Kalli gave me a warm smile as Mrs. Hodgins walked away. I am so excited. I get to go to school.

The concept of someone wanting to go to school was something I just couldn’t wrap my head around. While the lessons were fun and easy to grasp, the overall atmosphere was not something I associated with fun.

I have entered the twilight zone.

Her smile turned into a frown. I’ve heard of those things. Isn’t that where monsters come out at night? Does it happen during the day in your world?

I shook my head and laughed.

No, silly, it’s a TV show.

She listened raptly while I explained television. After nodding sagely she changed the subject. We need to focus on your training if you want to help me get home.

How do we do that?

She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. To be truthful, I’ve never taught anyone anything. I was only able to learn myself because…well...because my master felt I showed potential. It would be best if I teach you in group chat. Spying ears may get the wrong thoughts if they were to hear this discussion.

I didn’t say anything while she worked out her plan. She looked up when she came to a conclusion and her thoughts blazed across my mind. Let’s begin by teaching you how to read. This is going to be difficult without a textbook, but I didn’t have one on me when you summoned me.

I knew this book. I had made one by editing the lumberjack book the other day. I grabbed another book off of the shelf and started editing.

Magical Spellbook (Edited)

Kalli’s eyes widened as the book expanded into the ancient leather binding of the spellbook. When it settled in its new form, she scooped it up and thumbed through a few pages. This is a beginner's spellbook. It contains basic spells used in almost every archetype of magic. While it will be useful later, you need to learn how to read first. Can you summon a magical primer?

I grinned. That was everything I needed to know.

Magical Primer (Edited)

Kalliphae squealed as the book morphed in her hands. It shrank and the binding took on a look that was less ancient and more heavily used. Kalli eyed me suspiciously and scolded me in thought. Don’t do that while I’m holding it. This isn’t the same one I learned from, but I think it has all the basics.

Sorry.

She shook her head and smiled. Don’t worry about it. You just startled me. We are going to start with the basics. You need to learn to recognize magic when you see it in writing. By learning this language you will be joining an exclusive fraternity that has existed since the dawn of magic.

Who came up with this language?

Kalli looked thoughtful for a moment and the word appeared in my brain. The creator.

Do you mean god?

It was the only creator I had heard of before. She shook her head. Not that kind of creator. I’m talking about the person who created magic. Or more likely discovered it. He made the words and infused them with power. We borrow them and supply mana to complete the spell.

So the words are like a recipe to make magic? We just supply the ingredients?

Kalli smiled and sent feelings of approval that I was being a good student. That’s a good analogy. It’s good to understand it in a way to makes sense to you. That makes infusing the words so much easier. Trust me.

I wanted to go with the flow. I truly did. However, I had questions.

What if I want to make my own recipe? Can you do magic without the words?

My mind was silent for a moment. Kalliphae gave me a look that I couldn’t read. Just when I was starting to wonder if my head had lost its connection to the group, she replied in a flood of thoughts. That is called chaos magic. It’s very dangerous and almost always against the law. In my world, the empire tracks down undocumented wizards that openly practice chaos magic. Those that practice in darkness are considered evil. Assassins are dispatched to hunt and destroy them. My master was adamant that I learn structure for any spells that he taught me.

How many spells do you know?

She blushed and looked away. Three.

I could tell that she was uncomfortable admitting that to me. I tried to soothe her.

That vrush spell you do is very impressive. Your control is so effortless and it’s so useful.

Her reply came immediately. It’s Pvruzth. Don’t mispronounce the words of magic. This is very important. They can do more than fizzle if you get them wrong. It’s kind of like using salt instead of sugar in a recipe.

I nodded my agreement. At least she wasn’t sad anymore.

What other spells can you do?

Her thoughts came with video. She projected an image of the spells as she explained them. I had to concentrate to focus on the magic as opposed to the 3D version of Kalli that she was projecting wearing the flowing robes she had been summoned in. You know about Pvruzth. Another word for it would be flame hand. I can control flames in my personal bubble of influence. It extends from my body to anything in my immediate area. Aside from using it to cook food and clean you, I can also create a magical shield with it and use it to attack anyone who tries to hurt me. The first spell I ever learned was called Bvizt. It creates a floating wisp of flame to light my way. Unlike the other two spells, this magic isn’t hot and creates no smoke. It is similar to a light spell used to brighten a dark room. The last spell I learned is called Bvoomzt. It's a fireball. It forms in my hand and I can launch it as a projectile. I control it up to 20 yards and it will explode at 40 yards if it doesn’t hit someone before that.

I was awestruck at that last spell. It was definitely what I was used to seeing mages use in video games. The explosion was very destructive too. I imagined Tim blowing up in a huge fireball. Kalli mentally chastised me. Magic is not supposed to be used to torture or kill the peasa…um…the un-awakened. Actually, you shouldn’t harm anyone unless it’s in self-defense. Monsters are an exception.

I can fantasize about it as long as I don’t do it right?

Not while you're in a group with me. She sent the rebuke sharply to my brain.

Sorry.

Her expression softened. Okay, turn to chapter 1.

Magic was a lot more basic than I had thought it was when I first looked at the spellbook. The base characters in the primer were all used to represent basic concepts like water, fire, earth, wind, and electricity. The latter was called thunder for some odd reason. Each symbol roughly looked like the element that they represented.

There were also characters that defined various concepts that might be used in magic. A human body was broken into various body parts. Combining magic and specific body parts would result in magic that affected that part in different ways depending on what other symbols were used with it.

Kalli paused her lecture to chastise me when I had a particularly embarrassing thought. I don’t think there's any magical potential in a spell called Thunder Dong.

I looked up from the book and turned beat red when I realized I was broadcasting.

Sorry. I didn’t realize I was projecting again.

She made a gagging noise and thought, I can’t unsee that. Try to keep your mind out of the gutter during class.

I was even more embarrassed when I realized I had been broadcasting with video. She busied herself by burying her nose in the primer. These symbols here are action symbols. This one means projectile. This controls the density of a spell if that’s needed. This symbol means the magic will only affect you. Its counterpart over here makes the magic affect everything but you.

I flipped through the primer. So far, we had only explored the first chapter. I looked up at Kalli.

What about these symbols back here?

Kalliphae put her hand on the book, stopping me from exploring. Those are advanced symbols. They will just confuse you for now. Focus on the basics.

Yes, sensei.

She blinked at me. What did you just call me?

Nothing. It just means teacher in my world.

She beamed at me. Oh, okay. Now, bring back the spellbook, and let's try to read some magic.

I grabbed another book from the shelf and re-edited the spellbook. Kalli sat next to me and spread the two books out in front of us. She pointed at the first spell in the book and mentally asked, What do you see here?

I glanced at the runes on the first pages of the book. They were still gibberish and I couldn’t put them into words, but I recognized the symbols. The first spell was listed as the symbol for wind drawn inside of the symbol for mouth. To its immediate left was the projectile symbol.

Kalli looked at me closely, offering encouragement. Now that you recognize the symbols, I want you to focus on them. See them together as a whole.

I looked closely and tried my best to concentrate. As if by magic, a green word formed in the air above the book.

Sviszt

I accidentally spoke the word aloud, “Sviszt”

Kalliphae frowned at me. Group voice, remember. And yes. That is the word for the spell Sviszt. It’s simple magic. It makes a basic wind spell that allows you to blow wind from your mouth. It's a lot stronger than normal blowing.

She giggled and spoke the word.

“Sviszt”

Kalliphae then blew me a kiss out of nowhere. The force of the wind felt like my face was caught in a miniature hurricane. Some books toppled off of a cart behind me. She quickly panicked and got up to replace them and her frantic thoughts filled my head. Oops, I overdid it a bit. Let that be a lesson why you should never practice magic indoors.

Way to teach by example.

She glared at me. I chuckled at my joke. She cleared her throat even though I knew she was going to speak mentally. The starter magic is usually harmless. The spells are designed to teach a student how to control the elements with relatively tame magic. My first spell, Bvizt, conjures a flame with no heat or smoke.

I thought you only knew 3 spells? How did you use a wind spell? Aren’t you a fire mage?

She laughed continued the lesson. I am a fire specialist. When I said I only know three spells, I meant that those are the only ones I am trained to use. Anyone with mana can cast any spell to some extent. The base spells are used to build a solid foundation. Even though a mage may choose to specialize in a certain element or style of magic, a foundation in all elements is still very important.

I nodded thoughtfully as I soaked in what she was saying. Using the two books together, I learned that I was able to read everything in the spellbook by looking up the symbols in the first one and applying the concepts to the spells in the spellbook. Every one of them was a difficult to pronounce word that I had never heard before.

Who named these spells? It seems like it would be easy to mispronounce them.

Kalliphae held up a finger to make a point. Think about it. If the spell was simple like Flame Hand or Fire Ball, you might invoke a spell by accident by speaking the words in everyday conversation.

Don’t you have to infuse the words with mana for the magic to work, though?

She nodded and replied through our connection, Yes. That is true. However, you’d be surprised how easy it is to accidentally do that once you learn how. I will have to teach you outside when we do because of how easy it is to overdo it and make a mess.

I didn’t get a chance to answer as Mrs. Hodgins rounded the corner and said, “Hey you two. You know you can talk right? This may be detention, but I’m not that strict.”

Kalli gave her a malicious smile and replied, “Oh, we were talking.”

The scholar laughed and said, “How cute.”

This caused us both to turn red. Mrs. Hodgins cleared her throat and announced, “I need to steal Mrs. Kalliphae for a while to get her registered over in administration. You can wait here, Melvin.”

I watched in silence as the teacher stole Kalli away from me. Kalli’s voice rang in my ears, Don’t worry. You can’t get rid of me that easily.

Meanwhile in a school bathroom just around the corner

A man in a red suit and a top hat walked into a bathroom where he knew his quarry was relieving himself. The kid ignored him until the man was standing directly behind him.

The kid zipped himself up in a panic and spun on the man, yelling, “What the hell man?”

The man spoke in a voice that might have been a croak, “Are you the one known as Kevin Mellow?”

“I don’t know you”, the kid stammered, trying to step around the man who was much too old to be a student, “You just made me piss myself.”

The man blocked his path, forcing him to return to the urinal, “Where did you get these shoes? You will answer.”

Kevin froze. He looked at the Tap Shoes in the man's hand in shock. He wanted to answer the question. He felt a desperate need to tell this man what he wanted to know. The problem was, he couldn’t. He gasped, “I don’t know. I just had them. I have no clue where they came from.”

“Why did you sell them?”, the man in red continued.

Kevin looked at the shoes in disgust, “Why would I want those? I don’t dance.”

It was becoming clear that the man invading his personal space was becoming angry. A stain worked its way down Kevin’s pant leg as he cowered before him. The man ordered, “You will tell me everything you know about these shoes now.”

The situation became too much for the teen and he collapsed to the floor, unconscious. The man in red let out an exaggerated sigh and picked the kid up by the belt with one hand. He muttered, “Very well then.”

He turned on his heel and the two disappeared in a puff of smoke.