"Then, observe and learn," Nyx said, caressing his pitch-black hair as he looked at Luna.
"Now, look at my hand. You materialize a water and fire element." As Nyx spoke, fire and water elements hovered over his hands.
"You have to combine those two into one, like this." Nyx clapped his hands together, and the fire element burned the water, creating steam that flew from his palms and formed a hot, steamy sphere.
"Now, you capture that steam with your mana to keep it still. In your other hand, you create wind." As he said this, a sphere of sharp, barely contained harsh wind gathered in his palm.
Now, you combine those two to create a cloud!" He clapped his hands together, and a puffy, lumpy mass of vapor bloomed between his palms. It floated free, gathering into a small, grey cloud that drifted just above his head.
This cloud looks really puffy, Luna thought. I wonder how it would feel if I touched it?
"And the last thing that concludes the whole synthesis, with the thing it started from: Fire!" Nyx extended his hand above his head, pointing at the cloud as a fire element appeared on his finger. With a flick, he sent it flying towards the cloud.
As it entered, the cloud's structure began to change, shifting into a sphere of combined white and purple. Silent lightning sounds crackled within; even though contained, its power could be heard. It illuminated a purple light around Nyx. "Now that we have lightning in just six steps, we apply it under our feet!"
Nyx pointed at his foot, and the sphere of lightning obeyed, crawling beneath his feet and slowly pushing him off the floor.
"And with that, we're finished. This is a spell I use named 'Valsus crepitans'."
"Although it's an advanced spell, it's really easy if you combine one element at a time. It gets difficult if you need to do it in your head," Nyx said, chuckling to himself. "But that's what spell names are for. They allow us to assign the combination to a single word. That action becomes integrated into the word, allowing us to bring it forth faster!"
I thought it would be more advanced for an advanced spell, it doesn't really seem all that difficult Luna thought.
"That's all?" Luna said, looking at his boots hovering over the ground, lightning randomly touching the ground as it repelled Nyx.
"I mean, all that work just for lightning?" Luna asked.
Nyx looked at Luna with a defeated expression. "Magic sometimes is not appealing, and creating lightning is really difficult with six elements."
"You will get used to this, and maybe find it enjoyable to do," Nyx said with a sigh.
"No, no, I find it really enjoyable, but I thought it would be more, you know, flashy."
Nyx sighed yet again as he stepped out of the lightning, dispersing it into nothing. "Now it's your turn, Luna."
"Um, but how do I create elements?" Luna asked, trying to materialize something in her palm.
Nyx scratched the back of his neck as he thought of an appropriate answer.
"Umm, if you think about it… you can think of it like what feeling gives you the element. For example, fire makes you feel warm, so you imagine something warm appearing in your palm," Nyx said.
"Okay…" Luna closed her eyes and her palm, thinking of something warm: the memory of the warm fireplace where Nyx and Aria had heard the stories of the soldiers.
After a few seconds of concentration, red sparks flew from her palms. Just as they appeared, a small whirlpool of fire slowly bloomed in her hands. Luna opened her eyes and looked at her palms, smiling from ear to ear, a glimmer in her eyes. She looked from her palm to Nyx.
But Luna was confused as to why Nyx looked dumbfounded, standing there and staring straight at the whirlpool of fire.
"Brother?" Luna asked.
Nyx snapped out of his trance. Opening his mouth, he was about to speak.