36 Perspective (1/2)
Jin
Jin had gone to sleep late. He woke up groggy-eyed, with a book covering his face. It was one he hadn't noticed was sitting in his room. It was a history book, but in just one day, Jin had reawakened a love for books that he forgot he had.
Whether it was reading about Kazaya, the Demon warrior who fought off two fully-grown dragons attacking one of Farrah Valor's colonies, or Namasen, the pacifist Light mage who was said to be able to cure the worst of wounds in seconds, dozens of old tales left him in awe.
He arrived at the academy clearly looking unrested. A few students tossed him weird looks, including the usual ”hey isn't that the guy who knows Theresa and the princess?”
When he got to his classroom everyone else, except for the teacher, were already there. As he went to sit down, he wondered which school of magic they'd be studying today. He wouldn't have to guess for long, as in stepped today's teacher. A human man, sporting brown hair and brown eyes to go with them, walked through the door.
”Hello students, my name is,” he started, but as he spoke he tripped and fell. Some of the students laughed. ”Oh, haha, very funny. Nobody going to help me up?” Vel immediately stood, but the teacher raised a hand. ”Oh, silly me, I forgot.” Suddenly, the man they watched fall simply disappeared. Vanished. The students gasped and then the same man entered the room again.
What?
”Hello students, my name is Mr. Balt and I am your Illusion Magic teacher. I'm sure this is basic stuff, but, can someone define what Reality Magic is? We need to understand that before we can understand Illusion.”
Vel raised her hand.
”The manipulation or creation of physical objects.” She stated.
”Good. So, what would Illusion Magic consist of?”
”The creation of immaterial objects, meant to manipulate the senses.”
”Precisely.” Mr. Balt replied. ”It's said that the best Illusion Mages could win battles without ever stepping foot on the field. That's the core of being an Illusion Mage. Trust me, I would love nothing more than to start off teaching you kids how to spawn clones, create sounds and such, but we have to understand the basics before we can ever get into the legendary stuff. So, for our first lesson, we're going to learn how to perform [Silent.] Not to be confused with [Silence], the Dark spell that takes away Magic. This spell muffles your footsteps, allowing sneaking to be easier. To perform the spell, picture your magic shifting towards your feet and cancel the sound with your mind. We'll practice in groups of two, with one of you trying the spell and the other standing in front, gauging whether their partner got it down or not. Just stomp a few times, they hear you, it didn't work.”
Immediately, Jin watched as the students all sectioned off into duos, pushing the chairs apart so as to give themselves space to work with. Ben and Miri, Al and Jaina, everyone tagged another until in the end, the only ones left without a partner were Jin and Vel. Vel raised her hand.
”Mr. Balt, can I work on this alone?” Vel asked.
”Nope. Gotta get used to working with people outside your social circle.” Mr. Balt replied.
Vel sighed. She turned towards Jin, looking at him apathetically, but with a hint of resentment. She stood up and walked over to Jin.
”I'll do it first.” She stated, looking at Jin expectantly. Jin almost raised his hands as if to say ”alright, calm down”, as he turned, giving Vel his back.
He took the time to see the other students at work. Many of them were making funny-looking faces of concentration, like they were trying to will the spell into existence. The first to get it right was a young demon boy near the back of the classroom. A few students stopped what they were doing to watch him. He was jumping up and down, dancing almost, all the while his partner did not react.
”What?” Jin heard Vel whisper. He risked a glance and saw the girl looking at the scene with sad eyes, before she suddenly turned angry. Jin turned back around. In a moment, he heard a hard stomp behind him. ”Did you hear that?”
”Yeah.” Jin replied.
”W-What?” The surprise in Vel's voice was hard to miss. A few other students got it, as evidenced by the silent running around Jin was observing. ”Why won't this work?” Vel angrily asked herself. Jin looked back again, seeing the girl staring at her own hands, almost disdainfully. That was, until she noticed Jin looking at her. ”What? You think you can do better?”
”I didn't...”
”Go ahead, try it.” Vel angrily stalked in front of Jin, turning her back to him. Jin was still registering what just happened when Vel spoke up again. ”I'm waiting.”
Sigh
Jin closed his eyes. What was it the teacher said? Imagine magic moving to my feet? What would it even look like? Can I just choose whatever? He shrugged. At first, nothing happened. However, he remembered his meditation with the nomadic terreth tribe. He had to be calm, focused and relaxed. In his mind's eye, he tried to manifest some sort of image to work with. He tried to recall moments he'd seen magic in the past, from him, or from someone else. He thought of his own [Fireball], but it didn't quite fit with the task at hand. He remembered Theresa's white flame, but it also was incompatible. Then, he remembered Eliara's [Healing Stream], and that did it. He could picture a green stream of light moving down his legs. A sort of electric sensation filled his body and instinctively, he took a few stomps. He opened his eyes finding that Vel hadn't reacted.
”Get it over with.” She said. ”What, are you scared you're not gonna get it right?”
”I already did it.” Jin declared.
”What?” Vel spun instantly. ”You're kidding...” She watched as Jin made several soundless steps. Each one seemed to make her angrier, and angrier. ”Stop...” She muttered. Jin didn't hear. ”STOP THAT!” She nearly screamed. Everyone in the room turned to face them.
”What's going on?” Mr. Balt asked, walking up to them.
”I... I need to use the bathroom.” Vel quietly uttered before walking out of the class.
What was that about? Jin scratched his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Al staring daggers at him. He sighed, and sat back down at his chair.
---
At 1:00pm, Jin made a beeline for the library. Now that he had discovered a new method by which to train, he wanted to take full advantage of it.
Walking through, he noticed a sudden increase in the number of people here, compared to yesterday. He could hear multiple pseudo-hushed conversations happening at once. The librarian greeted him.
”You again, I guess I got a new regular. Good day to you.” He said with a smile.
”G-Good day.” Jin replied, almost like he was asking a question, still entirely unsure about the formalities in this society. Still, he shook his head and went back to the shelf where he'd gotten the Reality Magic book from. He went through the list again, spotting the Illusion Magic book he'd ignored yesterday. He snagged it and walked over to the librarian, handing him the money for today's rental.
Now, he needed to find a quiet place to read in. He walked through the large room, eventually coming across circular stairs that went... Down? Sure, that would do. The stairs led him to a dimly lit space that was far dustier than the room above. The shelves were in a poorer condition, the books looked significantly older. What stood out to him though, was the sound of hard footsteps every now and then, coming from the back.
Curious, Jin searched for the source. He came across another student trying to perform the [Silent] spell he'd learned some hours ago. It was Vel.
Jin watched some sparks emerge from her shoulders, moving down her legs, until the girl took a few steps, and the spark disappeared.
”Ugh!” Vel groaned. ”I don't understand, what am I doing wrong?”
”You have to calm down.” Jin said, before he could stop himself.
Vel spun and even in the darkness, he could see how she'd suddenly turned some shade of red. She clicked her tongue, scowling at Jin.
”W-What do you know?” Vel asked. ”You just got it out of luck. It wasn't enough to embarrass me in front of the class, now you have to mock me here too?”
”What?” Jin asked. ”I'm trying to help you.”
”Why? What do you get out of it? Huh?” She asked.
”Nothing.” Suddenly, Jin recalled a pin he'd been given by the queen, that Theresa had told him to keep with him at all times. He pulled it out, an indicator of his position within the Order of Black Flowers. ”I'm supposed to help people.” Jin shrugged.
”That's....” Jin hadn't noticed, but Vel's eyes were showing their whites. ”I... I'm sorry.” She lowered her head.
”... Why are you so angry at me?” Jin asked. ”You and that other guy, Al, I think.”
”Because you took Jaina's chair back at the auditorium.” Vel replied.
”Jaina?” The girl who spoke strangely, Jin recalled. ”What about her?”
”You didn't know who she was?” Vel asked, a sudden surprise in her voice. ”She... She's different.” Vel uttered. ”People make fun of her because of her stutter. Al told me that there were countless days when she'd get come home in tears because the other kids in the minor schools would pick on her. When we got here, we made a promise to keep her safe. Everyone knew who we were though, Nova's the biggest city in Azeria, but in certain districts everyone knoes each other, so we expected a lot of bullies to come our way. Then, on that first day, you come in, and just say you're taking her seat. How do you think we were supposed to respond?” Vel asked. ”Then the princess appears and defends you. Imagine that! We felt like the whole world was against us.”
”I... Damn.” Jin scratched his head. ”I didn't know.” Is that what society is like? Jin wanted to understand Vel's explanation, but he was too ignorant of this new place he lived in to do so.
”We didn't say anything, we just assumed you knew who we were.” Vel shrugged.
”And I just assumed you were being mean.” Jin added.
”Well... I guess it was all a misunderstanding, huh?” Vel nervously laughed. They stayed silent for a few seconds before Jin spoke up.
”You know, I'm not saying you need to calm down to mess with you. I'm saying that because over the last couple of months, I've learned that Magic is pretty reliant on the user's focus.” Jin stated. ”Just, clear your head a bit and try again.”
”How?”
”Breath, close your eyes. Try to imagine the spell instead of just telling it to happen.” Jin smiled at her.