Sert was all over me, taking measurements, recording my reactions to magical stimuli, and most importantly, finding out how quickly the magic inside of me was building and at what point it would become dangerous. Conclusion was that I would need to have the magic drained from me once every two days optimally, three at the very latest, until I could learn how to control it myself. Letting it build up would lead to a very painful death according to Sert. Normally that would have been shrugged off, but I feigned seriousness with the subject to maintain my little omission.
After all the measurements and data were recorded, Sert dismissed me so I could meet up with Velshi. True to his word, he had kept the whole thing rather short so she wouldn’t be kept waiting for long. Kala and I walked out to meet up with her and found the large lady sitting on a rock at the mouth of the tunnel.
She noticed us emerging from the gloom and stood to greet us. “Everything in order I take it?”
“Yeah, should be good for the day. Not in any danger of suddenly exploding just yet, and it’s easily maintained so long as I drain out some of the magic every now and then.”
“Well, that is good, I would hate to have to clean up that mess if you had decided to fall apart in the middle of my room.”
“No unscheduled detonations from me. I'm not planning on becoming a stain on the floor if I can help it.”
“Glad to hear it. Now, let us begin your education, I hope you are prepared.”
I nodded and she set off into the camp. The path she took was rather concerning for me. She carved a line straight through the tents, not exactly into the heart of the camp, but still deeper than I would have liked to go. She did not seem to consider my situation as she walked without hesitation.
Naturally, I drew all the wrong kinds of attention. The glares were received in the same quantity as normal for the first minute or so. After that, a lizardman tried his hand at an insult. “Hey Thrainian! Why don’t you fetch me something to drink like a good dog.” No points for originality on that one. Using the collar as a connection to animals was quite a common theme, one that I think they learned from their own personal or secondhand experience.
I almost bumped into Velshi as she suddenly stopped walking. She turned to stare down at the lizardman who gave the outburst. “I’m afraid James here will be rather busy with his duties as my apprentice. I would appreciate it if you would cease your distractions and allow him to focus on the work he will have under my care.” Her voice was cordial and polite, her eyes, however, were cold and threatening. It was the kind of combination that dared you to say something else and promised that you would regret it if you did.
The offender squirmed under her gaze, her soft smile hiding a deathly visage that was just waiting to come out. He fidgeted for a moment, eyes darting back and forth between her and me. “Y... Yes ma’am.” He finally folded under the pressure.
“Thank you, have a nice day.” She said with a frosty undertone. It seemed her position as healer carried with it a lot of influence throughout the camp. I figured it wouldn’t be wise to have the person who might one day be putting you back together angry with you. After that initial stare down of the unfortunate fella, we encountered no more outbursts from the rest of the onlookers, though it didn’t dissuade them from trying to stab me with their eyes.
When we got away from most of the people, I took the opportunity to show my appreciation. “Thanks for that, I hope you didn’t make any enemies though.”
“Oh, they wouldn’t dare openly be my enemy. Not only would that be a terrible long-term strategy, but before I specialized in putting bodies back together, I was rather adept at taking them apart. I can guarantee that those skills have only increased with my knowledge of anatomy.”
That was the kind of shit that made martial artists so scary. Not only did they have the strength to stomp you into the dirt, but they could do it with minimal effort and painful efficiency. A lady her size with the knowledge of exactly how to bend something to make it break would have anyone sweating if they had to fight her.
“Besides,” She continued. “You are my apprentice now, meaning you are my responsibility. An attack on you is an insult to me.”
“It seems being an apprentice comes with some perks.” I said with a smirk.
She turned her head towards me as she walked. “That is not, however, an invitation to seek out trouble. Your actions will also reflect upon me as well. If you cannot behave yourself, then it is within my right to discipline you. Understand?”
“Sure, that’s a reasonable enough arrangement.” She nodded approvingly at my confirmation. Her presence as we walked through the camp was a major deterrent to most would-be hecklers. She seemed like the kind of lady that didn’t need to ask for respect, she received it as a matter of course.
So far, she seemed rather amiable, which made me wonder why exactly when everyone else looked at me with distaste at best. She called me a ‘self-proclaimed human,’ so even if she did somewhat believe me, she was obviously skeptical. “I have to ask, do you not hold resentment towards me because of my perceived race, or do you actually believe that I'm a human?”
She looked up slightly, clearly thinking about her answer. “Well, I can’t be certain about you being a human or not, but I’ve learned how to judge people based on their actions. Thus far, you have shown me no reason to resent you. You're welcome to provide one if you wish.”
I huffed slightly in amusement. “I’d prefer not to make more enemies, thank you.” There was a hint of something in her eyes, like she was recalling old memories. I couldn’t tell if it was learned wisdom that she was reviewing, or if something happened that changed her outlook on life. Best not to pry in matters not my own.
Her gaze lingered on me for a second, specifically, on my neck. She released a slight sigh. “I also feel that the council has seriously overstepped its bounds. Were we not meant to fight against this?” It seemed she had a few misgivings about the decision making of the leadership of the camp as well. I found myself starting to like her more and more.
We came out of the other side of the camp and passed by a large tent. I stole a glance at the inside and saw rows of cots with injured people of a variety of species occupying them. Moving between the injured residents was probably the normal doctors and medical professionals that didn’t have access to healing magic. I could hear a fair bit of moaning and even an occasional growl of pain as one of the doctors administered some sort of treatment to the injured.
Velshi did not enter the tent or even pay it any mind. Apparently, we would be working elsewhere. Her path led us behind the tent into an alcove on the side of the mountain, separated by a large piece of cloth that hung from stakes that were driven into the rock. Velshi pushed aside the cloth and held it open for us to enter.
Inside was a simple room with very few adornments or amenities. There was an actual bed in one corner, a table that held a variety of plants, books and a mortar and pestle made of stone. Some smaller instruments were present as well, but I could not identify them or their use. A second table was also there, and the sight of it sent a chill up my spine. It was a large flat piece of wood that was stained in what was unmistakably blood. There were no clamps or anything on it, so it wasn’t used for torture at the very least. Considering her profession, it was most likely an operating table.
I took a quiet breath and pulled my gaze away from the bloody wood and back to Velshi who sat down on a chair by the first table. She made an inviting gesture over to a spare chair for me to sit on as well. “I apologize, but I do not have a spare seat for your companion. What was your name again?” She asked Kala.
“It’s Kala.” Came the quick reply from her.
“A pleasure. Like I was saying, I do not have a spare seat. Do you plan on being present for all of these lessons?”
“Preferably.”
“Very well, I will request an extra chair for tomorrow. In the meantime, you may sit on my bed if you like. If that does not take your fancy, then please make yourself comfortable in any way you wish.” Kala took her up on the offer to use her bed for now. Once Kala was properly situated, Velshi turned her attention back to me. “Now, James, we shall begin with some of the fundamentals, so you may have a grasp of how to proceed.”
I sat up a little straighter in preparation to receive her instructions. “Magic is an energy; it exists within all living things and radiates out into the world around us. Using magic is all about influencing that flow of energy and bending it to your will, giving it purpose. This requires focus, and a clear picture of what you want to happen in your mind.”
“Using magic to manipulate things like fire, water, and the earth do not require all that much magic due to these things not possessing any of their own. The only requirement is that you have to have an aptitude to manipulate such objects. Attempts have been made by some to spread out into other areas of magic that they do not have an affinity for, but most either end in failure or a level of influence that those with an affinity could do in their sleep. For example...”
She reached over and grabbed the pestle from the table and held it in her hand. A moment later, the pestle rose off her palm and started levitating a few inches in the air. I was fascinated by the occurrence and leaned over to get a better view of how it was floating.
“This is the extent of what I can do with manipulating earthen substances. It takes far more effort and energy than what would normally be required for such a simple task.” The pestle dropped down into her palm again and she gave a sigh like she was winded. “Now, let us approach the subject that is most relevant to our situation. The use of magic on living things.”
“Attempting to exert your will on another living thing, such as a plant, animal, or person, requires far more magic than an inanimate object. In order to influence another living thing, you must first work your way past their own magic, which will resist your intrusion. This is why healers, such as us, must make use of crystals almost constantly. We need the extra store of energy in order to shape another's body back into a healthy state.”
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“Learning how to efficiently use crystals is a major part of healing magic. In order to do so, you must have complete control over your own flow of energy to minimize the resistance of transferring energy from the crystal and then into your patient’s body. Other than manipulating living substances, it is this efficiency that healers are known for, and why it’s impossible for any other affinity to even remotely mimic what we do. Even the smallest of cuts would be impossible for another to heal without draining their entire store of power.”
“Let’s begin your lessons with a basic transfer of energy.” She reached over across the desk and grabbed a tiny crystal, barely bigger than a quarter, and handed it to me. “You must focus on the magic inside of you and direct it into the crystal. The heart is the source of magical energy in your body, feel how it flows from there all throughout you and then try to take command of it, give it purpose. If the crystal breaks, I consider that a failure as well.”
With a quick breath I started focusing on the crystal in my hand. I could already feel the movement of magic within me, have from the moment it became a part of me. How to accurately direct it was another issue entirely. My eyes closed while trying to imagine the magic like rivers moving throughout my body.
If the heart was the source, then the start of the river was there. I began to carve an image of it flowing from my heart to my hand. There was no immediate change, and considering this was my first-time using magic, it was unknown whether there should be any feeling at all. While pondering what to do to complete this little task, I got hit by a stick. And no, that wasn’t some strange metaphor, I was just smacked on the arm with a stick.
The sudden sting made me recoil and nearly drop the small crystal I was holding as my eyes shot open to see Velshi standing there with a short straight stick. “The hell was that for?” I questioned while rubbing my arm.
“You will be expected to maintain your focus through the screaming, blood, pain, and death that will surround you both on and off the battlefield. Injured patients rarely stay still, and all the while they will be complaining about said injuries in one way or another. If you cannot focus through that, then you won’t be able to help anyone. Now, again!”
I tried focusing on the magic again, this time trying to build up the warmth into a certain part of my body. It was barely ten seconds of testing this style out before she smacked me on the leg. I shot a glance at her, and she responded by simply saying, “Focus!”
I understand the point, but that’s kind of difficult without any time to. I didn’t even know how to properly move the magic inside of me, let alone put it into something outside my own body. My hesitation received another smack and quick loud word from her. My jaw clenched a little, but I forced myself to relax and try again.
A half hour passed of trying to move the magic within me somehow, all the while being smacked and yelled at. I attempted to tune it all out, but the hits always made me flinch and lose my train of thought. I was getting rather frustrated and sore in a few places. She would always say something like “Focus” or “Concentrate” and meanwhile I’m just sitting here and wondering how.
I was completely new to this; I wasn’t born with it or had any previous experience. Asking me to suddenly do this thing was like asking me to walk on my hands while playing basketball with my feet. Stupid and basically impossible.
By the time an hour had passed I was fairly bruised in several places and still no closer to figuring out how to get magic into the little crystal. It was harder to focus due to my frustration than anything else at this point. Velshi apparently noticed this as well.
She released a quiet sigh before speaking. “Take a break, cool your head and stretch your limbs, don’t need them locking up.”
I put the crystal down on the table rather roughly and then made an attempt to stand. The action made me wince as my bruised legs protested the movement. “Can’t you just heal me, so they won’t?”
“If you don’t like the pain, then learn faster.” She said flatly.
I just sighed dejectedly and went outside with a slight hobble to my gait, stepping out into the slightly cool air. The sun was just barely starting to come into the dome and spread its warmth. There was a rock off to the side that I went over to in order to stretch out my body. As I started up on the stretches, I saw Kala exit the alcove and walk over to me.
“Hey, are you doing okay?” She asked with genuine concern in her voice.
“Yeah,” My reply came slowly. “it’s just frustrating. I can feel the magic but can’t seem to get it to go where I want it to. Not to mention getting hit with a damn stick is annoying. I understand the thought process behind it, but it still doesn’t change the fact that I would prefer to learn without the distractions.”
“I’m sure Velshi knows what she’s doing, she seems capable.”
“She probably is, I just wish I had a little time to get used to this before she jumped into hitting me.”
“She did kind of warn you though.” She said with a half-smile
I gave a light chuckle in response. “Yeah, she did. Won’t stop me from complaining about it though.”
Kala shook her head at me with a smile. There was a minute of silence that was allowed to exist between us. I used that minute to stretch a few more places and rub the sore areas of my body a little.
Kala was the one to break the silence. “I don’t know much about magic, basically the same as you, so I'm not sure if my advice would be helpful.”
“I’ll take it anyway. At this point, anything can be useful.”
She gave a slight nod before continuing. “Well, I’m not sure what you were trying exactly, but maybe there was a step you missed, something extra you need to do to get it to work.”
I scratched my head while thinking about that. “Don’t suppose you have any ideas on what that may be?” She shook her head. “Figured as much.” We both had a quiet brainstorming session that seemed to be going nowhere. Maybe it was a specific feeling, or perhaps I was trying too hard to move the energy and should be less forceful with it. If I could just find a single clue, then I would finally understand it. Alas, no such clue presented itself, and we were out here thinking for a good twenty minutes. Velshi would probably want me back soon.
A sigh escaped me as I stood once again. “Come on, let’s head back. I get the feeling I'm not going to learn anything out here.” Kala nodded with a hum and stood to follow. We made our way back inside to resume the lessons.
Velshi was enjoying a cup of something, most likely a form of tea if the steam rising from it was any hint. She noticed our entry and set down her cup. “Ready to resume then? I hope you cooled your head.”
“I had a chance to take a breath, yes. I’m ready to try something else.”
“Good, determination is a useful tool when it comes to magic. It helps you solidify your willpower.”
Okay, but I still need to find out how to use mana to begin with. It wouldn’t help to complain, so I just sat back down, and we resumed the training. I tried to experiment with different methods of moving the energy, trying to summon a certain feeling or imagining a specific kind of method of transportation for it. Another half hour of being hit and yelled at and still nothing to show.
I’m missing something, there’s no other explanation. There was a key feature or function that I was overlooking with this magic thing. Velshi smacked me again. They barely made me flinch anymore; it was just expected at this point. I was very sore in several places, but my mind was too busy working out solutions to care.
I took to reviewing what I had been taught. Magic was all about bending the energy to your will, commanding it. My thoughts focused on how one was supposed to do that. Energy and will, energy and will, energy and will, energy and... Wait, does it have to be both simultaneously?
This entire time I had been simply trying to move the energy inside of me to where I wanted it but wasn’t giving it any specific command. What if it was like trying to pump power into a device with the switch turned off? That sounded logical enough to work and my mind latched onto the idea with the intent of putting it into motion.
My attention turned inwards to the warm flow of magic within me. Instead of just saying ‘go here’ I expanded upon it and said, ‘go here and enter this crystal.’ This showed almost immediate results as something new happened. The flow began to move with purpose, sending a tingle down my arm towards my palm. I could feel it make the short jump to the crystal in my hand.
It worked! It actually wor... I got hit again while distracted by my success. This led to a chain reaction that forced more magic than was intended to go into the crystal. The small little thing broke in two and I was left with a fractured chuck of rock.
Velshi stood off to the side with what I now referred to as her ‘teaching stick,’ looking at the results of my attempt. “That’s a fail. Progress, but still a fail.”
Despite being given an F for results I still felt rather proud of finally getting something done for a change. The broken crystal was discarded and replaced with one about the same size as it. I started anew, now with the knowledge of how to get things moving.
Now that I had shown some results, Velshi stepped up her end of the teaching as well. She started making louder sounds, sometimes just screaming in my ear suddenly or banging on the table next to me. It was more difficult than I thought to focus the correct amount of power under duress. Her methods started to make much more sense now. It would probably cause more harm than good if a healer was startled and ended up dumping too much effort into something, like a slip of the knife in surgery.
We kept at it another hour with me going through a dozen more crystals while trying to accurately power them up without breaking. Near the end of that hour Velshi’s yelling barely even registered to me, a slam on the desk was just something that happened, and a smack of the stick was an unnecessary distraction.
My focus was on the energy inside of me, keeping the output low and steady as it was fed into the crystal. I was hit with the teaching stick, but ignored it, keeping the river of magic bottlenecked to a trickle. The small little crystal in my hand began to glow ever so slightly, a tiny little light for a tiny little crystal. I severed the flow of energy and just stared at the little rock in my hand.
I looked up from the rock to Velshi, who was smiling at me. My stunned features slowly became a smile of my own. “Congratulations, you passed your first test to becoming a healer.” Velshi said with satisfaction. “You learned rather quickly too, I thought we would be here all day before you finally understood what to do.”
Kala came over to congratulate me as well, both of us looked at the small little crystal as it glowed happily in my hand. Velshi interrupted our admiration of my work. “I think that will do for today. You should rest up and get something to eat, you’ll need your focus for tomorrow.”
“Okay, but what do I do with this?” I held up the little crystal for emphasis.
“Keep it, it will remind you of the joys of success and perseverance.”
The little rock was enclosed in my grasp with a nod. When I stood up, I groaned and immediately shot a hand out to the table for support. My body was extremely sore from the couple hours of being whipped into shape. “Hey, uhm, do you think I can get a bit of healing?”
Velshi sat in her chair with a blank expression for a moment. Slowly, a smirk spread across her features, and she took another sip of her tea. “Really?” I questioned. “You’re not going to heal me?”
Her smirk remained. “And those will be a reminder of why it is best to learn expeditiously. Then you can heal them yourself.”
I looked at her with great skepticism yet couldn’t help but chuckle and shake my head. There was nothing left to say, we both shot each other a sly smile before I managed to limp out of the makeshift room. The volcano was fully under the light of the sun, greatly increasing the overall temperature in this little cauldron.
Despite my soreness, I was feeling pretty good, accomplishments will do that to you. Kala came up right beside me, sharing my little bit of mirth with a smile. “Do you need some help moving?” She asked.
“Nah, I’ll walk it off. Just need to get some food in me and I'll be good to go.”
“Oh, uhm, right, food.”
That... did not sound good. “Uhm, why are you talking like that?”
She fidgeted on the spot, clearly not liking where this conversation was heading. “Well, it’s just... This morning when I got food, I only just barely managed to convince the cook for two servings, so...”
It took a moment for me to process that when it hit me. “Oh, right.” Kala was looking very apologetic, and I just pinched the bridge of my nose. Well, this spoiled my mood rather fast. I sighed and made some mental preparations. This is going to fucking suck.