Triiffic-Soul: Can I Be In Control?

Chapter 34 – A Magic Lesson  #1

“Okay, class.” Jen smiled widely as she placed down a mountain of books and papers on the table, “Today we are learning about magic and attributes.”

[...She is going to go over the full history of it, isn’t she?] (Syrus)

[Mostly likely.] (Luna)

[Recaps are never too bad…] (Eva) 

If they were honest, none of them were particularly looking forward to this lesson. Now this didn’t mean they all had perfect knowledge on the subject, Luna and Lilly were well versed on the topic, while Syrus only really knew the use, not the history. That didn’t change the fact that this lesson–even with Jen’s extra touches–would be just the basics.

Jen excitedly asked, “Where do you want to start?”

Syrus replied, “Wherever you feel like, teach.”

With neither Luna nor Eva commenting, Jen decided to start where she originally planned.

The lesson went over the topics they knew about. How attributes manifest and how family bloodlines could increase the probability of certain attributes appearing. How attributes could affect people physically with hair and eye colour, and the cultural impacts of certain attributes.

This lesson went on for hours with minimum questions on Anna’s part.

Unlike some of their previous lessons on topics a child wouldn’t normally understand. They didn’t have to completely act like they didn’t know anything, because they clearly knew how to use Anna’s attribute. Syrus had been ‘practising’ it publicly for years at this point.

Even when it came to some of the knowledge-based information, Anna acquired the information from the books they read. Plenty of the drama stories had bloodlines or attributes in them as a plot point.

Anna asked, “Mum, why are we going so in-depth into this when I know how to use my attribute?”

“Well the background knowledge is important, if pretty rudimentary, but tomorrow part two of this lesson will go over some extra fun stuff.” Jen smiled almost evilly, “I acquired some books for you that will help with your usage and will allow you to learn some magic.”

Then Jen recollected herself, “But first, we have today’s lesson to finish. Speaking of which, now we will get to the different types of attributes. There are three, elemental, physical, and special. Element is pretty standard, it’s attributes like my Earth or yours and your father’s Fire. Physical is any attribute that has to do with the body, and they are labelled as such, bones, hearing, blood, muscles, etc. Special is everything else, these ones are also a lot rarer, the most commonly known one of these would be Manipulation while the most special would be Mana.”

As Jen wrapped up her ramble. Luna asked, “Didn’t the book label them ‘rare’?” In reference to what Jen called ‘Special’ attributes.

“Yes it did, I’m happy you noticed. The reason for the change is because I didn’t like the name.” Jen proudly shared, “Seriously, why would they call it ‘rare’? It doesn’t give any detail about the category. Now don’t get me wrong, I know ‘special’ isn’t the best either but it covers the ‘other’ attributes better.”

Luna sighed, “That seems like something a teacher shouldn’t do.”

“Well good thing I’m technically not one, otherwise I would petition for the change.”  Said Jen, “But back on the topic, there are some other attributes that do/don’t fit into the other three groupings. To be honest, I’m only bringing this up because it annoys me. I spent so long trying to find some information on these exotic attributes, but all I was able to find was that while they were rare they were more easily passed down bloodlines.”

[Eh, I’ll say she’s half right, but props to her for finding any information on exotic attributes in this country] (Syrus)

[...] (Eva)

[...Yes, that information is hard to come by here and in Nevald.] (Luna)

“Now, as mentioned, attributes are powerful but as you know people can have more than one. It’s uncommon, but you should expect in even a small city multiple people to have two. I think the current statistics is 1/1100 people. I couldn’t check the source, the book was removed from the Ihere library a couple of years back.”

Syrus asked, “So, do you know anyone with two?”

“Yep, about five people, but I would love to meet more, however, I’ve pretty much talked to everyone here and in the surrounding towns and villages.” Then Jen joked, “But who knows, maybe you three even have two.”

Luna raised her eyebrow, “You think?”

“Well, it’s unlikely, but having multiple daughters in one body is also unlikely.”

“I would say that’s near impossible.”

“Well, I guess that just means I’m a really lucky mum!” Jen clapped, “I say give it until your fifteenth? Yeah about there, if you don’t feel the feeling then you probably just have one.”

However, before Jen had finished their talk. Lilly had retreated to their Soul Space. From the small feelings of distress they felt from her, Syrus and Luna were worried.

Luna kept a straight face and continued to talk for a moment longer and Syrus stayed in the body as well to wait for Luna. From past experiences, she knew that she was bad at talking to Eva about her troubles alone.

“But yeah, back to what I was saying. I’m bringing this up because some attributes can work together, this is a million times easier if those attributes are part of the same body but this can be done with multiple separate people as well. However, this also means some can work against each other–”

The lesson continued for another twenty minutes before they were finally done.

Jen asked, “And for the time being that is everything, any questions?”

Luna stated, “Not at the moment.”

Jen clapped, “Well if that’s the case, let’s register this lesson as complete.”

Luna said as she stood up, “Okay then, I’m going to rest up.”

Jen said, “Alrighty that’s fine but don’t go to sleep too early. You will just wake up during the night.”

Syrus replied, “Yeah we know, but you rambled a lot today so we need to clear our heads for a moment.”

Jen blushed, seeing it as a compliment. “Thanks, dears, just get some proper sleep, part two has some practical elements.”

Syrus returned a thumbs up, “All good.” 

It didn’t take long for the two of them to get back to their room.

Luna and Syrus relinquished control of the body once they sat down on their bed, and they entered the void that was their Soul Space.

“Eva?” Syrus quickly looked around the unchanging space to spot Lilly sitting down alone in the distance again.

Luna quickly walked up to her, “Lilly, can we talk?”

It had been a long time since they all talked in the Soul Space.

There was no particular reason for the lack of use of the space. It was just after a while they started to stay in partial control of the body–they were comfortable with it. Now and again, individually they would jump back into the Soul Space to have a moment of freedom, where no one else could control their movement. 

The Soul Space hadn’t changed but their appearances within it had morphed over the last three years.

Syrus still shared most of her looks with their shared body. The difference was that she was slightly taller, possessed more muscle, and had crimson-red hair and eyes.

Luna was in a similar situation, looking similar to Anna but sharing enough resemblance to her original self that one might’ve guessed they were half-sisters. Her white hair was cut short and her eyes were noticeably pinker than they were originally. Instead of pale pink, they were now a lighter pink. Luna was extremely happy when she first noticed the change after Syrus pointed it out a year ago.

Then there was Lilly, who had changed slightly. She now looked like a nine-year-old but didn’t share many features with Anna. Instead, it was just as if her original body had aged back down to nine.

They all had clothes they were comfortable with–Syrus wore simple blue pants and a green shirt, Luna wore a simple one-piece black dress, and Lilly wore what Anna wore but with just extra pockets.

“Don’t worry,” Lilly whispered a reply, “I’m fine, I just needed some alone time.”

Luna sat down next to her, “Lilly, we need to talk ”

Lilly shuffled away slightly, “It’s just some bad memories, I will be fine in a moment.”

Time can heal some wounds, but Lilly wasn’t healing. Sometimes she would just go quiet, other times she would leave to be alone in their Soul Space, but whenever something triggered her memories she went unresponsive.

Syrus and Luna hoped after the initial outburst Lilly had when they discussed her having two attributes years ago, that eventually she would be ready to open up and they would be able to fix any problems and move on.

However, for the past three years, the chance of that happening seemed to be slipping away.

They did have on-and-off talks about what Anna's second attribute would be. Which Lilly only mildly participated in.

Luna was adamant about it not being Moonlight, due to all the trouble it brought to her last life and the trouble it would bring to this one. Syrus was fine with it not being Blood. She would like it if it was, but the fact it was so easy to use and hide made it better suited to be a non-publicly shown one. 

So the options were either Space or Manipulation. 

Now taking Lilly’s opinion into account would’ve made it an easy choice–if she didn’t have her own obvious misgivings.

Their parents…

Manipulation was the money maker, they all knew that but to be honest none of them cared about being rich. However, they all felt Jen and George deserved more.

Syrus sighed, “Sure Eva, you will be fine in a moment, but not tomorrow or even the day after that.”

Lilly didn’t reply, and Luna quickly turned around to reprimand Syrus, “Syrus!”

“I don’t have infinite patience Luna, and I have allowed myself to go past my normal limits due to us sharing a body.”

Lilly tried to shy away from Syrus' gaze, but she couldn’t even hide her conflicted feelings, because those emotions just flowed out of her to Syrus and Luna.

Luna bit her lip and asked, “Can we start this slowly?” She was worried. She didn’t want any fights to happen between the three of them, so she kept her distance and didn’t force this topic.

“Sure, how about we start talking about Exotic attributes? As that is what I believe Eva has.”

Lilly, who was silent all this time while Luna and Syrus were discussing how she should handle her problems, finally spoke. A transparent tear fell down her face and her grey eyes flashed amber, “...I… don’t want… to…. But… I will.”

Syrus and Luna were taken aback by how easily Lilly agreed. However, for Lilly, these feelings made her feel like she was going insane and she wanted them to end… It was only a brief moment of strength, that allowed her to make the decision and she was holding on to it tight.

Luna paused, “Oh… do you have any questions?” Then smiled, happy that Lilly might find some recovery.

“Aren't… Exotic attributes bad?”

Syrus asked, “Was that taught to you?”

“No… they were never mentioned in school…” Lilly’s eyes darted back up and down to Syrus and Luna, and the ground.

Luna sorrowfully sighed, “It’s because of my reaction to them… isn’t it?”

Lilly nodded. Initially, whenever Exotic attributes were mentioned, Luna had to hold back a negative reaction to them, but those feelings were still felt by Lilly.

“They aren’t… Just blame my teaching for that, I’m sorry if that caused you unnecessary additional pain.” 

Lilly just nodded.

Syrus spoke again, “Okay can I start talking about it?”

“I’m fine to talk about it…” Lilly stood up and made sure to not look at either of her roommates, “Just not today…” 

Syrus shrugged, “Fine, but expect me to bring up the conversation within the week.”

Lilly froze for a moment and closed her eyes, “I… understand.”

Syrus returned to the body, Luna followed minutes after, and Lilly returned an hour later.

They didn’t do much for the rest of the day, just rested and prepared for tomorrow’s lesson.