Chains of magic a progre.., p.25
Chains of Magic: A Progression Fantasy Epic (Restriction Book 3), page 25
But for what reason?
That thought plagued him. Ever since visiting with the Viper and having the Viper actually start to work with him, there were different questions that bothered Torian. And some of it came from the fact that the vibrance had stayed with Torian, leaving him with a different series of questions. What if his connection to the valsahir power and what Torian could do made it so that he was uniquely bonded to power and no longer needed to form the patterns the way that others did?
Would all of this have been a waste?
He hoped not, but at the same time, that did trouble him.
“Mr. Ranth,” Professor Erickson said, coming up to him at the end of class. “I’m glad that you stayed after. I wanted to talk to you about what happened back in the forest.”
Torian looked around and was thankful that it didn’t seem as if there was anybody else lingering. Some of the other students often did stay behind, and given that Torian had a little difficulty with some of them in the past, he did not want to have to raise the kind of questions that he knew would be asked by having these conversations with the professor.
“You had mentioned that there was a danger in using that particular blade,” he said, glancing down to Torian’s pocket as if he still had the blade of earth there. Torian did, in fact, still have the blade of earth, along with the one that he had taken off Professor Erickson.
“That was what was told to me,” Torian said.” But at that point, we had already drawn the attention of the spezat. I’m sure that would’ve made much of a difference. And besides, when I had tried to fight her with the blade of wind, she shattered it.”
“She shattered it?”
“I think she was mingling another power with the blade of wind. It’s not all that dissimilar to what I do when I have used the blade of wind. It’s just that she is far more skilled and experienced than I am.” He shrugged. “Unfortunately.”
“I see. So, you battled with this woman, and she overpowered you?”
“She started to,” Torian said, and he debated how much he was going to tell the professor because he didn’t know how much he knew about everything. Then again, the headmaster had used Professor Erickson to fight against Rusav, so obviously, Professor Erickson was involved. “I tried two different approaches. I have a way of using an unstructured sort of power, and I did that through the blade of earth, and it caught her off guard. I don’t know that it stopped her so much as it surprised her. She escaped.”
“Unfortunate.”
“From what I’ve learned, she is incredibly powerful, and the people that I traveled with who are familiar with Rusav and familiar with this particular type of soldier claim she is incredibly dangerous.”
“Then there is much that we could have learned from her,” Professor Erickson said.
“Assuming she would teach us, and given that she is obviously loyal to Rusav, I doubt that is going to be the case.”
“I suppose not,” Professor Erickson said, and he sounded more annoyed than anything else. “Regardless, I would like to discuss with you the technique you used.”
“I was just using a various type of connection to the Saith and hoping that it would help me understand more,” Torian said.
“Obviously,” he said. “But what you were doing and the way that you were doing involved something more and something different.”
“I was mingling different kinds of connections,” Torian said. “It’s not all that dissimilar to what she was doing, at least, from what I can tell.”
“I see. Do you care to tell me what it was that you were doing?”
“Well, from what I was doing, it was a matter of trying to mix something with the Rusav blade.” He looked over to Professor Erickson. “If you have the Blade of Wind, I’m happy to share with you what I did and how I was able to do it. I don’t know if it’s going to be useful for you.”
He thought the way that he was using the technique had been somewhat unique, but maybe it hadn’t been. Maybe what he did, the way that he used it, was fairly standard.
“I would appreciate that. Now, I have this weapon,” he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out one Blade of Wind, though Torian wasn’t sure if it was even the same one that Torian had lent him, “along with this one.” He tossed the other to Torian. It was the one that Torian had used.
Torian looked down at it. There was something reassuring about having it back, though, from his experience, it wasn’t even that the blade of wind was all that effective against somebody like the Mother.
Torian twisted the end, extending the blade. As soon as he did, he held it up, stepping into one of the forms that Visthor had taught him. Now that he knew that these forms were tied to what he had learned as one of the spezat, it raised a different set of questions for Torian. And he was curious how much Professor Erickson would be able to do if Torian taught him.
As soon as he extended the blade, he waited. Professor Erickson twisted the end of his blade and then brought it up. “What is the next step?”
“Well, when I did it before, I mingled some of the lower-tier patterns with the blade of wind. I didn’t really know what I was doing at the time and really just thought that I was just augmenting what was already there. Now that I know more about the blade techniques, I think that is probably the better use of mixing the patterns. I know that light works quite well. Some of the others might work as well, but I don’t have much experience with them, even though I think that they would mix together fairly well.”
Professor Erickson shifted his hands along the hilt of the blade, and as he did, Torian noticed that the professor was drawing on the light blade. He began to mix that with the blade of wind.
“Good,” Torian said. “Now, there are particular patterns that you have to use with the blades. It’s a little different than fighting the way that you have been teaching us.”
“I think that I can manage martial theory, Mr. Ranth.”
“I don’t mean it in a way to be insulting. It’s just that the technique is different. I know you’re capable, professor,” he added hurriedly.
But there was a part of Torian that wasn’t even sure that the professor would be able to use the same technique as Torian. He had no idea if the professor could do what he did, as he would need time to practice and to learn some of the different techniques. And if he didn’t take that time, then there was a very real possibility that he wouldn’t have enough knowledge or experience to use the same tactics and patterns and techniques that Torian had learned from Visthor. But rather than making an issue of it, he simply stood back, waiting for the professor.
“This was the very first pattern he showed me,” Torian said. He shifted his feet, and he whipped the blade of wind around. He had released his secondary blade, as there was no point in having it. When he did, there was a faint whistling in the air as he performed the pattern.
“Seems simple enough.” The professor tried to mimic what Torian did, but there wasn’t the same whistling. “What did I do differently?”
“As I said,” Torian said. “The pattern is a little different than what you teach. And if you use this form of blade, you need to use the patterns because the technique augments what the blade can do.” It had taken Torian a while to realize that. And given that everything seemed to be involved in a pattern, including the tiers of patterns, the runes, and even the forms that he learned from Visthor, it should be relatively straightforward for somebody like Professor Erickson. That is, assuming that Professor Erickson was willing and able to listen to what Torian was trying to tell him and trying to teach to him. He had no idea if the professor would be so open to it, as he knew that professors could be a bit stubborn. “You need to follow the form exactly. When you hear it whistle, you know it is effective.”
Torian mimicked the pattern again, and once again, the blade whistled. He could repeat this one over and over with consistency. That had been the entire point of the practice that Visthor had put them through, wanting him to have an opportunity to keep working to the point where everything became second nature to him.
When Professor Erickson attempted again, there was a faint hum but not a whistle.
“Again,” Torian said. The professor looked up at him, but then he turned his attention back to the blade of wind, and he tried again. When there was nothing more than a faint hum, Torian nodded. “Again.”
The professor began to repeat it. Over and over. Each time that he did, there was a bit more of a hum and a bit more of the whistle.
“You’re getting closer,” Torian said.
“It seems futile,” the professor said.
“Not exactly futile,” Torian said. “But what you were doing is different than what you have trained to do. It helps to realize that everything that you will do with this is similar to a pattern. I can show you many of them, but I would suggest that you recognize that the pattern is going to be a bit dissimilar to what you have done in the past. Eventually, you will likely grasp the key to it.”
“Eventually?” Professor Erickson arched a brow at Torian, and he seemed as if he were more amused than annoyed, which Torian considered to be a good thing.
“Well, I worked with this for quite a while before I managed to grasp some of the basics. I’m still not an expert.”
“Enough of an expert to overpower one of the spezat.”
“That I think was luck. And surprised. And the fact that I am… well, what I am.”
The professor nodded slowly. “I will keep working. What other techniques do you think I should mix with it? Assuming that this is not the only one that you know?”
That irritated Torian a little bit, and so he stepped back, and he danced through a series of forms that Visthor had taught him. When he was done, he stopped, flicking the end of the blade of wind. “That is considered the first series of forms,” Torian said. “Think of it like tiers of patterns. This would be your first tier. You need to master this before you can build on it. I will not teach you anything more.”
“But you will teach me?”
Torian shrugged. “I suppose. Why is this so important?”
“We have never understood the way that Rusav has been able to fight, and if you can give us any real insight, then it would be useful to us.”
“Well, I can see how it would be useful. It’s just that I am curious why it would be so useful, given that you are obviously able to use the different other aspects of Saith power. You can make other blades. You don’t need to rely upon anything else.”
“If I can combine the blades this way,” he started and then didn’t even need to finish. Torian understood. If he could combine the blades, then that would add to an advantage, and there would be something more that he would be able to do and something more that they would be able to use against Rusav. Torian understood it because it was the same thing he had felt.
And against most of the Rusav soldiers, it would be incredibly effective. Most of the Rusav soldiers used the blade of wind and could be overpowered by any traditional blade. But if they encountered more of the elite soldiers, then there was a very real possibility that they would need to have additional skill, additional power, and additional training to be able to withstand them and overpower them.
Torian just nodded. “Why don’t we walk through this again? I will take my time getting you through the first series of forms. I don’t expect you to master them today. I do, however, expect for you to focus and to try to make sense of what I’m teaching so that you can be ready to advance upon it.”
“You will make quite a good instructor one day, Mr. Ranth,” he said to Torian.
Torian didn’t feel like he was becoming an instructor someday. It felt like he was an instructor now. So they got to work.
When they were done, Torian was a little frustrated with Professor Erickson’s slow progression. Maybe it was because he was so stubborn and had enough experience that he felt like he didn’t need to listen to somebody like Torian, or maybe it was just that he wasn’t capable of using the blade of wind the same way that Torian was. Torian had trained with Visthor, and he remembered that Visthor had been a little surprised that Torian had his ability and that he was capable of handling such things. And then Jakob. He had managed to learn from Torian, as well. And if Jakob could learn it, then it meant that the professor should be able to learn it.
At least, Torian could help them move past some of the thoughts that he already had and the belief that he already knew how to handle everything that he had thrown at him. It meant that Torian was going to have to try to work past some of the professor’s stubbornness, which Torian wasn’t sure that he was going to be able to do. He needed to try to find a way to do it, some way that he could convince the professor that he wasn’t as knowledgeable as he believed that he was.
By the time that Torian reached the main part of the university, most of the frustration had lifted. Inside of the halls, he was heading toward the main hall library looking for Sarah when Professor Order caught him.
She frowned at him. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
Torian shook his head, rubbing the knuckle into his eyes. “No. I haven’t been avoiding you. It’s just that—”
“I know what you have been doing, Mr. Ranth.”
Did she? Could she know that he had been working with Professor Erickson, and did she know that he had been tasked with trying to work with Professor Noble as well, or was it more a matter of her knowing what had happened with Rusav?
Given everything that had happened to them so far, Torian suspected that it was the latter. He believed that the Rusav attack was the more likely one to have gained the attention of some of the other professors.
“What have I been doing?”
She regarded him for a long moment and then motioned for him to follow. “You look tired.”
“I am. I was working with Professor Erickson to try to understand the Rusav blades.”
She started to smile. “Of course, he would want to know about that.”
“And you don’t?”
“Well, I have borrowed enough of the Rusav techniques over the years,” she said, and for a moment, he saw the shadows swirling away from her, and he thought that he understood just what was that she was getting at. “But I would not claim to want to borrow all of their techniques. Besides, the way that we use the aspect of the Saith is quite a bit different and perhaps even more effective.”
“More effective?”
“In some ways,” she said, waving her hand. “I didn’t see in all ways, though. But I can see why he would want to work with you. Make sure that you have time to keep working with me.”
“And with Professor Noble,” Torian muttered.
“Perhaps all of these separate sessions will help you find some insight as to your connection to the wolves. Have you learned anything more?”
“Some,” Torian admitted, “but I don’t say that it would be considerable and not even enough for me to feel comfortable telling you that I know some trick about how to talk to the wolves.” They had stopped in a quiet section of the university, where the halls were darkened. There was a bit of lantern light here, and some runes glowed along the walls, likely protective more than anything else. The air was a bit stale, and few students, if any, came in this direction. “It’s just that when Visthor was working with me, he told me that I needed to feel for the connection to the wolves. That was what he thought that I needed in order for me to be able to identify the way to speak to them.”
“Feel?”
Torian shrugged. “Apparently,” he said, and he looked around. “Why here?”
“Because I want you to demonstrate what you did with the wolves. And this place is as well protected as any within the university, and I doubt that we will find anybody else coming here and interrupting us.”
Torian had never come here with the professor before, but now that he was here, he wondered what sort of runic markers were on the walls that would protect it.
“Like I said, there was more of a feeling than anything else. I can try,” he went on, “but to be honest, I don’t even know what it is that I was doing or how I was doing it.”
“Then try,” she said.
He closed his eyes, and then he began to focus on what he had felt with the shadow wolves. He didn’t really expect much here and certainly didn’t expect to be able to demonstrate anything to the professor, but at the same time, there was a possibility that what he was doing and the way that he was connecting might give him some answer, but he didn’t know.
And as he focused, he found himself reaching for the valsahir connection, shifting the weight inside of him, and trying to feel the way that he had felt when he had been around the shadow wolves. But there had not been anything quite so potent. When he let himself wander, at least letting his mind wander and his connection wander, Torian began to feel a little bit of the wolf connection. It took him a moment, and for the briefest of moments, he thought that it came from Professor Order. Then he realized that wasn’t it at all.
There was a shadow wolf, and it was not nearly as far from him as he had anticipated. He frowned, mostly to himself. It was probably the dappled-furred one, especially as Torian recognized that wolf more easily and more readily than most of the others. But why would it be here? And why would it be so potent and so prominent for him?
“Well?” Professor Order asked, and Torian flicked his eyes open to look at her. “What are you doing?”
“Can you feel anything with the shadows?”
“That is not how it works,” she said. “You don’t simply feel with the shadows. You use them. Summon. Dispel. Various techniques that I have shown you. I have walked you through all the different variant forms and how you can utilize them. I would expect that you will find that technique.”
