Knowledge without one to keep it was useless. If he were to die in five months, none of this would matter anyway.
As for those results he was seeking?...
Soren leaned back against the wooden chair and sighed—his eyes gazing up beyond the crayon drawn night sky. His frown must have been visible from miles away.
“Another failure, huh?”
“Are you ready to give up?” Said the enchanted flame mockingly. Soren ignored it and stared back down at the things on his desk.
To the left, a stack of papers denoting countless equations were seen. Equations for calculating the flow of anima, the radius of his Soul Realm, the time it takes to manifest each Axiom inside the spellform, the number of Channels of WIllpower needed and their designated time per turn… There were others as well from previous trials that had failed.
However, nothing seemed to work.
His frown deepened as he glanced over to his right—a miniature book listing material runes could be seen. These were the runes used in the Bind spell.
In total, Bind utilizes three axioms made of three material runes each. Axiom one denotes the shape of the trap—in essence, the area of effect. Axiom two denotes the time and strength of the spell. As for the third axiom, which was the core, denotes the very essence of the spell.
When Soren first learned of this magecraft spell from Tazzith, he was astonished at how simple it really was. The Wards affinity in its very essence, simply denoted the control of anima itself. The word ‘Wards’ meant many different things—defense, vision, structure… But at its very essence, the only thing that mattered was control—everything else was simply a divergence of the original meaning.
Because of this, countless variations of magi who hold this affinity emerged. Some specialized in crafting barriers, while others focused on intricate traps for Spirit Beast hunting. There were even a few who hold expertise in using detection spells for navigating dungeons safely.
The most sought after variation however, were what many called ‘Spirit Mediums.’ They’re role was essentially to cast magecraft spells that ‘lead’ anima itself into different areas. The practicality of this was immense when paired with Wardstones that were able to store anima of different affinities.
This was how magical contraptions worked across cities. The Wardstones that stored different types of anima would be siphoned using the spells of a Spirit Medium who would then lead them to their designated locations within a magecraft formation.
Of course, they also had the ability to ‘filter’ anima based on the affinity, which meant that some of these formations were used for detection purposes. For example, if you had an enemy that you knew had an affinity for dragonflame, a Spirit Medium could craft a magecraft spell that could ‘detect’ that specific affinity and alert others of its presence. If paired with barrier magecraft, one could essentially block specific entities if the magecraft spell was sophisticated enough.
There were other things Spirit Mediums could use their Wards affinity for, like creating anima siphoning magecraft spells to keep magecraft formations running indefinitely, even without the presence of a nearby magi to fuel it. Because magecraft as a phenomena requires a Soul Realm, a necessary substitute had to be found—something Spirit Mediums called Spirit Chalk.
Its creation was a Mystery in of itself, similar to Wardstones—they had the ability to store anima within themselves that could manifest a pseudo Soul Realm. This meant that any material rune or axiom that was written with Spirit Chalk could be manifested into reality without the need of a magus.
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It was through this discovery that magecraft formations were born. But without a Spirit Medium to guide the appropriate anima into the designated runes, starting the process was impossible.
The practicality and convenience that Spellform Formations brought to everyday civilian life made Spirit Mediums the most sought after occupation across all fields of magi. And because of how common the Wards affinity was, most magi who unlocked it were essentially set for life.
But all of this brought a question to Soren’s mind—one that he only really thought about after he utilized the Bind spell for the first time.
“Say,” he glanced back at the flickering flame, “what exactly is an affinity?”
“Is it not a manifestation of one’s shade of self?” The voice replied. Soren nodded in response.
“Yes, but what I am really asking is—how exactly does one ‘define’ an affinity and its meaning? For example, let’s use Cassia’s affinity for Dragonflames. What makes a dragonflame different from a normal flame? Is it the power or intensity? The connection it holds with dragons? And what could that connection be?”
The voice stayed silent so he continued.
“Think about it, these designations—who exactly came up with them? Obviously it was general consensus—the magi scholars from countless professions and backgrounds came to an agreement over how each affinity should be addressed… Of course, rarer affinities that had not been seen before would then be left to the person who unlocked them to interpret their meaning.”
He walked over to the other side of the desk and pulled out a miniature chessboard from within the drawer. “But that also means that the more common an affinity is, the more interpretations it will undergo. Every person will see that affinity in a different way—hence the variations we see with Ward Affinity magi.”
Observing the miniature chess pieces, Soren glanced up at the flame and smiled.
“But I disagree with this notion. That every magus needs to hold their own interpretation of an affinity—I find it extremely foolish.
“Let’s use the Bind spell as our example. The core axiom within its spellform holds three material runes—Vinari, Luxic, and Jorisatva. Vinari, meaning ‘Locked,’ prevents movement. Luxic acts as the ‘Trigger,’ detecting presence. Jorisatva, meaning ‘Siphon,’ absorbs the target’s anima to sustain the spell. See the pattern?”
The flame stayed silent for a moment, then flickered unevenly. “Bind is using multiple variations of Wards at the same time?”
“Exactly!” He threw a thumbs up at the flame. “Think about it, isn’t Vinari basically a barrier? Rather than keeping outsiders from coming inside, it instead prevents them from escaping within its grasp! Then there’s Luxic which enables detection, setting the trap. And Jorisatva fuels it like Spirit Medium siphoning which keeps the spell active as long as the person it trapped is still alive.
“This spell embodies Wards in all its interpretations—barriers, detection, anima siphoning—yet they reduce it to ‘just’ a trap? What nonsense!”
Soren arranged the pieces on the miniature board and sighed. “All these variations they speak of—it's all meaningless. Wards only has one meaning, and that is control. It shapes the space within its reach, like a god over his own domain. Every spell this affinity fuels is just another form of that control. So why should I limit myself to one role when I can have all of them?”
Suddenly, the enchanted flame began to dance excitedly—it had finally understood Soren’s true meaning.
“You… Are you trying to rationalize your Mesmerism Affinity as nothing more than another interpretation of Wards?...”
Soren smiled. Wards and Mesmerism were extremely similar by nature. It was because of this that he picked it from the few Tazzith allowed him to choose. But after all this research, an idea began to emerge over and over…
What if he simply reinterpreted Mesmerism as another branch of Wards—similar to the countless already existing interpretations like traps, barriers, or anima siphoning? If both were forms of control over space, then couldn’t he apply Wards runes seamlessly to Mesmerism?
Affinity Mixing might be dangerous because of the clash of wills each affinity holds within a person. But was that entirely the case when both affinities were extremely similar in nature? The answer was no, and he wanted to prove it.
The figment of his imagination glanced down at Soren’s figure with newfound intrigue. “If you succeed, you won’t just redefine Affinity Mixing—you’ll change how magi understand their own affinities. This could mark the birth of a new era of magecraft…”
With these wild thoughts dancing in both of their minds, Soren glanced up at the flame once more and commanded:
“Start chronicling Experiment Log #157.”