Chapter IV.XIV (4.14) - Divination B

  “Now that necromancy is officially legal, do you suppose that Professor Grove will be more willing to discuss the unique combinations between it and divination?” Aoi asked him.

  “I highly doubt it,” Kizu responded.

  Unlike Professor Grove’s astronomy classes, this classroom wasn’t much of a room. Instead of the room at the top of the astronomy tower, they sat in one of the academy’s many courtyards, the majority of which was covered by a placid pond.

  He and Aoi had arrived a bit earlier than the rest of his classmates. She had agreed to help him a bit on his political studies, he’d managed to get ten minutes of information about the responsibilities of the two different noble families before Aoi got sidetracked by a tangent about necromancy. And they’d been on that topic for the last twenty.

  “Kaga Kizu?” someone asked.

  Kizu glanced up. A tall girl with shoulder length black hair looked down at him. She wore an altered school uniform, colors far darker than the standard ones. Her lips were black to match her eyes. There was an air to her, something familiar that put him on edge.

  “Yes. That’s me.”

  “Good. We must speak.”

  “And you are?”

  “Stina. But you may call me your savior.”

  “What exactly are you saving me from?”

  “The knife hovering at your neck. The threat that darkness brings. The looming doom that will consume you.”

  “Tad dramatic,” Aoi stated.

  “Oh, Princess, you have no concept of the wrath your actions have unleashed upon your companion.”

  “Excuse you, my actions?”

  “You’re a witch,” Kizu said bluntly.

  “I am indeed.”

  “But not from the Hon Basin.” That was clear from the way she dressed, if not the way she talked. He’d heard about the covens of Tross before. They were equally mad to those in Hon, though in a very different way.

  “Be grateful for that fact. If not for it, you may already have met your end.”

  “What do you want to talk to me about?”

  “I wish to forge a pact. On behalf of my coven. We will arrange your protection. For a price.”

  “Are you actually a witch?” Aoi cut in. “You’re a second-year, right? I’ve seen you around.”

  “I am.”

  Aoi’s eyes narrowed. “I can sense your soul though. You don’t have a familiar bond. And why would a witch be here getting a formal education? If I am not mistaken, your type favors apprenticeships.”

  Stina’s face twisted but she calmed herself quickly. “That, Princess. That action you just committed was violating and offensive. Scanning a soul without consent will get your heart eaten by someone more powerful and less forgiving than I.”

  “Good thing you’re weak and forgiving,” Aoi said.

  “What sort of pact?” Kizu said quickly, trying to cover up Aoi’s provocation.

  Stina licked her black lips and eyed Aoi with contempt. Then she turned her attention back to Kizu.

  “We will discuss the terms of our new relationship at length another time. It has been decided that now is not a suitable setting for discussing such serious matters. And the company you keep dissuades me from pursuing it, despite your dire plight.”

  Kizu glared at Aoi who rolled her eyes.

  “Another time then,” Kizu said. “You can contact me through my scrying orb.”

  “Perhaps.”

  With that final word, Stina strided away from them and took a seat among the other students.

  “I might be a princess, but that girl is a queen,” Aoi said. “A drama queen. Who talks like that?”

  “Witches talk like that,” Kizu hissed at her.

  “If she’s actually a witch, why would she only approach you now? Where was she last semester?”

  “She probably didn’t want to anger her coven by speaking to me without them investigating me and my connection to the crone first.”

  “Why would they care? They live across the sea.”

  “You’re rated one of the best political students in the academy,” Kizu said bluntly. “You can figure it out if you try. Next time, shut up and let me speak. You already burned every bridge I have in the Hon Basin. I need these connections.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Aoi looked like she wanted to say something more, but thought better of it. She just nodded.

  “Sorry about the execution,” she muttered. “I’ll…mind my tongue next time.”

  Professor Grove floated into the courtyard a minute later. The wisp hovered over the pond and the class quieted down.

  “Welcome, students.”

  This was Kizu’s first time in a B level class. His experience before had been either C or lower, with the exception of Brewing S. And the reception from this class was notably different from the lower levels. Students sat on the grass, parchment in hand with stylises posed for note-taking. They attentively listened and hung on every syllable to come from the wisp. Last semester in Astronomy E, Kizu recalled half the students falling asleep in the dimly lit classroom.

  “It is wonderful to have you all back in class. I see several new faces. Congratulations on being elevated to our class. The B class is unique in its studying. Rather than focus on divination in its pure form, you’ve all proven yourselves skilled enough to adapt those talents into other branches of spellcraft.”

  A few students grinned at each other, clearly excited by both the praise and the concept Grove put forward as their class material. But despite their excitement, nobody interrupted the professor.

  She bobbed over the water, tapping it slightly and sending ripples across the pond. Then the surface erupted in blue flames. There was a startled gasp but nobody cried out.

  Kizu stared into the blue flames and he saw something there. Furrowing his brow, he focused. He thought he could see shadows moving there. There was a figure of fire, someone wielding a massive sword made from a different shade of the flames and slicing at the shadows. The darkness would shatter at the stroke of the blade, but it kept reforming mere seconds after its destruction.

  “Ghouls,” Aoi whispered beside him.

  That…was not at all what Kizu was seeing. He looked over to the others in the class. They all stared intently into the blue fire. Like Aoi, a few of them were muttering what they saw. He heard someone mention a mountain. A turtle. A tree. A mother. Everyone’s vision was different. Kizu looked back to the shadow slayer in the flames. It was relentless as it continued to chop down its foes. Uncaring of the fruitlessness of the challenge.

  “This is known as a wild dream blaze,” Professor Grove said. “As its name implies, it acts indiscriminately and is difficult to harness or manipulate. What you see in the flames might be relevant. Past, present, future.”

  “Does that make it a temporal spell?” a classmate asked.

  “No.” The answer didn’t come from Professor Grove, but instead Stina. The witch girl’s eyes didn’t leave the fire.

  “Very good, Miss Nera, care to expound on that response?” Professor said to Stina.

  “Temporal magic is related to divination. But the flow of time remains locked to modern day spellcasters. Divinations can create prophecies, similar to accessing the stars with astronomy, but they’re unpredictable and finicky. There are ways in which you can increase the power and access the future more clearly, such as casting on solstices and equinoxes, but a fog of uncertainty always remains. Accessing the past is a fair bit simpler, but even then there are mistakes.”

  Professor Grove bobbed in approval. “As you mentioned, the past and future are not reliably obtained. However, the present is at the heart of all divinations. However, we are staying from my original lesson.

  “You see before you a unique spell that relies on both elemental and divination mastery to perform. Divination is unique as it can be applied to any other branch with great effects. We’ve already touched on temporal spells. Please present other known combinations you have heard of and we will spend the class breaking them down to their basic functions.”

  “Spatial jumps,” Kizu said immediately. “Divination is supposed to be vital for correctly appearing in the intended space for long distance areas.”

  “An excellent, albeit niche, example. Well done, Mister Kaga. Spatial mages are rare, but all of them rely heavily on being able to cross vast distances in an instant. Divination makes that a great deal easier. Those without any talent for divination are forced to rely on beacons or exact numerological equations. Both of which come with their own unique drawbacks. Knowing precise locations is vital information for spatial mages. Combining their spells with divination prevents accidental deaths. Anyone else?”

  “Astral projection,” Aoi put forward as another example. “If you combine soul magic with divination you can project your soul outward while your body remains functioning.”

  Professor Grove signed, something Kizu would think impossible from a wisp. “Yes. You are correct. The field of necromancy has many uses for divination. Now that we have spoken about temporal, spatial, and soul magic, perhaps we can touch on more reliant branches of magic?”

  “Enchanting?” a student offered. “You can set up divinations to specific objects. Like down in the fighting ring, the preparation room has a window that lets upcoming contenders view the current matches.”

  “Exemplary. Well done noticing that. Enchanting, like divination, is also special in its combinations with other branches. Every single branch of magic can be directly applied to enchanting. There are many scholars who argue that enchanting in itself is not a true branch of magic at all, but rather, a technique in which to cast spells. It is a sensitive topic in certain academic circles. Regardless, divination is not exempt from enchanting combinations. Your academy issued scrying orbs are another obvious example of complex enchantments and divinations being weaved together into an item. They’re truly marvelous devices, designed by a Shinzou Academy alumnus. A very pleasant young man.”

  “But my mother said she had the exact same type of scrying orb when she attended here,” another student said. “That was like…forty years ago.”

  “Yes.”

  Kizu blinked. A reminder that Professor Grove was likely one of the oldest beings he’d encountered. Well…besides the crone. And Otochi. And the undead from the inn…. Still, she was definitely still up there.

  “Oh! Illusions!” another student declared, excited to have thought of something. “You can mask illusions with divination spells. That way they’re impossible to tell from real objects, even using enhanced spellsense.”

  “Precisely,” Professor Grove said. “That is a vital part of creating a proper illusion. And it is the topic we will be dedicating your study time to for the first half of this semester. I examined each of your scores across the academy subjects and this was a study that all of you appeared to hold a modest amount of skill in.” She paused. “Normally, I have a few options for us to choose from and we would take a vote. But some students this year appear to have lopsided educations which has limited our options. So we will dedicate our time to implementing divination protections into illusions.”

  She didn’t exactly look at Kizu. She was a wisp, and didn’t have eyes. Regardless, Kizu still felt her gaze boring into him as she spoke those words. He tried to feel guilty, but this was a topic he’d actually been meaning to study himself. Incredible luck. He had to restrain a grin from his face.

  Despite her announcement that they’d be focusing on working with illusions this semester, Professor Grove began a lecture on the different methods of concealing a spell. Beyond just illusions, all spells alerted an active spellsense. And each branch required unique differences in how to approach hiding it. To emphasize her statements, Professor Grove created imagery on the placid pond below her, lighting it up with keywords and diagrams.

  Kizu diligently took notes as she spoke, recording everything and brainstorming on how to implement her instructions for each branch. Some, like conjuring, he completely lacked the context needed to fully comprehend. That one in particular was difficult because it required additional divination markings etched into a summoning circle and the complexity increased if the caster wanted the actual creature undetectable along with the action of summoning it. Despite not understanding the context required for a large portion of the lecture, Kizu recorded it all.

  By the end of class, he carried out a stack of notes and his head spun as information rattled around.

  “Kaga,” Stina said as they exited the courtyard. “Vigilance is key if you wish to live until our next convergence. Take care. Sleep lightly.”

  And with that lovely note, his first class of Divination B was complete.

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