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100 Days Until Songs And the Uncertain End (part 2)
Zeydar watched as Kony continued his practice maneuvers. He could hear the ebb and flow in Kony’s magic. He had listened to Kony’s magic before but Zeydar was testing a hypothesis he had from a lesson that afternoon. He had been teaching his general class and asking them about designations between defensive magic and offensive magic and how it had come to be determined that one could only do one or the other. In asking the question, Zeydar had broken his own mind. Why was it that they could only do one or the other? In history it had been determined that one could only do one or the other because of the limits of a staff and the way the staff interacted with the body to intake magic. Zeydar did not need a staff thus he could do all magic. Most people had an element and a specialty. Yet. Zeydar was no longer certain it was true. He wondered for a moment whether or not he had been wrong.
They were at Estashia’s for the night and that meant that Zeydar was able to try things without the Superiors directly knowing. So when he asked May to stop working with Kony the whole courtyard went silent.
“Did I do something wrong?” Kony asked breathing out, ready to fix whaat ever it was.
“Do a defensive air spell.” Zeydar ordered him.
Kony stood there for a second. “I can’t. You said—“
“And I think I might be wrong.” Zeydar told him despite the look from Mea who was completely aghast. She knew the rules. Element and specialty in that element. While people could do a bit of magic from specific other elements. Their element magic was supposed to revolved around one specialty type. In theory it was impossible to do the other specialty type within your own element. The staff determined it. However, Zeydar wondered if it were like water, turning from hot to cold. The pipes had to be protected from both. If a mage was better suited for one speciality over the other, it did not mean that they could not use the other type. It instead meant they had to train harder in it. They had to let their body grow accustomed to it. What they saw as pain and rejection might actually be the sign to slow down. Zeydar’s magic hurt him and he knew that was for a specific reason of his intake not matching his output.
“You might be wrong?” Kony repeated.
“I mean society. Stars. The rules. All of it. I think its wrong and I want to try.”
“You know what happens.” May spoke up then. Of course Zeydar knew. He was berated in the same pain day in and day out. THey all knew Zeydar felt pain tied to magic. He also knew that by bringing it up would result in a protest from all but Kony.
“What happens?” Layla asked.
“It can destroy someone and fire back the magic internally. Backfire. It is painful and possibly deadly.”
Before Layla could protest Zeydar spoke. “Yes. This is true, which is why I’m helping him. He will have to take it slower than with the other type and I’m here to protect him.”
“It’s impossible.” May concluded.
“Highly dangerous?” Layla repeated. Her disagreement was incoming and Zeydar felt the headache already.
“He isn’t saying you can do it. He’s saying I can.” Kony cut them all off before anyone could go on. Zeydar made eye contact with Kony and for a moment Zeydar felt more proud than he had in his life.
“What do you mean?” Andre asked.
Zeydar knew Kony understood. Kony’s first temperament with magic had been with Zeydar using Kony’s internal abilities and power to do a magic type Kony had no ability with at all: healing. It would have been one thing to use another element, which Kony would have been able to do with little success anyway, but Healing Mages were limited in number. Healing mages could only heal. Kony wasn’t a healing mage but he had healed. Kony then went on to learn to supplement his magic into Zeydar because of the one time they ever had. He understood what the feeling felt the one time Zeydar had cast through his body. In fact, to this day Zeydar was not sure if it were he alone or if Kony assisted guiding the magic when Zeydar saved them the day the Tower collapsed. At first it was Zeydar, and then at some point it had become Kony. Kony had learned from there and by the time Zeydar was detoxing, Kony needed no assistance at all. A type of magic that no one else knew, that Zeydar had instinctively, Kony had learned.
It was a vein of healing magic, which meant there was a possibility that Kony could learn to be a healer. It would simply, take time. It also meant that Kony had tapped into something he hadn’t and refined his body to accept other types of magic more easily. Kony might be able to use other elements better, and Zeydar predicted that Kony would be able to use both elemental specialties without fear.
Zeydar had taught Kony, from the beginning, as he was trying to understand his own magic. Kony’s teaching had not been traditional. Kony understood magic more as Zeydar did than regular Mages did. If understanding determined ability, then Kony was closer to Zeydar in knowledge and perspective regarding magic. And if Kony had refined his body, and if he understood magic the same way, Kony was closer to Zeydar as a mage than all other mages alive. That meant he could do more than the standard mage. Zeydar knew Kony was powerful. He knew Kony was smart. He predicted that Kony would be able to resist the Superior tablet. And now Zeydar was certain that Kony would do this.
“What do you need me to do?” Kony planted himself properly.
“An defensive spell but forget all the books and do it the way I taught you.” Forget the teaching from the school and remember magic the first time that Zeydar had used magic with him. He needed to do real magic not the bullshit that the schools manufactured.
Kony shifted his weight and drew up the spell in his mind, testing the words on his lips before casting the spell outward. Nothing happened and he frowned looking to his hand.
“See!” May shook her head. “We are lucky that—“
Kony tried again without waiting for her to finish and a massive wind explosion caught them all off guard as Kony stumbled back. Backfire. Layla screamed as Kony bled from his nose. Kony did not react more as if he didn’t realize he was bleeding. Zeydar froze the area around the courtyard ensuring that no one could interfere with Kony who was too focused. Kony shifted his feet, shook his hands and tried again. Slower this time. Wind spell. Backfire. Better than the time before. Kony coughed and spat blood to the side.
Zeydar walked forward and touched Kony’s arm healing him. “Tell me what you are thinking.”
“I’m searching for the balance there. The link.” The flow and the call. Kony had heard it, was sensitive to it because of Zeydar. He didn’t feel it at all times like Zeydar did. He didn’t hear it at all times, but he had once, and again and again over the course of their lessons together.
“Turn all your magic towards that. Start with an offensive spell and search for it. Find the link.” Zeydar told him, guiding his magic through Kony and then releasing it all at once so Kony could take the reminder and work with it himself. Kony cast a spell immediately, and Zeydar watched as the spell fluctuated in its path outwards and spun out disappearing to a soft breeze. Again, Kony cast and again it disappeared. Then Kony cast a defensive spell, backfiring once more. More screams more spells. Zeydar tried not to guide him, trying his best not to move far, healing when necessary and waiting for Kony to find it. “If I show you the path would you ever get back?”
“It would take time.” Kony understood that they did not have time. “And besides you already showed me once.” Kony got to his feet once more, casting a offensive spell and the spell, one that circled them both, changed. Zeydar noticed it change. It was only then that he recognized the protests of May had gone silent, for she too had noticed the change. Kony’s magic was his own but more like Zeydar’s in nature, working with the natural world instead of abusing it. Using it with care, Kony was in control and in balance, instead of in force. The power output was far greater, stronger, better. The offensive spell was sharp, growing sharper, faster, destructive and then it was gone with him canceling the spell. Planting his feet, Kony turned to Zeydar who nodded and walked back.
Once across the way from each other, Zeydar sent his best ice attack — controlled with a pointed goal and destruction not in mind — Kony’s way. Kony cast the defensive spell. Like all first attempts of spells it was broken, but the fact was that it worked. It had worked and not back fired. It had been able to stop Zeydar’s attack a bit better than most first attempts. Kony cast a wind offensive spell before the defensive spell broke. It sliced through Zeydar’s ice cleanly. Twisting his staff Kony cast the defensive spell again. This time it was stronger. “I understand.”
Zeydar wasn’t sure how to take that. Offense and Defense were two sides of the same coin, you simply had to learn to switch between them. Hot and cold. He had to turn the tap and then find the balance where he could use both. Neither in more control than the other. Kony had found his balance. He’d be able to defend and with his offensive magic, would become stronger. He was not limited as other Mages were.
Maybe no mage was truly limited by the dichotomy but they had been too afraid to test more. Mages were notoriously afraid of pain and the unknown. They did everything in their history to simplify their lives and make things easy. They did not like danger. They did not accept anomalies. Zeydar and Kony would be the bane of the Stars existence, the antithesis that destroyed them. Just how sharp could wind become? Zeydar was ready to find out.
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Marlena Marie 
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