Feeling the early morning chill, Septimus grabbed the edge of his blanket and pulled it tighter, feeling much comfier.
He prepared to go back to sleep when he remembered where he was.
He sprang up from the bed, all his clothes still on except for his belt; he was sleeping on his own sleeping roll within the chapel of Arkay.
Runil must have carried him to bed.
Trying to call out but suffering from an acute case of dry mouth, Septimus went to where he left his bag and took a swig of his waterskin.
The door opened behind him.
“Ah, you are awake, young friend.
I trust you are feeling well; I must admit you gave me quite the scare when you passed out.”
Runil entered the house carrying a basket filled with vegetables.
Seeing his gaze, Runil offered him a leek.
Septimus gratefully took it and began eating.
“So, Runil, what happened?
How long have I been unconscious for?”
Runil placed the basket on the table.
“I’m not sure what happened; you tell me.
I felt the magicka within you move, then you fell over.
As for how much time has passed, not long, about one night; the sun just came up.”
Finishing his leek, Septimus asked.
“So does me moving my magicka mean I can cast spells now?”
“Well, yes, but no.” You have shown the potential to do so; now you need a teacher to guide you and explore your talents.
I cannot help you with this.”
“But Runil, you said you were a mage in the Great War.
Could you teach me at least the most basic spells, please?
It’s only to test what it feels like to cast magic!”
Runil hesitated, then sighed.
“Fine, I will only teach you one spell of my choice.
Do you agree with this?”
Septimus did not hesitate.
“Of course, the spell itself does not matter; I just want to cast something, but if it could give me a better chance of surviving, I would be grateful!”
Runil cleaned his hands and headed to the door.
“Well then, follow me outside.” They both walked out and left the graveyard.
Standing in a clearing, Runil looked Septimus up and down a couple of times.
“I was originally going to teach you the Healing spell, but seeing as you are an adventurer, the Summon Familiar might be a better choice for you.”
Septimus was almost vibrating with excitement; he was finally learning magic!
“The Summon Familiar is a basic spell of the School of Conjuration; it summons a ghostly familiar.
What you summon depends on the caster; in my case, it is an owl.
Observe”
Runil proceeded to cast the spell; as in the game, a purple ball of flaming energy formed in his hand. This story is hosted at g.com.
Septimus could ‘see’ that it was magicka guided in a specific pattern; he just didn’t ‘understand’ enough to know how to do it himself.
Launching the spell, a purple portal opened for but a moment before closing again; where the portal once stood, there was now a ghostly owl.
“This is the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life…”
The owl let out a hoot and took flight, landing on Runil’s outstretched hand.
“This is my familiar.
I don’t use it much anymore, but when I was younger I enjoyed playing with it.” He let out a chuckle, reminiscing about his younger days.
“Here is how you cast it; listen closely…”
====================
“Another failure.
That is not how to do it, young friend.
You need to use more power; the connection is failing due to you not using enough magicka.
I can feel you have enough; concentrate!”
Turns out Runil was a strict teacher; he spoke kindly for the first few attempts, then decided kindness didn’t work for teaching and embraced the spartan methods.
“Ok, one more time, focus on the intent, gather the magicka, guide it closely and CAST!”
Septimus followed his instructions to a T.
As he finished casting the spell, which took a good 10 seconds, a purple portal flickered into existence for a moment before disappearing; in its place stood a ghostly wolf.
Seeing it left Septimus flabbergasted.
‘Isn’t the wolf the dragonborns’ familiar?!
In the game, every character that used the magic summoned a wolf, but that was due to engine limitations!’
“Oho, congratulations, young friend.
How does it feel to cast magic for the first time?” Runil inquired.
“It felt amazing, Runil, like flexing a muscle I never knew I had, only this muscle feels somewhat sore now.”
“You will get used to it as you use more magic; it is your physical body adjusting to the guided flow of magicka”
Septimus nodded, then pointed at the familiar in the shape of a wolf.
“So, about familiars, you said they are deeply personal.
Does that mean only one person can have one type of familiar at the time, and on that point, when it returns from wherever it came from, will the next one I summon be the same one?”
Runil pondered for a moment, his hand on his chin.
“Great questions.
For the first one, it is no; there have been studies done into the nature of familiars, but I am not very knowledgeable about them.” Runil pointed at his owl.
“I know several other Altmer that also summon familiars in the shape of owls, very similar to mine, but our personalities are not similar at all, so who knows.” He shrugged.
“As for your second question, that is a definite no.
Familiars are simple constructs; they lack intelligence and only follow basic orders, like attack, defend, scout, and the like.
It won’t be able to plan an ambush by itself, and also they do not remember previous orders.”
Runil took a sip of water.
“So, for example, familiars in their passive form are defenders.
If I were to attack you right now, your familiar would lunge at me, but if you told it not to and that I am a friend, it wouldn’t attack.
Now if you dismiss it and summon another one, it will forget that I am a friendly target and attack me again.”
‘So they return to factory settings?’ Septimus mused. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
“Do I just order it aloud or?”
“At first, begin by doing it out loud; when you improve your control, you’ll be able to command it with your thoughts.”
Septimus nodded and looked at his summoned familiar, taking it in for the first time.
It did look like a wolf, a very large and ghostly one; it was pale blue and translucent, a head taller than the one he killed on the way to Falkreath; the top of its head reached his chest.
He grabbed a stick from the ground and threw it, calling out.
“Fetch!” The familiar instantly moved, running toward the flying stick.
It did not even have a chance to land as the familiar jumped into the air and bit onto it.
“Your familiar is very impressive, young friend.
The spell as you are using it now is considered novice level, but the prowess of your familiar puts it almost in apprentice range!”
“What do you mean, Runil?
Can spells evolve?
I thought they each had a designated rank.” Septimus asked inquisitively.
“Well, yes, spells are of a determined rank, but prowess in a spell improves it significantly.
You can’t possibly believe that your familiar is as strong as the familiar of an archmage, even if you both cast the same spell.”
“They aren’t?
If we both use the same spell, what is the difference then?”
“Hmm, well, mastery for one, potency, duration, efficacy.
There are a variety of differences.
When it comes to familiars, the higher the rank, the more durable the familiar is, the more complex the orders it can understand, and the farther the range it can exist separated from the caster!”
The wolf familiar returned with the branch, holding it out for Septimus to grab.
He did so and threw it again; the familiar ran after it.
“For another example consider the School of Destruction, lets take the novice spell Flames as an example, as your mastery increases the flames will grow hotter, reach further and use less magicka, a novice user creates a jet of flames that can burn skin at close range, a master could create a beam of searing heat able to melt metal at several times the distance for a faction of the magicka, do you get it now?”
Septimus nodded, deep in thought.
‘It did not work this way in the game; you just perked up and improved spells.
I guess this is the difference between game and reality!’
“So then, how do you take a spell all the way from novice to master?” He asked curiously.
“Simple: mastery, use the spell, understand it, and most importantly, magicka reserves; sometimes quantity has a quality of its own!”
“I see, thank you for your teaching, Runil.
Sorry for taking so much of your time, and for passing out last night too.”
Runil shook his head with a smile on his face.
“No worries, Septimus, I frankly enjoyed our time; it has been a long while since someone last talked about magic with me.”
“I will repay your kindness one day, Runil.
And again, thank you!”
====================
They returned to the house together; there, Septimus fully equipped himself, consulted Runil on the direction to take to reach Lake Ilinalta, and prepared to depart.
Runil, seeing him off at the town’s edge, left him with one last kernel of knowledge.
“Life is far too short, my friend; don’t waste it!”