— Professor Enna Srannamninn of Elkvale University, “A Guide on Educating the Young about the Arcane Arts,” page 16
For the next two weeks, Emily spent most of her time recovering.
It was a balance of rest and exercise. With each day, Mina gradually increased the amount of food Emily was permitted to eat. From what she explained, the magic inside Emily was feeding off her energy. So, the more she ate and the more she exercised, the more energy she produced, allowing the magic to do its thing. By the end of the second week, Emily was stronger, like she had adrenaline constantly pumping through her veins. Her stomach wasn’t constantly in a knot, and her liver wasn’t always aching. She finally had the energy to be active again.
Mina started her lightly, taking her on a few jogs and giving her some simple exercises to build her strength back up. The problem came in Emily’s body not being able to keep up with her stamina. After spending six months on the run, Emily found she could run pretty far, but she could only go for as long as her legs could carry her.
It was going to be a gradual thing she needed to work on, and it would take more than just a few weeks.
One morning, Mina, dressed completely in her monster-hunting gear, decided to take Emily up into the mountains. There was a trail leading from the back of Mina’s house that snaked up to a set of elven ruins high above the village. Up there, the wind was cool and refreshing, and thankfully, the slopes of the hill weren’t steep enough to tire Emily out immediately.
The ruins themselves were ancient. The foundations were strong, but the limestone was cracked in many areas. The pillars and archways had either crumbled or were merely skeletons of their former selves. Still, Emily found it all quite beautiful. When she asked Mina about them though, the only answer she got was that no one knew why Cresthill Valley had been abandoned. The elves just left, leaving behind the remnants of their home.
Mina had made use of one of them. Among the ruins was a courtyard with a slight dip towards the center, and set up around it were various training obstacles. The dummies were no more than leather sacks bound with straps to make it resemble a human torso, while the obstacles were varied in size. Some were as small as steel-studded wooden posts that rotated, while others were larger contraptions, such as a balancing beam with a pendulum, and paths made from equally spaced posts.
Emily looked up at the imposing pendulum. “You made all these?”
“Haven’t finished it all yet.” She walked to the edge of the courtyard, and leaned over the stone railing that overlooked the valley. “We’ll train here.”
“Is that why we’re so far away from town? So I don’t destroy anything?”
Mina grinned slightly, and glanced back at her. “Today, we’ll start you on magic.”
“I know some basics already. When I was eight, someone from the University of Pecattum came to Pillio’s Watch and thought I had what it took to be a witch. I wasn’t able to keep up though.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it. Magic in humans is rare. They’ll pull as many people off the street as they can with the hopes of finding one they can turn into a promising scholar.”
“But if I’m the Conduit, why couldn’t I keep up?”
“Puberty.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“The greater history of Conduits is mostly forgotten. You can thank Queen Lockhart for that. We know a few things though. A Conduit is born, but their powers remain dormant until their bodies can maintain it.”
“Woulda still been nice if it manifested sooner.”
Mina shook her head. “Draven has people inside the universities to keep an eye out for potential conduits. You would have been discovered sooner.” She pushed off the fence and turned to fully face Emily. “Tell me what you already know.”
“I know magic is dangerous. We use spells to help channel it into controlled forms so it isn’t so chaotic.”
Mina nodded. “You kept studying after the university?”
Emily laughed dryly. “I smuggled out tomes for telekinesis and pyrokinesis. It was the only way I’d be able to keep learning.”
“Which do you prefer?”
“Telekinesis comes easier, but its hard to maintain. I can lift and pull things lighter than me, but that’s it.”
Mina pursed her lips, pacing for a moment. “We’ll have to start with pyrokinesis. There’s no greater magic for a monster hunter to use.”
“Why not telekinesis?”
“I’m not familiar with it, but there are others in Cresthill who are. I’ll talk to them about helping you strengthen your hold of it.”
“What about the other forms of magic?”
“We’ll need to find you teachers. Geokensis, hydrokensis, and aerokinesis must all be handled in their own way. Then there is the ability to control lightning, life, and death. There is much to magic, but we focus on one thing at a time.”
“O-Okay…” Emily nodded hesitantly. “P-Pyrokensis it is…”
“Don’t be so nervous about it. We won’t be burning any churches down anytime soon.”
“You say that…”
“I know it. Remember, magic is in your blood. You’re it’s master.”
“Then why does it feel so hard to control?”
“Because it still requires physical and mental effort. Magic isn’t just some abstract force floating in the air. It’s real and tangible. Imagine it as raw, chaotic energy. When you conjure a fireball, you’re taking that chaotic energy and forging it into a structured, elemental expression. The more complex a spell, the more effort it requires. For someone like you, lighting a candle would be akin to walking, but conjuring that fireball would feel more like lifting a boulder.”
Emily fell quiet, glancing away awkwardly. “And what I did the other week was—”
“Equivalent to hurling a horse. Other spellcasters couldn’t do that. Your gift is pushing you past your limits. But be careful. When magic drain’s most people, worst that can happen is they end up exhausted and starving. Difference with you is you can keep going when you’re exhausted, but the magic in your blood will start finding energy elsewhere.”
Emily glanced nervously at her palms.
“You’re not invincible. Pay attention, and don’t rely on it. It’s a tool. Once you’ve built up the strength and tolerance to handle magic, though, you shouldn’t need to worry about it destroying you. Until then, you need to figure out how the element works. You don’t get to just throw fire around or churn up waves without understanding how they form. Controlling magic is like walking a tightrope. You’ve got to keep your focus sharp and steady. Envision how the element will respond to you. No room for distractions.” Mina gestured to one of the nearby training dummies made from hay and wood. “See those targets?”
Emily tilted her head. “Yeah?”
Mina held out her hand and made a quick gesture with her fingers. An inferno erupted from her palm like a stream from a dragon’s mouth. Emily stumbled back as the air grew hot. When the fire died down, only an ash pile remained. “Fire doesn’t leave much room for subtlety,” Mina said, withdrawing a cigarette from her inner coat pocket. “But it gets the job done.”
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Emily’s mouth gaped open. “Wait… you can do that?” she practically shouted.
“Like I said, fire’s a useful tool for a monster hunter,” Mina remarked dryly, then snapped her fingers, lighting the tip of the cigarette. “A damn useful tool.” She drew deep and blew out a fast jet of smoke. “But it’s unpredictable and difficult to control. Even for a vampire, it can be draining to excessively cast spells like that. A good tool, but a risky weapon.”
Emily blinked at the ash pile. “I think it worked pretty well…”
Mina nodded. “You can’t control something you don’t understand. You have to feel its rhythm. Let it guide you. Your mind tells the element what needs to happen, but it’s your heart that makes your body follow through.”
“I remember the professors talking about it. We study the element by observing it.”
“You try to become one with it.”
“You want me to become one with fire?”
“Metaphorically.” She flicked her wrist and ignited another training dummy with a small spark. The fire crept up and ate away at the straw, fabric, and wood. It was chaotic as it swayed and crackled. There was no rhyme or reason to how it moved, except maybe the wind, but even that was light this day. ‘Mesmerizing’ would be a good way to describe it, Emily thought. But beyond that, she didn’t see anything noticeable or out of place. It was merely just a flame.
“I have to be one with it…” Emily muttered.
“Think of it like steering a horse.”
“But I don’t know how to do that either…”
“Doesn’t matter. When you’re steering a horse, you don’t yank the reins and hope for the best. You guide it. Show the horse where to go.
“Except this horse is made of fire and it’ll burn my ass if I’m not careful.”
“A horse isn’t much different,” Mina said with a slight grin. “All that chaos before was you wrestling with your own power, not guiding it.”
Emily stepped closer to the fire and felt the warmth against her skin. She tried to focus on how it prickled, how it made her sweat. Curiously, she raised her hand toward it, and swayed it, trying to steer the direction of the flames.
Nothing happened.
“Clear your mind, and think only of the flame.”
“I tried.”
“Not hard enough. It’ll take time, even for you.” She took another drag and exhaled through her nose. “Takes years for anyone to firmly grasp the basics, but it shouldn’t for you. It all stems from patience and observation. Some of the strongest magic users are the ones who have been around the longest. Take time to breathe, to feel the the heat and the sun on your skin.”
“The sun?”
“It’s your greatest source of heat. At night, or in the cold, pyrokinesis is harder to summon. Same with water; you need moisture. Earth; proximity to natural ground. Air; well, that’s trickier, but it depends on environmental conditions like wind or pressure.”
Emily looked back at the burning dummy, and held her hand out again. She took a deep breath.
“Don’t brute force it,” Mina put a hand on her shoulder. “We’re only meditating today.”
Emily frowned a bit. She would have liked to start off by doing something more exciting, but it did make more sense to take things slow.
“We’ll sit for a bit. Take deep breaths. In through your nose, and out through your mouth.”
And for a while, that’s what Emily did. She sat cross-legged a few feet from the burning dummy, letting the heat roll over her. The flames licked and flickered, devouring the straw-stuffed figure. At first, she couldn’t look away. There was something both mesmerizing and horrifying about the way the fire consumed the dummy. When it at last crumbled to ash, they sat longer, feeling the warmth of the sun. Eventually, Mina brought Emily back inside and sat her in front of the hearth. She stared at the fire until her eyes watered, trying to discern its rhythm. But no matter how hard she tried to focus, her thoughts began to wander. This wasn’t all that different from her lessons at the University of Peccatum. Back then, they’d been obsessed with her mastering telekinesis, lifting objects, manipulating tools, even pulling doors shut with a flick of her wrist. Meditation and observation were supposed to be the keys to unlocking her potential, but even then, it was mind-numbingly dull. Watching a flame was no different.
She wondered how anyone managed to focus on one thing for so long? Her professors had called it discipline. Emily called it torture. She glanced toward Mina, who sat on the couch behind her, reading casually. Mina wasn’t like the professors back at the university; she didn’t care about accolades or potential. She cared about survival. And for Emily, survival was suddenly very personal. By the time the afternoon sunlight slanted through the windows, Emily’s mind was already halfway across the valley, imagining herself anywhere but here.
But she knew she needed to focus. It was important. Her life was on the line. So, regardless of the boredom, she tried her best.
When the first few days blurred into a week, Emily thought she might go crazy. Staring at a flame for hours a day was beyond grating. But, eventually, Mina pulled her away from her observation, and back to the training yard.
“There are three things you’ve got to get a handle on before casting. Your energy, your focus, and, most importantly, your emotional state. The elements don’t just answer to your will, Emily. They answer to what’s brewing inside you.”
Emily shifted her weight. “That… explains a lot,” she murmured, half to herself.
Mina snapped her fingers, and a small flame sparked to life atop her thumb. “Fire loves passion. It’s wild, unpredictable, and it doesn’t take kindly to hesitation.”
Emily bit her lip. “So… what do I do? Just snap my fingers?”
“Not yet.” Mina extinguished the flame with a flick of her wrist. “There needs to be intention. You’ve got to see what you want it to do and believe it will. That’s where spells come in, they help focus your intent. Hand gestures, body movements, and even spoken words are all tools to channel magic. When I snap my fingers, I’m not just making a sound. I’m telling the air around my hand to heat up until it ignites. You need to feel it. Visualize it. Demand it.”
“What if I… what if it’s too much? What if I lose control again?”
“You’re here to learn how to wield it, not fear it. The spell we’re starting with is as simple as it gets, but don’t let that fool you. It’s not about the snap, it’s about what’s happening up here.” She tapped her temple. “The gesture just keeps it controlled.”
“Okay…” Emily muttered. “I think I can handle that. The air here is already kind of warm.”
“Exactly. You’re not pulling a flame out of thin air, you’re convincing the air to transform. It’s an act of will.” Mina retrieved a short candle from her inner pocket. “Now, I want you to snap your fingers, and picture lighting this.”
Emily gulped. It seemed so simple, and yet, she knew this wasn’t going to end well. She couldn’t think of a single time she had summoned fire without it destroying everything around her. She didn’t want to burn down the mountainside. There were enough pines here that she knew she’d start a forest fire.
But she had to try right?
Emily raised her hand, ready to snap. All she had to do was light the candle, not burn everything down.
… not burn everything down…
Don’t burn everything down…
Don’t…
Snap!
Nothing.
Snap!
Still nothing.
Emily paused, narrowing her eyes. Her heart was racing.
“Keep trying,” Mina said.
Snap!
Nothing.
Snap!
Nothing.
Snap!
Nothing.
Snap!
Nothing.
“Don’t overthink it. Just imagine the wick sparking.”
Snap!
Her heart skipped a beat.
Snap!
Why couldn’t she do this?
Snap!
She was going to burn everything down again.
Snap!
A spark of heat jumped to her fingertips. Emily pulled her hand back.
Mina narrowed her eyes. “You alright?”
“I don’t know…” Emily muttered. “I… I don’t think I can do it. Not right now.”
“You can.”
“I’m going to burn everything down again, I know I am.”
“Don’t doubt yourself. You can do it.”
Emily opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out.
Snap!
Nothing.
Snap!
Still nothing.
She went at it for hours, but still nothing. Mina eventually tucked the candle away. “It’s alright. We’ll try another day.”
Somehow, hearing those words hurt harder than Emily expected. She knew she could do better, she had seen what she was capable of she had felt it. Why wasn’t it working now? Her heart only raced faster as the frustration ate at her.
“You should get back to resting,” Mina said.
Emily stared down dejectedly. As she went to bed that night, she found it harder to sleep then normal. She kept glancing over at the fireplace Mina had lit to keep her warm. The flames were dancing behind the grate, flickering and crackling, and yet all she could hear was the voices of her old professors.
“Lost cause.”
“Hopeless.”
“Waste of my time.”
Her knuckles whitened. She wasn’t any of those things. She knew she wasn’t. For much of the night, Emily stared at the crackling fire. Even if she was struggling now, she wouldn’t always. She was going to do this. She was going to prove them wrong.
She’d keep trying tomorrow.
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