Blake sat with Leon in a classroom at the Art Guild. Leon accompanied Blake to his first lesson in Natural Magic. Normally, Fingal would hold this class, but he decided a few years back to retire to just be the guardian of the World Tree instead. The lessons in Natural Magic is now held by Ciaran MacGreine. A Fae from what Blake had been told who teaches Arcane Magic.

There were quite a few first-year students here to the surprise of Blake. He had assumed that there only was a few witches and druids here. He soon found out that there was quite a large number of witches, druids, and Fae here at Vale academy.

Ciaran MacGreine had during several occasion watched Blake with interest, which according to Leon was natural as Blake was known to the higher members of the Arcane world, as a person with unknown powers. There was nothing more intriguing to a scholar in the Arcane arts than a person with unknown but powerful magical abilities.

Ciaran had dark brown skin with unusual white hair as he looked to be in his thirties and purple eyes. Blake had been in chock as that hadn’t been the teacher appearance earlier in the History and English classes. Leon had told him that Fae can charm themselves to look like ordinary humans but as Leon had lifted the veil for Blake, he could now see his true appearance.

“So we have a latecomer here today. Why don’t we summarize what we have learned during earlier lessons. Who can name the three forms of Natural magic we teach here at Vale Academy?”

The room went silent for a while before someone answered.

“Elementalism, Amalgamation and Sacrificial Magic.”

“Correct. What are the two forms of Elementalism?”

“Mastery and Formation.”

“Exactly. Mastery is the control of an Element like water or fire. Formation is the ability to create an element. What is the limitation of Elementalism?”

“Composition and Affiliation.”

“Correct. Makes me almost think that you people actually listened to me. The composition of the human body limits our use of elementalism. We cannot use an element that is not an element within our body. That means that we can use water, air, earth, and fire. If we are going to use other elements like ice, lightning, metal or wood we will need to use external objects. Affiliation is which element we personally are most in line with. It limits our use of certain elements. If your affiliation is with the fire element, then you cannot use water and earth as well as you would if you had water or earth affiliation. Let’s continue to Amalgamation. What is it?”

“A form of magic that allows you to absorb magic.”

“Simplified yes, but I will take it. With Amalgamation, you can absorb magic from objects and living beings to give yourself a boost so to say. It temporarily enhances your own magic. What’s the limitation of Amalgamation?”

“You get sick when you use it.”

Ciaran grimaces and sits down on his desk. “True, but why though?”

“Because the magic isn’t your own?” Blake talked before he could stop himself and felt himself grow scarlet as everyone's eyes fell upon him. Ciaran, on the other hand, looked overjoyed that Blake joined the discussion.

“Not a bad idea. Amalgamation is magic that allows the caster to take magic from an outside source and blend it with your own, hence the name. But if you fail to perform Amalgamation correctly you would become sick as the magic hasn’t joined yours. The result would be you feeling ill and cough blood before the magic is blended with yours or has left your body. But that is not a limitation of Amalgamation as much as it is of your ability. Any more guesses? No, what do our senior say? Hm? Leon?”

“The limitation of Amalgamation is the magic storage of your own body. You cannot absorb more magic than your body can handle. Not without dying at least, ” Leon answered with a gentle smile and Blake noticed several people fawning of him. He must be some kind of a celebrity around here.

“A good explanation. As expected, or I would have to insist that you go back to the basics. Then the third one. Sacrificial magic. What are the two forms of Sacrifices? And give some examples.”

“Items, like food or treasure, and self-sacrifice, like your eyesight or maybe some years of your life.”

“To what do we sacrifice?”

“To a magical source.”

“Indeed, the magical source may be a god or a magical object like the World Tree. What is the limitation of Sacrificial Magic?”

“Amount. We will only get a gift equal to the amount we sacrifice.”

“That is correct. The amount is often dictated by the subject we sacrifice to. A god may give you a vision by trading it for a glass of wine or by sacrificing your eyesight. You will spend most of the time haggling between different gods in order to get the best offer for the spell you want to cast.”

Blake frowned at that. He hadn’t expected any magic to come down to bartering. He didn’t question it though.

“Any questions?” Ciaran asked the class but looked at Blake who raised his hand timidly. Ciaran gave him an encouraging smile. “Yes, Mr. Oakley?”

“What kind of subject do we sacrifice to? I mean, which gods are there? The Christian god?”

Ciaran burst into laughter. “You can try but the Christian god is an asshole. He has never answered any prayer since… What? Jesus? If you are strictly Christian, I would suggest sacrificing to angels. They are a tad pretentious but may answer you. They never give you a good deal though. Want a good harvest? Build a church to their dear god. Want to know if your crush likes you back? Start a fucking crusade!”

Blake raised his eyebrows as Ciaran went on a rant. Ciaran must have bad experiences with angels. He finally stopped and cleared his throat.

“Fae’s like myself actually are considered gods by your ancestors but we are more demigods. We are descendants of a race of gods called the Tuatha dé Danann. Which we Fae sacrifices to. We also have the rivals to the Tuatha dé Danann, the Fomorian, which is also an option. We have the Vanir, the Aesir, The Olympians, The Titans, The Devas, The Asuras, The Ennead, The Ogdoad or The Anunnaki to mention a few. If you want to sacrifice to spirits for lesser magic then we have the Loa, Eudaemon, Cacodaemon, Archons, Angels, Demons, Devils, Djinns or animal spirits. For objects, we have The World Tree or sacred places such as burial, churches, and temples which gather magic. Though places are harder to use as there is no guideline to what sacrifice works with what spells as there are with gods.”

“You can read about these gods and spirits in any human book or the internet. We can use that too. But in order to summon them, you will need to go to the Elan Coven library, to get the specifications for the summoning ritual. If you haven’t been there, I suggest you go there later. The lesson is soon over but I want to give you homework. We will meet again in two weeks and by then I want you to find a spirit or a god and form a contract with them.”

Blake raised his hand again. “What is a contract?”

“Ah yes, I’m sorry. I’m sure Leon can give you a more detailed description but in short, a contract is a form of agreement with a magic source and the caster. They become your mentor through your exploration of sacrificial magic. I would suggest that you find a spirit as gods are near impossible to form a contract with. Choose one that has a similar personality or goals as you. If you are from a horse shifter family, then try a horse spirit or maybe the Deva Hayagriva.”

“May I give some suggestions?” Leon asked and everyone looked eagerly at him. Ciaran merely sighed and gestured for him to continue.

“The easiest spirits to form a contract with are the Zodiac. Both the modern and Chinese Zodiacs. Both are spirits born to guide mortals and they will not say no to a contract as long as you are born in their month or year. The same can be said about the Chinese constellation beast The Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, Black Tortoise, and White Tiger. Each month is divided among the four beasts. Look up were your birth month falls under and then form a contract with the beast that guards your month.”

Ciaran huffed and looked displeased. “True, but that is the easy way out. I will not fail you if you do as he says but at least try to look into other spirits or gods. They are more powerful and will give you more knowledge and advantages than if you take on an easy spirit. Either way, you have your assignment. See you in two weeks. Remember to bring the sign of your contract whatever it may be.”

Everyone started to rush towards Leon in the hope of getting some advice. Blake did not want to be shoving through the crowd, so he sneaked out after giving Leon a quick heads up. His head rushed with the new information and he was eager to start his assignment. Just as he was about to exit the building, he ran into something. He was about to apologize when he looked upon the large frame he had collided with.

Jaxon gave him a dumbfounded smile and scratched his head. Blake froze as emotion ran through him like a river. The first impulse was to throw his books at him. Something he didn’t dare do. The second was to sob merciless. That was something he refused to do. So he went with the third option. The one he always went to when he was in pain. Smile.

Jaxon looked a bit awkward when he saw his smile but still returned it. They just stood there for a few long seconds before Jaxon finally broke the silence.

“So… What are you doing?”

“I went to my first lesson in magic.”

“What? Why? There is no need for you to learn magic!”

Blake frowned at Jaxon's peculiar outburst. Then he remembered that Alex and Leon had mentioned that Shapeshifters didn’t like magic.

“They offered to teach me as I have a talent for it.”

“They are lying! I cannot smell any magic on you. If you had any talent for it I would smell it.”

“Well, maybe you missed it. You seem good at missing signals.”

And there came the anger. Blake tried to walk past Jaxon, but he seemed adamant to not let Blake through.

“What’s that suppose to mean?”

“The first dance you promised me? Did you just miss that as well?”

“I was going to dance with you, but Jessie showed up. What should I do? Say no to my girlfriend?”

Blake grimaced and slowly inhaled. He could not calm himself. This was going nowhere good. “How about not promising to dance with the gay guy when you already have a girlfriend. Or did you miss how I interpreted it?”

“How did you interpret it?”

Blake glared at Jaxon. He could not be this stupid. Could he?

“I assumed that you were interested in me. That you were flirting with me.”

“I… What? I mean… I… have a girlfriend.”

“So I understood when you ate her face in front of me. No, that’s not fair. I had heard others mention it, but I assumed that it was just a rumor as you clearly made advances towards me. You cared for me, got jealous when I talked or showed affection towards others. You were happy when you found out I was gay. You promised to see me. To dance with me. How was I supposed to know you weren’t interested? Well, jokes are on me. I’m the fool!”

Blake stormed away with tears burning in his eyes and a painful lump in his throat. Maybe he should be overjoyed. The pain and the anger burned out his shyness. That was probably the most amount of words he had uttered since before he came out and learned how cruel the world truly was. There was irony in that pain stopped him from communication normally and pain made him talk normally again. New pain could overrule the old one.