We were at the playground, yet lunchtime was already over. We waited for professor Accord to make his appearance and start the class. Every student was ecstatic to try their magical abilities, weirdly enough, Marissa wasn’t one of them.
“Aren’t they going to be a lot better?” She whispered to my ear.
I could understand her fears, we had skipped four years of school, it was normal to be underprepared for such a situation.
“I doubt it.” I told her my thoughts. “Students in the first year didn’t even know how to cast spells, let alone spellcast. If they had problems with basic cantrips, I assume the limit to that year is two-star spells, at the utmost. And for the fifth year, let’s guess it’s around three and four-star spells.”
“Four-star spells?” Marissa jumped in surprise.
“I doubt it, but it’s possible.” I didn’t lie to her. “We were self-taught, in the end.”
Before Marissa could respond, Algor Accord finally made an act of presence as he waved to the class from the other side of the playground. I wish I could be as laidback as him.
“Alright, it seems everyone is here!” He said after having a quick look at the tumult of students. “Last week we spent the class looking at the progression of everyone’s training during the holidays. Some of you even managed to spellcast a four-star spell! Which is very noteworthy, obviously.”
“Told you so.” I whispered to Marissa. I had the suspicion that four-star spells would be difficult even for fifth graders.
“Today we are going to practice basic shielding and warding spells, as we begin with the sparring and duels this year.” Accord snapped his fingers and an oval-shaped translucent force field appeared around him. It had a light blue tinge. “Because security comes before all else. And I don’t want you to get hurt.”
The students reacted more to the duels than the display of magical prowess by the teacher. They probably had seen enough magic by now to not be surprised so easily when a teacher conjured something as a visual help.
“But first, we have to see what your new classmates are capable of.” Accord redirected the attention to us, and soon we had all the class looking at us. “Come forth, Miss Farlon, Master Nightfallen, and show us what are you able to do.”
Professor Accord knew perfectly our magical capabilities, this was nothing more than a show-off, a magical presentation to the class. A question arose at this instant. To highlight or not to highlight? But who am I kidding, if I wasn’t going to do it, Marissa would catch the limelight all for herself.
“Whenever you are ready.” He lent us the ‘stage’ as he pointed at the ground before the class.
***
Little Marissa and clever Edrie were probably the most interesting students this school had for a long time. Miss Farlon had shown enough mental acuity and maturity to skip fourth years with only mild difficulty. Master Edrie, on the other hand, was at a whole unseen level. In the few days of testing, he did not miss a single question and had shown him a magical prowess far superior to any child of his age. Even counting high ellari. Edrie Nightfallen could’ve probably skipped two or three more years, maybe even the entire basic education, but stayed behind most likely because of his friend.
Algor Accord didn’t know if he should be saddened by the fact that such a promising student was being taught under such nefarious conditions or amazed by the young boy’s loyalty.
“Here we go.” Little Edrie said.
He knew what the pair was capable of, yet he wanted to show it to their new classmates. Algor expected Marissa to spellcast Rush and maybe some air projectile, while Edrie would surely spellcast Mana Vacuum and Mana Pond.
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
After a pair of minutes of silent spellcasting, the prodigy duo suddenly floated in the air.
“Do you like it?” Miss Farlon said with a smirk.
They levitated around, moving rather poorly while airborne. The whole class was dumbfounded by the spectacle. Algor thought otherwise.
‘No, it shouldn’t be possible.’ He denied what his eyes were seeing. ‘Levitation is a five-star spell, they shouldn’t be able to cast such advanced spells at their age.’ And they weren’t. ‘Levitation is an air and arcane spell, besides void and space. Maybe it isn’t so far-fetched.’
Algor decided that rumbling in his thoughts wasn’t enough, so he finally spoke. “What spell did you spellcast?” He asked, completely sure they couldn’t have spellcasted Levitation.
“Oh, this?” Edrie spun around in the air. “It’s a synergy between the arcane and air variants of the Slow Fall spell.”
“That... that makes sense.” Algor accepted it rather easily, with minimal pondering. Spell synergy was like that sometimes, though he was still surprised that a pair of little children had found one on their own. “It’s surprising how similar to Levitation your synergy is.”
‘It still has merit for someone of their ages to spellcast whilst being under the influence of another spell. Especially when they don’t have a significant affinity to one of the spell’s elements. I wouldn’t know what would have happened if they were truly able to spellcast a five-star spell at their age.’
“I know!” Marissa said excitedly. “Edrie’s father said the same.”
“At least a combination of two three-star spells makes more sense than a five-star one.”
“Wait.” Edrie interjected. “Levitation is a five-star spell?”
“Yes. Didn’t you know?” Algor was surprised in a lesser demeanor.
“Well, I knew it existed. But I didn’t know which tier it was. I thought it was higher…” He responded, his voice becoming lower and lower, he was only able to hear whispers about ‘headaches’ and ‘physics’.
“Hmm…” Algor grunted silently and clapped his hands. “Alright! Everyone has seen the cunning of Miss Farlon and Master Nightfallen’s magical synergy, so now we will go back to the planned activities. Before that, are there any questions?” A girl at the back rose her hand. “Yes?”
“Are there more than one Slow Fall?” Miss Salou was the one who asked.
Algor smirked a bit after hearing that question. Of the bunch of concepts thrown around in the conversation, that was what caught her attention. She was a medium arcane user if he remembered correctly. She certainly only knew about the arcane variant of the spell, which was the origin behind her question.
“Indeed, Miss Salou.” He affirmed. “Does anyone know them?”
“Air, Arcane, Time, Space and Void.” Edrie responded nonchalantly, still floating in the air.
“Right.” Algor nodded. “But I would’ve expected someone who didn’t know how to spellcast half of them to respond.” Edrie moved awkwardly around the air after hearing that. “Any more questions?” He waited for a moment. “None? Then let’s start with the formation of the most basic defensive spell, Force Shield.”
***
Force Shield was a spell of the Force element. Also known as the neutral element. How did I know this? My spellbook added a good chunk of basic spells, and this was one of them. I had never practiced though. It was listed as a defensive spell, and I was in no situation where I needed to make use of it. It also didn’t help that I had a low affinity to Force, making it difficult and dull to learn as I wasn’t really interested.
If I arrived at one point in my life I truly needed to learn defensive spells, following the arcane school of magic was by far the most sensible and easy choice.
“You are free to use either sorcery or wizardry, but I recommend giving a few casts for everyone at the start.” Professor Accord suggested as he pointed at the illusion conjured next to him. Why use chalk and a blackboard when you can just cast some illusions with more precision and detail than you could normally achieve with old reliable calligraphy.
It described the structure of the Force Shield spell as a simplified magic circle. Rune reading was a common skill for mages, one Marissa and I lacked. Lacked in the sense of not being very proficient, we did have the basics. Runes were like the secondary language for ellari mages, in the end.
The runic language was also a bit of a misnomer. Sure, the runes are specific unalterable shapes which had meanings but they weren't used as a language. Runes were akin to mana conductors, the symbol being able to conduct the mana, even if the material didn’t normally allow it. It was more of a framework of how a spell should work, rather than a description in another language.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Besides the framework of the Force Shield, Accord had also spellcasted the spell itself. Imagery was important for magic, especially to sorcerers. A translucent buckler that looked more like glass than a barrier of pure force.
He wasn’t kidding when he said it was the most basic defensive spell. It was just a cantrip that summoned a small circular shield.
“I will give you an extra half an hour to practice.” Accord added after five minutes. “Those who already managed to either cast or spellcast the spell, come here to show it to me, then you will be paired with another student who has finished so you can test the resilience of your conjured shields.”
No one had finished by the time he announced this. Well, nobody except one guy who did it instantly. He obviously knew the spell beforehand, so he was now enjoying the free time that he used to sunbathe while he waited for one other classmate to finish.
I would like to say that this activity was easy for me, but I would be lying. One thing I noticed while spellcasting the air variant of Slow Fall, is that I relied a lot upon my absurdly high arcane affinity. Or absurdly superb, if you please. As if I was a noble who had his every whim realized at the twang of a small bell.
It was curious, and weird, how the affinity could affect the spellcasting. Casting was intuitive magical conjuration, while spellcasting was the conjuration of magic through the use of subconscious calculations. It was more logical to think that elemental affinity should only boost casting, yet it increased the performance of both.
Even if I chose not to rely on such a medium, it was a passive effect. I couldn’t just turn it off, just as a person is not able to stop breathing because they wanted to. Your body would force you to intake air in the end. The affinity was part of my very essence.
In a way, I was my own affinity.
At the moment, I was plainly casting the Force Shield spell, that was why I was rambling so much. Marissa seemed to go straight forward to the spellcasting as I saw her having some troubles.
I analyzed the runes of the magic circle. They defined the framework of the Force Shield, common runes had certain qualities. One rune meant Force affinity, another meant construct projection, another had the size information, etcetera.
While the spell’s runes were simple and few, as expected of a two-star spell, I couldn’t get around to understand every single one of them. Spell Analyzation sounded like the name of a school subject or a college one at that.
Mana flowed through my body as I weaved the spell. Instead of focusing it on my fingertips or the whole body, as I usually did, now I moved the magical energy to my right arm. I imagine it like I was tying the buckler’s belt to my forearm.
One student approached Accord and showed him the cast of Force Shield. Considering it enough, the professor gave him green light and assigned him to the student who was laying on the ground.
I should hurry up myself.
I wished we studied true magical foundations, with the full theory and history, its inner workings, and the function of runes before we even spellcasted. I didn’t like this hands-off teaching of magic. This was the only problem I had with the ellari educational system, currently at least. Not to be needlessly critical or negative, but my instinct told me I would only find more faults as the years went on.
Training children by memorization and trial and error made more sense than teaching them the theory behind the subject, as they didn’t have the necessary mindset and brain capacity to understand it. I still didn’t like it, though.
Another student had completed the cast of the force spell. As the first three who already finished had used sorcery, something told me they had an affinity to the element. But I couldn’t complain. I was literally the least entitled one to do so in the class. I doubted anyone here got a superb affinity, let alone two. Either way, I should stop rambling and focus on the damn spellcasting.
Fifteen minutes later, and some other students going before me, I finally managed a consistent spellcast. The spell was far simpler than a three-star spell like Mana Pond, yet more complex than a cantrip like Magic Chip. Spells from the same star could have totally different difficulties.
Marisa had managed to conjure the magical buckler a couple of minutes before me. I don’t know if it was because of elemental affinity or a better understanding of the spell. Most likely it was because she didn’t rely on affinity like a moron I knew. However, what I did know is that she waited for me instead of being assigned with a random and unfamiliar classmate.
That reminded me that we would probably never see again the ones we met in the first year. It didn’t affect me, as it was only two weeks. In two weeks I didn’t interact a lot with the class. Maybe Marissa was more affected by the change.
“Finally!” She groaned. “You took your time!” Marissa was so bored that she had spellcasted both Slow Falls to replicate the Levitation spell. A fool’s move considering we were about to spar.
“If I recall correctly, not even three minutes have passed. Don’t try to boast.” I told with a mystical buckler in hand.
“Yeah, yeah.” Marissa dismissed it because she knew I was right. “Guard up!” She began spellcasting an air spell projectile.
My first instinct was, of course, to raise my Force Shield. Now it was time for the fun to begin.
My arm quickly moved in the way of the air projectile. I attempted to parry it, but Force Shield simply absorbed the impact. The enemy spell was dissipated almost instantly.
“Huh, it really does work.” I mumbled while looking at my forearm.
“Let me try! Let me try!” Marissa jumped on the spot while swaying her shield.
“Should I use Arcane Chip or Magic Chip?” I asked her.
“Arcane Chip!” She responded without a doubt. “I can take a Magic Chip without a shield.”
“That’s true.” In the end, the cantrip was equivalent to throwing a pebble at someone.
“Control the power output, that is.” Marissa added as if I was going to overload the arcane spell. What was I? Marissa herself?
“Will do.” I began the spellcasting as soon as I finished talking.
Truth be told, the spell was nothing more than a glorified version of Magic Chip, so the spellcasting was a matter of seconds. I still turned down the power, just in case, as Marissa had only used a two-star force spell.
For some reason, as the spell left my fingertips, I had the unnatural wish of saying ‘Hello. My name is Edrie Nightfallen. You killed my father. Prepare to die.’ aloud. Which was weird because my father was alive and kicking, and I didn’t want to kill Marissa. I swayed my head and discarded it as one of my incarnation antics.
Curiously enough, no headache came to assault me.
The violet projectile flew through the air, almost imperceptible sparks of lighting coming out of it. While the speed was noticeable, it wasn’t mind-blowing, not even near to sound barrier-breaking speeds.
Was I okay? Why did I even think about Mach one speed? It was a two-star spell, for Lady’s sake! Between defying the planet’s gravity itself and this, I was no longer sure if to trust my thoughts in physics.
Marissa blocked the spell perfectly, the Arcane Chip impacting just in the center of the shield. Force Shield handled the power without problems, but Marissa had suffered from the recoil, staggering a little and being forced to take a step back.
“Are you okay?” I rushed to her side, worried that I might have overshot.
“Yes… I think?” She seemed alright at least. “I’ve just underestimated the knockback of the spell. If you shoot one more time, I will handle it without a problem.”
“If you say so.” I returned to my previous position, still with doubts about it. “You can try shooting again, you don’t have to tank another shot again.”
“No, it’s alright. I want to do it.” She slapped her Force Shield. “Bring it on!”
Once again, I spellcasted Arcane Chip without any difficulty. This time, Marissa lowered her hips, making her center of gravity closer to the ground. The arcane offensive spell impacted against the force defensive one, quickly dissipating after the collision. Small cracks formed in the shield, but Marissa was unharmed and unphased.
“What do you think?” I asked her.
“Pretty good, not gonna lie.” She boasted. “I feel so excited after taking that spell as if it was nothing.”
“You do know that the Arcane Chip was weakened, right?” I told her.
“Wait, really?” Marissa really thought that was the spell's common output. “How strong is the spell then? Show it to me!”
Wow, she was on fire. But I had to throw a bucket of cold water at her. “First recast the spell. Look at it, it’s cracked. I don’t think it will last another hit.”
“Oh? I didn’t notice.” She looked at her forearm, examining the crumbling shield. “Give me a minute, please.”
She literally took a minute. Not complaining, though. It took me two minutes to spellcast Mana Pond, and I had a superb affinity to back it up! Waiting a minute for something we had no affinity with was totally acceptable.
I took advantage of this time to also recast (re-spellcast?) Force Shield. Because it was a magical construct like Mana Pond, something physical that stayed there until dispelled, I could have it standing around without losing any durability, unless the spell’s mana leaked.
“Alright, ready!” She stated.
“One sec!” I told her. “I’m also spellcasting it again.”
Marissa waited for me without a problem. She had to wait for me either way, so complaining would have done nothing.
“Ready!” I told her. “Ready or not, here I go!”
I began conjuring Arcane Chip once again. Instead of limiting its power, I followed the spellcasting to the letter. While it was possible to overload it, I decided against it until we further tested the resilience of the translucid buckler. Intense sparks of lightning irradiated from the chip as I was ready to release it. Here it goes.
“Argh!“ Marissa grunted as my spell collided with hers.
The knockback of the spell was strong enough to make her lose her balance, but Marissa managed to recover before she could tumble.
“Are you alright?” I asked even more worried than before. She looked uninjured, but her Force Shield was as cracked as before although she had re-spellcasted it.
“Totally fine.” Marissa rose her arms up in the air to demonstrate it. “It’s like being hit with a ball in the stomach, but in my arm.”
“I can get behind that feeling.” I told. “But does it hurt?”
“Not really, it’s just the moment of the impact I felt it.” She dispelled the buckler as it was useless at its current status. “I meant the knockback of when a ball hits you, you know?” I nodded, yet she continued. “When you fall to the ground even if it doesn’t hurt that much.”
“Well, what matters is that you are okay.” I scratched my left ear, ignoring her rumbling as I didn’t understand where she was going with it. “Want to try using some heavy-hitting spells on me?” I pointed at my uncracked shield.
“Do you even have to ask?” No. No, I didn’t.
Without any notice, Marissa shot at me an instant-cast cantrip. By a hair’s width, I blocked the air projectile.
“What’s wrong with you?” I shouted at her by reflex.
“Oh, don’t be such a drama queen.” She giggled. “It wouldn’t even have hurt you if you got hit by it on the face.”
“That doesn’t seem like a good excuse.” I replied.
Instead of talking back, Marissa shot at me another air cantrip. Even after taking two hits, the Force Shield was unphased. She spoke the truth when she said they were mostly harmless.
“Are you ready for a big one?” She asked and I simply nodded.
Following her previous reactions to my spells, I readied myself for the impact. The instant before the spell came from Marissa’s fingertips, I thought I should have refreshed the spell. I took a deep breath as the spinning air ball came at me at high speeds.
Time seemed to slow as the Force Shield collided with the Air Punch. The air spell became a homogenous mixture with the real spell, but its kinetic energy transferred to me through the buckler, the shield fracturing into small pieces. I lost my footing as the spell sent me flying through the air.
The air from my lungs was forcefully expelled as I impacted the ground. “Ough…” My body rebounded onto the ground as if it was a ball.
I inhaled air as I found myself lying down. I heard footsteps rushing toward me.
“Are you okay, Edrie?” Marissa was the worried one now.
I rose my thumb. “So, so.” I coughed a bit and stood up. “Why did you overload the spell, though?”
“Emm…” She mumbled some incoherencies, and I shot a Magic Chip as a response at her forehead. “Oww! Why?”
“Touché.” I responded and stood up.
We continued doing less intense exchanges until the bells marked the end of the class and we followed professor Accord back to the classroom.