The Path of Magic

Aaron's magical training began soon after, on Sunday.

Miss Charlotte wasted no time. She was a woman of action, and the first task she gave Aaron was to clean the entire villa.

It seemed to be a rite of passage for every spellcaster's apprentice. Aaron said nothing, but he soon discovered that Charlotte Caradnay was no slob. By "clean," she meant sorting hundreds of books and thousands of tools into their proper places while navigating hundreds of magical traps.

It was no easy job, but it was far less troublesome than he had imagined.

Charlotte's villa looked enormous, but the library and magic workshop took up most of its space. The actual living quarters were not large. She also seemed to hate being disturbed by outsiders, so servants only came by at set times to clean and trim the flowerbeds.

After spending the entire morning sorting the vast collection of books, Aaron received his magic tutor's first order: make lunch with the fresh ingredients in the storeroom.

That was no challenge for Aaron. He had enjoyed cooking in his previous life and was especially good at Russian and Roman dishes. His Russian sandwiches, apple pie, and teriyaki chicken-and-potato stew had all won rave reviews.

His Roman repertoire was even broader: Old Fortress-style roast lamb chops, Roman chicken sandwiches, giant Roman meatballs, Roman cumin flatbread, and Roman lamb pilaf. Aaron could make them all.

The young lady wanted lunch at once, leaving Aaron little time to prepare. Even so, he used what he found in the storeroom to make a few simple dishes: sausage and potato pancakes, Russian herring rolls, and beef borscht.

After lunch, the young lady motioned for Aaron to follow her.

She led him into a spacious bedroom. A huge, comfortable bed stood in the middle, while a long row of bookshelves and a writing desk lined one wall. There was a small door on either side of the shelves: one led to a washroom and a large wardrobe, the other to a sitting room and reception room.

"Come in, little brother!" The young lady kicked off her heels and stepped onto the soft carpet in her stockings. Her feet were slender and lovely, their smooth, pale skin visible through the thin brown fabric. Her ankles swayed gently as she moved, and her stockings rustled against the carpet.

"Yes." Aaron took off his shoes and followed her into the bedroom. A sweet, feminine scent washed over him. He watched her graceful figure snap her fingers, and a light spell lit the dim room. Charlotte snapped again to light the candelabrum, then jumped onto the bed without a shred of decorum and rolled over twice. "The lunch you made was delicious, little brother! You can make lunch from now on!"

"If you'd like me to, I don't mind." Aaron glanced sideways at her. So he was the cook now? Apprentices were their teachers' servants anyway. That was simply how things worked in the Realms.

"Call me big sister!" The young lady's mood changed in a flash. "Or I won't teach you!"

"Yes, big sister," Aaron added helplessly.

"All right, rest for a few minutes. Once I've prepared, we'll start the lesson!" Charlotte rolled across the bed twice more before getting up. The young Sorcerer straightened her hair and smoothed the wrinkles from her stockings.

"A lesson? In here?"

"Yes, right here. Big sister's class is now in session!" She took a pair of red-framed glasses from the desk. With them on, she looked a little less playful and a little more scholarly. Once she had arranged her materials, she began teaching right there in the bedroom.

Big sister taught earnestly, and little brother listened just as earnestly.

Charlotte began with the nature of magic and the origins of the Weave. Aaron already had a general understanding of both, but he listened closely nonetheless.

Before long, Charlotte moved on to what spellcasters had in common and how they differed.

Of the twelve basic classes in the Realms, only Fighters, Barbarians, and Rogues could not cast spells. All the others could be considered spellcasters, whether they used arcane magic or Divine Magic.

The class that cast spells using Intelligence was the Mage.

The classes that cast spells using Wisdom were Druid, Ranger, Monk, and Cleric.

The classes that cast spells using Charisma were Sorcerer, Warlock, Paladin, and Bard.

In a few words, Charlotte made the differences between the three approaches clear.

Mages studied spells, took their structures apart, understood them, and reassembled them to cast them. That was why Intelligence mattered most to a Mage. Without enough of it to dismantle, comprehend, and reconstruct a spell's structure, they could not use that spell.

Wisdom-based spellcasters did not need to understand a spell's structure or assemble it themselves. They simply channeled spells through faith or by attuning themselves to the laws of nature.

Charisma-based spellcasters had it even simpler. Their magic came from projecting their will onto reality, in the case of Sorcerers; from drawing a Patron's magical gifts to themselves, in the case of Warlocks; or from shaping reality through music, in the case of Bards.

That might have sounded a little complicated, but Aaron simplified it further in his head:

Intelligence casting: master craftsmen took on a construction project. They needed to understand the blueprints. As long as they were skilled enough and had plans they could comprehend and sufficient materials, there was no project they could not finish. The higher their Intelligence, the better their understanding.

Wisdom casting: marines called in an artillery strike. Wisdom determined how important their request was, how strong their signal came through, and how accurate their coordinates were. The higher their Wisdom, the clearer the signal, the more accurate the strike, and the greater the firepower.

Charisma casting: a streamer shouted, "Come on, big spenders, send me some gifts! Thanks!" The higher their Charisma, the better the stream, the larger the audience, and the more people willing to pay for gifts.

Two classes were rather strange. The first was the Monk. Monks trained their perception to harness something called "ki," using it to strengthen themselves or strike their enemies. As for what ki really was and how it worked, Charlotte admitted she had no idea.

Scholars at Candlekeep had long argued over whether ki even counted as magic.

The other strange class was the Paladin.

In theory, Paladins gained spellcasting ability by using faith and sacred oaths to resonate with the laws of the multiverse. Their key spellcasting attribute should therefore have been Wisdom.

So why was it Charisma?

The young lady's answer was that Paladins did not cast spells by attuning themselves to those laws. Instead, their powerful and unwavering sacred oaths shaped reality. That made their magic Charisma-based too.

Some things still did not add up. Why, for example, did a Paladin devoted to a Deity still cast with Charisma?

Charlotte did not know. Her answer was not to look too deeply into it. They had no use for Paladin magic anyway; they were Sorcerers.

But I want to figure it out! Aaron complained inwardly.

He had watched Paladins use Divine Smite up close several times. As the Child of Chaos, he had tried it himself more than once and had begun to get a feel for it.

He was working out how to perform Divine Smite in reverse!

He had even chosen a name for it: Slaanesh True Silver Slash!

Yet each time he came within a hair's breadth of success, with a ring of purple light already shimmering along his wooden sword, that familiar, excruciating pain made him fail.

"I keep running into problems when I try to cast spells, tut... big sister." Aaron frankly told Charlotte what had happened. "Apart from the spells that appear in my mind on their own, I can't cast any others. The moment I try to chant or make the gestures, I feel a terrible pain inside, and my organs start bleeding."

"Hmm. Let me see." Charlotte placed a hand on Aaron's head.

At around five and a half feet tall, the young lady was above average height for a woman. As the lively, charming Charlotte leaned closer, Aaron caught a strong scent of tulips.

She smells wonderful!

Charlotte, meanwhile, caught the lemon-and-citrus scent on Aaron. Gently, she sent her magic into his body.

A few minutes later, Charlotte withdrew her hand. "I understand!"

"You have too many kinds of energy inside you, little brother. There's Wild Magic, Cosmic Magic, and Divine Sparks—and you have more than one kind of Divine Spark. On top of that, there's power from another Deity. I think it belongs to the Lady of Silver?"

"With so many energies mixed together, your spellcasting pathways are a complete mess. Of course you can't cast anything except the spells your bloodline lets you cast instinctively."

"It's all right. Give me a few days, and big sister will help you!"

Aaron nodded.

Over the next few days, Aaron concentrated on helping Charlotte. He sorted her things, cleaned for her, cooked her meals, and listened to her lessons.

He had to admit that the young lady's way of teaching was very Sorcerer-like.

During one lesson, for instance, Aaron raised a question that had been bothering him for a long time.

"Big sister, this first-level spell, Tasha's Hideous Laughter... who is Tasha? Why is the spell named after her?"

"No idea!" the young lady answered as though it were obvious. "We're Sorcerers! Sorcerers, little brother. We don't need to know all that. We just need to learn which spells suit the power in our bloodline. If one does, learn it. If it doesn't, give up on it."

"I see." She can make not knowing sound so reasonable. That's a Sorcerer for you, Aaron thought.

"All right, that's enough for today." Charlotte put down her book and picked up a bottle filled with shimmering platinum-gold liquid. "Drink this, little brother."

"What is it?" Aaron took the bottle.

"It's a medicine that suppresses your magical power. Once you drink it, it will temporarily restrain the magic in your bloodline. Then I can reshape your spellcasting pathways."

Charlotte chanted an incantation on the spot. A two-dimensional portal rose inside the room, leading straight to the shore of Dragonmere.

A sixth-level spell: Arcane Gate.

Aaron studied the glowing platinum-gold liquid sloshing in the bottle. After a few seconds of hesitation, he drank it under Charlotte's watchful gaze.

The water rippled, and the breeze swept across the lake. After drinking the liquid, Aaron sat with Charlotte on a fallen tree beside Dragonmere.

"Relax, little brother. I'm going to send my power into your body and reshape your spellcasting pathways."

"Don't resist, or it'll hurt. A Sorcerer's bloodline power isn't like a Mage's casting. You can't simply correct it later. Some Sorcerers have no good mentor when they're young and develop bad casting habits. The pain stays with them for life."

Charlotte slowly undid Aaron's buttons, leaving his upper body bare.

"You're an excellent Sorcerer, big sister. I was never worried." Aaron looked calm. He truly was not worried and even had energy to tease her. "You're my big sister, after all!"

"Oh, honestly! Focus, Aaron. Feel the direction my magic flows. These will be your new spellcasting pathways." Charlotte pressed one hand to his chest and the other to his lower abdomen. "Remember them. This is how you'll cast spells from now on."

Two warm streams of magic flowed into him from those points.

That feels so good!

Aaron felt as though the power had unlocked something deep within him. The two warm currents of magic traced beautiful arcs through his body, reaching every corner and breaking through everything blocked, sealed, or twisted.

The overwhelming feeling of relief left Aaron dazed.

It really feels wonderful!

The power of his bloodline began to boil. Everywhere the young lady's magic passed, Aaron's blood and magic surged. Every pore in his body opened.

Then he saw it. Before Aaron's eyes lay a new world, one where everything was steeped in magic. Every stone, every stream, every living creature—even the air itself—held magic.

He sensed a bridge reaching deep into the multiverse, a vast woven structure of magic.

It was called the Weave.

It was not over. Aaron felt his soul rising higher and higher, drifting farther and farther away. He was a small boat sailing with the wind through towering waves, filled with exhilaration as he charged toward the sky.

The waves kept churning and roaring, but Aaron was not afraid. His big sister, Charlotte Caradnay, held him from behind, soul to soul. The two souls' rhythms came into harmony, and the radiance of their lives resonated as one.

Endless warmth surrounded him.

At last, as the waves surged into the cosmos, Aaron glimpsed something different in the instant before he lost consciousness.

An infinite cosmic void spread before him. Silver points of light filled the sky above, below, and all around, like a glittering spiderweb.

There was no direction here, no time, and no concept of space.

There was only a golden bond linking Charlotte, behind Aaron, to something in the void.

A majestic, sleeping sun that burned with platinum-gold flames!

The vision vanished. When Aaron came to, he found himself back on the shore of Dragonmere, leaning against Charlotte's shoulder.

"Thank you, big sister." Aaron sat upright and smiled. "That was a truly, truly wonderful experience. You gave me that, and I'll remember it forever."

"Hee-hee! Big sister had a wonderful experience too!" Charlotte clapped excitedly. An unusual flush colored her face, and her stocking-clad legs bounced up and down. "Now try it! Like I said, we don't need to understand magic. Just make it obey you. It's that simple!"

Multicolored flames appeared in Aaron's palm. With a flick of his hand, they shot out in a cone and blasted a column of water from the surface of Dragonmere in the distance!

Fire Bolt!

It worked. I can finally cast the magic of the Realms! Aaron clenched his fists.

"You did it, little brother! This is wonderful!" Charlotte threw her arms around his neck and laughed.

Seeing the young lady's bright, heartfelt smile, Aaron felt something sweet slip through the opening she had made and seep into his heart.

As he held his lovely, alluring big sister, a thought suddenly came to him.

The Cleric's time is over! The age of the young lady has begun!

"Big sister, I want to learn more. Teach me more, please."

"Mm-hmm! Of course!"

Update posted! Please vote for me~

Charlotte Caradnay's attributes:

Strength 10, Dexterity 14, Constitution 14, Intelligence 16, Wisdom 16, Charisma 19

Master-level Cosmic/Divine Soul Sorcerer