Easy, not too much now.

He stares across the small room to the focal point of his attention. Slowly, only a minuscule amount at a time, he lets the magic flow. As the magic reaches the object, it activates the latent spells embedded within. He begins feeling a subtle drawing of power as the object absorbs magic from him, and his excitement starts to mount.

A smile begins to break out on his face, he can feel how it draws the magic from its surroundings as well as himself, into itself. A subtle red glow grows within its center as it gradually holds more and more magic.

Bang!

The crystal explodes sending shards all over the room. James holds up his arms in an attempt to protect his face but several of the flying shards still find their mark in his cheek. Once the danger has passed, he lowers his arms which now have many small dots welling blood from where the shards have struck.

“Damn!” he curses as he looks back at what remains of the crystal. The floor around the small table upon which it had sat is strewn with a thin layer of shattered crystal from earlier experiments.

Walking back over to the table, he picks up a large shard, the shard he first acquired in the swamp. The shard which had given him the idea that they may in some way be able to absorb and store magical energy. How’d they do it? Shaking his head, he brings the shard over to his workbench and settles down on the stool. Rolling the shard between his fingers absentmindedly, he thinks about what happened.

Every time, they explode! Why? Can they only hold so much power before they blow? If so, then how much?

A knock at the door brings him out of his reverie. “Yes?” he calls out.

Ezra’s voice can be heard from the other side, “Lunch is ready, sir.” Her grasp of the language has improved, especially since she is now completely immersed in it. She still has an accent and he hopes she never grows out of it, he enjoys listening to the way she speaks.