The afternoon had been quite tedious for Horacio. And that is the way he liked it. Every morning he would wake up and tend to his vast garden around Dollop hill. Before noon, he would appear at his favorite spot, the shade of a Weeping Willow tree at the top of the hill.

Horacio had plenty of leisure time since he retired from a very challenging job. His past was checkered with events and people he wanted to forget. Sleeping under a tree and smoking a special herb on his pipe, he would spend the rest of the daytime in a delirium.

The loafer was convinced that the present would turn out like every other, without event or circumstance.

He was wrong.

“Yo! Old man!” Marian hollered up the slope. “I brought you a pupil!”

Horacio looked like he was dozing, with knees crossed and a straw hat shading his eyes from the sunlight. The man did not respond.

Marian, Pete, and Bree climbed up the slope and stood before him, waiting for an answer. The female warrior called to him two times again. There was no reply.

She plucked a dagger from her belt. Aiming toward the Willow tree, she cast the weapon straight at his face.

Pete and Bree gasped. Was Marian trying to kill a sleeping man?

Fwip! The dagger stopped midair, a foot away from him. It fell to the ground and burst into flames.

“Wow! That was awesome!” Pete exclaimed. Bree was galvanized too.

“He never sleeps, just pretends to. Especially when he knows I would be visiting him,” Marian scoffed.

“Is he the legendary mage you told me about?” the boy asked.

“Yeah, but he’s also a lazy bum.”

Horacio lifted his straw hat and peered from under the rim. “What do you want, Mar? Did you finally felt charitable enough to give this old man a wank?”

Marian spat on the ground. “Yuck! No! I need your help. This boy needs to learn magic.”

Horacio dipped his hat again and leaned back on the tree trunk. “Take him to a mage then. Why have you brought him here?”

“Well, I brought him to the best mage I knew. Horacio the Magnificent!”

The man sat up with a start. “Don’t call me that name! I don’t do magic anymore.”

“Really? Then did my dagger stop midair by magic? Oh, wait! Yes, it did!”

Horacio smirked and stretched his limbs. “You’re both pretty and clever. Why don’t you have a lover yet?”

Pete eyed Marian curiously. Didn’t she claim to have had a lot of lovers? Was she lying?

“That’s none of your business! You’re lazy and useless. Why don’t you die?”

Horacio was as smug as he could be. “Not until I see you naked.”

Marian flipped out another dagger, and this time the blade glowed. She was infusing it with magic!

“Wait, wait, wait!” Horacio protested and jumped to his feet. “You don’t have to get angry, dear. You know I am always fooling around. Please don’t hurt me.”

Marian returned the dagger to her belt and crossed her arms, regarding him with a mother-like bearing.

“Fine,” Horacio said, walking into the sunlight. “I will teach your young friend.”

He was a gangly man with graying hair and deep-set eyes. A peasant robe covered him from head to foot.

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“Come,” the mage said, walking down the hill. The trio followed him. “Is he a bad guy, Mistress?” Bree asked Marian.

The female warrior was taken aback by the title. “I am not your Mistress. And Horacio? He is lonely and pathetic but quite harmless.”

At the bottom of the hill, a beautiful gazebo stood out like a thumb in the wilderness. It was made of brick and wood. The ceiling was high enough, and the floor wide enough, for training.

Horacio muttered a few instructions to both. Marian leaned on the pillar while Pete and the mage stood opposite each other, fifteen feet apart.

“Where are you from, boy?” Horacio asked.

“The far east.”

“Where from in the far east?”

“I’d rather not answer questions from strangers.”

“Fair enough. I am Horacio.”

“I know. Were you really a golden knight once?”

Horacio shot a look of indignation at Marian. The girl shrugged at him. “It’s the truth. Why do you hide from it?”

The mage offered no comeback and turned to his opponent. “Show me what you have, boy.”

Pete did not know what he was supposed to do. “What do you mean? I can’t do magic.”

“Of course you can. I heard from Crease that you shot three arrows together and hit three bulls-eyes simultaneously.”

“It’s just good archery skills. Not magic.”

“No, it is not. Correct me if I am wrong. You already knew that your arrows would hit the targets.”

Pete was taken aback by the revelation. It was 100% true. He never actually aimed at the bulls-eyes. Crosshairs appeared by themselves when he nocked the arrows to the bow. And then he just let go, convinced they would find their respective targets.

“I did not think of it that way. You are right.”

Horacio tapped his nose. “I am always right. It is magic when you don’t aim and still hit the target. When your wish becomes material, it is magic.”

Pete listened to his words with fascination. Horacio used to be a golden knight. The strongest warriors in existence.

“Okay then, go ahead now,” the mage urged. “Show me your magic.”

“I don’t know how.”

Horacio sighed. “Why have you brought this kid here, Mar? He is clueless!”

Marian shrugged again. She was busy eating a giant peach that she picked from the mage’s garden.

The mage sighed and turned to Pete. “Okay, Rob. Let’s see if this works. Follow my instructions. Close your eyes.”

Pete suspected Horacio for a second and looked at Marian. She nodded at him with an expression that said, ‘You can trust him.’ He did as he was told.

“Good. Now clear your mind. And take a deep breath. Now breathe out.”

“Done…” Pete mumbled.

“Which color comes to you first?”

“Yellow.”

“Hmm. Imagine a yellow flame burning at the tip of a candle. This candle is at the center of your body…”

“Okay…”

“Now imagine the flame growing larger.”

“Okay…”

“Larger…”

Marian stopped eating her peach and cast the fruit away with the pit.

“Let the fire consume you and the world around you…” Horacio continued.

“Yes…”

“And now let it out…”

Pete felt a sudden calm within him, unlike he had ever felt in his life. This was better than the shiatsu massage feeling he had after reincarnation. He felt strong, feared, undisputed, and invincible.

“Yes…”

The sounds of nature disappeared, and all he could hear was a silent roar.

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“Rob….”

“Rob!”

“ROB!”

Pete opened his eyes and saw Marian’s face looming over him. He was lying on the grass. “Are you all right?” she asked.

“Yeah… what happened…?”

“That is difficult to explain.”

The boy saw Bree’s cute face looking at him, teary-eyed. “Master…” she sobbed.

“What happened?” he asked again.

Pete pushed himself up by the elbows and sat up on the ground. He was downhill on the grass. Perhaps not far from the gazebo where they were training.

“We were training… and.. “

That roar.

Pete turned to look towards the gazebo. His eyes went wide.

“What the fuck!”

The structure was in ruins. All that was left was a circle of wood ash and charred stone.

The boy looked around in panic, expecting someone to explain what had happened. Both Marian and Bree looked at him as if he were an alien.

Horacio walked up to him from the side. “Boy, that gazebo was built by my great grandfather. You burnt it to a crisp as if it were nothing! Don’t you have a heart?!”

“I burnt it? What are you saying? I’m not capable of something like that!”

Horace cackled with sarcasm. “You, my dear boy, are perhaps the most powerful fire mage I have seen in a while!”