Luca stared at the book for a long moment, unsure whether to continue. On one hand, it was just a book, something most commoners wouldn't care about. Most didn't learn how to read, since they didn't use it daily, if at all.
But Luca wasn't like most commoners.
He learned how to read from a very young age. He discovered that the difference between successful peasants and unsuccessful ones was simply education. Reading was the first step.
His plan was to use his savings to buy expensive books on finance, then leverage that knowledge into a proper position — perhaps as an accountant to a noble household, or even a tax collector for the government.
That had been the plan.
Now, after what he'd just gone through, he wasn't sure such ambitions would be enough. Could he really be satisfied living such a life while knowing power like that existed?
His eyes returned to the cover. The title was bold enough, but the words underneath gave him pause:
"By Magnus Crowley; the Emperor of Heresies."
Not a name a sane man would hand himself.
Luca had never heard of this Crowley. Still, calling oneself an "emperor" was already a crime worthy of treason. Emperor of Heresies… what punishment would that bring?
Greed tugged at him.
He remembered Haider's Judgement Light attack, and the mage who had appeared in his home and floated on an ominous cloud of dust. He remembered the burning golden eye the bishop had conjured.
One thing was certain.
He wanted all of it.
Without further hesitation, he flipped the cover open and began reading.
The first line made him blink:
"To my successor. The sudden turn of events should be as shocking for you as it is for me. If my divination was correct, you should be at the heart of the Empire, in Astor. In Carinthia. You're young and wise for your age. All of these qualities are ones I desire."
Luca froze. His mouth went dry. 'This Crowley could actually divine this?'
"...Marie, my student, should also be dead according to the predictions made. Unfortunate, but a necessary sacrifice to transmit the legacy over such a long distance."
So that was the truth. The mage in his home. She had been a student, used as a vessel. Crowley mentioned her death so casually, as if it didn't hurt at all.
"...I am likely trapped within the Star Prison if I had to resort to such a crude method. It seems the experiment to contact those Spirits has failed. I wasn't able to Scry much, but if the divination was correct, you have no previous knowledge of magic. In that case, pay close attention to the words written in this text. This is The Path."
Luca's grip on the book tightened. He stopped trying to understand the unfamiliar words and instead focused on the explanations that followed.
Hours seemed to pass as he read through the "foundations." Everything after that was spells and rituals, but the first section alone shifted how he saw the world.
Magic, the book explained, drew on two sources: the stellar energy scattered through the air from the cosmos, and the energy drawn from the Veil, the same vast expanse Luca had stood in earlier.
The Veil was the barrier separating the physical world from countless spiritual planes. It was made of glyphs, the true building blocks of reality.
The "stars" above were not stars at all, but glyphs. They were the foundation of existence itself.
According to Crowley, ancient humans of higher spirituality had stumbled upon the Veil in visions, gazed at those glyphs, and unlocked them. In doing so, they had learned to channel the stellar energy. That was the origin of all mages.
Suddenly, Luca's earlier visions made sense. Reaching for the star had triggered the ceremony that awakened Initiate Mages. He had crossed the first threshold.
But even with that, he wasn't even at the bottom of the hierarchy yet. Mages technically started at the Initiate stage, but the true beginning was the first degree.
Every Initiate began by unlocking a Foundational Glyph. That glyph, imprinted into the mind, reflects the nature of the Initiate. The stronger the glyph, the stronger the mage could become.
Luca closed his eyes. In his mind's eye, the symbol revolved around the dark energy he'd seen earlier: three arrows in a circle, pointing inward at a single dot.
He knew what it was. He had spoken the word before without understanding.
"Convergence."
The Veil trembled faintly as he whispered it, then fell still.
"Fascinating," he murmured.
Unfortunately, Initiates could not wield glyphs freely. They could not cast spells with a word alone and had to use materials.
He continued reading.
Foundational glyphs were the most natural to a mage, but not the only ones. Others could be unlocked, though they were weaker and harder to use.
Glyphs, when combined, gave rise to the schools of magic:
Astromancy and Divination, Elemental Arts, Summoning, Alchemy, and lastly Sealing.
The book included charts and examples of glyphs, which saved him from the far more dangerous path of trying to seek them on his own. Even high-ranked mages risked their sanity by staring too long at the Veil.
Luca read on. However, he had to pause when he came across a warning scrawled across one page:
"Child born under the star of Mercury. Do not attempt this ritual until you are ready to advance to the First Degree. My research has shown that this is the optimum time to perform the ritual--"
He frowned. There was no ritual attached, only the caution. He turned the page to find a glyph and a second note:
"Be wary of your behavior before the Church and the Inquisition. You are but a speck of dust in the universe. Your energy waves will be unstable. Carve this glyph into an item you carry and cast the spell to hide your waves."
He exhaled slowly. That, at least, gave him some relief.
His eyes lingered on the glyph, memorizing every curve.
For the first time that night, he smiled.