Part 1: Spellcasting Theory

  There are many different ways to cast spells, in most cases, a medium with mana is required. The book seems to strongly advise against drawing any mana out of your body until a trusted individual verifies your mana capacity. When you eventually run low on mana, you start to feel exhausted, dizzy, and may enter a state of sleep. Additionally, if you try to use mana while in this state, or attempt to draw out mana that exceeds your capacity, it results in a "mana rupture," in which the mana in your body tears you apart from the inside. The way the book doesn't expand more on mana ruptures scares me a little...

  Luckily, Celia verified that we have the capacity to cast spells; she's way smarter than me, so I trust her. Now I just need to actually cast a spell. The book outlines the three primary methods of spellcasting, which should make things easier.

  First off, we have Incantational Magic, this form of magic is most commonly utilized by humans, through the use of verbal incantation, mana can be forcefully drawn out to create a spell. This magic is the most common method, although it is extremely fwed; if a caster is interrupted mid-incantation, the spell will not form, but the full mana will still be drawn out.

  Secondly, we have Instinctual Magic, which is the method commonly used by magical creatures, pnts, and weirdly enough, swordsmen. Unlike incantational magic, instinctual spells do not require incantations to cast; instead, they are cast by drawing out mana while focusing on the intended effect. However, they require a deep understanding of the spell itself. Additionally, the spell can sometimes be irregur, in which it does not have a human-made incantation behind it; there is still little known about irregur spells, except that they are always instinctual. There's also experienced mages who, through repetition, can eventually cast specific spells instinctually, allowing them to skip the incantation. Instinctual mages are extremely dangerous, depending on the type of magic they memorize.

  Lastly, we have Summoning Magic, which was developed through extensive research into magic circles. After a circle is developed, mana is poured in, and the circle gives off its effect. This type of magic is extremely complicated, but there are circles for each elementary spell so we have the opportunity to test it out, unfortunately the creation of circles will not be covered in this book.

  Unfortunately, I cannot use instinctual magic yet... Luckily, the book does include a magic circle for each spell, so I can try summoning whenever I want. But for now, I think I’ll stick with casting through incantation; it sounds like it will be the most useful right now.

  Part 2: First Spell

  I stand in the center of the attic, eyes closed, and my arms extended outwards, facing the window. I can hear Lay to my right pying, she's duel wielding the two wooden swords we had found earlier, we can hear the subtle knocks as they hit the wall. It's best to do this while she's distracted. I take a deep breath, trying to keep my composure as I recall the incantation from the book.

  Alright, I exhale... I'm ready, I begin to slowly recite the spell as it was inscribed, “Oh, seven sisters who dance in the wind, weave the air to shape my will, compress and release.” [BURST]

  As I say the incantation, with every word the air around begins to shift, growing more violent. In just a couple seconds, I'm caught in a whirlwind, my hair blowing side to side uncontrolbly. Lay, for sure, is going to notice If it's like this... I open my eyes, an ethereal swirling mass of air gathered before me. The wind is coalescing into a single bright pulsating point in front of my hands. As I say the final word, "release," it stops, holding its density for just a moment.

  And then, BOOM.

  A bst of wind shoots out from directly in front of me, which wouldn't have been so bad, but I was two years old, and my body weight wasn't nearly enough to withstand the propulsion that followed. I’m thrown backwards, my body smming into the wall with a loud thud. The impact knocks the wind out of me, as I fall tumbling dangerously towards the open hatch to the attic... I'm about to fall, shit... I can't do anything... my body won't listen.

  In that moment, I feel a subtle shift as someone brushes against my consciousness, taking control of our body at the same time as me. Just as I’m about to fall, she musters up all our strength using our back leg to kick off the wall, redirecting our momentum so that we nd just far enough to not fall out of the attic, we nd with our legs dangling from the ledge. Taking advantage of this, we pull ourself up with our upper body, and plop down on the floor, panting, trying to catch my breath.

  I can feel adrenaline coursing through my veins, my whole body is shaking as I y there on the floor, staring bnkly up at the ceiling. Tears are filling my eyes, and there's a sharp pain in my back where I was smmed against the wall.

  "Ugh, that was... painful," Rose’s voice was coming not only from our minds, but also out of our body. She's out of breath, panting between her each sentence. "Are we all okay? I wasn’t... expecting that to happen... I had to... do something." She winced in pain before continuing, "We could've... we could’ve died..."

  Rose had been the one to step in and save us from falling through the hatch. If she hadn’t acted when she did, we could’ve really died. The thought of that... it’s worse than anything we’re feeling now. None of us want to face that kind of pain again.

  "Thank you... Rose..." Ogma managed, her words coming out in quiet sobs. "I was scared... I really don't want to die... anymore."

  Rose was clearly taken aback by Ogma speaking to her directly. She had been avoiding her for two years, so it took a moment for the words to register. She softened her tone, "It's okay, Ogma... we're not going to die."

  Celia cut in, although even she sounded breathless, "Assessment: Our body... shows no permanent damage. However, our mana reserves... are critically depleted. Rest is strongly... recommended." It seems even Celia can feel winded.

  “That was... fucking was awesome!” Ashley was still catching her breath, her voice excited. “Hey, let's do it again, I call the next go.”

  Rose scoffs mildly annoyed, "Seems you're perfectly fine then..."

  I try to cut in, my voice lined with guilt, "I-I'm sorry, I jumped into it too fast... I should've-"

  “Are you alright?” Rose asks, cutting me off.

  "I am, but-"

  "Good, that's all that matters." She says cutting me off a second time.

  "But I got you all-"

  Rose sighs dramatically, cutting me off for a third time. "Nyxie, honestly. You’re one of the most capable people I know. We all have our… issues, but without you, we’d have probably torn each other apart by now." She pauses for a moment, her tone surprisingly soft and understanding. "I must admit, when I contracted my first spirit, I messed up. My father had to spend months covering it all up, and I was locked in my room the entire time... Look, my point is, I don’t bme you, because even I made a mistake my first time, and I am in no way holding you to the same expectations my father had for me."

  I'm actually crying a little more than Ogma is, I can feel warm tears flowing down our cheeks. Rose is currently sharing control of our body with me, and for the first time, there's no searing pain, no splitting headache. It actually feels, nice... I can feel her reach up and wipe my tears, comforting me.

  By now, Lay had dropped the two wooden swords and rushed over towards me. She dropped to her knees beside me, staring at me with her golden eyes were wide with panic, I can feel her panicked breath as she scanned me over, her trembling hands trembling as she tries to shake me.

  “Miwaa!" Lay’s voice trembled, her eyes filled with tears, "Awe you okay?”

  "I'll handle this, sorry for earlier." I say in my mind. Rose dismisses herself so that I can control our body alone.

  "I'm fine, just a little hurt," I respond aloud, picking myself up off the ground and stumbling to my feet. I stand facing towards her, dusting myself off. "See? I'm allll good." I give her a smile.

  She walks over to me dusting off the back of my shirt. Luckily, she had stopped tearing up after I reassured her. She paused for a moment, I can see cogs turning in her head, then she tilted her head to look at me, “How diwd you do that?”

  Well, there's no getting around it... The spectacle was way too rge for me to really attempt to cover it up, “It was magic.” I admit.

  Lay blinks, all of her concern turning into curiosity. "You did magic?”

  I nod, pushing myself up a little, still wincing. “Yeah, I… I cast a spell, it was from one of mom's books.”

  Her golden eyes were glistening as she looked at me, "Can you rwead it for me?! I wanna twry it too!"

  I get caught off guard, Celia said she didn't have the capacity yet, and that book earlier said that If she tried it would literally tear her apart from the inside.

  "Shit... what do I say?"

  Celia’s responds, her voice monotone, "Observation: Telling Lay she cannot use magic has a 99.9% chance of resulting in tears."

  "What other choice do I have?” I say panicked.

  "Response: I see no other solution." she says coldly.

  Side note: Lay has always been incredibly smart, especially for her age. She learns things significantly faster than other kids, and she also shows a understanding of a lot of topics that would usually fly over a child's head. I’m pretty sure the only reason Dad doesn’t call her a genius is because of me... but it’s not exactly a fair comparison. It’s clear it affects her; she must know how capable she is, and despite how hard she works, she doesn’t get nearly as much praise from Dad as I do. That makes this whole situation even harder to deal with.

  I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself down, knowing that she'll probably be mad at me for a while after I tell her this. I finally speak up, this time lowering my voice, "Lay... I'm sorry I can't read that book to you, I can't let you get hurt."

  She looks at me confused, "But... why? You told me you'd read to me."

  I cant look at her in the eyes anymore, "I can still read to you, just not about magic... I'm sorry."

  "But you did it, just now... I saw you." She takes a step back, I gnce at her golden eyes, they were teary again, "I'm... I'm oldewr than you. I shouwd be able to do it bettaw than you, I could help you."

  "I just can't, okay..? I'm sorry."

  She stares down at the floor, as if she's contempting something. "That's not faiwr," she mutters under her breath. Her fists curl into tight balls. She stands there for a while sulking, not saying anything.

  I try to reach my hand out to her, but she pulls away before I can touch her. "I’m just trying to protect you," I say, pain in my voice.

  She locks eyes with me, staring directly at me, before turning away and stomping off towards the open hatch, "I down’t need you to protect me," she says, holding back tears.

  I helplessly watch as Lay stomps off, I hear a thud as she reaches the bottom of the dder, and she storms off into the hallway. It takes everything not to chase after her, but I know giving her some space is probably for the best... My mind is quiet, we're all still processing what just happened. I turn to the books lined up on the ground, each of them have been opened due to the wind. My hands are trembling as I pick them up, packing them neatly into the chest.

  As I pack the st book into the chest, something shining in the corner of my eye catches my attention. Curious, I close the chest and stroll over to take a closer look. A shard of gss, it rests on the floor next to one of the crates. The shard is small, and it isn't transparent like normal gss, instead it's completely bck inside and is emanating a faint white glow from its cracks. It wasn't here before, the spell I cast must have blown it into view. I reach out to pick it up.

  As I touch it... It feels... wrong. The shard begins to vibrate uncontrolbly, I pick it up and I feel something attempt to push into my mind. It feels exactly like what happens when me and Ashley struggle for control. Although by now, I'm all too used to defending myself. I feel the others help me push against it... It grows more violent, without warning a surge of emotions washes over me, but not my own. I can feel its rage, the hatred it has for us. I can feel its desperation as it thrashing around at my consciousness trying to kill us. Finally, It's in pain, in incredible amounts of pain... more than I can ever imagine, I don't feel the pain myself... But weirdly I can understand it. It attacks us with all it can... But all of us combined are too much, and it completely shatters in my hand, the remaining pieces of disintegrating into light.

  I just stand there, shocked, my eyes starting to give out... Where's my mana? Shit... I can't keep my eyes open. I brace myself as I fall unconscious onto the floor with a loud thud.