“Today, as promised, is the day of the competition!” Tutor Milwyk announced to his class.
The Pupils stood in a semi-circle on the rostrum of their classroom. Fifteen of them, all of the 1st Opening and as it was his habit, Isyd held himself in retreat from the others, arms crossed, watching and waiting.
“The past weeks have been spent learning and practising the fundamentals of [Spells] and casting,” Tutor Milwyk continued. “As I had announced, after a month, we would hold a friendly competition among ourselves to see and appreciate the progress that had been accomplished. Today is the day! The competition will consist of four parts. For the first test, you are asked to cast a [Spell] similar to those we have practised during the lectures. In my eyes, this is the only test that truly matters. What we measure today is your ability to cast a [Spell], the rest of the competition is just bonuses to make the day more interesting. Any questions? No one? Well, then I guess we can begin then!”
Tutor Milwyk walked amidst his Pupils and began distributing a piece of paper folded in two. “Written here is the object you will try to cast with an [Ice Spell],” the professor explained. “Worry not, they are all everyday objects and should theoretically be easier to materialize than the [Ice Spear] we practised with.”
Last in the line, Isyd finally received his paper and opened it to read his assignment. In cursive was written a single word: “fork”. Isyd threw a glance at the other Pupils. Some were shifting on their feet nervously, others stood stiffly and sternly stared at their papers and Olav and his three friends that followed him everywhere appeared bored out of their minds. Isyd noticed distractedly that only Olav and another girl— Jadwia, he thought her name was— were actually using wands for their casting.
“All right, let us begin!” Tutor Milwyk called. “Remember the three important things when it comes to casting a [Spell]: Balance, Concentration and Visualization! Begin!”
Isyd raised his hand. The only thing he had to watch for was not to cast the [Spell] too quickly. He would have a hard time explaining how someone of the 1st Opening could have such a developed Idpulse. Still, the casting was trivial for such a simple [Spell] and his finger swiftly sketched the Commands in the air.
“[Ice],” he whispered. The [Spell] flickered and a small fork sculpted in clear ice fell in his hand.
It took some Pupils several attempts but after three minutes, Tutor Milwyk called for the end.
“All right! Those who have successfully cast their [Spell], please step forward.”
Out of the fifteen, nine Pupils stepped forward and showed the result of their [Spell]. Similar to his fork, there was a knife, a spoon, a glass, a sphere, a frame, a ring, a dice and finally a bottle. Only nine successes, which was less than Isyd expected for such an easy exercise.
“Young Letchen, Young Olav, Young Dymtr, Young Bohdan, Young Boshena, Young Lujan, Young Kewin, Young Jadwia and Young Isyd, I congratulate you on your progress! The rest of you do not get discouraged too soon, it is still early in the semester and you will have all the time to catch up. Please, come to me after the competition so that we can organize and see where your difficulties are. Shall we continue with the rest of the test?”
“Make it more difficult, Tutor,” Olav said. “I’d like to be at least challenged...”
Letchen, Dymtr and Bohdan snickered, the girl Boshena rolled her eyes and Kewin Udachur threw an awkward glance in Isyd’s direction.
“Well, challenged you shall be, Young Olav,” Tutor Milwyk said. “The three next tests respectively focus on the Visualization, the Concentration and the Balance.” He extended his staff and swiftly cast an [Ice Spell]. In a cloud of mist appeared the sculpture of a cat about to pounce. The details were astounding, from the whiskers on the nose to the tensed muscles of the hindlegs. Isyd had to admit that it was impressive — he wasn’t even sure he could do something as detailed.
“It is hard to cast something into existence, even more so when it is something you are not familiar with. It demands a level of imagination and flexibility of mind that normal people do not possess. How are you to cast a [Spell] you’ve only seen in books? How are you to develop a [Hex] that wasn’t ever created once? This is why Visualization is so important for an Artyst and this is what we’re going to test now. I ask you to recreate this [Ice Sculpture] as faithfully as possible. You are allowed to touch, feel, and observe it as closely as possible to help form the picture in your mind. Please, proceed.”
The Pupils timidly approached the sculpture, reaching for it and grazing at the curves and edges. Isyd was the last to touch it. Surprisingly, he took off the glove of his right hand, revealing his bandaged fingers. He couldn’t sense the cold of the ice, but it wasn’t what he was looking for anyway. Isyd briefly closed his eyes as his hand touched the sculpture.
There it was. The faint rhythm of the Grace. Isyd did not know how else to describe it. Few people knew that the Grace emitted a certain kind of noise, a thrumming that could not be perceived by normal hearing but that was always present. Some Artysta had theorized that it was a direct consequence of the First Law of the Arts, but it was a phenomenon difficult to study. Only a few people could perceive the Song of the Grace, usually Artysta of very high Openings with an extreme Grace sensitivity. Isyd had never studied any of it. He’d learned about the Song of the Grace by trial and error. He’d learned to listen to what the Song told me, to interpret the different tones and rhythms. It turns out that Commands had a way of changing the Song ever so slightly depending on how they were arranged and the role they played in the overall [Spell]. By listening attentively, Isyd was able to deconstruct a [Spell] and analyse how it was made in terms of Balance, Concentration but also Visualization.
It wasn’t an exact science. Listening to the Song didn’t help Isyd in repairing his palcat for instance. But for simpler construction such as this [Ice Spell], it was relatively straightforward.
Isyd opened his eyes and stepped back, refitting his glove. The picture he had now in his mind was a close approximation to what Tutor Milwyk had Visualized before casting the [Spell]. His mouth felt the sweet taste of Grace being gathered and his fingers began sketching the [Ice Spell] in the air, similar to the one he used to materialize the fork of ice.
Isyd heard gasps coming from the Pupils who stood on the sideline. The sculpture Isyd made was exactly similar to the original.
“Impressive, Young Isyd!” Tutor Milwyk exclaimed. “I did not expect anything less of you!”
Isyd glanced around at what the others were doing. Kewin Udachur had also finished. He’d materialize a cat who was three times smaller than the original. It did have the correct posture, but the front legs were oddly too long and the cat was missing a bit of its tail. Isyd could see that the young man was hesitating between trying to cast a new [Spell] and risking a worse result or simply accepting what he already had.
“Young Kewin, your result is more than acceptable. I’m glad to see so much young talent!” Tutor Milwyk reassured him. “Impressive work as well, Young Jadwia and Young Olav.”
Their sculpture was also correct enough to pass, but there was always something slightly off. For the girl Jadwia, the cat was missing details when it comes to its face as if someone had forgotten to sculpt the eyes and nose and whiskers, while Olav’s cat was oddly shaped in terms of proportion. In the end, the Pupils Dymtr and Letchen also managed to pass after two successive attempts.
“Young Boshena, Young Lucjan and Young Bohdan, please join your classmates in the back. Do not be discouraged by this, Visualization is one of the hardest skills you can learn as an Artyst and the Academy shall help you refine the skill. Now, let’s move on to the second test: Concentration. An Artyst must learn the art of consistency. In your career, you may find yourself in tense situations demanding you to cast [Spells] after [Spells], again and again. Thus, you must make sure that you will not falter after the third or fourth attempt due to a lack of Concentration. For this task, I ask you to cast with an [Ice Spell] five items in quick succession and in this order: a sphere, a cube, a tetrahedron, a square pyramid and an octahedron.”
“A tetrahedron? What’s that?” Letchen asked.
“A pyramid with a triangular base,” Boshena grumbled in the back. “You would know if you attended the class of Geometry Fundamentals…”
Letchen smirked and shrugged. “What’s the point? I passed the test and you didn’t, right?”
The young woman threw him a murderous look and crossed her arms.
“And an octahedron is two square pyramids connected by their base to form an eight-faced polyhedron.” Tutor Milwyk added. “You have less than a minute to cast the five objects so you cannot take your sweet time to gather the Grace. Be efficient! We shall begin with Young Dymtr. Please proceed!”
The young man had long, dark hair and brown eyes. Tutor Milwyk pulled out of his robe an hourglass and flipped it the moment Dymtr began casting. The first [Ice Spell] was successful, but he struggled on the second one and began panicking. The light at the tip of his finger began flickering in and out as he tried to outline the Commands and eventually, the whole [Spell] collapsed before he could cast it and the time ran out.
“It was a decent attempt, Young Dymtr. Do not be disheartened! It is well-known among us teachers that Concentration is the bane of the Pupils of the 1st Opening. You will have all the time to improve. Young Letchen, please proceed.”
Letchen’s attempt played out similarly to Dymtr: a successful cast sphere, but the moment he tried to gather Grace to for the second [Ice Spell], his Concentration faltered. He was about to finalize it when his time ran out. Frustrated, the boy let out a curse and stepped back as Tutor Milwyk called for Olav Kazkan.
The young noble appeared as smug and confident as he always was. At the mark of Tutor Milwyk, he began casting the [Ice Spells]. Isyd observed him go through the different geometrical shapes one after the other, and for a moment he thought that Olav would succeed. However, after the tetrahedron, Isyd noticed his movements slowing down as he drew and the light at the tip of his wand grew dull; Olav’s Concentration was weaning. By the end, his face was so tense you could hear his teeth grinding and his hand holding the wand was trembling under the effort. Olav Kazkan managed to cast the square pyramid in a final burst, but then his time ran out.
“That’s a stupid test!” Olav spat. “It proves nothing! I have no time to waste in silly games!”
“It is in those small games that one learns the foundations of the Arts,” Tutor Milwyk said calmly. “Believe me, as you progress in your studies, you’ll be grateful to have practised the basics again and again. It is only with a strong foundation that the greatest heights can be reached.”
Well, doesn’t that sound familiar… Isyd threw a mocking grin in Naeht’s direction who huffed and rolled her eyes at him.
Olav Kazkan was about to give a scathing retort to his teacher but then appeared to regain control of himself. He shrugged, muttered something under his breath and join Letchen and Dymtr in the back.
“Young Kewin, please proceed!’”
The albino man was startled at hearing his name, even though it was obvious he was to be the next. He did not appear confident in the least, standing there awkwardly and his eyes darting here and there. Therefore, Isyd was pleasantly surprised when he saw the boy perform the [Ice Spells], as well as Olav had done a minute ago. His Concentration had lapsed slightly when making the cube, but he’d pushed on and recovered. When all believed he would succeed in the task, he began struggling at Concentrating on the last item, the octahedron. His [Spell] collapsed twice and he was about to try for a third time when his time ran out.
Kewin Udachur let out a sigh of relief and a small smile as Tutor Milwyk complimented him. The boy appeared at least content with his attempt and proud he made it this far.
“He’s really not bad!” Naeht drawled at Isyd’s ear as she watched him move to the back of the class. “For a beginner that is!”
Isyd nodded but said nothing, his attention was ported to Jadwia as she was about to start her demonstration. The serious look on her face made it seems like she was about to attend a trial for her life instead of a friendly competition between classmates. Tutor Milwyk gave her the signal, but to the surprise of everyone, Jadwia did not begin casting. Instead, she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She remained there, wand raised and immobile for the first ten seconds of her timer. Then, suddenly, her eyes snapped back open and her wand flew in the air, drawing the [Ice Spells] one after the other, not missing a bit. The class watched with bated breath as the sphere, then the cube, the tetrahedron and the square pyramid and finally the octahedron materialized out of ice.
“Remarkable demonstration, Young Jadwia!” Tutor Milwyk exclaimed. “This is proof of great talent and dedication! You should be proud.”
The girl was breathing heavily as if she had just run out a flight of stairs, but her smile was wide and proud indeed.
“Young Isyd, at last, please proceed.”
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