Kai stepped back into the Physical Kids Cottage after returning back from Julia's. James had called to let her know he'll be coming over. The door creaked as he entered, and the first thing he saw was Margo sitting on the front step with Quentin, both nursing drinks. Her eyes snapped to him, narrowed like a cat spotting a mouse.
"Where the hell have you been, Kai? You missed the entire Welters game and the post-win debauchery," Margo said, tossing her curls back with attitude.
Kai sucked in his teeth and shrugged. "Sorry. I've been… uhh, busy."
Margo rolled her eyes dramatically. "Well, for your information, we won as expected of course. Thanks to the boy genius here," she said, gesturing at Quentin with her drink.
Kai looked at Quentin and smirked. "Did you cast a 'Crippling Social Anxiety Bomb' on the other team? Must've worked like a charm."
Quentin gave a soft chuckle despite himself. "Close enough."
Just then, Eliot appeared, wine glass already half-full. "Come, Margo, let's let the emotionally stunted brood in peace."
As Eliot pulled Margo away by the hand, Kai dropped beside Quentin on the steps, eyeing the scattered remnants of celebration around them confetti, glowing sigils still floating in the air, and a few drunken students passed out in odd corners.
After a long pause, Kai turned to Quentin. "Alright… what's with the look?"
Quentin blinked. "What look?"
"You look more depressed than usual, and that's saying something," Kai said, pointing at him with mock seriousness.
Quentin glanced down at his hands. "My dad's dying."
Kai's face blanked for a moment. "Oh."
Then he winced mentally 'Oh fucking hell I've been so busy, I actually forgot…' The news had been mentioned in passing before, but it had completely slipped his mind in the chaos of everything else.
"How is he?" Kai asked, softer this time.
Quentin exhaled. "Glioblastoma. Brain tumor. It's aggressive, terminal. They say there's nothing to be done."
He gave a hollow laugh, rubbing at his temples. "I've spoken to my sponsor. Looked through spells, rituals, ancient medical grimoires... and still nothing. I can literally do magic, Kai. We all can. But when it comes to the stuff that really matters…"
Kai tilted his head slightly, staring off into the distance before replying, "Magic solves a lot. Transmutation, teleportation, maybe resurrecting gods, and even creating pocket dimensions… one day but some things—the real things—they're stubborn. Anchored. There are laws not even magic dares to break."
He looked back at Quentin.
"Even if there was a magical solution, it's probably buried under a destroyed civilization, scrawled in some forgotten dead language in a place you'd need a blood offering and two miracles just to enter."
Quentin's voice cracked. "Why can't it just be easy? I mean… magic can literally reshape reality and yet this. Something so human. So basic. And we're helpless."
Kai sighed and got to his feet. "Because magic's an asshole, Q. It's flashy when it wants to be but silent when it counts and the amount of magic needed to even pull something like this off is of the safety chart."
He dusted off his jeans. "I'll catch you later."
Without another word, he turned and headed for the old building his mind not quiet, but focused.
---
Dean Fogg's office was quiet as always.The heavy oaken door gave a slight groan as Kai knocked.
"Come in," came Fogg's tired voice from within.
Kai entered and stood tall, hands in the pockets of his coat. "Dean Fogg… I was hoping you could help me with a bit of research I've been working on."
Fogg raised a brow over his glasses. "What kind of research?"
Kai stepped forward. "I've been studying magical flow transfer. Specifically, how to siphon energy from one point to another without causing an overload. Right now, most of our techniques leave behind chaotic bursts uncontrolled, unstable. I want to reduce that randomness. Stabilize it."
Fogg folded his hands and studied Kai. "Go on."
"I've come across a theoretical construct something I've been calling the Aetherphage" Kai said. "A magically attuned parasitic organism that feeds on excess magic and converts it into inert energy."
Fogg blinked slowly. "Ah, yes. The Aetherphage, nasty little creature. One of the few beings capable of metabolizing raw spell residue. Dangerous, though. If not contained, it doesn't just feed on overflow. It can start leeching from its host directly. In worst-case scenarios, a magician can lose their ability to cast entirely."
Kai nodded. "I'm aware. But it's for a controlled study. A closed environment."
Fogg leaned back. "Do you truly understand what you're playing with, Kai?"
Kai met his gaze. "Yes. That's why I need it."
There was a moment of silence before Fogg said, "You'll return tomorrow. One Aetherphage will be granted. No more."
Kai's face remained composed. "That's fine."
But as he turned and walked out of the office, his mind whispered otherwise 'That's definitely not fine damn it I need more.'
His face didn't betray it, but to him, the weight of his many problems felt... half-solved.
———-
The air was crisp the next morning as Kai made his way across the campus, the weight of today's errand barely dulled by the soft rustle of leaves overhead. He wasn't two turns into the brick path when he caught sight of Penny, shoulders squared, storm cloud scowl in full force. Standing near the notice board with a crumpled paper in his hand. On it, a printed image of a young woman stared up in still silence.
Kai slowed, narrowing his eyes. 'Ah... right. That third-year student who vanished. The one Penny found while astral-projecting into that Fillorian dungeon.' The girl had been missing for months, the faculty had practically swept it under the rug, and her professor? A certified coward. Bound himself to Earth just so he wouldn't be forced to slip through dimensions with his class.
"Trouble in paradise?" Kai muttered as he passed Penny. No response, just a clenched jaw and the sound of a paper tearing in half.
"Okay then."
__________\\
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