A Strong Foundation

Kuyana awoke in agony.

A searing heat seemed to have burned her throat and lungs, while choking smoke and dust blinded her and made it impossible to breathe. She tried to claw at her face out of instinct, but quickly found that her limbs were trapped in rubble.

Doing her best to calm herself, she forced her eyes open and looked around. A flickering light that emanated from somewhere nearby allowed her to see a little of her surroundings. She was more or less buried from the middle of the chest down. From the feel of it, her arms and legs were still attached, and she could even wiggle her left foot a bit, but she was unable to move.

The air was filled with a dusty haze, the source of her breathing problems. Nevertheless, she could vaguely see some shapes moving through the smoke nearby, and tried to call out for help. Unfortunately, the best she could manage was a quiet croak which probably couldn't be heard over the screams of the other survivors which were now filling her ears.

Distantly, she heard the voice of Griselda issuing orders. It seemed like the court advisor had survived, and from the sounds of it, was attempting to lead a group to safety. The mere thought of them leaving her behind was enough to send a spike of fear through Kuyana's mind, but she did her best to control it.

Just when it seemed her situation couldn't get any worse, another rumbling explosion shook the ruins, which caused the debris around her to shift and start to painfully crush her ribs. At first it was merely annoying, but then she quickly realized she could no longer breathe at all.

Panic set in. Raw animal panic that demanded action, even if it was fruitless. Every muscle in her body seemed to spasm all at once as her lungs expelled what little air they had left in a primal scream of rage and terror. One that she immediately regretted as the rubble shifted again, crushing down on her more intensely than before.

[I didn't deserve this!] She had time to think before the darkness of her narrowing vision closed in on her and she knew no more.

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Mike took a deep breath of fresh air for the first time in what felt like weeks, savoring the slight chill of the night that seeped into his lungs. A small part of him recognized this as entirely psychological. The quality of air he'd been breathing had been maintained by one of his titles for the duration of his sojourn underground, which he chose to ignore in favor of enjoying the moment.

He glanced at the two people he'd had to essentially drag with him on the escape. They seemed to be a little worse for wear, but should survive. Nevertheless, he surreptitiously passed a little Life Magic to them to restore their stamina and heal the few injuries they'd sustained.

That taken care of, he turned his attention to the much more pressing issue of the burgeoning collapse of the city. He sent his will into the earth below his feet and tried to get a sense for what was happening.

It quickly became apparent that the explosion had done an immense amount of damage. The cliffside that Gildusi was built into was in danger of falling off into the ocean, and only the continued endurance of a few load bearing formations in the city's bedrock had prevented the worst from happening. However, those would only hold out for a little while longer.

[Hmm, what to do?]

"Um, sir mage? What's going on?" The female member of the pair that had gotten tangled up with him asked. Her friend/partner/lover was still gasping for breath on the ground.

He glanced at her, taking note of the way she flinched as his gaze moved in her direction. Clearly, the experience of tailing him through the ruins had left a strong impression. A part of him sympathized, since it would have been difficult for even stalwart veterans to keep their cool in the presence of an overwhelmingly powerful person who was slowly losing their mind, let alone a civilian.

Another part of him found it annoying and tedious.

[I didn't force them to follow me. Hell, I even saved their lives in the first place. If anything, they should be quietly grateful for my presence. Without it, they would have been dead a long time ago. Maybe I should remind them-]

Mike sent another wave of Life Magic through his body, and felt the creeping presence of the entity within him recede back into the depths of his mind. Disturbingly, he noticed that it seemed to be a bit closer to the surface than it was just a few minutes previously. He could almost hear the entity's triumphant laughter even as it was being driven back again.

[Going to need to deal with that sooner rather than later.]

Putting his possession problems aside, he focused on the woman, who was called Julia he recalled, and tried to explain gently. "That's a bit complicated, but I suppose the short answer is that I disrupted the ghoul's ritual prior to its completion, which minimized the resulting explosions, so rather than vaporizing the city, it merely damaged the bedrock that supports it."

"Um...isn't that still pretty bad? Do we need to start evacuating?" She asked while looking around. Their immediate vicinity didn't appear to be in danger of imminent collapse, but there were still a few corpses lying where they'd been slain by the horde of ghoul thralls. A reminder that there were still other deadly problems to be worried about.

"Nah...well, probably not...look, I'm going to try to do something about it for the time being." He replied, not exactly confident in his answer. "You two should just sit tight for a moment. If everything goes well with this, I'll even escort you both to a safe location. It's the least I can do for the help down there."

Julia blinked, a bit taken aback, but didn't say anything further.

[Well, that's alright I suppose. I'm not trying to win any popularity contests here.] He thought to himself before once more turning his attention to the collapsing city. A brief surge of Earth Magic served to reinforce the key structural points, but he could tell that this was only a temporary fix. He would need to more comprehensively repair the cliff in order to avoid the worst.

[The problem is that there is now a big hole where the ruins used to be. Even if I reinforce what's left, it would still collapse in time. Replacing the lost rock might work, but I'm not sure if I have enough mana to do that with free casting. I suppose I could try coming up with a spell on the fly, but where to start…]

For the first time in what felt like ages, Mike pulled out one of his notebooks with information he'd copied from library books back at the University. In it was a list of Tier 1 and 2 Earth Magic spell chants as well as a description of what they were meant to do. He took a moment to flip through the contents before frowning in thought.

While a few of the entries did something similar to what he was looking for, most were intended for a much smaller scale than he wanted. So, he would need to piece a few of them together, modify some of the resulting chant's syntax, and hope for the best.

Mike began to unconsciously mutter under his breath as he worked through the issue. "Let's see...if I use the word for huge here, it should increase the area of effect...I think. Maybe something like enormous would fit better? How am I supposed to determine the objective values created by applying subjective adjectives? Ugh, I feel like I'm in philosophy class again."

He was so wrapped up in the task that he didn't notice as Julia and Dorn began to whisper between themselves.

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"I don't know, he still seems crazy. I mean, he's even talking to himself now." Julia muttered while watching the mage.

"A trait that I have often exhibited when in the midst of deep concentration. Beyond that, however, he has apparently undergone an extensive personality change, no doubt brought upon him by his interaction with the god who even now must be having some kind of influence on him." Dorn shot back while tapping a finger on his mouth thoughtfully.

"...So, I'll say it again. He's crazy. Do we really want to stick around with a crazy mage? Especially considering how powerful he is?"

The small man frowned. "I am not certain. Given the unusual nature of our current circumstances, I suspect that there is more to his condition than meets the eye. Perhaps he was afflicted with some manner of madness curse which was removed by the god as a reward for freeing him? Or maybe he was forced into this quest as some form of geass, and only by accomplishing his tasks did he restore his usual mental faculties. Whatever the case may be, I sense that he is no longer overtly hostile to us. While we should still be on our guard, there should be no immediate harm in listening to what he says and staying put for the time being."

Julia sighed, but found herself agreeing with him. The mage was different now. Calmer and more approachable. Clearly something had changed for the better, but she couldn't help worrying that he would go back to the angry madman they'd followed through the ruins.

A sudden thought occurred to her. "Didn't he say he was looking for someone the ghouls were holding captive? Do you think he meant that god?"

"No, my dear. Based on the way he questioned his captives, I am led to believe the individual in question was something like a subordinate of his. While it certainly appears that he's forgotten the matter, he may very well be putting it aside for the time being."

"Hmm...I don't know…"

"Perhaps it will be helpful to remind him, once he's finished here. In any case, I still believe it is in our best interest to remain with him for the time being."

Julia looked over at the mage who was currently in the process of writing something in his notebook and frowned again. "Alright, but I vote we get away from him at the first real opportunity."

"Agreed."

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"...And that should do it." Mike announced to himself, feeling pleased.

The chant he'd built was complicated, but he believed it would solve the issue without too much difficulty. The hard part would be adjusting the output to ensure that he didn't accidentally blow up part of the city in the process. This was a bit of a concern for him since this was also the first time he attempted a multi-part chant that was designed to create two distinct effects, one after the other while still being part of the same spell.

"Alright, you two, I'm about to begin. I'd like to tell you to find somewhere safe to hide out until I'm finished, but frankly, if I mess up, it won't matter where you are in the city. That being said, I recommend laying down and covering your head at the very least."

Without giving them time to complain or question him, Mike kneeled down and placed his hands on the cobblestone pavement, sending his will deep into the earth. Once he felt his consciousness suffuse the entirety of the land under Gildusi, he opened his mouth and began chanting.

"Gather that which has been scattered upon the four winds and five currents, thy unspent children lost in the echoes of ancient calamity. Return to yon primal source, unchanged and unchallenged. Blend with wellspring, swift current of life, and fill the void of your absence…"

At this point Mike had to pause the chant while maintaining his connection to the spell as the first segment took place. He felt mana surge through him as the mud he summoned took shape and began filling the various cavities left behind by the destruction of the ruins.

He'd chosen this method for the simple reason that the created mud could seep into narrow spaces and cracks, which would be helpful for the next step. Unfortunately, he was fairly certain that it came with the side effect of smothering any still in the ruins at this point.

[While I'm not completely positive, the only ones that should still be down there are ghouls anyway. So, there shouldn't be much in the way of collateral damage, right?]

He dismissed the momentary disquiet and ignored the distant laughter of his own personal demon and concentrated on the next phase. Now that mud had filled the cracks and crevices of the region under Giludsi, it was time to reinforce it in a manner that would prevent collapse.

"Thy freedom is no more. Cease thy flow and stand fast with thy siblings. Unity is demanded. Structure is required. With rigid confluence of precision, I command thee to take form. [Foundation Repair]"

Now he was attempting to solidify the mud, converting it into a sort of rudimentary, quick-drying cement. This was the tricky part, since simply removing water from the mixture would leave the remainder brittle.

While it might have been possible to feed in additional creation magic during the spell's activation to enhance the resulting product's durability, he figured that would be a bit too difficult for him to manage at his current skill level. So, he decided to just use crystallization instead.

[Alright, the silica is in place, now I just need to get it to take the shape I want.] He thought while urging the mud to solidify.

Slowly, inexorably, he willed the material to settle and harden, gradually turning the ground under Gildusi into a massive quartz deposit. On a few occasions, the magic got away from him, creating crystal formations that erupted from the earth in various parts of the city and caused havoc. A part of him felt a bit guilty about that, but he decided that it was a small price to pay to save the city.

Finally, after several minutes of this, he sensed the task had been completed.