Along with the grueling task of keeping up with all the assignments and reading tasks Miss Maryanne had given to me and the work I had to keep within Boss Kylie's shop, Miss Maryanne would also sneak me into the forests just outside of the city to train. Apparently, she became impatient and discontent with only leaving me with assignments to improve my reading and writing skills, and so without further deliberation with her Royal Guard ally and the Prince, every night, after my assignments were finished, she spirited me away to do some improvised Magical Training. Before she officially drilled some exercises into me though, she started off with the basics.
"Do you know how magic works my dear specimen?" She asked, sitting on a tree branch further up from where I stood, hidden within the dark cover of the foliage above.
"No. Although I know that they came from things called Sources? I only know the Enesial one." I explained as I sat against the bark of the tree she was on.
"Correct! You see, my dear student," She extends a hand forward and energy seems to focus directly into the center of her palm before she gave it a soft blow. From this bright orb, a few more seemed to spawn from its visage, all smaller and weaker. A frail example of the glowing orb within the center. "all of magic comes from the lifeblood. This so-called Thread of Life that the Light Queen has so generously gifted us." She begins to unravel the sphere in the center, unwinding it into this chaotic stream of green flowing energy as it slowly parts and wraps itself around each of the orbs before there was nothing left. These green orbits soon disappeared into the smaller shapes, giving it color; one could say the lifeblood itself gave these objects life. The orbs soon turned into different colors, each representing the different elements. These were the Primal Sources.
"The Light Queen, using these sources had created the world we stand on now. Behold." She flicked her hand, and so, the orbs danced. Each moving on their own and spacing themselves themselves as if they sat on a plane. As the energies within these orbs glowed brighter and more lively, Miss Maryanne began to display their power. Enesial energy, the one I was most acquainted with, was used to shape the ground and create the mountains. Hydroxal energy was used to birth the oceans and rivers. Pyrul was used to help breathe fire into the world and give it warmth. Aero on the other hand was made to bring balance to that warmth, gifting all life with the breath of life; and so Miss Maryanne clenched her fist to merge all the orbs together and form a diorama of the land of Ironkiln.
"As such, because of this, we are connected to the sources in a very small way. Some more than others and with different elements." She jumped down as she made the diorama disappear. "Mages learned that if we tap into our connection to the lifeblood, then we can call upon the powers of the Primal Sources. Albeit at a smaller scale than the Light Queen could ever muster. Ever so smaller." She taps my chest with the end of her staff. A weapon that seemed to be supported by a thin metallic rod for a handle and a beautifully shaped sharpened crescent moon for the end with the cut outs of stars floating along the head of the staff.
"Anyone can be a mage if they have the guts to actually take the first step, and I wanna see you take that step right now." She says as she pulls out a glass sphere and pressed it into my hands.
"Wait what?!" I exclaimed. Clearly taken aback by this sudden request of hers. "I don't even know where to begin."
She spun her staff before letting it go and before I could even blink, she was back up in the air again, sat on her staff, and laughing to herself. "Baby steps dear specimen, Close your eyes and focus on your center first. Feel that energy inside of you. Then push that energy into the Primal Analyzer. If you did it when training with your master, you should clear this easy! Now hop to it." She explained as she hovered in the air.
I took a deep breath in as I sat back down and placed the ball in between my hands. "Okay...Just like before" I muttered to myself before I closed my eyes and took a breath. Once again calling on that same energy I channeled in the mines. An energy I had barely called for since the arrival of the Eclipse. However as I started to pull said energy, it soon began to subside. Confused, I cleared my mind and called for it once more. Feeling the energy bubbling up inside of me, like a rumble in my chest. My heart beating faster than it should, but as soon as I started to pull on it, it fades once more. I opened my eyes and let out a tired breath, realizing how taxing this was. However, my mind didn't settle on the physical strain it held on to me, but how difficult it was to pull this energy. I wondered what was different. Was it because I was being watched by Miss Maryanne? No. It couldn't be. Master Kithran taught me to channel the same energy and I did it with ease. There had to be something different.
I tried again. This time, as I closed my eyes, my mind wanders to the stillness of my life back home. The feeling of strength and stability. How the people around me helped me shape that rigid vigor. I did not pull this time. I did not wish to hurry the process. I let go of my excitements and simply relaxed. As the memory fades, I felt the cold touch of the instrument in my hands. The grass that brushes against my clothes and skin. As well as the soft rumble of the ground beneath me. How it calls to me. How it responds to my very presence. The energy builds up once more and it freely flows. I could feel the familiar warmth fill the ends of my palm as it connects towards this item called the Primal Analyzer. I could feel the energy being pulled into the instrument, becoming warm. Like the warmth of the soil in a summer day baked with the heat of the sun above. I let it move itself into the item. Yet as I did so, the instrument became hotter and hotter. Almost like I was holding fire itself yet I did not let go, I couldn't let go. My heart beat faster once more as if it were trying to rip itself out of my chest. My breathing became erratic, out of control, out of my control. The energies became more chaotic, like threads spinning itself into a tangled mess. Startled by this raging flow of power, I pressed my hands into the orb. The crack and crash of glass pulls me out of the trance as I stared down at the mess I had made.
The Primal Analyzer was shattered, yet it kept its shape. Inside was a large mass of the same Frozen Primal that was created back in the village, except not as huge but equally as destructive. The mass had the instrument from edge to edge with some spikes protruding out from the main source and outwards on to the space around it. What was more intriguing was the fact that my hands were melded with the spikes. It was as if I was part of the mass itself or perhaps it grew out of me.
I looked down at the damage with a face of worry as Miss Maryanne floated down and swiftly hopped off her staff to clutch the strange mass in her hands as if she had just found gold. She yelled in excitement, almost jumping with joy as she took a breath and looked back towards me.
"First step! And such a beautiful display of power too! Awe, I'm so proud" She playfully wipes a non-existent tear away from her cheek as she called for her staff and with a soft tap on the mass, it broke away, freeing myself from the grip of uncontrollable energies made physical.
She'd then clap her hands together right before pulling out another Primal Analyzer and pushing it into my grip.
"Now do it again! This time, less chaotic."
"Aren't you going to be worried I might break this again?"
"It only costs 10 gold each, it's fine." She waved her hand carelessly before clapping again. "Chop chop, no chatting. Do it again!"
Thus, the so-called basics had begun. She and I knew better than anyone to explain why magic should be taken with the highest precaution. If I had lost control even for a second and that was the result of that loss of focus, one could only imagine what an undisciplined mage could do. A great example would be the Tear of Enes back home. As I trained, I did wonder if I truly was the cause of that anomaly. If my emotions had gotten the better of me and it resulted into that hulking mass of pure unfiltered energy. However as I painstakingly kept up with the training, I soon got to the conclusion that it would be impossible for me to form a construct that large with such inexperience. Even within a month, I could barely form a proper ball of Enesial energy without it cracking or expanding into spikes again. Although, with my experience in reading improving by the day, I had found myself sinking into research about refining my type of magic. Miss Maryanne was ecstatic to know I personally asked for books about magic, so she swiftly brought tomes, spell books, and various research papers she had done across the years. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to have the Starlight Witch as my tutor. It was a massive help in my studies about magic and how to refine my skill and knowledge connecting to such a topic, however I soon discovered that Enesial magic was quite rare and only was under considerable research only a couple of decades before.
This was because Enesial Magic were only connected to a few species, namely the Dwarves, who did not have a true understanding of the magic apart from destructive spells used to clear stone and ore; the Goliaths, who were a culture that refused to interact with anyone from the innerland and had kept themselves hidden within the White Peaks of the north; and lastly, the Enesian Bulwarks, Guardian Dragons of Enesial Energy, but ever since the Cloaked commonly appeared across the land, the dragons disappeared with no one knowing where they could possibly have gone to. As a result, the dwarves were the only frame of reference to research Enesial magic and it has been a slow climb uphill towards any significant discovery. I guess that's the real reason as to why Miss Maryanne wanted to check out old traces of any sort of civilization, and why I had to be her student. She was sly, but I couldn't help but respect her plan to further magical studies.
Around the second week into the new month, my reading assignments had only been a personal goal of mine this time as Miss Maryanne had officially considered her teachings in that regard as finished when she learned about my passion in studying magic. However my writing skill was still something I was unable to brag about. My magic however was a steady improvement as well. I was now able to freely control the shape of the magic within the orb, however when I would lose control, the shape would break apart into shards of itself, and in that state, I could only shift and move the pieces about inside the instrument. Miss Maryanne had told me that in order to jump towards the next lesson, I needed to learn how to not break apart the shape and keep it still for an hour.
As I meditated and focused on the newly formed sphere of Frozen Primal, Miss Maryanne would watch from the skies. I still have yet to figure out why she would watch from up there, but within the usual times of silence when teaching me magic, she finally spoke something.
"Oh I'm sure the Prince didn't bother to tell you, but before your enrollment, you're going to have to go through this sort of test."
The sphere cracks again before I just let it sit within the Analyzer.
"A test? A test of what?" I asked, but she merely shrugged.
"The test changed by the time I left, but I heard it accounts for all sorts of categories. A written test for your studious capacity. A range to see how good you would be in magic. As for the last one..." She rubbed her chin in contemplation, as if she did not want to say it outright before giving up.
"I suppose Esshiek is going to have to help you with the last one."
"You're making it sound like it's a nightmare or something. What, do I have to fight other people for a spot in the school?"
"Yes exactly, how did you know?"
What?...