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The smell of chalk filled Cedrick's nostrils as he entered the empty classroom. The blue dragon looked around the room, as this was the first time he was going to teach in this wing of the Pero'staj Academy for advanced learning. Compared to the more modern architecture he was used to lecturing in, the current room was made from older carved stones and had a rustic feel to it, which was added to by the vaulted ceilings, designed to improve the acoustics well enough for the speaker to be heard in the back of the room without the need for tools. Of course, this made sense since this wing of the academy was part of the original building back when it was built, many years ago. Many renovations had been made in order to accommodate electrical appliances and lights, but they managed to integrate it with the old style quite well. It never failed to impress Cedrick how the builders of times past managed to make structures like these. Being a history professor, he took a moment to appreciate the techniques that were used in the creation of this part of the academy, mentally noting the eras and styles used, culminating in the current appearance. It was after all one of the biggest lecture rooms here, and he felt it an honour to be allowed to give a guest lecture on the history of magic here in this room.

As he began writing his name on the chalkboard, the bell began to ring and the first students started walking in, taking their place behind the various desks, filling the room with the sound of murmurs , laughter and chairs scraping across the ground. Soon the class was filled with students waiting for the second bell to ring, signalling the start of the lecture. Cedrick scanned over the crowd, spotting a few of his regular students among them. He was overjoyed at seeing them, since they helped him set up this lecture behind the scenes and were a few of the students actually interested in more than just getting past the lectures, trying to stay awake. The second bell rang, and with it, the murmurs died down.

"Good morning class" The dragon started " and welcome to this guest lecture about magic and its roots in our history. For those that don't know me, my name is Cedrick Hofmann and I am one of the history professors here. Together with the regular magic teacher, professor Kaerger, we set up this lecture on the history of magic as an introduction for those new to the subject, as well as a refresher for those interested in deeper knowledge about the origins and application of magic in the world." He glanced over the students, and noticed the freshmen looking intently with their notebooks open. Surprisingly, the older students seemed to be paying attention as well, which was a first for guests lectures as far as he knew. "While a lot of this will be common knowledge, I first must start with that in order to give everyone equal footing and a good basis for the understanding of the past." In the back of the room, a hand was raised by a student, it was a rat woman that was familiar to him, Miranda, one of his regular students, but he acted as if he didn't know her. "Yes, you in the back, what is your question?" Miranda began to speak "Well, I was wondering, with all due respect, what would this lecture actually teach us? The basic stuff would be explained during the regular courses, while the background wouldn't help with learning to be better at it." Murmurs of agreement rose around the room, as expected at such a bold statement. "An interesting thought miss, but let us consider this. Knowing the basics is important to further the art of magic, to avoid doing that which has been done before many times. You would be surprised how often some people still do that, even in advanced lessons. The second reason is that the history will also remind everyone what happened when magic will be abused either by unknowing or uncaring people, an important subject to avoid in our future. Does that answer your questions?" Miranda nodded in agreement and the murmurs died down, seemingly agreeing with her.

Cedrick had to hold back a chuckle, the plan worked as intended. Having one student questioning the effect of the lecture and answering it decisively usually managed to increase attention in the rest of the students, and he had no issue getting their attention by harmless means. Now that the attention was back on him, he resumed his speech "Without further ado, let us discuss and discover what magic is to us. First of all, magic can be seen as the lifeblood of Airelus, an all-permeating energy that can be noticed around us, in some places thicker than others. Heavy concentrations always attracted settlers in the past, hence most older cities having a mystical fog surrounding them. While it is all around us, it is not easy to tap into it, requiring the need for specialised tools called foci or a "focus" to channel its energy. Now, there are discussions still about who was the first to discover this and use it, whether it was a person or a tribal clan, but we do know people have been using it before recorded history, since signs of civilisation have been found in locations deemed uninhabitable without the use of it. A focus is a piece of special gemstone, either by itself or shaped into an accessory, like a brooch or a ring, or even as a decoration on a staff." He paused for a moment to write this down on the board, his claws reaching to various colours of chalk to outline some differences. "The shape of the focus is irrelevant, as is the size of the gem, as many years of experimentation have concluded. There have been people claiming to be able to use it without a focus, but they have been proven to either be lying or using the so called 'soul channelling' technique, a practice now banned. Interesting is to note that a persons heritage tends to influence their choice of focus, and as such their heritage can usually be recognized by it, for example the southern lands in Greso had a large focus on wealth and opulence in their culture, and as such are usually seen with larger foci, clearly presented. The Arneid empire on the other hand, seems to apply it more as tools for their workforce, giving the mages in those countries a more utilitarian role. Another interesting country to look at are the shamans of Krei, who only bestow a focus on those they deem worthy as clan leaders. Very few foci are carried concealed, since they are unusable unless they are attuned with the surrounding area, a process they seem to be doing by themselves normally. Covering one and moving to a location with a different composition can nullify its ability to process it for a short while. Because of this, people don't have to fear that mages with bad intentions are hiding among them, since mages in general can easily be picked out.

While a mage can channel the energies around them in order to attain great effects, they have to pay attention where their own personal limit is. Channelling too much, or attempting to perform a too large ritual can overload their system, causing a temporary coma." Pausing for dramatic effect, he started wiping the board clean for the next pieces of information, eliciting some groans from the lazier students. "Next up, what magic is actually used for and how it shaped our culture" Cedrick started, but the bell rang. Normally this would have been the end of a lesson, but the lecture was taking up two timeslots, thus signalling a short break. "I will see you all back here in fifteen minutes, if there are any questions, I would like to hear them after the lecture"

During the short break, Cedric went to the restroom to freshen himself up. During his explanations, he tended to get quite some chalk on his claws and he needed to clean them up before he resumed looking at his notes. While cleaning his claws, he splashed some water over his face to counteract fatigue. He spent all night preparing and making sure his notes were correct, not to mention stressing about the lecture itself, being for a bigger group than he was used to talk to. After drying his face, he took a look at his eyes, to see if it was noticeable, but aside from being slightly bloodshot, his eyes looked their normal green hue. Straightening his vest, the dragon went back to look over his notes before resuming his lecture.

"Welcome back, as to were we left, magic has had many roles over time, ranging from warfare to more mundane tasks like communication and agriculture. This very room for example was built with stones shaped by magic. For this reason, mages have been an important cornerstone of many civilisations, ranging from leaders, advisors and even religious figures. Even when just regarded as workforce, they still were treated with respect for their abilities and dedication. Theoretically everyone can aspire to become a mage, it just requires focus and a lot of learning. For this reason, the actual strength of any mage depends on how much effort they are willing to put into their studies." At this point, he tried to give an analysing look over the class, in order to discern the students with the most promise, when suddenly the door burst open and a student rushed in, heavily panting. Without even looking at him, Cedrick asked: "So glad that you decided to join us again, mister Valentino." The wolf looked at the ground, ears and tail drooping, opening his mouth to give an excuse, but nothing came out apart from a whimper. "Take your place and then we can resume this lecture. Maybe one of your colleagues is kind enough to share notes."

Resuming his notes on the chalk board, he continued. "Now the forms that magic can take and how to utilise it. Magic in itself is an intangible form of energy, and as such, is incapable of actually creating something physical from nothing. The classic fireball spell for example is not physical aside from the end effects, and freezing water is just a form of slowing the molecules within down. It can however have effect on physical objects and shape them, like stone, as long as the material stays the same in mass or becomes smaller. A higher form of magic is transmutation, where the mage adds extra materials as mass, so the original object can become bigger. Fairly few have actually reached this level of mastery. When looking into the history, aside from foci, there have been two different uses of magic that have been out of favour for some time now. The first of which are artefacts. Artefacts are objects crafted to draw upon the magic around them and perform a specific task. Usually, these only draw on the energies when in use, although there have been experiments with automatization far in the past, but these kinds of artefacts were soon discovered to be very cost inefficient. Examples are the long distance communication mirrors or the various wands that non-mages could use for spells. Their behaviour was much like the focus, needing to be attuned to the surrounding energies. Nowadays there is less need for objects like these due to the technological advances we made decreasing our reliance on magic, but these were used as a general guide in which we wanted our technology to evolve to. One type of artefact that withstood the test of time are the so called 'Mana-batteries', which merely store excess energies until they are needed. These are very commonly used in hospitals for emergency procedures or epidemics, to make sure the healers don't run out during the treatments."

He took a deep breath and refocused his thoughts, writing 'Warning' in large letters on the board. "And then we have Soul magic. It is called like this when a mage casts spells without the use of a focus, thereby using their own soul as one. While this is regarded as a forbidden art, historically it was only used as a form of desperation. The influx of magic flowing through a body is harmful for most. The more someone uses this, the more noticeable effects it has on the body, for example fur greying or loss, teeth or claws falling out, up to and including death by organ failure. For obvious reasons, it has been classified as forbidden and we urge you to never try this ever." "As you all can see, magic has been a large influence on us throughout history, and shaped our current technology, allowing us to perform feats before we build more durable tools to perform them more often. As long as we are creative, magic will stay part of our culture." Clearing the board one last time, Cedrick stretched a little and lightly flapped his wings once, tired from standing in front of the class for such a long time. "The last subject, is the consequences of utilising magic. Casting spells will drain the energies around you. Simple spells have nearly no impact, but larger rituals can deplete these resources fairly quickly. Given enough time they will restore themselves, akin to how blood fills itself up after a while, but overuse can make any land barren. The best examples would be the cliffs of Krano and the godless valley, two areas heavily targeted during the great war. Even now, life barely finds it way there among the barren grounds. These areas have become nature reservations and while biologists are interested in the forming of the new ecosystems, it is sad to know that these areas will never again have the old inhabitants. Another area would be the Ranjeth Desert, or the swamplands in eastern Gurh, where ruins have been found of ancient civilisations. Though not as bad as the others, the ruins still drained magic from the surrounding area because of autonomous artefacts turned into traps. Likely, the civilisation underestimated the drainage of magic, and the traps were barely working with what little magic they absorbed. Luckily, nowadays we are very aware of these consequences, and in certain cities have zones where magic is forbidden and fined to be cast without proper authorisation. One example that comes to mind is around hospitals, since they need all they can have in order for emergencies." With a final stroke, he finished his notes on the board and turned around to the class. "I do hope you all have been entertained by this lengthy explanation, since professor Kaerger will be testing you all for extra credit" Groans could be heard from the less studious, and Cedrick had to supress a chuckle. "There would always be a few." He thought to himself.