I sat atop the straw-stuffed mattress of the double bed, letting the silence settle around me, broken only by Yalla’s quiet chewing. I watched the dust particles dance in the mid-day sun filtering through the grime-streaked window, collecting my thoughts and steadying my breath.

“Ready for this?” Anetta asked eagerly.

“Hit me.”

As I spoke, the information flooded my mind, a torrent of images, sounds, and sensations buzzing through me. Unknown concepts took shape and solidified, embedding themselves in my consciousness until they felt as familiar as if I had grown up with them.

As was quickly becoming a theme, most of what I absorbed was a broad collection of trivia with little practical value. The bulk of it consisting of historical anecdotes and obscure magical theories that had long fallen out of favour. However, buried within the clutter were concrete details on how a mage begins to ‘step onto a path.’

I instantly saw the issue Anetta hinted at that made trying to push forward immediately an ill-advised idea. But before I could voice any of my thoughts, Anetta spoke up.

“I have given our options some real thought. Want to hear me out?”

“Absolutely.”

Although Anetta hadn’t had many opportunities to showcase her wit since we began sharing a body, everything I knew about her from before painted her as a brilliant, if eccentric, young woman. If the chance of getting sound advice wasn’t incentive enough, understanding more about how the girl I’m mentally linked with thinks was an excellent motivation.

“As you now know, a mage engages three essential elements to produce a magical effect: soul, mind, and body. The soul absorbs and stores aether, the mind acts as a bridge between soul and body, directing the magic, and the body serves as the medium through which the effect manifests.”

I nodded in silent acknowledgment, fascinated with how smoothly Anetta slipped into her role as a lecturer. She sounded practiced with it, too. For someone barely twenty, I wondered where her skills came from.

What she was describing were the fundamentals of magic at its core. Every magical path had its unique quirks, which became more pronounced the further one advanced. At the extremes, while the basic principles remained consistent, highly specialised mages from one tradition might find themselves utterly incapable of performing magic characteristic of a path too distant from their own, yet exceptionally adept at certain other forms. These disparities arose from the way different paths shaped their practitioners’ minds, bodies, and souls, permanently altering and empowering them in distinct ways.

While my initial steps are unlikely to permanently bind me to a specific path, some paths are far more difficult to diverge from than others.

“The reason you can’t access your own stores of aether,” Anetta continued, “is because your mind hasn’t been fully ‘turned.’ The rite of ‘turning’ involves directing your mind inward to develop a conscious awareness of your own soul. This awareness allows you to tap into the aether stored within your soul, which is essential for performing magical effects. Without this inner connection, your mind cannot effectively bridge to your soul and draw upon its energy.”

The most challenging aspect of accessing one’s aether lies in becoming aware of the soul itself. For an untrained mage, this task can be daunting—where would they even begin? Specialised alchemical aids and the guidance of a more experienced practitioner are often crucial in navigating this step. Yet, even with such support, developing a sense of one’s soul and tapping into its aether reserves often takes months, if not years, of dedicated effort.

However, my specific situation had trivialised what should have been the most formidable obstacle. Having died, spent considerable time as a disembodied soul, and undergone invasive manipulations of my essence, I had developed an almost constant awareness of my own soul. Even when I wasn’t consciously focusing on it, I could feel its presence lingering at the edge of my consciousness.

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Still, a critical issue remained to be addressed.

“The catalyst,” I said. “When you mentioned that starting with my magical development right away may not be the best idea, you spoke of our lack of any catalysts. Without it, we’ll have few options on which way do we nudge my advancement towards.”

“Exactly. The process is intricate, and without the right catalyst, we risk either stalling your progress early or, worse, setting you on a dead-end path that could become impossible to reverse. My best advice is to use the small fortune Velisza gave you to find a suitable catalyst. I’m fairly certain that was her intention for the money.”

Typically, sorcerers who draw their magical potential from inhuman ancestry use a measure of blood from a magical beast closely tied to their lineage. Shamanistic traditions, in contrast, perform a ‘turning’ rite in locations rich with spirits connected to their chosen path. Wizards, meanwhile, brute-force their connection by saturating their bodies with a potent source of aether. Although this approach maintains much of their magical flexibility, it forgoes the immediate benefits associated with more specialised paths.

However, there are a few paths that don’t demand elaborate rituals or prohibitively expensive materials. Despite their accessibility, these paths are often regarded with skepticism by the broader magical community. And for a good reason.

Warlocks, for instance, don’t need to possess inherent magical talent to start with. Anyone can become one if they receive enough magical investment from a powerful patron. Unlike other mages, warlocks don’t draw on their own aether reserves, but instead tap into those of their overlord. In exchange for these potent gifts, warlocks are bound by contracts to perform specific acts of service.

This arrangement comes with significant risks. Even if you maintain good relations with a warlock, their patron could still view you as an obstacle or a resource. Moreover, many warlocks serve powerful and sinister beings, leading most people to shun them.

My inability to contact a suitable entity aside, even if I had the means, I wouldn’t choose to. Binding my fate to a being whose whims could control my actions is a price far too steep, no matter the potential power on offer.

Witches also require no special materials to begin their path, making it accessible to young, magically gifted women who lack the financial or logistical means for more elaborate methods. This accessibility explains why witches are so prevalent on the fringes of civilization. Their initiation, or ‘turning,’ is triggered by intense emotional experiences. These powerful emotions cause a young witch’s soul to ignite, making her aether flare, connect with her mind, and flow into her body.

However, there are significant drawbacks to this method. The emotions experienced during turning shape the witch’s personality, and these traits become more pronounced over time. This is why the best approach involves a senior witch artificially inducing the desired, inoffensive emotion in the novice. As one would expect, not all covens are benevolent. Some, driven by malice and spite, deliberately guide young witches down dark paths. The damage a powerful, malevolent witch can cause is unimaginable. And organisations like the Radiant Church would have people believe that such evil covens are the norm and that only by becoming penitents do these women have any hope of redemption.

For me, the path of witchcraft remains inaccessible primarily because it can only be pursued by females. This emotion-driven way of engaging one’s aether reserves is known as ‘wild turning’ and it produces varied and often undesirable effects in men. Instead of a coherent and well-supported tradition, men who attempt this path become ‘wild mages.’ These individuals are known for their unpredictable powers, erratic psychological states, and lack of a structured body of knowledge supporting their path.

The idea of being a chaotic mage with inconsistent magical abilities and no solid framework for progression is far from appealing.

Besides, it’s unlikely I could ever whip myself into the kind of emotional frenzy needed to reach that point. I’ve always maintained strict control over my emotions, never allowing them to dictate my actions. If emotions were animals, mine would be well-trained attack hounds—kept in check and guided with precision. Mastery of one’s emotions is crucial; they should be harnessed, not allowed to dictate one’s responses. Whether an experience is painful or pleasurable should be irrelevant—what needs to be done will be done, regardless of my personal feelings. More importantly, no one wants to see what I could become if I let my emotions take charge. I’m not exactly benevolent. My impulsive reactions tend to lead me into dark places. I have a tendency to exploit weaknesses, exact severe retribution for even minor slights, and take a grim satisfaction in seeing the guilty suffer. If I allowed those impulses to dominate, I would almost certainly end up doing something I’d regret.

Speaking of the things I am almost certainly going to regret; my next, and really the only viable, option for gaining a significant amount of power right away was looming over me, awaiting my acknowledgement. Path of the ‘Blood Magus’.

Where do I even begin with this one?

Blood Magi are both feared and coveted. On the battlefield, they wield their grotesque powers with ruthless efficiency, striking terror into their enemies. Yet, in the hospital wing, their abilities are used to heal and restore, presenting a stark contrast to their battlefield persona. This duality makes them figures of both reverence and revulsion.

It is no coincidence that some of the most formidable Blood Magi hail from the vampiric houses, adding a sinister dimension to this already dark tradition. Embracing this path would not only address my immediate challenges but also entangle me in alliances and enmities beyond my control. Additionally, the price of mastering this path is real, demanding not just personal sacrifice but often crossing moral boundaries and enduring rites that will push me to my very limits. From all angles.

But as I’ve stated before, what must be done will be done, regardless of my feeling on the matter. With the church’s forces closing in, two witches to protect, and the looming threat of being thrust into a war zone, I need to seize every bit of power I can get my hands on, and I need it quickly.

I took a shaky breath, my fingers curling around a jagged shard of broken pottery. With steely determination, I prepared myself for the rite of turning through exsanguination, bracing for the pain and transformation that lay ahead.