Hope

Even the following day, Elizabeth was still agitated, despite her expression not necessarily showing it. Irwyn could tell from how she fought in their daily spar. It was unlike her usual calculated and composed assault where she would slowly entrap him one spell at a time. Instead, she opted to try and overwhelm Irwyn through sheer force, slinging one projectile after another into his defenses.

And it was clearly not going to work. Her magic lacked the potency to break his flames in a full frontal assault. Although she had caught him off guard and had kept him on the back foot, the projectiles of Void magic simply could not punch through the continuously reinforced defences of his 3 intention barriers. Worse yet, his position only kept strengthening as time went on, none of the spears and bolts were able to reach him.

It lacked Elizabeth’s usual finesse of obscuring his vision, of baiting Irwyn into traps and ambushes or finding the perfect counter to whatever method of offense Irwyn chose. It was just brute force. Not her forte, at least relatively speaking. And Irwyn hesitated about what to do as his position strengthened. But only for a moment. She had said herself the day prior that magic and mastering it allowed her to feel like something more, it would be downright an insult to just let her win. No, rather, if he had to force her with force to understand why this kind of temper was unbefitting of that goal he very well would. And so he waited for the right moment. For a lul in the attacks where he could divide a big chunk of his attention on something he had been working hard on over the past week or so. And not long after that moment came.

“From the seams;

In my dreams;

I saw them fall,

The Stars scourge all”

He spoke, the chant just a slight bit unnaturally quick - only barely faster than if he had spoken the words normally - but perfectly audible and understandable. Irwyn was quite happy with that incantation. His first connection with Stars and Starfire came from that dream, or perhaps vision, he had on that fateful night in Ebon Respite, it was only natural he would include it in the chant. He had also technically seen ‘falling stars’ albeit in a milder manner than the words would suggest and well, seams could be the firmament he had seen one literally come from in the vision. The only thing he was not completely confident about was the spell’s name itself. He had little experience, firsthand or otherwise, with Stars being solely destructive; yet it was destructive magic that he required. All in all though, he thought it was an incantation fit specifically for him. He was testing it for the first time, though he had confirmed with Dervish that the words would not risk any dangerous backlash.

And so the spell was unleashed as Irwyn guided it. Spellcraft, unlike just manipulating elements with his raw will as he usually did, was all about boundaries. Most of his chant did not restrict the spell, the first 3 lines were meant just to empower the Starfire for him specifically and influenced the shape it would take, however, the last few words were the most important part, the crux of the whole spell, therefore destructive the magic would be.

A hundred spheres of light rose from Irwyn’s flesh in a surge. But it was very different than if he had just created a hundred such constructs. They were all part of a single spell, albeit a complex one. Perhaps more than ten times as difficult to cast than those simple spears he used so often. But ten was still ten times less than a hundred. Because when Irwyn applied intentions, he was applying them to the entire spell and all parts of it at once. Of course, it was more difficult than doing so for a simple piece of magic, however, it was an order of magnitude easier than doing it for a hundred individual spells. And so, with his improvement to his cognitive enhancement and general growth, together with the great assistance provided by the chant, Irwyn managed to maintain his existing barrier as he infused it with 3 intentions with strain.

Burn. Hunt. Destroy.

Elizabeth, seeing the tides turning, went for one last ditch assault which managed to crack the barrier; however, such fissures were melded before the next attack could arrive to exploit them. Then she was forced on the back foot as those spheres of Starfire sped to surround her, approaching from every direction.

She attempted to dodge away, sending a wave of Void magic to try and disrupt them, however, the intention to Hunt was doing far more than making the projectiles guided. It made them lithe predators chasing down prey, dexterously dodging out of the way of any retaliation. The way Irwyn had sought to create the spell was meant to behave differently in divergent scenarios. Against a single foe, the mini-stars would Hunt like a pack. Harrying, forcing them down a path where the others could intercept or slowly wounding foes both strong and slow. Yet when employed against many weaker enemies, Irwyn meant for it to split into smaller groups and pursue many enemies at once in small packs or even individually. In was in the spells name, after all, that these Stars would scourge all. Be that one or many.

Elizabeth tried to run away but soon enough was out of empty space to flee to. In the meantime she tried and mostly failed to destroy his constructs. It was still a 3 intention spells she was fighting against after all. Even if Starfire tended towards mutual destruction when clashing with Void magic it was not as bad as Light in that aspect so it took a direct hit to disable them. Which was difficult considering the spell was actively dodging any attempts at destroying it under Irwyn’s guidance. Soon enough Elizabeth was cornered and attempted one last counterattack by enveloping herself in a black cocoon which she then exploded. However, Irwyn was more than willing to sacrifice a few of the constructs to burn away the attack and make way for the rest of his spell.

The next moment her actual final attack came as Elizabeth put everything she could muster in that split second into a single bolt which she sent at Irwyn with all manageable haste. In fact, it was probably 3 speed-based intentions. That, however, meant that it lacked the punching power to break through the barrier which Irwyn did not neglect to maintain at full power; moreover, he was physically dodging as well and would have probably been at most grazed even if the spell made it through.

The next moment Dervish appeared to dismiss Irwyn’s spell with a swirl of black blades moving faster than the eye could see, leaving Elizabeth sprawled on the ground. He met Irwyn’s eyes and gave him a nod that could be interpreted as approving before moving to the side again with equally incredible speed.

“Next time, I will beat you at your best,” Irwyn offered his hand with a smile after quickly approaching.

“That obvious again, huh,” she sighed as she took it, looking a bit ashamed.

"Well, you are usually not the hardest person to read," Irwyn shrugged.

"Not the hardest!" Elizabeth suddenly burst out laughing. "I should bring you to a ball at some point."

"Is most of the nobility particularly skilled at controlling their expressions?" Irwyn raised an eyebrow. At least he assumed that was what the comment had been about.

"No, the exact opposite in fact," Elizabeth shook her head grinning. "I have no talent for scheming and manipulation but I have still been at least taught. Most of the nobility in the Duchy of Black openly shuns any such pursuits."

"That seems… awfully counterproductive," Irwyn was fully frowning at that. "I would assume that the top of society would be consumed by the same race for resources as the bottom. Being gullible sounds like a massive disadvantage."

"Oh, it absolutely is full of competition," she nodded. "However, here in the Duchy of Black it is traditional to resolve all conflict by sheer magical skill. Not a gathering goes by without half a dozen duels over things small and big; then some grandstanding and even open threats of violence. But schemes? They dislike them and shun them until they are all either buried or too well hidden to see."

"I suppose pressure from the majority could maintain that status quo," Irwyn nodded in thought. He had read many times that the nobility of the Duchy of Black was traditional. It would be simple for them to break down any inexperienced schemers as they emerged and then either force them to conform to their idiosyncrasy or drive them out of higher society, by blood and spell if need be. One does not become a master schemer - well, master of anything - in a day. Yet gaining such experience outside would make it particularly difficult to enter the exclusive circles of higher nobility. And he imagined that indoctrination towards such views was practiced by the majority of prestigious households, even if they thought of it merely as upbringing.

“Although I hate to interrupt,” Dervish spoke from the side. “I believe you wished for my assistance with training.”

“Ah, of course,” Elizabeth nodded as they parted ways. Dervish was a slightly cruel, albeit very efficient teacher. When the two moved to the opposite sides of the room the man went to Elizabeth first while Irwyn repeated his precision exercises. In particular, manipulating spells with 4 intentions. There were still only a few of those that he could manage, though it had improved from maybe two such spells to confident four. Despite it sounding like doubling in efficiency, Irwyn was merely getting closer to utilizing the natural limits. As Dervish had explained to him, imbuing additional intentions into spells always multiplied the cost of mana and focus and there was, in fact, a hard boundary to the multiplication that could not be bypassed.

Namely, imbuing a second intention was always at least twice as difficult as one. Third was three times harder than two and fourth was four times that of three, or 24 times that of one intention if he did the math; and so on with the fifth and onward. That did not mean those levels of efficiency were achievable, of course. Those were theoretical minimums, goals to pursue in true mastery. Supposedly getting below 30 times multiplication for four concepts - which was about where Irwyn was hovering at the moment - was already rather good. That did not mean he would not strive for further perfection though. Especially since he had only so many other things to improve. Five intentions were still far out of his reach.

Irwyn’s impossibly fast rate of progress had slowed down; Dervish had called it ‘filling out the long set foundations’. That did not mean Irwyn was no longer improving, rather, he was still probably growing faster than ever before reaching Abonisle. Between the cognitive enhancement he had been able to maintain every waking moment nowadays and the broadening of knowledge the improvements were still tangible, however, any more literal multiplications in effective personal power did not seem on the horizon for him.

That was fine. Irwyn had no issue with slow and steady. Especially considering it was probably more along the lines of fast and steady when compared to most people.

That being said, he did not actually spend much time practicing before Dervish appeared by him. The man in his characteristic rough-looking clothes and stony expression did not take long settling Elizabeth into whatever exercise he had in mind for her for the moment, soon finding his way to Irwyn.

“I will say, the spell was significantly more potent than I had anticipated,” Dervish praised with a nod. Already expressive for the man.

“Well, I did attempt my best,” Irwyn fought the urge to preen. “How well do you think it compares?”

“It is clear that you have some connection to dreams that I underestimated,” Dervish did not answer straight and instead analyzed. “You also seem, to my great surprise already aligned with a certain path of your element.”

“Path?” Irwyn raised an eyebrow. Not a word he had come into contact with in any of the textbooks he had been catching up on.

“Not a technical term, just a simplification of what it really is. I find it easier to explain it as such,” Dervish nodded. “You could also call it a ‘direction’, or perhaps a ‘trail’, that a mage chooses or otherwise comes to follow. It is barely talked about as it is something private that most mages only ever begin to dabble with at a much higher level.”

“But you think that is not the case with me,” Irwyn guessed.

“Well, the Stars scourge all, is rather specifically going in one direction and even when I account for a deeper connection to the dream part, to achieve the power that spell held you would still need something more,” Dervish lightly nodded. “I think the easiest to imagine it on is the example of the Void as the concepts involved are the most well known. Imagine these ‘paths’ much like growing closer to one of the individual sins. When a mage pursues such a ‘path’ closer to Wrath, spells and magical effects associated with Wrath will come more easily to them while any magic that would oppose that direction will instead grow more difficult.”

“s that so?” Irwyn nodded, a thought immediately striking him. “Is it then in some way related to Names?” and at that Dervish stopped. The man went eerily still mid-motion and stared Irwyn down for solid two seconds before returning to normal. But that in itself was a message, because Irwyn knew full well that Dervish would not need more than a split second to finish any thought or would lose perfect control of his body. All the man did was deliberate.

“I am not a discretion to discuss any matters of Names,” Dervish said, voice fully serious, then he took a long glance at Elizabeth for Irwyn’s benefit. “Nor may I answer questions I know are asked only to bypass my restrictions.”

“Message received,” Irwyn nodded seriously. Well, no going around whatever kept Dervish from speaking through the noble lady then. Not that he would have pushed it, most likely. Curiosity killed the cat and whatnot. “Then perhaps…” a different thought struck him at the mention of sin in the mythological sense. “How do demons fit into this?”

“That is an excellent question,” Dervish said, back to his stern but relaxed self. “As most fully magical creatures, demons are born associated with a certain path, though it is particularly strong among them, with maybe the exception of the demons of Envy. This applies to most sapient magical races to some degree. For another example, the fae have a predisposition to skirting the rules of magic and living itself that few life mages can ever hope to achieve, even if such fae do not pursue life and illusion magic specifically.”

“Fascinating,” Irwyn nodded. He wondered whether Dervish somehow suspected the encounter he had gone through after leaving Ebon Respite to choose the example or if it was merely a coincidence, though the information did make sense from what he had seen. The fae had wielded a great variety of magics for the so-called ‘sisters of life’. “But you say I also seem to have some of this ‘nature’ in me?”

“Yes,” Dervish nodded. “Starfire is far less complicated compared to a vast canvas like the Void. It tends to be either scorching, protective, or in between the two. From observing you for a while and now from the spell, I highly suspect you have somehow taken a first step towards those scorching concepts.”

“My barriers seem to be working just fine,” Irwyn frowned. Those were by definition ‘protective’. If he had taken such a step, wouldn’t that have weakened them?

“That is a simplistic understanding of what protection is,” Dervish did not agree. “Self-preservation could also be a method which allows for further destruction. Personal defense need not be the same thing as Protecting something. You should think about these as more incorporeal than literal concepts. For example, protection could also mean leaving a legacy or sealing away threats. Scorching on the other hand need not be just destructive. It could be burning away weaknesses from yourself or others. Incinerating taint to allow for healing. Of course, these are all conjectures and estimates from second-hand knowledge, where your exact ‘path’ lay will be up to you to discover, possibly far in the future. However, I deemed it best to inform you now.”

“I see, thank you,” Irwyn said honestly. If things were going to be conceptual, well, there was hardly a limit at all. Anything could be twisted one way or another if a mind tried hard enough. Though it was true that some parts of him did not point towards preservation; his curse or oath or whatever which made him unable to even write was a blatant one. But if things were as conceptual as they seemed, it was best to start looking for inspiration and understanding right away.

It also reminded him of his first vision, in a desert melting underneath two Stars. But it must be there, always and forever. Such is the nature of Stars. The man from whose perspective he had watched had spoken as such. That stars must both care and hurt to some extent, though unlike Irwyn, the man seemed distinctly on the side of ‘care’. It was still a starting point though.

And the thing about starting points was, there were many places to go from there.

“We should improve your control of the new spell and test its limits at your current capacity,” Dervish spoke after giving Irwyn some time to think and digest. “For you personally, the incantation has the power to be worth mastering. You should also consider developing some kind of purely defensive spell so that we can ascertain or disprove my earlier hypothesis. But for now…” a hundred blobs of black manifested around them and - although not quite blades - Irwyn knew that he would not be able to scratch even one if Dervish did not wish him to. “I have spotted the all part of the incantation. Cast and we shall see whether it lives us to the same standard.”

And so Irwyn did, he took a deep breath and cast. And he knew that by the end of the day, he would once again be stronger.

“From the seams

In my dreams

I saw them fall

The Stars scourge all”