Amon walked beside Karla. A silver magical orb hovered just above his palm, the symbols inside twitching and slowly drifting in circles.
“How…” Karla whispered, shooting a narrow look at Amon, though only for the briefest moment. As the man continued staring at his own creation with sparkling eyes, completely ignoring her, her expression returned to normal. “I must say, your talent in magic rivals the best even among elves.”
Amon smiled but said nothing. He was far too focused on adding more runes to the diagram.
“You are overcomplicating it. In magic, simplicity is crucial. Once a spell becomes difficult to control, it stops being useful to the caster and turns against them. See how yours keeps flickering? In fact, it’s going to coll…” The words caught in Karla’s throat as the runes inside the diagram stopped pulsating. Even the way they moved changed as the gap between each symbol became perfectly equal. “You made it work…”
“It’s easier than I thought,” Amon said, dispersing the diagram as he stepped over a barely dried pile of animal droppings on the ground. “Once you explained the meaning of runes and the principles by which they work together, different combinations began forming in my mind automatically. I can’t quite explain it in words, but the process is definitely interesting.”
Karla blinked at how easily Amon had cancelled the spell. After a brief look of surprise, she nodded subtly.
“I’ve only taught you ten basic runes, but to understand and master them in less than a day…”
“Karla,” a low, rough voice interrupted the two. “Priestess says we must… is this the human?”
Dariel slowly walked toward Amon, who barely reached his chest, looking down at the man as though he were a strange beast that had sparked his curiosity.
“Does he speak our tongue?” he asked Karla with a brief glance before shifting his gaze back to Amon.
“I do,” Amon said, looking up with a bright smile. “Praise High Father.”
He grinned as both Karla and Dariel immediately traced my symbol on their chests.
“Did Tekla send you?” he asked, but quickly corrected himself. “I meant the Priestess.”
“Your memories are still influencing me, Verde,” he complained internally as Dariel’s brows drew closer in clear displeasure.
“Priestess awaits the human in the temple,” Dariel said, pointing toward the giant oak tree and the building grown along its trunk. “Karla, take him through the training field. We are building a new bridge, and all other paths are dug up.”
The elf nodded and gestured for Amon to follow her.
Dariel kept staring at my avatar until the two cut left and followed the fence, inside of which about two dozen strange animals ate lazily from a stack of hay that was almost completely gone.
“What are these?” Amon asked as he leaned over the fence to scratch the side of one of the beasts. The animal was about his height, with the outline of veins and muscles clearly visible through its thin skin.
The thought of the beasts being dangerous didn’t even cross Amon’s mind, once again proving he was not an exact copy of me. Avenor, or I myself, wouldn’t have dared to touch it unless we were certain it was safe.
However, to be fair, I was never Platinum Rank as a mortal, so perhaps the knowledge of the slumbering power within him and the confidence that came with it would have made me less cautious as well.
“The velmoryns call them minovar, but I don’t know much either,” Karla responded, a strange melancholy in her voice. Despite accepting me as her god and genuinely treating the velmoryns as her true kin, she still clung to some elven ways of life. And one of those was veganism. Karla refused to eat anything but fruits and plants, which was particularly difficult in a velmoryn settlement where vegetables and fruits were nothing more than a minor addition to meals.
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“Oh, this one seems pregnant,” Amon chuckled as he felt the firmness beneath the giant belly of the peculiar brown beasts who resembled cows but had far longer necks and ears.
Karla didn’t respond, but her face brightened at the mention of new life. Even though her now crimson hair gave her a far harsher appearance, especially compared to her former look, each time she smiled genuinely, her face seemed to light up and radiate warmth.
“Karla, what if I learn multiple disciplines of magic? Would it be possible to cast… let’s say water and lightning? Would it be harmful for me?” Amon asked without taking his hand off the minovar.
“It’s not about the danger magic brings, but emotions. Even if you find balance so that it does not affect your personality, the question of whether you can cast powerful spells or not remains.”
“What do you mean?”
Karla extended her hand, and a green diagram formed above it. It was a simple spell, with only three runes intertwined in an oddly pleasing way.
“This spell draws happiness from the caster and feeds desire,” she said, leaning over the fence toward the minovar. As her free hand touched the side of the pregnant beast and a smile spread across Karla’s face, the diagram in her hand flared and even grew in size.
Does divinity work the same way? Will my crimson energy grow stronger if I become more attached to the Velmoryns? What about golden energy…
“Fascinating,” Amon mumbled. “You didn’t even have to channel more mana.”
“You could tell?!” Karla asked, her eyes widening.
“Yes, I can sense mana.” Amon shrugged. He truly didn’t think it was anything noteworthy; however, Karla’s reaction proved otherwise. “So if I were to master fire and ice, since the two draw opposite emotions, none of my spells would be powerful?”
“Precisely.”
“What if I get angry when I cast fire and become completely calm when casting ice?”
Karla looked at him with amusement. She had clearly thought Amon was joking, although he absolutely wasn’t.
“To achieve that, you’d need magic that can control emotions,” she chuckled.
“True,” Amon muttered, his mind already trying to figure out a way.
Karla cancelled the spell, allowing the green diagram to disappear, and continued walking toward the temple.
“Amon,” she said after a while, as the silence became awkward for her. Strangely, she felt more on edge around Amon than my avatar did in the presence of the powerful elf mage. “I don’t recommend learning multiple disciplines of magic at the same time. First, learn what your aptitude is best at.”
“Why?” Amon asked as he gave a bright smile to two velmoryns who passed by them, pushing two carts loaded with hay. The velmoryns gave alarmed looks before noticing the red-haired elf beside him, whom everyone in Eriavel admired.
Karla returned the greeting to the two men, and only after they left did she respond to Amon.
“Memorizing and mastering runes affects a mage’s mind. It’s better to become accustomed to one unstable emotion rather than fighting multiple at the same time.” She paused, considering something. “Imagine you are injured in multiple places. If a healer starts healing all of them at once, the pain would overwhelm you…”
Amon considered her words. He had no idea how healing felt, but he remembered how Avenor had cursed and suffered in pain when Vaelari healed him.
“But how do I determine which discipline is best suited for me?”
“I’ll help you,” Karla responded shortly as they crossed the small bridge leading toward the Crimson Guardian.
The two fell silent for a while. Karla was simply sorting through her duties for the day in her mind. She had already spent a few hours with Amon after I commanded her to guide him, so now she was behind schedule.
Amon, on the other hand, was completely immersed in magic. Even in my realm, I had noticed his excitement for it, but now that he had experienced it several times, his thirst for knowledge had reached a completely new level, coming very close to a certain velmoryn.
“Verde, if I master the wind element, will I be able to fly? Actually, can you make wings for me? I can withstand any pain, I promise…”
I ignored him as he continued pestering me.
They were already close to the temple when Amon’s leg touched the root that had grown above the ground, and a pulse of red ran through it. The pulse was so quick that even he didn’t notice.
“Since the Priestess is already waiting for you, I’ll leave to feed my mana to the eggs Father entrusted to me,” Karla said as they reached the temple entrance and she was about to turn away when Amon stopped her.
“I almost forgot,” he said and extended both of his hands.
A silver circle formed in front of him, quickly growing in size. As it expanded enough to be as tall as Amon himself, the runes began taking shape inside it. One by one, they appeared, forming layers upon layers. Circles within circles.
“What is this?” Karla gasped, her eyes fixed on the magic diagram.
“This is the magic the Lord created,” Amon said, unveiled pride in his voice. “It’s called a Thread of Fate…”
“Father created it?”
“Yes,” Amon nodded as the diagram finally finished forming. “It is a very complicated magic, but…”
Amon never got to finish his words as a loud explosion sounded not far away, smoke and dust immediately rising into the air.