Shadows
The Collector watched from outside as the hobgoblins circled the Snowmound and began to file in and out, bringing out females, hobgoblin children, and a sparse few of the smaller goblin variants.
It was interesting to analyze the Snowmound and its structure. By encasing its ocular systems with magical energy, the Collector could perceive the exact mechanics by which the flow of magical energy created such a geographic anomaly.
It would seem that just as mana flowed within the body of living beings with analogous physical vessels such as the core to the heart and spirit roots to blood vessels and nerves, so too did mana flow through the world.
With the world, however, the analogous physical vessels were parts of its physical terrain.
Thus, the 'spirit roots' of the world could be perceived within the wind, growths of flora, the running of water bodies, and so on and so forth.
All of these also indicated degrees of flow.