28 – Test Subject

Arielle quickly made the aura charm while Lyra was in the privy, then packed away her charm-making equipment.

Then she went off in search of her test subject.

Arielle wanted someone relatively weak.

She wanted someone without a good core connection, someone who at least occasionally struggled to do spells, so that she could test the true efficacy of the charm.

She then thought about where such a person would be at this time.

The answer: the second floor of the Luxarium.

The second floor had study rooms where students often went to practice spell-casting. They hoped that the Luxa-infused atmosphere would grant them a better understanding or ingenuity to help them do better.

As Ari approached the first room on that floor, which had the door cracked open, she heard someone casting a spell.

She opened the door to witness a boy, his robes clearly too small for his form, swinging around a wand and whispering, “[Kinetic Push].”

She recognized him from his side profile. He was the one with the overly long front teeth, the one who had told her good luck on her first day of class.

His robe made a stretching sound as he jabbed his wand forward, trying to release the burst of air.

When it didn’t happen, he sighed and rolled his neck, spotting her in the process.

“Merciful Sentinel!” He jumped back instantly, releasing a squeak of shock.

“Hello,” Arielle said. “Would you like a charm?”

“What?” His heart was beating fast, and he laid a hand on his chest to slow it.

“A vitality charm. It will help you sense your cores better.”

“Oh.” His brows drew together. “Th-that’s very expensive. You would just give that to me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because you clearly need it.”

He blushed, and she took the scroll out of her pocket and handed it to him.

He frowned down at it. “Is this Winthrome?”

“No,” she said. “It’s better, and it’s very safe.” She added a comforting smile at the end, and he gave her a peculiar one in return.

He swallowed as he stared down at the charm and then slowly tore it.

Arielle watched the magic swirl around him, knowing that it had activated even though he shook his head.

“I don’t feel anything.”

“It’s slow-acting,” she responded. She then took out her aura-reading charm and ripped it in two, her vision going hazy for a second before the colors blended back together.

She could see his aura, the colors of the essences mixed in with the color of his emotions, a murky blend of greens, blues, purples, and browns that was hard to distinguish at first but got easier the longer she looked.

He was staring at her now, too.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered. “I’ll help you with the spell you were trying to do.”

His eyes widened, a bright yellow pushing out of him instantly. “Really?”

“Really. Now let’s start.”

“Okay.” Black tinged his emotional aura now, and when she saw him swallow and wipe his brow with shaky hands, she figured it was fear he was feeling.

“Don’t be afraid,” Ari said. “Backlash from a spell like this won’t kill you.”

“No, that’s not what I’m scared of,” he said. “I just don’t want to screw up in front of you.”

Ah. Arielle understood that. She didn’t like failing in front of people either.

“If you screw up, you just do it again.”

He swallowed, and she saw the black retreat, pink spreading. Now that she was seeing it in action, the aura reading charm would be good for more than just observing essence use.

She could use it to read people’s emotions better, too, so she could have improved communication with them, and they would stop needing so much space from her.

“[Kinetic Push],” he said as he thrust his wand, and Arielle instantly saw the problem.

Well, several problems.

First, the connection was barely there. His aura only slightly moved when he uttered the spell because he had a weak connection with the essences. Calor, at least, came out sluggishly, but Vacu would need a lot better than that to come into play.

Then there was his wand movement, which was off.

And his shaky voice confused the essences around him. There was just no conviction in his tone.

As he was about to do it again, Arielle said, “Stop.”

He stopped, and the black was back.

“First off, stand up straight. Don’t slouch,” she said because the boy seemed to have a permanent curved back. “It doesn’t help you connect to your cores, and it makes you look weak.” The essences wouldn’t appreciate a weak master.

“Oh. Right.”

“Secondly, wave your wand like this.” She made the motion in the air with her bare hand. “You’re not forcing the spell to happen, you’re merely guiding it.”

He nodded again.

“Try again.”

He did it again, but before he could call out the spell, she said, “Stop.”

He stopped.

“You’re still not connecting to your cores. Close your eyes.”

He did it instantly, letting his wand hand fall by his side.

“Take a deep breath and hold it,” Arielle coached.

He did as she asked, inhaling. She let him hold his breath for five seconds, then asked him to exhale.

“What did you feel in your gut?”

“Heat,” he admitted readily.

“Okay. Do that five more times.”

To her surprise, he did it without arguing, and at the end of the fifth time, she asked him again, “Now what did you feel?”

“Energy.”

She nodded. “Use that energy within to guide the energy without. Make sure you connect them both, even if it’s with just your breath.”

He pressed his lips together and nodded with determination. He tried to cast the spell again, and once more she stopped him to adjust his stance.

It happened two more times, each time she fixed something about his posture until he was standing tall with his back straight, the way a mage was supposed to stand.

“Now go.”

“[Kinetic Push],” he said, and this time the spell reached completion, and a gust of wind exploded into the opposite wall with enough force to nearly push him back.

After it was done, his jaw dropped.

He eyed Arielle, clearly shocked.

“I did it?” It was a question and a declaration all rolled in one.

“You did,” she said.

“Thank you so much!” He gripped his wand in both hands hard enough to nearly snap the wood. “I’ve been trying that spell for a few days now with no progress. That charm was excellent.”

“It is.” Now, if only she could convince Lyra of this.

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“Um…I’m Maus by the way.”

She blinked. “That’s an unfortunate name.”

He laughed uncomfortably. “Yes. I know, but it could have been worse.”

Arielle didn’t see how, but she didn’t mention it. “I’m Arielle Blacksoil.”

“I know that too. I think everyone on campus knows at this point.”

“Okay,” she said.

Then, not knowing what else to say, she curtsied, turned around, and walked away, feeling triumphant but also worried that Lyra would never give it a chance.

***

Maus was on his way to combat class the next day when a heavy hand landed hard on his shoulder.

“Mousey boy.” Faulkey’s tone was calm, but it had that undercurrent of annoyance that had Maus stiffening regardless. “Have you been hiding from me?”

“N-no.” Darn it. He hated it when he stammered, but he couldn’t help it around Faulkey.

It wasn’t just that the other boy was much taller than him, and probably much stronger and better at magic.

It was also that everything about him made Maus want to crawl into a hole.

It was his attitude, command mixed in with a tinge of cruelty. Faulkey had never done anything particularly egregious to Maus. As a matter of fact, he’d been friendly with Maus so far, mostly because Maus had never done anything to defy him.

Because Faulkey represented everything Maus had been taught to instinctively obey and cower to.

He automatically hunched his shoulders over, then instantly remembered Arielle’s words yesterday.