Morning once more, and it was as cold as ever. Emilie rubbed her eyes and shivered slightly as her head poked out from her covers. It felt even colder in her room than the past few days, somehow. Maybe she could get a couple of flame stones or something to provide some passive heat, assuming she could even afford them.
The dorm had heat, some kind of central system. Emilie could see the vent above her door, but it was only used to keep things from freezing. If she had a thermometer, she'd see her room was about 59F, practically balmy compared to what it could be, but still very uncomfortable.
With a yawn, she began the painful process of leaving her bed and thinking about her schedule today. It was Vobeesdeg, the middle of the week, and she'd have two classes today, the second 'Basic Elemental Theory' class and her first 'History of Elemental Magics' after that. There was a minor assignment that Bragmond had given them. Find any references to the spells he drew up in class on Momadeg. That was all most all she did last night, searching through various texts in the library for any spells that were like what he drew up. It wasn't an easy search, but it did prove a valuable experience. The library's catalog system was fairly easy to use for general things, but trying to find something specific seemed to be more of an art than a science.
In the end, she had the names of two texts that seemed to have very similar looking spells, but they were far from exact. Maybe that was the whole point? Well, it was worth a shot. Maybe if he could write off some future demerits she could go into the city and buy something warmer, funds allowing.
On her desk was the other assignment she had, that wasn't due till Momadeg, a rather fat text from her 'Early History of the 1st Empire' class, she'd need to find time to start reading that. Maybe this evening if there were no other major assignments.
Now, the real problem of the morning. What was she going to wear? The dress had to be given a rest, if for no other reason then so she could clean it properly. Last night before bed, she had given it a light wash to remove some of the grime that had attached to it. There was no way for it to dry in half a day, and sure enough, it was still wet in the morning or at least damp, despite the very gentle fire spell she tried to use. Also, her room felt humid now, a fact further attested to by the frost on the inside of her window today.
So what was she going to wear? A shirt was already picked out, it was the heavy yellow-white one she brought. It was a little on the fluffier side, though nothing like her dress. Then there were three pairs of pants. Two were rather thin canvas material that felt quite nice, but were not particularly warm, in fact they were downright cold. The other was a heavier set that felt like it was made of a leather material, but she didn’t really know. They were a touch warmer, but also far less comfortable.
The choice seemed obvious, as uncomfortable as they were to move in, the brownish leather pants were certainly the warmer choice. Looking over herself, it didn't seem like a bad appearance at least. It kind of made her think of hunting or foraging in the woods. Her long purple braid added to the appearance of a huntress. For a moment she held her hands up, wondering what it be like to fire a bow. At the very least the great huntress in her mind appeared imposing.
A smile subtle laugh crossed her lips. Her father chose these pants for her, and probably the shirt too, now that she thought about it. One of the last things he had mentioned at the dinner table before she left was getting out into the woods to explore. She was really starting to miss his random stories of being a hunter.
Shaking the melancholy thoughts from her head, it was time for food! Against all reason, she hoped that they'd have something different or more than just squash cakes, and they did! There was now a side of nuts, instead of them being on top of the cakes. At least the cafeteria was less crowded than yesterday.
"Emilie! You’re wearing something new, thought that dress was the only one you had!" Younehti’s voice took Emilie away from her mediocre breakfast she hadn’t even started on. The goblin had taken up a seat directly in front of her, without even asking. Not that Emilie would have said no.
"No, I just… don't have anything else warm. My dress is unwieldy but it's also comfortable. I like these clothes better honestly. These are easier to move in but, kind of cold." A sudden breeze caused her to shiver, making her question her choice once more. "I think I'm going to freeze to death up here."
"Why not just buy something warmer?" Younehti had started on her cake and in barely a few bites she was already though a quarter of it.
It was truly impressive how she was able to almost inhale her food. Emilie had to wonder if it wasn't a part of goblin physiology.
Shaking the thoughts from her head, maybe she'd ask that question later. "I mean that cost coins, clothes aren't cheap, and I don't really have a lot to spare. Plus, we can't leave the campus yet."
The goblin smiled a cheeky grin, "Sure you can, you just head out. Worse that happens is a demerit or two. What are you doing Srij-" her grin soured as she was cut off by a passing student.
“Woah, careful there Younehti the goblin slayer might slay you!” The passing student mocked the two, but Younehti shrugged and went back to stuffing her face with the cake.
Seeing Emilie's face drop down caused her own head to shake in disappoint and she shifted the conversation to something more topical, “You can’t let them get to you. Most think their hot shit, but I’ve seen their skills, they aren’t anything special.”
Emilie thought about that, she hadn’t seen much in the way of casting yet. Aside from the slick floor a few days ago, which still impressed her. Also, that failed attempt yesterday. “I guess I assumed most had skill, to be here?”
The goblin waved off the statement and finished off the last of her cake. “Nah. Their families just had enough coin to send them. You’re different, I can tell. In the hallway when we met I felt the mana pouring off of you. Then when you said you were nine, I knew you had to impress someone to get in that young even with your gate.”
The squash cake in front of Emilie was less than half eaten and Emilie hadn't even started on the nuts to the side. She considered her remaining food, while she estimated the numbers in her head, “Average first year’s age is 15 or 16, I think?”
“About that, see that demon kid in the back, the one with the redskin?” The goblin's eyes transfixed on someone behind Emilie.
Though as she looked around Emilie couldn’t see anyone like that, even as she stared at each of them. Various elves, humans, halflings, dwarves and some Anthros, no demons. Granted, she had never seen a demon before so maybe she didn’t know what she was looking for.
That goblin smile returned, and she laughed slightly as if there was something amusing about the situation, "Heh, can’t see him?”
“No?”
The goblin pointed her finger in the direction of a single hooded student, near the back of the cafeteria. They were wearing a simple bluish robe, and it was a little hard to see, but it was clear they were just some lighter, no maybe darker skinned human. No, they were an elf, a dwarf? It was strange, she couldn’t actually see them. Every time she tried it was like, their appearance wasn’t real.
“He keeps that spell up most of the time. Just causes him to blend into the background. I don’t know how it works, something involving pure light and dark magics. Really complicated from what he said. Do you know any dark or light spells?”
Emilie shook her head no, but then paused, there was one she just learned. “I know the candlelight spell, but why?"
The goblin smiled, "I see you don't know magic theory very well. Try casting it in his direction."
Emilie thought about the glyph, and the words. Without speaking, the spell was cast. Only a subtle light around her was noticeable, but tiny distorted tendrils of pure light, invisible to the eye stretched out and tapped at the robed boy. What Emilie saw flickered, and for a moment, she saw red skin, two horns, and two rather angry purple irises glaring back at her.
A quick turn and Emilie was facing Younehti again, "I think that made him mad."
"Nah, he always looks like that. Anyway, my point was he's young. Like you. In fact, he's probably the only student I've seen who was younger than you, and more powerful too. He's hot shit, but compared to almost everyone else in here. He's one of the few."
Emilie couldn't help but look around confused, "Should I talk to him?"
"If you want. He's, not much for conversation. I just want to point out how rare nature talent is. Not that you should underestimate the rest of them, just don't take their insults to heart, you can surpass them. If you work at it." The goblin began crunching at the nuts between her teeth.
For a few moments the two unlikely friends sat in mostly silence, broken only by the sound of breaking nuts and muffled chatter around the cafeteria.
Taking another bite, Emilie spoke what was now on her mind. "So… I should just shrug it off. Like you do?"
"Eh. It works for me, might work for you or you might need to figure out something different. The only thing is, you just can't let them get to you. No matter what you do." Younehti horfed down the rest of the nuts down in one gulp after that. "Anyway… Right, like I was saying earlier! Come find me Srijedeg, I have the day free, and we can head into town.” She could see the look of worry on Emilie’s face. “Trust me! Well, I want to go meet my alchemy mage. She's got a class at 10, and I need to catch her before she gets caught up." With that, the goblin walked off.
The goblin was quick, between sitting down, starting two conversations, and eating a breakfast that Emilie still wasn't halfway thought, it had been at most 10 minutes. A slight laugh escaped her own lips as she thought about the absurdity of it all. She was really starting to like the green girl. Though, she was a bit worried about Srijedeg, but that would come when it came.
A shadow loomed next to her, and she almost missed it if not for the slight cough of annoyance. "What did you want from me, human?" It was the red skinned demon boy.
"I didn't want anything. I'm sorry, Younehti told me to cast that spell, I didn't mean to disturb you. I… I'm sorry. I'm Emilie!" Holding out her hand, like was done so many years ago. Her hopes of a returned hand were not granted.
"I don't care. Like I told the goblin before, I'm not looking for friends, leave me alone and I'll leave you alone. I'm far stronger than you are."
For a moment, everything went black, there were no voices, no sounds. A flash of panic as she couldn't even hear herself and a moment later, everything was normal. Except, the boy was gone. That had to be a spell, but what kind? Her fear quickly gave way to bewilderment and a hint of excitement at the unknown.
Just what kind of spell was that? Quickly she grabbed at her notebook and sketched out what she could remember, and feel. Maybe she could look up that spell later.
In the distance, the second morning bell rang, it was 8AM, she had two hours for her first class. Perhaps a visit to the library might help her decipher her current quandary. After finishing the rest of her cake and nuts, Emilie walked outside and quickly regretted it. Her breath was quite visible, and the hair on her arms stood on end immediately. The pants and shirt she chose did almost nothing to block the cold. She was suddenly grateful and fearful that she hadn't chosen a different outfit.
Instead of walking, her legs half jogged to the library space. Inside was, cool, but much warmer than the near freezing temperatures outside.
For the next hour and a half, she would be grateful for the warmth as she searches through several books on pure light and pure dark magic. It was a whim, a guess, based upon what little she knew about spell crafting. There was just too much she didn't know. There were spells that seemed to do what he did. Shadow Vale, Face Dance, Cloth Skin, several others as well, and that didn't even include any of the spells in elven or the other languages.
She made some notes, things to check out later and spells that she'd want to try casting.
It was getting late though, as noon approached a few people she recognized began wandering through the library towards the amphitheater. Regretting what she had to do, she closed the books in front of her and head back into the cold.
The air had some time to warm, from the late autumn sun yet still it was quite cool. A shiver crept up her spine. Trying to shake it off, the realization that she wouldn't have made such a good hunter barely occurred to her, except maybe in passing. Perhaps it would have hit her harder, if she wasn't fighting off hypothermia.
Around the amphitheater, several murmurs and whispers likely at her expense crossed her ears. Around her, everyone seemed to be wearing heavier clothing. Various longer wear, puffy shirts and pants, almost no one was freezing quite like she was. A handful of students seemed to be wearing robes as well. Everyone seemed so warm and comfortable, everyone, except her. A small grumble escaped her lips as she shivered and froze in place.
“You ok? You look cold.” The small halfling, Morgan had taken a seat next to her. A part of Emilie was thankful for the very slight bit of extra body heat radiating her way, but the halfling’s thick outer wear held onto it greedily.
“I want your body heat.” Emilie spoke between chattering teeth. This class was going to be miserable.
“What?” Morgan was not prepared for the rather cold embrace of her younger human friend. "Emilie, I'm sorry for laughing at you before, but you're very cold please let me go."
"No."
As he entered the amphitheater, Bragmond was at first bemused at the two embracing students near the front row. Only to smile and laugh with a boisterous cry. His hand reached down to the stone of the theater and a strong glow emanated from his hand.
"A good mage would know how to keep warm, in weather far colder than this." He half laughed.
A wave of reddish orange mana flowed through subtle marking on the stone, and with it, a subtle warmth. Not quite hot, but comfortable. Emilie was too engrossed in the relief she felt to pay attention to the other students' similar sighs. Followed by renew laughter at her.
"Emilie, it's warmer now. Please let me go." Morgan spoke in a near squeak, as Emilie let go of her friend.
It was certainly warmer, but not quite warm. At least she wouldn't freeze.
"Now. With that silliness out of the way, perhaps I should mention, many of our outdoor areas have various enchantments infused into them. As an exercise I recommend you all examine your spaces and see what's present."
That statement gave Emilie a moment to think. Opening her notebook she wrote down a note, something to check later.
"Now, speaking of exercises. Did anyone actually do what I asked in my last class? Anyone…" Bragmond looked around the students, not actually expecting to see any hands. However, Emilie challenged that idea. "Ah. The child again. Tell me, what did you find?"
Ignoring the minor snickers Emilie stood up, leaving the warm stone she was seated on behind. "I wasn't able to find an exact match, but I found several that were very similar. Groll's thesis on thermal spells was very-"
Bragmond interrupted his student, not actually caring about the answers. "Yes, yes, very good…" He paused, a smile crossed his face. "Groll, was an old instructor of mine. You must have searched deep to find his old thesis. It's understandable why the spells would be similar, since I borrowed from it. But, I know for a fact they are not the same. I put random segments into my spell for a reason." He glared back at Emilie. "Remind the class what the name of this course is, please."
"Basic Elemental Theory?"
"Exactly, Elemental Theory. The theory of how to create elemental spells. The spells I showed you last class were new, never before drawn up before that class, and I know that because every class I make specific and subtle changes. Now, who else here at least tried the exercise?”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
On a scattering of hands went up. It was much less than Emilie expected.
“Congratulations, you all failed! Even you child.” Bragmond gestured for Emilie to sit back down, which she did with a solemn sigh and frown.
“But!” Bragmond shouted, and almost seemed to smile. “Failure is not always bad thing. Those of you who at least tried made it further than those who didn’t. They didn't even fail. Those of you who at least took the journey walked further than those who sat in their rooms. Those of you who are willing to at least try, are the only ones who can succeed.”
Bragmond let his class ruminate for a moment before smiling, “Now, isn’t that worth more than wiping 8 demerits?”
“No.” Morgan whispered next to Emilie, with a smirk. It was hard for Emilie not to smirk and smile at the comment as well.
“Now. Let’s begin today’s lecture. We are going to keep using the spells I made from last week.”
A few minutes later and Bragmond had started casting another spell, the glyph on the board identical to the one from last week.
“Fire come and fire go. Onwards, toward, around and around. Twist and turn, around the corner and burn! Flame Twister!” A short flame torch twisted out of the mages hand, turning about like a miniature twister, for just a moment, before snuffing itself out.
“Now, anyone who took notes from last class, what was different about that cast?”
A few hands went up, Bragmond skipped over Emilie’s and went straight towards someone she didn’t know.
“You used different words.”
“Correct. I used different words, and yet I still cast the spell? Seems odd doesn’t it?” Again he paused, waiting for his students mind to catch up with him. “For those who have read common magic tomes, what is one common warning or bit of advice they give before you even begin? I’ll give you a hint it involves the incantations.”
Various students raised their hands, and again he picked someone she didn’t know. “Dropping or miss pronouncing a word will cause a spell to fail.”
“Indeed, and yet, I just showed that’s not the case. Same spell, different words, How? For that matter, how are the incantation for a spell even discovered in the first place? Any takers…” No one raised their hand.
The question made Emilie's mind stir, memories of something someone said to her once under a tree. It wasn't her idea though, and she was tired of being in that shadow. So, she said nothing.
A deep sigh came from the middle age mage, less of annoyance more disappointment. "Perhaps I should actually assign work for all of you…" Waiting for a moment more, he glanced Emilie's way. He could see her fidgeting in her seat, suspecting she had something to say, nonetheless he ignored her beyond the glance. If a student didn't have the will to be acknowledged, they weren't worth the time to force it. "Sounds. But not just sounds, it’s also the images they make in your mind. You'll notice in both casts the words remain reminiscent of what the spell did. 'Twist and turn' compared to 'round and round'. Different words, same ideas. There was a difference though anyone taking notes notice it?"
Another random student answered, "Your spell seemed weaker this time?”
"Again, correct, well smaller anyway. There is a science to creating spells, there's also an art. Anyone want to venture a guess how we determine the best words?"
Lenadir raised his hand this time, and thankfully his answer was not potato related, "Guess?"
"Ah! Excellent, you're paying attention. Yes, guess but not just randomly. Remember, words that associate with what you want the spell to do are more likely to conjure what you want. Also, what you're saying needs to flow right. Sometimes that means a continuous stream, others times more punctuated. It all depends, and it’s something you will get a feel for. Lets go over some more examples…"
An hour later, Emilie had several more pages filled in her notebook. It seemed like she had written less than on Momadeg at least.
Clapping his hands together Bragmond set the chalk down as if he was finished. "We're just about done for the day. Next class will be the practicum on Setnesdeg. Meet here, same time. Be prepared. You will each be expected to cast something. I will be giving you a brand-new glyph, one none of you have ever seen before. You will be expected to craft an incantation that works for the glyph. I strongly recommend you review any notes you've taken, and if you haven’t, you had a chance. Learn for the future. You may also consult the library, there are several books on spell crafting you might find useful for getting preliminary ideas."
With the last moments of the class, as the rest of the students left, Emilie wrote a note for herself a to do of sorts. It wasn’t much of a homework assignment, but another jaunt through the library seemed like fun.
"I saw you squirming earlier. Child, if you have something to say you should say it." Bragmond’s point seemed to be directed at her, seeing how everyone else left. Also, she was the only one he seemed to call ‘child’, it wasn’t something she liked.
"I didn't have anything to say. I just remembered something my friend told me. It wasn't my idea, so I didn't feel right bring it up… Also I don’t like to be called a child, so please… don’t call me one." Her voice and body grew ever meeker and more timed as the words came.
“Well that’s what you are, isn’t it? I mean you clearly not a halfling, gnome or drawf. Plus, I think it’s worth reminding your classmates they’re falling behind someone younger than they are.” His voice had an almost laugh to it. Like he felt it was amusing. “If they’re bullying you about it you should make them stop. This world isn’t fair or just, don’t chose to be weak, because you won’t survive if you do.”
That really wasn’t what she wanted to hear. With a dejected sigh she closed her notebook, and left the outdoor classroom for hopefully a warmer location. In all meanings of the word.
A cool wind blew past her as left the warm stones of the amphitheater and made her way towards Auxiliary North and classroom number 3. The chilly air had continued to warm, and was now, uncomfortable, but at least not freezing. Maybe she’d be able to tolerate this place, if there were more mana heated areas.
For a moment she wondered, how was the college heated? Her room had a vent in it, as did the other interior spaces. Mechanics and enchantments weren’t usually interesting, but the ability to quickly bring comfort and warmth was appealing. She’d have to ask Younehti later.
A light rumble from her stomach, reminded her she was technically skipping lunch. There was probably fifteen minutes before class started. Her feet stopped on the stairs, just short the entry way to Auxiliary North as she considered if there was enough time to grab something. However, another breeze made her reconsider that. Food could come later. Warmth was slightly more important. Besides, she already knew she wouldn’t have the time.
Auxiliary North was a fairly typical school building, with the anteroom quickly open to a large space flanked by rows of books. Likely all a part of the library’s auxiliary space. A small desk sat near the main entrance with a rather young person stationed at it, maybe a student? Emilie wondered to herself.
Around the corner, she would find Classroom 3 on the first floor. It was a pretty typical classroom for the College. Walls lined with blackboards and some smaller shelfs with what looked like magical tools and implements on them. Likely alchemical if she had to guess.
“Ah Emilie! I’m so glad to see you in my class. I had you pegged for a scholar!” The mage Kraodher exclaimed quite enthusiastically as she entered. Gazing around, she wouldn’t struggle to find a seat since a bit less than half were still empty. In all about 23 students were present. A few of them she recognized. In particular, she was surprised to see Lenadir here, after all, this class had nothing to do with potatoes as far as she could tell. A silent laugh crept over her, and threatened to be more than silent.
Of all the people, he seemed the safest and most boring, person in the room. He gave a rather curt and simple nod as she took a seat next to him. In the week she had known him he continued to wear the same brown tunic robe. Ever since they met on the carriage. Perhaps, he just had several of the same outfit or like her he only had one warm dress to wear. For some reason, the first idea seemed the most fitting for him.
"You know, I was surprised to see you in a history class. I didn't think you'd be interested." She tried to make a light bit of conversation with him. Even with as boring as he was, a potential friend is better than just an acquaintance or worse an antagonist and enemy.
"Oh? I'm quite fascinated with history. It's one of the few areas me and my father can discuss at length. He's quite interested in military history. I'll admit, the history of magic is more interesting to me. But the use of magic on the battlefield is interesting too. Did you know, ship have very few range weapons? In sea battles if a ship doesn't have mages on board, they will often need to result to close quarter combat. It leads to a particular set of tactics that’s quite bloody and full of risk. Even one mage who is well versed in range spells can add a dynamic and powerful tactical advantage. There was an interesting sea battle-"
"Lenadir, I get the point. I was just trying to say hi and class is about to start I'm sure Kraodher wants to begin."
The mage in the front of the room beamed a smile at the two. "Ha ha. Quite right, but I do enjoy the young man's energy. Perhaps I will shift one of my later lectures to go over how battle mages have changed their spells over the years."
"I would enjoy that." Lenadir almost smiled, at least Emilie thought it was a smile.
“Very good. For the rest of you who don't know I am mage Kraodher, and this is the 'History of Elemental Magics' class. This class will be discussing the history and formation of what we call Elemental Magic. We will touch on light and dark aspects along with solistium at the end of the course, but their history is more modern and generally they require their own course. Uh let's see, to start off with would anyone like to guess a major challenge of the early history of magic?”
Emilie couldn't help but raise her hand, to the delight of Kraodher. "Yes, young Emilie!"
She had remembered what they talked about in her prior history class, it seemed like a perfect lead in. "Probably because of the limited amount of historical records, it would make it hard to get a complete picture."
"Very good answer. You are correct, but there's a little bit more. Anyone else want to try and add?" The class was silent. Either no one knew or they were worried about standing out and looking foolish. "No, ok. The lack of written records does make it challenging to know for sure what happened. But our records are incomplete, not non-existent. So we do have some ideas. No, there are two other reasons. The breath of the topic and politics." He paused and began pacing slowly.
"There were hundreds of schools of thought behind magic before Auslang. Even today a few continue to persist, we would not have the time to cover them all. And politics because everyone has their own interpretation of history before Auslang. Particularly during the great quiet between the Elven Doctrine and Auslang." For a moment the mage stopped talking and brushed at his beard as if lost in thought.
"I wasn't going to give a homework assignment since we're meeting again tomorrow, but this might be a good one. I'd like each of you to do some extra research and bring one example of an alternative school of magic. Ideally one that existed before Auslang, but I'll take modern ones as well."
"Now, Most of our modern understanding of magic derives from Auslang understanding. The six elements are recorded in most of their works, in various forms. But to understand why, we should start at the beginning."
Perhaps it was just because the mage was older, but his bumbling and rambling between topics was amusing the Emilie.
"Now, our first recording of magic comes from some old stone and marble statues in Seran'aifes, the capital of our special district. You sometimes see four elements, earth, water, air and fire, represented by triangles and sometimes a fifth that was not well recorded. Though, it may have been a circle." The old mage spent a moment drawing a pentagram on the board, with the symbols at each corner.
“Ignoring the top for a moment, you’ll see air, earth, water and fire if you go right ways around the glyph. Now on the surface this is very similar to our own modern-day seal. Yes, you’re missing metal and sound, and the shapes are different but the other four base elements are still there in theory. Now anyone want to take a guess why they did it this way?”
“Because it worked?” Lenadir queried back.
“Barely! But I think you're on the right track. You can make a working spell with these glyphs. The spells are always very weak and require a lot of mana to do anything with, but you can in fact cast something with them. So maybe. We won't be spending much time here since there's just not much to go on. This is still an area of active research, those scholars and researchers among us could spend a lifetime searing for old relics and hints from this time." He paused for a moment, a smile growing on his old face as if remembering something.
"Long ago, when I was little more than a lad, my future wife and I took a freelance quest to explore some re-discovered ruins a few miles from the Mixx and Yoth border, the quest was given by this very school. My spell craft at the time was mostly focused on simpler spells, I was still learning some healing, but my wife. Her skills with a sword were legendary even then. She saved both of us more times than I can count. I would dig and explore, and she would handle the various creatures that setup up in the old ruins. Trolls were a constant…" Kraodher shook his head and laughed, "I apologize, I'm sure most of you don't want to hear about the exploits of my wife and I."
Clearing his throat he returned to the lecture, "There is only one know text to have survived the eons from before the start of the 1st Empire, 'Occula Philo shpa libra', and of that we only have a limited amount of it to go on. We suspect the original was three or four volumes long, but only a partial copy exists. We aren't even sure of the author and the original text is in an old human language we can't read anymore. Though we do find some later excerpts and translations, that speak of things like a 'trinity of things' or gods, it's very strange.”
The old mage drew some more of the old element symbols on the board, linking them into sets of glyphs and simple spells. "Now, this is a very simple water spell that we found in antiquity. Those who have cast a water spell will notice that this is very, very complex. And if you were to cast it you might just make your hand wet, while exhausting your entire mana reserve."
"Now, the southern regions, you'll sometimes find another variant of this pentagram, the symbols themselves are even more mysterious."
The mage drew another pentagram with five different, more complicated symbols. They almost looked like something from the Anthro language. "We think the top symbol meant tree or maybe wood it kind of looks like a tree, followed by the familiar fire, earth, metal, and water. We know what they four symbols are thanks to a few translations that survived. The presence of metal is interesting, early mages clearly had some instinct or insight into the deeper the nature of the elements. There's not much in the human tongue with regards to this variant of the symbol, however there is a small amount written in early Anthro and a few dialects we don't have good translations for. The spells produced from this tend to be even weaker than the other variant, but more versatile."
With a sigh, the mage wiped away the board. "Sadly, there's just not much to go on for very early magics, the same goes for history too. There just isn't enough of a surviving record. Any discussions we'd have on it is just guess work. So the bulk of our class will be focused on the 1st Empire onward."
Again, Kraodher drew some more shapes on the board, this time a hexagram reminiscent of the great seal just without any other symbols, inscribed in a larger circle.
"After the beginning of the 1st empire around 12,000 years ago, we have a few surviving texts that seem to explain where the triangle nature of the early elements came from." He highlighted the two triangles within the larger hexagram, showing where each of the four original symbols may have originated from.
He explained each of them in simple detail, stopping on the last one for a bit of a demonstration. "Lastly, this is air notable by the downward triangle and line through it. Now if I activate it by adding 2 extra lines to it close to the one through it, it creates an interesting effect. When I push a bit of mana into the symbol, like so... Ok, quite a bit…" A very subtle breeze rustled some papers the mage had laid out. "See, very subtle but a clear wind spell from just this. You can see why I didn’t do the same for fire or water. Now, around the beginning of the 1st empire, the Human Empire, we see a return to what we assume was the starting point with these symbols. This hexagram."
Next, he drew a simple triangle with three symbols, “What’s very interesting is later glyphs changed again, and seemed to further simplified things. As we progress though the 1st Empire we see a consolidation, down to 'The three aspects of existence'. This was clearly the start of what we see in the modern magic theory."
He pointed at the top symbol first, which looked like another hexagram, followed by circle with 3 circles equal distance around it, and lastly a symbol reminiscent of the old earth symbol but with two extra lines. "Either, Life, and earth. Now this base gives us something to actually work with…"
Thus, the class went on for the next hour the mage lectured on the three aspects, the spells that historians knew of and how they impacted the path of the 1st empire and future magics. “The key point behind all this, is you can see the foundation forming for our current view of magic and elemental theory. With that, I think it’s a good time to call today to a close. Tomorrow, we’ll look at how these 'three aspects of existence' culminated at the end of the 1st empire and we'll start to link with our lecture for next week on 'duality'.
The class slowly meandered from the room. Only a few seemed to remain, while Emilie was hoping to approach the mage, another elven student jumped in front of her. His attitude seemed almost angry or at least upset.
“This is all human magic, what about the elves? What were they doing through all this?”
“Well, you’re looking at it. There was a lot of influence by the elves on the magic system at this time. Yes, yes, most of our records come from humans because for various reasons, even less of the eleven works survived this time period. I wouldn't focus too much on the lack of explicit influence, it is there." Kraodher paused and thought, seemingly not making an impact on the younger elf. "I think you’ll find next week’s lectures particularly interesting. That when we’ll be going over the school of ‘duality’, which was active at the start of the 2nd empire and the Elven doctrine.”
That seemed to calm him down a bit. “I never heard about that before?”
“Oh! You’re in for a treat then. It’s a critical step toward understanding our modern view of magic. See, the Elves discovery of the duality behind the aspects of existence lead to the foundation of Elven power during the 2nd empire.”
With a final nod, the elf wrote some kind of note and wandered off, slightly less angry than before.
“Ah, elves are always so proud." The mage shook it off and turned to face her, with a large smile on his face "Emilie! Glad to see you in my class. Now, what is on your mind young one?”
"Well, you mentioned on Momadeg that we could come to you and ask you any questions we had. I've got four classes picked out, but I'm not sure what other class to take?"
"Oh I see. Hmmm" The mage stroked his beard in thought once more. Finally, a subtle smile crossed him again and he stopped. "You truly seem to be a scholar. Have you considered 'Research methods?'"
"Research methods?"
"Yes, it's often recommended for any scholars seeing to graduate by building a thesis. But it's useful for anyone that plans to do any serious academic writing in the future. The course this season should meet Momadeg and Dunladeg at 5PM. The instructor wanted it later so it wouldn't interfere with other classes."
“But, I missed the first class?”
“Oh, that’s alright. As I said you can attend any class session you’d like so long as there are seats. And, well so long as the faculty doesn’t object. Honestly, Mage Geer was looking for more students last I heard so I don't think you'll have any objections from her.”
Opening her book, she made a note about the time and the mage teaching the course. She'd have to look up its location later.
"It's truly a shame, she's fairly new but very well versed in field research techniques. I think you'll learn a lot from her instruction. And remember, 5 classes are merely a suggestion. You can take more or less if you feel it’s necessary. Though you might end up defending that decision at the end of the quarter.”
With that, her day was basically done. She had two assignments; one was review and the other seemed like it would require a journey back to the library. Her body quivered in expectation, or maybe that was just the cold again. Her stomach also quivered, skipping lunch was probably not viable in the long term. Maybe she could take some bread or something from the dining hall tomorrow.
Stopping in the library to get warm, she'd ignore her stomach a bit more while crossed through the aisles in search of a good book for her assignment. The index at the front desk suggests that these shelfs in particular related to research on alternative magic schools.
"A brief study of magic schools in early Austlang." The book was a thesis, likely written by another student over a decade ago, given the year on the cover page. Skimming though it, it seemed perfect for what Kraodher expected. All she'd have to do is pull out one of the schools and do a short write-up on it before class. He probably wasn't going to collect them like Fense did, so she could get away with being rough.
Again, her stomach rumbled, at first, she sighed but then remembered, 'I could just check this out and read it later.'
Next stop was food, and then after that her room. She had a hope more so than a suspicion, that there might have been mana circuits somewhere in her room. Given what she saw at the amphitheater it seemed like a reasonable guess. At least, that's what she hoped.