“Although you haven’t mastered swordsmanship, that will come with time,” Arrelion said. He paced around a kneeling Koda in the long training hall. Its ceiling towered over the two mages and dust roamed through the shafts of morning light shining through the massive stained glass windows that provided the only lumination for Arrelion and Koda.

Arrelion stopped in front of his student. “Pick up your ilrune.” He waited for Koda to do as he was told. “Today we practice the art of blade channeling.”

Koda held his large saber with both hands and raised his eyes to his teacher, patiently waiting for a new command. No longer did he question Arrelion or question the ways of the silver mage. No, now he was eager to learn.

“You must concentrate, Koda,” Arrelion said. “Focus all of your magic through your hands, up the hilt, and into your blade.

Koda nodded and began to meditate, drawing his elemental magic from his soul, deep where it lay, always waiting until beckoned. He honed in on his vernal magic at first. Simple to summon. Reliable. Always ready to assist him. Then earth, his second color. Similar in ways to his vernal magic, as if they were born to be intertwined. Next he drew from fire. Although volatile, it learned to become loyal to him. Light and water were last. He had little time to practice with those two colors but he pushed them into the blade all the same.

The more magic he funneled through his sword, the more difficult it became to hold it. His grip loosened and his hilt warbled. The blade itself began to shake. He shut his eyes tighter and clenched his teeth until they began to grind. Sweat dripped down his temples. The irlune joggled like it contained a world ending storm within it.

“Concentrate! Concentrate, Koda!” Arrelion’s commanding voice only sounded as a whisper amongst the chaos churning in the young mage’s body.

Finally, Koda gasped and the ilrune exploded from his grip. It spun and flailed past his head, just nicking the tip of his ear, and driving into a nearby pillar with a loud Shnkt!

Koda pawed his ear and winced. He looked at Arrelion with a frown.

“No one said you would get it with your first try, my student,” Arrelion said with a light chuckle. “Retrieve your sword. Perhaps try with only one magic type this time.”

Koda nodded. No, of course he wasn’t going to master silver magic on his first go. How foolish to think he could control all five magics in a single attempt.

Koda tugged at the sword, but it was tightly lodged in the stone. Koda sighed and softened the pillar with just enough brown magic to drop the sword before solidifying it again. He reached for his weapon and noticed the nicks on its edge. They rippled down his sword with a reminder of his own imperfections.

Perhaps Master Arrelion will forge me a new sword once I become a true silver mage? He thought to himself.

Koda knelt down with his sword across his lap. He brushed two fingers from its tip, down the smooth, light blue blade, across its leaf shape guard, and around the golden, leather bound grip.

“Take your sword with both hands, Koda,” Arrelion said in a calm tone.

Take my sword with both hands, He repeated in his mind

“Now focus your most loyal and closest magic into the blade,” Arrelion instructed.

“Now focus…the Magi…” Koda grunted and winced as the familiar raspy wolfish voice came through his head. “Use the Magi, Koda.”

Te-Tezhok? Koda whispered under the weight of the intrusive thoughts.

“I am here, Koda. Always,” Tezhok whispered.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I d-don’t need the Magi.

Do not deny your gifts, dear Koda.

“Use your most loyal and closest magic,” Arrelion repeated. His words were now a distant echo.

“You know that the Magi is your most loyal magic…” Tezhok cooed into Koda’s ear like a soft breeze. Comforting. Welcoming…always welcoming…

No…it is a crutch…

“Lies…Koda…”

No, it is a crutch. Koda said with more confidence again.

“Do not listen to them. Arrelion will only fail you in your time of need…”

Koda slowly opened his eyes. He watched in awe as his blade hummed and glowed with a familiar emerald light. A green color.

“Vernal…is…my most loyal magic!” he whispered half to himself.

“It would seem so, Koda.” Arrelion smiled. “Now the work begins.”

Koda rose to his feet, still channeling his vernal magic. He was careful not to cut off his flow. “What is the next step, Master Arrelion?”

“You must make a trail.”

Koda peered curiously at the green glowing blade. He blinked in confusion. “Does a trail of light not appear when I move the blade?”

Arrelion laughed. “See for yourself.”

Koda moved his sword in a circle and to his amazement the light was not followed by a tail. It was as if the light was just a fixture on the blade and not a radiant glow at all.

“I don’t get it? How?” Koda said, baffled by the lack of logic.

Arrelion took out his claymore and channeled vernal magic into its blade. Like a match to dry tinder, it blazed with green fire. Brighter and more potent than Koda could ever hope his own channeling could become.

Arrelion swung the blade and like Koda’s sword, it did not create a trail of light. Arrelion held the sword firm. “When you put one hundred percent focus into your channel, the magic will be commanded to hold its position.”

Koda listened intently. Nodding with each word directed at him.

“However, the moment we let go of our concentration—” Arrelion loosened his grip and his emblazoned sword snuffed out like a doused flame. “The sword loses its magic. Do you understand?”

Koda stared at his surging emerald magic. He pictured a glass of a fluorescent liquid in his mind. Glowing with his vernal magic. Full to the brim.

It is full as long as I place one hundred percent of my concentration to hold my magic.

He imagined pouring the glass of its ethereal contents out. Immediately his sword stopped channeling the magic.

If I stop concentrating, then I could not channel the magic. My sword is the glass. My magic is the liquid. I am that which decides how much I pour or hold. If I pour a little bit out, I should be able to…

Koda moved the sword and to his pleasure it created a trail of light.

“Good,” Arrelion said. “But what have you noticed about the method of which you performed this skill?”

Koda studied the glass of magic, now partially empty.

If the liquid is my magic then while the glass is not full, then I am not using my full power!

“My magic is weaker in this state,” Koda answered.

“Yes. However, a trail of light while completely concentrating, is like casting a spell.” Arrelion waved his sword and stopped it half way down. A tail of magic followed its motion. He tightened his grip and a stream of leaves propelled forward and grazed across Koda’s cheek.

Koda felt a warm droplet of blood trickle down his face.

If I transfer leaking magic from my glass to another glass I can work with more magic!.

“Now you try,” Arrelion said.

Koda took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He reeled back his sword. A set of glasses. Within a single motion he hacked forward sending forth a trail of darting leaves.

Arrelion deflected all but one, which tore across his arm. He winced, but smiled.

“A natural. I knew it,” he said.

Koda opened his eyes and leaned on his sword.

“Your training with Xile, coupled with your training as a mage made you the perfect fit for silver magic.” He shouldered his claymore and placed a confident hand on Koda’s head. “Now go practice with your other four magics. Once you can cast all of them, then we will move onto the next step.”

“Which is?”

Arrelion smirked. “There are three aspects to mastering the ways of the silver mage. Swordsmanship, channeling, and amplification.”

“Amplification?”

Arrelion nodded. “Swordsmanship allows you to get comfortable with holding a sword and fighting with it alongside using magic. Channeling allows you to use your magic with that sword, but amplification is what makes those spells more powerful!”

Koda nodded slowly. Amplification.