Chapter 16: Chapter 16 – Instinct

When Dayen, their homeroom teacher, walked into the classroom, she looked at the 28 students present before her. They were part of the group of freshly awakened kids, going through their first meditation and choosing the element of fire only a week prior. Those from some kind of prominent family were absent, except for one, Lia. Dayen had already expected this; as usual, this was how things went in the Academy. Many talented mages had previous experience with learning and using magic. Their focus was on something other than the introductory courses she provided. Even when they had to take her personal tests, most would pass them without attending any of her classes. Those students' main goal was to get enough CP and visit one of the eight Towers and get lessons from the true masters of their respective elements.

On the other hand, Dayen was part of a unique group of teachers employed by the Academy. A very special and extremely valued group of people. They collectively numbered only eight souls, and they were those who dabbled in all of the eight elements. They had a basic understanding of all and were tasked to supervise and be the homeroom teachers of every year's new batch of students. They spent four years supervising them, and when a student had questions that were above their teacher's expertise, they had the authority to directly send the student to one of the elemental masters for a private lesson. Of course, none of the eight advertised this to their students, as only those who showed that their talent was paired up with the correct mentality were worthy of this privilege. The freedom that the Academy provided was also a test and a lesson for many on becoming self-sufficient.

"So only one…." She thought to herself, committing all of Lia's features to memory, "And the one from that House? Who would have thought!" Dayen chuckled softly inside her head. 

She had great admiration towards the House of Amarin, or more precisely towards their progenitor. The only person in history who managed to wield opposing elements at once, fusing them together. She may be someone who could switch between all the eight elements, but if she wanted to cast water magic after fire, she still had to rest for an hour before doing so. Her students stood up, bowing when she arrived as they were part nervous and part mesmerized by her beauty. 

"I hope everyone found the perfect mantra or breathing technique in the library!" Dayen spoke up, looking around the children, ranging from 12 to 16, including Lia. Dayen had already memorized everyone's names, and she couldn't help but smile. On the outside, these kids would have to lower their heads before the presence of Lia, and even Dayen felt weird receiving a welcoming bow from her. "Let's start today's lesson about the basics of the element of Fire!" She laughed and clapped, "Don't worry! The fact that you are here already proves that you are a talented person! You just need a little push!"

While Dayen was encouraging the nervous students, Lia listened to her, tilting her head from one side to the other. When her teacher was going into details of meditation, explaining the magic circles below them, she barely blinked her eyes, nodding here and there. Keily quickly noticed this as he was made to stand next to her.

"Does she know about this already?" He thought to himself, starting to believe that she was speaking the truth before. 

Unlike Lia, Keily was utterly new to casting magic and to the concept of meditating. He didn't even know he had an aptitude for it until a year ago. He was living in a small village with many others of his kind. It was back then when disaster struck, and Undead was spotted in the forest nearby. Worse, some of their woodsmen disappeared shortly after. Panic was quickly spreading, but before it could turn into all-out chaos, a group of warriors came through their village. Their leader quickly restored order and formed a local militia, setting up defenses around the town while they went into the forest to hunt down the Undead.

That was when Keily's life changed. He was an only child as his mother died during childbirth. His father took care of him with the help of the villagers for the next 13 years while working as a woodcutter. There was already some talk of Keily, behind his back, that he was cursed. His black fur and floppy ears were considered a weird sign as none of the other rabbit beast folk had those distinct traits. The rumors resurfaced and became even worse when it was revealed that his father was among those who went missing when they spotted the Undead menace. 

When the adventurer group asked for one of the villagers to be their guide in the forest, nobody wanted to leave the security of their wooden walls. Only Keily stepped forward, determined to find his father. Some spoke up, warning the adventurers that Keily may bring trouble to them, but their leader simply laughed it off, heading into the forest, following the young boy.

Keily could never forget the day they arrived at the logging site. They found two undead villagers wandering it, one of them being his father. He did not even recognize him at first. His brown hair was turned utterly white while his usually sharp, pointy ears were flopping behind him, just like his. At that moment, he understood why the villagers looked at him weirdly… 

The aura of the Undead was something that did not affect him back then. Partially because of the shock, seeing his cheerful father looking at him with empty eyes, not even recognizing his son. The other reason was that the leader of the adventurers shielded him from it, sparing the young boy's mind. 

He can barely recall the fight that ensued as it was happening way above what his undeveloped senses could follow. By the time he recovered his thoughts, it was already over. The group of six stood above the burning corpses, turning them into ashes and giving them a proper funeral. Their leader, a tall, well-built man, walked up to him, crouching, affectionately rubbing Keily's head. 

"I'm sorry, boy…." His voice was deep, filled with power, yet at the same time, exceptionally kind. "I promise you this. The Undead that did this to your father will answer to me. I swear on my name of Razael Amarin!"

"Um…" Keily nodded, crying but still, slowly standing up, leading them to the other spots where the woodsmen of the village worked day after day. 

They found and killed six other Undead on the three sites, all mindless corpses, wandering around where they died, attacking the group as soon as they came in contact with them. When they finished, not just Razael but the rest of his adventurer group was surprised. The young, powerless boy kept up with them and withstood the aura of the Undead even when it slipped by them. When they escorted him back to the village, Razael checked Keily's aptitude by drawing a little blood and contacted his younger brother, Lauron, to ensure Keily got into the Academy. Before leaving, Razael left him a small, round pendant with one side completely white and the other utterly black. He told him that if he ever gets into trouble that he has no way of solving, drop his blood onto it, and whatever bothers him should go away. Since then, he has been wearing it all the time, hidden behind his uniform, not even taking it off while sleeping or bathing. 

The year he spent all alone in the village was the most challenging time of his life. Dealing with their coldness and the fact that they were afraid of him hurt even more than any injury. But when people finally came from the Institute of Eight Elements and took him away, he was excited and afraid at the same time to start his new life. He was scared because he always stayed in the small town where he was born and worried about what others would say about him. But also… excited. Wanting to be just as strong as Razael so nobody else would lose their family to the Undead. When he was first sent into a meditative state by his teacher, Dayen, it was a jaw-dropping experience for him. Seeing his own image from an outside perspective, feeling the mana course through his body, everything was simply magical. Maybe his drive to fight and kill the Undead was what resulted in the fact that his mana displayed characteristics of fire, quickly determining his first element, resulting in him attending Monday's class. What he did not know was that the one who he had looked up to since that fateful day was the eldest brother of the girl standing next to him. 

"This is why you must be prepared and careful when you meditate!" Dayen finished her thoughts in the meanwhile, telling the youngsters about the dangers of drawing in too much mana in while meditating. It could hurt their physical bodies, resulting in illnesses or even permanent damage. The same reason why Keily was frightened when entering the supposed empty classroom and he saw Lia sitting there, sweating, pain reflecting on her twitching face. He couldn't help but also look at her at that moment while Lia glanced back, flashing a proud grin and winking at him.

"Weird…" He thought, feeling she looked familiar, but he could not say why.

"Now!" Dayen continued, "Under all of you is a basic meditation formation, attuned to your element! It will help your mana display the characteristics of fire while meditating! All of you should sit down, start your meditation and slowly experience it. I'll supervise you all and bring you out if something goes awry. Don't be afraid of experimenting with how fast or how strong you can push your mana while circulating it! A mage has to be brave and explore not just the unknown but themselves too!"

While the students, including Keily, followed her instructions, Lia remained standing, watching them. When the classroom fell silent and everyone was meditating, Dayen smiled, waving at her.

"Come." She said, calling Lia before her. "You are already in a more advanced state than they."

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"Am I?" She asked, sighing. "I am stuck, Teacher."

"Your mana becomes too hot for you to control or make your body endure it." She nodded.

"You know?" Lia asked back, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course! Master Lauron came and told me!" She chuckled, drawing realization onto Lia's face, "You are going to attend my afternoon class, I assume?"

"Yes!" She nodded rapidly.

"Have you ever meditated on the element of water?" Dayen asked seriously, knowing Lia was too obsessed with learning ice-based spells.

"I tried… but I couldn't transform my mana. Mom told me it is because before going through the first tribulation, only one out of a trillion people can study more than one element at once. Even she couldn't do it!" 

"Then she lowballed it," Dayen added, shaking her head, letting the golden chain give out pleasant chimes, connecting her horns. "You can't run before you walk, Lia."

"Even if I have to?" She asked back, looking into her teacher's eyes.

"..." Seeing her serious eyes, she debated her answer before taking a deep breath. "Every person's mana is drawn to one element." She waved her hand, summoning two chairs and sitting down with Lia, "Our earliest records of the first mages tell that everyone only had one element back then. They called it their natural affinity. It took thousands of years for the first mage of dual affinity to appear so we could evolve! But the fragments of those old ways are still present. That is why everyone's first element is something that they are instinctively drawn towards!" She explained patiently.

"Drawn to it by instinct…." She repeated, murmuring, furrowing her brows as she easily played with fire since she was small. Literally. Yet she also loved the cold, the snow, and everything winter brought.

"Yours is fire." Dayen continued. "Your problem is that it is too strong, too vigorous! Your solution is not to start learning a different element but to reign in your current one. Until you can't do that, you will be stuck and unable to pick up a second element! How would you transform your mana into that of water if you can't even control fire?"

"..." Lia, in the end, said nothing, just lowered her head, letting out a drawn-out, long sigh. "Thank you…" She said in a mosquito-like voice.

"Attending my class for those with the element of water will yield no result for you. Especially because you are unable to transform your mana. Without the capability of casting water-based spells, you won't be able to meditate on it!"

"I know…" She said, with a soft voice, remembering when she tried it back home multiple times under the supervision of Reyra. Each time, her mother pulled her out before she would injure herself in an attempt to change the element of her mana. She never succeeded. This was also the reason why she was so happy to get her hand on Parthorn's scepter. Sending her mana into it freely, it automatically transformed it, casting ice spells without thinking about it. It was marvelous, yet she couldn't feel how it happened as it did not happen in her body but in the medium that was the scepter.

"You need to focus on mastering your current powers, Lia. Until then, starting with another element would just endanger your life!"

"No worries!" Lia said, raising her head and smiling, "I get it! Without the capability to meditate on it, I cannot learn water magic! Still, I'd like to attend the afternoon class!"

"Sure." Dayen nodded, "I see no problem in it, but I won't let you sit on the meditative circle! It could be harmful to you."

"Mmh," Lia nodded, "I understand. Thank you, teacher!" She stood up, bowing towards her, drawing a warm smile onto Dayen's face. When she heard three girls from the House of Amarin would be her students, she was afraid of what kind of people they would be. What could she teach to them in the first place? It turned out that the young girl before her was more sensible and thoughtful than most of her students now or in her previous years. 

While everyone was meditating, Lia sat down next to Keily, sometimes looking at him but mostly reading her book. She was flipping through it from the other end, reading and learning about the basics of water magic, written in the Old Tounge. Even though she said all that to her teacher, deep inside, she had a new thought. Instinct… Her instincts always told her that she should pursue the heat of summer alongside the coldness of winter. If the mages’ basic instinct was right in choosing their first element, she also had to be right in wanting to learn ice-based magic. She had to be!

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