Kaelen began the ritual for the Echo Guard. It was an act of extreme magical athleticism, requiring him to maintain simultaneous control over two opposing forces: the internal, structured Blue Rank Aether of his body and the external, chaotic, and dampening energy of the Ironwood Ore saturation in the cave walls.
He sat cross-legged in the center of the rune array, closing his eyes. He released his Aether core—the pulsating center of his magical existence—allowing it to expand beyond his skin. The chamber immediately grew colder.
The Ironwood Ore reacted instantly. The rock walls around him began to hum, and the low-level Aether dampening field focused entirely on Kaelen, trying to suppress and absorb his core magic.
"I am channeling the external flow now," Kaelen grunted, his voice strained. "Elara, watch the central focus rune. If the color shifts from white to deep crimson, the core is being absorbed. Stop the ritual immediately."
Elara leaned forward, her face mere inches from the glowing rune. She had no magic, but she had the steady hands and keen eyes of a vigilant observer.
Kaelen began the Transfiguration. He was not casting a spell, but performing an internal re-wiring. He forced the raw, chaotic Ironwood energy to wrap around his stable Aether core like a protective shell—a coat of ambient energy that would take the brunt of any external disruption, such as a Shifter Blade strike.
The process was agony. Kaelen's body convulsed as the opposing energies met. Sweat poured from him, instantly evaporating in the intense magical friction. He was riding the edge of consciousness, fighting the overwhelming urge to release control and allow the Ironwood to neutralize him.
"Crimson shift!" Elara shouted, her eyes fixed on the rune. "The flow is becoming unstable! You're losing control of the perimeter!"
Kaelen forced his mind back from the brink, his vision swimming. He had become too focused on the shield's structure, neglecting the stabilizing rhythm of the ritual.
"Rhythm, Elara!" Kaelen gasped. "Tell me the rhythm of the ritual—the one written on the inner ring!"
Elara quickly scanned the ancient glyphs, reading the instructions that were meant for a Master Arcanist, translating them into common tongue: "Hold the center steady. Breathe against the external push. Embrace the void between heart and mind. Be the silence."
Be the silence. Kaelen understood. It was a mental state, not a spell. He relaxed his fight against the Ironwood, allowing the chaotic energy to exist alongside his own, no longer resisting it, but simply containing it.
The crimson tinge vanished from the rune. The external Ironwood energy settled, stabilizing into a humming, non-Aetheric shell around his core.
Kaelen exhaled, the sound trembling with exhaustion. The Echo Guard was complete.
He stood, testing his Aether flow. He still felt weak from the initial drain of the Temporal Echo Rune, but his magical core was secure. The chaotic ambient energy of the Ironwood Crag now felt less like suppression and more like a soft, constant cloak.
"It is done," Kaelen announced, his voice steady. "The Echo Guard is active. The Shifter Blades are neutralized. The Shadow Legion cannot kill me on contact."
Elara sagged with relief. "What now? We have the defense, but we need an offense."
"We use the Echo Guard as bait," Kaelen declared, his eyes cold. "We need to lure the Shadow Legion here, into the heart of the Ironwood. Their anti-Aetheric weapons are useless, and their magic is dampened. We need to turn their own rules of engagement against them."