Chapter 38: Trial by Fire

After dinner, Altaria split us into groups again. Quinn, Yuna, and Lulith went with Princeton to run some more drills. On the other hand, Lysandra and I went with Altaria to run a more focused lesson based on magic. We made our way into a small training room off of the cafeteria, with dummies set up on the far end of the room.

Lysandra said with the drag of her cigarette, "Well, that sucked. I lost to the shrimp squad again."

Altaria explained, "Right, because you charged in without considering what your team had in mind. That is fine if you are strong enough to open the way for your team, but in your case, you still lack power. I have a solution for you. We need to first tap into your innate plasma magic. For this next lesson, both of you need multiple elements to really reach new heights."

She lowered her voice a little, "Listen, when I opened this school, I made one thing clear: in order to join, I only let in dual mages. There are one or two exceptions, but most mages born with only one affinity are very limited in their capacity."

I asked, "Why exactly is that?"

Altaria explained, "It is the combination of elements that creates new explosive spells. Combining elements is extremely important for diversity's sake, and one can only tap into magic's full potential when combining runes."

Lysandra chimed in, "What does this mean for us exactly, lady?"

Altaria responded, "Patience, child. Let me explain one thing. In that last fight, we all saw Lucius use pyroclaic windwall. This spell uses the combination of both wind and fire to create a wall in front of an enemy. Very versatile and useful. In my mind, you should still have this spell in your arsenal. One thing I will say, though, is that an unconcentrated spell like that is only good occasionally."

I asked, "What do you mean occasionally? I thought you just said unity is very important."

Altaria smiled, "Right, but something my students still struggle with is the difference between concentrated spells and unconcentrated spells. You yourself have probably cast concentrated spells by accident without even realizing it. Here, let me show you." She summoned fire in one hand, and in the other, she summoned a blue orb of plasma. With her hands apart, she cast both of these together, firing them out of her hands to the other side of the room. It hit the dummy on the other side of the room, and the combined shot briefly lit up the dummy. It was impressive, but the dummy being made of seemingly special magical-absorbing material quickly went out. She clapped her hands together, "Now watch this."

She formed both plasma and fire again, putting both her palms together. This time, she seemed to focus on the union of both elements. After a few seconds, they formed a white ball of energy, and she yelled out, "Look away, students! Bellatrix Photometric Cannon!" The entire room lit up as a white solar beam shot out of the palms of her hands. It struck the dummy at the other end with tons of force, and illuminated the entire room. I looked away as my eyes momentarily burned from the sudden white hot light. I could feel the blast from her as blinding light scorched the hairs on my legs. The dummy burned for about 15 seconds as the white energy tried to consume the dummy whole. Once it was over, Lysandra spoke first, her cigarette falling to the floor at her feet, and she yelled out, "What the hell was that! Can I do that?"

Altaria nodded, "Yes, you will both eventually be able to cast spells at this level. Dual mages combine two elements together to create other elements. Such as my fire, and plasma creating solar magic. Only one student that is currently enrolled here can do a spell close to what I just did. Someone you have already met recently, my great-niece Gwen. You will have to face her tomorrow, so I suggest you both get started trying to learn this new technique."

Lysandra responded, "Let's start right away then! I will blow them away tomorrow with this!"

Altaria smiled, "I like your vigor, but first you have to learn how to summon your plasma magic without effort. The next step is to merge the two elements into one new singular element, which also requires precise timing as you cast your spell.

Lucius should have an easier time since his gauntlet basically already merges his spells together. You just need to master the timing and the scope of your ink technique. You should do your own training. I am sure you will figure it out, dear. Meanwhile, I will work with this lovely lady here 1 on 1"

I nodded, "Alright, sounds good. That was good motivation. I will get started." I moved away to the other end of the room to start my own practice near the dummy at the back. I spent about an hour practicing using multiple runes with the ink technique.

I was able to do the ink technique almost seamlessly now like I had done in mock battle earlier I could create two runes with ease using the ink magic. I moved on to the more advanced technique we had been shown. Anytime I was running low on magic, I had Altaria recharge the green stone around my neck. I asked, "What is this stone called anyway?"

Altaria briefly explained, "Forzan Emerald, my dear. Said to be one of a kind. I hear it once belonged to a hero king long ago, and when I was an adventuerer." She paused for a moment seemingly melancholic, "We found it in an old ruins a long time ago." Once she explained, I went back to my training. I began to focus on casting earth and fire together. On my first attempt, I cast the spell at the dummy, but nothing changed from before. The earth merged with the fire but only cemented the dummy a little.

The mixture I was creating was more like loose plaster than anything that could do real damage. I kept focusing, but nothing seemed to change. After 40 minutes, I took a water break and watched Lysandra start to form a blue orb of plasma in her hand. Finally, Lysandra exclaimed, "I finally got it! Yes, plasma. It feels weird in my hands, almost cool."

Altaria laughed, "It won't burn you since it is your own magic, girl, but you are a natural. Most take months to master even this step." Lysandra smiled brightly; it seemed she was having a lot of success. I knew I had to up my game; I didn't want to fall behind.

I got back to it and changed my approach a little. I tried to say the words faster, "Cosmodine! Lithora!" That seemed to change the spell a little as I shot out a hot ball of earth, but it wasn't very powerful; it just singed the dummy a little. After a few more attempts, it finally dawned on me that perhaps the best method would be to combine the words fully. I said it one more time, "Cosmodthora!" I felt the spell working, and for flair, I added, "Obsidian Rain!" Lava shot out of my hands, blasting me backward. It hit the dummy in the chest, erupting with power. Good gods, that was the most powerful spell I had ever used, and it knocked me on my rear. The girls approached me with earnest looks. They both looked down at me, and Altaria said, "I figured I would let you find out the trick to that. Good job. Yes, combining the rune names is the easiest and quickest way to cast mid-level rune magic."

Lysandra smiled, "Wow, shrimp, you're really amazing now, aren't you, compared to when you first left Astralum.." She helped me up, and I responded, "Thanks, but hey, Altaria, couldn't you have just told me that?"

In response, she only smiled, "You kids these days always want things handed to you. Yes, dear, I could have just told you, but trust me, in the long run, this will help you. I want you to think for yourself and find the best way to cast magic. Otherwise, you will never be motivated to learn without a teacher." I gave a wry smile, "Yeah, makes sense. A hint would have been nice, though."

We resumed our training. Lysandra was getting better at her plasma magic; she seemed to use it more instinctively, so they moved on to concentrating the blasts. I remembered Altaria said it would be harder for her to learn it since my gauntlet merged my spells basically automatically. Lysandra would have to get both the timing and merging done together as a unit to use her new magic.

I focused on my own training, now that I had the idea of how to combine my runes into concentrated blasts. I decided to try a new one, and after a few attempts mixing the wording around, I got it. I yelled out, "Festhora!" In front of me, both earth and wind began to mix together. An image formed in my mind as I yelled out, "Dustdevil's Embrace!" Dust flew out of my fingers, surrounding me and the dummy in a dust cloud that blinded me momentarily. Eventually, the dust cloud faded away as Altaria put up a barrier to keep us from inhaling dust. She gave me a disapproving look like a mom would, and Altaria stated, "Congrats, Lucius, on mastering two spells in such a short time. But please aim a little safer next time. You can go to the dorms now; I think you'll be ready."

I felt like a child being sent to their room as I frowned and said, "Right, sorry. I will go to bed now." The time was somewhere around 9:00 p.m., and I was getting tired. Lysandra, coughing a little, stated between breaths, "Yeah, great spell, shrimp, but if you don't mind, the grown-ups need their space." I pouted and replied, "Good night." I walked down the hall back to my room. I went to my assigned bedroom and checked in for the night. I tinkered with a few of my wares, but ultimately, I succumbed to a much-needed night's rest. I dreamt of tomorrow; the pressure was on now, and crunch time was over. We needed to prove we were ready to rescue Era. I wondered what kind of people we would have to face tomorrow, students that had been training under Altaria. As I closed my eyes, I couldn't help but wonder about the challenges that awaited us in the days to come, my heart heavy as I thought of what they were doing to Era while I lay in my comfy bed.