Vipersong

11 || Dominus Magus

VALENTINA HAD ONLY HEARD tales about the Illustrum, where the art of affinity was studied by the greatest scholars and sages of the current age. To even enter the Illustrum as a student, one had to complete three rounds of entrance exams and the Trial, which measured the depth of a young hopeful's raw power and fitted them with an illuro accordingly. Few even hoped to make it to the door. No one in Peza Mura had even attempted to sign up for the first round of exams, much less risk facing the ancient scorpion Kaede on the floors of the venerated Catia Temple, where the Divinities had first touched ground from the heavens.

But now, here she stood.

As she and Nada passed through the massive iron gates, she craned her neck to glimpse the central hulking arch above her head, etched with one of the Four Central Stratagems of the ancient sages:

    ENLIGHTENMENT ONLY THROUGH DISCIPLINE. 

"Don't dawdle." Nada ushered her impatiently along. "You have to be fitted for an illuro sometime before dinner. We have commitments in the evening."

Valentina snapped her neck to look at her, agog. "Me? An illuro?"

"Well, obviously. The Fellowship of Grandcantores won't let you train there if you don't have one."

"Train?" Her eyes widened even further.  

"Must you repeat everything I say? Close your mouth, you look like a trout." The guard pushed her impatiently along. "Yes. You have healing magic, and anyone with eyes can tell you have no idea how to use it."

Valentina pulled away, stung. "My aunt taught me."

"Remedies, maybe. But not magic. No one can teach you properly except them." Nada nodded up at the number of tall towers and squat rotundas connected by a plethora of crisscrossing paths that cut through thin air, seemingly defying gravity. Tall figures cloaked in elemental white robes stood poised inside them, shaping wind and water and fire and sending blasts into the open sky.

"But..." Valentina chewed on the inside of her cheek. Her parents had known of her magic the moment they saw that Divine gleam when she had opened her eyes at birth. Her father had been the first one to try to fit her with an illuro at five years old, a small pendant that she had shattered after a week. Four illuros later, the last being a necklace that had nearly cost her weight in goldscales, and they had all given up. Whatever that drop of Enfatalan magic she had in her, it would not be forced to direct its energy through an object.

And so she had done what she could the Enfatalan way—through descantesce, spoken spells. She practiced only by the cover of night, far away from Infernali eyes or ears, anyone who could have gone to the Imperial compound with an anonymous tip about an Enfatalan lowlife living and breathing in their midst.

Few in Peza Mura knew the traits of the Enfatala, which was perhaps the reason she had been able to keep her secret for so long. The last remaining slaves had been taken away by Imperial escorts shortly after her father was arrested and the war was over. But without a doubt, these elders, these Grandcantores would know. They would know in an instant, the moment they gazed into her eyes, touched her hand and felt the strange magic that shifted and surged beneath her skin, itching to be freed. He would know she wasn't right, that she was a liar. He would tell everyone, and she would be killed, along with Aunt Dulcie and her brother and sisters.

They approached the large, curved doors of the Grand Hall.  "Come on." Nada gripped Valentina's arm and yanked her forward. Her stubborn feet dragged against the stone.

And even as fear froze her mind, she could only follow.

No going back.

The great doors creaked shut behind them, and Nada pulled her down an enormous arched hall lined with tall windows where light spilled through and splashed onto immaculately polished floors. A calm peace blanketed the space as young cantore students in dark blue uniforms passed by, chatting to one another in low voices. They cast Valentina curious glances, but Nada tugged her up vast marble staircases before they could stop and ask intrusive questions.