“The few Humans that display a talent for magic quickly rise in the social circles, becoming respected among peasants and nobility alike. Several have abused their status, prompting the Humans to go to war with other races and one another alike, the time period now known as the Human Mage Wars, which caused all major Kingdoms and sovereign territories to nearly fall apart. It took nearly a century for the Mainland to stabilize, learning that one can never get too sure of his own powers, and that Humans as a race still have a lot to learn.”

̶ An Introduction to Magical Studies, Julian Carell, 1200 AS

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After another session of Tiana trying to hammer their language into my mind, my vocabulary increasing by only several words, I spend some free time in the garden again, Fluffy coming as soon as I sat down on the red grass. The dog does seem harmless in the way he behaves around Cerolus or me, but I have seen how he eats. I still have reservations about his mouths close to my face. Cerolus, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be bothered at all, letting the dog lick his face clean the first time I saw it. Fluffy also isn’t really that fluffy, having no fur and leathery skin, but he does enjoy being rubbed. I’ve noticed his back spikes lay a bit lower when I rub his side, as if they tell how he feels at the time.

After a short time basking in the Sun’s rays and watching the garden around me, the white petals of the Seraphim tree looking lovely (from afar, obviously), I head into the castle, asking the maid to show me where Cerolus is, eager to start learning about magic.

I am led to a small room fitted with various crystals and books on the shelves covering the walls, a table and two chairs in the middle of it all. A wooden target is on the end of the room opposite the entrance, I’m assuming for practice. Cerolus is sitting in one of the chairs, his eyes closed and his demeanor calm, as in some sort of trance.

He slowly exits that relaxed state as I enter the room, standing up to greet me.

“Well then, let us begin. Take a seat.” He points to the chair next to him. I oblige and sit down, turning towards him. He sits, the difference in height slightly lower when we are sitting down, his legs being a bit longer compared to the rest of the body.

“First, let us start with the basics. What do you think magic is?”

I… never really thought about it. I’ve seen Mages perform various feats, healing wounds that would otherwise cripple a person forever, summoning pillars of flame as high as a roof of a house, even casting protective barriers around one’s body, keeping them from harm. But I never understood what magic REALLY is.

“I… don’t know? Anything that defies logic and reason?”

He chuckles. “As good as of a guess as any, really. In truth, nobody knows what magic is or how it exactly works, but we Demons simply think of it as a tool that helps us live better lives. Everything in Dralarag possesses some amount of magical power, however small it may be. Plants, animals, crystals, even ordinary rocks and air possess trace amounts of it. Every living thing and magical crystal that possesses the energy will slowly shape it according to the nature it knows best. For example, a Flame Imp’s mana will be naturally attuned to fire, after which they gained their name. They are able to use this mana to hurl small balls of fire, especially useful in clearing away unwanted plants.

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We Demons often possess mana of various types, as few as two and as many as seven have been observed in an individual. The types of mana can be summed into the basic elements: fire, water, air, ground, light and its opposite, darkness. There is also arcane and disturbance mana, which belong to neither of the elements, complementing them instead. Every living being will possess at least one element and one of the non-elemental types, many magic requiring their merging to be successfully used. For example”

Cerolus then conjures up a small red flame from the tip of his finger, its light shining upon the crystals in the room ”This is a simple flame spell, using small amounts of fire and arcane mana to make a small flame, as the name would suggest. It is one of the basic things someone with the elements learns to control, as its principle is quite simple to understand. Children will usually learn to conjure small flames after maybe a week of training.”

“I can sense what your elements are, but it’s a lot more convenient and precise to use the crystals to do that work.” He then stands up and walks around the room, taking several crystals of the shelves, putting them on the table between us. Each crystal has a different color.

“These are basic elemental crystals, harvesting pure mana from the ground and air and slowly converting them into a mana of a basic type. They are usually used to assist, complement, or replace the mana used when casting spells, but can also be used to discover a person’s natural affinity. Take this one for instance;” he takes a red crystal in his hands, which then begins to glow brightly; “This is a fire crystal, the brighter it glows, the more attuned the person is to the mana belonging to the fire element.” Same goes for the rest of the basics: ground” he points to the brown crystal; “air”, its colour being blue; “water” pointing to the crystal with a green tint, “light” a milky white crystal is shown, “darkness” a coal black diamond on the table; “arcane” a transparent gem reflecting every colour of the rainbow; “and finally disturbance” a crystal with a purple tint rests on the far right of the group.

“Now, the first thing we’ll do is learn your exact affinities, as these don’t change after a person has been born. Take each of the crystals in your hand one by one, and wait for a short time, since you can’t still control your own mana, the crystals will have to slowly draw any they can find out of you.”

I start from the left, reaching for the red crystal Cerolus used for demonstration, taking a firm hold of it in my hand.

I sense warmth in my body, the feeling I had at the wedding when I drank the blood of the Hellboar. The warmth’s embrace is so welcoming, so pure, I wish I could stay forever in its grasp.

The crystal slowly brightens up, emitting a small amount of light around it. Cerolus looks pleased with the results. “Well, as I have guessed, you have potential for fire magic.”

I return the crystal to the table, excited to see what kinds of magic I’ll be able to learn in the future.