Calytrix's Journey

Part II: Fiancé II

I went back to the place where I discovered the barrier.

"Explico magicis obice." I tried to look more carefully and closely at the barrier again, but I didn't find out anything new.

"Vi aer ignis aqua spiritu quaseo obice laxo." I tried to break the barrier again but nothing happened.

Once again I noticed the weak part but my magic wasn't powerful enough to break it. I let out a big disappointing sigh and remembered what Akois said. This was a test and I had to dispel the ice magic. He knew that I couldn't dispel the barrier, but if I dispel the ice magic it could serve as a condition to break the magic barrier naturally, by itself. I was approaching the problem in the opposite way. I wanted to unfreeze everyone after I found a doctor because I thought it would be best to show them how I found them. I worried that a longer period of unfreezing could have a bad impact on the reanimation, but I guess I'll just have to act quickly after I unfreeze everything and everyone.

"Dona mihi ignis."

Nothing happened.

"Dona mihi ignis!"

Again nothing happened.

Strange. Something was terribly wrong. I never failed in casting magic, especially fire magic. Flames would come out naturally whenever I wanted. Maybe I didn't have enough focus.

"Dona mihi flamma ignis spiritus!!!"

I started sweating and felt like I was on fire but I couldn't materialize any flame.

I didn't lack focus and my incantations were right on spot but for some reason, my magic was completely blocked. The option that I lost my magic was impossible. For starters, I don't know if one could actually lose magic. I read about it in a myth about an old, evil witch but there were special, extraordinary conditions required and none of them applied to me. The other option was that something blocked my magic but I didn't have the slightest idea what could that be. Blocking magic with a spell didn't seem likely to me. I didn't encounter any strange objects that could absorb magic. In the mansion, during my battle with Akios I used magic without a problem. Maybe if I go back inside I could cast magic again.

I went back to the mansion. Only me and the frozen sculptures were present.

"Dona mihi ignis!"

A weak flame appeared.

I managed to cast magic, but it was weaker than I wanted. I walked around as I tried to clear my head of all thoughts and I focused on the essence of flames.

"Dona mihi ignis."

A flame of the desired size showed up. It extinguished quickly because I called it forth as a test.

"Dona mihi ignis."

Again a weak flame appeared.

Since I walked around I found myself at the position where I called forth my first weak fire. Maybe the location mattered. I didn't know the reason for it, but when I tested my theory it turned out to be completely true. I walked around the mansion calling forth my flames to see where they could be the strongest. The strength of flames led me upstairs back to the master study where Leo was frozen. Maybe he was closely connected to the fire spirit and that's why my magic was at its strongest near Leo. Either way, I was left with no other choice and I started my fire incantation in the mansion. I focused really hard to slowly unfreeze everything around, starting from the master study. I never called such strong flames but at the same time, they were gentle and worked slowly. After they unfroze one part they went to the other part of the mansion without destroying anything or leaving burn marks. My flames did everything I wanted at the mansion and I started to focus them on the outside. As I focused on the flames leaving the mansion I heard a large thud behind me which made me instantly lose all of my focus. All of my flames disappeared at that moment.