The library smelled like old parchment and night blooming flowers when Evan entered again hours later. Arilon had prepared a large workspace covered with open scrolls beads of glowing ink quills and tablets carved with ancient runes. Floating candles drifted overhead their soft light giving the room a dreamlike stillness.

Serin walked beside him her expression serious. “Arilon said you wanted to begin a formal study tonight Are you sure you have the energy”

“No” Evan said honestly “But I will do it anyway Teaching always takes from me but learning gives me back twice as much”

She smiled at that and he felt an odd warmth run through him the kind teachers feel when someone understands something without needing explanation.

Arilon approached holding a crystal shard that glowed faintly blue.

“This contains recordings of historical chants from various regions of our kingdom Some are old enough that no one fully understands them I want you to study the variations and create what you called a phonetic map”

Evan’s eyes lit up “Perfect This is exactly what I need to begin standardization The magic language has too many dialect differences Too many sounds that shift between regions That explains why some spells lose efficiency The same chant spoken differently alters the mana flow”

A nearby scholar leaned in “Are you suggesting our kingdom’s entire spell system is flawed because of regional accents”

Evan nodded “Most likely yes”

The scholar gasped like he had witnessed a murder.

Arilon motioned them to sit “Begin wherever you wish Evan Your insight guides us now”

Evan placed the crystal on the table. When he touched it faint whispers filled the air each chant layered with subtle differences. Some vowels stretched long some clipped short some consonants pressed harshly others softened like melting wax.

He closed his eyes listening carefully. Patterns formed in his mind shapes of sound repeating with slight variations like different singers performing the same song.

He opened his eyes grabbing a quill.

“I need to create categories Hard consonants Soft consonants Open vowels Closed vowels Nasal vowels Rounded vowels Ungrounded vowels”

Serin raised an eyebrow “Ungrounded vowels”

“Vowels spoken without chest resonance” Evan said “They float too high they weaken airflow that weakens spell structure”

Arilon tapped the table “Can you map the entire magic language”

“Eventually” Evan said “But it begins here with patterns I need to mark every phonetic root and see how it interacts with mana intake”

Serin sat beside him watching his hand fly across the parchment. He wrote symbols in rows building a grid of sound categories. He labeled each one with neat simple strokes.

Arilon observed “You are building a scientific structure out of something most mages treat as instinct”

“That is the point” Evan said “Instinct is messy Science gives clarity Once we have clarity your spells will stabilize and your teaching will become consistent I want every mage in this kingdom to know exactly how to speak magic not guess it”

He played another chant sample from the crystal letting the sound echo through the room. A deep rhythmic voice spoke an ancient fire incantation. Evan listened replayed spotted a pattern.

“Here” he said “This sound is the issue The whole chant collapses because the vowel here is too compressed If spoken correctly the output should at least double maybe more”

Arilon leaned closer excitement building “That means ancient spells might be stronger than we ever imagined”

“Exactly” Evan said “Your ancestors spoke differently Their pronunciation carried more power over time your people lost that precision but the magic system still expects it”

Serin frowned “So we have been speaking broken versions of spell language for generations”

“Yes” Evan said “And now we are going to fix it”

Hours passed as Evan built chart after chart mapping vowels consonants rhythm markers breath notes tone patterns. The more he worked the more the system revealed itself a hidden structure waiting for someone to look closely enough.

Serin eventually spoke in a quiet voice “You are not just teaching anymore Evan You are rewriting a discipline”

Arilon nodded “What Evan is building will become the foundation of a new field Spell articulation linguistics”

Evan felt heat rise in his face “I am not trying to change your world I just want your spells to stop breaking themselves”

Serin chuckled “Then you are changing our world by accident”

He looked down at the chart the paths of sound reflecting back at him like a map no one had ever drawn. He felt tired yes but also something else something grounding something powerful like he had stepped directly onto the center of his purpose.

For the first time since arriving he felt he was not just reacting to this world he was shaping it with intention.

Arilon placed a hand on the table “Evan tomorrow we test your new findings with the senior mages They must see what we see”

Evan nodded slowly “Then tomorrow we begin the second rule of spell articulation”

Serin tilted her head “What is the second rule”

Evan smiled faintly “Sound placement controls mana direction If you place the sound wrong your magic goes wrong We will prove it in the morning”

Serin grinned “Then the academy is not ready for what comes next”

“And neither am I” Evan whispered to himself “But we are doing it anyway”

He rolled up the parchment his newly built sound map now glowing faintly under candlelight like it recognized the beginning of something much larger than all of them.