Kynos was sat on the floor as the instructor prepared various things.

“Magic is about visualization and imagination,” the instructor said, “first, since this room has shadow, imagine the shadow cast by the wall under that window lengthening all the way to yourself.”

Kynos stared at the shadow, which did nothing. He stared at it harder, and imagined in his mind that it slowly creeped towards him. Before he noticed, the shadow was stretched out all the way to his feet, almost merging with his own.

“Good, go ahead and release that.”

Kynos wasn't sure what the instructor meant, and the shadow stayed put.

“First time huh? Just stop focusing on it, and it'll go back on its own.”

Ah, the shadow is back below the window again. The instructor motioned with his hands, one of which was holding a cloth with a vivid rendition of a small fire.

“Okay, look at this,” the instructor brought out a small plate with his other hand, “and imagine that small fire on top of this plate.”

Kynos stared at the fire and the plate until he felt cross-eyed. A flicker appeared on the plate. He fixed his eyes by rubbing them and tried again.

“Ooooh, it lit up! That mean you have affinity with fire too, I'm glad that wasn't the thing you used when you awakened,” the instructor said with mild surprise.

“Awakened?” Kynos accidentally leaked out. Ah, it must have been when his mother died. The flames of revenge flared up in his eyes, which made the instructor a bit uncomfortable.

“Well, mages usually show their strongest affinity during a time of high stress after their infancy. And fire mages tend to harm themselves and people around them when they awaken. Even though the magic type is common, not many fire mages become proficient, either because they fear their own magic, or because they...uh...become too injured.”

Kynos nodded with understanding. Wasn't this a bit too heavy for a seven-year-old?

“Ah, sorry, let's continue with the tests.” The instructor shook his head and brought out a small pitcher of water.

If turned out that Kynos was only able to use shadow and fire magic. There was no actual way to fully test the nature magic variations, but he found out he wasn't able to heal the prick on his hand or to speak with the mouse in the cage.

The instructor packed up. “That's it for today. Since it's late, we will find you an instructor tomorrow so you can begin image training. You seem to have good control, so you won't be too far behind.”