It was time for me to learn magic. I was done with waiting. The morning after the demonstration I snuck into my father's study and began to read about the magic I so desperately wanted to learn. I couldn’t wait any longer, especially after seeing the magical performances yesterday. I found an opportunity to slip past Rhea. “May I please have a snack Rhea I’m starving!” “My oh my, aren’t you being polite today I’ll get you something sweet before we go out.”
After she left I ran down the long hallway of the top floor Qi circulating quickly inside my body as I made my way to the door. Father's study was the last room on the third floor of the manor, meaning I had to be quiet on the way. I stuck my finger in the key hole and used my internal Qi to move the tumbler in the lock and went straight in. I climbed onto one of the bookshelves and grabbed the first book I saw, Introduction to Flame. I had some difficulty with some of the harder words in the magic book but I slowly worked my way through page by page. I had no idea at the time that my disappearing act would worry everyone in the manor so much, but while everyone in the mansion was running around trying to find me I was left unattended for two hours giving me plenty of time to practice on my own.
"Where is the young master?" Rhea went to the head butler Alman hoping Darius was downstairs. "I haven't seen the young master, is he on the loose again?" Rhea sighed, "Unfortunately, he's slipped past me again. I've been looking for several minutes already and can't find him at all." Alman shook his head before speaking, "I'll get the servants to look for him, we'll find him soon." The servants were mobilized and sent through the manor searching every square inch of the property before sweeping through the yard. After thirty minutes the servants started panicking and so did Alman. "Was he kidnapped? Call the Lord immediately!" They quickly got a hold of Darius' mother. "Lady Elaine the young master's gotten loose again! Something is wrong this time we've searched the entire property and even the yard and are unable to find him!" Elaine walked in with heavy steps as she took command. "Calm down, he's good at hiding, check again slowly this time. Make a perimeter around the yard a mile in every direction and deploy the guards and knights. No one gets in or out of the property. I'll be there in 15 minutes." When the lady arrived there were guards set up in guard posts sprawled out in every direction. "Lady!" Alman came out of the manor with a distraught Rhea. "Rhea, whatever happens isn't your fault, we all know how Darius is. Everyone, get in line! We're sweeping the property until we find him! Lord Darien will be here soon. Let's find him before he gets here. Oh, wind! Give me your eyes! Eye of Zephyr!" The wind gathered and surrounded Elaine before sweeping out in all directions.
Let’s see this says the fire wick spell makes a small flame like the wick of a candle. I'll try this one. “Great spirit of fire, set forth a small blaze, light the world, and take away the night, let the darkness hearken to your wake and flee from your sight, with your candle wick light, fire wick.” I tried casting the spell but failed. I tried to cast it over and over repeating the phrase in as many different ways as I could think of but to no effect. I went through the book again trying to find the missing variable before looking at the magic circle. There was something in the magic circle that I was missing. I could feel something bubbling deep in my gut like a pleasant shot of alcohol warming up the body in the cold winter mountains when the door behind me opened up.
I heard my father's voice behind me, “So Darius, I’ve heard you’ve made a great escape.” I turned around like a scared hades duck. Unbelievable! To evade my senses like that! “Yes, father?” “Can you read?” “Yes! I can.” I gulped down my saliva. I would probably never get a chance to read here again. “Who taught you?” “No one.” I had to teach myself to read since no one thought I’d be able to learn despite me showing off an impressive intellect for a 2-year-old. “Really? Why don’t you show me then.” My father walked over to me and lifted me onto his lap. Afterward, I spent a few hours reading with my father. He seemed completely shocked especially when I could understand many of the more complicated words, and after a very brief explanation, I'd get a grasp on words I wasn't knowledgeable of yet.
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It was a little strange, I didn’t pick up book things this quickly in my past life. I picked up punching things or kicking things really well though. Well best not to think too deeply, it’s to be expected that the Great and majestic Beast King should be able to learn magic rather easily. I felt as though my thoughts were faster and clearer so it wasn’t exactly a bad thing. He brought out a new book and would have me read it to him every time I finished one. I read three different books in just a few hours and then the time I had been waiting for finally came.
“Let’s try some magic together Darius. We'll start with something easy.” A small flame appeared above the palm of my father's right hand. “This is the flame wick spell. You’ll need to practice it for a long time if you want to use it, especially if you want to do it chantless like this.” “Oh, spirit of Fire cast out your light, flame wick.” The flame appeared again, but his incantation was different from the one I read. “Father the fire wick incantation was different in the book I was reading, why is yours different?” I asked him. “Because a lot of the spells in these books are old, they've been improved over a long period. The incantation, the magic circle, even the knowledge of flames themselves have changed and improved over time.” My father patiently taught me. I tried to cast the magic dozens of times without success. Each time my father would point out my mistakes and I would try again. I was getting frustrated, but I had cultivated for hundreds of years these setbacks meant nothing. “Son It’s normal not to learn this spell in a…” I didn’t hear him finish. I think it was my 30th try when a flame appeared above my hand for a moment before vanishing. I looked at my father excitedly, “Did I do it? Did I do it?” “Yes, but don’t be discouraged if you can’t do it again.” I tried again and failed. “It’s normal son, consistency with magic and success takes time. You just need to keep practici...” I succeeded again before he could finish talking, this time the flame lasted for 23 seconds before going out. I successfully cast the 1st circle spell flame wick in the first few hours of learning.
My father looked at me as if I had grown two heads. I guess learning it so quickly wasn’t normal. It probably takes a day or two to learn normally. I puffed out my chest, I was used to being the center of attention. My father taught me for a little longer before I got hungry and tired. We had dinner with my mother and I fell asleep in my chair.
After the escapee incident, my daily routine changed. My mother taught me magic in the morning. She seemed excited to teach me, I would spend the afternoon with my mother and my maid Rhea where I had lessons and got to read, and my father would teach me at night after his official duties were over for the day. That’s how my magic journey began.
I would get Squires when I turned 5. They would learn magic and swordsmanship from a young age to protect me, not that I needed it and when I turned 10, whether I wanted to or not, I’ll be attending the Royal Magic Academy in the Capital. Honestly, I wasn't looking forward to any of that. Just as always if something gets too complicated I'll just do what I want and forget about everything else.
My parents decided on their own to hide my magic talents. I hated hiding, hiding was for cowards and thieves. I was never one to hide or shy away from fame, I was called Beast King after all, but my parents made that decision on their own. I would have to do a lot of things in the future that I didn’t like. I now had a family to represent and parents I needed to listen to. It was nice, there was something warm and fuzzy, something worth protecting in a family. I’d never experienced anything like it before, but the freedom I had grown accustomed to seemed only to grow further and further away as time passed. Only time will tell whether the pleasant shackles of family will be too much for me to bear and I’ll leave, but for now, I have no desire to leave this place, I’ll stay.