(Resumed) Solstice

[Emmett]

Now that classes were out of the way, I had my assignments to do. Fortunately, I had diligently scribbled down the runes, so that homework won't be too bad. The assignment for Friday's class was going to be a little trickier. This felt like general knowledge, though, so I went on over to the Student Center.

I approached a passing student, and forced my voice out despite a slight nervousness. "Um, excuse me?"

The student turned around and I immediately recognized him as Abraham, the guy who threw down a Spell Circle for his Entrance Exam. "How are you here? Aren't you the failure?"

I sighed. "Remedial student."

"You just signed your life away. Don't waste my time." Abraham turned to leave.

"Do you know where the nearest library is?" I asked quickly.

"Basement." Abraham left before I could even thank him.

I sighed and scoured about the place for some stairs to downclimb and was fortunate enough to find some. What was unusual, however, was the sheer volume of stairs. This felt like I was climbing down two, maybe three stories, as opposed to the one story climb everywhere else on the campus. The lighting got darker and darker, until there was only the faint light at the bottom. I made it down eventually, and pushed open the double doors.

The room before me was vast. Many chandeliers hung from the ceiling, with their flames staggeringly close to the stone roof. How did- Right. Magick. There was an island of space demarcated by countertops to my left, and about the walls stood a vast array of bookshelves. The main floors themselves were host to tables, some chairs, tea sets, and a few mattress-seeming constructions elevated to a ninety-minute slant, perfectly between horizontal and vertical.

There were, of course, some heavy, locked, staff-only doors, but they were foreboding enough, and using my Æthervision on them showed me they were heavily enchanted, so best to stay the fuck away from.

"Ah, welcome to the General Library," I heard a mid-range masculine voice call to me, "Are you perchance lost?"

I shook my head. "I'm not. I just was never here before. I was looking for some basic resources on Magick. I'm, um, a remedial student."

"I see. If you're looking for an introduction to spellcasting, then, I don't know how to say this, but you're likely going to find yourself failing in short order. But if you need it, I could recommend a few titles for an absolute beginner. As a remedial student, however, you would not be allowed to check out books, so you would have to read them here, and deliver them to me before leaving. Please don't attempt to re-shelve."

I nodded. "Thank you. For today, though, I'm mostly looking to fill in some details for a homework assignment. Specifically, I'm looking for some way that Fire Magick can turn into Forge Magick."

"Oh! If you're looking to write the basic 101 Essay on the Elements for your Theory of Magick I, then I whole-heartedly recommend Four Tunes, Three Talents, Two Faces by Benjamin Adams. If you skim quickly, you should be able to find what you're looking for in short order. If you take the opportunity to read it through, you may be able to get a wider understanding before we close at six."

Receiving some instructions from the librarian on where to look, I thanked him and made my way to the indicated bookshelf. I scanned the titles I encountered, looking for any word in the title, or the indicated author. In a little while I did find a compact tome, bound on pink, with black lettering.

Four Tunes
Three Talents
Two Faces

I smiled. Maybe not every Adams was as self-important as Abraham seemed to be. I opened the front cover and read the first sentence:

Now that you have a foundation for harnessing the Æther either around or inside you, it is time to expose you to the foundational triad of Magical Expression.

I read along, and flipped through the pages. What I had learned therein was what I was looking for and much more.

The Elements are as they were described throughout: Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. Air is sometimes called Wind, this being an artifact from alternate philosophies, and, well, most Air spells deal with moving it in some way, so Wind also fits. The process for wielding an Element of Magick is indeed called Attunement, with each Magus having at most one, sometimes zero, Elements they can use (The book used "he" but Jacqueline kicked me out of that habit pretty early on), and those Elements are indeed linked to emotions.

The book also cautioned to avoid mistaking what the signature emotions were. Fire was linked to Passion, not Anger. Air was linked to Hope, not Happiness. Water was linked to Reflection, not Sadness. And Earth was linked to Confidence, not Stubbornness. The book also devoted paragraphs to differentiating between Passion and Confidence. Passion was the drive to keep moving forward, and Confidence was the quiet assurance that you're doing the right thing with the information you had. The difference between Confidence and Stubbornness was primarily that an Earth Magus using Confidence could change their path if they were mistaken without losing their Element. Earth Magi mistaking Stubbornness could not.

After the brief overview of the elements, the book recommended for those Magi in the front lines to primarily use raw Æther in combat, drawing out their element only in critical moments. This not only preserved stamina, but kept your opponent guessing what your abilities actually were, ideally until it's too late.

I scrawled down some notes when I noticed one particular passage, which I had committed to memory: One major exception to the rule of using Æther except to ensure decisive victory must be memorized by all Magi: If an Attuned spell threatens you and evasion proves even the least bit difficult, do not take the risk; play your hand and respond with Attuned Magick of your own. In a clash of Æther versus any Element, the Element always wins.

I wrote that down, and then a note to test that hypothesis. It explained why Ansel had taken evasive measures against Grace until the very end in MMA, but one clear exception was Ser Linn and how he was able to punch through Patrick's sphere of fire anyway. Besides, Magick was, by its nature, Magickal, so there was probably an exception somewhere in a more advanced text that I wasn't reading right now.

I turned the page. What came next, I read over feverishly and condensed into my notebook.

On top of the Four "Tunes" (Elements), Each Magus also carried one of three "Talents": Body, Mind, and Soul. The book mentioned that this was a more informal system devised by contemporary theorists of the era, unlike Elements and Aspects (That's what that was called!); a point further driven home by mentioning that every Magus could use all three Talents, but Benjamin proposed that every Magus had a particular... ahem, talent, for one of the three.

Body Magick was described as Magick enhancing or perhaps weakening the physical structure of the object, usually, well, the caster's body. Those with their Talent in Body were said to be particularly gifted at Strengthening Magick, as well as Magick used for First Aid, which the book noted was not to be confused with Healing Magick, which it would go into detail on later.

Strengthening Magick... didn't Ansel ask where I had learned Strengthening Magick? If so... was my Talent in Body?

Mind Magick was described as magicks pertaining to telepathic scrying, telepathic shielding, and telekinetic manipulation of objects. Kinda like what Ser Sakura was doing with that kunai she Forged. Mind Magic was also described as being an avenue by which one could control the involuntary responses of the body, a process Benjamin referred to as "Biofeedback". He exclaimed heavily however that he would not provide any instruction for practicing Biofeedback in this book, as it would lead to entire generations of Magi accidentally killing themselves.

Spirit Magicks was the most esoteric of them all, with noted disagreements about what constituted Spirit Magick. Some said Spirit Magick was simply any raw manipulation of Æther, while others maintained that Spirit Magick was specifically the projection of ones power in an aura. It has also been described as Magick dealing primarily in emotions, while a few fringe scholars suggested that Attunement and Aspecting were what Soul Magick actually was. Given the discrepancies noted, the text suggested Spirit as a default Talent for any Magus not leaning favorably toward the two prior categories.

Around this point I was struggling to not bounce up and down in my seat. I read over my notes. They were barely legible; I'd have to rewrite them a few times at my dormitory to fully commit them to memory, and get additional practice in my handwriting as well.

I turned the page.

Aspects. Bingo. This was what I was after.

While not every Magus has an Element, the same is not true for Aspects. While there are four Elements, there are only two Aspects: Light and Dark, also called Yang and Yin, also called the Outer Face and the Inner Face. Additionally, every Magus has an Aspect, whether they have the skill to wield it or not; there are no Unaspected Magi. Aspecting ones Æther is leagues above merely Attuning it in difficulty, and doing so causes a much higher strain in ones Ætheric Vessel, but it is not without extensive benefits, either. Aspecting Æther to Light makes it faster, sharper, and allows it to contend with Attuned Magick in a clash. Aspecting Æther to Dark, however, makes it heavier, more solid, and persistent. Dark-Aspected Æther is also very good at blocking Elemental Magick. The real magic, however, happens when one adds both their Aspect and their Element into a single work of Magick: the Element is promoted and morphed into what this book calls a Concept, allowing for a much wider range of expressions and effects, well beyond even the metaphysical limitations of the base components.

Fire, Aspected to Light, yields Forge, a Magick that creates Matter from Æther.
Fire, Aspected to Dark, yields Calling, burning a hole between Worlds to summon devils into the mortal realm.
Air, Aspected to Light, yields Communion, allowing the Magus to...

... commune.... across any distance.....

"Oh THAT'S WHY-" A sharp pain wracked the back of my head.

"You will be quiet in the Library or you will be removed!" the Librarian spoke, hard, a small metal ball levitating toward his hand from next to me.

"Ow.. Sorry," I said, quieter.

"Thank you."

That was why Ser Feylance's Communication Spell sparkled under Æthervision!

Air, Aspected to Dark, yields Translocation, permitting unhindered travel across any distance.

Air Magi could fucking teleport too?! Hells be damned, I was jealous. I wanted that! Thank the Heavens no one could have both Aspects at once; that would be outright cheating.

Water, Aspected to Light, yields Healing, the mending and soothing of wounds, both mundane and Magickal.
Water, Aspected to Dark, yields Transmutation, the coercion of one material form into another. This is not to be confused with Forging.
Earth, Aspected to Light, yields Arbor, the Magick of flora, their care, creation, manipulation, and their energies.
Earth, Aspected to Dark, yields Gravity, Magicks binding the weight of the world to ones will.

The book continued: Each of these Concepts ranks higher in metaphysical priority than both Attuned Magick and Aspected Magick. While Aspected and Attuned Magicks will clash, Conceptual Magicks will defeat either just as soundly as if they were simple Æher.

I glanced through the book, lightly scanning to the end, for I had what I came here for, and much more besides.

"The Library is closing in five minutes," the librarian called, "Please make your final selections and check out."

I smiled, closed the book, and delivered it to the front counter. "Thank you. This was most helpful."

"You're welcome, and I will ban you for a week from all libraries and a month in mine if I hear another outburst."

I nodded, and left for supper and bed.

The next day was filled with History in the Air College in the morning, and Physical Fitness afterward. Unlike last time with running, we did much more anaerobic exercises, featuring much more push-ups, much more sit-ups, squats, and lifting/swinging instruments that looked like conventional weapons but were at least triple the weight. I had gotten myself in another competition with Ansel, but this time I had quite an advantage.

"Damn, Emmett," he said, "What did you do in your life to lift so well?"

"My adolescent years were spent farming," I replied, grunting between swings of a quad-weighted greataxe, "I also hid heavy lifting and carrying for the village restoration. Course I'm going to be tough."

"Ha, no kidding! This is awesome! Got any further with your research?"

"I know that Strengthening Magic relates to Body Talent, but no idea on how to actually use it."

"You'll get there. Oh, you have a squad yet?"

"Squad?"

Ansel set the greataxe down and moved to tower shields, one in each hand, practicing moving the shields from side to front and back. "Yeah, Expedition Squads let you go out into Can Vahs and perform errands for people, and develop your soft skills. You also get paid for your work, which you can spend at the stores for goodies later!"

"Ah, sounds nice! I'll keep an eye out; thanks!" I finished up my set of shield-sets before putting them away and jogging the cooldown laps.

I had bathed, and changed, and set off for lunch when Ser Larsen approached me. "Ah, what is it?" I asked.

"Sinclair," he said, "During your lunch hour, please report to Conference Room Eight. Ser Linn asked me to relay this message to you."

"Did he say what it was about?"

"No, but when I get these sorts of summons, it's usually expedition-related, so you may be being recruited for a squad. Just, don't embarrass yourself or them."

"No promises Ser."

"Give me fifty! Kidding. How you fuck up your life outside my class is not my problem. Get outta here."

"Will do." I turned away from his half-a-smile and pulled the door open to the outside world. First, putting my clothing away, then meeting with Ser Linn, presumably about expedition squads, whatever those were.