“Multitasker, multitasker.”

That was all Velvet had to say about that. Yes, she may have been too trigger happy with magic, but the most things she had done were amulets, sigils and paper figurines. None of those things were too difficult, dangerous or spiritually draining.

Some magicians could melt mountains, and some could make living origami.

Madam Dorna took a sip from the porcelain cup.

“Haven’t you tried any harmful spells?”

“No one to try them on. But I know a few.” She didn’t lie, in fact, she had been going alone in the woods to try and see if some bandits or dangerous beasts did approach her, but, the island of Casrey was very, very safe, at least the land part. And that was very, very good, just not for combat practice.

And the good for nothing doctor’s son went down with a hit…

“Why?” said Madam Dorna, looking at her, an expression of sadness and tiredness in her face.

Velvet took a deep breath, readying herself to finally reveal her future plans.

“I’m planning to go to the Mergifari.”

The Mergifari was, at first, a tower where a few mages gathered to store all their knowledge. At that time, the Inquisition was still running rampant in the region of Arhontissa, so not only was it hidden between the Unnamed Forest and the Mist Sea, making going there impossible without a guide.

At present, the spells hiding it were long gone, and so its secrecy. The Mergifari was now an academy, taking young mages under their wings every three years, usually from noble or rich families, but no one was forbidden to try to enter.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.” Madam Dorna repeated.

“In two weeks I will be eighteen. Legally an adult. I will go to the Mergifari.” Velvet put her hands on the table and stood up.

“Velvet Consestella Dobastro.”

Upon hearing her full name she sat down immediately.

“Mages are murderers, scammers, their loss of control costs thousands of lives every year.” She looked towards her. “They took half of this town. I can excuse you playing with a few papers, but there’s only one thing the Mergifari stands for. Corruption and power.”

That was the reason the Inquisition had no place outside Mirel. They were exterminated by the Mergifari around a hundred years ago.

Velvet took a deep breath, steading herself.

“That’s why it is needed to even the field, right? If only bad people were able to do magic there would be nowhere to live.”

Mage users were divided by a few things. From who they got their powers, how they brought magic from the conceptual realm to the real world and the type of familiar they had.

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There were two ways to get powers, the first one was from pledging loyalty to a deity or being blessed by one. That one was easy, but took the freedom of the magician away. They had to follow a set of rules depending on the entity, pray and make altars in their name, and the wavering of faith or disobedience meant the loss of their powers as the most merciful exit, and death as the other. The good thing was, they couldn’t lose control, since their accumulation of magic was controlled by the deity. Magicians of that type were called sorcerers, and the magic they used was of descendant origin.

The other ones were the enchanters or enchantresses of the Primeval Sea. There were two types. Velvet, and most other magicians belonged there. In fact, around eighty percent of magicians were enchanters. It was the easiest way to get magic, it had the biggest range of powers and abilities, required no recurrying offerings, had no rules and was, in comparison to the other type, more powerful. The only limit was the magician's own body.

Nothing that good comes without an equally wrong thing, doesn’t it?

The Primeval Sea was the only one that would actively try to corrupt the mage. Since there was no higher entity to control the miasma accumulation, the mage had to be checking their state constantly and purify themselves once a month. If they didn’t, or if they used too much magic in a short time, or had too many negative emotions at once, they would start losing control. That could end in three ways.

Either losing your mind, becoming a witch, losing your body, becoming a catastrophe or losing both and becoming a calamity, and there was no going back from any.

Witches, that’s what corrupted mages were called, regardless of gender. Velvet had talked to some wandering mages, and they had said that the difference between mages and witches was like comparing crocodiles to otters. They couldn’t live together with normal humans, so instead they lived in covens with other witches or alone.

Witches also had a tendency to eat other mages and humans.

Velvet’s only close call with the miasma was when she opened the gate, a soft whisper in her ears, teaching her the way to summon a familiar and some spells. It was a seductive voice, almost making her forget she was drowning

The opening of the Primeval Sea had to be done inside water, and ten percent of novices died there, the cause being the inability to break free of the voice. Once done, an eye will start to grow on the magician’s body. That eye was called Esca. It would be barely open at first, like a sleeping person, and with time it would open. Then, another one will start growing. Most magicians had half Esca open, the ones with it fully open were professionals. Only the Mergifari’s high command had two, with the regent having two and half. There were no magicians with three Escas.

It was safe to say that two were the maximum possible to get. Of course, all of that was according to Velvet’s knowledge, which was limited to what a few wandering mages had told her.

And about the types of familiars and powers, they-

“For what?” Madam Dorna interrupted her thoughts.

Velvet tilted her head.

“I’ve been… remembering things these past two months. About that day. The day the mountain melted.”

She saw the faces of her parents again, burning.

“Almost a month ago, it was their tenth anniversary,” She leaned back on her chair, looked towards the ceiling, and rolled the cup of tea between her fingers.

“Do you know? No one gave any explanation, and it’s been long since they stopped investigating.”

Madam Dorna knew that, and she also knew that following that path was gonna get her doomed.

“It’s been ten years, Velvet. Revenge won’t fix anything.”

Velvet looked at her surprised, as if that thought had never been in her mind.

“No, no. It’s not about revenge.” She raised and waved a hand with carelessness.

“Care to elaborate?”

“I was the oldest kid back then. The others were… Couger was five, and he is the second oldest.”

“And when I ask them, I realize that I’m the only one that remembers that day.”

“The kids may be sad, their parents melted, but they don’t remember the how, or the who.”

Velvet looked inside the teacup, watching her reflection.

“Only I remember the man on top of the mountain.”