He beckoned to Varagas, and began to show us his technique, in quarterspeed. Alas, it was still too fast. He repeated a few times at fifthspeed, and I caught a little more of the technique with each repetition. We caught the full technique eventually. “I think I’m ready to try casting the spell.” Sephith responded, “Okay. You should be wary, since you do-” I had already began the technique at normal speed. Summoning the mana into my hands, I concentrated hard on the spell… I waited to see what would happen.

A gray, apparently weightless sphere formed in my hand for a moment. It appeared to be metallic, and after a few seconds, it dissipated. Sephith laughed heartily. “I told you! You don’t know the mana balance for the spell yet! You can’t expect that simply throwing all of your mana at a spell will make it work!” He resumed laughing as Varagas asked Sensei Sephith, “So what is that spell supposed to be?” He stopped laughing, and solemnly answered, “The Black Hand of Death.”