Chapter 7
What followed was a veritable overflow of information, more information than Willow had ever taken in at any one time before.
Sharlyan was a land of scholars, which meant not only did they have information about the world in great detail, they had many people more than willing to share every bit of information that they had gained throughout their years. So willing to share that Willow quickly began to learn about where she had found herself, the land of Eorzea which was part of the greater planet they called Hydalean.
A big change was just the simple fact that her semblance no longer worked; no matter how hard she tried she could not summon her glyphs. It mattered little in the end since she barely used them these days (except to grab a bottle of wine from across the room) but it did feel like a part of her was missing every time she failed to conjure them.
Her aura was missing as well, though the feeling it had left behind granted her a bit of ease with learning the abilities that did come from this new world; the ability to manipulate aether. Though it took some effort, she was starting to get the hang of manipulating this strange energy that was apparently all around them at all times. It quintessentially was just magic in every conceivable way she looked at it, but in practice it required her to concentrate and practice whatever it was she wanted to conjure.
Not only that, but apparently studying the different methods of aetherial manipulation was from different schools of study. If she wanted to try and conjure fire, ice, or thunder, it was apparently considered part of the school of thaumaturgy. If she wanted to summon water, wind, or earth, it was part of the school of conjuring. There were different ways to summon forth the aether, be it from within or from external sources and that relying far too much on one or the other was detrimental, and relying on any single element caused drastic imbalances that could cause serious harm too.
There were a lot of surprising rules to a system that presented itself as 'magic' to her, yet it seemed to have a lot more in common with dust than she initially realized.
And then there were the tests conducted of her person, testing her aether and looking for traces of the specific types of magicks that were involved with her summons. It had felt quite strange to have her aether examined at first but she came to find it quite comfortable within a short period of time.
Fourchenault had been quite surprised at her aether upon his first examination, finding that it had a unique 'hue' to it from other aether he had examined. According to him (loosely paraphrased of course), her aether appeared to be mixing with an energy he was not familiar with which called for further study. He theorized that her abilities from her home world were still stored within her body but were somehow being suppressed by the aether from this world. With a lot of time and research it might even be possible for her to access her original aether and regain her abilities from her home, though he was unable to say how long such an endeavour would take or if it was even fully possible.
Still, any hope Willow had of accessing her semblance again was hope she was going to hold on to.
And the study of her aether had taken a full two days before she was given freedom to explore more of the campus and that was when she decided she would study.
Back home reading was one of the few things that gave her comfort. Reading adventures of worlds well outside of her own, of people seeing the world or learning to love or even just solving a mystery drew her out of her misery, if even for just a moment. Thus reading about this new world she found herself in came surprisingly naturally.
Sadly drinking was not allowed on the campus itself so she would read as much as she could tolerate before her head began to hurt, then would take them back to her room in the Leveillure manor so she could sip on her wine while continuing her studies.
Though her drinking had lessened since she was here she was still downing about a bottle per day, even if she did have to sneak one or two past the Leveillures' who seemed worried about her drinking. She was, however, an adult and mother of three, she was fully cognizant enough to make the decision to continue drinking if she wanted to and she did want to continue.
Just because she had found some comfort in this new world didn't mean that it lessened the stress, anxiety, or depression of being in a world not her own and the alcohol helped numb a lot of that pain. And while she didn't miss her husband she did miss her children, for as much as there was to miss. Winter and Weiss basically wanted nothing to do with her and even when they visited she would avoid them, but still…
…There was a part deep inside of her that wished to see them again.
As for Whitley…
…In a way she did also miss him, but he still reminded her far too much of his father. Of the three he was most likely to have a life handed to him on a silver platter by the man and be grateful for it.
It was not a thought that brought her much comfort.
Those thoughts were drowned in another glass of wine before she opened another book. There was no need to have sad, depressing thoughts if her thoughts were otherwise occupied with fantastical reading material.
She was particularly fascinated with the fact that there was apparently a land far to the south that was filled exclusively with dragons. She would have to look more into them later.
And so it was that several more days would begin to pass, with her either holed up in the Studium or within her room.
One night in particular her interest was piqued by her studies, glancing through a book on aether studies mentioned an object that helped others with aether manipulation, something called a Job Stone.
"Fourchenault," she spoke upon entering his office at the Studium, "could you tell me about job stones?"
"Job stones?" Fourchenault picked his head up from his paperwork, looking at her curiously, "what brought this on?"
"I was studying up on aether, like you told me to, and this section brought them up and they sounded interesting," Willow added, turning the book to look at the open page, "according to this they assist oneself in being able to perform tasks that have been mastered by others who have previously used the stone. Doesn't that sound like it would be useful for our research?"
Fourchenault looked as stone faced as ever as he thought about it, before letting out a soft sigh and moving his paperwork aside to lace his fingers together on top of his desk.
"Job stones are a fairly ancient tradition, when our ancestors first discovered the ability to imbue aether into objects. Many of them were masters of one or two select talents but had difficulty grasping multiple concepts at once. A job stone was thus created so that one could perform multiple feats of magic with minimal effort by calling upon the experience and knowledge of those who used magics before them." He adjusted the bangs on his face before continuing.
"However, this comes with the caveat that you don't truly 'learn' the knowledge that is imbued within the stone. It is much like using an ink pen, you know it can be used to write with but you may not understand the mechanisms with which it uses to put ink to paper."
Willow furrowed her brow at that, sort of understanding the concept but not fully grasping everything he was saying.
"But wouldn't that still be useful for our purposes?" She asked, scanning over the book again. "You want to study my aether so wouldn't a shortcut like this make it easier for me to channel it? At the very least I feel like it might help me better grasp the fundamentals of it all."
"Possibly," Fourchenault nodded, "however, it is still more complicated than that. There's the possibility of your aether mingling with the aether from the stone itself which may tamper with the results versus a more pure concentration of your aether." He then put a hand to his chin in thought.
"You do raise a good point though, since you are unfamiliar with the basics of aether due to not having grown up with it, it may be a way to fast track your learning." He closed his eyes as he considered it. "Normally I am hesitant to include additional factors that may complicate the results but the drawbacks of this experiment are unlikely to tamper with the results. Very well then."
Willow was a little surprised that he agreed to her idea. The few days that she'd known the man he seemed fairly strict in his ways and his extensive knowledge made him believe in himself far more than anyone else. Yet there he was getting up from his chair and moving across the room.
He opened up a cabinet that sat in the corner of the room and pulled out a small briefcase, running his hands along it as if there were cherished memories running through his mind as he did. He then lifted it up and turned to Willow, motioning for her to follow which she did.
The halls of the Studium seemed to be as busy as ever, with students either moving between classes, mingling in the corridors to speak with classmates, or figuring out what part of their studies to focus on next. Many of them had given Willow a curious eye when she had first arrived here, but now she was as ordinary as the rest of them, not standing out in the least.
She appreciated that to an extent. Not having her existence questioned was kind of nice since it allowed her to better acclimate with her surroundings. Though Fourchenault walking with her did raise some eyebrows and curious gawkers, no one bothered them as they approached a particular door within the Studium.
Inside was a large split into two sections, one side an area to prepare oneself for the other, and the otherside filled with various type of dummies and mannequins for the purposes of practicing magic and combat prowess. The school didn't just teach scholarly pursuits, though that was its main focus, it also helped train them to use the aetherial arts for combat in the safest and most effective method possible, as often times on research expeditions one was likely to run into a mindless creature wanting to turn you into a meal.
The range was already seeing use with a couple of students practicing various forms of magic, and one even striking at a dummy with a sword, but otherwise it was fewer than Willow was expecting.
"Allow me to explain," Fourchenault spoke up breaking Willow's attention away from the dummies as he placed his case on a nearby table and clicked it open. "What I said earlier wasn't entirely wrong, Job Stones give you all the information you need to use them up-front and allow you to feel like you know their skills, however if you remove the job stone you will forget what you learned." He then held up a small white stone with four small blue markings on it.
"However, if you continue to use the stone, continue to practice with it, you will begin to memorize the skills within it over time. This is one method of learning, though it can also hamper creativity on how to adjust or modify aether to your own whims. I say this as a warning many others have fallen for before; do not assume that the knowledge the stone gives you will make you a master of the craft. It is but a shortcut for using aether, not master of it. Never forget that."
Willow slowly nodded her head, understanding enough what he meant. Like studying for a test and memorizing answers, just because you knew the answer now didn't mean you had actually learned it.
She held out her hand and he placed it within her palm. She looked down at it, feeling the aether flowing within it, feeling the warmth of the stone. She could practically feel the years of experience flowing through it, much like holding up an age-old and worn out book that had been used to teach for centuries.
"To attune yourself with it, hold it firmly in your hand and bring it up to your chest. Then, let your aether attune to it and you'll gain its knowledge temporarily." Foruchenault explained and Willow nodded her head.
She gently squeezed the stone, being careful of its jagged edges, before holding it up to her chest. Through the various tests they had done so far she was at least familiar with 'attuning' now, so it was just a matter of channeling her aether into the stone.
As soon as she did she felt a wild rush of aether filling her mind, almost feeling like she was being blown away by the stone in her hand. Knowledge unlike anything she had known before filled her mind in rapid succession, and suddenly she realized she knew how to expertly control magics.
Weaving spells to heal wounds or conjure shields was so simple, concentrating the aether to fire projectiles or pure aether was as if second nature to her. She stared down at the rock in shock, unable to believe what she was feeling, what she suddenly knew. She truly felt like the mysteries of the world had unlocked themselves within her and she held the power to change the world in the very palm of her hand.
"Now," Fourchenault spoke up, distracting her thoughts, "I want you to unattune yourself from the stone."
"What?" Willow asked confused, furrowing her brow, "but I just attuned myself to it. Why would I do that?"
"You have a familiar look on your face, one that speaks to the fact that you're being overwhelmed with knowledge and experience. Unattune yourself to the stone so that you may ground yourself back into reality."
Willow opened her mouth to rebuke, paused for a second, before closing her mouth. For some reason, some inexplicable reason, she wanted to argue with him- no, she wanted to debate him. She wanted to tell him all the theorems and possibilities of why he would be wrong, how this was a scientific marvel, how she could truly solve all the problems she was facing by simply staying attuned to this stone.
…But at the same time she realized deep down that that wasn't who she was. That something about the aether in the stone was altering the very way she thought about the information it was giving her.
With a deep, slow breath, she pulled her aether back, disconnecting it from the stone, and as if a knife cutting through the veil of her mind-
-All the knowledge that had seemed like second nature but seconds ago vanished in an instance. It was almost jarring how easy it was to forget so much information that had just literally seconds ago been filling her mind. She stared at the rock almost dumbfounded, unable to believe that a small stone could radically alter how one thought so easily.
"This is one of the few dangers of the job stone, the fact that it can make a novice into a master, but also turn that master back into a novice. It contains the knowledge of its forebears, scholars and arcanists of the Studium from ages ago that trained their whole life to channel magicks and even some of their notions and ways were imparted upon the stone. It's important to always remember where your knowledge ends and their knowledge begins." Fourchenault explained, before turning back to his briefcase and pulling out a set of armor.
"These are called Nouliths, and they are the primary weapon of those who go by the title of Sage. However, they are also phenomenal teaching tools on aether manipulation, control, and transformation." He spoke before instructing Willow to turn around. She did so hesitantly, but he knew what it was he was doing.
With practiced ease he strapped the simple cylindrical devices onto her back before stepping back to ensure they were stable. The most surprising part to Willow was how light they seemingly were, having expected them to be far heavier than they apparently were. She could feel them glowing with a gentle aether, just enough to attune them to her own.
"What I want you to do today is to attune yourself to the Sage stone, then I want you to spend the rest of it practicing the basic abilities within it," he turned to look at the dummies on the other side of the room, bringing Willow's attention to them. "I emphasize studying the basics because you will actually learn them once you disconnect from the job stone. If you just confidently blaze through your aether casting the most complex spells the stone knows you won't actually learn anything."
"...Right, I understand." Willow said with a nod.
The flood of information from before had been a lot, but it had emphasized how right he was. With the stone she'd be able to cast any number of spells, but she would forget them the moment she let go. She had to have the strength and will power to focus on learning and memorizing the basics if she was going to get anywhere in this new world.
With another deep breath, she held the stone up to her chest once more and attuned her aether to the stone. Once more the knowledge of masters of their craft filled her mind and she once again understood how to weave magicks to bend the very fabric of the universe around her.
However, her mind was still her own. Just knowing the knowledge wasn't what she was after, she was after mastery in her own way.
With her goal in mind she channeled her aether and the nouliths upon her back began floating into the air around her, connected to her through invisible strings of aether. Though the stone made the act feel like second nature she still focused hard on just how she was doing it.
Her aether, channeled through her back, focused into tiny small strings, as minimal power as needed, holding and powering the nouliths. They floated through her strength, through her focus, they channeled her magic, amplifying her own natural power through the materials they were made out of, the crystals inside of them helping her focus on her goals.
She pushed her aether through the thin strand into the noulith, causing it to glow as aether was gathered towards its tips. Then, once it was sufficiently charged, she fired them forward, straight across the room and into the dummy across the room.
The struck the target with precision and power, leaving scorch marks where the magic had dissipated. The dummy then had a flash of magic, returning it to its pre-damaged state.
"An excellent display of basic aether concentration and expulsion," Fourchenault said with a nod of his head, "now do it again."
"Right." Willow said with a nod, focusing on doing it again, focusing on following every single step she needed to cast the spell.
Concentrate, focus on the strand, channel the aether, gather it together, and fire. Concentrate, focus, channel, gather, fire.
She repeated it several times, focusing on every step, as if she was running her fingers over every bit of aether, over every step, to try and memorize it, trying to make sure she didn't forget any of these feelings, any of this knowledge.
Her nouliths fired off bursts of aether again and again, over and over, each time striking the dummy and charrign it before it was repaired automatically. She concentrated and repeated this task over and over again, so single mindedly focused on memorizing this simple, basic spell that she quickly began to lose track of time.
"It seems you've started to gain a grasp of the technique," Fourchenault spoke up, standing next to Willow and looking at her progress, "now try it once without the stone and see how much you have memorized."
Willow nodded her head and let out a slow breath before disconnecting her aether from the stone. The immense, complex knowledge left her in an instant, but in its place was something vague and familiar.
Her nouliths stuttered in place for a moment, before she focused hard on holding that up with her aether.
Doing so, however, was much harder than had been mere seconds ago and she grit her teeth feeling the strain inside her soul. The nouliths shuddered and shook for several seconds before slowly stabilizing themselves around her.
It wasn't perfect, and if the strings were visible they wouldn't look pretty, but they were there and they were working. Forcing her aether out into the world, forcing into a string-like state, and connecting to the nouliths was harder than the stone made it look, but the fundamental basics were there and she was managing it.
"Impressive," Fourchenault said with a raise of his eyebrow, "you're still holding them up. Most of my students drop them the first time they let go of the job stone."
"Well, I guess I just focused a little harder," Willow tried to say snarkily back, though it was undercut by the hesitation in her voice as she still struggled to keep them upright. It took a lot more aether than she thought it would to maintain their flight pattern and she was feeling the strain.
"I might be hard enough just to keep them in the air for now," Fourchenault said with a nod of his head, "however, I still want you to try and fire aether off like you had before. It's important for you to understand your limitations with aether and this is an invaluable teaching moment."
Easy enough for him to say, Willow thought. Still, she focused on doing as he said, trying to push out extra aether into her nouliths and gathering that aether at the tip.
The nouliths shook uneasily as the strands of aether holding them grew unstable, the strings fluctuating in size as aether was pumped into the nouliths much like a house filled with different pressure levels of air. Though as she did the nouliths began to glow, filling up with her aether, much like before, and she aimed at the dummy across the room.
As if pulling an invisible trigger in her mind she fired the aether from the nouliths, unleashing a wild eruption of aether that scattered out across the field and never even came close to hitting the dummy. Instead the instability of her aether was too much for her and the nouliths came crashing down to the ground, leaving her in a nearly breathless state.
"That was… That… That was so much more difficult…" Willow panted, wiping at the sweat on her forehead. Willow turned to look at Fourchenault who was smirking at her. For some reason that really irritated her at that moment.
"I will give you that was a more impressive display than I was expecting," he said in his usual cocky tone, leaning down to pick up one of the nouliths and inspecting it carefully. "The only thing the job stones can do is impart knowledge upon the wielder, it doesn't actually transfer any aether to you."
"What?" Willow asked with a furrowed brow. "What does that mean?"
"It means, when you were controlling the noulith with 'ease' with the job stone, you were using the same exact amount of aether you were without it." He held the noulith out for her and she gently took it from him. "For now, you should focus on learning just how the job stone uses your aether more effectively, even for the most basic of spells. Then, practice your aether control without the stone and try to match the two. If you can do that, then you'll have started down the road to mastering control over your aether."
Willow understood what he meant. Start by mimicking the job stone, then do it on her own. And if she can do that, then possibilities of what could be achieved with aether would open up.
"...Okay." She said simply.
"I'll leave you to it then, I do have paperwork I need to return to." He said with a nod, before turning and stepping away, leaving her in the training room with her new task given.
It wasn't going to be easy but she was determined to learn how to control her aether. She had to.
If she had any hope of returning home, she was going to have to master this new type of magic.