The Maturation of a Mage

Today the Teachers told me that I have matured.

I wondered what had happened to give reason for such words. My life right now is more monotonous and measured than ever, so it took time to find at least something standing out from the flow of events. And that turned out to be responsibility.

A person’s adulthood is mostly about responsibility and the readiness to take it upon oneself, carry it, and answer for the consequences. This is no news, of course. But in the case of a mage, the concepts of ordinary human responsibility are not enough. A mage’s responsibility is much broader. And the stronger the mage, the wider their field of responsibility.

For example, the head of a Clan bears responsibility for the affairs of the Clan. It would seem that all adults, responsible for themselves and their children, can cope. But in case of difficulties, who will they go to for advice? — to the head of the Clan. Directly or indirectly, through other relatives, they will hear the opinion of the head and, most likely, listen to it. The head’s words have their own weight, their own influence, and their own aspect of responsibility. To be more precise, one can say: “a mage shares responsibility with those who depend on them and wherever their influence reaches.”

A mage’s influence also extends through their aura. The stronger the mage, the larger their aura and the wider their influence on the surrounding reality. For example, a mage sits in an apartment in a high-rise building — a common thing, and yet all the neighbors receive the invisible influence of their aura. Perhaps not critically, but still…

What can we say about Masters, whose auras can cover blocks, districts, and cities…

The next tier is time. A mage’s responsibility, starting from a certain level, is no longer limited to spatial coordinates; it extends into temporal ones as well. What a mage did in past lives continues in this one. And excuses like “I didn’t do that” are not accepted: a past life is just as much a continuation of the mage as a past position, a past course, or a past year. They are all ours, even when it is obvious that I am already completely different, no longer the way I was when I did it. Mages “share the responsibility of their incarnations.”

These are not all the tiers of a mage’s responsibility, but for one post, this is enough. I will only add that adulthood lies not so much in bearing responsibility, but in voluntarily, consciously, and reasonably taking it upon oneself.