The New Students

Author's note: This story is mostly world and character building purely for the sake of it

It’s so easy for people to forget. Just one measly apocalypse and they don’t know how to read, build cities, forge metals or even medicine. All it took was for the Third Sun to rise, and the world was wiped out.

But there were survivors, there are always survivors somehow, so humanity goes on. Goes on into what?.

I tell you who doesn’t know, Tsaro doesn’t know. He was born a long time after the “apocalypse" which is to say, pretty recently.

His mother didn’t teach him anything of the old world, because she didn’t know anything, and neither did his father.

No wonder he wanders into this building all clueless and reckless, as if begging to die.

He was very brave to come here, I’ll grant him that. Few people have ever ventured close to this place in the many decades since I took down civilization.

I wonder how much can he understand.

He comes by an old book, miraculously preserved… does he even understand?. It seems pretty obvious to me, but not to him… and to be honest I can’t imagine how he perceives the world.

He keeps wandering through the place… and then he leaves. He’ll be back. I know his type, they always want to learn more.

He came back, I told you I was right… he looks different?, how long has it been?, at least a couple of years… huh… I did not anticipate that… no matter, he’s back. He’s brought someone, a girl.

Oh my, he’s so basic, of course he brought a girl in, couldn’t it at least be a boy?, can you be at least a little interesting Tsaro?.

He shows her the place, he points at things, he finds the old book right where he left it… and she picks it up, she opens it... she reads it?. My oh my, you at brought an interesting one here Tsaro. Let’s see what her name is.

Hmmm… a new language I had not known… it must have developed after I did what my masters asked… I feel it now… her name… Utniker… okay. Parents these days, am I right?.

Why do you seem to know what you are doing Utniker?, who are you?… who taught you?.

They get to the admissions office, she looks among the old papers… is it really happening?… NO WAY!, they are actually doing it. They are actually filling in the information… how does she know so much?. I peer into her mind but it would take me a while to piece out her life story, it’s easier to just wait and see.

They filled the documents, they take them to the right box… but she’s about to put it in the wrong place. Ha!, she wasn’t as smart as she seemed after all… what?. Tsaro stopped her, He points at the names in the boxes, barely legible as the paint fades. Well done Tsaro, I guess you deserved a little bit more credit than I gave you.

And they put the documents in the box. Fuck, I guess I have to read them now. Let’s see.

Utniker Otenju, born the year of No One… I suppose… parents Kaksijer Samioke and Siltsenu Otenju… huh, last-name traditions did manage to survive apparently. Education history non applicable, obviously, work history… adventurer?, if you say so, I guess that’s the kind of things we ask about in the interview… let’s see Tsaro… fuck it.

-You’ve been admitted to the House of Fire- I say

Tsaro screams, Utniker holds him in place.

-Is it done?- she asks- are we students here?

-Sure- I reply- why?, isn’t this what you expected?

-The mystics said something about the spirit peering into your soul, and then we would be asked if we had questions…

-The interview, yeah, fuck it, I’m not feeling it. You are in.

-What happens now?- Tsaro whispers

-Good question- I reply- I guess you wanna learn?. I can give you your schedules

-I want to learn- Utniker says, then she pauses, almost as if she thinks everything she says has to be heroic and memorable- what happened to the world!

-Sure, it’s not a mystery, the problem is that you may not understand many things, the world was very different back then… you know what?, first I will show you, then we’ll get to stories. You have your first class now. Go to room “Stars at Dawn”

They wandered the building for like 40 minutes before figuring out which room it was, adorable.

-You are late- I said, just to mess with them, although officially they were indeed late- this is Introduction to Magic, now, take a seat- the awkwardly shuffled through the ruble and sat down in the middle of the room- now… what IS magic?

They looked at each other, confused. I laughed, oh man, there are things that never change.

-I’m joking- I explained- back then professors used to start their classes with these annoying rhetoric questions. Of course you don’t know anything, I’m guessing even the simple trick of the infinite fire has been lost already

-Infinite fire?- Tsaro said, confused

-Okay… I realize I cannot teach you the level of magic we would normally teach here. I have to teach you the very basics, the kind of magic children would learn before they can write their won names, just let me think

They sat there, confused, and I thought: how can I make them understand?. 

-I guess, the very basic of magic is that you have to take a piece of your soul and put it into something else… then you have to hide a wish or an order in that piece of soul and give it the resources to achieve it… and it will… huh, it wasn’t so hard to explain after all

-How…- stuttered Utniker- do you… put your soul into something?

-Well… step up… no, first grab a stick or a rock or something

-Like this?

-Sure, now, think of a moment, think of an emotion… be careful not to think of anything too precious… think of… I don’t know… do you hunt?

-Yes

-Think of a time you made a particularly good hunt… but not anything like the time your father taught how to shoot or something like that… something special… but not too special

-There was one time I killed a rabbit and a duck with a single arrow

-That’ll do, think about it, think how that made you feel, now, grant that to the rock

-How do I grant it to the rock?

-How do you get married?

-Married?

-Marriage got forgotten?, fascinating… how do you make a promise?

-You say…

-Exactly!, you say it and you make it, the words are the action, right?, this is the same, you are promising the rock those feelings are its now, and not yours… so you have to be willing to get rid of them… a promise doesn’t work if it’s not sincere, same here

She closed her eyes… for a surprisingly long time, she took it seriously. Previously I would have made fun of such a student, but come on, they don’t know.

-Done- she whispered

-Excellent, the rock is now enchanted

-Looks the same to me- observed Tsaro

-That’s because you haven’t developed enchanter eyes, but yes, it doesn’t look like much, because now you have to give it an order, or a wish… there’s a difference but it doesn’t really matter until we get to the advanced stuff

-What kind of wish?- Utniker asked me

-The easiest one is to get somewhere, like... to get to that wall over there

-I can just throw it

-Of course you can just throw it!, this is the absolute basics, but how do you think I’m talking to you?, with magic. Eventually you can use magic to do things you’d never be able to do otherwise, but first, you have to use it to make easy things much harder than they normally are

-Okay… so… you used to be a person?, you became a voice with magic?

-I was created by the most powerful warlocks of my age to be an eternal spirit that commanded the Third Sun, now, WISH THE ROCK TO REACH THE WALL!

And then, suddenly, the rock flew out of her hand to the wall.

Utniker and Tsaro were completely blown out of their minds and started screaming and laughing and saying how Kisherto would definitely die to their hands, human stuff.

-Now, you have to understand, what you did was actually pretty dangerous, not because it was a rock, but because you didn’t say were it could get the energy to get there

-What?- they both asked

-Energy is how much you can change the universe. Everything that happens changes the universe in some way and thus requires a certain amount of energy. HOWEVER every time energy is used it itself changes too and becomes less able to change the universe in the future. Thus there will come the day when the universe can no longer change… but that’s pretty far away into the future, so don’t worry

-You said it was dangerous- Tsaro reminded me

-Right!, so, when you enchant something and give it a wish, or an order, it will try its best to accomplish that… but it cannot do impossible things… it needs resources, mostly energy. You can specify were it can get its energy from, but if you don’t, most likely it will get it from you. This is fine if you are simply throwing a rock, but what if you enchanted… that boulder over there?

-What boulder?- they asked

-Fuck, I don’t have hands… that big rock in that corner, okay?, you can enchant it in exactly the same way, and give it the exact same order, or wish, and it will fly to the wall… but think, how tired would you be if you had to move that boulder by yourself, just by pushing it?

-I would be extremely tired- Tsaro said

-Exactly, now imagine one second you are fine and the next you are exhausted, because the rock will extract all the energy to fulfil the wish from your body. It will not ask, it does not give back, and it doesn’t care if you made a mistake. This can kill you. Many times I have seen promising warlocks or witches kill themselves by accident because they severely underestimated how much energy it took to do something

-What if I tell it to get energy form someone else?- Utniker asked… suspicious… was she pretending not to know before?, or is she simply that smart?

-Well, you cannot offer what you do not own, but you can offer what no one owns. The energy in pots of hot water, for example, was used for centuries. You can also use the energy in light, or in moving wind… the problem is that… well… how do you feel about the hunt you made that time Utniker?

-The one about the rabbit and the duck?, it was just a hunt

-And yet it was special just a minute ago, wasn’t it?

Her face suddenly changed, in horror.

-No, it was just a regular hunt…

-You were proud of it, but now you don’t feel anything about it, do you now?. I did tell you that you were granting a piece of your soul to that rock. That piece of your soul is gone now, but don’t worry, you can always make more

Utniker was to busy peering in horror into her own soul, probably having an existential crisis, when Tsaro picked up a rock and it immediately flew and incrusted itself into the wall. I was impressed.

-That was a memory of a time my mother cooked my favorite meal- he explained- what happens if I choose something more special?

-Well, that’s what I was explaining before. The quality of the soul determines how good it is at using energy. If you put a memory like than and order it to move using the energy in light, it will not move very far before the soul consumes itself, because such a piece of soul would have a very hard time collecting enough energy from light. In the other hand, if it was the death of a child, it would be able to collect light from the whole room and leave it in darkness for a second before making a hole in that wall and flying a few hundred meters more… assuming you cared about that child, of course

-So to make magic… we must consume ourselves?- Utniker exclaimed, not recovering herself form the horror yet, but Tsaro was handling it quite well

-You expected it to be free?. But don’t worry, souls grow back. That’s why it’s important for warlocks and witches to have good social lives, read a lot, and in general just have fun, you know?, keep adding things to your soul, it gives you a lot of ammunition

-Amu-what?- they said

-A lot of… arrows in your quiver- they nodded in understanding- that’s why you have to think about what things are truly precious to you and not use them in frivolous things. I have seen people who used their love for their mothers or their enjoyment of music in their first spell… many people who make such mistakes kill themselves… which is funny because even though he didn’t care about his mother anymore there must have been a piece of his soul that cared about caring about his mother, and that was the thing that drove him to suicide, but I wonder, what if he had used that other piece of his soul in another spell?, then he wouldn’t care about caring about his mother and he would have been fine

-It must be like a scar- Tsaro explained to me, as if he was a scholar on the subject- you can keep cutting a scar with a knife but another will grow back in its place

-You two are very suspicious students, you know that?

-So that’s the nature of magic- Utniker said, ignoring my observation- can you explain us now what you were going to explain before?

-Sure, sure, let’s start:

Once upon a time the world was filled with monsters. The lich lords grew ever more powerful and subjugated the world to their designs. To defeat them the Sisterhood conjured the Second Sun, an Avatar of might and power, ordered to bring destruction to the Lich Lords and protect the common people.

The Second Sun ravaged the Lich kingdoms and all those who supported them, and when it finished, it continued, it’s will to power was so strong no one could tame it.

So the Sisterhood called upon their brothers and together they were able to tame the Construct and let it die down… but not without keeping a hologram of it, in case they ever had to bring it back online.

For a nearly 2 thousand years the House of Fire kept the hologram and called upon it when necessary, rekindling the Avatar of Might and using it to bring peace to the world.

Until one day the hologram was finally broken, although the tragedy of how this happened is a story for another day…

The House of Fire continued to rule for nearly a thousand years more without the hologram, but always dwindling in power, alway retreating, as new powers rose and congealed into new institutions.

Then, as the New Horde rammed the walls of the Mother’s Castle they decided to create another Avatar. But they knew they would never be able to control it like their founders had done, so they decided to create someone who might…

They brought the people of the city and, well, their offered me their souls, I awoke in the void, and found myself, powerful.

They created the Third Sun, the Avatar of Destruction, and they threw it upon their enemies but… it was not stable.

The Third Sun rose upon the world but it never reached orbit, it fell… I could do nothing about it, and as it fell, it burned the world.

-And that’s the story of what happened. A bunch of people trying their best but eventually failing. At least the New Horde was also destroyed so… hey, you win some and loose some

-They made you out of souls?- Tsaro asked

-Yup

-But you said…-Utniker was being careful with her words- that you cannot give what do you do not own

-Yeah… and if you don’t own something, you have to take it

 

 if you order a fire to burn eternally you need to supply it with in

 Sit over there, I’ll tell you a story:

Once upon a time humans were… well, very much like you are now. They were wild, and ignorant, not much different form the other creatures, but then, one day, they discovered magic.

Humans discovered that they could sacrifice a piece of their souls and bind it to something else. They could hide a wish in this piece of soul and make it do their bidding, they call these “enchantments”. For example they could enchant a fire to never turn off… the problem is that the soul in the thing will do its best to keep the command, but can’t do impossible things. If you provide this piece of soul with wood it can use in the other hand