Arthur attacked as soon as he heard the command. Vreil saw a mountain-like body heading towards him and he quickly moved to the side, dodged the sword that tried to smash his head open like a ripe watermelon. Everyone was wearing helmets, except for himself.

Suddenly, he realized that Ashter was no longer around to protect him if something went wrong.

Well, shit.

He tried to attack Arthur’s ribs, but the big guy moved away. He was fast for his size. Arthur attacked again, this time aiming for Vreil’s body. The attack was fast, Vreil had to try and block it. The impact of the strike knocked him aside, his sword hitting his own side before flying out of his hand. That Arthur was a monster. It felt like Vreil’s ribs had come close to breaking; he couldn’t stand up from the pain.

“Pick up your sword, kid. Do you want to die?” Sain mercilessly yelled at him.

Somehow, Vreil managed to grab his sword’s handle and get up. He was slowly getting used to the pain, but one more strike and this would be over.

“Don’t kill him, Arthur. I don’t want to lose my reputation with the higher-ups”, came Sain’s voice, but Vreil wasn’t listening. He only had eyes for the mountain of meat in front of him.

Arthur came at him again. His swing was too wide this time and Vreil had time to duck, saving his head from some violent squeezing. He also managed to push his sword forward and touch Arthur’s chest, but his hurt insides didn’t allow him to use any more strength. He looked up and saw an elbow heading his way. Then everything went black.

🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️

“Kid. Hey, kid! Wake up, I know that wasn’t enough to kill you”, voices entered Vreil’s ears as a bucket of water emptied its cold content all over his face. Vreil opened his eyes and saw the instructor, Sain, leaning over him. He noticed that the man’s breath stank but, even in his muddle-headedness, Vreil chose to avoid mentioning it.

Around him, the other trainees were back to fighting each other.

“Took you long enough”, the instructor snorted. “Get up. Training isn’t over yet.”

Vreil expected himself to be in terrible pain, but getting up wasn’t that hard after all.

“We always have a doctor close by, he took care of you. Now pick up your damn sword and go fight. You have an easier opponent this time.”

Vreil tried to speak, but the instructor stopped him. “You are not here to chat. I gave you an order; what are you waiting for?”

Resigned to his fate, Vreil picked up his sword and went to the place Sain was pointing to. This time, his opponent was not much older than himself and seemed to be in his weight class.

“Nice to meet you,” he greeted Vreil, “my name is Nigel.”

“I’m Vreil.”

They started exchanging some light blows to warm up. Surprisingly, Vreil felt fine, good enough to fight again.

“You know, you should try to stand out a little less. Most people here don’t like Arknas, they say you were just lucky to be born like that while the rest of us have to train hard. Sir Sain, especially, dislikes slackers.”

“What about you?” asked Vreil, parrying a slow thrust.

“I don’t really care. I will just try my hardest and hope for the best. Even an Arknas can’t beat everyone if he doesn’t take it seriously. But as for me, I couldn’t even beat Arthur, so I don’t deserve to dream big.”

“Never stop dreaming. If you don’t make it, at least you will know you tried your best, and have no regrets.”

Nigel smiled. “Thanks. You are pretty cool after all, talking like that after that beating.”

“Hahahaha", Vreil laughed too, stopping for a moment to wipe some sweat off his brow. "Sooner or later I will get that bear. He is cocky now, but next time we fight I won’t lose. Okay, maybe I will, but not the time after that!”

“I hope so, I like you better than him. But you know, Arthur is not joking around either. He’s big, but he trains a lot, probably more than the two of us combined. I heard he wants to become the strongest man in the kingdom!” Nigel said, sneaking in a light hit at Vreil's legs.

They started being a little more serious, hitting a little faster and stronger.

“You know,” said Nigel between pants, “Arthur is Sir Sain’s favorite. He gets the best equipment and treatment out of all of us. Word is, he is stronger than most of the actual soldiers here.”

“No, I don’t think so. He is strong, fast, and intimidating, but he doesn’t have the correct mindset yet. In a real fight, he would die quickly”, Vreil replied without thinking, before cringing at his own arrogance. He hadn't been in a real fight before, where had that come from?

Nigel didn't seem to believe him either. “Well, I’ve never heard that before. He has won the tournament two times in a row after all. But maybe that is why they won’t graduate him before he hits the age limit.”

“What tournament?”

“There is a tournament held here annually, among the trainees. Arthur won it the two previous years and he will probably win this one too”, Nigel grinned. "Unless I have a say in that."

“Is that so?” asked Vreil, polite enough to hide his disbelief. Nigel seemed miniscule compared to the goliath. Then again, so did Vreil, and all he had to boast for was an extra set of fancy eyeballs. “When is the tournament?”

“Two months from now.”

“Stop talking and fight seriously, rats!” shouted Sain.

“Yes, sir” they replied together, spooked.

When Vreil finally got in his bed, he was exhausted. Losing to that mountain of a man was fine for now but, in the end, he also lost to Nigel, even by a hair. Not to mention that the food sucked.

But at least he’d gotten an idea of how things worked.

Most of the other trainees were leaving him alone to concentrate on his training, and Nigel was a good sparring partner. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen Ashter or Milos since they’d dropped him off at Sain. He thought about going to Milos’ room, but his bed was so comfortable that leaving would be almost rude. What if his bed got mad at him? We can’t have that!

For the second time that day, he fell asleep.

🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️

Vreil was awoken by the sound of footsteps outside his door. He immediately jumped up and drew his sword, careful not to make much noise.

“Easy, Vreil”, came a familiar voice from outside his door, ”it is me, Ashter. Can I come in?”

It did sound like Ashter, but it could be a trap. Nigel word's about people hating Arknas, and Sain’s treatment, had gotten to him.

“Open the door and make sure both your hands are empty and I can see them”, he replied, feeling a bit paranoid himself.

Ashter laughed and obediently opened the door the way Vreil told him. “You have grown rather careful. Good job, Vreil.”

“What are you doing here in the middle of the night, Ashter?” the young man put his sword away.

“Middle of the night? It just got dark outside.”

“Yes, but I’m tired. Why can’t you let me rest?” Vreil complained, leaving his sword back on the floor.

“I seem to recall a young man asking to be trained as hard as possible, only a few weeks ago”, smirked the wizard, and Vreil groaned in place of replying.

“I told you I would teach you magic, did I not? Well, now is the time.”

“Seriously? I was training all day and now you want to teach me how to use magic?”

“You will be training all day every day, Vreil. If you do not learn what you must learn, soon enough you will find yourself in a situation that you will be unable to handle. Now, show me what you can do with air magic.”

Vreil sighed. He then lifted his right arm, targeting a clay bowl on the table. He concentrated on these countless little particles of air and pushed. The bowl wobbled slightly. He had been practicing all the way to Waterslide.

“Good”, nodded Ashter. “Now try the same thing while shouting the command “Asfar Inflir”. But do not just shout it as if it is a mere phrase. Try to use the power inside those words to enhance your spell.”

“Asfar Inflir”, said Vreil, aiming at the bowl. The spell felt much smoother this time, like the wind was moving on its own, and the bowl slid off the table before crashing on the floor.

“Wow”, he exclaimed, breathing heavily.

Ashter smiled. “By using words of magic, you explain your will to the wind and it already knows what to do. All you have to do then is give it a push.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” Vreil asked, already gathering the pieces of the broken bowl. “I thought you were just showing off with those fancy words.”

“You first had to learn the basics. It does not matter whether the wind is ready to move or not if you cannot give it even a small push. Do not get carried away though. You are still very young, and your power is too small. But that is enough for wind magic.”

“Are we stopping? Why? I am finally getting the hang of it.”

“Currently, you can use the wind to distract your opponents or do some minor things. To get to the point where you can actually use it to fight will take years. So now I will teach you something with a much more practical application: body strengthening magic.”

Vreil sighed again, a little disappointed about giving up on the wind, even if temporarily. “Fine. What is that new thing? I haven’t heard of it before.”

“I told you; body strengthening magic. You alter the flow of magic in your body and use it to increase your speed, strength, endurance, and such. By a huge margin, if you do it correctly. But there will be a condition. You are not allowed to use this in your other training, with Sain, unless your life is in danger. Okay?”

Now that sounded better. “Okay, show me.”

“Listen closely", Ashter sat on a chair, entering full teacher mode. "Body strengthening is not really magic. The trick is to reverse the flow of magic that goes from your blood to your stomach. By saturating your blood with magic power, you will transfer that power to all of your body. Little magic is lost in this application, so you can keep it up for a long time. And just because it requires so small reserves, you don’t even have to be a wizard to do it. Many strong people can use body strengthening magic, even for a small period of time. To you, it will be easy. So easy that you will probably be able to use it in actual fighting by the tournament, two months from now.”

"Alright, I'll give it a shot", Vreil nodded, sitting on his bed. He was still tired, but this was magic. “How do I reverse the flow?”

“That I cannot tell you. Experiment. Everyone has their own way.”

Great. Because who wasn't in the mood for experimenting right after exhausting training? “Okay…”

“One more thing. Tomorrow, I am leaving. I have a mission to the south. So I want you to practice that by yourself while I am gone.”

“Will you come back in time for the tournament?” Vreil belatedly realized that he’d constantly been around the old wizard for almost a month. He was getting used to the safety the man offered, apparently, because he felt insecure being just by himself.

“I will try, but I do not know. You have to train this magic for at least an hour per day. Got it?”

“Yes, sir”, Vreil replied enthusiastically. “Good luck on your mission, Ashter.”

“Thank you”, Ashter said as he walked out of the room and closed the door. “I hope to find you strong when I return. Or at least, not too pathetically weak.”

“Hmph, asshole”, snorted Vreil, smirking, but the wizard was already gone.

Now alone, Vreil started trying to do what Ashter had told him. He smiled. No goodbyes had been said. He would definitely come back safe, and Vreil would show him just how strong he could become.

Body strengthening, huh? Let's see... and with that, Vreil sank into meditation in his mountain chamber, pieces of the broken clay bowl still littering the floor, glistering in the torchlight.