Chương 21: Chapter 22: More Discoveries

Instead of dwelling on the fact that my connection was cut off, I dig out the books I got the previous evening before heading out on my mission. I don't know enough about the magic yet to understand how someone severed my magic. Time to understand more. The dark-blue journal is soft to the touch, the leather old. Inside, the writing is aged but legible, if I hold it at the right angle. Letting the light catch the fading ink, I gasp softly as I read the first few pages.

It's like a blueprint for definitions, for training, for feeling out what I've been desperately attempting to figure out myself. Maybe it's not as good as having a living person to guide me through it, but I'll take it. Notes, like someone speaking from beyond the grave. Given my line of work, shivers run down my spine. This reminds me of the notes I used to take in my first years of Nightshade training. It holds definitions, explanations, and exercises. Magic use is a lifelong dedication, a calling, in fact.

Once you've awakened magic, it's irresistible. I flip past the rest of that page. Not even I jotted down the impassioned lectures given by my instructors. Always only the good stuff. How to get stronger. How to be better. How to make my enemies pay. A couple of pages in, I find the explanations I need. First of all, we are examining the various different aspects of earth-based power. After which we will address the potential of Channel Expansion.

Recovery Acclimation: This is when you become one with the magic around you. Allow it to flow through your body, through your channels, and leave remnants of this power inside as you allow it to pass through. This type of exercise aids our overall control of the power, allowing us to wield it without too much damage to ourselves.

Among other things, Recovery Acclimation allows for you to heal yourself, reinforce your channels, strengthen your ability to act as a conduit, and rejuvenate your body when you've overtaxed yourself. I pause for a moment and close my eyes. The feel of the magic is everywhere now that I know what to look for. It's more subtle here in my room, more pronounced out by the herb garden. I've been unwittingly doing what this journal says for the last ten days on and off.

Allowing the magic to flow through, to acclimate, to get used to me and my essence. Activating it on a constant basis sounds exciting and yet somehow exhausting. Perhaps it's something I'll be able to do even when asleep. I attempt to keep it going as I read through the next page. Germination Control: This is the plant and nature beneficial power you tap into. Where the magic user asks nothing of the power but instead strengthens the natural life and growth around them. Encourage it. We are the cultivators of life.

Ouch. That stings in an odd way. Flora is something I cultivate. I'll stick with that interpretation. Short but sweet, and what I've done on a daily basis as long as I've been alive. I can't remember a time I didn't feel or quasi hear plants. Perhaps that's what kept me alive. This slow and steady trickle of power I've apparently been funneling most of my life. Conduit Expansion: This is the asking of the surrounding energy/power around you to aid in a way beneficial to yourself or others.

In defense or attack, the magic will require energy of you in order to channel said power needed to the request. Magic is not able to act or react by itself. It must be channeled through a living conduit. Thus, it is important to give more than you receive. It is important to strengthen the bond between the magic and the user. Only then can you have a balance of power that allows you to freely engage in the use of magic. I lean back against my headboard, pinching my brow. It's a lot to take in.

Concentrating, I check my severed line of communication once more and am annoyed, again, that it's still disconnected. My own Recovery Acclimation seems rather spotty. Perhaps I'll get better at everything once my body and my channels are more open to larger amounts of magic passing through them. Which I'll only get better at through practice. Lots of it. Sighing, I realize I've been at this a while and am getting hungry. It's the first time I wish I had a stash of snacks like Xan does.

I also don't think, from what I can hear from the rock around me, that Lennick has been released again yet. Which means I can't go and talk to him. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! The unnatural silence around Aarron's office irritates me. It makes me feel like I've been defeated. I hate losing. I scan down a few more pages of the diary—it goes over ways to adapt the Recovery Acclimation for the specific areas that need strengthening.

Like healing, reinforcing channels, and whatnot. Doing this is called Fortitude Acclimation. It's so fascinating, I wish Xan was here to help me test it. In a while, I'll just go and do it myself, even if Lennick is still talking to Aarron. The next few pages detail so much information I feel like someone just talked at me for two hours. When I'm about to give up, I find one area that's underlined so many times, I feel like I should pay attention.

Channel Expansion Channel Expansion is one of the rarer forms of mage power. This won't be tested until you're deemed adequate as a mage of the earth line. It's fairly common to have a sliver of another element, but having both in equal strength is rare. There are four possible Channel Expansion avenues: Water and Earth—This is directed toward healing. Healing the earth, the plants, people, and anything that needs it.

Fire and Air—This is a highly destructive combination and is considered extremely rare and dangerous. While a lot of fire wielders must have air, or else the fire would suffocate, an abundance of the secondary element has seen some of the worst accidents in the history of Arralesh. Earth and Air—This is a sturdy combination. It allows earth to be compacted and utilized in certain building and defensive situations. It's one of the more common combinations.

Air and Water—This is a combination that allows the user to pull moisture from the air, to redirect storms, and to generally influence the weather. It must be used with great caution. Both Fire-and-Earth and Fire-and-Water cancel each other out and have, on occasion, devastated the few Channel Expansions found with both of those elements. Caution: Adding blood into the mix of magic rites has recently become a common usage.

While it may give an initial boost in power, it is anathema to the life that all elemental power represents. It will fester and rot and drain the user or donors. Eventually, the caster will pay the ultimate price. Never. Ever. Ever. Should one perform Blood Magic. Do not let the initiates of the Blood Sect sway you. Spilling life for power will never be natural. I blink at the page. Blood Magic. Blood Sect… those weird blood golems. It's all clicking together into a huge jumble in my mind.

In these handwritten pages, I've found more information than Xan managed to uncover in hours at the library. The Blood Sect uses a darker magic. Why? Where? So many questions run through my head. It feels like I should know more about it. We encountered those blood golems weeks ago. I swear they were important at the time, but so much has happened since then. Taking a breath, I jump up, store the journal away, and make my way out to the herb and plant garden.

I need a moment to gather my thoughts, to figure this out. To see how strong my own gift is. May as well check on the Datura as well. Although I wouldn't say no if I had to go back to Mirrati. The atrium really is beautiful and peaceful in this late-afternoon sun. The hunger I felt earlier is gone. Instead, I let the sun soak in through the glass and into me. There's this tranquility that overcomes me, a warmth and beauty as I reach out to each plant around me.

Coaxing it a little, using my Germination ability to pull gently and push them into getting stronger. Helping their roots find more nutrients, encouraging them to gain their energy through the enhanced sunlight that hits them. Photosynthesis at its finest. Opening my eyes again, I look at all of the plants in front of me, and my jaw drops. They're vibrant, flourishing, magical. Noticeably larger than they were when I sat down. I suddenly realize that I have to be more careful about practicing my magic.

Everyone knows I have a way with plants, but this isn't that. This is so obviously much more than just being good with them. And it's in extremely plain sight.

"Green thumb is a bit of an understatement," Lennick muses behind me. I knew he was there, but I'm still recovering from the effect of Germination. Considering I just made the plants visibly grow, I feel like everyone will know. Everyone in the Enclave has access to this garden.

"Calm down," he murmurs as he bends to feel the thickness of the leaves and inspect the plants in his own way.

"It's just me."

"I know that," I say, trying desperately not to snap at him. He doesn't deserve my current irritation levels. Especially since I'm mostly annoyed at myself.

"Maybe next time you should exercise more caution." He looks up and grins at me.

"Especially when there's every chance I could come back with someone else."

"I might just move practice out into the forest." Not sure why didn't think of it earlier. Lennick nods.

"Might be an excellent idea." I wish I knew how to create a circle of silence or something. A way to conceal what I'm talking about.

"Oh! Remember you said you activated the privacy seal on your door or something? Is that a remnant of magic from ages ago?" He blinks at me before letting out a loud laugh.

"Oh, no. Taria. No. I just closed the door. Like everyone does." Damn it. I thought that was my solution. That means someone here knows how to do that. They know magic better than me. They even know how to stop me from listening in. It's not Lennick. I can feel his magic. It's lowkey and weak. Maybe that's from lack of use. The perfect explanation for his alchemical skills. I'm so lucky he has any at all. Which means the magic user has to be Aarron, right? Lareny and Dougrant had already left the room.

Not that I'm an expert with my all of two-week-old ability to call myself a mage, but I didn't sense anything magical about the Prefect. No sense of well… his potency or a gift. So how could it be Aarron? Perhaps I didn't replenish enough of my own ability when I went to talk to Aarron. Maybe I wasn't capable of sensing him then. The thought hits me so hard it almost winds me.

"Hey, is there a device left over from the times of magic that assures the Prefect's privacy?" Lennick looks at me like I've grown another head.

"Like an anti-spy device?" I nod.

"You know, sort of like the tracker we stamp the contracts with. That sort of thing but to avoid eavesdropping." Now I feel squeamish. I haven't exactly informed my mentor about that part of my gift yet. He slowly shakes his head.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Sure. I'm hungry." I know it's not the most convincing argument.

"To your question. I'm not aware of any such a device. However, that isn't necessarily something I would know. Nor is it something I'd feel comfortable asking. Considering it's not subtle to ask if there's a reason I can't eavesdrop on our boss?" He raises an eyebrow and that's when I know it's something I'll just have to figure out myself.

"True. I was just curious."

"Learning a lot from the books I loaned you?" I nod in response, my mind still racing. It's trying to figure out just what this means. Maybe it's still here from a time long gone and activates when the door closes. In that case, though, why would I have been able to overhear Aarron and his niece? Perhaps the door wasn't completely shut then? Aarron doesn't strike me as the sort of person to have a magical gift and not let everyone know how strong he is. To use it to cement his power. I would, in his position.

"You look like you're about to fall down. Go and get yourself some food before I have to carry you." Lennick reaches over to ruffle my hair and seems to rethink it.

"You're too old for me to do that." I grin at him.

"Yeah, but you're the only person I'll ever let do that whose hand I won't cut off."

"That's super sweet of you," he says, his cheeks all rosy.

"Of course it is. I'm very fond of Lareny. She'd kill me if I chopped the hand off the love of her life."