"What is magic?" asked Nicholas to nobody in particular. A look a bemusement on his face. Well that was not really true because there was only one other person in the small room with him.
Across the small round table at which Nicholas was sitting next to, a man who looked to have just cracked open a fairly sizable book glanced up at the sudden question. He was not a tall man, nor was he a short man. He had short well kept brown hair but an unruly beard that reached down to his waist.
After a short pause to think the man turned to Nicholas and began to speak.
"Well, magic is the process in which the caster of a spell channels mana through magic a circle. He then has that magic circle absorb the offering which thereafter produces a phenomenon that affects the world." The man across the table from Nicholas looked down at his freshly opened book and chuckled. "Is this some round about way of asking me whether there is any major change in this year's updated text book? You should already know that the introductory text book hasn't been changed outside of a few minor rephrases and changes to punctuation for close to a century now." The man across from Nicholas shook his head, as he started to explain.
Nicholas stroked his black beard, which compared to the other man was only chest length, in contemplation. "That new textbook for the introductory course may be what got me thinking about this but i'm not asking because I expect the teachings of the tower to have any meaningful changes within my lifetime. I have a feeling, even if I don't know exactly why but in recent days I seem to have just started to feel as if it was a question worth finding a good answer to. Or at the very least trying to find a good answer too, I know how rare those are." Nicholas shrugged his shoulder and sunk back into his armchair as he continued to ponder the question.
After about a brief minute of contemplation Nicholas turned back to the man across the table who seemed to have gone back to reading over the new text book. "What do you think George? Disregarding all the things the tower taught us during our training years, if you had to say, what is magic to you?"
George put down the book again and turned to Nicholas with the patient look of a man who was used to being interrupted due to the whims of his friend. He then looked down at the cover of the textbook he had just closed for a while pondering the question. It seemed like despite the interruption his friend was causing to his reading he wasn't particularly bothered and was giving the question some serious thought. Nicholas did nothing to interrupt George's thinking, he just patiently watched his friend while waiting for his response.
After about 10 minutes of waiting in relative silence, with the only sound being the occasional gust of wind buffeting the window to the small room they were in, and and ever ticking clock on the wall to the right of the door, George began to speak.
"I feel like this is an odd question to fixate on considering how that should be one of the first thing drilled into you as a trainee , but that is not something new for you I guess. I suppose you did also to disregard the Tower's teachings. Although I doubt that is possible." Nicholas gave a small shrug at that but didn't say anything in response.
"To begin with I feel like this is more of a philosophical question, which is not really something within my area of expertise." Continued George as he slow began to explain his thoughts.
"I'm not really looking for expertise here George, just the perspective of a well accomplished mage who is responsible for teaching the next generation of mages who will be working for the tower and carrying its' legacy forward into future generations." Interjected Nicholas with a smirk on his face that was still clearly distinguishable through his thick beard.
George gave a harrumph, but otherwise ignored Nicholas' jab and continued.
"Outside of magic being a tool for us mages to enact our will on the world, it is hard to say. I feel like you would first have to figure out the true source of magic to really be able to tell, and although we are reasonably sure that the Gods are the ones who implemented magic into this world we have never gotten them to confirm it. Then again even if we could we would still need to understand why, and I doubt they would confirm it with the personalities they have."
"I would have to agree there, they have never been particularly helpful in our endeavors to understand the world. Although for some reason they do enjoy helping the odd farm boy topple a kingdom, making our lives that much more difficult." Nodded Nicholas at his friends words which bordered on blasphemy in certain regions of the continent.
"Before I continue though I would like to clarify something first. I think I know the answer but always better to ask for clarification. When you ask what magic is, are you including mana under the umbrella of magic or are you looking at them separately?" Asked George as he scratched the side of his slightly hooked nose.
Nicholas pressed a few fingers to his forehead seemingly annoyed with himself. "Ya I should have qualified that shouldn't I? I am happy I asked you this first George. Yes I would consider mana so closely linked to the act of magic itself that I don't think that you can talk about one without considering the other."
George nodded like he had expected as much but as he thought about all of his friends words he then formed a quizzical look on his face.
"First?"
Nicholas waved his hand dismissively. "Ill tell you after we are done here. Please continue what you were saying."
George rolled his eyes but continued anyway.
"Well I was more or less just asking because I thought it might be relevant later in the discussion, depending on how far we are going to go with this discussion today. But it seems you weren't thinking about that to begin with."
George gave another brief contemplative pause before continuing right on with his explanation.
"I guess I see magic as another limb that a certain proportion of humanity can grow, that greatly expands the capabilities of the ones born with it. Although I describe it as such, that limb is useless without the proper runes, offerings, and diagrams, thus why we think the Gods had a role in it. It just doesn't make sense for it to be a natural occurrence just due to the fact that mana exists in this world. We can only guess at the purpose of the Gods introducing magic into the world if they were truly the ones who did it. But my best guess is that there really was no purpose. The Gods seem to want so many different things that I can't see a clear reason for them doing it. But I guess that's what makes them Gods. Mortals like us can't hope to understand their intentions."
George sounded a bit dejected while speaking his last sentence. But then he sighed as he finished his minor speech and closed his eyes for a few moments before looking over to Nicholas who seemed to be musing over what his friend had just said.
After about a couple of minutes of silent contemplation Nicholas nodded to himself twice and turned to look at his friend, sudden determination shining in his eyes. George slowly leaned back into his chair after seeing this, seeming a bit nervous at what his friend might be planning.
"George, I am leaving the mage tower!"
George gave a sigh of relief at this. "I am glad, I thought you might have something dangerous planned."
Nicholas scoffed at his friend's response. "What dangerous thing could I have planned based off our discussion just now? hmmmm?"
George laughed softly. "I couldn't guess at what it could be, and that is what made me all the more worried. I am Thankful that you have the decency to experiment in such a way that the Tower doesn't get implicated by the results of your experiments when you mess up, but I always seem to get roped in to deal with the problem when you go a bit overboard."
"Hey I have payed you quite fairly for all the trouble I cause you George, you shouldn't complain."
"You may pay me well, but some of your more out there failures were not pleasant to clean up in the slightest. I had nightmares for a week after those floating heads started to surround and move towards me. It was twilight in the Ekel's Forest for crying out loud! I thought I got caught in an illusion!" George shook his head vigorously trying to forget the memory.
"That was far in the past my friend, no need to get so worked up. Anyways thanks for answering my question, I should probably prepare to leave now though."
Before Nicholas could finish standing up he could feel a force gently but firmly pushing him back into his seat. He gave a frustrated look at George who he knew had just used one of the 10 rings he had on his fingers to push Nicholas back down. "What George? I really want to head out as soon as possible. I am already going to have to spend a couple hours filling out the proper forms, so I really want to get it over with."
George gave an exasperated sigh before he spoke. "Could you at least give me, your friend, a little more information than that you are leaving the magic tower? I can hazard a guess but I would rather you just told me."
Nicholas had to look that seemed to shout 'How could I forget?' on his face. To which George just rolled his eyes while waiting for Nicholas to speak.
Nicholas grinned at his friend as he started to explain.
"Well I mean I spent the 10 years required to become a novice from a trainee. I did 5 years under my master to become a mage. Then for 4 years I spent my time on the different war-fronts I was hired out to. Then finally during the last 4 years I spent it here at the tower doing my personal research at the tower. For as long as I can remember I have lived to become a mage and do what a mage does. Its just recently I have started feel a sense of immense apathy to magic and the life of a mage, so I want to get a new perspective. So to do that I want to try to live the life of a mage outside of the Tower and its' influence."
George shook his head lightly, a slight look of concern washing over his face. "You don't plan to try and abandon the Tower though, right?"
Nicholas started violently waving his hands in denial at George's question.
"No no no no noooooo. I would never think to do that. If I did I would lose my head. I just want to travel to renew my passion for the craft and get some different perspectives on this thing I have based my entire life on. No offence but the way you answered the question of: What is magic? Kinda confirmed my feeling that I need a new environment to work in for a while. Not that you are wrong by any means but I am just kinda sick of it at this point and need a break."
George gave a hearty laugh at that.
"Well if you aren't going to abandon the tower I don't have much to say, other than I expected this to happen eventually. You don't have the personality to last in a place like the Tower for long periods of time. How you got through all those years of training I will never understand."
Nicholas nodded as he started to get up again.
"So you satisfied now George?"
"Yes Nicholas, I am satisfied. Have a good trip, see you in a couple years, probably." George finished speaking and opened up the textbook he wanted to start looking over a while ago.
Nicholas didn't say anything else as he took two quick and long strides to the door to go make preparations for his journey.