Eldritch Guidance

“Sasha Mez grew up in a town that bordered the swampland of Agado. She was a genius mage. During her time growing up, her town was going through a terrible famine. Caused by excessive rain that led to blight within the crops. Resulting in people starving.

“To try and solve this, she worked with a local mage, known as Creen, to try and develop a solution to this problem. Her solution was a special type of mushroom that could survive and thrive under the condition her village was going through. Thus mushroom magic was created, also known as Mycomancy.

“For a time, Sasha\'s home thrived and people were no longer starving thanks to the shrooms she could grow with her magic. But, as for all hero tales goes, misfortune befell Sasha. Creen, the man Shasha developed mycomancy with, had weaponized mycomancy and destroyed Sasha\'s village with it. All as an attempt to try and monopolize mushroom magic for himself.

“Sasha barely managed to survive herself when her village was infected with Creen’s weaponized mycomancy. Since she had helped develop this magic, Sasha was able to create a method to counteract its deadly application and survive. Unfortunately, she was unable to save anyone else. Everyone she knew died.

“From this point of the Epic, Sasha goes on a multi year journey chasing down Creen, who had fled after destroying Sasha\'s home. For more detail on her journey, please refer to the “Epic of Sasha.”

“At the end of the epic, Sasha becomes a bit of a pacifist when Cain Mired meets her. She did agree to help build the university, under the condition that she would exclusively focus on teaching non-combative magic inline with her pacifism. Also, the university had to promise to never weaponize mycomancy. To which, Cain Mired and the other founders agreed.

“Thus, the Shroom Pact college was formed. A college with the largest admissions and most famous for its agriculture offerings in its curriculum, where no combat courses are offered. Keeping in line with the promise made to its founder, a pact of both mushrooms and pacifism if you will.”

—Writing of Archmage Setta on “The Founding of Graheel and it’s University”

Within one of the countless lecture halls were rows of chairs and tables with students seated at them. In the front were a giant projector and a desk for the professor to sit at. The students here were currently waiting for the lecturer to arrive.

Sitting beside each other in the lecture halls was Alan and Sere. They were in the middle of a general magic class. The hall had students who were both from the Lionheart college and Silverwing college today. Except, Alan was the one student that stood out.

He was no longer technically a Lionheart student, and now sported purple robes from the Arcane Eye collage. However, despite changing colleges, it didn’t allow him to change the timetable for his classes this semester. Alan still needed to attend all the classes he would have taken as a Lionheart student. So this was why he was in this class today for the Lionheart and Silverwing students.

The Siverwing students who saw Alan in their class today were surprised, and he could hear them whispering something about him behind his back. They didn’t expect to see someone from the famous Arcane Eye college in their class today.

The Lionheart students, however, did not seem to care. Alan knew many of the first-year Lionheart students and had a positive relationship with them. Although Alan had changed colleges, they still considered him to be one of them and did not mind his presence. Though he had the support of his fellow Lionheart students, he was bothered by the stares of the Silverwing.

Alan: “Maybe accepting admission into the Arcane Eye college was a mistake.”

Sere: “What? People staring at you is what makes you think accepting Lazarus’s offer was a mistake, and not that insane training Mitra has you doing?”

Alan: “Well, I can kinda handle what Mitra is throwing at me. But, people staring at me and whispering things about me is stressful. It’s like I’m some sort of mythical creature to them.”

Sere: “You might as well be. People from the Arcane Eye almost never interact with anybody from the other colleges.”

As famous as the Arcane Eye college was, the student body of this college is quite reclusive. They don’t have curriculums like normal students and are not required to take any classes. Instead, they are expected to self-study and are provided resources to do their own research on any subject they desire. Therefore, Arcane Eye students do not have a lot of opportunities to interact with other people.

Students from other colleges can go through their entire education at the university and never see another Arcane Eye student. Some have even wondered at times if the Arcane Eye has students attending their college at all.

Alan was a sort of unicorn in the wild to a lot of people.

He was forced to attend these classes, due to how and when he was admitted into the Arcane Eye. It wouldn’t be until next semester that he could see the full benefits of being part of this college.

Alan: “I was part of the Lionheart just a few weeks ago.”

Sere: “No one knows that except me and a bunch of first-year Lionheart students.”

Alan: “I guess…”

Alan glanced behind him at a few Silverwing students, but as he did so, they all looked away, acting like they weren\'t staring at him.

He then turned back to Sere, still feeling annoyed about the constant attention he was getting.

Sere: “Speaking of that offer. Why did you accept it? I never bothered to ask you about that.”

Alan: “Isn\'t it kinda obvious?”

Sere: “I mean…sure. Just saying you attended the Arcane Eye college on your resume is enough to land you almost any job you want. But, I know you. It is something deeper than that.”

Alan: “Why does it have to be deeper than that?”

Sere: “C’mon. You’re dodging me.”

Alan sighed.

Alan: “it’s kinda embarrassing.”

Sere quickly looked around. Where they were sitting, there was no one close enough to hear what they were saying.

Sere: “Just tell me. We are friends. I won’t tell anyone.”

Alan paused to think for a few seconds before he finally relented.

Alan: “I was thinking that I wanted to try and become an archmage. And, having the reputation of the Arcane Eye might help with that.

Sere: “Oh, OK.”

Alan: “Nothing to add?”

Sere: “No, I\'ll support you as a friend in whatever you choose to pursue. Did you think I was going to mock you or try to talk you out of this?”

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Alan: “I kinda did. I know being an archmage has more to do with academic pursuits than anything else. And, I know I\'m not the most book-smart person there is, making this more difficult for me. But even so, I want to try to become one. In memory of Cris.”

Sere: “Alan…” she said in a soft tone while resting a hand on his shoulder.

Suddenly, walking inside the lecture hall, was a female green-robed teacher. Her brown hair was tied up into a bun, and she wore large glasses. Seeing her walk in, the chatter in the room started to die down.

Hele: “Hello everyone. I\'m Hele Meti. A professor at Shroom Pact college and the lecturer for today\'s class. Now then, let\'s get right to it.”

The professor clapped her hands, and all the students felt a fluctuation of aether ripple out from her. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bowl full of sand, a book, and a small wooden stick with runes on it appeared in front of each student in the room.

Hele: “As you all know, this is a general magic class. In this class, we will be going over all the forms of magic one can learn. Giving you a general sense of what the various types of magic there are and what school of magic you may want to pursue specialization in your future semesters. Today we will cover divination magic. Are there any questions?”

One of the male Silverwing students near the front of the class raised their hand.

Hele: “What is your question?” she said while pointing at the person raising their hand.

Silverwing Student: “Um, I thought divination was all just pseudo-magic? So why are we learning this?”

Hele: “Hmm, yes. A lot of fortunetellers you might run across might claim they can perform divination, but it’s really smoke and mirrors. Most of them use some archaic method, like pulling cards from a deck and reading them. However, don’t mistake that for divination magic. It is a real school of magic and has a very established science behind it.

Hele made a gesture at the screen in front of the lecture hall, and a picture of what looked like the world appeared. There was a diagram overlapping the world that seemed to represent aether.

Hele: “Divination magic is a part of aether theory. And, aether theory says that aether exists everywhere, at every moment, at all times, and beyond. It reacts to everything that happens. Even me speaking right now is causing aether to fluctuate ever so slightly. Divination magic theorizes that aether even reacts to events that have yet to happen. Because of the reactive nature of aether, it can cause a sort of rippling effect that can spread through the ambient aether all around us.“

Hele made another gesture, and the screen now displayed what looked like waves of aether going over the world.

Hele: “Part of traditional divination magic is reading those ripples through a medium and trying to make predictions with it. And, that\'s what we\'re going to do today. In front of you, I have supplied all the materials you will need to perform sand-water divination.”

A female Lionheart student suddenly raised her hand and started asking a question.

Lionheart Student: “Um, excuse me. Don’t you need water for that type of divination? You’ve only supplied us with the sand.”

The professor looked down at one of the desks a student was sitting at and saw a bowl of sand, but no water.

Hele: “Ah, sorry. Let me fix that.”

She clapped her hands again, and everyone felt another fluctuation of aether and suddenly the bowls of sand started to fill up with crystal-clear water.

Hele: “Now then, please follow the instructions in the book I\'ve supplied. If anyone is having difficulty, I will come to assist you. Everyone, get started now. You have an hour to perform a successful sand divination.”

Hele took a seat at the large desk at the front of the room while more chatter started to fill the room. Students were discussing among themselves while others got right into reading.

Alan and Sere just got right to it and started reading the book that was given to them for ten minutes.

The spell was straightforward: draw in the surrounding aether and channel it into the bowl while mixing the sand. The stirring will kick up the sand in the water, and then aether will then cause the sand to settle in a certain pattern. From that pattern, you can get a general vibe about what\'s going on around you.

From what Alan and Sere were reading, the difficulty of this spell is trying not to mix your own aether into the spell when performing it.

Sere: “Hmm, I think I understand, she said as she put the book down.”

Sere then picked up the stirring stick she was provided and started stirring the sand. Alan watched in fascination. On the surface, it didn’t look that impressive. There was no dramatic visual pneumonia, like many other spells, but Alan could feel the aether fluctuate and become a little thinner around his friend.

The runes on the stirring stick started to glow very faintly. Sere pulled the ambient aether into her and then pushed it through the stick she was holding and then into the bowl. She then stopped stirring and held the stick in place while continuing to put aether into it, just like the book had told her to do.

The sand eventually settled into the water. The symbol of a circle with a line through it formed in the sand.

Sere: “OH! I got it.”

Alan: “How’d you do that on your first try?”

Sere: “It\'s mostly just aether control. And, I’m really good at that.”

Alan: “Any tips you wanna give for those of us not born with perfect aether control?”

Sere: “Hmm. Don’t draw the aether into the core of your body like you do with most spells. Otherwise, you are very likely to mix your own aether into it. Try to just draw it onto only your skin and then push it through the stirring stick and into the bowl.”

Alan let out a long sigh.

Alan: “Easier said than done. But, first. What does that symbol you got mean?” he said, pointing to the symbol that formed in Sere’s bowl.

Sere: “Let me check.”

Sere picked back up the divination book they were given and quickly flipped through it until she found what she was looking for.

Sere: “It says here that circle can mean approval, something positive relative to your demeanor, completion, objectives, or possibly an opportunity.”

Alan: “That sounds pretty vague.”

Sere: “The book says this type of divination is not known to be that accurate, so it has to be vague. And let\'s see here,” she said while flipping the page in the book. “A line that cuts through another symbol means a denial of that thing. And, this form of divination would be only relevant to the person performing the divination. So, this is basically saying I was denied something positive? I think that\'s what it means."

Alan: “Denied something positive...Oh, wait. What about that opportunity to get into the Arcane Eye?”

Sere: “Hmm, yeah. It said Sand-water divination is more likely to tell you something about the recent past or present than the future. So, that sounds right. A missed opportunity to join the Arcane Eye is probably what this reading is about.”

Alan: “I can’t believe this magic actually works.”

Sere: “Yeah. Now you try,” she said while gesturing to her friend to perform the sand-water divination.

Alan picked up the stirring stick and went through the exact same motion as Sere while closing his eyes. The process took much longer for Alan because he did not have the same level of aether control that Sere did. Alan needed a lot of concentration. He drew the ambient aether into himself, halfway into the core of his body. He didn’t have enough fine control over it to only draw the aether onto his skin.

It wasn\'t nearly as good as Sere\'s, but it was all Alan could manage at the moment. He forced the aether he\'d collected through his arm into the bowl while he stirred the sand. He kept at it until he felt he\'d pushed all the aether gathered into the bowl. Then he stopped stirring and let the sand settle.

Alan opened his eyes, and he became confused at what he saw.

No symbol formed at all. However, the sand changed color. It was a brownish yellow when he started stirring; now it was porcelain white.

Alan: “Um, I don’t remember the book saying anything about changing color.”

Sere quickly flipped through the book to try and figure out what sand turning white meant, but couldn’t find anything. She waved to Professor Meti and called out to her.

Sere: “Um Professor Meti, we have a bit of an issue. “

The teacher heard Sere\'s voice and turned towards her, calling out her name. With a neutral expression, she made her way over to where Sere and Alan were sitting.

Hele: “What seems to be the problem?”

Sere: “My friend, Alan, performed the sand-water divination—but it didn’t form any symbol. Instead, it became white and we were not sure what it means. The book doesn\'t mention anything about it changing color.”

Hele: “It what?” she said, sounding surprised.

The professor looked over at Alan’s bowl. Her gaze became focused and curious at what was going on.

Hele: “What in the world did you do?”

Alan: “I-I don’t know. Is this bad?”

Hele: “I’m not sure. This is the first time I\'ve ever seen this happen.”

Hele took the stirring stick from Alan’s bowl and started kicking up the sand with it. As did so, the sand suddenly turned back to a yellowish-brown color.

Hele: “Hmm, the aether clung to the sand and changed its color. But once disturbed, it falls away and its original color returns. But, what causes the color?” she said to herself.

She looked at the sand intensely, then she shifted to the stirring stick she was holding. Hele reached into the air, pulled another stirring stick out of nowhere, and handed it to Alan.

Hele: “Here. Try doing it again, but with this stick.”

Alan nodded and did as he was told, carefully repeating the same motions as before while Hele watched intently. This time, however, the sand didn\'t change color. Instead, it settled into a squiggly line. Hele’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully as she studied the line, a hint of curiosity flickering across her face

Hele: “Hmm, a line like this means too much of your own aether got mixed in. And, it seems it ruined the reading.”

Alan: “But, what about the sand changing color?”

Hele: “I think the stirring stick I gave you must be defective. They are enchanted in a way to help make performing sand-water divination easier. I think the enchantment must be breaking down, and the excess aether must have leaked into your bowl, causing it to change color. "

Alan: “Oh, OK.”

Hele: “Give it a few more tries to try and get a clear symbol to form in your sand. If you’re still having trouble, call me over and I can try to help you,” she said before walking over to another student who was calling for help.

Alan went about attempting sand-water divination for the rest of the class until, on his tenth try, he succeeded. He got a circle. Alan and Sere assumed the circle was in reference to him getting into the Arcane Eye. However, during the entire lesson, after the sand turned white, he felt like he was being watched. It didn’t feel like the normal stares he was getting from the Silverwing students; it felt like something more. He couldn\'t shake this feeling until class was over, and he went to meet up with Jafar.