Chapter 33.

PART 1.

After observing the shadow, Nandan takes Hatori to his home. “Why can’t we talk to Zeko?” asked Hatori. “He can turn that off, can’t he?”

“Yes. But tell me. Will he turn that thing off?” asked Nandan in return.

“Good point.” said Hatori grudgingly.

“Anyway, you need to eat something, and rest. After that, you can train to beat that ‘Shadow’, as you call it.” said Nandan.

“wouldn’t your parents mind though?”

“Hahahahaha! No. don’t worry about that. You’re not a troublemaker. If anything, my father has been praising me for befriending you. He’s happy, and hopes your good habits and politeness will rub off on me.” With a grin, Nandan continues. “Of course, I’m sure things will be different once you reach the academy. That place changes you.”

“Weren’t you going back there?” asked Hatori. “I mean, you said that you got some off time after participating in the junior dueling competition.”

“Yeah, I’ll go back at the end of this month.” Said Nandan. “But I don’t like to think about it. Once I go back, my training will pick up. In the meantime, I wish to have as much fun as possible.”

Hatori stays with Nandan and his family, and gets properly introduced to his father Shyam Durve, and mother Madhavi Durve. He was surprised by their kindness, as they never let him be troubled for anything while their son trained him.

“Now, the important thing is, your reaction while defending is fine, but while attacking it is slow. So we will practice casting spells fast, gradually increasing the speed. I will duel with you several times a day, and we will only use the Knockback spell.” Explained Nandan. “And though I hate to do it, I will use my foci because while you need to improve your speed, you need to face the faster speed as well. Casting with foci is much faster, as you already know.”

Hatori worked hard. He worked on his casting speed, going hoarse in the process. Nandan wanted to teach him silent casting, but his father put a stop to that.

“Don’t teach him something new until he has mastered this old stuff already. Besides, the boy is already under pressure. He is effectively out of his home unless he manages to defeat that module. He won’t be able to learn it in his current state.”

Dueling with Nandan becomes harder, even though it is not at the same level as Neshma. Hatori has a feeling that Nandan couldn’t defeat Neshma on her worst day, even with a foci. When he got frustrated with his training, he often asked to Nandan help.

“How long are you gonna put up with me?”

Nandan always gave one single reply. “As long as it took.”

After five days of training, Nandan believes that Hatori is ready to face the conjuration of the module, so he goes along with Hatori to see the results of their efforts.

PART 2.

General Sundar and his army have surrounded the City of Salt, trapping the people inside. ‘A siege is always an ugly business.’ Thought the general, while surveying the landscape from his camp. He would like to get the civilians out of there, but the problem is that many of them might turn on them. He cannot afford to let some fanatics stab them in the back while engaging with the mage, who is calling himself Avatar.

Apparently, this guy believes himself to be the physical manifestation of magic itself, and some gullible fools actually believe him. At first, he only had a pitiful following, but the promises which he made with his followers swayed some more people to his side, until he was able to consolidate his stronghold in this city.

Too bad that the throne is not some pretty device for the king to sit on. There’s a reason why it has survived the 3000 years of chaos in the magical world. And it certainly didn’t do that by allowing some upstart to create his own territory within its own land.

PART 3.

Avatar paces on his camp, stoking his followers. “Who does that Porus think he is? He cannot confine us here. We have taken over this land; this belongs to us. He cannot interfere. For you and your children’s future, we must endure this siege, laid by that monster Sundar.” Angry cheers resounded within the camp. “Even now, that dog of the throne is waiting to pounce on us. But I have devised a plan. No this though, that this will be dangerous, and whoever participates in this plan does not have a high chance of surviving.”

Many people eagerly volunteered, despite the warnings. “Very well. your names will be written in golden ink within the history of our new empire!”

PART 4.

“General, there’s some movement within the city.” Said his aide.

“What kind of movement?” asked Sundar, while the army gets ready.

Before the aid could answer, the entire city of salt went up in flames. Screams of terror, pain, and help drowned the sounds of those flames, and the army of fanatics came out to battle with them.

The fanatics were no match for the trained royal army. As they get slaughtered, Sundar gives some new orders. “Tell the reserves to move into the city, and put out the fire. Calm the public in there, by the use of force, if necessary.”

Usually, the aid would have balked at such orders. But he realizes the situation they are in, so he left to carry out the orders. Meanwhile, Avatar watches the chaos from the walls of the city, bellowing at the top of his lungs.

“General Sundar! Come and duel with me, you coward!” He yelled, emboldening his followers even further. “You don’t have the guts to face me directly. What kind of general are you?”

“That is nothing but hot air, sir. You should ignore it.” said the aid, now done with executing his orders.

“That is true. But sometimes, you have to play with idiots. Especially when your reputation is concerned. You will learn that Bajrang, that reputation is very important in our field of work.” Sundar patted him on the back.

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“Just watch and observe.”

“But sir,” he protested. “There could be traps for you.”

“there are none. He would have sprung them on us otherwise.” The general leaped into the battle, and with a few jumps, he was standing in front of Avatar.

“I accept your duel. Prepare to die!” the general releases fire from his palms with that declaration, and Avatar has to scramble to avoid getting burned alive then and there.

Jumping from the wall, he turns his foci in the form of a staff in his hands, and the wall explodes while the general was standing on it. Avatar watches the falling rubble with a grin of delight. But that happiness turns into horror, as Sundar walks out of the rubble unharmed, a transparent shield glowing around his body.

Avatar taps his staff on the ground, and Earth comes up, trying to snare Sundar and halt him on his way. The general cuts his way to Avatar easily with his sword, which serves as his own foci. Sundar thrusts the sword into the air, and suddenly, the world of Avatar disappears in a bright explosion. Though he got a direct hit, Sundar waited, straining his senses to find his enemy.

When he didn’t find any sign of his life, nor did Avatar try to sneak attack him, the general sheathed his sword. Bajrang was at his side before he could call him. “Announce that their leader has fallen. Try to find his body, maybe it is still on one piece. We can show it off to break their morale completely.”

“Yes sir.” Bajrang saluted.

PART 5.

Nandan watches from far, while Hatori fights this important duel. Unlike the duel happening in the City of Salt, this duel does not have any political implications. However, to Hatori, this duel is just as important. Whether he could sleep inside the house or not tonight depends upon it.

‘Let’s hope that they’ll give me a break for a while after this. I don’t want to fight for food, water, or sleep after this difficult battle.’ He thought, as Hatori tries to pass by the shadow, and it predictably attacks.

“It was worth a try,” muttered Hatori, batting the initial volley of Knockback with his hand.

After blocking those spells, Hatori poses, indulging in his moment, while the shadow attacks with more spells. Hatori manages to dodge these new spells, but few of them landed, and Hatori felt like he was stung by several wasps. Ignoring the pain, Hatori gets over his shock at this sudden new spell, and attacks with his volley of Piercing spells, cornering the shadow, damaging its sides.

The shadow retaliated with the combination of Knockback and this new stinging spell, while Hatori tries to nail it with the slow, but more damaging cutting spells. So far, that spell has only trussed up Zeko’s garden, instead of damaging the shadow.

The weather mocked this great and important duel. Instead of thunder and rain, the sun is shining brightly while a war takes place outside of Zeko’s door. Though it might be a war for Hatori, Nandan sees it as an amateur fight, where both fighters are clumsy and slow, compared to him, that is.

Covered with welts, and exhausted with his constant exchanges of spells (Even though he has managed to match shadow blow for blow) Hatori still has trouble putting it away. He couldn’t ignore the pain for too long, and once the shadow knocks him from the entrance, he’ll have to start again, while the shadow gets healed instantly, while Hatori has to take more days off to practice and heal.

‘I won’t let that happen. Either I’ll win this, or die trying.’ He decides grimly. If Nandan could hear his thoughts right now, he would be mightily disturbed. Children of his age are not supposed to think that way, in the opinion of this humble narrator.

Another volley of stinging spells comes Hatori’s way. This time, he takes them all. Screaming in pain, he fires Knockback spells at the shadow, hitting it directly. He then fires Piercing spells at its arms and legs, and then splits it from head to groin with a cutting spell. The two pieces of shadow disappear, and the door opens for Hatori.

Clapping in praise, Nandan walks behind Hatori, as he enters the house like a returning general, where Zeko welcomes him.

“I’ll leave him in your care, sir.” Said Nandan.

“You did a good job taking care of him.” Said Zeko, stopping Nandan on his track. “Give this to your father on my behalf.” Zeko hands him a bag.

Nandan opens his mouth. “And no, I won’t take a no for an answer.” Nandan closes his mouth, and leaves. Let his father deal with Zeko.

PART 6. ZEKO’S LECTURES ON MAGIC: MAGICAL ACADEMIES ACROSS THE WORLD.

After Hatori recovers, he asks Zeko about other academies around the world. This question has been at the back of his head for some time now, especially since he met Nandan. He ignores the absence of Neshma for now. He’ll ask about her once he feels better. for now, he’ll just enjoy this dinner (for which he didn’t have to fight for a change) and listen to Zeko’s lectures.

“Well, of course there are other academies in the world.” Said Zeko. “But they are often spread across the world, and are too far. Not to mention, their customs can be different and strange. For example, there’s a school which absolutely disdains the foci, preferring to do everything by hand.”

“Just like you, in other words.” Hatori protested.

Ignoring the jibe, Zeko continues on. “Generally, students attend the academy which is closest to them. In our case, it is the Magecraft and Sorcery Academy, run by the Institute of Magecraft and Sorcery. Well, all the academies are run by that institute, to be honest. because that institute is not affiliated with any country, and as a result, these academies are independent of the various rulers across the world.”

“Doesn’t that bother those rulers?” asked Hatori.

“Most of them aren’t bothered by it. Some controlling freaks do get their feathers ruffled though. But that institute is very powerful. Each time anyone tried to interfere in their business, they got swiftly eliminated, and due to the absence of a leader, their countries were thrown into chaos.”

(End.)