CHAPTER TWO

I sat on the edge of the den trying to get my wits about me, then I heard steps outside getting closer. I held my breath and sat as still as possible trying to make as little noise as possible. Jekyll jumped in the den scaring the life out of me. “What happened, what was chasing us?” “Don’t worry about it, it's gone now, just get some rest.” Jekyll said in a calm tone. I sat there wondering why he didn't tell me what it was that was chasing us.

Jekyll laid down close to the front of the den and I laid down at the back. I tried to get as comfortable as I could, I closed my eyes and the world went dark. “Hey papaw do you want to go move spots”, I said. “No just stay patient, we'll see a deer where we are at, I'm sure.” I looked around trying to keep an eye out for any movement, just hoping to see a buck. Then I saw a majestic eight point buck come out of the edge of the woods. “papaw look” I said in a whisper. “Stay calm,” he spoke. I raised up the barrel of my rifle that he had given me for Christmas the year before, I zoomed in the scope trying to stay as calm as possible, with sight’s on the buck I let out a slow and shaky breath… “This was the shot” I thought to myself as I squeezed the trigger and the gun went off “BOOM”.

I sprung up out of my sleep trying to remember where i'm at and I saw Jekyll. “It wasn't a dream this is where i'm really at” I thought to myself. I sat up slowly and walked over to the edge of the den where the hole was at, I peeked outside it was still dark out but I could tell morning was coming. “You need to stay inside till daylight; it would be in your best interest, I mean you don't even know any magic.”, said Jakyll. I looked at him then spoke,”Could you teach me?” He sat there thinking for a second then said “I don’t think I would totally be against the idea… Ok I will, but im not halving my efforts, as I wouldn't normally help a human but you're different.” he sat up and told me to ‘sit down.” I sat down without any words just listening to what he said. “The first thing you need to do is learn how to concentrate your mana, think of mana as an extension of yourself.”

“Close your eyes and try to feel the power inside of yourself. It's a warm feeling, do you feel it?” I concentrated trying my best to feel the mana inside of myself. I felt a small warm feeling in my chest. It was barely noticeable, but it was there.”Yes I think so but hardly”, I said,”Good now concentrate on just the warm feeling and try and move that through your body and to your hands.” I did as he said but nothing seemed to be happening, I tried thinking of nothing but the warmth inside my chest and imagended in moving to my arms, I felt it start flowing slightly. Then it stopped. “Are there any other tips you have for this?” I said,”No this is the bare bones basics,You wont get it right off the bat.” Jekyll said,”Ok”, I went back to it trying again but got the same results. “Just sit there and keep on going, this will take a few hours.”

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I continued doing as he said each time it would get better, but not fast” this will take forever”, I thought. After a few hours I opened my eyes took a deep breath, I concentrated on the warmth then forced it to my shoulders, then my down through my arms to my elbows, then slowly the warmth crept to my hands. “ YES I got it.” I exclaimed, “ Very nice it usually takes people days to just get to that point although most are mere kids.”he said with a silly look on his face”,”Whats the next step.” I said, “The next step is taking the power in your hands and turning it into an element. We will start with fire, when the mana reaches your hands take that power and force it to overflow out of your palms.” Jekyll said, “Ok” I closed my eyes and did the same as before moving the power to my hands. I kept it there and let it build up, then it happened a small amount of fire hardly noticeable came out of my hand.”Nice job Gust. The next step is holding the flame not just bursting it out it, shouldn’t be to hard for you seeing as you got that down fairly fast” Jekyll said, I began to concentrate then Jekyll interrupted and said “ Hold on we're going to need to step outside for this I will also give you a demonstration for how it should look.”

We stepped outside and I took a deep breath of the cool morning air. Jekyll came outside and walked a few paces away from me.” alright Gust watch closely and try to do exactly as I do” I stood there watching and thought to myself “how is he going to do magic he has no hand?”Jekyll stood there and lifted his muzzle up and I saw what looked like a reddish orb begin to form in his mouth. Then a big flame shot out, he then closed his muzzle and the flame stopped and died in the air, then said “Now you try it”

I took a deep breath trying to form the fire in my hand. A small ball of fire began to form in my hand and I forced it to grow with more mana, then I used my mana to force the fire out of my hand, it worked making a small stream of fire,” your catching on very quickly but you'll have to improve that if you want to do anything more than warm up a bowl of soup.” Jekyll said, “Ok i'm trying here man.” I said with a small grin,