LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 30: Lessons
The ride back to Xiaxoan Blues was heavy with silence. The mechanized carriage clattered down the cobblestone streets of Monarek, carrying Ted, Tyrs, Mynta, and Larin back to their sanctuary. Each sat lost in his own thoughts as the words and presence of Myrith Crestfoam and Lysara Tidecrest loomed like a specter in his mind.
The nightlife of Monarek pulsed through the outside streets: vendors hawking their wares, street performers dazzling small crowds, and an occasional patrol of imperial guards. Inside, however, the Xiaxoans were stuck in their own reflections.
Finally, Ted said something, his voice reflecting. "They didn't come here to parley or negotiate. They came to teach us our place."
And they did it so slickly, Tyrs muttered, her eyes fixed out the window, where the city melted. Not an iota of arrogance but absolute certainty. They knew already that they had already won.
Larin nodded again, still reeling from the words of the Auquans. It was not only their power. How they used it. Every movement, every word, it was as if they were weaving fine invisible threads.
"Magic, perhaps," Mynta pondered. "But not of our understanding."
As they reached Xiaxoan Blues, the familiar smell of Redwhisper bark and Mistbloom vines welcomed them, a homey comfort among the strangeness of Monarek. They stepped out discreetly, going to their respective rooms to seek solace, each trying to put their impressions on paper.
In his research, Larin had spread all of his notes out on the long wooden table. His handwriting in general had been fine and sharp, yet in his scratches his handwriting was erratically written on anything and everything that his mind could possibly remember and recall of that evening: words binding the entire room, words that sounded the ambience of those two Auquans with a silent gesture to each other's eyes.
He cannot stop believing that sociable grace, some sort of enchantment on itself, with an art called magic, to wit, something manipulates both perception and though without brute power.
"Does magic have to make a scene", he found himself whispering aloud. "Not that it cannot make a blazed trail with breakage.Maybe it needs no sound? And no blow?" Maybe he's just reaching with unseen arms grasping dampened clay with mere pulling hands
It was the knock on the door that made him react to this physical interruption of his thoughts.
"Come in," he called.
Tyrs and Mynta entered together, each with his or her own notebook chock-full of new observations. They peeked at Larin's cluttered workspace and Tyrs quirked an eyebrow.
"Still sorting through it?" she asked, sitting down in a chair across from him.
"Trying to," Larin admitted. "I keep thinking about how they spoke. The way they held the room without a single raised voice. It was almost. a dance."
Mynta sat beside her sister, setting her notes on the table. "A dance is a good way to put it. Every step calculated, every turn deliberate. And they never once lost their balance."
"They were stronger than any Scholar Magi we've encountered," Tyrs added. "Not just in raw power, but in mastery. It was as if they carried entire libraries of magic within themselves and yet moved with the humility of servants."
Larin nodded slowly. "Not that sort of power develops from just practice, not at all. It was an all-round acquaintance with the world they were fashioning. They didn't strain against reality-they were pouring themselves into it."
They worked late into the night, brainstorming new ideas sparked by the experience. Larin set up a series of mana channels, hoping to duplicate the subtle influence the Auquans had shown him. His first attempts were met with a crackling burst of uncontrolled energy that sent a stack of papers flying across the room.
"Not exactly elegant," Mynta teased, catching a stray page.
"Still refining," Larin grumbled, reconfiguring the runes on his device. "It's like trying to thread a needle while blindfolded."
Tyrs leaned forward, his eyes locked on Larin. "Try focusing on the flow, not the result. Don't force it—guide it.".
Larin closed his eyes, letting the words wash over him. He reached out with his mana, not as a hammer but as a whisper. The energy started to hum softly, coiling like a river around stones rather than crashing through them. Slowly, the runes began to glow, and the air in the room shifted subtly, a faint calm settling over them.
"There," Mynta said softly. "That's it."
Larin opened his eyes, the glow of the runes reflected in his gaze. "It's different from anything I've practiced. It's not about dominating magic—it's about moving with it."
"That's the key," Tyrs said. "They didn't dominate us with power. They moved with us, directing the current without resistance."
---
The next morning, the trio continued their discussions over breakfast. Ted joined them, his demeanor more solemn than usual.
"I've been thinking," he began, stirring his tea. "The Auquans represent something far beyond the empire's usual enemies. They aren't just conquerors—they're architects of a new order."
An empire of the mind as much as the body," Larin said. "They don't just take territory. They take perception, influence, belief."
"Exactly," Ted said. "Which means we have to change how we fight. If we meet them head-on with brute force, we'll lose. We have to become what they don't expect."
Tyrs grinned, her eyes glinting. "Unpredictable, fluid, adaptable.
The way of Sinlung," Mynta said. "We have always shifted with the ground, not against it. We must now move with magic and politics, also."
Ted nodded. "And we learn from them. With every step taken, with each word spoken-everything a lesson. The closer we become in their language, the closer they will get in ours that will be formed anew to our end."
---
Lin returned to his workshop that afternoon with a new purpose. He worked on a new piece-an artifact reflecting the subtlety of Auqan influence-by combining shards of Mistbloom crystal with runes for empathy and perception in a bracelet meant to help the wearer sense and to redirect the emotional resonance of all those surrounding.
Tyrs and Mynta stood in the doorway, curiosity and pride mixed on their faces.
"That's what you're thinking of?" Tyrs asked.
"A way to go with the tides," Larin said. "Not to fight them, but to go with them. "
"Why not go along?" Mynta replied, pacing closer. "But remember, a tool is only as good as the hand that wields it.
Larin smiled. "I know. And my hand is still learning."
"Good," Tyrs said. "For we have much more to learn."
The ride back from the Governor's manor had shaken them, but it had also set them aflame with a desire to explore. Together they would create new roads, combining the understanding of Xiaxoan wisdom with the insight of the stars. The Auquans had enlightened for them the depth of the task—but they had also illuminated the path.