3 CHAPTER 3

"Magic as you may already know can only happen when we tap into the Fade using our connection to dream while still being awake to question the reality." Zathorn, the old elven enchanter with greasy gray hair stood up and walked towards a spot marked with a circle next to the table. "See what happens when I question my safety... when I question how safe I am against what could possibly be either physical or magical harm!"

Abraham and Oliver looked closely at their professor as he closed his eyes and reached out both of his hands, they watched as mana rushed out from within him and slowly shaped itself like an oval semi-transparent barrier around him.

"Our power comes mostly from our capability to question reality, and this brings forth many pros as well as cons, come here Oliver, try touching my hand."

Oliver nodded and went towards his professor, he reached out and touched his professor's hand without a problem.

"Now try to hit me with a punch."

Nodding he did just that, but when his fist was just 20 cm away from reaching his professor, something unexpected happened, his hand bounced off as if he had hit rubber!

"When I question reality and use mana to cast a spell through this question, the result is what we call an Arcane shield, a shield of pure mana whose objective is to keep its caster safe from harm no matter the source of the danger. But then we have different specializations for the same thing which have been proved by practical uses to be more effective for certain objectives than others."

He stroked Oliver's head and sat down once again on the table. Seeing how his two students had stars in their eyes as they listened quietly to him, he couldn't help but feel proud of himself.

"The foundation of our magic came from the knowledge of our predecessors, they spent countless years researching and experimenting with our gift to learn which questions should be asked to which situation, you should never forget that, ask the wrong question and the spell might not only fail as it might as well hurt yourself."

Abraham and Oliver nodded.

But Abraham had something else in his mind at the moment, 'So this is the foundation that Vivienne talked about when she and Solas had an argument about the nature of magic and its power, I can definitely see the benefits of following the norm and use specific questions for specific situations, if you know what you should ask, when and how, you could prove to be the most resilient of the opponents.

'Fire, water, ice, thunder, earth, poison, etc... Nothing would be able to defeat a really good mage whose foundation encompassed successfully every possible situation, in fact, this system of magic is actually one that benefits a person with a good memory, the more questions they can remember and associate to certain spells, the more capable they are in a battle, no wonder you can't learn every single school of magic in the games, it's not just an element of gameplay to make it fair, it's also an element of world-building that highlights the challenges of being a mage...'

Abraham watched as his professor asked Oliver to be the first to practice the casting of a simple spell, flame blast.

Oliver's stance, the amount of mana, and how he literally spelled the question as the tomes recommended for beginners was a textbook example of how to conjure that spell from the Primal school of magic.

But then again, wasn't it true what Solas said? Why the only thing that changes with a more powerful and specialized mage when casting this cone of flames is simply the temperature? Why can't they change the shape of the cone, why can't they change the range of the spell?

'... It also creates boundaries, limits, where none need to exist...' Solas' words repeated themselves in his mind, echoing as if a deeper truth revealed itself to him, that's right, your will assisted by the mana within your body which is connected to the Fade is what gives birth to those spells, the key to do things as the dread wolf can is all about knowledge, he uses his knowledge of the world, the fade, and his powerful imagination to cast those spells!

No wonder, no wonder he was capable of connecting and contacting spirits so easily! No wonder he did the most complex and difficult of the spells look like a child's joke!

Abraham couldn't possibly know, unknowingly he gave the first step towards a dangerous objective, one that would lead him to learn how to manipulate not only the world he knew but even the Fade as well, something that the most powerful Tevinter magisters tried once in the past and failed miserably.

For the ancient elves, this is what they would call the path of ancient magic.

"Now, Abraham, come here and cast flame blast as well, I hope you have the specific question for this spell clearly engraved in your mind because failure could result in you injuring yourself." Zathorn words reached his ears, he was concerned about his student's progression in terms of studying, since unlike the other students in the circle, he didn't focus a hundred percent of his time on studying, as he always takes two hours in the morning and two in the evening to practice physical activities.

Abraham nodded and didn't comment on his professor lack of trust in him, he knew that the man was worried about his safety so it wasn't his place to point out that his worries are unnecessary, considering that his practice is actually one that also benefits the memory, at least that was what Yahoo answers said about practicing physical activities...

He figured out that it must be true considering he could still remember such things despite being away from the internet for two years already.

Focusing on his professor that stood there motionless as he offered himself to be the target of their practice, he decided to go by the books, for now, he knew very well how the circle treated non-conventional practices of magic, they might think he was possessed by a demon or that he is trying to learn blood magic in secret if he doesn't do things as they should be done when practicing magic in public.

"My eyes see my enemies, but why can't I see them suffering in the cloud of fire?" The key here lies in the words eyes, see, enemies, suffering, cloud, and fire. This combination which didn't amount to much when spoken by a common person was enough to shape mana in a cone of fire that is born right in front of his face and is them spread in a way that completely covers everything that he can see in what could be considered a cloud of fire, hence why its shape, and its low range.

"Good!" Zathorn commented as his powerful shield protected him from both the kinetic force that came with it and the temperature of the flames.

Oliver bit his lips seeing that his rival also successfully managed to cast the spell on his first try, he wanted to be the best student of professor Zathorn, he wanted to prove that his magic was above the others, but it seemed that he would have a fierce competition ahead of him.

But little did he and Abraham know that their actions were actually quite uncommon, for every hundred new students, only one had such level of talent, and those tended to become enchanters or even reach higher rankings in their life, such accomplishment was rare and highly sought after.

The First-Enchanter who watched everything unfolding in the library through his personal spell which allowed him to peek in anywhere in a radius of a hundred meters from him, nodded seeing those two promising students and wrote down their names on a sheet of paper.

"Hm... yes, such promising students will be well received by the templars and the chantry, I must make sure that they know the chant as well as they know their hands, the more mages can go outside of the circle to do missions for the chantry and the templars, the more power we will be able to gather for that faithful moment..."

Henricus stood up from his chair and walked towards the shelf, he looked at the books for a moment, his hand touched each one of them until he stopped in one called "A study of the maker and the old gods", he pushed it slightly and there was a sound of a click somewhere.

Soon after, the shelf suddenly started spinning together with the ground beneath, when it spun 180 degrees, on the room where he once was, there was now no one and a replica of the shelf took the place of the one which he used to activate the mechanism.

Meanwhile, beneath the school grounds in a hidden room, the light of the candles reflected on the surface of a mirror held by two statues on top of a set of stairs.

A man wearing a hooded cloak approached the mirror and touch it in the middle, ripples traveled across its surface, and soon enough the image of a man wearing the robes of the circle of magi from Ferelden appeared, his head was somehow shrouded in mist.

"How has been the search for the hero? Did you found him already?"

"Not yet, but the visions from the artifact says that he was born already, based on what we saw we believe that he must be living at the moment with a group of bandits that decided to use the ruins of Ostagar as their base of operations."

The man nodded as he messaged his chin. "Really? To think that the one who will end the blight was born exactly where his path will force him to defeat the archdemon... how unexpected."

"Indeed, my contacts from the wardens also told me that the dreams have already started with the oldest of their members, we should have only two decades before it starts..."

"Two decades? Are you telling me that the fifth blight will start in the year 9:30?" The man touching the mirror asked shocked.

"Mm. Have you started the initiation process for Janine? You only have eleven years, you old geezer."

"So little? Sigh..." The man touching the mirror sighed, slightly depressed with the news. "But what about the other one?"

"You mean the champion of Kirkwall? We managed to locate him but there is something wrong with the artifact, for some reason, it can't peer on the future after the events which will transpire after the year 9:36."

The man touching the mirror frowned for a moment. "The only way for this to happen is if something greatly affects the Veil, do you think there is a great war happening at that time?"

"It is possible, only if thousands upon thousands of lives are lost in a short period of time the Veil will be weakened so significantly."

"Well, this might be proof that our plan is working in the right direction, just think about it, a rebellion amidst the rise of two mage heroes... Hahaha! Soon enough Orlais and Ferelden will fall on our hands, this damnable Circle will finally become independent from the chantry!"

The man on the other side of the mirror shook his head and sighed. "You know too well it isn't that easy, besides, those magisters from Tevinter won't let that pass through their eyes without doing anything, they will definitely try to invade our territories to recruit more mages to their side."

"As if we would let that happen! Didn't you send someone to awake the dread wolf? When everything is finished, that excuse of a god will erase Tevinter from the maps for us, there is no need to worry, as a wise man once said, the best way to defeat your enemies is to use the sword of another to do the job." He laughed slightly.

"But what about Corypheus? That man is an abomination! The artifact can't peer into his past nor his future, every event that he seems to be connected to is completely obscured from the artifact."

"Forget him, that disgusting creature is weak, there is no way it can affect our plans!"

The man on the other side of the mirror sighed and nodded, just as he was about to speak of something, another cloaked figure entered his room and whispered in his ears, looking at that with interest, the man touching the mirror patiently waited as the two finished their talking.

"Hehe, thanks." The man on the other side of the mirror thanked the one who entered the room, that person bowed to him and left soon after. "I have news Henricus."

"Stop with the mystery and tell me already what happened Irving!"

"Well, I have two good news actually, we managed to gather enough evidence to initiate the coup of First-Enchanter Remille, soon the circle Tower will be mine to rule, but that's not everything, it seems that the wardens and King Maric finally reached The Architect, everything is going according to the plans of the council."

"Hahahaha! Good, good!" Henricus laughed hysterically hearing that news! He couldn't believe how their plan was working so well! "Well, I need to tell the others, be careful Irving, we need to make sure that the role of First-Enchanter is given to you no matter what!"

"Alright, be careful as well, I'm only using the fragment of an Eluvian so there is no problem, but don't forget that this cursed artifact is connected with the blight, one mistake could lead to an accident with you using a complete version of it," Irving warned his fellow mage.

"Yes, yes, I'm well aware of that, now if you will excuse me, I need to talk to the other members of the council."

Irving nodded and his figure disappeared from the mirror...