MAZE - The Endless Quest

"And... what are elemental affinities?" Hera asked letting go of the hug.

With a laugh, Helena replied "Once again I'm giving you an advanced lesson. Elemental affinities are what we call the types of magic that work well with your mana. As you may have guessed I have shadow mana."

Hera's face was that of a deer in the headlights.

"Ok, maybe that was a bit too far. When you go inside the maze you are going to feel that energy you felt when you ate the oranges but to a smaller degree. With time you will be able to learn magic."

Helena made a small light appear in her hand. It kept shifting in different colors as if Hera was looking at a diamond.

"This is raw magic, with time you can focus the type of mana in your body to a specific element or attribute. Mine is darkness, but some people have fire, water, earth, and even more complex things like gravity, technology or healing."

The light shifted again now turning into darkness as if Helena was holding a ball of shadows.

"Now, if you are a mage you should have better control of this and can you make your whole mana turn into the element you want. But that comes with a price, you lose the ability to use some elements, for instance, I can't use light."

Hera looked at her confused.

"But, you just made a light."

Helena nodded "Yes, I made a light, but it wasn't a light element skill. Raw magic still allows us to do some basic stuff that looks like a specific element. Now, not only you lose some elements when you focus your mana, but it becomes really hard to do some advanced spells with other elements. For instance, I have a short-range teleport skill. It's called Shadow Chase, I used it to get between you and Ashe the other day."

Helena paused, worried Hera would be uncomfortable with the mention of that name. But to her surprise, the girl seemed too enthralled by the explanation to be bothered by that.

"If I were to use a fire type teleport it would be much more taxing, and much weaker than if I used the Shadow Chase. What I was researching was a way to diminish that problem. I wanted to find out if other elements could benefit from one type of mana. For instance, if my dark mana could be used to fuel a different spell, could it change the spell and make it more powerful? That is my whole research. The main problem was to find out what elements and attributes could work well with it."

Realizing how much she could have helped Hera gave a big smile.

"That is amazing Helena! You are doing such a big thing I'm glad I helped even if it was just a little."

"A little? Hera this is a major breakthrough. You have no idea how much that helped. What you described is what mages know as fire mana for the comet, water mana for the blue one, since it's a body of water. Probably particle or gravity attribute or the purple one, and the white I have to check. It's not light since it's opposite of my mana but it can be either an element or an attribute."

Hera smiled at the mage, Helena's face made her look like she was a kid on Christmas day.

"You know, usually a mage wouldn't talk about their research. Not to anyone at least." Helena looked in Hera's eyes.

"Then... why are you telling me?" Hera had a puzzled look in her face.

"Simple, I want you as my apprentice. You clearly have a way of identifying the elements that one spell uses. It would be stupid of me not to try to get you to help me."

Hera blushed a bit, she knew some explorers would look for apprentices, but that was a rare thing.

"Shouldn't you look for a mage to help you? I mean, I'm still level 2 and I barely know anything about magic." Hera felt she would drag Helena down. After all, how could a brand new recruit help an experienced mage in any way?

"True, but at the same time, we mages are a prideful bunch. Not only it is really hard to hear a mage asking for help we all get suspicious of anyone who knows about our research. So, even if another mage is looking for the same thing I am we wouldn't trade notes. Honestly, I even get a bit paranoid in telling you about this. But if you can see the mana like that when you become a mage it will be a great help for my research. It's a decision that seems to have more pros than cons"

Hera listened to her explanation without interrupting. But at the same time, a lot of what she said didn't add up. That made Hera cautious, even if it was about the woman who changed her life.

"I don't mean to be rude.. but why me Helena? You could get another explorer, a mage or look for anyone else who ate the oranges and saw those lights. Why would you trust me with information about your research?"

Helena stared at Hera for a few seconds before letting out a long sigh.

"You know, being that smart is not always a good thing. You want to know why I'm asking you? Fine. Every group of recruits is scouted by different organizations, some are within the guild and some are private. I am a part of one of those organizations, and no I'm not telling you anything more than that for now. We look for talent, recruits that have potential and can help us explore the maze and the system. You can consider this my elevator pitch if you will. " Helena leaned back on the couch grabbing her cup of coffee from the table at the side.

"Yes, I could look for a stronger mage to help. And yes there may be some other explorers that can see the affinities in magic. Even if they usually need skills or items to do so. Don't get me wrong, you would still be a valuable asset, just not a unique one. But honestly, I'm just trusting so much in you because I saw something in you. The salute you made was so intense. I don't know when was the last time I saw one of those. I picked you because my intuition is saying to bet on you, and I'm hardly ever wrong about these things." Helena gave a warm smile and was about to take a skip from her coffee when she said. "Also, I put a spell on you that will make you lose the ability to talk if you try to share my research without my permission."

Hera's eyes went wide. She wasn't thinking about sharing Helena's research but what if she said something by accident.

Seeing her reaction Helena giggled.

"Relax, that last part was just a joke. Or was it?"

Hera wasn't able to get a read on the dark-skinned woman but at the same time, she believed Helena wouldn't hurt her.  The two of them talked for a few more minutes, mostly about how Hera was faring in the training and before they realized it was time for Hera's class.

"Thanks again Helena, I don't know what would have happened without you," Hera said when she got up.

"It wouldn't be that bad dear, you would just get really hungover after a few hours. Oh and I forgot to mention, but being my apprentice only works if you become a mage. If not I still can scout you for my group. Who will remain nameless until the end of the training."

Hera nodded, she wanted to ask about the name of the group but was shut down as soon as she opened her mouth. With a smile, she left the breakroom and went straight to her class.

Going to the second floor was quick enough, but Hera realized that she never went to the classroom by herself, the second floor of the guild was made of several hallways with doors on the sides. It looked like a school without lockers. Getting out the elevator Hera looked to the sides, both hallways here empty and had no distinction from each other. She picked her phone and looked at the time.

6:55

The guild had a really big area if she wanted to go through every hallway it would take at least twenty minutes. Hera tried to hear any noise coming from one of the rooms but everything was quiet. She was starting to get worried about being late when an idea popped in her head. She picked the tablet and opened the map icon. Unlike on her cellphone, this map was the one her skill made. She looked around and found that only one of the rooms on that floor was completely mapped.

I hope I'm right. Hera thought before walking towards the room that showed up on her tablet.

2 minutes before 7 Hera arrived at the room and saw the whole class, including Mr. Greyson there.

"Sorry, I'm late,"  She said while walking towards her usual seat. While the recruits stared at her.

"Shame, we were looking forward to seeing someone running the Drill for being late." A dark-haired woman with very defined eyebrows, chestnut skin, and a red bindi between her eyes said with a mocking tone. The other three around her giggled with her remark.

"Maybe ye should be the first one to try it Anaya." Mr. Greyson said without missing a beat. His reply made the girl shrink in her chair.

Hera quickly sat down and said hi to her friends. She also noticed a large saucer on the teacher's desk. Not only it was large it was also very tall, making it almost seem like an altar of sorts.

"Settle down ye lot." Mr. Greyson closed the door now that everyone was inside. Then he used his tablet to activate something and the light of the room dimmed.

"Now, today ye are going to learn a very important skill. It's a skill ye will use every day, be it in the MAZE or outside of it.  Yer life will never be the same after learning this skill. Yer friends, yer family, even yer clothes will be different after ye learn this."

He pressed something in his tablet and above the saucer, an empty glass of wine appeared.  For a moment Hera thought the altar was a teleportation device. However, looking closely she realized the object was more seethrough than it should.

"The skill is called Observe, it helps you be sure of what yer seeing. For instance, this glass is not here. But is it a hologram or an illusion?"

Hera stared at the glass, trying to see if there was a way to be sure what the glass was. She looked for lines moving, small jagged lines on the edge of the glass, even the affinities she had seen around Helena. But even with all her effort, nothing seemed to work. A little part of her wondered if the oranges could help her now. But she brushed off that thought as quickly as it came. She didn't want to depend on something to pass the training.

"Mr. Greyson, is there something that shows us if this is an illusion or not?" Bonnie asked as she had a frustrated look on her face. The same one Hera had.

"As far as Ah know, there are two ways. One if touching it, if ye know how mana feels ye can tell when ye touch it. The other one is with the skill I'm teaching ye. Now, everybody grab yer tablet. To get the skill all ye need to do is write down the name of the object and if it's an illusion or a hologram. Now any questions? Good, let's begin"