“You need a place to train. You shouldn’t use the public spaces that the student mentioned – at least, not yet. Much of my magic is… discomforting for mortals. It would cast suspicion on us too early. You should make a training area in your room.”

What? How?

“That leads us to the first step. The universe is made up of Ether. However, you cannot interact with it right now. You need to spend time with the Ether until your body begins to absorb it. The more you can hold, the more powerful you will be,” Henry instructed. “Once you can absorb the Ether around you, you’ll be able to do basic magic. We can use that magic to carve the stone in your room.”

Well, how do I absorb Ether?

“You need to cultivate,” Henry responded, speaking as if he were talking to a foolish child. All things considered; he was. “And to do that, you need a cultivation method.”

I bet the library would have something!

Damien started off towards the library at a brisk pace. The last four years of waiting for magic had been torture, but that was finally over. He crushed the worry building up in his stomach. Despite the dire situation, his heart was beating faster than when he’d gotten his first kiss.

“I’d say that you should just use my method, but I’m not sure if your pathetic mortal body could handle it,” Henry said. He trailed off for a few moments. “Not yet, at least. We can work towards it. For now, the library might have something passable.”

The campus was more crowded than it had been on the previous day. The roads weren’t packed, but they were getting close to it. Streams of chattering students rushed to and fro. The road had been split into two, with one line of traffic leading deeper into campus while the other branched away.

Damien straightened up and joined the tide of people, doing his best to look like he knew what he was doing. He followed the path to the library, where a significant portion of the other students seemed to be going as well.

He reached the steps leading up to the library’s enormous doors. They were far too large to be used comfortably. He climbed up the stairs, taking care to watch his feet to make sure he didn’t trip.

With the number of people entering the library, Damien had expected the building to be packed. However, when he stepped inside the entrance, it looked deserted. There was a row of about twenty desks with librarians directly in front of him.

The majority of the students headed right past the librarians, disappearing into the huge maze of bookshelves. Even still, were small lines forming behind each of the desks. Damien joined the shortest one, doing his best not to let his mouth hang open as he took in the library.

It didn’t seem possible, but the massive building was even more impressive on the inside. He couldn’t even see the roof because of how high in the air it was. Beautifully carved bookcases trimmed with gold and obsidian lined every inch of room on the walls, rising high into the sky and disappearing out of sight.

Every once and a while, a book would flutter across the room and dart into a student’s hands. Someone nudged Damien in the back, snapping him out of his reverie. The line had gone much faster than he’d expected, and he was now at the front.

With an embarrassed grin, Damien rushed forward to stand before the librarian – a short, round man with a bushy beard. The librarian cocked a fuzzy eyebrow at Damien’s flustered expression.

“First time in the library?” he asked in a kind voice.

Damien nodded mutely.

“Good on you, boy. Getting a head start on your training is admirable. Unless you’re here for other knowledge…?”

“I’m here to find a book that will show me a cultivation method,” Damien said, tearing his eyes away from the books to look at the librarian.

“Thought as much,” the librarian said, giving him a gap-toothed grin. “The cultivation section is at the back of the library – just keep walking straight. You can’t miss it. And, a word of advice: don’t worry yourself too much over which method to choose. They all claim to be the best, and there isn’t much of a difference between them beyond how you train. So find one that you think looks interesting and learn it.”

“Thank you,” Damien said.

“No problem, son,” the librarian replied. “My name’s Donny. You have any trouble in the library, come find me. I’ll try to get you sorted out.”

Damien thanked him again before stepping past the desks and following Donny’s directions deeper into the library.

Within minutes, he was surrounded by musky parchment the smell of oiled paper. Bobbing yellow lights dimly illuminated the passageways, which ranged from enormous roads to alleys made of stacked books that were so tight that Damien had to squeeze through them sideways.

Damien scanned the book titles as he passed them. They ranged everywhere from instructions on carpentry to ancient recipes. There were a good number of old scrolls dispersed throughout the shelves, and several of them looked like they were one strong breeze from falling apart.

“How can they leave something this fragile out for students to mess with?” Damien asked, his mouth agape as stopped beside a crumbling scroll. There was no title on it, but a tiny metal plaque installed on the shelf below it had a name.

“A treatise on compromise and love,” Damien read aloud.

“I can see why they left that one out,” Henry said, scoffing. “Worthless.”

Damien rolled his eyes and set off once again. He wasn’t going to expressly agree with Henry, but his companion had one thing right. He was here for one thing: magic.

“Wait!” Henry yelled; his voice more panicked than Damien had ever heard it. He froze mid step, not daring to even draw a breath.

“What is it,” Damien whispered, forgetting to speak inside his head once again. Idiot.

“Go back a step and look at that book with the purple binding,” Henry ordered.

Damien followed his instructions and grabbed the book, pulling it free of the shelf slowly as to avoid bringing the entire thing down on himself.

“I can’t read it,” Damien said, disappointed. “I can’t use this.”

“That’s the problem,” Henry whispered. “I can’t read that either.”