Astro looked from left to right. Shadow was beside him, while Warnado stood at a slight distance as if to observe them. The inn was still bustling, with people occasionally weaving through the foyer and between Shadow and Warnado.
"Shadow, we're both quite learned wizards," Astro began, "I think it would be beneficial for both of us if we discussed our abilities more in depth. How about it?"
"Yes, I would like to learn more about your abilities as well," said Shadow.
"And Warnado?" Astro added, a bit reluctant but well-meaning.
Warnado's head perked up at the sound of his name.
"A mutually beneficial exchange of magical knowledge and abilities? Sign me up!"
"Then let's head up into one our rooms," suggested Astro, "so we don't have random people eavesdropping on our strengths and weaknesses."
Shadow nodded in agreement, and the three of them headed up a narrow staircase and into a room, with Warnado closing the door to the room behind him.
"I am going to cast a spell which blocks sounds from coming in and out of the room," Shadow proposed. "It should prevent mundane attempts at listening in."
"Go ahead," said Astro.
Shadow glanced for a moment toward the door of the room, and a white rune came into existence on the surface of her lower cheek, glowing briefly before fading imperceptibly into the blackness of her skin. Suddenly the unconsciously audible rumble of the outside crowd voices, street carriages, and occasional bird chirps ceased to be heard, leaving only the sounds of Astro and Warnado's breaths. Shadow, who lacked breath or even a heartbeat, made no sound at all. Astro could not help but be unsettled by this, in spite of his previous knowledge of Shadow's lack of life energy.
Then, Shadow took in a breath in preparation to speak. "That should do it."
"Since we're in a soundproofed room, I'll ask the obvious question, Shadow," said Astro. "Why aren't you breathing? Or, more to the point: given your lack of any life signs or energies whatsoever, how are you still alive?"
Shadow explained: "I exist in a state of equilibrium, I do have energy inside of me but of opposing elements so to the outside it looks like I have none at all. Though, you are right in your questions, I am technically not alive, neither am I dead nor undead. I lack most things that a normal human needs, like blood or a metabolism in general. All of my muscles are actuated by my magic and when I eat something it is also quickly broken down into energy."
Astro's brows rose. "That's… interesting. Right, 'elements' … How do those work in your world?"
"Magic is a single uniform force in my world, able to influence almost all aspects of reality, rewriting reality itself is not something we can do though. It can also take on different forms that only influence certain aspects of reality but are easier to handle, these forms are called 'elements' in my world. For example the Air element gives its user control over both wind and lightning. The opposing force to Air would be Earth, though that name is not indicative of what it actually does, Earth is used to alter the caster's own body."
"Okay, that makes sense," said Astro. "Our concept of elements is much the same but is purely academic - it doesn't really have any practical application anymore. It's just a matter of knowing what you have available. Magic-users don't really engage in elemental specialization and just go with what they find easiest or most enjoyable.
"The main difference between users is the source of their power and its limitations. In my case, I was born with it. There are also Thaumaturges, who use a material known as thaumium as a magical fuel source. Thaumaturges are mostly pretty rudimentary in terms of the magic used - very military-focused and really just like having firepower. There's academic debate as to whether they aren't just particularly advanced and aggressive enchanters but we don't need to get into that. And then there are the administrators and moderators…" Astro trailed off. "Servants of the True Court, appointed by Notch - well, Jeb, now - and granted power from the Wells. They sort of run things, at least when they're not bickering amongst themselves and spreading war and misfortune in the process."
"Moderators?" Shadow inquired.
"Yes, why?" Astro asked.
"I need to explain another peculiarity about my world first. The world I entered this one from is artificially created, it can be accessed from the world where I was actually born. That world is one without magic but highly advanced technologically. There are other artificial worlds but none are as advanced as the one I came through. The ones creating and managing these worlds are known as admins, their assistants as moderators."
"An artificial world inside another world, connected to this world? Sounds advanced alright. So what's so special about these moderators of yours?"
"I was simply intrigued that the word exists in both of our worlds for different yet similar roles. At this point I can imagine that the overlap is actually fairly big, though with something like magic we may have different words for the same underlying force."
"Yes, it does seem that way," said Astro. "So, you basically have all these opposed elements inside of you, doesn't that mean you can just use whatever sort of magic?"
"The element known as Ender is actually what allows you to do anything, though it is harder than using the specialized elements. It's the difference between setting and healing a bone with your mind and letting specialized magic do it for you, there are also things that have no corresponding special element. As for me, I have access to both the easy and specialized magic and the difficult and flexible magic."
"So you're a magical generalist, sort of like me. We likely share quite a few abilities. We could learn a lot from each other," said Astro.
Astro turned toward Warnado. "What about you, Warnado? How does your magic work?"
Warnado shrugged. "I don't know. I just use it when I feel like it."
"Do you at least know where it comes from?" Astro asked.
"It runs in the family," Warnado said tersely.
"Is that why you have that cute part demon-looking face?" asked Shadow.
"How did you know that?!" Warnado responded with embarrassed irritation.
Shadow chuckled. "The spell hiding your face actually proved somewhat difficult to circumvent without breaking it, it lacked any patterns usually found in spells of trained mages." After a short pause she added with a sly grin: "But don't worry, your cute part demon-looking face is safe with me."
"So, Warnado, you can use some illusion magic, if that's the right word for it in your world," Astro surmised. "I've also seen you conjure tools and weapons a few times… and occasionally food, which is actually impressive. But it's hard to grasp the extent of this ability: whether you can only do those pre-determined things, or if you can also use magic more flexibly."
Shadow remarked: "There is actually something in my world that could be at least similar to his state. When someone discovers their magical potential, their life force gains a will of its own and when presented with the right situations it will apply its power in a way that somewhat lines up with its owner's will. Magical training consists of fusing your life force and your will together so that eventually the power is completely under your control."
"Supposing Warnado does have that form of magic," Astro mused, "how could it be uncovered?"
"To be precise, I wouldn't call it a 'form' of magic as much as a state of control or lack thereof, I'm pretty sure that this can occur with a variety of power sources," clarified Shadow. "But to answer your question, the best way to uncover it is through training."
"You wouldn't happen to be able to provide that sort of training, would you?" Warnado asked.
Shadow smiled. "Depends. There are specific magical abilities which would help the training advance at a reasonable rate. In particular, the ability to sense spells as they are being cast around you. This would allow the apprentice to adjust their spells to match the spells cast by the teacher. This helps especially in the earlier stages, when the apprentice is still learning how to form a spell properly and control its flow in order to conserve energy."
"I can do that," said Warnado. "Well, I wouldn't say I'm an expert of telling the difference between a necromancy spell and the magical effects of outrage-inducing clickbait, but I'm sure I could manage."
"So," Shadow said. "How about you try casting a spell, any spell you have cast before and would recognize."
Warnado clears his throat. "Alright then, here goes nothing."
Warnado stretched his arm out and a light blue light spread outward from his palm into a shape of a ghostly, translucent battleaxe.
"Great," said Shadow. "Now, I want you to close your eyes, and pay attention to the magic coming from me. When the magic stops flowing, tell me what you felt."
"Okay," said Warnado, as he closed his eyes.
Shadow opened her hand, and the same light blue light poured out from her palm and expanded to form a battleaxe just like Warnado's.
"That's my battleaxe!" Warnado proclaimed.
"Yes, that's right," said Shadow. "What about this now?"
Shadow opened her other hand, this time not energy came out of her palm but solid stone, growing into the exact same axe that her other hand was holding.
"Some sort of earthbending," Warnado answered. "Like, stone appearing out of nowhere."
"You can open your eyes now."
Warnado opened his eyes.
"It seems you do have some ability to sense magic coming from others," observed Shadow. "You are best at recognizing spells you are familiar with, but have the ability to determine the structure of unfamiliar spells. That's a good start." The ethereal and stone material of the battleaxes in Shadow's hands crumbled and returned to her palms. "For now, I believe I have a good sense of you and Astro's magical abilities. Astro, are there any additional questions I can answer about my abilities?"
"I am satisfied," said Astro. "And you?"
"I am sure there is much we can learn about each other's abilities, but for now yes, I think this is a good start," Shadow said.
"I do appreciate the candor that you and Fire share. It's refreshing," admitted Astro, reflecting sorrowfully of the many secrets he had to worry about, a fact of his life best left unsaid.
"I imagine this will be the first of many future fruitful exchanges of magical information," concluded Shadow. "Any further words before I take the sound barrier down? Or perhaps I could leave it up for a while."
"No need," said Astro.
"I could do with a bit of action right now," responded Warnado.
A rune flashed on Shadow's face, and the muffled cacophony of the crowded village returned.