Page 35 of Veiled

I smiled and stood up and walked to the center of the room. Well, this just got interesting.

I took form and faced Derrick, forming my fire into a large ball, letting it hover and get larger and larger as my concentration increased. Derrick, eyes wide, formed his fire into a blade. I smiled.

“Okay, let’s see whose mental form is stronger. You are both shielded. Essentially, to tell if your form is strong, throwing your fire shouldn’t throw you off balance. Begin.”

I threw my ball, and it engulfed his entire shield, burning brightly. Without the shield, he probably would have been incinerated. My stance was the same, my focus sharp. Good thing too, because when Derrick threw his attack, he fell back, and it aimed for my heart and I was not shielded. I quickly countered and pulled from earth to obliterate the fire, versus it hurting, or rather killing me, like it was intended to do.

“What the fuck?” I hear it echoed by Remi and Grayson.

Grayson frowned. “I shielded you. How the hell did that not take?”

“No idea, but it’s going to take a lot more than that to hurt me. I realized last minute I wasn’t shielded.” I frowned, thinking.

“It’s okay, we can figure this out later. I’ll go sit back down.” I smiled, my thoughts whirling. If I was a weaker person, I would have been injured or dead. School just started; who the hell would want me dead? I pushed the thoughts out of my head and focused on Gray.

“Okay so, moving forward,” Grayson continued, a crease in his eyebrow.

“So, knowing we can control the forms our magic takes, you should be able to manipulate the magic to push through objects to fortify them in battle. Some push magic into objects to cause harm or cause good fortune. Rather, they cover them in magic, to be more specific.”

A student raised his hand. “Professor, I am confused. Is that the same thing as infusing our weapons like we do with Professor Ryder, for combat?”

“Not necessarily, although the concept is the same. This would be more geared to making a sword stronger with a spell or pushing a bit of your magic into the sword, beyond that of coating it during battle. In effect, it is not visible.” The student nodded.

Grayson’s voice flowed through the room as he passionately described how we should be able to use magic to create and, in turn, destroy.

“So, what is magic? Trish?”

Putting her on the spot made me smile, but she tossed her hair and responded airily, “Well, Professor, it is a manipulation of what is around you.”

“Close,” he continued but I interrupted as I raised my hand. He raised his eyebrow with a smirk.

“Hudson.” He nodded his head with a wave of his hand indicating for me to proceed.

“Magic is not only the manipulation of what is around you. Rather, it is a deep connection to the various elements and energies in the air.”

“Correct.” He smiled. “What are some of the limitations to magic?”

“Limitations are that you can only use what is in your immediate area,” Trish responded.

“Not necessarily,” I interrupted. “The various forms of manipulations do not necessarily have to be with elements in your immediate vicinity.”

Grayson lifted his eyebrow. “Interesting. So, you’re inferring that you can pull from energies that are, let’s say, miles away? How do you manage to do that?” he asked. He looked genuinely interested.

“You can’t. She's full of shit, there is no way you can pull from what isn’t around you. That would take more power that anyone has,” one of the students said. But before Grayson could respond, Luca threw a paper ball at him, I smiled and continued. I knew this information like the back of my hand from the insane amount of advanced studying I had to do, but also from what Kalen would go over during our various training sessions. He wouldn’t let me just do the basic forms of magic; he taught me beyond that. What I assumed was advanced, was in all actuality less than basic. It was child’s play. He taught me the strengths we can really have but warned me the dangers of a quick burn out, without consistent practice.

When we first began, I would tire quickly but got better. I slept like the dead after those training sessions. I was relieved that after my 18th birthday, the exhaustion never manifested again, I was able to always keep going. But of course, he trained me harder and harder and we still had not reached a bottom. During one of our cool down talks, he told me that magic had its limitations, however most of those limitations were due to lack of knowledge and/or willingness to do what was unknown. Those limitations just stopped applying to me, and, when I thought about it, truth was, I enjoyed the knowledge I was just one pantsuit away from ruling the world. Not really, but a girl could dream.

I raised my eyebrow and waved my hand towards him. “Despite the idiot over there, the power you have is internally driven.” I nodded my head and clapped sarcastically. “Just like the standards for stages of growth as a person, your abilities grow the same way. The more you practice, the longer your endurance. Like training for battle or for sports, even. That being said, magic is energy and manipulation, right? You can infuse objects? Have you ever considered using the elements around you to infuse YOURSELF with power? Like magical coffee, it won’t last forever, but it can give you a boost to continue to use your magic.” I paused and looked around the room and caught Gray’s eyes, flickering with interest.

“Now, the elements are everywhere. So, by definition, if magic is about a deep connection with oneself and the elements around you. Once you ground yourself, you should be able to pull from distances. Furthermore, it is about mental clarity. I’m sure you were all taught the merits of mediation?” Everyone nodded, Remi looked at me curiously. “Meditation isn’t about sitting down and focusing only; that ability to touch the deepest parts of your soul can be achieved even when practicing. You need to breathe deeply and ground yourself to the very elements you wish to use. Magic is a gift to be used. If the elements rebel, it is because your ability to ground yourself is weak, and then you lose control of your magic, which is dangerous to you and others around you. Oftentimes, that is why some people rather use blood magic. They lack control but seek a way to ground themselves, even if it is unnatural. If you’re connected to the energies, then they will infuse you further and add to your abilities.”

Grayson nodded, eyes twinkling. “Ms. Hudson is correct, granted that was later in the semester. However yes, the better you ground yourself the more you can achieve with your magic. So where do we start? How do we use these theories we just learned and put them into practice? Does anyone want to give it a try? Ms. Hudson, these were your theories today, so you can come forward. However, I do need another volunteer.”

I got up from the chair of splinter death again and walked into the center of the classroom to the collected whispers of lust, envy, and anger from Trish and her cronies. I keep a smirk on my face and ignore everyone. The only two people in this classroom I care about are Remi and Gray, and I guess a little of Jensi and Luca, though they were newer. Ha. Everyone else can eat a dick with ketchup. When no one raised their hand, Grayson picked a random student from the room named Brent. He was built like a swimmer, had striking blue eyes, messy blonde hair like he did it on purpose to look sexy, and a sharp jaw. In effect, to any other girl, he would be breathtaking. He walked up with a cocksure smile and sauntered to the middle of the floor. I rolled my eyes internally. Oh boy, pretty boy syndrome.

“Hudson, Brent is one the strongest students here. I do think he would be a good match to bring out your theories. Now, I want you to both center yourself and pull a small amount of magic and try to, as Hudson said, pull from elements farther from you, and attack and counterattack. During this practice, you also MUST shield. If you don't protect yourself, that's on your shoulders; take responsibility.” Grayson nodded and indicated for us to begin.

I didn’t need to truly ground myself; I already was. It has become so ingrained in me that I’m constantly ready to protect myself. I focused on Brent and felt his magic building. Right as he brought his hands up, sliding his right foot back and slightly bending his knees, he threw a blue and green swirling ball of energy in my direction. As directed, I shielded in a different way. I smirked, as I brought up my hands and blocked the attack with a wall of flowing water and ice that came from my hands and I used the element to absorb his power back to myself. Water is in the air, therefore an easy element to wield, to absorb energy without taxing yourself. A few gasps went up around the room. If any one of them would have flipped through their books for this semester, they would have seen that you can absorb someone’s energy in combat.

---