Somewhere Someplace

The mage, a different and less aged mage who donned a maroon sort of colored mage attire, made way with haste down this hallway, leading the two who followed behind. “You two know in advance what your primary affinity may be?” he inquired bluntly and hastily, head not even turning to face.

“No” the foreigner responded instantly and rather bluntly; “I am foreign, also” she added.

The proctor mage sighed in a groan; “Great…” he mumbled out, before his voice turned its attention; “oh well, and you?” he inquired to the other, still not even turning to face.

“Shadow affinity with maybe some affinity for…light and dark, I think” the denizen responded promptly.

The proctor quickly led them down the hallway until halting before a specific type of fancy door…a rather reinforced one, seemingly; using a rather large key, he unlocked and opened it.

They all stepped into this rather…straightforward and simple room. There was nothing in this room besides…a large and somewhat transparent radiant crystal of sorts that was affixed to the center of the room. It was a rather strange and exotic crystal, with a small signa of the arcane faintly engraved into it.

The proctor, shutting the door, went straight to this crystal, standing before it, while the foreigner and the denizen stood silently before him; standing, staring, and waiting.

“Now then, be silent so that I may quickly explain the details and instructions of this assessment” the proctor began to speak, “behind me is an affinity stone crafted and forged by ancient magic; this stone, when combined with my special assessment spell, will be able to reveal all magical and arcane affinities contained within your blood and mana. The Collegium officially recognizes the traditional schools of magic, those being: fire, vapor, and ice; wind, water, and earth; light, shadow, and dark; life, spirit, and death; and pure, wild, and anti. Additionally, the Collegium recognizes a dozen of new atraditional schools, such as shock and sonic; finally, the Collegium recognizes the following Far Western schools: abjuration, alteration, conjuration, destruction, evocation, restoration, and illusion” he informed, bound by standardized proceduralism to explain in such details despite much of such already being ‘common knowledge’.

“You must demonstrate an acceptable-to-our-standards affinity for a Collegium recognized school of magic in order to pass. Those who fail may depart and leave immediately; those who pass are to remain here so that I may fill out your documents and lead you to the spellcard assessment—which will be a practical test of your affinity; anyone who has an affinity for a Far Western school, however, must return to the central counter for…additional assessment steps” he explained further.

“Now, any questions?” he interrogated.

Both the foreigner and the denizen head-shook no in response.

The foreigner herself, oddly enough, already knew…vaguely at least…about the different so-called ‘schools of magic’ in these lands, or at least the so-called ‘traditional schools’ in particular, having been rather drilled in such matters as part of her former associate’s basic rundown.

Though, her former associate…seemingly had her…own apparent interests and fixations on this subject, and thus had tended to focus on some details more than others. It did not help that…she had perished well before she could finish and conclude these…instructings. As such, while the foreigner knew the basics, she also had considerable uneven gaps.

In general, the ‘traditional schools’ of magic of this land’s magic system were largely divided relative to a central ‘purpose’, ‘function’, ‘aesthetic’, and ‘theme’. However, these traditional schools also formed a ‘dichotomy’, ‘duality’, or ‘dialectic’; yet this was somewhat of a false one, since there was always a point where the two opposing schools would ‘converge’ or ‘synthesize’, and become something…different yet similar.

This arrangement was largely due to local abstractions and philosophies regarding the ‘nature’ of these ‘forms’ of ‘magic’, which her former associate had also drilled into her and thus…she had not the choice but to remember them in kind.

‘Fire’ and ‘ice’ were the simplest to remember, since those two were primeval and ubiquitous, always seeming to pop up in some manner of form in similarly ‘conventional’ magic systems documented prior.

Fundamentally and at their core, these two were concerned with altering energy states, conditions, and temperature: fire increased, ice decreased. Simple. But, in this local magic system there was also ‘vapor magic’, which was the convergent point between the two…she did not really know what…vapor really was supposed to be or do, to be quite honest.

Then, of course, there was ‘wind’, ‘water’, and ‘earth’. These three schools were largely concerned with direct material manipulations in the immediate environment, nothing abstract or overly technical: wind magic played with the air and gases in general, water magic played with water and liquids in general, earth magic played with the earth and solids in general.

The dichotomy between wind and earth largely surrounded their states of existence. Wind was free and mobile, always taking shape of spaces filled; earth, however, was solid and rigid, always retaining shape. Water was the convergent point because it was both rigid and mobile, solid yet free, capable of taking shape of spaces filled but also retaining shape; it had properties of both.

Then there was ‘light, ‘shadow’, and ‘dark’; in terms of practical function, these schools were also straightforward. Light magic was largely concerned with revealing things and making light in various forms: photonic energy manipulation, in other words—it could also…make quite the volatile ‘beams’ of destruction, apparently. Dark magic was the opposite: it was largely concerned with concealing things, absorbing and blocking light: creating darkness—though it could also, apparently, produce and manipulate so-called ‘dark light’…whatever that was supposed to be.

Although the light-dark dichotomy seemed rather intuitive, it was, in fact, a point of great local contention and discourse…a fact made known by her former associate’s…hours worth of…discussions regarding this very subject. This was all due to the fact that ‘shadow’ was counterintuitively the point of convergence and stood out quite a bit thematically, having nothing to do with photonic manipulation in practice. This was, of course, largely philosophical and abstracted.

Essentially, light revealed that which was concealed, dark concealed that which was revealed: light and dark canceled each other out and could not exist together. Yet shadow, on the other hand, was darkness that existed in presence of light, and could only exist in presence of light. Without light, shadow could not exist; likewise, without darkness, there would be no shadow. Shadow required both to exist. Conversely, shadow could be considered an illusion of darkness cast by light, for shadow could not exist in pure darkness; it was not real darkness.

Shadow magic, thus, in practical function was concerned with illusions and deceptions of perception: it could distort, manipulate, and overall play around with one’s very own sensory and information processing—which, to the foreigner, made it not only dangerous but also familiar…too familiar, in all the worst not-so-pleasant ways.

Following down this list was ‘life’, ‘spirit’, and ‘death’. Her former associate had not been able to go into the details…thus she was only really aware of what ‘life magic’ theoretically was. Life magic was concerned with growth and healing; it could augment the body’s natural repair mechanisms, induce sedation, and, in its most advanced forms, could repair, regrow, and ‘heal’ directly—and to quite the degree, so she had heard.

Death magic on the other hand…she did not really know too much about, besides it being concerned with ‘decay’ and ‘rot’. She could, however, infer some of its properties, given that it was the ‘inverse’ of life magic; thus, it probably did the opposite: induce cell-death, inhibit repair and maybe immune functions, and or perhaps even cause malignant mutations, among many other possibilities.

Spirit magic was the convergent point since ‘spirits’ and ‘ghosts’ were the bridge between life and death, but what it was in actual practice…she did not know—though, given its theme of these so-called ‘ghosts’ and ‘spirits’, she had her reasons to be…suspicious and guarded of it, very.

Finally, there was ‘pure’, ‘wild’, and ‘anti’. Her former associate had not managed to get into the details of these before her perishing; thus, all she knew was that ‘pure magic’ was concerned with ‘harnessing and affecting the raw potential of mana directly’—whatever that was supposed to mean—while ‘anti-magic’ was focused on ‘inhibiting’, ‘suppressing’, and ‘disabling’ the ‘flows of mana’…which…if she was interpreting that correctly…could be a potential problem and interference for her and her so-called ‘encoded automated protocols’…if ever encountered. Finally, ‘wild magic’ was the apparent convergent point between the two, which was…essentially just ‘random chance and probability but magical’.

Regarding their dichotomy, well… « I have get going…but to summarize: if pure magic is ‘order’, and anti-magic is ‘anti-order’, then wild magic would be ‘chaos’ or more accurately: ‘absurdity’, » such was how her former associate had put it…ah, another…familiarity.

At any rate, in general, the essentials of this magic system seemed fairly typical and in conformity with prior documented relatives and sibling systems, following the same overall ‘trend’ and ‘template’. Of course, not as though such affairs were even her domain…not at all, in fact; likewise, she had yet to see any of it in practice, and thus had yet to see what made it, as her former associate had put it, so—

“Hey! Are you paying attention?!” so accusatively lambasted the proctor with rather the loud voice.

The foreigner quickly snapped out of her cogitative contemplation, refocusing her mind’s attention onto the proctor in front; “Oh…I give the apologies, I became the lost in my head…” she responded, somewhat embarrassed, before peering her head in a stare; “…ehm did you ask to me…something?” she inquired with rather the pleasant, but seemingly embarrassed, smile.

The proctor sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose; “No. I had just explained the instructions, but I could tell, even with that mask of yours, that you were in an entirely different world…do you have any idea what you are supposed to do?” he responded and interrogated.

The foreigner looked down and away…her head shaking “…no”.

The denizen giggled at this, promptly stepping in; “You are so…goofy—ahem—I mean…basically, so to explain: see that magical stone over there? When it’s your turn, just head to it, place your dominant hand onto the engraved signa, then close your eyes and wait for him to plop his hand onto your forehead to cast his spell; after that, try to focus…and I mean really focus…and try to channel your mana into the stone… It’s something that comes…intuitively…so you’ll know when it works” she explained in summary.

“Eh…good enough” the propter remarked indifferently; it got the job done, at least.

The foreigner stared at the denizen, her head tilting ever lightly, her mind contemplating; “…I see…” she finally replied. She…vaguely understood all of that, her struggle not necessarily being with instructions proper as much as the…purpose to it all. Perhaps…a direct observation of these procedures would…clarify things—assuming that this was going to happen in numerical order, which she presumed it would.

Though, regardless, she already was beginning to realize, just from what she had heard so far, that this…ritual of theirs…was most probably not going to have…the desired effects on her; not at all, in fact.