Chapter 47 -  Charms with Professor Rowan Runeblade

Characters – 

Felix Sutter: Poor boy living in Sacramento, recently found out magic existed. Hard worker, knows the price of everything.

Hazel Winslow: Ran away from an abusive cult. Awoke as a natural mind mage.

Erik Morsin: Heir to the Duchy of the Emerald Isle. Just wants to play his violin.

Sora Park: Erik’s loyal friend. Loves flying. An absolute broombrain.

Vivian Merryweather: An expert on all things color, fashion, and of the heart. Gets seasick easily.

Alexandria Renard: Wants to be the next Morgana Le Fay. Can’t speak louder than a whisper. 

Emily Brown: The sick girl. I had to do an INSANE amount of research for her condition... I'll do a prize of some sort for whoever can figure it out first, it's going to be a subplot mystery.

Odric Martin: Accident prone. Prophesied to die… eventually.

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 Bjorn stood upon the high tower of Dublin, clad in iron-dark finery,
And declared himself Duke Morsin, heir by marriage, might, and magic.
There were no protests -
Only wind over empty streets,
And the silence of those who once might have spoken.

The Saga of Bjorn, Verse 29

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Felix was first outside of Professor Runeblade’s door, and was more than a little nervous. Was he at the right spot? Nobody else was here yet. Oh god, he’d been misled and this wasn’t right! Felix pulled out his schedule and checked it again.

Charms, first thing on Monday. He checked the room number listed and the room number he was at. It all seemed to match… so where was everyone?

Felix heard a rough pair of click-clacks along the stone floor, then Odric turned the corner on a pair of crutches. He almost sagged in relief, although now he was starting to seriously doubt where everyone else was. 

“Hey! Did you hear if class got moved or something?” Felix asked, then realized what a dumb question that was. If Odric had heard, why would he be here?

“If it did, I’d only find out after it was over.” Odric moaned miserably. Felix almost patted him on the back, remembered the dragonfire, and decided to not maybe smack the boy on an injury. He’d heard burns could be agonizing.

Emily showed up a minute later, looking hale and healthy.

“Hi.” Felix said.

“Hi.” She said back.

“Feeling better?” He asked.

“Yeah. Please don’t worry about it.” She said.

Vivian and Alex showed up a minute later, the former menacing the latter.

“You’ve got to look good!” Vivian said, waving a stick of makeup at Alexandria. “First impressions matter!”

She lunged, trying to apply something to Alex’s face, who dodged back.

“No! I’m fine the way I am!”

“But Aleeex.” Vivian whined.

“But Viviaaaan.” Alexandria whined back in the exact same tone. “You have to admit red smears all over my face is worse than what I currently have.”

Vivian puffed her cheeks out as she pouted.

“Fine then. Humph.”

She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a mirror, then started to fuss over her own appearance. By some arcane makeup magic known to girls, she’d managed to get her own honey blonde hair to match with the bronze tones and electric blue highlights of Thunderbird house. 

“Glad I’m not in her sights.” Odric said with a shudder. “Can you imagine? High maintenance girls, ugh.”

Felix shuffled slightly away from Odric.

Hazel, Erik, and Sora turned the corner a moment later. 

“See! Here we are.” Sora said. “What have you been doing all week if you weren’t finding where classes were?” She asked. There was no malice, just genuine curiosity.

“None of your business.” Hazel muttered.

Professor Runeblade turned the corner a moment later. His robes were bright red, and he had a beaming smile on his face. His hair was carefully combed and parted, and even Felix could tell the man was incredibly handsome. 

“Tadpoles for my first class! Oh, this is wonderful. In, in, everyone in. One point to everyone for prompt attendance!” The professor opened the door with a flick of his wand, and everyone filed into the classroom. Hazel immediately made to sit at the very back of the room, but Professor Runeblade was clicking his tongue.

“No, no, no. I have a somewhat unusual request. Can all of you please line up by height? Yes, thank you, just like that.”

Felix shuffled around with the other kids, somewhat surprised to find himself one of the shorter students.

“Excellent. Now, shortest student here, the next here, and so on.” The professor said, pointing to the very front of the classroom. They ended up in two rows, two students to a desk. Felix found himself paired with Hazel, and he pulled out his supplies. His clover wand - 499 denarii, and slightly more than that in proper dollars - was placed on his desk, close to his hand. This was it. This was THE class to start casting! Clicked his pen, opened a fresh notebook that only had ‘Charms’ on it, and got ready to start taking notes. 

“Very good!” He said. “I find this keeps anyone from lingering at the back of the room, and is just my small attempt at making sure nobody tall blocks the view further behind.”

Professor Runeblade twitched his wand, and sheets of paper went flying to land neatly in front of everyone. Vivian sighed dreamily.

“The syllabus for the class!” He said. “Now, I know you all. You’re eager to cast your very first spell.” 

Runeblade briefly glared at the class.

“Or what should be your very first spell. Unless you’ve been particularly diligent during orientation, starting to cast proper spells too early can cause significant harm to your core, and damage your long term potential. It’s why we wait so long to start teaching you magic.”

Emily’s hand went up.

“Magical toys and other implements are different, don’t worry.” The professor said without even calling on her. She put her hand down.

“Now! Let us speak of the magic and beauty of charms! ‘Charms’ refers to virtually every spell cast with a wand. This is the class. You will cast more charms than anything else! We use charms every day, multiple times a day, and all other classes exist to support charms. Theory? It all comes back to charms. Languages? All the better to learn spells, or in other words, charms. Combat? It’s teaching you a few specialized charms, and how to best apply them. Charms are how you exert your magic on the world! It’s how your imagination becomes reality!”

Felix was furiously taking notes.

“Something quite important. I can’t teach you all the spells you need to know. I can teach you a wide range. There’s a few standard spellbooks filled with clever spells that I require you get. However, the vast majority of the good spells you’ll get you’ll have to find yourself. What this class aims to do is give you a solid foundation in theory and practice, so you’ll be able to cast all the interesting and esoteric spells you find throughout your life. I’m speaking from experience here - there is nothing, nothing, worse than finding a beautiful new spell, and being utterly unable to cast it. Speaking of casting spells! I know you’re all ready to cast your first spell. However, it is a tragic necessity that you all learn some theory before casting!”

Theory of casting Felix wrote down.

“Every spell needs four things to work. Raw magic is one. There’s not much to say about it. Magic is inside of you, and you need it to bend reality to your will. When your well has been tapped dry, when you reach deep inside of you and find nothing, when you have been continuously casting, there’s no magic left. You need time to recuperate your reserves, and you can’t cast any spells until then.”

Professor Runeblade gave everyone a moment to write his lecture down.

“The second is internal. Willpower, intent, belief, focus. Some intangible mixture of those elements. All of them? None of them? It is not just focus, it is also willpower. Yet, who is to say where one stops, and the next one begins? When is intending a result belief, when does it turn into focus? Alas, the study of philosophy is not mandatory at your level, and tragically tends to start becoming easily available only at the adept level. Assigning essays on the topic has only led to grief and disappointment in my heart, and I have chosen to be cruel to myself no longer.”

Felix glanced over and saw that Hazel was doodling, with only the barest hint of notes. He wasn’t her keeper, but redoubled his efforts anyway.

“The third is the shaping force. Your imagination, creativity, and knowledge! Your, and you’ll see why this is tricky, intent again! What do you want to have happen? Spells are more flexible than you think, and the very first spell we are going to learn is going to be an excellent example of that! I don’t want to sabotage the little demonstration we’ll have in a minute by telling you ahead of time.”

“The fourth and final component is action, or manifestation. You have the magic. You’ve tapped into it, and are marshalling it to work. You know what you want to have happen. The final move is to act, and turn all the previous elements into a spell. Ha!”

Professor Runeblade dramatically thrust his wand into the air, and blinding light erupted out of his wand. Felix shielded his face while several other of the students cried out.

“With these four pillars, we cast our spell! Before I teach you how to cast Light, the most basic of spells, there’s one last bit of theory I need to cover.” He said. 

“The first time a spell is cast is the hardest.” He lectured animatedly, excited and passionate on the topic. “It’s forcing reality to bend in a new way. However, the casting forms a ‘groove’ in the world, for lack of a better word. Every time the spell is repeated, the ‘groove’ is deepened, making the spell easier and easier to cast. It is a large part of why so many spells are in ancient languages, Old Egyptian being one of the most common. Not only were there thousands of years of wixen writing down spellbooks that then got lost and have found their way to us today, but the ‘groove’ in the world is deeper, making the spell easier to cast. Light is one of the oldest spells, with the deepest of grooves in the fabric of the world. We could make a newer spell with modern theories and words, and it would eventually be a stronger, easier spell to cast. Yet, that would be the work of hundreds of years of mages diligently switching over to the new method, while the well-worn groove of light is there, easy for our magic to fill.”

Alexandria raised her hand.

“Yes, Ms. Renard?” 

“If Light is one of the oldest spells, what’s the oldest?” She asked. 

“Light. It is almost always paired with Fire, but I’m not going to start off teaching you that spell.” He said with a laugh and a wink. Odric whispered “Thank the gods.”

Professor Runeblade’s tone went serious, almost reverent.

“Light. Fire. The need for heat. The need to drive back the darkness. To fend off predators and shadows lurking around the corner. The cornerstone of civilization. Warmth at night. The ability to see. It is one of humanity’s most desperate, fundamental needs, and thus is the oldest spell. I personally believe it predates history, and it’s one of the extremely rare spells that a master can cast without a wand, without a ritual to assist with casting. It’s tied to us on a deep, fundamental level.”

Then his tone changed. He half-whispered somberly, a radical change from his previous bombastic style, and everyone leaned forward. 

“But more than that? The truly oldest spell? Those of us able to feel the grooves in magic can see that it’s there, that it exists. Life is the spell. The ardent plea a mother has to see her baby breathing again. The wail of a lover. The mournful cry of a son, seeing his father put to rest. Life, and the words similar to it, around the world, have been cried out with the backing of magic a thousand times, a million times, and worn a deep groove themselves. Yet, it is a tragedy. For no wixen can breathe the embers of life back into a body. There is the cruel mimicry that is the field of necromancy, which will not be taught at Camelot. Just know that the true oldest spell is life, and it does not work.”

Felix realized with a start that he hadn’t taken a single note during Professor Runeblade’s entrancing speech. He clapped his hands and dispersed the atmosphere.

“But enough of maudlin topics! Most of that theory is far more advanced than you need. There is no wand movement to ha, and the incantation is just that. Pronunciation matters! We’re not laughing here, we’re saying the old Egpytian word for light! Quite important. Quite simple! Everyone, grab your wands now!”

Felix practically threw his pen in his excitement. Alexandria was muttering ‘ha’ under her breath already.

“Wands up! Everyone? Good! I want you to all feel your magic. Connect it to your wand. Visualize what you want to have happen. And all together now - ha!”

“Ha!” Felix said in chorus with everyone else. 

The room was filled with light from seven wands, none of them his. Even Hazel had her wand lighting up.

“Very good, very good!” The professor said. “5 points to everyone who got it! Mr. Sutter, keep trying.”

“As you all can see, you’ve almost all got different colors of light!” Professor Runeblade said. “Ms. Winslow has the bright white light associated with noonie lighting. Mr. Morsin, the red of castle torches, very good, very good. Ms. Merryweather, Ms. Park, bright sunlight, outside girls the two of you I imagine. Ms. Brown, silver - ah yes, I recognize that. And Ms. Renard! Take another 10 points for that dazzling display and advanced magic!”

Felix risked a look over. Alexandria didn’t have one steady color of light - she was cycling her wand through several. So much for getting Dragon house ahead, he was letting everyone else score points and earning a big fat 0.

Felix focused on the magic inside him. Just like when he pushed it through the orb, he slowly worked it through his arm, up to his wand. He could feel it snap together with an almost electric hum.

“Ha!” He shouted, conscious of his pronunciation.

A faint glow emitted from his wand. The same color as the fluorescent lights in his room.

“Oh, excellent Mr. Sutter! Take two points, you’ve almost got it. Try to put a little more power into the spell.”

Professor Runeblade lurked over Felix’s shoulder while he tried to move more magic into his wand. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how much magic he moved up his arm, the light didn’t brighten at all. But it didn’t get any dimmer, either.

“You’ll get there.” The professor patted Felix’s shoulder. “Now that you’ve all cast your first spell and gotten that out of your bodies, theory! Please open your textbooks to chapter 4…”