Melia stretched as she stepped out of her pod, and looked around. While a strange light flashed over her bare skin leaving it clean and dry of the gel she had been encased in. Nearby she noticed a strange black-furred Neku female she had not met before. There was something about her that struck her as different. She certainly didn’t seem like the others of her kind.

Megumi gave her a smile, and said “Good Morning, Melia.” A drone entered from a small door to the left, carrying a bundle of cloth. “I have some clean clothes for you, and,” she gestured to the Neku beside her, “I would like you to meet Kiru. I recruited her to help with our investigation into the Imperium. I hope the two of you will get along.”

She looked towards Kiru, and said, “Nice to meet you Kiru...”

The next twenty minutes were spent exchanging pleasantries, getting dressed, and generally getting to know each other. Melia learned that Kiru loved running, books, and was previously the captain of a Neku cruiser. Melia shared her own passion for learning, and books. She also shared how much she was looking forward to learning magic. Before they knew it, the three of them were seated around a table, and Megumi was preparing to give her first lesson in magic, while a drone was placing an elaborate wooden box on the table. The box was about eighty centimeters long, perhaps eighty-five. An elaborate emblem was emblazoned in gold and silver on top of the lid, the emblem featured a single planet with a large moon. The silvery moon was placed in the upper left corner of the emblem with a silver ring depicting its orbital path. Inside that orbit, gold wings were wrapped around the planet, and two swords were crossed going through the planet. With a silver shield placed in front of the planet. It was quite stark against the dark red wood of the box.

Melia ran a hand over the emblem, “This is a beautifully worked box. Why did you bring it out?”

Kiru looked at it questionably, “What does that emblem represent? Is that the flag of the Empire?”

Megumi shook her head, “No. It is a flag, but not the Empire’s. Well, not the current flag of the Empire anyway. This was the flag of the Empire when it was founded. Nowadays the Emblem is attached to the Guardians of the Elder Worlds. An ancient order that was founded to guard the homeworlds of the Empire’s eldest members. My last captain was a member of that order, and this, “she opened the box to reveal a pristine blade nestled snugly in the box, “ was his sword.”

Kiru stared at the double-edged blade incredulous, “His Sword!? Why ...”

Megumi cut her off, “I know. It seems a bit dated as a weapon. However, it is still quite useful in the tight corridors of a ship. Not to mention this blade isn’t made of steel like the primitive swords you might be familiar with. This sword was forged from the scales of a Solean Elder, Xeos Alloy, and synthetic dragon bone as the main materials.  The handle and blade have integrated plasma channels, and the pommel is Sytheian crystal. This sword is a magic weapon commonly called a lightning blade, but it is also a focus for magic.”

Kiru frowned, and Melia looked at it curiously. Neither was sure why Megumi had brought this blade. Thankfully she continued, “Lightning Blades are powerful melee weapons in close quarters able to cut through most forms of armor, but their real power comes from their ability to channel high energy plasma discharges. Discharges that resemble lightning, hence the name. It takes skill to use one of these, but those discharges can be quite deadly.”

Melia reached forward and ran a hand over the blade. She had already found references to this weapon in the Solean database. Not that she knew much about it, there were so many other things vying for her attention.

They weren’t given time to ask more about it. As Megumi then closed the box, while forcing Melia to withdraw her hand, and saying, “Anyway, the main reason I wanted to show you this, is because you will be forging your own later. All Solean mages use their magic to forge their own sword when they graduate. It is one of the final tests a prospective mage must pass. Speaking of tests, any prospective mage must be able to answer a few key questions before they are even allowed to cast a spell. The first being, ‘What is magic?’ The second is ‘what is mana’, and the third is by far the most personal. A mage must be able to identify her own affinities. I will get into that in a moment.

“Before that there are other things to discuss. I already told you a bit about what magic is, and what mana is before. So what I will be talking about today is the fundamentals of spell theory. Magic is the art of channeling mana to achieve a desired effect thereby bending reality to your will. How this is done is through spells. What is a spell though? Well, that is what we will be discussing today.”

Megumi raised a palm, and a ball of fire appeared in her hand, “What you see here, is a spell. A very simple spell, in which a small amount of mana is being channeled to produce an effect. In this case that effect is a small flame floating above my palm. The mana alone however is not enough to achieve the effect. Will plays a major role in creating this effect. My will shapes the mana and creates this flame. Will alone however isn’t the only other factor creating the flame. The mana is the fuel, my will is what shapes the mana, but what governs the properties of the flame?”

Melia was silent for a moment until she realized that she was supposed to attempt an answer. She hesitated a moment before venturing, “The uh laws of physics?”

“Close, but not entirely. The flame does indeed obey physical laws. Mana is burning, reacting with the oxygen in the air just like normal combustion. However, it doesn’t have to obey the physical laws. I could have created fire that doesn’t obey the physical laws. That however would have cost more mana to achieve. Care to guess why?”

Before she could really consider an answer Kiru interjected. “That is a neat trick. Anything else you can do with that fancy magic of yours?”

Megumi giggled, “Just about anything you can imagine is possible with magic. For example, if you two started dating, and then decided you wanted a child, there are spells for that.”

Kiru blushed deeply. Melia however found herself thinking about how such a spell would work. Megumi then said, “Although magic does have limits. While there are spells that allow two females to have children with each other, the same can’t be said about a pair of males. That doesn’t however preclude a solution. The problem with males is that they lack a womb, or in the case of egg-laying species, lack the ability to lay eggs..”

Melia, seeing where this was going, interrupted, “I think we get the point.” Then deciding to steer things back towards the lesson, she ventured an answer, “To answer your earlier question, I’m not sure, but I think it costs less because it is obeying physical laws.”

Megumi nodded, “To a degree you are right. This brings me to one of the major precepts of magic theory. The concept of understanding. Mages must be intimately familiar with the effect they are trying to achieve when they cast a spell. Take fire for example, it is a deceptively simple process, but if you understand combustion intimately you can not only cast a fire spell more easily, but the spells you can cast become more potent. Of course your understanding isn’t the only personal factor that affects your spells. That other personal factors would be your affinities and your ability to envision an effect. In other words your imagination, although that part is pretty self-explanatory.

“Now what are affinities? Well to answer that, I need to first go into something called elements. Magic has different flavors or elements if you will. Fire, Ice, Earth, Lightning, Air, and Nature to name a few of the elements. Now some magic systems include water as an element, but the Solean magic system does not. Now people are naturally drawn to certain elements, they more easily understand these elements, and can more easily envision their effects. In other words, they have an affinity for an element. Now, these affinities also often manifest in an individual’s personality as well. For example, it is quite common for someone with a fire affinity to have a short temper, while those with a Lightning affinity are prone to quick judgments. Nature affinity people tend to be highly intune with the natural world, and their ability to draw power from the natural world often leads to them preferring to remain in their natural state.”

Kiru frowned, “Natural state?”

Megumi gave Kiru a look that Melia found odd, but she could not put a finger on why, “They like walking around in the nude. Although they do have good reason for it. Although I’m not going to go into that. Not today anyway.”

Kiru blushed again, and looked away. Melia frowned, “Interesting. So these affinities, are they dynamic or static?”

Megumi blinked, “Good question. They are dynamic actually. They can change over the course of a person’s lifetime. However, they aren’t going to change suddenly. Any shift in someone’s affinities requires a bit of a catalyst. Again content for a future lesson.”

“Is there anything that isn’t content for a future lesson?” quipped Melia, while rolling her eyes. 

Megumi pulled out a pad, and replied, “Not really. I do have some reading for you though. Along with a couple of worksheets. The next few lessons will be on the elements. Today’s reading is on fire.”

Before Melia could do more than glance at the pad, Megumi was standing up. She gestured to Kiru, and started for the door. It seemed the lesson was over, and Megumi wanted Kiru to follow her. Kiru hesitated to leave her chair, but a moment later, she hurried after the computer’s avatar. Melia was curious, but she instead picked up the pad. Tapped the screen, and opened the content. In bold letters it was titled, ‘Chapter One: Fire, the Embodiment of Heat’

Melia flipped the page and began to read. She didn’t think this would be all that interesting. Especially since she had already learned a lot about fire back in her chemistry classes. She quickly found herself proved wrong. As there was more than just the chemistry side of things here. It seemed fire had a mystic side as well, one not quite covered in her chemistry class. The title having been a hint on that. The chapter was quite engrossing.

Meanwhile, Megumi showed Kiru to a viewport. Kiru looked out the viewport to a see a lovely world, its surface a mix of brown, green, and red. She didn’t see much blue, but there were a few regions of blue. The planet clearly had surface water, but not enough for any large oceans. At most it had a couple of enclosed seas, and a few scattered lakes. She did also note the vast reddish deserts that covered much of the northern hemisphere, while the southern regions seemed to be lush with plant life. “I have some drones setting up a gate on the surface as we speak, and other drones are preparing a planetary shield. How would you and your classmates like to explore an alien world?”

Kiru excitedly replied, “I’d love to explore this world! I’m sure my classmates would love to as well. We could all really use a chance to stretch our legs. No offense, but your training room isn’t really big enough for that.”

“I know. It’s why I came here, and didn’t head straight for Nekuri. Anyway, go gather your classmates, and meet me in the training room. We will be gating to the surface, in an hour.”

She rushed out of the room. Eager to gather her classmates. The magic lesson had been okay, but she knew it wasn’t for her. What she really wanted was to feel the rush of a good run. Something she knew she might get down on the surface of this alien world.