I made my way to the smithy the next day. I was greeted by the usual sight of men running around busying themselves with various tasks. Some took command of the billows; making sure the flames in the forges never went out, while also regulating the temperature of the forges. Others with hammers in hand were striking red hot metals, the rhythm, and accuracy of their strikes showing their years of practice. Commands were shouted over the sounds of metal hitting metal, the scalding heat not daunting these sweaty men at all as they carried out their tasks.

“Grigore! Grigore!” I yelled, standing close to the entrance. I didn’t want to get in the way, and I didn’t want to spend too much time here. The smell of sweat swirling around in the air that was burning hot combined with the noise made the smithy one of my least favorite places.

“Who is it?!” Grigore yelled back.

“It’s Silas! I’ve come for the weapons we ordered!”

“I will send some apprentices to bring them over!” Grigore yelled in reply.

I turned and left the smithy and headed straight to the training ground. It was still very early, but I had gotten used to not being the first on the training ground no matter how early I got there, and sure enough, when I got there I found a few of the recruits had arrived earlier.

Alyssa, Rosalia, and six other men were on the training ground already. They were engaged in a conversation, and from the words I could pick out as I approached them, it appeared Alyssa and Rosalia were teaching the other six ways to visualize magic. The two women who had initially studied to be mages of course had no problems grasping visualization, however, I was curious to see how far along they had gotten, I wondered if they could now activate simple spells.

“How far along are you in completing the task you were given yesterday?” I asked the group.

They were so engrossed in their discussion that they hadn’t noticed me approaching. I was a bit disheartened by that. While they were still recruits, for warriors to lack such awareness of the space around them was disappointing.

“Uhm… Miss Lysa and Lia were just explaining some of the principles behind it to us. I feel like they made it simple enough, so I should have no problems completing the task in training today,” one of the men answered.

I smiled at the man, not missing the implications of his words. My sister’s lessons appeared to be too complicated for them, and it was understandable, I looked at Alyssa and Rosalia, feeling grateful towards them for helping reduce the burden of training these warriors to practice magic. Since the enchanted weapons would be delivered today, we would move away from the theoretical aspects of our training, I was determined to have them start training with their weapons.

“I like your confidence, make sure not to disappoint me,” I said to the man and left the group.

I walked over to the weapons rack and picked up a wooden sword and started to do some practice swings as a warm-up. All while I was swinging the wooden sword various thoughts swirled around in my head.

The four ladies should be able to quickly activate the runes on their enchanted weapons. Other than them, maybe Atif will also be able to accomplish it fast. I just hope they have enough time to train with their new weapons before we set out to exterminate the Lycans. I wonder if the other recruits will be able to activate the runes on their weapons in time.

“You’re here early,” I heard my sister's voice from behind me.

“Yes, I was restless all night. It would seem this ground has become a place that calms me,” I said as I turned to face her, knowing full well that my practice was over now that she was here.

“The recruits also seem very eager. Is it a trait of warriors to always be early? On my way here I didn’t expect to find this many people already here,” my sister said, turning her head to scan the ground, looking over at the recruits that had formed various cliques and were engaged in discussion.

“It may be that their desire to become stronger is just that powerful,” I said to my sister who nodded in response.

“Did you go get the enchanted weapons?” my sister asked.

“Grigore promised to have his apprentices deliver them,” I said. Coincidentally, as I finished speaking I saw Aurel and six other men heading our way, they were carrying what looked to be various weapons wrapped in leather sheaths. “There they are,” I said, pointing in the direction they were coming from.

The excitement of the recruits was palpable. As I distributed the weapons to their owners, all the hands that took weapons from me trembled, their eyes burned with passion, and the grin on their faces was wide. Atif, who was smiling from ear to ear, stroked his bow like a pet the moment I handed it over to him.

My sister and I took on the task of reading the runes inscribed on the enchanted weapons and describing the effects to their owners. The swords all had the same runes inscribed on them, and the effect was simple, it increased the sharpness of the blade. The mace had a knockback effect enchanted onto it, but the bows were the most unique, and perhaps the most difficult to use. Thankfully, three of the four archers were people I had no doubt would be able to use the bows; Atif was a quick study, and he seemed to grasp magic really fast, the other two were ladies that had studied magic prior to joining us, so it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to use the bows.

“Alright everyone,” I said once the recruits gathered and their excitement at receiving the enchanted weapons had reduced some, “we will be moving into the practical aspect of training starting today. Everything you’ve been taught by Minerva was to prepare you for using enchanted weapons. Today you’ll try activating the magic engraved into your weapons.”

“It’s nothing too complicated. You just simply need to channel mana into your weapons, visualize the effect the magic would have once you activate it, then the magic engraved into your weapons will be activated. Your mental focus will determine how strong the effect will be and how long it’ll last. The more you practice with these weapons the better your mental focus will become,” my sister added once I finished speaking. I looked at her and smiled, appreciating the way her words affected the recruits.

I’d seen a few nervous faces in the crowd as I spoke, and my sister’s words had calmed some of their nerves. Her words assured them that while the task was a difficult one, it wasn’t impossible. I looked fondly at these men and women who would be going into battle with me soon and said a quiet prayer for them.

“The bow users have the most complicated magic engraved into their bows, so, Minerva will be in charge of training you. Alyssa, you’ll be in my care and the rest of you will be trained by Aurel,” I said to the recruits.

The magic engraved into the bows involved drawing from natural elements to form arrows. Two of the bows condensed vapor from nature, froze it then shot an arrow made of ice; the other two drew in air, compressed it, and then shot an arrow made of air. The form these arrows would take was heavily dependent on the skill of the user, they not only had to visualize the shape of the arrows, but they also had to construct it from scratch step by step. It was complicated magic, but I trusted my sister and the archers to be able to accomplish the goal of successfully activating it.

We split the recruits into different groups and began working with them to activate the magic engraved in their weapons. Since Aurel had the most people to work with, my sister and I left the main area of the training ground to him, with my sister taking her wards to the area with dummies prepared for archers to practice their skills, and I taking Alyssa to a secluded area to work with her.

“Since you have prior experience with magic this shouldn’t be too difficult for you. As we practiced, you simply need to channel mana through the rune, visualize the magic, and it shall be activated,” I said to Alyssa once we were separated from the others.

“How do I know when the magic is activated?” Alyssa asked.

“The rune engraved into the handle of your mace will glow a faint red. The magic has the knockback effect, so you simply need to visualize your weapon releasing a strong force to knock back anything it comes in contact with,” I answered Alyssa’s question.

I brought over a dummy for her to practice on while she worked on activating the magic. Alyssa had no problem with mana channeling, but she had some trouble imagining the form of the magic. I took her weapon and showed her how the magic worked, and after seeing the magic in action there was a marked improvement in her training. She could activate the magic, but it was way too weak. She worked hard to improve it, but there was only some marginal improvement before training ended.

“We’ll stop here for today,” I said to the recruits who stood in rows in front of me, “take your weapons with you home. Get familiar with them, and for those who weren’t able to activate the magic enchanted on them today, practice in your spare time; for those that were successful, work on improving your mental focus and making the effect as strong as possible.” I dismissed the recruits, but Aurel, me, and my sister stayed behind on the training ground.

“So how many of your wards succeeded today?” I asked Aurel.

“Seven. Honestly, I expected more from them, but I guess for people still new to magic this much is impressive,” Aurel said.

“What about you?” I asked, turning to face my sister as I spoke.

“All four successfully activated the magic, but only the two ladies were able to get the magic to a level close to usable,” she answered.

“This is actually much better than I anticipated. Alyssa too is progressing nicely, it’s just currently the magic is too weak, but as she practices I have no doubt she’ll improve,” I said.

“Little demon,” Aurel called out to my sister.

“Who are you calling a demon?!” my sister asked, sounding very exasperated.

“Minerva, have you heard from the gods regarding what’s been happening to him?” Aurel asked, pointing at me; placating my sister by using her name.

“No, a lot has been happening, but I’ve been focused on finding out who the god that keeps appearing before him is, but the gods have been ignoring my inquiries,” my sister answered.

I stopped worrying about the things happening to me once I found a viable thread to pull that could give me answers, on some level I knew the gods wouldn’t provide too many answers, it was just how they were. They only ever really spoke through oracles, and my sister—while gifted—was no oracle. I’d since realized the only chance I had of getting answers was to seek the oracle, so I had completely forgotten about my sister’s endeavors to get answers herself from the gods.

“That’s fine, as long as I pass father’s test, I can set out to seek the oracle. I have a feeling I will find answers there,” I said.

There was silence after I spoke, I didn’t know what Aurel and my sister were thinking, but I was drowning in doubt. My words made me sound confident, but I really wasn’t.

Would the oracle really have answers, even if she does, would she be willing to share her wisdom? What if I never actually find her? What if I fail father’s test? I had such doubts, but above all, I was worried about the recruits that would be going into battle with me.