Chains of magic a progre.., p.13
Chains of Magic: A Progression Fantasy Epic (Restriction Book 3), page 13
“Anyway,” Professor Thomas began while Torian was attempting to alter the rune, “as you can see, he has been unmoving, and I doubt that he will come around in time soon. Any time that he does come around, or at least it seems like he’s coming around, he fades again. It’s unfortunate.”
“If it changes, will you let us know?”
“I send for the headmaster of his status changes. I would leave it for her to decide. He was implicated in the recent attacks, and he does have a Saith injury, so it is going to take time.”
Torian sensed that Professor Thomas was trying to get rid of them and followed Sarah back out. They paused in the main part of the healing room.
“It’s unusual. Somebody got in here to leave a rune, and if the rune was determined to try to incapacitate him, it feels like there should be a reason for it. I know that maybe Rusav are trying to keep her from talking, but if her plan was to save her brother, why wouldn’t she have just rescued him?” she asked him.
“Maybe she can’t.”
“Maybe. Something about this doesn’t quite add up, and I don’t know what it is, and I don’t know why I don’t like it. I just…” She shrugged. “Well, I just don’t like it.”
“You just don’t like that we have somebody from Rusav at the university, and we have somebody who obviously had served him that is here, as well.”
She looked over to him. “You should dislike that, as well.”
“Oh, I do, but I think that my reason for disliking it is quite different than yours and probably many other people.”
“Because you just want to use them to learn how to do the things that you can do.”
He shrugged. “That’s a part of it.”
“So you intend to go back to him.”
“Knowing that there are these patterns and knowing what Sylvia has told me about him, I think that is prudent.”
She started to laugh. “I don’t get the feeling that anything that you might do with him, or to him, is prudent. Do you need help?”
“I’m quite sure the headmaster would not allow you don’t help me.”
“Which is probably the reason you should have additional help.”
She wasn’t wrong, and at this point, he didn’t know what else to say about it, but he wouldn’t mind her assistance. “Next time I go, I’ll see if Professor Order is willing to have you come with me.”
She nodded. “Good. Now that that’s done, why don’t we get some food?”
Chapter 14
A Blade Bargain
Martial theory class was going as well as it could for Torian.
He found himself defaulting to the shadow blade more and more often these days, partly because he had been working on it with Professor Order, and he had a better understanding of how to control it. He thought that he might be able to use it against others. Still, it wasn’t the only blade that he could use as effectively as he did. Now that he had been working a little bit with the headmaster, he had come to recognize that the blade of light was another one that he could draw upon if only he was willing to use that in ways that were different than what Professor O’Malley had taught.
“Excellent,” Professor Erickson said, sweeping his gaze around at the others in the courtyard. “Many of you have begun to demonstrate a variant form of your initial blade. My goal for all of you is to have seven variant forms by the end of the term of at least one primary blade. Those of you seeking an advanced study will have mastered seven variant forms of three primary blades.”
He frowned. Torian hadn’t even considered the possibility that he might need to pass this class to move on to another, and he hadn’t even thought about what it might look like when—and if—he did. But from what Professor Erickson was saying, he not only had to pass the class but there was a possibility that he wouldn’t be able to stick with the advanced session.
Did that even matter?
There was a part of him that said that it didn’t because he didn’t necessarily care if he was in the advanced class, but another part of him felt differently, mostly because he liked the idea that he could work with an advanced class.
He thought it would be a relatively easy thing for him to come up with seven variant forms of the shadow blade. Working with Professor Order, Torian thought that it would be a simple matter for him to ask her to guide him through some of the variants and to draw upon the blade in ways that he would not have been able to do otherwise. But it was creating more than one. The Blade of Wind might be possible, especially as Torian had some experience with that in a different fashion. He might be able to use what he had learned from his Rusav Blade of Wind, but even if that were going to give him the answer, there was a possibility that he would only know a single variant, and would unlikely know many of the others. He could study the hilt, and he could see if there was anything within that which might give him more answers, but in the time that he had been working with the Blade of Wind, Torian had not seen anything obvious with it, and he did not think that there was anything to be said about it.
What about light or earth?
He had experience with those, as well. And even with those, there was still the possibility that he wouldn’t know enough variant forms it would make a difference for him.
So he resolved to try to come up with the answer, knowing that it was going to involve him studying on his own and hopefully finding something in the library, or maybe with one of the other professors. He needed help to decipher the different forms of patterns of the different blades so that he might understand the power.
“Professor Erickson,” he said, approaching the professor and readying the blade of shadow. “I was hopeful I might have a chance to talk to you about some of the variant forms.”
“We have demonstrated each of them during this term,” he said.
“I know,” he said hurriedly, “but seeing as how I have been here for most of the term, I thought that I might be able to see if you were willing to walk me through them. Just one time.”
Professor Erickson frowned. “You know, I think that wouldn’t be the most unreasonable thing in the world, and perhaps the rest of the class could use a demonstration, as well. Now, we can go through that during our next session.” He waited until some of the others had departed before leaning closer Torian. “I don’t suppose you uncovered anything more about the item that I discussed with you before?”
Torian had somewhat forgotten about it, though he carried it on him, as he had no interest in leaving it behind for somebody else to pick up and possibly use.
“I’ve learned that it is something dangerous,” he said. “And it seemed to be tied to some of the elite Rusav soldiers. I was warned not to use it.”
“Oh. Unfortunate.”
Torian looked over at him, debating whether there was anything more that he might say or do that might offer him additional information from what Professor Erickson had said to him, but so far, he wasn’t sure that there was. And as he looked at Professor Erickson, he realized that he had to be careful, as it would be a grave mistake if they were to use the Blade of Earth and somebody were to identify what they had done.
“I would appreciate having an opportunity to continue to study the Blade of Wind that you lend me.”
Torian hesitated, as there was a part of him that wanted to have the Blade of Wind and did not want to leave that with Professor Erickson, but at the same time, he wasn’t going to go around attacking anything or anyone, and he didn’t necessarily need to have the Blade of Wind at this point.
“I suppose that would be all right,” Torian said.
“Excellent. Now, when you return the Blade of Earth—”
“I will return it when we switch,” Torian said.
“I thought you said that you could not use it.”
“I was told that I shouldn’t use it, not that I can’t use it,” Torian said.
“I see. Well, when you return it, I suppose that…”
“I just want mine back when I return the other one,” Torian said with a bit of a shrug. “I have a bit of sentimental value with it.”
Professor Erickson arched a brow at that but shrugged. “Interesting. I wonder why that is.”
“Maybe because it allowed me to save some of my friends.”
“I see. Well, in that case, I would not want to be the one to take it from you. But it is something that I think is going to be useful for us to study. Perhaps the two of us can work together. We can see if there are patterns there that helped reflect a specific variant form of the blade.”
“That would be useful,” Torian said. And it fit with something he thought he needed to do, anyway. He wanted to examine the blades, partly because he believed that Rusav had placed something in particular in them that he might be able to use and identify, but only if he had an opportunity to study them closely. And so far, while he had worked with the Blade of Wind, Torian had not known enough about the different variant forms that he used to know whether there was going to be anything within those variant forms that would help him identify the different kinds of power that he might summon through it.
“What if we meet together tomorrow?”
Torian nodded. He appreciated having an opportunity to study independently and to have somebody like Professor Erickson expressing some interest in working with him, especially as that was the entire purpose for his being at the university, but it started to feel like he was setting up more and more independent studies, which meant that he was having less and less free time. But did he want to have free time?
Torian didn’t think that was even what he wanted to have, as increasingly, he thought that he needed to use all his available time so that he could ensure that he learned as much as possible. Not only with Professor Order, and now with Professor Erickson, but the most beneficial for him might actually be the headmaster, especially if she was willing to offer him a few pieces of advice when working with him.
He left Professor Erickson, and he wandered the streets before he found himself closer to the prison area once again. He wasn’t going to go down into the prison without having one of the professors present. He felt as if there was something within that area that seemed to call to him.
He didn’t think that it was, whatever it was that the Viper was drawing upon, but Torian could not be certain, as he could not tell with any real certainty if the Viper had any way of revealing his power beyond the constraints that had been placed on him. If he did, that would be far more dangerous for the people of Corsalt. He should be completely confined, completely restrained, so that he did not have any means of releasing that power.
“Were you drawn out here?”
Torian spun, looking to see Professor Order watching him. She had approached down the street and had a bit of shadows swirling around her, but not extensively.
“Professor,” he said, tipping his head in a nod. “I don’t know if I was drawn here because of something I felt or if it was really more about just curiosity.” He shook his head. “To be honest, I just don’t know.”
“Sometimes I feel it, as well,” she said. “And given that you have been training with dark, and you are gaining skill with that pattern, it is to be expected for you to feel something.”
“So he does influence from a distance?”
“Perhaps,” she said. “The question is what he influences. I don’t have the answer to that. The fact that we are able to feel something suggests that he releases some part of his connection out for us to feel, but it’s also possible that what we are able to detect is tied to something more.”
“And what something more is that?”
“Something beyond.”
Torian nodded, and as he did, he wished that he truly understood, but for now, he did not. Something beyond?
Perhaps she meant valsahir. There was the possibility that was what she suggested, and if so, the connection to the valsahir would be beyond, as it was a different kind of power, that he didn’t get the sense that was what she implied.
“How did your time with Visthor go?”
She clenched her jaw. “That one can be quite frustrating.”
Torian chuckled. It elicited a photo found from her.
“Well, I’m only laughing because I spent some time with him, so I know that he can be frustrating. Did he teach you what you wanted to learn?”
“He me taught that he has no real control over what it is that he does. I tried to show him what he was doing and allow him to understand the way that he was controlling that, but he got angry. Can you believe it?”
Torian started to laugh, but again, he saw her frown, and he trailed off. “I can believe it. What he does is intrinsic to him. I don’t think that he’s even aware of what he’s doing. I tried talking to him about it, hoping that I might understand it myself, but Visthor just does it. For the longest time, I thought that he was connected to the Saith but wasn’t sure. It wasn’t until I started working with you that I gained a bit of an insight about that.”
“Oh, undoubtedly, he is connected to the Saith. It’s possible that he could even work with other aspects, not that he has any interest in it.”
“I think that he’s perfectly content with what he can do.”
“Perfectly content describes him, doesn’t it? That man can be maddening.”
Torian found himself smiling at her comment, but partly because he sensed that she wasn’t really irritated with him so much as she was challenged, maybe?
He didn’t know what to make of that other than the fact that with Professor Order, she certainly seemed as if she appreciated what Visthor did and how he did it.
“I don’t know if he was able to reveal anything about how to speak to them,” he said.
She shook her head. “Unfortunately, because it is so intrinsic to him, he’s not able to do that. So I had begun to attempt to shadow dispel and summon, thinking that various forms of it might be beneficial. Unless he had a way of sharing with me how he was speaking to those creatures, I wasn’t going to be able to figure it out on my own. It’s our language, but it’s a language that I do not speak. Not yet, at least.”
“I could help,” Torian offered.
She frowned. “You said that you do not speak to them, either.”
“Well, because of…” Torian looked around before lowering his voice. “What I am,” he went on, “there should be a way for me to speak to them. I just haven’t figured out. Not yet.”
“I see. So you believe that what you may learn from them is still to be determined.”
“Well, apparently, I am supposed to be able to connect to one of them, but I haven’t done it yet. The more that I spend around them, though, the more likely it is that I will have an opportunity to connect and understand them.”
“You gain understanding, then perhaps it’s something that you could teach. So perhaps we will work with them. We can work together. I can demonstrate various subtle forms of how to use shadow summon and dispel in ways that might disperse enough out that you can use that to speak to those creatures.”
“You can call them what they are,” Torian said.
Professor Order looked along the street before turning her attention back to Torian. “Unfortunately, not here. I can’t. There are some in the city who will view them in a way that might be seen as dangerous.”
“I suppose you’re right. We’ve been through quite a bit now, haven’t we?”
“Quite a bit,” she said, nodding. “That doesn’t mean that we can’t learn, and we can’t change. Why don’t you come with me? We will continue our lessons. That is unless you have someplace else that you need to be going? I am not to take you from your other classes, as that was definitely not something that the headmaster had approved of, but I don’t believe that you have multiple classes in a day, do you?”
“I just finished with Professor Erickson.”
“Did you, now? How many variant forms does he expect you to have mastery over now?”
“Seven.”
“And how many blades?”
“Well, one to pass the class, but three if you want to move on to an accelerated class.”
“And is that what you want?”
The question was so simple, but Torian didn’t have a clear answer. Was it what he wanted? There was a time when he would’ve said that he absolutely wanted to learn as much as he could from those who worked at the university so that he could become the sahir that he wanted to be. Was learning different blade forms what he wanted and what he needed for him to become the valsahir that he also knew that he could be?
“I’d like to learn as much as I can while I am here.”
“An excellent answer. I can show you as many variant forms of dark as you would like to see, and I am skilled with several others, though I do not know if I know seven variant forms for each of them. I can show you what I recall.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Thank me if this gets you what you hope to find.”
He followed her, and they headed toward the university before she paused and then took a turn, veering off to a different section of the city. Torian hadn’t been in this direction before, but wasn’t terribly surprised to see more runic-marked buildings. Many of them in various states of disrepair. They stopped in a small plaza. It was empty, which was increasingly rare in the city as people began to return following the attack. Still, having the emptiness here seemed to be fitting.
“If we are going to use different blade forms, I figure it is probably best to do so out in the open because there are ways of practicing those blade forms that you cannot do at the university as easily. It’s part of the reason that Professor Erickson chooses to train where he does. So I will walk you through the dozen blade of dark forms that I know, and you will repeat them.”
“You know all dozen of them?”
