The rest of the night had been uneventful, and despite the nightmare, Lia had woken early. She was now clad in the academy robes – a traditional long garb made of black fabric with silvery-white lines stitched onto it. They looked a little as if they were supposed to represent the inverse color scheme of the station itself.
An older woman in similar robes – the embroidery had been a deep red – had picked them and the others from the Selena dorm up and brought them back to the main building. She had introduced herself as Miss Sao. There they were led to a big room with several large tables, and they could get breakfast in trays. They were standard meals, and the little choice they had was between some types of fruits, types of vegetables, some types of bread, and a glass of milk. No choice there. Nothing of it was anywhere close to a banquet that had been described in various magic academy stories, which felt rather disappointing. Weren’t mages supposed to need a lot of energy to do what they did?
“The most important thing for that is a healthy body,” Miss Sao explained, as a boy from another moon asked. Robert Solace, if she didn’t mix the boys up, seemed to have been on the same story diet as her. It made him instantly likeable. A bit at least. He was still a boy. “Eating a lot of calories doesn’t help you anything, if your body doesn’t have the right nutrients to burn them,” Miss Sao said, driving the point home. Well, somewhat. At least she didn’t allow for anymore discussion on that point. They were all stuck with a bland, but apparently balanced breakfast.
After that she led them to class. It looked more like a theater: The seats were distributed in a half-circle around the dais where the teacher stood. The rows in the back had a higher elevation than the ones in the front, giving the ones in the back a far better view on what happened on the dais. It was not at all like it had be in school on Eo, with a few rows squished into a small square room and all of them on the same height.
They were not the only ones that had been led into the class, on the other side Ludwig’s face appeared, leading the Imperi in, making this a mixed class in more than one sense.
Lia noticed Rudehair sitting down in a row at the front. The girl had seen her, too, and was smiling smugly. The Imperi’s clothing were white robes, with dark lines, making them a spitting image of the station. So Orphelia had been right that they were marked by their clothing. The girl either had a good head, or she knew far more than Lia. Maybe they simply learned this stuff in school on Deimos?
Ludwig stepped onto the marble platform that was the dais, just as she had taken her seat and had adjusted her chair. Miss Sao walked onto the dais as well, but stood behind him. Were they a teacher pair? But why didn’t they stand next to each other? Or was this another sign that they were apparently inferior to the Imperi? Lia frowned while he began to speak.
“Everyone is here, good. Now. I am here to do away with your archaic ideas about the magic elements.” He waved the donar behind him closer and Miss Sao put a hand on his back. Lia suddenly noticed that there had been thin metal lines embedded into the dais that now began to glow in a soft light. And then, the room grew darker. It was as if the light from those lines drained the light from the room.
A stone orb appeared amid that darkness. It seemed to glow almost imperceptibly by itself. Then, next to it, a ball of water appeared, followed by a whispy one that probably represented air, and lastly a miniature sun appeared, whose light threatened to drown out the other orbs. With that thing floating there, Lia was glad that she wasn’t sitting in the front row.
“Let me make this clear,” Ludwig said, “these do not represent Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. They are Solid,” the stone sphere changed to a metal one, “Liquid,” the sphere got clearer, and there were ripples on it that made it look like some form of clear honey, “Gases,” that sphere turned from a whispy form to one that showed some yellow-greenish colored gas, “and Plasma.” The angry orange glow of the fire turned into an icy-blue glow that seemed even brighter, even angrier. Now she was especially happy to sit in one of the last rows.
“Contrary to all those … fantasy novels,” he spat the word like a curse, “mages of these elements can’t create any of these effects unless one form of it is present. They can only manipulate what is already there. A solid mage that has a stone or a block of metal can easily change its form, process it as precise as any machine could, if not even more so. A solid mage swimming in a sea can’t simply conjure an island to stand on. But be warned, even though there is enough material all around you,” he indicated the walls, the floor and the ceiling, “you are forbidden to use the substance of the station for anything. Not as training, not for pranks, not for sculpting art.” He made a pause, and the orbs rotated slightly, bringing the next one into the front.
“Liquid mages sometimes have a harder time to procure their element. Unless you are standing near a lake, it might be helpful to have a small canteen with you as a source of water, for example. But liquid mages are not limited to just water, they have can easily manipulate any liquid.” It seemed as if he was trying to give a crash course on the elements, instead of slowly having them learn about each one in turn. Lia tried to memorize all these things, but it was hard to instantly switch from a known system to a similar one that was still very different. Her gaze hit some of the students in the first row. The Imperi were making notes on little slates. The Donars were stuck with simply remembering all of this. There was a systemic problem between the people that came from planets and those from moons. Not only was their access to magic different, they also had different equipment.
“Gasoline,” Ludwig’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts, “is a liquid. Oil is a liquid. And even blood is a liquid. Liquid mages can use their affinity to cook or to help during medical procedures. But they still need a direct line of sight to whatever they want to manipulate. There is no way that someone can just end another’s life by stopping their blood flow, as that blood is hidden beneath the skin. You always need a direct line of sight.”
Someone in the front lifted a hand.
“Yes?” Luadwig asked.
“Does skin count as a solid or a liquid?” the boy asked. He was an Impero and sat almost center stage.
“In terms of magic as neither,” Ludwig answered, then turned to his spheres once more. They rotated again, and he seemed to take a deep breath. “Control over Gases is a highly sought skill. Gas mages can create bubbles of air. They could go out into space without any kind of space suit and survive. Except if they are standing in the light of a sun. It’s radiation isn’t very pleasant out in space.” He cleared his throat, then continued as if he hadn’t gone on a tangent. “Gas mages can clear toxic gases from a contaminated atmosphere. And yes,” he seemed to fix the boy that had asked the question earlier, “a gas mage can remove the oxygen around someone’s head. This is no joke. It is not a prank. Any student doing that to anyone will be expelled immediately and then persecuted.” His eyes wandered over all the students, even the Donars. He knew that no Impera could do this without someone donating mana to do that. “Be warned that we will know when magic is misused in this way on the station.”
The spheres rotated slowly. Slower than before. Maybe he gave them time to let this information sink in. Then he spoke again, as if he hadn’t said anything about students hurting each other: “The last of the basic four elements is Plasma. From the control of a candle flame to the exhaust of a spaceship, a plasma mage can manipulate any form of plasma. Skilled plasma mages can control lightning, and there have been some that managed to control solar flares, allowing them to redirect a solar wind and save stations and satellites that would otherwise have been hit very hard.”
The images vanished and the classroom returned to how it looked before. Lia could see some students still trying to write down all the things Ludwig had said. Despite the small pauses it was still a lot to take in.
“Questions?” Ludwig’s voice sounded as if he didn’t expect any. A boy on Lia’s side timidly raised his hand. “Yes, Mister Ersa?”
“Why,” she heard him gulp, but then his voice sounded a little firmer. “Why do we Donar need to know all that?”
“Because Mages are always employed as a team. Two heads often come to a far more efficient solution than just one head. As soon as you start using magic you’ll see how draining the process can be for both Donar and Impera. In that state, it is good to have someone to discuss possible magical solutions with. Or maybe you’ll even find a mundane solution with both of your heads.” Ludwig turned away from the one that had asked. She had the feeling that he hadn’t liked answering that kind of question. Maybe he found it dumb. Or maybe it was his disdain for Donar in general.
“No more questions? Good.” He took a deep breath, then walked slightly up and down on the dais. After pacing back and forth roughly three times, he came to a stop in front of Miss Sao again. She hadn’t moved or intervened in the teaching at all. Lia had almost forgotten her. She only remembered her because she put her hand back onto Ludwig’s shoulder. A moment later the darkness returned and a metal cube, a sphere made of vines and a softly glowing orb, reminiscent of the earth’s moon, appeared before them.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“The next three elements, or rather concepts, are Non-Living things, what you lot know as metal, Living things, what you know as Wood, or Tree, and Spirit, what you know as Moon.” The spheres rotated to put the one of them in the front that he was mentioning, but they vanished without him having talked about them in detail. Miss Sao stepped back from him and took a seat that stood off to the site of the dais. He began to pace while he continued to talk.
“The concept of non-living things, is the magic element of metal. Yes, we keep that name, as inanimate mages gives off the wrong impression.” Lia blinked. Had he just made a joke? It sounded more as if he had recited some sort of script though. And no one was laughing. “Metal mages have control over any non-living matter. For them there is no difference whether that matter is a solid, a liquid, a gas or even plasma. As you can imagine, that alone makes it very versatile. But there are also some restrictions. While a liquid mage is able to control blood, a metal mage is unable to do so. Magic considers blood as living. This changes as soon as it is dry though. It follows that whenever a metal mage can manipulate a body ... it’s dead. Any necromancer in any fantasy novel therefore would be a metal mage. But trust me, you won’t be able to control an army of zombies. That simply takes too much mana and concentration to do.” He stopped in his pacing and shook his head. “Metal mages are mostly used in construction or research. Because of that, anyone with access to the metal element can become an engineer. No matter whether they’re a donar or an impera.” He paused again.
Maybe he regarded this information as much more important than what he had said about the first four elements. Or maybe he got used to teaching? Or he was exhausting himself somehow? Lia didn’t know. Her mind was wandering, although she knew that she should try and remember all the details. All the information was interesting, and yet her mind started to connect the things he said with all the things she had heard and read before. Therefore a lot of fantasy novels roamed her thoughts. And then there were the words the principal had said. About the elements. That it would do what she knew, and that she’d get to know more.
“Wood mages”, Ludwig said, continuing, “can manipulate any living matter. They can make plants grow just a little faster and in ways they want them to grow. They can knit wounds on plants, animals and humans. Well trained wood mages are usually valued doctors, but there have been a few that have dedicated their lives to plants. Our station’s nurse, Miss Joy, is a wood mage.” He stopped again on the other side of the dais. “A wood mage can protect life, but they can as easily destroy it. They are the most dangerous type of mage on a battlefield. The empress put rules into place that prohibit the use of wood mages in battles or wars. No matter how these battles end, the wood mages that took lives are punished harshly. But you’ll learn about mage laws at a later date. I strongly recommend you pay attention in that class.”
“The third element in the second tier of magic concepts can be used in a variety of ways. Experienced spirit mages can use them for crowd control, by conjuring illusions like the darkness and the spheres you saw. It can also be used to read minds or even to implant thoughts. Some spirit mages can drain other mages. This is not a transfer of magical energy, but simply bombarding a mind with somany impressions that it will exhaust them. This usually results in a double KO and is therefore rarely used. Instead spirit mages are often used to communicate over great distances. When their minds connect with magic, communication between them is instantaneous and faster than light. One of them has boarded Voyager 17, and we’ll probably soon hear from them. As you can see, spirit mages can be both very useful as well as very dangerous. There will be several lessons on spirit magic legalities that you’ll have to learn. There are also techniques to resist their influence without needing access to the spirit element.”
In the ensuing silence, Lia remembered that the principal had put her down for spirit. Why did he have to put her down for that? Why hadn’t he chosen wood for her? She’d rather have helped someone heal another person than be used to manipulate anyone. Maybe she could get this changed. Swap out moon for wood. Or something. Even metal sounded better.
“The last two concepts,” Ludwig continued, ignoring her inner turmoil, “are referred to as Light and Dark. They are very, very powerful and rare concepts. Light is the presence of energy. It allows magic to be converted directly into any other type of energy. Is light used in conjunction with the dark element, energy can be turned into matter. Energy can be used to move ships, it can keep a mage warm or it can simply be used to turn a solid into a liquid. Or a liquid into a gas. These changes will allow a liquid mage to manipulate a material they couldn’t alter before.
“Darkness is the opposing element to light. While they are opposing elements, they are still two sides of the same coin, which means that these two elements have the most synergies – You’ll learn more about synergies in a different class. As darkness expresses itself by the absence of light, and therefore of energy, it can be used to drain any form of energy from something. This allows a dark mage to cool material down, to turn a liquid into a solid. They literally fix the building blocks of matter into place. Skilled mages can scale this concept up and generate gravity. We call those who have mastered that skill gravity mages. Though they are rare amongst the already rare dark mages.”
There was a long pause after Ludwig’s monologue, and Lia had the feeling that her head had begun to spin. Why was darkness connected to gravity? That simply didn’t make any sense to her. Judging by the silence in the classroom, she wasn’t the only one having problems grasping this connection.
“Now, can anyone of you tell me, why mages work in groups, and why mages with multiple elements are valued a lot?” Ludwig asked, his gaze slowly wandering over the assembled students. A few of them raised their hands, some fast, some more carefully. Lia didn’t. Her mind was still back at the gravity and hadn’t caught up yet.
“Miss Eris?” Ludwig picked an unremarkable girl with an Impera robe. She stood up and said in a voice that sounded rather rehearsed: “Because of the elemental synergies that arise. A mage that has access to dark, light and liquid may be able to create water from nothing.”
“That’s correct, although such a feat would require the power of several dozen Donar and would result in just a few drops of water, completely tiring the mages out. But some rare earth metals could be created in the same fashion, and their rarity would justify knocking a few mages out for a few days. Something far more common is a gas mage and a plasma mage working together to create a protective shield around the hull of a spaceship. There process is a lot more involved and requires magical engineering, which is an advanced class.” He nodded and the girl sat back down.
“This is why you’ll learn how to work in teams,” Ludwig restated. “Mages have always had to work together, and a lot of historians agree, that we wouldn’t have this prosperity, if mages had been able to brood and do research alone.” He once again sounded as if he was reiterating some rehearsed speech, something he didn’t believe in himself.
“Before the new Impera will learn to work with the fledgling Donar, both groups need to learn a bit of control themselves. Therefore we’ll split the class now. The Impera will follow me, while the Donar will stay and Miss ... Sao ...” he looked at the woman as if for confirmation, “will teach the Donar to control their flow of mana.”
The white robed students all got up and left the room. Lia couldn’t help but notice that Rudehair had once again that smug grin on her lips. Did she know something that Lia didn’t? Or was she simply basking in her one victory forever?
Miss Sao got up from the chair, and lifted a basket. She walked around the classroom, setting down strange stone discs in front of the students. There were some that came with extras, like a stone, a candle or a bottle of water. As she arrived in front of Lia, she set down a disc that had several metallic lines embedded in it. It almost looked like a fancy little magic circle out of an animated series: Three circles were nestled within one another with little star in the smallest one. One edge of the star was extended so far that it touched the outer most circle, two more were touching the middle one, and the last two stayed in the smallest circle. With her knowledge of animated series, she had expected some strange symbols or text somewhere on the disc, but there were only these three rather simple geometric shapes.
“I have given you all a training disc for your element, or for one of your registered elements,” Miss Sao explained while returning to the dais. “Touch the two metal plates on the back of the disc with both hands, and then practice pushing your mana into the disc. If you have more than one, and nothing happens, then try a different color.”
Lia stared at the device. Then she tried to reach into herself to find that ball of energy. Once again, there was nothing. Not a speck. After trying several times, she opened her eyes and looked at the others. One was balancing the flame of the candle on top of the disc, a thin cord connecting it to the candle on his desk. Another levitated a small cube made from stone. And Orphelia … had a miniature sun above her disc. Miss Sao was walking among them and said something along the lines of “keep the flow steady”, “try to use a little less mana”, and “good”.
Lia frowned and closed her eyes. She had to try again. Still nothing. Why was she unable to do this? She hadn’t even found any colors within her mana, as she hadn’t even found her mana! She started to grow frustrated and stared at the disc again. With her gaze unfocussed, it even looked similar to the device that had condemned her to a life as a battery!
“Is something the matter, Miss Eo?” Sao had appeared next to her. She still sounded strict. Maybe that was her normal tone of voice. “Is this exercise maybe too boring for you?” She asked, her voice dripping with condescension.
“N... no,” Lia fought back a growl. Her frustration started building more and more, and she fought from shouting at her fellow Donar. “I ... just don’t know how,” she confessed, and more and more gazes turned to her.
“Just access the ball of energy-”
“I. Don’t. Have. A. Ball. Of. Energy!” Lia said, interrupting Sao. It took her all not to shout. “All I have is this knot of frustration!” As she said that, she grabbed that knot with her mind and shoved it out of her fingers. There was a bright flash. She felt frustrated, but it felt at the same time as if that frustration was and wasn’t her own. As the brightness faded from her eyes, she suddenly felt lightheaded. The disc slipped from her weak fingers and thumped onto the table. She could see that the careful lines that had made up the image, had molten and solidified again in a few glittering spheres that had rolled onto the table.
“What ... happened?” she asked as her sense of balance gave out. She could see Miss Sao grab her, but she almost didn’t feel the touch. The edge of her vision started to darken and she realized “I’ve done it again,” just before her consciousness faded.