The next week quickly arrived, and I was currently being escorted into a courtyard by Lord Wrath’s servants. Lord Wrath was shirtless and currently training his martial arts in the courtyard on what appeared to be a magical illusion. I can not tell what exactly, but there was some kind of magic in effect here that seemed to numb the power fluctuations Lord Wrath was releasing. Until I arrived in the courtyard, there was nothing noticeable from the outside.
“Hey, Luce! It’s nice to see you! There are not too many opportunities for me to fight in real combat, so I have to practice when I can on these Shadow Boxing recreations of my past fights” he said as he effortlessly grips the throat of what looked like a humanoid tree, and crushes its throat and the illusion fades into a metallic box nearby.
A servant hands him a towel, and he wipes the sweat off his muscular frame. I go to perform a bow, and he waves a hand as he says, “There will be none of that in private settings, Luce. In this courtyard, we are just two men training to improve our strength”.
“In that case, I shall not be polite and forego the formal procedures, Lord Wrath. Taking the time to help me train is a great honor to me, nonetheless” and hold my fist out to him. He looks at my fist and clearly does not understand the meaning. “Bump your fist into mine. This is called a fist bump, you can think of it as a high five of sorts” and once again, a blank look that made me realize the Fae Realm lacked these kinds of things.
Looks like I won’t be the only one learning from the other.
I motion for him to do the fist bump, and he does so. Explaining it to him, “A fist bump and a high five are two ways to express a greeting or affirmation using physical touch. It is like saying “Hello, friend”, or “Well done!” Does that make sense?” and Lord Wrath nodded.
“Humans have a lot of interesting ways to communicate! A fist bump, eh? I like it!” He let out his signature loud laugh.
“So what did you have in mind for training, Lord Wrath?” I asked.
Lord Wrath motioned towards a host of exercise equipment, which looked to be of magical engineering origins. “We are going to use these to help you adjust to the limitations of your new body for about a week. I will push you to the absolute limit of your physical ability, and will not allow you to slack off, Luce. Show me the strength of your resolve”. Lord Wrath had the unique ability to change from his energetic side to his serious side instantaneously, almost like he was just putting on a mask.
I gave him a serious nod, and he led me over to the equipment. What followed was a series of tests that involved wearing a progressively increasing weighted armor-like outfit and moving around the courtyard, a variety of exercises using traditional weights, as well as calisthenic movements that only used my body weight.
If this had occurred prior to my body’s evolution, I would have broken down very quickly, yet my body was somehow holding itself together throughout the exercises. Even Lord Wrath had a look of approval seeing me struggle to go just a single step beyond the exercise. My body will collapse before my mind will, and I would drag the body along if necessary.
After an hour of the strenuous exercises, Lord Wrath gave me a canteen of a drink that had a similar effect to Faerune Juice, but instead boosted my physical capabilities quicker. While I drank the juice, and rested for around 10 minutes, his servants used a Fae magic to cleanse us of our sweat and odor. I should learn this magic if I can, it looks extremely handy.
Lord Wrath motioned for me to sit in the middle of the courtyard on one of two cushions. We both sat on the cushions with our legs crossed, in a traditional meditation stance. “Can you show me your Wrath flame, Luce?” he asked after a minute or so.
Holding up my fist, and thinking of the true name [Ignis], my fist was surrounded in the crimson flame of Wrath. Lord Wrath examined both the flame and myself, calculating the effect it had on me. “Do you feel any complications from using the flame for a long period? Feelings of anger, madness, or other negative emotions?”.
“Not at first, but it gradually starts to whisper things in my head the longer I use it. I haven’t used it long enough to see long term, but I can handle using it for a few minutes without too much trouble at least”. Lord Wrath looked at me with a complicated expression, and looked towards my flame again.
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“Luce, your situation is… Abnormal to say the least. Possessing a flame of Sin, let alone Wrath at your age is monstrous, and tragic. You must have truly lived a life drenched in blood, and suffered a life of battle. How many have you killed?” and I did not know how to respond. He was looking into my eyes seriously, and I knew that lying was not going to work out.
“Countless, Lord Wrath. Six people of three different races in this life… But I feel like I have the experiences of a previous life as well. A life that was lived as a weapon on countless battlefields. The feeling of blood on me is a familiar one. Killing does not affect me mentally, and I am numb to the aftereffects. Those I have killed in this life, are ones I will never forget, but I will not regret because it was to save myself or someone I cared about”.
Remembering the human bandits, the Fae assassin, and the fucking Wolfman Clan in Seastrand… I could feel the anger and hatred bubbling up. Why shouldn’t I be angry? Why shouldn’t I hate them? They tried to sell my mom and I into slavery, tried to kill me, and slaughtered my fucking hometown!
Why shouldn’t I just slaughter them? It is perfectly normal to hate the ones who try to harm yo-
*CLAP*
A loud clap sound made my ears ring, and I blink back into focus and see Lord Wrath looking at me with an even more serious gaze.
“Release the flame, Luce. Now” he said sternly. What did he mean? I looked down to my fist, and saw the flame of Wrath had grown in size, and deeper in color. Don’t listen to him, Lucian. Embrace your anger and hatred. It will make you strong enough to burn all your enemies away.
A tempting offer, but not necessary as of right now.
Breaking the tempting spell, I stared at Lord Wrath and said, “That was the temptation of the Sin of Wrath?” and he nodded. “I see, that’s a hard one to protect against. It made me feel justified in feeling the anger and hatred towards the Wolfman Clan that slaughtered my city. Normally, I can cast those feelings aside, but it made me think that it was my own idea to embrace it” I told him.
“The Sins have many powers, and many weaknesses. Our Wrath gives us the strongest combative power of the Seven Sins, and also the largest burden to carry. If you lose control and the Sin takes you over, you become a Forsaken, and will become a living incarnate of the Sin’s dark side. Part of the Fae of Wrath’s duties are to eliminate such beings, even if we become one down the line” Lord Wrath said.
There was a similar instance in my previous world when someone with a Divine’s blessing betrayed the Divine and used their power for evil, and became Corrupted in the process. They were stronger, and required an individual two tiers stronger than them, or a team of similar tiered members to take them down. A true abomination, and would go on crazed slaughters of anyone they could find.
“Enough of that, the point I want to address with you, is to always be mindful of using the flame of Wrath. It would be foolish of me to discourage using it, because in this world and the dark future coming, you will have to. Be mindful of your limits, and know that this power has a price that we all have to pay one day in our lives. Few can overcome the burden”.
Lord Wrath placed a hand on my shoulder, and gave me an encouraging smile. “That is why having a good grasp on your emotions is a requirement of your training. I have heard you are very active in meditations, even at your young age. This is good! Do not forsake the calm and peace that meditation can bring, even if you view it as training. It will serve you well in combating the corruption of the Sin’s double edged sword nature”.
After the explanation, Lord Wrath had us both meditate for 30 minutes. The bubbling feelings from the Sin of Wrath subsided, and I could breathe normally again.
“We will do a similar routine each training day, and slowly work on increasing your physical ability, as well as your tolerance to the Sin. Now, I will teach you my self-made style of hand-to-hand that works well with our Sin flames” he said, while getting up and motioning for me to follow his movements in stretching.
While we were doing the stretches, he asked, “What is your preference in fighting? What do you lean towards in sudden situations?”
“Due to my size prior to the bond with Selene, I would use the perceived weakness of my body to let an enemy get close, and lower their guard. When the time was right, I’d use magic to take them out efficiently. My only advantage was their lack of awareness about the child before them”.
Lord Wrath thought about this, and seemed to agree. “Your capabilities are definitely above what they were in the attempt on your life here. That said, you will likely no longer benefit from enemies thinking you are some weak child now. Do you have a preference for a weapon type, or are you leaning towards hand-to-hand with magic for long range?”
I thought about this for a minute, and decided, “I have always been drawn to the idea of using a spear, but I think I want to learn hand-to-hand as the priority because my magic is less useful once the enemy gets close”. Lord Wrath agreed with this as well, but I added, “That said, I wanted to inquire with you about something first. Using the flame of Wrath in hand-to-hand distance makes sense, but can you tell me about the other uses for it?”
“Hmmmm. The Sins have a lot of uses, even where Wrath is more combat-specific. You mentioned being drawn to a spear, yeah? You could learn to do stuff like this as you grow stronger and gain mastery of the Sin” and he held out his hand, and his flame of Wrath glowed in his hand, and quickly formed a long and standard tipped spear that had the crimson flame radiating off the tip.
The spear itself looked to be condensed, and having a solid form, while still having the flames flickering off of it. “When you get better at manipulating it, you can create temporary things that are solid and have mass like this spear here. It’s not a permanent creation, but can help you in a pinch if you need a weapon in specific situations. While you can use it for long range options, similar to elemental Fire magic, it is considered wasteful as the taxation on your body is extreme and instant”.
He released the crimson spear from his hand, and it faded away. “We can work on that down the line, but let’s focus on the hand-to-hand first, shall we?” and I nodded in agreement, and excitement. I was known as a master of the spear as Callum, and I was excited to learn new things in the realm of combat.