Ascendant

There are three layers of extra-reality that are wrapped around existence. By forging a conduit out of his will, a mage can pierce the veil that separates our reality from the next. The first layer is known as the Phase Shift, as it is closest to ours. By bringing back arcana, the essence of a layer, a mage is able to perform magic.

Arcana from the Phase Shift is too similar to the essence that suffuses our own reality to perform truly powerful magic. It is made for little things, and a good guiding rule is that Phase Shift arcana is good for things a person could have done himself. The most common example to illustrate this point is basic telekinesis.

A young mage may learn to channel arcana to lift objects and move them, but it feels as though he is physically moving the object. Thus he becomes tired from muscle strain, and is limited by his own physical capacity. There are some benefits to be had, such as moving an object that would not be safe to physically handle or retrieving it from a place that would be difficult to reach.

This primer concerns itself primarily with exploring the first layer and the basic spells a novice mage can practice to improve his foundational understanding of magic. It takes a certain amount of will power both to hold a conduit open and to shape the raw arcana that fills a mage’s soul well, and it is easy to become both physically and mentally exhausted.

* * *

The book wasn’t exactly treading new ground for him, but now that Nym finally had something, he was determined to read every single word of it. There were some interesting facts scattered throughout the pages, though not a lot that was immediately helpful. Unfortunately, as a beginner’s instruction manual, the book focused primarily on different mental exercises to help learn how to forge a conduit to the first layer and hold it steady.

Nym found the first book to be largely a waste of his time. The author was of the opinion that the first layer was good for nothing but practicing basic concepts and that a true mage should seek to advance to the second layer as quickly as possible. Considering that was how he felt about it, Nym wasn’t sure why the author had written the primer in the first place.

If he’d been interested in becoming a professional soldier, the book would have been an invaluable starting point. The spells could be cast nigh-instantaneously as the first layer was easily reached and often augmented physical capabilities. Nym was not truly utilizing his access to Phase Shift arcana at all, but he shifted learning more to the bottom of his priorities list as the second layer was where true magic came from.

In that respect, the other two books were much more beneficial to read through. Some of it was review for him, as it appeared that an elemental understanding was a basic starting point. Many mages had an intuitive affinity to a particular element and often built on that before expanding into more complicated spells that required abstract thinking to construct.

Unfortunately, both of the other books skimmed over the topic of basic elementalism, merely noting that it was common for an affinity to exist and recommending other books to train on a specific one. The bulk of the information was on concepts that revolved around gaining better control over a conduit. According to both books, absolute mastery of the conduit was required to ever advance past the second layer, and it was the rare mage indeed who managed it.

There were some interesting mental exercises that Nym was eager to try, but what he really wanted was instruction on new spells. His magic needed to be more flexible so that he would be more valuable and could find work. Of that, there was very little. The third volume had a few starter spells to expand his repertoire, but it was just more basic elemental manipulation. There wasn’t much there that he wouldn’t have figured out on his own given a bit more time.

Even if it wasn’t exactly what Nym had hoped for, he was happy with his new knowledge. It was a lot of fundamentals, about half of which he’d already figured out, but it pushed him to think in new ways. There was a big section that focused on how magic interacted differently when self-targeted and when sent out into the world, and again for things that were alive and things that were not. Those ideas led him to develop what he would consider to be his first truly complicated piece of magic.

He still hadn’t gotten over Valgo’s display of dark vision. He knew it was possible. He’d seen the evidence, but he couldn’t figure out how. In his quest to duplicate that magic, he found something else. His quasi-dark vision spell that let him see everything as though it were lines sketched onto paper had a serious flaw: lack of range. Nym fixed that by modifying the spell’s anchor point.

No longer did it show him the same thing he saw with his eyes. Now he could project it out as a form of rudimentary scrying. He could still only see a few feet around the anchor point, but that point was now mobile. Nym could spy on anyone, though it was limited to only sight, and it got hard to hold the spell together past a few hundred feet. Walls didn’t stop it though, so it was an excellent scouting spell.

He also increased his water manipulation abilities exponentially. Nym could easily pull water out of the air and pour it into a cup he formed from ice. Having a big chilled box made of ice proved popular with the other kids, as the water was invariably cleaner than whatever they managed to scavenge, plus they had fun with the chunks of ice floating in it. Nym briefly wondered if he could sell ice-making services to restaurants, but his new scrying eyes showed him that once again, the abundance of mages from the Academy had beaten him to it.

He devoured the three books in a day, then spent a week digesting their contents and thinking up ways to apply them to what he already knew. He also brainstormed magic that would be most immediately useful, like an insulation or heating spell. His focus was on subtle magics; he didn’t want to get fined for using magic without a license, but it was a lot harder to catch someone using a hand-warmer spell than someone flying around town.

As the weather got colder and snow became more frequent, he turned his attention entirely to using his magic to generate heat. Unfortunately, something about elemental fire still escaped him, and the best he managed was to heat up some scrap wood he pried out of a hole in the wall to the point that it merely smoldered instead of bursting into flame.

He kept working on it. Keeping himself from freezing to death was high on his priorities, and if Ermy had been wrong that he would regret trading his coat away, he certainly did miss it. So Nym practiced, and he failed, and he caused a few small fires, but those were easily put out. A few more weeks passed by…

* * *

Nym was not surprised when Valgo approached him again. He’d been working on his scry sight, trying to figure out how to expand the range and also train himself to acclimate to an unexpected nausea he got as he widened its field of vision. Humans were not meant to see in that wide a range, and everything started to get curved in a way that made him want to throw up if he moved the scry anchor too fast.

Nym was sitting on the edge of the roof of a healing clinic, watching traffic trickle in and out of the business. Despite the late hour, there was always somebody on duty and always a few people in need of emergency services. His range had expanded enough to watch both the interior and see himself sitting there, and Valgo approached from the far end, which gave him plenty of warning. Nym dismissed the spell so that he could study the stealth magics the thief used to conceal his approach. Even knowing where he was, it was difficult to see the man. His aura was as black as the night around him, but Nym found the outline and stared at him.

Valgo paused, surprised maybe that he’d been detected. But then he continued forward, his gait still confident. He sat down next to Nym and said, “Still improving, huh? Those books were a good investment. Where did you learn the detection spell you used to see me?”

“Made it myself,” Nym said. “What do you want? It’s kind of creepy that you’re stalking someone my age.”

“Hey now. It’s natural for me to look after my investments and the children living in the home I provide for them. You are both of those things. Besides, I have work for you.”

“I don’t do your kind of work,” Nym told him flatly.

“Right, but see, I have this.”

Valgo held up a pawn broker’s receipt, though it was too dark to make out the words. “More books?” Nym asked. It didn’t matter how tempting the offer was, he wasn’t going to steal for the man. Working for Valgo would only lead to him getting dragged deeper into a lifestyle he did not want.

“Specifically, three books. Your books. This is the receipt for the books on magic you sold when you were finished with them, or maybe when you got desperate. But I respect you, kid. My money’s on you got all you could and unloaded the baggage.”

Nym’s brow furrowed. He had sold those books once he was done reading them, just yesterday. “How do you have that?”

When anyone sold something to a pawn shop, there were two receipts. One went to the seller, and the other went to the broker. Nym had destroyed his receipt; he didn’t need the books back, but he did need the one shield he got for them, which was barely a fraction of what they cost new. So Valgo had to have the broker’s copy.

“The guy who owns the shop practically considers the Ivory Haven to be his second home. He owes me all sorts of favors. More importantly, this receipt is evidence that you owned those three books, which just happen to be the same three books that were stolen from a bookstore in the east middle ring two weeks ago, which was reported to the guard.”

“Now… you know you didn’t steal them. I know you didn’t steal them. But the guards, well, you have to see how suspicious it looks. Here you are, a homeless orphan, nowhere to go, no money. The guards would never believe you acquired those books legally.” Valgo laughed cruelly. “I doubt they’ll even investigate beyond getting your description and arresting you.”

He stopped talking for a minute and mimed thinking. “Did you know that in Valtareth, they cut off a thief’s right hand? Fortunately we’re not so barbaric here. Still, one could argue that it’s better than being indentured to the penal system while you pay off your debt. Fortunately for you, there’s a third option.”

“You have work for me,” Nym echoed Valgo’s earlier words.

“See, I knew you were a smart boy. Now, since you’re here in the middle ring and I know you don’t have an identification badge showing you as a citizen, that means you’ve got a way around the walls. That’s good, because you’re going to need to go to the inner ring. Let me tell you all about a noble who lives there named Jaspar Feldstal.”

Nym stared off into the darkness glumly. He should have known better than to think he’d dodged Valgo’s play. The thief had known exactly what he’d do with those books once he was done with them. Now it was time to pay the real price for accepting help from the evil man.