The Nature of Magic

“There are only two kinds of magic,” Morenna explained, “fundamental forces and energy. All the different styles of magic are…specializations. Interpretations of individual sorcerers, focusing on one kind of force or energy.”

Ophia blinked and tilted her head. “What’s the difference between a force and energy?”

“Now, I’m not a natural philosopher,” Morenna warned, “so I can only explain the basics as I’ve understood them, which isn’t very complete. But basically… Energy has to come from somewhere and go somewhere. Forces just are.”

Ophia frowned in confusion.

“Like…fire, for example,” Morenna said. “That’s energy. In nature, it comes from somewhere—fire needs fuel, and air. And it goes somewhere: it heats things around itself, and converts substances into other substances. Ash and soot.”

“Okay,” Ophia said slowly. “But…more or less everything works that way, right? Everything is connected in some way to everything else. Existence is a web, I do know that much natural philosophy. What would be an example of a…fundamental force?”

“Well…gravity.”

“Is…gravity not energy? What’s pulling us down, then?”

“Apparently not,” Morenna said uncomfortably. “This is all extremely advanced stuff, Ophia; I only understand it insofar as it applies to magic. What I was told is that it’s the nature of things to move toward other things, unless some outside energy prevents them. The only form of it we see is things moving toward the world itself, because…it’s the biggest thing in existence by far. But it’s not energy making it do that. It’s just a property of the universe.”

“Morenna, I’m completely lost.”

“I’m not much better,” Morenna admitted. “I told you, I only know the basics. Only as much as I needed to grasp the nature of magic.”

“Then by all means, let us focus on that. What about the nature of magic is…unlike the elements we were taught? Because of forces and energy and such? I have certainly never heard of a gravity mage.”

“Actually, you know one,” Morenna said, smiling. “Okay, here’s the first big shock: there is no such thing as air, water, or earth magic. All of that is gravity magic. Sorcerers just have…mental blocks, fixations, that limit the kinds of stuff they can move with their magic. It’s not the magic limiting them, it’s their minds.”

“But…Uthien is an air mage.”

“And he’s considered the weakest sorcerer among Khellvain’s children, right?” Morenna shook her head. “Uthien is a gravity mage, Ophia, he just doesn’t know what that means. The use of air is how he interprets his power, which controls how it manifests. Uthien is a great example of why the people who know physics don’t want sorcerers learning about this stuff. Without that mental limiter… Uthien’s talent is basically to control the position of any physical thing relative to any other physical thing within the bodyweight limit. Just think how powerful he could potentially be! Instead, he interprets his magic as moving air. So he uses what could be the strongest magic there is to just move the air, and then try to use the air to move other things. It’s just…layers of hobbles on him.”

Slowly, Ophia sank back into the cushions, her expression stunned.

“Water mages are doing the same,” Morenna continued. “They can control water because gravity can; they could be far more powerful if they just used the gravity directly. It has no relationship to ice magic at all. Earth magic is so rare because there just aren’t that many people with both gravity magic and a fixation on rocks.”

“Are there… What other fundamental forces have their own magic?”

Morenna’s expression went blank. “Gravity is the one you’re likeliest to encounter. Any others are outliers that only exist in tiny amounts.”

“Mm hm.” Those two-toned eyes studied Morenna’s face. “Shadows aren’t energy, are they?”

“We are here to talk about you, not about me.”

“Of course, excuse me,” Ophia said smoothly. “What about my ice magic, then? Why is it making me sick?”

“Okay, so the other kind of magic,” Morenna went on. “Ice, fire, and light magic are energy magic—your power has to come from somewhere and go somewhere. It’s at an inherent disadvantage in that regard, compared to fundament—that is, to gravity mages. Your magic takes a toll on your body in a way that theirs doesn’t.”

“Well that’s just unfair.”

“Everything in life is,” Morenna agreed. “The good news is that for most kinds of energy mages, there’s a way to close that circuit, so that… So the toll pays itself, in essence.”

“Ah!” Ophia brightened. “Unfair in my favor! I like it!”

“Life magic, for example. It is not a subset of earth magic, that’s pure superstition. They’re totally different and unrelated. Life magic is energy magic—chemical energy. They’re drawing power from their bodies, and using that to change their bodies, in a perfect loop. They got the easiest kind. Other types of energy magic have to find or create their way to balance the scales.”

Ophia sat bolt upright. “That’s why you said ice magic is tied to fire!”

“Exactly. Sister, what you have is thermal magic. You are manipulating heat.”

“But…my magic has to do entirely with cold.”

“And cold is the lack of heat. When you create and manipulate ice, you are sucking all the heat out of an area. And…that has to go somewhere.”

“Into me?” Ophia looked aghast. “No wonder I get fevers.”

“Well…yes and no. For example, say that ice spear you cast earlier.”

“Ah, like this!” Ophia held up a hand and, with a swirl of air and snowflakes, the spear of ice appeared hovering above her palm.

Morenna looked warily at the combat spell being conjured in her sitting room. “Please be careful with that. All my things are in here, and I can’t replace possessions as easily as you can.”

“It was just a little demonstration.” She banished the spear with another little flurry of frost that melted on the air. “Anyway, you implied the heat would go into me, but… I don’t feel anything like that. I never do.”

“For any one spell you cast, no, you wouldn’t. If we were just talking about pure physics, about science… Well, sucking enough heat out of the air to do that and drawing it into your body would probably just kill you, instantly. Magic isn’t physics, that’s what makes it magic. Magic is cheating. It’s…bending the rules, but not outright breaking them.”

“Ahh.” Slowly Ophia nodded, her expression clearing. “I don’t pay the price all at once. But cumulatively, over time…”

Morenna nodded back. “You get fevers because your body is constantly taking on heat.”

“And to balance that…”

“You have to learn to do fire magic, to expel heat.”

“And is Finnean wrong about that, too? Can people learn multiple magics?”

Grimacing, Morenna shook her head. “As far as I know, the conventional wisdom about that part is correct. People gifted with magic have a talent for one type; in theory, any person can learn any type of magic, but in practice learning one outside your talent takes so much time and effort you’d never have the chance to do anything else, and for most people it’s just too hard to do at all. Is that what that stick man told you?”

“Yes, alas,” Ophia sighed. “That, and speeches about how glorious and rare a being Father is.”

“He’s very unusual for being able to use two types, but…some people are just born with oddities. Sometimes people are born with two heads. They usually just die, but he gets to be Emperor. Life is unfair.”

“And that’s what I have to do to survive?” Ophia said plaintively. “Learn fire magic, against all odds and possibilities?”

Leaning forward, Morenna smiled. “Sister, no—it’s nowhere near that bad. You’re a thermal mage. You already know fire magic. We just have to…figure out how to make it work.”

Ophia leaned forward in turn. “And you know how?”

At that, Morenna winced. “I…well… I have…theories.”