(Resumed) Solstice

[Emmett]

I ended up spending it walking laps around the inner walls of the campus. As it happens, air is fresh and invigorating when you're free, freshly revitalized from a meal, and still coming down from an afterglow of exercise in an amiable atmosphere. The peaceful aura of students studying also resonated softly with me. The Ivory wall to my right, the trees, Colleges, and students to my left, the soft grass and hard stone underneath, the magic in the air (and I suspected, also, Magick in the air), it really did feel like I was home, despite Patrick being, well, Patrick.

Shame I was only going to be here for a month before everything came to a close.

At some point I remembered I actually had a class to be at and darted for the College of Water. Specifically my destination was on the second floor this time, Room 22. I slowly pushed the door open and found a class of students staring blankly, along with an unimpressed-seeming Ser Feylance.

He eyed me and sighed. "Ah Mr. Sinclair, glad you could grace us with your presence, though next time if you were to arrive ten minutes earlier I would appreciate it."

"Sorry Ser." I hung my head low and paced to the back row, taking the last available seat.

"I will repeat this part, because it is important: young students such as yourselves are NOT to fully inscribe a Spell Circle! Drawing one permanently inscribes it into your soul, and therefore irrevocably changes how your Magick performs! Now that we have that warning out of the way-"

I raised my hand.

"What is your question? If it is something that was already covered, I will issue a demerit."

I took a breath. "I remembered Ser Linn mentioning once a carved spell circle he was using being carved by Dreamers. Was that why, and if so, can anyone use any physically-drawn Spell Circle?"

"While the first part was indeed covered, the second part I had not yet gotten to, but good observation," Ser Feylance said, "Yes, any Magus can use any Spell Circle by channeling Æther into it. For obvious reasons most Spell Circles are unfortunately unsafe for women to borrow. I will give you a mark of merit for that question Sinclair. Now please remain silent and take notes; you will have more opportunities to participate should you arrive on time."

Ser Feylance turned around and scribed four rows of six glyphs on a blank slate of stone hung on the front wall using chalk. I looked at the glyphs and recognized a few of them from the circles the dignitaries, and Adam, used. "These are the twenty-four runes used in Spell Circle formulation. Now some of you may be protesting because your mentors, masters or mistresses insist on there being sixteen. I teach the elder form. The younger form is simpler, more forceful and can draw on a few meanings that the elder form cannot. the elder form, on the other hand, is more versatile, and can be used very subtly or overtly. These runes serve as commands, directives, or suggestions, massaging the Æther into a form so that you the caster don't have to visualize it. This is where their true strength shines."

He wrote, beneath each rune, a name and a word.

Fehu (Wealth)    Uruz(Strength)     Thurisaz (Thorn)     Ansuz (Æther)   
Raidho (Chariot)    Kenaz (Torch)    Gebo(Gift)     Wunjo (Soul)   
Hagalaz (Hail)    Nauthiz (Decision)    Isa (Ice)    Jera (Cycle)   
Eihwaz (Death)    Perthro (Chance)    Algiz(Shield)    Sowilo (Sun)   
Tiwaz (Sky)    Berkano (Life)    Ehwaz (Horse)    Mennaz (Man)   
Laguz (Water)    Ingwaz (Earth)    Dagaz (Dawn)    Othala (Ancestry)

Ser Feylance turned around and began to explain what he had written.

Each rune represents a concept shared by the collective consciousness. These concepts can be tapped into using the Spell Circle to construct and engineer Magick without relying on the mind and will of the Magus involved. They can be used alone to invoke the base concept, or chained with other runes to form rune-words or runic sequences. Some runes are obvious in their application, like Isa creating cold in an area or Sowilo with heat and fire. Others are more indirect, with Eihwaz very rarely causing actual death of a person but instead "killing" other runes or magickal effects, Othala modifying the spell to start weak and grow strong, Jera to repeat certain invocations, and Nauthiz recording the caster's will and feeding it into the spell. Runes are usually invoked center to rim and clockwise by default, but most Spell Circles use polygons to control the flow of Æther within the circle, as well as the sequence and intensity of the runes.

A hand raised near a natural pausing point in the lecture.

Feylance pointed to it. "What is it, Miss Doyle?"

Selene set down her hand. "If Magi are not permitted to draw Spell Circles lest they be inscribed in the soul, how do they go about discussing designs?"

Ser Feylance smiled. "Well, there are two... three... two and a half primary methods of describing circles. I much prefer the second, and will be teaching it throughout, but it requires knowledge of the first to make sense. I dislike the first, but it's simple to use, and paves the way for more advanced learning down the line." He gripped into the air, and spun, kicking a precision gust of wind into the stone slab and clearing it of the chalk dust. Then he took the chalk marker, and drew a square diamond on the slab, then a Tiwaz rune up top, Laguz on the left,  Ingwaz on the bottom, and finally a Sowilo on the right. He then started drawing circles both circumscribing the square, and around the entire arrange, but he left them open in wide arcs. "This is method one. The soul-fixation occurs only when the circles are completed. So you can draw designs out without fully fleshing them out- Yes, Mr. Jacobson?"

The archer-contestant stood up-

"Please remain seated when you ask so others may see the stoneboard."

Christopher sat back down and cleared his throat. "Would that not cause problems with some other spell circle systems, where the incomplete circle could be mistaken for a moon symbol?"

"Excellent observation, and the reason why I dislike this system. Yes. Some casters want open circles in their designs for some reason, and while one can attempt to combat this by making the arc smaller, that increases the risk of accidentally completing the circle. Therefore, I provide an alternative." Our instructor scrawled onto the board some notation:

t180s#"ŋ#"l(sq>90)

Turning back to the class, Feylance set down the chalk. "This is a more algebraic notation. I trust you can see why the first form is required to comprehend the second." He paused, waiting for nods and noises of assent. "To be specific, the instructions are: Draw Tiwaz, advance 180 minutes, draw Sowilo, advance as before, draw Ingwaz, advance as before, draw Laguz, then create a sub-circle. Inside that, draw a standard square tilted ninety minutes."

I scribbled the notation in hastily, alongside my copy of the incomplete spell circle. I then drew arrows between the different parts of the notation to the different places on the circle.

"The notation is ever-evolving, as the need to annotate more complex circles develops," said Ser Feylance, "But this should cover the basics. Oh, and the 'half a method' is simply inscribing runes and polygonal shapes, by themselves, without drawing circles. This method I whole-heartedly endorse, with the understanding that it is usually used to describe components of spell circles rather than a complete whole. And finally, I share with you a trick: in my personal spell circles, I use the elder form as actual runes and the younger form as a numbering system, though said system counts in sixteens and not tens. For homework this week, I will want you to memorize the elder form. Not necessarily the meanings, just the glyphs. Next week you will need names, and the next week the descriptions. Thank you for attending class, and have a wonderful day."

I stood up with the rest of the class and collected my things before walking out of the room.

"Mr. Sinclair," said Feylance.

I stopped for a moment. "Yes?"

"Next time, be on time. Your keen observation saved you from a demerit."

"I will, Ser. Thank you." I left the class, and departed the Water College, on a course for a wide, paved rectangle in the East Outer Ring that normally served as a public small games field but also doubled as a practice arena. A good thirty or so students were gathered, some from the entrance exams, others veterans, and at the center of the field stood Ser Linn.

"Oh hey Emmy."

Ugh. "Yeah I know you're there Patrick, let me be, I'm trying to get through classes."

Ansel waved to me. "Oh hey Emmett! How are ya?"

I smiled, waved back, and sat nearby, waiting for the instructor to begin.

"Welcome to Magickal Martial Artes. I am Ser Linn. Unlike most of your other classes, this one will feature a varied cast of instructors. Some will be held by Ser Sakura. Some by Ser Vsup, one or two may be Feylance, and others will be held by me. If you're really good, you may get some attention from Ser Lienne."

A wave of awe befell the crowd, and even I shook a little. I remembered how Lienne had total control of any situation she was in.

"Alright. So, the thousand-platinum questions: Who here is attuned to their Element?"

Patrick, Grace, and a number of the veteran students raised their hands,

"Among those attuned, who thinks they can beat an Unattuned Magus in combat?"

All hands dropped except for Patrick's. This was gonna be good.

"Well well, we have a contender. Come on forward, Mr. Peterson."

Patrick stood up, dusted his red-orange robes off, and strode into the field cleared of grass, taking his position about one quarter of the way from one end and bowing to Ser Linn.

The soft-smiling teacher tossed his staff aside to be caught by an ecstatic member of the audience, and returned the bow. "You may begin when ready."

"You sure you can take me without an Element?" Patrick widened his stance and took a slow breath in.

"I have taught a great many Combat Magick classes Mr. Patrick; I believe I will be fine."

Patrick smirked. "Alright. You asked for it!" He took two steps back, spinning and drawing a sphere of fire into existence around him.

Ser Linn held out his left hand, completely to the side, orthogonal to the fireball before him. The mass of fire started gathering more toward the front when a cresent of azure beamed out of his palm, already arcing into the mass of flame by the time I could even see it.

The pyre dwindled into ash, and Patrick flopped onto his left, groaning and aching in pain.

My brain still marveled at the sheer speed of that attack. It was faster than anything I'd seen before, even when my village was destroyed by the Emissaries. My voice could not rise above a whisper. "What the..."

Patrick coughed and curled up, hissing. "How... did you...."

Ser Linn chuckled. "For starters, you gave me too much time to concentrate and prepare my counterattack. Though I suppose I can't fault you for it because you would have gone down even faster with a direct attack. The real problem was you exposed a target line between defending and attacking."

"Ser!" I heard Grace call out.

"What is it Miss Gardner?"

Grace stood up. "Is it even possible to cast that quickly? Especially given you are a man?"

Ser Linn burst into laughter. "It is indeed possible to cast at speed. Though, and I feel I should remind you of this, even we lowly men have options of subtly gathering power."

My ears would have perked up if they were capable of movement. First Ser Feylance said that Spell Circles were dangerous for women, and now Grace said men don't cast spells quickly and Ser Linn seemed to agree? This warranted more research.

"Interesting. To be frank, Ser, I'm not sure I entirely trust that you're not hiding something, but from what I've seen you appear to be correct."

"And rightfully suspicious you are Miss Gardner; something you will learn is that the more advanced Magi all have tricks and secrets they don't want you to know until the last possible moment. While this particular secret of mine isn't so dire, I am waiting on a certain investment to pay off first, metaphorically speaking. Now typically the first class is to get a baseline for where you are, and subsequent classes will follow up on various lessons as needed. Would anyone like to volunteer for the next?

A number of hands shot up. Ser Linn glanced around a bit before selecting a hand in green robes. "Ah, yes, Mr. Michaels. I hear you're looking to form up an expedition squad."

A light-skinned man in green robes stood up and began walking quietly to the game field. "I am, indeed. I had dutifully taken my notes during the entrance examination."

Ser Linn stepped off of the field. "Alright. And would anyone like to square up versus Mr. Michaels?"

"Actually Ser, I was curious as to why a certain remedial student is with us now, despite making a shameful embarrassment of both his name and ours."

"Matriculation decisions are not public record-"

"Emmett Sinclair! I know not by what sorcery you are here, but I challenge you, on open ground, in the hope of discovering a hint as to why!"

I sighed.

"Mr. Michaels!"

"It's okay Ser," I said, standing up, "I need the practical experience in any event. Anything that gets me closer to passing the exam in a month." I walked forward, took my position, turned toward my opponent, and bowed.

"Well at least you seem to know your place," said my opponent. "I am Samael Michaels. I bet 2 gold that I beat you in three strikes or less."

I shook my head. "Not taking that gamble."

Samael scoffed. "Smart. Ser, when may we begin?"

"You may begin when ready."

I threw my hand out, palm upward, and grasped for Æther to alight in my hand.

Samael swiped his right hand forward, and a crescent wave of green-tinted wave flew straight at my skull.

I ducked down, remembering to go into a forward roll. Sadly, I found myself kicked into the sky by a punch of compressed wind into my gut. I flailed about for a split second, seeing out the corner of my eye my opponent with a hand held high over hand, one foot forward in a lunge.

"Guess I win." Samael closed his fist and swung down.

I tucked my chin in, and threw a hard cross-block up into the air, intercepting a hammer of formless force. I had braced for the moment where my arms would slam into my skull and my body would become a crater of blood and guts. That didn't happen, and by the time I realized it wasn't going to, my feet brushed the ground and my back slammed into it. "Oww...." I winced.

"Alright Emmy," I heard Patrick shout. "You wanna explain how you just did that?"

"Did.... what?"

"The fuck do you mean, did what?!"

"I didn't... do anything!"

"Alright, let's get you two off the grounds, and we can move on to our next wave of contestants," Ser Linn said.

Trying to stand up but failing in part due to my lack of breath, I opted instead to roll slowly off the arena, until Ansel rushed in and helped me to my feet. "Thanks..."

"No problem Emmett, though I am curious, where'd you learn strengthening Magick?"

"I... I didn't..."

"Well you did something; every force has an equivalent counterforce." Ansel helped me ease back into a seated position so I could recover my breath. "In the air, a dreamer is helpless; no ground to kick off of means you have the mass of your arms and that's it. You blocked a strong burst of Air Magick. There just isn't enough momentum in your body to do that. So I'm asking, how'd you do it?"

"I... don't know..."

"I see. Well, get some rest. I wanna see how I square up against an Attuned Magus myself; you inspired me."

I could not believe the words coming out of the lips of this man of dark skin just now. I? Inspire anyone? Let alone him? What the fuck?

He ended up with Grace as his opponent, and it was interesting. Grace employed a similar approach to Patrick, cloaking herself in a thin veil of water, and striking out with ice blades when she detected an opening. Ansel spent the first moments dodging ice attacks, and throwing bowling-ball comets at Grace, seemingly trying to do the same thing Ser Linn did to Patrick. Unfortunately, Ansel was not as skilled and Grace was more careful, so Ansel's attacks hurled into Grace's water shield and vanished then and there.

"You can't hold that forever, Grace!" Ansel called, but not as Patrick would have. The ring of his voice felt much more sincere.

"I just need one solid hit on you," Grace retorted, "And you won't be able to block it!"

The battle of attrition continued, with Grace feinting with ice blades, and sometimes even water jets. Ansel, however, weaved, stepped, and sometimes jumped deftly out of the way. I could also see a soft azure glow in his eyes, that only sometimes dissipated when he made his larger leaps and jumps.

He was using Æthervision. Probably to measure where Grace was arranging her Æther so he had that extra frame of time to dodge. I would use my own to confirm, but I was resting. I had regained my breathing, but I still felt surprisingly tired.

Eventually, Grace changed to a more aggressive strategy of condensing her shield into a serpentine flag like in the entrance exam, and that's when Ansel closed in.

With a step, he covered at least ten metres of distance, scaring Grace outright with how quickly he had moved. He tried to skid to a stop, but ended up slipping, but as he fell, he kicked out another comet of Æther, the blue bullet punching into her torso and launching her out of the arena. As she flew out, however, a hardened mass of water drove into his torso as well, forcing a grunt out of his throat.

"A fine spectacle," said Ser Linn.

Ansel ignored him and scrambled to get up as quickly as he could. Meanwhile, Grace had already gotten back to standing, but she was staggering a bit.

"I'm okay!" She called to him.

"Ah, g-good!" Ansel staggered back to where I was and sat next to me. "You see me overextend at the end?"

"You slipped," I said, "But then you kicked her out of the arena anyway."

"Yeah, but I was too forward and aggressive. I threw my all into that kick hoping to startle her. Girl's got a nasty fight reaction though. Should've played it safe. I was right about her losing stamina before I did though; attuning to an Element takes more than just throwing Æther."

"You were impressive in any event," I said, "Let's watch what happens next before we head back home for the day."

"Yeah, you're right."

The next spar was between Christopher Jacobson and Elaine McConnell, the woman who mentioned having a Mistress back in the Theory of Magick course, who mentioned outward and inward faces. Christopher projected a shorter bow this time, presumably to throw Æther more effectively at his target. The exchange was a rally of volleyed strikes: Christopher would launch a more blunted Magick arrow at Elaine, who would circle-step out of the way and send her own wave of energy back at him in the same movement. The back-and-forth went on for a while, until Elaine ended it with a lateral column of azure blazing from a straight punch. Christopher ducked at first, then corrected himself  and leapt to the side to be blindsided by a curved projectile from the side. Elaine made several firm steps forward, each with some form of strike, to seal the match in her favor.

The next match was with between two slightly more-advanced students who have been here longer than we have. One woman, Danielle Clark, was a Student of Fire, and her opponent, Evelyn O'Neil, was of Water. Watching the two elements clash, I saw very clearly why Grace went for the water-defense, ice-attack method: Ice melted easily before fire,  but water could drown it. Evelyn, though, used much more water, both in offense and defense.

Danielle employed a variety of different techniques, such as straight lines, curved lines, cones of flame, explosions, and sometimes even mixed in some straight-Æther attacks that dissolved instantly in the opposing Magick. Eventually, however, Danielle went for a feint with Æther, and Evelyn punched straight through with a blast of water, disrupting Danielle with a subsequent combo for victory.

The final match of the day was between two Students of Æther, who both seemed to favor condensing their Magick into melee weapons and charging in for combat. There was not much to be had, and I had a sneaking suspicion the two were at least cousins, possibly siblings, but it was an interesting diversion from the rest of the fights so far.

"Alrighty. I've taken some notes, and I think with this Lienne and I can build out a reasonable curriculum for this class," Ser Linn said. "I believe Ser Sakura will be seeing you next time, but no promises. Anyway, class dismissed. Oh, Mr. Michaels, would you come with me? Let's talk about getting you a squad."

"Get lost and die, Emmy."

"Yeah fuck you too Patrick."

"Hey, Emmett," said Ansel, "There are some sporting events for the students on their off-time. Wanna join?"

"Maybe a little later?" I replied, "I have a lot of self-reflection and catch-up to do."

"That's fair. Hopefully you figure out that strengthening spell you did earlier. Would be amazing to actually see what you're made of."

I gave a soft chuckle. "Thank you. Here's hoping I figure out how too."