Chp 8 Training Begins

I wake in the morning. I look to my left and see if Ritsuko slept in the tent. I get outside of the tent and find her wrapped up in her cloak against a tree. That probably isn’t comfortable I think myself. I summon out Zere “Open Light Gate Third Star Zere come forth. Zere can you pack up the tent?” I ask him.

Zere nods his head at me and says “Of course.” He snaps his fingers and the leaves from the tent disperse amongst the area. The branches then follow suit and go in different directions of the forest. I grab my bag with clothes in it. I look over and see Ritsuko waking up. “Ritsuko get up I’m excited to train and I want to get there early” I say to her. She gets up with her bag and walks over to me.

She says “I’m already good to go” with a brief smile on her face. “So your familiars are Zere and Lucci right? Which one is which?” she asks me curiously.

“Lucci is the water pike and Zere is the shadowy one” I respond.

“Do you know what they say when they speak. I don’t understand them at all” Ritsuko states.

“I can teach translate what they say until you can understand them” I say trying to be ensuring towards her.

Ritsuko smiles at this and remarks “Thanks Maeno.”

I look over to Lucci who is curled up in her water bubble. She seems to be in a trance of sorts. I think she was meditating while trying to stay on guard. I say “Lucci put the fire Zere created out”. Lucci uncurls from her fetal state and slowly starts creating a small trickle of water on this. Frankly the progress of which the fire is going out is maddening. I say “Lucci come on hurry it up”.

Lucci bends backwards for a moment and the yells “Channel Forward Flood” She closes her mouth briefly and then inhales as much air as she can. Lucci then makes a small roar and a flood comes out of her mouth. Not only does the flood drown the fire it also temporarily flows over top of us. My clothes are now soaked and since Ritsuko was standing right next to me she is also soaked.

I’m not mad at Lucci since I did tell her to hurry ,but I do say semi-seriously “Lucci was that really called for?” I start laughing about this and then summon out Zere. I ask him “Zere can you get us some towels to dry off with please?” Zere nods his head and from his shadows pulls four towels for us. I say to Zere “Could you also dry our clothes after we change?”

Zere nods again and says “Sure thing Master Maeno.” Ritsuko grabs two towels and then heads off into the woods to change. I pull off my shirt and my pants and change into a regular shirt and some black pants I grabbed on my way out of Haruna. After I get changed into my new clothes I hand my clothes to Zere. He dries them off and hands them back to me. I put the clothes back in my bag. “Lucci and Zere can you head off ahead of us and go to the lake?”

“Master Maeno no offense, but I don’t like the idea that you could get in danger before you get to the lake” Zere says making a concerned expression.

“Master Maeno please let me remain by your side in case of danger” Lucci squeaks mostly garbled by water.

I sigh and say “Alright Zere head to our training point Lucci you will remain in your summoning seal unless I call for you”

Lucci says “Thank you Master” and disappears into my summoning seal on my right hand. The serpent glows temporarily and then fades back to black. Zere fades to shadow after a brief nod and heads on ahead of me to the training spot. In all honesty I’m excited for training and want to get there as soon as possible. I just hope Ritsuko can change soon.

Ritsuko comes back in around five minutes wearing a white dress. It has black frills around the bottom and up the center of the chest. It suits her, but I wonder why she took such nice clothing with her on the journey to Barui since we originally were only supposed to be there for a couple of hours before heading back. Chief Ranga is probably also worried about us since we haven’t come back in a whole day.

Crow was payed to keep us safe and escort us back, yet hasn’t even attempted taking us back to the Village. It makes me wonder what he is planning. If he did come to train us then why did he accept the mission to take us back in the first place. Him accepting a mission to take us back makes no sense considering the fact he was paid to take us back.

I’ll have to ask Crow when we are alone that way Ritsuko doesn’t hear us. I mean I don’t want to go behind her back, but I know that Crow was the person who made the beast attack her. I am pissed off at him, but I’m sure he was hiding something more on the matter. Ultimately he still healed her which means he didn’t want to make me mad. Crow seems to understand how I feel on matters, but I don’t know what he thinks about. I’ll ask him after training some time.

I look up at Ritsuko and say “You look nice Ritsuko.” She starts blushing and looks away. I start laughing because she is so girly. I say “That’s nothing to get upset about Ritsuko.”

“I wasn’t upset” she says defensively.

“Sure looks like it” I say while trying to contain my laughter.

“Shut up idiot. Lets get go start training” Ritsuko says blushing even more.

“Race you” I offer. I start running down the path through the woods. I cut off the path and head to where our training spot is.

Ritsuko calls out for me and yells “Maeno. Maeno get back here” she says calling out for me. I continue running for where the training site is. I didn’t really think about it, but in her current apparel she probably can’t run. She is in a dress and I doubt she wants it to get ripped. I slow down to a walk and continue forward towards the training site. I don’t want to get too far ahead of her. As I am walking I feel a presence.

I say aloud “Come on out .” I look down at my right hand and see it flashing. Lucci really wants to come out I’m guessing. She probably doesn’t feel comfortable staying in my summon seal right now. I don’t release her however because I don’t feel as though I am in an actual danger.

A shadowy figure comes out from the shadow of a tree. To be honest it looked like the figure was part of the tree and just simple detached itself. I look at the figure and try to figure out who it is. “Who are you I ask calmly?” The figure starts to approach me slowly. It makes no sounds as it moves in my direction. Although it is ominous I don’t find it scary. Lucci’s serpent sign starts pulsing even more. It keeps flashing a blue light.

“Lucci calm down, that is an order.” The sign stops flashing and she grows still. The person stands in front of me about four feet away. The figure reaches up grabbing its cloak and then throws it to the side and it disappears. “Crow if you wanted to talk with me you could have just said so instead of being creepy” I remark.

“Maeno you need to learn how to use your magic quickly. Unfortunately I don’t have much time to train you before we need to set off on our journey” Crow says quietly.

“What do you mean Crow?” I ask him.

“The new group of magic users in Barui are starting to train using magic and you can’t afford to fall behind.” Crow tells me.

“How do you know that?” I ask him.

“The reason I can use my magic effectively is because I was part of the first group to receive magic. I received my magic around three months ago.” Crow says to me.

“If you really did receive your magic three months ago how did the other big cities not find out about it?” I ask him.

“Barui was the last big city to get magic. Everyone who received magic could not tell any non magic user about the Gate of Truth until all cities were afflicted by the gate. Those who were not in the city during the time the gate showed up can not receive magic. They must physically touch a gate of truth to do so. The Gate will only be there for three days. After three days are up the gate disappears and nobody else in this world will be able to receive magic unless they are born with it.” Crow explains.

“If the previous magic users can’t talk about magic or the gate with non magic users how did the rumours about the gods get out in the first place?” I ask with confusion.

“One of the gods takes temporary control of someone so they can spread the word. Of course nobody believes it at first, but once word is out the gate gets dropped and then magic is spread to those who touch it.” Crow tells me.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Then is the rumour about someone killing a god really true?” How could someone amass enough power in a few months of time to kill a god?” I ask Crow.

“The rumour unfortunately, is true about that person killing a god. I don’t know much about it, but I do know that the person could apparently absorb the magic power and abilities of those they defeated. They probably killed lots of people and gained power from them so they could amass power quickly.” Crow says while scowling. “Look Maeno I need to to train you quickly. You are going to run into the god slayer at some point in your journey. It is your fate to fight them. You are in a lot of danger so we need to find your future guild mates and I need to train you Maeno.

“How do you know so much about my future and I don’t” I ask Crow in disbelief.

“I asked my god Agate to take me to the Gods of Fate. In exchange for her reading my fortune she asked me to watch out for a kid with white hair and blueish green eyes. She didn’t go into much further details, but told me the kid would be a summoner. You can summon familiars right?”

“Yeah” I say compliantly.

“Well your the one I’m looking for then Maeno. I know I was payed to take you back to Haruna Village, but you can’t go back. It is not your destiny to go back there. Maeno if you work with me and let me train you I will join your guild. You need three people anyways right?” Crow asks me.

“That is true however I will only accept your offer under one condition, you must tell me why you almost killed Ritsuko. I know you have a reason other than testing her strength.” I say as calmly as possible. I do want him to answer me, but I also need him to join our guild. I made this proposition because we need a third member of our guild before we can create our own.

“I know she means a lot to you Maeno really I do. I have my reasons for attacking Ritsuko, but even if I told you I’m not sure you’d believe me. I don’t want you to distance yourself from her.”

“Look Crow,... I can’t trust you if you don’t tell me why you attacked her. From my perspective it looks like you attacked her for no reason and although that may not be I can’t be expected to understand if you don’t tell me” I tell him.

“I understand that Maeno, but I really don’t think you’ll understand” Crow says while looking down.

“Just tell me your reason and I promise no matter how ridiculous it sounds I’ll listen and believe it” I say with confidence.

“Very well Maeno I will tell the truth. I attacked Ritsuko because I think she is a danger to you. When I visited the gods of fate told me one other thing about you before I left. Someone very close to you who was perceived to be your protector would be your ultimate betrayer. I believe with absolute certainty they were referring to Ritsuko. The test was about Ritsuko’s strength, but I mainly did it to see if she was strong enough to kill you. See the thing is if she was your betrayer she would have awoken because it was not her place to die. If she however did not awake I would be mistaken and in that case revive her in exchange for a serious punishment or task from a god.” Crow explains.

“You believed Ritsuko was the traitor the gods spoke of?” I ask uncertainty. “Well regardless I made a promise so I am going to believe you. If you honestly feel she is the traitor amongst our future guild just keep an eye on her and report back to me.” I tell Crow.

“Very well Maeno I shall do just that. I’ll see you at the meeting point Ritsuko has almost caught up with you.” Crow tells me. He steps up against the shadow of a tree and fades into nothingness. Further off I hear Ritsuko walking towards me. I wait for her to catch up while taking in the scenery of the forest.

I still haven’t heard a single animal in this forest, however everything still seems peaceful. The forest is still quiet, but it glows a green color that’s very dim. My guess is due to the magical intake the forest is full of life. The animals aren’t here though and that’s what makes the forest lively. I want to know what happened to them, but I don’t have time to wonder about that. I need to start training with Ritsuko.

Ritsuko comes up beside me in her white dress. I don’t see any rips on the dress which means she probably didn’t want it to get damaged. She seems a little annoyed, but when I look up at her she smiles at me.

“Maeno thank you for waiting on me” She says exuberantly with a beaming smile. He hair is a mess though because she didn’t take any time to comb it this morning since I rushed her.

“As I was running ahead I realized we were suppose to be training together so I stopped.” I tell her.

“Well let’s try and get to the training spot soon” Ritsuko says trying to be polite. She lifts her dress up about an inch to make it easier to move and keeps pace with me while I’m walking. We walk through the forest for another ten minutes or so when we come to a clearing. The clearing opens up further to a lake. At the edge of the clearing I see Zere waiting for us. He is standing next to a tree and standing there waiting for us.

I hear Lucci say “Master do you need me yet?” I can tell from this Lucci is a familiar that likes always being around their master. I say “Lucci you don’t have to wait for me to summon you here. If you want to come out just tell me so” I tell her.

Lucci says “Open Gate of Water and jumps out of the summon seal.”

I look further ahead towards Zere and say “Zere revert to your normal form so Ritsuko knows what you look like.”

Zere reverts back to his grey liquid from and says “Is this sufficient Master Maeno?”

Ritsuko says “So he’s actually like a slime?”

I say “Yes” to both of them.

Zere turns back into a shadow butler form.

I continue walking forward towards where the lake is. The lake is beautiful. You can see clearly most of the way down to the bottom. The trees in this area are strong with magic energy. I see Crow in front of the lake. He summons a shadow blade and slams it onto the water and perfectly cutting the lake in half. It remains this way for a moment and then splashes back together causing a huge wave. He does this a couple of times. I don’t know whether he is trying to showcase his power or actually training. I look over at Ritsuko and she is in awe.

I walk up behind him about forty feet away and hear his magic chant before finally casts his spell. “Open Gate of Shadow Black Star.” a black pentacle stretches out across the water he then says “ Black Streak” The pentacle starts glow a purple color and then a blast hits the water causing a water explosion that reaches at least two hundred feet in height. The beam of light hits the water so fast it is only there for a brief second. The water starts falling in buckets. He calls out “Open Gate of Shadow” All of the water goes into the gate. He then drops it back into the lake and turns around to me.

I ask him “How are you so powerful?”

Crow smiles at me and says “I have trained a considerable amount and I don’t stop” he says.

When I look back over at Ritsuko she is in a defensive fighting stance. She has her hand on her sword and is ready to attack Crow. “Maeno do you know this guy?” I hesitate and start thinking about how to explain who Crow is. If I tell her I met him while we were separated she will get suspicious. I don’t have long to think though because she might just attack him anyways. I decide to tell her part of the truth.

“He found us while we were out in the forest during the time you were asleep. He offered to train me and you if we were cool with it, but said he had to be somewhere. He told us to meet us here if we were interested in learning from him.”

“You decided to train with him without asking for my opinion on it?” Ritsuko says in disbelief.

“Sorry, but you were asleep and I thought we could learn faster if we had a teacher. He also said he would join our guild and since we are in need of new members anyways It makes sense for me to have him train us” I tell her.

“You trusted what he said even though he is a stranger?” Ritsuko asks me with discontent.

“He doesn’t seem like a bad guy” I tell her.

“Fine whatever” Risuko pouts.

Crow looks up at me and says “Maeno are you ready to start training?”

“Hell yeah” I shout excitedly.

Ritsuko doesn’t seem to be too happy about this, but she says “I’m in if he is”

“Alright Maeno already knows how to summon his familiar so I’m not going to start training you both at the same time. Ritsuko I’m going to fight you and during this time I want you to try and awaken your magic while you fight. Maeno you may give her help if you think she needs it, but if you do decide to help her out you are not allowed to heal her if she is hurt. I will still also primarily target her.” Crow explains.

“Where do you want me to wait?” I ask Crow.

“Over there” he points to the edge of the lake.

Ritsuko pulls out her sword and gets ready to combat him. Crow pulls out two twin blades and tosses them to the side along with a twin blade he pulls out from underneath his cloak. He also throws off his shadow cloak and it disappears. He is now wearing a regular black shirt with black pants and a belt. Over top of this he is wearing a white coat. The coat stretches all the way down to the back of his heel. Crow says to Ritsuko “I”m going fight you with my fists because if I don’t it would be an unfair fight. You probably have a lot of training with weapons, but I am far more experienced in fights than you are.”

Lucci calls my name out. I turn towards her and ask “What do you need Lucci?”

Lucci asks me “Who do you think will win?”

“Crow will win this fight if they both go all out. You saw what he did to that lake. If he wanted to he could easily kill Ritsuko since she can’t even use magic. She probably doesn’t stand a chance in melee combat either since Crow is an mercenary.

Lucci says “You don’t think Ritsuko could win?”

I tell Lucci “It's not that I don’t think Ritsuko could win. I just believe Crow can easily overcome her in power and that she isn’t ready to fight an opponent of his calibur” I say quietly to her.

Ritsuko says to Crow “I’ll beat you even if you are stronger.”

Crow laughs and says “I like your fighting spirit.”

Crow runs forward towards Ritsuko at a regular speed and throws a punch for her chest. She jumps back about two feet dodging his first attack and then lunges forward with her sword and stabs at his throat. He summons shadows around his hand and smacks her sword away from his throat. He then abruptly thrust punches her in the abdomen and she goes flying backward about five feet. She recovers by rolling backward and assuming her fighting stance again with her sword positioned directly in front of her.

Her dress gets mud on it because she hit the ground. She is clearly annoyed about this,but doesn’t complain about it. It doesn’t really matter if he clothes do get messed up because I can just have Zere fix them. So far Zere has done anything I requested so I don’t put it past him to be able to easily take mud out of a dress. Zere right now is intently watching the fight. I wonder what he is thinking about.

Crow runs forward again and throws another punch. She moves to the left and he follows up with a roundhouse kick. She moves just out of the reach and then slices downward where his eye is. He stops the sword by catching it between his hands. Once he stops it he kicks Ritsuko in the gut and grabs the sword out of her hand. He then throws it over his shoulder and continues walking forward towards her. She swiftly gets up and runs directly at him. She makes like she is going to grab him around the waste and then dashes to his left to try and run past him. He waves his hand and she is knocked to the ground by shadows.

Crow says to her “Your opponent in battle is not going to let you pick up your weapon if you are disarmed. You should keep that in mind for future reference” Crow says to her callously. .

She raises her fists to try and fight him. She rushes forward and tries to punch him in the face. She throws punch after punch and each one he knocks out of the way. Finally she throws a fist with her left hand instead of her right to try and catch him off guard. He grabs her left hand and says “Ritsuko this fight is not about attacking me, but trying to awaken your magic abilities.

She says “Shut up” and tries to kick him.

He catches her leg with one hand, twisting it to the left, and then tosses her up in the air. She starts spinning and then lands on her shoulder. She screams out in pain. He probably broke her shoulder with that flip just now. I really want to get out there and help her, but this is her fight.

She says “ I’m not finished yet” while huffing and trying to ignore her pain.

Crow says “Ritsuko stop trying to hit me and start trying to use your magic to fight me. If you continue uselessly trying to attack me I’ll start by breaking your other arm and then continue with your legs. He pulls out a small shadow orb only about the size of a nail and flicks it at her. It moves so fast she doesn’t have time to move and hits her in her injured arm. She screams in pain and falls to her knees.

Crow says “ Ritsuko I’m not trying to be mean, but you need to start learning how to use your magic.”

Ritsuko looks up with a small tear in her eye and asks “How?” While trying not to break down in tears.

“Channel your emotions through your body and use it to summon your magic. The easiest way to bring your magic forth is to think about something you hate and use that to come forth your magic.” Crow says.

Ritsuko closes her eyes and starts thinking. After awhile she says “I can’t come up with anything”

Crow says” Alright then I’ll help you out then.”

I feel a power spike in the area and hear Ritsuko yell “You Bastard!”