[Xyltha Thanole]

OOC: Selfmodding with kind permission from Crimson and Skay

An elegant smile alighted on the Elf-Sorceress' lips once more. She would have an interesting time tutoring this student, she could tell. His honesty was refreshingly frank, and indeed the perks of Sorcery didn't go unnoticed by her in all her Patterns involved in magecraft. His keen interest in ascending into the ranks of the mages excited her - here before her stood the next generation of leaders in Arcana, a fresh injection of new blood to uphold the virtues of Sorcery. It was well and truly time to start teaching this young elfling the nuances of magery.

"Well, it is true that we Sorcerors can indeed flit about the realm as you so flippantly put it; but even the most vaunted of Sorcerors have their limits. And the joys of expedient magically-enhanced travel is not solely limited to the practitioners of Sorcery, for mages in other Spheres of magic have their own forms of travel. However I do understand your point, and agree with you to an extent."

Pausing for effect, she motioned the elfling to seat himself in an empty stool in front of her. The door creaked open. A pot of amber-coloured tea, hovering in mid-air, slowly drifted in, a veil of steam drifting in its wake. In short order, two cups held by equally invisible hands followed suit.

"Tea?" She bade the pot to pour itself into the two cups, and offer a cup to Xyltha. Then she launched into her next spate of lecturing.

"To cast magic, firstly a brief understanding of the nature of the Arcane is necessary. This world of Telath, it is made up on Essences. Think of essences as the building blocks of this realm, that make up all the substances that we can see, feel, hear and touch. In general, there are two types in the Material Plane: The Vis and Ara. Vis is organised, it is the cumulative organised essences that make substance. Ara, on the other hand, is disorganised, with no material form or presence - it is the Essence that flows all around us and through us.

Normally, we mortals cannot directly affect the flow and rhythm of these essences, even should we be able to sense them. Thus, we need a third type of Essence: that of the Essence Planes. The Essence Planes are located elsewhere, out of our reach in this Aelyriaverse. We mages can access these planes, and thus channel these essences into the Material Plane. There are various Essences in these Planes, however only a few have been able to be accessed, each defining their own respective spheres of Magic. For us Sorcerors, we access the Essences in the Plane of Force."

She paused to sip her tea. Xyltha frowned in concentration, trying furiously to memorise every word she uttered.

"In order to bring out these Essences into the Material Plane, an equal amount of Vis within us must be sacrificed. Recall I said before how Vis is the organised Essence of all that is substance? Well, each of us have a certain amount of Vis within us, and we sacrifice a certain amount in order to use the corresponding amount of Essence, in this case Force Essence, in our spell casting. Our efficiency at using our Vis will increase with experience and practice."

Another sip, her throat was becoming parched. She smiled, as she saw how hard her younger counterpart appeared to try and take in her words. It looked like he was trying to go poop in her stool; she hoped he wasn't.

"Now, in order for us to access the Essence of Force, mages have to enter a meditative state called Clara. All mages, regardless of sphere, undergo the same process in order to access their respective Essences. Once in this state of Clara, we are able to sense the presence of Vis and Ara in and around us. Using our Vis in this state, we initiate a reaction with the Ara surrounding us. This allows us access into the gateway of the Planes of Essences, called the Astral Plane. Our mind exists in the Astral Plane outside of time, and all our actions in this plane act as if instantaneous - for in truth it is. Therein, we focus on finding the Essence of Force, and channel an amount equal to our Vis we have invested in this spell back to the Material Plane. Some call this amount of Vis we have channeled back with us, Mana. It is with this Mana that we cast our spells. We are limited by the amount of Vis we can invest in spells each brightening, and with experience and promotions we can increase this amount, and subsequently the amount of spells, or level of spells we cast. For an initiate like you, three Initiate-level spells is the limit. Any more, and I would fear for your life."

A hard edge entered her tone. She did not want to frighten him, but she wanted to have it made clear that she would brook no arguments in that regard. It was dangerous exceeding one's limits in the Arcane, often with disastrous results. Xyltha gulped, anxiety setting in. He wasn't aware of this limit to magecraft, but he was still determined to learn. After all, as long as he didn't exert himself too much, he would be safe, right? It didn't sound too hard.