Everything was aligned perfectly. The catalyst was properly mixed and brought to a boil. As the bubbles and vapor climbed up the long glass tube in the distillation column, Anthony sat next to James. The two of them were nursing a pair of drinks on folding chairs in a hidden part of the attic. The room was humid, as a faint hint of brine permeated the air. They had been working at it for a few hours now; slow but steady.

  It was far from the most impressive of workstations, but he made do with what little room he had that Hannah wouldn't find.

  Years before, he used to have the whole attic opened up, with a reflective mirror array under a skylight. The light of the full moon was absolutely charged with mysticism, and focusing it into the column would enhance the process tenfold, but times have changed.

  "Thank you, Jimmy. I know it was short notice," the senior of the two spoke first as the other finished a sip from his bottle. With both of them dressed in just plaid shirts and jeans around a distillery, you would've thought they were making moonshine.

  "It's fine, old man, I know you can't hide much of it here." James brought the glass to his lips once more.

  He knew James got annoyed at the name Jimmy, but he was one of the few people, aside from the man's mother, who could call him that to his face with no repercussions. With that said, James had been helping him for the last few years.

  He really should do more for his former student. He knows James burns through a lot of hardware.

  A gift card, maybe?

  The container at the column's bottom was nearly empty as he went to check on the collection flask. Nearly two litres, good.

  The whole setup was adorned with multiple brass rings stacked on top of each other over the tube, each one engraved with different old languages: Hebrew, Latin, Sanskrit, and even archaic Chinese, all with the purpose of concentrating magic through the vapor as it mixed with the silver and salt in the boiling heat. This was what separated alchemy from chemistry.

  Both men were songbirds and could hear the faint hum from the tube as if it were a large tuning fork made of glass. They could tell the process by pitch alone by this point, but it's better if they kept an eye on it. It also gave them a chance to catch up and to see what shenanigans his student got up to.

  "So, how's your project coming along?" He wouldn't even pretend to be capable of following along, but he could at least try to help on the more magical side of things. He set his beer down next to him on the floor.

  "Well, I figured out how to ignite fires over text messages." James simply kept his eyes on the array as he finished the beer in his hand. That statement got Anthony to give him a raised look.

  "Wait, so the phone would catch fire?" Didn't some of the cheaper ones with piss-poor batteries already do that? James shook his head.

  Stolen story; please report.

  "No, it's more like if you answered the text, a small flame would ignite above your screen." He pulled out his phone.

  "Here, I'll show you." He quickly typed something before bringing the phone up to his lips. Anthony couldn't hear what he whispered, but he heard the slight chime of the sphere as the spell took effect. His own phone vibrated before he flipped it open. A small candle flame appeared and hovered there of its own accord.

  To most mages, starting a small fire would be a parlor trick. Not even worth mentioning. But Anthony knew better; he understood the ramifications. He'd been hit by one of James' spells before, from texts similar to this. James had come a long way. Even baby steps felt like miles in the face of a brand new school of study.

  "Oh wow, that's actually really cool, James." The younger man looked pleased at those words.

  "Thank you, I blew up quite a few lithium batteries trying to make it work." James let out a laugh.

  When he first started teaching him, it was how to manipulate electricity — the basics. Oh, at first, James struggled, never able to attune himself to certain layers of the Sphere. He had an affection for the arcane, but it became increasingly clear it was one-sided. Then, one night, James nearly broke his door down in excitement. The young would-be mage had worked tirelessly for months to arrange the Norse runes he taught him into working logic gates.

  Later on, in a frenzy, he would build a full-on runic calculator that could hold both magic and data. That was the birth of James' computational sorcery. It was that moment he went from A Student to His Student. Others at the university looked down on his discovery, either due to ignorance or arrogance. But they had completely missed the big picture.

  Fully autonomous Spellcraft and remote casting, I never would have imagined.

  The distilling was nearing completion. Both of them could hear the pitch increasing, as less and less vapor was present to absorb the mythic field. It was a good amount, a month's supply, should he keep his more powerful rituals to a minimum. He refilled his personal flask and proceeded to bottle the fresh mage water. It was almost glowing with a faint, shimmering light as tiny specks of charged silver glittered within the liquid.

  "I'm gonna need to steal some." James was still holding the beer bottle, now full of mage water.

  "Oh, what for?" He looked over at his student as he was putting corks into bottles. "You almost passed out the last time you used some." James scoffed at the memory.

  "It's not for me. It's for my computer." That got James a look of confusion. "Stuff works wonders as a coolant."

  A coolant? The hell...

  "Not to question your expertise, but wouldn't that fry something?" Anthony couldn't help but raise a brow at the idea.

  "As long as it keeps flowing, no," James spoke confidently, adjusting his glasses, only to follow with, "If it stops... it might explode." The older mage would trust the younger knew what he was doing.

  James had vented many a rant on how delicate some of his components could be. Digital magic was brand new, the Mythosphere had almost zero cultural weight to throw behind it. Combined with technology being viewed as completely un-mystical by the masses, it was a miracle James' most basic spells worked at all. That would be like trying to suck wet concrete through a straw, but somehow James made it work.

  "Well, as long as you're careful." Anthony met his eyes as he continued, "You've come a long way. I'm proud of you."

  James turned away, his eyes hidden by the sheen of his glasses.

  "Thanks, old man, but I'm not done." He looked back, determined. "Besides, I still need to get it to run DOOM."

  With that, Anthony clapped his hands, and his beer lifted off the floor into his grasp.

  "The fuck is DOOM?"