Evocation class day two

You exit the grand dining hall, the flyer for the wizard dueling team still in your hand. Wasn't someone else talking about dueling before? Oh well. It sounds like fun. Maybe you will go check it out tomorrow. For now, you make your way to your evocation class with professor Kiehn. He was one of the friendlier professors and you are glad to be in his class. Again you find the professor standing by the door greeting his students as they enter.

"Hello professor." You greet the aged wizard.

"And hello to you as well young man!" His voice portraying excitement. "We have an exciting class today. Please take your seat and I will be with you momentarily." He gestures to the classroom with his hands.

Many of the other students have entered and taken their seats. Small charms rest on everyone's desk. Taking your seat, you examine the charm sitting in front of you. It is a small round object, possibly made of clay, attached to a slim silver cord of cloth. It has no markings and lacks any distinguishing features. Curious. Some of the other students are looking over their charms and exchange confused remarks about their purpose. Soon the bell tolls and professor Kiehn enters the room closing the door behind him.

"Good day students." He begins the class with his usual smile. "I am sure you have noticed the charms on your desks. These will be your own personal charms. My gift to you all. But first we will have to imbue them with an element. To do so, we will be making a trip to the range. Where, three at a time for safety reasons, you each will charge it with an element of your choosing. Some of you may have an affinity for one element or another. Some of you may not. If you don't, not to worry. This doesn't make you any less of an evoker. It simply means a wider array of astral forces are available to you." The aged professor leans against his desk clasping his hands togeter as he continues. "Wizards with an affinity can simply manipulate forces of that element with more ease. While forces of other elements are often more..." He frees his hands to become more animated once again as he searches for the correct words. "Slippery, shall we say. Many debate the pros and cons of affinity. Some claim the ease at which those with affinity weave their magic gives them the edge. While others find it to be limiting. Personally, from my experience, both types of wizards have thier own advantages. The real measure of an evoker is control." He raises a finger to emphasize the last point. Another student raises their hand. "Yes, Mr. Tilin?"

They boy asks. "Do you have an affinity?"

Professor Kiehn answers. "Yes. With an affinity for air, I can easily and quickly manipulate its astral energy. It has aided me many times working with magical fireworks in my younger years. The fire energy required for the task was a little trickier but that is not to say unmanageable. It took practice and control. Stone or earth energies are much more difficult for myself and those with my affinity." He admits. "Now, if there are no more questions, we will discuss range safety before we make our way to Delmorgan Park. The evocation range has a handful of lanes for students to try and fire off spells they are working on. The targets are enchanted stone that are self repairing. Once you let loose your spell, please wait for the targets to reconstruct before trying another. Too much magical energy can overwhelm the simple enchantments and leave them in need of repairs. At no time are you allowed to target another student or faculty member with a spell. This is reserved for the dueling court, that is also located in the park. There are three targets located on wider lanes reserved for larger area spells. Please use those for anything more explosive. Now, if you will all gather your charms and place them around your necks. Stand with me and join hands forming a circle in the room." The students do as instructed. You place the small charm over your head, draping the silver cord around your neck before joining the others. Taking each others hands to form a circle around the room and professor Kiehn. "Good. Good. Everyone ready?" He traces a figure in the air and silently the entire classroom shifts.

The walls blink from sight and before you know it, you find yourself standing outside in a spacious courtyard. Dark cobblestone under your feet pave the ground. Large trees with well trimmed rounded tops line the perimeter. To your right, you can see a lengthy field of grass lined with square white stones to form lanes. At the far end of each lane is a pile of three rounded gray stones stacked atop one another. These must be the targets. To your left a large gazebo that stands on a raised platform.

As you and the other students regain your senses, professor Kiehn addresses you all once more. "This way." He waves you all to follow and makes his way to the range, stopping just before the grass. "As I said, we will imbue our charms three at a time. Lets start with... you... you.. and you..." He indicates three of the other students from your class. "Each of you pick a lane. Make sure to spread out a bit. As you are all new to evocation, we dont want any accidents." The three students take their places in the range, giving each other space as directed. "To begin, hold your charm out from your chest like so." Professor Kiehn demonstrates with his own charm, holding it out from his body with the cord still around his neck, and the students follow his lead. "As with last class, close your eyes and feel the elemental energies around you. Once you can feel the different energy around you, focus on one type. The first you identify. If you have an affinity, this is probably it. Concentrate on that one type. Draw it to you and let it flow through your body, down your arms, and into the charm."

You watch as the three students follow the professor's instructions. You can see one boy's hands begin to glow a faint red. Another boy's clothes and hair lightly flow as if he was standing in the wind. Small gray pebbles begin to swirl around the girls arms. A moment later, all three of their charms flash and the magical display ends. "Excellent!" Professor Kiehn exclaims. "If you examine your charms, you will see they now bear markings indicating the type of energy they now hold. Congratulations, you have enchanted your first minor charms. They will allow you to draw a limited supply of that energy to use in your spells. When performing spells in this class, you will only use the amount of energy stored in your charm. This will help you avoid over taxing yourself and to learn control. Not to worry, the charms will recharge on their own; drawing energy of their element in over a few minutes."

As the three students return to the group professor Kiehn shakes their hands in congratulations. "Now lets have you... you... and you." This time he points to you as one of the students to take to the range and you make your way to a lane.