Midnight struck. Spring arrived.

  On this night, Aries fire magic arrived to replace the Pisces water magic that inundated not only the town square of Cascadance but also the rivers, gorge, and foothills beyond. This was a worldwide event.

  Fen didn’t care about the spring welcoming festival. He left the cheerful noise of the town square behind to seek the comfort of one of his favorite meditative places. His walked purposefully.

  Despite his intent, the beauty of the transition drew him out of his thoughts about what the new year would bring. Watching the dance of elemental magic up close and alone connected to a joyful ache deep within his chest.

  With his opaque glasses on, the only thing Fen could see was Aries magic swirling around the Pisces magic. Now night had fallen; he was alone. He took off his glasses to watch the entirety of nature. The Aries spikenard herb unfurled its fiery blooms, each petal glowing with a vivid, ember-red light, while the Pisces hyssop bush wilted gracefully, its soft blue luminescence dispersing, though some blue frost droplets held on stubbornly. Aries fire magic had arrived to steam away the last streaks of winter frost.

  A new week began at midnight; it was a time of transition, the only time the weekly ambient magic was noticeable. Tonight, Fen watched as the Pisces water magic held exceptionally strong against the Aries fire magic. The frost lingered, dispersing slower than last year. The thick winter chill in the air bit at his lungs. Fen tucked his black paofu robe tighter around himself for warmth. Was something wrong in the heavens? If so, there was little he could do to help. The transition was going well enough. He intended to enjoy the evening.

  After slipping like a happy shadow along the climbing path, Fen stopped at his favorite tree near a cliff overlooking the ocean. The white pine needles grew in tufts the size and shape of porcupines. The needles, usually a jade green color, shone with magic tonight. Fen stepped closer, rubbing his hands together for warmth before putting one hand on the rough bark. The soft blue of Pisces magic glowed like icy dew, clinging in the cracks of the bark. Winter had coated the pine with frost.

  Now the shift had begun for this tree.

  Fen looked past the pine, over the ocean. Aries magic poured into the world, looking like a red aurora borealis. The needles of the white pine started glowing with ember-red fire magic. The Pisces magic held on firmly. The last frost melted, but the water stubbornly clung, which blocked the transition.

  Fen snapped his fingers. A miniature silver-white tornado, his Celestial Whirlwind spell, rose from his palm, which he raised to the tree trunk. With a thought, his Libra air magic swept the Pisces magic out of the white pine tree so the Aries magic could flourish. The last soft blue swirls steamed away, vanishing into the night air, which turned warm and dry. Fen breathed in deep.

  The Aries magic filled in the gaps, sinking into the bark until the tree glowed ember-red. For now, the magic pulsed like a heartbeat, though soon it would settle invisibly deep into the tree. The tree sigh under his hand. Fen exhaled as the transition completed, saying a few lines of prayer under his breath.

  As part of his devotion and joy in the evening, Fen wanted to open himself up to the magic. He cast his Gyre Gale Survey spell, which would give him a picture of magic over the entirety of Cascadance. A swirling silver-white disk appeared in front of him, shot upwards into the sky, and flashed like fireworks. The light of the spell faded, but still gave Fen information, projecting a map in front of him with splotches for where magic was present.

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  His System flashed a warning. A message popped up to the side of his vision in green translucent text.

  Warning: Aether magic detected.

  A sparkling silver spot on the east side of the map flashed.

  Fen’s heart clenched with worry, the sweetness of the night vanishing in an instant. He had programmed this warning into his System over a year ago. This was the first time any of his spells had triggered the System warning. Only Ophiuchus lay that far east. Fen needed to investigate this immediately. Cascadance should have only one source of aether magic; most people would say that even one source was too much.

  Fen gave the pine one last pat. He had planned on sitting under its branches, but he had to move on. He climbed the hill northward until he came to the base of a cliff. At that point, he turned eastward, as walking past the waterfall was the quickest way to where the aether magic lay.

  He moved swiftly down the path that paralleled Lower Guppies River, the smell of moss replacing the sea air. Before long, a faint roar of a waterfall drifted through the night air. The sound grew louder, drowning out the rest of Oakkannu Forest, until Fen emerged into a glade and caught sight of the waterfall.

  Sistissa Falls. From the top of a sheer cliff, hundreds of feet high, water cascaded in a torrent that glowed with Pisces magic, no Aries magic in sight. The waterfall plunged into a pool nestled fifty feet above the glade before spilling over again in a second, smaller cascade. The lower waterfall fell into a deep pool that took up half the glade before giving way to Lower Guppies River. The river would wind around the town and then empty into the estuary.

  Sitting at the edge of the upper pool was a naiad named Cleone, who was pulling Pisces magic out of the waterfall. Aries magic slowly tumbled down from the top of the cliff to replace the dissipating Pisces magic.

  Fen continued walking while looking around the glade to ensure everything was going well.

  “Good evening, Master Fen! Did you want to help? It’s tough this week for some reason.” Cleone said. Her perpetually wet dress clung to her shadowy-pastel skin, her hair like reeds. The naiad waved a dripping arm and hand, her expression too far away to see. He heard her only because of her magic.

  “I’m just taking a shortcut!” Fen called out, still walking. “It looks like you’ve got things in hand.” He didn’t know what a centuries old waterfall manifestation might possibly expect him to help with.

  “What about your aether magic? That can help me,” Cleone said hopefully. “I want to see it!”

  Fen paused. Hesitated. This had to be the first time someone asked to see his aether magic. His decision was immediate. “No. I appreciate your interest, but now’s not a good time.”

  “Until next time.” Cleone did a somersault into the water, twisting around like a river otter. She fell over the lower waterfall into the bottom pool. From there, she unwove more Pisces magic from the water.

  Fen watched for one more minute before hustling across the little wooden bridge to the glade’s east side. His steps echoed hollowly on the wooden boards and then found firm ground on the gravel and moss on the other side.

  Two white oak trees created a bower on the east side of the waterfall glade, through which Fen exited.

  Once Fen left the waterfall glade, he cast his Gyre Gale Survey spell again. Maybe the warning was a false alarm and he could go back to the waterfall and help Cleone. Unfortunately, the faint aether magic was still present to the east.

  The Cascadance human residents, one and all, disapproved of aether magic. It wasn’t attached to any of the magical elements: air, water, earth, and fire. Nevertheless, Fen accessed aether magic the same as his air magic.

  He insisted on seeing it as a gift, despite everyone else’s misgivings. He was careful to use aether away from other people. It would be foolish to leave such powerful magic unleveled and unmastered. Cleone’s interest was extremely tempting, but he needed to focus on this new source of aether.

  No one lived further east. Only the abandoned farm was east and beyond that…Ophiuchus. If the corrupted monster was using aether magic, that was a problem.

  What would Fen do to protect Cascadance? Anything. Was he walking to a fight? He tied his long black hair back and started walking without hesitating.