Prismatic Education Begins With A Spark 25 (MTG/Multicross)

Prismatic Education 25

“From Quandrix, Roy D. Staff.” 

I started walking the moment my name was called, approaching the female elf and owlin at the far end of the stage. Today was the day I finally graduated from Strixhaven.

The graduation ceremony was held in one of the performing arts halls on central campus, instead of in the Biblioplex’s Hall of Oracles like freshman orientation was. Despite its relatively small size from the outside, the interior of the building was big enough to hold the entirety of the fourth year cohort. The number had shrunk a little from four years ago, but it was still a significant crowd, so it was expected to take some time.

Mavinda Sharpbeak held out a small case, opened to reveal a medallion bearing the Strixhaven Star. The case was received by Dean Kianne, who turned to hand it to me along with a handshake.

“Congratulations on graduating from Strixhaven. We wish you all the best with your future endeavors.” She said to me with a smile as the audience applauded.

“Thank you.” I replied gratefully.

After releasing my hand, she passed me a tube that contained my diploma. Even through the cylindrical case, I could feel a touch of magic from the document within.

There were other students behind me, so I walked off the stage while the next person was called up. As I passed by the place where the other deans were seated, some of them gave me acknowledging nods; Dean Shaile and Dean Tullus I expected, but a slight incline of the head from Dean Lu was a slight surprise. The Prismari deans smiled politely, but nothing more than that.

After a few more names, Dean Kianne went back to her seat, and Dean Imbraham took over for the next batch of students. Of those whose medallion he awarded, I recognized most of them as coming from the Theory-focused courses.

Guess that’s how they divide the responsibility of who handles which student. I clapped for the students getting their medallions, careful not to put too much force into it. Don’t want to deafen my neighbors…

Turning my mind from my strengthened body, I studied the rest of the deans. Barring from a distance in passing, this was the first time I saw some of them.

Plargg the Lorehold Dean of Chaos, staring straight ahead now that he was done giving out medallions to the Lorehold Chaos scholars. While it looked like he was just having his hands clasped together at his waist, my eyes spotted the subtle movement of his fingers over the scrolls he had around his waist. Being blind, the orc professor was actually reading during the ceremony, and his fellow Dean was giving him a disapproving side-eye for doing so.

As for the Witherbloom deans, I knew them more by name than appearance. Lisette was the Green-aligned Dean of the Root, a dark-skinned human herbalist who had colorful feathers and flowers styling her green-brown robe. My ears picked up whispers from the Witherbloom student section, about how she looked more stunning than usual, normally wearing more muted decorations during her classes. 

Next to her sat Dean Valentin, the Black-aligned Dean of the Vein, and he struck a much more imposing figure. Wearing a black hooded cloak over a skeletal-looking armor with armguards and all, he certainly fit the image of a vampire warlock. The expression I could glimpse beneath the hood looked quite bored with the whole ceremony, and one of his sharp-clawed fingers was tapping the arm of his chair as he watched the next group of students come onto the stage.

Vyse was the last person in the Quandrix batch, and I could see him wince slightly as Dean Imbraham squeezed his hand a little too tightly with his claws, but the elf still smiled and nodded to the owlin who towered over him.

“Next, we will have Dean Uvilda Mistcoiler present the medallions for our graduating students from Prismari College.” The master of ceremonies began going through the names until it reached Nivall.

Huh, so she’s under Uvilda’s section. Yet Dean Nassari’s looking dissatisfied. Did they fight to see who got her? I felt a bit of amusement at the thought of the two deans of the college engaging in petty conflict over such a thing. Wait, is he…?

The fire genasi suddenly sprang to his feet, raising his hands over his head and letting loose a furious series of claps that released fireworks above the stage. That definitely had the rest of the deans sit up and take notice.

“Come on, let us give the best dancer Strixhaven has ever seen a bigger round of applause than that!” He shouted gleefully.

Nivall looked embarrassed as the student crowd did their best to oblige, even as Dean Uvilda had a twitch in her eye, as though restraining herself from striking her colleague. The other deans showed exasperation and annoyance, but none of them spoke out either.

“Yes, yes, thank you, Dean Nassari. Everyone please calm down, there are still many more left,” The master of ceremonies reminded the crowd, only a little bit ruffled by the outburst.

“Yeah, she definitely deserves that title,” I overheard someone whisper nearby, “Her dance was unbelievable!”

True to his expressive nature, Dean Nassari’s awarding had him give hugs, arm clasps, and firm shoulder pats instead of simple handshakes. His batch of awardees were similarly ostentatious, some dancing across the stage, others beckoning to the crowd to get them to cheer harder, or treating the ceremony as a fashion show. 

The remaining deans for Silverquill and Witherbloom were normal, apart from a few lightshows when Dean Shaile’s murmured comments caused the recipient to glow onstage. I was more interested in their interactions with the students whom they awarded medallions to. Dean Lu showed the black-clad Silverquill mages grudging respect, and they with stiff-backed confidence, though some of them slumped with relief once they made it past him. Dean Lisette’s kindly expression was met with tears of gratitude from some of her Witherbloom students, including Nivali, while Dean Valentin’s batch were similarly reserved as Dean Lu’s, though there were some almost-malicious smiles between fellow Black magic mages.

“And with that, let us all rise and celebrate this year’s graduating mages! Please refrain from any expressions of magic within the premises.”

The applause indoors was thunderous, but the celebratory fireworks and other bursts of magic outside even more so. Some Prismari students began playing their instruments, which summoned colorful displays as a backdrop. Some of the other people outside, students and staff alike, joined in the celebrations as well.

Now this part I remember from previous years, I thought amusedly as I shot a ball of fiery lightning through Dyna’s fire serpent.

And now that I was a part of it, I doubt I would ever forget it.

…

I’ve thought this before, but it definitely deserves repeating: Arcavios is freaking huge. Yet with so few people, there’s still so much to see.

I rode my fractal steed across the place, following the routes recorded in some of the travel logs I read before setting out. Just like at the end of my second year, I picked a general direction and just went. Since the direction this time happened to be outwards from Lorehold, the scenery was more barren, almost desert-like with very little of interest to see other than some rock formations shaped by natural erosion, and a single star arch that I didn’t feel like detouring to approach due to its distance. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel much of a connection with those lands, so I moved on instead of trying to form a mana bond with them. 

After some time, the scenery changed, dry sand replaced by grass and rolling hills, with the rare copse of trees. When I paused for a break on one outcropping overlooking a plain, I encountered my first archaic.

The rustling of the trees behind my chosen spot made me turn and raise my staff in preparation for battle, and it took me a moment to connect the giant, multi-armed figure with the vague references in some books.

Grey-skinned and without any sexual characteristics, its head had a mouth, but no face or eyes, just a reflective sphere that floated between two rectangular growths. It didn’t appear to see me at all, taking slow, pondering steps that would pass close by my position. Just when I thought it was going to pass me entirely, it stopped, and sunk down into a sitting position. Then its head turned towards me, as though waiting for me to speak.

According to the records of them, archaics had deep knowledge of magic and the world’s history, though that fact wasn’t widely shared around, to prevent students from going off on adventures they weren’t ready for. So naturally, I tried asking the archaic some questions about magic. That was when I got a reminder that their responses were often mysterious and carried hidden meanings.

‘Wealth lies in bonds’... I don’t think he meant that as an investment tip. Kinda funny though. As for the rest… I wrote them down, but I doubt I will figure them out anytime soon.

However, the archaic did leave me with a gift. A sudden pointing gesture out at the plains I overlooked, just as the sun broke through the clouds to shine upon the field of green, somehow bestowed enlightenment. I couldn’t put that understanding into words, but seeing that scene felt like it opened my eyes yet again, and I felt the beginnings of a White mana bond form with that land. After that, the archaic rose to its feet and walked away, leaving me to bow to its departing back in respect.

I stayed there to meditate until the mana bond formed completely, and then I continued on my journey.

Although I had Lyric to keep me from feeling too lonely, sometimes I encountered other travelers along the road. A lone peddler, a Strixhaven alumnus, a trader caravan, sometimes we traveled together for a short while, other times it was just a wary nod of two parties passing by. Some of my temporary travel companions shared details about sights they saw, and that info altered my choice of route at times. Perhaps it was the obvious sign that I was a mage from my steed, but none of them sought to cause harm to me.

However, there were still natural threats to contend with. Would-be predators and treacherous routes were the most common, and there was one heart-stopping moment when part of the rock face above the mountain trail suddenly broke to come down on me. If not for a hasty Teleport magick, I might have had to revive myself at the bottom of the ravine. Instead of resummoning my fractal steed, I chose to proceed on my feet for a while.

Which was how I entered the mining town located some distance up a mountainside.

“Ho there, what brings you to our town, traveler?” One of the guards standing at the entrance called out to me.

“Traveling mage. Just passing through.”

“Any proof of identity?”

“Does this work?” I took out my Strixhaven medallion, which I wore on a chain around my neck. 

The man blinked. “Ah, you’re from that wizard school! That’s proof enough for me. You can go on in, after you pay the entry tax.”

They didn’t charge too much, so I paid up and entered. It was easy to find an inn there, along with a place that served a proper hot meal. The other patrons were mainly miners who came back from a long day in the mines, with a few blacksmiths and one other traveler. It was a bit stereotypical, but quite a number of the residents were dwarves.

“So where you headed, hon?” The dwarf serving girl asked as she set a post-meal drink before me.

“Just traveling and exploring. Got any recommendations on where to go?” I inquired.

“Ah, I ain’t the person to ask for that,” She replied cheerfully, “Never stepped out of this place in my whole life.”

“Know anyone I should ask then?”

“Hmm…” The girl hummed thoughtfully. “How about Elias? He’s our resident stonemage, he should know some things.”

“Sure, where can I find him?”

She gave me directions to the mage’s place located near the town’s exit closest to the mines, and I headed there after finishing my drink. The building itself was a single-floor structure, with a separate shed nearby. The man answered the door quickly after I knocked on it.

“Yes, what is it?” The man wasn’t that old, but his gray hair and rough features made it look like he had been through a lot. “You… you’re new. A mage?” He asked me.

I nodded. “Yeah. Just graduated from Strixhaven.”

His eyes brightened up at my words. “Oh, a recent graduate! Come on in, it’s always nice to have a mage as a guest.”

The interior of the house was sparse, but I could see various examples of the man’s work with stone; samples of rock on shelves, a microscope with tiny crystals on dishes, some tubes with chemicals, and various stonecutting tools. We sat down in front of a crackling fire, and the man poured me some tea from the kettle that was hanging there.

“So, introductions. I’m Elias Stonebreath. You?”

That’s a chosen alias for sure, but I won’t judge. “Roy D. Staff. Pleasure.” 

“What brings you all the way out to this place?” He held up a hand. “No, no, don’t tell me. Let me guess… you wanted to travel after graduating?”

“That’s right.” I confirmed.

“I knew it. I did the same. Silverquill?”

“Quandrix. Lorehold?”

He nodded with a smile. “Nailed it. How’d you guess?”

“Seemed like the most likely to work with rock and stone.” I explained, making him laugh.

“My guess was based on the smell of ink from you. I have friends from Silverquill who were lik that too.”

We spent some time sharing stories about our respective times at Strixhaven, before Elias shared some details about his journey after Strixhaven. He visited several cities, before settling down in this mining town a few years ago, as he felt his expertise with stone magic would be of great use here. And so far, he had proved his utility; helping predict shifting rock, detecting mineral veins, rescuing miners from cave-ins and landslides, even appraising valuable stones to be sold to traders.

When I told him that the tavern’s serving girl (“That’s Gilly, a real sweetheart.”) directed me to him, Elias helpfully provided me with a map of the surrounding area, including routes to the closest settlements. However, there was one thing nearby that caught my interest.

“Ah, that place… It’s nice, but too dangerous to view up close. There’s a nice viewing spot up the mountain from here.”

“And if I wanted to view up close?”

Elias looked at me, before shrugging and tracing out a different path on the map. “Then you take this route. My advice is to turn back if things get too cold.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

We talked a bit more before I took my leave, returning to the inn to rest for the night. The next morning, I had a heavy breakfast of leftover stew before setting out in the indicated direction. Instead of taking the high road, I followed the descending path.

I felt the mana shortly before the change in temperature, and took the appropriate countermeasure when the latter intensified.

Shield-Cold-Cold-Cold-Cold. 

The spell settled on my body, turning the chilly sensation into a comfortable balmy one. 

I used to think that snarls were all aboveground, but Elias told me that this one existed beneath the earth, its effects spilling upwards. Red and orange flames gushed from cracks in the ground, hinting at the smoldering inferno beneath. Sometimes those cracks released whitish steam… that suddenly solidified into glacial spikes as adjacent flames licked along them. Said spikes only lasted for a moment before they evaporated back into steam, either to escape the range of the chilling fire, or to be frozen again.

There it is… I paused to stare at the roiling landscape before me, the result of the snarl in the area. A Blue-Red one… Frostboil Snarl.

Compared to the Vineglimmer I had linked to years ago, this one was more dangerous to approach. Even with my immunity to cold, the shifting ground made it difficult to find a path towards the source. After a few aborted attempts, I finally resorted to using my grimoire.

[Prismatic Magic: Golden Pathing Thread!]

A singular strand of gold stretched out from the pages of my grimoire, stretching along the ground ahead of me. I followed it carefully, making sure not to step too far away from the narrow line of safety. Sometimes portions of the thread darkened to indicate that it was temporarily unsafe, forcing me to either wait, or use some of my elemental magic to clear a path, but eventually, I stood as close as I could get to the snarl. 

Checking to ensure my immunity aura was still active, I opened my magical senses to the twisting knot of mana.

Potential and Stimulation… The latter excited the former into a new state, which it could accept as its new form, or revert back to its malleable source for another try. Sometimes the stimulation was the shock that turned it back too. I took a slow breath of the freezing air, which my magical protection filtered into a warm breeze. That too, was just a form of stimulation. 

Yet the bond struggled to form… until I recalled my mountain-climbing experience in the wilderness of Clover Kingdom. That struggle to ascend, all based on a whim and a desire for Red, and the feeling of liberating freedom when I reached a safe point. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t the peak, I wanted to climb, and I did, and that was enough to form the bond.

I channeled that Red mana now, and it completed the rest of the link. I was now connected to the Frostboil Snarl, to be either Red or Blue when I neeed it to be.

A sudden shift beneath my feet made my eyes widen. Reflexively, I grabbed my grimoire and held it to my chest, just before the stable ground I thought I had found gave way.

SHIT-!

SPARK

Instead of dropping into the freezing flames beneath, I fell into the Blind Eternities once more. It took a while to get my bearings, and by the time I did, I was falling towards an entirely new plane.

I thought this impromptu travel was bad, but I realized it could, and did get worse when I emerged… completely underwater.

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!? Gripping my staff tightly, I quickly cast a water protection spell. Shield-Water-Water-Water-Water!

The repulsion sent me flying upwards, breaching the surface in a spray of water before I tacked on a Slow Fall, allowing me to look around to see where I had ended up.

Oh, you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me…

I wasn’t just in a pond. I was right in the middle of the fucking ocean! Thankfully, there was a ship nearby, and it was a fucking huge one too. There was just one fucking problem.

A giant sea serpent rose out of the water, its long piscine head glaring at the vessel with bloodthirsty hatred. It wasn’t alone; I could see several other aquatic monsters swarming around it, all with sharp-looking teeth. How could I tell? The amount of blood that was being spilled from the various people fighting against the swarm.

Despite the bloody toll, the humanoid fighters didn’t falter. Some leapt from the ship to strike directly at the leviathan, the arc of their jumps revealing superhuman strength, while others fought in the waters directly, diving and resurfacing despite their heavy metal equipment. Others still fought from range, shooting arrows that struck like ballista missiles, or casting destructive magic from the ship’s deck.

Well… guess I better help out a bit. Now’s a good time as any to try out that spell!

The Biblioplex, Quandrix Campus, Vineglimmer Snarl, Seabed Temple, Mountain, Plain. And the latest one, Frostboil Snarl. I drew on every single one of them, and channeled them into the mana equations from a Quandrix mage-student named Cairu. A single mote of Green to guide the rest of the mana that empowered it.

Beneath me, glimmering green petals formed, spinning in the shape of a blossoming flower. It multiplied itself several times over, growing larger and larger as it reshaped itself . Instead of falling any further, my feet found support on the expanding sections, which lifted me even higher.

I brandished my staff as I stood on the head of a giant serpent fractal. “Alright, let’s fucking go.”

Afterword: Gotta love my muse when it charges headlong into the next world, even if it started with a somewhat ordinary graduation ceremony. I had fun writing the experiences of Roy’s meandering journey across Arcavios, detailing the sort of magical sceneries and encounters one might meet. Archaics are mentioned in the sourcebook, so I thought now would be a good time to have him encounter one. As for the new world, it’s also in the past from the canon material. I’m sure some people will be able to guess it soon enough.

Thanks to all the new patrons! So glad to get support for this!