Our children were able to fight the gifts now, but they would not stop. Soon, our children and the gifts had all but killed each other. But they could do no more. Neither was strong enough to conquer all. So, our children came back to us and begged us to use our magic again.

- Chapter 22, The Unwritten History of Neah-Reath.

She walked through the darkness of the tunnels, feeling the unseen eyes upon her. The darkness was broken only the spall fireball she help balanced on her palm, although it drained her slightly to keep stable, she much preferred it to the light spells she knew; the ability to extinguish it quickly, not to mention the ability to throw it if needed, more than made up for the slight tingle that holding the spell-form caused. However, the constant tightness in her nerves that it caused contributed to her uneasiness. She sighed, as she rounded a corner, seeing only more darkness and tunnels, then continued to walk.

She paused as the light her small fireball gave her showed the entrance to a cavern. She quickly extinguished the fireball, dropping her into darkness, broken only by the slight illumination coming from the cavern. From this distance, she couldn’t make out details, so she approached stealthily. Stepping carefully, she felt the air freshen slightly as she approached the cavern entrance, a slight air current moving the air far more than she had experienced in the last days of walking through the darkness. She stopped and crouched at the entrance to the cavern, staring at the massive expanse covered with moving lights that appeared beneath and in front of her, stretching for what seemed miles. She felt fear, knowing that while she had reached her destination, it was nothing like what she expected. She felt the unseen presence change, almost as if it enjoyed her discomfort.

She dashed down the tunnel, her light spell lighting the area around, giving her the ability to run, but dashing any chance she had of hiding. Her heart pounded in her chest as her lungs burnt from the chase that had lasted hours, or minutes. The never ending tunnels and darkness took away all sense of time, leaving her with only fear. The tunnel she followed smelt of rot and decay, but at least it was moving upwards, away from her pursuers. As her light spell ran out, she was plunged into darkness in the seconds before she could form the spell in her mind. She felt a fast, burning sensation on her leg and gasped, managing to hold the spell through the sudden pain. Casting the spell, she checked her leg and saw a shallow cut that had appeared in the seconds of darkness. She quickly started running again,

She stumbled forwards, onwards and upwards. After a frustrating series of inclines and declines, she was sure she was finally getting close, the tunnel having trended upwards for the last hour. Her mad dash to escape the followers had turned into a panic-inducing struggle through the tunnels. Her body was starting to burn from keeping the fireball spell going for so long, but it was better than the cuts and bruises she got whenever her light spell ran out. She rounded a final corner and saw daylight appear at the end of the long tunnel in front of her! She put on a burst of speed and ran towards the light as fast as she could. 50 paces, 30, 10… She stumbled as she felt her foot catch on something and looked down as she caught herself. When she looked up, the daylight was blocked by the forms of her chasers. The last sound she heard was their harsh, guttural voices as they spoke.

“No one leaves, once they have entered.”

As they spoke, she felt something jerk her head back, while a blade entered her side. She gasped as it was removed, then collapsed as she felt her body weaken. The last sight she had was of a foot entering her vision, as she lay on her front, then felt a blade enter her again.

Teah woke up screaming, grasping at her stomach frantically. She felt desperately at her body, searching for the wounds that she was certain she had. Eventually she calmed, her mind shaking the lingering fear from the dream, leaving her panting and exhausted.

“Another dream, child?”

“More like a nightmare. Why do I keep dreaming about dying?”

“That I do not know. There are recorded incidents of people remembering peoples lives, but never their deaths. And certainly not in the way you seem to be.”

Cornelius looked away again, staring into the distance.

“Hmm, I wonder…” he murmured to himself.

“Oh? What is it?”

He shook him head, seeming to come back to the present. “Nothing, child. Just an idea, but it’s not worth going into it now. Not when we have better things to do.”

“Why? What will we do?”

“Well, first, breakfast. Then, we’ll start teaching you magic.”

“What? Really?” Teah shouted excitedly as she jumped out of the bed. She quickly rushed to the table and pulled out the various foods they had for breakfast each day, quickly making up a tray and taking it to the chairs by the fireplace, where Cornelius sat.

“How do we start?” she asked, as she took a bite of her food.

“Do you remember what I told you about how to use magic?”

“Sure! You have to channel the Natural Magic and use it to make a spell happen.”

“Correct! Well done, child.”

Teah blushed at the rare praise from Cornelius.

“So, how do I do it?”

“Well, normally, it would be by a long process of learning the spell forms and making them as mental images in your mind. However, that is difficult and outdated. We will use the easy way for you.”

“Wait, if there is an easy way, why doesn’t everyone do it?” she asked suspiciously.

“Because, there are certain benefits and reasons for doing it the normal way. Including, limiting the spread of power to those responsible enough to use it. However, the main reason is that this is a way of doing it that I invented pioneered, so others are reluctant to use it, as it is a very labour intensive process for both of us. It works fine to teach like this, one-to-one, but it doesn’t have much place in a traditional school of learning.”

“Why? What do you have to do?”

“As you said, the process of making spells work, you have to have a spell-form and then channel the magic through it. Both of these two things take a lot of time to learn how to do. So, we are going to take a short-cut. I will do a spell that will let you channel the magic far more easily than you would be able to do so by yourself, as well as making it much easier for you to make the spell-form. However, you will have to work and learn how to do it by yourself if you want to be able to use magic.”

“Wait, if I still have to learn how to do it myself, then what’s the point?”

“Because, this helps build the pathways and the understanding far faster. Once you learn how it feels, then you can learn how to do it much easier.”

“Ahh, it’s like forming muscle memory.”

“Indeed! A very similar process.” He smiled warmly at her, then frowned again.

“However, I do need to warn you now. The reason that learning magic takes so long and is so hard is that the process of channelling the Natural Magic into spell-forms hurts. Until you learn how to do it flawlessly, then the process of channelling has what we call leakage, which is when the magic you are channelling leaks out into your body. This makes the spells you cast weak, but also hurts and damages the body. So, when you cast the spell, it will make your body feel like it is burning.”

“…. That sounds unpleasant.” Teah frowned, uncertain if she wanted to continue until an idea struck her.

“But didn’t you say that I have a strong affinity for natural magic? Shouldn’t that make it better?”

“Child, I fear that it could make it worse. The act of changing the Natural Magic into the spell-form changes the magic. I do not know how this will be affected by your affinity, but I can imagine multiple possibilities, that do not bear talking about.”

They both sat in silence for a time, until he spoke again.

“Regardless, a bit of pain now is better than a lifetime of uncertainty, don’t you think? Let us begin.”

Teah gulped nervously before nodding in agreement.

“Ok, what do I do?”

“Hold out your finger. I will cast the spell that will help you channel the magic, by sort of sucking it out of your body. It will also make your finger glow and leave a trail in air, which will be how you make the spell-forms.”

“Alright then.”

Teah held out her right index finger as Cornelius reached out and held his hand palm down just above it. As he did, a small glow appeared in his hand then seemed to jump down onto her finger. She felt a slight tingle as the light attached itself then gasped as her finger started leaving a trail of glowing light in the air. She played with it, making shapes and words in glowing light. As she did, Cornelius watched her, an amused smile on his face.

“Yes, child, that is right.”

“I thought you said it would hurt” she said, still playing with the glowing light.

“Oh, we haven’t started yet. Spell-forms are quite exact things, so just playing around won’t do anything apart from making some pretty lights.”

“So, what shape do I need to make a spell-form?”

“We’ll start with the most basic spell. Light touch. It basically just creates a ball of light on your finger, similar to that one, but it won’t leave the light trail. Now, watch this.” He said, as he moved his finger, creating a glowing trail of his own. He drew what reminded Teah of a stylised I, with a sort of squiggle at the top and bottom.

“Now, practice drawing that shape. Remember, you have to be exact.”

Teah tried to copy the image, with Cornelius explaining which mistakes she had made in each attempt. Finally, after an hour of practice, Cornelius said she had it right.

“That’s good, child. Now, this time, when you draw it, you have to desire the spell to take effect. Put your full mind into it, feeling your desire. Then make it happen.”

Teah focused on the spell-form, trying to wish it to work, but nothing happened. She kept trying, finally giving up.

“I don’t get it. I’m wishing for it to happen, but it’s not.”

“No, child. Don’t wish for it to happen. You need to create the desire, the intent, then force the natural magic to flow into the spell-form.”

Teah tried again, trying to force the magic to happen. Finally, becoming angry, she shouted “Just work, damn you!”

At once, she felt a burning sensation throughout her body, then saw her finger glow brightly.

“Ahh, ow!”

The burning sensation changed to feeling like she was being shocked continuously.

“That’s it, child! Keep it going!”

“Ahhh!” she shouted in response, tensing up before slumping back in relief as the light blinked out. She sat, breathing heavily in relief.”

“Will that happen every time?”

“Yes, child. The point of learning to channel the magic is to become better at it, so that you don’t have that leakage. Of course, no one has ever achieved perfect control of it.”

“Wait, so it hurts you every time you cast a spell?”

Cornelius sighed.

‘That is what limits the lifespan of a magic user. As you study magic and become better at channelling it, the leakage lessens, and so does the pain, which means that you can cast bigger spells. However, as you cast stronger and more powerful spells, there is more being channelled, so there is more leakage. Eventually, the constant pain wears out the body, limiting what you can cast. Eventually you reach a stage where the body is no longer able to channel the magic without breaking down, which is when most magic users die.”

“So, the magic is keeping you alive?”

“The magic is keeping everyone alive. That is what it does. As you cast that spell, the burning sensation was the leakage of the spell damaging your body, while the shock was the natural magic trying to fix it. This process is normally continuous, so you wouldn’t notice, but this damage is so unlike what ever happens normally happens to a body, and so extreme, that it is hurts just as much. If you had been able to keep the spell going, then the process would have repeated.”

“So, people here don’t get sick then? Or injured?”

“No, no, no. Those are natural processes. The natural magic doesn’t affect that. After all, if you cut yourself, then your body is still there. The natural magic does speed up the rate of healing, and in areas where it is stronger then it will be faster, but that’s it. For most small illnesses, it’s enough to help you recover quickly, but for a serious illness, the help isn’t enough. It’s like the magic doesn’t know how to heal the body properly, so it just aids the body in doing so. So, if your body can’t heal it by itself, then the magic can’t make it do it.”

Teah sat in silence for some time, thinking about it.

“So, people still get cancer here?”

“What is cancer, child?”

“It’s an illness. When your body makes a mistake and makes something bad inside itself. Then, it starts spreading throughout the body.”

“I do not know that name, but I know that are illnesses similar to what you say. Yes, we have things like that and yes people die from them.”

“And magic can’t stop it?”

“Healing spells can fix damage, but it doesn’t fix the underlying illness. The more often you heal someone with an illness like this, the faster the damage comes back again. It’s like the illness gets stronger at the same time.”

Teah sat and thought for a while, before turning to Cornelius, a look of determination on her face.

“Let’s try again.”