Magic! Let me repeat that: M-A-G-I-C! And not the smoke-and-mirrors kind that stage magicians used in my old world. No, no, no, we’re talking the shooting-fireballs-and-lightning kind of magic. There probably wasn’t one person in my old world, that hadn’t thought about what it would be like to use actual magic at least once, and now I would be trained to do just that.

Now, I had obviously just talked about how my training would start this year, but I had expected it in late spring at the earliest, but my mother had apparently decided, that as the son of the chieftain and the sole boy coming of age this year, that my training begin as soon as possible. And that meant right now!

Tasos and I were currently walking to a small stream quite a bit away from the camp, although it was more like I was hopping from one side to the other while I urged the old man to hurry up. He had said that his magic was too volatile to demonstrate near the camp and with my own affinity still being unknown it was best to put a bit of distance between us and the tents. In theory, I understood where he was coming from, but that didn't mean he had to go so slow. Over his shoulder, he also carried a big bag with him and was extra careful not to throw it around too much. He wouldn’t say what was inside, although I had my suspicions.

Eventually, we reached what should have been a small creek coming from the mountain range in the south, but thanks to the recent snowfall, it had turned into quite an impressive stream. The old man gently put his pack down and pulled a thick rug out of it, before rolling it out on a flat piece of ground. After sitting down on it, he motioned for me to do the same.

Once I made my way over, he let his gaze wander over the admittedly beautiful landscape, took a deep breath in, and exhaled slowly, forming a small cloud in the cold air.

“So, young Charas, I heard, you want to learn about magic, is that right?” He turned towards me and I saw the grin on his face. I nodded so fast my head was spinning for a few moments afterward.

“Yes, please!” Even though I just sat down, I was already bouncing with excitement again.

Tasos gave a slow nod in reply and pulled out another item from his bag. It was wrapped in expensive-looking cloth, but I instantly recognized what it was and soon enough he unfolded it. While I had seen the wooden box a few times before, I was still awestruck by the craftsmanship on display. The instrument in Tasos’ hands was a big bow-stringed fiddle that had a lot of pictures engraved on its body. The bow that accompanied it, on the other hand, had a truly absurd amount of small tags hanging off the very top. The carvings were meant to represent the battles he had fought in, while the tags were a special badge of honor. Each of the plates symbolized a won duel; wooden tags meant both combatants survived, while the usually rarer metal ones signified a fight to the death; most of Tasos' tags, however, were metal.

He didn’t stop there, however, as he carefully laid his instrument on the ground and pulled out a rather chunky-looking flute-thing and finally an instrument that reminded me of a mix between a harp and a hunter's bow next. The last thing in the bag was a cloth-wrapped package, similar to the first.

As one might have guessed from this display, music played a big role in Eurota culture. It was used at festivals to lift the spirit of any listener, or to express one’s grief and sorrow during the funeral marches - and the main reason for my excitement right now - music was also a potent weapon of war. It might sound a bit unorthodox at first but instead of the wands and yelling of spell names I had first expected when hearing the word magic, the Eurota used music and melodies to throw spells at each other. I had never actually seen large-scale magic being used, but according to my mother, it could be far deadlier than any arrow she had ever loosened at an enemy.

"The first lesson is, probably, to temper your expectations a bit." He said with a small chuckle. "I know you are excited to use magic, but it might take many seasons to truly understand your affinity and even more time to cast any actually useful spells." I think he saw the disappointment on my face as he quickly moved on.

"That isn't why we are out here, anyway. You will first have to learn the basics of how to play these instruments." He picked up his own fiddle and removed the absurd amount of tags hanging off the bow. "Both as instruments of peace... and as instruments of war." With that he played a few notes in quick succession, he was suddenly interrupted by a loud bang though, and a streak of light momentarily blinded me.

Once I finally rubbed the white spots from my vision, I saw what had happened. A dead bush a few steps away from us had caught on fire and I could smell a weird pungent odor in the air. Was that an actual lightning bolt, just now? From just these few notes? Suddenly my previous disappointment was gone again, but the old man ignored my excitement as he started up a different melody.

At first, I didn’t understand why he played it though. No sudden lightning strikes or fireballs flying around. The first indication that something was happening came soon, however. The branches that had previously been burning with only a small flame, which was losing against the early spring weather, were getting enveloped in a raging inferno. I could even feel a bit of heat coming off the fire, despite being quite a distance away.

Once the whole bush was burning, Tasos changed tune again and a few moments later, I saw the rising smoke seemingly stop in mid-air before a transparent bubble lowered itself over the bush as a whole. Soon after, I couldn't even see the fire anymore as a ball of swirling black air hung above the ground. When the music stopped I saw it rise up as one before it dissipated and soon the smoke dispersed entirely. Of the bush, only a charred stem and a few glowing embers remained.

Tasos laid down his decorated instrument again and looked up into the sky himself with a small huff of air before he arranged the flute and harp-like tools next to the fiddle and made sure I was paying attention.

"The second lesson, you should ingrain today is that choosing the right tool for a task is often the most important decision. It can be the matter between life and death." He picked up the wooden blocky flute and played a tune similar to the one that had caused the lightning bolt, though seemingly nothing happened. As I was looking around in bewilderment, however, Tasos tapped me from the side and a jolt of electricity shocked me. I jumped up with a small squeal, mostly from the surprise, and once I realized what happened gave the old man an annoyed look. He pretended to not notice my pouting, although, I saw his suppressed grin.

"Wind instruments like these are often underestimated, and while it is true that they lack range, especially in prolonged battles, they are unmatched in their speed and deadly in skilled hands. I, myself, have won quite a few duels with them. Plus they are sturdier than other instruments."

Next up he picked the weird harp. At first, it looked like a hunter's bow just with thicker limbs and an array of thin bow strings between them.

"Stringed instruments, on the other hand, are a common sight on most battlefields. They come in all different shapes and sizes, although ones purpose-built for battle are often on the smaller side. They allow one to use magic even on the move and they have decent enough power."

Finally, he took up his own fiddle and started playing a more drawn-out song than before. "And last but certainly not least, bow-stringed instruments are what most people imagine, when they hear of magic instruments. Their power and range are unmatched by any of the other types." As if to emphasize his point the air itself seemed to start humming along to his tune and all around our little rug, I saw the grass, bushes, and sticks get pulled by an invisible force.

"If a skilled mage is allowed to perform his magic undisturbed, it often spells defeat for anyone in their path, but that is also why they are more often than not the focus of either the other mages or the hunters. Casting large-scale magic takes a lot of time and, for younger folk especially, a great deal of concentration. As such, bow-stringed are usually played stationary and by the side that holds the advantage in an engagement, although if the circumstances are dire enough, they have also been known to turn the tide of battle in one's favor."

Tasos' song finally reached its crescendo as sticks, stones and even some of the smaller bushes had already been picked up by the whirlwind around us. With one last drawn-out note, he directed the force along the river and I saw the water itself getting pushed back against its current before the river swelled up taller than I would be standing up. The stationary wave only existed for a moment, though, and soon after the water washed over the surrounding area. Thankfully, we were too far for it to reach us.

I was left speechless by the display. The most powerful spell I had seen before today, was just some tiny flame used to kindle the ovens, and a part of me had been disappointed, that I only ever heard of its might in stories told by my mother or the other elders. If Tasos' display was anything to go by, I understood why they didn't want any spells cast near the tents, though.

What finally broke me out of my stupor, was the old man chuckling beside me. "Now, as I said, it will take time before you are able to cast spells like that, and even more before you can fully control it, but I have confidence you will become an even more impressive mage than I am." He apparently noticed my questioning look at that last comment, as he continued, "Let's just call it intuition. For now, though we should start with learning music itself."

That got my excitement up again, as I practically jumped up. “Which one will you teach me!?" I obviously hoped for the impressive bow-stringed one, but the old man just gave me a confused look and answered: “All of them, of course."

Learning how to handle the different instruments had been the most exciting and frustrating thing I had done in my new life yet. Even though I didn't have a lot of talent when it came to producing music that actually sounded nice. More often than not I created tunes that sounded worse than scraping a chalkboard to my ears. At least, Tasos said that it should come easier, once I found my affinity and that shouldn't be too hard in principle. The right tune would apparently resonate with something in my core, but according to the old man, it might take a while to find the right notes.

Also, it was practically impossible to figure out an affinity without actually being the one who played, so I couldn't just listen to someone else play it for me and learn that way. When I tried to recreate the few melodies Tasos knew, however, none of them did anything for me. My teacher was confident, though, that I should have pretty strong magic, even if he wouldn't tell me why.

There were quite a few types of magic, actually. Tasos was most skilled in what was called elemental magic, with fire and air being his strongest, but he could also manipulate water and earth, though the latter two required more concentration from him. Besides that, there was also healing magic, and some rare mages could also control plants and sometimes even animals, although Tasos emphasized he didn't know all types of magic. However, none of the songs I learned did anything for me.

Ultimately, the most I got from our first lesson was how to hold the instruments and a few basic notes. It had been fun, sure, but after seeing what it could do, I was left a bit disappointed. The last thing we did before going back, was Tasos giving me my own set of instruments. It was both a way for me to continue learning on my own and a rite of passage. It meant I had officially been accepted as his student and solidified my position as a full-fledged adult. The equivalent for the hunters was their first summer hunt.

By the time we reached the circle of tents that was our home, the sun was already touching the horizon in the west. Although I was getting a bit tired by then, Tasos insisted that the day wasn't over yet and I would still have to learn more before I was allowed to enjoy the comfort of sleep. At my protests Tasos had joked that I would spend the next few winters studying from dusk until I could no longer keep my eyes open... at least I hope it was a joke.

Once we reached the big communal tent, I realized something, though. I was hungry! With all the excitement and subsequent frustration about learning magic, I had completely forgotten to eat anything since breakfast and the old man at least agreed to have dinner before continuing our lessons.

Thanks to my good relationship with the cooks, and probably also my position as the chieftain's son, I often got some of the better cuts and today was no exception. As one might have guessed, Eurota cuisine relied heavily on hunted game and dairy products from our labor animals. The steppe was a harsh place for crops to grow and in my time here I had never heard anyone talk about farming or attempting agriculture.

So, I grabbed my bowl filled with a meat-heavy stew and looked for a place to eat. For drink, I usually carried my waterskin with me and had filled it back at the river. As an adult, I was also technically allowed to drink the few alcoholic beverages our tribe had, but after the few times I had secretly tried them, I wasn't too keen to taste them again anytime soon.

The Eurota’s body shape made tables and especially chairs rather useless, so the eating area was just a few rugs that no one would mind getting dirty thrown outside the communal tent, or during the warmer seasons simply the ground. Stepping outside, I quickly found my mother and sisters eating just outside the tent, so I squeezed in between my siblings and they quickly made room for me. Now was my time to gloat, after all!

“Hey, Chariii... you *hic* love me the most, right???” Or maybe not! Abort! Abort! I tried to reverse course as soon as I saw what a drunk mess my big sister was, but before I could make it more than half a step, she caught me in one of her bear hugs. How did she even manage to get this drunk in such a short time?

“Hehehe... you’re so cuuuteee... ahh...” And now she was drooling all over my new coat. Great. I looked over to my younger sister and asked her to help me with my eyes, but she just stuck out her tongue and ditched me.

If she heard me complaining after her, she didn’t show it and went over to some of the other hunters. My mother also just smiled at me when I tried to get her support, so I just awkwardly ate dinner while hopefully keeping the food out of my sister’s hair and clothes. Once I was done, I absentmindedly brushed my fingers through her long hair until I heard her loudly snoring into my belly.

After somehow getting her arms to release me, I said good night to my mother and made my way into our family tent. Even though my new teacher had said we would continue our lesson, the pelts and clothes thrown about to mark my sleeping place were too enticing for my tired mind and soon enough I was fast asleep.