The rest of the day passed by slowly, and they took turns in taking a night watch that evening. Rising early the following morning, they set off at the same steady pace, eager to reach Hobson’s Point.

Having made good progress in expanding his spiral and recovering his Aether the day before, Verdan took the opportunity to question Kai on the situation with Tom.

The sorcerer glanced back as Verdan joined him, nodding slightly before turning back to the direction they were going.

‘I wanted to talk to you about what happened with Tom,’ Verdan said as he came level with the sorcerer.

‘I thought you would at some point. I’ve been thinking of how to explain it to you, given your lack of knowledge about sorcery,’ Kai said, keeping his voice soft and pitched low to prevent them from being overheard.

‘Thank you, I appreciate it,’ Verdan said with an internal sigh of relief. He’d been hoping that Kai would be able to explain this.

‘Not a problem, though I would like to have the same conversation about your magic at some point. About those words I hear you use,’ Kai said, his voice trailing off as he shook his head. ‘Not that it matters right now; we are discussing sorcery. You should know that around one in ten humans has the potential for sorcery in their blood. Of course, that includes the supremely talented and those with barely any ability. Every sect has its own way of cultivating the Essence they favour and awakening these candidates to become sorcerers. Their success varies from sect to sect, but I have witnessed at most two-thirds of the candidates becoming sorcerers.’ Kai explained, a hint of displeasure entering his voice as he mentioned the sects.

‘I see, but that doesn’t describe Tom’s situation?’ Verdan said with a frown.

‘True, people like Tom are known as wildlings. They are sorcerers who have awakened without the aid of a sect. The trigger to awaken them can be anything; I once met a wildling who had awakened their fire essence when dancing at a feast. No one truly understands the process, and sects tend to dislike wildlings because of it.’ Kai made a second grimace of distaste as he mentioned the sects.

‘A matter of control?’ Verdan guessed, thinking of how Kai had described these sects so far. He doubted any of them would appreciate there existing a way to achieve power without joining them first. Verdan remembered arcane societies that had established academies devoted to training the best wizards they could and sneered at those from sponsored apprenticeships. The sects seemed to carry a matching level of arrogance, though Verdan would try to keep an open mind.

‘I believe so, but I am far from being on good terms with any of the sects. It doesn’t help that wildlings often have a more intuitive understanding of their element. They struggle to master new elements, however, which is part of why the sects look down on them.’ Kai explained, the majority of his attention remaining on their surroundings.

‘I see,’ Verdan said, his brow furrowing as he considered this new information. ‘Have we discussed additional elements before? I thought you were restricted from how you described it, but it sounds like you can change that?’

‘Yes, it’s one of the more spiritual aspects of sorcery. In order to cultivate an element, we must have a connection with an aspect of it. The aspect we have determines the form of our power. I have a strong link with the speed and agility of fire when unleashed, which has made me a Fire Enhancer. Tom seems to have something linked to the concept of stone, and I told him to meditate on that and see where his thoughts lead.’

‘So, what you’re saying is that the concept that you resonate with, for lack of a better term, actually impacts the ways in which you can use your “essential essence”?’ Verdan asked, trying to get his head around the odd rules that sorcerers seemed to work by.

Kai simply nodded in reply, and Verdan’s brow furrowed even further as he tried to make sense of that. Using a concept to shape the Aether made sense, it seemed an odd way to do it, to fix in on just one broad concept, but he could understand it. Sort of. The problem he had was that apparently the concept they had influenced the ways they could manipulate the energy. That just didn’t fit in with Verdan’s understanding of Aether.

Everything that Verdan had been taught, and the way he was able to use such a variety of spells, was based on the flexibility of what could be achieved with Aether. That being said, it did make sense that some concepts would work better than others with some groups of effects. He could see how a fire-based agility concept would make a poor fireball, but at the same time, something more like a whip or a seeking bolt of fire would be a good match.

Verdan sighed in frustration, but he couldn’t help but smile at the same time. This whole different approach to magic was fascinating to him; he just wished it made more sense. He’d try and talk Kai into some tests once they were back at Hobson’s Point.

‘This is an important time for Tom. He needs to grab hold of whatever concept he has linked to. If he doesn’t, he won’t be able to cultivate more Essence, and he won’t become a sorcerer.’ Kai said, glancing back at Tom as he spoke.

‘I see. Is there anything we can do to help?’ Verdan asked, concerned that Tom might lose his grip on whatever concept he had found. Gaining power like this would be life-changing for Tom. Verdan didn’t want him to miss out on that.

‘Traditionally, no, there isn’t.’ Kai told him, but Verdan saw a slight tenseness around Kai’s shoulders as the sorcerer glanced his way.

‘And non-traditionally?’ Verdan prompted after a moment of silence.

‘Well, I’ve noticed something,’ Kai said, pausing as he visibly searched for the right word. ‘A resonance like you said before. I’ve noticed one when you use some of those words for your spells. One, in particular, thanr, has the biggest effect on me. An equivalent one for Tom might make it easier for him to grasp his concept,’ Kai said, the word of power coming out of his mouth with a flat texture to it that made Kai grimace.

‘I wouldn’t use those words unless you have to. They have an inherent weight to them,’ Verdan said in warning. Fortunately, Kai had mispronounced the word, but it was worth telling him now.

‘I’ve never tried to say it aloud before. How can you use those words so easily?’ Kai asked, looking over at Verdan with fresh respect in his eyes.

‘Be glad you said it wrong,’ Verdan said with a laugh, remembering his own experiences learning the words of power. ‘The closer you are to the true pronunciation, the harder it is to say. Those words are not meant for mortals to utter. Then there’s the cost of using them as a concept, it’s hard to say the least. If you ever hear me use four words or more in a row, expect something big to happen.’

‘Ah, that does explain a few things,’ Kai nodded with the look of someone who had just understood a mystery that had been bothering them.

‘Let me test something,’ Verdan said, realising he could do this part without any equipment. ‘Thanr. Did that resonate with you?’ Verdan spoke the word of power without any Aether infusing it.

‘No, it didn’t,’ Kai said, cocking his head to one side in curiosity.

‘I see. Thanr, what about now?’ Verdan asked, conjuring a slight flame on the end of one finger. It used only the smallest amount of Aether and was the weakest fire spell concept he held.

‘Yes, I felt that,’ Kai muttered, a little distractedly.

‘Interesting. What about these. Liff. Tyn. Garec.’ Verdan spoke the words one after another, first momentarily changing the direction of the wind behind them, then pulling a loose piece of stone to his hand from the ground before causing it to break down into sand. He made sure to not let Kai see the stone or sand, and the wind change didn’t touch them.

‘No, maybe, I’m not sure,’ Kai said, lifting a hand to feel the movement of the wind around them, ignoring the hand behind Verdan’s back that held the sand.

‘What you felt there was the concept of flow. I used it to change the movement of the wind,’ Verdan said as a way of explanation. Glancing behind him, he saw Tom looking around with a puzzled expression; it looked like he might have sensed one of those as well. Interesting indeed.

‘The wind?’ Kai said softly, shaking his head after a moment. ‘I’ve never had even a thought of a concept to do with the wind, are you sure?’

‘I have no idea. Your way of doing all this is strange to me. Maybe you should do some meditation yourself,’ Verdan said, not wanting to prejudice Kai into any assumptions. If this process was the same as creating a spell concept, then it was always best to do it yourself. Something you built from the ground up was smoother and more complete than a foreign concept that someone else created. Verdan had learned that long ago the hard way.

‘Maybe,’ Kai said softly, lost in thought for a moment before shaking himself out of it. ‘I will have to think about this.’

‘Of course, I’ll leave you to your thoughts,’ Verdan said, slowing his pace to let the sorcerer take the lead once more.

That had been an interesting conversation. Verdan felt like he was starting to understand more of how sorcery worked. He’d been wrong in assuming it was a bastardised version of wizardry; that much was clear. Some of the core principles did carry over, like the use of concepts and the manipulation of Aether, but it was different enough to be its own thing. It was almost closer to the natural magic the Fwyn used than to wizardry. That couldn’t be the case, though, as humans didn’t have natural magic. Verdan had read numerous reports on projects trying to replicate natural magic within humans, all of which had failed. In the end, that line of research had been banned due to how invasive the experiments were getting.

Verdan allowed himself a satisfied smile as he considered the amount of research that lay before him. This was a project he could truly dive into, a whole new type of Aether magic.

As far as anyone in the Grym Imperium had been able to determine, despite numerous experiments, there were four main sources of magical energy. Aether was the first and most common; it was used by witches, wizards, sorcerers and the naturally magical creatures. Abyssal energy was the next most common, to Verdan’s everlasting disgust. Abyssal energy, or just Corruption as many called it, was used by the spawn of the abyss and their mortal worshippers like the cyth, and apparently the darjee.

Next was Exeon, the Celestial energy, one that was used by gods and creatures of the divine. While Gwen’s familiar might use Aether to empower her, the creation of the familiar would have been through Exeon.

The final source of energy, known as Parada, was the most mystical and hard to quantify. Many researchers tried and failed to make it perform as reliably as Aether, eventually leading to it being all but ignored by mainstream wizardry.

For a short time, Verdan had wondered if part of sorcery was to do with Parada, but it was clear that it used Aether as its main fuel; Verdan could see the movements of the energy himself.

Even thinking about Parada made Verdan wonder if it was still in use in this new world. Aether usage had become strange and unrecognisable, it would be amusing if the opposite had happened with Parada.

Verdan mused to himself about what sort of strange schools of magic Parada could have birthed. It almost made him want to try his hand at researching and quantifying it, but no, he had enough on his plate at the moment as it was.

Sorcery and alchemy were both full-time pursuits by themselves. All being well, they should be enough to keep Verdan busy and keep his mind occupied. At least, for a little while anyway, and by then, he might have even started to come to terms with this new life.

Verdan couldn’t help but quirk his lips into a melancholic smile as he thought of his old friends and comrades, many of whom would have loved to be in his position right now. This was a whole new frontier of magic as far as he was concerned, the sort of opportunity they’d all dreamed about, one that the war had taken away from them.