Uua Manipulation

I look around at the Metorium and even though I have only come here once, it feels strangely familiar to me. Once again Drew begins to lead me, but this time we go in the opposite direction of where we went yesterday.

As we move, I take the opportunity to study the buildings around us. Strangely, there are no tall buildings. The biggest building I see only has four floors. That building towers above the rest of the buildings around us in all directions. "That is the school," Drew says, noticing my gaze.

"Is that where we are going?" I ask.

He nods.

Surrounding the school are different types of buildings. I can identify cafes and clothing shops, but most of the buildings are unrecognizable to me. I spot a small building with an unusually large entrance that has a sign with 'ARENA' written on it. My first impulse is to laugh. How can such a small building claim to be an arena, but I soon remember that this is not a normal place. For all I know, the building could only be a portal leading to the real arena.

As we walk, the school gets larger and larger. We turn a corner and I can finally see the school's entrance and I am stumped. The school is huge. It extends for as far as I can see and probably even further.

"This is ATC. You better get used to it quickly. This is where you'll be having your classes for the rest of the year. Once you are done here, you can then move on to the other specialized schools."

"There are other schools?"

"Yes. But none are as large as this one. Come on, Master Hogan is waiting."

We walk into an open space, and in front of us, I see circular platforms, identical to the flying ones I had seen when going to meet the Masters yesterday. In front of each of the platforms are vertical stone tablets with strange symbols etched on them.

Drew motions for me to get on one of them and I do so. He places his hand on the stone tablet and mutters a strange word before saying, "ATC Block A, Floor Two."

The tablet flashes briefly, then the circular platform rises and zips away, taking me with it. Thankfully, I am able to maintain my balance on it. I look back and spot Drew on a similar tablet just behind me.

Our journey doesn't last long before the platform stops at the last floor of a corner of the building, in front of a large hallway. I alight from the platform, which flies back to where it came from, and wait for Drew to catch up.

He comes off his platform beside me and begins to lead the way once again. Like the Master's Hall, this hallway is lit by blue orbs of light. I now know better than to go near those orbs. I do not fancy being turned into grilled meat.

On both sides of the hallway are doors, widely spaced from each other. We pass quite a few of them and an intersection of passageways before Drew finally stops in front of a door. I look at the plaque over the door. Room sixteen. I tuck that information away in a piece of my mind. I will probably need it again.

"Okay," Drew says, "This is where you'll be having your BMM classes. You can go in."

It takes me a second to realize he won't be coming in with me. I nod at him and, heart pounding in my chest, walk into the class.

The class is a spacious one, it probably wouldn't have any problems holding fifty or even a hundred people. It looks a bit drab though, with no paint or diagrams or charts on the wall. In the center of the classroom is a middle-aged man sitting on a mat on the ground, his legs crossed beneath him and eyes closed. He reminds me of a meditating Chinese monk. In front of him is one other mat, which I assume is meant for me.

He opens his eyes and looks at me with startling clear blue eyes. I bow a little and greet. "Good afternoon sir."

"Ian Walker," He says. It is not a question but still, I nod. He motions to the mat in front of him. "Sit. Take off your shoes first, I don't want you to get the mat dirty."

I nod and immediately do as he asks. Once I settle down on the mat, I look expectantly at him, trying to wonder what I will learn first.

He nods at me and speaks. "Before we begin, I want to make a few things clear. First off, the next time you are here, greet me with the words 'Karenatha Zimear' and not with 'good afternoon' as you just did. I will take no offense now since this is your first time here, but after this, I do not want to hear 'good' anything from you. Whether morning, afternoon, or night. Second and most importantly I am your teacher and I expect you to do as I instruct and nothing else. If I ever find out you have done anything other than what I ask you to do, there will be consequences. Do you understand?"

His expression is stern as he says this and I feel a solemnity weighing down on me. I nod, my expression serious. All excitement I had felt for learning magic disintegrates under his gaze.

"Good," he says. "Follow those two rules and we shall have no problems. Now, let's begin. Before we dive into your main lesson, I shall first attempt to give you an understanding of magic. It will be nothing too deep of course, as you can't begin to understand its intricacies without first using it, but something to at least give you a shallow understanding of it.

"Now, magic can be likened to a form of energy. Notice I said it can be likened, not that it is a form of energy because it is not. It is likened to energy because they both share one main characteristic. Neither can be created or destroyed, but both can be transformed from one form to another. It is through the utilization of the different forms of magic that we can manipulate the world the way we do. Now, on our own, it would be impossible to effectively control magic, but through the use of the noer - symbols capable of telling magic how to act - and words of power, we can bend magic to our wishes. It is those two things you'll spend the majority of your time learning here. But for now, we are going to start with something simpler.

"Also note, that there are two major types of magic, the Eani - the world magic- and the Uua - the personal magic, created after one's core absorbs the Eani. The Uua of a person solely belongs to that person, a power only they can tap into, while the Eani, the world magic, is something every magician taps into and uses. For the time being, you will only be learning about the Uua."

At this point, he stops and takes a deep breath before he continues.

"In the past, before the Eldest came, magicians first had to draw the noer and feed it with their magic before they were able to use magic, but as time went on it became increasingly inconvenient to do so. Imagine for instance that you were getting attacked, would you in that period have the time to pull out a pencil or chalk and start inscribing a protection noer? No, you wouldn't. And yet we had no other choice. During this period charms became popular, that is until the Eldest arrived. The Eldest showed us a new way to do magic."

The Eldest, I think as I remember the powerful man I had seen yesterday. Master Hogan made it sound as if he had been alive for a very long time, but that is impossible. The Laen has allegedly been around for centuries, there's no way any man could live that long. The original Eldest is probably dead, and the one I saw yesterday is probably just a man who inherited the title Eldest.

"What are you thinking?" Master Hogan asks suddenly.

"Well… the Eldest… you make it sound like the original one is still alive."

He looks a bit confused by what I just said. "The original? There has only ever been one Eldest."

"But," I say bewildered, "the Laen has been around for centuries! No one can live that long. It's impossible."

Master Hogan gives me a strange look. "If you were talking about us normal Laen, your statement would be true. But you need to get something straight right now. The Eldest is no ordinary man. You would do well to remember that.

"That aside, the Eldest introduced a new method of performing magic, without any charms, rituals, or long incantations. The method is quite simple, using your Uua to create the noer you need. This method, when mastered, can allow you to cast previously lengthy spells in less than a second. And it is that method you will be learning. The first thing you will learn will be the manipulation of your Uua. Now, let's begin."

Master Hogan starts by teaching me how to feel and move my Uua around. This isn't hard to learn and soon my Uua flows through me with ease. Moving from one part of my body to another.

While moving it, I notice that I feel slightly refreshed in whatever area it passes. Master Hogan explained that that was a natural effect of the Uua. It strengthens and nourishes every part of the body, especially when circulated like I am doing.

Once I have mastered moving the Uua within me, we begin what Master Hogan describes as the 'meat' of the lesson. Manipulating my Uua outside my body. He describes it as being far harder than moving the Uua within the body. I had nodded when he told me that, but I didn't fully understand how hard it was until I tried it.

For the first few times, every single attempt I made in bringing my magic out of my body resulted in the Uua dispersing the moment it came out.

"Focus!" Master Hogan said, rapping his knuckles on the floor. "If you do not actively focus on keeping the Uua together then you'll undoubtedly fail. Concentrate on keeping it together and it will not disperse."

I take in a deep breath and close my eyes, keeping Master Hogan's example in mind. He had let his magic flow out of his hand and coalesce into an orb of blue light. I can get the magic to flow out, but getting it to form an orb is where my problem lies.

I focus on my core, somewhere in the center of my chest, and the Uua within it. Slowly, I let it flow out of my core and into my hand. I guide it to pool behind my palm. I take in a deep breath before beginning the critical part. I let it flow out of my hand and begin guiding it to form an orb. My problem begins almost immediately after as I am no longer able to feel - and thereby control- the Uua. I open my eyes and see a wisp of my Uua just before it disappears.

Master Hogan sighs at that and motions for me to stop. He is silent for a moment before saying. "Let us change tactics then. I want you to repeat the same process, but this time, let a strand of your magic connect you to the orb. This way you should still be able to feel your Uua. Something like this."

He raises his palm again, and like before an orb appears above it, the only difference is that this time there is a strand of magic joining the orb and his palm. The strand stays there for a moment before disappearing. "It's still there," Master Hogan explains, "It's just too small for you to see. Now, try it."

I nod and try once again. Surprisingly, it works. My heart is filled with elation as I make the strand as small as I could possibly make it without breaking the orb. When I am done, the orb looks exactly like Master Hogan's. The strand isn't even visible. I can feel the orb emitting a small amount of heat as it hovers over my hand.

I am still feeling a bit proud when Master Hogan speaks. "Don't get too excited yet. Until you are able to manipulate your Uua without that strand, you will not be able to advance your lessons. For now, let us continue."

After dashing my spirits with his word, we move on to forming different shapes with my Uua while it is outside my body. Fortunately, it isn't too hard and I am able to grasp it easily.

By this point, I am beginning to get tired. My body feels like it has been undergoing strenuous exercise for hours. Master Hogan seems to notice my tiredness and after a few tests to check if I had really grasped creating different shapes with my magic, he calls an end to the lesson.

"You can leave now," he says, "but remember to practice manipulating your Uua externally without that strand. Hopefully, you will have mastered it before our next lesson, else, there won't be one."

He then motions for me to leave.

I get up groggily and stumble to the door. As I reach the door, I remember that I hadn't discussed where to meet up with Drew once the lesson was over and I can't get home without him. I have forgotten the corners we took to get to the school, I do not know how to activate the portal to the In-between, heck, I don't even know how to get the circular platforms to work, and without them how am I even supposed to get to the ground. To make matters worse, my tiredness seems to be increasing.

I open the door and am greeted by a smiling face.

"Drew?" I say surprised.

"Hey. How was your lesson?"

"It was alright," I answered, suppressing a yawn.

I am too tired to remember what happened next. The next thing I remember is getting home and heading straight to my room. Emily comes out of her room and says something to me. I say something to her and shut my room door behind me. I fall asleep almost as soon as my head hits the pillow.

A slight smile appears on my face as I drift into a world of dreams.