Excerpt from the twenty-third draft of An Earthling’s Guide to the Larger Universe

Affinity Classification: Other Systems: Freeform Casting (Wilders)

There are people who don’t believe in Affinities, either because they were untrained or because they believe that the entire idea is too limiting.

Most trained mages refer to them derogatively as “wilders” and believe that they are weaker than someone who knows and deliberately trains their Affinities, learning spells that synergize well with them.

There is some truth to that, but it is undeniably true that freeform casters (the “scholarly” term for the spellcasting style) can learn and cast spells regardless of the affinity the spell supposedly requires. While this is unremarkable for many spells, some spells are strongly tied to a small group of Affinities and therefore less common in the general mage population. Almost every mage can learn some form of minor telekinesis, but many mages never learn to heal - and throwing fire is common but certainly not universal.

Yet a freeform caster can do all of those things if they set out to try, even though they will be less powerful at them than someone with a high Affinity.

It’s enough to make me wonder how important Affinity is for learning spells - perhaps we limit ourselves when we say “my Affinities mean I can do these things”.

It wasn’t as easy as Serenity had hoped. The Void Spark wouldn’t move away from his center of mass. If he wanted to touch the Void Spark to the World Core and hope it could take it, he was going to have to envelop the Core.

The Guardian seemed unhappy as Serenity approached the Core, but it was hard to be certain; without real facial expressions, it could just as easily be boredom. What Serenity could tell for certain was that he was staying well away from the Core and Serenity; even as he approached the Core, the Guardian hadn’t moved.

Of course, neither had Death.

It was the best option he could see, so Serenity went ahead and moved himself around Earth’s core. He could feel the magic moving in it; there was simply so much there he couldn’t choose not to feel it, especially at the broken surfaces.

A voice he vaguely recognized rang in his head. Was this the voice from the pool that had helped him call out his soulblade? That was who it sounded like; had that been the world speaking to him?

Why are you here, Serenity? There is nothing more I can teach you.

“I’m here to help you. I want to heal you, but I can’t. So - can you take this as a gift? Can you use it to heal yourself?” Serenity kept moving forward until the Void Spark contacted the World Core. It was the best he could do to offer it up.

The Void Spark touching the World Core stopped Serenity’s forward motion even before he quite realized they’d actually touched. Unlike the rest of his form, the Void Spark wouldn’t simply flow around the Core.

A lit Spark? No, you can’t mean to give that away. Don’t you know what it is?

“It was a part of myself that I accidentally cut off.” Serenity would have smiled ruefully if he’d had a mouth. “I’ve been told not to do that again until I’m bigger. But it doesn’t matter what else I could do with it; I choose to use it to help you.”

A part of you rather than the Plane. You offer yourself to me?

“Earth is my home. The home of my fiancee, my family, most of my friends. Someday, the home of my children. How can I not?” Serenity knew that no matter what happened, he would be spending a lot of his coming years away from Earth. Still, everyone needed a safe home to return to. He wanted his family and friends to be safe on Earth unless they, like him, chose to leave.

It would still be a better choice to do something else with the Spark. Create your own planet, perhaps? It would take time, but you wouldn’t have the damage I do.

A Void Spark could create a planet?

That only made the question of exactly what the Void was even more confusing. The Spark was only a fraction of his mass; how could that possibly create a planet? Well, magic, obviously, whatever magic had made both mana and essence appear from nothing in the Void.

Serenity didn’t consider “magic” to be a sufficient answer. Gravity was a better answer for “why do things fall down” than “magic” was; saying “it’s magic” without understanding what lay behind it didn’t answer the question.

It was very clear that Serenity did not understand the Void, but he was confident that “Void” was a terrible term for it, even though it seemed dark and sort of felt like horrors that Void Summoners could bring.

Wait. If it’s creating something from nothing, maybe it’s even more connected to Summoning than I thought? Isn’t that one of the major possibilities for what Summoning does?

Serenity pulled his thoughts back to the present. He was still floating, surrounding the World Core, with his Void Spark touching it. The World Core had told him there was a better option, but she hadn’t said no. “If you’re just giving me time to change my mind, there’s no reason to wait. It doesn’t matter if there’s a theoretically better option; I want to help you, and this is the best way I have. It’s yours.”

You are certain?

Serenity knew he’d guessed right; the World Core wanted the Void Spark, but was still trying to do what she considered the right thing. “Yes. I am. It’s yours.”

Then how can I say no?

Thank you.

Serenity felt a slight tearing sensation, then the power of the Void Spark started to disappear. The entire World Core he surrounded started to radiate the same strangely comfortable intermittent magic. Serenity tried to move away, since she’d clearly taken the Void Spark, but he couldn’t move. He was anchored in place.

Before he could do more than realize his immobility, his surroundings started to fade. Serenity was suddenly seeing the world, rather than where he was.

Oceans and mountains, forests and deserts; it was all a part of the world. The ley lines spread out in front of him, the world’s circulatory system. The layers in the atmosphere and even the radiation belts that protected the world against the whims of the Sun were clear to feel.

He could look close and see life in all its forms, but he had to watch carefully. Plants were easier; they tended to stay still.

Cities were simply another biome to the World Herself. To Serenity, however, they were more important.

Earth seemed amused as she drew his attention to communities he’d never known were there, deep in the jungles and deserts or high on the mountains. One dead city was inside a mountain, hollowed out in ages past but long since lost.

The ocean was riddled with destroyed communities. Serenity felt Earth’s sorrow as she showed him an island the size of Australia that had once been covered by people, but was now deep beneath an ocean.

When he looked closely, there was art on the walls. Few of the images seemed human; instead, it seemed a mix of species. Serenity recognized some, but others he’d never seen. He wondered if it was allegorical like the Egyptian gods or a reflection of reality.

For that matter, were the Egyptian gods a reflection of reality? So many of Earth’s myths were close to true that it was possible.

A feeling close to a laugh drew his attention onwards, and he saw small hidden communities that kept themselves secret within human society.

Then he felt a searing heat and he was back within the empty sphere, still surrounding the World Core. It was larger; the damaged sections had grown more than the intact. It felt like it was still growing, but slowly.

I will take this slowly. If I hurry, too much will be damaged. I will never be as I was, but perhaps someday I can be better.

One question, while I can still hold you here and we can speak easily. Would you serve as my emissary to the dungeons? I would send D’Nehr, but he can no longer go about on the surface easily, while you can.

Serenity backed off from the core, then realized he could move again. “Emissary? What do you mean?”

There are a great many new dungeons now, and many of them do not know how to manage the mana flow. They are young. If they manage it incorrectly or do not work with me, there will be disruptions. All you need to do is visit each dungeon core; once you greet them, I will be able to reach out to them and try to teach.

Some will agree and some will not; dungeons are all different. Once I know which is ignorant and which is stubborn, I can plan.

Did she just ask what he thought she did? “You want me to run as many dungeons as I can, once each, and reach the dungeon core?”

He hadn’t planned to run that many, but for as long as travel was easy, all it would take was time and money; more importantly, it would be a good way to get others experience. The first full run through a dungeon was always the most valuable, after all. Perhaps that was something to talk to Rissa about? Or maybe his father; he could be on hand while they closed down different invasions as backup and run dungeons while he waited?

The first time around, he’d run a great many dungeons, usually multiple times each. He was already higher Tier than he had been back then, but he didn’t have the group around him to help. This would give him a way to gather such a group.

Yes, touch the core and talk to it. That will let you link the core to my network, if it agrees. It’s the same as when you followed me, a moment ago.

Serenity started to nod, only to realize that smoke didn’t nod well. “I can do that. For any I get to, at least.”

If there is someone already managing the core, you may need to talk to them as well. An experienced one will have already linked the core to the network, but if someone is new they will not know how.

An experienced one? Like the Traa, or Raz for Aki?

A moment’s thought told Serenity that those dungeons were already linked to the network. He knew exactly where they were and how many beings were using them. He also knew that the Traa dungeons had been linked by the Dungeon Binder, while Aki had connected herself to the network almost immediately after the dungeon formed.

The Settlement Gardens were simply a subsidiary of Serenity Settlement, and all City Cores and Nodes were linked.

The Blue Line Dungeon was linked as soon as it occurred to Serenity that it should be; it was his dungeon, after all, so the network reached out and the dungeon let it join with no issues.

There were other dungeons all over the world that were already linked. Some were old, but most were no more than a few weeks in age. Serenity could see in his mind where each ley line was and what was at each node - if it was connected to the network. Most nodes either had nothing or whatever they had was not on the network.

Serenity didn’t see any invasion portals. “Tzintkra could show me the invasion portals. How can I find them?”

I cannot help you there. Invasion portals are visible from offplanet but hidden when close. I know that is the design, but I do not know why or how to get around it. I know it is possible but that is all.

That made sense; the Voice liked to make things challenging but not impossible. One detail didn’t add up, though. “How do you know that?”

I remember an argument. I do not remember who argued, but one thought they should be easy to find, while another wanted them hidden. I remember that the one who wanted them hidden won.

It was a long time ago.

It must have been a very long time ago. “The Voice was here in the past?”

I do not remember the Voice from before.

Yet the first Guardian - D’Nehr? - knew of the Voice and feared it.

I cannot keep you here longer.

Rhea said we should put our trust in you and it would work out, that I should trust her. This isn’t what I thought she meant. I do not believe it is what she thought she meant, either.

Thank you.