It was a sunnier day than most with a light that made even the dust sparkle. A table had been dragged into the clearing behind the house and around it sat three children.
Anecus in the center as always with his spine perfectly straight had eyes glowing with curiosity. Naia sat at his left, already poised with her notepad and wrapped graphite. Trying to imitate Anecus's 'perfect student' behavior, meanwhile Cassia slouched hard enough to fold the concept of posture in half.
Jane for some reason was in a more teacherly outfit today, subconsciously wanting to play the part. Red's nose would have started to bleed if he had seen her.
In a stern but loving voice "Cassia, sit up." It wasn't loud, It wasn't cruel. But it was the most commanding tone any of the children had heard from her in weeks.
Cassia sat up so fast she forgot how to blink. Anecus and Naia followed suit without even being addressed.
Nodding in approval "Good. Today is the official start of your lessons."
Jane starts to walk back and forth with her hand clasped behind her back "and while we are in class I am not going to tolerate any distractions. Is that understood?" She didn't look at anyone in particular. But the subtle side eye she gave Cassia had the desired effect.
All three in unison "Yes ma'am."
Jane spends the first hour going over the structure of the class. "First will be mathematics" Cassia groans a little. "Second will be history and philosophy." Naia perks up a little excited and "lastly will be Pillar theory and world ecology." Anecus's eyes shine a little at the mention of the Pillar's.
The first lesson was going smoothing. The only real disturbance was Cassia saying math was evil.
During history Naia and Anecus asked lots of questions primarily on the ancient world dragons and great disasters they heard about in stories from Red. To their dismay Jane held those topics for future lessons.
Jane slaps a ruler on the table "Ok sweetlings, last lesson for today." All three reaffirmed their attention, some suffering more than others. Jane looks at the three of them with a mix of love and pride…'not now Jane.'
Not asking any of them in particular "what can you tell me about the Accursed?"
There was a moment of silence, all three a little scared to answer wrong. Until Naia raised her hand "They are people with magical abilities…like papa and mama." Jane nodded, "You're not wrong, but there's a lot more to it than that."
She flipped over a large piece of paper that stood on an easel. It showed a pentagonal shape, "before we begin I should tell you where the name Accursed came from." One would think that being chosen to have these abilities were a blessing, but in this world it was a curse, a responsibility. "But the first awakened did not have this understanding." Jane took on a more serious tone.
"The very first people to undergo this awakening, before knowledge of the Pillars, or the existence of Echo streams. They lost control of their abilities, kingdoms fell, Cities were swallowed by uncontrolled power. Loved ones burned, froze, vanished, or were spiritually torn apart."
These early awakenings were seen not as blessings, but as curses. Thus, society named those who were cursed aptly.
There was silence for a moment Jane letting the words of warning settle in. but then Anecus raised his hand.
"Yes, Ane?" Anecus with a look of contemplation "does everyone become an accursed? He added another question. "And what changed, what made people gain control?"
Jane fought back a smile, 'my baby boy already asking the big questions!' With a clearing of the throat, "to answer your first question, no. Not everyone awakens and becomes an Accursed. In fact it's a relatively small population compared to the world's population."
Anecus was already taking notes. "As for the second question…a painful and bloody process. It took centuries for humans to handle these curses. Even then it wasn't until the Divine Circuit was given to us that we could harness and grow our abilities with a reasonable amount of control."
Anecus curious "Divine Circuit?"
"We'll have to come back to that. For now pull your attention to here" she says pointing at the Pentagonal shape. "This is the Core Seal."
There were Five names on each corner of a pentagonal seal at the top said Spatial(Vector) and going clockwise was Elements(Conduit), Spirits(Contractor), Temporal and Physical(Enhancer).
"These are the five known Pillars to us humans, with every Accursed you'll ever meet falling into one of four."
This caused Cassia to shoot her hand up, "why four?"
Jane continues smoothly "That is because there have been no records of any human falling into the Pillar of time. We show a Temporal Pillar because we have seen it manifest in natural phenomenon. That be it Echo streams or someone falling into a loop."
Jane crosses her arms with an expecting look "now, who can tell me what Vector's do. You all should have an idea."
Anecus took this one. "Mmh is it what dad does? Move things around and disappear sometimes."
Jane Nods "that is indeed him using Vector." she points to their notebooks signaling to take notes. "Vector is the Pillar of Logic, spatial reasoning, motion and as the name hints vector manipulation. Almost everything you encounter has a vector. Light, inertia, electromagnetism, gravity."
Naia speaks up at the mention of gravity. "Seems a little over powered…"
Jane laughs "that's because it is!" she takes a breath, "if you ever find yourself against a Vector, the best thing you can do is fight them with the incorporeal, if you can't do that, run."
There was a look of fear on their faces but Jane assured them. "But no need to worry, Vector's are extremely rare. There are only 8 that are documented to be alive right now." This causes Anecus to form a question…but he keeps it for now.
Jane, seeing they are ready to continue "Next is Conduit, these are Accursed who can manipulate and generate an element. Which can be determined by lineage or environmental exposure."
Cassia asks for confirmation "like the blacksmith in the city?"
Jane turns to her "exactly, he would be a great example of a Fire Conduit from exposure." When an Accursed becomes a Conduit they receive one element never more never less.
"Next, are Contractors." Jane says with poise
Cassia asked excitedly "that's what you are right mama?"
"Yes dear, I am a Spirit Contractor, instead of using a Pillar myself I channel it through a spirit companion." This is the most wide ranging of the Pillars with Spirits sometimes showing abilities not associated with the known pillars.
"This will be a good time to introduce Star talent. Over the span of centuries humans, with the assistance of the Divine Circuit have been able to assess Talent in a one to five star level." The three of them scribble furiously trying to keep up.
Without slowing down "Higher your Star talent the more Spirits and stronger spirits you can form contracts with."
Naia raises her hand to ask "papa mentioned something about his star level progressing…what's that?"
Star level indicates where an Accursed is currently at in terms of power and mastery. Star talent is heavily tied to Star level. Higher your talent the faster your Star level can progress.
Jane took big breaths in and out, she didn't know how excited she'd get when teaching. "That'll be it for today, we will move onto world ecology."
Anecus for the first time today had a sad expression, Jane didn't miss this "Don't worry Ane. Next lesson we will cover the rest."
Jane had given them a break before continuing and Cassia and Naia were discussing today's lesson. "I want to be a Enhancer like mama and papa!" She turns to Cassia "What about you Cass? What Pillar do you want!?"
Cassia with a sparkle in her eye held her hands in a praying position. "I want to be a Contractor like mama." they both giggled and turn to Anecus who had a more conflicted look. Cassia spoke first…"what about you Ane?"
He looked at the Core Seal for a moment, not really finding anything that called to him. With a small shrug "mmh Vector sounds cool, maybe that?"
Cassia and Naia looked at each other both recalling what Jane said about Vectors being rare. In an attempt to reassure Anecus, Cassia spoke "well pappa is a Vector so maybe you will."
Anecus nods slowly. 'How come none of them feel like me?'
Before he could think about it any further Jane came back with a tray of snacks. "Ok my scholars, let's wrap up today's lesson covering the Divine circuit and Echo streams."
All three nodded while grabbing a cookie from the tray. "Let's start with the least known about. Jane pulled up a piece of paper that could be best described as a status page. "Here is a simple transcription of my Circuit page, I haven't included everything for brevity's sake."