Chương 68: Chapter 5

Shaya's breath caught as Quill leapt into the air, beating his wings to start flying. A moment later, he landed back on the ground, unable to gain any real altitude or sustain it.

"I know you're busy, but Quill could use more time playing here," Bari said.

"I know," Shaya sighed.

"I plan on studying here as much as possible, if that's alright with you. I'd love to take Marengo or Talon out of the stables to practice on the obstacle courses in my free time."

"Of course, especially since you have the gall to challenge one of my courses," Bari said with performative offence before turning her attention back to Quill.

"I think he's pretty close to learning to fly, I wouldn't want you to miss that." Shaya wouldn't. She watched as Quill leapt into the air a few more times, flapping his wings as if to gain altitude, but falling to the ground each time. She felt faint hints of his frustration each time he fell to the ground, then his optimism and determination as he got back up and tried again and again.

Marengo shuffled nervously as the gryphlet approached them, the sheer size difference irrelevant to the horse's natural instinct to avoid predators. Shaya petted his neck to calm him down, then handed her reins to Bari as she dismounted. Shaya walked down the hill towards Quill, waving at him in encouragement.

"You can do it, little guy!" Quill leapt into the air again, flapping his wings. Shaya's heart soared as he gained a bit more altitude for his efforts before dropping back to the ground and continuing his run. Just as stubborn as she was, he jumped once more, flapping hard. He climbed a few feet into the air, but started to drop down. Before he could drop more than a foot, Storm Breaker flew up to him and Shaya felt a burst of aether from the adult gryphon.

As Storm Breaker slowed his flight to match Quill's, the gryphlet's wings carried him a bit higher into the air, as if the wind was holding him aloft. In flight, Quill crossed the last hundred yards to her in short order, crashing into her with an ecstatic wark as Storm Breaker flew over them. Her little friend had grown a foot in length and gained no small amount of weight, so they toppled to the ground together as he careened into her.

Shaya laughed as Quill immediately squawked in triumph again and began preening at her wild hair, as if the strands were feathers in need of cleaning.

"You did so well!" Shaya squealed as Quill turned to kissing her face, his tongue poking her cheek and nose like a finger. She gave his feline hind quarters a scratch, his tail rising with pleasure. Between Quill's kisses, Shaya looked up to Bari as the older, larger woman rode over to them.

"Are gryphons innately magical? Is that how they can get such large bodies into the air?"

"Yes." Bari's eyes sparkled with a joy Shaya didn't see often.

"The average gryphon can channel a small amount of primal Sapphire—air magic. Storm Breaker, as his name might suggest, is more unique than that and can channel a greater range of power."

"Primal? As in, from the Titans?" Bari nodded, hesitation crossing her once-again guarded features.

"It's a… complicated matter you'll learn more about in later years of study, but in many ways gryphons are no different than Titan-spawn. Some even believe that prior to the Titan Wars, most naturally magical beasts were independent from their Titan's control."

"Incredible," Shaya said, looking at Quill with no less sympathy.

"I rescued Quill from Titan-spawn that I think were trying to corrupt him and his parents, so they must be different." Bari simply nodded again, her expression growing distant as she watched Storm Breaker bank in the air and land a few dozen yards away from them again, eyes on Quill.

"I can think… I'm starting to feel Quill's emotions," Shaya said.

"Oh?" Bari turned her attention back to Shaya.

"You didn't bind him as a familiar, did you?"

"No, I haven't," Shaya replied, feeling Quill's pleasure as she continued to pet him.

"I considered it, but I don't want him to have that kind of life."

"Well, Devi did have a bit of Silanir's blood in her," Bari continued.

"Not enough to call her a nephilim like Phaedra, but enough that you may have picked up some of Silanir's knack for animal bonding. It wouldn't come as naturally to you as nephilim like me, but combined with your natural compassion for animals I can see it working."

"Can I bond with more animals? Will my bond grow beyond empathy at close ranges?"

"Normally, it does, based on how potent your bloodline is and how close you are to any given animal. You spend more time with Quill than Marengo or Talon, so it makes sense your bond with him is noticeable."

"So," Shaya said after letting her mind wander, bringing their attention back to their discussion, "did my mother win?"

"No," Bari said after a moment, her face tightening at the memory and suggesting more to the story.

"She lost and was exiled from Asharel."

"Is that when she met Phaedra?"

"No, actually." Bari shook her head.

"They had grown up together at an orphanage in Imperial City, before the war. Devi only came to Asharel when Phaedra rushed off to join the Imperial military, feeling abandoned by her childhood friend. But that's a story for another time."

"Why?"

"You need to get to your next class." Bari frowned down at her.

"Otherwise I'll never hear the end from Basillo."

"I think you could take him." Shaya smirked, giving Quill some intense scritches before they left.

"Probably," Bari chuckled, "if I cared to solve my problems with violence. But I wouldn't mistake his rigidity for stupidity, he's capable in his own narrow-minded way."

"I'll take your word on that one," Shaya scoffed as she stood and brushed the dirt off her pants.

"Before I go, tell me something I wouldn't know about her at all." Bari's mouth quirked into a smile.

"Phaedra wasn't her first lover, and you're not her first daughter."

"What?!" Shaya's eyes widened.

"You can't just drop that on me when I'm about to leave!" If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Bari cackled.

"Be careful what you ask for."

"I have a half-sister somewhere?" Shaya asked, Quill leaning into her hand as she scratched his head.

"How much older than me is she? Any other siblings?"

"Mount up," Bari ordered.

"We can chat some more on the way back, but that's it for talk of Devi today."

"Alright, Quill, let's get going," Shaya said, taking a knee and giving him a gentle hug.

"We'll be back later, I promise!" He complained as always, but joined her with minimal judgement, at least, after a few parting squawks to Storm Breaker, who returned the growing gryphlet's cry with an ear-piercing screech of his own.

"So," Shaya said as they rode back at a trot, "what happened with the fire at the stables? Did they catch whoever set up the alchemical bomb?"

"I can't talk to you about that," the older woman replied.

"While I appreciate that you and your friends helped us save a dozen more lives than we would have without you, that's Academy business and you shouldn't talk of it further."

"What about Lan?" Shaya pressed.

"He's been missing for several days now, does anyone know what's going on?"

"Leave it, Shaya," Bari replied with a hint of warning in her tone.

"It's not on you to solve the world's problems, you're just a student. Leave the investigations to the professionals and focus on your studies. The Academy will release a statement soon."

"Fine," Shaya relented with a sigh, "it's not like I have the time to look into it anyway. But I'm here to help if I can." Bari snorted again.

"That's what I'm afraid of." +++++"I hope everyone is ready for our mid-term," Amaurea Telemnar said, the unnaturally tall and thin woman leaning back on her desk, "because I'm skipping any review lecture to move right into what we'll be learning in the second half of the course." Several of the students groaned, their displeasure echoing around the small, underground classroom. Bri and Ren were amongst the groaners, both of them already stressed by the approaching tests.

Shaya, who had expected no less from the crazy professor, shook her wrist out in preparation for one of the foreign professor's usual lessons. Alongside her, Samorn did the same, likewise silent. Shaya looked around the classroom, expecting Apricot to also be ready for her mom's long-winded lecture, but couldn't find her short friend anywhere.

"Now that you've all undoubtedly mastered basic summoning spells," Rea continued, smirking at the wave of displeasure from her students, "we'll be learning how to better leverage the aetherial connection a summoner has with their monsters. I'm sure you've felt it, similar to the connection you feel to any spell you're maintaining.

But, with a few extra glyphs added to our summoning runes, we can modify the spell's formula to allow us to project our mind into our summoned monsters, letting us experience the world through their senses."

"Whoa," Shaya whispered, thinking about all the scouting possibilities that would allow.

"While this leaves us vulnerable, our consciousness outside our own bodies, the potential is great. And the same glyphs also allow us to give more direct mental commands to our monsters, puppeting their limbs ourselves if needed." Rea's smile grew wolfish as she watched the dawning realization across her students.

"Good, I'm glad you're all paying attention now. We'll also be moving onto the far more complex—and far more rewarding—planar calling runes. Before you start calling the denizens of other planes, however, we should expand your knowledge of cosmology." With a few quick strokes, Shaya noted what she'd need to be working on for exams in a separate notebook, then turned her full attention back to the professor.

"Now we know that those who form a bond with an esper can become mages, since that esper can create channels within the mage that allows them to draw aether through the Veil, into us, then into our reality." Rea's eyes glowed red as she conjured an illusion of two overlapping globes: a dot in the globe representing the material world of Nadrendir connected by a line to a dot in the globe representing the Aetherium.

"This bond requires that the spirit and person align in their ideals and convictions, at least to a degree. But this is not a simple ordeal, for all spirits are in some way alien to us sapients—they do not perceive reality, time, emotions, and thoughts the way we do. And, as you know, the aether you channel through your circuits leaves its influence on you—which is in turn influenced by the esper you have invoked." Wait. Shaya squinted at the red glow in Amaurea's eyes. Is she casting illusions using Ruby aether?

"Samorn," Shaya whispered, "can you cast illusions with Ruby magic?" Samorn frowned, then looked up at Amaurea's eyes. Her own eyes widened just a small bit, the emotion almost imperceptible even to Shaya as she watched for it. The demure woman turned back to Shaya, hand somehow still taking notes on what the professor was saying.

"No, I thought illusions fell within my domain of Azurite aether." Very interesting.

"Scholars have tried to categorize spirits into three vague classes," Amaurea continued, her illusion shifting again to instead show a ghostly human, an elemental of shifting flames, and a shifting mass of teeth and horns.

"Class One spirits tend to exhibit motivations and thoughts similar to those of most sapients and organic life. These are the animal totems, the fragments of ancestral spirits left behind to guide future generations, and the religious Saints held together by belief and worship." The ghostly human floated to the fore, its shape shifting to match those Amaurea described.

"Most of us draw from this class to use as our espers, as their influence upon us rarely leaves us utterly alien to other people. In turn, however, these spirits tend to offer limited power: limited access to the magical spectrum, limited affinities, minimal room to grow.

"Class Two spirits care less for sapient thought and the material world, for they belong to the primal chaos of creation and destruction, of change and entropy." Rea's illusion changed, the ghost fading as the elemental took centre stage and began shifting as the professor continued speaking.

"Known as elementals, psychopomps, asuras, jinn, or fae, these spirits share a few motivations and thoughts in common with the sapients who would summon them. Deals with them are less predictable, and their influence inevitably changes practitioners to make them more alien to their own kind.

"But these spirits tend to offer a lot of power if they can be bonded and controlled. They tend to have more affinities for a mage to call upon, possess a wide understanding of runes, or can draw upon more than one colour. Their raw power also makes them excellent candidates for conjuring or even calling." But my Mo—my esper can draw upon more than one colour, and she's only Class One, Shaya thought.

"Any questions so far?" Shaya raised her hand and proceeded with a nod from Rea.

"Do espers from different cultures possess different powers and affinities?"

"Excellent question!" Rea exclaimed with a pleased clap of her hands. Shaya—and a few of the other students—was surprised by the volume the thin woman could produce.

"They do indeed! Let's compare one of your gods to my God. Both Astoria and Vulkhad are gods of the sun; however, in my culture the sun is not only a force of justice and destruction, but also one of healing and protection. This belief is so strong that Ruby-aligned espers from my culture can have affinities for healing and protection like our Goddess." A wave of surprise flowed through the class at her words.

"But how is that possible?" Shaya asked.

"I've heard of defensive runes and glyphs within Ruby's spectrum, but never healing ones." Rea's smile grew.

"I'd suggest you keep your mind open. As fledgling mages only in their first year of advanced training, there are many things you have yet to learn. Hells," the professor chuckled, "there are probably a few things that I have yet to learn, though it's unlikely."

"You're not going to give us a straight answer, are you?" Shaya continued, her tone suggesting she already knew the answer.

"Nope," Rea replied, drawing the class' attention back to her illusion with a flourish.

"Last, but certainly not least, are Class Three spirits." The ghost and elemental faded entirely, allowing the class to focus on the growing mass of gnashing teeth.

"Known as outsiders, angels, devils, demons, proteans, and titans, their shapes, sizes, and portfolios vary wildly—as do their motivations." The professor's tone became very serious.

"We won't speak of them further in this class, but note that you should never try to make contact with them. Plenty of examples exist in too many legends already—starring as villains or poor victims of their hubris." A wave of confusion spread through the class. Even Bri looked up from her notes, her brow furrowed with frustration and even a tinge of anger.

"Angels can't be evil," she whispered, "they're beings of pure good."