Hn...well, I don't really know what to say about this chapter. I am pleased with the characterization in the end. Not much happening in this chapter, aside from Hisaki opening her big mouth and the consequences afterwards. Next chapter I do plan to have Yomiko and Hisaki go on their first mission.
Thanks to the review and my beta reader!
Chapter Four: Spellcaster
It took Hisaki two days to be able to summon the power that she had used earlier. The runes Hisaki had used earlier had been a crude, uncontrolled spell that better served Hisaki as a mental catalyst, as opposed to a real spell. Yomiko had politely informed Hisaki that it had been her own willpower that had brought out her potential. Furthermore, had the runes not been enclosed in Yomiko's paper circle, Hisaki may have actually stood a better chance of accidentally harming herself.
Since then, Hisaki avoided using the runes. She did, however, find it easier to use her power when she focused on one in her mind. Near the end of one day's practice Hisaki was able to summon her fireballs; yesterday Hisaki had no problems throwing fire or controlling them.
"I think you're ready to learn spells," Yomiko commented. The two of them were outside, in what was now known as Hisaki's practice arena. Hisaki had just demonstrated her ability to control her fire magic, easily lighting a candlebra with tiny drops of fire.
"Really?!" Hisaki spun around, excited. "All RIGHT! When do we get started?"
"Right now," Yomiko said. She led Hisaki back to the house.
Hisaki nearly levitated with joy. At first she had thought that this magic might be bad - well, when men with special guns tried to shoot you, you would too. But with Yomiko-sensei's encouragement Hisaki had only gotten stronger. And with these spells, who knew what she could -
Hisaki's thoughts were slammed shut by a dusty old book placed in her lap. The two had somehow managed to get into the sitting room in those brief moments and Hisaki found herself sitting in a chair, with a book on her lap.
Hisaki blinked and picked it up. It certainly looked like an old book, with a thick cover and worn pages, but she couldn't read a word of it.
"Uh, Yomiko-sensei?" Hisaki asked. She held up the book. "What does this say?"
"History of Magic," Yomiko answered in English. The older woman was sorting through a pile of texts that sat on the table between the two females. Yomiko looked at Hisaki, who mirrored her confused look. "You can't read it?"
"What language is it in?" Hisaki asked. The girl opened the book and flipped through the pages; not a stroke of Japanese anywhere. "It looks like one of those European languages." Yomiko craned her head over to see, then took back the book for a closer examination.
"English," Yomiko finally said. "Old English - what they would've spoken a couple of centuries ago." Yomiko frowned. "Can you read German?" Hisaki's head shook. "Greek? French? Latin?"
"Just Japanese," Hisaki answered quietly. Yomiko stared.
"You haven't understood anything that the Library has said to you?"
"No..." Hisaki looked down at her lap and tightened her fists. She didn't dare look up as Yomiko-sensei leaned back in her chair and adjusted her glasses. Had her teacher assumed that Hisaki had known the language, since she was in England? Hadn't she noticed that Hisaki didn't understand a word of this foreign language?
Something made the braided girl look up: it was Yomiko's cheerful smile.
"You're not...mad?"
"Why would I be mad, Hisaki-san?" Yomiko answered. She pulled at her cheek as she gave a sigh of defeat. "Ano, I guess I just assumed that you would learn the language when you were here."
"I've only been here for, what, three days now?" Hisaki pointed out.
"Ano, I know..." Yomiko let go of her cheek and adjusted her glasses. "I guess I jumped ahead of myself."
"This...isn't going to be a problem, is it?" Hisaki asked.
"Nope!" Yomiko chirped. "I was going to explain everything to you anyway. But if you can't read these books, then I can't assign you extra reading for homework."
Hisaki didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.
"So, um...explain, please?" Hisaki said, a little cautiously.
"O-kay!"
The teacher opened up one of the books. Printed on the page was an illustration of a triangle drawn within a circle so the corners touched the edges.
"Triangles, in geometry, are the strongest shape," Yomiko said. "In witchcraft they're the simplest shape to base a spell on. To prepare a spell, you first have to draw a triangle. Along each of the sides you write down a rune that you want your spell to focus on. After that, enclose the triangle completely with a circle, making sure to separate each of the runes. If there's so much as a crack of space, power can bleed from the runes and give...unexpected effects."
Hisaki shuddered at the last part. From what she had read and Yomiko-sensei had hinted at, these 'unexpected' effects could probably be more unpleasant than good.
"Is it that simple?" Hisaki asked. "This all sounds easy. Draw a few shapes, write a few runes, and suddenly you've got a spell ready to go. Anyone could do this."
"Easy?" Yomiko crossed her arms and gave Hisaki the raised eyebrow. "Try it here then. Draw a spell circle on the floor. There is some chalk in the box over there."
Hisaki got up and got a piece of chalk. She looked at her teacher suspiciously. "This sounds like a trap."
"No, it sounds easy. Draw, Hisaki-san."
The girl got down on her knees and began to draw. First she sketched out a triangle, but hesitated at what runes to add. Hisaki settled for the ones representing defence, protection and gradual growth - if she was lucky, they would make a protection spell of some sort. If not...well, Hisaki figured that the 'reaction' couldn't be worse than one from a pure fire spell. Done with the runes, Hisaki closed a circle around it. Hesitantly the girl stood up and looked at Yomiko for her next instruction.
"Cast," Yomiko ordered. From the look on Yomiko-sensei's face, Hisaki didn't have a clue if Yomiko was angry, sarcastic, amused or just finding a way to make Hisaki suffer.
"What if I destroy something?" protested Hisaki.
"I have insurance. Cast."
Hisaki didn't know what to do. Finally she went with instinct: Hisaki stepped into the centre of her circle and focused on the runes.
Yr is for defence, Hisaki thought to herself. Defending from physical forces. Eolh is for protection and banishing negativity. Eh is for -
Hisaki's thoughts were cut off when she felt something rush out of her. She gasped as golden flames raced around the edge of the spell circle, the Yr and Eolh runes glowing an eerie orange. The yellow flames spiraled upwards and over Hisaki, coalescing into a tunnel of flame that pelted towards Yomiko.
"Yomiko-sensei!" Hisaki shrieked, unable to stop the spell.
From out of nowhere Yomiko grabbed a sheaf of papers and threw them back at the pillar of fire. Flames hit the paper, but didn't burn; the fire seemed to dissolve and steam away like water on contact. The paper itself was burned, but still intact. Yomiko looked at it, gave a look of sadness, then put the singed shield on the floor before looking at Hisaki.
"Still easy?" Yomiko asked tiredly.
"I...I don't understand!" Hisaki babbled. "Why did it go for you?"
Yomiko stood up and inspected the circle. The white chalk had been turned to grey ash where the fire had burned; the last rune and the triangle were still intact.
"Now what have we learned, Hisaki-san?" Yomiko asked. The expression on Yomiko's face looked faintly amused, despite the fact that Hisaki had just attempted to accidentally kill her. Hisaki sighed and rolled her eyes.
"That this isn't 'easy'," Hisaki answered. She looked down and jumped when she saw an orange flame flare along the edge of the burned circle. "What was that?"
"You have to disarm your spell circle when you're done with it," Yomiko said. "What do you think you rub out first?"
"Um...the circle?" Yomiko shook her head sadly.
"Ano, if you destroy your protection circle any aftereffects of the runes will go flying everywhere," Yomiko explained. "The same is for the triangle - it protects you from any backlash of the spell."
"Backlash?" Hisaki asked. She got down on her knees with Yomiko to examine the white triangle. This drawing could protect her from herself?
"Backlash..." Yomiko fumbled for an explanation. "Like a rubber band - if you stretch it too much, you might snap it and hurt yourself. Only with magic."
"Ugh," Hisaki commented. "So I get rid of the runes first?"
"Yes," Yomiko beamed. "Just rub them out. Then you can rub out your circle and then the triangle. Always remember to go in that order."
"Why the circle first?" Hisaki asked. With her fingers she scraped the chalk and ashes clean, then proceeded to break through her circle.
"The circle not only contains your spell," explained Yomiko as she stood up, dusting off her skirt. "You fill it with magic after you cast. It can protect you from some spells thrown at you, but it can also still throw back a backlash to hurt you." She gave a bright and cheery smile to Hisaki as she continued. "The remnants of the spells can rebound inside the circle, ano - if badly cast or extremely powerful, you could be torn to shreds by your own magic."
"Oh." That didn't sound pleasant. "You know, you look absolutely sadistic when you say that with that smile."
"Ano..." Yomiko tilted her head to the side. "It only pleases me to be teaching you what terrible effects your magic may have."
"...You are a freak, have I ever told you that?!"
Would like to reiterate that all spellcasting and witchcraft is completely fictional.
Reviews liked. Constructive criticism loved.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004