Warning! The first half of the chapter will contain a lot of metaphysics and magic descriptions! If you don't like this — you can start reading after: >>>>>
***
Five years had passed, and one of my most significant achievements was creating my first personal artifact, but let me tell everything in order.
It's worth telling separately about wand magic of quick rituals. I never thought of abandoning such a useful type of magic, despite the fact that Lerach himself would have called it defective. If you gather all the spells and charms from the grimoire — there would be no more than one and a half hundred.
One book "Household Charms for Housewives" for two dozen sickles, sold in any bookstore on Diagon Alley, contains more than two hundred of them. I've already told about other advantages before — low costs and speed of charms. It's just that compared to Sumerian magic, modern magic seems to me... truncated. As if all forces were directed not toward the power of charms, development of the mage, attempts to understand the laws of the world and magic, but toward improving one's own comfort.
Moreover, I got the feeling that someone was purposefully hiding this knowledge from the masses. I would never believe that Gaunt himself or other mages close to him in power achieved this through wand magic training. Even if they managed to spend their reserve to zero from childhood, how did they recover so quickly then? In publications available to the general public, there's simply nothing similar to ether gathering. I was still afraid to get into crime, not being confident that I could protect myself. And I had seen many adult purebloods who were quite strong, at the level of at least a master, I think.
Or take modern education, which is almost the same in the three main schools, just with different emphasis. There's runology, numerology and astrology, which are part of the curriculum. All these subjects are necessary for ritual magic, which... has been forbidden for teaching for about thirty years now. What is this? Stupidity, fear of those in power, or sabotage? Judging by the fact that purebloods still develop their shells, the question becomes rhetorical.
Another reason for the secondary importance of wand magic for me turned out to be its simply incredible simplicity, especially compared to Sumerian. I don't understand how you can study for a whole year a couple dozen spells in the first year, when I, for example, learned them in a few days, and that was still in my previous body. No, my learning ability is higher than that of an ordinary child, but not that much! Now I know a spell even for cleaning dirt under nails. Specially invented charms for this, mind you!
However, the most interesting direction of wand magic for me became transfiguration — a remnant of Sumerian transformation, which in turn is the alma mater of metamorphism. Why a remnant? Because transformations are too impermanent and a transfigured object strives to take its true form. "Eternal" transfiguration is now considered the highest level, whereas it was clear to the same Sumerians that for this you need to change the astral body and fix changes precisely at this level.
Why is such art interesting to me? Because compared to the Sumerian variant, transfiguration consumes a pittance of magical forces. And adding the basics of transformation to it is very tempting and opens incredible prospects - for example, creating any needed material with a wave of a wand. True, I lack the basics. I need to learn how these same quick rituals are created, how to translate the Sumerian variant into wand magic and vice versa. The work is titanic, and I... like it. I like setting goals for myself, achieving them and striving further, to the top of magical forces, knowledge and skills. To look up from it and find new horizons.
Naturally, I also thought about creating a suitable tool for myself. Ollivander's wand is very good... for mass production. And mass universal tools with only three types of cores simply cannot be anything else in principle. I'm not insulting him - he's a very good master artificer, he just makes wands for everyone, not personally for each individual. I examined my wand with a cognition ritual, and its composition is relatively primitive: oak wand with unicorn hair inside. All this is soaked in potions and enchanted for durability. Plus tracking charms, which I removed long ago, just in case.
Before answering the question of what kind of wand to make for myself, it's worth remembering what artifacts exist according to Sumerian terminology.
[Accumulators] - these are mana batteries that can store, give and collect it from various sources. For example, from the user himself at his will or without it, from surrounding ether or other sources, for example, captured souls or spirits.
[Absorber] - as the name suggests, it can absorb and contain souls within itself. Draining energy from them, merging with the artifact itself, giving it new properties — or enslaving the soul through torture and other methods. Also, the enclosed soul can be destroyed. However, there's a danger that a soul too strong for the artifact will simply break free, breaking the artifact and killing the mage himself. It's too early for me to attempt such things, and too dangerous.
[Carrier] - a very useful thing, you can seal a spell in an artifact instead of your memory and shoot with it like a machine gun, just keep supplying mana, your own or not so much. You can also set certain conditions for activation, for example, activation of magical protection in danger or mental command. A very useful thing.
You shouldn't think that artifacts had such clear division by functions - most often they had several of them at once, or even all at once. An excellent example is a mage's staff, which combined an accumulator, carrier and absorber. In modern magic, however, another tool appeared that couldn't appear among Sumerians, who valued precisely their personal strength and skill. This is a concentrator, which is what a magic wand is.
Its core draws the necessary amount of mana during nonverbal movements, concentrates it into a thin thread and thereby creates a rune, which is activated by a verbal spell. With correct movements and words, as well as the mage's belief in the result, a spell is produced. Or not produced. And the wood isolates the core from leaks and mana dissipation. Plus, the core and shell resonate with the mage's aura, which gives even greater economy and power of charms. Very convenient and equally dangerous for mages' development. After all, they themselves essentially do nothing. The wand and mini-ritual do everything for them. No need to develop shells, accumulate mana, conduct energy through aura. Why? Wave a stick, shout a spell - and get a result.
That's exactly why I tried to translate known charms into their nonverbal and wandless variants. Especially since Lerach's book contained the art of drawing runes in the air. Even though it's more difficult this way, more energy is spent and it's simply more inconvenient, and it didn't always work. Rather the opposite - only the simplest charms worked. But I knew I wouldn't go the path of least resistance.
However, this doesn't mean I decided to abandon the wand completely. On the contrary, it's the fastest way to gain power for me. And I was sure it would be needed. Even though France is a more liberal country in terms of attitude toward magical races, you shouldn't think there are no racists here. Also, don't forget the conflicts between muggle-born and purebloods, which could affect representatives of magical races too. The former wanted to bring the ordinary world's ways into the magical world. The latter actively despised the former and opposed them. If there were more purebloods, they would have long ago crushed the "newcomers" thanks to knowledge, power, influence and wealth, but there were ten muggle-born and half-bloods for every pureblood.
So with such a balance of power, you should expect further tension and escalation of conflict. Moreover, this situation is almost worldwide, except for the USA, which has quite few magical families with long history, or countries like China or India, where clans and castes rule. If you're not in one of them, you can't become a mage. And if you're "lucky" enough to join such, they'll burden you with Unbreakable Vows like a Christmas tree. It's precisely from these countries that mages simply flee to others, for the reasons stated above.
>>>>>>>>
I decided to start making my concentrator early, from eight years old - there was just too much to do beforehand. First came the choice of tool. Staff or rod were immediately out - too complex and early, and too conspicuous. Those mages who are in the know might ask me some questions that I probably wouldn't like. So, a wand. And first of all, besides Lerach's practice and theory of artifactory, I needed to learn to make ordinary ones.
In theory — nothing complicated. You take a wooden stick, soak it in potions, stuff the core of some magical creature inside, I could stuff my own hair, for example, and voilà, you have a magic wand. But that's in theory. In practice, you're lucky if this wand doesn't explode in your hands right away when you try to cast "lumos." Because you need experience.
Especially making an ordinary concentrator? That's not our method! I wanted to add the functions of amplifier, accumulator and carrier. Fortunately, I "only" need to add these same accumulators. In quotes because here I'm entering uncharted territory where I need to combine two different magic systems. What will come out in the end, I don't know. But first it was necessary to select suitable materials.
And if there were no problems with wood — charms for checking compatibility were publicly available. Then with the core everything was bad. No, standard variants suited me, though not ideally. If I were making an ordinary wand, this would be enough. But considering I'm making a tool for myself... The thing is, current mages are limited not only by using wands, but by the wands themselves.
Ordinary household and combat spells are cast calmly with their help, but try to produce something more powerful and the concentrator burns in beautiful blue flame. And why? Because the wand's small resistance becomes fatal with large volumes of energy conducted at once, and it burns itself out.
Something caught my consciousness here, and I dug into my translation texts. There it is — bone artifacts. Necromancers and chimerologists often use such, but the important thing here isn't this, because there exists quite a large number of charms for bone that will allow changing it as I please. Add strength, magical conductivity, make blood and aura binding? Please. And if you add biomancy to this, you get a core stronger than steel.
Whose bone to use? My own, of course. As a metamorph, I could locally turn off nerve endings and grow an extra bone in my body, then squeeze it out. But this would be long and tedious and I'm not sure I could handle such a level of control.
Quartz crystals would work best as accumulators — inexpensive, available, and they easily both give and receive mana. Using some black diamonds would be too expensive, even though they're better. I don't want to insert huge spheres into the handle. What if... exactly, make toroidal rings and distribute them along the entire length of the wand. Five would be enough, I think. And to maintain balance, they'll decrease toward the tip.
So, now the wood. As a simple ritual said, apple tree suits me best... This is some kind of conspiracy! However, if another tree suited me, I had a ready plan of action. I thought they weren't used because the book's author thought the same. After all, books aren't a panacea and authors can be wrong, just like me.
Here's how apple tree was described in one of the books about wood for wands:
« Apple wands are not made in large quantities. They are powerful and best suited for people professing high goals and ideals, as they combine poorly with Dark magic. It's said that the owner of an apple wand will be loved by all and live a long life, and I often noticed that very charming customers are perfectly suited by apple wands. »
Very much like me. Besides, who doesn't love veela? That's what I'm talking about.
As expected, obtaining quartz was the simplest. I even had contacts left with a supplier from the ordinary world, who sold me fifty obsidian spheres wholesale. We left extremely good impressions on each other — he with his good work, and I with generous tips.
Extracting bone under anesthetic spell was more inconvenient than painful. I had to eat lots of vitamins, drink Skele-Gro and wash it all down with chalk. Besides this, before extraction I filled it with mana and prana to the limit, to the moment when it begins to break down. I healed and started again. Why does bone break down? Because a mage doesn't cast with his body, but with his soul, so the load falls mostly on it, only a small percentage in the form of backlash is distributed to the body.
This was Lerach's idea — to conduct spells through body and soul simultaneously. If I try to pull such a trick now, neither yoga nor metamorphism will save me. I'll have to heal from injuries afterward. Though for training I sometimes loaded my body this way - and lay around for half a day afterward, recovering. But the body became stronger and conducted energy better.
With the tree I was happy. No, seriously. If I had to go through selection stages again, I wouldn't hang myself, but it was just laziness. Like you wrote a chapter in a book and were told it was lost and you need to do it again. But this way - I came to the strongest and most powerful in aural vision apple tree, which turned out to be exactly the one I had merged consciousness with, and "asked" it to grow me a branch in the form of a wand.
This isn't so simple, I can tell you - the tree has no mind, only feelings, I almost gave myself a brain sprain until the tree understood me. I hope no one finds out I was talking to it. Or they'll consider me a brother in mind.
The branch in the form of a wand grew slowly - still, I was able to show that I wanted a very strong "branch." And judging by energy saturation, it would be very strong. And I sent a doppel every day to fertilize and fill the growing wand with his mana and prana - this way compatibility would be higher, and easier for the apple tree. Finally, after six months of growth, the branch fell off by itself and I had a perfect blank.
But my tribulations didn't end there, because I still had to make the wand. Even though in two years of previous practice I had made enough of them, they still yielded to Ollivander's and Rovellie's wands — the French master — that's what experience means. True, I made them from what was available, so not everything was so bad.
Then came soaking the fallen branch in potions and... my blood. The bone didn't need this because it went through several rituals and spells of word magic, chimerology and biomancy. Here too everything wasn't so good and simple, but cow and pig bones were easy to obtain, so practice didn't cost me a penny. Only a considerable amount of time.
Assembly of the finished construction was embarrassingly simple: I unfolded the wood with transfiguration, applied a complex of runes inside, which isn't mandatory but improves the wand's properties, strung enchanted toroidal quartz rings on the bone, placed it in the center, "folded" the wood, enveloping the resulting construction, and "merged" the seams together. Then a short binding spell in Sumerian, brief pain and I feel a connection with my tool.
Done, now it can't be knocked from my hands even by a powerful Expelliarmus, I'll always know where my wand is, and an enemy or another person won't use it without my permission. Moreover, like druids' staffs, my wand began absorbing surrounding mana itself and was alive! I won't apply curses yet. I still have to go to school, or stupid children might get hurt and I'll have to answer for it.
It's still worth describing what I ended up with and how my artifact differs from an ordinary magic wand made in mass production. First, my artifact suits me perfectly. When I take the wand in my hands, it seems to suggest how to create charms more correctly and quickly. It's not intelligent, of course, it's just such a feeling. [image]
Second, it can accumulate surrounding ether and my personal mana, which any mage who doesn't hide his power releases as parasitic energy. However, if I wish, I can fill the quartz accumulators myself, which contain about ten of my current reserves. True, this isn't due to the coolness of accumulators, but my weakness: I currently have about as much mana as a pureblood Hogwarts graduate, that is, at apprentice level.
Third, the wand can act as a carrier of spells folded into it. Five practically any spells, except Hands and other higher ones, can be stuffed into five accumulators. However, all this, though pleasant bonuses, the main thing for me is the feeling of kinship with my wand, the sensation that it's part of you. Like an extension of my hand, which in principle it is, considering the core.
Thanks to its almost perfect compatibility, which will only grow over time, adjusting to me completely, I can use any spells that I can withstand myself. This was exactly my goal, but I got even more than expected, and I don't regret the two years spent on this.
However, though progress in other disciplines decreased, it's not to say there was none at all, fortunately doppels and household magic allowed not to be distracted by trifles and deal with more important things. Ariel was initially indignant that many of my copies were running around, but the results of my activity ultimately made her not indignant, but proud.
For example, the experience of creating a magic wand allowed me to create two artifacts for Ariel and myself that became the cornerstones of our well-being. I didn't particularly understand numerology, creating new enchantments and runic connections, but my mother did this at my request - I couldn't succeed everywhere, could I?
So we made two relatively simple bracelets - the whole point was in the idea. It was precisely the idea that didn't allow the girl to be indignant about exploiting her mother. The first artifact was a veela charm-blocking amulet turned inside out, that is, it blocked the veela's own aura at her will. It would seem, learn to control it and that's it. Yes and no: some take a couple of months for this, like me, and some take a couple of years, and suffering from excessive attention from the opposite sex isn't very pleasant for young veela. And often dangerous.
Therefore, bracelets began selling like hotcakes, and I even got a kiss on the cheek from Apolline because the first copy was given to her. The second bracelet was a powerful paralysis and sleep amulet acting on the wearer during dark hours during full moon. It became even more popular because werewolves don't control themselves in second form and usually had to lock themselves in cages. The bracelet puts the werewolf into sleep and paralyzes the body in advance, so the person or mage wakes up in the morning with a stiff body but alive, healthy and not having become a cannibal or criminal.
No, with desire and long training on "live" material, I could learn to completely remove the werewolf curse. But they'd tear me apart! They'd kidnap me and extract all secrets, or force me to remove curses every day without weekends or benefits. I'm not even talking about the freaks who like lycanthropy and would try to kill me or take my loved ones hostage.
We patented both bracelets in Ariel's name, despite her wanting to make me co-author. But a ten-year-old inventor... sounds unserious. When the needs of our coven and neighboring werewolf clan were satisfied, we began selling the right to produce and the bracelet enchantment scheme for a share of their sales. Fortunately, thanks to magical contracts, there's no point worrying about deception - no one will risk their health for a measly ten percent, which they can simply introduce as markup.
Needless to say, money flowed like a river? I almost regretted we didn't open our own company, but understanding what a hemorrhoid this was, I decided not to bother with it. Either magic or business.
Ariel became popular overnight, especially among veela and werewolves — mages were cool about it, they didn't care either way. Now if they'd made a new broom, then yes. But fame didn't spoil the girl - on the contrary, it added self-confidence she lacked. Because of this, we initially had a couple of conflicts when she again wanted to show power and who's boss in the house, but I don't like scandals - I didn't even listen to them, just apparated to my beloved apple trees and little animals.
My rabbit, though, hadn't been around for a long time - probably the gray one got caught after all. A bit sad, but if he hadn't been caught, some wolf cub might have died of hunger - such is nature. It's neither cruel nor merciful, it simply exists, and it's indifferent to human assessments, just as a stone doesn't care what it's called - granite, diamond, or a piece of dried feces.
— "You can't constantly apparate when I'm scolding you!" — she told me later. But I could, and it was awesome.
*****
[ June 10, 1971. ]
Apolline and Patrick are finishing their third year, since they're three years older than me, and I'll only go this year. Unlike Hogwarts, where they travel to school by train, and Durmstrang, which they reach by ship, Beauxbatons offers a choice: you can fly by carriage drawn by winged horses from Paris to the school, which is located twenty kilometers from Barnyur-sur-Mer near the Balearic Sea. Or you can use the floo network.
Moreover, Beauxbatons is the only school that holds an open house day on September first, during which parents can visit it. So now we stood at the checkpoint, together with Ariel, Alain and Jacqueline, waiting for Patrick and Apolline's return.
— "Arthur!" — deafened me with a sound wave, and the girl who had outgrown me in height almost knocked me to the ground, throwing herself into my arms. Almost, because I used yoga and withstood the manifestations of love from the ardent witch.
— "Seems I'm superfluous here. Why did I even come?" — Jacqueline said into the void.
— "Mom! You're not superfluous! I missed you!" — now the woman was also attacked, though she immediately got a worthy rebuff and was already squeezed in embraces. From Alain and Patrick's drooling, I understood that Apolline's veela aura had awakened.
— "Apolline, I'm glad you're happy to see us, but maybe turn on the bracelet, or there'll be a lake of drool here soon," — I pointed to the sources of salivation.
— "Oh, sorry, I forget sometimes!" — the silver bracelet in the form of Ouroboros briefly lit up, thus signaling its activation. — "I'm grown up now and a real veela!"
— "Pfft, you're a real pain," — I said, and we all laughed together at the pouting girl.
— "Why didn't my charms work on you? The only one they didn't..." — then she mumbled with just her lips, but it's clear she didn't forget — she specifically didn't turn on the bracelet. To show off and charm me. Yes, I know about the girl's feelings. But damn, I'm already 40 years old if you count two lives, I consider her more a daughter and friend than see sexual interest in her. If she were at least 18... I'd think about it, maybe, but certainly not now. She'd be too small.
— "Hi," - Patrick as always is laconic. I shook his extended hand, which he immediately squeezed with all his strength. Useless - I can already strengthen myself four times with yoga, plus temporarily increase the number of muscle fibers with metamorphism. So it's useless, but he still constantly tries. — "Strong as always, as expected."
— "You'd be disappointed if I lost," — I smirked.
— "That's true. But we haven't fought in sparring yet, I'll beat you!" — he threw down a challenge.
— "You say this to me every year when you come back from school. And you lose every time."
— "This time will be different!"
— "You said the same thing last year."
— "Boys, don't bicker, let's better go to our house, Jacqueline and I set the table, Alain grilled meat on coals, let's celebrate your return!" — Ariel reconciled us. Sparring is sparring, but lunch is on schedule.
***
After a hearty lunch, according to Archimedes' law, you should sleep. But alas, I was attacked by the most terrible thing in the world — female curiosity.
— "You have a new wand?" — Apolline noticed the novelty.
— "Of course, my old one was from father and didn't quite suit me," — and again not a word of lie, it really didn't suit me ideally and was from father, that is, from myself. I hadn't shown it before because you can't buy yourself a wand before eleven years old. And Ariel already knew I was making it for myself, so she wasn't surprised. The only thing I said about the core was that I used part of myself, touching my hair with my hand. Who's to blame that she thought about hair and not the hand?
Actually, extracting bone was disgusting even for me, so I entrusted the procedure to a doppel. He won't transfer his knowledge to me, so I just turned away. Yes, I won't be a necromancer, what can you do.
— "How beautiful! What are these thickenings?" — she examined my magic wand. But didn't ask to touch it. Such a request in the wizarding world differs little from a request to touch reproductive organs or underwear. For many, it's even more personal.
— "They help cast better. By the way," — I changed the subject, — "how are things at school, is anyone bothering you?"
The girl's enthusiastic face immediately wrinkled like a lemon.
— "Patrick, what's with her?" - I asked the guy.
— "There's one... suitor there. He doesn't do anything illegal, so you can't even punch him in the face," — my constant sparring partner answered.
— "Aura?" - I suggested.
— "You gave Apolline the bracelet yourself. He hangs around with his buddies, won't leave her alone, declares his love," — here my intuition told me the reason for the girl's silence.
— "Let me guess, and she said she already has a beloved - me?"
— "How do you know?"
— "Let's say, experience," - this experience wasn't particularly pleasant.
— "Sorry, Arthur, I didn't want to cause you problems!" — the culprit began apologizing.
— "No, what are you talking about. I haven't even entered school yet, and I already have ill-wishers, I always dreamed of this," - I said with undisguised sarcasm. I understand the girl probably didn't want anything bad for me and really blurted it out herself, but such things need to be nipped in the bud. Such trifles grow over time into manipulation attempts. Often unconscious ones.
"I'll handle it, but so this doesn't happen again. If you want help from me, ask. What if I hadn't asked? This guy would have bothered me, and I wouldn't even know what it was about."
The girl cried and ran away, Patrick was about to rush after her, but I held him back.
— "Why did you make her cry, she apologized!" — he was indignant. And here's the triangle smell. And as you know, in a love triangle one angle is always obtuse.
— "Don't develop her habit of getting her way with tears. Yes, she apologized, but for what? For essentially setting her admirer on me. I'm not offended by that. I don't like that she didn't even want to talk about it. If not for you, I would have found myself in a very delicate situation. Especially if you run now, she might even blame you for telling me everything," - I explained to the guy who almost made a mistake.
"Get used to it, Patrick, not all tears are worth comforting. I'll talk to her later and explain again that I don't mind helping my friends, I just don't like being used in the dark, even unintentionally."
— "Everything's so complicated with girls," — Patrick rubbed his temples. I won't tell the poor guy in love with Apolline that the real reason for tears is most likely her feelings for me. I should resolve this issue, by the way, before it gets worse.
***
— "Why are you crying?" — I approached the girl crying near the apple tree. Even without astral vision, you feel better near my trees. And the apples... turned out great. Not only do they heal minor wounds or illnesses by themselves, they're also powerful enhancers of healing potions. I'm not even talking about the divinely sweet taste of these fruits.
— "You hate me now, don't you?" — wiping excess moisture from her face with her sleeve, she said.
— "What makes you think that? You should understand I meant exactly what I said. Did I tell you I hate you? I don't remember that," — sitting down next to her, I said.
— "So that means..."
— "Yes, I'm not offended," — and before she could rejoice, I continued: "But I don't feel the same toward you as you do toward me."
— "You know about this? Who told you?" - the girl got angry, surprised and upset. A hellish cocktail.
— "I'm a veela, Apolline, which means I'm also an empath. I've known this since the very day you found out."
— "Then why didn't you tell me anything?"
— "I didn't want to break your heart."
— "So you don't love me, right?" - her ignorance is easily explained by the fact that I block others' empathy. No need to keep my soul wide open.
— "What is love? Urges of body and mind that I'm quite capable of controlling. If you want, I can induce love for you in myself. You're not repulsive to me, you're my friend, I like you, why not?" - I asked.
— "You can really do this?" — she asked hopefully.
— "Of course, when have I ever deceived you? But here's the question — do you need such artificial love? Or will you still try to win me over yourself and evoke real feelings when I grow up enough?" — yes, I broke her heart now, but gave hope for the future. If her feelings don't fade, well, let her try again. If I understood anything from my experience, it's the inconstancy of feelings. Today they declare love to you, tomorrow they pass by indifferently. Today a person is indifferent to you, tomorrow there's no one dearer. Why should I burn all bridges?
— "I'll wait," — she stood up and resolutely continued: — "And when you grow up, you won't escape me!"
— "Now that's what I understand - veela spirit! No hard feelings?"
— "No hard feelings and... thank you," - after this she immediately ran home.
Women… they're complicated, but you can't do without them either.
***
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