Corentin taught class not on the grounds, but in a small room tucked away in the back of the main building. There were cushions stacked in the corner and four laid out on the floor -- three in a row and then one in the front of the room. One of the older students ushered the trio into the room, which was so far empty.
Cleo looked around. “This is a pretty nice room. It’s almost fancy enough to be in a palace.”
The walls were hung with gold cloths with a subtle oak motif woven through them. The floor was wood polished so highly as to almost be reflective. Two magical orbs gave off a soft, gentle light that highlighted the walls and floor without casting a direct reflection.
Maddie walked toward the front of the room, focused on the cushions. She pulled the nearmost cushion back about a foot and plopped down on it.
Gaius raised his eyebrows. “Making a statement?”
Maddie shook her head. “No, I just don’t want to be that close to him.”
Cleo, finished admiring the room, swept over and pulled the other two cushions back to be even with Maddie’s. She sat herself down demurely on the middle cushion. Gaius looked at her inquiringly.
“No statements,” she said simply. He went to the remaining cushion and sat down.
A moment later the door opened and a round, pleasant face peeked in. Corentin’s face lit up.
‘Ah, you’re all here. Wonderful!”
Maddie averted her eyes as soon as she heard the teacher’s voice. Looking down at the floor, she let out a stiff but crisp, “Hello, Magister Corentin.”
Her friends echoed a hello.
“It’s good to see you all, Gaius, Cleopatra, Madeleine. I think you are all going to learn a lot. Now,” he said, sitting his rotund frame on the front cushion, “I introduced the idea of willpower magic in our last class, but I haven’t taught the other students anything yet. We’ll start with some more basic training which Madeleine might find repetitive, but I have to gauge your proficiencies.”
He glanced down at the floor and frowned as if something was slightly off but he couldn’t quite place what.
“Now, as you now know, there are two different schools of thought about magic. One school -- the one I subscribe to -- looks at the resonance of the magic in your soul and tries to match it with the world outside. This effectively coaxes cooperation between your magic -- your soul -- and the fabric of the universe. This is an old method taught by scholars in the East, in the Gupta Empire and the lands around it. The Hindu sages have been practicing it for thousands of years. We are lucky that many of their texts have been given to us and translated into Latin and Greek.
“The second method is used in more warlike societies. The Germanic tribes in the north use a more … direct method. Instead of looking at your soul and seeing the resonance, this method simply uses your willpower to make changes to the world. It is a blunt weapon compared to using resonance and one that not all people have the capacity to use. I’m a little surprised that Madeleine could use it, given her shyness.”
He said this like a joke but the chuckle died on his lips when he saw the way Maddie was shaking with anger. He held up his hands placatingly.
“I’m terribly sorry, Madeleine. I should not make such personal comments. Especially considering that you and I are not on the best of terms.”
The phrase “best of terms” drew a sneer from Maddie that she curbed when Cleo poked her in the ribs without warning. Maddie let out an “eep!” and nearly jumped and looked at her friend, who smiled and nodded. Then she gestured for Maddie to say something.
“A…apology accepted, Magister.”
Corentin sat down on the remaining cushion. He looked down sadly for a moment and when he raised his head up he wore his usual cheerful smile.
“Now, to be clear, resonance isn’t completely useless in willpower magic. Your elemental aptitudes still determine what magic you can use. With practice you may be able to influence elements outside your domains, but it takes decades of study and is incredibly rare. Madeleine, what domains did Tereus use?”
Maddie blinked, surprised at the question. “Um, he used illusions and I think maybe mind magic? And when he taught me he used shadow magic.”
“Hmm, he either has access to a wide range of domains or he was using a divine ability.”
“Are we going to train to go up against Tereus’s domains?” Cleo asked.
“Hmm? Oh, no. I guess I was just wondering.”
Cleo fixed her teacher with a look that implied a lot of respect for his position and expertise, but clearly meant that he should get on with it and not waste her time. Corentin looked down, a bit chastised. Cleo was very good at that look.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Err, yes. Madeleine, I’m going to ask you to do something that you’ve done before, but bear with me, please. I want you to look inside yourself and attempt to see your magic.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she looked inside at her shadow magic, just as she had done during Tereus’s lessons. It was the same wispy, slightly fuzzy-looking dark grey ball it had always been, even before she could see it.
“Okay, I can see my shadow magic,” she said.
“Ah, of course, but I want you to look around, see if you possess any other affinities.”
Maddie narrowed her eyes, trying to parse Corentin’s words.
“My shadow magic is so big, it’s hard to see anything else.”
Cleo put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Imagine your…mind?” She looked at Corentin for confirmation.
“More like your soul, but yes.”
“Okay, so imagine your soul is a room. Your shadow magic fills up most of it, but are there other things? Maybe in the corners or hiding behind the shadow?”
“Or maybe you could shrink your magic down,” Gaius suggested.
The image of the room came easily to Maddie after all the visualization exercises they had done in class. She pushed her focus deep and the magic was everything. Her mental vision was nothing but shadows. She frowned deeply, trying to shrink the shadows, but she was lost in them.
“Perhaps not quite that deep. Look at the surface level of your soul.”
Maddie snapped out of her contemplation immediately and her eyes snapped to Corentin. He put his hands up in surrender.
“I’m not using mind magic. I promise. I’ve just taught many students over the years and I recognize the look on your face. You looked like you had gotten very deep into your soul and were trying to affect your shadow magic, as Gaius had suggested. Follow Cleopatra’s lead and take a very shallow look at your soul.”
Maddie had to take some deep breaths to settle her misplaced shock and anger at her teacher. She centered her mind and took a look at the space within herself where her magic seemed to live.She saw the fuzzy ball of shadow, but didn’t let it fill her whole vision. She tried to build a mental room around it, with white walls, floor, and ceiling. As soon as it was completed, the room started to come apart. Maybe Tereus was right, and she did lack imagination. Her brow furrowed and her eyes blinked open for a second. In front of her was Corentin, sitting centered in front of her. Something fuzzed and he was covered by the ball of magic. Maddie turned around to face the back of the room, which was almost entirely empty. Eyes open, she imagined the magic in front of her but several feet away. It was large, but didn’t take up as much of her vision as it had before.
Maddie started to search the room around her magic, but all she found were the pillows in the corner.She was feeling stupid, and silly, and sure that everyone was looking at her. She scrunched her eyes tight. Before her mental vision could take over, the room with the ball of magic flashed into her mind.
“Is she…?”
“Shhh.”
She held the image, blurring it around the edges a little. The details faded but the room was still clear.
“Almost,” she murmured.
Maddie meditated until the room was set, then she started to look around. Corentin saw her head moving.
“Go by feel as much as by vision,” he whispered.
The grey ball sputtered, throwing up wisps of smoke. It crackled, getting louder as she tried to take her attention from it. She tried to tune it out. Then she heard another noise. A crackling that didn’t come from the ball. It came from behind it. She slowly rose and followed the sound, walking around the ball of darkness.
“Why did she get--”
“--SHHH!”
Behind the shadow magic was a smaller ball. She had expected it to be tiny, but it was half the size of the shadow ball. It was a lighter grey sphere -- looking almost exactly like a storm cloud. The edges were fuzzy and let off little sparks of light. It was the source of the crackling, as well. Maddie could see her shadow magic behind it. The larger sphere looked darker in comparison and the edges looked more solid. It did not crackle or spark, just smolder slowly.
“There’s something else there. I don’t know how to describe it, but I think it’s been there all along.”
She opened her eyes, then walked back to her pillow and sat down.
If you’ll permit, I could see the image in your mind if you call it up. No, no, never mind that!” Corentin retracted his offer as soon as he made it. He needed to remember to handle Madeleine with extreme care.
“What does your magic look like?” Maddie turned to Cleo and Gaius.
“Hmm,” Cleo replied, “It doesn’t really look like anything. I guess it’s like looking at an ocean.”
“Mine is just heat and light,” Gaius replied, “Maybe a wall of flame? The sun? I don’t know.”
“Mine looks like a ball,” Maddie told them, “like the way you made it look the first time you showed it to us. A perfect sphere. Except the edges were all fuzzy and crackled. But when I looked behind it I saw another sphere. This one looked like dark clouds and it was fuzzy and crackling and the other one wasn’t.”
“It sounds like some kind of storm magic. Likely Air and Water magic that became tangled together in your mind. Storm magic isn’t a normal Domain, but Shadow magic isn’t either.
“Forgive me again, Madeleine, but I did see your magic -- the way you visualize it -- when I… When… Before.”
Maddie was so lost in thought that she didn't even react to Corentin’s mention of that terrible moment she hated him for. Storms? She had always loved the rain and had felt so right when those massive storms had hit. She opened her eyes, shocked by a thought.
“Those storms!”
Corentin’s eyes widened. “That couldn’t possibly be. It took thirteen druids to quell that storm.
“As strong as your magic is, that would be much too much. Even with your instinctual style of using magic, that’s just not possible.”
Maddie was both angry and abashed when Corentin said she wasn’t powerful enough.She tried to formulate a thought through her conflicting emotions.
“What if it’s a divine ability?” Gaius offered.
Cleo looked at him and nodded. “We need to find out more about the gods.”