Chapter 8 - 8: I guess I’m a binder now

I stared at this probably looney spirit as she suggested I perform a feat of magic that only binders could perform, with the added memory of that not even binders themselves knew what they did exactly. On top of the countless stories of how the binders earned their abilities, they would also swap stories about how they managed to bind their respective monsters. Some said they used some old song they remembered from their childhoods that activated the drajules, some claimed they just focused and the magic in the drajule would take form and just grab it and one girl claimed, and this could very well be distorted, she would just kick incomplete drajules at her target, it would turn into some kind of magic cage and then she would just carve the drajule out of that. In essence, every binder had completely different methods of how they did it and I couldn't very well just follow their examples. Regardless, I proceeded to squat and tried wrapping my head around the idea of just how I was suppose to "bind" a spirit.

I must've looked like I was in utter agony, because Voxea floated over to where I was squatting and placed a "hand" on my shoulder with a sympathetic look on her face. It felt cold where she was touching despite my warm coat.

"Alright Silvia, if you were one of my students I would probably help you figure out the exact formula for your spell or I would help you through the motions you needed to cast it properly,'' she said kindly, "But this is not like that at all, so I can only give you the same piece of advice that I have followed since I was a young girl and that I have given to every student I had ever taught up until the end".

I perked up at these words, curious about what advice she was going to give me on how to go about being a binder.

"The aether, the force of magic that exists in our world, is all around us. It exists in the plants that burst forth from the ground, the rain that falls from the sky and even the air we breathe. The aether is a force of nature, and we as beings that are a part of nature are also a part of the aether. In order to truly feel and understand magic, all you need to do is just relax, let go and let the aether flow through you", Voxea said sagely.

I pondered on Voxea's words, trying to fully comprehend what she said. I had never felt the aether or seen actual magic performed, but if she said about the aether being all around us is true, than I might as well see if I could sense it. I closed my eyes and emptied my mind, but as I relaxed and tried to let go, a strange sound started to fill my ears. It was like several different tones, songs and hums playing all at once, sounding discordant but harmonic at the same time. I immediately tried to tune it out, but this somehow made the sounds louder.

Insinticutally, I jerked my head at the sound and rubbed my ears after hearing who knows what ringing through my ears.

"What was that all about?", Voxea asked with concern and curiosity.

"I tried to 'let aether flow through me' but all I could hear was this weird sound, sounds? Are you sure this place can't transmit sound?",I replied.

"Well I'll be, looks like you are quite a bit faster than my pupils were", Voxea said with amus.e.m.e.nt, "What you heard was the aether flowing around, if I had to guess is that you're more in-tuned with vocal magic than somatic magic. Try doing that again, but this time just let it play".

I looked at her incredulously but nodded in agreement. I tried relaxing and emptying my mind again. I heard the sounds playing again, but this time I didn't try to tune it out. As the sounds kept playing,the sounds start to become more and more harmonized and I started to feel my body become warmer and warmer. It felt as if warm spring air starting circulating throughout my body and I felt like I was glowing.

"Haha you did it", Voxea said, "and what a lovely color your aura, I'd peg it as a seafoam green or lovely jade".

Curious at her words, I slowly opened my eyes and saw that I was indeed glowing with a greenish light. Normally I would probably be freaking out over the fact that I was glowing, but I guess being in-tune with the aether made me super relaxed because all I could say was, "Neat".

"Now keep doing that, I'll start the ritual and then you can just do your binder mojo when the time is right", Voxea said. She then proceeded to float upward to the center of the room and closed her eyes. Even though my ears were currently filled with "aether noise", I could faintly make out that she was chanting,possibly praying, in a strange language.

As she continued her chant, I saw the room beginning to faintly glow with a bluish-white light and strange markings starting to form a circle above and below Voxea. While this was happening, I could hear the tone of the room suddenly change, like a musician tuning their instrument until their performance. As Voxea continued chanting the tone went from tuning to harmonic once more,but it sounded as if the harmonic sound was now deeper and developed a pattern, like it was becoming a song.

As the "song" continued to play, I soon noticed the drajule around my neck starting to hum and vibrate. Guided by instinct, I took the drajule off my neck and held it between my fingers. I imagined the warm feeling flowing through my body into the drajule in my hand. I felt the warm feeling leaving through my fingers and into the drajule, which started to glow and form what I could only describe as fork with only two tines. 

I suppose it was by either instinct or intuition but whilst listening to the song, my hand struck the drajule against the ground at a specific point of it. Evidently that's when my magic kicked in.

As I struck the energy fork against the ground, it released a tone that seemed to harmonize with the ritual Voxea was casting. Green-blue rings of energy was released from the drajule and it ended up surrounding Voxea and her strange circle. The rings soon formed a sphere around Voxea and started to spin, glowing brighter and brighter and the tone they produced grew louder and louder.

The rings soon became a blur and at the center of the room was a brilliant sphere of light glowing green, blue, white and purple and the tone it produced no longer grew louder, it just stayed at the same pitch for a while. Then the room went silent.

The sphere then shrank to the size of an apple and shot right at me. Instinctually, I held up the drajule in my hand and the light smacked right into it. I felt the massive amount of energy, of aether, in that sphere going into the drajule and subsequently into me.

The drajule in my hand started to change as the aether flowed through. It went from being an uncut crystal to looking more refined, angular and the same strange markings that Voxea used in her circle appeared on the drajule. The lights soon disappeared and in my hand was no longer the uncut primal drajule, but a drajule that any binder would wear around their neck with pride.

I was now a binder.