Lightning crackled and popped throughout the courtyard of the Isa City palace. Oleander flowers singed and burned with each lightning strike that Raine aimed for Koda but each time she missed the nimble elf.

Koda dipped forward and lunged backwards with each one of Raine’s seemingly manic attacks. Finally an electric bolt zapped him. A sharp pain sprung down his legs and forced him to crash to the ground on his knees.

“Come on, Koda! You can’t hope to dodge lightning bolts all day. You need to learn to use that new earth magic you got yesterday!” Raine lectured him with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Wildeye walked over and lifted the king to his feet. “Don’t be hesitant to reach within yourself,” she said. “Every spell can be countered with every magic, but you need to have the power to do so and the wit to think on your feet.”

Koda nodded. He narrowed his eyes and held up his hand to the purple mage. “I’m ready, Raine.”

Raine waited for Wildeye to sit down next to Stryneth before slinging another ray of electricity at her training partner.

Koda circled his hands before colliding his knuckles together, From his hands, down his thighs, and up to his face forged a thick layer of granite armor that protected from his head to his toes. The lightning deflected harmlessly off of his granite armor.

“Okay, well done, Koda,” Raine called out. “But can you move? Can you retaliate?”

Koda smirked underneath his stone guard. Of course I can move.

However, his rocky limbs gave him no berth of movement. He couldn’t budge his legs, he couldn’t even tip over. He was just another statue for the courtyard.

“I can’t move!” he cried at the top of his lungs, but his voice only came out as a muffled blurb

He could see at least. His eyes weren’t covered, thank the celestials. Neither were his nostrils, so he couldn’t suffocate. However, if he didn’t cancel the spell he might grow moss and attract a bird to nest on his shoulder. Stuck forever as a decorative art piece.

Oh, Isanna would love that. He thought sarcastically. Ok Koda. Just turn off the magic. Easy as that!

Koda concentrated on the act of crumbling the spell. Turning the sheet of stone into rubble or falling into a pile of sand at his feet, but the stone armor remained.

Why won’t it listen to me?

“Because you must calm yourself, my friend.”

Wildeye! Koda laughed, overjoyed that his familiar came to his aid.

“Settle your mind. You are panicking and dreading an outcome that you still have control over.”

A Calm mind. A Calm mind. Koda slowed his breathing and a sense of serenity washed over his building stress.

“A Calm mind, Koda,” repeated Wildeye. “Now, reach in and touch the earthen Tamed Magi within your magic pool.”

Koda looked deep within himself. He watched as manifestations of his Magi floated in the blackness of his mind. He could always pull from his raw Magi. The magic was always waiting to be called by him. Always ready to answer to his needs. Reliable. Trustworthy. A friend and an ally. An energy always willing to give him hope and power.

“Do you see it, Koda? The brown magic?” Wildeye asked. Attempting to vie for his focus.

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Koda searched deeper into the recess of his mind. Deeper into its dark void, only lit by a soft light. His magic pool.

I found my magic, Wildeye.

“Good, now reach out to it. Befriend the brown magic and listen to it,” whispered Wildeye. Her voice was now as small as the magic pool that Koda had found. Wildeye was distant, as if the deeper he delved the further from Draak’Terra he had gone.

Koda extended a finger to the magic. Its form was not of just light, but more of a gel—an organism that evolved from the chasm of his consciousness. Koda poked the jellyfish-like creature and to his surprise, it reacted. It flipped and twisted, floated and fluttered. It wobbled in the air and scooted in circles. Koda couldn’t help but giggled at the playful creature.

Its light glowed more brilliant in Koda’s presence. From green, to magenta, and finally brown. The colors mixed and churned in its body, like spilt paint conjilling into a colorful mess.

Koda slowly surrounded his hands around the magic pool. “Magi hear me, give me the will of earth.”

The mage king breathed in the element of stone, he felt the power to command rock and sand. To walk with the desert and mountains. He was attuned with his brown magic now.

Koda snapped open his eyes and slowly shifted the plates of rocks away from his entrapped body. Dust puffed from his joints as Koda bent and rotated them. Finally, as he imagined before, the stone armor collapsed in a large pile of rubble. Koda was free.

Raine ran up to Koda and gave him a supportive hug. “I knew you could control earth magic.”

Koda wiped the sweat from his brow. “Does it get any easier after this? Will I have to go through an arithmetic book just to use each color?”

Raine laughed and shook her head. “No, not at all. As you earn each color it gets much simpler to control and learn how to manipulate them.”

“You have three?” asked Koda. Slightly in doubt of his friend’s answer.

“Yes, but I have spoken to many students with more colors than I.”

“Do not be afraid to use your Magi, Lord Koda.” Stryneth sauntered over to Raine, Wildeye, and Koda. He pronounced each letter and word with pride in his statement. “It is a gift meant to be exploited.”

Koda raised his brow.

Wildeye stepped forward between Stryneth and Koda. “The Magi is too dangerous for any one person to use.”

“What of Azeva?” asked Stryneth. “She is more proficient with Magi. Mateo and Arrelion too, have both used the Magi.

“I stand by my statement,” growled Wildeye.

“Excuse my ignorance,” Raine started, “But what is Magi and why is it so bad?”

“The Magi is the source of all Draak’Terran magic,” explained the wolf. “Pure and raw in its original form. It is a drug and must be treated as such.”

“I admit there is little we understand about the Magi,” Koda added. “Many have fallen to its allure while studying it.”

“Then why risk using it if it provides such dangers?” argued Raine.

“Although dangerous… it is…” Koda struggled to find the proper words.

“It is an important tool in Koda’s arsenal,” finished Stryneth with a grin. “Which is just another reason why my master seeks him.”

Raine rubbed her chin. “I suppose any tool in the improper hands can be dangerous but the same tool in a practiced hand could help more than harm.”

“My thoughts exactly, Raine,” Koda beamed a confident smile.

Wildeye shook her head in disappointment. “Well,” she sighed. “I think Koda is ready to battle for his red sash.”

Koda adjusted the brown cloth tied around his waist. Wildeye was right, it was time to earn another color.

***

Like Ezevan, his sister and her students chose a patch of desert to train and teach just outside of Isa City. Koda and his company approached the dune elf headmaster but not a single flame burned. The sands were still and undisturbed by duels and battles. Instead, Azeva stood in grim sadness. Her wide hood hid her teary face.

“I am not accepting challenges at this time,” she said with a horse whisper.

Koda looked to Raine and Wildeye, then back to Azeva. “Why not? What happened?”

Azeva lowered her hood revealing her kinky, twisted hair. It ruffled and shook as she swayed her head, rattling with the hundreds of shells and beads that decorated her frizzy red hair.

“My head student, Nia, has been kidnapped by the Spellbreakers. I have no clue if she is dead or alive.”

Koda’s mood turned serious. “Elucard, find Nia and bring her back to Azeva,” he ordered.

Elucard clutched one fist in the other and bowed. “As you command, my king.”

Stryneth placed a hand on Cade’s shoulder. “My hydro shroud shall go with you, Elucard.”

Cade nodded to the blue mage. “As you say, my master.”

Koda took a long bow to the fire headmaster. “They will bring Nia home, Master Azeva.”

Elucard and Cade vanished into a blur of speed, heading towards the city. They were on the prowl for Spellbreakers with the mission to rescue a mage from certain death.