Chapter 6

Since I was going to be an elementalist, I would need to study what exactly the elements were. So I set about studying them. Since Earth was the first element, I paid particular attention to that. I had many conversations with Medes about it.

My soul had finally refilled his mana pool. I had been chomping at the bit for the last few weeks waiting for it. Medes had told me to wait until my pool was completely full before I went mad practicing magic. At last, it was time for me to do my first magic.

“Now that your soul is full of Spirit Mana, it’s time to cast your first effect. I want you to create a ball of light. Remember that magic is all about intention and will.

“Hold out your hand and fill the palm of your hand with Mana”

“Now will it to become light.”

It took me a few minutes to figure it out, but I did it. I had cast my first real magic effect. I was over the moon.

“Good job, Alex. That was very well done.”

“Thank you, Medes. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Now that I am formally a magician, what do I do? Are you going to give me some spells to practice?”

“I could give you some spells if you ask me for them, but I think it would be better for your magical growth if you made you own.”

I could see his point, so I sat on the sofa to think about it.

“Do you have any advice on where to start?”

“A good place to start would be to practice bring forth your mana and returning it to your mana pool. Bring it out just like you did for the light ball. But don’t use it, just return it to your pool. You need to be as familiar with this as you are with making coffee in the morning.”

I sat on the sofa bringing forth mana and returning it to the pool. I was only able to do this for a short while as I developed a raging headache. I went down to my basement hideout and sat in the dark with my eyes closed until it went away.

While I was sitting there, one of my earlier conversations with Medes came to mind. In the very first conversation we had had after I declared my intention to become a magician he had mentioned the various types of people inhabiting the magic world. He had told me that there were some real scumbags out there. I would need to be able to protect myself. I determined right then and there that I would do my best to keep my head down and stay hidden until I had at least a modicum of power. I would also concentrate on offensive and defensive effects when I had my elements.

After the headache was gone I stayed in my chair thinking about what types of effects I could do. I rethought the ball of light Medes had had me do. I brought out a small packet of mana and tried to form it into a dart, something long, thin and hard that I could use to protect myself with. I got lucky on the first try. There was now a very small pinhole in my basement wall. It was soon joined by others.

I wondered if I could heal myself. I made a very small cut on my finger and tried to will it to heal, a not very successful try. Since magic was all about will and intention, I would just have to keep practicing it.

I created a Dispel Magic Effect. I got a water bottle out of the fridge and emptied it out. I set it on the coffee table in the living room and filled it with mana. Them I tried to dispel it. It took my a few tries but I finally got it.

The next effect I thought of was a Spirit Shield effect. I wanted to find a way to protect myself from magical attack. Try as I might I couldn’t think of a way to achieve it, let alone test it. I had to go to Medes and get the spell from him. It may have been a blow to my self esteem, but at least I had it now.

I went to Medes a few days later.

“While I’m waiting to gain enough experience to try talking to an elemental why don’t you teach me about some other school of magic? Which one would be the best for a novice like me?”

We discussed various schools, their good points and their bad. In the end I decided, at Medes’ urging, on Divination. Divination is not only the ability to see far away places but also lets you see the essence of things. This would be absolutely essential when it came time to study Enchanting, Conjuration, Summoning and just about any other school of magic.