Architectural Lessons
After that started the dreadful drudgery of daily struggle. For a number of reasons, hard work was anathema to Solomon; his most despised bane, the annihilator of mortal will; the distinctive allicin of his brand of vampirism. It was almost impossible to work himself out of the comfortable rut, even though he understood on an intellectual level that the formation of positive habits was the basis of diurnal progression. After all, once a groove was cast, it could only deepen.
Still, even with the dangling carrot of controlling the Secret Structure of the World and no longer being accursed with secret knowledge everyone seemed frankly contented to ignore, he found the demands asked of him downright excessive. Not merely to study and pull himself along with the rest of the crowd, but to excel above and beyond them? It was insanity at its finest. Just the thought was enough to make him shudder and blanch as he ate breakfast - which, in turn, caused several concerned parties to separate themselves from him by several centimeters, as they recalled the purported events of last evening.
"I'll need something to motivate me," he decided, clutching the spoon.
After returning to his room, Solomon opened the stash. He'd intended to reserve all of them for a time of real need and never expected the desperation to come so soon.
He consumed a whole packet of coffee jello, allowing its bittersweetness to roll over his tongue. His eyes cried small tears of joy. He made a silent promise, not to eat more until he'd earned it, and then, with a sense of deep and discerning purpose, Solomon got to work.
And so - in an awe-inspiring feat of courage, bravery, and determination - almost the entirety of the first week of September was spent entirely on nothing but slacking off. Alas, Solomon's steel-clad willpower had hopelessly wilted into a corpselike pallor almost within moments of entering the classroom.
However, even with the dregs of motivation, Solomon was capable of inventiveness and unusual perspicacity. He still managed to osmose enough information through his own form of half-hearted listening to completely ace the entrance examination on Friday with a score of ninety-nine out of a hundred. The Educator didn't even have to check the papers, as they were self-grading, providing accurate breakdowns of answer accuracy and incisively soulful commentary on knowledge demonstrated, often with one or two humorous or snide remarks, and at least one encouragement to keep working hard.
"Hey, Sol, what did you get?" asked Damien, whispering at his back.
"Hrm, ninety-nine," he answered, half-mumbling in his midday nap.
"What?!" Damien yelled out, such that it drew attention even through the buzz of the class. He immediately snapped forward and snatched the paper from Solomon's desk, and started reading it with a progressive distortion of facial features and an orchestra of emotions. As if sensing the unfolding drama, half the class flocked immediately behind him as spectators, with a shocked Josh snatching the test out of Damien's hands in sheer disbelief to read it himself closer up. An eruption of mutters, congratulations, disbelieving remarks, and quiet screams proceeded. It drew the attention of their erstwhile teacher.
"Indeed!" said the Educator cheerfully, clearly in good spirits. "Mr. Lancaster has certainly earned every special privilege this month."
"Can I have candy?" asked Solomon, at the volume of a mutter. "That's my privilege."
The Educator appeared next to him, extending a gloved hand with a number of foil-enveloped dark amber cabochons, each of them almost opaque to light.
Solomon's right eye widened slightly. "Huh?"
"Honey candy," the Educator said, with deep, profound, fervent, emotional encouragement. "Organic and healthy!"
After Solomon failed to extract them from his hand, the Educator deposited the candies on the desk and patted the boy on the back, and then addressed the Class. "Excellent news! This overall level of performance is sufficient to earn each of you a special dispensation. Everyone, write down a modest wish and pass it on to me by Sunday. I'll fulfill anything that's not too egregious, although I'd appreciate it if you focused on educational - or at least, not too fatuous - ventures! I shall be in my office."
Swaying his cloak, he disappeared. As if sensing easy and defenseless prey, Grace and Stella immediately moved forward and sweetly spoke to Solomon about his candies, asking if they could have a couple. And before he even bothered to answer, Stella, playing dismissively with a hair - as if attempting to be seductive but not caring enough to put any effort into it - said, "It's okay to take a lot, right? You like us and we're friends, right? Cool. I like you a lot, Solomon. You're a cute boy."
And in the end, they stole all except one of Solomon's candies, believing they might have secret powers. After a minute, Solomon reclaimed his paper from Damien's desk and decided to attempt even harder next time. If he was so close to a downright perfect score, it was worth it.
"What are you reading?" he asked Damien, looking over to see he'd withdrawn a book with a light gray cover.
"Uh, Murkborn." At Solomon's flat look, he added, "Y'know, by Sander Finn Branderson? Acclaimed fantasy and science fiction writer?"
"That kitsch?" hissed Samantha from a nearby desk, as if she were a cat sighting a water sprayer with a nozzle aimed at her. "Yikes."
Damien shrunk at the castigation. It was fated to happen anyway, Solomon thought. Although, he was forced to at least give himself a point for trying to prevent it.
After that, a mostly uneventful weekend passed, spent largely on sleeping and loafing. Harrison started to participate in exploratory activities of the outside, and attended a couple of social gatherings for the younger Enrolled, organized by the Bible Class. Solomon visited the Educator on Monday for the individualized lessons.
"The Magician!" started the Educator with an excited exclamation, on what was slowly becoming known as one of his signature educational soliloquies. As he went on, he was shuffling a tarot deck, and every card he pulled out came out to be something from the arcana of wands. "Ah, yes, a Role of potential and mystic wisdom! The discerning, unplumbed depths of knowledge and mystery! It's such an exciting Role, I simply adore the magical ones. I assume, Mr. Lancaster, that given your asocial proclivities, you did not ask your peers or upperclassmen more about Enrollment?"
"No," he answered. It was difficult to predict the Educator. The man's visage was oblique both metaphorically and literally, every forecast of behavior soon distorting beyond recognition until the actualized event was almost completely different. However, the fastest answer was often contained in a single word.
And, accurately, it was the fastest to continue the conversation.
"In short, for the convenience of students and myself, it can be said that Roles are often divided into Aspects. These aptly-named devices are convenient shells of contained and narrowed Thematic essence. Do not misunderstand!" He raised an index finger, and waved a hand, as if dispelling any notion arising at the idea. "It's entirely possible to Enroll without Aspects and contrive theoretical devices even more apt and fitting for an individual's desires and purposes. However, Aspects have served all of us faithfully ever since the times of the Superheroes, and seen the highest popularity among the Enrolled."
"Aspects," muttered Solomon, a hand supporting a cheek as he mumbled and considered. It slowly dawned on him. "I think I'm starting to understand. It's like... The Knight has an Aspect that makes him better at wearing armor, and one that makes him learn knightly skills, and one that lets him conjure up weapons? Each one a different Aspect."
"Precisely." The Educator nodded in eager agreement. "Now, as I've said, Aspects are convenient and most efficient! However, they are hypothetically unnecessary for Enrollment. If you prefer another basis for advancement of your Enrollment, we can discuss that."
"Huh... well, I dunno, how good are these Aspects? Can I have like a case example?"
"I'll assure you even the likes of my Metaphysician attempted to invent a more efficient device and failed," the Educator said with something resembling smug pride. He took on a more discerning air, as he continued, "There were some cases in which other constructs were attempted, and while I won't call any of them failures, it is difficult to say they are inherently any superior, even if individualized. In my personal opinion, it is often only slightly better if successful. And rarely without tremendous risk! Standardized Education is most reliable, Mr. Lancaster."
Solomon nodded in understanding. More of a curio than an acceptable path, then. It'd take a serious idiot to go for anything other than Aspects, based on the convenient description. After some more discussion of the merits and demerits, they settled on the first Aspect of the Magician that Solomon would attempt to study. And the remnant of the week was, in large, spent on practice to achieve that Aspect, to develop its features, to demarcate its capabilities. These lessons were in equal part a refinement of the lens that Solomon could utilize to access the Magician's power and a discussion of what he should be capable of achieving once done.
In due time, he started to see the first signs of progress, the Aspect starting to come into fruition and shape. Having already experienced the individualized modus, Solomon carried some expectations for his special private lessons. However, the remedial lesson was much different than expected.
For one, instead of his ostentatious Thematic outfit, the Educator was dressed in a common professor's attire: a brown tweed jacket and dark pants with polished shoes, and a red bow. His face continued to be indiscernible, and he stood facing the window of the office as Solomon came in.
"Solomon," said the man in calm welcome, instead of Mr. Lancaster, already setting off a couple of alerts. "Good to see you. Take a seat."
He did, and without further ado, the conversation started. The Educator's paradigm shift was an unsettling experience, although his straightforward demeanor as he spoke was almost more so.
"I assume you have questions."
"I do," Solomon answered. "How can I predict things so well?"
"You don't make predictions," the Educator answered correctively. "The universe is a structure. Elements of that structure correspond on an abstract and metaphysical level. It'd be accurate to say you're extrapolating. Your sight is acutely attuned to perceiving this structure. Perceiving one element, you can deduce the others, much as a man can make a calculation that two plus two is four."
Although Solomon was about to ask yet more questions, the Educator suddenly took out a Newton's cradle, with its many clackers, and then firmly positioned it between them. The metal balls shone in the slight light coming from the window.
The Educator pulled away the rightmost clacker and released it, starting the reaction. They clacked for a couple of seconds, a pendulum carried through the medium of small metal spheres, almost hypnotic, like a metronome.
"The reason why your advice falls on deaf ears so often, my boy, is simply because the structure doesn't account for the ability to perceive it." The Educator stopped a clacker, pinched between two fingers. The sound, too, arrested, leaving the room empty of anything save breath. "Giving advice to a man to change his actions, you are momentarily stopping the cog he represents in the grand mechanism of everything. The moment your hand lets go..." He released the clacker and the cradle restarted its action.
"The mechanism continues on as it was," Solomon said in realization. "But how?"
"It doesn't matter," the Educator answered with a shrug, seeming more honest and straightforward than usual. "The structure is all-overriding. The universe is merely its component. It'll achieve its shape without intervention. Maybe your words simply dim within the minds of whoever's listening to you, until they forget or discard them as irrelevant. Maybe they simply start to dislike you for no reason, because it is easier. Brains and complex systems are subject to significantly more chaos. It's easier for the structure to alter an unfolding thought than an event already set in motion."
Solomon then slumped in his chair. "This entire time I've been pushing against a machine."
"Indeed," said the Educator. "But."
With a motion of the hand, the clackers stopped, as if frozen in time - the leftmost at its furthermost extension away from the cradle, about to begin its return movement that'd conclude with it slamming into its closest neighbor.
"As you know," the man continued, "With effort, the structure can be changed by those who understand it. I'll teach you to perceive its totality without going insane. Once that's done, you'll no longer be a slave to it. It'll bend to your predictions as they become a part of its chain of logic. The machine will move and stop at your will. And in due time, you'll understand the true shape of the world."
"Let's start then," Solomon said, looking down at the frozen clacker.
He understood it didn't freeze because of the Educator's control over physical matter as a result of his title. It came from the Educator's control over the universal Architecture, so precise and extreme he could even stop physical matter in its tracks, a level of mastery that seemed almost impossible.
"First, you must understand the world's inherently anthropocentric."
"Anthropocentric?"
"Human," the Educator answered, as if the fact were axiomatic: self-evident. "The world is a human being."
"I..." It didn't happen often, and so when it happened, its effect was magnified but Solomon was truly confused. "I don't understand."
The Educator considered for a moment, hand slowly tapping out a rhythm on the surface of the desk. He started, in slow, arching tones, "To use an apocryphal example, the Bible says that God created man in his image. That man's name is Adam. A manifestation of God in the flesh. His counterpart, the uppermost manifestation, is 'Adam Kadmon' or 'Adam Elyon.' You and I are both imperfect reflections of God, created in his image. In other words, we are the splinters of his totality. And what is God? In simple terms, God, Solomon, is the Architecture of the universe. The universe is God, and we are God's spitting image, and what do we have in common?"
"We are human beings."
"Ergo, God is a human being, and so is the universe, because God, being omnipotent and in everything, is the universe," the Educator concluded. "Adam Kadmon, coincidentally, is the kabbalistic name for the structure we are discussing."
"I see."
"A perfect encapsulation of what we do," agreed the Educator. "God is infinite and perfect. We, being mere fragments, are not. Still, we can alter parts of him - emanations of him, to be more accurate - to suit our needs, if we are sufficiently wise in understanding how the universe works. There are helpful diagrams and lesser structures we can utilize to visualize this process. To look at the Architecture is to look at everything, and to use yourself as a mirror for that process. One is contained in all, and all in one. It'll be some time before I can teach you the actual depths of the process. Before you even start to learn the techniques of looking, you must learn to not go insane."
"You've mentioned that, I think," Solomon said, finding himself uncertain. "That I could go insane."
"It's only natural, when one is exposed to everything," concluded the Educator, as he stood from his chair. "We'll start with a meditative exercise. You'll like it. It requires almost no effort."
---
It'll be some time before your control over the Architecture is anything resembling good enough to control circumstances.
For now, select an Aspect to focus on. It'll be some time before you can fully develop it. Regardless of your chosen Aspect, you can put minor focus into the others, diluting your progression in a proportional fashion.
Aspects can synergize, and cover broad or narrow domains. For instance, Arcanum provides some combat-oriented capacity of its own, so having Arcanum 2 and Destroyer 1 allows you roughly equivalent combat power with your spellcraft: in other words, Arcanum 2 is equivalent to Destroyer 1. Other Aspects can be invented.
[ ] Aspect: Sanctum - The ritualistic creation of a sacred space: a wizard's tower, a thaumaturge's temple. In a devoted sanctum, you possess fewer limits as a magician: energy constraints loosened, generation redoubled, efforts quintupled. Although outside you may be a mere magus, within you are the King of Magi, every wonder of the world availed and accessible. It can be moved with effort, eventually.
Current Level: n/a
Next Level: 1
For now, a single month of study lets you demarcate a single room-sized space in which your spells are almost twice as strong, and you have slightly more laxity in what your spells can do. As you don't have many spells yet, aside from cantrips, this isn't as great.
[ ] Aspect: Arcanum - Invocation and spellcraft, orthodox. Also the magical processes of enchantment and alchemy, albeit to a lesser degree.
Current Level: .01
Next Level: 1
A single month of progress allows you to reach an appreciable degree of basic spellcasting: a ray of fire that can set curtains on fire across a room, a clod of earth fired from your hand with the strength of a slingshot, minor arcane invocations and utilities, and maybe a single animal familiar.
[ ] Aspect: Hermes the Destroyer - A combat-oriented Aspect, all relegated to ensuring security and capabilities in combat. Focused on releases of pure destructive energy and entropic shielding. A more powerful Aspect.
Current Level: n/a
Next Level: 1
Allows you to maintain an aura that shreds enemies within a couple of meters from you, and fire rays that present the same amount of danger as a longbow.
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