Mort twirled a wand between his fingers, he was observing Drake attempt his first stage transformation. The boy had his shirt tied around his waist, dragon scales in a multitude of colors were slowly spreading up his arms. Thick streams of essence rose from Drake's body. He was leaking too much for it to be efficient. “Steady your breathing, and focus.” Mort said, lifting his wand, flourishing it in the air. The energy began to swirl to the tip, as he continued. “Keep going, focus on moving the energy to your limbs.” He waited for the boy to open his mouth, during a breath Mort quickly jabbed his wand into his mouth. Forcing all the escaped energy he had collected back into the boy. “Swallow.” Mort ordered, pulling the tip of the wand out of his maw.
Drake could feel it, the sudden surge of energy. it started from the pit of his stomach, and spread through the rest of his body. He focused on his core, spreading the energy outward toward his arms and legs. Sweat beaded on his brow. Mort continued “It will feel like fire in your veins. This is your power.” Mort watched the boy carefully as steam began to rise from his skin. The scales on his arms rippled, forming rapidly on his forearm, and shoulder blades. “Good, now keep this going.” Mort said, feeling proud of his pupil.
This was the fun part of training the boy, it gave him an excuse to inflict a bit of punishment on him. Mort had caught him staring at Lyn’s curves when she was not paying attention. So this bit of ‘vengeance’ was justified, Mort thought. He circled the boy, smacking the wand against random parts of his body, leaving welts, and red marks. Mort could see the Essence escaping between each hit. “I told you to focus, if you can’t handle this much you won’t be helpful.” He continued to beat the boy with the wand, over and over.
It had been a few days since Mort introduced their new party member Drake. She had never seen his class before, so watching Mort train the kid was actually interesting. Today, Lyn had her hair tied up in a small bun, a few wispy strands had escaped to tickle her nose on occasion. She wore a black V-cut shirt, and brown pants tucked into her boots. Her face was a bit on the red side, it had been a lot of work clearing out Gorthans room. Who knew one knight could have so many weapons and heavy armor.
Her eyes mostly lingered on Mort because instead of his usual robes, he wore a simple skin tight black tunic, and brown pants. The muscles under his shirt were clearly defined. It made it hard for her not to stare, he was an enticing distraction. She had to force her eyes away from him, so she could continue to work in the kitchen. She never used to like cooking, usually Mort handled it, but with him busy training. She felt like she should at least do this much, but what should she make?
The heat of a breath touched her neck, and sent a tingle of goosebumps along her skin. She was consumed by her own thoughts, until Mort had snuck up on her. “Can’t decide?” he asked, a few loose strands of her hair were moving because of the opened windows. He lifted a hand to tuck one of her strands behind her ear.
She turned her head to look up at him. He was a few inches taller than her, but it felt like he was towering over her right now. Her heart was beating so fast, it felt like it was going to escape her chest. She bit her lip, trying her best not to shiver. Seeing her bite her lip, and the way she looked up at him. His stomach performed an array of gymnastics, while his heart skipped a few beats.
Mort heard someone clearing their throat. His eyes reluctantly tore away from Lyn. To see Drake with a smirk on his face, watching the two of them. “Maybe Drake and I will go hunting for some beast meat.” Mort said. Lyn used to be the one that hunted for meat, but for whatever reason. Since they got back from the cave, Mort had done a lot more than usual. Maybe it was because Gorthan was gone.
She did not know when, but she at some point had taken his hand in hers. “Be safe,” she whispered in a small voice, squeezing his fingers lightly. He lifted her hand with his, and tilted her chin upward. He leaned down, pressing his lips softly to her. Her face, and ears were bright red, and when he stepped away her hands covered her face, ‘It was so tender’ Lyn thought. Seeing her shy response, Mort remembered the books he had read said this was a good thing. Normally Lyn was very outgoing and impulsive, but his actions seemed to be having an effect.
Mort stepped outside a hand covering part of his face, he may have played it off, but his face was bright red. ‘Why? Did I do that?’ he wondered ‘Wait, since when did I start calling myself I? Instead of us or we?’ it wondered, only more questions seemed to boil to the surface. “Just a moment Drake.” he said aloud knowing the boy would likely be impatient. He tore his thoughts away from such a subject. He had already positioned a few wolves outside of town. Using their senses to detect a beast or two would be a simple task. Ideally he wanted to find a giant boar, but meat was meat.
He gave the wolf ‘drones’ their orders and they started searching the woods. In the meantime. Mort opened his eyes “Drake, you have been doing well. You might be in a second circle in a few more weeks.” The boy was still retaining his transformation even now, It was a good sign, Drake just smiled up at him. The lanky boy looked a bit funny with his now bulky legs and arms.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Mort led him through the main city gate. It led into the countryside where a few farm houses, and large swaths of land were being cultivated with various crops. Frequently the guild issues extermination quests for pests, and other beasts that frequent the farmlands.
Mort lifted his hand to the center of his chest. It felt like someone, or something was biting into the back of his neck. The wind was knocked from his lungs as his body swayed. He was falling, Drake was startled by the sudden change.
A bloody maw with thick ribbons of fresh meat stuck between its teeth. The beast was hanging in a tree from its powerful feet. It was a lot larger than the three encroaching Direwolves. It dropped from the thick branch, and the ground shook from its short fall. Its massive arms lifted up and pounded its chest. It let out a scream, as it tried to intimidate the wolves.
Mort could see through their eyes and this creature - his wolves had stumbled upon was called an Ogre Ape. These beasts have massive jaws, they are known for being omnivores but often choose to kill instead of forage for food. It lifted up the broken body of one of the wolves swinging it around like a weapon. The wolves leaped, dodging the blows.
Mort opened his eyes, just before he fell he steadied himself, and looked in the direction he could sense the danger. “Drake, run that way for two minutes.” The boy glanced at him, and the direction his finger was pointed. Mort watched as the boy began crouching down. Leaning forward as he pressed his hand onto the ground, in a sprinters position.
His muscles tensed as the ground began cracking under his feet. “I’ll do it in twenty seconds.” Drake had a vague idea of why Mort would tell him to do this. Mort was good at so many things, that he would not be surprised if he had already found a beast without even stepping foot into the woods. ‘Now that i think about it. Mort is too perfect,’ he thought.
He pressed off the ground, pounds of rock and debris flew behind the boy as chunks of earth were kicked up. He sailed through the air, his hair whipping about his face. ‘Too high! Too high!’ he panicked as he suddenly began falling through the trees. He lifted his arms in front of his face, protecting his head and chest from the whipping limbs. Before crashing into something warm, and solid. He opened his eyes, and not too far away he saw the corpse of a Direwolf, and just under him was the back of something hairy. He gulped as it started to move.
It shook its body knocking the boy away, as it stood up jumping up and down in its rage. it turned toward its surprise attacker, leaned its face toward Drake, and screamed in his face, blood, and saliva covered his face, and chest. Drake felt the muscles in his legs, chest, and back tighten. A vein bulged in his neck, and he leaned forward toward the creature as well. Unconsciously Drake was shifting the energy in his core up his chest, and into his vocal cords. He roared at the ape in front of him. It sounded like a dragon's roar. The pressure from it caused the forest to vibrate.
Drake quickly lifted an arm, bringing it up in a surprise uppercut. Sending the beast back a few steps, he did not let up. Slamming his untrained fists into its torso over, and over again. Leaving welts and purple marks, he kept beating his foe down as quickly as he could.
The living wolves began leaving the area, with their task complete. They left the boy to handle the situation. Meanwhile, Mort was walking through the forest taking his time to meet up with the boy. All the while he was flourishing his wand. If you could see the sight around Mort you would come to the conclusion that this man was not a second circle mage. Essence from the surrounding environment was being pulled in large quantities toward the wand. Which then were shaped into a complex spell form. He continued through the tree line heading toward the Ogre Ape, and Drake.
Drake jumped backward giving himself a little bit of a break from exchanging blows. As he watched the creature, the bloody wounds he had inflicted began to heal. ‘Well this is going to be harder than I thought.’ Drake cracked his neck. Wishing desperately that Mort was here already. He and the beast circled each other, neither one engaging for now. But Drake knew the blow would be coming so he was making sure he was ready to block it. He faked a stumble, and the beast launched forward as Drake rolled, lifting an elbow up for a jab. The apes' large hand covered his elbow, throwing him into one of the thick trees. It screamed as it leaped toward him. Slamming his fists through the trees as it copied the moves the boy had done.
Drake screamed as he flew through the air, his body was covered in scratches, and his hands felt like they were broken. Still, even with his limbs screaming in pain he braced himself for this final crash. Using his legs to soften the crash into the tree. He looked up from the ground, both his arms dangled at his sides, unmoving. His knees were buckling.
The ape lifted up both arms, ready to crush the boy in his final attack. Drake closed his eyes. ‘Looks like I won’t be of use to them after all’. But the blow never came. He opened his eyes seeing the creature had what looked like a cut going across its throat. Blood, a red liquid, began flooding down the front of the creature. As the beast collapsed to his knees, his head slipped from his shoulders crashing to the ground. It had been beheaded. Standing just behind the fallen beast, covered in a splatter of gore stood Mort. His iridescent eyes glowed in the dark of the forest giving him an otherworldly look.
Brushing the front of his black tunic. He said aloud, “Good job Drake. You pass.” Mort said a playful grin on his lips. Drake closed his eyes, collapsing next to the beheaded Ogre Ape, he was unconscious.