Hushed whispers of the two dozen students filled the classroom. The first day in an academy for budding mages - or, at the very least, young folk with a certain aptitude for the arcane - was no doubt an exciting thing, but that didn’t dampen the teachers displeasure one bit.
The aging man with a circle of white hair sticking away from his balding head, the just as white goatee and the glasses framing half-round lenses had little tolerance for idle chatter in his class and audibly cleared his throat. In an instant, there was silence and all eyes were set on him. All expressions from caught to surprised were present.
For several seconds the nervous cough of a young elf was the only noise while the old man’s brisk gaze swept around the room. When he found a sufficient amount of embarrassment and remorse, he sighed and clasped his hands behind his back.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.”
His voice was astonishingly deep for a somewhat dusty old human, the elf thought and was immediately punished with a scathing glance in his direction.
Dusty old wizard, he reminded himself and preferred to stay quiet.
“My name is Professor Guildenstone and for the next few years I shall be your teacher for the main subject of this institution - Magical Studies.”
He began to walk up and down after scribbling his name on the chalkboard.
“The other subjects such as Rune Studies and History of Magic are equally important, but Magical Studies will convey the most content, in theory as well as in practice-”
The last word made some listen closely.
“-which we surely won’t reach before autumn.”
Disappointed looks. The professor snorted. Every year the same. But he could understand, after all he himself had been one or two hundred years younger once - which didn’t mean he would let them get through with their high spirits.
“Before I even start with the basic instructions, I want to make one thing very clear: No matter how gifted you are, no matter how clever - the very first thing a mage has to learn is restraint. All of you passed the tests, you all proved your talent for the magical. But not even half of you will make it here longer than a few days if you don’t possess the stamina and discipline a student of the arcane needs.”
Spellbound, partially shocked looks, then the usual. I’ll just have to make an effort, then, it said on some faces. It’ll be alright on others. The professor snorted resolutely.
“That doesn’t mean that nightlong studying and absolute devotion will save you. More than half of you will not stay in this school for longer than a few days because you simply don’t have it in you. Who that will be, time will tell.”
He halted his pacing and abruptly turned to the class, which caused some to jump in their seats. “Who of you can tell me what magic means?”
Some students reluctantly raised their hands, others had more confidence. Of course some of them thought to know, but few actually did.
“Yes?”
A student in the second row with a victorious grin. “The use of spells through people, objects or-”
“Incorrect.” Guildenstone interrupted him sharply.
The grin paled and made room for anger. “No it isn’t.That’s exactly what it says in the books my father-”
“Get out.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Get out of my class.”
Before the young man could as much as attempt to reply, whatever he had intended to utter stuck in his throat and turned into an elongated screech when his chair zestfully threw him out the open window where he landed in the bushes.
Guildenstone sighed and looked at his shocked class. “Overconfidence and defiance are both traits that will kill a mage sooner or later.”
Three pupils carefully rose from their seats before hastily leaving the room. The last one was encouraged to hurry by the door slamming shut.
“Now. What does magic mean?”
Silence. After several seconds a girl, maybe seventeen years old, reluctantly raised her hand. “Yes, please?”
“The...the manipulation of energy, professor.”
“Correct.”
The girl smiled and lowered her hand.
“The term magic is a compound word made up of energy or rather, energetic and manipulation, for that is exactly what a mage does - he manipulates energy in various ways.”
He scribbled the just mentioned key points onto the board and his students quickly made notes. For a moment only the scritching of quills and pens could be heard, then there was silence.
“And who can tell me where this energy comes from?”
Now the young elf raised his hand, after the incident with the chair a fair bit more respectful. “Please.”
He cleared his throat. “From...another world, as far as I know.” He winced as if he expected he’d get to know the flowers downstairs next, but nothing happened. The professor chortled amusedly.
“Ignorance is no sin, my young friend. Stubbornness is. And those who cooperate in my class and are ready to learn, will, sooner or later. Most often later, but we will get to that at another point. Also, your answer is mostly correct. Every kind of energy in this world, may it be the heat and the light of a fire, the flow of the water in a river or even the life in every being, has an arcane counterpart that comes from a different plane of existence.
This place covers our world like a shadow, and exactly there, where said fire burns, fire energy and heat flow into our world. It is of course a bit more complicated than that, but it’s sufficient to understand this much: Every kind of energy has one or more carriers that allow it to flow into our world. The fire acts like a portal that allows fire energy to flow through it exactly where said fire burns.
Since it’s rather difficult to imagine two overlapping worlds, this model is often used as a means of demonstration.”
Curious eyes gazed at the model the professor was pointing at. It consisted of a sphere of glass the size of a human head whose halves were separated by a plate horizontally. In the lower half, gas clouds of different colors wafted around, while the upper half showed a miniature world with small objects; a water mill with a tiny river, an even tinier campfire and a man attempting to roast a fish.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
On the side of the sphere several rotary valves were attached, connected with some complicated and no doubt magical mechanism inside.
“Imagine this-” Guildenstone pointed at the upper half, “-to be our world and the that down there to be the world of energies. They’re all there, fire, water, air, depending on kind and characteristics they react differently. Water and air are present in our world, but would never move without their prospective arcane energy, the same way a fire only burns when energy flows into our world. The fire is a special case because it acts as its own conduit, but that would go too far for now. Please, come closer.”
The students rose from their seats - some of them warily eyeing their chairs - and grouped around the spheric contraption.
“When this fire energy moves into our world, this has a certain effect. Which is?”
“Uh...fire?” A male student deadpanned.
“Exactly.” He opened one of the valves and the tiny fire ignited while a corner of the red gas cloud formed a tip and met the bottom of the plate exactly where the fire was on the other side.
The class curiously moved closer.
“When a mage would attempt to control this energy, how would he go about that?” He questioningly looked at his students. The girl that answered before stepped forward. “Well, first he would have to be able to sense it somehow.”
Pleased, Guildenstone noticed that at least some cared to read the material.
“Very right. And how?” He walked over to the board, the chalk hovering above the slate.
The girl hesitated. “I don’t know. I haven’t read that far ahead.”
“Well, you have to learn something here, hm?”
The professor roughly outlined a human form and drew a vertical line to the left of it.
“The energies can usually not be influenced directly since they only flow through their carrier or conduit. Mages and the magically gifted of all kinds, even some species of animal, are able to sense energy and sometimes manipulate it - with their so called Magical Resonance.”
The word was written on the other half of the board.
“Mage or not, all living things possess a Magical Resonance. It comes into being when the only energy found naturally in our world flows into the other world. Life energy or Life essence, as some call it.”
He jerked around and looked at his class. “What are you standing there for, write it down!”
Hasty scurrying and the rustling of paper could be heard. When everyone had caught up, he continued.
The Life Energy is produced by every living being. It flows through the body with every heartbeat or, for plants specifically, with the flow of the internal juices.
Corresponding lines were drawn and copied by the class. Now, the professor clasped his hands behind his back and put a sly smile on.
“And how do you think an Energy Resonance comes into being, now?”
A boy with dark hair raised his hand this time. “While the energy flows back into the other world, professor.”
“Mh-hm.” He grunted and added an arrow that started on the other side of the line, made a curve through the body and then returned with a slightly different color, forming a small circle in the "energy world" that was lettered.
“The energy takes a small portion of the Life Energy back with it, and since every being is different, the Energy Resonance that results on the other side because of this cycle is as well. It allows everyone with the required predisposition, depending on how strong it is, to sense the energy around him, both in our world and the world of energies. This is called Receptivity.”
A chuckle in the last row was silenced with a sharp glance. “Receptivity for magic. My goodness, what are young people talking about these days? Be that as it may...can anyone list a few species of animal that have a natural Receptivity for energy?”
“Dogs.”
“Yes.”
“Bats?”
“Very good.”
“Wolfmen.”
“...” The professor stayed silent and looked at the young elf. Then, very slowly, he walked up to him and looked down on him with his hands clasped behind his back. “And what, my young friend, has given rise to this comment?”
The young elf shrugged. “What? They are like animals. Some of them even live in packs in the woods.”
Professor Guildenstone bent forward with a very cold expression on his face. “In my class there is no room for know-it-alls or racism. Did I make myself clear?”
The elf was tempted to push it, but nodded reluctantly.
“For your information, Master Elys, the wolfmen helped to keep the peace for centuries and were an established part of the imperial royal guard. They are a majestic, although wild and impetuous race. And I very much recommend you to never utter words like that in front of one of them. For your sake.”
The young elf swallowed and nodded again.
“Good. Then let's continue.”
----------------------------------------
Affinity was the next topic. The professor explained in detail how Receptivity to energy opened the door for its manipulation in the first place, given one had the ability for it.
“While a low Receptivity only gives one the ability to sense rough impressions of the arcane world of energy around oneself, as if looking and hearing through a sack of cloth, a higher receptivity allows one to accurately sense the kind of energy and even the emotions of others through their Energy Resonance.”
That explains a lot, the elf thought and felt a bit naked with the elderly mage around.
“With a high enough Receptivity it’s possible for an Affinity to manifest. The Affinity desrcibes the basic talent of someone to actively and directly manipulate the energies around him. A mage can have a low Affinity, which would be enough to move small objects and the like.” He promptly demonstrated it by levitating a teapot through the room, which made the eyes of the students sparkle with admiration.
“The basic manipulation of energy always makes use of the Raw Energy. It’s easy to use but hard to master. It has no specific elemental properties and can therefore only be used to move objects, create shockwaves and the like. Once all that is behind you it’s possible to be tested for an Elemental Affinity. I, for example, have a strong Affinity for energy in general, but never developed an Affinity for, say, fire or air. This Affinity is set from birth, even if it remains unused. Those with such a talent here will know at the very latest towards the end of the second year, during the Passing Exam. There, your basic education will be finished you can decide to either seek a master with one of the elemental guilds, should you develop a corresponding Affinity - or you continue to study the arcane arts to get your magister title and later the title of professor and therefore the right to teach. Some mages with strong Receptivity but weak Affinity turned to important fields of study and rose high in the academy ranks.”
The professor cleared his throat. “Now let’s return to the topic at hand. Please group around the sphere.”
The students formed a half circle around the model. The content had mysteriously changed. Instead of the house and the fire, the tiny puppet was now wearing a mage’s robe in the middle of several public galleries filled with unmoving spectators.
“When a mage uses his talents to manipulate the Raw Energy and lets it flow into our world...”, he turned the biggest valve and a greyish, transparent cloud of gas formed a funnel. The tiny figure raised its arms and made a tiny boulder float, causing the tiny audience to moderately applaud.
“...he has limited power at his command, which is why one needs an Elemental Affinity to work with a guild. A mage will not be exhausted by the usage of magic since the energy is not his own, however, if he attempts to channel more energy than his body can handle, pain will set in and, after that, damage to the body until eventually, death. Of course, you would have to purposefully push yourselves far beyond your limits for that to happen.” He quickly added when he saw the concerned faces around him.
The robe of the figure turned red and the professor slightly opened another valve, and the little mage summoned a fireball. The miniature audience was thrilled.
“What is the first thing one has to learn when you want to control such powers?”
The young elf fascinatedly stared at the fireball, then he blinked, as if he just realized something.
“Restraint...” he whispered.
“Exactly.” Guildenstone whispered back and opened the valve all the way.
The class startled and moved back when an inferno filled the interior of the sphere, only to disappear moments later. In between ashes and burnt spectator puppets the little mage sat, knees pulled to his body and sobbing into himself.
Professor Guildenstone looked into their shocked faces, one after the other.
“Never forget this:”, he said. “Magic can do many things, but most of all it can hurt.”