The First War Mage: Skyline Trials

By the time I closed the Bestiary and looked up I was the only student left around the area. Even Sanders had left by now, leaving me in a calming silence with no one but Akemi by my side. Taking in a breath I stood up, twisting my body side to side while relishing in the relief of the tension before I began forwards.

"Guess it's time to see what Carmine has in line for us today," I said while glancing at Akemi. She was resting calmly on my shoulder, her trio of tails lying lazily over my chest.

It only took about half an hour to make my way across to the other end of the school, leaving the sun to hang calmly in the distance as I walked out into the training grounds.

Carmine was already there, sitting on the ground with her legs crossed when I approached her.

"Here already?" Carmine asked, opening one eye to look at me.

"Sanders didn't have much to teach us today," I answered with a shrug.

"He always has either too much to say or not anywhere near enough," Carmine mused as she stood up. Her arms raised over her head, leaning backwards into a stretch before she turned to me with a grin. "I know I don't have a lot of time to teach this to you, but we're practicing it all the same."

"Teach me what?" I asked curiously while waiting for Carmine to continue.

"Chants—Or the concept of chants, I doubt I'll be able to make you learn one in a single day," She nodded to herself, mumbling something under her breath before snapping her fingers. "First, you said that you managed to make a construct when fighting those Ghouls, correct?" Carmine quickly asked.

"Yeah—But I don't think I'm able to do it again." I answered, thinking back to how I felt during that fight. I was rather certain that I had only managed to force enough of my mana out and control it at the same time because of how desperate I was. I had known at that moment that if I didn't succeed it would mean certain death.

"As I thought," Carmine said sagely. "Depending on how strong a spell is you will need a chant to cast it reliably. There are of course exceptions, such as a fight that is life-or-death where you can sometimes ignore such requirements. But it is better to know a chant and not need it than it is to need it and not know it." Carmine explained as she stepped back into the circle of bare dirt.

"So, do I just have to say something and the spell works?" I asked uncertainty as I followed her into the ring. Akemi deftly hopped off of my shoulder, padding her way over and finding a place to sit at the edge of the grass.

"It's not that simple, but go ahead and try it." Carmine said, waving her hands placatingly.

"What should I even say?" I asked as I stared down at my hands. Carmine remained silent, just watching me with an expecting gaze that forced me to at least attempt an action.

"Uhm…" I began. I brought a hand forth, closing it partially as if I held an invisible weapon. "Zap?" My words came out far less like a command, and more akin to a question.

As expected, absolutely nothing happened—Nothing other than the amused giggle that escaped Carmine's lips.

"If chants were that easy, then everyone would be able to find one," Carmine began as she strode forwards. "A chant has multiple layers to it, the command, the name of the spell and the channeling of mana. Typically, the longer a chant is, the stronger the resulting spell is relative to the mage's own strength." Carmine's words finished alongside her steps, bringing her to a halt directly next to me.

I opened my mouth, ready to barrage her with yet more questions. However, the words were trapped in my throat as a whisper of immense power coalesced from Carmine's lips.

"May the void guide my strike," Her words were barely audible, yet I couldn't even breathe when they came to a halt.

I stood there, my jaw left slack and dangling by the hinge for several long moments while I wanted for anything to happen—Anything at all. But, nothing ended up happening. Nothing other than Carmine turning her innocent gaze towards me.

"That was a chant. Now, I'm going to make sure you can make that spell work at least once today before we're done," Carmine's innocent gaze turned to me, as if guiding me to attempt matching her. "Now, let's see how far you can get into making that spell work."

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"I told you I don't think I can replicate it." I grumbled out, uncertainty eating its way through my mind.

"You can't replicate it now," Carmine interjected, raising a single finger as she did. "But, now isn't when I'm expecting it." She finished, gesturing for me to take action with a lazy sway of her fingers.

I didn't bother trying to argue with Carmine's logic any further, instead I reluctantly took a step forward and focused inwards.

The world of mana filled the vision of my mind, incandescent colors that fluttered inside of my veins like a storm ready to burst. Every beat of my heart was like a strike of lightning, casting its gentle wrath to the tips of my fingers before circling back towards my chest.

The origin of my mana lay there, waiting to come to life like a darkling storm cloud on the horizon. A familiar, tingling power lay within that calm cloud, but it wasn't a power I could properly feel.

Even now as I thought about it, I barely used my own element—I relied on the raw output of unattuned mana, ill-suited for the acts which I wished to use magic for. It was a dormant thought that lay in my head as I opened my hands unconsciously, pushing the fringes of the cloud outwards.

I tried to pull at the cloud itself, not the faint strands of lightning that were easy to let loose. It wasn't a surge of power I demanded, it wasn't the speed of the storm, but the body of it that I wished to control.

It was a slow process, one which involved fighting against the unruly nature of the storm to press it where I wished for it to go. The mana didn't want to be compressed or controlled, it wanted out—It wanted to expand and unleash its fury across the training ground in an utterly uncontrolled wave of destruction.

But I fought against the nature of the storm, I pressed inwards with the raw mana I had grown used to controlling. It made an elastic layer around the storm, stretching, flexing and expanding with it, but it never burst. The storm remained controlled as it crawled towards my hands, to my partially clenched fists that awaited for something to fill them.

Time became meaningless while I focused on the magic in my body, I couldn't be certain if mere moments or lengthy hours had passed. Not until I opened my eyes to greet the sight that I felt in my grip.

It wasn't a halberd—It wasn't even a sword, it was merely a small sphere of violet magic. The sphere rested near weightlessly in my palm, sending a continuous tingling feeling through my fingers as I tentatively rolled it around.

The next thing I noticed was how moist my back and head had become. Sweat was drenched through my clothes, matting my hair against my back where it only added to the discomfort—But that discomfort did little to stop the smile from coming onto my face.

"I…" My words were cut off before I could even start them, my body felt exhausted and gave out from underneath me. The compressed storm fell before me as my legs gave out. I had collapsed to the ground, the world was spinning, my ears were ringing.

"What happened?…" I thought weakly as a blur that I could faintly recognize as Carmine ran over to me. She didn't say anything, or, if she did I couldn't hear her words. She just moved to sit next to me, holding me in place.

When cold air finally rushed into my lungs, it began to chew away at the otherworldly exhaustion. Slowly my ears stopped ringing, even slower still my vision cleared. My limbs still felt weak, like I couldn't even crawl if I wanted to, but my jaw moved just enough to cough out the words resting on my tongue.

"What… What happened?" I spoke the words that permeated my thoughts, bringing them out as little more than a whisper.

"You tried to control more of your mana than your body could handle," Carmine answered. I felt her moving through the contact that she held against my back, she had leant forwards, grabbing the sphere I made. "But, you succeeded—Far quicker than I expected you to as well." Carmine let out a soft chuckle, holding the sphere before my gaze.

It was small, barely larger than the palm of my hand, yet the power was palpable. I could almost feel a connection to it, like it was attached directly to my origin.

"More… More than I could handle?" I forced the words out, trying to turn my gaze towards Carmine as I did.

"You used more mana in a single instant than your body was prepared for," She supplied, bringing the sphere closer to me. "It's something you'll have to train,, but right now, I'd say you could easily conform this into a small dagger. And, as long as you have mana it should stay around."

"Soo… I did what I needed to?" I asked almost pleadingly.

"Yes, yes you did," Carmine answered happily. "And far faster than I thought you could." She added just a moment after.

"Yaaay…" As soon as the words escaped my lips I felt the world go dark, exhaustion finally taking over.

"Oh good, you're finally back." She stood at the front of the small group. They were all still following the Unspeakable, maybe half a mile behind it at this point.

"Yes. My task has been completed, how about yourself?" A green haired woman now stood beside the red haired woman. The two of them stood as stark opposites to one another, yet here they were as allies.

"Ehh… It shouldn't be more than a few weeks," The red haired woman answered, gesturing towards the direction of the Unspeakable. "He has been moving quite slow the last few days, and those guards are catching up."

"A shame," The green haired woman sighed, glancing back. "Must we take more lives?" She asked hesitantly.

"Oh don't be such a downer! Killing people is fun!" The red haired woman laughed out, her cackle echoing through the night.