The morning workshop smelled like copper dust and over-roasted coffee. Eddie stood at his bench surrounded by scraps: bits of iron, bronze, wood, and a few donated gems that looked suspiciously like broken jewelry.
Lyra leaned over a notebook she'd begged from the baker's son. "We're testing everything again?"
"Yup. Today's lesson—what mana likes to travel through and what it hates. Science, kid."
She dipped her quill. "Science. Got it!"
The Test Bench
He'd built a crude testing rig: a pair of mana crystals wired to a glow-stone in between.When energy flowed, the stone lit. When it didn't, dark.
First came iron. He connected the clamps, pulsed a little mana through the first crystal.The glow-stone flickered, then dimmed.
"Too much resistance," he muttered. "Same as rusted wire."
Next, copper. The stone blazed bright and steady.
Lyra clapped. "Copper wins again!"
Eddie grinned. "Always does. It's the friendliest metal in the universe."
They tried silver next—brilliant, but unstable, throwing off tiny sparks.Wood didn't work at all; bone hummed faintly, oddly warm to the touch.Then obsidian, which pulsed smoothly, almost like a capacitor.
He scribbled results on a scrap of parchment.
Observation #7: Obsidian balances mana flow. Possible insulator.Observation #8: Lyra's handwriting improving—barely.
She stuck out her tongue. "I heard that!"
The Interruption
The door banged open hard enough to shake the shelf. A young man in deep-blue robes stormed in, his wand raised like a spear.
"You! Outsider!"
Eddie blinked. "Good morning to you too."
The mage's eyes were sharp and angry. "You're tampering with arcane flows without Guild sanction. Do you want to rupture the leyline under this town?"
Eddie set down his tools calmly. "Relax, kid. I'm just measuring current."
"Current?" the mage snapped. "You speak nonsense! Mana is life itself, not some toy for tinkering!"
Lyra stepped in front of Eddie. "He's helping people! He fixed our lights!"
"Help? Or heresy?"
The wand crackled faintly, unstable. Eddie noticed immediately—the runes were misaligned, the focus ring bent.
"Hold still," he said, stepping closer. "You're leaking power."
"Don't—"
Too late. The wand discharged with a flash.
Eddie grabbed the shaft bare-handed, twisting it downward. Lightning spilled into the floorboards, grounding harmlessly.
Smoke curled. Silence followed.
Eddie exhaled. "There. Safe."
The mage stared at him, pale. "You… redirected it."
"Grounded it," Eddie corrected. "See? My nonsense works."
A Reluctant Respect
The young mage—Renn, as he introduced himself—lowered his wand. "You could've burned yourself."
"Been there, done that." Eddie smiled. "Come by tomorrow. I'll show you how to fix that focus ring properly."
Renn hesitated, then nodded stiffly and left.
Lyra let out the breath she'd been holding. "I thought he was going to hex you!"
"Nah. Just another customer who doesn't know it yet."
The Breakthrough
Evening settled in. The copper test lines glowed softly, the workshop bathed in a steady amber light.
Eddie leaned over the table.
"So mana behaves like electricity, but with… attitude. It wants harmony, not just contact."
He drew a spiral on a shard of obsidian, connecting it with copper lines. When he fed mana through, the current smoothed instantly—no flare, no hiss.
"There we go," he whispered. "The perfect insulator."
Lyra peered over his shoulder. "What do we call it?"
He smiled. "The Ramos Pattern. Has a nice ring, huh?"
She giggled. "Sounds fancy."
He leaned back, watching the soft pulse of blue light spread across the bench.
"If we can make mana safer," he said quietly, "people won't have to fear it anymore."
Outside, thunder rumbled in the distance—a low, promising growl.