“Why don’t you come down and tell me what’s happened. or what hasn’t.” Manuel continued to wave as the hall cleared, watching Max expectantly.
Max rose lethargically from his chair and tucked his hands in his pockets as he paced up to the waiting professor. His face was mostly impassive, though there was a subtle irritation there if one really looked.
”Well, whenever I try my luck on the awakening crystal it feels… rigid. The magic won’t move into the crystal, and if it does, it’s glacially slow. I get, like, a dim glow at best.” Max looked up thoughtfully after he spoke. How much could he get away with telling this guy? ‘Last time I actually felt something I was thinking about how much I fucking hate vampires’ probably wouldn’t do him any favors around here, especially with the professor’s leech hanging around.
”I was pretty irritated the other day and felt a spark up my arm for a second or two, but I don’t think irritation itself was the trigger. Didn’t help me on the awakening crystal, in any case.” There. Vague, but still informative as to what happened. Hopefully Manuel wouldn’t pry into the specifics.
“Definitely an Earth tertiary.” The professor murmured as he tapped his fingers on the arm of his wheelchair. He stared at Max speculatively, his face settling into impassive thought but a sparkle in his eye gave away that the gears in his head were whirring.
“Earth tertiaries tend to work best after a jump start, an event that builds pressure and another that releases it, similar to an earthquake. If I knew what event triggered the spark, I might be able to help you right now or help set up circumstances to trigger the snap.” He smiled, the edges of his eyes crinkling into deep crow feet, almost mischievously.
Earth tertiary? Like gravity? That didn’t sound so bad, Max liked the idea of levitating and flattening people like pancakes under overwhelming downward force. Or - what was the other one Manuel mentioned during the lecture? Metal? That’s basically earth but better.
Max furrowed his brow in thought for a moment. Of course the professor wanted to know more about the circumstances, it would be stupid to assume he wouldn’t, given it was the only real occurrence of his magic doing, well, anything. There wouldn’t be any harm in saying he almost got in a fight - the incident wasn’t really his fault anyway.
”It’s kind of a long story, but… people kept bugging me all day so I was in a bad mood to begin with, and then some kid knocked me over while he was running from his vampire. Then the vampire decided to get mad at me of all people. So, yeah, I was angry and I…” felt weak. Son of a bitch. Max clenched his fist unconsciously at his side, momentarily quiet. Was that the trick? Have some leech get in his face and not be able to do anything about it?
His eyes snapped back to Manuel, realizing he’d been silent for too long.
”I stuck my hands in my pocket and I felt this tingle up my arm.” Max muttered, almost defeatedly. Like hell he was going to tell this guy how his head worked.
“Hm, you felt defensive and angry but you said irritation probably wasn’t a factor.” Maunel’s brow furrowed for a brief moment before smoothing out again.
“So we’ll focus on the defensive part of the issue here then! Do you have an item on you that would qualify as a focus? Sturdy and with some degree of emotional attachment? But if you had the spark...” He trailed off for a moment.
“Both would be preferable but if you only have something that fits the first then we can work with it.”Sturdy? Sure, he could find something. Emotional attachment? He didn’t think he even owned anything he was emotionally attached to at this point. What was in his pocket when that happened?
”I have… a phone. Doubt that works. And… a pencil? Wait, dorm key. It’s metal. That work? If not I had a few ideas for my focus anyway - is there a person you talk to about requisitioning stuff here or are we responsible for it ourselves?” A key was hardly an intimidating casting implement. Plus, it’s far too easy to drop. He needed something that clung to his person. Maybe several - redundancy wouldn’t disrupt the magic or whatever, right?
“Too small for this experiment I think. Why don’t we try my back up?” MAnuel suggested, pulling a small crystal ball out of his robes. The translucent pink ball glittered under the lights as he handled over the ball. Next, he fished out a few metal butterflies and whispered into each one and they flapped their wings before taking off to settle on the exits, shimmering and growing into tawny ropes that wrapped themselves around the handles of the doors.
“Then, lets begin! Nothing like a little danger to kickstart your magic.” With another murmur, a thin translucent bolt appeared above his head and hurtled itself at Max’s chest.
“I would run.” Manuel suggested cheerfully as another appeared above his head.
Max took the ball and inspected it, turning it back and forth in his hands as Manuel toyed with the butterflies. Max didn’t even notice them taking off until they were long gone. He looked up at the mention of ‘danger’. He barely pivoted aside in time as the bolt manifested and launched itself toward him, stumbling to the side and away from Manuel with very little balance or coordination. He kept the orb tightly pressed against his chest, careful not to drop it.
”You’re not serious.” Max grunted out, looking pretty unsettled already. Where was he supposed to run? How much did one of those projectiles hurt if they hit? Was he allowed to punch the professor? Could he even get close enough to do that? The guy could probably rip him apart with his mind if he wanted to. No, this was a magic exercise; it was supposed to rile him up. Well, congratulations, it worked.
Max clutched the orb tightly as he backpedaled away from Manuel, not wanting to let the professor out of his sight. He’d never be fast enough to dodge one of those if he didn’t blatantly see it coming. He was rather unsubtly working his way toward one of the tables for cover at a relatively hurried pace, though he was slow enough that he wouldn’t trip from the backward movement.
“Feel anything yet?” Manuel asked, unconcerned about the puncture in the floor behind Max’s original spot as he flicked another bolt at Max. A new one formed slowly above him.
“I have a few hours of this at this pace. Keep your attention on the focus. Anything you feel, latch onto it and try to run with it!” Manuel had no intention of hitting the boy but Earth was a stubborn element and without extreme measures, sometimes, it could take the poor boy forever to discover it. He kept the pace of the bolts barely spaced out enough for Max to keep up with them.
Max ducked behind one of the tables, grabbing the legs to flip it into a makeshift barricade. If the professor got to put holes in the floor, Max thought he could get away with messing up the furniture a bit. Max gripped the orb with both hands, practically boring holes into it with his glare. How was he supposed to focus on what he was feeling when he was trying to dodge whatever the hell this guy was shooting at him? He probably had a few seconds before Manuel figured out a way to hit him behind the table - hopefully with a curved shot and not outright blowing the thing to pieces, but Max wasn’t going to underestimate the man.
What was he feeling? Annoyed, but that was a given. He doubted forcing his magic to work would do him any good here if it didn’t with the awakening crystal anyway. He just needed to focus on feeling like a helpless fish in a barrel like last time. So annoying.
Against his better judgement, Max closed his eyes. That was utterly terrifying, great start. There was a thrum in his fingers as they tightened around the orb, though he wasn’t entirely sure that wasn’t just his elevated pulse. No great magical upwelling, at any rate.
”My fingers are tingly. Could be adrenaline.” Max called from behind the table. He tried not to sound overly fearful. He could be a bitch in his own mind all he wanted but the old man was getting nothing but contempt from him if he could help it.
Manuel continued the barrage, slamming the bolts into the table. This wasn’t working. It wasn’t just the defensiveness that triggered the response. What else had Max said? Manuel lobbed a bolt over the table just to keep Max on guard while he though. Something else, something else. Hand in pocket, he felt… Manuel frowned as he realized Max never answered the question and his eyes slid over towards his partner. Max mentioned a vampire. Maybe Gregor could assist. And if that didn’t work, well… He had another trick up his sleeve.
As a bolt formed again, Manuel reached up and nicked himself on it before sending it hurtling across the room. He turned just in time to watch Gregor’s eyes snap open, eyes tinged in red, and he motioned for the vampire to come over. Gregor gave the partially damaged room a critical look as he stood next to Manuel.
“Its for science!” Manuel defended himself against his partner’s blank stare.
“Unlocking a stubborn affinity. It’s important! Now he mentioned he felt something when he was confronted by a vampire so go…” Manuel gestured towards the table.
“Be confrontational. Since my lecture isn’t technically over until all my students have left the hall, no feeding until this is finished!” Manuel cheerily halted the magic, the next bolt disappointing as he gave the incredulous and hungry vampire the floor.
Gregor grumbled before stomping down to the table and knocking it out of the way, red tinged eyes looking at the mage cowering behind the shield. A scowl twisted his face and he dragged the mage to his feet.
“Get up.” Gregor growled irritably.
“Hurry up and do your magic. I’m starving and you’re the one in the way. Are you incompetent or are you just lazy? Because this looks like a fucking waste of time."Max kept his back against the table, grunting as his cover was hammered with magical attacks. There was definitely a magical presence in his hands now, but it felt the same as with the crystal earlier, it was stockpiling but not malleable to do anything with. That was good, right? A bolt impacted the floor beside him, causing his eyes to finally shoot open. Thinking time was over, he had to move again.
Max raised up in preparation to run out of cover, then paused when he heard Manuel talking. He wasn’t talking to Max, so that left… the leech. The mage tilted his head upward as the vampire batted the table away, white-knuckling the orb with one hand. He gave a defiant grimace as he was yanked to his feet.
”This ain’t exactly fun for me either, go back to your nap.” Max snapped. This bloodsucker had a lot of nerve manhandling him like that, and his pet mage had even more nerve for even suggesting this whole exercise. And
lazy? Max was getting shot at here. Admittedly, he’d halfway considered giving up if this didn’t work out relatively soon, but now he was going with this asinine little game out of spite until he passed out or he put a nice elemental pike through Gregor’s head.
He flexed his fingers against the orb, pressing against the rigid wall that composed his magic. There was give now, not quite a flow but a bit of noticeable flexibility. This could work. He could make that stupid leech eat his words for looking down on him. Hopefully. Max decided to just keep glaring until something happened, for lack of any other options.
“Then do it. Wave your silly rock and make something happen or I’m going to start tossing you around this room like the worthless worm you are.” The vampire snaped and Manuel glared daggers into his back. What did he expect from that short tempered idiot. Gregor yanked Max into the air by the collar of his shirt.
He saw it just out of the corner of his eye. Manuel blinked, think maybe it was the trick of the ey―there i was again! Just the faintest wiggle in several chairs. It looked torn between moving towards Max or hurling away from him. Manuel wanted to smack himself. That explained why he felt a spark but nothing happened when he needed it. It was already out; he just needed to call it home.
“Max, pull your magic back! Back though the stone! Stop pushing and pull as hard as you can. He had a shielding spell on the tip of his lips, just in case things got violent.
Max struggled in the vampires grip as he was lifted up. He should’ve expected this to happen once the leech got involved. This stupid magic had better work before the vampire made good on his promise. The magic felt more fluid than usual, but it still wasn’t doing anything outwardly. Normally, he’d be delighted at the progress he’d made, but the situation at hand demanded a noticeable effect, and Max still had no idea how he was supposed to shape magic into a useful spell.
Manuel seemed to have an idea, though it didn’t make much sense to Max. Was he just wasting energy right now? He didn’t see how magic was supposed to help him if he wasn’t projecting it. Or maybe he was projecting it too much and it was too dispersed to do anything? Did he have to think about something specific it could do or would it act on its own? There were too many unknowns here and this
vampire was still in his face.
Max closed his eyes again - it wasn’t like seeing what Gregor was doing would help him against the inevitable thrashing he was about to receive - and released the tension in his forearms. Pushing was a simple concept, metaphysically; send one’s essence forcefully into the object. Max was good at that, it was essentially taking his anger out on an object. Pulling was different. He could press his palms against the orb all day, but if he tried pulling on it his hands would probably slip and he’d just drop it. This was stupid; he finally had a flow, he just needed to reverse it.
”Get your hand off me already.” Max spat, his fingers curling inward against the orb. He opened his eyes after he felt a sufficient influx in his magic, partially out of spite to the vampire and partially because he was curious as to what would happen.
For a second, nothing happened. Then, a chorus of groans resounded around the room as the chairs ripped themselves apart, the metal supports flinging themselves at the pair in the middle of the room. A few muttered words and a shimmering field wrapped itself around the pair and the metal slammed hard against it, cracks appearing in the field. The metal tried worming it's way into the bubble for several moments before finally dropping onto the floor with a clatter. Gregor dropped the boy unceremoniously on the floor.
"Perfect! Perfect! A stress test goes a long way!" Manuel clapped.
"So it seems you have a metal affinity. Excellent one to have in this modern age. And a Taldrin model mage at that! It so rare to find one so young! Come up here for a moment so I can fix the room. The Princess will have my head if I leave another place in shambles."Max kept his glare on Gregor as the room seemed to go to shit around him. He vaguely noticed the bubble that was protecting them, but his real focus was on the orb in his hands.
That was an unfamiliar feeling, it was like he was touching every chair in the room at once. It took him a minute to register that the thundering sounds around him were a result of that, and it took him even longer to actually finish processing that fact.
When Gregor dropped him, he stumbled back and fell on his ass, still dazed. His head craned back and forth to look at the scraps of metal littering the floor, eyes wide and breathing a bit more labored than it should’ve been given the exertion he’d put forth.
He did that. He ripped the room apart like it was nothing. And he could do it again. Max slowly raised a hand, outstretching it toward one of the chair pieces, his other hand grasping the orb. He flexed his fingers outward, sharply inhaling in delight as the scrap started to wobble on the floor in response.
The moment finally caught up to the mage after that, and his attention snapped up to Manuel. Max didn’t even bother putting up a facade of indifference at this point, he was thoroughly awed. He supposed this guy wasn’t a hack, he deserved a genuine reaction. Max rose to his feet, holding the orb out as he approached the professor.
”So, what’s a… Taldrin model?” Max questioned, looking around the room idly to further survey the results of his magic. Metal affinity sounded nice, perfectly acceptable alternative to fire; though he was wary about words he didn’t understand, even if Manuel had sounded enthusiastic when he’d mentioned it. The guy had also sounded enthusiastic when he was hurling energy spears at him, to be fair.
"If you recall from our lesson… One moment. Reverti Locus!" As he spoke, Manuel drew silver symbols in the air that burst into a thousand shimmering lights. The room whirled itself back together, holes filling themselves, chairs piecing themselves back together, the table righting itself, until it look like it was just before Manuel started destroying it.
"I got into a spot of trouble with more than one experiment. I had to develop this spell or Princess Nox would have me stripped of my magic. I have her sister to thank for stepping in to give me the opportunity I suppose." Manuel shrugged as he turned his wheelchair to face Max. His breathing was hard and Gregor stepped next to him, focusing on the mage, who swatted the vampire away.
"Will you stop? I am not going to have another heart attack. I am just fine.” Manuel glared at Gregor's unamused look.
"Anyways, the Taldrin model was developed by Abigal Taldrin after her study of mages in their sixties and older. She discovered that as mages lost their ability to concentrate, their capacity to control their magic was directly affected and the magic began to project itself around them into energies or objects their affinity allowed them to manipulate. In this form, the magic "primes" itself without the wielder's consent as a defensive mechanism. It allows a mage to do great things at a moment's notice but it will drain them far faster than most." Manuel explained.
"To find a mage so young whose magic performs likes this… is unusual, to say the least. Moving forward, you'll have to focus on pulling your magic in to yourself and keeping it there as opposed to moving your magic out and into a form." Manuel wheeled his chair over to his desk, pulling out a small container of pills.
"I think that should get you on the right track in your affinity classes. Did you want me to excuse you from your next class? If not, I'll send your professor a notice."Max furrowed his brow on the mention of a ‘heart attack’, but he didn’t look overly concerned. His face soured again as Manuel’s explanation went on. This didn’t sound like a good thing to him. Didn’t quite sound like a bad thing either, he guessed, but being atypical was just his luck. He also didn’t want to dwell on whether the professor was actively likening him to some doddering old fool; he was in a good mood for now, no reason to tarnish it.
He needed a focus first and foremost; if output wasn’t going to be a problem he’d need to work on control now. The exact opposite of his former problem, but not insurmountable. At least, he hoped.
”I probably missed most of it anyway, might as well show up for the tail end.” Max conceded. Self defense was probably important, despite the fact that he was perfectly content with the exercise he just got.
”And, uh, thanks. For the help.”“Anytime Max. My doors are always open to you.” Manuel smiled at Max, then nodded at the door as his butterflies came back.
“Now go on. I have my medicine and a hungry vampire to attend to.”Max nodded gratefully and quietly exited the room. He had a million different ideas running through his mind and no clue as to whether any of them would work or not until he got a chance to test them out. He idly flicked his hand outward at metal objects as he passed them; doorknobs, table legs; nothing. His magic wasn’t responding without a suitable focus, but that was easily corrected. Maybe he should’ve asked to get out of self-defense after all, he had so much to do now. Nevertheless, Max made his way to the arena diligently.
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