Chapter 23

“Alright, looks like you’re with me,” Andor said as he stood in front of me, an eager grin spread across his face.

Breakfast had been followed by a brief history lesson. I hadn’t known before that dragons were apparently indigenous to the eastern mountains but I couldn’t honestly have said that I had given the origin of the creatures much thought in the past. Our dwindling number was even more apparent though with the third missing seat, but no one seemed to question it. I could only guess that they didn’t make the cut, but I remembered that Rueben had been pretty impressive in throwing ice around. Between him and Tabitha, it didn’t seem like those removed were unskilled at all. At least compared to myself.

“The lieutenant tells me you’ve quite the interesting skillset,” Andor continued as he led me to a zone of the courtyard that was empty, under the shadow of one of the larger trees. Scolffice had told us that it would be one on one training and I was relieved to get the most friendly face it seemed. “Changing the make up of real objects is quite complicated, so having a natural inclination in that is useful.” The explanation went on and I tried to keep up. “So I want to work with you on replicating that, and then see about how we can expand it.”

I had a flashback to my old life, sitting in a conference at work as some man I had never seen before talked about ‘releasing my inner potential for optimum company synergy’. I forced away the memory. “Like… changing them to something else?” I offered, not sure where he was going with the point.

“Hmm, more like… well, controlling them more. I don’t just mean changing but moving, perhaps even manipulating clothes that you aren’t wearing,” he suggested, running with the theme. I nodded, the potentials coming into mind. “And that’s not to say that you won’t be able to use fire magic or other forms, but with someone who didn’t come from a training facility, it is unlikely you will be able to use magic of any kind before being at least partially adept at your natural specialty.” He looked around from where we stood, behind our partial cover of the tree, before he took off his blue cloak. He folded it in half and laid it on the grass between us. “I understand if this is a bit much to ask, but let’s start with this: lift the cloak.”

My instinctive inclination was to just step forward and pick it up; it would have been far easier to do that than use magic. I hadn’t been able to lift a rock or anything else I had attempted to do the previous day, but perhaps Andor was onto something.

I looked around, intentionally distracting myself for just a moment to procrastinate on the task. Everyone was training their magic. Some were merely taking instruction from whichever mage they were paired up with, while others were putting it into practice. Under another tree, Sarah had just coaxed out a squirrel and given it an illusionary playmate. Further still, Christopher juggled blades made of light with invisible hands. Elsewhere someone froze the ground around a tree, while another recruit made theirs sway with some method.

I closed my eyes, focussing deep within myself. Rose, help me out here, I asked her as I pushed my mana through my magisoul inside, feeling her presence. Without looking, I saw the cloak in my mind’s eye, laying draped on the ground. I held out a hand, pushing my mana to ebb and flow back and forth. This time though beyond my hand, extending it outward, like invisible ethereal tendrils of my soul. I saw them seep into the cloth, the cloak being infused with their touch, fabric threads lined with my spiritual intention and will. I raised my hand, slow and steady, and saw the cloak rise with it. It fluttered, coming off of the ground first with a twitch, then a shudder, then it rose like a kite catching wind. It came up and up, wobbling slightly but keeping fairly level to the ground as I watched it with my mind’s eye. Rose, we’re doing it! I thought, excited as I felt the cloak reach my shoulder height.

I opened my eyes. The cloak was still on the ground.

“Well, that was certainly an admirable effort,” Andor critiqued, his voice just a bit strained with forced encouragement. “I think I saw it move just a bit. You certainly have the right idea, just not the… control.” He seemed to be searching for a word and settled on one that didn’t quite capture his intended meaning, his lips pulling back and forth in displeasure.

I just wanted to disappear. My concentration had been broken and my mana had dissipated into the wind. Andor looked down at me though, with expectation that I try again, or try something else. I didn’t want to do either, but I didn’t want to let Rose down even more.

I closed my eyes again, focusing, channeling mana back and forth, extending to my hand and spreading through my fingers. I pulled my arm inward, flattening my palm against my chest. Turn into a tan shirt. My old tan shirt. Just think of home. I repeated the sentiment to myself a few times channeling the power into myself, through my clothing. It was easier than I thought it would be to maintain as it formed a sort of feedback loop, returning the current of power so that I would spin it around rather than forcing it back and forth to grow.

I opened my eyes and looked down, tentatively hopeful. Even with my hand on my chest, my shirt looked the exact same.

“Well, that was better,” Andor commended with an approving nod.

“No,” I muttered, shaking my own head in disappointment. “I can’t seem to—” I stopped, looking down again as I dropped my hand. On my shirt was a tan handprint, perfectly formed underneath. Not only was the colour different but the material differed as well, the fibres a bit thicker and heavier than the lighter blue shirts we recruits all wore.

“Now, let’s see about doing the rest of the shirt.”

—

By the time two hours were up, or perhaps even longer, I had converted my shirt from light blue to a familiar tan. I had quickly become frustrated with how little I was able to do at once, unable to pull off a full immediate change like before, but Andor seemed to ascribe for more to the idea of positive reinforcement far more than any of the other instructors we had interacted with. The end result was a fully tan shirt, and my exhausted mana usage. I hadn’t ever pushed myself like that with channeling my mana, but Andor assured me that my capacity for it would grow the more I did so, like a muscle that needed to be gradually exercised and built up over time.

We all fell in together outside of the courtyard. My stomach was grumbling, my appetite stoked in an unfamiliar way. But if everyone eats at the same time… I knew it was a risk, but with the way that our instructors had been watching us every moment, meals seemed to be the one time during the day that we were able to not be closely monitored. Unless we were disappeared, like the three so far; Tabitha, Reuben… and the other one. I felt bad forgetting his name but I was pretty sure I had only heard it the one time, when all of us had been called. I had wanted to attempt broaching the topic of our missing comrades with Andor but got too distracted with the actual magic training. But now, I could do some disappearing of my own.

I hung back, letting the others pass me by, slowly dropping further back until I reached the rear of the group. Brontus, who brought up the rear, seemed plenty eager to get into the dining hall, slowly working his way along our group, passing us by to get inside.

It was a circus inside the dining hall, even with only around fifty people inside. I figured that that would be to my advantage as the absence of just one of the recruits wouldn’t be noticed. Perhaps only by Christopher, who seemed to usually sit near me, but he didn’t seem the type to raise the alarm about not seeing someone.

I motioned for the final recruit to go ahead of me and found myself in an empty entranceway. It was just my luck that no one was behind me when I turned around and I didn’t want to wait for any latecomers. I sprinted down the hall as light footed as I could, trying to recall the correct turns. I made two mistakes but soon enough found myself in the short hallway, in front of the distinctive door, ornately carved wood and signifying its status.

“Alright, uncle,” I muttered to myself. “What secrets are you hiding…” I wrapped my hand around the handle as I psyched myself up to enter, praying he wasn’t inside.

“I insist, the sooner you see this, the better.” His voice came quiet behind me, just around the corner. “Just in my office, and you can read it yourself.”

I panicked. On one hand, it was good news in that he wasn’t in his office. On the other hand, he was about to be, coming up right behind me.