Babies First Magic (First Spell)
“Well, I see that you're getting impatient. So let’s have your first lesson on how to cast a magic spell.” said Sylvia eagerly.
Mary looks at Sylvia with an expression on her face that screams, “I’m obviously not the only impatient one here.” Sylvia responds to this look with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“I’ve never really taught magic before, and a hero is bound to be a good student, right?” said Sylvia, blatantly attempting to justify her eagerness.
Mary raises her eyebrows at Sylvia, clearly doubting the explanation.
“Besides, how many people have got to see a day-old baby cast a spell? That will be a sight, I’m sure.” Sylvia explains, embarrassed.
Mary adopts a thoughtful look as she considers that. She has little idea about the norms of Terra, of course, but would the experience be somewhat like a newborn being taught to interact with virtual applications?
Cyberware was heavily restricted for younger children with good reason; the physical and mental impacts were well researched and quite severe, although considering Mary had the mind of an adult, most of those impacts would not be applicable to her.
“Okay. As is traditional, I am going to teach you the simple light spell.” Sylvia announces, “As for why the light spell is the most traditional first spell to learn? It is an illusionary magic that cannot harm the caster or anyone else. The perfect spell to learn for first timers, wouldn’t you say?” she explains to Mary.
‘Unsurprising. There is a reason why I’d thought of it as a potential first magic.’ Mary pats herself on the back for correctly guessing what magic she would be taught first.
“Now, we will discuss spell structure and different methods of casting after you have successfully cast your first light spell.” Sylvia reveals, “But as you might have known, there are many different ways to cast any given spell.”
She lifts her hand in front of Mary.
“This first spell that I will teach you is the most basic that there is, no extra spell components and no flair to speak of. Just a simple illusionary light.”
“Now, watch closely. I will take things slowly so that you can see the full casting process.” At that, Mary concentrates on the space above Sylvia's hand with a look of expectation on her face.
Above Sylvia’s hand mana begins to visibly flow; in slow motion a small circle starts to morph from the freely flowing mana, and the first part of what Mary assumes is a spell circle begins to take shape, forming into an outer circle, a constant ring that hovers in the air.
As the outer circle completes, Mary notes with interest that it begins to spin in a clockwise rotation, and as it spins, the internal section of the circle begins to fill in with two glowing runes.
The runes are not a language that Mary recognises, and yet she can feel her soul resonate as she looks at them; deep inside of her, she knows what both of these runes represent. As the last of the runes finishes taking shape, the circle begins to spin faster before it collapses into itself and disappears.
In its place is a free-floating, illusionary pale light.
“And that is the light spell, one of the simplest, most basic spells in the world, something that everyone learns when they are young.” Sylvia explains with a grin, noting that interest is positively flowing from Mary.
“Now, let me explain exactly what you saw. And then you can try yourself.”
Mary nods at Sylvia eagerly.
“The illusionary light spell is built using the same components that all formulaic magic spells have; the most universal of those is the magic circle. Without a magic circle, there is no formal spellcasting, as the magic circle is the spell container. Whatever is within that container dictates what the spell is.” Sylvia explains before diverting.
“I noticed that you looked interested in the spinning of the spell circle; part of that is because mana naturally wants to move, and so the circle spins without input from the caster. But the caster's mana aspects influence both the direction of the spin and how fast the circle is spinning, which can all affect the final spell that is cast.”
‘So you can actually learn about someone’s mana aspects depending on the spin of a spell circle?’
Mary sends an interested look at Sylvia, trying to convey that she is keen to learn more, but Sylvia shakes her head.
"Sorry, Princess, that complicated stuff is for mages and scholars.” Sylvia says apologetically before sadness descends across her features.
“Elizabeth would have been able to tell you all about spell circles. All of the things that you can learn from a mage's magic circle – she used to gush about it even – but I was never interested in stuff like that; it's much easier to just smash an enemy mage's face in. Mages and their magic are far less of a problem when they’re picking their teeth up off of the floor.” She continues expounding on a worrying degree of casual violence.
“The palace has a massive library; a large part of it is dedicated to magic. You will be able to learn complicated things like that from there.” Sylvia finishes sadly.
Sylvia breathes out, visibly attempting to control her sadness before she continues, “Within the spell circle are additional details that decide what sort of spell you are casting. The light spell is so incredibly basic that, as you saw, it only has two magic runes, those being the basic runes of 'visibility' and 'light'. We will discuss magic runes in depth later; there are ways to learn and create them that I will be teaching you.”
“But more complicated spells can have dozens or even hundreds of runes; they can even have multiple internal spell circles to define multiple-step or complex magic.”
Sylvia, seeing the forming look of interest that Mary was sending her, rushes to add apologetically, “I know that they exist but don’t really use them. Again, you’ll have to look in the library for that complicated stuff."
Sylvia, seeing the look of disappointment on Mary’s face, decides to explain a bit further.
"Multiple-step magic is for the most part only used by mages. Those are big powerful spells, the sort of thing that can tear through an entire adventurer party or even armies, especially if those armies are not properly defended.”
Sylvia once again looks nostalgic as she starts to finish her explanation.
“Extra spell circles act as a multiplier, not just for the power of a spell but for the mana cost of casting it. I remember that Elizabeth was boasting that she had just learned to cast a fifth circle spell, a spell with five circles. But everything happened before she could ever show it to me." she said, depression once more clear in her voice.
“There is, I am sure you noticed, one last thing before you can cast this spell yourself. And that is the runes.” Sylvia explains, “It goes without saying, but simply lifting a rune from a spell circle by sight is an incredibly difficult skill, worthy of an Arch-Mage Hero even.”
“Who knows, maybe you’ll get there in time? But for now you’ll have to learn the runes from me.” she finishes with a smile.
“The most common way to learn a rune is via the Akashic Record. So, I will show you the runes individually, and you just have to access their records; doing so will inscribe them into your own record and thus memory.”
Mary gains a look of understanding; that was a fascinating way to remember runes. ‘But what other ways are there?’ she wonders.
“Let’s start with 'visibility'.” Sylvia, with a knowing smile, forms the rune above her hand.
Object:
Rune
Main:
Visibility
Level:
Basic
Power:
Least
“Now, 'light'.”
Object:
Rune
Main:
Light
Level:
Basic
Power:
Least
Before Mary can attempt to ask about the record of the runes, Sylvia continues on.
“Now try your first spell; it is actually just as simple as you saw. Instruct your mana to take the shape of a circle and command it to create the runes. And that is how you cast formulaic magic.”
Mary looks doubtful at that. Is it truly as straightforward as instructing your mana to perform its task?
Sylvia smiles at Mary's doubt. “Yes, it really is that simple. Basic magic is not complicated, so long as you know what you're doing.”
Mary nods in acceptance and stretches her tiny arm out in front of her body. She slowly opens her hand as she once again starts to focus on her mana.
Using the mental framework of her body, Mary easily grasps the mana within her core and tells it to gather above her outstretched hand. She feels the mana travel from her soul into her body, smoothly moving through her circulatory system; rather than flowing only to her hand, the mana exits her body through every sweat gland as well as her eyes. It begins to gather just above her hand exactly as she had ordered it to.
Mary twists the mana into a circle, and she watches again as it smoothly forms the outer circle of a magic spell.
Caught by surprise, not only by the simplicity of it all but also by how cooperative the mana is, she allows it to disperse and watches as it drifts away from her. She frowns as she tries to grasp the mana that is trying to leave her control, but while something deep within her says that what she is trying to do is possible, Mary understands that it is beyond her for now.
“That looked like it was going well. Why did you stop?” Sylvia interjects, causing Mary to look at her with an exaggerated look of curiosity.
“You just wanted to see what would happen? Controlling mana further away from your body is difficult. But higher level mages do it all the time.”
Mary nods in acceptance at the explanation before once again ordering her mana to gather. This time she does not allow it to disperse and instead starts to inscribe the runes of Visible and Light into her magic circle.
Once again the mana follows her intentions eagerly; the runes themselves form with such incredible ease that Mary instinctively understands these runes are a natural shape of external mana.
With the runes formed, the spell circle brightens. Mary feels her mana as she watches it and comes to a new understanding: when she observed Sylvia’s spell circle, she thought it had collapsed, but now it is clear that the magic circle is igniting.
The circle ignites and disappears, being replaced with an illusionary light that Mary knows that she has some limited control over.
Mary looks on in awe at her very first magic spell. The spell is incredibly basic; the spell is entirely underwhelming. But it is hers, her very first spell. Mary opens and closes her hand, attempting to gesture as Alexander would have, but finds that nothing happens; instead, she mentally sends an order to the spell, telling it to circle around her hand.
The light begins to orbit her hand at her order, and immediately Mary notices the slight connection between herself and the spell; an almost invisible mana thread connects her to it. Clearly, this thread is what allows her to order the spell and continue to power it.
“Congratulations! Babies' first magic!” Sylvia exclaims happily, a massive grin on her face.
Mary responds with a deadpan, glaring directly into Sylvia’s unapologetic eyes.
“Now that we’ve got the basics out of the way, let's talk about the types of magic that you can use.” Sylvia speaks, clearly attempting to divert Mary’s attention away from her annoyance.