Magic Ways

Agon listened intently, thinking back to when Olagna had mentioned the Greater One before he sent him here, and when Louger did the same while he was imprisoned in her water den. Things still weren’t adding up. What was the connection?

“The Greater One is a being of unfathomable power. I mean, with a name like that, you’d kinda figure, huh?” Strauss let a smile creep across his face for a short moment to ease the tension, then continued his lecture. “Anyway, the Greater One can create whatever comes to his mind at just the snap of a finger. But...just because you have power, doesn’t mean you always know how to use it.”

“Watch it, Strauss...” Carine warned. He glanced over at her and exhaled.

The stories say that humanity was the Greater One’s first creation, and their home followed right after.”

“...Velicima…”

“That’s right. And when he made the first clan of humans and placed them in Velicima, he was so proud that he took it a step further and gave them each a gift, a small piece of his power.”

“...why…?”

“It’s speculated that those powers were used to further improve Velicima, but who knows? He might’ve just been in a giving mood that day. The powers he granted were based on the natural elements of the world: earth, wind, fire, and water. The thing is, these powers were given out at random, and the humans weren’t too happy with what they got.”

“What’d they do?”

“They did what humans do best: they complained. Saying that the powers were too much for them to handle, and did more harm than good. Yeah, the Greater One didn’t take too kindly to that. So he took the powers back and forced the humans to praise him for guidance so they wouldn’t die. When they began to cultivate Velicima with their bare hands, they quickly became weary and realized how much of a blessing the powers truly were.”

“Did they try to get them back?”

“Mhm. They went right back to the Greater One and begged for those powers back, but he didn’t budge. He instead erased the first clan of humans for their ungratefulness and made a second, smaller clan in their place. This time with no powers at all. When he saw how well they lived without it, the Greater One decided to share his power with one human. She loved it; the power was hers to wield, and she thanked the Greater One every day for it. But the other humans quickly got jealous. They demanded that the Greater One give them all powers, too. Instead, he killed all of them and left the woman as the only human in Velicima.”

“No way…”

“The third time around, he made one other person, and gave him a power of his own. The man was so fascinated that he cried out and vowed to follow the Greater One until his last breath. The Greater One was extremely pleased and decided to name the man and woman the true first humans of Velicima. Time passed, and the Greater One blessed the man and woman with more gifts. Beautiful creatures to hunt and skin, durable and valuable materials to harvest, all for the betterment of humankind. The man and woman were so pleased with their lives and each other that they naturally fell in love and had a child.

“And that child got powers from them?”

“No…the child was powerless. When a full week passed, and the man and woman saw that she really didn't have any power, they prayed to the Greater One to ask why. He stated that there had to be a balance of his power within Velicima, and that it would end with them. They weren’t too happy with that answer, though.”

“Really…? So what happened?”

“They tricked him.”

“How could they trick a god?”

"The man and woman 'claimed' they wanted to express their gratitude to the Greater One by showing all that they had achieved. The Greater One complied and walked with them as they showed all the wonderful things they learned. But just when he was distracted, the man and woman tore at his majestic robes and wrapped their child in them, and they began to pray, hoping that it would give her some kind of power.”

“And did that work?”

“Nope. All it did was make the Greater One furious. He took all of their hard work: their home, their crops, their clothes, and destroyed it right before their eyes, leaving them in a world of ferocious beasts. He stripped the man and woman of their powers, too, and commanded them to rebuild their lives with their bare hands. They begged for those powers back, but the Greater One refused. So they wandered Velicima, fighting for survival day by day. After some time, though, the Greater One did start to feel sorry for them."

"And he gave them their powers back?"

"Not exactly. He took his power and spread it all over Velicima, stating that if any human should seek his power, they must find it for themself. The problem is, you don’t know what you’re gonna get.”

“It’s random?”

“Yep. Guess he got so fed up with people being picky that he left it up to chance. Remember what I said earlier? Magic can be found anywhere, meaning you could get the Greater One’s power from ANYTHING. Back then, the first humans were limited to the natural elements, but nowadays, a human could get magic from the material in their clothes, or the food on this table, though I've never seen that before. As time progressed, humans decided to classify magic into two forms: Natura and Peculia magic.

“Natura and Peculia…?” Agon parroted.

“Mhm. Natura, being the standard four elements, along with the factual phenomena of the world, like lightning or snow, and Peculia, which is the more unorthodox stuff like…I dunno, a medical heart condition. But I've never heard of something THAT bizarre!” He laughed, Agon shuddered and patted his chest, trying to force himself to laugh along with him.

“S-so, you could even get it from...a blade made of deep-sea rock?” Agon muttered.

“Hm? That’s specific-Oh! You must be talking about Louger’s weapon. Thalassio, right?”

“Y-yeah…you know her?”

“Well, not personally. I challenged her to a duel once and got to see how strong that blade is up close. Short answer? Very strong.

"Got his butt handed to 'em. " Carine interrupted.

"AAAANYWAY, In her case, she has Natura Magic. Water gal. The fact that she got it in the form of a sword is just a testament to the randomness of the Greater One’s power. She could’ve easily gotten the same power in the form of a staff or no weapon at all. It's all circumstance.”

“Okay, I think that makes sense.”

“Carine has Peculia magic, actually.” Strauss gestured to her. She licked her lips as she finished her stew and cleared her throat.

“Resonance. Basically, I can take the sound vibrations I make with my voice and turn them into different shapes and patterns depending on which note I sing. One day, when I was a kid, I was singing my favorite song by the ocean. It was the song my mother used to sing to me before she passed. I got so into it that the sand on the beach started to move around me. That’s when I realized I found the Greater One’s power.”

“Is it only sand that responds to your voice?”

“Yep, seems like it. I’ve tried other things, but I guess because it was sand when it first happened, that’s what I’m stuck with. Not too bad, though; sand’s pretty cool.”

“I see. What about you, Strauss?”

“Oh! I have Natura Magic; Wind. I can manipulate it through just about any part of my body, and even imbue it into my armor. I found out when I was saving someone from falling off the roof of a building. I caught them in my arms, and a gust of wind cushioned our fall right before we splatted on the ground.”

“Wow...And Kiche?” Agon continued, becoming more and more intrigued. Strauss and Carine looked at each other and shrugged.

“No idea.” They said in unison.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!? HE'S YOUR FRIEND AND TEAMMATE!!!” Agon recollected himself.

“Yeah, Kiche is just kinda…there. Never really one for conversation, but he always helps out in a pinch! Oh! He fights really well with a rapier, if that helps!”

“Respectfully, it does not…” Agon tried to picture Kiche gracefully wielding a rapier in battle, but it was a little hard to visualize.

“O-Okay…and what about Mars…?” Carine looked away from the table, and Strauss lowered his voice.

“Mars…is a special case.”

“H-how so…?” Agon began to tense up as he saw Strauss’ demeanor change.

“Mars has two types of Natura magic: Life and Death.”

“Really…how does-” Agon looked to see Carine shuffle in her seat. He looked over at Strauss, who gripped the edge of the table with all his might; he was seething.

“U-uh…Strauss…” He snapped out of his daydream at the sound of Agon’s voice again.

“Ah! S-sorry…what did you say, Agon?” He smiled widely as if nothing had happened.

“Nothing… never mind.” Agon slumped in his seat.

“Actually, Agon...Come to think of it, what kind of magic do you have?”

“Ah, w-well.” Agon clenched his chest again and looked at his mark. He had two hours left. He looked back up at a perplexed Strauss, who didn't know what Agon was looking at. He stopped studying his chest and took a deep breath, still trying to decide if what he was about to say was a good idea.

“W-well…why don’t I show you…?