30

Several days have passed since the duel between Sion and Scima. Though Scima has made no great attempt to redeem his image, the mood of the other students is no longer so heavily against him. It is only Uro and those around him who show any real disdain, and only Uro alone at that. For the first time, this youngest class of students at Sagax is at relative peace, the tension relieved at last.

In the background of all this, hidden from the general students, Headmaster Mirus has been pushing forward with his plan. After the last of the people stalling the progress of emptying out the district suddenly evacuated themselves the preparations have moved quickly. After quite extensive research into the functions of the spells once cast around the grounds of Sagax, Headmaster Mirus has come to understand it enough to think to activate it once more. The magic has gone unused, understudied, and almost lost to time, the only record of it in Sagax’s own libraries, from when it was last employed, but such a revival is little trouble for a scholar of his caliber.

With the quick proceedings, both Eva and Scima have been called in to discuss the defensive measures. With the spells’ activation on the horizon, and so too their freedom drawing near once more, they are busy with the preparations themselves. Though he had gotten his fill in their duel proper, this has left Sion without his preferred sparring partner.

With how variable magic, and indeed combat skill entirely, is, Sagax Academy has adopted a more free-form approach for the sake of cultivating the talent of the next generation. They have teachers who are specialists in a wide-range of things and empty periods in the day for the students to do as they please. At the beginning of each week, each student allots a certain number of hours of training in these specialties for them to do, allowing them access to the resources they most pertinently need as they need them. In the case that a teacher is absent for whatever reason, students are advised to find another training to participate in during their now empty period.

There are only two exceptions to this rule. The first is Linea, for whom focused training would serve little point. She would gain much less with how many different things she would need to train in over the weeks, and beyond that, she is Headmaster Mirus’ own disciple and he is the only one superior to her in the academy. It was only a given that she would be exempt. The other exception was in a way a resignation on the part of the faculty. The other exception is Sion, who uses magic far too rare and idiosyncratic for any teacher to be able to aid him, and is therefore also exempt from these trainings. They say it was in keeping with their teaching philosophy to not stifle his personal development, but in reality it was largely the curiosity of their scholarly hearts to see Soul Magic so closely, and so nobody wanted to distract from his training.

In short, there are long periods of the day where Sion is left to his own devices to train however he pleases. It is much the same as how he has always trained his magic. And for all this time Sion had been refusing to speak with Scima, leaving him no companion who might spar with him. As it stands, Sion’s personal training is an enigmatic thing, with nobody to bear witness to it and nobody to understand it.

Anima is wandering around, going from class to class and peering in to watch. It seems that the teacher specialized in Nature Magic has gotten sick, while the teacher specialized in summoning magic left the city on other urgent business. With neither teacher she might go to at the academy, Anima, like the exceptions, is left to self-study. However, unlike Scima and Linea who have deep understandings of their own abilities, and as such can train themselves well, Anima does not know what she should be doing. She does not know what she is meant to do to train alone, leaving her to wander.

As she wanders, she walks through one of the covered walkways connecting the buildings together. As she walks she spots Sion standing in the small patch of grass between the two buildings, standing in their shade. He hasn’t hidden himself away, but he is in such a time and place that he would never be found normally. He doesn’t want to disturb anybody else.

The sign of his Soul Magic, the wispy blue lights are more visible than Anima has ever seen from him before. She’s entranced, stopping where she stands to watch a while longer. She had always thought of Sion’s magic as something fierce, but no longer. Rather than the heavy and overbearing force that exists behind each of Sion’s blows, there’s something gentle and delicate in his movements, almost as though he were dancing. Although Sion is always imposing in stature and often feels indomitable, watching him now, clad in wisps of blue light, he seems ethereal and almost fragile in a way.

Sion draws his body through the blue light of his soul magic. The lights cling to his body as he passes through it then flows past it, left behind, moving as though Sion were holding his body in a flowing stream. As he moves, he’s turning. He turns until he faces Anima. When he sees her, he smiles. The lights bundle together into a ball at Sion’s hands. He presses his palms together, the ball between them, and it disappears back inside of his body. His magic inactive once more, Sion approaches Anima. She’s somewhat embarrassed to have been caught watching him.

“Anima.” He greets her cheerfully. “What are you doing here?” Again she seems slightly embarrassed.

“Ah, well, both of the teachers I might be training under aren’t here, and I haven’t figured out where to go. And then I found you here.” Her voice gets slightly softer. “I hope I didn’t disturb you.” Sion smiles.

“Not at all. I was thinking I should take a break soon anyway.”

“That’s good. What were you doing?”

“An exercise I came up with a while ago.” Anima is in awe of him.

“You came up with it?”

“Yeah. I let the magic float around me and I try to have it keep its shape around me as I move. If I’m right, it should make me stronger if I can control my magic better, and in larger amounts at that. But I’ve only just started so I’m not sure if it’s really effective or not.”

“That’s incredible. You really just figured it out on your own?”

“Of course. It’s not like I have any resources to tell me what to do. But saying it was all on my own feels a little inaccurate. When I was in Clea I met Rebello Faegen. He told me that I was too tense, and that there wasn’t any flow. Though I hate to admit it, his words are what eventually brought me to this form for the exercise.”

“But getting so far from so little is incredible too.”

“Is it?”

“Of course it is.”

“Really? I always thought that doing things like this was just natural. Scima’s stronger too.”

“For most of us… even if we try to get better, we’re not this good at it.”

“I see.” Anima suddenly thinks of something.

“Ah! If you’re taking a break, would you like to walk around with me for a while?”

“Sure.”

Sion and Anima begin to walk through the academy without aim. The large halls are almost eerie when they’re so empty. But there are others like them, standing around without much to do. Whether they’re skipping classes or simply unoccupied as Anima is, it is impossible to tell. Many of them seem surprised to see Sion, his imposing figure marking him out easily, some shying away, some looking on in awe, some desperate not to be caught staring.

News of the fight has spread widely. Among those in his own year, Sion has become somewhat famous. Most of them ended up quite invested in seeing Scima fall, and so many have come to admire Sion for bringing him down, most of them none the wiser to the close friendship between them. On the other hand, many of the older students look upon Sion less favorably. For most of them, what transpired reached them only through word of mouth. Although not quite as harshly as Scima, they don’t like Sion either. As it was being passed along to them, the story became a brawl between two thuggish students more than anything else.

As Sion and Anima walk through the hall, all the other students turn to look behind them and freeze. The two of them hear the familiar voice of Linea calling out to them.

“Anima, Sion, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be training?” Anima is somewhat flustered as she answers.

“Well, we were unoccupied, so it’s fine if we take a walk, right?”

“If that’s true, then I suppose so. But wouldn’t it be better to spend the time training on your own?”

“I… didn’t know what I should do.” Sion answers her without shame.

“I was taking a break with Anima.” Linea ponders Anima’s response.

“Then would you like to train with me?”

“Alright, Linea.”

Linea leads the two of them out of the hall, returning to the patch of grass Sion was training in just a while before. Linea smiles at them, slightly proud of herself.

“I usually train in the air, but if it’s a place like this, then we aren’t likely to disturb anyone.” She looks at Anima. “Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve seen your magic at all.” Anima laughs nervously.

“It’s a little embarrassing after seeing yours so much. It won’t be nearly as impressive.”

“That’s fine, isn’t it? What would the point of practice be if we all began at the pinnacle?”

Anima creates a summoning circle. Pryte, the deer with a regal air about him, appears in the patch of grass, surrounded by his master, Sion, and Linea. Pryte locks eyes with Sion and charges at him, trying to ram his sharp antlers right through Sion’s chest. Sion grabs Pryte by the base of his antlers and braces against the earth beneath them. Pryte pushes Sion ever so slightly back, but is otherwise stopped entirely and held in place by Sion. Anima is again flustered.

“Sorry, Sion! I didn’t think he would do something like that…” Meanwhile, Linea seems quite impressed with Pryte.

“How interesting. He’s a white deer, isn’t he?”

“Huh? No, but, he’s clearly not white at all?”

“They aren’t outside of winter, but the blue eyes, antler shape, and general build all point to it. Has he used any ice magic?”

“Huh? Not at all?” Sion responds calmly even as he holds the powerful deer in place.

“Should we ask Father Mitis?” Anima sighs, and Pryte disappears as quickly as he came.

“Perhaps we should ask somebody.” Anima sighs again. “That was a failure…” Linea reassures her.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it was just because of Sion’s presence. Your Nature Magic ought to go better.” Anima’s voice is meek.

“I hope it will.”

Anima begins to cast a spell. Vines burst out of the ground and begin to twist into each other, wrapping together to form a great mass. Though it hasn’t quite reached full strength, it will take a long while for it to do so, and for only a middling gain. Linea points a finger at the vine and draws her finger across the air in front of her. The powerful vine is cut in half without much difficulty. Linea ponders it.

“I wonder… what are they teaching you during training, Anima?”

“The teachers are saying that the biggest limiting factor for my strength is the amount of magic power I can use, so they’ve been having me train in that more than anything.” Linea looks her up and down.

“I suppose the amount of magic power you have is a bit low, at least compared to the people in the academy, but I wonder if that truly is the best use of your time…”

“What do you mean?”

“There must be a more efficient way to use magic than just plainly. But I was able to skip most foundational learning and did everything efficiently purely from instinct, so I don’t know exactly what it is.” Sion gives an answer of his own.

“I haven’t been taught any magic either, but maybe it’s like breathing?” Anima doesn’t understand.

“Breathing?” Linea seems interested in the idea.

“I was trying to figure out what in particular was different, but breathing might be a good way to put it. Can you try it, Anima?”

“Alright.” Despite not understanding, Anima casts the spell and focuses on her breath. She sees marginal improvement, but Linea cuts through it without any difficulty. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. There’s no harm in failure. But I wonder why there was so little change.”

“I… didn’t really understand what I was supposed to do.” Sion answers her.

“In that case, it’s like… All things begin with the breath, and it’s in breath that all power springs forth. You breathe to gather up your strength, then you push it all out.”

“Sorry, I still don’t know what to do with that.” Linea answers.

“If you think of casting magic as like breathing, then gathering magic comes before activating a spell. The spell you’re using is twofold. You create the vines, then you twist them together. If you gather up magic and use it all at once when creating vines, then let them come together more passively, it may create a stronger result than using an even amount for the whole time.”

“Alright. I’ll try again.”

Anima gathers up her magic in the pit of her stomach as she prepares to cast the spell. She lets it all out at once, and a plethora of vines, larger, sturdier, and stronger than before, come shooting out of the ground. They come together more slowly, but the end result is much bigger, and already Anima can feel that it is much stronger. Linea cuts through it in a single clean swipe. Anima seems somewhat dejected as she does so.

“So it was another bust…” Linea smiles at her.

“No, not at all. I needed a slightly stronger spell for that.” Sion smiles.

“Good job. You’ve already gotten stronger.”

“Well, it was mostly you two.” Linea disagrees.

“No, all we did was give a suggestion. You were the one who needed only a single attempt to make something of it.”

“It’s not that impressive… I mean, Sion is coming up with all sorts of things all on his own.”

“No, I find my own path out of necessity. What does it matter if we came up with the method or you? In the end, you were the one who did it.”

Anima goes quiet. If both Sion and Linea are talking like this, she figures, then there must be some truth to it. They must be right. She stands there, not quite sure how to respond to their praise.