Callie's Heroes

PART VI - STATES OF MAGIC

“Does everyone have their bands properly fitted?” Olin asked. “Remember, the metal behind all three stones must touch your skin for them to be effective, so make sure they are good and tight.” The trainer walked by everyone, checking to make sure their suppression bands were snug. With two of the Beastkin having fur, the design of their bands were changed slightly to have metal nubs that would allow the metal for each of the enchanted gems to reach the skin. It made them slightly more uncomfortable, but was an unfortunate necessity. Thankfully everyone was properly fitted.

Once checked, Olin provided the Bladeweaver recruits with the instructions on how to query their Symbiote, and they had become understandably distracted for a while trying to run down the information on all their spells, perks and traits. Olin let them have time to learn what they could, but it was now time to get to work.

“For a few weeks, your Suppression Bands are to be worn at all times, unless you are in your houses or the baths. It only takes a momentary lapse to accidentally summon your swords, and we don’t want anything getting sliced off accidentally. Remember, if it’s cut off by your blades, it cannot be grown back! If you are ever sparring with someone, and see so much as a hint of a color other than green, you end the fight immediately, understood? It is better you take a training hit to your body, than remove the hand of another; the injury to you can be healed.”

The three new recruits looked at each other in concern, swallowing hard, before nodding. Of course, Pixyl was nonplussed about the whole thing, having had years of practice with her blades.

Olin took a deep breath to get himself centered and into instructor mode. “We exist in a world with many different types of magic,” Olin began lecturing his well-honed lesson. “These include Arcane, Nature, Nether and Ether. There are a few others too, such as Astral, but Ether is the one we care about, and the type of magic Bladeweavers control.” With a flash of power, he made a fist and extended his own magenta Ethereal Blade, holding it out for the class to see. It crackled and popped ominously, a quiet humming making it sound sinister and terrifying.

“Ether is power,” Olin continued, “and Ether can be deadly.” He turned, and in an instant sliced cleanly through a heavy log that had been propped up next to him. It was thick, too, at least forty centimeters in diameter. The wood offered no resistance to the trainer’s blade, and a chunk fell to the ground with a heavy thunk, smoke rising from it. The remaining log likewise was smoking, but the cut was so clean it hadn’t even moved.

Gasps went up from the three young recruits as they stared wide-eyed at the smoking log. Of course, Pixyl wasn’t shocked, or honestly even impressed, but she understood the purpose of the simplistic demonstration, so made an effort to seem interested.

Just as the recruits seemed to get grounded again after seeing Olin slice the log, he dispelled the sword, which disappeared into the mists. “Very, very deadly,” he admonished as an additional warning. In a single fluid motion, he turned and dropped to one knee, extending his hand. There was a flash of power and a ball of Ethereal energy shot forth, slamming into a hay bale about twenty meters away. The entirety of the pile exploded with a deafening sound, obliterating it completely, tiny pieces of smoking debris slowly fluttering down from the sky.

Pixyl, of course, knew about Ethereal Blast from looking it up the day before, but to see it in action was actually quite amazing. Quickly reviewing the skill, she saw that hers only had a range of five meters, so she deduced Olin’s must have improved range from a higher Tier. She imagined what she could have done with this skill if she had it in the Pit fights. Certainly she would be able to handle multiple Silvers, maybe even a single Gold with proper preparation.

“And just as there are different forms of water; liquid, solid ice, and steam,” Olin continued, “Ether has forms as well, and not all are destructive.” Closing his eyes, there was a shimmering of color over his entire body, wrapping it in a layer of … something. Anyone watching was left with a vision that was obviously Olin, but seeing him through the veil surrounding him was like looking at someone through magenta-colored water. He rippled and pulsed, never seeming to be still.

“This is Ethereal Armor,” Olin instructed, his voice slightly warbling. “It is a channeled skill, like with your swords, but requiring much more mana. Until you are proficient with the skill, this Armor will drain mana incredibly quickly. You will be spending much of your time in the next few days practicing your channeled skills until you get them all perfect.” Olin turned to Pixyl. “If you would as we discussed?”

Pixyl nodded. Flipping out her hands, her swords flashing into being, green practice-blades of power humming and snapping in focused Ether. The other recruits gasped at the sight as the tiny Pixie sprang at Olin, pushing just slightly off the ground with her telekinetics for effect. Her swords crashed into Olin’s magic shell, bouncing harmlessly off with a chaos of sound, light and sparks.

“Our armor is very, very good at deflecting Ethereal powers,” Olin lectured, “as well as crushing blows from a weapon such as a warhammer or staff. It is less effective against slicing attacks from a sword or the sharp edge of another blade. And finally, against piercing attacks, like a spear, arrow, or the tip of a blade, your Armor will quickly fail. Pixyl?”

Once again, Pixyl nodded, dismissing her green swords. Walking to a small basket next to the still smoking log, she retrieved two things. One was a long dagger, while in the other she held a small wooden mallet. In her tiny hands, the dagger looked more like a short sword, and she spun it a couple times, tossing it briefly into the air, to feel its weight. Returning to Olin, she awaited confirmation, which he granted with a quick nod.

“Crushing,” Pixyl said, swinging the mallet so the blunt side struck Olin’s leg. It bounced off, much like her own Blades had done, producing a similar flash of light and sound. Tossing the hammer to the ground, the squared off with the dagger. “Slicing edge.” Once again, she swung, this time hitting Olin with the razor-sharp edge of the Pixie-sized sword, and once again, there was a crash. For a moment, the recruits could see cracks on the Armor’s haze as it absorbed the more-effective strike, but they faded quickly as the spell continued, Olin filling in the damage with his mana reserves. “Piercing,” Pixyl said as she jammed the blade forward. As it hit Olin, you could see an even greater effect. The blow was absorbed, deflecting the hit, but the Armor itself seemed to crumble and retract from the strike point, opening a momentary gap in the protection. Olin grunted slightly, taking a half-step backwards.

“Wow,” the trainer mumbled under his breath, but loud enough to be heard, as he focused his mana to fill the gap Pixyl’s strike had created. Readdressing the recruits, he continued. “You see the differences. There is one other weakness to be aware of, however.” He knelt and held up his hand, giving Pixyl another nod. She aimed the large dagger at Olin’s outstretched armored hand and pushed the blade’s tip slowly against it. As she pushed, the blade slid through the Ethereal Armor with almost minimal resistance. Pixyl aimed the blade to pass between Olin’s fingers, letting go when the hilt finally passed the barrier and touched his hand.

“The slow blade penetrates the armor,” Olin lectured calmly. “In fact, anything moving slowly, except Ethereal Swords, will pass through. Demons generally can’t take advantage of this, as they are simply feral creatures, but any decently trained combatant would, and they would be happy to slowly slip a poisoned blade into you. Understand this weakness.”

All four recruits gulped, including Pixyl. This power was new to her and she had no idea how it worked until she had unlocked it the day before. But the information she had received hadn’t gone into the effectiveness against various weapons, especially a slow-moving blade. Olin was right, though. The Demons likely wouldn’t be able to exploit the slow-blade weakness, but many of their attacks were with claws and teeth, both of which were fairly pointy and thus quite a danger.

Olin stood and straightened, dropping the Ethereal Armor and catching the falling blade. He deftly tossed it towards the basket, where it landed perfectly, not even touching the sides. He cracked his neck, glancing at Pixyl, who nodded, indicating she was ready.

“Okay, one more thing to show all of you, and then we’ll get started,” Olin said as he held out his right arm. “There is another state of Ethereal power. Unlike our armor, it is incredibly hard and inflexible, so think of this as the solid state of Ether.” There was a flash, and a buckler-sized disk formed on his forearm. “Those who saw Pixyl’s fight yesterday saw her use this skill to great effectiveness. This is called Ethereal Shield. It mimics the function of a normal shield, and each of you learned the Sword and Shield fighting style perk. Your shield can appear on either arm, but only one at a time. Ethereal Shield, like the armor, is channeled, so practice and proficiency are critical for its use, and at higher tiers the size can be varied.”

Olin knelt and held out his forearm, and Pixyl called forth her blades, striking at Olin’s hazy shield. As expected, they bounced off in a cascade of sparks and sound.

“Unlike your armor, this is just as effective against piercing and slow-moving attacks as it would be against any others. It’s nearly indestructible, as long as you keep feeding mana into the channeled casting, but each strike will require additional mana to reinforce the damage. If you run out of mana, it falls. If it falls, or your armor falls, you are virtually defenseless except for your Dodge skill. Always be aware of your mana. For now, as we start practicing with these, when you feel tired, stop and rest. Don’t reach the point of mana exhaustion as that could actually harm you, understood?”

Everyone nodded, including Pixyl. She knew about the importance of mana preservation, but with a newly learned channeled skill, she also knew she could run out quickly until she had enough practice. She’d gone well past her mana limits before, when she first learned her Ethereal Shield, and the psychic injury had resulted in several weeks of convalescence until she was well enough to return to her Pit duties. ‘Mana must never be exhausted, unless it’s life or death’ was the mantra her caregiver had repeated over and over, and one Pixyl vowed she would never forget.

Olin stood again, dismissing the shield. “Everyone spread out, and we will begin.”