The Lightbearer's Gift

It took over six days to completely memorize all 186 sigils. The book Garrett gave me to read had detailed explanations of what each sigil meant. The Sigil, “Rhan” whose literal translation is flame could also be translated as heat, burn, or even anger. Each page contained a detailed explanation of both its uses and its meaning in both the literal and abstract; the combination of these sigils are what comprises the first two rings of a spell construct. Finding a proper combination of Sigils to achieve the desired effect is one of the most difficult parts of spell creation. A mage with the requisite skill would likely go through hundreds if not thousands of different combinations until they find the right one.

I would often have questions for Garett on sigils that had vague meanings. Another sigil “Brax” for example translates to both love and hate depending on its combination with other sigils. These sigils as Garett described were the remnants of some long dead civilizations of humanoids called Aphos. Noone knows what they actually look like but these sigils and ancient ruins are all that was left of them.

Garrett over the last few days took time to teach me their mathematical symbology. It was an odd format that wrote equations in the form of a circle. More complex equations require larger circles and more rings. The answer would lead back to the beginning of the circle.

Yesterday I was able to both draw and explain the meaning behind each sigil. After I proved my knowledge of Sigils and the fundamentals of Ether we moved onto mathematics, fortunately this process only took a few days as most of our work was finding the parallels between my knowledge of mathematics and symbology to the empires.

Much of our days were spent in Garretts study. My face plugged into a book, Lori, by her small desk either working on her numbers or letters. Garrett went to the village a few times to pick up supplies leaving me and Lori alone. It was likely a testament to the friendship we have cultivated over the last week that he was comfortable leaving me alone in the house with his child.

After we finished our short discussion on light refraction and reflection he announced. “I think it's time for you to cast a spell.”

“Lori, want to see Moon try to do magic,” he said playfully.

The little girl hopped out of her small chair immediately abandoning her letters. “Yeah papa.” she replied excitedly.

Garett grabbed a book out of a drawer in his desk. Then the three of us headed into his backyard. Garrett actually had a small chicken coup and a garden behind his house. Lori and I would often collect chicken eggs in the morning for use in breakfast. Lori plopped down onto a bench by the back door and while Garett and I stood in a small open area between his Garden and chicken coop.

“I’ll be teaching you the orb of light spell” he said.

In the same moment he cast the spell. The glowing orb of light floating in front of him. Turning to a page in his book, he brought it to me. The page had the full representation of the spell circuit I would have to copy. The spell essentially worked by concentrating light ether into a conjured sphere of primal ether. The spell worked in two parts. The first was the creation of the orb, then the other was to fill it with light Ether as well as a small amount of primal magic that bound the spell to my hand. If that part of the spell was released. The circuit will dissipate and after a few hours the orb of light will fade.

“Translate the sigils,” he said pointing to the 12 sigils that comprised the outer ring.

“Summon forth the Ether of light containing it with ether most primal.” The translation was more an interpretation of what the 12 sigils would mean combined together rather than a literal translation of each sigil, making this my best guess.

“Good your translation at least comprises the essence of the spell now how about the math in the center”. There were primarily 3 mathematical equations represented in the center. One which contained the equation for the surface area of a sphere and another, its density. The value of the diameter was linked to the sigil for “feed” The density of the sphere was also linked to another sigil for ‘feed’. A fourth equation defined the attraction between the nearest surface, in this case my palm. If this part of the spell was not fed the circuit would dissipate and the attraction would fail. So, I could either have a light that floated in my hand or floated in space.

“Now construct the circuit don’t bother peering the ether while doing this only the greatest mages in the known world have the skill to do both.” He was likely right even though I have practiced seeing into the ether extensively and had gotten better at it. Even the slightest lapse in concentration would cause me to fail.

Recalling some of my lessons, I began constructing the spell circuit. This process requires me to enforce my will on the surrounding Ether and concentrate it in the shape of the circuit. The ability to shape the ether is the primary difference between mages and non-mages.

Garrett took only a few seconds to cast the spell. In half an hour I was barely able to get the first ring completed. The 30th attempt ended in failure. At this point Lori had gotten bored and was chasing a chicken around. “That was better this part is a hurdle most mages struggle to cross but you’re making good progress. There is no real special trick to this but to simply try and try again.”

“I underestimated how difficult it would be?” I said wiping sweat from my brow.

“This spell is more complex than the emissive light spell but since it combines elements of both emission and conjugation, I think it would be best for you to learn. Now keep going, this is probably going to take most of the day.”

By the second hour I had finally gotten the first and second rings completed. The glowing blue uncompleted circuit wavered but didn’t dissipate. I tried for the third then it immediately fell apart.

My frustration increased as my attempts continued to end in failure. Garrett, the exceptional teacher he was, simply gave me advice every time I found a particular part of the circuit difficult to create. By hour 5 I had finally completed the circuit. “Good it’s not stable but it's actually complete.” His eyes had the piercing glare that told me he was looking into the ether.

“Dissipate it and start over. We don't move on until it is stable.” We continued for the rest of the day until the sun started to dip below the horizon. I didn’t actually manage to complete stabilization, but the wavering within the ether was significantly reduced. Sten gave me some reading for the night that gave me some advice on how to stabilize my spelling circuit. As well as some reading on spell theory to go over.

An odd thing I noted about elven physiology is the lack of requirement for sleep. I could stay up for days and not actually feel the need to sleep however if I allowed myself to do that then when I finally allowed myself to sleep I could sleep for the entire day. Then Garrett or Lori would have to wake me. Garett didn't know much about elven physiology but the few elves that visited the capitol were seen to go over a week without actually sleeping. Instead they did some kind of meditation for about an hour then simply continued their day. To make things simple I tried to match their sleep schedule. It was difficult to fall asleep most nights so I usually spent them reading.

Thinking back to Lilian I did see her sitting once with her legs crossed but she definitely slept each night And I certainly felt the need to sleep after each day. So perhaps this is only true if we don't have a significant amount of physical exertion to recover from.

On the next day in the backyard, again Lori sat over by a patch of grass playing with some of her toys, a wooden horse, and a straw doll.

I held the completed spell circuit in my hand Garett was close by peering into ether and said. “Just a little more stability, remember your will is most important here. Don’t beg Ether to do what you want, do not hope the circuit stabilizes. Will it stabilize.”

Taking his advice to heart, I closed my eyes, I stopped focusing on the glowing blue spell circuit and tried to calm my mind. Taking a few deep breaths dissipated the circuit and began again before, I kept a laser focus on the circuit taking form and hoping it wouldn't fail. This was my problem. I hoped it would work instead of simply believing that it would work. My will must be absolute with no wavering. So instead of assembling each part of the circuit one by one I tried to assemble the entire thing at the same time as Garett did.

It was much harder than doing it step by step, but I was resolved. The easy way was doubting my abilities, and I had no room for doubt. Over and over assembled the circuit and over and over it failed to stabilize. I abandoned any idea of going the easier path and resolved to not move from my spot until I had the circuit stable. My mind went back to the forest when I had summoned the ether for the first time, and I slipped into that almost trance-like state of focus.

Eventually I had nothing to tell how time passed other than a small pulse from the circuit breaking every 10 seconds or so when I dissipated after a failure.

4 hours later Garett said excitedly, “There you have it.”

At some point I was so zoned out that I forgot about him. But there, in my hand, I held the fully formed spell circuit stable with no fluctuations in the ether.

“Now charge the feed sigils with Ether.” I began to absorb and push my ether into the sigils at the same time I channeled primal ether from my surroundings into the conjured barrier.

I see why learning to see the ether was so important now that I understood that ether was all around me and in me it was easier to visualize shaping it to my desire. Slowly the circuit began to change color and then once the circuit had reached optimal charge there was a pulse in the ether. Then I released the two feed runes.

Immediately a glowing orb formed in the palm of my hand. The spell circuit still glowed a soft white as the binding rune still anchored it to my hand. I waved the light, it’s a round as a massive smile formed on my face.

Garrett clapping said, “Excellent work Moon. you are currently the 9th fastest mage in history?”.

Replacing the binding sigil the orb of light floated in the air no longer bound to my palm if floated in place not affected by the soft wind.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

“The time between seeing the ether and successfully casting a spell, 9 days. If you were in the capital nobles and professors would be fighting each other to sponsor your education, Not sure how the elves would react to this though.” he explained. I didn't actually care what they thought and had made this clear in a past conversation with him.

“Who was the fastest? “I asked.

“Princess Morianne. It took her 4 days, and she was only 11.” he said.

She had to be some kind of genius for a child that young to perform magic. Perhaps he mentioned that to humble me, but I was too pleased with myself to care that a child was a faster learner than me.

“Your next task is to get the casting time of that spell under 3 seconds. Once you have accomplished this, I will begin teaching new spells a basic focus healing I think would be best.” he said.

“Focused healing? “I asked.

“It projects light that when in contact with organic bodies accelerates the healing process. There are spells for poison, diseases, a spell that focuses on bone repair and of course invigorate. Then there are the defensive and offensive spells you need to learn. Fortunately, you’re over the first hurdle. Now begin, you need to turn 8 seconds into 3.”

For the 6 hours until the sun dipped below the horizon, I repeated the spell over and over again. The backyard was filled with hundreds of balls of light. Lori was having a grand time running around as I continually made the floating lights. The spell became easier and easier. I didn’t keep count of how long it took as Garrett told me he would inform me when I had reached my goal.

The spell didn’t require a significant amount of energy. Not even a twentieth of what daylight did so my stamina recovered almost as fast as I used it. But hours of constant casting eventually started to tire me out. The chill seeping into my limbs was a warning that I was reaching my limits.

Remembering Garrett’s warning about overextending myself I announced. “I think that’s enough for today, what’s my time”. I was disappointed that I didn’t meet the goal, but I knew I was at least close.

“A little over 2 seconds that is quite impressive,” he said with some wonder is his voice.

Ok it seems I passed my goal. I wondered why he didn’t tell me, so I asked.

“Why didn't you tell me?”

“That focus you have. The ability to turn off the world and dedicate your entire being to shaping the ether. It is a trait all great mages have; if I had interrupted you then we couldn’t see how low you could get the cast time. “He said.

I didn’t really have a response to that, so I shrugged. He said. “Come let's have supper, we can go over the spells I'll teach you tomorrow.”

It has been six weeks since I cast my first spell. Sten was due to arrive in approximately two weeks or so. In that time, I had learned over 14 spells; if I was part of a magical institute, it would classify me as being a Disciple Light mage.

Garett’s advice, on focusing on the orb of light spell, was proven to be wise. As spells became more and more complex the foundational skills I had learned with that light orb was invaluable.

He taught me the fire bolt spell I saw Sarah use in the goblin nest as well as a spell that could emit a stream of fire. He even taught me a spell called radiant bold similar to fire bolt that lobs a conjuration of concentrated light ether that can burn on contact but doesn’t cause fires.

Spells that were not my prime affinity were particularly draining since it took roughly 5 times the effort to cast them. He also taught me the lighten spell. Interestingly, it couldn't be cast onto living creatures since even the smallest of creatures would shrug off the enchantment. From the air attenuation he taught me a spell that produced a constant stream of wind that operated in the same way as the conical light spell. I could scale the strength of the wind but the drain on my stamina became too much when generating wind with enough force to do something. It had very little use to me other than helping dry myself when I bathed by a stream quarter hour walk from the house.

While I was passable with most non-light magic. Light spells came to me as if it was instinctual.

He taught me the directed healing spell.

This demonstrated one aspect of magic I failed to put significant value in. This being the fundamental understanding of what spelling was doing. Mages of this world likely didn’t understand cell theory. So, the complexities of cell division and repair was unknown to them since I did my light magic and was significantly more effective at healing. At the very least it demonstrated itself with the chickens I tested on. When I projected the healing light onto the wound my will and my intrinsic understanding of the biological process of healing significantly increased its effectiveness. To the point of surpassing Garett’s own abilities, he was still far more experienced but the amount of healing relative to the power used was something that shocked him.

Garett cutting himself was the only time I had the chance to test it on a human. I had a morbid fascination about how fast the wound healed when bathed with the soft green light of healing magic. In the end it was only accelerated healing and could go beyond what a normal organic healing could accomplish.

A significantly powerful healer could save someone with a severed carotid artery. But can never regenerate a limb or cure a disease the body’s immune system couldn't fight off. Spells for disease treatment couldn't cure something like cancer or dementia, only alleviate its symptoms for a time.

I did want to test it on humans, but Garett didn’t want it tracking back to him that he was teaching me magic so whenever he went into the village to do some healing work I would be left behind. He wasn’t overly worried about it but if he could avoid conflict if he ever returned to the capitol, then he would.

Apparently, he told everyone that I was working as a servant since keeping Lori quiet about the elf living in her house was an impossibility. Today was the day he would teach me a barrier spell. This was actually a spell that would grant me the adept rank in the capitols ranking system. The only ones above that were journeyman, master, and grandmaster below that were disciple and initiate.

It was by far the largest spell circuit I have seen so far spanning almost 2 and a half feet across with over 50 Sigils in the outer ring. It was now that I understood why he asked me to determine the volume of a hollow sphere. When light ether is compressed within a thin barrier it can act as a shield deflecting objects and even foreign ether. That also meant that you couldn’t fire projectiles or ether out of it either. The size and strength of the barrier was entirely dependent on the caster as the spell had controls for both using these formulas.

“The most important thing is not about the Light Shield is properly scaling the strength of the barrier for the appropriate use.” Garett said as he summoned a mostly transparent bubble around himself that glowed with a slight yellow light its center was the spell construct itself which floated on his palm.

The shield can actually be cast to only block objects moving at a certain speed. So, it was entirely possible to walk through one or move the shield. I watched in fascination as the barrier which was only 5 feet across expanded until the entirety of the backyard was engulfed. There was a weird tingling sensation on my skin as it passed over me. Interestingly enough it intersected with the ground without any visible change.

While looking into the ether examined in fascination the large amount of ether that needed to be channeled to maintain it.

“This barrier would be strong enough to block an overcharged fireball however I can only maintain this for 30 seconds.” He shrunk it until it was just large enough to encompass himself, the soft glow of the shield also dimming. “This I can maintain for several minutes. It could block arrows swords and hields.”

The formula for the barriers strength was controlled by the density formula and the size with the volume formula by changing the flow to the feed sigils the shield size and strength can be changed.

The amount of ether it takes to maintain the barrier actually scaled with the square cube law it wasn’t a perfect approximation, but it was a good way to gauge how much power would be needed when overcharging a spell circuit.

“Now pay close attention to the Spell circuit and copy it.” This was a process I was used to at this point, and I copied it nearly perfectly. I wasted a few seconds stabilizing it but that could be solved with practice.

Slowly the bubble formed in my palm then expanded outward until it engulfed the entirety of my body. Then I pumped ether into the strength tune and the mostly transparent sphere began to glow a brighter yellow color. Garett smiled as I successfully cast the spell in a single try. The rest of the day was spent practicing until I was able to get the cast time to under 3 seconds. We tried varying sizes and strength levels Garrett even threw a few radiant bolts which scattered off the barrier. Then he performed a spell I’ve never seen him do before.

A bright white laser, its diameter no larger than a gelding exploded out of the spell circuit. In half a second my shield was destroyed and a hole that was burned into the tree behind me.

“What was that?” I asked in excitement. He had lobbed at least a dozen fire bolts at the shield, even a few overcharged ones but other than a small drop in its strength that easily refilled my, shield held firm. The sheer power of that spell destroyed it completely.

“That was a radiant lance. It's another one of the few offensive spells light mages can use; it's actually a journeyman level spell due to how dangerous it can be. This will be your final spell to learn and your training with me will be officially finished; my debt would be repaid.” Garrett said some relief came into his voice.

“Was your debt really so large?” I asked. Few of our conversations were about his life in the capitol as he didn’t seem interested in sharing it and I wasn’t interested in asking.

“Indeed, but such things are not for discussion.” He said closing the door on that point of inquiry.

He had done this several times and the only thing I was able to learn about him was that he was some up-and-coming light mage full of potential. He then fell in love and some tragedy happened, his wife died, and something happened to his daughter. I still haven’t learned what exactly happened or why she lives in the capitol and not with him, but my time is ending here, and I would rather leave on good terms than come off as nosey.

I reformed the barrier and strengthened it even further, deciding to see just how powerful I could make it. As I overcharged the spell until white lightning began emitting from the spell circuit signaling that it was becoming unstable. I made the barrier 10 feet across, and it glowed never ever brighter yellow any brighter and it would become hard to see.

“Hit me again.” I challenged.

With a smirk Garett fired another lance by the pulse I felt from him it was even more powerful than the last. This time the shield held firm and the bounced off in a random direction. Though it required so much power that maintaining it while it was being bombarded was rabidly eating away at my stamina.

“Excellent work Moon now I want you to try something. Dial back the strength to the minimum needed to maintain the spell.” doing as he said I reduced the flow of Ether until the shield was barely glowing.

“Now I want you to cast Light orb while maintaining that spell.” casting and maintaining one spell was difficult enough that I didn't even bother considering doing two at a time. But following his instruction I began to form the orb spell with my left hand.

Instantly the shield failed, and the beginning of the orb’s spell construct fell apart.

“Go on, try to cast them at the same time.” Garrett said with a tone that I have come to recognize as him giving me a task he knows I would fail. I tried again and again and the two spells simply fell apart. As I kept failing Garett simply told me to keep going. I tried with simpler spells and was barely able to accomplish much more.

“This seems impossible. “I said, finally admitting defeat.

“Dual casting is one of the most difficult skills. One of the test for master certification is dual casting two journeyman spells.” As he said this, he conjured both the shield and the light orb at the same time. I examined them in the Ether. All of Garett’s casting before this was practically perfect but the light spell looked barely stable. While the shield lacked his perfect efficiency and showed some ether leaking from the circuit.

“That looks difficult.” I said.

“Indeed, it’s something I only achieved a year ago and it’s still not perfect. “He said.

“Should I focus on that after I leave. “I asked.

“Maybe in your spare time. Dual casting is incredibly useful, but you would be better served perfecting your current spell work.” Garret said in his lecturing voice.

There was still some Ether leakage in my circuit when creating and channeling. So as much as I would love to dive into learning dual casing, his constant reminding of the importance of fundamentals calmed my ambitions, for now.

8 days later I was alone in the forest as I practiced the radiant lance spell. All around me there were smoking holes through trees. On my final casting, I sustained the spell until I burned completely through the trunk of a tree. It slowly fell over with a loud crash. A smile came over my face as I had finally mastered the spell. At that and I headed back to Garrett’s. It has been 4 days since I have completed training with him. Most of that time was spent refining my spellwork. Sten was due to arrive any day now and I couldn’t wait to see how he and the others would react to my power.

I came back to Garett’s cottage. It was to be chicken for supper tonight and one of the chickens hasn’t laid an egg in over a week so that means she was up for dinner. I grinned as I finally was able to test a theory I have been developing for the white ether. When viewing objects from within the ether living creatures like chickens for example had white ether flowing within them.

I had been waiting for a chance to test if I could copy Argon the Defiler’s tactic of pulling energy from the dead by instead using living creatures since that is the only place I can see the white ether. Garett and Lori headed into the village since a merchant was set to arrive today. So, this was a perfect opportunity.

The pulse I felt when using ether is something elves are uniquely sensitive to. Human mages can feel it too only if the source of magic is large enough. I didn’t want to risk him learning that I was a unique mage. Though I trusted him, there was no point in offering this information to Garrett without any benefit nor did I know if he would feel it in the ether if tried using it.

Heading over to the coop I grabbed up said chicken. I turned my gaze into the ether looking at the struggling chicken as I held by the neck. I could see the white ether flowing inside of the creature. With excitement I focused on the white ether and tried to pull it into myself. There was little resistance at first but the hen’s pitiful will was nowhere strong enough to resist me.

In the space of a second, I ripped the very life from the creature. As the ether flowed into me it felt euphoric as I consumed its life. And almost as soon as it started its life was spent and the euphoria ended. The chicken hung limp in my hand completely dead. I looked at the other chickens tempted to try ripping more Life Ether, as I have taken to calling it, from them. However, a cooler head won out and I decided not to. I thought back to Garett. The Life Ether flowing through him was orders of magnitude greater than the chickens. How would that feel and how hard would it be to take it from him.

Shaking my head I banished those thoughts. Looking at the other 8 chickens pecking at the ground another idea struck me. What if I gave it Life Ether instead of taking it. Excited, I grabbed up the first chicken I could get my hands on, noting the odd bald patch under its belly I turned my vision to the ether again. This time I focused on my own Life Ether and tried to force it into the creature. It took several tries as I instinctively didn’t want to do it. This was probably because it was harmful to me. Instantly my mind was pummeled with information on the chicken’s body. I could see its heart beating, its lungs taking in air, blood flowing through its veins, the egg being formed, it looked as if it was close to laying.

I could actually see the Life Ether I provided slowly flowing through the creature and combining with the creature's own. Eventually I started to get resistance as the Life Ether within it glowed even stronger. I was tempted to push through but if something happened to the chicken Garett would likely notice so for now, I decided to calm my need to experiment. As I dropped the chicken to the ground, it did an odd wiggle ruffling its feathers and began to peck at the ground as if nothing had happened. Taking the dead chicken, I had in my other hand I began to pluck its feathers preparing it for the cookpot. The entire time I kept my eyes focused on the chicken. Taking the Life Ether kills, so what exactly would giving it do?