Instructor Caarda slowly made her way over to her desk, then circled around it, pausing a moment to rest as she arrived at the window. “Come,” she said, pulling the curtains somewhat obscuring it.

It wasn’t a window, but a glass door, with a wooden frame. Instructor Caarda opened the door, then stepped outside, onto a relatively large, half-circle balcony.

“Dusk and Dawn are the prime times for using spiritual power,” her voice was much lower than before as she sat on a simple chair put next to the door. “Apologies for not standing, Midhir, but my leg no longer allows me to do so for long.” She rubbed her left leg, wincing with pain.

The view from here was quite beautiful. While they weren’t high enough to see beyond the snowy mountain peaks, they had a clear view of the raging stream flowing down the crater, feeding the lake at the foot of the castle. Beyond the stream stood the library. It’s beautifully crafted exterior was just as breath-taking from up here as it was from up close.

“What do you know about spiritual power?” Instructor Caarda’s words brought him back to the present.

“The basics,” he scowled as he noticed a raven fly towards the castle with the corner of his eye. “I do know that it’s all around us, the life force of the world. Without it, life couldn’t exist… probably.” He repeated his mother’s words, fondly remembering the times she taught him that.

“Indeed, it’s a widespread theory that life without it wouldn’t be able to sustain itself,” Instructor Caarda nodded. “Use the augment on your weapon – it’s a fire attuned crystal is it not?”

Surprised, Midhir nodded. The crystal was hidden under the cotton wraps around his blade’s hilt. How did she know its colour or element? Pondering, he drew his sword, holding it with both hands. He reached inwards and tugged at his power.

The crystal embedded into the hilt of his sword glowed crimson. Power ran throughout his body, flowing to his fingertips, then into the crystal. The blade burst into flames not a moment later, leaving Midhir exhausted. He wiped the sweat rolling down his chin and took deep breaths to try and recoup.

Instructor Caarda raised her eyebrows. “I see,” she muttered, leaning forward, and correcting her glasses. “If even this has you quite so exhausted, it is a good thing Principal Aoidh asked me to teach your class. This is quite… inadequate,” she hesitantly spoke as she vaguely pointed towards his blade and himself.

Suppressing the irritation rising, Midhir breathed out. “I know,” he curtly replied. He had been made well aware of his inadequacies.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Instructor Caarda glared at him for a few moments longer before finally being satisfied. “You can stop now,” she said, leaning back and folding her arms.

He let the flames die and breathed out a sigh of relief as the immense drain on his strength finally stopped. He stumbled back but held onto the railing before losing his balance.

“Do you know why you’re having so much trouble?” she asked with a half-smile.

“No,” Midhir shook his head. “I can only guess that I’m simply not capable of manipulating more spiritual power.”

Instructor Caarda chuckled, “Your guess would be correct, but also incredibly misinformed. You see, we humans don’t have much spiritual power to begin with,” she pressed her hand on her chest. “And what we do have, we usually spend to simply stay alive. It’s what keeps our soul from drying out.”

Midhir scowled. While his mother had taught him what he knew of crystal manipulation and resonance casting, what she taught him was the practical side of things.

“So, we only use a fraction of that power to guide the spiritual power around us. So we don’t really waste any of ours, hence why we only get slightly winded after casting several resonances back to back. We definitely don’t get all exhausted, panting and stumbling like you.” She pointed at him. “You, on the other hand, are a very weird case – you’re only using your own spiritual power.”

Midhir stared at her blankly. “But… isn’t the spiritual power around me supposed to follow my own?”

Instructor Caarda nodded. “Yes.”

“It’s… not?” he hesitantly asked. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t really remember noticing any power other than his own when he cast resonances.

“No.” Instructor Caarda raised an eyebrow. “Did you not notice this before?” She seemed even more surprised when he shook his head. “How odd. What an odd person. But then again, if you never achieved that before you had no way of knowing since people usually aren’t capable of seeing how others’ resonance casting works.”

Her words surfaced a question he had been meaning to ask. “But you are capable,” he stated, “or you wouldn’t have noticed this, nor would you have identified all of our holding gems – I saw you looking at them.”

Instructor Caarda chuckled. “You’re not wrong, but it’s not as useful of a skill for me as you imagine.” She tapped on her large, round glasses. “The House of Caarda is said to come from an ancient lineage of witches and warlocks. While that’s mostly just legends and bedtime stories, my family is capable of seeing some spiritual power when our sight is augmented enough.”

“Your glasses-“

“Yes. My ability is much stronger than that of my ancestors – a blessing and a curse. That’s why I was able to know your earring isn’t an ordinary one, and the element of your weapon’s augment.” She happily explained, clearly not bothered about him noticing her ability – not that she was trying to hide it at all.

“That’s how you know I’m only using my own power,” he muttered. He didn’t agree with her statement that it wasn’t a useful skill – being bale to see her enemies resonance casting on the battlefield would have been an immense advantage.

Instructor Caarda nodded. “Indeed, but let’s put this aside for a moment. I think I can guide you to start using the spiritual power around you, but…” she seemed hesitant.

“But what?” he asked impatiently as a lump settled in his throat. Was she not sure whether he could learn?

A glimmer of excitement appeared in her eyes as her lips curled up. She leaned forward, meeting his gaze. Her next words sent a chill down his spine.

“Would you like to help me with an experiment?”