"Focus, boy! Power without precision is just wasteful thrashing."
Thaddeus's words appeared sharp and clear on the pages of *The Wandsmith's Echo* as Zeph attempted to recreate the flowing patterns for the fourth time. Dawn light filtered through the library's crystal spires, casting refractive patterns that reminded him uncomfortably of how little time remained before his first class.
"I'm trying," Zeph muttered, fingers tracing the air. Magic responded more naturally now, but controlling it without a wand felt like trying to cup water in bare hands. "But the currents keep... slipping."
"Of course they do. You're still thinking like a corporate drone." The book's pages rustled with apparent irritation. "Stop trying to *grab* the power. True magic isn't about domination – it's about resonance."
Zeph lowered his hands, frustration building. He'd spent the entire night in the hidden section, alternating between reading Thaddeus's lessons and attempting to master basic flow control. His ruined practice wand lay accusingly on a nearby shelf, its cracked crystal a constant reminder of the questions he'd face once he left this sanctuary.
"Easy for you to say," he said. "You're not the one who has to explain a burned-out wand to Professor Kendrick in..." He checked the time display hovering in the corner of his vision. "...less than two hours."
"Ah yes, because corporate equipment failure is clearly more pressing than learning actual magic." Sarcasm practically dripped from the appearing text. "Tell me, what's your standard channeling class going to teach you? More exciting ways to force power through crystalline straitjackets?"
"They're going to notice something's different," Zeph insisted. "The security sweep, the wand, my readings being off... Sterling Corp monitors everything."
The book was silent for a moment before new words formed slowly, deliberately. "Then perhaps it's time for a history lesson. Sit."
Zeph hesitated, then settled cross-legged on the floor. The hidden section's ancient carpet held traces of magic that made his sensitivity tingle – old power, preserved from before the corporate era.
"What do you know about the Age of True Magic?" Thaddeus asked.
"Just what's in the approved texts. Magic was wild and dangerous before the Houses brought it under control. The Cataclysm proved we needed standardization and safety measures."
"Corporate propaganda." The words appeared with such force they seemed to burn into the page. "I lived in that age, boy. I was there when magic flowed freely, when each mage's path was unique to their own resonance. And I was there when the Houses began their takeover."
The pages filled with flowing script, but these weren't spell diagrams. They were memories, playing out in shifting patterns of text and magical resonance:
*Crystal spires rising not to control magic, but to harmonize with it. Wands grown rather than manufactured, each one a living partnership between mage and tool. Apprentices learning to feel the natural flows, developing their own styles rather than conforming to standardized techniques. Power measured not in corporate metrics, but in understanding and harmony.*
Zeph's sensitivity hummed in response to the images. "It feels... right," he whispered. "Like the way magic moves when I'm not fighting it."
"Because that's how magic is supposed to work. The Houses didn't save us from chaos – they imposed artificial order on a natural system they feared because they couldn't control it." Thaddeus's words carried the weight of centuries. "The Cataclysm wasn't caused by wild magic. It was the result of their first attempt to cage power that was never meant to be caged."
A chill ran down Zeph's spine as more images flowed across the pages:
*Corporate crystals spreading like a cancer through the magical infrastructure. The first dampening fields going up. Standardized teaching replacing direct master-apprentice bonds. And finally, the massive magical backlash as the Houses tried to force all magic into their rigid channels at once.*
"The Wound Zones..." Zeph breathed.
"Scars left by their arrogance. But instead of learning from their mistake, they used the chaos to consolidate control. To convince everyone that magic needed to be regulated, standardized, *safe*." The last word appeared dripping with contempt. "And they've spent the centuries since then suppressing anyone with enough natural sensitivity to hear magic's true voice."
Zeph looked at his hands, remembering how power had flowed through him when he stopped forcing it through corporate channels. "Like me?"
"Obviously. Why do you think their systems show you as weak? Your sensitivity is trying to follow magic's natural paths while their equipment demands you ignore your instincts and conform to their artificial structures."
```
Status Update:
[Previous Corporate Power Level: 12.4]
[Current Corporate Power Level: ERR_UNDEFINED]
[Natural Resonance: Awakening]
[True Magic Potential: CALCULATING...]
```
"So what do I do?" Zeph asked. "I can't exactly ignore their systems entirely. One missed channel check and they'll know something's wrong."
"Finally, a practical question." The book's tone shifted from historical to instructional. "Watch carefully."
New diagrams appeared, but these were different from the earlier practice patterns. They showed how natural flows could be subtly wrapped around corporate channels, using the standardized pathways as camouflage rather than conduits.
"The Houses built their system on top of true magic," Thaddeus explained. "They can't completely suppress the natural flows without causing another Cataclysm. So we use their blind spot – they monitor power going *through* their channels, but they've forgotten how to detect power moving *around* them."
Zeph studied the patterns, his sensitivity recognizing the elegant simplicity of it. "Like how I hid from the security sweep."
"Precisely. Now, try that first form again, but this time..."
The lesson continued as sunrise painted the crystal spires in shades of amber and gold. By the time the library's main section began stirring to life, Zeph had mastered three basic flow patterns and, more importantly, learned to layer them with a superficial veneer of corporate compliance.
His ruined practice wand still posed a problem, but Thaddeus had shown him how to explain its burnout in terms the Houses would accept – a simple case of feedback failure in the crystal matrix, tragic but not uncommon in older equipment. They might even thank him for identifying a potential flaw in their systems.
"Not entirely hopeless," Thaddeus concluded as Zeph prepared to return to the main library. "Though your resonance control still needs considerable work."
"Thanks... I think." Zeph carefully tucked the book into his bag. "Will you teach me more?"
"Would you rather go back to corporate channeling?"
Zeph smiled. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Hmph. Just remember – the Houses have spent centuries building their cage. Learning to work around it while appearing to work within it is as much an art as magic itself."
```
Status: [Corporate Power Level: 12.4 (Masked) | True Resonance: Basic Flow Control Achieved | Hidden Potential: Calculating... | Security Status: Camouflaged | Training Progress: 3 Basic Patterns Mastered]
```
As Zeph stepped through the hidden section's entrance, letting the corporate dampening field settle around him like an ill-fitting coat, he felt the weight of centuries of suppressed knowledge in his bag. But for the first time, that weight felt less like a burden and more like a key – not just to power, but to truth itself.
Now he just had to survive Professor Kendrick's class without letting any of that truth show.
The library's main section hummed with standardized magic as early-rising students began filtering in. Zeph kept his movements casual, his power pulled tight and wrapped in the camouflage patterns Thaddeus had taught him. To corporate sensors, he would read as the same magically weak student he'd always appeared to be.
But beneath that carefully maintained facade, true magic sang through his veins, following paths older than the Houses themselves. And this, he realized, was just the beginning.