Kingdom of fire and shadows: Useless magic and Salamanders.

Seeing the two young shadow magicians enter the theater door was annoying to Master Delfin. He already knew that they would not accept reality, and they would try anyway, but it bothered him none the less; wasting his words the day before on a couple of fools was not good use of his time. The master had been in Liev's tower for many years and had seen hundreds of miserable magicians try, only to waste their time, end up dead before the thirties, affected by myasma disease or all of them at the same time. The reality was that he was already tired of so many mediocre magicians trying to make an impossible fantasy come true.

'Airheads,' said the teacher to himself in a low voice.

However, he could not simply expel them. Although all the magicians and masters had the same opinion, they could not discriminate more against the shadow magicians. They were already the laughing stock of the magical society and the nobility, but they had some utility in the subjugation misions. Delfin had a plan, though; he had used it before successfully, and although it was a dirty and vile move, in his mind he did it for the greater good; he considered himself a pious man trying to save this poor bastard's life.

'In today's class, we will talk about one specific kind of magic; we will speak only and exclusively about elemental shadow magic,' announced Delfin as he looked at the two boys.

For a moment, the two boys thought that today's class would be dedicated to them, that the teacher had felt sorry for them and would try to give them some advantage by giving a class about their element. However, the teacher's gaze reminded them of the conversation the day before. Their hopes vanished. Today, they would suffer.

'Can anyone tell me the abilities that a shadow magician has?' asked Delfin to the class. At this time, almost all the young mages had their hands raised.

Delfín recalled a particular day when he asked the same question in previous years. One of the boys replied:

'None. They're useless.' The whole class of nobles broke out in laughter. Even Delfin found it funny. The young shadow magician who attended the academy at that time resigned two days later and went back home.

'Corporal illusions, manipulation of shadows, and transformation of matter,' replied a young man from the kingdom of Veldat.

'That's right. Sir...?'

'Pirpi De Revlian,' answered the young man.

'Corporal illusions,' said Delfin, instantly turning into a copy of the boy who had just answered his question. At first, the students were amazed, but then they noticed the differences. The height did not match, nor did the body dimensions. The clothes were different, and the face was similar but not entirely accurate. The illusion was incomplete.

'As you can see, illusion magic has several problems and limitations. This is the degree of perfection that the illusions that a common shadow magician can attain.' Once again, Delfin re-transformed; his clothes changed and his body proportions improved, but he was still too tall compared to the original. Seconds later, Delfin returned back to normal; he was exhausted, sweating, and breathing heavily. He took a couple of minutes of rest.

'The magic consumption is disproportionate to the results obtained; the illusions are ineffective; many shadow magicians have thought of polishing their abilities to be used in espionage or criminal activities; however, the inaccuracies of the illusion, their short duration, the effort required to maintain them, and moreover...,' said Delfin, taking a monocle out of his pocket. 'certain tools make it impossible for shadow magician's tricks to succeed. Who can tell me what this is?'

After a few seconds, none of the students could answer him.

'This is an oculus crystal.' Delfin presented the little monocle for everyone to see. ′ This crystal can show the reality of the illusions of the shadow magicians, and in addition, it can identify a magician's specific magical energy. Up to two weeks after using magic, residual energy remains in the affected area; that energy is unique to the magician who uses it. This energy can be identified with this lens and then used as evidence to identify the culprit of a crime. The crystal retains that information almost indefinitely, which gives us a lot of time to investigate cases.′

It was logical that none of the young mages had any knowledge about this; only the Magic Regulation units or members of the magicians' court used these devices. At first, the crimes committed by magicians, especially against ordinary people, were abundant, and the perpetrators escaped punishment. Once the regulatory units were formed and after developing ways to identify the responsible magicians, crimes dropped radically.

'In every important place, like the royal hall or the hall of the magicians court, there are several crystals like this that identify the magicians under the effect of illusions. The magic of illusion is ineffective; at best, it is a trick to entertain young children at fairs, turning yourself into a copy of them.' Delfín emphasized looking at the two shadow magicians in his class.

'Transformation of matter,' continued Delfin, holding his arms together. 'Shadow magicians can change the physical properties of a material. Make a piece of wood slightly harder or softer according to your needs. But it has its limitations; you cannot turn a rock into a diamond, and the most intense effects are not permanent. After ceasing to imbue it with magic, the material returns to a state close to the natural one. Although they slightly improve their characteristics, it is not something relevant. To make a significant change, it takes years to influence a material or an army of magicians doing the job; it's not worth it. Also, it does not work on living organisms. In theory, it can be useful for craftsmen, carpenters, and sculptors. Making the material they work with more soft or hard saves them some time and effort, but the truth is that it consumes too much energy. It is more effective to do it without magic in most cases.'

Delfin continued to look at the boys, who seemed increasingly desperate. They already knew that their options were scarce and that they didn't have a bright future as magicians.

'What about the resistance to miasma?' asked Xavier.

'Oh, the last skill of the shadow magicians and one of the most useful. Do you know what miasma is?' asked Delfin, looking at Xavier.

'Magic energy of nature, but corrupt. Toxic to the living creatures and also to the magicians,' replied Xavier.

'That's right. Miasma is corrupt magic energy. Some say it is formed in the cosmos, that it is chaotic from its origin, and then nature refines this corrupt energy and forms the elemental, clean, magical energy that we know. Another theory says that there is a dark underworld inhabited by aberrant creatures and that this is where miasma is created. They believe that this is why miasma is formed in cemeteries, catacombs, sewers, and places of rot and decay, among others. In fact, no one knows where miasma comes from,' Delfín explained, then took a break and drank some water before continuing.

'Shadow magicians have an inherent resistance to miasma. A regular magician can be exposed to miasma for half an hour before falling for its effects. Nausea, vomiting, disorientation, blurred vision, and confusion. Later, his magic becomes chaotic and can no longer be used. If the magician does not leave the miasma area in less than thirty minutes after starting to show symptoms, he will die. For those exposed for more than thirty minutes, there is a risk of developing the disease of miasma, which is incurable and ends in death a few months later,' said Delfin, taking a break.

Everyone knew what was next. The areas affected by a miasma nucleus brought to life all kinds of creatures, aberrations, monsters, and undead. Generally, skeletons, zombies, all kinds of monsters, and other beings made Miasma their home. When an area affected by myasma was discovered, subjugation misions were ordered. If the miasma nucleus was not destroyed, it would spread and grow so large as to engulf a whole kingdom.

'The shadow magicians have an important task here. They are resistant to miasma; they can be exposed to this toxic fog for hours,' the professor said, looking at the shadow magicians. ′ Your job is to enter the affected area and locate the miasma nucleus. Then, the combat magicians, knights, and soldiers enter the miasma and destroy the nucleus, clearing the area. Shadow magicians do not have combat skills; their entry into miasma areas entrails great risk, and for that reason, they are well rewarded, but most of them do not lay hands on their reward. Most of those who survive are exposed to miasma for so long that they develop the miasma disease. They survive for years, coughing and asfixiating, and die in agony while still young.

'Professor, can you tell us about Amadlo van Vatnik?' asked Glover.

Professor Delfín's face suddenly changed; his gaze was directed to Glover, full of anger.

'Where did you hear that name?' asked Delfin, almost screaming.

'It was mentioned once in a conversation by some of my uncles, something about a dangerous shadow mage,' replied Glover nervously.

'Van Vatnik was a sick man, a degenerate. He was a shadow magician who tried to overcome his own weakness using forbidden magic. He was not happy with what destiny granted him; his shadow magic was too humiliating. He tried to seek power at any cost and consumed thousands of lives before they managed to stop him. A weak, pathetic, and petty man, he is a disgrace to all the magicians in the world. No, Van Vatnik was not a magician; he was a warlock. A disgusting monster. I will say it only once: young mages, listen and listen well; arcane magic and anything related to it are forbidden. Mr. Glover, I advise you to never mention that name again. Magicians do not use arcane magic; only Warlocks use that disgusting aberration,' said Delfin, looking at the class, especially at Glover.

'Anyone who is discovered doing anything related to arcane magic will receive a brutal punishment. If any of you follow this path, I will not show any kind of pity... The class is over for today; go back to your rooms,' the teacher yelled at them, turning around and leaving the theater. His anger was obvious.

All the students turned to look at Glover.

'Idiot!'

'What a fool!'

Were some of the comments made by the rest of the students.

Glover had tried to look clever with his comment on Van Vatnik. He knew that it was one of the reasons why the shadow magicians were repudiated, but he did not expect the master's attitude. Now the boy had earned himself the anger of the teacher and the contempt of his classmates.

While Glover was sinking into his shame, Clinton was sweating. By his reaction, if the master ever discovered his knowledge of arcane magic, he was done for. The way he reacted to Van Vatnik's name was something very serious. Clinton had read a lot of history on Van Vatnik; he knew how the warlock had sown panic centuries ago. Although everything was just descriptions of its effect and the damage it caused, the arcane magic developed by Van Vatnik put the world on its toes for years. Even today, there are still some warlocks who sow chaos and destruction. The last Warlock was discovered fifty years ago; his magic was so powerful that the mission required a small army of high-class magicians to neutralize him.

Arcane magic uses life sacrifices; a living organism is sacrificed to pay for the power of magic. As long as a warlock had something to sacrifice and offer as payment, it was basically invincible. Clinton had to be careful if he wanted to uncover the treasures hidden in Liev's Tower. If they found out what he was looking for, he was a dead man.

'They hate us; they all hate us. The nobles, the teachers, the other magicians,' Aleum complained, letting himself fall on the couch after returning to their living facilities.

'Yes, they want us to resign,' Xavier confirmed.

'At least we have three meals a day, and the ability to transform materials could be useful. I like the idea of being a carpenter, and making the wood softer will make the job easier. I'm sure the master exaggerated how useless that skill is,' Aleum commented, trying to be positive.

'Yes, we have nothing to lose; here at least we can eat,' said Xavier, opening his book on shadow magic.

The boys concentrated again on their studies. Although they had little future, it was better than nothing.