R4 - systematically magic

"In conclusion,", the teacher draws a line under some text on the holographic board with her finger, "storing Aether in tools or seals, would let you use it in an instant. Direct or invoked magic needs some preparation time but is not bound to an assigned magic, so it is more versatile. Also some people just don't have the needed brain capacity to remember more complicated runes and circles." She smilingly let her view wander over the class, seemingly stopping at some certain students for a moment and then snipped with her fingers once. Following this gesture, the holographic board vanished.

A record of today's class should be available on my phone in about an hour, so that I can repeat vital points if needed.

"Whatever you would need magic for in your future, always remember that everyone ticks a bit different and so everyone has to figure out themself, what kind of magic fits best."

She claps once in a finishing gesture.

"This concludes today's extraclasses. With the upcoming rebirth-day, we won't have classes for a few weeks. I will upload some notes in the homeroom app, so make sure to check it every now and then. With that; class dismissed."

Even though she said it this way, the teacher was the first to leave the room.

I wait a bit.

There is only a dozen students in this extra class and normal classes ended about an hour ago, but I still don't want to get into a little traffic jam while leaving the room.

"Maaa~n I'm beat." A tall boy my age took the chair from the seat in front of mine, turned it around and sat down to let his head drop on my table, as if he was in dire need of some rest. "I didn't get any of this."

He turns his head, the chin still resting on my table, to stare at me with, what I assume, should be his best impression of some puppy eyes. "Explain it for me, Rell. I don't want to get yelled at at home."

I let out a half amused, half serious sigh. "Your family works with highly complex magic every day, so you should at least know the basic differences."

That dark haired boy's name is Alexis and even though my plan was to just finish school without closer relationships, he completely forced his way into my life. I don't really mind it to be honest. He is always in a good mood and it's fun to be around him.

His family runs the overwhelmingly big library in this city and on top of that, they are so called memory keepers. Not only do they store all kinds of information in books and as virtual data, but they also use complex magic to store near immeasurable amounts if information in their own mind. Alexis once told me, that they only keep secret knowledge in their heads, that no one should be allowed to know.

The simple fact that he told me this, makes me believe that he himself is not really fit to be a memory keeper.

As far as I know, his older brother took the advantage of being the older one and choose a different job, so that Alexis now would be forced to take his families job, without even having a choice of his own.

"Stupid Henry,", he murmurs and lets his head roll on the side again. "he has the brains, so he shouldn't be a baker and let me have a choice instead. Then I wouldn't need this stupid extra classes for magic."

Sometimes the rules of this society are hard.

I sigh again. Maybe I should help him out.

"As you should know, there are a few basic methods how to use magic." as I start to explain, I see his ear twitching, but he didn't raise his head. "The easiest method are tools. They are made out of material that can channel Aether and have some runes or magic circles engraved in and on them, depending on the function they should have.

For example our phones. They draw a small amount of Aether from the user to work and are loaded with different magic circles for all kinds of features."

I flick my finger against his head to make sure he didn't fall asleep. "The second most basic form is direct magic. You need a clear picture of what you want to do and also an affinity with the type of magic you want to use. If this is fulfilled, then you can do basically anything. Provided you have enough Aether that is." I ponder for a moment. "It's most common to create runes or magic circles with your Aether to get a better picture and create a program for the magic to follow, but I've heard that there are also people who use incantations or spells and catchphrases like in cartoons."

He finally lifted his head and for a moment I thought, that the word "Cartoon" got him, but now he looked even more confused than before.

"You are worse than the teacher with your fancy words, Rell. Magic is magic." He drew a few lines into the air with his fingers and some small sparks, accompanied by a electric fizzling sound followed each movement. "Who needs to learn all this stuff about it? Just show me how it's done instead. I need to do stuff and no dry theories, ya'know?"

It's helpless with him.

I felt the urge to rub my temples and at the same time wanted to laugh.

He just used direct magic without any form of preparation as if it was natural. No runes, no circle, nothing.

Grandmasters train all their life and sometimes are still not able to do that you know?!

A big grin forced it's way on my face and I stood up, preparing to leave.

It's always the same with him.

"Wanna come over to my place? We can try with something practical as much as we want there."

He didn't move an inch. Probably because he didn't like learning in general. It doesn't matter if theory or practical.

But I still have an ace up my sleeve to make him move.

"You know, Lumina is supposed to pick me up after school and no one should be home, so she is in charge of cooking."

He immediately got up and rushed towards the door while mumbling "Luminas cooking.". I took his bagpack, that he forgot and followed him while chuckling.

A ten year old's line of thought is weird. Was I the same at that time?

Technically I am ten years old too, but I mean the first time I was that age. My old me. I hope i wasn't like that. I at least don't remember having a crush and acting stupid to impress them but maybe i just suppressed memories like that.

Alexis waited for me in the hallway and we left the school together. It was nice inside the building but the moment we left, the summer heat hit us with full force. Sadly there are no trees between the school building and the main entrance of the complex, so that the heatwave and direct sun distracted me for a moment.

I took a few seconds until I noticed, that there are two cars parked near the entrance's gate, even though there seemingly wasn't a single student left beside us.

I know the smaller, lightblue car and of course the person who leans against it. Despite the heat she wears a black, long sleeved shirt with some bandlogo on it and her typical, heavy boots. A girl with black hair and dark eyes, seemingly on the verge of adulthood – Lumina.

She is something like my nanny and didn't change at all in the past ten years. I have no idea how that is possible and to be honest am very curious about it, but my grandma always said that it's very impolite to ask a woman her age and the secrets around it.

Quite some time has passed, but I still won't go against my grandma. My theory is, that she belongs to the classic fantasy world race of the elves, but there is not much to back this up and I couldn't find any information about elves existing in this world yet.

The moment she notices us, Lumina starts waving in a happy way and a smile graces her face. Alexis immediately walks faster and I match his steps.

As we reach the front gate, a door on the luxurious looking, black car opens. A tall man gets out and takes a few steps towards us.

A fine black suit that just barely hides how well build he is. Completely black sunglasses, a very proper, short haircut and a small communication device in his ear. This man's appearance just screames that he is suspicious.

He stopped his approach as Lumina got in his way, but otherwise ignored her and instead looked at me.

"My mistress would like to invite you." He says in a deep, but very calm voice that matches his appearance. "If you would be so kind to accomp-"

"To bad, but those boys are coming with me and are expected at home already."

The tall man went silent for a moment and then finally looked at Lumina who interrupted him.

"Master Rell can bring guests, if needed."

Because she was between us and the strange man, I only saw Luminas back, but it doesn't take much to imagine her glare when she answered with a freezing cold voice.

"I will repeat only once. I will bring the boys home. Kids shouldn't go with strangers anyway."

The man again didn't answer immediately and when he opened his mouth to do so, something strange happened. Lumina brushed her long hair behind her slightly pointy ear with a hand. Those ears are actually what started my elves-theory.

Obviously the man saw that and took a step backwards, seemingly out of reflex.

He stood there, for a moment and then turned around on the spot. I heard him mumbling "Dirty V's." as he got into his car and left.

We watched him drive down the busy street and only after he drove around a corner, Lumina turned around with a carefree smile on her face. The hair was already covering her ear again.

"Always be careful and never go with strangers, okay boys?", she advised in a happy tone.

Alexis found his voice before I could, but the asked question was the same as in my mind.

"What was that about?"

"Dunno, just strangers being strange?"

Lumina's face was a considering mask and the tone of her voice seemed absolutely honest, but I saw her lying a few times already and the whole situation was to obvious. I guess that she knows exactly what all this was about, but I also guess, that there is no chance of getting it out of her.

She opened the car's door and signalled us to get in.

"Oh, we should tell Romeo about this."

"Gramps? Why?"

"That's a secret only for grown ups."

Lumina got in the car herself and turned on the radio, much louder than needed to signal that the conversation is over.

I hate secrets that I'm not involved in. Especially when they have something to do with my grandfather, because then there is no chance, that I could get anything about them.