Song of the Piper

::28:: Lost Relations (Part 2)

Music is The Truth by Audiomachine. Play it!

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That was the piece of the puzzle I still couldn't comprehend, even after seeing Lord Himmel's past. "How is it possible for one sorcerer to have two Affinities? I know he's powerful, but magic must have its limitations."

"In the memory, you saw that Lord Himmel had taken his father's magic away while the latter was trying to spellcast, right?"

I nodded.

"Lord Weilsterhein was actually trying to use his Affinity on Lord Himmel, which was mind control. What he didn't expect was that doing so gave Lord Himmel a chance to steal his power away."

The sorcerers in the memory had flung all sorts of spells at Lord Himmel, only to have him absorb it all. It had only happened after they'd used magic. "So in order for him to effectively steal magic, he'd have to wait for the other sorcerer to use it?"

"That's correct."

She wasn't offering me the explanation to everything outright. She wanted me to slowly work it out myself, it seemed. And so I did. "If Lord Weilsterhein was using his Affinity, then does that mean Lord Himmel would have had a chance to steal it?"

"Correct again."

"But...I still don't get it. How does one steal an Affinity?"

"You have to understand that when the two were facing each other, Lord Himmel had the obvious advantage. He'd just absorbed a whole Fountain, after all. You also have to understand that Affinities, are in a way, part of our beings. They're not just gifts granted to us by the Saints—they make us who we are. As such, an Affinity is a part of your body. And like all parts of bodies, they can be taken away and given to another."

"Didn't you just say that Affinities are part of our beings?"

"No more than arms and legs are part of our beings. Normal magic is simply energy we draw from the earth. When we spellcast, that energy gets directed into a different form. However, when we use out Affinities, it's rather like using your fingers—it just happens. You can use your magic to fuel your power, of course, but it does work all on its own."

A distant song played in my head. The melody I'd used when I'd controlled Elise and Frederick's minds. The only time I'd actually used my Affinity. It was like breathing—it had come so naturally.

"I see," I said.

For some reason, Elise's lips curled into a grin. "Surely I wasn't that bad of a trainer, was I? How could you not know of all these concepts?"

"You didn't bother to explain," I snorted. Then I added, "And I don't think I would have bothered to know. All I'd wanted to know was how to spellcast."

"I could sense your eagerness. You remind me so much of Anton. He'd be proud of you if he were here now."

She missed him dreadfully. That was clear. But we hadn't gotten to that part of the story just yet. "So Lord Himmel had stolen Lord Weilsterhein's Affinity for mind control, and that was how he lured the children away. As for his original Affinity, he used it to drain Fountains."

"Yes. That night, only Anton and I were left to see the true capabilities of the Pied Piper—he'd controlled Helene and Leon's minds to kill each other," she said flatly. Beneath the placidity, I detected a ripple of unease. It wouldn't have been pretty, to watch as two of your closest friends rip each other into pieces.

"You survived," I said.

"I survived," she echoed me, almost sounding amused. "And even then, just barely."