"I believe you described it best yourself when you called Fae 'prideful'. Indeed, only the most arrogant Element could proclaim something and have reality conform to its wishes," Felin explained, prancing about in the air. "Word Magick is the general field of all things to do with, well, magical words. Usually, they take the form of commands, the easiest, and others are... broader. Now, not all Word Spells are Fae-based, but a lot of them either incorporate the Element or at least touch on it. In reality, the true masters of Word Magick are the devils with their Contracts. We fae simply come along and... steal some of it for ourselves. One of these Spells we... appropriated, is Command. The actual Command Spell comes in all sorts of shapes and Elements, the flavour behind it being quite flexible, but here I'll teach you the Fae version. Specifically, the Wizard version."

Felin pivoted in the air, facing directly towards Amy, still sitting on the bed, although she had a notebook with her to write on.

"Command is a mid-Tier Apprentice Spell, so Tier 4, roughly. The Wizard version, much like the Fae, is comprised of only one Element, the only changes being to the Spellform so that other Elements can be more easily incorporated for flexibility," Felin said, waving a paw and conjuring and image of the Spellform in the air out of mana, verdant and shimmering. Unlike the other Tier 4 Spell Amy knew of, Command's Spellform was rather simplistic, the real power behind the spell coming from the Concepts and Element behind it, she imagined. Cocking his head to the side, he muttered, "Actually, do you have this Spell on your... FPG?"

"That's... let's check it out then," Amy blinked, swiping the screen of her bracelet to open and navigating over to the Arcane Repository. And, when she searched for it, there was one. Making the window visible, she said, "Yes, there is."

_______________________________________________________________________________

Tier 4 - Command

Brief - Issue a command to a target.

MTR-Mana Cost - (Low - Very High)

Attunement Difficulty - (See Details?)

Range ~ (<1m - 10m)

Description:

Imbue your words with the strength of your Element to command a target to act

according to its wishes.

Casting Details:

Element - (See Details?)

Elemental Affinity - (See Details?)

Previously Casted - No

Spellform - VIEW

Suggest Edit

Vote for Spell of the Week

Return to Search Results

_______________________________________________________________________________

Directing a thought towards the window, Amy also expanded the Spellform, a separate image popping up to display it beside the main one. It was similar in many ways to the Wizard one but felt... rougher in some places, less refined even. Felin walked up to, examining the details closely before turning away almost derisively.

"Well, though it's a bit arrogant the way they worded it, they've gotten the description and most of the details right," He snorted. "As you can see here, Command is all about channelling the Element through you in a way, and letting your... influence, for lack of better word, with the mana do the work of the Command. As you embody the Element in the Spell, the mana changes according to your, or rather, the Element's wishes as if you were its avatar. Hence the usage of a Command varies massively between Elements, and thus the scope of the Commands themselves. A Fire Command wouldn't work very well if you were Commanding something to 'kneel' or 'part'. However, if you were using a Fire Command to 'ignite' or 'extinguish' something? That then would work extremely well."

"I see," Amy said, contemplative. "Then why would Fae work the best? If it works like your Fire example, then it'd still be quite limited, no?"

"That's only if you consider Fae an ordinary Element," Felin pointed out happily, "Which by now you should be more than aware that it isn't. A Fae Command is extremely flexible in commanding 'the world', rather than specific areas. My previous examples of 'kneel' of 'part' would work in a Fae Command, due to the primordial Concept that Fae embodies, unlike the more stubborn Fire. Unfortunately for mortals, like all Esoteric Elements, those Concepts aren't easy to describe when compared to the Basics like Earth and Fire."

"I understand," She nodded, turning back towards the adjusted Spellform. "Should I just get on with it?"

"If you have no more questions, then go ahead," Felin smiled, taking a step back.

Amy stepped off of her bed and approached the Spellform to note it down in more detail. Each curve was carefully drawn and taken down, her mind churning to memorising each segment the best she could all the while. Ah, Amy realised, pausing her sketching at a particularly delicate section. That's why it's so simple. It's because the Spell allows for literally any Command you could imagine. It's the Concept that the Command embodies that fills in the gaps and really fleshes the Spell out into something that can be called Tier 4. If anything, the more I look at it, it's less like a Command, isn't it? The FPG's Spellform was definitely a Command, but - just like any Command really - it can be disobeyed. Elemental Water has no authority to tell a Fire to extinguish. It must be put out with force instead. However... the Wizard Command, or rather, the Fae Command doesn't seem to defer to anything. It's as if... the Element is above all. It is prideful. It believes itself above all reproach, and it can Command anything to do whatever it wants. It's less like a Command and more like... like a Decree.

Tapping her finished work with the back of her pencil, she checked her work over several times before moving onto the next step. Keeping the fresh memory of the Spellform in mind, Amy turned her focus inwards and towards her mana pool.

It was still in a delicate state, not quite recovered from the strain she'd put it through almost a day before. However, the pool itself was almost full once more, only barely lessened compared to how she remembered it. That little difference is probably going to take a while to make up again.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

All it took was a thought to send the mana whirling, mana coalescing from the Ocean almost immediately, as if the pool itself was hungry for more. All that was left was to imbue it with Fae, attuning it to her will. Her imagined Magecraft came to her, the stage of life and on it spun the dancer, once more a formless puppet to the whims of fate. The dancer spun and spun, attracting and enchanting the faceless audience in its own irresistible pull, putting them all under her thumb. This was the essence of Fae. It liked to present itself as a trickster, fickle and weak. Rather, it was insidious. It was pride, and pride wishes to stand over all. So that's how the dance positioned itself. Even in the degradation of itself as a mere puppet, it was Fae that was truly in control. It was both the puppet and the master.

Returning back to herself, Amy found the coalesced mana just as she expectected it. A virid brilliance that outshone all, orbiting around the tiny star of her mana pool in its centre. Carefully, Amy looked up, sparing a part of her attention towards something in her room. Her gaze landed on a small perfume bottle on the nightstand beside her bed. It was hers. And so, without any resistance, it would obey.

The Spellform spun out of her mana pool taking shape not in the air, but around her mouth. It was something she had pieced together when noting it down. The way it was shaped made it almost perfectly fit on top of a pair of lips, to enhance and imbue the words that came out of them with power and strength. Blinding green Fae joined it shortly after, entering the Spellform and filling it up, navigating through its passageways precisely, in the perfect way to elicit what was needed.

And then, almost unwillingly, the Command slipped out of her, the Spell shaping her mouth to it.

"Come."

Like a stone flung out of a slingshot, the perfume bottle catapulted towards her, spinning in the air. Eyes widening, it was only thanks to her enhanced reaction speed that Amy managed to catch the bottle in time. Yet, it didn't feel like that was all the Command did. In fact - although she couldn't decide if it was her imagination or not - the room felt... smaller than before. No, that's not the right word. It feels closer. As if it all came towards me. Oh.

"Is Command usually so undirected?" Amy asked, completely ignoring the disintegrating Spellform and deaspecting mana to notice how the foot of the bed was closer to her than before, and how the desk on the far wall was no longer flush with it.

"First, before answering your question, congratulations," Felin smiled widely, standing up from where he sat curled up on top of the air somewhere during her note taking.

"Thanks."

"Now, Commands always have a clear target. In this case that was your bottle. This meant it experienced the brunt of your Command, causing it to shoot over to you when you asked it to 'come'. However if this was all a Command could do, then no matter the flexibility, a simple Cantrip would do most of the time, rendering the Spell mostly useless. However, because the Spell is what it is, with you channelling the will of the Element of choice, it affects everything within range. This makes the Spell especially useful, unlike simple Cantrips or working. The actual strength of this Command on non-targeted things varies massively though, and depends on a variety of factors."

"Is one of them ownership?" Amy proposed, thinking back to her almost unnatural thoughts of possession right at the beginning of the Spellcasting.

"Correct. Glad you noticed that," Felin said happily. "Because you 'owned' that bottle, it reacted violently and came directly towards you. However, because you do not 'own' most of the things in this room, they didn't react as much."

"Then why didn't my bag fling towards me? Or at least react more than the bed?" Amy frowned, looking at it set down on the floor by the mirror. It seems closer but it's hard to tell by how much.

"Even if you do 'own' your bag in your mind, you did not consciously register that you did because it was not you target. Thus, it reacted similarly to everything else, only a bit more severe, as you did not register it as a target nor under your control."

"What if you targeted something you don't own then? Like a person?"

"Well, that depends on the person. If they're mundane, well, they'd react strongly. Nowhere near as much as the bottle, as they have the will to resist it, but it would be very hard to shake. This changes quite a bit when you get into the Mage side of things. An Aspirant would be able to strongly resist the Command, its effect being almost as much as the it did to bed in this room. However, that's only if the Aspirant knows how to defend against it, and has the time to. Command is very useful because not only is it easy to understand, but it's quick. All it could take to interrupt someone casting a dangerous Spell is an almost instant Command. Even if it doesn't work, it makes their concentration falter enough that the Spell is almost always disrupted."

"Got it," Amy acknowledged. It's probably to do with the amount of influence you have with the mana. Mundanes have barely any, so they can't counteract anything the mana does to them other than basic resistance. Mages on the other hand can, and this would only increase with Tier considering the 'influence' side of things. Commands then would have to scale off of the caster's own Mage Tier, so I can't see me Commanding a Journeyman to 'kneel', as Felin put it. At least not effectively anyway.

"Well, I'd normally say to practise the Spell the best you can, but then the Commands you'd be allowed to cast would be limited. You don't want to keep having to reorganise your room every time you do it," Felin said, frowning a little.

"Anything else to do then?"

"I'd honestly say to just move onto the next Spell I have in stall for your Fae tuition, but I have a feeling you're thinking about doing something else."

"Yeah... I kind of want to experiment with this," Amy admitted, suppressing a smile. "I feel a lot of potential with Command and well... I just want to do some Spellcasting and be a Mage for once in a while."

"I suppose," Felin said. "Shall I leave you to yourself then?"

"I mean if you want to then sure."

"Just make sure to run anything major through me first. Don't want another situation like before," Felin teased, rolling his neck as if to get rid of some stiffness.

"I know, I know," Amy shook her head, grimacing.

"See you later then, my dear Apprentice," Felin grinned, lighting up in a flash of mana before Amy could react and disappearing into flecks of Fae green.

"Oh-! I didn't..." Amy trailed off, realising she wasn't speaking to anyone. I wasn't asking you to leave... Damnit. Too late now I guess.

Falling back onto her bed, her legs kicking up a little as the bed was a bit closer than she expected, Amy let her eyes close and the perfume bottle to fall to her side as she thought back to the mini-revelation she had into the depths of Command. Decrees. What's the difference between a Command and Decree? Authority. What's at the core of the idea of ownership and possession? Authority. I have authority over my bottle because I own it, right? Or is it the other way around? I own it because I have authority over it. Yes, that feels better. I can affect the mana within me directly but not the mana I gather and coalesce because I have authority over it too. It's only when I attune it does the mana conform to my authority. And yet, I struggle to attune to some Elements over others because my own authority is lacking in some areas.

I have that super high Fae affinity, so I have high authority in it. So, I can affect Fae mana as much as if it was my own. But why would authority be at the core of mana when it's all about possibility? Why would something so obsessed with freedom of, well, everything, allow a part of it to be restricted. Maybe I'm just looking into it too deeply and finding connections where there are none. If something's supposed to be related to mana, it surely wouldn't be rulership and authority. If anything, it'd be anarchy. Yet... Felin mentioned something very briefly back when I was 'attacked' by that Archmage Tier monster. Something to do with a Domain.

A... proto-Domain he called it, didn't he? Dominion has a lot to do with authority doesn't it? And wouldn't that suit the next Tier after Archmage? Monarch? Maybe that's why the Tier is called that in the first place. You have authority over more than just yourself, that being your Domain. But what is a Domain then? I got 'attacked' by that monster by just looking at the thing. Wait, that's not right. I didn't look at it. I looked at its mana. Could a Domain involve... controlling the mana around you like your own mana pool? That's the only way I can imagine launching such an attack like that. Except the monster was dead, and, as Felin said, it was inactive. I think... trying to understand the high Tiers at Apprentice may just be futile. No point trying it.

Sitting up, Amy leant over and put the perfume bottle back in its place before looking down at her notepad once more, taking in Command's Spellform. The basis of it is the word, the command, yes, but it's flexible. Why limit it to just a verbal command? Can't you command someone using looks or gestures?

Repeating the same steps she had done minutes before, Amy once more coalesced and attune to Fae mana, the process becoming faster and more familiar each time. She focused this time on the desk in front of her, the one beside the door that she hadn't pushed back to be flush with it again. Only, this time, as the Spellform formed around her mouth, a stray trail of mana weaved its way from it to her hand, curing around one of her fingers like a ring. As the word of Command escaped her mouth, this time she added a flick of her hand to the right.

"Move."

As the mana left her control, the Spell dissipating, the desk shifted, pivoting around one of its back corners to move. And, not only did it obey her command, it also moved in the direction she gestured to. Admittedly, the desk hadn't moved much at all, as if all she had done was given it a bit of a shove, but it was significant. Other than that and one other detail, it was practically identical to her first Command. Only, of course, there had to be a downside to Commanding something that she not only didn't own but was much larger and heavier than a mere perfume bottle. Her innate mana pool felt drained, significantly more reduced than it was before, and compared to how much it had been affected by the first Spell.

Just as Amy was about to note that down on the rapidly shrinking space in her notepad, she heard a churn come from her lower half. Not from her mana pool as she expected, but from her stomach.

"Ah. I guess I haven't had much today, have I?" Amy said aloud, pressing her lips into a line. Swinging her legs and jumping off her bed excitedly, Amy said, "Well, I suppose it's time to see just what kind of food The Morning Dew serves."