individual surges weren't large, but they covered nearly two-thirds of the national territory. In 1739, a blood-red sun hung in the sky. The entire nation was draped in a dark crimson canopy. But no disaster struck. Instead, an unusually large number of magically gifted infants were born. According to records, nearly a third of the newborns that day possessed innate elemental affinity. Resonance stones ran short at natal screening facilities across the country, and court scholars declared that day 'The Magical Dawn.' But in that very same year, the largest mana supply facility near the Gondor capital, the Deep Blue Well, suffered a catastrophic explosion. The cause was a sudden influx of chaotic, immensely powerful mana into the mana focus where the Well was situated. The extraction arrays couldn't process the disordered energy, ultimately leading to a core meltdown..."
Gwayne paused. But Hestia, her face somewhat pale, continued for him.
"...Gondor year 1740. The Dark Tide erupted. The most powerful human empire in history was destroyed within months..."