Chapter 105 - What Can be Taught and What Must be Learned

Skyle was only able to make it as far as the top of the ramp before the time was up. Swamped by a vast feeling of incompetency such as he had never felt before, he resolved to outdo himself the next time.

The maddening thing was that Skyle couldn’t for the life of him figure out how much of his current feelings were his, and what was courtesy of the little guest he had picked up. Apparently, Little Shadow was able to read his thoughts in a somewhat rudimentary way. The prickling feeling in the back of his head was enough to let him know it was true. Little Shadow also took exception to a lot of things that were said or thought about him, and he wasn’t shy about sharing such feelings.

The whole exercise had felt like a macabre dance where he was forced to dance like a puppet under Little Shadow’s strings. It felt counter-intuitive and painfully slow, forcing him to pause after each step and carefully consider his next move. In short, the whole stealth course had been incredibly disappointing.

Little Shadow didn’t seem to mind, as though such results were to be expected. Neither did Talon say anything as Skyle returned with his shoulders slumped and his clothes soaked with almost as much sweat as after the hour-long combat training.

“Little Shadow knows what it’s doing, Skyle. The sooner you realize that and focus on what it’s trying to teach you, the better.”

Talon smiled kindly but didn’t offer any other advice. Frustrated, Skyle could only nod while following his uncle to the next item on the schedule, alchemy.

Surprisingly, Talon didn’t pause at the iron-bound door that led to the alchemy lab. Instead, he led Skyle straight to the library. There, he motioned Skyle to a comfortable chair. On the table before him were stacked several books, each at least four times thicker than any volume he had ever seen.

“For these first two days, you will spend the rest of your time self-studying under Little Shadow’s guidance. Focus your attention on each subject at hand. You will find yourself surprised at how quickly you’re able to organize and memorize the information with Little Shadow’s help. Also, don’t be afraid to ask any questions from your teacher.”

Talon nodded in Skyle’s direction. The boy began to nod back when he realized that the gesture had been meant for Little Shadow, who was still perched upon his shoulder. His new teacher bobbed its blobby mass up and down in a rather solemn gesture that reminded Skyle of a stoic soldier taking up an onerous, yet necessary duty.

In truth, he didn’t mind this portion of his training at all. He had always loved books, and he could not imagine a better way to relax after the hectic training menu he had been forced to follow thus far. Books were a balm to soothe his soul, and a window to exciting new horizons to explore.

Ten minutes later, Skyle stared at the terrifying words squiggling before his eyes like they were monsters stretching forth abominable claws to clutch at his throat and suck his brains out. Never in his entire life had he come across such dry writing on so many obtuse topics. He felt he could have thrown “Foundations of Alchemy” straight into the pond behind his house, and he would not have been surprised to return the next morning to find it devoid of even a single drop of water.

Bizarre and unfamiliar words were sprinkled liberally into the confounding text. Skyle had always been proud for his extensive vocabulary, but these terms were simply mind-bogglingly obscure. Pharmaceutics? Esoteric systems? Harmony of the microcosm? Spagyric? Iatrochemistry?

Who in the world had come up with things like that?

Of course, even the most uncultured oaf ought to know that iatrochemistry is a branch of chemistry and medicine that seeks to provide solutions to diseases and medical ailments.

Skyle’s jaw dropped as he stared at Little Shadow’s distinctly smug, beady little eyes. Why should he be so surprised to find that his teacher knew the subject he was supposed to educate him on? Truly, the most unworthy, untalented pupil ever to have been blessed by-

“I get it, please stop doing that, teacher.”

Having long given up on rebelling against Little Shadow, Skyle could only appeal to his new teacher’s rather gullible sense of pride. He decidedly ignored the outrage that sparked flames within his chest at this last comment and began to think very hard about what pharmaceutics meant.

Almost immediately, he could feel the blood rushing to his face as he wondered how he could not know that Pharmaceutics were a modern discipline that dealt with the process of turning a chemical compound into medication to be used for the treatment of medical conditions.

Then he was further able to understand the difference between Iatochemistry and Pharmeceutics. The information bloomed within his mind as though by magic, which in a way it was. Still, he reminded himself that he must focus on absorbing the information instead of letting his mind wander idly at the complex dynamics involved in infusing genius into a brainspan filled with solid fecal matter.

“Hey! That was uncalled for!”

Fine, he could grant that perhaps it was filled with rocky sediment instead. Just another stubborn child to bring forth from the darkness and into enlightenment. What sins could he have possibly committed in his past life to deserve such tribulations?

“You’re distracting me, Little Shadow. We only have 33 minutes left for this class and we’ve hardly gotten a couple pages into chapter 1.”

With one final sigh, Skyle was able to immerse himself into his reading once more. Only this time, he began to rely more and more on Little Shadow’s incredible academic prowess. There seemed to be no subject that could stump his teacher. Answers instantly appeared in his mind as soon as he was able to formulate the relevant query. Of course, that was only if Little Shadow approved of the question. Most of his curiosity was justifiably directed at Little Shadow’s own nature, though a few others did tend to trail off into largely unrelated matters.

It was simply too tempting and an altogether wondrous experience to study with Little Shadow. It was like having the keys to a vast vault of knowledge, where all Skyle had to do was ask a question and wait for the answer to fall into his lap.

Seemingly limitless knowledge was not the sole extent of Little Shadow’s powers, either. Skyle found that his own concentration and enthusiasm were increased exponentially. Topics that he had found dry and uninspiring only seconds earlier became treasure troves of wisdom which he rapidly absorbed with almost rapturous joy.

In the beginning, Skyle felt uncomfortable at how effortlessly his emotions were being manipulated. As the session wore on, however, he was surprised to find that most of the joy of discovery and learning was genuinely his. It had only taken that first push from Little Shadow and its assistance in unlocking the information.

By the time he finally reached the end of chapter 1 of “Foundations of Alchemy”, it had coincided exactly with the deadline of 45 minutes. Skyle knew better than to think of it as mere coincidence. Little Shadow even exuded a feeling of calm and relaxation through their bond. It allowed Skyle to close his eyes for a moment as he rapidly began to review the information in his head.

Only a few minutes later, he opened his eyes and found to his delight that he had learned about the ether, or the primordial fabric of all matter. He had also learned about its different states, which determined the hardness, softness, solidity, and liquidity of ether. He also learned about the Scientific Approach, the Quintessence, the Archaeus, and many other basic concepts of alchemy.

Having just read the first chapter of “Foundations of Alchemy”, Skyle could already understand many of the questions which had plagued his inquisitive mind for years without his knowledge. For instance, just the introductory example in the first chapter had opened Skyle’s eyes wide with wonder. It had dealt with ether in one of its most common shapes: water. Where did rain come from? Why did water turn into steam? How did it become ice in the winter?

He had begun to grasp the theory of the ether and its many states. Such theories only deepened his appreciation for the elements, as they were theorized to be representations of the ether. Skyle had never imagined that alchemy could be so powerful in the insights it provided, or the implications it ushered in.

“Thank you, Little Shadow.”

This time, his gratitude was profound and reverent. He knew he could have never deciphered the obtuse tome of knowledge without his new teacher’s guidance. The title of the book may have included the word “Foundations”, but just the first paragraph alone had contained over a dozen words Skyle had never seen or heard before.

Even had he known the meaning of the words, the concepts introduced were so alien to his way of thinking, that without Little Shadow’s steady supply of additional explanations and examples, Skyle would have been hopelessly lost and drowned under baffling concepts such as the One Universal Life and the Space-Time Continuum.

Little Shadow, vain thing that it was, preened under Skyle’s adulation for a solid minute before shaking itself awake and grimly pointing to the next solid, brick-sized tome of knowledge.

“Introduction to Spellcraft and the Art of Counter-spelling” was the book that Skyle had been looking forward to the most. Just after the first couple paragraphs, however, Skyle was swamped by the now-familiar feeling of being completely out of his depth. Only now did it begin to dawn upon Skyle that these tomes which had benign words like “Foundations” or “Introduction” were obviously meant for scholars who might have spent their entire lives in the pursuit of knowledge. Such books had definitely not been meant for a glorified turnip farmer who had never attended a classroom in his entire life.

No time was wasted, however, and Skyle immediately sought out Little Shadow’s help. Under its steady guidance, concepts like Runic Imbalance and Elemental Saturation were snatched up and devoured by his starved brain like the dainty little morsels at one of Kassandra’s tea parties.

The two most intriguing concepts Skyle learned in these short 45 minutes were spellcasting and the spell matrix. Skyle could finally understand that magic spells were a systematic approach to channel elemental power through a magical focus to achieve a desired effect. Most of the time, the focus would be the spellcaster.

Humans were not able to grasp the power of the elements with their physical bodies. Instead, a medium was required to draw elemental power from the world essence. This focus were their spirit veins. Only thusly could elemental essence be wielded. After all, raw essence was energy in its purest form.

In order to channel such power into fulfilling a useful function, it must be separated from its raw form and into its distinct component elements. For instance, the fire element possessed countless component attributes such as combustion, consumption, energy exchange, decomposition, conflagration, and illumination, among others. Each of these could be extracted or combined with others to produce a specific desired effect. In this complex process, merely channeling essence through the caster’s elemental veins had too low of a probability of success.

For this reason, spells had been created. Spells were merely the compilation, passed down from generation to generation, of what each identified component attribute could be used for, and how to extract and manipulate it into fulfilling such a function.

Spells relied upon arcane symbols, gestures, and incantations, all of which fulfilled the simple yet necessary task of channelling raw elemental power into its desired component attributes and then releasing the results in a predetermined format. Each of these 3 elements fulfilled different purposes.

Arcane script was used as an aid to gather and summon forth elemental essence. Each rune, sigil, or symbol held a mysterious power to draw specific aspects of each element. They could be combined or even modified to produce even stronger or uncanny effects. Loremasters were known to hoard the most powerful arcane symbols like a dragon guarding its mound of gold.

Arcane gestures were not used for mere dramatic flair. Each motion was carefully calculated to modify the flow of elemental power coursing through the spell’s structure. For instance, certain hand patterns were known to produce a variety of different effects such as reducing, augmenting, stretching, or concentrating strands of elemental essence. Archmages were known to customize their spells on the fly with many of their own secret arcane gestures, producing spectacular results.

Arcane incantations were the most common trope spellcasters were known for. Surprisingly, Skyle read that such chants were regarded as crutches, and universally despised even by the very mages who made use of them. The Arcane Voice, which Skyle had once envied mages for, was the last resort of mages who needed the added assistance to focus their minds and enter a spellcasting trance. Far from calling forth the power of the elements, most arcane incantations were merely an ungifted mage’s desperate last resort in order to enter the necessary state of focus they needed to properly visualize the elements and cast a spell. Thus, the lengthier a spellcaster’s incantation was, the deeper the scorn exuded from knowledgeable peers.

In the end, much of it was about talent. The more gifted the spellcaster was with an element, the less they were forced to rely upon spells. After all, spellcasting was merely a necessary evil, a crutch in order to purify elemental essence and mold it toward a desired purpose.

This was what marked the difference between mages and summoners. The latter had the necessary regis to wield the elements without the need of spells, relying only upon their innate bond with the elemental spirits.

Even among mages and summoners, there were stark differences in accordance to their regis. A high regis mage could dispense of most requirements for spells when casting due to their attunement with the elements. On the other hand, a low regis summoner would still need to rely on spells to wield particularly difficult aspects of an element’s power.

It was because of the nearly universal need for spells that a revolutionary discovery had been made many centuries ago. A material had been found that could hold specific spellcasting patterns in stasis within its mass with very little decay in their structure. It had been named “Aetherium”, and it had ushered in a whole new era in elemental spellcasting.

Whereas before, mages would need to manually cast each spell by going through the necessary gestures and incantations, after the advent of aetherium, spellcasting patterns could be imbedded into the aetherium crystals. These spellcasting patterns came to be known as Spell Matrices.

When raw elemental essence was channeled into such a spell matrix, it would be purified and modified until it met the desired attributes for the spell in question. Sometimes, the entire spell could be cast without a single sigil or incancation, needing only a high density aetherium crystal imbedded with a high tier spell matrix.

Matrix Masters had become a highly reputed profession, and it had been one of the driving forces behind the surge in influence from the magely ranks. After all, a wide array of spells could now be imbedded into matrix crystals, allowing mages to hurl spells with much shorter casting times, or even allow high regis warriors to cast spells they could otherwise never dream to.

This introduction to spellcasting, aetherium, and spell matrices, had Skyle’s head spinning round and round like a top. Only the calming influence of Little Shadow allowed the little boy to finish the first chapter with a semblance of composure. In truth, Skyle felt like the secret vaults of magely wisdom had been opened wide before his avaricious eyes, and he couldn’t wait to read chapter 2 or begin his spell matrix classes at the academy, for that matter.

The theory behind spell matrices allowed Skyle to realize what all those patterns in the different testing chambers at the academy had been. No wonder they had felt so unnatural and different when compared to the delicate yet powerful weaves of all natural matter under the True Sight. He wondered what kind of mysteries he would be able to unlock when he finally delved deep into the study of spell matrices.

A chilling pressure from his shoulder produced an uncontrollable shudder in Skyle. He smiled sheepishly and nodded an apology to Little Shadow. He knew he was supposed to be closing his eyes and reviewing the treasure trove of information he had just received. Instead, he had been dreaming of becoming a renowned matrix master whose name would echo throughout the known world.

At the very least, he should learn to whip up a lick of elemental flame before such lofty ambitions. Children were so helplessly naive these days. Really, nothing like the good old days when humans would simply squat on their naked rears and bay at the moon. Now, those had been some proper students.

Skyle sprang up from his seat and stared at Little Shadow. Just how old was his teacher? Humans baying at the moon? Surely, it must be jesting. Such a sense of humor..

Ashamed that he would have the audacity to doubt the peerlessly grand teacher Little Shadow, Skyle swallowed back a groan and sat back down. He only had one more book to go before he could be rid of this.. great teacher, he amended his thought swiftly.

The oily slick smugness he felt in his chest suddenly made Skyle’s heart skip a beat. Surely, he couldn’t go back to the academy and attend class there with this clump of shadow clinging to his shoulder?

“I mean, the revered teacher must have so many other important tasks. Surely, you won’t waste your time plaguing, er, instructing a simple farm boy.”

An intense thought that he ought to stop wasting time himself and move to the next subject latched onto his mind. Helpless, Skyle opened the pages of the last book he was to read for the night, “The War of Nations.”

This book was much easier to understand, its language both simpler and more direct. The subject matter, however, was the most distasteful to Skyle. It began its introduction with a brief paragraph about war never changing. Conflict was the innate condition of man’s existence. The resolution of such conflict was immaterial in the grand scheme of things. Only the perpetuation of war allowed man’s spirit to arise from its ashes. War cannot be avoided, only postponed to the advantage of others. Thus, it fell upon the wise leader to place his trust, not on the fickle hope of avoiding war, but rather on his readiness to engage upon it.

A true king trusts, not on the chance of his enemy not attacking, but rather on the fact that his position is unassailable.

Thus began the most depressing, harrowing hour of reading Skyle had ever engaged upon. The fact that he found the concepts introduced in the text as abominable as they were irrefutable, sparked an anger that he could not vent in his chest. Curiously, Little Shadow did not interfere in this process, instead allowing Skyle to continue absorbing the material.

Many times, Skyle wished he could close the book and stop reading. The words were simple, but their implications profound. They drew a panorama that terrified Skyle, with the strokes of a bleak landscape filled with the methodic repression and elimination of every sovereign entity outside of the self. Only from the depths of the real human condition, the author stated, could a true compromise be reached. For that is the best that could be hoped for, driving the hardest of bargains - a compromise.

There was no absolute victory, only absolute defeat.

Skyle reached the final words of the first chapter and woodenly drew the cover of the book closed. He sat there for a long moment in stunned silence, his eyes staring blankly ahead of him. Was the world described in the book really the same one where Skyle had been born and raised? Only now could Skyle begin to understand where Leon had been coming from. He had little doubt that the young Lord of Draxas had already read this entire volume from cover to cover.

He likely knew its contents by heart.

Am I so ill-equipped to deal with the realities of the world? He began to regret leaving the farm and the safe confines of his home. For just a moment, he wished he could go back to his quiet life of harvesting turnips and looking after unruly snowblade tiger cubs.

Would that be such a bad thing?

The whole time, Little Shadow did not say a single thing. It just sat quietly and watched from where it lay perched upon the little boy’s shoulder. It only listened, and it was there that it finally showed the true depth of its wisdom.

Skyle wondered about his friend Leon, whether it be his scarred past or his uncertain future. Dealing with assassins, how could he not take lives himself? Confronted with poisonous snakes on all sides, should he wait while they coiled and prepared to strike? He had mentioned an assassination attempt, which had brought him to that fateful encounter with Skyle. Had he found the assassin? Would it matter, when there were sure to be many more to follow? Would Skyle simply watch as a bystander, or would he help? If he did, would he be able to kill in order to save his friend? How many lives would be needed to keep Leon alive and well upon the throne of Draxas? How many of those would be innocents, simple collateral damage?

He also thought about Uncle Talon and his own father, and their history with Shadow and the Empire. Was that why his father would get that unreadable expression on his face, from time to time? As though he were being smothered under a mountain of sins which he could never truly escape. Was Talon doomed to share the same fate? What about Skyle himself? Would he embrace the art of poisons and assassination, even if in the beginning he had only meant to protect those dear to him?

No, he realized with a cold shiver. Already, his purpose had irrevocably shifted. Like the book had said, he had ceased to be a passive defender, hoping to avoid conflict. He would rely upon his own strength and readiness to meet any threat, rather than harbor such naive and foolish hopes.

It took Skyle’s breath away, to realize just how much he had changed in only the space of a couple weeks.

Was conflict truly the only constant in human nature? Are we destined to fight one another, over and over, never able to achieve a final victory, but instead doomed to merely postpone an inevitable defeat?

How about his main reason in seeking strength? Deep inside, he knew beyond a shadow of doubt that cleansing the taint was just a secondary goal. Right now, he was still desperately clinging onto the last vestiges of Ria’s presence in his life. These shattered remnants, they trickled through the gaps between his fingers like fine sand. Their memories together continued to fade with each passing breath. Already, Skyle could not recall the shape of her face, nor the sound of her voice. Only the essence of her words, and the vague scent left by their time together remained.

What price would Skyle be willing to pay to be reunited with Ria? What would he not sacrifice for her sake? Where did right and wrong lay when conflict was inevitable, and peace was only the postponement of war?

By the time Talon arrived to gently tap his shoulder, Skyle had sat there for the whole thirty minutes he was supposed to meditate. He had spent the entire time drowning in his own thoughts, floundering through a vast sea of murky waters and darker skies.

Talon must have seen the questions in Skyle’s eyes, but like Little Shadow, he didn’t offer any words. He knew that sometimes answers were more important because of the seeking itself rather than the results. There was a clear distinction between what can be taught and what must be learned.

Thus, as Skyle stepped out into the moonlit sky, his eyes were clouded with darkness and shrouded in doubt.