Chapter 4 – Ice. Darkness. Fire.

“Interesting interesting… Ice is good at both offense and defense. Darkness… a little tough to handle and also dangerous. It is mostly viewed as the element of the demon tribe. Fire, good offensive and also a great building block for becoming a Meditro. Yes… that’s not bad. Although fire and ice could conflict… hm….” The figure quietly muttered to himself.

“Now then, do you know why Magicians are rarer than knights?” The master asked after a short while.

“Er… because they can control the elements?”

“Yes but you’re only half right. The means to control that element, Knights are not capable of it. It is an ability called diatis. The ability to extend one’s mental power and with that, bend the elements to their will. This ability is also essential to becoming a Meditro, but firstly they must have a strong and powerful diatis. And also be extremely proficient and in sync with the fire element. For you that should be no problem.” The master said.

‘Meditro!?’ Redius shocked at the words. Not only would he be trained in the way of the Magician and Knight, while both were exceptional, the former was far more looked upon. And now a Meditro?! A master of the medicine, creating pills for class advancement, healing etc.

“Are you ready to embark on this journey young one? Know that this path will be difficult. Far more than the average person.” He asked with a sly grin on his face. To which Redius nodded with certainty. He had had enough of being weak. Strength ruled the world.

“Good, now we shall begin. Now head into cognia and I will guide you to establish your first 3 elements.”

Redius readily closed his eyes and he suddenly grew tense as in his mind he could suddenly feel a foreign entity.

“Don’t worry, it is me. By training your diatis, eventually you’ll open up a world inside your mind. The bigger it is, the more powerful it is. It will represent the elements you carry, and once powerful enough, can even save your life.”

“But you’re not at that stage yet, it is for another time… Now, focus on the fire, ice and darkness element before you. Barricade the other elements out and feel the ones you need.”

Redius responded, after several seconds, as if a filter was placed before him all the elements dimmed down except for fire, ice and darkness.

“Good… now first, will the fire element through you. The others will be difficult as they contain much more raw power. Yes… good.” He said as red sparkles flew into Redius.

A power within Redius controlled these elements and guided them through his body, he knew it was his master’s doing. 

Everywhere the element went, through his torso, legs it opened up closed channels within his body. He could feel sudden pops inside his body, as if something was released.

“Remember well the way I showed you… Now will that element into your stomach. The elemental centre.”

Redius concentrated even more, sweat seeping through his entire body as he slowly gathered more and more particles into his elemental centre situated in the area around his stomach. Slowly he could feel the particles coursing through the centre, giving it life. From the previous dull grey colour of his centre, it was now a light red. And in the middle, a small red crystal hexagonal crystal formed.

Redius opened his eyes, joy written all over his face as he stopped and checked his centre. The redness didn’t fade, the crystal was a sign. That he was on his step to becoming a magician.

“Hoho… What I just did, channelling it through your elemental channels within your body, that’s how the Knights channel their aura and retain that into their centre. And in the elemental centre, the crystal signifies that’s where magicians control the elements. You are now both a Magician and knight.”

Determination etched in Redius’ eyes. Thinking back at the past, never did he once dream he could be where he is now. But his master gave him everything, he swore to himself to repay him. And of course, he would show his ‘family’ their place.

“Now gather more and channel it into your ele channels too. (Elemental channels shortened to ele channels) Until you 

can no longer contain anymore. Remember, that in order for you to advance, now only will you have to bring all your elements to the same strength. But your magician and knight power must also be in sync. Otherwise you will not be able to advance.” To which Redius nodded his understanding. He then closed his eyes and continued.

Soon, both the centre and crystal was of a darker red colour than it had been previous and he could no longer gather anymore.

“Good. Now hold out your hand, close your eyes and imagine a flame. Will the elements to that flame.”

And within seconds Redius had a flame in his hand.

‘Hoho… what a monster… to learn to conjure a flame so easily and steadily. As expected of the Propheti…’ The master thought to himself with a glint in his eyes. ‘He will walk further than I have done… maybe he will reach that place…maybe…’

“Don’t get ahead of yourself just yet.” Seeing the grin on Redius’ face the master said dampening his excitement. “You’re not even an Apprentice yet. For you, you must gather 3 elements into yourself to reach that stage. Like I said, it will be tough for you.”

Redius looked confounded as if he already feel the power surging through him. He thought he was already at least an apprentice, but guess not… In this world, Magicians and knights are separated into advancements. The first few stages were in the order of Apprentice, Disciple, and Initiate. The rest, Redius did not know about. As the 4 major families in this city, their most powerful were only Initiates. The 3 advancements are broken down into stages. 5, 3 and 5 respectively. 

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Each stage is a hurdle, and each advancement is a mountain to cross. But the power gained through each is incomparable. If normal people were ants to Apprentices, then Apprentices were ants to disciples. Simple as that. It would be like taking candy from a baby for a higher advancement to fight a lower one.

“Now the following will be much harder and you must be careful. Ice is a mutated element and a powerful at that. Darkness is an extremely rare, really only ever possessed by the demon tribe’s bloodline. Therefore ice will have to be next in your endeavour.”

“Ji ji!” A voice suddenly rang out next to Redius. He was so concentrated he had forgotten the little creature. As if sensing he was forgotten he pointed menacingly at Redius. “ji ji ji!!”

Redius smiled and picked him up whilst stroking him. Now that he could get a better look, the creature was fairly small. About the size of his forearm in length with a tail matching the length of it’s torso. Its fur was pure white. It was just like a ferret.

The creature laid comfortably in Redius’ arms as if it enjoyed his stroking which made Redius chuckle at the sight. It was cute he thought.

“Hoho… seems like he has taken a liking to you…” His master laughed.

“What is he master?” Redius asked curiously.

“Hoho… I’ve seen a lot in my time… but not even I know what he is. But… I do have an idea… he resembles an ancient monster I have heard about. They were extremely aligned with the elements. Perhaps… perhaps that’s why he likes you.”

“Hmmm…” Redius looked down at the ferret like thing meaningfully.

“That’s enough resting. Head over to the pond over there.” His master pointed to the left of the cave where Redius had spotted a body of water earlier. “Get in it, it will help you contain the power as you gather the ice elements.”

Redius nodded, he placed the ferret on the floor and walked towards the pond. He slowly let himself down and a cool feeling spread throughout his body. Immediately his elements inside him circulated on its own and what he thought was a limit to his fire elements capacity suddenly increased. He looked quickly at his master and saw him smile and nodded. 

Redius quickly sat down in cognia and gathered the fire elements until he couldn’t anymore.

Several hours passed and when he opened his eyes and checked his centre and crystal, they had grown in size. And the colour darkened dramatically. He knew that the pond was definitely filled with some enhanced medicine of a high grade. 

None of which he had heard before had this power. And he was from one of the 4 major families. He was even more grateful to his master now.

“Now ready yourself and begin gathering the ice element. It will be extremely painful, but you must endure it.” His master’s voice called to him. He steadied himself and began.

The ice element gathered at a much faster rate than the fire element did. But he knew that it was because of the medicine he was in. Soon he channels the element through his ele channels which caused his body to shiver. He could feel his body turning into ice, freezing his channels. But he did not stop, he continued through great pain. After a long battle finally the elements had circulated within his channels and he was now ready to contain it within his centre.

Just as the ice element entered, the fire in his crystal and centre flew out and pushed the ice element away. Suddenly 

Redius was drenched in sweat. His brows furrowed as his internal battle raged on. The surrounding of the centre was damaged by the battle as the ice and fire attempted to push each other out. To occupy the centre.

Redius with determination forced his will unto the elements and separated the two, ending the battle. He slowly, bit by bit channelled both the elements into the centre. This process took hours but Redius did not rush. Eventually both the elements gathered together inside his centre and another crystal had formed, a crystal of ice. His centre was now half red, half light blue. And in the middle was a red and ice crystal. He opened his eyes, he had succeeded. He looked at his master who had a face of acknowledgement on his face.

“Now you know what to do.” Redius nodded and began gathering the ice element to its full capacity. Hours flew by and finally he could feel that it was full. He opened his eyes and looked at his hand. He could feel the power surging through him ever so strongly. As if one swipe of his hand and he could incinerate or encase people in fire or ice. He clenched his fist, fiery in his eyes.

“Now the next one should take you a little less time since you now have an understanding of what to do. But be extremely careful… darkness is not a thing to be trifled with…”

Redius nodded and began his final element. This time knowing what he had to go through made it easier for him though the pain was more than twice as bad. The dark elements were much more powerful and unforgiving. It tried to engulf the other two elements. After a long time had passed, he finally finished. His centre was now split into 3 colours, black, light blue and red. A slight grey aura covered the centre. It was part of the Knights classification, Grey – Apprentice, light blue – Disciple and Initiate – Dark blue.

 The crystals moved themselves out around the centre, an ice crystal, a red fire crystal and a black smoky crystal. He opened his eyes and let out a sigh of relief. In his forehead now, was a clear crystal. It meant that his diatis had formed and he was finally a 1st stage Apprentice Magician/Knight.