Blue and White

As the group of adventures together with the pair of master and apprentice, struggled past the thick forest, filled with bushes and surface roots that covered the thin path made by a large animal. While the sun tried to shine through the small gaps between the leaves, Unh the healer tried to start a conversation as she climbed a large mossy stone on the path when she noticed that Tony didn’t have a crucial tool for magicians.

“Tony, where is your staff?” She asked, trying to search for a tool behind his cloak.

Tony who held Rin as a princess, flew like a rocket launcher upwards, leaving a trail of smoke and landed on the large stone as the adventures struggled to climb with their equipments. Smiling as he gently placed Rin on the stone, he held her soft hands and said, “Attaining mastery over mana, has given me the ability to ignore the needs of a medium”.

Both of the magicians stopped dead on their tracks, while a leaf flew by, they gaped in awe of the skill they had never heard of. Though, it made Cratz who was the last in the line accidently bump face first into Claria’s soft butt.

“HEY!” she said, kicking his helmet.

With a clang, our Protector fell backwards with his heavy towershield, immediately pushing himself up he shook his head, checked the vicinity and said “We’re under attack! Something blue and white attacked me!”

The group chuckled, but the magician clenched her fist, face burning as she walked towards the armored man. Grabbing the cold metal collar, she pulled him down with ease and whispered something. He became quiet for the rest of the journey.

“Heh, Making friends already, Claria?” Dane the magic swordsman snickered.

She glared at him and smirked, sending a shiver down his spine as he now hid behind his new partner Cratz. Both of them became quiet for the rest of the journey as we followed Josh with his map.

Unh shrugged, walked faster to catch up with Tony and Rin, she asked, “Is it true that Rin is blind?”

“Yeah, can’t you see how easily my apprentice stumbles here and there?”

She took another peek on Rin who walked flawlessly around the surface roots, uneven path and vines that could easily trip one of the largest animals. “No?”

“Oh, it’s because I am helping her…” He released her hand, she shuddered as the group stopped on their tracks to watch. “Apprentice, see if you can walk straightforward without struggle”

“Uh, but… I can’t see…”, she said, searching for her master’s hand.

“Don’t worry, I’ll catch you if you fall. You have my word.”

Unh crossed her arms, had seconds thoughts as the delicate girl trembled before her eyes. Concluding that this was unnecessary, she tried to stop Rin, but was forced to stand ground by Tony’s arm.

“Uh, okay” Rin said, took a heavy breath before her first step, but immediately fell head first, barely touching the grassy path with her tingling nose.

Tony shrugged, “See?”

The group nodded, heart skipping as the man before them caught the girl barely before impact. Such a fearless man, they thought, never would they have him show proof ever again.

“My apprentice, want me to show you the advanced stage?” He asked, placing her on her two feets once again and patted her hood.

Smiling with her glittering blue eyes, she said “Yes!”

He smiled back, piggybacked her and said “Now, cover my eyes with your hands”

She tilted her head, “How can you see then?”

He grinned, “I don’t, I sense.”

Nodding, she covered his eyes with her warm palms, as the adventures questioned his actions.

“Now, Josh I’ll follow you blindfolded until we get to the Labyrinth”

“You sure?” The leader asked, waving his hand before Tony's eyes.

“Yes, stop waving and let’s go.”

“Right… I’ll call that a fluke.”

As the group moved through the thick woods, struggling as the man before them but behind Josh, walked flawlessly with Rin around the vines, roots, mossy boulders and fallen trees. They were surprised, how was it possible?

As his cape flapped with the wind, he held Rin’s thighs and asked, “Apprentice, remember how I told you that good magicians had the imagination?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, what they are actually doing is sensing the flow of mana inside of their body, the flow of mana in the nature and the flow of mana in every living being, including the peddle like this one” he said, kicking a tiny peddle on the path, “Borrowing their mana if necessary and using it for their own needs to create spells. That is where a mediums comes in, unlike me, those two behind me need to use staves to help them sense the nature around them”

She chuckled, as the other two stared at their staff, wondering if they should try to train their senses.

“Heh, as a bonus of mastering your senses, I can walk around with ease, sensing the mana in everything and creating a map inside my mind. Hence with a better understanding of how the flow of mana works, you can use this to your advantage, creating spells without a medium like I or simply advancing the magic further to a more powerful spell… In my case, both”

“So, my apprentice are you motivated to reach great heights?” He finally asked.

“Yeah!” she said, snuggling behind his back as she covered his eyes.

“Sorry to interrupt your interesting lessons, Tony. But it seems that we have arrived” Josh said, rolling his map and packed it in his large bag.

Rin removed her hands from Tony’s eyes, revealing a crystal cave surrounded by the forest as the group of adventures stood on top of a cliff, the sun shone brightly down upon the other fellow adventurers camping outside the large entrance.

“So, how do we get down?” Claria asked, shuddering near the edge together with Dane.

Josh shrugged, “Easy, like this…” He said, pushing both of them down the cliff.

“Whaaaa!” they screamed, yet turned bright red when they noticed that they fell slowly to the ground. Unh had casted slow fall on everyone, a light based magic and she too was falling slowly with them together, meanwhile Cratz took his time by surfing in the air with his towershield.

“Well, what are you waiting for Tony? Let’s go!” Josh beckoned and then fell backwards on the edge of the cliff.

Tony shrugged, jumped down together with his apprentice as she embraced him tightly, landing on the soft grass together with the group.

“This place is kinda crowded though” Dane said, checking the vicinity as we landed one by one. The area was filled with camping sites and adventures, which probably came here to gain the riches inside the Labyrinth

“Yeah, newly found Labyrinths are the weakest of them all, since the mana that created them from the nature has yet to fully develop.” Josh shrugged, “Meaning that the beginners will take this opportunity to test their skills as well as gain stronger weapons before tackling the old uncleared ones.”

“Beginners?” Tony asked, now holding the hand of Rin.

“Yeah, everyone in this group other than you two and me are Bronze ranked. The lowest starting from Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and then Diamond”

“Oh, what are you then?”

“Silver, I have cleared two of them, but left my old group from personal issues.”

“Right, so what’s the plan?”

He grinned, taking out a tablet from his bag and started to paint something. Curiously the group moved closer to find out what he was doing, but he was then patted on the shoulder by a unknown person.

“Ah, if it isn’t the old Josh, the magic archer…” a man with a black cape said, followed by two others clad in leather armor.

“Ah, done! Okay, this is the plan we will...” Josh continued, as the whole group tried to find out what Josh had in his mind.

“Oi! Don’t ignore me!”

“Aaah, if it isn’t the earth magician, Lucas. I thought you had been promoted to gold? What are you doing here?”

“Me? I was close by and decided to clear this petty little Labyrinth for the beginners like you” He said, grinning as lightning from rivalry struck between their fierce eyes.

"Oi, boss it's him" His goon tried to warn him, yet he too was ignored. Sulking, the third guy patted his back out of comfort.

“Oh, since you have bigger matters to attend to, maybe you should leave my group alone?” Josh taunted.

He shrugged, “Pfft, your group? Those petty little… HEY! It’s you! The illusionist!” He shouted after taking a second glance on the group, pointing at Tony.

Confused, Tony looked around as the girl hid behind him, “Who me?”

“Yeah you, the one who cast illusions on every citizens in Loskantros!”

Josh rose an eyebrow, “Lucas, what are you talking about? He is a fire magician”

"Yeah" the others added.

“No I know it’s him! HEY! stop with that smirk! I’ll have you know that” He tried to argue, but was interrupted with a pat on the shoulder.

“Enough” Unh muttered, “If you have time to argue with another group, don’t come to this place”

He turned around, tried to retaliate but instead his eyes were filled with hearts . “Oh my Aphrodite, I don't know what struck my mind, but I believe your charm had made me lose it, please? May I know your beautiful name?" He said, kissing her hand like a prince.

She dropped dead onto the grass.

"Ahem, anyways... I'll leave you guys alone for today and I'll be back if you guys don't clear this easy Labyrinth with this lady" He said, beckoned his goons to follow and left the area through the forest’s path.

"That was weird..." Dane said while he glanced at everyone.

"Indeed..." Cratz added, trying to wake Unh up.

"Anyways, back to the plan" Josh said, showing the formation on the tablet, whereas everyone awake replied with a nod.

"Cratz will be our main defense at the front, together with Dane who will back him up"

They nodded.

"Me and the girls will be behind them, supporting with ranged attacks or in Unh's case, supporting magic"

Claria nodded and shook the head of the drooling Unh on the grass.

"Lastly, we have Tony and Rin, you'll watch our back. Mostly because the front is the most dangerous and I don’t want to take the risk of Rin being in the frontlines"

Tony nodded.

"But for now, lets take a quick rest and fill our stomach as you guys must be tired from the way here, right?" He asked while preparing a few cooking tools, he had hidden in his bag.

"Fair enough, though I need to ask you something Josh, privately if you may" Tony answered and left Rin with Cratz.

"Oh, lets go over there then" He said, walking with Tony towards a few lonely trees.

He crossed his arms, rested his back on one of the trees and asked "What can I do for you?"

"Your friend Lucas, does he deal with slavery trading?"

"Ah, who could have guessed... I believe you mean his father, someone with strong ties to the black market. Funnily there is also barely any difference between them. Unless you check their age or hair colour"

He sighed, "Lucas usually loses his mind when someone believes that he is his father. So please don't mention anything that has to do with him and not he himself"

Tony glanced on the green grass that waved with the wind, "I see... That explains everything."

"Please don't mind him and I don't know why you asked that nor what trouble he caused you. But once you get to know him, he is actually really kind compared to his father. Though, might express it in a different way than others... Forcefully I believe, more than for his own good. Probably his father's influence" He added, scratching his hair.

"Anyways anything else you want to ask?"

"No. But thanks for answering my question Josh, lets go cook some dinner for the hungry kids over there" Tony said, tilting the head towards the pinkish and glittering atmosphere around Cratz who played happily with Rin, one could say that he was good around kids as he danced around her. Though, because she couldn’t see, she just stared off to a distance...

He laughed, "Yeah, the big one"

As they walked back to the group, Josh couldn't help but ask a question himself, "Is it true about what Lucas said, that you know illusion magic?"

"Sorta, it’s actually my magic cloak that throws most of the illusions around, thought what kind of illusion is a trade secret"

"Hmm, very well, I shall not prey any further."

“Heh, if you say so.”