(Protectorate Year 850)
Dear Master
Good evening, it is I, your most magically adept daughter, Caster Lillia Sevoradoor Venisintamos of Hethalwell University, Raised in the 14th Class by Caster Deli Binu Fafaringar, Born of the Hethalwell Spawn Pit on Crown World Y’Varda.
Magic.
I’ve only learned of it within the past year, but I’ve already shown a great proficiency for the arcane, and my instructor, Caster Deli, has praised me consistently.
“A great deal of technical knowledge,” she said. It’s always followed by “but not much common sense,” but I tend to ignore that part. I’m technically knowledgeable!
So, to properly explain my magical gifts, I’ll take you through my end-of-year test and how I aced it flawlessly.
To start off with, what is magic? I was taught that there’s three types. White magic, red magic, and green magic. All exist in varying locations and densities throughout Y’Varda, with some locations being stronger in one type over the others.
White magic refers to your soul and how you can manipulate it. All Slavani have souls, which Master graciously provides each of Her children upon being spawned, and some animals have souls too.
Red magic comes from space and fills the air around us, soaking into the matter that makes up the universe. It’s mostly an energy source we use to cast spells, and fuel the other two types of magic, but we can also manipulate red magic itself.
Green magic refers to life itself. All living things have life energy stored inside of them, and this magic manipulates it. We Slavani come from the green goo in the Spawn Pits. When we eat, we absorb the life energy in our food. When we get old and withered, we must return to the Spawn Pits to get our life energy refilled.
How we use these magics is through our staffs. Incredibly complex crystal balls on the end of a twisting wooden stick. Master designed these staffs; we can’t perform magic unless we’re touching them. Also through Master, we can turn one type of energy into another. We can turn space energy into life energy, then into soul energy, then back again. This is why, even though red magic is most common in deserts, we can use it on Y’Varda, a world rich in grassy farmlands and verdant rivers.
As for how we cast magic… you just do it. You hold onto the staff and do it. I’m not sure on the specifics, but it’s like wiggling our ears, it just kinda happens. Since Workers and Soldiers can’t understand what I mean, I guess Master made it unique to the very existence of we Casters.
Heh, poor other strains. Imagine if your ability was “I can do monotonous work” or “I can lift things.” I’m so thankful I was born a Caster.
With that explained, our end-of-year test was simple. To prove that we knew and understood the fundamentals of magic, Caster Deli brought our class to a door in one of the hallways of our university. The orb at the end of her staff glowed red, the door was surrounded by a faint red aura, and then it opened. Caster Deli switched some of the green magic around the door into red magic, then controlled the red magic to swing it open without using her hands.
“This is a changing room,” she said, her voice calm and venerable from years of tutelage. “Pick a cubby, change to the clothes inside, then meet me back out here.”
There’s 30 of us in class, we were all spawned in the same batch. Our faces look the same (though I’m obviously the cutest), and our voices are similar.
“Yes, mom!” I said with a salute as I was the first to enter.
“Thanks, mom!” My sister Winrow said with a bright smile.
“Thanks a bundle, mom!” My sister Qutelg said with a wide grin.
“Thanks a ton, mom!” My sister Cyotata said with a radiant smirk.
“Thanks a lot, mom!” My sister Reveni said with a delighted expression.
“Thank you, mother.” My sister Oiut gently nodded her head. Oiut was an odd one, oldest sister in the batch by about two minutes.
The changing room was made of wood. The whole academy was grown out of a massive tree that’s been cultivated over the eons, with new rooms, wings, and furniture being grown in minutes through pouring green magic into the structure. The light wood was soft on my paws, a little bouncy, and nobody has ever gotten a splinter from it. Along the walls were small cubbies with doors, three stacked on top of each other, and enough open space for 50 Slavani to change at a time. There were also several benches growing out of the floor, curving beautifully into elegant shapes, featuring hearts as a core part of the design.
Now, all my less-proficient sisters started using magic to open the cubbies. There were no locks, so all they did was simply pull the small wooden doors open with red or green magic.
“Pfft! That’s lame. Watch how a real Caster does it!” I grabbed the staff with both hands, held the orb straight up, and focused exactly on what magic I wanted to perform. Wind kicked up inside the room like a small tornado, our Caster robes whipped around by the pressure! “HYAH!” With a mighty warcry, I swung the staff until the glowing-green orb pointed straight at the cubby, then I fired!
A massive stream of steaming hot, lime green acid spewed from the orb and covered my chosen cubby (and most of the surrounding wall) with a pungent fluid which easily ate through the cubby doors. And ate through the cubby walls. And the wall behind it. Some also got on the floor and dissolved large chunks of the ground, forming craters kind of like the moon. Eventually, so much of the wall was eaten away that we could see into the next room, a cooking class.
The other class sat there, stunned, with some waving politely through the new window. They were cooking some form of stew, then the smell of acid wafted over to them. They coughed and hacked at the foul odor, then started yelling at me.
Not that I cared about some lesser batch of Slavani though. I walked forward and collected my clothes, which had fell in a long pile where the wall used to be. As I’m not an idiot, I set the acid to only chew through wood, not flesh or fabric.
I looked to the other class, then frowned. I didn’t want them peeking on me as I changed, especially since they were so mad, so I made my staff glow green again, pressed the orb to the ground, then regrew the wall and all the cubbies. I added several small bushes of pink flowers. Due to how I set the wall to regrow, all the other sets of clothes were set back into their correct cubbies.
“What was the point of that?” Ouit asked as she pulled her robes over her head. Her hair was a mess from the wind of my spell, everyone’s hair was messy.
“What do you mean? I had to collect these clothes, and I did. Mission accomplished.”
“Why didn’t you just open the door?”
“I did, in a way. I opened all of the doors at once.” I gave Ouit a pleased, self-satisfied smile.
But with that, I stripped off my robes and stuffed them in the cubby, then looked to these new clothes. It was some type of one-piece, elastic outfit, with holes for my neck, arms, and thighs. What was this used for? Where did it come from? As much as I pondered, I couldn’t think up a good answer.
“Oh well,” I thought. “Deli will explain before long.”
It was a bit hard to snap the suit into place, it was tight against my fur and kept getting caught. Eventually I was able to pull it into the correct spot, then stretched out to make sure I could move right.
“Kinda snug. How does it look?” I spread my arms and gave Ouit a twirl.
“Tch,” she clicked her tongue. “Fine. You look okay, I guess.”
She was so jealous of my body, it was hilarious. But hey! She’s my friend, and my sister. I won’t badmouth her. “Oh come on, you look great too!” I poked her stomach. “But maybe don’t eat ten meals today again, okay?”
Her face soured. “I… practiced a lot yesterday and had to replenish my green magic.”
I smiled, then wrapped an arm around her as we left the changing room.
We lined up next to Deli, who stood outside the door in a similar outfit, and waited for the rest of our sisters to finish.
“Do I want to know what all that noise was?” Deli asked.
“No,” Ouit answered quickly.
“I made acid and ate through the wall to get my clothes,” I corrected. I was proud of what I did, not sure why Ouit felt the need to lie for me.
Deli gripped her nose, “did you regrow the wall?”
“Yup.”
“And the cubbies?”
“Yup.”
“Then I don’t care anymore.”
And with that, the subject was dropped.
I frowned at that. In recent months, Deli has been praising me less and less for these extravagant displays of magical strength. I have to show off even more impressive spells, but sometimes she just looks tired and waves it off. It’s kind of annoying. Melting a whole wall then regrowing it? I was expecting her to pat my head like she did at the beginning of the year.
A shame.
We waited for our sisters to slowly peel on the elastic suits, and when they all came out, Deli led us to a nearby room.
“Where we going?” I asked.
“Somewhere fun?” Winrow bounced.
“I bet it’ll be cool!” Quetelg had a skip in her step.
“This test’ll be a sinch!” Cyotata’s wings fluttered, and she hovered a little.
“No doubt we’ll pass with flying colors!” Reveni’s tail wagged side to side.
“You all know where about to get there, right? Just be patient.” Ouit said with an annoyed huff.
“Come on, sis! Aren’t you a bit excited? Where’s your sense of adventure and fun?”
“This is a test. It’s neither adventurous, nor fun.”
It’s hard to believe we’re from the same batch, but I love her anyway.
Deli opened up another door for us and I rushed inside… but what I saw shook me to my core, rocked the very foundations of my soul, and brought me to my knees.
“Oh no… oh Master, please, no..!”
What I saw was… a large pool. Full of water. With a diving board, and ladders on the side, and a large slide, and hanging on the walls were a variety of pool toys.
“It’s just water.” Ouit said.
“Yeah! It’s water! The first spell I rushed to learn was one that cleaned me because I hate taking baths! Don’t you?”
“It’s not my favorite thing in the world, but I’m not gonna cry about it.”
The rest of our classmates walked in, and they had a wide variety of reactions. Despair, anguish, hopelessness, confusion, nausea, and a general sense that Master had forsaken us. Some sisters collapsed as I did, others hung their heads, more still braced themselves against walls or each other. A couple of my sisters were weirdos like Ouit, who just shrugged, and one abnormality even looked excited to go swimming!
“That’s right, everyone!” Deli said as she walked forward, her staff twirling betwixt her fingers. “This is your final test for the year, to determine if you pass.” The orb on the end of her staff glowed green, then so did her body for a moment. After her spell, she dove into the pool, intentionally causing a splash that caused us to back up to avoid the droplets. A moment later, her head surfaced. “That’s it. Now come on in.”
I stood, took a deep breath, then walked over to the edge of the pool, carefully avoiding the small puddles. All my sisters looked to me, watching my every action, waiting to see what I’d do.
Putting my paw out, I gently lowered it until one of my claws touched the water.
My eyes rounded and panic struck my heart! I used my wings to help throw myself back, and I pressed against the wall.
“Eugh! It’s wet!”
“It’s water,” Deli said.
“It’s wet water!”
“Just get in.”
“Ah, I got it.” Ouit said as she walked closer. Despite her brave front, she shuddered when she stepped in a puddle. Her staff glowed a faint green, then her body did too. “This is simple.” With that, she dove right into the deep end.
“Ouit!” I screamed and scrambled to the edge of the pool on my hands and knees, all our sisters reacted in similar panic. “You had so much to live for!! Why-!”
Her head popped up out of the water, then she laid her arms against the edge of the pool, our noses nearly touching. “Just use a spell. We’re Casters, that’s the test. Use a spell so you can bare going into the water.”
Deli nodded, “that’s the test. You’re forbidden from using a spell on someone else though. It has to come from your own brain, and you have to pass on your own merits.”
A spell to make swimming easier.
I had never thought of that! I had never considered using magic to find some way to swim… how do I do that?
I looked around as some of my sisters got their own bright ideas and used either white, red, or green magic.
Winrow used white magic, then dove into the pool as if she couldn’t wait to get in.
Quetelg used green magic, hesitantly swished her hand in the water, then carefully submerged the rest of her body.
Cyotata used red magic that coated her body in a transparent film, then she jumped in.
Reveni used green magic, then walked into the water no problem.
I didn’t know what kind of spells they used. From my perspective, they glowed either white, red, or green for a second, then entered the water without freaking out. I sat there, stunned. What happened?
How was I supposed to replicate it?
Some other classmates were puzzled as well, but as time passed, more and more of my sisters figured it out.
“Umm…”
I looked to the left and right, then saw a Worker on the far side of the pool. A custodian, she had a mop and was cleaning the hard wood floor. She shook her hips and wagged her tail as she worked, and I noticed she was stepping in puddles without a care in the world.
My eyes shot open at the sight of opportunity, and I ran over to her, using my wings to carefully avoid any water on the floor. When I reached her, I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.
“Ack!” She cried from surprise.
“Hey! Buddy, Devioneses is your name, right?”
“Y-yeah. You’re… Lillia?”
“Sure am! So, how do you like water?”
“A fair bit, I guess. Water’s pretty fun.”
“You like swimming?”
She smiled warmly. “Sure do, ma’am.”
“That’s great, so! I gotta swim for my test. How would you like to do it for me?”
“What? So, like, we just switch clothes or something? Won’t they know I’m not you?”
“Switch clothes?!” I said with a bemused smirk, then lowered my head to laugh as I patted her shoulder. “Switch clothes, oh my.” I wiped a tear from my eye. “No, my dear, we’ll be switching bodies. I put my soul in your body, I put your soul in my body.”
“You can do that?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Can I do that!? Guffaw! What can Casters like me not do, is the better question.”
“Swim, I guess. And simple tasks like mopping the floors, that’s why I’m here.”
I pouted, but decided to ignore her comment. “Yes. I can switch our bodies. So how about it? Wanna go swimming for the rest of the day?”
“Sure!” Her ears and tail wagged happily, and I smiled.
The orb on my staff glowed a milky white, and a similarly colored aura surrounded us. My eyes went dark for a second as my soul was ripped into the air and transferred. In that split second of bodylessness, I felt… everything. The entire world around me, all the spirits wandering the university, the souls of my sisters, it was wild. When my vision returned, I was in Devioneses’s body. A cute set of overalls, and a mop in my hands.
To my immediate right, there was an incredibly attractive young woman with her arm hooked around my shoulders. I’d be lying if I said my heart didn’t skip a beat from the simple proximity of her beauty. Had I any less self-restraint, I would have leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek.
“Huh, it worked.” The young beauty said as she gripped her hands to test her strength. “Alright then, Lillia, I’ll see you when class is done. Make sure to not miss any spots!”
With my cheeks flush, all I could do was nod as she handed me my staff, backed off to the edge of the pool, squatted down, then jumped forward, spinning once before landing an expert dive into the water.
“Wow…” I said. “Is that how people see me? Have I always been that hot? Heeheehee!”
Then, Devioneses started flailing in the water. “Ack! Kegh! Blurb!” She managed to flail her way to the side of the pool, then climbed out. She gasped for breath.
“What happened?”
“I, ah, whoops! Forgot I can’t swim.” She skipped to the side of the room and grabbed a large floaty off the wall, then dove back in. This time, with her floaty board under her, she was able to kick her paws and happily started doing laps around the pool.
And just like that, bam. I did it. I passed the test.
Using Master’s magic, I successfully conquered the water. All that was left to do was pretend to be Devioneses for a few hours.
I looked down at the floor, swiped the mop over the wood, frowned, then set the mop against the wall. “I think I’ll take a break.” I mean, mopping floors? That’s just not work fit for a Caster.
So I went to the side of the room and laid on a bench, resting my head on my arms and relaxing.
Then Deli called out from the water. “Oi! Lillia! Why are you laying out there? Get in the water.”
I waved her off. “I’m not Lillia right now, I’m Devioneses. Lillia is in the water, happily swimming.”
Deli glanced to the ‘me’ in the water, and the me on the bench. “You changed clothes? That’s not magical at all.”
“N-no, I used magic to switch our souls.”
Deli glanced between us again. At that moment, the pool floaty slipped out of Devioneses’s hand and she scrambled and panicked and flailed trying to get over to it. “Really? Cause you don’t look like Devioneses at all, you look like Lillia.”
Ouit was floating on her back and gently moving her arms to paddle. “You two aren’t even trying to mimic each other’s expressions or quirks. Nobody would fall for this.”
I frowned, then jumped up. “H-hold on! It’s not just our personalities, we look totally different. Just look at my killer, rockin’ body all wrapped up in that cute swimsuit, and look at this disgusting, frumpy Worker-body covered in these gross overalls.”
“Hmm,” Ouit glanced between us and considered what I said. “Be that as it may, it’s still obvious who’s who.”
“Also I’m ignoring your comments,” Devioneses said with a hum in her voice as she paddled by.
Deli sighed, “if you want to go down this path, I could give you a passing score. But you have to actually pretend to be a Worker and blend in. Go pick up that mop and get to work.”
I glanced to the mop, then to the water. Weighing ‘getting wet’ against ‘doing demeaning manual labor’ in my head, it didn’t take long to decide which was the worst option.
“Fine!” I said as I crossed my arms and pouted. “I guess I’ll go change.” With staff in hand, I stomped out of the room.
As I was changing, Devioneses paddled up to Deli. “Excuse me, ma’am, does that mean I need to get out and change too?”
Deli smiled and affectionately rubbed her hair. “Of course not. Have all the fun you want.”
Devioneses smiled brightly and got back to her swimming. Workers are just so innocent and low-IQ when compared to us Casters, you couldn’t just tell her to get out of the water. That would have been cruel.