Train Training

Harry and Kali eventually leave the Marchfield house after setting it ablaze. By the time anyone noticed the plumes of smoke wafting from the building, they were already long gone. The two were already in the next town before the authorities put out the fire, that plus magic made them almost impossible for Muggles, and Magicals alike to track.

All the while, Harry was doing his best to explain to Kali how buses, trains, and other technology functioned... It was somewhat amusing how both were almost constantly asking one another questions about a variety of topics. Though, to Harry's dismay, Kali seemed very interested in some of the clothing they saw various women wearing.

Despite her interest in the technological advancements this realm had apparently made, she still preferred more natural areas. Magic felt 'dull' to her in large cities, so Harry did a small amount of research and quickly chose somewhere where they could get settled down and decide their future options.

This led to their current situation, where they were sitting on a train headed straight to Wales. Harry was sat in a comfortable chair with a table in front of him while Kali drew some kind of diagram on paper while still in her bat form.

Though, she wasn't dragging it with her teeth as you might expect, instead just levitating the pencil via magic. She was currently trying to explain the basics of demonic runes, which, if Harry was honest, weren't all that different from something like Nordic runes.

It functioned almost the same, with the exception that demonic runes drew energy from outside the realm. They were 'universal' in that they worked on any plane of existence, and that Nordic runes wouldn't.

The reason for this is because demonic runes were used in literally every realm that contained demons. The more use, faith, and meaning people attribute to runes determines their power and effect.

This is why Norse runes generally wouldn't work outside of his own realm, no one used them, believed in them, or even knew they existed. Therefore they were just mundane scribbles.

Harry squints at the paper through his glasses, trying to figure out the difference between one and another... To him they just looked like chains of black swirls with jagged edges, there wasn't any identifiable uniformity that he could place, making it incredibly difficult for him to identify which meant what or even what was a singular rune or apart or another.

He sighs and decides to ask Kali a question to give his brain a break, for a moment at least. "Kali? What is a 'demon' exactly? It sounds to me like there are many different races and types, but what makes them demons and not just some other race?" he questions, the subject of which had been niggling him since he'd first heard of demons.

Kali looks up at him from the table shrugs her small, leathery wings. "There is one distinction that makes demons different from all other lifeforms. To qualify as a demon, you must have the ability to consume souls and reinforce your own with them. This ability is the main reason demons are so closely linked via rituals, we use them to empower ourselves and seek greater power than most mortals can hope to grasp."

"So a demon can become infinitely stronger by absorbing souls?" Harry questions, inwardly wondering why demons hadn't conquered every realm yet.

"Well, not exactly." Kali admits, "Most demons have limits as to how strong they can get before reaching a bottleneck. Afterwards each soul they absorb only grant negligible strength, preventing further improvements. Of course, there are outliers, those usually become demon gods after a few millennia."

"Demon gods? Are they the ones who tried to take my soul?" he asks.

She nods, "Indeed. I don't know which one you ended up calling upon, but from how vague and broad your incantation was, I imagine it was one of the stronger ones... Alright, that's a long enough break for you, let's continue." she says trying to get him to concentrate on runes again.

"But Kaaaliiiii, this is so confusing. All of these runes look the same with minuscule differences!" he complains, not because he doesn't want to learn, but because he felt that he wasn't making any progress.

She sniffs at him, "I don't see what's so hard, master... Just catalogue the information in your mindscape so we can move on."

...

"Mindscape?" he asks in confusion, having never heard of such a thing.

"Ah..." Kali ers, "Are you not aware of mind magics? Even children should naturally be able-... Oh, I see, I forgot that you were human due to your magic prowess, it seems that I need to teach you how to organise and protect your mind. I was wondering why you blasted me with emotions almost constantly, I thought you might have been trying to flirt with me, master..." she admits sheepishly, levitating the paper into a bag and sitting crossed legged on the table in her bat form.

The duo proceeds to spend the rest of the train ride in meditation, Kali teaching Harry what she knows of the mind arts. She knows that in this realm they are known separately as Occlumency and Legilimency.

This kind of magic holds multiple functions, but there are usually three main parts. Defence, Offense, and Utility. The latter is what Harry is currently learning, using the mind arts to reinforce his memories and sort them so he can recall specific and detailed information faster.

Usually, children are not taught this art as they lack the concentration, understanding, will, and overall awareness to do so. But Harry is different to most, having been forced to grow up faster with above-average intelligence, and a masterful teacher not bound by this realms current understanding of magic.

Was there really any question as to his ability to learn such magic with all his advantages stacked up?