Elemental Spells

As usual, Theo went to Meg's place on Sunday. Upon entering the basement, Meg stopped as if hit by a sudden thought and turned toward him. "By the way, I suppose I should inform you there's a rogue Tielan alert going around."

"Huh? You know about that?" Theo blurted.

Meg raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know about it?"

Theo blushed. "I...uh...Ryan kind of told me."

"We met him yesterday," Zenith offered. "After grocery shopping."

Meg raised both eyebrows now, and Theo wondered if she was surprised that Ryan had warned him in the first place. Though it wasn't like he'd done it out of the goodness of his heart.

"Well, I suppose that makes things easier," Meg said, flipping her hair. "Yes, the whole point of these alerts is to make sure all wizards are kept in the loop. Even an insignificant shopkeeper like myself."

She winked, though her smile seemed strangely ironic. Before Theo could wonder about it, Meg went on talking.

"I take it he told you all the details? It's a female nephilim in red armor, who wields a spear and seems to have fire elemental abilities. She's strong enough to break into high-level arenas on her own."

Theo nodded; this all tracked with what Ryan had told him. Though there was one thing –

"Nephilim?" Sam said loudly, stealing the words right from his mouth. "What's that mean?"

Meg exchanged an incredulous glance with Lodo, while Darian made a sound that might have been a muffled laugh. Which made Sam puff out her cheeks indignantly. "Hey, don't keep secrets!"

"Of course, of course." Meg turned back toward them, smiling. "I suppose we never really went over it, hm? Well, nephilim are basically the most common kind of people in Tielos. They're descendants of the seraphim who lost their wings after the Rending."

"I was born a seraphim, but without my wings I'm technically a nephilim now," Darian explained.

"Outwardly, nephilim are pretty much indistinguishable from humans," Meg said in her calm lecturing tone. "The difference being, of course, that they're native Tielans and therefore have innate magical powers but can't use wizardry."

Theo nodded. "Okay, so you're saying this rogue is...an ordinary Tielan, then? Not like a demon or monster or anything?"

"That's right, though you shouldn't underestimate her because of it. It's very rare for any Tielan to be able to break into an arena without a wizard."

"It doesn't matter!" Sam declared, pumping her fists. "If she shows up we'll just send her packing!"

"That's the spirit," Meg said, grinning. "In the meantime, let's stay on alert, shall we? Since she can't create arenas herself, she won't be able to ambush us like the Infernal Legion has done, but she could potentially break into any arena that we open. I'm fairly confident in my ability to cast wards and defenses, but for now you kids should avoid opening arenas when I'm not around."

"Got it, Teach!" Sam chirped while Theo nodded, quietly digesting this information. From the sound of it, this red-armored nephilim might very well end up being a future opponent of theirs.

But he'd be fine, he told himself. He'd fought a lot of powerful opponents already, from Victor to Melphi to Ryan, and gained more experience and skill as a wizard. His and Zenith's bond was stronger than it had ever been. Zenith had already promised that he'd protect Theo if the rogue attacked, and Theo had promised to support him.

If anything, he should be looking forward to the opportunity to fight her. That was the whole point of this, wasn't it? To find and battle strong opponents, all in order to grow one's Levia.

It was a subtle change, but he'd noticed it had become easier to reach for his Levia, the pink light stirring within him if he paid it even the slightest attention. And he felt like he had more of it than before; it took longer now for him to tire after casting multiple spells.

Maybe he even had enough to use his dream-spells. Not that he was chomping at the bit to try it out; after all, he still didn't know what most of them did.

"Well, Theo?" Meg's voice cut through his idle musings, making him blink. "Will you do us the honors?"

"Oh! R-right, yeah," Theo stammered, embarrassed. Stepping back, he hurried to cast a by-now familiar arena.

The diagram swept across the floor, bathing the basement in its soft pink glow. After the crackle in his ears died down, Theo looked around in satisfaction at the dark wood platform floating in the middle of the dawn sky.

His version of this arena was smaller than Meg's, with fewer floating bookshelves, but it was still a respectable size. These days, more often than not Meg had him create the training arenas. Sam had started trying to do it as well, but her efforts were always smaller than Theo's and they tired her out a lot more.

Sometimes Theo felt a little guilty about how much better at wizardry he was than Sam, but Sam didn't seem to resent him in the slightest. Right now, she was staring around in awe like she did every time he created this arena.

"All right, to business." Meg clapped her hands. "Sam, you'll keep practicing those speed spells on Darian, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Sam saluted while Darian nodded in lazy acknowledgment.

"As for you, Theo," Meg said, fixing him with her dark brown eyes, "I think it's about time for you to start learning a new class of spells."

"A new class?" Theo's spine prickled.

"Our rogue friend gave me the idea, actually," Meg said with a dry little smile. "Since she's able to use her elemental powers, I think it'd give you a greater fighting chance if you allowed Sir Zenith to use his own."

"Elemental powers?" Theo felt like a parrot repeating Meg's words, but he couldn't help it. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Sam and Darian, who had already gone off to the middle of the arena, seemed to be paying keen attention too.

"Every Tielan has special powers that only they can use," Meg said. "So far, you've been using generic spells that will work on any familiar, regardless of their race or nature. But the strongest spells are the ones that unlock your familiar's unique abilities."

"You've already seen some indication of them, Theo," Zenith said, surprising Theo. He nodded in Darian's direction. "My liege has the ability to control lightning."

Theo remembered the lightning crackling around Darian's rapier, enabling the slender blade to pierce Victor's dark armor. "So that was – but Darian doesn't have a wizard."

"A Tielan technically doesn't need a wizard to use elemental powers," Meg explained. "They're innate, after all. But it takes a lot of Levia and mental discipline in order to even access them in the first place. Many Tielans go their entire lifetimes without ever discovering their powers. The role of the wizard is to make it easier for them."

She stepped up to Lodo's side, who nodded at her. With that, a scarlet diagram spread beneath Meg's feet and surrounded both of them. The blazing light made Theo's eyes water, but he forced himself to squint through it. He couldn't see much, but the few details he picked up seemed far more complex than any spell he'd cast so far.

Some of them struck an odd pang in his heart – had he seen them before? Actually, they seemed kind of similar to the spells Ryan used to create Avia's arrows...so those must be her unique powers.

Meg's Levia flared brighter than ever, wiping out all details. Theo stumbled back in surprise. When his vision cleared, the diagram was gone and Lodo stood in his half-cat form with claws extended – claws that were sheathed in gleaming, razor-edged steel.

Meg nodded in satisfaction. "Lodo's elemental powers center around controlling metal. This is their most basic manifestation."

Theo stared at Lodo's claws, now more like knives extending from his fingers, and his heart beat a slow pulse of wonder. Unlike the scarlet light that usually augmented Lodo's claws, this metal struck him as not only more solid and permanent, but also more natural on his body.

"These spells are fundamentally different from the basic ones," Meg explained. "Rather than using your Levia to create a surface effect on your familiar, they're about reaching deep into the core of your familiar's Levia itself. Your Levia resonates with your familiar's, drawing out their innate potential."

She swept out her hand, and Lodo leaped high in the air. His steel claws flashed, blindingly fast, and in a single stroke he sliced an entire row of bookshelves in half. To Theo's amazement, not a single book spilled out – Lodo had been that precise.

Lodo landed next to Meg and swept into a deep bow. His claws were back to normal, but Theo couldn't stop gawking.

"Well done, Lodo," Meg said, smiling at her familiar. Then she turned back to Theo. "So? Would you like to try it out yourself?"

"Yes!" Theo said instantly.