I did the only thing I could. I threw myself into training. I made myself deadly with a bow, more so than any man could say. I could track anyone through any conditions on any day or night. I started using the sword more because I wanted to see my opponents eyes. I kept at it until I even left a cut on Jacks himself, he started giving a killing intent when we had bouts. My training showed. You could see it in my hands and Jacks even said my eyes too. I would walk into the guild for a small job and people would go quiet. I always wore my cloak, I realized it was reversible from the deep red to a mottled green, black, and grey. I was told it was for camouflage, not that I needed it. With my hood up I didn't have to see anyone.
It was like any other day when I walked into the Witch's Broom and someone came up from behind me. I could hear the footsteps. "Yes?"
"I'm sorry?" It was then I heard it was the captain, I quickly turned around and lowered my hood.
"I meant yes sir."
"Good, that sounds right. I wanted to tell you that we have made some progress with Lilith. But she and the demon won't say anything more without talking to you."
"Even Andras?" The captain looked puzzled. "The demon."
"Oh! Yes, that is its name. Yes even the demon." I nodded and left the board where jobs were kept and walked upstairs to the room the two were staying in.
When I made it to the room I knocked and heard the small little voice tell me to come in. It was dark, all the windows were covered with cloth and there was but a single candle, giving the room an eerie look and feel. I started to cough from the smoke in the room.
"Sorry but I like the dark." Lilith said.
"It'd okay. I was told you wanted to talk to me."
"No I just wanted to see you, my friend wants to talk though, right Andy?"
"I told you not to call me that stupid child!" Finally Andras' voice came through and two eyes appeared from the dark and he stepped forward in his small body. "I wish to make a deal with you human."
"And why is that?"
Andras stepped closer and into the light, I could see the twisted grin he was putting on Lilith's face and I did not know how to react but I stayed silent. "Because as a demon I have certain knowledge of things to pass. You will see battles beyond your imagining, blood will make the roads red, and you sir will be unstoppable to and a legend. I just wish to help make that happen."
"Why?"
"Do you know what I do best, Jasper?" I shook my head slowly. "I destroy men, from the inside out, or anyway I like. I know that I won't be the cause of your destruction, but I would, however since I can't destroy you, then why not destroy men with. . .you."
"And in return?"
"Helping you become a name in history isn't enough? Well how about the names of demons in this world, what they are capable of and how to kill them?"
"You would give up your kinsmen."
"Please, they are all lesser beings then me and hardly worth the same sentence."
I knew there was something he was not telling me but what could I do really. If I did not take his offer, that alone would seem bad. "Let me ask my captain."
"Of course, you have one hour." I nodded and went downstairs to investigate.
When I was finished telling the captain I still had some time left until Andras wanted an answer.
"And do you think he is lying?"
"I think he's planning something, what it is I don't know but I don't see the harm in keeping them both close, watching him and getting rid of some much needed evil." He nodded his agreement.
"Take the deal, but they travel with you only, and only after the list is made, and if anymore come up then he is to report it back to us." I nodded and headed back upstairs to tell the two of them.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Friday, November 1, 2013
Chapter 4 cont
There was more celebration when we got back to the guild. My father would not stop smiling and tears could be seen on my mother's face, of happiness and I guessed a slight amount of fear that I would have lost. Everyone pulled me aside and congratulated me on my victory but none of the members mentioned the magic I had used. When I tried to talk to the captain he simply brushed it off. I did not know whether to be offended or worried. But I did not have time to think of much because when my thoughts were at there worst, my father pulled me aside.
"Let me see son." Still smiling he helped me roll up my sleeves. I smiled as well but I saw his face go from joy to serious.
"What's wrong?" I looked down at the arm my father held and noticed something, they looked exactly like my father's runes.
"You are starting at a very high level of magic. My first runes were only around my wrists. You remember what I've told you. . ."
"Yes, yes, a mage is only as powerful as the marks they have received from the world. Each type of mark refers to a type of magic. The runes become knowledge and once received you already know how to use them." I remembered as a boy, tracing the circles around my father's forearms for the fire magic, and poking the small dots for stone. I would trace the back of his hands where the ripples for water were and the palms with the vortex for air. "Maybe it has come this powerful because it is my only magic, and because it happened so late in life."
My father nodded as he examined me with his face of stone. "It is definitely possible and likely, and remember. . ."
"Magic is only as powerful as long as I have the stamina for it. Mage battles have been known to last for days, and the one who lost used it too soon and too much at a time." He nodded and gave me a small smile and patted my cheek.
"Maybe I should stick around for a few days, and help with some magic training, what do you think?" I was shocked he was asking and not telling. For my whole life until then he had always told me to try doing something peculiar to gain magic and never giving me a choice. I knew all the proper techniques for most uses of magic, and I had plenty of stamina from the training I had received with Jacks. But, I stilled nodded my head because I could not possibly pass up the opportunity.
The next day I brought him to the house where I lived with Jacks while my training had taken place. "Now remember son, you don't need to rush into this, take it slow until you get the hang of it." I could tell he was about to say more but I could already feel the power welling up inside of me, excited to be used again, and this time on purpose after having been slept so long. I squeezed my hand tight until I could almost feel the heat, which would not effect me anymore, and when I opened my hand, a red flame flickered to life, bright and furious. "That's-uh. . . Impressive. I guess you won't have to keep a fire stone with you, just go easy, okay?"
I smiled like the playful fire I held in my hand, I asked, not told, what the fire to do and it was eager to show its power. I put my hands together and pushed it out in front of me to launch it at my father. I saw him throw his hands up and he took a step back. "I'm so sorry, I thought you saw it coming." I went to see if he was okay inside of the smoke surrounding him when I saw my father's famous blue sparks flying towards me. I dodged it with wide eyes.
"Very nice, I almost could not keep my balance there, but you left yourself open. This is not my first fight." He too was smiling. I saw his hands begin to turn dark and I knew what was next. I braced myself, wondering where the attack would come from. I did as I was taught and watched him, not as my father but as a mage. When I saw his hands trembling, I could feel the rocks below me begin to shift, and when they began to rise I knew what would come next. As I predicted the earth I was standing on began to move and then it flew up into the sky, but I was ready for it and as he stopped the rock I pushed off and flipped backwards, I gathered my power inside of my lungs and asked for it to show my breath.
As I let out my air I saw the fire go with it and my father had to dodge this time. I was still falling and when I came to closer to the ground I clenched my hands and asked for it to aid me, it loose jets of fire from my hands to slow my descent and I easily found the ground. "Had enough old man?" I heard my father's chuckle but I could not see him. I looked around but he was not there. I inhaled slowly and listened to see if I could find him, I heard slight footsteps behind and so I wheeled around and red sparks followed my fist.
Out of nowhere my father's fist caught my elbow as I finally saw him come out of the air, he had asked it to hide him but stealth was not a skill for him. I smiled but when I looked at my father his eyes were wide with shock. He dropped my arm and began to walk away. "There is nothing for me to teach you."
"Father, did. . ."
"You do not speak to me again, or you mother."
"Father. . ."
"Do not speak." He turned to face me and I could see anger in his face, something I had never seen. I dropped my gaze and when I knew he could not see me I dropped to the ground and fought the tears that were trying to come out.
"Jasper." I looked and saw Felix at my knees. I crossed my leg, let him crawl into my lap, and told him what happened.
"You were able to summon lightning, something your father has never done. It is the purest bond between nature and the mage. It says that you are very powerful and things that are hard for other mages, are child's play to you."
"But why would he be angry with me? He doesn't even wish to have me speak."
"He is both jealous and scared. Jealous that his son who he had given up on is more powerful than he, and scared because even if it was an accident, you could beat him any time you wished."
"I would ne. . ."
"I know. . ."
"And he knows. But his pride as a man says you are now his enemy. I may not like mages but I do know men. And that is how it looked and sounded to me." It was at that moment that Jacks decided to come out of the house with a pint to his mouth. "I'm sorry for you to have to go through that, some men are big enough to say they are weak in certain areas, some men cannot."
"I wonder which one you are Jacks." Felix pawed at his leg as he asked.
"I admit I am full of myself, pig headed and not good when it comes to feelings but I try my best. Especially to someone I. . . Someone I care about." He came closer and knelt beside me.
"Awe the beast does have a. . ."
"I could catch up to him, surprise him and kill him if you like."
"I take that back, you don't have a heart do you Jacks?"
"I do." He tipped is glass to finish his mead. "It's just buried behind some very thick ice." He patted me on the shoulder before standing up, "And maybe you were meant to thaw it out for me, boy."
"Let me see son." Still smiling he helped me roll up my sleeves. I smiled as well but I saw his face go from joy to serious.
"What's wrong?" I looked down at the arm my father held and noticed something, they looked exactly like my father's runes.
"You are starting at a very high level of magic. My first runes were only around my wrists. You remember what I've told you. . ."
"Yes, yes, a mage is only as powerful as the marks they have received from the world. Each type of mark refers to a type of magic. The runes become knowledge and once received you already know how to use them." I remembered as a boy, tracing the circles around my father's forearms for the fire magic, and poking the small dots for stone. I would trace the back of his hands where the ripples for water were and the palms with the vortex for air. "Maybe it has come this powerful because it is my only magic, and because it happened so late in life."
My father nodded as he examined me with his face of stone. "It is definitely possible and likely, and remember. . ."
"Magic is only as powerful as long as I have the stamina for it. Mage battles have been known to last for days, and the one who lost used it too soon and too much at a time." He nodded and gave me a small smile and patted my cheek.
"Maybe I should stick around for a few days, and help with some magic training, what do you think?" I was shocked he was asking and not telling. For my whole life until then he had always told me to try doing something peculiar to gain magic and never giving me a choice. I knew all the proper techniques for most uses of magic, and I had plenty of stamina from the training I had received with Jacks. But, I stilled nodded my head because I could not possibly pass up the opportunity.
The next day I brought him to the house where I lived with Jacks while my training had taken place. "Now remember son, you don't need to rush into this, take it slow until you get the hang of it." I could tell he was about to say more but I could already feel the power welling up inside of me, excited to be used again, and this time on purpose after having been slept so long. I squeezed my hand tight until I could almost feel the heat, which would not effect me anymore, and when I opened my hand, a red flame flickered to life, bright and furious. "That's-uh. . . Impressive. I guess you won't have to keep a fire stone with you, just go easy, okay?"
I smiled like the playful fire I held in my hand, I asked, not told, what the fire to do and it was eager to show its power. I put my hands together and pushed it out in front of me to launch it at my father. I saw him throw his hands up and he took a step back. "I'm so sorry, I thought you saw it coming." I went to see if he was okay inside of the smoke surrounding him when I saw my father's famous blue sparks flying towards me. I dodged it with wide eyes.
"Very nice, I almost could not keep my balance there, but you left yourself open. This is not my first fight." He too was smiling. I saw his hands begin to turn dark and I knew what was next. I braced myself, wondering where the attack would come from. I did as I was taught and watched him, not as my father but as a mage. When I saw his hands trembling, I could feel the rocks below me begin to shift, and when they began to rise I knew what would come next. As I predicted the earth I was standing on began to move and then it flew up into the sky, but I was ready for it and as he stopped the rock I pushed off and flipped backwards, I gathered my power inside of my lungs and asked for it to show my breath.
As I let out my air I saw the fire go with it and my father had to dodge this time. I was still falling and when I came to closer to the ground I clenched my hands and asked for it to aid me, it loose jets of fire from my hands to slow my descent and I easily found the ground. "Had enough old man?" I heard my father's chuckle but I could not see him. I looked around but he was not there. I inhaled slowly and listened to see if I could find him, I heard slight footsteps behind and so I wheeled around and red sparks followed my fist.
Out of nowhere my father's fist caught my elbow as I finally saw him come out of the air, he had asked it to hide him but stealth was not a skill for him. I smiled but when I looked at my father his eyes were wide with shock. He dropped my arm and began to walk away. "There is nothing for me to teach you."
"Father, did. . ."
"You do not speak to me again, or you mother."
"Father. . ."
"Do not speak." He turned to face me and I could see anger in his face, something I had never seen. I dropped my gaze and when I knew he could not see me I dropped to the ground and fought the tears that were trying to come out.
"Jasper." I looked and saw Felix at my knees. I crossed my leg, let him crawl into my lap, and told him what happened.
"You were able to summon lightning, something your father has never done. It is the purest bond between nature and the mage. It says that you are very powerful and things that are hard for other mages, are child's play to you."
"But why would he be angry with me? He doesn't even wish to have me speak."
"He is both jealous and scared. Jealous that his son who he had given up on is more powerful than he, and scared because even if it was an accident, you could beat him any time you wished."
"I would ne. . ."
"I know. . ."
"And he knows. But his pride as a man says you are now his enemy. I may not like mages but I do know men. And that is how it looked and sounded to me." It was at that moment that Jacks decided to come out of the house with a pint to his mouth. "I'm sorry for you to have to go through that, some men are big enough to say they are weak in certain areas, some men cannot."
"I wonder which one you are Jacks." Felix pawed at his leg as he asked.
"I admit I am full of myself, pig headed and not good when it comes to feelings but I try my best. Especially to someone I. . . Someone I care about." He came closer and knelt beside me.
"Awe the beast does have a. . ."
"I could catch up to him, surprise him and kill him if you like."
"I take that back, you don't have a heart do you Jacks?"
"I do." He tipped is glass to finish his mead. "It's just buried behind some very thick ice." He patted me on the shoulder before standing up, "And maybe you were meant to thaw it out for me, boy."
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