Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Name: Caius Withide
Race: Human
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 165 Lbs
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
No discerning marks or features
Elemental Affinity: Kura
Innate Nature: All Consuming
Now, Grandma, in her infinite wisdom, did not explain why this was so bad. I mean, don't get me wrong, burning on a pyre was no fun, but she never explained why the did that. Just that 'You'll put those around you at risk' or whatever it was she said. So I was only left to wonder. And soon, my questions would be answered.
I was currently sitting in a small, dark room, with a square table and two chairs, one on either side of the table. I was facing the only door into or out of this room. In the chair across from me, was a woman about my height, with wavy brown hair and glasses. This woman was the receptionist, here at the sorcerer examination center. One of these centers was placed in most cities, even some small villages, like the one near my family's farm.
"Well," the woman began, with a slight look of worry, but also a hint of reassurance on her face, "needless to say, I am glad you came in for your annual inspection."
Ahh, the good ol' annual inspection. She makes it sound like it's a choice, but it most certainly is not. If you don't go, you get all kinds of magic users working for the Magic Enforcement Bureau (MEB) knocking at your door. I would know, I tried skipping it once.
Anyways, they do this annual inspection to scout out sorcerers, which are people born with magical abilities, unlike wizards, who learn them. Anyone who is 'magic prone,' as they call it, are required to go to a once a year magic scan. So MEB gets their first pick of promising mages. Oh, and they also do it to find and hunt people like me, I guess.
"How much do you know about Kura?" she asked me with a concerned look.
"Only that it's not good," I replied after debating whether or not I should talk to this person. She may be the one trying to kill me.
"That is putting it lightly," she started, with a curt nod. "As I'm sure you know, there are several elemental affinities. The Prime 8 elements are split into the physical and ephemeral. The 4 physical are Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water, while the 4 ephemeral are Light, Shadow, Flux, and Space." This I knew. In fact, it was common knowledge.
"And then there are combo elements," I still knew about this, but I thought better than to interrupt her. "These number near infinite. They are formed from combinations of the prime elements. They can not draw out the same power as a prime element, but are often seen as more versatile. As an example, Earth and Water may combine in equal parts to form an Ice affinity. Or Fire, Water, Wind, and Light may combine to form a lightning affinity. Again, there are countless combo elements."
Her explanation was starting to get on my nerves. I just wanted her to explain why I was probably giong to die. Thankfully, I needn't wait much longer. "Now, Kura. Kura is a very, very dangerous element. If we want to get into specifics, it is a prime element. It is not composed of any of the other primes. Strangely, it also does not form any combo elements."
"From what we have seen of Kura, it allows the user to," she stopped her for a moment, with a strained look on her face. Gathering her thoughs, maybe? Or looking for the right words? "Reassemble themselves, we'll say. They can, for example, take their arm, and turn it into a wolf arm, or a blade, or any number of things, really."
That actually sounded pretty cool. Why was that hunted? "But, there are two major drawbacks of Kura. Firstly, a Kura sorcerer produces mana corruption particles. If you don't know what those are, they infect magic users. They get into their bodies and slowly kill the magic veins.
Say someone gets hit with a single one of these particles. Well, they'll be fine. One particle won't hurt the smallest of creatures. But, if a magic user is in sustained contact, the particles start eating at them. It really depends on how many particles they get hit with, but the death from mana corruption could last as long as decades, or be as short as a week.
This is why the MEB has people like me, people with no magic, here, running the center. We cannot get infected by the mana corruption." She let out a brief sigh, catching her breath.
"I know this is a lot to take in, but we're almost done. The number of corruption particles a Kura sorcerer produces is entirely random, it seems. It could be an amount that would deliver a deadly dose in 10 seconds of contact, or an amount that would require you to be by their side for a lifetime to even lose a year of your life. This is the only good news I have for you, Cai. I'm sure you noticed we had you sitting in this room alone for a while?"
Of course I did. I was in here for about two hours, waiting for my results. After all my previous inspections, I only needed to wait around 30 minutes. I started getting worried after about 45 this year.
"During that time, we were constantly checking this room for mana corruption particles. We found something truly unique about you. It seems, in the time you've been here, you haven't given off a single particle."
I was slightly stunned by this information. Me, some farm boy, was special, even in the world of mages? "You're not pulling my leg, are you?" I asked, with a frown on my face.
"No," She quickly replied, "Though, unfortunately, it is not all good. If you recall, I mentioned there are two major drawback to Kura. That is only one. The other drawback is its instability. Kura sorcerers have a tendency to... continuously reassemble, involuntarily. Sometimes they will just change one limb, and then another, and another, and another, not stopping until they're some mass of broken flesh. It's rather disturbing."
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