The group of four all stared at the polished glass of the resonance stone, and the two words that had appeared within. For a few moments, there was silence in the room as all within just stared at the orb, but eventually, the old Guild Master was the one to break the silence.
“Well, isn’t that interesting,” He chuckled.
“Illusions and Darkness. Are those supposed to be good affinities? Bad?”
Lucas had no real idea or frame of reference for the two affinities that he now possessed. Neither Illusions or Darkness were included in the, admittedly small, list of magics that he’d learned of in the last couple days. Illusions, at least, sounded fairly straightforward and easy to understand, but ‘Darkness’ could refer to a lot of things.
It did explain why he could suddenly see in the dark, though. Night vision certainly fit the theme of any sort of magic related to darkness. And as Dusk nuzzled her snout against his cheek and he scratched behind her ears, Lucas wondered if his affinity for Darkness was why her coat was pitch black.
“They’re fairly good affinities, kid, a rather common one and a much rarer one,” Leonidas replied. “Illusion magic is pretty common and it’s quite useful. It’s great for keeping yourself hidden, hiding traps, tricking people and even creatures, and more. It’s a magic all about deception and being smart.”
He’d been more focused on Darkness magic at first, but the more that the Guild Master explained Illusion magic, the more interested Lucas became in it as well. Lucas wouldn’t say he was the smartest person around, but he certainly thought that he could be pretty smart and cunning when he wanted to.
“But that affinity for Darkness is rare. Very rare, to the point that I’ve never seen it before. Hell, I can’t even recall having ever seen anyone with an affinity for Darkness magic. Best that I can assume, it would probably also be very good at hiding you. At night, you’ll most likely be practically invisible once you get the hang of your affinities.”
After hearing so many potential uses for his Illusion magic, hearing how little he could do with his Darkness magic made the affinity feel pretty underwhelming for something that sounded so interesting.
“You don’t think there’s any more ways to use it?” He asked the silver-haired man.
“Oh, I’m sure there are more ways to use that affinity of yours, kid. But the problem is that I’ve never run into it before, so I don’t have any examples. Best I could think to compare it to would be a person I’ve heard of who has an affinity for Light magic. But I don’t think I could see you blasting things with beams of light,” Leonidas replied.
Lucas’ expression fell a bit when he heard that. Given what he’d been told about magic and what Fay had shown him, he’d been hopeful for something more. Admittedly, he wanted something a bit more flashy, maybe even something a bit more powerful. But instead, both of his affinities seemed built for him to hide.
Leonidas had also noticed the dip in Lucas’ mood, and he quickly spoke up. “Don’t get too discouraged. Like I said, that’s what I could think of. I don’t have an affinity for Darkness, you do. Focus on coming up with ideas that’ll let you use it, let your instincts guide you, and be creative.”
“He’s not wrong, Lucas,” Magnus chimed in. “Rare affinities can be difficult since there aren’t as many references to pull from to teach you about them, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up. Like I said earlier, one of the most important things with magic is that you be creative.”
“And we’ll help! We can help you come up with ideas.” Fay added. She grabbed Lucas’ hand to get him to focus on her, those bright green eyes shining as she grinned.
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Despite his own feelings about the situation, Lucas began to smile as well. He did have people to help him, and he had a whole month to learn.
“I’ll reach out to some friends and see if anyone knows a person with a Darkness affinity,” Magnus said, patting the teen on the back and offering his own smile. “We’ll see what we can do and work from there.”
It was more support than Lucas had expected. He’d only known Fay for a few days, and her parents for even less than a full day. And yet, both Fay and her father were so willing to try and help him. It was heartwarming to see that he’d found someone so helpful and kind.
He’d even made it clear that he wasn’t planning to stay on their side of the world, and even then they were offering him help, teaching him, and giving him a place to stay.. Lucas wanted to get home, he really did… But the more time that he spent surrounded by magic, and the more time he spent around Fay and her family, the more certain he became that he would want to come back and visit.
But if he wanted to be able to come back and visit, he needed to make sure that he was able to handle himself and would be able to make the trip from home to Helstrum on his own. And the best way to do that was to train and learn everything that he could from the Stella family.
“That’s the spirit,” Leonidas laughed. He’d seen the determination slowly build behind Lucas’ eyes and he seemed quite happy to see it. “Work hard, kid, and when you’re eighteen, I might just have a spot in the guild for you.”
“… But I’m already eighteen.”
Lucas’ response caused the Guild Master’s laughter to stop as the man blinked owlishly at the teen. Then he chuckled again.
“Then work hard, figure out your magic, and train your body,” As Leonidas spoke, he grabbed the resonance stone and carefully placed it back in the cabinet where it had been resting before. “And then, once you think you’re ready, come by the guild and I’ll see about setting you up with a test to see how good of a hunter you’d make.”
Once he’d returned the resonance stone to the cabinet, the Guild Master made his way back to his seat and sank into it. It was pretty clear to Lucas that it was time to leave.
“Thanks for sparing the time, Leo,” Magnus said.
As the trio turned to leave, Leonidas spoke up and stopped them. Or more specifically, he stopped Magnus.
“Magnus, hold up a moment. I’d like to talk to you for a bit, about some armory related things, if you can spare a few minutes. It’d be nice to catch up and talk about a few things.”
While his words were rather casual, something told Lucas that the old Guild Master wanted to talk about something more serious than ‘just catching up’. Magnus seemed to catch that as well, as he silently nodded towards the older man.
“You two can head back home,” He said to the two teens. “Let your mom know I’ll be home in a little while, Fay.”
Fay was quiet as she looked at her father’s back as the man approached Leonidas’ desk. It looked like she wanted to say something, but in the end she held back and just took Lucas’ hand.
“Alright, dad.”
“Run Lucas through some basic mana exercises when you get home. He needs to learn how to access and feel for mana before he can do anything with his affinities,” Magnus called over his shoulder as he took a seat opposite the Guild Master.
Still holding Lucas’ hand, Fay pulled him towards the door. Lucas only resisted for a moment before he let her tug him along, following behind the silvery blonde.
As he got to the door, though, Leonidas called out to him one last time.
“I’ll reach out to some of the other guild branches, kid. I’ll see if any of them know anything about a Darkness affinity. If I get any information back, I’ll let Magnus know.”
It was a last little gesture that Lucas hadn’t expected from the serious looking man. And once more, Lucas was surprised by just how helpful everyone had been to him.
“Thank you, sir,” Lucas replied, giving the older man a nod.
“Remember, follow your instincts with that Darkness magic of yours. Sometimes your body knows what to do when your mind doesn’t,” The man said cryptically.
Then, Fay pulled on Lucas’ arm again and he nearly stumbled as he rushed to follow the blonde.
“Seeya in a few weeks, Fay!”
Back in the room, Lucas could hear the chuckles of the two men as the Guild Master called out to his companion. Then the door closed behind him and the sound was cut off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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