The Traveler and the Past

As the master and apprentice sat near the street, travelers, traders, carriages all sort of people from the south passed by either in groups or alone. While the magicians were waiting for the group of adventures, Tony himself thought it was the best time to train as the guards watched curiously on them.

“Apprentice, how many people has passed by since 1 minutes ago?”

“Hmm…” She poked the street with a stick, “7?”

“Wrong, the answer is 10. Don’t forget to listen to the amount of steps instead of only sensing if they have passed or not.“

She nodded.

“It’s hard, but with time you would even be able to sense the rats behind you”

“Eek!” she yelped, standing up and backed away towards a large horse on the street, that was about to crash onto her.

“Watch out!” The driver of the expensive carriage warned, trying to pull the rope on the strong horse to no avail.

Tony sighed, used wind magic and pushed her back to him. “Sorry, sir!” He said, towards the driver who used a handkerchief to brush away the sweat.

The driver sighed, “Just keep a closer watch on the child will ya?” he added, before passing the red cloaked who held the girl inside his arms near the chest, vanishing behind the gates through the bridge.

Tony patted the head covered by a black tattered cloak, “Apprentice, remember this in your heart” he said, poking her beating warm chest, “Always stay calm in any situation, or there might be dire consequences”

She pushed him away, sitting right next to him and muttered, “Yes, Tony…”

Tony looked away and chuckled, he could recall the day on the streets with his master. It was a happy day with a blue sky, people passed by casually with their daily lives. Yet, he had the same reaction like his apprentice, running with his tail between his legs when his master used magic to show him that there was a rat behind him.

He smiled, How did I even communicate with my master? All that came out of his mouth was gibberish… He wondered, until someone pulled his cloak who was his apprentice.

“Something’s wrong?”

She gazed upon his eyes with her blue iris, “When will I be able to learn magic?”

“Heh, apprentice… As a magician, patience is also your strongest weapon, that is what my master always told me”

She rested her head on the right side of Tony, “So, who was your master?”

He laughed, “The most lovestruck and crazy person I have ever meet, though also the kindest even when he doesn’t show it”

He gazed upon the white clouds, “Yeah, he was also really shy filled with pride… ”

It was a blue sky just like today, clouds passed the window at front of a table, filled with alchemy tools. And there he was, a old man with a blue robe and blue pointy hat, he also had the white hair and beard. You could call him, a true wizard, a wizard from the stories like a sword in the stone or Merlin himself.

Working with the potions, he used magic as if he was a conductor, swaying his fingers around, creating a trail of glitter as the liquid passed one tube to another. He held the finished bottle with a pinkish liquid, held it above the air, inspected it and shouted “Apprentice! I have done it! The potion of life!”

The footsteps of someone running up the stairs to the third floor could be heard, opening the door with a bang and revealed a young boy around his teens, “Master! Have you finally done it?! The potion of life?!”

“YEAH! I can finally get the enormous mountains to bow before my knees!”

The boy facepalmed himself, “Are you talking about the barmaid nearby?”

“Why of course my apprentice, who else would I make such a beautiful potion for?”

Silence broke down between them.

The boy sighed and broke it, “That’s a love potion, isn’t it?”

The wizard avoided his black eyes and frown, turned his head towards the window and scrubbed his forehead with a magic handkerchief. He gazed upon the passing clouds and questioned, “Are you questioning your master?”

“Me? Nah, you want me to do the usual stuff right? Making your childhood friend drink the bottles while you stay in this lonely tower forever…”

“Hey! Who do you call a childhood friend! She is married you know…”

“... No she’s not, and why do you look so old? Remove that illusion will ya?”

And so he did, revealing a handsome blond man around his late 30ths. “Ahem… Now go now apprentice, it’s an order from your master” He said, throwing the bottle towards the boy.

“Yeah, yeah… I can’t understand why she is still waiting for you” he muttered.

“What did you say, you little frog?”

The boy shuddered, recalling how his master forced a transformation potion onto him, “Nothing!” He said, left the tower and went to the bar nearby with haste.

Opening the bar door, the stench of fresh ale and the sound of their sizzling music covered the boys senses.

“Ah, Tony!” A beautiful lady who hasn’t lost to her age embraced the boy, covering him in the large mountains that could probably burst out any second from the clothings.

“So, how is the stupid mage doing in the tower?”

“Still the stupid potions that he believes that you would drink…”

She laughed, pulled the boy towards a table, “Please take a seat, Tony”

He nodded, sat on the wooden chair and relaxed his arms on the wooden table. “Federica, I don’t understand… Why can’t you just ask him out?”

She rested her mountains on the table, causing other guest to take a glance, yet quickly turn back to their daily drinking… They shuddered, the wrath of the magician in the tower was not something to joke about.

“Well…” She rested her chin on her palm, “ I guess it is a woman’s pride and a man’s pride?”

“Pride?”

“He promised me that he would become the strongest magician before asking me out…” She sulked, “Just like any boy would do when they were little…”

“Why don’t you just break it? Rules are meant to be broken, no?”

“Oh, Traveler… When you get older you’ll understand…”

“I… I guess, but… What if it becomes too late? Wouldn’t you regret it? the boy asked, playing with the table.

She smiled, “You are like my own son, traveler… Worrying about an old lady, yet you are the one who have faced the true suffering of separation and regret...”

“Stop, I don’t want to talk about it… And stop calling me traveler so suddenly, it was only once…” He muttered, stood up and clenched his fist, “This is my new life…”, he said and left the bar, leaving Federica alone with the potion.

Tony sulked on the street, it was happy memories, yet, thinking back about it, there was also the painful ones…

“Tony, why did she call you a traveler?” The girl with glimmering eyes, yet couldn’t see asked, resting her weight upon the young man’s right side.

“I...”, he was interrupted.

“Oi!” Cratz the magic archer shouted out towards them. “Over here!”, he waved his hand.

Standing up with the girl, he held her hand and walked to the group of adventures with two new faces.

“This is Tony, the fire magician and the apprentice, I was talking about before” The leader Josh introduced us to the new members.

“Hi, I’m Dane, the magic swordsman”, he said, shaking Tony’s hand.

“I’m Claria, the water magician”, the girl bowed and then asked, “Who’s the cute girl hiding behind the cloak?”

“My apprentice”

“No, I mean, what’s her name?”

A drop of sweat rolled down Tony’s forehead, how could he have forgotten such a basic question of his apprentice, never once did he wonder about her name…

The group of adventures started to look suspiciously at him, they probably wondered, why does it take such a long time to answer such a basic question?

“I.. I’m Rin” She muttered, saving her master from his impending doom.

“So cute!” Claria squealed, embraced the girl who shuddered and then glared at her master, “At least you could dress her better, look at these tattered clothings”

“Ah, well they might look bad, but they are filled with magic”

“These? I can’t see anything with my Magician’s eye…”

Tony shrugged, “Anyways, back to the real deal. Shall we head out to Labyrinth?”

The group of adventures glanced at each other, smiled and then Josh said “Of course! Follow me! I’ll lead the way!”