Eight Intertwined

8 - Atlasdam

The tunnels beneath Atlasdam were mostly dark brown in color, and the rocks crunched beneath Cyrus and Ophilia's feet. Ophilia had pulled the Lanthorn free of its hiding place under her cape to allow it to illuminate their path, and the Ember shone brightly among the shadows. Cyrus continued to watch the Ember with curiosity, and Ophilia was left to wonder if he knew anything. Cyrus refused to yield even an inch of ground, giving her no way to say for sure if he was aware of her true identity as the Flamebearer. 

Cyrus cleared his throat to show that he was about to start discussing something solemn, and Ophilia perked up at the sound. "I can show you how to cast ice magic if you would like," he explained. Ophilia smiled and nodded in response. A rustling sound brought them to a stop, and Cyrus' expression hardened. "It seems that this would be the perfect time to practice."

A few moments, a small creature that looked like lantern appeared from around a pair of rocks, and it began to dive towards Cyrus and Ophilia. Cyrus raised his staff and slammed it into the stop of the creature to keep it at bay, and the lantern was sent flying backwards. Ophilia watched in surprise, seeing red magic flicker beneath the shaded hood of the lantern. 

"The red magic indicates that it's made of fire magic," Cyrus explained. "That means that it will likely be weak to ice magic. Allow me to demonstrate how to cast it. Focus on something as cold as possible, and expel that energy out through your hands. It's similar to other types of magic, but you must concentrate on your knowledge of cold climates in order to perfect it rather than the sun, for example, as you would with light magic."

Cyrus raised his other hand, and white energy began to mount across his fingers before flying forward in the direction of the lantern. Speckles of blue could be seen as icicles spread outwards, slamming into the lantern. The creature let out a hissing sound before completely falling dormant, clearly trapped in place by the attack. When the ice splintered and shattered, the beast was gone save for a few twisted pieces of scrap metal. 

"Wow," was all Ophilia could say in response to that. She looked up at Cyrus in surprise, unsure as to how he was able to do it so effortlessly. He seemed to have had more than enough practice with his magic, and it was so easy for him that it looked as if he didn't have to try. Ophilia still had to summon a significant amount of energy in order to truly cast a light spell, and that was what she was familiar with. She couldn't even imagine how difficult it would have been to break out of her comfort zone to focus on other types of magic. 

"It simply takes practice," Cyrus explained when he saw how surprised Ophilia was at the sight of his magic. "If you concentrate enough, you should be able to execute proper attacks with it. Magic requires concentration, but at its heart, each type of magic functions the same way as all others do. If you place your energy in it, then you can summon anything you so please."

"How do you cast other types of magic?" Ophilia questioned, careful to keep her voice down to ensure that no monsters heard them as they continued their journey through the cave towards Russell. 

"For me, I imagine a fireplace for fire magic. I allow it to consume me before bursting outwards. I think of blizzards for ice magic, and storms correspond with thunder magic. I'm admittedly less proficient with wind, light, and dark magic, but you seem to know how to handle light as it is anyways," Cyrus began. "I have theories that there are other types of magic out there as well that simply haven't been discovered. After all, some types of magic have been associated with members of the circle of twelve gods that founded Orsterra. However, the other six members of the group lack a corresponding element, which leads me to believe that perhaps there is more than we can see now."

Ophilia nodded her understanding. She had to admit that she found Cyrus' explanations fascinating. She hadn't ever been given the chance to investigate into magic as much as she would have liked because of her duties to the church, but Ophilia was confident that she would have more than a chance to branch out as long as she was with Cyrus. He was already inspiring new hope inside of her to find out more about other types of magic.