MAGNUS

Ezekiel and I headed for the same classroom while Selena headed for a different one. My companion looked happy to be headed for the class that was on a subject he was clearly interested in.

I asked, “Have you done much spell binding before this?”

He nodded and answered, “My uncle is a mage for the Hunter’s Guild, whenever he would pass through near our home he would stop in and give me lessons. He said I have a larger pool of aether than even he does, so he encouraged me to work on spell binding.”

The Hunter’s Guild was a group that tracked and dealt with aetherical creatures that were overcrowding an area or had become monsters. They also were the best source for bound creatures as they would also take commissions to go and capture a specific creature for aspiring summoners. Grandfather and I had dealt with a few that came up the mountain hunting a specific creature. Some were permitted to hunt with restrictions, others had been dumped in wolf shit and told to steer clear of the mountain.

“Was your practice in theory, crafting runes, or usage?” I asked.

“Mostly crafting runes and theory. I helped out the healers with the runes they had if there was a need, since I could keep going after they had fallen over. It’s what drew the Academy’s attention,” he answered.

I wasn’t sure what to make of my bookish companion. On the one hand he had a bit of an ego and a chip on his shoulder, but on the other he seemed eager to put his skills into practice in the right way. I think gramps would have called it teenage angst, and not knowing who he was yet.

He continued speaking, “Uncle also told me that going the path of a Summoner could work out well, but mom didn’t want a bunch of ‘wild animals running through the house making a mess of things.’”

His voice had changed cadence and pitch as he tried to match what I guessed was his mother. Then he continued, “Dad used to tell me stories of your grandfather actually, and some of the people he traveled with”

He laughed at the worried look on my face, and I asked, “Do I want to know which stories he told you?”

“His favorite was the Storm of Swarm,” he said, “Do you know that one.”

I answered, “I know basically what happened, but that was thirty years ago. It was a monster wave made up of a large number of insect type creatures. If I remember correctly the hive queens of various types all went mad at around the same time. It was just shy of a natural disaster because they could command their lesser kin that weren’t crazed. I didn’t know the old man had taken part in that.”

Ezekiel almost vibrated as he said, “He was there, along with a woman some say was his wife that the people in Azure called the Moon’s Daughter, a summoner from Mordania they called Legion, that big wolf he has, a guy who I think was an equipment binder that they called Endless Blade, and Nilavs king, who was Crown Prince at the time..”

Moon’s Daughter, Saki Torahide, grandmother, I didn’t have any memories of her as she passed before I was born. Morgan still kept a portrait of her in the cabin though on a little altar with a black ribbon wrapped around one corner. There were a few other portraits there too, a memorial for those he had lost.

Ezekiel continued, not noticing my brief distraction, “Legion was my favorite in those stories. Do you know his story?”

“Vaguely, I know he got the name from some minstrel overhearing my grandfather stating that he was a legion unto himself,” I answered.

“Huh, I didn’t know that. I guess that makes sense, as I’ve never heard the term legion before. It sounds like a military term,” he responded.

“It’s from his homeland’s ancient history. There was an empire that managed to conquer a large part of the continent due mostly to the discipline and strength of their armies, which were called legions. He was basically saying that man was an army of one,” I clarified.

“Where is he from anyway? I’ve always wondered,” he asked.

“You can ask him, but he never told me. He only said he couldn’t get back, not that he cared to do so anymore,” I said.

My companion shrugged and we found seats in the classroom, and were joined a few moments later by Richard and Tak. After exchanging greetings we waited for the professor to join us. This time the professor was Augusta Sidoha, the woman in charge of the Scholar program.

Her lecture started without the preamble that I had seen previously, “Spellcraft, or spell binding, is the art of inscribing runes onto items that allows us to channel our aether along a path to create an effect. Now the reason we put the runes on items is because most people don’t have the capability to shape aether outside of our bodies. Since we can channel aether through objects we are touching we put the flows into an object and channel it through there.”

She paused for a moment to allow those who were taking notes to finish writing before continuing, “Spellcraft runes consist of three segments. Activation, effect, and method.”

She turned and drew a rune on the polished stone behind her with a piece of chalk before saying, “This is the activation rune. It is what will send the aether through the rest of your bindings. No activation rune means the aether won’t follow the proper path. In the best case scenario this means it fails to work. Worst case, boom.”

Richard raised a hand. The professor glared at him for a moment before sighing and saying, “I guess if I’m supposed to teach I have to answer questions. Fair warning for the class, if your question is idiotic you will recieve extra homework.”

After she nodded at him to go ahead he asked, “Is that the only activation glyph? I’ve heard stories of effects that stay active without a binder constantly channelling aether into them.”

Augusta looked like she was considering if the question was worth answering before she said, “I’m not sure if that question is idiotic or psychotic. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt though since you asked before trying to come up with a new activation rune.”

I had to bite my tongue. Richard had in fact attempted to create new activation runes, but was always methodical and safe about how he did so, and had grandfather watching over him. It had caused us to have to repair and reinforce the workshop.

The professor answered the question finally, “I have not found any documented proof that other activation runes exist, and trust me I’ve looked. It is possible, but I would prefer we didn’t experiment with this in your introductory classes. For now, use this rune in your spellbinding and save experiments for controlled environments where you won’t kill your classmates.”

Richard looked a little sheepish as he nodded. The teacher went back to her wall and drew another set of runes, “These are effect runes. Specifically these four are part of the rune pattern for Firebolt, Water Spray, Earth Spike, and Wind Blade. You have five minutes to study these runes.

I looked at the patterns carefully. I knew the Firebolt glyphs as I had created image bindings for that spell a few times. I hadn’t had much chance to study the others though. Most of my practice had been in drawing creatures due to how many different types were on the mountain. My eyes were drawn to two parts of the glyphs, and with all four side by side I noticed the pattern. I grunted as I recognized it for what it was.

Ezekiel whispered next to me, “Noticed it?”

I nodded, “Yeah, they have the same glyphs for half the rune.”

Professor Siodha confirmed this a few moments later as she tapped the locations in one of the runes and said, “The observant among you noticed that these parts of the glyph are the same across all four spells. These are the energy condensing, projection, and contingency runes. The energy condensing portion gathers the appropriate elemental energy and condenses it into a compact enough form to be used, the projection glyphs tell the spell that energy that it will be sent outwards at high speed, and the contingency runes tell it that it will take place based on the final glyphs.”

She drew a few more glyphs on the wall and pointed at each one, “These glyphs tell the last portion what shape it will take and how it will be targeted. Notice this time that each of these has a different shaping portion but similar targeting. That is because most combat spells are targeted using the bound object itself as a way to direct the spell. It’s simpler to point a stick at someone than to factor in angles and wind speed to your spell.”

The class continued like this for the rest of the allotted time, with the professor drawing glyphs on the wall and pointing out the individual sections of each one. I could tell she was more of a researcher than a skilled teacher as sometimes she would have to force herself to stop and let the students catch up. Our little group was busily noting down the last glyph she had put on the wall when the bell for class to be over rang. Students gathered their belongings as the teacher dismissed us stating that she wanted each student to turn in a rune drawing that was different than the ones she had shown us, but used the specifics we covered.

As I was almost out the door she called, “Ward, stay a moment.”

I moved out of the way of the others leaving and waited for the room to clear before I asked, “Yes, Professor?”

She looked at me with her head tilted sideways like a bird and asked, “Why haven’t you given your friend the solution to his puzzle.”

I grimaced and said, “Caught that did you?”

She nodded, “You have the solution to constant activation at your waist. I’m somewhat surprised that he hasn’t figured that out.”

“Gramps told me not to spoil it for him, he is of the opinion that Richard’s discoveries as he seeks the answer will actually be more impressive,” I replied.

Augusta nodded briefly, “Anne told me about the rods he uses as a focus. Using contact as a targeting condition was clever. As is the control he has to be able to inscribe multiple rune sets into the rods and use them individually. Did Morgan tell you when to spill the secret to him?”

“If we graduate and he hasn’t discovered it yet I am supposed to point my method out to him. He thinks Richard might come up with a different method if given enough time,” I answered.

“Well I would rather you two didn’t experiment in the classroom. Put your glyph ideas on paper for now and I will help test it out in the school’s lab until you are given access,” she stated as she motioned to the door.

I thanked her and left to catch up with my companions. We still had homework for the day to complete, dinner to eat, and I wanted to get in a bit of time putting together some more cards.