The library was comfortably warm, for the fire had been lit more than an hour ago and the flames had settled into a low, steady burn. The light filtering through the tall windows remained a dull and oppressive grey. The sky was flat, heavy with clouds that hadn't yet decided whether to release their rain or continue their brooding vigil over the manor.
Morwenna sat on the rug with her back pressed against the soft fabric of the settee. Her green fabric snake was propped up beside her against the cushion, and Cinder lay across her feet with his chin resting contentedly on her ankle, his russet fur a bright patch of colour against her pale skin.
Aldric sat in the leather armchair across from her. A book rested open in his lap, though he wasn't reading it. Instead, he simply watched her with a quiet, observant gaze that seemed to see far more than he let on.
She had been silent for a long time, staring into the hearth where the flames were orange at the base and yellow at the tips, turning a vivid blue where the wood had begun to split and hiss.
"Where does magic come from?" she asked.
Aldric didn't answer right away. He set his book on the side table and leaned back in his chair, considering the weight of her inquiry. "That's quite a large question," he said.
Morwenna pulled her knees up to her chest. "I know."
He studied her face, taking in the deep, rich black of her hair that resembled the spaces between stars. Sections of pure, undarkened white ran through it, refusing to be overtaken by the dark. Her eyes, one a warm pyre red and the other a cold sterling ice, were framed by thin, dark limbal rings that made both colours stand out with startling intensity.
"Before there were ever magical people," he said quietly, "there were only magical creatures. Dragons, phoenixes, basilisks, and thestrals. They were born with it. Humans were not."
"So humans were all mundane?"
"Yes. There was no magic at all among them. They had soft souls and normal lifespans."
Morwenna nodded, recalling fragments of things she had read in her other life. She remembered the blue glow of a laptop screen late at night when the world was silent around her, but she wanted to hear the history from him.
"All magical creatures possess hard souls," Aldric continued. "The longer they live, the harder their soul density becomes. The harder the soul is, the longer the life. A phoenix doesn't age the way a human does, and a basilisk doesn't die of old age. Their souls are fully hard from the moment of their birth."
Morwenna thought of the Cold Light stone and the basilisk that haunted the corners of her dreams. "The first magical people came from those creatures," she murmured.
"That's right. They appeared when powerful creatures learned how to change their form. At a certain point in their power, they could take on human shape and walk among us. It wasn't a permanent change, but it lasted long enough for them to live a life, to marry, and to have children."
"The children were druids."
Aldric's eyebrows rose slightly at her words. "You know that term."
She did, though it came from the stories she had found in her past life. That half-remembered fanfiction had planted the ideas of Firbolg-born and druids into her mind long before she had any memory of this existence.
"I read it somewhere," she said, keeping her gaze on the fire. "In a book."
Aldric didn't ask which book it might have been. "Druid has two meanings, and what we are discussing now is the older definition."
Morwenna frowned, her silver eye catching the firelight. "Then what is the modern meaning?"
"In modern terms, druids represent a specific branch of magic. We don't rely on wands, as we use staffs instead. Our magic is tied to the land, to living things, and to cycles that don't answer to a single caster. The tradition as it exists now traces back to Myrddin, or Merlin, as he is called in the common tongue."
Morwenna sat up straighter, her interest brightening. "Then… does that mean he had a staff?"
Aldric looked at the naked curiosity on her face and laughed. It was a real laugh, low and warm, and it was a sound she hadn't heard from him in months. He reached behind his chair, his hand closing around a dark brown leather holster strapped to the side. He pulled out a staff that stood taller than he was.
It was made of dark wood, almost black, which had been polished smooth by decades of use. The top was carved into the intricate shape of a serpent coiled around a phoenix. Their wings and scales were intertwined so closely that she couldn't tell where one creature ended and the other began.
"See for yourself," he said, holding it out to her.
Morwenna took it with both hands, surprised by how heavy it felt. The wood was smooth, but she could feel the ridges where his hands had gripped it for years. The serpent's eyes were set with small green stones, while the phoenix's eyes were a deep, glowing amber. She ran her fingers over the carving, tracing the delicate lines of the wings and the scales.
"This is mine," Aldric explained. "Your father has his own, as does Saoirse. You will receive yours when you are seven."
Morwenna looked up quickly. "Seven?"
"It happens after your third magical maturity, once your core has settled. That's when a Keith receives their staff, and we will get your wand then as well."
She looked back at the wood and the serpent's green eyes. After a moment, she handed it back to him. Aldric eased the staff back into its holster and settled back in his chair.
"Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Druids, in the old sense." He leaned back in his chair. "They were the first magical humans. Half hard soul from the creature parent, half soft from the human. It gave them longer lives than ordinary people, but not immortality. They still aged and died. The hard soul could only carry them so far."
Morwenna kept her eyes on the fire. "And their children?"
"They were weaker," Aldric said, his expression becoming more restrained. "The creature magic thinned with every passing generation. Access became partial, the cost rose, and the power began to fade."
"So they eventually became mundane again?"
"If they married only mundane people, yes. The magic would vanish in time. But if they married other druids or those from other magical lines, it could endure." He reached for his tea, but finding the cup empty, he set it back down. The fire gave a soft pop in the silence. "They could still draw on the magic of their ancestors, but never fully. Each generation paid more for less, and the magic continued to dilute."
Morwenna turned the thought inward, thinking of her own magic. The cold, the fire, and the shadows didn't feel thin or fading at all.
"What about blood-wakening rituals?"
Aldric didn't move, but his gaze sharpened. "They strengthen access by reminding the blood what it carries. They force the magic to rise and remember its origin."
"So the ritual I underwent… was that a blood awakening?"
He studied her for a long moment, the silence stretching between them. "Yes and no. The Keith blood rituals are for modern druids, but the LeFay line is something else entirely. What you underwent, L'Éveil du Sang, is a form of blood awakening, but it's not the kind we were just discussing."
He paused, choosing his words with care. "Your great-grandmother said it was designed for children like you who carry multiple ancestral lines at equal strength. When those inheritances pull in different directions, they can tear a child apart as they grow. That ritual anchors you within yourself, forcing all the lines into balance so none can destabilise the others."
Morwenna lowered her gaze to her hands. They were small and pale, the same hands that had held both frost and fire. "I'm not a druid," she said.
"No," Aldric replied. "You aren't." He let the words settle before continuing in a quieter voice. "The druids were the beginning, and most magical lines trace back to them in some form. Every witch, every wizard, and even the squibs."
Morwenna turned her head toward the window where the crow had returned. It was perched on the stone wall, watching her through the glass. "What was the creature?"
"Which one?"
"The first one. The one who started it."
Aldric shook his head. "No one knows. The records don't go back that far, though there are theories. Dragons are the most common guess, as they were known to take human form, but it could have been a phoenix or a basilisk. It was something that left no name behind."
Morwenna considered that, a nameless creature that had loved a human and changed the world forever. She glanced down at Cinder, whose russet ears were twitching faintly in his sleep.
"Can I practise now?" she asked.
Aldric picked up his book again. "Your mother is in the morning room."
. . .
The morning room was cold. Jane had opened the window to let in the fresh air, allowing the autumn chill to seep into the stone floors. Morwenna stood in the centre of the room with the toy wand in her hand.
"Lumos," she said.
The tip glowed gold, and she held the light steady without needing to concentrate. Jane stood by the window with her arms crossed, her green eyes reflecting the pale morning light.
"Nox."
The light went out.
"Again," Jane said.
Morwenna raised the wand once more. "Lumos."
The light bloomed, and she held it while looking at her mother's face. She traced the familiar red hair and the small beauty mark above her mouth. She opened her mouth to say something. She wanted to say Mom.
The word formed behind her teeth, but her throat tightened. Breath caught. The sound died before it could leave her lips. She stood with her mouth slightly open, the gold light casting long shadows on the floor.
Jane did not move or look away. She simply waited, posture open, hands resting loosely at her sides as the silence stretched.
Morwenna lowered the wand, her shoulders easing little by little.
"Nox," she said quietly.
The light went out.
"Good," Jane said, her voice remaining steady. "Now the red one."
Morwenna raised the wand again, her motion sharp and focused. "Rubrum."
The tip glowed red, and she held it there, not trying to say the other word again.
.
Saoirse found her an hour later, leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed. "You are still practising."
Morwenna glanced up, her wrist aching and her fingers stiff from the repetition. "Lumos is easy, and I already know the red one."
Saoirse pushed off the frame and stepped into the room. "Then try the blue light. The motion is different. Watch."
She drew her wand and traced a wide circle before finishing with a precise flick, causing the tip to flare with a soft blue glow.
Morwenna followed the movement, but the toy wand stayed dark.
"Your circle is too small," Saoirse noted. "Widen it."
Morwenna tried again, moving slower this time to let the motion breathe. The tip shimmered before the faint blue light gathered at the end.
"Good. Now hold it."
Morwenna steadied her hand, and the light settled after a single flicker. Saoirse lowered herself to the floor and crossed her legs, listening to the crackle of the fire for a moment.
"Before Hogwarts, before the school, where did people learn?" Morwenna asked.
"From their families," Saoirse replied after a pause. "From their creature parents, if they stayed. Mostly, it was just trial and error."
Morwenna lowered her wand slightly, and the blue light dimmed. "The first magical people, the druids, they didn't have schools."
Saoirse shook her head. "They had each other. Sometimes their creature parents stayed long enough to teach them, but most didn't."
"Why?"
Saoirse shrugged lightly. "Creatures aren't human. They can love and marry, but they don't belong in human society. Most returned to their own kind once their children were grown."
Morwenna turned that over in her mind, imagining a phoenix leaving its child or a dragon disappearing back into the forest. "Did the children miss them?"
Saoirse's expression softened. "Yes. I think they did."
Morwenna looked down at the pale wood of her wand. "Lumos," she said.
The tip lit again, gold and steady, and she held it there in the quiet of the room.
= = =
So, I finally got brave enough to delete a few foundation and introduction chapters, especially the ones about Firblog-Born and the Keith & Evans family.
As you might already know, those introductions were the "initial" version of my worldbuilding, back when I still hadn't perfected them.
Now I want to reintroduce all of that in these next few chapters.
This topic will span several chapters. I'm not sure if you'll find this "info dump" or not, but honestly, I don't know how to do it besides this method right now. Sorry about that!
Just as a reminder, this fic is a branch off from the fanfic Basilisk Born. So there will be similarities between mine and Basilisk Born, because this universe is an AU from that fic. I made a few changes, and I think I'll focus more on the present day, while Basilisk Born focuses more on the "past."
So the information in this arc is the latest, fixed worldbuilding and lore about this topic.
Hope you enjoy it!