Now feeling far more keyed into the situation that was the city of Madley, Danny decided to ask Henrietta for help with his magic. The two of them went down to the training room and Retta began asking him about his practice.
“Have you been doing the mana control exercises that we put together?”
Danny grimaced. “Uh, no. I’ve kinda just been summoning sand. I realised I can just leave it -the spell- running, probably permanently.”
“Sorry? You can just leave it running? What do you mean?” Henrietta looked shocked.
Instead of speaking, Danny chanted the spell and the mana construct that converted his mana into magical sand appeared, spitting sand out onto the floor. “So basically, I realised that the little construct thing that takes my mana that the spell makes doesn’t stop if it’s constantly being fed mana. I’m pretty sure it is supposed to shut off on its own but because my mana doesn’t stop entering it, it can’t stop. I fell asleep and woke up to a room filled with sand the other day.” After his spiel, he looked up at Retta and found her staring at him with a gobsmacked expression.
“Danny…”
“Yeah?”
“This is crazy… Not only can you see the spell matrix, but you also have enough mana to override the in-built cut-off… This… bah.” The short woman threw her hands up. “There is no justice in this world, is there?”
Danny tilted his head. “Whatcha mean?”
Retta sighed heavily and shook her head. “Danny, what you described seeing is what’s called a spell matrix, it’s sort of like the manifestation of the spell, which allows your mana to manifest in a form beyond just plain mana. The thing is, it takes talented wizards decades to see a spell’s matrix. The mana sensitivity, the control, the experience, it-!” The woman threw her hands up again before taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. “Danny. This is something that takes the best of the best decades, and you’ve done it in a week. Danny, I cannot stress this enough, this makes no sense. Humans aren’t supposed to see spell matrices; it takes so much instruction and guidance!” The woman began pacing around the room. “There is no justice in this world!”
Danny had a feeling he knew what was happening here. “How long did it take you to see spell matrices, Retta?”
The woman only glared at him which did more than answer his suspicions.
“If it makes you feel any better, the demon woman that I talked to yesterday asked me if I was human.” Danny shrugged.
Retta raised an eyebrow. “Say more.”
Danny explained what had happened last night, the job he had been given by Madley.
“That’s awful Danny, I’m so sorry you had to do that.”
Danny shrugged. “It is what it is now. I’m going to have to get used to it.”
“That doesn’t make it okay.”
Danny didn’t reply and eventually, Retta continued talking. “I feel like you’re not telling me something here Danny. I was called by the Chancellor over in Melbourne, bragging about this prodigal student they just got. I bet you know who she is, don’t you?”
“Belle,” Danny said with a chuckle.
“Yeah. So, it’s obvious that talent runs in your blood. But your sister’s mana is standard, yours isn’t. What am I missing Danny?”
Danny contemplated the options before him. It would be handy to have someone to talk to about what had happened to him, maybe she’d even be able to offer some answers. There was resistance to the idea of telling Retta though. There was a deep caution, perhaps even a fear of what he might find out, or how she’d react. He was already beginning to doubt that he wasn’t fully human anymore and he wasn’t sure he could take a confirmation. The image of the zombie he’d encountered beneath Madley came to mind. Wait. Beneath Madley?
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Danny instinctively tuned into the new perception he had of the presences beneath the city. Things started to piece together. The zombie? I can feel the zombies? That led to a far scarier realisation. The zombies can feel me…
“Danny? Are you okay?”
Danny looked over at the woman. What do I say? Things have gotten even more complicated in his mind. What had happened to him? What were the zombies, if not human? Was he a zombie as well, albeit not as crazed? Now he certainly didn’t want to tell anyone about what had happened. “Yeah, uh, I don’t know Retta.”
The woman stared at him flatly. “That’s one of the most egregious lies I’ve ever been told Danny, and I’ve been around for a long time.”
“I don’t want to talk about it, at least not now.” Honesty was the best policy.
“Okay. Let’s focus on the magic then.”
Retta didn’t go to the lesson when 10 AM came and went; instead, she called for one of the other staff members to cover for her. The next few hours consisted of Retta walking Danny through some of the basic spells related to earth elementalism. Danny learned a couple of new spells. One let him form his summoned sand into a wall or block. The next was basically the mana bullet but with condensed sand rather than basic mana.
“Converting mana into an element, especially one you have an affinity for, is leagues more efficient than casting spells with pure mana. Your average wizard can only cast a few spells using pure mana, which is why I explained that they’re only used in emergencies. Elementalism allows a person with a normal-sized mana pool to cast a dozen basic spells a day, many times more than basic mana,” Retta had explained.
The spells were surprisingly boring to Danny. It was the same formula as the summoning of his sand. He chanted some cringeworthy phrases while imagining a prompt that he was given. The process felt dull to him like it was missing something. “This is just Rote learning, isn’t it? I just say the words, picture the image in my head, and boom, magic.”
“...” Retta opened her mouth and raised a hand in objection before lowering it. “Danny.”
“Yeah?”
“I want you to know that statement disrespects hundreds of years of work.”
“It just feels a bit boring though, doesn’t it?”
His statement seemed to catch the woman off guard. “Boring? What makes you say that?”
Danny shrugged, not sure how to vocalise what he was feeling. “Something just feels off about it. Like I’m missing something.”
Henrietta paused for a moment. “Danny, I didn’t say this because I was enjoying just being able to throw you things and watch them stick, but what you’re doing right now is far outside the norm.”
“?” Danny looked questioningly at the woman.
“Do you know how long it took me to learn how to summon my element?” She summoned a large orb of water for effect and Danny shook his head. “The basic casting, with the full awkward chant? A week Danny. A week. I’m by no means a talented wizard, average at best really. The people in your class? Lucas, the most talented, will be joining us in the afternoon to begin learning how to cast basic mana spells, which might take him a day or two. To summon his basic element? That will probably take a few days to get the feel of. Do you remember how long it took you, Danny?”
“It was my first try.”
“Minutes Danny. Minutes, if even that.” Retta, though over a foot shorter than him, stared up into Danny’s eyes intensely. She let her words sink in before continuing. “I don’t think you realise how outside of the norm you are Danny. People haven’t been calling your talent legendary for nothing, this is literally unheard of in the community. I’m being literal when I say talents like yours are only mentioned in mythical stories passed down in the wizarding community. People don’t just pick spells up after trying it once. Learning the two spells you did this morning? Weeks Danny. It takes people weeks to properly visualise it in their heads, building the connection to their mana pool, then keeping everything stable as the spell matrix manifests.”
Danny stayed silent, processing her words. It hadn’t occurred to him that what he was experiencing differed from what others experienced. Everything just made sense in his head, to the extent that it was boring. The chanting process was obvious in his mind, he could feel it working, building the pathway to his mana. The visualisation of the prompts he was given was easy. Connecting it all came naturally, he wasn’t even sure what he was doing, it just happened. After thinking that, Danny realised that he didn’t need to chant.
Danny felt the process that chanting enacted, bringing the process into being without the need for the words. He then pictured a large orb of sand in his mind. Without having to do anything the sand appeared floating next to him.
Retta’s eyes opened into unhidden shock. There was a simmer of anger in there as well. “No. You’re not leaving until you tell me exactly what’s going on with you. This isn’t right, this isn’t something a human should even be able to do.”