Chapter 166: True Chromatic Magic

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 something 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 aren’t you tired after fucking your vampire princess last night?”

“Maeve isn’t a princess, at least I don’t think she is. Either way, I didn’t have sex with her yesterday. I only drank some of her blood.”

“You conveniently forgot the part where you fondled her pretty little body.”

“...I’m starting to get the feeling you're not happy with me.”

“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 me because I was with Maeve?”

“Take a guess?”

Stryg dug his hand under her body and pulled her close to him.

"Let go of me,” Feli mumbled.

“Don’t wanna.”

“I’m 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 man’s influence long enough, she does not want to be under another man’s control ever again.”

“She values her freedom, smart girl,” Feli nodded to herself.

Stryg blinked, “Do you consider yourself free?”

“You’re literally holding me against my will.”

“That doesn’t 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 same time, my life is entwined with yours, we’re married after all.”

“I thought you wanted to get married, we’re in this together forever, right? Those were your words.”

“And I meant them. I knew what I was getting into when I met you, but so much has changed. I tell myself I’ll be okay with it, so many spouses of aristocrats and magi are in the same boat as me, but after seeing you last night with her… It just hurt. A lot.”

Stryg didn’t 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. Don’t worry, I won’t try to stop you from seeing her... I’ll just look away next time.”

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 can’t say I’ve had the luxury,” the dark elf smiled wryly.

Stryg had met with Clypeus and his sister Gale for early morning sword training. Unfortunately, his mind wasn’t in the right place. Gale noticed immediately and proceeded to chastise Stryg for not focusing, which amounted to dozens of welts.

“I guarantee you today’s lesson will be a change of pace,” Vayu led Stryg through the cobblestone pathway behind the chromatic purple’s department.

“Wait, do you mean?”

Vayu nodded, “Today we will begin your mind spell-form training.”

The dark elf pointed to the large shed behind the granite department 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 mean by practice animals?” Stryg asked.

“The animals serve as targets for practicing purple magi’s 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 moment please, I’ll be right back,” the orc ran back inside the shed.

“Who was that?” Stryg asked.

“He’s the handler in charge of the animals, a good man,” Vayu said.

The word ‘good’ would never have crossed Stryg’s mind when thinking about orcs, but he supposed others didn’t hold the same 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? I’m happy to grab more.”

“No, three will suffice, thank you.”

The orc’s amber eyes widened as he caught sight of the goblin, “You’re Stryg.”

“You know me?” Stryg frowned.

The handler nodded shakily, “I’ve heard the school’s 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 kid’s face off in a mock exam. Wait, I didn’t know you were a purple mage?”

“He isn’t, these rabbits are for his curse training. I’m just doing a favor for Professor Noir,” Vayu interceded. “Come on, Stryg, let’s go.”

“...Right,” Stryg walked away.

He glanced back at the shed, the handler was still staring at him.

“There are rumors about me?” Stryg whispered.

“When you’re 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 wasn’t 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.

“It’s insane how ridiculous rumors can get, am I right? I mean, ripping a kid’s face off? What idiot came 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 meditation 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 time in two, half the time 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 me,” Vayu nodded.

“What does that exactly mean? What’s 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 elemental true mage or I suppose a more apt description would be that all elemental 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 elemental mana as they both flow through the air. A magical creature, such as each member of an elemental species or the mageborns within a chromatic species, are capable of innately absorbing the mana in the air.”

“I remember, Professor Rime taught me about that back in Magic Fundamentals class,” Stryg nodded.

“Great, so you already know the basic principle. Now, when an elemental 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 elemental mana. In other words true elemental magic.”

“Okay, so elemental species only use elemental mana?”

“Precisely. Whereas chromatic magi use a mixture of both chromatic and elemental mana. Each chromatic color mana bonds to two elemental mana types, which in turn creates the chromatic color’s two spell-forms. For example, purple’s illusion spell-form is bonded with elemental dark mana, and the mind spell-form is bonded with elemental 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 elemental species. There are two main differences though. The first is that true magi don’t usually purify mana innately, it is a learned skill that takes training. Secondly, instead of expelling chromatic mana, a true chromatic mage expels elemental mana, leaving their body with only pure chromatic mana, allowing them to cast a true spell-form.”

“Like synchrony magic,” Stryg muttered.

“Synchrony magic? Red’s true form?” Vayu wrinkled his nose.

“Nothing,” Stryg cleared his throat. “What about purple’s true spell-form?”

“Binding magic?” Vayu closed his eyes, purple arcane symbols began to glow around his temples.

Stryg’s pupils widened, “That’s binding magic?”

“A little bit. Binding magic allows the caster to bind their minds with those of another, allowing mental 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 time,” Vayu tapped his own head. “With enough power I could hypothetically exert my influence over the mind of the binded, allowing me to control not only their body but their thoughts. It's very difficult to perform, especially against powerful magic users.”

“Still, that’s unsettling,” Stryg stared at his own hands.

Stryg dreaded to imagine what would happen if someone took over his body.

Vayu’s purple arcane symbols faded away. “Binding magic only lasts until I stop casting, so I don’t 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 some other time, she usually likes to sleep in the afternoons, I keep her in my House’s grounds,” Vayu laughed.

“I look forward to it,” Stryg nodded eagerly and sat back down.

“Okay, enough of that. Let’s focus on what we came for,” Vayu spread his hand out.

A thin glowing purple tendril curled out from each of the dark elf’s fingers. Stryg stared at the tendrils, it reminded him of Plum’s mind magic. Her bright smile flashed through his memory. The familiar pain rose to the surface and festered in his chest. Stryg shook his head to try and dispel the memories, it didn’t help.

“Some chromatic spell-forms take after one of their parent mana types, for example, orange’s flame spell-form share’s many similarities with fire elemental 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 former category since they resemble true purple’s attributes,” Vayu explained.

“I see.” Stryg pointed at the tendrils, “A mind mage can read people’s thoughts, right? Make sure if they are telling the truth or not.”

“If the tendrils touch a person’s body, preferably the head, then yes. But mind spells can do so much more. With the right training, a purple mage can affect a person’s senses or cause them incredible agony, even make their target lose consciousness. You can even enter a person’s mental-scape, their subconscious world, and sabotage their mind, an arch-mage could even destroy their victim’s mind entirely.”

“Sounds like a slow way to go,” Stryg leaned away from the purple tendrils.

“The victim’s body does survive their mind’s destruction, so yes, it is a very slow way to die,” Vayu nodded. “Why don’t you try casting?”

“...Understood,” Stryg took a deep breath.

“It’s 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. It’s going to break on the first few casts. That’s normal, it’ll take some time 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 meditation dome helped greatly. He focused on the beat of his heart thrumming in his ears. He imagined a string of glowing amethyst 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 shouldn’t be surprised by now,” Vayu said softly.

Stryg opened his eyes, a purple tendril wiggled around his finger.