Type of mage: Name of Affinity Patron Deity or Primal

Geomancer/Earth Mage Ter Eog

Pyromancer/Fire Mage Pyr Ustrina

-Glossary of Affinities and their Primals, Nys’vera Aesterith’s Treatise on Mana

“Dragon…” He muttered under his breath as he stood transfixed by its majesty.

“Hmm, yes, I’m a dragon,” a voice whispered in his ear.

“Gah!” Arthur jerked, his entrancement rudely interrupted.

“ Not that I blame you—don’t you know it's rude to stare?” Said the 5 foot something woman.

Arthur looked from the woman dressed in his oversized shirt to the dragon and back again. A connection existed between the two, he just couldn’t tell what. He furrowed his brow in consternation

“At ease, I am just a simulacrum. That however…” said the woman demurely as she pointed with well-manicured nails that were claw-like. “…is my real body.” There was silence as if she’d paused for dramatic effect. When Arthur did not seem to react she went on,

“I don’t get visitors who don't yell expletives about someone's mother before coming at me with spell and blade. So allow me to introduce myself suitably.”

She stood as regally as a woman in a shirt could be and pushed her chest out. “ Aeskyre is my name; Herald of gale and storm—” the words rang, shaking the cavern to its foundations. Arthur rocked and fell onto his behind “—bringer of lightning and thunder. Sky is my domain and Aer is mine to command!”.

“ I forget myself sometimes, ahaha,” chortled the dragon woman, girl? She was ageless so he couldn’t tell. He was tempted to ask but a voice at the back of his head told him something about asking a woman’s age being rude. Was it a universal thing across worlds? Surely, he didn’t want to find out.

Aeskyre lent him a hand, pulling him to his feet. For a woman who was only a head shorter than him, if you didn’t count the horns sprouting from beneath her silver hair, her grip and strength were inhuman. Despite her dainty fingers, with her grip strength she could pinch steel if she had her way.

Her timeless heterochromatic eyes were nevertheless the most captivating Arthur had ever seen even as they scrutinized him from head to toe. If he could compare watching her eyes to something, it would have been like looking into the depths of a nebula. While her irises were cerulean blue and gold, the border towards the whites was gray; again he found himself staring before he pried his sight away.

Aeskyre had an extraordinary complexion; her skin looked as if it had been carved out of alabaster. It had the pliancy of velvet skin and yet gave the illusion of impenetrability. Swirling down her forearms to her wrists were tattoo-like lightning flowers, that if anything, did not detract from her otherworldly beauty as they pulsated with unseen power. Likewise the ears that peeked from her silver hair were unreal; they tapered off in contrast to Arthur’s rounded ones.

Even though she was far from being a deity, Arthur still held that the woman was a goddess given corporeal form. Looking at her, for the umpteenth time, she caught him looking. Rather amused at his antics, her satisfied smirk showed her pearly white pointed teeth.

They looked predatory, drilling into his skull that she was not to be trifled with despite the delicacy of her appearance. Otherwise she would not have looked out of place lounging on a couch bringing drama from the way she wore his shirt that only came up to mid-thigh.

“Enough dawdling [Lost Worlder]. Come hither, you must be famished,” said Aeskyre as he beckoned him to follow.

They skirted around Aeskyre’s main body as they went further into the cavern. Behind them, the flesh and blood body sunk into a rumbling purr as a domed barrier of diaphanous hexagons sprung into existence around it.

However, calling Aeskyre's abode a mere cave would have been doing it a disservice. It's size beggared belief seeing as a mountain’s worth of rock had been hewed out to make it —it would have comfortably fit small caldera in there. For such a creation, Its features seemed too regular to not have been made from mortal hands.

As he stared up the colossal cylindrical pillars that labored to hold up its vaulted ceiling, Arthur felt Lilliputian by comparison. Sconces of gossamer light were interspersed on the frescoed walls while ceiling to floor tapestries large enough to carpet a tennis court depicted lenticular scenes of stories that looked fantastical.

There, he saw dreadful beasts he could not name, bewitching sceneries and surreal people of different races. There, it drove home just how alien his new world was. Aeskyre clued in on his interest and smiled knowingly.

Moments later, Arthur's entire field of vision was taken up by a staggering mass of treasure . Wall to wall bullions of gold and ingots of unknown precious metals glinted in the magical illumination. Arrayed amongst many shiny baubles and ingots were also uncountable racks of weapons, most of them swords and glaives.

An occasional shield sporting strange sigils and gems and other indescribable, exotic items Arthur could not identify radiated power with their mere presence and jostled for attention. Consequently he was left rubbernecking even as he passed by. Veritably…it was a treasure vault fit for an emperor.

Another wall was taken up by an entire library of tomes, scrolls and parchments. The musty scent of exotic ink and other bibliosmic smells called to his inner bookworm, pulling at nostalgia from the recesses of his fragmented mind.

He longed for the woody waft of the books, the grainy feel of old paper in his fingers as he pictured himself thumbing the pages—’What am I thinking? I just talked to a dragon and all I think about is swimming in books?’ Arthur shook off that reverie and focused on his host. Now was not the time to stick his head in the clouds.

Amidst the sea of treasure that could make a pirate king sell their mother, was a gazebo sitting on a carpet of grass. Stepping onto it barefooted, he found it hard to believe he was not in a spring meadow. Real grass or just carpet, it felt both homey and outdoorsy, comforting even as he walked to the belvedere.

While incredulity stalled his pace, his hostess was already sitting on a high backed chair with aniline leather-worked cushions. The view of her as she poured tea from a gilded kettle into a pair of ceramic tea cups would have been worthy of many a painter's muse.

While he had no frame of reference for the quality of the items on display, even he could tell that the workmanship was peerless—that was the wealth of a dragon hoard for you.

Buffeting the marble top table were plates of bread, patisseries, a jar of honey and what he thought was cheese as well as a basket of exotic fruits cut into bite size pieces. He took his seat adjacent to his host and accepted a cup of tea still steaming from a steep and yet he hadn't noticed the kettle being brought to boil.

The aroma was unlike anything that he’d ever sampled; it had the aromatic tone of lavender, the tartness of juiced apple yet the chartreuse liquid sparkled with glints of purple when it caught the light. Arthur’s scrutiny did not escape the dragon— on intimation, Aeskyre explained, like a tea connoisseur

“Valerian tea. I got it from an Aesyslvani [Aership Merchant]. It was a premium batch which I may or may not have acquired as payment for safe passage—” She grinned toothily. “Uh, I forget you have no context for what I’m talking about. We shall correct that in due time,” she added, flicking her wrist indifferently with the pomposity of a pampered princess...or queen.

“How or why are you able to speak brackets?” Arthur asked, befuddled as he took a curious sip from his cup. His eyebrows almost flew to his hair in surprise at the revitalizing taste. As the tea passed through his parched throat, he felt as if he had woken up from a restful nap on a drizzling morning; where the cool air smelt of thyme and mint freshener and his feet were caressed by a pair of fluffy warmers.

The fog that he had no idea was on his mind lifted and he found himself thinking with clarity. Besides the reinvigoration, he felt as if he was getting to know his body for the first time: a sixth extrasensory awareness he didn’t know he possessed, came to the forefront of his mind.

“We were just getting to that. That’s what Valerian tea is for. Part of it anyway—How much do you know about magic?”

Arthur had to stop himself from doing a spit-take. It would not do to sully his host’s magnanimity by wasting tea she took pains to acquire. He dabbed away the tea dribbling from his chin and nostrils as he coughed and composed himself.

Aeskyre had a big shit-eating grin on her heart shaped face.

‘She's getting a kick out of this, isn't she?’ Artie thought as he cleared his throat. As the flush receded from his cheeks, he looked up from his cup and said,

“Do you mean spells and stuff?” Arthur mumbled, unsure even of himself.

“By Aeris! I am going to have to build you from the ground up,” said Aeskyre, tapping on the marble top with her nail. Her slit pupiled eyes bore into him with a scrutinizing stare. The look in her eyes was like looking at a vegetable.

Arthur gulped and shifted in his seat. Every time she looked at him, those eyes of hers provoked an innate primal fear that made him want to cower under the table and yet they hypnotized him in the same breadth.

“And here I thought you had an above average amount of mana." She leaned into her open palm while the other clawed hand continued tapping on the tabletop. Quirking her silver brows, she remarked, “Strange… were you not a [Mage] whence you came from?”

‘Honestly woman!, before today I didn't. ‘ He wanted to throw up his hands in confoundment. ‘The only magic I knew lived in a bottle of coke. Guess I won't be having none of that now’ he left unsaid. What he did say however, was prefaced by a sputter as he weighed the gravity of the draconic woman's bombshell.

“Believe me when I say, I have no idea. You said I have mana. Like that mana, mana? The aether?”

“Correct. Now that I see it, you have no attunement to any affinity. Even though you are unaspected, you can be considered mage-born. That should make you easy to work with.” Said Aeskyre as she dabbed her luscious lips with a napkin. “Hmm, with the volume of mana you possess, it won't be such a stretch to master at least four elemental affinities. Even that is unheard of. Nonetheless, we should choose your affinities wisely.”

“Hold on, hold on. You lost me. Did you just say you’re going to teach me how to be a magician?”

“Hmph!” She snorted, unexpectedly coming from someone of her demeanor, “Not those street performing charlatans you dolt; a proper [ Mage]. As soon as you get your affinities and cast your first cantrips, you should be able to get the class.

Depending on the level of proficiency though, the World may judge you wanting and you the [Apprentice Mage] class instead. You just have to put in the effort.”

“Uhm, what's a class?”

“By the Primals!, this is going to be a long one,” She huffed, kneading her temples. “Aeris be my witness—," she grimaced with an impression of one who'd eaten some dirt. Hesitantly, she squeezed out words as if they sullied her own lips, “I am not the best of teachers. Perhaps it’s easier to have you feel instead of showing you what a class is. When I said you were as inexperienced as a wee babe I meant that you were unclassed. “

“Succinctly, a Class is a designation by the World that determines a sapient being’s abilities and inclinations. Let’s see, I could just have you get a feel for my mana then the World should allot you some of my affinities, assuming you survive the process. Don’t worry, it will only hurt, a little.”

Alarmed, Arthur fumbled and dropped his cup but Aeskyre managed to arrest its fall before it hit the floor, tea and all. He watched as the dragon levitated the cup in mid-air and the tea returned to it like a video playing in reverse. For Arthur nothing could have surprised him more.

“Can you guess what I just did?”

“Uh, telekinesis? I guess?”

“Correct, [Telekinesis] is a basic skill that makes use of unaspected mana or spirit; whichever works better. Other spells like [Mana Bolt] and [Mana Shield] also use unaspected mana similar to [Telekinesis]. Their underlying principle is using raw mana like you would a prehensile limb.”

She then went on to assert that teaching one to use unaspected mana before one awaken their affinities might cultivate loss of attunement fluidity. Something about an aethovascular system getting too accustomed to using unaltered mana and shunting out the rest which went over his head.

Unsolicited, she delved into how that was how people, his people who were not really his people, taught at Mage academies. And went on to put them down as using archaic methods of imparting magical knowledge.

“So where do we start?”

“Give me your hand”

“Huh?”

“What are you gawking at? Your hand, give it.”

Arthur let her grasp his right hand after wiping off the grime on his pants.

“Here, you have naught to worry. Clench your teeth and close your eyes, I don’t want you biting off your tongue—.”

She paused to gather her thoughts, “I am going to push my aspected mana into your body. I want you to get a feel for it. Remember the feeling you got from the Valerian tea? It should feel just about the same. Valerian tea is a staple of mages everywhere; it is common knowledge that imbibing it replenishes mana wells.”

“However—,” she stalled, Arthur opened his eyes the barest of slits and saw the serious expression on her face. Doubt began to sink it's teeth into his desire to touch the arcane but he was far too gone now, he could barely budge his hands in that deceptive vice like grip of the woman.

“—what I am about to do is rather invasive and your body may try to resist it. I can’t do it for long lest I give you mana poisoning—you have a narrow window to awaken your affinities.”

Swallowing his apprehension, Arthur locked his jaws.

Aeskyre must have seen through him because he found himself held in place, locked by the dragon’s telekinesis spell. His heart thundered in anticipation as goosebumps rippled across his body like a Mexican wave.

“Ready? —Here we go.”

A feeling like electrostatic shock seared into his nerves, crawling up his arms, and spasming his muscles. He ground his teeth in discomfort; he couldn’t help wanting to pull his hand away and thrash.

Like Aeskyre said, it was rather invasive; not unlike feeling things squirming underneath your skin. He felt his entire being and soul dissected, probed and laid open for someone else to see.

Then as soon as it happened the feeling was gone. In its place, he felt hot lava circulating through his veins, only it wasn’t his veins but another form of vascular system. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood as he endured the agony of cooking from the inside out.

“Do you feel something flow in your being?” to that Arthur gave the barest of nods in his restrained position.

“Good, now latch onto that sensation and try to maintain it for as long as you can, follow it—look inwards"

Arthur locked onto the feeling of turbulent energy flowing around his body. At first, sustaining it was like trying to hold water in a porous reed basket. He felt the incorporeal power moving through what he felt were his mana veins, awakening from years of being vestigial.

The pain he was feeling was from the pathways as they stretched to accommodate what they were meant for. Even though they weren’t a tangible part of his body, it still accepted them like they were always meant to be there, waiting to be used.

Arthur tried not to lose feeling. Notwithstanding the strain of the exercise and the saltiness of sweat stinging his closed eyes, he followed it from his right hand, to his chest, past his heart, to just above the navel where he lost himself as though sucked into a whirlpool.

In his mind's eye, he found himself gazing upon a pulsating core which beat like a second heart, ejecting gyres of power like a miniature star going through a coronal mass ejection.

While his senses were spread thin, he could hear the thumping of his own heart, the breathing of Aeskye’s simulacrum, the warm touch of her hand as it held his and the almost intoxicating cocktail of her body’s fragrance—ozone, petrichor and geosmin.

Her scent gave the illusion of standing next to a storm as she leaned towards him. In a trance, he continued to sink into the rhythm of his core pulsating to the beat of his heart as the outside faded to the edges of his perception.

“…up..”

“Huh?”

“…get…of …it”

“Whuh?”

“Forgive me for this, it is the only way.”

Arthur suddenly felt Aeskyre’s palm on his chest, following on its heels like a bolt from the blue, electrical shock wracked his frame, jolting him from his stupor. His eyes rolled up his head, the world went white and consciousness abandoned his senses.