9.3

She froze in place. The tears couldn't stop coming.

"Even after so long... Do you remember my voice?" who was hiding under mists and lies asked.

She nodded her head, at the same time gave a tender smile.

"Rejoice then, Clara. Your wish will finally come true... You never had sins to atone for, neither did Ana. You don't have to remain guardians, nor did I impose such a petty concept on anyone. The two of you were always free to go....."

The witch walked forward and raised her hands as if to activate the face of the presence, but was stopped by a raised hand.

"At any moment, my memories and the vestiges of me will vanish completely from within this body, it is the natural course.... It seems that my voice, my actions, and exploits of a past will also end up forgotten, but remember that I always loved them more than anything. Now, I may be able to leave in peace...."

With tears in her eyes, the white witch threw an affable smile before watching an old love not forgotten disappear.

...

Rey opened his eyes and with those twenty-four lights, each and every one of different colors, began to illuminate the place, dulling the brightness of the lake. The water all around was pushed aside by the flow of energy that the small body let out. Not only was the white witch's hair shaking all over the place, but her body was also about to be blown away. She was still behind her disciple, but, even so, she did her best not to release her grip.

Clara, whose tears were drained and dried by the wind, clung tightly to the little boy's body; "So much power that he even distorts the space around him! I must stop him...", she said to herself to then scream as loud as her voice would allow:

"Rey, take a deep breath. Take a moment to balance your energy until you notice it changes the way you feel. Use your imagination. Believe in the power to control your body and form an imaginary bubble around yourself."

The environment calmed down and the chaotic energy expelled ended up trapped inside circumferential walls.

"Now make the sphere smaller and smaller, while thinking about how infinite the space in it is. Think about how it can become a cosmos, a galaxy or a microworld...."

The energy was successfully contained and with that the water returned to its place.

"Keep reducing the size until you can keep it inside you."

The site and the water returned to normal.

"That will be your core. As a tip, and seeing your inclination to combat, you can connect it with the heart chakra for better performance with respect to willpower and fighting spirit. The passive energy that your body manifests will become magical energy, ritual material. You can also make this core an inner world which connects with all points of your body as well as your subconscious." Once the water returned to normal, Rey stared at his hands. Clara continued speaking:

"Now that the vortexes are balanced, rest and eat a little until you return to your normal state."

But seeing Rey give her an odd look back, she threw a warning into the air:

"Listen. As long as you have energy you won't need food. Your core will take care of making you feel full and that you don't have to defecate or urinate, but your body will stop aging and growing. Everything you eat will be stored as pure energy and not fat, but I recommend that you eat food, even if you don't feel hungry, and rest, even if you don't feel sleepy. You are not a machine, and you can still make good use of those two functions to keep growing, developing and adapting."

Rey, somewhat busy, said:

"Rest? Now that I've finished opening the vortexes is when I can cry out; leaving aside that I feel light and better, I don't think a rest is necessary."

After leaving a sigh in the air, the white witch turned her back and came out of the water with her disciple who followed her like an adorable puppy begging for food. It was frustrating to Clara that Rey was so extraordinary, a process that took a lifetime of an average human, he had accomplished in just one session.

"I can't remember the last time I had felt this exhausted. I congratulate you."

Giving a bitter smile, he continued:

"You are the only one of my disciples who has gone through the initiation process successfully in such a short time."

Getting dressed and trying to show not much discomfort at being naked in front of someone else, she continued:

"Rey... Your inner energy is... overwhelming. You must not use it indiscriminately, as weak-minded individuals around you may lose consciousness. With that said and having been exposed, even though I am a witch, I have my limits as a human. Your power blocked one of my chakras. When this happens, the others begin to malfunction and the sorcerer or sorceress in question loses his or her inner balance."

He continued to watch her, and she, no longer able to hide the reality, had to say:

"Rey, it is I who needs to rest."

The witch looked into the eyes of the little boy. He needed to keep learning and could absorb any information given to him. "So why not, if he really is so extraordinary, he could learn with simple instructions," he said to himself, to add aloud:

"Aaaaah, little one, in order to "clamor" at your level, you have two paths. The safest and most prestigious is for you to create a grimoire of your own in which you enclose creatures, natural phenomena and objects. The second way is to use a book made by someone else. But this is not an easy thing to do, as wizards jealously guard their grimoires, especially if they were created by themselves, since you can't claim something that someone else is using at the same time. Since I don't use mine, I can give you my book, but, you understand..." She made her book appear in the air.

Rey finished the witch's sentence:

"It's not up to par and neither will I be able to alter the content of the book if I'm not the original creator".

Clara, while getting dressed and as who was making a gesture of obviousness:

"Exactly. The few remaining claims in this book are basic and will restrict your potential to a great extent. They will also stunt your growth as a wizard. Believe it or not, if you make a pact with the creature in question and foster values such as trust, fidelity and respect, she will not attack you when someone else tries to use it against you... Going back to the negative aspects, it's not like I know any other book or its conditions to be invoked either. Follow my advice, go in search of the library of The Scholars, which is located in the fifth circle of this place. Learn about the power of symbols and how to generate your own book. Once you materialize it, seal as many beings as you encounter throughout your life and create a work that meets the expectations of a talent as great as the one you have."

Rey, also finishing dressing, said:

"To tell you the truth... I found something better than the library of The Scholars. I'm already familiar with all that knowledge, but I don't have much time to create a book. I know the book I want."

Arching her left eyebrow, the white witch asked:

"Which one?"

"The Sanctuary of Athena" answered as one who remembered.

The woman, there present, vomited on the floor from hearing the name. After holding one hand to her stomach and the other to her mouth, she continued as she wiped herself.

"Impossible!!! How do you know the title of that book?!"

After trying to collect his surprise, she continued:

"Rey, the original book was destroyed. I understand that, if you recite the words or draw the magic circle on the cover of it, you can summon a copy to the present, but as those words were never before heard by ears nor the sign seen by human eyes, many of my acquaintances lost their lives and succumbed entire civilizations by merely trying to summon that book and failing in the process. Rey, to behold a book of sorcery rank "God", you are privileged. I was amazed at the way you went through the initiation process and came out unscathed; if you still feel confident and want to keep trying your luck..." Rey nodded, "proceed, I don't intend to stop you. Although I'm afraid I must leave: this is a struggle in which I will not be able to accompany you. Honestly, I don't want to get involved in the ritual of such an atrocious book as that."

"Don't worry, I still consider you worthy to be my instructor."

After those words, Clara turned around and, as best she could, left the way she came.

Rey did not expect such a reaction from the white witch at the mention of the name of the book her master carried everywhere. Once the place was desolate, the little boy prepared to sit on the floor repeating what he remembered seeing from the drawing of the title and proceeded with the ritual.

"Requirements to invoke: 3000 hairs, which will be the leaves of the book. According to the color of the hair, according to the color of the pages." Rey plucked out the hairs and, after counting them, set them aside in front of him. "Three nails that will wrap around the leaves as a cover page." With his teeth he pulled his nails out by the roots. "Three liters of blood that will be the ink. Red blood, red letters." After cutting his wrist, he let out as much blood as he could, "Three Hours administering energy to the symbol or incantation."

After creating a symbol on the ground, in which he enclosed his previous offerings, the little boy stretched out his hands and from his newly acquired core used the energy as an offering. He felt confident. All the books he remembered reading about sorcery in Silvia's Library of Knowledge were not that complicated. Something was in the back of his head, though. Rey couldn't help but think about the white witch's reaction.

Rey believed that the process was relatively easy for someone to fail, and yet why had so many people failed? Rummaging through his memory, already somewhat worried, he recalled that, if the procedure failed, 3000 years of life would be taken. Three limbs, the head could be included. Three organs and three ribs were also to be given as offerings of failure. They did not necessarily have to be the user's, but if the user was the only one on site, he would bear the full brunt of his failure.

Rey, already almost worried, thought: "Mnnnn... The sorcerers jealously guard their books. Heroclades refused to teach me sorcery so that, in a battle, I would not use the same clamors as him. He knows that I can see the symbol on the cover, and that leaves him susceptible to theft. In effect, if he leaves that symbol exposed, it means there must be an extra security measure, one that is not so obvious. 3000 pages for 3000 hairs, but... if the original book will be missing a page... Heroclades would certainly not carry the original book, as the pages are the same color as his hair. Also, the name of the book is blurred and only the owner can alter the contents. If it were missing a page, it wouldn't be a copy of the original book, would it?"

Suddenly, before the whole pillar of offerings, a page appeared. Just a page with writing, scribbles and letters. Rey remembered that the book, whose images did not float, was accompanied by a flower made of the same thin, fine, delicate material that made up the pages. Although the page in front of him was black, it did present the same size and, of course, also the same scribbles, writings and red stripes that he remembered made up the flower that, with delicacy, his teacher was holding at that moment he saw through the window of his room.

Rey, as one who discovered something new, said to himself:

"This is the test that no one has been able to pass! To create a flower with the first page... Now, in what way does one create a flower while supplying energy for the completion of this book?"