“Who are you?” Oliver asked.

“I… well, you know perfectly well who am I. What, I am that surprising?” Nero deflected, changing the subject.

Oliver didn’t answer. He narrowed his eyes and held “Loki’s” gaze.

“Master…?” "Loki" ventured, uneasy.

Oliver sighed, understood he wasn’t going to get anything out of him like this, and it was simpler to let it go. Torturing your own student wasn’t exactly practical. He just nodded.

“Yes. Kid, you’ve got four elements. Four! As I recall you’re the first person in at least fifty years who’s been born with lightning, never mind the other three. Though why it’s purple…” he muttered under his breath.

The stunned, slightly strained look on Nero’s face turned to plain confusion. He had enough nerve to ask the dumb question he needed answered. “How is that possible?”

“No idea,” Oliver declared without a beat.

Nero froze with his mouth open, then lifted an eyebrow. “Then why are you teaching me if you don’t know? I guess, you should tell me what to do with water magic.”

Oliver crouched, elbows on his knee. “Why do you care? I’m a researcher, not a magic teacher. This is a side gig,” he said with a faint smile. “About your water element, I'll tell you later.”

Nero kept quiet.

“And by the way, if you want to master all of them, you’ll have to read a ton,” Oliver’s grin turned sly. “Brace yourself for that.”

“Why read? Isn’t practice better? I mean, more effective?” Nero blurted.

“In a way, sure. But without fundamentals in here…” Oliver tapped “Loki” on the forehead. “You’re talented, but if you try to fire off any spell, say at me, you’ll find you can’t even budge me.”

Nero puffed his cheeks. “Pfft. That’s no fun.”

Oliver exhaled and scratched his head. “Actually… start by throwing something at me.” He stood a few meters away and spread his arms like a target.

With a sly grin, Nero bent for a little stone. 

“Hey, I meant a spell,” Oliver said. 

“Fine, fine,” “Loki” waved him off.

Even so, Oliver, wiping tears of laughter, kept explaining. “Form-creation is one thing. Moving it through space is harder.”

"Anyway, I don't thnk it's a big deal." Nero murmured.

Nero with a magic stick in his arms, started focussing, a few second latter, a small fireball formed in the air between them. It crackled, obeying the movement of Nero’s wand. but the instant it moved for a millimeter, it vanished in the air.

“Oh, come on,” Nero said, eyeing Oliver’s crooked smile.

"I told you aren't I?" 

But he did it again, without moving it yet, a small piece of fire appered in the air and froze, waiting for the order of caster. "Shut up and explain how it works." Nero snorted with an embarassing exression.

For the next couple of hours "Loki" sat cross-legged on a rock and listened carefully to the theory of mana manipulation. Every so often he focused on a fireball he had created and kept it stable, refusing to let it dissolve.

He forgot he was doing it, maintaining the spell automatically.

Oliver hiding his filling, but he was certaily thrilled. The boy had been holding a formed spell for two hours, and there were hardly any obvious signs of fatigue.

Oliver sat from the opposite side. “Allright, if you’ve got it, why not demonstrate to your yuang teacher?”

“Master, you’re not twenty. You’re over thirty,” Nero said. The words struck Oliver right in the heart, but being called “Master” softened the blow.

Pretending not to hear, Oliver stepped right in front of Nero, spread his arms, and prepared to admire the results.

Nero took a stance, he extended his leading arm, keeping it half-bent. Set his feet shoulder-width for balance,  other hand was free. He exhaled, concentrated, straightened his arm, and swept it to the right. The fireball trembled trying to move but popped again. 

Flames thinned into the air, as if to remind him he’d failed again.

He dropped to the ground and panted through sweat. Holding a spell for two hours had been a dumb, exhausting stunt. Oliver encouraged him, saying not everyone gets it right away; results are a matter of time and work.

Curiosity or maybe unease needled Oliver. He couldn’t say why. “Loki, sit again. I want to check your element one more time.” He wanted to settle his doubts. Standard lightning was bright blue, as it was born from the mind. The color stuck with him.

He had already tested the special elements earlier. Only lightning responded, and that purple hue had lodged in his brain. He knew what could cause it.

“Loki” tensed and relaxed each muscle in turn, sinking back into meditation. Oliver didn’t stand on ceremony. He clamped a right hand on the boy’s shoulder.

Nero stiffened but forced himself to focus. This time he felt everything differently: the wind teasing his hair, the ground under his feet, Oliver’s iron grip. Then something stirred inside, unlike anything before. A frightening darkness swallowed his mind. Sweat beaded instantly. His body twitched on reflex, but he couldn’t move, and breathing grew harder and harder.

A strong wind gusted. “Loki” felt a vibration emanate from Oliver’s feet. A heartbeat later it all vanished. Things snapped back to normal. Nero cracked his eyes. He still couldn’t move, but everything around him seemed fine… His head spun and his eyes slipped shut again.

The grip, the ground, the wind. He forced his eyes open. Emptiness closed over him. He saw and heard nothing around him. Nothing except… himself?

Nero was looking… at Nero. How could he see himself from the ather side, standing there.

He didn’t even know whether anything was really happening. Before he could process it, light and sound and sensation rushed back.

He realized Oliver had been trying to get his attention for a while. “What… was… that…” Nero turned and met the grave look on Oliver’s face. The words stuck in his throat.

Seeing the confusion, Oliver tried to explain. “I tried to elicit dark magic in you. No luck, and it shocked you. Hey! Are you even listening?” he snapped when he noticed the boy’s gaze drifting.

Dark magic was virtually the antithesis of magic itself. It woke and worked off strong negative emotions; mana merely sustained it and was a key factor in its emergence. In the pattern Oliver had worked out, if a sufficiently powerful mage felt too much negativity, it could let him use that terrible magic.

Dark magic destroyed caster's mind and body, that why it was forbidden a long time ago. Oliver felt real relief that “Loki” showed no affinity for it.

He studied the boy again, Nero’s vision had gone blurry, leaving only vague shapes, but he quickly pulled himself together and nodded to show he was still there.

“Loki” tried to stand, pushing up on his right leg. The world slipped away from under him, and Oliver almost caught him before he toppled backward.

“Dizzy?” Oliver frowned.

“Heh… a little. I think I can keep going in a couple of minutes,” he respond.

Oliver hauled “Loki” upright. “Blockhead. I’m here to teach you, not kill you.That’s it for today. You’ve got almost a full day to at least start chewing through the mountain of books you need to read with that many elements.”

“Read… again?” Every syllable he dragged out carried deeper disappointment. Oliver ignored it, merely ruffling his hair and sending him toward the manor.

As the boy’s silhouette grew smaller, Oliver planted his hands on his hips. “Purple lightning… I wonder if he can still surprise me over the next two years.”

Something clicked, like an important thing suddenly remembered. “Loki!” Oliver called sharply, striding to meet him. The boy turned and walked back.

“Allright, I’ll head to my room and try water again. Maybe it’ll work.” Nero thought as he approached.

They met halfway, Oliver leaned in and looked him in the eye.

It was funny. Nero had no idea...

“I almost forgot to tell you Loki." Oliver stood at the same level as Nero and spoke.

"From now on and for as long as I’m your teacher, I forbid you to using water magic!”