[ Ink, the energy coming from the Everflow, a reality spanning current fills every living and thinking thing. There are many ways to gain access to it, be it by: living and/or growing in one of the many places where the Everflow dips and gathers naturally ( forests, swamps, mountains, cemeteries, etc...), or going through a really intense and probably traumatic event.

  The first way, is what many do without even realizing: ever noticed that the lumberjack living in the enchanted forests was still as healthy in his 80s as he was half a century ago? Or that the children who grew up by a lake or the sea are able to stay an abnormally long time underwater? This is the effect of the sources, which: when one is aware of their existence and how to commune with it, is when they are able to become a witch, or even an elementalist if their connection to said source is deep enough.

  It is the second way that interests us, as it is like this that sorcerers and magicians are made, which is the main focus of this chapter.

  Sorcerers use their emotions to weave the energy as its eponymous object: Ink, and give it pigments by infusing their emotions into it, before willing it out of their body and drawing their desired spells onto the world.

  This is also what appears when a painter lets down their guard, showing their own mastery over their different emotions: all branches may be filled( from the outside in), but doing so takes time, practice, and good self-care habits.

  To use sorcery is to do the following steps:

  First, Imagine the desired effect of the spell.

  Second: Choose which school of sorcery is closest and most able to enact said effect ( No, Biomancy may look like a catch-all school, but it isn't. You just need to live a little: be happy, be angry, or sad. Fear isn't the key to everything.)

  Third: recall a memory with the appropriate emotion and intensity ( you don't want to create a hurricane when blowing away a rain cloud, trust me.)

  Fourth: Reserve a precise amount of Ink from your body for the spell to use.

  Fifth: Relive said memory. This is one of the hardest steps and will test your memory sequencing foundation.

  Sixth: Let the emotion flow and live through you without losing yourself, the hardest part of painting your spells, as sorcerers and painters have broken down from this one, or have lost themselves in the memory and its emotion.

  Seventh: Carefully use the Emotion to color the reserved Ink and expel it out of your body while still maintaining control over it.

  Eighth: Manifest the spell onto the world with your mind.

  Ninth: Let go of the connection with your spell, this is also when you will face the rebound, which will happen no matter what.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Tenth: Refile the memory used with what little emotional energy should be left behind back into your mind.

  Many view rebound like a price, or a backlash to endure for having interacted with reality itself. One can resist it by sheer force of will or by emotionally processing it, should one fail: the consequences can be dire. From physical alteration to mental ailment to in-depth changes in the soul and the immediate surroundings of the person. The more intense the pigment given to the ink, the more powerful the spell is, and the worse the rebound becomes.

  Yet rebounds aren't without advantages, many sorcerers and painters noted that their ability and understanding of emotions grew after having suffered a particularly bad rebound associated with said emotions. There are even some rumors amongst members of the Order of Paint, that some of the older members choose to embrace the rebounds and their - Oh so many - side effects, becoming something else entirely. All I will say on this subject is that my wife didn't mind the changes, quite the opposite in fact.

  Next on our list are magicians; like sorcerers, magicians have lived through a peculiar life or set of events that cracked their inkwell, yet for one or another: they were unable, unaware, or unwilling to exercise their Inkwell. And over time, it became atrophied. But the atrophy of an Inkwell doesn't mean the inability to use ink. No, quite the opposite in fact, but it certainly does restrict how it is used.

  Magician are bound in their practice by the sigils: a set of concepts bound by symbols. The symbols don't mean much, as it is personal to the understanding and perspective of the individual. But the concepts, or laws as they call them, are always the same: Space, Time, Order, Chaos, Solid, Fluid, Matter, Energy, Light, and Darkness.

  These ten laws are what enable magicians to create spells but unlike sorcerers: magicians' spells are identical from one to the next if they use the same sigilistic disposition in their circle.

  To create a magical circle, one needs to first establish with the sigils of Space and Time the proper dimensions for the spell to exist and act. This is the most basic operation a magician should be able of. Then, comes the second set of sigils, but also the most important: Order and Chaos. It is through these that the practitioners define the scope of the spell circle, either by doubling one sigil or by combining them, either by sequences or intensity. The range of action possible is nearly limitless. Then they choose the targeting condition via the sigil of Matter or Energy. Lastly, comes the speed desired and the impact it will have on the Everflow ( by managing how noticeable it is.)

  Or so it was, back when I was curious about this sister branch of ink when I was still an apprentice painter. According to my wife, who I met at the time: { Matter, depending on your understanding of it, doesn't trigger the Sigil circle. And instead, we are taught about another law: Life and death, and the in-between. From the smallest building blocks of reality, be they organic or mineral: all fall under this law. As long as it isn't energy, of course.}

  This has been something that has always puzzled me because that sentence is closely related to a divine figure of ancient times: Lyf, the Green Mother, and the First Mother. Yet no matter how much I searched for those who had interacted with this ancient cult or asked for records about it, I always came empty-handed. Not because I couldn't find anyone or any written sources, quite the opposite. I have found many adults of all ages saying that they have been taken care of by them during their infancy to their teenage years. But have sworn to never divulge anything about either the cult or places of worship. What little information I've managed to get was that: { The Green Mother and her consort are benevolent, and will care for all lost children brought upon the boundaries of their domain.}.

  This is the entirety of what I am allowed to divulge, for during my own research, I came across truths that I cannot bring myself to share. No, truths I cannot allow myself to curse another with. ]