The Weekend

The Owl House

The morning sun was halfway to its apex as Fou and Hooty were having another conversation.

"Hard to believe that Merlin guy threw you out of your own home to 'seek that which is beautiful.'"

"Fou. Fou."

"Yeah. Isles can be pretty cool, but that Avalon place sounds pretty sweet too. Hoot. Hoot. It seems rather lonely, though.

Fou looked away for a moment. He wouldn't deny liking the time spent with Shirou, Mash, and Ritsuka.

"I know you can get back anytime now, thanks to Shirou. Not sure how that works, by the way. But it's nice to have more people to talk to. I should know."

"Fou. Fou."

"I'll have you know I can understand higher dimensional theories and abstract magical concepts if I tried."

Fou raised a brow before shrugging.

The two cut their words short when Shirou jogged into the clearing that held the Owl House. Seeing them, Shirou walked up to his white companion, picked him up, and started petting him. "Morning, guys. Everything okay so far?"

"Yeah. We're still pretty full from breakfast earlier. Hoot. Hoot. You know how to find the right bugs."

"Thanks. My time in Africa and Asia gave me a lot of good ideas."

"No idea what those places are, but they sound great to me!"

After a few moments, a drenched Luz heaved as she slowly caught up to her teacher. She felt like collapsing on the ground, hands on her knees. "I hate this already. Couldn't you have slowed down a bit?"

"It was only a mile, Luz."

"It's Gym Class all over again!"

Shirou shook his head. "This isn't a race, Luz. We're working on your stamina. We both have different running speeds, but if you run at a pace that doesn't push your heart rate enough, you won't get the same benefits."

Luz took a seat against the Owl House. "Why are we doing this again?"

He raised a brow. "If I recall correctly, you were the one who asked for this training. In your words, you had nerd arms and legs."

"Ugh. I got too hyped up by the War Games. Everyone was just so cool!"

"And I said that strength training wouldn't be a priority right now. But, considering your recent track record, you'd have a better chance of running from danger than fighting it head-on."

"This isn't something that happens overnight. A healthy lifestyle is balanced physically and mentally. Willow told you kind of the same thing."

The day before, Willow notified them that her parents were displeased hearing how she convinced Principal Bump to switch education tracks. Unleashing a giant plant engulfing the campus has that effect. As such, she was grounded for the weekend and unable to attend a group lesson. Willow tried to argue that she would just be tutoring Luz, but they countered that Luz had enough time to learn from her until the next enrollment period.

"Since I'm exhausted physically, can we at least get on with the mental stuff? You still haven't told me how you do your magic yet."

Shirou crossed his arms in thought. "I suppose that's only fair. The long answer is quite complicated, but I'll try to simplify it as best I can. Do you think Eda and King would like to listen in? See what lines up with her experience?"

Luz beamed brightly. "That'd be great! I'll go ask them." Then, with pained grunts, she opened the house door and searched for them.

Shirou smiled and followed after her, about to prepare some materials. Outside, Fou and Hooty continued to entertain themselves.

With a little convincing, Luz managed to get Eda and King to join them. Luz promised to get King to lecture her on demons later today, and Eda was curious.

The older witch leaned against the couch with a cup of apple blood. "I'll stick around so long as you don't bore me. I still have to run errands later."

Shirou acknowledged the condition. "Thank you for your interest. I'll also be out this afternoon."

Luz blinked at her servant. "Oh, what for?"

"I'll be doing a shift cooking at The Saffron Gate to earn some snails. Considering our special diets, I'll be shopping for our human-safe ingredients. While Eda's stand profits go toward other amenities and her inventory, I feel it would be unfair to her with us taking residence in her home."

Eda chuckled. "The stand is doing fine. But, of course, I have to keep it moving throughout the day, so the scouts don't get the drop on me again. I appreciate you lighting my load, though."

"I'm happy to have good food around here finally," chimed King.

"No problem. I prepared some food for Lunch and Dinner for you guys while I'm gone." He raised his voice toward the door. "Hooty, can I trust you to watch over King and Luz until Eda or I return?"

"Will do! Nothing will get past me, Hoot!"

With everything settled, Shirou started with a chalkboard he brought out from Eda's attic. Then, he spent some time recapping magical sources, elements, and affinities to get the others up to speed.

"That's no surprise. All magic here is a gift from the Titan, and many people worship it." Her expression turned sour. "The Emperor claims he can talk to the Titan, even though it's dead, but I think it's all garbage."

"Well, there is a chance he's not wrong. For many gods or divine spirits, their mind and soul may persist even if they don't have a physical body." The demon realm was supposed to be the Reverse Side of the World for Luz's Timeline. What happened to all the other gods besides the Titan?

The Owl Lady shrugged. "Don't get me wrong. I respect the Titan gifting us magic, but that doesn't mean I will listen to what he wants from someone else.

"Understandable. My history has had its share of false prophets. What did the Titan supposedly say anyways?"

"According to the Emperor, being able to use multiple branches of magic is chaotic and makes the Titan angry. So there are a lot of covens, but the Titan wants his magic only to be used in nine different ways.

That sounded similar to the story of Moses. Shirou recalled the various tracks of the students he met. "Abomination, Illusion, Plant, Healing, Bard, Construction, Potions, Oracle, and Beast Keeping."

"That's why the Empire set up the Coven System. When we graduate school, we're given a sigil that locks our magic into only performing one branch. Those who don't are labeled as wild witches who perform quote-unquote wild magic like me."

Luz's expression dimmed. "But I want to learn all kinds of magic."

"Don't worry, Master. If the school doesn't teach you, Eda and I will." He frowned in confusion. "This doesn't sound right. While the methodologies are separated, the final effects can still overlap. Am I wrong in saying that a potion can be made to grow plants or a bard's song be used to cast illusions?"

Eda gave an affirmative nod. "It's one of the reasons I chose potions. It's not as restrictive. Otherwise, one would join the Emperor's coven to use all magic types."

Shirou crossed his arms. "Doesn't that go against what the Titan allegedly said about only using one of the nine types? Wouldn't they be considered wild witches?"

"That's what I thought too, but Emperor Belos said that those under him had an exception with their tenth sigil. They would use it for the good of the Empire."

He hummed in thought, feeling the threads of systematic manipulation. If it was a matter of trust, why blanketly restrict the magic of every adult if they did no wrong? There was a double standard with a purpose. He shook his head and turned to Luz. "Sorry. We got off track for a moment there. I hope this doesn't dissuade you from attending Hexside with your friends."

She rubbed her neck. "Well, it's less great than I thought it would be, but I'd still like to try it. I won't have to get a sigil until graduation anyways."

"That's the spirit." Shirou smiled, and he continued the lesson.

After going over elements, Eda grew a little smug, saying that she didn't have a type of magic that she could do better over the other. She believed she was what Shirou called an Average One: Wielder of Five Great Elements.

With no starting on magic, both Luz and King had no bearing on what their element could be.

Since he didn't have the proper tools to disprove that, Shirou let it slide. Considering her aptitude with potions, he would have assumed water.

"What's your element, Shirou?" asked King.

"Sword." The hero smiled as if it was self-explanatory.

Eda turned to Luz. "Humans think magic comes out of thin air, but that's stupid. Shirou here already got you started that everything comes from something."

Shirou refrained from mentioning magic that ignores equivalent exchange.

Eda stood up. "Let me ask you, kid. Where do you think a witch's internal magic comes from?"

"Uh, from the heart?" guessed Luz.

Eda smirked. "Actually, you're right."

Luz gasped in joy and blushed.

"Do you mean that on a spiritual level?" asked the servant.

Eda grinned. "Nope!" She pulled out a scroll from her hair. It was unrolled, showing a diagram of an organ attached to a witch's heart. "It comes from a sac of magic bile attached to a witch's heart."

Shirou stepped closer to get a better look at the organ. "Fascinating. You have an organ dedicated to producing and storing magical energy." Considering the biological differences, he could argue that the witches here were similar to Medea. Both had sharp ears and possibly different biology due to their parentage. Just as Medea had direct connections to Helios, these witches had connections to the Titan.

Luz cringed a bit. "Oh, gross. Can I keep that?"

Eda shoved the diagram back in her hair. "No." She gestured to the redhead. "How is it for humans like yourself?"

"Well, Luz was right in a different way. I can create magical energy from my life force."

The last part caused the others to stare at him in concern but King cheered. "That's what I'm talking about!"

Luz went wide-eyed. "W-What?"

"Are you shortening your life just to perform magic, kid?" exclaimed Eda.

Shirou put his hands up to alleviate them. "No. No. Life force energy doesn't directly influence life span. Instead, it's the raw magical energy found within living things such as humans, animals, and Magical Beasts. When used, it gets replenished as long as one still lives."

Luz wiped her brow. "That's a relief. I was hoping live long as a witch."

Eda shook her head. "Trust me, kid. Life-span isn't going to be your main concern."

King raised a claw. "Does that mean Eda and I have life force energy too? How do I use it to do magic?"

Shirou picked up a piece of chalk and got to work. "For humans like myself, we gather and mold magical energy in a certain way. Eastern and Western cultures have mapped the human body in some way, shape, or form." He drew a body with seven circles from top to bottom. "The 7 Chakras from Hinduism." The second body had many points and lines dotted along the torso and limbs. "Acupuncture Points from Traditional Chinese Medicine."

Luz perked up as she mentioned it the other day. "They aren't pseudo-science?"

"Not to human magic users, at least." The last was a simple drawing of a body with a heart, brain, and branching nerves. "Modern MRI Scans. Each map was drawn up by someone who could see in part, but not the whole."

Luz looked at each of the drawings. "So, what's the whole?"

To demonstrate, Shirou held out an arm. His body began to pulse and ebb while teal-colored lines flashed across his skin. Magical light in circuit-like patterns hummed over his skin, trailing down toward his hands. Finally, he dimly illuminated the area around him in a soft glow. "Magic Circuits."

The strange sight captivated everyone.

"Woah..." The girl stared intently at the design.

"That's so cool!" cried King.

Shirou smiled. "Magic Circuits are a pseudo-nervous system that spreads through the body, connecting the material world to the astral plane. They reside within the soul, and what is found on the body is just a physical expression of them."

Luz scratched her head. "Is the Astral Plane like the afterlife or something?"

"Not really. It's the world above the material universe, beyond the reach of our bodily senses. As we go closer to the root of existence, mind and matter meet." He smirked. "Thoughts shape reality." Shirou allowed the circuit glow to dissipate. "It's a higher plane of existence, metaphysical."

Luz traced a finger along her arms, recalling some of those words from the science channel. "Sounds complicated."

He chuckled. "You don't know the half of it. Keep in mind; this is the abridged version."

Eda rubbed her chin. "I remember taking a field trip to the astral plane at Hexside. There was a little ritual we did that pushed our spirit outside our bodies. They called it a place where the soul exists apart from the body." She smirked. "That's how I learned to commune with ghosts."

"Yeah, they are still around at the school," snarked Shirou.

---

If any of you want, you can invite me on Discord.

If you have any thoughts, please leave them in a review.

P a treon . com (slash) Firestorm808

buy me a coffee . com (slash) Firestorm808

Discord Server: discord.gg/2uP8ka2