Char Explains The Four Forms Of Magic!

Author's Note: This my attempt to create an exclusive bonus for my patreon followers. If you guys like it, I'll continue to post more Char Explains. They'll cover various parts of the world of Feral, such as politics, weapons, mythology, and even how it relates to our own world. I'll also be doing some interludes to show some characters perspectives of the universe. If you enjoy this, please let me know :D

Char stepped in front of the chalkboard, staring out at the audience with a bit of nervousness on his usually stern face.

“Good evening,” he said, keeping his voice as calm as possible. “My name is Char, and today I will be talking about the four most common technical uses of magic. That is to say, the four ways a person may use magic.”

As he speaks, the chalkboard behind him spins to show an image of Katya dressed in full armor. Katya waves, her chalk form shifting.

“The first, and most common use, is evocation, the 'instant' magic. This magic is the most commonly used form of magic, and any person with a smidgen of magic within them can use it. It can be done without preparation, and requires no focusing at all beyond the bare mininum.”

Char points at the board, where Katya nods. She spins around and begins blasting out small waves of Light magic, represented by yellow chalk. She fights imaginary opponents, spinning and twirling gracefully as blasts of power leave her body.

“While a skilled user can do magnificent things with such magic, it is also the easiest magic to form. Blasts of fire, wind, and water, all formed through the users own magic by manipulating the world around them. While Light and Shadow magic require enormous amounts of internal energy, fire magic can be formed by exciting air molecules, water by pulling in ambient moisture, so on and so forth, all with little to no energy use. However, without control, this magic can sometimes blow up in ones face.”

On the board, a chalk drawing of Char appears next to Katya. Sighing in resignation, he lifts his hands. And promptly explodes. The chalk smoke slowly dissipates, and Katya giggles at the chalk-Char's soot covered face as he blinks in surprise.

“Next is the less common form of magic called thaumaturgy. Sometimes called 'pure sorcery', it involve far more preparation than evocation magic, and doesn't have nearly as much versatility, while requiring massive amounts of power,” Char states gravely. “The trade-off is magic capable of doing things evocation magic can't hope to match.”

On the board, chalk-Katya and chalk-Char step aside to let a chalk version of Hasha step into frame. As they watch, Hasha lifts his arms up and begins waving them.

“A truly powerful sorcery expert can do the most lengthy of spells in an instant. However, in most cases, they simply specialize. Alchemy, for example, can be seen as a sorcerous form of magic. One of the better examples is gravity manipulation.”

As Char speaks, Hasha waves his arms longer, taking his time. Then, he does one thrust of his hands. On the board, Hasha, Char, and Katya suddenly float upward. As chalk-Katya and chalk-Char wobble in the air in shock, Hasha simply smirks.

“One of the many reasons gravity control is sorcery rather than instant, is the sheer amount of focus and thought that must be put into it. Precise mathematical equations, accounting for the environment, and power to counter the force of the power itself, all come into play. Otherwise...”

On the board, the three chalk drawings suddenly crash into the ground as a caption reading 'gravity restored', appears over their heads. The real Char nods firmly.

“For this reason, Gravity, Space, and Time magic are all restricted in terms of who can and cannot teach or learn them. The dangers of each of these cannot be truly explained without going into the risks to both the magic-user and the world as a whole. There is an even more powerful form of sorcery, used to summon energy from the environment, or even from other dimensions. Some even believe that it may be possible to the splitting atoms to create massive amounts of power, allowing for sorcery on an immense scale. However, that may be years ahead.”

Char shakes his head before continuing. “Next, we have enchantment magic. This magic is one I myself happen to specialize in. Also know as runic magic, it covers the application of energy to an object to give it properties it didn't have before. While thaumaturgy magic can do such things as well, and is famous for such, enchantment magic uses runes to do this. Runes were once though of as an ancient language. In more recent times however, it has been discovered that they are actually a very precise energy channel, which uses a store of power to maintain certain effects. These effects depend on the rune in question.”

On the board, Char, Hasha, and Katya show glowing runes on their clothes and armor, each a different color. An arrow flies in to bounce off Katya's armor, while Hasha blasts a ball of fire at Char that simply dissipates.

“While there are standard runes any person capable of reading a book can discover, there are even more that can be 'made', by studying the way things like depth, width, curve, and material usage to discover new effects and uses for runes. This is dangerous work, as making a rune of say, 'deadly explosions' while you're experimenting would be horrific to say the least. But invaluable at times. So grandmasters of the art are the only ones who have the qualifications to do such things.”

Char frowns once more. “But then, there are also those who know certain runes, but refuse to share them. In some cases, this is for good reasons. Certain runes simply should not be shared, as they may cause horror and destruction if shared on a massive scale. However, some simply refuse to share any knowledge whatsoever. This may be due to interests of national security, but more often than not, simply because they refuse to allow other magic-users to possibly 'steal' their work.” Char sighed. “While I disapprove of holding back information in general... I do acknowledge there may be good reasons for such things.”

He shakes himself, recovering his composure. “The final form of magic, and the least seen, is artifacts. Artifacts are any creation made using magical principles. A wand made specifically to power water-style magic can be seen this way, but the term can be used for even more A wheel, for example, can be seen as an artifact, as it uses things such as physics to function. However, for simplicity's sake, we focus on more complex devices.”

On the board, Hasha now holds a staff. Katya simply points proudly at her armor, while Char holds his crude blunderpuss.

“Whether they enhance magic, protect their users, are weapons in their own right, or aid farmers in things such as harvesting, artifacts are simply tools enhanced by magical principles.”

Several bears rush towards the three chalk-Heroes. Hasha spins his staff around to drive two off in a whirl of fire that follows the magical weapon's path, Katya allows the claws of another bear to bounce off her before turning into a miniature whirlwind of Light magic on the attack, while chalk-Char simply shoots one in the head grimly.

“An artifacts power changes based on a thousand things, and their power can last as briefly as a month, and as long as centuries,” Char crosses his arms authoritatively as the chalk drawings behind him continue to fight. “In fact, artifacts are the subject of myths and legends going back generations. One of the most famous is the artifact known as Moa'Stran. According to legend, it is made from the bone sacrificed by a dragon named Saraphith, and tempered by the heat of one of the only 'good' demons ever known, named Maleb. It was made for the great Queen Artar, who lead a group of knight from across the world on a campaign to save the world from dozens of menaces. The sword was said to be able to shake the very world with every swing.”

Char seemed to become a bit embarrased. “I will admit, as a blacksmith and magic-user, it is my own dream to create an artifact of similar fame one day. While I do not care about fame, seeing myself recognized would be gratifying.”

The chalk forms of Hasha and Katya share a look, then look at both versions of Char. The real and chalk Char's simply ignore them.

“And so, there we are. Instant evocation, Sorcerous thaumaturgy, Enchantment, and Artifact. The for forms of magic use are the basics. While they do cross at certain points, and should, it it easier to consider them in this way, and allows for easier learning.”

Char bows firmly. “Thank you all for listening.”