Mother taught me the 1st circle spell Air Flow the next morning, “This spell isn't a commonly used wind spell. Most mages don't even bother with spells like Air Flow because they aren't as useful as mastering combat spells. That solely depends on how you use it.” My mother then waved her hand and Linda was pushed back two steps. Linda was unamused. “Getting proficient enough to use it at that level isn’t too challenging as it’s a very straightforward spell. I’d recommend practicing this to our young knights here since it can be a useful addition at little cost.” Mother winked at the knights before continuing.“That’s just how many 1st and even some 2nd circle spells are actually. They aren’t immediately useful so many of them get neglected or stay unlearned. Some of the most powerful mages in Argon use similar spells; one of their Grand mages uses the basic Earth Shift spell to create an earthquake. Simple magic can be incredibly powerful when you supply it with lots of mana.”

Mother pointed her finger outward at a large tree, and a single flame serpent shot out like a whip, wrapping around a tree trunk and burning it. “The 2nd circle flame whip is not an uncommon spell in Argon, with enough control turning that whip into a serpent can add speed and unpredictability, which adds to its lethality.” Linda and Caspian were so focused on what my mother was saying they looked as though they were in a trance. I wish there was a recording crystal to save the looks on their faces. I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. "Darius focus, the chant is, Oh spirit of wind, provide a path for the air to follow, Air Flow!” Air blew underneath me shooting me up into the air and my mother's arms. "Hehehe." “Your turn.” Mother got a little revenge as she smirked at me.

I practiced the spell for a few hours before doing so without an incantation. It was the fastest I had learned a spell so far as the spell was fairly straightforward. I continued practicing as my mother started taking me through the forest. Caspian and Linda both followed us to our left and right respectively. There were massive bears and wolves within the forest but they tended to be deeper within. The Red Tower would send mages and knights to the forest regularly to clear many of the dangerous beasts or monsters lurking around the outer portions of the forest. The tower didn't succeed in removing every single beast or monster from the forest or world at large so we did eventually find something.

We spotted a blue-head wolf after an hour of traveling into the forest. The wolf watched us curiously for a few minutes before running off. “We should probably head back, that’s a blue-headed wolf. She’s probably informing her pack of our location right now. We need to leave before we get completely surrounded.” Caspian whispered this somewhat nervously. Linda responded quietly, “It's better if we don’t put ourselves in unnecessary danger, especially with our young master.” My mother didn't mind what the knights were saying at all, she just walked ahead nonchalantly. “The blue-heads aren't stupid. They should all know if they go after my cub I'll exterminate their entire pack.” She just glanced in the wolf's direction and it immediately ran out of our sight. "Let's keep moving we're almost there."

After hiking past the thick treeline we made it to a beautiful multi-colored flower grove. Several trees grew about two handspans apart from each other making an almost semicircle shape in the middle of the grove. I noticed there were over a dozen human-sized bee hives built within the trees in the garden. "This is a well-known travel site within the Red Tower. They call it Lady Renee's Flower Garden. The honey from those bee hives is incredibly expensive, so a few mages come here braving danger at a chance to get some of it." The bee hives were dangerous on their own as thousands of poisonous fist-sized bees swarmed around guarding the hives. We stayed right outside the attack range of the bees and ate our lunch. Less than ten minutes after we sat down and started eating we felt the ground begin to shake. Mother surrounded herself with an armor of fire and the knights looked ready to enter into battle at a moment's notice. The trees shook as a large monster made its entrance. A massive boulder bear trounced into the grove dashing straight for the bee hives. We watched as the ten meters tall bear surrounded itself with thick rock armor and stuck one of its paws into a bee hive.

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Thousands of enraged bees swarmed the bear and started sending wind blades at its rock armor chipping away at it bit by bit. The bear started eating as much honey as it could get its sticky paws on before the rock armor quickly fell apart. Bees started stinging the bear's body after the armor disappeared, and the bear screamed "Roarrrr!" before running off. The earth shook, and trees were trampled as it made a rapid exit. “Wow! that bear was huge!” I wasn’t joking that the bear was so large it could probably crush our city walls at home it was at least 6 meters tall while sitting. Its teeth were the same size as my body and longer.

The boulder bear didn't seem quite as terrifying as its size suggested, as we watched the bear crying with honey dripping from its mouth. It seemed as though mother tried to defend the bear after seeing its pathetic appearance. “Boulder bears can be really dangerous, especially if you see their cubs. Both mother and father will flatten anything that gets near their cubs, but for the most part, they aren’t too aggressive. They usually ignore people and regular hunters bypass them all the time. The bees are a bit different.” Mother pointed at the swarm of bees surrounding the hives. “They are very violent, most mages ignore storm bee hives no matter how valuable their honey is. They are an entire degree of magnitude more dangerous than the boulder bears. The bees use both magic and poison. Just one sting from one of them could kill you, son, for an adult one sting will make your arm swell up for a week. Still, mages and even some adventurers will try to gather some honey. Storm bee honey has healing properties, and is incredibly delicious.”

Mother handed me to Caspian before walking towards the bee hives. I got scared, “Mom where are you going!” “When you gather honey you have to be careful not to kill too many bees.” Wind blades started firing down on mother in droves, but before they could hit her they all got diverted to her left or right. “You need to smoke them out and prevent them from stinging you!” Mother pointed and a smoke cloud covered all of the bee hives and an army of thousands of terrifying bees started flying towards my mother. “You can’t take all the honey either or the bees will die so taking half is fair!” The bees tried to swarm mother but were diverted around her by some kind of wind spell. “Caspian, Linda take Darius back to the cabin. I'll have to run as soon as I get the honey, and I don’t want them targeting you. Don’t leave yourself open to the wolves and you’ll be fine.” Mother quickly scooped out a large amount of honey from each hive with her hand into a large clay pot that I hadn't noticed before. “Yes ma’am! We’ll see you soon stay safe!” Linda yelled and began to run. Caspian lifted me and hugged me to his chest as he ran! Why isn’t Linda the one carrying me?! “Will mom be ok?” Caspian patted me before saying, “Of course! Your mother’s called the Red Lioness for a reason!” Why is he so sweaty?! " I feel sorry for the bees young master." Linda didn't seem worried about my mother at all.

The wolves watched us as we ran home, but never got within range to attack. Caspers and Linda both ran back to the cabin at full speed, yet when we got back to the cabin my mother was already there waiting for us. “Come on slowpokes, let’s try it!” Each of us got a scoop of honey from the clay pot. “Wow!” “This is the best thing I’ve ever had!” Caspian and Linda seemed to enjoy the honey quite a bit. I was full of anticipation as my mother scooped some out and fed it to me.

Very few things in my life had left an impression as deep as this tasty honey. “Mom! this is the best!” It was delicious I wanted more, but mom said I’d have to wait for more later.

Alman and Rhea had already prepared all of our luggage for the carriage. We left the cabin sparkling clean as if it were just recently built and maintained.

I would miss this place a little, but there was something I missed even more. “I miss Father.” Sometimes, I had a problem speaking things out before thinking about them. Well, I wasn't much different before if I'm being honest with myself. “We’ll see him soon Darius.” Mother held me tightly in her arms and kissed my head.

I couldn't shake this intense feeling of danger. My instincts never lied to me... something was wrong.