“Elements are as such.” She drew a circle on the paper and put four words on each side of the circle. “You see how they are in a circle right? That is because they move and flow around each other. But they are also either complimentary or opposing. Invocations that use only one element are usable by almost anyone since most people will have one of these elements attached to them.” She pointed at the circle and back to me.

“You have the four basic elements, Earth, water, Fire, and Air.” She traced the circle as she spoke and then wrote something on the outside of the circle all the way around. “And then you have the Aether that holds all the elements in balance. To cast a spell, you must first be able to gather and store the required Aether to balance the invocation. Even if you are a master of elements, without the Aether to guide and balance spells there is no channel. Do you understand so far?”

I did actually. It was just like the classical elements. Aether was a new one but if I substituted mana for it then it worked just like I would expect. I looked at her paper and nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, it makes sense to me. It seems rather simple though. You used more than one element to summon that sandstorm which means it was a more difficult type of spell?” If I could learn to do stuff like that I would shit my pants.

Lyria looked at me and blushed but continued her teaching. “Uhm yes, the sandstorm I summoned utilized two elements only. It was supposed to be a rainstorm but since it was effective I will not split hairs.” She frowned as she looked down at the paper. “Here, if you follow the circle around you get what we call complimentary elements. Air works well with Fire or Water but not Earth. The same for Water, it works well for Earth and Air but not Fire. Complimentary versus Opposing.”

As she pointed out each part it became really obvious that something was bothering her. Her gestures became a little harder against the paper and she frowned heavily. So I poked her. She jerked like she had been slugged and stared at me with wide eyes. “What’s the matter?” she stared at me for a long moment before letting out a deep sign.

“There are many kinds of spells that we know of but most are classified into two major groups with some minor groups and outliers. The two major groups are Order and Chaos. Using spells with complimentary focuses are considered being cast from Order. Using opposing focuses makes it Chaos.” Ok so I was following her so far. Just by the name I assumed chaos was bad, and a sandstorm would be Air and Earth so that must have been the problem.

“Is Chaos magic considered inherently evil or something?” my question snapped her out of her daze as she jumped back into teaching mode.

“Actually as it stands now, good and evil are at a crux. The major religions do not seem to be able to come to a consensus on either. On one hand we have religions that point to the fact that almost all demonic magics is cast under Chaos and say that it is evil but we also have many forms of magics that can use up to three elements which would include opposed elements. The argument is that anything using an opposing element in an invocation with more than two elements is balanced by the complimentary element it is shared with though. It is all very muddy and seems more politic than religious.” She waved her hand dismissively and readjusted her hat.

“I have been put in a difficult position with the major religions. I am one of a few, maybe the only, with the ability to invoke all elements. While it is an amazing feat you have seen some of the problems with it. I am not sure if it is my lower ability with magics or I do not have Aether or the ability to hold enough but when I invoke any spell I get what you saw before. One or even both elements will not heed my call and instead I am blessed by an element I did not call for.” She looked extremely put out by this. Having all your spells turn into something else would probably make anyone a slightly bit pissed though so I could understand.

“We are not talking about me though we are teaching you the most basic of invocations. Almost all peoples have access to this and most use it to…” she slowly stopped talking as she looked over at me, squinted, and turned a bright red. She quickly looked out across the side of the wagon as she pulled her hat down on her face. I tilted my head in confusion.

“What?” she jerked but didn’t turn to look at me. She coughed a few times before finally continuing.

“Most people use the basic invocations to help with day to day functions. Such as creating clothes.” Ah. I grinned as I figured out that she finally noticed I had no clothes on.

“Yeah that might be a useful thing to learn. As you can see I am lacking in that area.” I snickered a little as she hunched over and gave a jerky nod.

“Yes please let me teach you how to create basic clothing. Quickly.” The last part she muttered under her breath. “First you will need to know if you have any elemental attachment. There are tests we can do that will show us which, if any, element would listen to your call.” She started digging around in that bag again but I was already shaking my head. I had a pretty good idea which element I could call to.

“Just tell me what I need to do. I’m pretty sure I’ve got the element covered.” She slowly stopped digging and sat back up. Still wouldn’t look at me though. I found it hilarious. And also super fucking embarrassing. Pretty sure I would be as red as she was if I could blush. Another plus for being new me.

She tapped a finger against her mouth as she thought for a moment before holding up her hands, palm up. “I am sure that you listened to my invocation the previous day so you should have a basic understanding. Allow me to elaborate though. To cast magic, what we call invoking the elements, you must appeal to the elements you are trying to manipulate. Most mages ask or even beg the element to do works for them but some of the more powerful make demands. It is all dependent on how strong of a connection you have with your element.”

I had heard the way she had cast her spell. It sounded very rote. I assumed that had something to do with the paper she had. It was just more stuff I needed to ask her about. Her continued explanation cut into my thoughts. “In most cases, a single element is all that is required for the basic necessity of clothing and even sometimes shelter or food. With the amount of Aether that floats around you at all times, I would assume that even with the smallest of invocations you will be able to clothe yourself accordingly.” She nodded along with her own words but kept her face turned away.

“That all makes sense but if you could give me an example that would be better. I’m not great with coming up with stuff on the fly.” I was hoping she would tell me how she did it and I could just copy it. I would kill for some clothes right about now. I was starting to get cold. Again. She shook her head though and sighed.

“With my abilities… unstable as they are, calling up even clothes can be a hassle. I can almost always manage to appeal for clothes that I have much knowledge of.” She gestured down to her outfit. A fucking fantasy schoolgirl outfit. Still blew my mind. “Such as my uniform here, I can always manage to have the elements recreate it but creating a new set of clothing seems out of my grasp so I do not think that my invocation will help you.”

She sounded incredibly sad for a moment but then she wiped her hands together and clasped them in her lap. “I can however give you the basic format. Just remember that this will work with only one element. It may work with two or it may cause some form of disaster so I would not recommend trying.” She shrugged like that was no big deal. A disaster sounded pretty fucking bad to me though. “In any case, you would call out to your element asking for clothing or vestments or raiment’s depending on your state of office. In my case, I ask Air since it is the element I am most fond of, to return to me the uniform of my office. My uniform being of a student of course.” She gestured down at herself again and I nodded. It all made pretty good sense.

“So I just get an element that listens to me and tell it that I need something to wear? That seems a bit simple.” She pouted a little but nodded.

“Yes in the most simple of terms that is what you do. If you feel up to it I would recommend that you try it now. For uhm practice and such.” She blushed again as she very obviously studied the area around us. She really didn’t want to address my nudity. I was honestly pretty grateful for that. Everything was currently super awkward anyway. I stared down at my hands as I thought. I wasn’t sure is this would even work but I knew the one element that might actually respond to me. Sand popped up every time I blew something apart so maybe it would come to my aid this time.

I really didn’t want to look pathetic and beg something I couldn’t see though, that would be like religion all over again. I made up my mind as I nodded. I knew what I would do. I stood up in the back up the moving cart and Lyria finally turned to look at me, though she definitely avoided looking anywhere but my face. I couldn’t help but chuckle a little at her embarrassment since it alleviated a bit of my own.

I held my hand out to the side like I was reaching through the air for something. I probably looked silly but I wanted to project force and will, like my commands were just that, a command. Asking just didn’t seem right.

By my order and my voice, sands cloak me and grant me protection from the elements. This I decree.

As I had started speaking, sand seemed to pour out of the air. It rushed around me like a whirlwind. The almost water like substance rasped against my scales as I spoke. I could feel it tighten around me and as I finished, I slashed my hand downward and the sand seemed to explode away from me. It didn’t take long for the area to clear back up and I looked down to meet the gaze of the wide eyed Lyria. Her mouth seemed to be stuck in a small o shape and she looked like a landed fish.

She seemed to come back to her senses rather quickly as she shook her head. “Well I did not expect such a response from someone doing their first invocation. Are you sure you have never done one before?” she narrowed her eyes at me and I realized she wasn’t just looking at my face anymore. I followed her eyes downward to see that thankfully, I was no longer naked.

An interesting sight greeted me. Gold. I ran my hands down what was essentially a skirt of flowing gold. No pants but that seemed fine since… no legs. The gold skirt felt almost scaled like my body but metal. Almost like it was actual gold but it wasn’t heavy so it couldn’t be. A thick belt ran around the top and it was covered in gold with strips of some blue material that I had no idea about. The skirt had odd designs around the bottom. It looked like a caricature of a sun gripped in a clawed hand.

I looked down to my own hands and yeah there was a similarity. One odd detail I noticed was that my left hand now had a golden gauntlet or I assumed that’s what it was. It was metal and covered the entirety of my hand and up past the elbow. My other arm had bracelets and arm bands with the same golden metal and the same symbols etched into them. A thick band wrapped around my neck as well matching the belt. I tapped a claw against it and it rang like pure metal.

I looked over at Lyria who was still just staring at me so I gave her a shrug. “Nope, first time. I’m going to assume that not everyone gets something so, uh… whatever this is?” I said with a wince. I looked like I ran through the jewelry store and just put on whatever was shiny. It was kind of embarrassing. I rubbed at the big flare that was attached to my head as I looked around at anything else but her stupefied gaze. The scraping sound told me that I had more gaudy jewelry up there too and I let out a sigh.

Lyria shook her head and pursed her lips. “There are two reasons this could have happened. Neither make much sense really but the world is a strange place. Reason one would be that you have an exceptional connection to your element. A connection so deep that the element itself decided to dress you in such finery. The problem with this is that you said you have never used a singe invocation and it would take many decades working with the element to produce such a close relationship. Reason two would be that you are recognized as some form of nobility or royalty by said element.” She paused and frowned before digging down into her bag and coming up with a book that she started to flip through. “The problem with this reason is that you are not any kind of nobility, are you?” She looked up at me thoughtfully but I could only shake my massive head.

“Not that I know of. So unless someone made me a noble and never told me then nope I’m just me.” I tried not to scratch at my head while talking. The scraping sound was really awful. I hoped it was just a hat or something that I could take off a not some like piercing permanently attached to my body. Scratching my head was one of my favorite stalling tactics. Lyria nodded as she went back to leafing through her book.

“There are also marks of office on almost every piece you are wearing. The iconography is not familiar to me nor is it listed anywhere that I can find. It is more similar to a religious symbol than a symbol of nobility. This symbol,” she tapped one of the bands around my bicep. “looks close to the way the Gods style their symbols. They use intricate details so that there can be no simplified versions. I would say that it has something to do with vanity but the churches state that it is to keep their symbols pure and unchanged throughout the ages.” She shook her head at that and spun the book around to show me what she had been looking at.

Everything looked gaudy. And totally resembled what I was wearing. “I look ridiculous.” I rubbed a hand over my face and sighed. Nothing seemed to work right for me recently. Maybe being dead would have been a better choice. Lyria looked me over with a frown as she closed her book.

“You are not affiliated with any major religion or god are you?” I had to snort at the question. I had only been here for a single day. Damn has it only been a day? I rubbed my face harder and then let out a chuckle.

“I met a guy who could probably be a god if you can believe it. Definitely had the appear behind you and make you do what he wants thing going on. Name was Yurel something. Really funny name I just can’t remember it right now.” Lyria just stared at me flatly as I chuckled. He got me into some deep shit so yeah I’m gonna laugh at his name, its only fair.

Lyria let out a deep breath as she shook her head. “Are you sure his name was Yurel? Yurel as in Yurel Udeop, the god of chaos?”

Well… Shit.