Skyrim: A Sorcerer's Tale

Chapter 16: Chapter V: The first lecture (Part 2)

Chapter 16: Chapter V: The first lecture (Part 2)



"What is Magicka?"

Tiberius raises his hand at this and the Archmage points at him "It is the fuel we use for our magic?" he says somewhat unsure.

Savos nods "True, when it comes to application it is indeed the fuel to our fire so to say, but what is it? Anyone else?" He looks around the room and points to Marwyn who is still as shy as yesterday.

"I-is it the energy that makes up a being's spirit?"

"While it doesn't make the entire spirit it is the thing that gives it 'weight' " he says with air quotes. "But that is merely one of the things that it is. Does anyone else have an idea?"

I try to remember either from my previous or current life and hesitantly raise my hand. He nods my way and I speak "It is the raw energy that permeates all of existence, it is the building blocks of reality, and when focused can be directed to change said reality?"

He seems to agree and nods "Indeed, it can be called that and can be used to alter the world, but it does have limitations" He turns toward the other Dunmer in our group who rose her hand "And what do you think Miss Moabain"

She calmly says "It is the cosmic energy flowing from Aetherius to Mundus through the sun and stars, left behind by Magnus after the creation of our world, it is as my colleague said the material from which the world itself was made"

I raise my hand and he nods at me "So why haven't some of us had any interaction with said script, we are already apprentice mages, there should have at least been a hint of it"

He thinks for a second before asking "Have you ever read an adept spell book?"

I shake my head and he nods in confirmation "Then that is why you haven't yet had any interaction with it, most spells below the adept level do not need the arcane script, and to be fair it is very difficult to find the script itself written down beyond a learning institution or an old magical family. Any copy of it is usually confiscated for even the most minor of infractions to keep it from the wrong hands, well in most places that is. Trying to take it from a Telvanni mage usually results in explosions or an army of Daedra." We share a chuckle with Edrasa joining us.

It's a shame that most of my father's stuff got disappeared after he died, but I guess old Bobby didn't want to give me an entire library's worth of spells without any effort.

The Archmage continues his explanation "After a very long time of using the arcane script the world itself started associating certain symbols with certain effects, that is why we don't need to spend years training our subconscious to use the script" Thank fuck for that. "Now for the best part of any learning experience!" He spreads his arms overdramatically, my fellows seem excited but I already know where this is going... "Homework!" sigh... yup.

Everyone deflates faster than a Thalmor does a racism, while the Professors quietly laugh at our misery. The Archmage continues "I want all of you to memorize the entire script by the end of your first year, it is a long-term project yes, but if you want to keep up with your peers you will need to be able to read, write, and most importantly understand the arcane script, otherwise learning anything above low-adept spells will be extremely hard and not to mention the casting being incredibly inefficient."

The students accept their fate and the lesson soon ends with the Archmage waving at us almost mockingly. Guess he experienced something similar when he first started out, oh well if he wasn't at least a bit petty I would think him unworthy of a position of authority. Most of the apprentices head back to the dormitories while I head off towards the library, If I have to learn some squiggly lines to become powerful I will learn the damn squiggly lines!

A/n: I hope that I chose the right system of magic, there weren't many explanations that I could find online for the more complex spells so I went for this style.

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