Throughout his stay at Talcaf forest, Mike had gotten the impression that radiant beasts were large creatures overflowing with radiance, their might being very telling.
Gaus' radiant beast challenged that thought, it was both not small and neither was its radiance plentiful but nevertheless, Mike could tell it was a radiant beast like those he had seen.
"Let's see yours." Gaus spoke.
Mike swallowed. To summon Araes, he would have to reveal his chains, chains that did not entirely listen to him, and that were in a sense, dangerous. He could not.
"I would like to, but I cannot right now, unveiling my radiant beast requires so much energy of which I am incredibly low on at the moment."
"Hmmm…" Gaus cupped his chin, looking at the man like he could see through him.
"Must be quite the spectacular beast you have got. I can tell that."
Mike simply nodded.
"How is this happening? How can you read my thoughts and understand me."
Gaus chuckled, "Radiance my boy, radiance. That is the short answer. Radiance is an energy that expresses itself in accordance to its bearer. Emotions, intent all leak into the force. Your radiant aura holds your thoughts Mike, it's a reflection of a deeper self, and mine is making itself familiar with yours."
Mike recalled that he could see emotions since gaining this strange force. One's radiant aura could take on colors depending on how they felt.
The more he learnt about radiance, the more he was intrigued by it.
"Come see this." Gaus walked to his table—a mess with cluttered items. He stretched his right arm, and his radiant aura encompassed the table and all that was on it. Then the objects hovered, and Gaus swiped them off, placing them at a corner of the tent.
"I am in the middle of crafting a spell capable of teleporting a hundred people at once."
On the table across a large parchment ran esoteric lines—a massive rune.
"Whoa."
"I know, it is quite impressive. Though I must say, I am not the first to come up with this sort of spell, and like the others, I have reached a boulder that I cannot jump across."
Mike cupped his chin studying the magic inscriptions. It turned out that radiance was a lot more than blasting fire balls, it was wrapped in folds of complexity, and this was one Mike was willing to engage. He wanted to learn how to draw runes.
"All that had come before this has required a sacrifice of some sort, a number of lives as a catalyst, and in some cases, a rave. I reckon that this would just need an ample amount of radiance for activation, and I am hoping Bloom could fit the role."
'His radiant beast.'
His attention was drawn to the little flamy creature standing by its master's shoulder.
Something ebbed within Mike, he almost fell upon Gaus, and the old sorcerer had to backstep.
"Sorry about that, I lost my footing for a second."
Gaus eyed him suspiciously, and why wouldn't he? Sorcerers were not new to the idea of assassinations against them, heck the tyrannical Afharian lord had every rave that would not take his banner killed, such was the fate of raves. So Gaus kept his distance.
That had been both awkward and terrible, the little radiant beast seemed to be attracting Mike's chains, they hungered for its radiance, especially when Mike was so low on the energy.
"So, as I was saying, we need an energy source. I believe Bloom is up to the task, but from what I can see…" he paused, squinting at Mike,
"Yours would fit the role quite nicely."
Mike laughed wryly, he just got here, and he was being asked to possibly sacrifice one of his greatest assets.
"I think you underestimate Bloom." He rebutted, and the rave simply looked away disappointed.
Sensing that things were awkward, Mike stepped out of the tent under the guise of having to urinate.
He had let out a sigh of relief when he noticed the freckled woman from earlier laying on the grass, the suns' warmth bathing her.
Mike crept to her, and then cleared his throat.
"Hmmm! Hmmm!" He got no response, she did not even do as little as to glance his way.
He still had the shawl and black shirt on, and shared a similar style. He laid by her, not close, and not distant either—just enough to have her hear him and fall in her peripheral vision.
"The suns are beautiful," he said. No response.
'Oh, right. She does not understand me. I need to learn that translation spell quickly.'
He struggled to think of what to say, and it did not help that he could not speak a familiar tongue, and eventually he gave up, doing the same as her, and simply laying on the grass.
He did not know when sleep set in, and he woke to the uproar of music.
He laid alone in the open fields, the tents were lit with touches, and men danced. Mike just had to see what it was, he stood and scuttled to the group.
Tables lined at the center of the tents, abundant foods were served, meat, wine and cake, all went around in abundance.
"It's a feast!" He heard, and he turned to who spoke. It was the freckled lady from earlier, and though he did not understand her, he nodded.
He got the notion that something good had happened, obviously, Algar sat at the very center of the tables and he downed a huge cup of beer.
"Down with the king!" He cried, raising his beer-filled jug.
"Down with the king!" His men cried.