The next three days went by quickly. Mana was mostly studying with Lysa and Eliana was spending her days at the Phantom Homestead. Cobal spent these few days with Salandra as they’d both accepted that they would have to go their separate ways soon enough. It was on the third day that they would all come together in the Phantom Homestead for drinks to celebrate becoming friends. Then the day after, Cobal, Mana and Eliana would travel back towards Jasodar.
“A toast to all of us,” Eliana proposed.
“That’s all? Nothing more to it?” Kayzel asked.
“I’m not one to linger.”
Mana chuckled. “Sometimes you have to let it linger.” She raised up her glass. “We may not have accomplished everything we set out to do, but we made some new friends, some of you even more than that,” she shot a look at Cobal and Eliana, “and we learned a lot. We saved Grac’s wife, dealt with bandits, learned a lot about the magic we’re dealing with and thanks to Salandra we should have a way to heal our friends back home. So cheers to that.”
“Cheers.” sounded from around the table. They all took a big gulp from their drinks.
The door to the inn opened. “I’m sorry I’m late, I had some work to finish up.” Lysa walked in as well. Mana asked her to join in tonight and she’d accepted, although she said she would only be there for a short while.”
“Of course, no problem, have a seat.” There was still an open chair there. They were six total including Clara, the barkeeper. She had gotten quite close with Eliana in the short time they were there, but their energy was very different to that of Cobal and Salandra. The rest of the inn was empty as it was closed for this occasion. Lysa sat down on the open chair next to Mana and took off her heavy coat. Clara poured her a drink and they all broke out into their own conversation.
Cobal turned his attention to Mana. “Did you get any good progress in the past couple of days?”
Mana nodded. “I think so.” She took a sip of her drink. “I’ve been thinking a lot about the theory of magic and how it seems so rigid while it shouldn’t be. I talked about this with Dionil as well and he said that he liked my theory but had no knowledge to follow up on it. There wasn’t really much to learn about it in Saphestan so I kind of dropped the idea for a while. When talking with Lysa realized that there were still options left to explore. So that’s what we spent the last few days on.”
“She’s very resourceful and wise,” Lysa chipped in. “She may not have the academic knowledge of a long-time librarian, but some of the concepts and theories she brought to the table might change the way we view magic forever. It’s honestly fascinating to work with you and I’m sad to see you go again.”
Mana smiled sadly. “I’ll hopefully be back during quieter times, but I feel like I keep promising people I’ll be back one day and have yet to follow up on any of that, so it might be a while.”
“So what have you thought of?” Salandra asked.
“It started with a story from my world. It’s a story in which magic has a certain color that’s different from the normal colors and it has to do with magic. It was all made up and quite whimsical and weird in the way it was told, but I was often captivated by the title of that book, even before I read it. Like I’ve mentioned before, magic – although considered fictional – has many shapes and forms in my world. There’s the classic bookish wizards, there’s wild magic, there’s innate abilities, super powers and even scientific magic. Of course none of it is based in reality so a lot of it is bogus when trying to apply it here in this world, but I believe that creativity is a big part of magic and I think I found out something when I listened to Sala’Thania’s performance. Music is magical in a metaphorical sense, but then I realized that it’s also actual magic. Kimi’s magic comes from her music and the same is true for Sala. So if their magic comes from music, then where does other magic come from? It’s down to energy being channeled towards a certain goal, right?” She looked at Lysa who nodded in agreement.
“So if you channel your energy into something it can turn into power. That got me thinking, how could I efficiently funnel energy into something to then use it. And that’s when it hit me. Kimi has her music, so what do I have that I could use?”
“We have to add to this,” Lysa interrupted, “that we are far from certain about this theory. We know for a fact that magic requires a certain focus. The magic circles that you all encountered could be used as a focus, but many will use the text that composes the spell, the music as your spirit friend does or something of a symbol. Religious magic often takes its power from the focus and devotion towards a deity and through their aid great magics can be achieved due to the gods themselves adding energy to the casting of magic. It’s a very complex system and there are definitely creative ways to get more powerful, but the core of it all is a focus and a dedication of energy.”
Mana nodded. “What Lysa is saying is correct, but I believe that in addition to this, the use of creative energy strengthens magic much more as it draws upon those things we don’t often think about. Good art inherently makes you question things and magic makes me question what is possible in the world that I thought to be impossible before.” She smiled. “I have some ideas.”
“It’s all still a little bit confusing to me,” Cobal said to Mana as they left the library behind them. It was their final day in Marsolin and they had just said goodbye to Lysa, Kayzel and some of the other folks they’d met while studying at the library. “But as long as you seem to know what you’re doing then I suppose it doesn’t matter all that much.”
“Think of it this way.” Mana stopped walking and pointed at Cobal’s sword. “Every time you swing that thing, it takes a certain amount of energy to do so. That’s why you train. If you have more energy you can strike harder.”
Cobal nodded. “That much I get, it’s why a lot of the mages at home are much more muscular than you would think.”
“Now if you are fighting someone who is stronger than you and has trained harder, how do you win?”
“Well, you figure out what their fighting style is and try to catch them by surprise. You can maybe use your environment to your advantage or exploit a weakness in their defense.”
Mana nodded. “Exactly. To rephrase what you just said, you have to get creative in how you apply your strength.” She moved her fingers through the air and a ripple of small candle sized flames appeared in a trail behind the movement before slowly going out one by one as if they were blown out individually. “I can throw a huge ball of fire at a problem and use up all my energy at once. Or I can get creative and only set fire to very crucial parts of a structure that will still cause it to burn, but it’ll take a little bit longer and cost me much less energy. And if I focus the magic of such a spell into a creative project ahead of time, I can provide the energy up front. Kimi’s songs are an example of this, but the jewelry that Selvia had to make for Jasmine Order is another example. The energy used during the crafting of something so intricate is likely stored in a way. There were magical runes on them and from what I’ve understood when I talked to Selvia, she had to etch them in in a certain order. It seems likely to me that the initial runes carved into the metal were there to allow it to siphon energy during the remainder of the project.”
“If this is true, then couldn’t Selvia make more jewelry that could store and channel energy?”
“Exactly!” Mana almost jumped in the air with excitement. “At least in theory. Lysa is very knowledgeable but she’s not an arcanist and although I’ve learned quite a bit, there are still many things I need to figure out before I can start applying some of this theory. So what I really need to do is find someone who is excellent at rune carving and has knowledge of the arcane arts. If we can find someone like that, then perhaps we can start making some interesting developments. I was honestly thinking that Dionil might be a good place to start, but I have a feeling that we’ll end up being quite busy for a while, so I don’t know how likely it is that we can pay him a visit.”
Cobal thought for a moment and nodded. “I think that’s unlikely. Could we ask around at the palace? Perhaps one of the court mages can help or they can send us to someone who can help?”
Mana sighed. “I’m hesitant to involve the court in this as it’s powerful knowledge and you know very well what I think about the ethics of some of their previous projects. But I think you’re right, it’s probably our best bet to start there.” She smiled. “Besides, it’s not like any of the things I just said aren’t likely known by many others in the world. I didn’t just unravel the secrets of the universe, I just figured out an interesting way to apply the laws of the world that might help me become much more competent.”
“It was about time,” Cobal joked moments before Mana elbowed him in the side. They both laughed.
“Well, we best pack our stuff and say our goodbyes where we still need to, we’ll leave in the morning,” Cobal said.
Mana’s face soured. “You’re right, I’m going to miss this place.”
“We’ll come back. We have friends here and this is where our trail following my brother ends. There’s a reasonable chance we’ll have to pick that trail back up in the future.” He smiled. “Besides, we promised Grac we’d visit his hometown some time, and I plan to follow up on that promise.”
The rest of the day went by quickly as each of the three went around town to say goodbye to people. Even Selvia took a moment to visit the jeweler in town that she had visited upon first coming here and who was the one that Cobal and Mana talked to when they’d just gotten into town. Eliana had made some friends, she seemed to be able to get along with just about anyone if she wanted to and even Mana had someone she wanted to see before leaving. Since Cobal didn’t make many friends during his stay, he instead spent the time with Salandra. They walked through town, even having dinner together in a different restaurant near a park in the eastern part of town before heading home to the inn together. They spent their last night together before they had agreed to go their separate ways which Cobal still struggled with, but there was no way around it. He was at least glad that they both agree that this was for the best and that there would be no lingering promises between them. It was fun while it lasted, but it was never meant to be a proper relationship. Their lives were far too different for that. Despite fully acknowledging that, Cobal still struggled to fall asleep that night, spending a couple of hours laying next to Salandra, wondering what could have been.
Opal Kaharis 