Magi's Path (Aether's Revival Book 3) Daniel Schinhofen (books to read in a lifetime .txt) 📖

but not as much as you think. You had a question about your new friends— yes, I am helping them. I have only helped them with their mind path, though. They have not officially joined you and, as that is still not decided, that is all I am doing for now. Your novice friends, though, are truly learning the three paths. There are very few futures where they do not join you, so I am making sure they are advancing accordingly.”

“What about Farin?”

“I could aid him a little if you wish me to. His future is in flux, so there is no guarantee he will be an ally in the future.”

“Maybe help enough so he can feel a bit more accomplished? He’s been pleasant and is trying his best.”

“Then I will help him as you have asked me to, dear one.”

“Thank you, Darkness. Are Dia and Bishop doing alright?”

“Bishop is still firmly on her dual path, and Dia is now stable on hers,” Darkness replied.

“Can we do anything for Lightshield?”

“Unfortunately, we cannot, dear one. He is almost gone as it is. He is resigned to his fate, and welcomes it.”

Gregory lay there for a long moment before sighing. “No one lives forever...”

“Not even you, dear one,” Darkness said sadly. “You can live for a long time, but even you needed to start again.”

“How did I die?” Gregory asked.

“You forbade me telling you. That is one point I may not discuss until you do as I told you from the beginning.”

“I have to tame you first,” Gregory said.

“Yes. You will, in time, and I wait for that day, dear one.”

“I’ve grown enough to know that today isn’t going to be that day,” Gregory chuckled, thinking back to a year ago when he tried to touch her. “Even knowing that, though, I still won’t quit trying to capture you.”

Darkness’ happy laughter came as Gregory threw his aether-infused body into the corner. The inky blackness wrapped around him, smothering him and sapping the aether from him. “Thank you, dear one. Please, never give up on me. I long for the day you can reach me.”

Darkness’ words echoed around him as his consciousness faded.

~*~*~

Gregory was thinking about the book he’d been reading as they left the archive and said goodbye to the novices. As they proceeded to tactics class, he got his thoughts in order.

Looking around to make sure they weren’t near any others, he said quietly, “I’m certain the scroll Rafiq gave me isn’t for apprentices.”

“Mine, neither,” Yukiko added.

“Make that all of ours,” Jenn said. “The body path teachings say that to keep improving, we need to cycle aether through the channels, refining and improving them with the flame.”

“We’ve already been doing that,” Gregory said. “It’s a little uncomfortable at times, but we’ve been doing it.”

“That cycling is what late apprentices or initiates start doing,” Jenn told him, “but that’s just the starting point of the advancement technique.”

“Oh, okay,” Gregory said.

“The next step, is holding your aether in place for a time, but not using it.”

“That sounds dangerous,” Yukiko said.

“It can hurt if the channels are not as they should be,” Jenn replied. “If the channels have formed correctly, it will be highly uncomfortable, but still doable. The flame will polish the channel as it is held in place, perfecting it to move or hold the aether as required. I want to finish the scroll before I even consider trying it, and I should try it first, since we know my body path is a little more advanced than yours.”

“Maybe we should ask Bishop first?” Gregory suggested.

“That would give away that we’ve read the scroll,” Yukiko said.

“What if… what if Jenn ‘overheard’ an adept talking about it?” Gregory asked.

“That might work,” Jenn nodded. “I can ask about holding aether and polished channels. I’ll say that I heard two adepts talking on the way to class and that I was curious about it.”

Yukiko’s lips pursed. “Bishop isn’t dumb, but it’s plausible... she might suspect something, but I don’t think she’d press. That doesn’t even get into what I was reading.”

“What did yours say?” Gregory asked.

“We’re doing what the mind path is supposed to do to maintain our path. We’ve gone a little ahead now, actually. The scroll says that the five-by-five Magi Squares are good for initiates.”

“That’s good,” Jenn grinned.

“The next part of progressing the mind path is to visualize different scenarios and the various outcomes to them. The scroll suggests combat since it’s the most common thing to be able to start with. For instance, we’ve fought a lot. We have a good idea of how each of us reacts to each other. So, we break down a spar between us by movement and attacks— how do you normally react, how else could you react, and how do each of those choices change the flow? The difficult part is testing to see how many points of change you can hold in your mind at a time.”

“We can try that without needing to ask anyone.”

“Once you understand how it works, you can apply it to an actual fight,” Yukiko said. “At least, that’s what the scroll suggests.”

“Works better if you’ve fought the other person, obviously,” Jenn said, “but it would still work with people you haven’t. That just means that the number of possible differences goes up.”

“Yes,” Yukiko smiled.

“Reminds me of when I looked into the future before we left the academy... all the different futures splintered off each other,” Gregory said. “That drained me pretty badly.”

“This shouldn’t drain us. It isn’t using aether,” Yukiko said, “but that same idea applies, I believe.”

“Greg will have a leg up on us for that, then,” Jenn said.

“Yes, he very well might, but we can match him if we push,” Yukiko said.