"What is magic, Das?" Drachen asked the young archmage.
She, him, and Ann stood near a running river inside a clearing of a forest. The clearing is big as well as the river, there is no sign of any civilization nearby.
At the other side of where they stood there was a large field of yellow flowers.
"To utilize mana to control the elements and shape the world to one's will" Das replied knowingly.
Das had his hood down and stood closest to the river, while Drachen, now the size of a regular person, levitated inches off the ground next to him. Ann sat on top of a rock, now dressed with a gray tunic that must have felt a little tight for her, considering it belonged to Das.
She had a book in her hands, immersed in it as she paid very little attention to the other two. The next day after she arrived at the palace they had decided it was time to teach Das more about magic.
Drachen had been hesitant after hearing the whole story of what took place between Das's and Ann's meeting at the village but compelled by her young pupil's words and the pressing matter of the phantom she agreed to let Das train with her, so long as she was always present.
So Ann had taken one of Das's books to read while she waited for her turn.
"Show me how good you control the elements, it's been a while since I last checked" Drachen said grabbing his staff and moving further away from him.
Das stretched his right arm and pointed at the river. First, a large blazing fireball grew out of nowhere in front of his open palm and hit the running water disappearing in impact.
He repeats these actions with water, earth, and wind balls while Drachen carefully watches him.
"Good, you still know the basics. Now, how about you do a spell?"
Das nods and concentrates, a magic circle appears in front of his hand and slowly runes appear inside the ring.
"Burn!" He shouts and the circle turns orange as a beam of fire hits the river creating a large splash of water but then lowers his arm.
"You can only do one? Woah, I really neglected you didn't I?" Drachen said with an embarrassed expression as she kicked an imaginary rock with her feet.
"We are here to fix that now right? Better late than never" Das takes out his cloak and folds it on the ground next to him, his tunic had long sleeves that only got bigger the closer they got to the wrist.
"Right, now listen. Spells are combinations of elements and forces, just how steel is made, your smelter is the staff" She lets go of the staff and makes it thirl on the air as she speaks" A mage is closest with one element over the other, hence why you can make a fire beam without the staff" Moving her hand she sends the staff flying at Das, who catches it firmly "The fire beam is, naturally, fire but used twice, so it's stronger and more concentrated. Do the same but with water now, your word is Drench"
Das turns to the river and points his staff at it, the magic circle appears larger than before. He concentrates and feels the mana coursing from his body to the head of the staff, he says the word out loud, and water explodes in front of the now blue magic circle like a bomb, drenching Das completely.
"PFFFFFT" Drachen cover her mouth but tries to act serious when Das gives her a poisonous look"Spells are tied to emotion and thought, so both heart and mind must be in synch, or you risk either failing to mix two elements or the spell simply won't work at all. Since you are more akin to fire, its opposite, water, will be much difficult to cast" She flies to the edge of the river and fires a powerful and immediate water beam at it.
"I know all this, but what must I do to improve on that?" He asks moving the wet hair out of his face with his hand.
"You must have balance both in heart and mind. Don't expect to ever control your opposite element Das, it could take decades for you to find equilibrium within yourself"
Drachen held both arms in front of her with her palms open and as she spoke, a ball of water, air, fire, earth, and light appeared and moved in a circle. Then they vanished as she returned her arms to her sides.
"I can also use the healing light and lighting without the staff"
"Like I said" The fairy smiles joyfully at the young archmage "Affinity is dictated by the mage, you are akin to light because you are filled with conviction of what is right"
"But, the King uses the light"Das comments in an ambivalent tone as Drachen presses her lips together and raises her eyebrows looking up.
"Yeaaaah, as I said, conviction. To be close to the light you need to be adamant in your belief that you are right, morality is an idea, not a reality" She shrugs.
"Isn't conviction an idea as well?"
"It is, but where morality is just a place to fit good and evil, conviction is a driving force. The same way fire is greatly enhanced by anger, both are destructive, explosive, unpredictable, and more importantly, an extremely powerful catalyst for change" Drachen seems to be taken by surprise by how knowledgeable she sounded "I had forgotten how smart I was!" She puffs her chest with pride.
"What about earth and air? Neither can change"
"Magic is a world of opposites that are constantly fighting in a never-ending war for control" Drachen then makes a round rock appear on her left hand and a ball of air on her right "The opposite of change, of water and fire, are earth and air. They are still or unpredictable, one is physically permanent and the other is essentially permanent, earth is affected by willpower and air by happiness" She closes her hands and both elements vanish.
"What are the words for earth and air?" Das asks as he turns to the river with his staff lifted and pointing at it.
"earth is Boulder and for air is Tempest" Drachen leans on an imaginary bed as her body lays now horizontal on mid-air.
Das nods and focuses, when the magic circle appears he speaks the first word and the circle turns green, a large rock is created out of thin air as it lacks and cracks as if it was made of dozens or hundreds of smaller rocks. Then once it is the size of a small dog it's shot and hits the river getting lost in its depths.
Next, he casts a new magic circle and says out loud the word. The circle remains white and a tornado shoots out of it hitting the river, Das finds it difficult to control and has to hold the staff with both hands as he forces it upwards, sending the growing tornado to the trees at the distance, ripping apart its branches and leaves until he stops the spell.
"Fire feeds off the air, so when you utilize air-based spells, don't use the same amount of mana you would use on your opposite elements like water or earth" Drachen says letting out a long yawn at the end.
"I see...what now?" Das asks his teacher with growing enthusiasm.
"Practice those spells one hundred times or until you drop to the ground exhausted, I don't know, this actually is very boring to me" She says closing her eyes, intending to take a nap while in mid-air.
"You said you would take this seriously, and you should, I may have to fight again soon"
Drachen opens one eye and complains loudly while she stretches as a cat would, but before she can reply Ann slams the book shut and stands up from the rock she was sitting in.
"Why not let me step in before you dry our student dry?" She says walking up to the pair.
The fairy sniffs and her head turns dark green as her face twists in disgust, she then flies several meters above the two of them.
"Fine! but stay away from me!" She shouts before laying back on the imaginary bed, giving her back to them.
Ann chuckles and turns to Das.
"Perfect! Leave the staff somewhere, you won't need it" She says pointing at it, Das obeys and leaves his staff hovering next to him "Necromancy sounds complex but in reality, it is rather simple to grasp" She turns to the river and stretches her arm at it "It's a relationship of giving and take, there no points in between and nothing can affect that contract"
The iris of her eyes turns to that radiant sapphire color as vapor seems to emanate from her open hand. Then a spot on the river begins to freeze, slowly and breaking imminently by the rushing water.
"I'm taking the heat off that exact place, something I noticed as soon as I began practicing my art is that the world is a liar" She glances at Das, who attentively looks at what she is doing, the corner of her mouth twists in a smile before she returns her attention to what she is doing "There is no such thing as Cold, only the absence of heat. So I take the heat off something or somewhere and in return" The vapor of her hand turns into a raging mist that consumes her entire arm and the small patches of ice turn into a solid path that covers several meters of the river's surface "I create ice" She says as her eyes return to normal.
Drachen looks at her from above, her eyes full of suspicion and a bit of worry, her strange and unique art unsettles her.
"I could do the same with normal magic" Das points out.
"Perhaps, but it goes deeper than that. To do this you would usually need something that focuses your mana, like your staff or a wand, but necromancy doesn't need a refinery, it is raw and primordial energy" Her eyes turn blue again, and from her hand shadows gather and move like a flame "I believe it is the true state of nature. Water runs because you apply heat to it, but its true state is frozen, likewise, if you have no light everything returns to its natural state of darkness" The shadows vanish and she turns to Das "Understand?"
"I think I do. So your art, necromancy, returns things to their most basic form"
"Precisely" She nods.
"What about the exchange you spoke about?"
"Ah, there is the detail. The example I just gave you was on something that isn't alive, if it wasn't obvious by now, to properly show you what my art is all about we need something alive don't you think?" She speaks with a childish innocence as she steps on the path of ice and walks to the other side of the river.
Das follows her close behind while his staff moves with him. They walk in silence until they reach the field of flowers.
She then grabs the hand of Das and cuts it with a shard of ice that she creates in an instant.
"Hey!" Drachen shouts from above "What do you think you are doing?!"
"Calm down! He didn't even feel it, besides I'm about to heal him" She lets go of his hand and takes a couple of steps back.
"How?" Das asks more to himself than her as he carefully watches her.
"An exchange" She says as her eyes glow brighter.
Then, she lets all air out of her lungs and inhales slowly through the mouth. Red energy begins to get sucked out of every flower, grass, and even passing insect, leaving them blackened, dry, and dead in a large circle around her that keeps expanding.
Intimidated, Das steps back as soon as the invisible field of death reaches his feet.
Ann stops inhaling when she seems satisfied and walks up to him.
"I didn't just take the life out of these plants, I have adopted it. That means their energy and strength is now mine" Once she reaches him, she grabs his hand places her on top of his for a second, when she lifts hers, the wound is gone "I can give it to someone for healing or directly as I have taken it" The red energy then leaves her body through the hand that still holds Das's and into his, making his eyes widen with the sensation and surprise "Or I can spend it"
She releases him and looks at the river again, pointing at it with her palm open her eyes burst with blue mana, and suddenly, the entire river freezes. For as far as both Das and Drachen can see.
Then, as soon as she returns to normal she begins to tremble and collapses, luckily, Das is close enough to catch her in his arms.
"Oops, I may have overdone it considering I was spent after our fight, and I literally just took energy from flowers" She covers her face filled with embarrassment.
"But I still don't get it, what did you give away?" Das asks her as he helps her to stand up again.
"You still don't get it?" She looks at him with a deadpan stare, before realizing something" Oh! of course, you can't feel anything with your hands right? My bad"
Out of nowhere, she holds his head with her hands and brings it to her chest, intending on making him hear her heartbeat.
"What?!-"
"Shhh, Listen" She covers his mouth and whispers.
Das, a little nervous, decides to ignore the situation and do what she says, so he listens.
And listens.
But then, he finally figures it out.
"You are dead" He says with a mixture of certainty but disbelief.