Dark magic with Mom

Since I couldn’t properly practice healing magic, I had free time during what was supposed to be my light magic lessons. My mother decided that it was as good a time as any to start my training in the dark magic. Dark magic is considered to be the most convoluted element to learn and practice. Not only does it require having similar training in difficulty as the light magic, but a beginner almost never knows where to begin to practice at all. Only through trial and error does one find what type of dark magic they can do. That was pretty much what my mother said at the beginning of our lesson.

We were sitting at the table in a small room in the depths of the palace. We couldn’t practice anywhere less private due to fears of people discovering that I have an affinity for dark magic.

Mother was sitting across the table from me, wearing a sky-blue dress that accentuated her curves. “First several weeks will be dedicated to finding out what type of dark magic you can do. There are types of dark magic that are more common than the others. Illusion magic, the one that I can do, is one of them. Others include gravity and telekinesis. Other types are exceedingly rarer. For example, future sight magic, which I told you about on the morning of your coronation, is one such type. There are rare mentions of other types, such as mind control and teleportation magic. Magic that affects space and time is impossible because it greatly alters the flow of the world. Teleportation is the exception to space magic because it doesn’t really alter space but connects two distant points in space. Basically, teleportation slightly bends space without harming it. As for mind control magic, its use is banned by the Invian Church because it restricts the free will of people that the magic is targeted against. An exception to it is taming magic, which is a subtype of mind control magic. Taming magic is allowed because it is aimed at animals, not people. It is extremely rare for a person to have an affinity for more than one type of dark magic, but there were cases when a person, typically a magic user with a high affinity for dark magic, could use two types of dark magic.” Mother explains.

“Let’s try with the more common types first. Telekinesis, for example. Telekinesis magic works differently than gravity magic. Gravity magic users use mana to push objects from the outside. Telekinesis magic users use mana within the object to move it around,” she places a wooden cube on a table in front of me. “Try lifting this cube by using the mana within it.”

I stare at the cube and imagine feeling the mana inside the cube. Once I feel like I have a clear enough picture, I try to push the cube towards my mother. Nothing happens. I then try to imagine the mana inside the cube again. I place clusters of mana in all eight corners of the cube and move it using four of those clusters. This time, the cube twitches. Mother seemed surprised by this.

“Okay, seems you have an affinity for telekinesis,” she smiled at me.

“Thank you, mother. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without your guidance,” I smile back.

“Can I ask you for a favor, Zen?” she asks, still smiling gently at me.

“Of course, mother. What is it?” I answer.

Her lips twitched slightly when I called her ‘mother’ again. “When we are alone, can you call me Mom instead of Mother? Being called ‘mother’ always rubbed me the wrong way. There is something impersonal about being called that. Ordinary children from ordinary families usually call their mothers ‘moms’. It feels more genuine like that. In public, for propriety's sake, you would still need to address me as ‘mother’, but when we are alone, could you call me Mom?” She looks at me almost pleadingly. How can I say no to these pleading beautiful eyes?

“Of course, Mom.” As soon as I say that her face lights up in pure joy.

“Thank you, Zen,” she beams. “I will have a similar talk with Arti later.”

With that dealt with, the lesson continues. I will try gravity magic next since it is similar to telekinesis. Mom places an apple on the table and tells me to squash it using gravity magic. I imagine a disk of mana floating above the apple. As soon as I feel like it is solid enough, I move the disk of mana downward. When the imaginary disk reaches the apple, I move it down with more ****. I guess I put too much **** into it because not only did it instantly squash the apple but almost toppled over the table it was sitting on. Mom flinched at the suddenly squashed apple and the table that jumped a little bit.

“Those are two dark magic types you can do already. How about we try illusion magic next? I have never heard of one person being able to use three types of dark magic, but you already broke one milestone with how you can use all six elements with five being of high affinity,” she says smiling. “For illusion magic, you need to gather mana and shape it into something you want others to see. For example, if you want to make yourself invisible, you need to surround your body with mana and will it to make it so that people looking at you will see through you. Try doing that to your finger.”

I concentrate on coating my index finger with mana. As soon as I feel that it is sufficiently coated, I try to imagine that the mana creates an opening in my finger so that I can see through it. I partially succeeded. My finger is almost completely see-through, save for some patches of skin that float in the air where my finger is. Mom sighs and shakes her head in slight disbelief.

“And you can use illusion magic as well,” she says sounding tired and proud at the same time. “Yet another unprecedented record set. I fear to imagine what you would be able to do in the future.”

I chuckled nervously at that. “I will try not to disappoint you, Mom,” I say jokingly.

She giggles at that. “I am pretty sure you won’t. Let’s stop for today. We will be focusing on these three types of dark magic for the foreseeable future. Mastering even one type takes a lot of time and effort. Mastering three will be very hard. When you do, we can try exploring other types. I have a hunch that you can use them as well.”

This possibility scares me and makes me excited at the same time.

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