The room that we enter is a large brick room with the interior the size of a two bedroom house with no walls. It’s so big, the doors close to the one we entered should also connect to this room, yet there’s only one entrance and exit. 

“Close the door behind you.” 

“Yes ma’am.” I comply and close the door.

“Alright, let us begin with the basics. You are aware of the principles of magic, right?” 

“Forging connections with powerful entities and/or drawing power out of your soul.” I give the answer that Iryis told me all those weeks ago. 

“Close, but not quite. Connections are not limited to just entities and your own soul. Places, objects, and even abstract concepts are all things you can use to perform magic.” Alright, this is the first time I’m hearing this.

“We’re going to be starting simpler, however. The simplest, and easiest form of magic one can use, and the most popular form of magic in this country is used by forging connections to the Archons. This is where you’ll be starting.” Huh? Connections with the Archons? Does that mean- 

“And before you ask, yes, you’ll be starting by forging a connection to Kári. Out of all the Archons, his personality should mix the best with yours. Even if he is rather sociable while you’re so shy.”

“The way you’re making it sound… as if I’ll actually be talking with him…” 

“If you get to an absurdly high level, yes. Only higher priests in his cult get to talk to him, that and people who get his attention.” 

“And how do I get his attention?” 

“That is rather difficult. It’s usually those who pursue the arts and all sorts of different experiences. Just do as you’ve been doing.” I was right?! 

“Does magic count as pursuing experiences?” 

“Yes, he takes quite the interest in those who relentlessly pursue magic.”

Alright, that’s all I need to hear! Just knowing I’ll get the chance to speak to Kári by studying magic will surely motivate me to great heights! 

“Kári and I are compatible, but only up to a certain point. I know the basics around the techniques he used, but I can’t do anything very advanced.” 

“So you need to have an affinity for the Archon you’re making a connection with?” 

“Correct, though don’t worry, you have a great affinity with Kári. You should find him easier to work with than any other Archon. It should be even greater than my affinity with Adad.”

“Adad?” I ask. The name sounds familiar to me, but I can’t remember where I first heard it.

“Adad, the Archon of Lightning.” Lucidna says, as I feel the air around me go still. Then, all of a sudden, a huge bolt of lightning comes out from Lucidna’s right hand and strikes the wall next to me. The noise is the loudest thing I’ve ever heard, in either of my lives. It’s so bad, my ears start ringing. I also feel small, electric shocks going off all throughout my body.

“She is quite fun to work with, although she can be rather exhausting, both mentally and mana-wise.” 

“Why would you do that without warning me?!” I yell at the top of my lungs. Lucidna looks legitimately surprised. 

“Hm, that’s the first time I’ve heard you shout… that’s rather surprising.” Of course I’m going to shout at you if you fire a bolt of lightning at me! What’s wrong with you?! 

“Anyway, that was neither the most complicated nor the most powerful spell I can use with her power. We’d require a much larger space for that, assuming we both don’t want to die.”

 Of course I don’t want to die! Been there, done that! It sucks! 

“That being said, if I stretched myself to my absolute limits and were not concerned with running out of mana, I could probably destroy the entire Figment Library in one big spell. That’s with how far my affinity with Adad goes. You’ll be an even better fit for Kári than I am for Adad.”

Huh?! Seriously?! I suddenly forget all my anger when Lucidna says this. Does that mean- 

“Before you start freaking out, Adad favors speed and power at the cost of mana efficiency. Kári favors speed and mana efficiency over power. They’re two entirely different things.” OK, so I’m probably not going to be anywhere near that destructive. Although that’s kind of disappointing in it’s own way… 

“Also, you won’t get anywhere near my skill with connections to Kári alone. You’ll have to look further than that.”

Really? I guess that makes sense. In that case though… 

“What about other Archons? Would I have affinities with them?” This causes Lucidna to pause for a moment. 

“I’m unsure. I only really know you’ll get along with Kári incredibly well. Hm… Perhaps you’ll get along with Diana as well? Maybe Adad too? Beira up to a certain point, yes. I apologize, I don’t quite know enough about you to figure it out.”

Oh, that’s a shame then. I’m a bit sad that Lucidna doesn’t know enough about me to be able to tell. Are we really that distant? 

“Well you can figure it out on your own once you get an idea for how to work with Kári. Just read about their personalities when they were alive, and try and imagine how well you’d get along with a person like that. That’s what an affinity is.” Oh really? Alright, I think I get it now. 

“It works that way for all other entities as well. This is too advanced for you, but for places, imagine how much you enjoy that place and how much that place enjoys having you there. For objects, imagine how much you enjoy using said object, and how much said object would enjoy being used by you.”

Ah! This is all really interesting, please continue! “The communication orb you use is made to be as easy to use as possible, but it still operates under the same principles of magic as everything else. Meaning, you have a connection with it. We’ll be doing something similar with Kári.” 

 “But… but I don’t quite understand what I’m doing with the communication orb… It’s purely instinctual…”

“Don’t worry, that’s what we’ll be figuring out right now. Tell me Azariah, how often do you pray to Kári?” 

“Thrice a day. Once right after I wake up & start drawing, once during the prayer at his cult, and once right as I’m about to go to bed.” 

“What a devout follower you are. We’ll begin with another prayer, except this time you’ll be requesting to use magic. Hold your hand out, close your eyes, and request to create a small gust of wind in the way you usually pray.”

I following Lucidna’s orders and begin praying. Um, Kári? This is a bit of a strange request, but can I use your power to create a small gust of wind? 

“Imagine Kári as a source of countless winds, now imagine drawing from it.” I imagine Kári surrounded by countless winds as Lucidna said, and I imagine him blessing me with those winds, and then I feel wind blowing through my fingertips. 

“Alright, that’s enough, you can open your eyes now.”

I open my eyes and Lucidna seems very slightly impressed. 

“I was going to tell you to imagine pouring in mana from your soul next, and then I was going to teach you about incantations, but then you went and did as soon as I told you to borrow wind from Kári.” 

“Is that abnormal?” I say, anxiety welling in my chest. 

“It’s normal, it’s just rare. It just means you learn really quickly.”

“I see…” Thank God… 

“If you ever hit a roadblock in the future, imagine your soul in the center of your body.” Lucidna puts her finger on my chest. I know this is to emphasize where my soul is, but I can’t help but imagine she just really wanted to touch my boobs. I also don’t question the fact that I’m supposed to have a soul, that’s probably common knowledge in this world and I don’t want to embarass myself. 

“Next imagine the mana flowing into your spell in tandem with borrowing power from whatever you’re borrowing from.” 

“Right, understood.”

“Next, incantations. If that doesn’t work, use them. There’s quite a lot of spells associated with the Archons especially. If you can’t do something, look up the incantation for what you’re trying to do, and say that as you’re imagining all the other processes. That should help you get started, but once you get past beginner level, you shouldn’t need to use them.” 

“I understand.” So it’s kind of like training wheels then? It really doesn’t feel like I’ll need them any time soon, but since I’m so ignorant of magic right now I shouldn’t discount the possibility I’ll need them in the future.

“So, we’ll move onto trying to get more wind manipulation under your belt, and we’ll figure out where to go from there.” 

“I understand.” 

“We’ll start by keeping the gust of wind going indefinitely. Start again, this time-” Lucidna pauses, and looks down. She then closes her eyes, as if thinking about something. 

“Um, are you OK, Lucidna?” 

“I’ve just been called by the front desk. Azariah, do you happen to know anyone named Aubrey? Blonde hair, red eyes?” Aubrey? What is Aubrey doing here? 

“Yes, I do.” 

“He says he needs you back at the inn so you & Kiaran can speak. He says it’s very important.”

I pause. Why now? I just started learning magic and then something important pops up? 

“Will I have to leave now?” 

“You don’t have to, but you should at least head up to speak with him. If you don’t want to leave, then that’s that, but if you head out I won’t stop you. We’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow.” 

“I understand.”

Lucidna and I leave the room and head for the stairwell down here. Ugh Aubrey, you pick now of all times to talk to me? I just started learning magic, how dare you. I swear to God if this isn’t extremely important, I don’t know just what I’ll do.

><><><><

We reach the front of the library soon enough, and Aubrey is there. It’s really weird for me to see him here. Ever since I’ve started working here, I’ve kind of internalized that this was a place that out of our trio, only I went. The closest either of them ever got to being here was when Aubrey dragged me here, but he never went inside. Seeing him inside is really strange. That and the fact I haven’t seen Aubrey or Kiaran in weeks only adds to how strange it is.

“Azariah, it’s been a while…” My first time hearing his voice in weeks. 

“Yes…” I’m far too nervous to say anything else. Aubrey stands there for a minute, unsure of what to say. 

“Sir, please get on with it. Assistant Azariah needs to make her decision of whether she’ll stay here or not.” Thanks for the assist, Lucidna!

“Right, yeah, of course. Azariah, it’s Kiaran…” 

“OK, now I’m really worried. He doesn’t look anywhere near upset enough for Kiaran to be dead. I really hope it’s not that… 

“Kiaran is currently being trained by one of Pitiful Girl’s bodyguards from the Royal Selection. They’re going to be heading to the Ulfur Forest.” 

Um… I’m sorry, what?