Start with the basics (2)

INT opened both his palms. 'Enfy'. after speaking this word a small flame appeared on his right palm. 'Gata'. a small fog cloud formed on his left palm that condensed into a bubble of water and lastly froze to a perfectly round sphere of ice.

"Manipulation of temperature gives us the possibility to ignite our magical energy and use it as fuel. it also allows us to condense the humidity of the air into gaseous, liquid or solid forms. The magical community refers to them as fire and water magic respectively."

The ice turned back into water, dissolved into mist and then dispersed again while the flame died out.

"Next, we have the movement and reshaping of minerals," INT grabbed a stone from the ground. 'Erka'. The stone started floating, breaking into smaller pieces and merging together again. "And the manipulation of air flow. 'Aeha'."

Damien felt a light breeze coming up. it intensified until he was surrounded by a weak vortex that picked up dirt from the ground so he could see the movement.

"Furthermore, we can intensify the friction and," The space between INT's palms began to crackle and a stream of electricity flowed from one hand to the other. "Even though its form drastically changes we still count the generation of electricity as air magic. the other we call earth magic." After a few seconds the lightning and vortex stopped.

"For the last two elements I have to give you a disclaimer. So far there has been nothing too abstract in comparison to the general understanding of things from your world.

"Combustion is a common phenomenon; everyone knows the air contains humidity or is able to exhibit movement and it's no secret that minerals can be split and put together again.

"What cannot be grasped with the general understanding of your world's natural phenomena, at least to my knowledge, is the following."

INT lifted his palms again. "Akon." a wisp of bright white light floated on his right hand. "Omak." small particles of black energy started accumulating over his left palm until his whole hand was enveloped in a dark mist.

"These are light and darkness. light nurtures life and adds its energy to everything that lacks a portion of itself. darkness on the other hand draws in and disperses any kind of energy or matter."

INT moved the black mist to the stone that was still floating in the air. as soon as they touched, the stone surface began to turn into dust layer by layer. after a few minutes, the fist-sized chunk of mineral was completely gone.

The black mist dissolved, and INT used his now free hand to beckon Damien over to him. he obeyed and took his teachers outstretched hand. in the next moment there was a small cut generated by a fast and thin wind blade on the back of his hand.

He tried to recoil but a firm grip hindered him while the white sphere in INT's other hand floated to the wound. when both touched the bleeding stopped and the divide in his skin was closed.

"Those are all the basic elemental aspects of magic. So, what do you think?"

Damien was still a little shocked from the sudden attack, but the bewilderment generated by the things he had just witnessed still let his lower jaw dropped to the floor.

The wide smirk that formed on his teacher's face grew bigger with every single second. he quite enjoyed the fact that something he considered elementary was enough to freeze Damien into a silent stupor.

"No need to rush. what I have just shown you are the most basic applications of magic anyone could come up with. it won't take you long to achieve these effects by yourself but if you charge ahead recklessly you could seriously hurt yourself or those around you.

"Always remember that magic completely depends on you and your intentions. it is a tool with its own rules that cannot be broken. just learned and exploited."

After he recovered from his bewilderment the young boy started thinking on what he had just seen and heard. 'From what I could gather it is entirely possible for me to get killed by the same spells I create. if I'm going to be honest, I am scared of the thought what darkness could do to my body if not controlled properly.'

A thoroughly worried expression on the youths face told INT that there was something bugging him and after reviewing his own words he almost slapt his own face for making such a blunder.

"I'm sorry if I have scared you. in reality such elementary effects cannot hurt you if you generate them yourself. the same kind of energy can't destroy itself. every spell you conjure with your mana has a part of your energy signature.

"If the same energy signatures collide," he formed a dagger out of ice and stabbed towards his own palm," they completely ignore each other unless they are designed to do otherwise." the ice moved through INT's palm like it was just air and even after he pulled it away there was no visible damage on either part of the interaction.

„How does that work, exactly?" Damian was not convinced. An object going through one's hand was something that 'magicians' from his world could fake as well.

"Do you really want to know that before even having an iota of experience with magic. That's like a fish asking how air smells. the answer would be irrelevant as long as you haven't evolved to live on land." INT Gave Damian an-are you serious-kind of look but mellowed out when he saw the embarrassed expression his pupil had.

"You are going to learn one step at a time. Why don't you try giving it a shot? say the corresponding chant and imagine the spell you want to create. keep it simple and try to use as little mana as possible."

Damian thought about it. first, he had to choose an element:" What elements can I use in the first place?" he asked after a few seconds of contemplation.

"Whichever you want. humans are capable of using all elements. there is the factor of aptitude, but it is just a marker of what element you are most talented with. on humans this aptitude manifests as streaks of color in your hair or on very rare occasions in your irises. As far as I can tell you don't seem to have any, though.

"I'd recommend you start with either water or wind. darkness and fire can be dangerous on their own and earth is pretty mana expensive. Light is also an option but without a wound to heal it would just create a glowing dot. theoretically it would suffice but in my opinion, it is too simple to do for the purpose of getting a feel for the matter. it's up to you though."

After considering the proposal Damien picked water. 'Wind is not visible on its own and I doubt I can produce lightning from the get-go.' with his decision made Damien attempted his first chant.

"Gahtah", Damien waved his hands and waited for something to happen.

…

There was nothing.