BOOK 1, CHAPTER 18 – Explosion

Artien decided the only way to move forward was to improve himself. He first searched for a suitable place to practice. He used the open grasslands south of the creek between the forest and lake. There he picked several targets; boulders, tall grass, and the cliff wall.

He first practiced what he already knew. He recounted the different basic spells he knew. He followed up with casting them, remembering how much mana to use and when to release the spell. He moved to casting several of the same spell. This he met a wall, casting no more than nine.

He did this with each spell type. At most, nine was his limit. He moved to trying multi-casting two types of spells. He did with water and earth, the less dangerous that he knew. When he imagined one symbol, multiplying it was easy. If he added a second image, the first one became indistinct and the spell failed.

He moved to casting speed instead. He created the same spell over and over, finding he could activate one after another using the same symbol. As before, activating one symbol quickly after the other left the next consecutive one indistinct. He failed on the third spell when quick-casting.

He sat and crossed his legs, meditating. He went through his knowledge of mana, spells, and how they worked. He had managed to turn casting time to be nearly instantaneous as soon as the symbol of the spell became clear. Manipulation of the spell and mana was slowly mastered to some degree. With time he would only improve.

He felt no improvements elsewhere. Force improved as he naturally used it. Magic, on the other hand, needed decades of training. He knew deep inside the degree of his mana flame was more powerful than he was capable of showing. His use of spells was inadequate. Was this, then, his limits?

“You look like you’re thinking too hard.”

Artien scowled, opening his eyes. He could hear the smile in the words. “Kor.”

Kor bounced forward in the grass. “The only one!”

“I thought back on what you said.” Artien watched as Kor picked a long grass, sticking the end into his mouth.

“About what you can do?”

Artien nodded. “I can only improve myself.”

“But now you’re stuck?”

Kor walked in front of Artien, crouching to his eye level. His eyes became deep, that old man feeling emanating. “I’ll give you some more advice.” He pulled the grass out of his mouth. “Whenever a person reaches his limits and can no longer improve himself, you know what he should do?”

“Rest and try again later?”

“Wrong! He should go back to the basics. In your case, the basics would be, what is the true nature of magic?”

Kor stood up swiftly, sticking the grass in his mouth while walking away. He waved without looking back. “I’ll leave you to it!”

Artien watched until he was out of sight. Then he focused on Kor’s words. “Go back to the basics. I’ve never left them…”

He shook his head. “Focus. The true nature of magic is mana. It’s a theme in all the books I’ve read. Mana…”

He meditated a long time. He racked his brain. Frustration built, his mind growing solid. “Agh! Why is this becoming so hard? Have I really reached a limit? Is my understanding of magic lacking that much?”

His eyes brightened. “My understanding of magic is lacking. Back to the basics. The basic questions.”

He closed his eyes again. He let the frustration and other feelings fade away. He focused on the questions. Magic is made up of what? How is magic used? What is the true nature of magic?

Time passed. He repeated the questions to himself, unknowingly saying them out loud. An unknown time later, a familiar voice replied.

“Why don’t you use your Divine Sight?”

His eyes shot open as his heart picked up in joy. “Little Green!” He spun around, seeing Little Green parting the grass as she arrived at his feet. He opened his arms, catching Little Green as she launched into his arms. She wrapped around him, squeezing hard.

She released him, laughing as she pulled back far enough to see his face. “Miss me?”

“Why didn’t you dodge? I can recover easier than you!” He said angrily.

“I’m not sorry.” She pouted. “If you got hurt we both would be eaten by those beast kings.”

He patted her head. “I’m glad you’re alright. Does it hurt?”

“Nope!” She jumped to the ground, showing the clean skin. “My scales will come back in my next shedding.” She eyed him, then looked around. “Where are we?”

“We’re inside the mist…” He sat down, beginning to recount everything that had happened while she was recovering. She listened with wide eyes.

“Can we get out?”

“I haven’t found a way yet. The cliff walls are high and indestructible.”

They sat briefly in silence when Little Green bounced her head up. “What were you doing?”

Artien rubbed his face, frustration bubbling back up. “I’m trying to understand magic better.”

“Ooh. Was that what that was?” She teased.

“Knock it off!” He swiped at her head, missing as she ducked.

“Hss-ss-ss.” She laughed, then looked at him seriously. “Use your Divine Sight! Isn’t that how you learned to talk to me?”

“Divine Sight.” He thought, realizing she was right. It was how he first discovered symbols. “Let me try.”

Little Green stayed to the side as he stood and faced the black cliff wall. He raised a hand, activating his Divine Sight. The world took on a golden hue, waves of mana strumming about. He imaged the symbol of fireball above his hand. He watched closely as the nearby mana rippled, then swirled into the image, forming into fire.

He held it there, looking for anything new. The image stayed, using only enough mana to sustain itself from the surroundings. He poured some of his mana into the flame, seeing it grow. He stopped when the flame reached the size of a chicken. The mana flowing into the fireball from the surroundings increased. The flame repeated as before, only taking in enough mana to keep itself as-is.

As a human, this was how magic was used. What about elves? What about beasts? What did it look like when they activated their beast cores? He turned to look at Little Green.

The fireball trembled, the spell symbol dimming. Artien felt the fluctuation and cursed, trying to regain control. The symbol solidified, activating. Artien pushed it away as he grabbed Little Green and dived into the grass.

The fireball headed a few feet away before exploding. The explosion shook the area, a strong heat wave spreading out. Artien felt the heat on his back, his eyes closed tight. Underneath him, Little Green held still, afraid if she moved it would somehow hurt him. The heat grew intense, the feeling of burning alive coming to mind.