Hala sat pondering Chris's request to teach him magic.
"Umm...I wish I could but I don't think that'll be possible."
Chris looked at her, confused.
"Well why not?"
She bit her lip nervously.
"Well how can I phrase this. Remember when I told you I see with magic?"
"Yeah."
"Well that works because all things have trace amounts of magic in them. When a object or living being has enough of it they can use it. The more magic a thing has the better they will be at controlling it. We call the center where a thing gathers their magic their Core."
"Does that mean humans have Cores to?"
"Well yes and no. Human, elf, dwarf, and Demi-human Cores aren't physical like monster Cores. Instead they exist on another plane of existence entirely. We don't have much room in our bodies to store something like a physical Core."
"Ah... so why can't you teach me magic?"
"Because I can't even see a hint of magic around you. In order to even access magic first you must have magic. And sometimes on rare occasions people are born with no magic at all."
Chris considers this and nods. He thinks for awhile as he wonders how he could've used magic that first time then. Suddenly he thinks he has an idea of what happened.
"So if a Demi-humans core is on another plane then that means they don't draw magic from themselves do they? Does that mean that they could draw magic from somewhere else?!"
"It is possible, however it's very, rare, expensive, and difficult. If someone is strong enough wishes to they can share a portion of their magic with another person, it's called bonding. Which enables them to use magic, but they can only use spells the powerful mage learned and can only become as strong as that mage."
"Well that explains it then. I can use magic because I'm bonded to somebody."
Both Hala and Victoria appear surprised.
"With who?"
Chris opens his mouth to respond before hesitating. He's not so sure if Abraxios would be ok with him flinging his name around willy nilly. So just to be safe he decides to keep it a secret from here on out.
"They asked me not to tell anybody, they highly value their privacy."
The fox sisters looked between each other slightly suspicious before Victoria shrugged and looked back at Chris.
"I guess we could give it a try."
Hala stood up and gestures for Chris to follow her.
"We can't practice the application of magic there. That areas more of magic sensing area, to help you feel and see magic better."
She began walking, amazingly well for a blind person, out the back of the sanctuary. The door they went through opened up at the back of the temple onto a large stone courtyard. It had a small circle of different shaped circles in the center and that's where Hala led Chris as Victoria stopped at the edges of the courtyard. Hala took one side of the circle and Chris took the opposite side. The two faced each other and Hala began questioning Chris.
"Have you ever used magic before?"
"Yes."
"Were you actually able to control it when you did?"
Chris thought back to the first and second time he used magic. The first when he caught himself on fire and the second when he blew himself up.
"No not one bit."
Hala nodded as if she expected this.
"What form did your magic take shape as?"
"Fire, most definitely fire."
"Well that works out swell, the main element I use when I cast magic is fire. However it can be extremely violent and difficult to control."
"From the little experience I have of it I can confirm this to be true. Oh! I just had a thought!"
Chris quickly jogs over to Victoria and stops in front of her.
"Can you hold this little guy for me?"
He hands Armonite over to Victoria, as Armonite transfers over to her her arm drops a foot at the sudden weight.
"Thanks!"
Chris then jogs back to the circle and gets opposite of Hala once again.
"Alright, now that you're ready let's first go over how to control a flame. Once we do that we can see how many times you can consecutively summon a flame without it exploding. Magic flames are very sensitive to suggestions they can get from ones emotions. So in order to best control one, a person must be completely calm, even when under stress. Otherwise you might get burnt by your own flames."
"Well that sounds fun."
Hala ignores him as he interrupts her. She then goes on to give him some advice on how to remain calm and still while using magic. She recommends several different peaceful scenarios imagining techniques and breathing exercises to help him remain calm. Once she feels he has a firm grasp on the basic concepts of being calm she invites hi. to try and make a fireball.
"Go ahead, whenever your ready. Just remeber to be calm, and the flame will be calm."
Letting out a breathe and breathing in deeply Chris begins to create a flame. He tries envisioning it the way he did back in the clearing when it exploded. Just like before a ball of fire appeared in his flat outstretched hand. Even knowing though that he must be calm he started getting excited at the sight of magic in his hands. This excitement quickly turned to fear though as once again the flame began expanding. Before it could explode though Hala waves her hand gently before herself and in synchrony the flame went out. Chris went from excited to afraid back to thrilled throughout the span of the whole attempt. He looked in awe between his hand and Hala for several moments before speaking.
"That was so cool! How'd you do that!"
Hala blushes slightly at his praise.
"When you come to a deep enough understanding of certain areas of magic one can override another person's use of magic. It's different on every person though, but its typically much easier to use on beginners with little to no experience in magic. Thus it's very important when deciding on a teacher to choose one who mainly uses the magic you plan to use."
"When do you think I'll be able to do stuff like that."
She laughed lightly at Chris.
"It took me years to understand magic enough to do that. Judging by how little control you just displayed I'll say it'll be awhile."
Chris frowns as he processes that and huffs in frustration.
"Oh well, at least it's better than nothing."
Victoria looks up at the sky and notices that the sun is going down.
"Hate to break your guys lesson but it's getting late and Leonidas here has some furniture he needs to carry for me."
"I'll see you both tomorrow then?"
Before Victoria gets a chance to speak Chris responds.
"Absolutly! After all you still have to teach me how to override magic!"
Victoria rolls her eyes and that being said leads the way as Chris and Hala follow behind. Hala still giving Chris some more pointers as they walk. Eventually they exit the temple and Hala waves them farewell. Victoria and Chris then pick up the furniture that he owed Victoria and bring it back to her house. As they enter the house Chris has a thought.
"If the bed I broke was the only bed, where am I going to sleep?"
"Where else idiot, your going to sleep on the broken bed."
Victoria grins evily and Chris just sighs and grumbles.
"I made my bed and now I must lay in it."
With that the two went to there seperate rooms and went to bed. For awhile Chris was just twisting and turning. trying to adjust to his tail until he finally fell asleep.
...
Chris opens his eyes in total darkness and his heart drops to his stomach.
"Ah blank, here we go again."
Out of the darkness Chris hears rustling of massive limbs and an ancient voice.
"She's an incompetent teacher."