The colorless light on the massive screen did not fade.
It stayed there, hollow and cold, like a hole that drank the light from the room. The air around it felt thin and weak. It did not pulse like normal mana. It just sat there, bending the space around it like a heavy rock on a thin sheet of glass.
"And that," Professor Vance said, his voice calm and slow, holding the whole room's attention, "...is where today's lesson really begins."
He did not rush. He let the silence stretch, giving the idea room to sit in our heads.
"We call it... Aether."
A pause.
"Do not mistake it for thick mana. Mana is fuel. Affinities are the shape you give it — fire, ice, lightning. But Aether is different. Aether carries the Laws of reality. Most of you will not touch it for years, if ever. But when you do, it does not act like mana. It answers to your soul, your will, your very being. It is not something you control. It is something you become."
