By
Morpheus
One of the many unique things about the sorcerers course is that each student is actually given their own private study room in the hall of sorcerers. It is a room reserved just for them and their sponsors to work together in.
My study room contained a desk where we could work at as well as a bookshelf and a permanent spell circle engraved in the floor. The desk was covered with the various papers and notes from the spells we were working on.
“What are we doing tonight?” I asked aunt June whom I’d just met up with a couple minutes ago.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked me with an amused look.
I let out a sigh, having hoped that she would have forgotten about this. Of course, I hadn’t really expected that she would have, which was why I’d worn loose clothes and no bra. I activated my talent and felt my body growing and improving.
“Are you satisfied?” I asked once I was in my enhanced form.
“Yes I am,” aunt June responded. Then she looked me over and said, “One of these nights, I’m going to make you wear some makeup and clothes to show off your body.”
I paled at that, not quite sure if aunt June was joking about that or not. Knowing her, she probably wasn’t.
“But not tonight,” aunt June told me with a smile. “Tonight, we’re going to try something new.”
“Okay,” I said, growing curious.
“Well, you’ve been doing very well the last couple times I was here,” aunt June said with an amused look. “You’re really getting the hang of casting these spells.”
“Gayle has been helping me every day,” I responded, pleased by the compliment. “She got me caught up with the rest of the class.”
“You’re going to have to introduce me to her sometime,” aunt June told me. “But right now, I’m going to show you how to make a token.”
“Really?” I asked in delight. “Great.”
“We’re going to use some of the spells you’ve already done,” she told me, pulling out the right diagrams. I looked them over and then nodded. “You’ve watched me make tokens several times so you should already have a basic idea.”
Aunt June pulled out a stack of blank business cards, her preferred material to make tokens out of. Or at least, it was her preferred material for disposable tokens since she’d made it clear that she definitely liked using jewelry even more.
After aunt June described what I needed to do, she had me prepare the spell circle and then she cast the first spell while I watched closely to what she did to bind the magic into the token. Then she stepped back and had me repeat the entire process.
It took me only two attempts before I was able to successfully bind the spell into the token. “I did it,” I exclaimed, nearly jumping up and down as I held out the business card that had the spell in it. “I made a token…”
“Now try it out,” aunt June told me.
“Irefay,” I exclaimed, using the activation word I’d chosen for the token.
An instant later, the business card crumbled in my hand and a small fire appeared on the floor, similar to the camp fire that Even had had shown me last week. I grinned proudly while aunt June nodded her own approval.
“Very good,” she told me. “But you might not want to use pig latin for your activation words.”
“I thought it was a cool idea,” I protested.
“It is,” she agreed, chuckling faintly. “But you want to standardize your activation words so you can activate any of your tokens without having to stop and remember what word you used. I’ve heard of sorcerers who customize each of their activation words and then they can’t remember them fast enough in an emergency.”
Aunt June had me practice a few more times, casting spells and then freezing them at the last moment into a token. I did the fire spell again and the whirlwind spell, as well as one to freeze water. Before long, I was growing confident in my ability to actually transfer a spell into a token.
“I think you’ve got that,” aunt June told me proudly. “For someone who started off behind everyone else, you’re sure picking this up fast.”
“It was Gayle’s tutoring,” I told her. Then at her hurt look, I quickly added, “And all of your great teaching.”
“Good catch,” she responded with a grin. “But you are doing pretty good. The first time I tried making a token, it took me four tries.”
“So, what next?” I asked.
“I had planned on spending a little longer working with the tokens,” aunt June told me with a grin. “But, we’re a little ahead of schedule so I think we have time for something else. I’m going to teach you a spell that’s a little more complicated that anything you’ve done so far.”
I used a wet sponge and wiped the chalk lines out of the spell circle and then she began to draw new ones. I watched carefully as she placed the lines and symbols, noticing something about a couple of the lines and marks that caught my attention.
Aunt June began casting the spell and I stood back, watching intently as she called the magic and formed it into the pattern. Again, something struck me as familiar but I couldn’t place quite what it was at first. By the time she completed the spell and transferred it into a token, I had a guess.
“Is this some kind of fire spell?” I asked aunt June.
“Yes, it is,” she responded, giving me a look of surprise. “How did you know?”
“Every time I do a fire spell, the pattern comes out here and here,” I tried pointing into the air, though it was hard to do since the pattern was no longer there. I gestured to the drawings in the spell circle and gestured to a few other spots. “And these are kind of the same.”
Aunt June stared at me for a long moment, making me uncomfortable. “You know, I was here for nearly six months before I started learning how to tell what a spell is by looking at the pattern.”
“Really?” I asked in surprise.
“Really,” she answered, giving me a thoughtful look. “Most sorcerers don’t learn how to read the patterns until they’ve had a bit more experience.”
I chuckled self-consciously at that. “Well, those tests they had us take at my old school said that I was really good at pattern recognition.”
I had always been pretty good at being able to see patterns and where things went, not that it was very useful. I thought that it had to do with the amount of practice I had putting together jigsaw puzzles. After doing it enough times, I could look over all the pieces and quickly pick out where the right shapes and colors matched. I could put a puzzle together in very little time when I put my mind to it, though I usually preferred to go slow and take my time.
“Well, I want you to start paying attention when you cast spells,” she told me thoughtfully. “See if you can start recognizing other spells.”
After this, aunt June had me perform the same spell that she’d just cast. I still didn’t know exactly what it did, only that it was related to fire. It was a complicated spell compared to any of the other ones that I’d done, but I was eager to try it out. It took me three tries before I was able to complete it and tie it into a token.
“Now to see exactly what it does,” aunt June said, holding her token out and saying, “Abra kadabra.”
A ball of fire appeared in the air and just floated there like a miniature sun. Then after ten seconds, it went nova and exploded.
“Cool,” I exclaimed, holding my token out and saying, “Activate.” A new burning sun appeared where the previous one had been, and it too exploded after only ten seconds.
“I think we’re about done for now,” aunt June told, looking quite pleased. “I need to get going home.”
“Are you going to be back again tomorrow?” I asked her hopefully. Even though I had to be in my enhanced form whenever aunt June worked with me, I still looked forward to it.
“I’m afraid not,” she apologized. “I’ve got a few things that I need to take care of and a few shows to perform. I won’t be able to get back until next week.”
“Okay,” I responded with a sigh of disappointment.
“Don’t worry,” she teased me. “You’re not going to be bored.” There was a mischievious look in her eyes, the same look she had just before she’d first announced that I’d have to be in my enhanced form when she taught me. “I might not be here, but I’m going to leave you with some homework…”
A short time later, I walked aunt June to the hall of doors and said goodbye. I gave her a hug and then watched as she disappeared through one of the doors.
I was just turning away to go back to my dorm room when I felt the faint tingle that always preceded my enhanced form wearing off. Without really thinking about it, I absently touched my talent again and felt the tingling vanish, giving myself another hour or two in this form as I started for my room.
Comments
My guess is that it is almost
My guess is that it is almost time her first duel with bitch sisters.
Interesting there
at the end. Did she really mean to do that or is she going to regret it? Nice to see also the pattern recognition thing. She could use an advantage here.
Grover
“You’re not going to be bored."
uh oh. what does THAT mean ....
What a Captivating Story
I've just read all the parts of this story today. It's fantastic. Thank you for such fine entertainment; can't wait to see where it goes from here.
Is it me or did we just get several BIG CLUES here?
Our heroine, Erin, a moderate level sorceress at best seems to be getting a whole lot better and fast.
Between her aunt's lessons and Gayle's help she is doing much better than I would have expected.
Several times she surprised her aunt, who I suspect is a moderately high level sorceress.
One, she mastered putting a spell in a token twice as quickly as her aunt. AND she recognized patterns in spells, something that apparently only relatively advanced sorcerers/sorceress can do.
Almost like she is ready to make new spells or at least combine and enhance spells like Gayle was doing at the end of the original Academy tale.
Beyond that she almost reflexively activated her Touched talent, her enhanced, more adult/sex body when it wore off. Is she THAT comfortable as a woman she now prefers her more adult, sensual form? Is it addictive? Is this evidence her inner succubus is growing stronger? Is it getting close to the full moon?
Is she somehow absorbing, storing magical energies from the school? Remember her succubus form is a creature of magic. It feeds on maleness but likely also on magic.
And she thought about it in an odd way when she did reflexively re-invoke her *Talent*.. She assumed it would give her another hour of TWO in that form. I though such a Talent usually only lasts for an hour.
Yet she nonchalantly assumed hers now can last up to two?
Something may be supercharging her magic.
There are at least two ways , well three perhaps to become a superior magic user. One is raw power, which she so far does not have, though she has yet to try magic in her succubus form. This is something Gayle and her mentor have. Second, by dexterity, fineness of control. Her seeing the patterns and mastering spells so quickly now suggests fineness of control. This is another thing Gayle has. And thirdly, master in/knowing a wide range of spells or knowing how to use a few spell and your talent in unique ways. This is where Gayle and her mentor are top rate and perhaps our new heroine may be showing signs of promise. As the aunt said, making your spells too fancy, too difficult to invoke is a hindrance in a battle. Look at Gayle and the wordlessly activated tokens she used in battle. Even tokens that were activated but did not activate fully until acted upon by another.
In addition to having Gayle's help who likely will pass this insight on to her, Erin herself knows the aunt uses at least two different types of tokens, business cards and jewelry items.
Card are easy to produce and adapt. Conversely they are easily damaged and can be burnt. Jewlry is more difficult to make but more durable.
Erin has found a good group of friends and mentors at the school. So far so good but I suspect we are heading for some trouble. Um, when she *broke* the boy she didn't really break him so much as awaken him to the sexuality simmering beneath her plain teen facade.
And others have and are now seeing that highly attractive woman on campus. That makes her a target for sexual advances and for jealousy from fools like that queen bitc* and her court.
i see trouble ahead for her.
And though it's not been long, how soon to the full moon? I assume on the full moon on that day and a few days either side she MUST become a succubus, at least at night. THAT may cause her big problems.
Though when I think on it if anyone understands the problems of an unfavorable Public Image, it would be Gayles mentor Ms You-Know-Who.
As she essential explained to Gayle in the first story, it is the winners who make write the histories. Thus just because someone appears/is reputed to be evil, are they really? Or because they appear virtuous, are they? Erin at some point MUST expose her succubus form, a female demon but is a demon necessarily evil? We know she is not but how will other perceive her? Maybe THAT is the secret her aunt kept from her. Perhaps she or a friend was hurt/betrayed or even killed due to misperceptions?
Nice quiet chapter befoere all heck busts loose?
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
Wow you really thought about
Wow you really thought about this. I agree with your analysis. Demons probably made war against humans/touched and got wiped out. History/Legends paint them as evil, but for all we know it could have been humanity that started it. Hell, maybe the guys were unfaithful with succubae and a horned wife started the whole thing.
The aunt worries me. Are there mind magics in this universe? Considering her comments about makeup and her insistence that Erin wears her enhanced form I get the impression she's manipulating the new girl. Hell, the fact that Erin actually prolonged the sexy form seems very very strange to me.
Morpheus, thank you for writing this captivating story, I can't wait for the next chapter,
Beyogi
Good one
With comparing the spell pattern recognition to working a crossword puzzle. I liked that comparison and it is very appropriate given the situation. Since Aaron was really good with jigsaws it stands to reason the Erin will be good with spell patterns. Nice.
As for the enhanced form, I doubt Erin will get away with her 'mousy' form much at all in the future. As you just showed when she felt it going and redid it.
Ahhh, vanity. lol.
Maggie
Enhanced form genetically passed on?
Probably not. I have some problems with plastic surgery and all 'enhancements' is that you can't hide that fact when your children are born. There is a man in China who sued his wife for deception when his children came out ugly and his wife confessed to have had over 100,000 dollars (US) of plastic surgery prior to marriage. He won. And yes I saw her before picture and yikes. Vanity is good and all but genes still rule the roost.
I, for one, am naturally beautiful of course .... not.
Kim
I wonder what would happen if
I wonder what would happen if she activates her talent while in her succubus form? There seemed to be some foreshadowing in the beginning of the story about cursed were's; I wonder if Teresa will curse Erin to revert to her were form and be outed as a succubus in a duel? After all, it is known that she is both a were as well as a sorcerer...sorceress.