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There is a space at the bottom of the world, where Earth and Ice and Shadow meet. It is cold, but not cold enough to kill; dark, but not too dark to see. A small round room, made of chilly black marble, lit by a dim and sourceless glow, with a spiral stair climbing the curve of the wall and a shallow circular recession in the exact center of the floor. The recession is maybe six feet wide by six inches deep, lined with something resembling pale frosted glass, and there is nothing in it.
Cor in Kitaloei
cityinthelight
—he bursts out laughing. "I'd actually forgotten about that one, it's been years since I read the book."
cityinthelight
"What a thing to be known for. I can't decide whether it's better or worse that we've forgotten his name."
disapparatus
"It caught fire. And was immortalized with its brethren as an ingredient in a heatstone ritual, catching fire and being stomped on and all."
cityinthelight
"And that's why it's important to clearly specify your ritual actions and components!"
disapparatus
"We have some things a little like that but it's not challenging - if I paint blood all over a workspace and then leave the bucket, I am not going to accidentally incorporate the aesthetic of a bucket -"
cityinthelight
"Well now I'm curious if anyone's ever managed to accidentally incorporate their bucket."
cityinthelight
"Well that's a way less humorous kind of accident than leaving the world with the legacy of your burning hat."
cityinthelight
"My world's magic system seems - nicer - than yours. I mean, this specific iteration. The underlying cycle might also come out ahead but it's a much closer call."
disapparatus
"Yes, although the simple applications of mine are really quick and easy, I used to cook that way."
cityinthelight
"—if that were my magic system I think I'd just end up feeling even more betrayed when it turned out to be secretly ending the world—"
disapparatus
"I mean. Yeah, that was not fun. Whoops, should not have skipped learning to fry things just because I had sheep blood on hand."
cityinthelight
"Yeah, I can imagine. —I realize this is probably not a solution to, like, any of your top ten problems, but when things are a bit more settled I can get you cooking lessons—magic lessons, too, make your own heat-stones, if you don't mind the time investment—"
cityinthelight
"Yeah. My instinctive reaction to any problem in my vicinity is 'how do I solve that', even if it's comparatively trivial."
cityinthelight
"It does come in handy, yeah. Also makes a lot of work for me but on the whole I don't think I can complain."