Afterward, Kaijin and his friends joined Amil and two of his assistants in the summoning chamber as he prepared to scry for Vargas’s whereabouts. Kaijin and his friends stood at the foot of a set of shallow stairs that led up to a raised platform in the center of the chamber. Kaijin looked on in silence and awe, having never before seen such extensive preparation for a single spell. Amil stood in the center of the raised platform, in a decorative circle of runes and glyphs that were etched on the stone floor. Thanks to Jarial’s extensive tutelage, Kaijin was able to easily recognize the symbols as each of the five elements, the five senses, and the nine classes of magic. The two robed assistants, who wore sashes of red, black, and gold and appeared to be of a higher rank than some of those that Kaijin had seen, stood on the outer edge of the circle, each carrying a tray. Between them, the trays held a large silver mirror, a jar of eyeballs, vials of a tannish liquid, small amounts of raw copper ore, and a bowl of a greyish, powdery substance.
