Chapter 9

Jobis waited for Kitiala in the alley, as he had many times before. When she arrived, she got right to the point. "We need to talk."

Jobis also wanted to talk. "Who was the girl I met yesterday?"

"No one," Kitala said flatly.

"She said she was a friend of yours."

"Are you going to listen or continue to ply me with pointless questions!?" Kitala stammered in frustration.

"Okay, okay. Sure, baby," responded Jobis. "Whatever you want."

"I have some frank questions about magic for you, Jobis," Kitiala said quietly.

"Kit, there's no need to get all serious," said Jobis plaintively. "Just ask me want you want to know."

"How long would it take me to learn the invisibility spell?" Kitiala asked.

Jobis frowned. "Uh, well. You're learning pretty quick, so I'd say...two or three weeks."

"Why so long?" Kitiala protested.

"So long? See now, I've always been of the opinion that illusions are easy to learn, but invisibility? There are at least three glamers you'd have to learn first, and detect invisibility on top of that."

"Bugger it all," swore Kitiala. "I don't have that kind of time. What can you teach me in three days?"

"Uh, just detect invisibility, maybe," answered a confused Jobis. "Why the time limit?"

Kitiala stared at the ground. "I have a big event coming up, and I wanted to be ready."

"Oh," Jobis said, "like at work?"

Kitiala didn't look up. "Yeah."

Jobis let out a hmm. "Well, if you're looking for something that'll turn heads, you could learn the presence spell to make yourself more attractive...not that you need that!"

Kitiala chose to ignore that. "No. Is there anything else like that?"

"There's the body alteration spells," Jobis suggested. "Strength, dexterity, water breathing-"

"Water breathing!" exclaimed Kitiala. "Can you teach me water breathing?"

"You'd have to learn another alteration spell first. Most people start with strength. That would take a day, and another day or two for water breathing. I mean intense training--six hours a day," Jobis stated plainly.

Kitiala jumped for joy. "Please, teach me! It would mean a lot to me!"

Jobis took Kitiala's hands in his. "Ok, calm down! We can start right now." Jobis took a deep breath and continued. "Alteration spells are different from the elemental spells you've been learning up until now. There is a bit of risk involved. If you're not careful, you could seriously screw up your body."

"I'm willing to take that risk."

"Right. The first thing you need to do is take a mental inventory of your own body. You have to familiarize yourself with...well, yourself. Every single part, every last hair. I could conjure a mirror if you'd like."

Strangely enough, Kitiala's experience with Ash yesterday had given her ample opportunity to do exactly what Jobis was talking about. "I think we can skip this part. I'm good."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure." Let's not waste time, Kitiala mumbled mentally.

"Okay, that being the case, the next step is to try and imagine what you would look like after the spell has taken effect. Since this is a strength spell, you have to imagine yourself with larger muscles.

"Take care! Remember, this isn't going to be an illusion. You could give yourself muscles like an ogre with an illusion! You have to have realistic expectations! There are limits to what alteration spells can do."

Kitiala understood. "All right."

Jobis then asked, "How familiar are you with human anatomy?"

"Familiar enough. I know how muscles work and where they're at, if that's what you're getting at," came Kitiala's response.

Jobis nodded. "Of course. You're familiar with a great many subjects." Jobis' voice then took on a sterner tone. "All right, Kit, take control of your mana! Make it flow through your entire body. When you can feel it in every last muscle, tell me."

Kitala concentrated. While she did so, Jobis continued to give instruction. "A mistake a lot of learners make is to only focus on the upper body, or on the arms and legs. You can't just focus on certain body parts. The alterations must occur throughout your entire body simultaneously, or you could tear yourself up."

Kitiala listened to Jobis as she let her mana flow through her. In a few minutes, her whole body was tingling. She felt that she could sense mana within every muscle of her body. "I'm ready."

"Slowly let the mana expand outward. Just a little bit."

Breathing slowly, Kitiala mentally willed the mana to expand. She could feel her muscles swell in response. The resulting sensation was somewhat disconcerting, like feeling sore after a hard workout combined with a hazy light-headedness. She heard Jobis' voice through her aching, "that's enough, Kit! You've got it!"

Kitiala broke her concentration. The aching in head and body cleared up immediately. She looked down and beheld the results of her efforts. Her arms definitely looked a little thicker than they did before. She hiked up the hem of her tunic to examine her legs, which also looked more toned and muscular.

"Sensational work, Kit!" complimented Jobis. "You look great! How do you feel?"

Kitiala flexed her newfound muscles. Not only did she look stronger, she felt stronger, too. "It feels great. How long will it last?"

"Well, at your level, probably about an hour." Jobis raised his hand as if to cast a spell. "But, we can't wait for it to wear off. I'll dispel it, so you can try..."

"No, wait!" interrupted Kitiala. "Let me try it out a little." She sauntered up to Jobis, stuck her hands under his armpits, and picked him up. She could hardly believe how easy it was.

"Okay, okay! That's enough!" Jobis protested in jest. "Put me down already, you brute!" After keeping in the air a few more seconds, she did put him down.

Jobis and Kitiala worked the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening on the strength spell. At the end of the day, Kitiala had mastered the spell.