“Ah...Cassiea, I see that you are adjusting well,” Loquis said as he came up to me.
“Hello, Loquis. Please, call me Cass. And yes, I am. Every-one is very friendly here. I think they are kind of weary of me asking so many questions.”
He chuckled. “You need not worry. They know that you are new to our world.”
I smiled at him and said, “Could I ask you something? It's about the conversation we had before with the elders.” He nodded for me to go on. “Von said that I must wait until all of the magic is absorbed into me before I am safe. Do you know how long it will take?”
“None of us knows this. That memory is lost to us. Something like this has only been done once centuries ago, before my time.”
“Then how do you know that I will be able to absorb this magic at all?”
“When we were trying to find a way to destroy Keya, some of our historians looked through our old books that date back to our beginnings. We found a spell that can transfer a person's magic into an object and then, in time it will slowly be absorbed back into that person again.”
“Why would someone want to do this?”
“It was a form of punishment but only used for someone who has committed a heinous crime. It was forbidden to use unless all possibilities were exhausted. I believe Keya was the second person to have this done to.”
“Why was it forbidden to use?”
“Transferring someones power into an object without their consent is almost the same as stealing someones magic. It is very close to blood magic. The only differences are that there is no blood spilled to perform this spell. And the sacrifice is to the one who administers the punishment.”
“What kind of sacrifice?”
“It is hard to explain. I will use myself as an example. As you know, I was the one who transferred Keya's power into the crystal. Over the years, her power had grown exponentially. Each of us has a different level of power or magic. To begin with, her magic was a level one. When she started to steal magic from other living beings, her level increased.”
“Von had told me about the level of magic, but he said the highest was a five and that was rare to have.”
“Yes, it is. We are all born with different levels of magic, five and one being the rarest. Above level five comes from blood magic. That was why none of us was able to defeat her unless we used this spell. Though it only requires one person to perform it, there were three of us who was given the responsibility. I and two others who, at that time, were the only ones with a level five and young enough to live through the spell. Because Keya’s magic was so powerful, the spell took more than half of my life span. If she was less powerful, I would probably lose only one year of my life span.”
“What do you mean, more than half of your life span?”
“Let us say you will live until you are ninety years old. When you live half of your life span, you will only live until you are forty-five years old.”
I frowned at him. “But, didn't you say you were the one who transferred Keya's power to the crystal?” When he nodded, I went on. “If it took place centuries ago, shouldn’t you be died by now? But you are here living a full life.”
“Do not let my appearance fool you. I am actually thirty-five years old in human years. We Elvainians live a much longer life than humans.”
“Do not look so sad. I have no regrets. I did what had to be done. There is another reason why we do not use this spell. It is because after a while the power will return to the person and only in death will it stay in the object that it was transferred into. The object itself creates a problem also since any life form who acquires it can use it but not control it; only the master can.”
“And you believe I am this magic’s master because it came to me when I called it?”
He nodded and we started to walk again.
“There is one thing I don’t understand. When you said Keya stole other peoples magic. You said that it came from blood magic.”
“Yes, that is true.”
“You also said that taking someone’s magic does not last long and the person will crave for more.”
“Yes.”
“My problem is, if it doesn’t last long, how did she held on to this magic?”
“You are right in regards to its limitations. We are at a loss as to why or how she was able to retain all of her acquired magic for so long. We also have no answer to why, after she has gone, it is still in the crystal.”
We continued to walk, both lost in our own thoughts. A couple of minutes passed before I asked another question. “Is there a way to quickly absorb the magic? Like, breaking the crystal since it is what's holding the magic?”
“There might be a way but I advise against it since we do not know much about the spell. The book does not go into great details. Besides, this crystal is different from others. It will not be easy to break. Do not rush this, Cassiea. Things tend to go wrong when one tries to rush things along.”
“Cass; please call me Cass. If it is true, then until this power is in me I will always be in danger. Whoever is close to me will be in danger.”
“We will protect you. You have my promise.”
“Yes, but I prefer to live my life. All of you can't waste your time following me around and I don't always want to look over my shoulder for constant threats. And I do not want to stay here. As much as I love your world, I have a life of my own that I want to keep and I have my uncle to take care of.”
“Maybe you should learn how to use your magic.”
“What?”
“I wanted to wait until you have accepted your fate, but now I believe you should understand how to use and control your magic. Maybe then you will understand and accept the responsibility.”
I was going to ask him to explain when Von joined us.
“I am glad you are here, Von. Cassiea and I have been talking and it has come to my attention that it would be beneficial for her to learn the use of her magic sooner than what we originally had in mind. I believe you will be the right person to teach her. Please, set aside some time for this. If you need to switch or hold off a few of your responsibilities, then do not hesitate to let Shuron know.” He then turned to me and said, “I must go and let the elders know about your training.”
I was about to go after him when Von put a hand on my shoulder. “The evening meal has started; we better go.”
“I'm sorry to bother you with training me. I was kind of surprised myself. We were just talking and—” I stopped when he smiled and held my hand.
“Cass, there is no need to apologize. I am use to Loquis' ways. He has his reasons for what he does. I will be happy to help. We will start tomorrow morning. I think the sooner the better.”
“But, I have to get back home to my uncle.”
“That is fine. We can train there.”
“Thank you. My uncle, he is all I have. I don't know what I'd do if I lost him.”