“Remember, we are but receptacles for her power,” Serana explained to the thirty-three knights arrayed in front of her in the Temple’s courtyard.

Five of the original thirty-seven had failed to form even a simple shield and were reassigned, leaving just the men in front of her. The thirty-third was, of course, Aisac. The Custodian was mildly disappointed with such a showing. Utilizing Eternity’s power was not easy, but she had not selected their first real working on a whim, nor were the men some random bumpkins.

The courtyard itself was walled off by white walls and rather unremarkable, barring a single water fountain in the back.

“That is why intent is so important. You are not performing miracles, simply asking for them,” she surveyed the lined-up knights, watching for signs of incomprehension. It wouldn’t do for any of them to get a big head.

Seeing none, she continued, “However, even Eternity herself cannot help you when you do not know what to ask for.”

“Hence, intent,” Serana gestured, lifting a nearby pebble of the ground with her power. Not that intent worked completely, but she had no better word to describe it. Hopefully, their earlier practice would help them realize this.

She looked over the knights, before settling on one, “You. Move another pebble into the same position, but do not use magic.”

The knight in question was on the shorter side, wearing armour sans helmet like his compatriots. He blinked at her with blue eyes, before hesitantly approaching closer, his gaze settling on one of the small stones on the ground.

He stood there frowning for almost half a minute while the entire courtyard sat in silence. Serana waited patiently, still levitating her own pebble.

Eventually, the knight simply reached down and picked the pebble up, holding it in approximately the same position as the one in Serana’s magical grasp.

She gave the man a nod, “Excellent. You can go back now.”

The man let go and walked back. When he returned to his place, she continued, making her pebble rise and spin slowly, “Intent. You know how to move a pebble and so you can move the pebble. After already being capable of creating a shield, doing so should prove trivial for all of you.”

Grabbing many more pebbles before making them glow and spin in a ring around her at great speeds.

“Eternity is capable of almost anything and so are we, her chosen few,” She paused, “provided we know how to properly make use of her gift.” The knights looked on, enraptured.

She surveyed them once more before barking a command, “Shields!”

Most of the knights, not having their usual equipment present struggled against muscle memory as their hands reached for non-existent shields. The Custodian made note of the five who reached for magic immediately, Aisac among them.

In a few seconds, all had formed silver shields in front of them, most of them nearly identical to the mundane kite shields their kind usually used.

She clenched her fist, sending all the floating pebbles forward and pelting the assembled shield wall. The shields held effortlessly.

The Custodian nodded, satisfied. This hopefully hammered her words home.

“You have half an hour to make something float. Any questions?”

The knights exchanged glances, looking less like hardened warriors and more like shy schoolchildren.

One of them stepped forward. It was the same short one she had chosen for her pebble demonstration.

“If intent is the key, why not tell us beforehand, Lady Custodian?”

“Would it have helped you?”

At her response, the blue-eyed knight grew contemplative.

“I do not know, Lady Custodian.”

“In your earlier practice, it was already your intent to create a shield was it not?”

“But, doesn’t that make the entire lesson pointless?”

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At those words, Serana gave the young knight a once-over. Blue eyes, brown hair and a wiry build greeted her eyes. In other words, a completely unremarkable man. Yet he was bold enough to question her, something which definitely warranted her attention, especially so soon after she had demonstrated her prowess on the battlefield.

She would have to make sure it was understanding or at least bravery behind his actions and not stupidity, but he might make a fine replacement for Aisac one day.

The knight, not knowing any of what went through her mind felt his skin erupt with sweat.

Not wanting to discourage the man, the Custodian inclined her head in approval.

“Up to a point. Eternity’s power is not easy to use, but it is simple.”

She hummed in thought, the man’s question improving her mood noticeably. It had been a while since she had taught anything and much longer still for her students to not act like awkward statues.

“It is important not to confuse your intent with imagination. You are not ‘imagining’ magic into existence, you are asking Eternity to mould her power according to your intent - to what you wish to do.”

She paused for breath, noting the look of concentration on both the man's and his compatriots' faces.

“As you might have realised, this difference is quite difficult to describe with words. That is one of the reasons I had you practise first. The practical difference is, however, obvious. Anything which you can do through mundane means, especially that which you have extensively practised, can be easily reproduced through Eternity’s power.”

Serana could see the man nod in understanding while a decent portion of the others seemed appreciative of the extended explanation as well. She could not help but admit that she was rather unsuited to teaching this. Much of what seemed to stump her pupils was obvious to her, many of these things she had not given any thought for decades if not centuries.

“Therefore, while it might be possible to use Eternity’s power to do everything imaginable, anything even a tiny bit in the abstract can often be near impossible to actually accomplish. That is why force and enhancements of your own bodies are both the best and easiest ways to make use of Eternity’s power.”

An unfortunate limit of the human mind that even Serana herself had never truly conquered. It was something she had tried to at first solve and eventually at least side-step, never quite succeeding. This was also where the limits of the word intent came. You can possess the intent of creating fire, but what you will actually intend to do is to use tools to do so. A small distinction, yet an extremely important one.

Many a night the Custodian had nearly torn out her hair trying to map out some of these seemingly arbitrary differences. She had little doubt that some of the knights in front of her would follow in her footsteps in that regard. After all, she had been told the same things and it had not deterred her at all.

A childish part of her had really wanted to throw lighting and fireballs around.

Alas, she was forced to make do with simple, world-shaking might. Woe is her.

“Now lift those pebbles.”

The Custodian stood and watched as upon her command the thirty-two warriors began to frown and make various other, sometimes undignified, faces of concentration.

Fortunately, there were to be no other disappointments this day. Barely five minutes past her command, the first began to succeed. Fifteen minutes later, thirty-two rocks floated in front of the Custodian.

“Excellent. With this, we have covered shields and a basic application of force. You may think that neither is terribly impressive, but as you practise and your bodies grow more used to Her power, these two techniques will grow vastly in both power and usefulness. The last thing I will teach you are enhancements. These three techniques will cover the vast majority of your needs.”

And anything else would be too time-consuming to teach.

“Basic enhancements will be the easiest of the three, but they are also the most potentially dangerous. It is incredibly easy to grievously injure or even die should you make a mistake.”

She paused, making sure that everyone paid attention. She’d rather not have to find replacements for anyone here.

“Many of your muscles are strong enough to break or otherwise damage the bones they are attached to. Luckily for you, the human body is more than capable of stopping you from doing so, making this a non-issue under normal circumstances. Now, what do you think will happen should you strengthen your body unequally?”

There was a moment of silence before Aisac spoke the obvious answer, his voice resolute, “Things break.”

“Just so. There is no simple workaround. It might seem like a waste, but the only option is to strengthen the entirety of your body, lest your back muscles crush your spine before you realise what is happening.”

Many of the knights shuddered as they heard her words, much to her approval. The less they’d try to get clever with this particular technique, the better. There were ways to do so, but her students had little chance to learn them without maiming themselves first, not without her help.

“You already possess all the necessary knowledge to try, but before you do so, make sure you are lying down with all your muscles relaxed. Take great care not to move until you are sure you have succeeded completely. Do not worry, success will be quite apparent.”

The knights shuffled their feet, before Aisac spoke, seemingly for all of them, “Right now, Lady Custodian?”

“The ground will not bite you, my loyal servants.”

Suitably chagrined, all of them quickly laid down on the dirt. Serana looked on, somewhat amused at the sight of so many warriors intensely trying to relax.

Serana wondered if she should have told them how long she expected this to take, before dismissing the thought.

It was much more amusing this way.