An Owl's Rise

"So have you ever seen anything like that before?" Melisandre asked to Evelyn after giving her demonstration.

At first Evelyn went to shake her head, but as she replayed what she had just seen in her mind, she remembered a very traumatic memory.

It was during her escape attempt where she had been playing into the researcher's hands, and right when she thought she had made a clean break.

She remembered that he had attached some sort of thin shimmering blue thread to her foot and that it looked quite similar to what Melisandre had just released.

"I think I might have." Evelyn said with a darker tone than she meant to.

She then told Melisandre about the thread that the human researcher had used to ensnare her.

"Yes, that is another application of what I just used, though what that human did would only work on anything much weaker than them." Melisandre said, confirming Evelyn's hunch.

"What I just used was pure magical energy. It is harder to use than any sort of magical affinity one might have, and it is also typically weaker, but it does have its uses." Melisandre said as she created another ball of pure magical energy in her hand.

Quickly she expanded it until it surrounded her and created a shimmering sphere around her.

"It can be used for defense as well as offense, and it does not matter if your opponent is resistant to your affinities like when that owl attacked you with fire and you emerged unharmed. Though it is the process of learning how to control your magical energy that is the most helpful in fully grasping what you can do with your affinities." Melisandre said while recondensing her magical energy.

Once it was back to be a small glowing ball of blue energy, she held it out for Evelyn to see and she watched it change in front of her eyes.

The ball still stayed blue, but it took on a different form and soon Melisandre was holding a ball of water instead of magical energy.

"Now I have done what you are normally doing and converted magical energy into the element of one of my affinities. Of course, doing what I just did and expelling the magical energy first is a waste of time and energy, but I imagine that it helped for the demonstration."

With her showcase of converting pure magical energy into one of her magical affinities completed, Melisandre took aim and fired off the ball of water she had created.

It flew quickly and smashed into another set up steel plate which this time instead of blasting through it, created a huge dent in the plate and bent the stand that was holding it up and bolted into the ground.

"There, that allowed you to see the difference. Water acted completely different from the pure magical energy. It spread out far more and crushed the steel plate instead of blasting through it this time. It was not quite as destructive as say fire might have been with the same amount of power, but all magic has its purposes." Melisandre said as she conjured another ball of water.

Except this time instead of just firing the water off, it extended as two thin strands and wrapped around one of the steel plates.

An instant later the water began twisting and the steel plate spun around like it was made of foil until it was a crumpled-up mess.

Watching this Evelyn could only imagine what Melisandre's latest show of magical prowess could have done to someone's body.

"What I just showed you was my control over the element of water. I can mold it freely and create all manner of magical phenomenon with it." Melisandre said with a smug expression.

She continued demonstrating what she could do with her water magic, by creating a giant spear, dozens of whips and all manner of creations.

As she did this Evelyn could only stare in awe as Melisandre used the most powerful and impressive display of magic she had ever seen.

"Well, I believe that will do for a demonstration." Melisandre said when she was satisfied showing off.

"Now you said that you have seen humans casting spells before, correct?"

"Yes, I have. I watched a man create huge arms from the earth and surround himself in stone like armor." Evelyn said while doing her best to keep her emotions under control.

Still a scowl appeared on her face as she was forced to remember something that she honestly wished to forget.

"Hm, well I cannot use earth, but I imagine this will be similar enough."

Swiftly Melisandre created a large amount of water around her, and she formed them into large hands that were eerily similar to the ones that Evelyn had seen the human man conjure.

Yet Melisandre had no need to use any hand motions or recite any sort of spell to create this amazing magic.

"This is the difference between most beasts and humans. They use hand motions and words to act as a catalyst to create spells when we simply use our force of will and imagination. And while it is certainly harder to master using your magic this way, I am sure you can see the merits." Melisandre said as she created two more sets of water arms in less than a second.

Truly it was an impressive display, and Evelyn could see why what Melisandre was doing was superior as there was no lag time.

However, watching Melisandre's master over magic only brought more questions to Evelyn's mind.

"Melisandre if you can just control your magic like that, why do the humans bother with spells?" Evelyn asked with an expression of bewilderment.

"Now, I would not consider myself an expert on humans, but I imagine because it allows them to cast more powerful magic much easier. Though that is not to say that humans can not freely control their magic either, but only those at the higher ranks typically aim to master this. I believe I have fought right or so that did not have any need to use incantations to cast magic."