On the street to Rivana, near the City of Rivana, Kingdom of Astralia
Aiden, as this was who Arcanus had to be for now, observed the passing countryside as the carriage rolled along the increasingly well-trodden road. The lush green fields and golden crops swaying in the morning breeze were a stark contrast to the darkness of the forest from the night before. He marvelled at the way nature effortlessly transitioned from night to day, unaware of the intricate schemes and power struggles that governed the lives of people in the realm.
He was absently taking in the change of scenery as he contemplated the events of the previous night. Eve, if that was even her real name, had agreed to be in his service for a year, but the confrontation with the bandits had taught him a valuable lesson. His mana pool, limited and almost empty as it was, had been stretched dangerously thin during the encounter; he had been lucky that he didn't pass out when he initiated the pact with Eve. It was another stark reminder of his current vulnerability, and he knew he needed to rectify it swiftly. His magic abilities were crucial in navigating this treacherous world, and without them, he was just another ordinary young man.
Bennett hadn't been happy when he had brought Eve back with him, though the old man ultimately knew his place and had relented quickly. The guards, on the other hand, had accepted Eve's presence without question. Blinded by their own embarrassment over their defeat at the hands of the bandits, they readily accepted his false story that she had helped defeat the bandit. It seemed their wounded pride had prevented them from seeing through the lie, and he couldn't help but feel a hint of amusement at the human tendency to save face.
Turning his gaze away from the outside landscape, Aiden glanced at the other two passengers. Eve and Bennett were both sitting across from him, as far away from each other as the small carriage allowed. The old man had demanded that the young woman wash up and change clothes before he would let them into the carriage, but she had refused.
After much bickering, a compromise had been struck. Eve had briefly vanished to clean herself, but had kept her outfit on. The venomous glare of Bennett had been met with a rude gesture and the two had ignored each other, and Aiden, since then.
As he looked at the young woman, realising that he hadn't been able to really take a look at her in the forest, especially after she had face planted into the dirt during their little chase.
Neatly tamed by a simple green headband, her tucked away, shoulder-length, light brown hair framed a face that reflected both her youthfulness and the hardships that she had already faced, accentuated by two small scars. One on the right side of her chin, and the other one just under her right eye, highlighting the beauty of the amber orb rather than distracting from it. High cheekbones, thick and well-kept eyebrows and the small but perfectly symmetrical nose added to a look that reminded him more of a young noblewoman than a bandit scout. His eyes subtly wandered down her body, noticing the outlines of small breasts that were complimenting a lean but fit body. Streamlined muscles of a runner's physique were showing clearly through the fabrics of her clothes.
She coughed discretely and Aiden's gaze shot up to meet her eyes. He couldn't tell what she was feeling, she seemed to be stuck between amusement, vulnerability and anger. He decided to just smile at her cheekily, causing her to blush and look away. Bennett, who had seen their interaction grinned at Aiden.
Aiden let out a sigh, deciding it was time to break the silence. "Tell me what you know about magic, Eve."
"Why should I?" she simply asked, her voice tinged with suspicion.
"Because I promised to teach you more about your gift, and magic in general," he said calmly. "Besides, you are part of my team now. I need to understand what you know."
"You promised her that?" Bennett asked incredulously, obviously not believing what he was hearing and looking more than just a little agitated.
Eve, aware of the old man's mood, smirked and said, "yes he did." She composed herself, pinching her eyebrows, reminiscent of Aiden's former self's younger disciples when he had tested their knowledge. "Magic can come in many different variants. The most common are incantations and enchantments. Everyone can learn magic, but only a few people are strong enough to use it effectively, and even fewer become mages…"
Her voice trailed off and she looked out of the window, her normally intense gaze unfocused. Nodding after a moment, she looked expectantly at her teacher.
In response, Aiden frowned at her. Even the empire's children had known more about magic. "That is not much. Who taught you this?"
"I attended a local academy before my life went to shit. It is what everyone who doesn't show talent in magic gets taught…" she said.
"How does a lowlife wretch like you get the chance to attend an academy?!" Bennett said, disgust seeping through his voice.
In an instant, Eve was on him. One of her hidden knives glittered in the dim light of the cabin and Bennett let out an undignified squeak as it stopped right in front of his crotch.
"Never, and I mean NEVER, talk to me like that again, old man," Eve hissed through her teeth, her amber eyes burning with hatred.
Observing his two unalike allies, Aiden knew that it would be difficult to get them to work together. It hadn't taken him long until he had realised that the unkind, sardonic Bennett and the explosive Eve would not make an easy team. The old man was an unpleasant person in general and if it wasn't offset by his valuable knowledge, the reincarnated magus would have never taken up with him in the first place. As for Eve, her explosive temperament likely had deep-rooted reasons, possibly connected to her deceased parents and her complex past. He knew he needed to address this issue eventually, but forcing her to reveal her secrets wouldn't build trust, and he needed her to trust him. He also realised that letting the bickering continue wasn't a viable option; he eventually would have to find a way to resolve the conflict peacefully. How was the question.
Setting those discussions aside for now, he sighed. "Enough!"
He had reinforced the single word with his aura, projecting his displeasure outwards. It was a technique that had been popular in the empire. Politicians had used it to win arguments, warlords to rally their armies and demoralise their enemies, even teachers had used it when imparting an especially poignant lesson. Here, the effect was immediate. Both paled, Bennett apologised in an awestruck whisper, and Eve retreated to her original sitting position, putting away her dagger with a grimace.
"We'll need to talk about this at some point. I won't tolerate any infighting among my allies," Aiden said. "Both of you are important for my plans going forward, I will treat attacks against you as attacks against me."
"Let us go back to the matter at hand, magic," he said, continuing with the original topic-. "What you described, Eve, is called 'common magic', sometimes also 'learned magic'. As you rightly pointed out, it comes in various forms. You mentioned incantations and enchantments, but there are more. A lot more."
"Common magic can be used by everyone, at least in theory, as long as you have sufficient intelligence to learn its form and enough magic capability to feed your spell with sufficient mana. However, in reality, many magical disciplines require additional talents. For instance, an artificer needs to be skilled in craftsmanship as much as magic, while an alchemist relies on their knowledge of chemistry."
He paused to ensure they were following along before continuing. "Either way, magic always consists of three fundamental parts. Magical energy, a medium and a catalyst. Using common magic, the caster provides the magical energy, while the medium and catalyst are inherent to the specific magical form you chose. For incantations, the words you speak give your spell its shape, they are the medium. The incantation for a small fireball will always, unless it fails, result in such, it will never be able to do something else. This single mindedness allows the words to act as catalysts, resulting in the spell being incredibly efficient. It is its biggest upside of common magic. However, it also makes it inflexible."
Two blank faces were staring back at him and he sighed, deciding to simplify further. "Think about it like this, the incantation for a small fireball will always create a small fireball. What if you need a larger fireball?"
"You… use a different incantation?" Eve asked tentatively, a look of confusion visible on her face.
"Precisely!" Aiden exclaimed. "And then, what if you then need an even larger fireball? What if you need a hotter flame? You'll always need a completely new incantation. The same is true for the other forms of common magic. As the spells become more complex and powerful, their forms grow exponentially. The basic fireball spell consists of just a few words, while the next stronger variant is a sentence, and so on. Eventually, when we reach pinnacle spells capable of deciding entire battles, their complexity renders most forms useless."
"Now, this brings us to the second kind of magic practised by humans." he continued, pausing for emphasis. "Soul magic."
The expected 'aww's and 'ohh's didn't come. Eve looked even more puzzled and Bennett, who Aiden thought would know at least something about the topic, looked entirely unimpressed.
"I have no idea what that is," the young woman said.
"Of course not," Bennett sneered, "it's powerful magic, but it's unobtainable for most."
Aiden chuckled. "Not quite," he clarified. "Soul magic is intrinsic magic, unique to the person who wields it. Once acquired, it is part of that persons very being. While it is true that soul magic has the potential to be very powerful and that most people will never get to wield advanced variations of it, everyone has some soul magic within them."
Before Bennett could interject, Aiden continued, wanting to explain further. "Auras are the most basic manifestation of soul magic. They don't require any magic form, such as an incantation, to control. Each person's aura is unique to the individual, a perfect reflection of them."
"I still don't get it," Eve interjected, expressing her confusion. "I can barely utilise my aura. You promised to teach me more about my 'gift', as you call it. How does any of this help?"
"I'll get to it soon, but it's important to grasp the basics first, Eve," Aiden said. "There are two variations of soul magic. The first is similar to common magic, you could describe it as active soul magic. In this type, the caster still supplies the magical energy to fuel the spell, but they themselves act as the medium, and their soul serves as the catalyst."
Holding up his right hand for the others to see, he summoned a small black tendril which started to swirl around his index finger. "This is the most basic version of my own soul magic. You might have noticed that, unlike with common magic, I didn't use any incantation or any other form. Soul magic is instinctual for those that can wield it, it is more like breathing than it is like using common magic. However, the drawback of soul magic lies within the soul itself. As I have mentioned, common magic is used for specific purposes and therefore as efficient as possible. Your soul isn't, which makes soul magic highly inefficient. Let's revisit the fireball example. If you gain the ability to create fire through soul magic, it would demand much more magical energy to produce a fireball of equivalent power compared to the common magic version."
"What is the point then?" Eve asked, clearly confused. "Why not stick to regular magic instead?"
"Because of this." Aiden responded, using his left hand to point at the tendrils swirling around his right hand, which had grown in size and multiplied, in quick succession forming into a ball and then enveloping his entire hand in black energy. "Flexibility and scalability. Both of you have already seen what I can do with it. Unlike common magic, soul magic scales with the caster's mastery and power. Yes, a small fireball might be a waste, but what about a big one? Or a really enormous one? "
"You could attempt to use a different incantation," he continued, addressing their unspoken question. "However, the complexity and length of the incantation required for such a powerful spell would be almost impossible to manage during an intense battle. That's where soul magic proves its worth."
"That is all well and good," Eve said, "but it still has nothing to do with me."
Smiling, Aiden replied. "You're right, because your gift is part of the second group within the soul magic family, soul enhancements. Think about them as gaining permanent, passive advantages. They can encompass a wide range of abilities, such as enhancements to physical attributes like strength, immunities to elements, additional abilities like underwater-breathing, and more. I think that your ability to cloak yourself against aura senses falls into this category."
Before Eve could voice her thoughts, Bennett, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, interjected with his question. "Master, how does one go about learning soul magic? You mentioned 'acquiring' them, but how does it happen?"
To the surprise of both men, the young woman agreed. "Yes. If soul magic is so powerful, why had I never heard of it before today?"
Aiden ran his fingers through his black hair, offering them a wry grin. "That's because you can't learn it. Soul magic is earned, some might even say bestowed," he said, holding up a hand to preempt questions. "Nobody really knows where the magic is coming from, but it tends to manifest itself when someone after great achievements, or is in dire need. Often also a combination of both. All variations of soul magic are rare though, even in those situations."
"So the question is," Bennett said, turning to Eve with an evil smile, "how did the wretch get her ability?"
Eve's face paled, her expression turning into one of fear and vulnerability. She resembled a cornered animal and a tear escaped down her beautiful face, betraying the emotions she tried to suppress. Without a word, she made a swift move towards the cabin door, her hands trembling as she flung it open, desperate for escape.
"I'm sorry, I really need some fresh air right now," she called back into the cabin, her voice quivering with a mix of emotions. Without waiting for a response, she rushed out of the driving carriage and jumped onto one of the horses that was tied to carriages.
The atmosphere in the carriage was heavy with tension. Bennett's disdainful expression remained unchanged, but there was something else beneath the surface, a lingering curiosity about the unfamiliar young woman. Meanwhile, Aiden couldn't shake the feeling that he had just witnessed a glimpse of Eve's haunted past.
"This woman will be trouble," Bennett eventually remarked, disdain evident in his expression.
"She's been through a lot," Aiden said with a sombre tone. "And it's clear she doesn't trust easily."
"Doesn't matter," Bennett scoffed. "We can't afford to be slowed down or distracted by her past. We have more important matters to attend to."