The morning was early, the bed was warm, and I had absolutely no desire to move.
Magic… Energies… I need to recall these aspects better by scouring the elf's memory. Or at least compile some kind of summary from that heap of images. Undoubtedly, familiar magic might find no practical application in this world at all, but even a small fraction of understanding could contribute to the quality of my existence here as a wizard.
Finally waking up, dressing, and washing, I went down to breakfast. What is the date today? Hmm, there's nothing to even look at, except maybe a newspaper. But it is definitely the end of July.
At breakfast, I was pensive, but I quickly decided not to dive too deep into my thoughts—my parents started getting worried that I would begin "staring into space" again.
"Just thinking," I smiled modestly in response to their concerned looks. "So much different information to process."
My parents smiled shyly with evident relief. I should be more attentive to them—even though I had no children of my own, I had dealt with parents saddened by their child's health condition more than once or twice.
After breakfast, I went to my room to think in peace.
Magic is multifaceted and all-encompassing, but upon closer inspection, one can draw several conclusions about its essence, if not its mechanics. A wizard, an elf, any other creature, or an artifact—everything draws magic either from external sources or from internal ones. For example, fire energy from a bonfire, or air from the air.
Internal sources come from the connection of the soul (or a simple spiritual-material construct) with the energetic dimensions of the world. Yes, technically speaking, energy from a connection to other dimensions is also not internal—its source is external. But I didn't invent this classification, and the methods of application differ significantly.
External Energy: This is completely unyielding to volitional manipulation. Non-sentient magical creatures use it to fuel themselves; for instance, the body of a fire salamander converts energy into an effect. For this reason, the overwhelming majority of mages and wizards encountered in the shards' memories use various seals, circles, runic chains, and other products of mind-bending calculations to channel the necessary energy into them and create a spell. Of course, you could power a fireball with any energy, not necessarily fire, but fire energy will pour into the structure with almost no resistance, the cost will be lower, and the result better.
Internal Energy: This is energy that a being scoops from another dimension. The gradation by subtypes is the same, but there are a number of conditions. Initially, only a few creatures are capable of this. A wizard must first be "connected" to the dimension—Initiation. But this can only be done in two cases: if one has the ability to project dimensional energy into the world, and if one has an affinity with that energy. If these conditions are ignored, the consequences can be terrible for the young (or not so young) prodigy, as well as for those around them. But if the wizard fits the conditions and passes the initiation, he gains undeniable advantages.
Unlike external energy, which is taken from a phenomenon already embodied in reality, internal energy has no embodiment at the moment of projection into the world. Because of this, it easily yields to volitional manipulation and is suitable for sorcery based on sheer will and imagination. True, the type of such sorcery is rigidly tied to the type of energy—fire to fire, water to water. But by using them in seals, runes, and other constructs, universality can be achieved. And there is no need to explain the advantage given by a bottomless source of energy in the form of another dimension, the ability to draw from which is limited only by will and fantasy.
However, there are downsides.
Due to the malleability of internal energy to will and the fairly easy embodiment of aspects of reality based on desire and mind, using internal energy is fraught with difficulties. Lose mental stability? Get an energy discharge. Go on an emotional rampage? Get an energy discharge. Use substances that affect the nervous system and lead to overexcitation? Discharge.
Why is this dangerous?
Internal energy absolutely requires embodiment. Like any other energy, it follows the path of least resistance, and in the case of a magical outburst, that path is the conscious or subconscious desire of the magical being. Countless times, small wizard children with access to internal energy have burned or drowned houses or whole streets out of resentment. Fire, water, wind, and earth are the most common energies, and their visual manifestations are the most easily accessible to the consciousness.
But there have been cases with the energies of Life, Light, Darkness, and Death—that is truly terrifying.
Life is far from just healing. Such an outburst is capable of turning organic matter nearby into terrible chimeras, a cross between living and non-living, covering everything around with some incredible abomination that grew right on the spot from people and other handy materials, simultaneously devouring the wizard himself, mutating and changing him. Such places can only be burned out later, and the young prodigy often cannot be saved.
Light is capable of literally reducing everything around to quarks and photons, leaving behind bubbles of empty space. Order leaves lifeless deserts of quartz sand. Darkness is unpredictable and universal but follows the carrier's thought most precisely. And Death sometimes leaves crowds of half-dead vegetable-people around the wizard, driven mad by unbearable pain and suffering.
A terrible picture, but such a magical outburst can only happen to small children with a fragile psyche, rich imagination, and huge potential. Driving an adult to such a state is extremely problematic, though not impossible.
So, what do we have in the end? I need to diagnose myself using universal constructs and find out the specifics of my physical body. Based on this information, I can plan what to do next. I just need to restore these constructs via associative chains. I know for sure that the elf used them repeatedly, which means they are there, in the depths of memory.
. . . . .
"Hector," Father entered the room. "Mom and I are going to town. Will you come with us?"
Yes, that's right. We live in the suburbs.
"To be honest, I wanted to finish some notes," I pointed to the notebook in which I was writing down some recalled theses on magic. "I think we can go another day. There is still so much here I need to get used to…"
"Okay, as you wish," Father smiled. "We'll buy something tasty then. Though… What do you like?"
"Anything that isn't porridge."
"Ha-ha-ha," Father laughed sincerely. "Understood, understood. In this matter, you are just like me. I hate porridge. Then I'll buy plenty of meat."
Only fools think that because elves live in the forest, revere nature, and resemble crazy vegetarians in these matters, they don't eat meat. They do, and how! It's just that the process of hunting, harvesting, and processing isn't so… ruthless.
And the dwarf shards made themselves known at the word "Meat." If you add "Ale" to it—that's it, the end. It will be a glorious feast, a notable fight, and in the morning—a bill for the destruction in the tavern and the taste of a vile hangover cure made from special underground mushrooms.
I shuddered at these memories, and Father left the room.
Well then, let's continue tying crumbs of fragmentary knowledge into something more coherent. Although, the diagnostic method is ingrained in the subcortex, as they say.
In silence and solitude, I concentrated on the feeling of energy within myself and around me. With a volitional effort familiar from memories, I pulled it outward—it moved. As I thought, my body has been connected to some dimension since birth and has a predisposition to it. I don't think my parents, being ordinary people, contributed to this in any way, which means this is a peculiarity of this world.
Fine, let's move on.
I projected a circular Elven seal onto my chest and directed energy into it. The seal filled quite easily and simply, glowing dimly green. I had to wait about a minute, after which detailed information about the body appeared in my head literally out of nowhere. The physical condition was already known, so nothing new there.
Magic—that is what's interesting. I turned out to be a wizard with internal energetics, as I assumed. That means all roads are open.
I failed to recognize the type of energy, but out of the infinite number of them, I am only familiar with a dozen and a half. Due to the fragmentary nature of the memories, this familiarity isn't particularly multifaceted, so this is not surprising. In this matter, the main thing is to calculate the properties so as not to establish a connection with dimensions of incompatible energy.
My energy was very, very flexible, fluid; I would even say neutral-universal. This is familiar to me; the elves called it "Creation." Neither fish, nor flesh, nor fowl, nor fungus—that's roughly how one could describe it. With its help, you can do everything, but worse than with specialized energy. A jack-of-all-trades. Although, a bias can be created through the mind and specific thinking, that has nothing to do with the energy itself.
The neutrality of the energy is good news. It means there is no skew in predispositions toward any side. True, this also means that I won't become an Archmage of the directions familiar to me, because predisposition affects the efficiency of "scooping" energy from dimensions. But with neutral energy, to which there is already a connection, I can pull as much as I am able, however strange that sounds.
It is possible that in local realities, initiation will turn out to be a rather useless thing—one can cast spells quite well on neutral energy anyway. But there is at least one direction, the very essence of which will help me undeniably.
Life.
Elven knowledge and memories are strong and useful, and the energetics themselves will allow me to influence the body, improve, and heal myself and others without any abstruse contours and constructs. Or maim with terrifying efficiency. A bonus will be improved interaction with plants and animals of non-opposite energy orientation. But meeting crystalline or other inorganic life forms with a leaning toward Order energy is practically impossible.
Yes, yes, energy of Death is by no means the antagonist of Life. Order is the rigid structuring and systematization of chaos, of which life is a part. Even if everything around was teeming with such life forms, it doesn't mean they would kill me just because of the energy spectrum, for one. And two—Life energy is useful for carbon and nitrogen-phosphorus organic beings in any case.
So, Life energy will be the first. Decided. As a plus, it will help prepare the body for other energies and sorcery in general.
As for the others—that question is open. The fact is, having energy does not make me super-capable or super-strong. Having energy can only strengthen sorcery. The trouble is that the developments from the shards won't be enough for much—mostly, they contain only general, superficial theoretical speculations. And I'm not sure if these layers of knowledge can be restored at all. Which means I need to get comfortable in the local world first, and only then make any plans. Especially since after binding Life, I'll need to wait six months to a year.
And, of course, physical training.
Physical condition will improve precisely through this, considerably backed by Life energy. Unfortunately, there is no magic that would turn a wizard into a healthy individual with an ideally correct body—any result would be only a temporary panacea. In this matter, there is only one correct course of action—hard work and training, while magic will support, accelerate, and protect against injuries and mistakes.
Only one type of physical training is available to me—Elven. The fact is that in the memories of the shards, only Elven complexes for physical self-perfection were the most complete. Dwarven or Human ones represented a simple idea: "Need to lift iron! More iron! Lift more often! And then grab something heavier and hit the adversary!"
. . . . .
Practically my entire day was spent reflecting on magic and attempting to dig into the depths of memory. I pursued only one goal—to restore as many concrete skills and spells as possible, but I managed to pull out no more than a dozen. The saddest part was that this was the limit—I knew for sure I couldn't get anything else. Everything else is too blurred, with huge gaps in both theory and practice, and something tells me I won't be able to fill them in this life.
Then it was time for dinner, so I sat down at the table with my parents.
"Hector," Father spoke up when he had finished eating. "Tomorrow, July 28th, Professor McGonagall is coming. You remember her, don't you?"
"Yes. I remember."
"She will accompany you to shop for school."
"Good."
"We agreed with Headmaster Dumbledore that you would be enrolled directly into the third year at Hogwarts, but with one condition. You will need to catch up on what you missed in six months."
Father looked none too pleased with this arrangement.
"Not a problem, Father," I nodded, and my parents stared at me in surprise. "I have a perfect memory. If I don't understand it, I'll simply memorize it."
"Amazing," Mom smiled. "Hermione, your sister, also has a perfect memory. Though only for books…"
"However," Father again showed slight dissatisfaction.
"Is something wrong?" I asked to understand what they didn't like.
"How can I put this… You see, son, you could say you've only just recovered. You've seen so little, know so little. You haven't really interacted with peers…"
"Robert," Mom looked at Father with slight reproach.
"What?" he glanced back at Mom. "I know what a boarding school is like."
"There is no need to worry," I interrupted this faded indignation with a small smile. "I will learn the nuances of social interaction very quickly."
My parents blinked in surprise. My statement obviously brought them to this state. But I declare with all responsibility that although I know the meaning of these words perfectly well myself, as I do many others in the language, in this life I honestly heard them, honestly read a lot, realized it, and can use complex formulations for communication with a clear conscience. After all, even being in a vegetative state all those years, I saw or heard a very, very great deal one way or another, and my brain processed it.
"I will handle it," I nodded.
Dinner was over, and I went to my room—I still had a lot to read. The only thing that really saddens me is the antediluvian computer without the internet. If it were otherwise, I could find a bunch of literature and refresh my knowledge, if only to check what remains in my head that is relevant to the end of the twentieth century.
Toward nightfall, I wanted to work on the Life energy without prying eyes, but I changed my mind. The process might drag on, and according to my parents, I have a shopping trip with McGonagall tomorrow. Haste can only harm, and I need to sort out the shards' memory better. Yes, it exists, it is ordered, but memory is a strange thing. Even with Elven mental techniques, you can't just take and view it. I need to launch chains of associations in my mind and use them to get somewhere. If there is anywhere to get to at all.
Or a dream. Yes, a dream is exactly what might help clear these blockages.