“Alright… I’ll start with the burning question. Who can learn magic? Can I?”

He considers for a moment to carefully word himself.

“Most people don’t even have the faculty to see magic, let alone use it. Only some people are born with the rare ability to see such things, even fewer can wield magic. Amongst humans it's only about one in ten thousand or so who can wield it…”

Not everyone huh.

“... And by my own estimate based on information found in the castle’s records, about one in a thousand can see magic and other esoteric things. Definitely a fair degree more common.”

More than just a teacher it seems. Maybe he was lured in by the duke in exchange for access to the castles libraries?

“Some of the guards have that ability, but most have received no training with regards to properly understanding what they see. Research however has shown that that is different than being able to directly sense magic.”

“Different how?” I ask. I’d also like to ask why the guards weren’t trained, but that can wait.

“Well, as a magic user myself. The ability to use magic usually comes with the faculty to sense it in the same capacity as others can see and smell other things. Different types of magic have distinct shapes and colors, frequently influenced by the mage wielding them.”

“So magic is entirely invisible to people without these abilities?”

“Sort of.” He pauses. “The spell itself is what cannot be seen, however if the effect is a visible one, that can be seen.”

“Like a fireball or something like that?”

“Yes. Now with that in mind it can be quite overwhelming in the presence of a large amount of ambient magic in the air, just like a powerful scent, or an overwhelming brightness. That too can be obvious to a non-magic user.”

In theory that explains the scroll. What that woman did seems pretty tame though by comparison to what he’s talking about. Whatever that scroll did is probably on a level with what he’s talking about though.

“While not visible to most people, everyone is at least somewhat sensitive to magic. Given enough, I have heard that great rituals and large spells cast by many powerful mages has in the past rendered magic visible to entire cities for brief periods. Purely by virtue of there being so much energy in the air.”

“In contrast to that, a total lack of magic makes a place feel muted and lacking in color or emotion. It even makes it harder to use magic in such places, as a place lacking in magic seems to attempt equalize and replenish itself. Such places are best avoided, as they are unpleasant to put it mildly.”

Hmm. Sounds a bit like that spooky place I was in. Was it ripping objects to pieces in an effort to equalize itself?

“Speaking from personal experience, when a mage runs low on mana it could be likened to a bad drunken hangover. It is extremely unpleasant and can be bad enough that if you’re already tired, you may find yourself incapable of moving at all.”

“Safe to assume it’s much nastier if you run out then?”

“I was getting to that. Yes. Running out is far worse. People have died from being without any magic for an extended period. Usually it simply knocks the person out, and they will recover naturally. It is still dangerous though, as it can take anywhere from days to months to bounce back from.”

Ok, so there is some risk involved. But why is it so dangerous to run out of magic?

“Over the years it has also become abundantly clear that everything, and everyone possesses mana, even if they do not have the faculty to sense it or use it. Though, the amount seems to vary wildly, and is overall extremely difficult to measure.”

“Oh… I forgot to mention. The places I described earlier actually have an even greater effect on those without the ability to manipulate magic, as such places will greedily steal it away, and they have no faculty to thwart that.”

Yikes.

“There is also a rather unique ability that some people have that allows them to see magic, but not sense it. I have heard it described to me as being able to see everything supernatural being characterized as spirits. It is very much tied to their vision, rather than being all of their senses.”

“So, is it possible for someone to have both of those abilities?”

“Yes, I do suppose it probably is. Both abilities are quite rare, so the odds of that happening are probably extremely low.”

“That said, some bloodlines have been known to have a disproportionately higher number of mages in them. This has led to the belief that it can be inherited, though the mechanism by which that occurs is poorly understood.”

No concept of genetics, I guess. Too bad I flunked biology, or I’d try and offer some insight here.

“It also seems to randomly manifest at times, with no prior pattern at all. To compound the problem, the older mage families are a secretive lot. Makes it much harder to research that topic.” He says this with the faintest of frowns.

Yup. That sounds exactly like genetics.

“Allegedly In the past, when dragons and other great beasts still roamed, people apparently could form pacts with them and gain various supernatural abilities. The old theory is that many of the modern-day human magic users are descendants of those people.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“This, however, is based on not particularly reliable accounts, and is thus largely disregarded by the magical community at large.”

“What happened to all the magical creatures then?”

“Many have gone extinct, hunted due to the immense danger they pose. Others have withdrawn to the edges and hidden parts of the world…” He trails off. “That’s a different and quite long topic though.”

“Alright... Do continue.”

“Another far more plausible theory is the intermingling of the species. It is thought that the light and dark elves were the original cause of humans obtaining magic, as their races are nearly universally capable of magic.”

“Their weakest mages are typically considered near equals to an average human mage as well.”

“And they don’t rule the world why exactly?”

With a slight smirk. “Its mainly a numbers problem... The elves also have a history of incredibly poor fertility to put it bluntly. The dark elves even more so than any other race. Though, what I know on that topic is limited as well. It’s not something they talk about a lot for obvious reasons.”

He looks at me appraisingly. “All mages are capable of seeing if someone has the gift of magic with some skill in knowing what to look for… It is at the current moment believed to be impossible to entirely hide it.”

“Violet had the gift, though she was never taught to use it in any capacity beyond not setting the castle ablaze.”

“You appear to have it as well, and before you interrupt… Yes, I can see you want to. No, I cannot teach you much more than that either.”

Damn. “Ok… Why not?”

“I would rather not say.”

I frown at this. That’s… Not a particularly great line of reasoning, but he’s not leaving much room for questioning further about it.

“Nice, get my hopes up then dash them aside. Were you this evasive with Violet?”

He nods, his expression is hard to read.

“Do you plan on elaborating at all?”

“No, I do not. Unless it becomes pertinent.”

Touchy subject I guess. Wonder why that might be? “Alright… I have no more questions on magic for the moment.”

“Excellent. Let’s get to it then.” He opens the large heavy brass bound book he brought with him and places it up in front of me.

The pages are slightly yellowed with age, and I can see faint imperfections in the paper.

I reflexively move to push my glasses closer to my face, only to remember they aren't there, and stop myself mid motion.

Before he says anything, I can’t help but openly stare at the contents of the page. I can understand every single letter and word on it.

The words are formed from complex symbols and glyphs that look similar to the diary.

“Yes. I think we’ll start off very simple, basic alphabet and pronunciation.”

I stare at the writing. Slowly coming to the realization that a sound comes to the forefront of my mind when I look at a glyph.

Maybe there is some magic at play here? “Am I supposed to understand all of this at a glance as If I were a native speaker? Is this magic?”

He stops and looks at me sharply, looking mildly taken aback. “You said you couldn’t read. No. No magic at play here.”

“I was under that impression as well… But now I’m not so sure.”

Brushing a strand of hair from out of my face, I flip several pages forward. Sentences and short written conversations.

There are a few bookmarks spread throughout the book. I pick one at random towards the middle.

It looks like an excerpt from some poetry. I’m not too familiar with poetry, so I have no idea what type this is. If I had to guess, it’s a Haiku of some sort. Probably supposed to be funny or something.

The book is hand-written and appears to have two distinct writers. I’m getting this feeling of something familiar again.

I look up to the the Magister openly frowning. His expression making it painfully obvious that he is quite troubled by this.

“Who wrote this?”

“Myself, and Violet. Part of learning was teaching proper prose and so on.”

Makes sense that a noble would be expected to have a strong grasp of the intricacies of language.

I wonder how many people can actually read here?

More importantly did that spell not wear off yet? Answers leading to more questions like always it seems.

“That explains the similarity in hand-writing. I think her diary must be ciphered or encoded.” I quietly muse.

It needs to be fairly simplistic if someone is to do that without a proper key at a decent speed… That’s not a reliable assumption though.

I lean back in the chair, finding myself instantly distracted by the long hair literally touching the ground.

Startled, I go back to leaning forward. Not before I hear a quiet chuckle from across the table.

“Ah… If only you could see your expression just now.” His briefly jovial expression fades as fast as he says this. “She used to do that too. You would think someone would get used to that, but she was always startled by it.”

He pauses to think for a moment. “I’d like to ask you something personal.” He looks me right in the eye with an air of seriousness.

“That depends on the question I suppose, but I am very much at your mercy at the moment.”

Y’know, given him being able to wield magic, and a clear willingness to order the guards about. In hindsight, they may actually listen to me as well. Not sure I want to test that…

“Since, it’s obvious that I won’t need to teach you to read… What do you remember before you woke up?”

I anticipated this line of questioning. I was hoping that he wouldn’t ask though. Here’s hoping he believes me. I’ve decided that I want to trust him very badly, even if he hasn’t been entirely forthcoming.

“An entire life.” I begin. “A world with no magic that I knew of, and that I died. I think. An entity that seemed like a personification of the concept of death brought me somewhere.”

“I don’t really understand what that place was, but if I had to hazard a guess it wasn’t really a place at all. It seemed more like a prison of sorts. Featureless blackness in every direction, and yet I could still see.” I carefully leave out the chess and the hourglass.

“I have heard of such a place.” He states. “It is said, in the early legends of our world, that a place like that is the birthplace of all worlds-”

I shake my head vehemently. “No. That place was one of endings.” And immense sorrow.

He looks at me with a hint of doubt in his eyes. “You sound very sure about that.” He pauses to take a short drink from a flask that he removes from his robe. “I believe you.”

What?

“Are you just saying that?”

“No.”

“Why?” I ask simply. “I wouldn’t believe me for even a moment. I have nothing but my memories to prove my life ever happened at all.”

He takes a deep breath, and another sip from his flask. “Violet used to have nightmares of a place that sounds a lot like what you just described to me.”

“That is why.”