"Is your arm feeling better?" Vartan asked Agni.

"Yeah, It is feeling better."

It had been three days since they had left the forest. The plain grasslands, the river, and the sky-high mountains are all that lay ahead of them.

"Do those go across all of Arosia?" Agni asked while pointing to the mountains.

"They end eventually," Vartan replied, "Though we are nowhere near that point."

"When the Ancients fell to the corruption of the Abyss, King Therum placed the mountains to prevent the people from reaching the great ocean."

They both walked along, following the river as it led to another small village. Vartan continued to talk as he scouted the vast land.

"At the same time, the Goddess of the waters froze all the rivers of the lands."

Vartan lit a small fire with the snap of his finger, and they both sat down to rest.

"Couldn't she freeze the entire ocean?" Agni asked

"Something tells me… she was not strong enough to do that."

He looked over to Agni.

"If you want to be strong enough to fight a god, you need more practice."

Agni looked in confusion as Vartan got up and slowly walked away. He turned back to face him.

He opened his arms and closed his eyes.

"Shoot me."

"What?!!"

"Hit me with your best spell." Vartan persisted.

"Could this be a test?" Agni wondered. After all, Vartan's staff was on the floor, and he wielded nothing.

"Uhh. n-no?" he got up and slowly began walking toward Vartan,

who opened one of his eyes and stared down at Agni.

"Go away, and shoot me with your best spell."

"Aghh, fine." Agni caved in and ran a small distance away from him. Agni had begun to conjure a water orb before he was interrupted by Vartan's loud yell.

"I know your best attack is NOT a water orb, young man!!"

"You don't have your staff, Vartan. I don't want to hurt you!"

"Don't be scared!" he yelled back.

Has old man Vartan lost his mind?

"Whatever," He thought as his fist began to glow with red fire. The dirt around him began to levitate off the ground. As the fireball grew around Agni's hands, He threw it toward Vartan, who still had his eyes closed. It hurled towards him at an incredible speed.

Vartan rapidly caught the fireball with his hand before it could hit him.

Agni stared in shock as Vartan held the fireball in his hand.

It began to spin in his hand and grow bigger.

"How is he doing this without his staff?" Agni thought to himself.

The fireball began to lose its red hue, and it seemed gold-like.

"Woah!" Agni stared in amazement.

He was so distracted that he did not realize Vartan was about to shoot the spell back at him. He thought of using a wind spell to block it quickly but refrained from doing so. Ever since the forest fire, Agni had feared using wind spells. He quickly realized he knew no other way to block an attack. He tried to throw his hands up in a panic, but it was too late. The fireball shot toward him and threw him to the ground.

Vartan walked over and looked down.

"I gotta give you props for not using wind."

"H-how, did you do that without your staff?" Agni asked while trying to catch his breath.

"Don't worry about that...We will teach you how to control your fire.."

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"A god of fire should not be getting knocked back by someone else's fire spells," Vartan stated as Agni watched.

"If you want to control other people's fire, you must first learn to control your own."

He handed him a small sword that he had been carrying.

"I've noticed you are having trouble channeling through swords, huh?"

"Yeah, it is quite frustrating," Agni commented.

"Try doing it with that one," Vartan asked.

"Vartan..... it is just going to melt." Agni annoyingly told him.

"It's okay. We will work on that." Vartan took the sword from Agni and grabbed the bag he had been carrying out. He stuck his hand inside and struggled to pull something out. It had been the sword that Vartan had used to stab Richie.

"Try using this one." he handed it to Agni. Who began to admire the blade.

"Is this yours?" he asked while swinging it.

"No, I made it for you...." he paused after Agni looked at him.

"You weren't supposed to have it until you were a little older...Well, more than a little." he paused again momentarily. "Anyway, try it out."

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Agni felt the fire surge through his arm and into his hand.

He doubted that the sword would hold up against the intense heat. Still, he began to channel as much energy as he could. The small rock began to spin rapidly. After spinning violently, the core in the center erupted with fire.

"Woah!" Agni yelled in excitement, "That's so cool!"

"Be careful," cautioned Vartan.

Agni tried harder to melt the sword, but it didn't budge. The small rock just spun faster and faster. He felt the end of the blade getting heavier and heavier. A surge of adrenaline burst through him.

His hand began to tremble with excitement. All the energy had been scorching through his body and into the sword. He needed a way to get rid of it.

image [https://theoscarino.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/image-44.png]

"I love this Vartan!!" Agni yelled in excitement. All the energy he had felt coursing through him was suddenly gone. He tried walking towards him but felt his legs give out.

"Vartan?" Agni reached out and collapsed.

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The wind brushed against Agni's skin. His head was throbbing with pain.

"Remember, the weapon draws energy from you," Vartan told him. He was sitting nearby drinking. "And not the other way around."

Agni felt his head throbbing with pain and slowly got up,

"Gee, Thanks for telling me in advance, Vartan. I'll remember that."

It had gotten slightly darker outside. As the day went on, the mountain would block the sun's rays, making it seem later than it would be.

He noticed that the surrounding land looked different.

"Did you... Did you carry me?" he asked.

"We cannot afford to lose an entire day."

Agni got up, slowly walked towards the river, and kneeled. He quickly dipped his entire head into the water and began drinking.

The sword had drained all his energy.

"How long was I out?" He asked.

"a couple of hours." Vartan had stopped to rest. A small campfire illuminated the grasslands.

"Be a little more careful." he threw the sword back to Agni as he finished drinking from the lake. Afterward, both began eating fish that blasted out of the water from Agni's blade.

Vartan stopped when he noticed Agni gazing at him.

"What is it, kid?

Agni tried to speak with a mouthful of food, "How did you manage to stop my spell without your staff?

Vartan again ignored the question and continued to eat.

He finally breathed out and set down his food.

"I never needed the staff to use magic," he responded. " If I cast magic without it, people would know who I am...What I am."

He hesitated for a moment to not grab his staff.

Magical power surged throughout him. His hand began to glow a faint gold color. Vartan opened his eyes to reveal their glow.

image [https://theoscarino.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/image-45.png]

image [https://theoscarino.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/image-46.png]

The Scholars of Golden Light had been legendary magic casters from the past empowered by the God of Light himself, Eldur.

Their powers were said to be greater than that of the Ancients. They were all presumed to have been slaughtered after the uprising of the corrupted Gods.

image [https://theoscarino.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/image-47.png]

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The duo had managed to cover some ground after Agni had fainted earlier. They rested once again near the river. Agni endlessly questioned Vartan about his adventures as a scholar. Vartan's tone changed as he spoke about his battle against the corrupted God of Light.

"Long ago, the God of Light, Eldur, tasked himself with understanding the structure of our reality. In his quest for knowledge, he turned his sight into the dark and unknown world of the Abyss.

"The Abyss is unpredictable, Agni..Do you understand?"

"It offers great power at the cost of your humanity and should never be used." He explained, "THAT was the God of Light's mistake. He abandoned his quest for knowledge and instead hungered for more power."

"That is why we had to destroy him." he stood up and scouted the area before sitting down again. Agni sat by and continued eating. He had remained hungry all day, wondering when the feeling would stop.

"Were you the strongest scholar, Vartan?" Agni asked.

"Haha," Vartan chuckled. "Not even close, kid. There was one of us named Kaito." He told Agni. "He easily out-skilled any of us since he learned all his magic from Eldur himself."

"Where is he now?" Agni asked. Vartan's expression turned to sadness as they both walked. A sense of desperation could be heard in his voice.

"I don't know."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Over the next few days, Agni trained and trained. He learned more about magic than ever before and mastered a few spells. Most importantly, he began to control his flame. Though initially weak, he began to see some progress each night after channeling his power into the sword he had nicknamed "Scorched." It had been a long time since he had heard from Anemos, so the duo continued following the river to reach the village, Krubera. One particular evening, Vartan prepared himself to duel Agni. He got up to wake Agni up from his nap.

"Do you remember the night you fought Richie and almost incinerated his entire body?"

Agni rubbed his eyes and equipped his gear. "Of course I do."

"I stopped you with a very basic spell...Should I explain any more?"

" the god of fire should not be getting stopped by basic combat spells," Agni repeated the sentence he had heard since the beginning of his training.

Vartan grasped his staff. " Are you ready?"

"Well, I-" Agni suddenly felt trapped inside a water bubble.

He barely had any air in his lungs. He could feel the water around him get extremely hot, but it did not disperse. His body strained. He tried his hardest to escape, but Vartan was too strong. He dropped to the ground, soaked in water. Agni quickly coughed out the water that had entered his lungs and looked up at Vartan.

"How about that one old man?" He chuckled.

Vartan sat down to recover his breath and chuckled. "Not bad, kid...Not bad at all."

Agni's celebration ended as he coughed out more water from his lungs. "Can we take a break and rest here?"

Vartan had to breathe for a moment before being able to respond again.

"Yeah... I think we can do that."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

They waited as the fish they had caught cooked over the fire.

"Have you heard anything from that one god?"

"Uhh, you mean Annie Moss?" Agni clarified.

"Yes... Her..." he paused to check on the fish.

"Any news from her since you two last spoke in Yankton?"

Agni smiled as he bit into the fish. He tried talking with a mouthful of food,

"No, I'm not sure if I remember everything she told me if I am being honest."

"It's all good, kid. I know where to go." Vartan grabbed the fish off the fire and joined Agni for dinner.

"It'll be easier to explain once we reach Krubera. We should be arriving early in the morning tomorrow."

After they finished their meal, Vartan stamped out the fire till only embers remained, and both headed off to sleep.

It was very early morning, and Agni was awakened by Vartan rummaging through his stuff. He could hear him violently searching his bags, and Agni wondered what he had lost. Agni would have gone back to sleep, but he felt a strange presence. He slowly opened his eyes and tried to remain calm.

image [https://theoscarino.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/image-50.png]

Agni managed to kick the wraith off his sword and into the ground. His own strength surprised him for a brief moment. All the action happening had woken up Vartan. After looking at the wraith, he began to grab his things.

image [https://theoscarino.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/image-51.png]

Agni panted, "It's okay. I killed it."

Vartan laughed sarcastically and pointed toward the wraith.

"No, you did not, kid."

The wound in its chest had begun to heal slowly.

Agni looked in confusion and panic. "How do we kill it?!"

"We can't !" He tried to push Agni, "Just run ahead. I'll catch up to you!"

Agni hesitated until Vartan yelled even louder. "GO!!!"

He began to sprint further along. He looked back and saw Vartan repeatedly shoot the wraith with fireballs. Each blast shook the ground and caused Agni to stumble. He began to worry that Vartan would not join him.

"Will Vartan be in shape to outrun it?"

"How will the old man catch up to me?" After a moment, he heard footsteps quickly approaching behind him.

image [https://theoscarino.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/image-52.png]