The Currents of Magic

Chapter Twenty-Five

When Meyer awoke the following morning, he was ready to leave for the dining hall before any of his friends. Already the evening and upcoming trip to Gray Pond were on his mind, and as he carried his plate of eggs and sausage to his table, he almost trampled a Nahd tempest. By the end of the meal, he was highly considering skipping his only discipline of the day, a morning lesson with Adryn.

"What's the point," said Damian as they left the dining hall. "You'll just be bored and time will go even slower."

And so Meyer continued past the Orchid Gardens following the Main Road to Tempest Circle. But only a few minutes into the lesson, he began doubting Damian's advice. Time could not possibly have moved any slower, and as if to further indicate that attending his lesson was the wrong choice, Adryn decided to have the tempests practice odor charms, which despite the use of odor-absorbing sponges caused the air to become mildly toxic.

Besides Meyer, the tempests had trouble with the unbounded charm, and often failed to target their sponges. Worse, in failing to properly cast their spells, they created ghastly smells that would linger until Adryn cleared away the air with and odor-removing charm. Meyer quickly mastered the three unbounded odor-charms, (one for spice fragrances, one for animal scents, and one for flower smells) and spent the rest of the class attempting to invent an odor-blocking spell using Free Magic.

Finally, Adryn halted the tempests. "You are all doing a fantastic job with these odor charms, but I would like to end our lesson by introducing our next topic of study," she said. "Please return your sponges, and make yourself comfortable near the front of the room."

Meyer stuffed his odor-absorbing sponge back into its leathery pouch and returned it to Adryn. All he needed to do was sit through thirty more minutes of class—and usually he enjoyed Adryn's lectures on magical theory... If only he could ignore the internal clock that was counting down the minutes until Gray Pond...

"Up until now, we have studied only charms," began Adryn, "but next week will learn our first Hex. Given that we will be venturing outside the familiar territory of charms, I believe a proper understanding of the six spell classes will serve us well. You have all heard of charms, enchantments, curses, jinxes, hexes, and blessings, but what is the difference between each of these classes?"

Adryn paused, and Peter's hand shot up into the air. "Enchantments are persistent and charms are transient," he said.

"Very good," said Adryn.

"Blessings fix curses," said Jessica.

"Anyone else?" said Adryn, but no one spoke. She folded her hands, walking to the front of the classroom. "While Jessica and Peter have touched on the breadth and depth of spell classes, they have merely grazed the surface of the complex topic. The distinctions in spell classification are often subtle, and never absolute. There are some spells that border the line between enchantment and curse—others that border between charm and enchantment. Therefore, as we learn about the different types of spells, remember that the spell classes are not laws of magic, but rather a means for better understanding its different forms."

Meyer straighten up, forcing himself not to look over at the glowstone clock on Adryn's shelf—to stay focused on her words.

"First we have the charm, most basic among the spell classes," continued Adryn. "As Peter correctly points out, the most prominent feature of a charm is its transient nature, meaning that the spell only lasts as long as the Currents are being channeled into it. This is often mistakenly understood to mean that charms must occur over a short period of time, like a blast magic. While charms are often cast this way, this need not be the case. The Algarios charm does not create a momentary flame, but rather creates a flame that burns as long as the caster continues to channel the Currents. So remember, a charm is characterized by the the Currents continual flow through a caster, not by its duration.