It was Sergey who started the conversation. And he also had sent to Pavel a bunch of photos before. There were pictures with his father Mikhail and also family photos. Some of them were old and some were rather new. Sergey wrote comments to the most of photos about when and where they had made, who were the people Pavel didn't know. Some of them were his relatives already dead.
There were no videos though. Sergey explained that they actually never had family video archive or something like that. And they also had no wish to record something on video. It seems the video was just not their thing. And Mikhail didn't like it either.
“Zhenya told me that you had been going to enter a university,” said Sergey. “That's actually good for every magician. Being well-educated person I mean. I had studied economics in my time. It's a pity you couldn't get there.”
Pavel hadn't told anyone about his plans considering the college. And he didn't want to because now he was wondering about some magical education. Also that college wasn't actually a place Pavel really wanted to go to.
“Is there any places to study magic?” asked Pavel.
“No. Magicians usually study it in their clans,” answered Sergey. “Sasha thinks that it makes progress slower. And he's actually right. If there were magical universities and educational system in general it would be better for all of us.”
“So, there's no institutions,” said Sasha. “That seems so... old-fashioned.”
“Well, actually magicians in different countries are constantly trying to exchange their knowledge. They are also caring about its preservation. So, magicians are creating libraries and even e-archives. They hold conferences. But it's impossible to create effective and successful system. There are some critical peculiarities of magical education... well, it's about magic itself I suppose. About the path of magician. Every single one has his own way to study magic. It's individual. Every clan has its own peculiarities also. So it pretty much depends on the clan and person, of course. Every clan also has its secrets and special ways they are doing magic which depend on those secrets. That's the most important cause there's no educational institutions. No clan wants to share their secrets. And they have reasons. Most of the secrets are pretty dangerous. And a great amount of clan magic couldn't be used it you are not a clan member.”
“What if a magician has no clan?” asked Pavel.
“Then he'd better find a way to join it. Well, theoretically, the person can study magic himself but it's too tricky. And really dangerous. Also that person is going to be much weaker without any clan magic. The education inside the clan has a lot of shortcomings. It's one-sided in a way, too special in a way. There's also a danger to loose all knowledge the clan has if every single member dies. But it's the best option we have.”
“So, someone from the clan is going to teach me?”
“No. Everyone will teach you,” answered Sergey. “Every clan member has his strong points. And all of us are observing magic from our own points of view. So it will be better for you to get familiar with our peculiar ways. I will compose a program specially for your education. It's actually a good thing in a way that you don't have to go to regular university for now. We have more time for magic. But I still hope you'll prepare for examination and enter the university the next year though. As I've said it's good for magician. But for now you'd better be here safe and getting your training.”
“Okay,” said Pavel.
It must be a better option in his situation.
“And one more thing,” added Sergey. “If you still have some doubts considering our clan and your father. We have no by the way. You are my brother's son and belong to our clan which is pretty clear. But you still can do a DNA test to make yourself sure.”
“There's no need,” answered Pavel.
If he had doubts before after Pavel looked at his father's pictures there were no more doubts. Mikhail Skopin seemed to be just an older copy of Pavel. Well, they looked really pretty much the same with just a little differences.
Comments (0)
See all