Stryg opened his eyes in the light of early dawn. He lay comfortably in bed and enjoyed the warmth of the sun on his skin that leaked through the crack in the curtains. Feli had pulled the blanket away from him; she lay at the edge of the bed as far as possible.
Good morning, Stryg said with a relaxed tone.
Feli grumbled sothing under her breath, even his enhanced hearing could not make up her garble.
What was that? He asked.
I said fuck you.
Oh As in you want to fuck?
Feli laughed in derision, You wish. Besides arent you tired after fucking your vampire princess last night?
Maeve isnt a princess, at least I dont think she is. Either way, I didnt have sex with her yesterday. I only drank so of her blood.
You conveniently forgot the part where you fondled her pretty little body.
...Im starting to get the feeling you're not happy with .
What could have possibly given you that idea, Feli rolled her eyes and turned her back to him.
Stryg scooted across the long bed and nestled his face over her shoulder, Are you angry with because I was with Maeve?
Take a guess?
Stryg dug his hand under her body and pulled her close to him.
"Let go of , Feli mumbled.
Dont wanna.
Im still angry with you.
I know, he sighed.
...Do you plan on marrying Lady Mora?
No. Maeve made it clear last night she is not interested in marriage or anything of the like. She was under a mans influence long enough, she does not want to be under another mans control ever again.
She values her freedom, smart girl, Feli nodded to herself.
Stryg blinked, Do you consider yourself free?
Youre literally holding against my will.
That doesnt count.
Yes, it does.
...
Stryg let her go.
Feli sat up and kept her back to him, I do consider myself free, I chose this life. At the sa ti, my life is entwined with yours, were married after all.
I thought you wanted to get married, were in this together forever, right? Those were your words.
And I ant them. I knew what I was getting into when I t you, but so much has changed. I tell myself Ill be okay with it, so many spouses of aristocrats and magi are in the sa boat as , but after seeing you last night with her It just hurt. A lot.
Stryg didnt know what to say. He had sworn to keep Feli safe from harm, no matter who tried to hurt her. He never imagined he would be the cause of her pain.
Feli sighed, I guess I should have seen this coming, Sylvan folk view relationships differently. Dont worry, I wont try to stop you from seeing her... Ill just look away next ti.
Feli walked away from the bed and closed the door behind her. Stryg reached his hand out, but she was gone.
~~~
You look terrible, are you alright? Vayu asked.
Stryg sent him a tired glance, Have you ever been beaten up by a grand swordmaster?
I cant say Ive had the luxury, the dark elf smiled wryly.
Stryg had t with Clypeus and his sister Gale for early morning sword training. Unfortunately, his mind wasnt in the right place. Gale noticed imdiately and proceeded to chastise Stryg for not focusing, which amounted to dozens of welts.
I guarantee you todays lesson will be a change of pace, Vayu led Stryg through the cobblestone pathway behind the chromatic purples departnt.
Wait, do you an?
Vayu nodded, Today we will begin your mind spell-form training.
The dark elf pointed to the large shed behind the granite departnt building. We keep most of our practice animals here.
Stryg could hear the rustling of animals from within their cages. There had to be hundreds.
What do you an by practice animals? Stryg asked.
The animals serve as targets for practicing purple magis mind spells. I got the mice for your cantrip training from here.
Vayu knocked on the door.
A middle-aged orc stepped out, Professor Glaz?
Hello, Vayu smiled.
The orc bowed his head low, It is an honor! What can this humble handler do for you today?
I was hoping you could lend us a few rabbits for training.
Of course! It would be my pleasure, how many do you need?
Three should suffice.
One mont please, Ill be right back, the orc ran back inside the shed.
Who was that? Stryg asked.
Hes the handler in charge of the animals, a good man, Vayu said.
The word good would never have crossed Strygs mind when thinking about orcs, but he supposed others didnt hold the sa grudges against orc-kin as the Sylvan folk.
The handler returned with a large cage, three rabbits inside. Here you are, Professor Glaz. Anything else you might need? Im happy to grab more.
No, three will suffice, thank you.
The orcs amber eyes widened as he caught sight of the goblin, Youre Stryg.
You know ? Stryg frowned.
The handler nodded shakily, Ive heard the schools rumors. The wild blue goblin of Vulture Woods. A tri-manifold mage worthy of being apprenticed to the prodigy Loh Noir. You're taller than I imagined.
Rumors? Wild?
The handler swallowed, I heard you beat Freya Goldelm half to death for looking at you wrong and that you tore another kids face off in a mock exam. Wait, I didnt know you were a purple mage?
He isnt, these rabbits are for his curse training. Im just doing a favor for Professor Noir, Vayu interceded. Co on, Stryg, lets go.
...Right, Stryg walked away.
He glanced back at the shed, the handler was still staring at him.
There are rumors about ? Stryg whispered.
When youre apprenticed to a mage from one of the Seven Ruling Families, let alone the heiress of House Noir, the most renowned mage family in Hollow Shade, then yeah, you can bet there are gonna be rumors in the academy floating around about you, Vayu chuckled.
Oh, I guess I never thought about it like that, Stryg muttered.
To him, Loh was a powerful mage worthy of admiration and awe. Loh wasnt the heiress of House Noir, she was just Loh, the person who believed in him when no one else did, and that was enough for Stryg.
Its insane how ridiculous rumors can get, am I right? I an, ripping a kids face off? What idiot ca up with that? Vayu laughed.
Yeah, I know right, Stryg nodded. Sure, the bones in his face were broken and you could see the muscles underneath, and yeah, maybe there was a little skin torn off on the cheeks, but his face was still there. If I had really ripped off his face he would be dead and that was against the rules.
Vayu stopped walking, What?
What?
...N-nevermind.
~~~
Vayu led Stryg to an empty ditation room he had rented out for personal use on the academy grounds. Vayu placed the cage filled with rabbits on the ground. They sat down across from each other.
Vayu spread his arms, Starting today we will be splitting our purple magic training ti in two, half the ti for illusions, the other half will for mind spells. You will need to learn both spell-forms if you wish to be a proper purple mage.
Spell-forms Stryg murmured.
He was reminded of Maeve and her status as a true red mage.
Professor Glaz, you are a true mage, correct?
I am a true chromatic mage as my grandmother before , Vayu nodded.
What does that exactly an? Whats the difference between a true mage and a true chromatic mage?
Vayu laughed awkwardly, Nothing actually, the terms are used interchangeably. There is no such thing as an elental true mage or I suppose a more apt description would be that all elental magi are true magi.
Stryg cocked his head to the side, Explain. Please.
Well, mana is the ethereal energy that flows all around, yes? The Realms themselves generate all mana throughout the land. Chromatic mana is said to constantly bond with elental mana as they both flow through the air. A magical creature, such as each mber of an elental species or the mageborns within a chromatic species, are capable of innately absorbing the mana in the air.
I rember, Professor Ri taught about that back in Magic Fundantals class, Stryg nodded.
Great, so you already know the basic principle. Now, when an elental species absorbs mana, whether they are innate magical users or magi, their bodies inherently purify the mixture of mana and expel the chromatic mana, leaving them with pure elental mana. In other words true elental magic.
Okay, so elental species only use elental mana?
Precisely. Whereas chromatic magi use a mixture of both chromatic and elental mana. Each chromatic color mana bonds to two elental mana types, which in turn creates the chromatic colors two spell-forms. For example, purples illusion spell-form is bonded with elental dark mana, and the mind spell-form is bonded with elental lightning mana.
So where do true chromatic magi fit in exactly? Stryg asked.
True magi are chromatic mageborns with the ability to purify the mixture of mana within their bodies, similar to an elental species. There are two main differences though. The first is that true magi dont usually purify mana innately, it is a learned skill that takes training. Secondly, instead of expelling chromatic mana, a true chromatic mage expels elental mana, leaving their body with only pure chromatic mana, allowing them to cast a true spell-form.
Like synchrony magic, Stryg muttered.
Synchrony magic? Reds true form? Vayu wrinkled his nose.
Nothing, Stryg cleared his throat. What about purples true spell-form?
Binding magic? Vayu closed his eyes, purple arcane symbols began to glow around his temples.
Strygs pupils widened, Thats binding magic?
A little bit. Binding magic allows the caster to bind their minds with those of another, allowing ntal communication between the two over vast distances; we can even share our senses.
...How much influence do you have over the binded person? Stryg asked thoughtfully.
Great question and one that has made true purple magi feared for a long ti, Vayu tapped his own head. With enough power I could hypothetically exert my influence over the mind of the binded, allowing to control not only their body but their thoughts. It's very difficult to perform, especially against powerful magic users.
Still, thats unsettling, Stryg stared at his own hands.
Stryg dreaded to imagine what would happen if soone took over his body.
Vayus purple arcane symbols faded away. Binding magic only lasts until I stop casting, so I dont try to control my binded. Instead, I work with them. It also helps to bind those of lesser intelligence, like say a cat, or in my case a hawk and a fire drake.
You have a fire drake!? Stryg jumped to his feet. Where!? Can I see it?
Maybe so other ti, she usually likes to sleep in the afternoons, I keep her in my Houses grounds, Vayu laughed.
I look forward to it, Stryg nodded eagerly and sat back down.
Okay, enough of that. Lets focus on what we ca for, Vayu spread his hand out.
A thin glowing purple tendril curled out from each of the dark elfs fingers. Stryg stared at the tendrils, it reminded him of Plums mind magic. Her bright smile flashed through his mory. The familiar pain rose to the surface and festered in his chest. Stryg shook his head to try and dispel the mories, it didnt help.
So chromatic spell-forms take after one of their parent mana types, for example, oranges fla spell-form shares many similarities with fire elental magic.
Other chromatic spell-forms create an entirely new form of magic, based on the combination of their parent mana types, like illusion spells. Mind spells fall in the forr category since they resemble true purples attributes, Vayu explained.
I see. Stryg pointed at the tendrils, A mind mage can read peoples thoughts, right? Make sure if they are telling the truth or not.
If the tendrils touch a persons body, preferably the head, then yes. But mind spells can do so much more. With the right training, a purple mage can affect a persons senses or cause them incredible agony, even make their target lose consciousness. You can even enter a persons ntal-scape, their subconscious world, and sabotage their mind, an arch-mage could even destroy their victims mind entirely.
Sounds like a slow way to go, Stryg leaned away from the purple tendrils.
The victims body does survive their minds destruction, so yes, it is a very slow way to die, Vayu nodded. Why dont you try casting?
...Understood, Stryg took a deep breath.
Its similar to casting an illusion. The mind tendrils are quite fragile as well, keep that in mind when trying to form the tendrils. They have to be flexible otherwise the tendrils will be brittle and break, Vayu wiggled his fingers.
Like illusions, got it, Stryg closed his eyes.
Try to only create one tendril for now. Its going to break on the first few casts. Thats normal, itll take so ti getting used to creating the right consistency. The key is knowing how not to create the mind tendrils.
Stryg tried to drown out the sounds from the world around him, the ditation do helped greatly. He focused on the beat of his heart thrumming in his ears. He imagined a string of glowing athyst curling out from his index finger. The dormant mana in his heart began to stir. An odd yet familiar warmth echoed from his heart as the purple mana flowed through his chest and into his arm.
Damn, I really shouldnt be surprised by now, Vayu said softly.
Stryg opened his eyes, a purple tendril wiggled around his finger.
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