Unknown Interlude – Magic Class

 

            "Alright, kiddos," Hollin said, surveying her 12-year-old students.  Today, I'm giving you a little review on magic."  This provoked the actions she had predicted: Julia scooted to the edge of her seat, her eyes filled to the brim with interest and her hands lifted before her in anticipation, while Josh groaned and slouched in his seat, hoping that Hollin's lecture would be quiet enough to sleep through.  Noting the boy's reaction, Hollin removed several small pebbles from her desk, set them where he could easily see them.  He wasn't sure why she had produced them, but got an ominous feeling from them.  Oh, well.  At least he'll get something out of it.

 

            "Okay.  Let's see now...  Where to begin..." Hollin mused.  Julia's hand shot up and waved eagerly, as though desperate to be picked amongst countless others.  She failed to notice that Josh and Hollin shared a raised eyebrow at this behavior.  "Julia?" Hollin asked after a moment.  "Why don't you tell us how magic came to human knowledge?" the girl asked.  "Right," Hollin approved.  Seems a good enough place to star--  ... Damn it, kid..."  This last remark surprised Julia briefly, until she glanced to her left and noticed that Josh had already fallen asleep.  Hollin sighed, picked up one of the pebbles and hurled it at her snoozing pupil, popping his sleep bubble, as it were, and rousing him.  "Ow! What'd ya do that for, ya old bat!?" he demanded, rubbing the small, but growing, bump on his head. "Because you fell asleep," she answered, matter-of-factly.  "You never know when something's going to be important. And it's really good to understand something as important as magic, even if you don't ever take the time to memorize a single spell."  He mumbled something about trying to stay awake more in response.

 

            Satisfied for the moment, Hollin began. "Alright.  First off, there were the gods.  As you know, they embodied all the aspects of humanity and the world at large: death, animals, the heavens, fertility, the sea, wine and so forth.  They were fairly immortal; they didn't age, they didn't need food or water, and no weapon could really harm them.  In that age, the gods came down to interact with mortal affairs on a semi-regular basis, often helping humanity.  But, as you know from the many 'myths' that you read when you were younger, almost all of them were very vain and couldn't stand a human being outdoing them without somehow striking them down.  So, dealing with the gods was something of a mixed bag: maybe they'd help you, or perhaps they'd turn you into some loathsome creature or just kill you on the spot.

            They had three different languages: one was the common language they used to speak with humanity and each other, while the other two were the 'magic' languages.  The first and more basic of those two magic languages is what we call God Words today, though ours today is a lot weaker than what theirs must have been, and it was something of a 'common' magical language.  The second was much more advanced and, generally speaking, just better than the common version.  From what the few remaining texts tell us, the more advanced language was divided amongst multiple variations and every single god seemed to have their own unique dialect, appropriate to their field of influence.

            "Anyway, we don't totally understand a lot that happened between then and when humans started using magic.  I've taught you some of the theories," at which Julia's hand shot up again.  "But," Hollin continued, "they're really more for interest than things you should actually know."  Disappointed, Julia lowered her hand.  "But, just to make sure you've been paying attention... Josh!" she continued, shouting the final word and snapping the boy to attention.  "What was one of the theories I taught you?" she asked him. "Uhh...  Umm..." he replied, struggling to come up with something. "Err...  Didn't someone think there was a big war amongst the gods?"  Hollin smiled and nodded with approval.  "Ah.  So you do pay attention sometimes.  I'm glad to know that.

            "In any case, yeah.  Franz Keploff suggested that the gods had a giant war with each other that killed them all off.  Some think the gods had a set lifespan that ran out all at once, others believe the gods needed something to live that also ran out, and quite a few think they just left this world.  They all went into some detail supporting their theories, but, really, each theory's as good as any other.  Many have decided to link magic's appearance to the emergence of the Holy Zerian Church appeared at some point later in the period.  A lot of people believe they had something to do with it, but they could just have shown up 'because' of magic's discovery, or for reasons totally unrelated."

 

            She paused and looked at her two students.  One tossed pebble later and she had twice as much of their collective attention as before.  "Any more questions?" she asked.  "Umm...  Not really," Julia replied after a moment, "I just thought I had remembered there being more to know about how mankind gained magic."  Hollin nodded and turned her head slightly to her right.  "How about you, Josh?"

            "Err...  I can't really think of anything to ask," Josh answered, rubbing the still-growing lump on his head.  "Alright," Hollin said, nodding.  "I'll just have to ask 'you' a question later."  She shot a wicked grin at him to accompany this statement.  It seemed to say, "Get the question wrong and you'll be begging me to throw pebbles at you."  Needless to say, this alarmed Josh.  "Umm...  On second thought... uhh...  How exactly were the... umm...  Different dialects better than the god's common magical language?"

            "Slept right through that lesson?" Hollin asked. Josh grumbled his reply. "Alright.  Well, the way that God Words work is that they have their own incantations, some of which are REALLY long, and they're limited to doing a certain thing.  However, the higher dialects are a lot less rigidly defined.  Within certain parameters you can basically do anything."  She noticed the perplexed expression on her student's face, next to Julia's totally comprehending countenance. He is trying...  I've got to give him credit for that.

            "Okay, think about it like this.  In God Words, each incantation is like a sentence, say... 'the leaf turns green,' for example.  Under the rules of God Words, you aren't allowed to do much to that sentence.  You could change some things about it, like 'green' to 'red' or 'leaf' to 'stick', but you're still very limited as to what you can do with it.  Its structure and basic idea, an object turns a color, can't change.  A spell example would be launching a fireball; you have to set its destination in the incantation and, if you care to tack it on, its color and temperature, but you can't change that what the spell does is throw a fireball from your position at something.  So, what you can do is completely limited to what incantations you know."  She was pleased that he seemed to be grasping the concept and, thus, continued.

            "But in the dialects, everything's totally free-form.  As long as you know the right words to use, you can recite them in pretty much whatever way you want and the spell will do exactly what you want it to.  But, like I said, each dialect seemed to be divided into the fields of the different gods, so you aren't allowed supreme power over everything. Compared to what we've got today, though, having a full grasp of the God Words and even one dialect might as well be supreme.  Understand now, Josh?"

            "Yeah.  It makes sense," he said, nodding in complete sincerity.  "Thanks, Master Hollin."

 

            She smiled and nodded her approval at him. "Anyway, since I was going into history earlier, I might as well remind you two why today's God Words aren't as powerful as they could be.  According to the old records, the first God Words humanity had were just as powerful as the gods'.  However, over time, some of these were lost.  Zerian monasteries and other research institutes did a good job of preserving them for a while.  But, after a few centuries, the Sentinels came, Alexandria burned to the ground, and the Age of Chaos began."  She took a deep breath.  Merely mentioning the subject had clearly put a damper on her mood.

            "I shudder when I think of how many spells were lost during that time.  Countless spell books were lost to the fires.  Some people tried to pass down a lot of the spells by word of mouth. But, like what always happens to things passed down orally, they were changed.  The wordings and pronunciations of almost all spells became less accurate by the time they were reprinted.  They've still got the same effect, but they're so much weaker and less efficient now.  Such a senseless waste..."

 

            She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself when she realized how upset she had become in talking about the heavy blow that the Age of Chaos had dealt to magic.  It had happened all throughout her earlier lessons on that era as well and it would continue to bother her until the day she died.  She took several more deep breaths, during which her students simply sat and waited, knowing to keep silent when their teacher was so upset.

            Calmed anew, she smiled at them.  "Sorry about that.  So, I guess I'll move onto the Essential Qualities of Spell-Casting. Julia?  Tell me one and explain it."  The girl nodded.  "Yes, Master Hollin.  One of the essential qualities is the incantation itself and its length. Every spell has its unique very long incantation.  However, only a portion of this incantation need be recited.  The precise sequence of God Words involved with one incantation will only appear in that order for that particular spell, so a person really only needs to read the first one to three God Words, attach any modifiers desired, and then cast it.  The reason that most people use longer incantations is because that increases the efficiency of the spell.  This makes it so that less energy can be supplied to yield the same or more impressive results than if only a few God Words had been spoken.  So, a person has to decide whether to use a few God Words and more of their own energy to use a weaker spell more quickly or recite a longer incantation with less energy to produce a more powerful spell after a longer time."

 

            "Thank you, Julia.  That was excellent.  You covered Incantation and Length, as well as Energy Supplied.  I'd ask you to explain the other two, but let's leave some for Josh."  After realization dawned on Hollin, she added, "...  Oh, boy..."  She recalled that she had not yet used all of the pebbles on her desk and decided to continue remedying that.  "Ow!" her reawakened student shouted.  "Why do you always throw them at the same spot!?" he demanded, rubbing the now colossal lump.  "Target practice," Hollin cheerfully informed him.  "Now, Julia's explained Incantation, Incantation Length and Energy Supplied, so it's time for you to tell me the other two Essential Qualities of Spellcasting."

            "...  What? I-I don't know tha--" he began to reply, before being cut off by sporadic fits of coughing from Julia. These coughs sounded suspiciously like the words that flowed from Josh's mouth between Julia's outbursts: "Uhh... Well, there's... Pronunciation and Rhythm...  Every incantation has... its own pronunciation... and rhythm that... separate it from every... other spell. It's... important to get it... right or you might... cast the wrong spell... or cast a really... weak and ineff... icient one."

            "Very good, Julia," Hollin praised, "I had no idea you could cough messages so well."  The two children looked shocked, then cast their eyes to the ground. "Master Hollin..." Julia rasped.  "Hmm?"

            "Can I go get a little water?"

            "Yes.  You can go after Josh tells us what the final Essential Quality is."

            "What?" Josh asked, surprised.  "But, you said there were only two others.  And I'm pretty sure that rhythm and pronunciation make two."

            "They 'would', in that sense, but they're related, so they're usually considered one.  So, go on and figure out what the last one is."

            "Umm..." Josh said, scratching his head (before returning to rubbing his bump).  "Err...  Final Essential Quality... Umm...  It's...  Uhh... The thingy?"  At this, Hollin stared at him.  "The thingy," she repeated. "Y-Yeah," he replied, nodding, "The thingy."

            "I see. ...  Final answer?"

            "Umm...  Yes," he replied, much to the chagrin of Julia's throat.  Hollin sighed.  "Well, since you're not gonna remember and Julia seems to really need that water, I'll explain it, but you'd better remember.  Julia, I doubt you'll need to hear this, so head out, but hurry back." Grateful, the girl dashed from the room.  "Alright.  The final and most important quality is the pairing of Focus and Will.  Focus is required because, in order for the incantation to do anything, the caster has to be in a meditative state of mind.  Pain, stress, and other distractions keep one from focusing fully, so it's important to be able to get into that state of mind quickly, even when under duress. It's a lot like I have you do, Josh, when I tell you to reflect on the sword techniques I've gone over in our sessions.

            "Will is also vital to a spell's effects.  Basically, your will is what you want to happen in the world around you, but it's a very powerful thing. Unfortunately, your physical and mental capabilities and the laws of the world around you limit it.  Magic itself is just a vessel that makes it relatively very easy to force your will on the world around you.  The words themselves don't do a thing if your will isn't acting on 'em.  It's just that powerful. I mean, it's been theorized for centuries that a strong enough will could yield those kinds of effects without even 'needing' God Words, even though there's nothing to back it up. But, what it means in terms of a normal spell is that, if you, say, are throwing a blast of electricity at someone, but in your heart of hearts you really don't want to hurt them at all, then you won't.  They might feel something, but nothing really bad will happen to them.  It works the other way, too.  A strong will can work for a spell in the same way that adrenaline works for a body.  It can't really be controlled, but you can have faith in it when your heart's true desires are involved."

 

            Conveniently enough, Julia returned exactly as Hollin was finishing.  "Feeling better?" Hollin asked.  "A lot," her female pupil replied, nodding, "Thank you, Master Hollin."

            "Alright.  Well, I think that would be all of the big things.  Can you guys think of anything else you'd like to know?"

            "Well..." Julia began, "Now that I think about it, I've never really understood why Conjuring and Transmutation spells are so weak and uncommon."

            "Yeah," Josh chimed in, "I mean, the old myths made it seem like you couldn't take five steps without tripping over some god who's decided to transform himself into a rock or a plant or an animal."

            "To be honest, nobody really knows," Hollin replied, "My best guess is just that the Age of Chaos hurt them the most. You see, before that era, but after humans obtained magic, different parts of the world had access to different spells.  The ones that were most common to all make up most of what we have today, but a few spells of each variety made it to today's knowledge.  Anyway, the spells almost always seemed linked to the cultures of the people who used them.  Most of the transformation spells wound up in the hands of shamanistic peoples, for instance, and conjuring...  Well, I can't remember what types of cultures mostly received those, really.

            "I do remember that those cultures typically weren't very up to sharing, though.  In a few of the Magi Wars, people tried to take these spells from these groups. Unfortunately, not one of these attempts succeeded.  I mean, let's face it: if your side consists of incredible fighters who can conjure great beasts to aid them, in addition to, in the same way, creating armor that makes them completely immune to all but the most powerful of magics, or if you possess the ability to reduce your enemies to a litter of squealing livestock before they can cast a single spell, and you can do things like this in every single battle, then there is no way that you are going to lose.

            "Anyway, those cultures also tended to pass their spells down through word of mouth and few, if any, written copies existed before the Age of Chaos began.  If there 'were' written copies, they were probably hidden in Alexandria when the library went up in smoke.  So, the spells just generally suffered from existing only orally.  Far worse than that, though, was that, thanks to the large number of those spells that needed to be memorized, a few particular families, and only those families, were taught a few specific spells.  So, when some of those families were wiped out in their entirety by the horrors in the Age of Chaos, those spells were lost to us.

            "As it stands, it's considered a remarkable feat to be able to transform something, someone else or yourself for any length of time beyond a minute or two.  The same goes for bringing a new object or creature into existence.  It's a tragedy we'll probably never be able to see those spells as they once were, but so it goes."

 

            She took a few much-needed breaths after talking for so long, then asked, "So, any more questions?"

            "Yeah," Josh replied.  "What's the difference between black and white magic?"  At this question, Hollin looked genuinely speechless and Julia even turned to stare at Josh in disbelief. After a few moments, Josh chuckled at their expressions.  "Relax.  I'm not that stupid."

            "Prove it," Hollin commanded, not even batting an eye.  "Alright.  White and Black magic are kinda the same thing, since they both rely on incantations.  They're just names given to spells that do certain things.  White is for healing and protection spells, and Black is for destroying and weakening spells.  See? I do know some basic things."

 

            Julia and Hollin were relieved beyond words to hear this.  "Well, that's good to know," Hollin told him.  "Well, I think that's all I wanted to do for lecture today.  Until it's time for your private training, just do whatever you want.  Class dismissed." The two children bid Hollin farewell, then left her room to enjoy the hour or so of free time that now lay before them.