The next morning Tom wakes me up to train before departure.

“Okay, Now that we are alone I have a special move that you should only use when you’re not sparring but in actual battle.” Tom said secretively

“Okay. I understand don’t use it unless I’m fighting for real.” I said barely able to contain my excitement.

“Okay… Fi, taught you about teleportation magic right?” Tom said

“Well, yes but she also said it was a lost magic and it’s difficult to control.”  I said slightly confused.

“Well, that’s only for long distances… for short distances it not much of a risk. When I was young I was in a Labyrinth when I came upon a wall. On the wall was the chant for teleportation but soon after I left the Labyrinth I heard a monster had destroyed a few walls.  After a lot of practice I learned how to shorten the chant enough to use it in battle.”

“Wow, that’s cool so it actually works?” I said astounded

“Yes it works, but I don’t have a lot of magic power so the furthest I am able to teleport accurately is only a few feet but that’s good enough for most battles. I once tried to get from the house to the barn and I ended up in front of the inn in the next town over but you can probably manage it better than I did.”

“So how does it work?” I asked filled with curiosity

“You focus on where you want to be and pour out magic power and say the chant. I’ll demonstrate… Send me there, Teleport Blade.” Tom chanted and disappeared

     I sense a presence behind me and before I turn around I am tapped lightly on the shoulder.  Tom is standing behind me, smiling brightly.  I am very impressed, I really want to learn that.

“Please teach me!” I said barely able to contain my joy.

“Hmm… should I?” Tom teased

“Would you like me to beg?”

“I’ll teach you so please don’t…  Now try it focus on a spot and chant…” Tom said while facing me.

“Okay, send me there, Teleport Blade!” I chanted

      I feel my breath being sucked from my lungs and my body is pulled strongly. I close my eyes and open them and in the time that single blink took I was behind Tom.

“See, it works pretty well I think.” Tom said proudly

“It does but what’s with my breath being pulled out from me?” I asked

“Oh, just breathe out before you Teleport and it won’t do that. I forgot to mention that… In any case practice makes perfect.” Tom brushed aside the issue.

     After about an hour of practice I was getting used to the teleportation.  I have figured out how to use it without a chant. First, I declare the spot I want to be in then I send myself to the spot. I’ve gotten good enough so I can just think a direction and the magic guesses my meaning. For the last 10 minutes I could also use teleport to dodge attacks.

“You have gotten very good at this… I was never very good at magic but to surpass my skill in this in under an hour… Well, I’m glad you’re my son. Come on let’s head back to the camp before the others notice our absence.” Tom said with a great amount of pride in his voice.

     On the way back to camp I grab a few herbs that I see growing so we have an excuse if anyone questions what we were doing.  I understand why Tom wants to hide these techniques but if Kaya asks me I’ll probably tell her as well as Elena.

“Aero, you have become quite strong in both magic and sword skills but why do you need to be strong and what is that sword you carry for?” Tom asked suddenly

“It’s obviously to look cool in front of women!” I replied instantly

“That’s right… I mean, no!” Tom agreed but caught his mistake

“Ha-ha, Dad, I became strong in order to protect the weak and what I want to protect so it cannot be taken away.  I carry this sword so I might protect my life and the lives of those precious to me.” I answered honestly

“It’s okay to look cool in front of women but be sure that you’re also protecting your life. Ha-ha but you really are my son if you are already thinking like that!” Tom said while roared with laughter as we entered the camp waking almost everyone up.

     After receiving a stern lecture from Kaya about waking everyone up so early we started to break camp.  I returned the tree to normal as best as I could and used earth magic to cover where our fire was.

“Mother, why must we leave no trace of us being here?” I asked

“If we leave a clear trail then bad people can follow us and attack us. If we cover up that we were here then there is less of a chance of being attacked.” Kaya explained as she grows grass over my earth magic.

“Okay, that makes sense.” I said throwing my pack into the wagon.

     A few weeks of travel past and we neared the end of our journey.  I had mastered Construction magic and was quite proud of the results I had with some of the houses.  I also got a crash course on body guarding from John and George.  Halt taught me a few peculiarities of the court and explained exactly how corrupt the upper levels of nobility had become. Sex slaves are common and hired-help disappear if they see something they shouldn’t.  Due to the noble’s taxes more and more people are forced into slavery because of the high taxes.  All races are enslaved and bought up by these nobles for nefarious purposes.  

        The humans become house workers or night time assistants. The beast race becomes warriors or sex slaves along with the rare sea race or sky race.  The Dwarves are craftsman because most nobles don’t find them pleasing to look at and the elves always sex slaves.  Reports of missing children and missing people usually dead end when you arrive at a noble house. 

     We are finally about to exit the forest and I feel a slight bloodlust from behind me and see a branch swing towards me.  I barely had time to dodge before the limb slams into the ground sending up a cloud of dust. I draw my sword and cast wind magic to blow away the dust that is affecting my vision. As the air clears I see a large tree moving towards me at a rather fast pace. I was momentarily frozen in place from the surprise that I was being attacked by a tree.

“Aero, get down!” Tom shouted as he ran towards the tree.

     George tackles me to the ground as Tom uses his back to propel himself toward the tree. With a flash of his swords a large branch fall to the ground. Tom lands next to it and kicks off backwards, barely dodging the trees follow up attack. As the tree prepares for its next attack George quickly gets off me. The tree shoots out another branch and sweeps high trying to knock of all of our heads at once.

       Lucky, it misses all of us but John’s horse isn’t as lucky. That single hit ripped the horse in half bilaterally. Blood sprays from the horse and stains the ground around us. I tried to heal it but I remembered Fi’s warning to not try to bring back the dead so I stop the spell before I do something foolish. George grabs me and stares at me for a moment.

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“Aero, calm down. Relax… breathe.” George said calmly.

“…. Okay….” I said in a panicked voice.

     It really did help me and the state of panic relaxed into a highly alerted state. I looked over the scene of the battle. We are fighting a tree it may be strange but a tree has a weakness and that’s fire. I am a Master ranked magician I can use fire magic. I located the tree attacking John and Halt. 

“I’m good now…” I said calmly to George.

     I broke free of his grasp and calmly walked back into the battle.  I created a strong gust of wind to clean all of the dust from the field.  John and Halt dodge another side swing from the tree. Tom has moved to support the rear and has helped move the wagon and the horses away.  Kaya and Elena are casting healing magic on John and Halt while helping move the wagon farther away.  I calmly created a five fireballs and kicked off towards the tree.

“Halt, John clear out!” I shouted as I ran toward the tree.

     John and Halt immediately jump out of the range of the tree’s attacks. The tree notices me running towards it with fire in my hands and attacks me.  I dodge to the left as a large branch slams down where I stood moments before. I shot out the fireballs at the tree and increased the temperature of the flames until they turned blue. The tree tried to dodge but I simply change the direction of the flying fireballs and they slam into it.  The tree turns to ash after contact with my fire and collapses.

“Whoa… what was that thing?” I asked

“That was a Queen Tree. It’s a B ranked monster that is more powerful that its C ranked partner King Tree.  Good job, Aero not many people pass through their first monster attack without injury.” Paul said as he patted me on the back.

“Good job kid!” John said as he ruffled my hair.

“It’s too bad about the horse though…” I said sadly

“I’m just glad it wasn’t one of us.  Those Queen Trees take two C ranked adventurer parties to destroy and even then you still lose at least 2 people” Kaya said relieved

     I was told to burn the horse’s body because burial would give it a chance to come back as a Zombie Horse.  I didn’t particularly want to do it but I listened to Tom and burned it to ashes. That night we didn’t stop until were near a village. John, George and Halt went into town to see if they could recruit anyone and get supplies.  I half-heartedly started to make a dirt house and Elena sat down next to me and watched as I finished building.

“Every time I watch that it just gets or and more amazing…Aero, everyone freezes their first battle its normal.” Elena comforted

“I just couldn’t believe that a tree was moving…” I grumbled as I sat down

“Ha-ha it is a bit of a shock isn’t it. When I was young monsters were tamer and didn’t attack unless you attacked them.” Elena said wistfully

     I pictured a woodcutter going into the woods after saying goodbye to his wife. He traveled for a while and finds a big tree. He readied his axe to swing and had the misfortune to hit a tree that hit back.

“That sounds a lot more reasonable… but you’re not old enough to be saying those thing grandma.” I said while trying to get image out of my head

“How old do you think I am, Aero?” Elena said with fire in her eyes

“Grandmother, father told me not to answer questions about a girl’s weight or age when I was 5…”

“Tom is right in most cases but I’ll relinquish my right to hit you if you get it wrong.” Elena said while smiling.

     I’m still going to be hit.  I should have just told her that women stop aging at 18.  Mother is in her 20’s and Uncle John is around 28. Mathematically speaking she could be anywhere from 45 to 50 but that can’t be possible because grandmother doesn’t look much older than mother.

“Grandmother, women stop aging at 18.” I said as seriously as I could. 

“Hmm… is that so. I’ll tell you then… I am 119 years old.” Elena said

“Ha-ha it's fine if you don’t want to tell me…” I said as Elena grabbed my arm.

“I am 119 years old and will be 120 this year.  I am a full blooded elf and you are a quarter blood but you are my grandson.  Elves and other races can live for denominations of hundreds if not thousands of years if they aren’t killed.” Elena said looking in my eyes.

“Okay… I understand but then why do you look so young?” I asked curiously

“Elves, don’t age physically after they turn 25.” Tom said from behind us

“Oh, of course you would know that you dog… Anyway back to the reason your son froze in combat today” Elena said towards Tom.

“Don’t worry, it won’t happen again. After all you both saw him charge and destroy it in one hit.” Kaya said her voice filled with pride.

“True, now he learned what happen due to hesitation, we only lost a horse thanks to him.  As soon as it appeared I was worried that we might lose Halt or George but to only lose a horse is amazing.” Tom said thoughtfully

“Aero, you sensed the attack before anyone and even destroyed a B class monster by yourself you should be proud.” Elena said happily

“I know… I apologize for freezing. I don’t think it will happen again.” I said

“Hmm… you’re a sweet child but you might freeze if you have to kill a person right?” Elena asked me suddenly.

     I looked at my hands and clenched them tightly.  My soul is already stained with the blood of two and I would rather not stain it with more.  I do know that deep down if it comes to it I will kill again to protect myself and those I want to protect.

“I would rather not but I’m certain I won’t freeze in battle again.  If it comes to it I will be able too.” I said coldly

     Elena and Tom looked at me with respect in their but Kaya just looked at me with concern in her own.

“Come and eat you three!” Kaya called

“It’s good you understand that it’s kill or be killed in battle but try not to worry your mother.” Tom said as we walked over to Kaya

“I’ll do my best to not worry her.” I promised

“Good boy, now let’s get some of your mother’s cooking.” Tom said as we walked towards the food.  He stopped to kiss Kaya and whispered something in her ear that caused her to blush and hit him.

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AN: Hey, I was planning on posting earlier but life got in the way!

Thanks for reading and thanks for commenting.