The Nine Bishops

The almost instantaneous impact of the ground startled her, since she was not used to falling so quickly. The fact she was not dead meant she had finally succeeded. Doc let out a long, appreciative whistle.

Mika slowly got up from the ground, brushing shards of ice off her skin. Shattered ice surrounded her. On the way down, she had created a shell around her body, a shell so thin anyone looking at her might not even have noticed it, yet so strong that it could protect her from a ten-story fall without so much as a scratch. The properties of the ice absorbed all shock from the collision. Mika felt as though she had merely fallen off her own feet.

She had been piecing together a solution for weeks, before the instant it finally all clicked in her head. Master Beng was right; she was doing everything wrong. There were two glaring issues with Mika’s training that caused her to fail consistently.

“I finally figured it out, Master,” Mika started, as soon as she was on her feet; he was a few feet away, observing her with a small smirk.

“What is it that you found out?” Master Beng led on. Doc walked closer to hear what Mika was about to say as well.

“My first problem was my mind. Any time I thought about saving myself from the fall, I failed. Any time I thought too hard about my magic, I produced pitiful magic and failed. All I had to do was fall mindlessly and let my natural instincts save me. But implementing that idea was a lot more difficult than it sounded.”

“Very interesting observation. What else?” her master continued.

Mika had first recognized the issue when it came to her in her dreams. When she fought with her father, she did not think. Mika’s mind was not focused inward when she sparred with him, but outward. It was where she could make decisions and actions before she even needed to. In all of Mika’s experiences with successful implementation of magic, she now realized, she had been absentminded. From the circus to the Low Road, Mika effortlessly used magic when it was the last thing on her mind.

“I realized the second problem after hearing your singular word. It then became so obvious what I was doing wrong. The answer was in front of me the whole time, yet I hadn’t realized it for so long. One of the things Doc told me on the first day of training was that you were controlling the air density so I couldn’t fall to my death.”

By then, Doc was smiling, too.

“While your safety net gave me a certain peace of mind, it also inhibited my chance to accomplish the task. Because I wasn’t risking anything by falling off the lighthouse, I had become complacent. You ensured I would not die, and Doc could simply heal my wounds. I had too much time to think as I was falling. Sure, I hit the ground in seconds, even with your magic, but that was still too much time.

“I had to fall naturally, with imminent death on the line, to apply my magic thoughtlessly. In all, those conditions were just ridiculous and risky enough to work. And they had. You were not meditating; rather, you were controlling your magic so I would not die. When I asked you to meet me at the bottom of the lighthouse, I had set the conditions for a proper repetition.

“I see. Tell me more,” Master Beng egged her on.

“Obviously you had no complaints, since I was heeding your advice and changed everything. I was still unsure whether you completely believed that I would be fine, but it didn’t matter, since I was able to save myself properly. With my very life on the line, I created a shell that protected me from death—without a conscious thought.”

Having told him everything she had learned, Mika waited to hear Master Beng’s reply. Instead of speaking, he threw her a stone. Reacting just in time, she caught the strange little rock in her hand. It defied all sensory expectations: it was perfectly square and a bit smaller than her fist, though practically weightless. It looked rough, but its texture was actually smooth.

After giving her a moment to inspect the stone, Master Beng gave Mika her next task.

“Your next second phase of training is simple. Cut that stone in half. Once you have cut it in half, bring it to me and we shall conduct the final phase of your training. This time, don’t expect any help.”

Considering the brevity of Master Beng’s explanation and the simplicity of the task, Mika knew there had to be a catch. Even more curious was the fact that Master Beng had told her she had three phases to her training and this would be her second-to-last test. If cutting the stone in half was as easy as it seemed, then there wasn’t that much training to be had, which made Mika feel uneasy. She needed to learn a lot more if she was to master her magic. All she had learned from her last training exercise was that the threat of death and a lack of thinking allowed her to use magic painlessly.

The problem with that was that those conditions were rare. She had to be able to control her magic at all times, not just in dire situations. Mika wanted to understand the program so she could train with purpose.

“Master, can I at least know what the purpose of this training is?”

“No. If I told you, that would defeat the purpose.” She sighed, though it was exactly the kind of answer she’d expected.

“Can I at least know what type of stone this is? I have never seen such a stone.”

“That is for you to find out,” he responded with a smile, as he walked in the direction of the guild house, motioning for Doc to join him. The two set off, soon deep in conversation, leaving Mika to examine the stone.