“To start, I’m going to have you try to use basic magic with a more visual effect, so that you can tell that it’s working. Like this,” Tiriana began, and then a ball of water formed between them and splashed down onto the table. Sera flinched as some of it splashed her way, getting onto her clothes, but Tiriana wasn’t finished.
“Basic magic is essentially mana that has been shaped to look and act a certain way based on your understanding. I know that water is wet, typically clear when clean, and tends to splash when it falls to a surface. I also know that it freezes when cold, and boils when hot. But what would happen if I’d never heard of ice?” she continued, giving Sera the floor. She seemed to be the type to ask frequent questions to make sure her audience was following along.
“It wouldn’t freeze, no matter how cold it got,” Sera posited, thinking it rather obvious.
“Correct. The deeper your understanding of the object or phenomenon, the closer basic magic will get to materializing it. But if I were to lose focus, exceed my range, or lose control to someone else…” Tiriana trailed off and gestured towards the table. It was bone dry again, as were Sera’s clothes. “Then the mana returns to its normal form.”
“If it dissipates so easily, how do you maintain the translation magic for so long?” Sera asked, having spotted the contradiction.
“Practice, my dear. I became a mage over a decade ago, and I’ve studied magic at the Caer Pedryvan College of Magic.” Tiriana shrugged. “Anything you do for over a decade just becomes second nature at some point. Now, let’s have you try to cast something.”
Sera waited for a moment, expecting further instruction, but none came. Humming, she decided to just give it a try. She focused on the feeling of moving mana she’d now experienced several times, but tried to make it external, going for the image of a simple flame.
It was difficult. At first, Sera felt like she was trying to stir water with her mind, but she knew from her limited experience that the mana wanted to do what she told it to, and she just needed enough concentration to maintain a solid image. After several long minutes of halted attempts where she lost control and the mana sputtered away, a spark lit in front of her face.
The flame disappeared almost instantly, her surprise at its appearance causing her to lose control. Tiriana smiled encouragingly and motioned for her to try again. After a few more tries, Sera managed to manifest a flame again, although it was really more like a flame emoji. It was sort of shaped like the small jet produced by a lighter, but an entirely opaque orange, and completely static, rather than flowing.
“A good first attempt. Congratulations, you’ve cast your first spell,” Tiriana said with a clap. Sera felt somewhat embarrassed from the congratulations on such a poor attempt, feeling almost like she was being talked down to, but she quashed the feeling, fearful of upsetting her only associate in this strange place. Tiriana had given no indication she would be so petty, but Sera had never been one to trust so easily.
“At least it’s hot,” Sera said lamely, after bringing a finger close to the ‘flame.’ “Shouldn’t it match my understanding of fire, though? I’m pretty sure I know more about them than this.”
“Your ability to control the mana is likely insufficient to match your actual level of comprehension. I would have to delve into college-level theory to really explain, but suffice it to say that your subconscious handles a lot of the interpretation, and it’ll settle for the closest image you can actually maintain.”
“So, in other words, I need to get good. Should I just…keep trying until I get it right?” Sera frowned, allowing the flame to vanish into the air.
Tiriana shook her head. “No, it’s not important that you be able to form a perfect flame. The purpose of that exercise was to have you learn to manipulate mana outside your body, for what comes next. You’re free to continue trying later, though; the added practice certainly won’t hurt.”
“So, now that I’ve managed that step, we’re going straight to Translate?”
“Right. Now, normally basic spells don’t require a whole lot in the way of understanding. You just need to know how you want the spell to look. Translate is a bit more abstract, so it will require a bit of explanation. First, are you multilingual?”
Sera shook her head. “No, I only know English.”
“Well, research has shown that multilingual people think about meaning rather than words. The takeaway from that is that we don’t need words to think. We’re thinking of a meaning and some part of our mind converts it into the closest word, but since multilingual people have two or more dictionaries, they default to the meaning of the word itself.”
“…and, if I’m understanding correctly, that has something to do with Translate?” Sera asked when Tiriana paused. The elf nodded, satisfied with the question.
“Correct. Translate is about forming a psychic connection with anyone you want to communicate with and sending them the meaning of the words you say. Their mind takes the conveyed meaning and converts it to words they understand,” Tiriana explained, pointing from her own head to Sera’s.
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“That doesn’t sound very basic,” Sera commented with a frown.
“Think of it like this: permanently modifying the brain is a very bad idea, so any spell you cast on your mind must be temporary for safety reasons.”
“Isn’t this spell basically just telepathy?
Now it was Tiriana’s turn to shake her head. “No, telepathy would be reading and broadcasting all thoughts. For Translate you want to broadcast only things you intend to say, to the people you intend to hear it.”
“Sounds kind of like using a phone.” Sera was reminded again that hers was a world away. Not that it would help much right now.
“I don’t know that word, but if it helps with your image of the spell, then sure. The difficulty here is that there is no physical representation of Translate. It’s entirely conceptual.” Tiriana frowned. “I can’t dictate that part to you, which makes Translate one of the harder spells to learn.”
“Why start with it then, if you can just cast it on me?” Sera asked, perplexed.
“Two reasons. The first is that the more you use magic, the higher your resistance to spells cast directly on you will be. The second is that I can’t control your mana, so if I cast it, you’ll only be able to talk to whoever I designate.”
“Is that why I haven’t seen anyone else?”
“Partially. The other explorers are out right now, but yes, the support staff are waiting to say hello until you can understand them saying it. Other than our cleric; she just refuses to use a miracle on something as petty as casual conversation,” Tiriana replied wryly. “That said, I don’t expect you’ll be able to use it right away. It will probably take you a few days to master, since it’s so abstract.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to figure it out if I work on other magic first?” Sera had heard that once you could play a musical instrument, learning to play others came easier. She wondered if this was the same concept.
“Not especially. Magic is all about your ability to grasp concepts. Knowing how to create an image of fire isn’t applicable to psychic magic.” Tiriana stopped to consider for a moment. “Although I suppose it would help you learn how to maintain the spell. You’ll need to be able to transmit your meaning while speaking, and potentially to several people at once.”
“That does sound difficult; I can see why you suggested I just learn the languages in the long term,” Sera commented, recalling what Tiriana had said at the start. “How long do you think it will take me to learn to do it, though?”
“It depends. You suggested you had an idea in mind of how to visualize the spell. I’d advise you to focus on that, as it would give you head start in conceptualizing the idea. I could introduce you to a tool I suspect is comparable to the phone you mentioned, but it would be much easier if it’s something you’re already familiar with.” Once again Tiriana shrugged, knowing at this point it was mostly up to Sera. “It probably won’t take you anywhere near as long to cast the spell as it will to learn how to keep it going all day, or speak to multiple people. I’ll start by dispelling it from you, and then you’ll try to use the spell to talk to me.”
Sera felt nothing, but the next time Tiriana spoke, it was a mishmash of sounds she failed to comprehend. Apparently she’d be learning this one the same way some learned to swim: by being tossed right into the deep end.
The next several hours were an exercise in frustration. It took the entire first hour simply to get a word through to Tiriana. As the spell was two way, neither woman could understand the other unless it was actively used by both, so Tiriana could neither understand Sera nor give her additional assistance.
Sera understood conceptually that this was, in many way, like speaking on a phone or radio. She tried to use that image, but her knowledge on the subject actually worked against her at first. Several times she tried to form an invisible connection, only to bring into being a phantom cell tower or an image of a wave form.
Tiriana, on other hand, pulled out a device Sera thought similar to a kindle. ‘Flat slab that displays text’ was kind of a universal concept, so the resemblance made sense in that regard. Even ancient Sumerians, predating even Atlantis, knew how to carve letters into rocks, so convergent development in reading devices was inevitable.
A tangent on that subject took up a good ten minutes before Sera decided to stop stalling and return to the task at hand. She quickly lost count of the number of times she said ‘testing’, feeling as though she were speaking to a wall. It was hard not to feel elation the first time Tiriana acknowledged she had understood the word, but it quickly became apparent that she understood nothing that followed it, and Sera had no idea what the elf had said in response.
Eventually Tiriana got up and motioned for Sera to follow her into the kitchen, where she began preparing a meal for two while Sera’s attempts at communication continued to go nowhere. Even when Tiriana finished cooking an unidentifiable meat, retrieved from an icebox, flavored with herbs and served with bread, Sera had made no progress.
She ate in sullen silence. The food was good. She had no way to tell her host that.
The sun began to set, and Tiriana snapped her fingers, somehow activating the lights in the room remotely. Sera glared out the window, annoyed at time for having passed.
It wasn’t until night had fallen in full that Sera managed to cast and maintain the spell. In the end, it had taken a slight change in perspective. Rather than thinking of it as two devices communicating, it turned out to be easier for her to picture it as a network connection, like an Ethernet cable. She realized that the issue she’d had was the continued connection. Her previous attempts were more akin to email, where once side sent a message and the other sent one back, but that wasn’t the form Tiriana’s own spell operated on, so she had effectively been communicating on the wrong frequency.
Had Sera been born a decade earlier, she would have been familiar with landline phones, but alas, her first experience with such things was a flip phone. She knew they existed, of course, but she’d never used one, so it was far from the first image to come to mind. Regardless, she finally succeeded when thinking of it as a two-way open communication where both parties could send and receive simultaneously.
“Testing…testing…testing…”
“Ah, I heard that in my own language all three times! It seems you’ve figured it out,” Tiriana responded, and Sera almost wept in relief when she, in turn, had understood Tiriana.