The Specks of Life

Chapter X

The Specks of Life

The vampire maid filled Galakei’s cup and moved behind the Mage, where she stood like a porcelain statue.

Galakei lifted the crystal cup to the light and studied the wine within. It was bright red, as intense as Galakei’s eyes.

After dinner, Galakei had invited the three travelers to her office, where they were served drinks. The office was a cozy place for someone who enjoyed reading and other intellectual hobbies. At the end of the room, there was a desk, where Galakei sat at the moment, a magnificent fireplace franked by two windows, took most of one wall of the room, on the opposite wall lay a comfortable reading chair situated next to a massive bookcase full of books, and facing the desk was a sofa, perhaps for her to nap, now occupied by Enji, Silma, and Sol.

Enji waited in silence as Galakei enjoyed her drink. Finally, her attention diverted from the wine to her guests. Enji didn’t know if she had been putting her thoughts in order before speaking or if it was just a theatrical gesture on her part.

“Thus, you want to become a mage,” it was more of an affirmation than a question uttered by the mage; therefore, Enji didn’t reply.

“Eithea, in her letter, stated what your intentions were,” she continued in her peculiar hissing voice. “Nonetheless, to become proficient in magic to the level required by the Mage Court might take years, and by that time, Ultonaliefang might already be dead. Many mages perish every year defending the Kingdom against the [Graks].”

Ultona...what? But something else was more important to ask: “What do you mean? What is a grak?” To Enji, the unfamiliar term grak sounded more ominous than the possibility of Tona dying before he could be sent back to Japan. I hope it’s not the Demon Lord’s army.

“For many years, we have been fighting a war against beings from the World of Shadows. Up to recently, we had been at a stalemate, but the balance had recently begun to swing in their favor.” Galakei raised her cup, and the maid girl refilled it. A skeletal finger slid around the edge of the cup in a playful manner before taking it to her lips. Her eyes went back to the boy before her. “The [Graks] are monsters that have no resemblance to any other creature in this world; therefore, it is assumed that they spawned in the World of Shadows. The thing is, no one really knows where they come from, and the World of Shadows is just an invention of some ignoramus.”

“Another plane or dimension?” Enji, reflexively, proposed, based on his exposure to manga and anime, particularly in the fantasy genre.

“Another plane...uhmm.” Galakei contemplated the red liquid in her cup for a few moments. “Illuminate me as to what you refer to those terms.

Enji felt the same way he did when he answered a question in school and his professor asked him to elaborate further. To reply, he needed to rely on what he had learned in his math and physics classes, as well as information he remembered from the internet. “Take, for example, a cube, a square box.” He drew the shape in the air with his finger. “Each edge represents a dimension and the faces a plane. Width, height, and depth make up the three-dimensional world we usually see.” He swept his hand in the air and continued, “Several theories suggest that time is the fourth dimension. This means that the original cube, just lying still, might inhabit a different dimension over time. The same is said about motion in space over a period of time. Others have suggested that the space between two or several three-dimensional objects constitutes additional dimensions.” He stopped when he felt the gaze of his companions sitting next to him. He looked at both sides. Silma and Sol were gawking at him with their mouth agape.

“What?”

They both shook their head.

“Interesting concept...” Galakei leaned forward on her desk with a grimace that was supposed to be a smile, but her skull-like complexion made her look like some escapee from a graveyard. “I have changed my mind!” She rose from her chair. “I’ll teach you magic!”

“Huh!”

***

“Can you read this?” Galakei gave Enji a book, a grimoire, for him to begin practicing incantations.

“It looks like the same book Silma has and was teaching me to read. Gal—How should I address you?”

Galakei glanced at Silma sitting in the far end of the room, making gestures to Enji to remain quiet. This room was Galakei’s workshop, a laboratory of sorts. Alchemy-type apparatuses occupied most of the tables surrounding the room, except the table where they now sat. On this table, in addition to several old leather-bound books, there were also magical measuring devices composed of crystals mounted on metal frames.

“Everyone else call me Mage...” She stared at Silma, who had stopped making gestures and was sitting straight like a ramrod. “In your case, Galakei is fine, but seeing how polite you are, you are free to use the ‘lady’ prefix. Yes, the books are the same. I wrote this grimoire and several others used by the court mages.” She pointed to the bookshelves. Enji’s opinion of her rose considerably. “Have you learned any of the incantations?” Galakei asked.

“I memorized the ‘little fire’ and the ‘illumination’ spells.”

“Try the little fire.”

Enji leafed through the book to the page where the spell was written. Without looking at the book, he recited the words the same way that Silma had taught him, but there was no effect to his incantation.

“Do you understand what the words mean?” Galakei leaned closer, staring him with her red eyes. Enji didn’t feel fear or revulsion; instead, he felt pity for her. She had been a beautiful woman before the curse, which she chose not to elaborate on when she mentioned it.

“Are you listening?”

“Sorry, I was going over them in my head,” he lied. “Most of the words, I know more or less the meaning. What I don’t grasp is what they mean in the context of magic. For example, ‘Gather from the essence of life that the gods have bestowed on the world the food of embers.’ What is the essence of life, and what is the food of embers?”

Galakei stared at him for a moment before replying. “The essence of life is what surrounds us and of what everything is made of. I oftentimes refer to it as ‘specks.’ The ‘God’ part is a carryover from olden times. Incidentally, I’m not particularly devoted to any particular God. And for the food of embers...” Galakei rose from her chair and walked to the stone fireplace. She picked something and brought it to him.

“This is the ‘food of embers.’ It’s the fuel and at the same time the result.” She threw a piece of charcoal in front of Enji.

He took it and looked at it without understanding.

“The next line of the incantation is ‘twice the liquid of the flames.’ The ‘liquid of flames’ is what I choose to categorize as the ‘divine speck’ since it is the essence that, in part, composes water, but alone, it will ignite into flames.”

A sudden suspicion came to Enji’s mind. Some of what Galakei had said sounded familiar, but not with the words she used. He was sure he knew the answer, but it felt like trying to remember a name, and it would flit away after he had it at the tip of his tongue. It has to do with water...

Galakei sighed. “It’s late. Let’s retire for the night; we shall meet again on the morrow to continue with your training.”

“Oh. Alright.” Enji felt disappointed.

After their goodnights and each heading to their rooms, Enji lay in bed thinking about various things for a while. When the day’s excitement faded and tiredness began to settle, his eyes started to close. With a flash, it came to him. He sat straight up with his eyes wide open.

“H2O! The liquid of fire is hydrogen!” he shouted. Immediately, he clamped his mouth and listened to see if anyone was coming. Did I wake her? He lay back on his pillow, gazing up at the pitch-black darkness.

***

“We shall see you soon,” Sol said to Enji as a farewell and mounted his horse.

“Take good care of yourself. I’ll bring what you asked for.” Silma put away the strip of parchment paper on which Enji had written the name in Japanese characters that appeared on the cover of the book he wanted. Sol handed her the bridles of her horse, and with a jump, she straddled the mount.

Sol and Silma were returning to Eithea’s farm, and Enji would remain with Galakei to continue his training. Enji asked for his clothes, backpack with school supplies, and the physics textbook. He told Silma that they could keep the other books for the time being so that they could look at the pictures. Popa would have loved mangas, but I didn’t bring any.

“Are you guys going to be alright going by yourselves?” Enji looked at the forest beyond the gates. Will those bandits still be around?

“We can move faster without your added weight,” Sol replied.

So, I’m deadweight...

“Sol!!” Silma admonished Sol when she saw Enji looking dejected. “Enji, what he means is that since I’m riding alone, the horse would not be burdened by the weight of two people.”

“Don’t worry, Silma, I understood.” Enji forced a smile.

She seemed to want to say something else, but changed her mind and just gave Enji a little wave.

They led the horses out of the gate, stopped, turned in place, and waved. Enji looked behind him. At the house entrance stood Galakei, Ulua, and the four vampire girls. Elpinia was standing on her toes, waving at Sol. She sure is devoted to him.

Mayfol closed the gates and headed toward the house. Enji followed him inside.

***

Enji studied the “little fire” incantation that he had copied to a wood slab. “Lady Galakei, you told me that the reference to the gods was not necessary, right?”

Galakei stopped writing on the parchment before her and looked at Enji. “Affirmative. I generally omit it when I chant to shorten the cast time. Nonetheless, certain words and phrases can’t be shortened.”

Enji scratched out the references to the gods and a few other things he considered superfluous, then looked at what was left.

--Hear me. I shall cast a small flame.

--Attach upon my body the vestment of the Sug!

--Gather from the essence of life the food of embers.

--Gather from the essence of life twice the liquid of the flames.

--Unite in a matrimony of harmony.

--Ignite with the essence of life above my hand!

--Culmination.

He stood and walked to where Galakei was. “Will this still work?”

Galakei gave it a cursory glance and replied, “Yes. Try chanting it yourself.”

Enji went back to the workbench and prepared to cast the spell. He memorized the shortened version in his head, and when he felt ready, he began chanting. The words flowed effortlessly; his pronunciation and voice pitch were perfect; however, nothing happened.

He glanced sideways at Galakei, but she wasn’t paying attention to him.

What am I missing? He looked at the incantation and thought that there were lines he still did not understand the meaning or purpose of. He took a second tablet and began writing another version of the spell using familiar words and symbols. If the essence of life is the air around me... He wrote: ‘Gather from the air the Carbon element...’ and ‘Gather from the air twice the Hydrogen element.’ If I remember correctly from my science class, the hydrogen molecule exists as a pair of atoms... so twice should be... He erased some of the words. “These two should be united... Then it should be shortened to CH4.”

“Are you saying something?” Galakei inquired.

“No, no. I was talking to myself.”

Galakei hummed in thought for a moment but continued with her writing.

CH4... I don’t know what this is. He needed the physics textbook to check the periodic table and compound formulas. He had chemistry as part of integrated sciences back in middle school; though, his recollection of the formulas was hazy at best. He began to mumble, “So, the CH4 has to ignite with air... air... Oxygen!” He glanced at Galakei after shouting the last part; she ignored him. He wrote down the new element. He looked at the second line, which meant something like surrounding oneself with the Sug. What is the Sug?

He attached numbers to the front of each line to make it easier to reference in his notes, and that was when he got his eureka moment.

Could it be? Enji rewrote the spell.

Stunned, he slumped back in the chair, his eyes wide.

“It is just BASIC!”