"Focus, focus." she thought with the strain increasing across her body, she kept the mental mantra going even as it felt like her bones were about to shatter under the strain of the magical power that she let flow through her in more ways than she had ever done before.

Ursa Tubor could feel the earth beneath her shift and bend as an amorphous blob, all manipulated through the threads of magic that she passed through it. Bending the atoms through the raw magical energy that she interwove with it, and as the spell finally came to fruition in her mind, she drew deep into the earth, grabbing onto the gravitational waves pulsing through the soil.

She could almost feel it passing through her fingers and Ursa would have began laughing in glee had it not been for the excruciating pain that was setting her nerves alight.

But it would not stop her from continuing, at least that was what she thought until she suddenly felt her connection to the earth suddenly servered by a gust of wind.

"No!" she shouted in horror as her eyes flew open and she saw William leaning over her and around his hand was a small twister of air.

"Did you cut me off, why would you do that?" Ursa demanded as she suddenly felt all of the strength in her body vanish and she almost stumbled over, but William managed to catch her before she hit the cold floor.

"You were pushing yourself too far, that surge is insane Ursa. By Leza, you would have killed yourself if you continued." he said apologetically as he slowly placed her next to the nearest tree.

"I had..." she stopped her attempt at arguing as the world began to swing into a near unrecognizable blur.

"It's the vertigo kicking in isn't it, this stuff is dangerous. Just breathe slowly and it will go away." he instructed her and she followed suite.

After the battle with the Dullahan within the desert, she had been visiting William almost daily at the Runith Institute to study more and more of the notes in her Grimore. It probably helped that William was willing to help and share his larger wealth of knowledge.

From sunrise to sunset they would go through not just their own Grimores, but also the greatest tomes that the Runith Institutes library would let William borrow on her behalf.

She needed to know more, after her first confrontation with a elder Night Terror, she felt woefully unprepared for such a threat. She remembered how Chris had been beaten into the ground by the Elder Night Terror, she could not allow that to happen the next time.

"Feeling better?" William asked her.

"Yes." she responded as she took in the fresh air of the Runith Institute's grounds.

"Good, now don't try and overdo it again. I swear you could have ripped your own body apart from the inside out."

"I can handle it." she tried to argue. "I just need another shot at this, I know my mistake now."

"No you don't, Archon level spells are too intricate and powerful for you to push like this. Just take it easy and take your time."

"Are you insinuating that I can't master a few gravitational spells?. I have done it before with binding enchantments and I can do it again without much trouble." Ursa knew that she almost sounded petulant, like a child throwing a tantrum, but she did not care.

It was too frustrating, she loved magic and even if the idea was laughably foolish, she wanted to learn and master everything about it. Yet no matter how much she studied the Grimoire and every other book that William could provide, she knew that she had hit a ceiling on what kind of knowledge and skill she could master.

"That is not what I am saying, Ursa. You are a clever and beau... ambitious woman." Ursa felt her cheeks heat up at as she heard Williams little slip up.

"You have advanced faster than most people I have known here at Runith have in their first year, but you can't force this. It is like expecting to run before you can walk, It's just not wise." he continued as if he could just pretend like what he had almost said never happened.

"I don't have time, what if the next time that I meet another one of those Night Terrors we aren't so lucky." she ripped out some blades of grass in frustration. "What if the next time we don't end up in a medical wing but a mortuary."

William paused and he seemed to be thinking deeply about something before saying,. "You will win."

Ursa looked at him in disbelief, she could not belive her ears as she looked at the Wizard and tried to process what he had just said. "How can you say that?"

"Because I belive that you are the best and most terrifying Knight I know." William didn't even miss a beat as he responded.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"No offense William, but I am sure that I am the only Knight you know. Besides you haven't even seen me fight before, how can you know that I am even that good to survive another elder Night Terror?"

"Because I know you. You are ambitious, persistent and a tad bit ruthless. I pity any enemy, elder Night Terror or not, who tries to fight you." William was saying nonsense, she knew this but the charming fool still had her eating out of his hand.

"But first, you need to rest and not kill youself." he offered her his hand. "Agree?"

"You have a way with words, Redret." she responded as she took his hand and he pulled her up to her feet.

"None of the ladies have complained yet."

"Oh, and which ladies would this be young master?" Gradvan mockingly asked as the Mizihimo materialised.

"Well... it was nothing." William didn't even bother trying to defend himself.

"It was something, though it was not as smooth as you think it was." the spirit said as it glided across the air and towards Ursa.

The spirit looked at her and shrieked in surprise. "By Leza and the Ancient Ones, what were you doing child?!"

"What?" Ursa didn't understand why Gradvan sounded so distressed.

"Your threads of magic are all mixed up and damaged. And they are too many." the spirit ran his hands across her hands as if he was inspecting invisible objects on her hand.

"I was just trying some high spells."

"In that case, stop it and rest." Gardvan said in indignation as he turned to face William."Why didn't you stop her from doing this?"

William was about to defend himself but Ursa jumped in saying. "Its fine."

"No it isn't, do want to end up like one of my old masters?" Gradvan asked her and Ursa didn't know how to respond, but the spirit continued on anyway.

"Poor Toyo, the fool tried too hard to perform spells which were beyond his level and despite my warnings, he still kept doing it until he boiled his internal organs and leaked his brains through his nose."

Ursa felt her body freeze up in horror as she imagine her brain running down her nose.

"I think I should go home and rest," she said to William who nodded in agreement.

XXXXXX

William and Gradvan had agreed to escort her back to the barracks much to the formers irritation. She didn't understand why William disliked hearing Gradvan's stories so much, the Mizihimo was filled with so much first hand experience about of ancient battles and travels to far off realms.

Ursa just wanted to take pen to paper and record everything that he told her, William on the other hand took it with about as much interest as one would if they were trying to watch paint dry.

".... and thus we managed to escape the sun lord, Kazuba. To this day I am still not welcome back to the court of celestial spirits, but by the Ancient Ones was it worth it." the Mizihimo finished his story of theft and intrigue amongst his kinfolk.

"That's amazing," Ursa said.

"Yes, just so amazing." William didn't even bother trying to masquerade his sarcasm. "Can't wait to hear this tale and many others again and again".

"Maybe I would not repeat them if you learned from my past."

"And what lessons are those, to be a shameless thief and lier?"

"No, to see where I made mistakes and to do better." the Mizihimo spoke like an exhusted father to their impetuous son. " But to be a smashing dapper rouge is also a good thing my boy, those ladies you were telling Ursa about might actually enjoy that."

"Please stop." William groaned as he placed his hands upon his face to hide his shame. Ursa knew that it was not poor Williams fault but it was still funny to see him like this. She tried her best, but a chuckle managed to sneak past her sealed lips.

Her hand rested on the door to their quaters and she pushed it open to find the rather confusing sight of Hamanymu, Thor and one of Munales teammates, though try as she might she could conjure up the young man's name.

The most confusing aspect of what she was seeing was that the three of them were seated on the floor with all the text books that she had bought from Runith placed besides them as they read others.

"What is going on here?!" she demanded.

Hamanymu raised his head up from the text book which he was reading with eyes wide in shock, like a deer caught in the headlights of incoming traffic.

He opened his mouth as if to respond but all that came from his mouth was a wheezing sound like a dying animal.

"Well, what is this mr I have no time for books?"

"I... well.... I see." he stuttered out.

"Ursa, it is wonderful to see you today." Thor declared and leaped up to his feet droping the book which he was reading to the ground much to Ursa's indignation. "Ah, and this must be your boyfriend."

Ursa felt her face burn up as Gardvan began bellowing in laugher while William gasped in disbelief.

"What... no, no... no he isn't, William is a friend!" she responded so sharply that she almost bit her own tongue. "Don't you even try to change the subject. What are you three doing here?"

"I was trying to figure out something about magic." Hamanymu responded.

"And what was so important that you decided to go through my stuff without my permission?"

"I want to know how he does the thing. Come on Kalunga, show her." Hamanymu said to Munale's teammate.

The Knight in black shrugged and snapped his fingers. A black flame came to life on his finger tips and the temperate in the room dropped so drastically that Ursa could see her breath forming a mist.

Gardvan shrieked like a cat before dematerialising from sight. Ursa looked to William in confusion, but the young Wizard shook his head with an amused smile.

"You can use Dark energy. I must admit to be equal parts impressed and terrified." William said to Kalunga and Ursa could not but feel a stab of jealousy at his praise, especially with her failure today.

"Thank you, though your Mizihimo didn't seem so impressed," Kalunga responded as he put out the flame and the rooms temperature returned to normal.

"Dont mind him, he just has some bad history with dark energy, this isn't the first time that he has overreacted. The important question is how how can you do that, Dark energy is near impossible to learn and that's without going into the restrictions and regulations involved in its use? " Willam asked, his eyes still fascinated with the Knights fingers, even after the flame had been put out.

"I have always kind been able to use it at low levels, I think that is the only reason why I am a licensed practitioner. I can't explain it, its just like the normal elemental magic to me, not much conscious thought and I can do this." as he finished speaking Kalunga formed an obsidian sphere in his hand that crackles with dark purple electricity.

"And this is why we needed your books, to try and get some understanding on how he does that." Hamanymu said but Ursa could only scoff as she saw the book in his hands.

"And how does an introduction to Animus conjurering help you with that?"

"We haven't had much luck on this dark energy stuff in these books okay." Hamanymu sharply retorted. "How to fight and detect it sure, but how to actually use and learn it, that is scattered around and we are just trying anything at this point."

She could not belive her ears as she heard him and as thought up some new words of admonishment, the door was pushed wide open.

Chris, still in his hospital gown came sauntering into the room, though she notced as slight wince on his face with each step that he took.

"Chris?" Hamanymu asked is suprise.

"Yes." the young prince bluntly responded as he walked to the wardrobe and he began pulling out all of his clothing from it.

"What are you doing here, shouldn't you be in the hospital?" Ursa demanded from him as he packed his clothing in a bag.

"Packing, we are needed up north, something important is happening," he slinged the back across his shoulder.

"Can I come along?" Thor excitedly asked.

"Sure, why not." Chris replied as he walked out the room, leaving them confused.

"Should we go after him?" Ursa asked.

"I suppose." Hamanymu responded as he got up and left the room with the other two in tow.

"So you are leaving?" William stated, his voice strained as if he was in pain.

"It appears so," Ursa replied as she felt a bubbling of anger intermixed with sadness within her.

"I suppose this is the end."

"No it isn't, we can keep in touch. I have a Echo number, you can reach me through that," Ursa hated how desperate she sounded. "Besides, who is going to look after the boys and stop them from doing something stupid."

"And who is going to look out for you?"

Ursa smirked and reached for the nearst pen and paper, she quickly scribbled her Echo number on it and handed it to William saying, "You of course, as long as you willing to check up on me from time to time. At least, until I return."

William smiled as he received the paper, he then grasped her hand and leaned close enough to kiss her hand as he said, "Then I swear an oath to not go two days without speaking to you, and I await your return, Ursa Tudor."