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Chapter 6: Ged; The World of Magic
The next week passed so quickly for both Will and Julia. Julia invited Will to join her at school for the time he was free, which was almost everyday. There were times however when Will felt drawn back to the park where he had first arrived after his “jump”
It was odd. Will felt calm within Earth's Arcana everywhere he went, yet, the site of his arrival now rippled with an arcana wave. Will was fearful it would affect Earth's ambient Arcana, but the wave continued to grow weaker as the days passed. He surmised that Earth's arcana was dissipating the wave of it's own accord.
Will really started enjoying Julia's school, especially the library. He would spend sometimes the entire day reading and compiling all the information he could find about various Earth topics. It was nice to have written records again and, although there was obvious personal bias from each author, the ideas as a whole were mostly uncensored. On Will's Grey World, the libraries reflected the single right way to think about everything. At his heart, Will always enjoyed studying and it was liberating to be able to do so without suspicious people looking over his shoulder.
Julia was having a lot of fun picking Will's brain about his own world. Once she had gotten over the shock of disbelief, listening to stories about a whole other group of humans was like taking a little adventure away from her boring life. His details of “Myrah” always seemed a bit dreary, but it also explained a lot about Will's own personality.
Why he was so prone to paranoia, the panic attacks, the entire society of Myrah was a classic case of a lopsided oligarchy. The 'secret police' and restraints on citizens. No wonder Will was so high strung around most people.
However as time passed, Will was starting to get used to the regular flow of life on Earth. The second week of life in the guest house was just as busy as the first for Will, but by now he was starting to get into his own routines. He was usually awake early in the morning for his walk.
After that, he would often head to Julia's school for reading or attend various symposiums os a guest.
In the afternoon, lunch with Julia, and then a run down of the days classes. To Will, medical sciences were something even the non-magic elites on his world were restricted in using. The 'elites' feared the power of science at all times. It was the one possible way of upsetting the established order.
The more Julia explained the sciences to Will, the more he could understand why the elites were afraid. Science was so logical, easy to explain, and comprehend. The clarity of the logic as refreshing. For much of his life, Will had been expected to practice incantations by rote with no explanations. It was rhetoric but without the higher purpose of politics. It was for the fucntion of eithe rmilitary application via secret police or maintenance of the various machines run and operated by the magical elites.
Logic as even starting to work it's way into Will's understanding of Arcana. He tried to work through the sources of it's power. Where did Arcana come from? What were the various sources that produced it? Were there limits to it's power or was it like a person's mind and able to be expanded with practice?
Will already knew there were physical limitations to his own use of Arcana. He felt it both times he 'jumped'. That limitation was obvious. Moving his body from one world to another was absolutely pushing the limits of his Arcana. But was that a limitation of himself or of the magic itself? Or maybe it was the stone?
None of this could have been possible without the stone's own peculiar powers. It was common for mages throughout time to imbue a part of themselves into inanimate objects to help future mages channel or amplify certain magics. As Will continued to dig deeper into the logical arts of science, he could feel something else starting to grow restless inside of him.
After 3 weeks of his various trips to the site of his arrival and the college's vast library, Will was feeling the pull of the stone again. It seemed to coincide with his own desire to delve deeper into the stone's origin. There were unanswered questions that were bothering him. Will sat down one afternoon and talked to Julia about this feeling.
“I guess that's where all your studying is taking you.” Julia said calmly, but with just a touch of sadness. She had really enjoyed getting to know Will. She would miss these conversations and this unique connection. He had a type of perspective that was so different, like being able to ask a question from inside the problem. (editors note: describe here what its like talking with your twin)
“How will you manage your next jump? Do you even know where you'll be going?” Julia asked with concern. She thought he was rushing into this. He could arrive anywhere on any world and some were sure to be a lot more hostile than here on Earth. He looked so weak when he first arrived here.
“Well, I was thinking about heading to a place where I could get more advice about this stone… Ged.”
“What or where is Ged?” Julia asked. This was the first time Will had mentioned a concrete destination. “I haven't been there before, but I've heard of it. Supposedly it's a world like mine filled with magic.”