The Academy Of Space And Time

Where I hope I'm finally learning something

I nodded.

"In India, they had their ways to control the aether. They used movements similar to the Mudra, the symbolic gestures for Buddhism and Hinduism, but new gestures, devoid of any religious affiliation. We still refer to them as Mudras — it's easier. We perform them with our hands and fingers, and to each of them a spell corresponds."

"Legend says Indian Enchanters are still amongst the best at it, because we've handed down those gestures for generations and it's somewhat in our magical DNA now," a teenage girl smiled at me. She had brown skin and long, flowing dark hair. "I'm Ohda Bukhari. I was actually helping Bill with his Mudras yesterday, so I can tutor you, too."

Bill waved 'hi' at me. He had dark brown hair and green-ish eyes.

Mister Winter had me sat down at the table and started explaining the theoretical part. I was a bit embarrassed because it was likely things I'd heard before, but it was different, hearing them from the lips of a man who was a much better Enchanter than I and who was there to guide me and teach me.

Ohda sat down next to us. I noticed that other students were lurking around, too. Edgar, for example, which bothered me. But there were also Jake, the nice boy from the evening before, and a girl who followed him around as if she was his girlfriend, a slim girl with a brown pixie cut who sorta looked like Audrey Hepburn.

"Here," Ohda broke the silence and handed me something. "You can study the table I created with the thirty Mudras for the most common basic spells. Everyone in the Aether Realm will expect you to know them, even though we mostly rely on elemental magic."

"Speaking of which," the Professor added. "I know you know many things already, but let's run through the different types of Enchanter. I'm guessing you don't know all of the subtleties of our magic yet.

"Now, now," Jake looked at me reassuringly. "Don't feel bad if the Professor is acting like you're a rookie. Magic is based on the same concepts and gestures we repeat over and over. As the motto says, practise makes magical. Which means we've all heard those things countless of times, but we become better Enchanters only once we make them ours."

The Professor laid an old pack of tarot cards in front of me. "Those are the cards we use in the Aether Realm. Their names draw from different tarots, but they are united by the common fact that they are important names in our history."

Mister Winter revealed three cards. The first was the Hierophant. I was aware of what it meant, for I was not a total idiot.

"The Hierophant is the most common magician, the elemental Enchanter. We can make magic using either fire, water, air, light or earth. Still, we must follow the hierarchic order of nature, hence the name."

The second card was Justice. "The Jurist. The mind magician. Some of us are clever and some are not, depending on the assets we were born with, but you should never mess with a Jurist for they have mind power. They can shapeshift, know the locations of people and objects and use their mind powers to teleport with the use of a portal. As for what a portal is, we'll go into details later. A Jurist can never go on the wrong path, though, if they do, their energy will become destructive altogether."

"What about when a Hierophant follows the wrong path?" I asked.

The Professor looked at me as if he wanted to burn a hole through my soul, with his eyes. I was reminded of when he got angry because I told him I wanted to try time-changing, and decided not to ask any more questions.

"A Hierophant on the wrong path could change the hierarchic rules of nature I mentioned before."

I shivered at the brief description.