The Lords of New Avalon

Part V. The Heir.

"Lance?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Blaze," the boy shook his head, trying to concentrate. "I got distracted. I'm sorry."

"Never mind, Lance," the gray-haired teacher put his hand sympathetically on the young Lord's shoulder. "I understand, it's hard for you to concentrate on the lesson now because of that what happened. Maybe we'll postpone the lesson?"

"No, Mr. Blaze," please continue. "I'm listening to. Forgive me for digressing."

The boy's room was large and light, but very ascetically furnished. At the white wall opposite the table, behind which Lance sat, there was a narrow bed. On the side wall, to the right of the two tall windows, were two large paintings: one depicting Camelot and King Arthurus, surrounded by his knights, the second one – a magical battle at a monastery in the mountains.

A bookcase stood at the other wall, it was big – from floor to ceiling, filled mostly with grimoires, textbooks, and adventure books. They were placed without any system: The Lesser Key of Solomon was adjacent to The Mysterious Island, the writings of Papus and Leland were supported on both sides by A Study in Scarlet and The War of the Worlds, while the Necronomicon and Arbatel wedged between the seven volumes of The Saga of Glenard.

"Well, Your Knowledge," Mr. Blaze nodded, "let's continue. The traditional structure of the transformation spell, exponentia transformatio, consists of four stages or steps, scaenas. Scaena primum is invocation, invocatio, during which the sorcerer invokes forces, to rely on their support in the creation of the spell. Usually, such forces are the basic elements, elementa basica, but there were wizards, for example, Vulpez Corvum, who preferred to operate by the power of otherworldly beings, daemonium. Here, the sorcerer must decide for himself, what basic forces he is more comfortable and, um, it is more pleasant to work with. Secundus is a description of the present form, forma autem generis, during which the mage describes the object of transformation in its actual state. Ad tertium is a description of the goal of the transformation, transformatio finis, which, in fact, begins with the call for a transformation, transfigurentur or rursus. And the last, fourth scaena of such spell is a fixation, which can be both an appeal with gratitude to the forces summoned, and simply a desire to fix the result forever, "et ita erit in aeternum". Alternatively, you can set a certain duration of the spell at this stage, for example, three days: "et ita erit tres dies".

"Excuse me, Mr. Blaze," the boy interrupted the teacher.

"Yes, Lance?"

"Tell me, why should we study these old spell structures that were used three hundred or four hundred years ago, when in the modern magic spells are almost never used, and the sorcerer works directly with forces and elements without using verbal forms?"

"That's a good question," Mr. Blaze smiled. "Of course, these days, no one draws magic circles and heptograms, no one screams spells from the mountain on a full moon and no one calls on demons to fulfill his desires. Modern magic is much quicker and more elegant. However, if you dig deeper, then at the heart of all modern ways of working with forces there are the same structures that your distant ancestors used, Lance. When you use your abilities to, say, light a candle, you don't just click your fingers, your brain subconsciously turns to ignibus fundamentalem, makes a request, and fixates the result. Until recently, you didn't even have to think about how it's done. Household magic is simple, intuitive, and doesn't require any complicated preparation from you. You didn't have to understand the depths and the basics. But now, after... This tragic incident with your brother... Forgive me, Your Knowledge."

"It's okay, Mr. Blaze, please go on."

"Now, Lance, you have become the heir of Lord Brandon, and this means you must learn all aspects of magic and its application. And here the knowledge of the basic structure of spells and understanding of the way your brain and your body work with nature, forces, and elements – all this becomes important. Important, because this knowledge will help you create new spells and new ways of applying magic, and then, having moved from the foundations and structures to modern tools and techniques, use such spells literally with the flick of your hand."