The Quintessence of Magic

Written by Your1 Nightmare

The repeated tapping of wood on the black slate of the chalkboard called for silence in the room. The elderly man at the front of the room had a thin black beard and blue eyes that seemed to match the robes he wore. His hair was thinning but still present. He held the source of the tapping wood, an intricately carved staff covered in various draconic runes. The room he was calling silence to was a stone rune room that appeared more like a small ampetheater, with rows of seats surrounding the robed man in arcs. Each row further away from the man was elevated slightly more than the row ahead of it. Each row sat young adults, each wearing a grey robe themselves. A silence fell on the room. The blue robed man spoke up.
"Welcome to your first day of class here at Dexiara. I am your homeroom teacher, Edon. I will be teaching you the basics of magics, while your other teachers will be responsible for your understanding of the various schools of magic and your skills with each."
A hand in the room shot up.
"Yes?" Edon said.
"Will we be learning spells in this class?"
"No. You will not be learning your first spells until later in the year. You must have a full understanding of magic before you can tackle such things. Even those few of you who have inadvertently cast spells already, we will be teaching you the basics. Your admission has already informed us of those who require additional help in controlling their abilities, however we will not be teaching spellcasting until much later. Any other questions before we begin?"
The room was silent.
"Alright, lets begin with your first lesson."
With a quick wave of his staff and a short incantation, a single word appeared on the blackboard.
Magic
"Now can anyone tell me where magic comes from?"
One student raised their hands.
"Doesn't it come from everywhere?"
"Yes, and no." Edon explained. "Magic comes from what scholars have called, the Quintessence of Magic. The Quintessence of Magic flows throughout the planes and is not bound by the same limitations that other things like light and flesh. It is this flow that spellcasters use to fuel their spells, they weave this to their own whims and accomplish things you never would be able to without it." Edon tapped his staff to the floor, and in nearly an instant the room transformed into a meadow with the sun shining above them. The students could feel the wind and hear the birds. It was something most of them had never seen before.
"Most of you may think that magic is best used for conjuring balls of fire, but your other teachers will show you the extent in which magic can be used. In time your body will build up how much Magic it can store and then you will be on your way to learning more magic."

Manifestation

The Quintessence of Magic is invisible to normal vision. Even using magic detection will show nothing as it only reveals concentrations of Magic. It is from here that spellcasters draw in power and then release it through their own body and mind.
The amount of Magic that a spellcaster can manipulate at one time is limited but can be increased with training. The common analogy is a hole in a barrel. At first the hole is small, but in time you can increase the size of the hole. It is an overly simplified analogy but it gets the basic principles across. A spellcaster can also end up loosing the ability to allow more magic to flow through if use of it is not enough making it akin to muscles.

Localization

There are areas in which the Quintessence is highly concentrated, certain landmarks and objects may cause this effect. Powerful entities have limited abilities to manipulate the Quintessence, while Celle the Traveler has the ability to fully manipulate it.
It is possible for an area to be devoid of the Quintessence, these are often called Dead Magic Zones and can be created through the use of Magic as well. In the same vein are Wild Magic Zones in which are areas that the Quintessence flows in unusual patterns throwing off spellcasters from the ways they have trained their manipulation of the Quintessence.

Types of Magic

Name Magic
Home Magic
Natural Magic
Spellcasting 
Item Crafting

Type

Metaphysical, Arcane