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Today, the usual hike up the hill to Ace's house felt harder to Jack for some reason. The sun was stinging his skin differently, and the stinging of his eyes from lack of sleep seemed to mock him. He was nervous, but it didn't feel right to be in negative anticipation. He should be excited. Did it always take this long to reach the house? The porch was empty. Jack was hoping to see Tenny sitting there to break the ice and bring a sense of normality.
Stella ran up to the door and knocked three times before entering. Empty. They wondered if he left already, but he said next week. Jack's emotions were mixed. He was glad for the time to prepare himself but was also hoping to just jump into where this decision would take him. Jack apologised to Stella for keeping her back, but really tried his best to not get her to leave. It wasn't long before they saw the pointy ears rising over the bend.
"Hey, I didn't expect to see you here. Were you waiting long?" Ace said dripping with sweat and keeping his distance. Every time the wind brought his scent towards them, they were grateful for his decision.
"No, we didn't want to come too early anyway in case you were busy. Seems we were right, just a bit off," Stella said in a happy tone. She was curious to hear what they were planning.
"Oh great, if you don't mind waiting, I'll throw something on the fire, just let me clean up." Ace waited on a confirmation. Jack waited patiently on the porch with the door open to ensure no hazardous smells arrived from the kitchen. Tenny got Stella to chase him around a bit while he kept bragging about how no one is a match for him. It wasn't long before Ace snuck up on Jack lost in thought.
"How can I help you guys?" Ace sat down next to Jack as the other two gathered around.
"What did you tell my dad?" Jack's tone was serious.
"I just explained to him the same situation I did to you guys, with a little fluff so it wouldn't sound too dangerous." Ace awkwardly made his way through the sentence.
"So, he knows that he is sending me off to potentially fight the most dangerous threat in the world, but it isn't dangerous?"
"Yea I was clear on that part. I don't think you guys should worry too much about it. If everything goes according to plan, it will be a piece of cake." Stella and Jack knew it couldn't be that easy. If it was then they probably wouldn't have been up all night.
"What is the plan exactly?" Stella questioned.
"Well getting stronger is all about experience and having a path to follow. I was thinking we travel the world and gather allies and tools until the time comes. We should also see as much as we can see, since strength also comes from knowledge. If we stumble on a way to avoid the fight, then we can look at that avenue. There really isn't any structure besides letting me train you guys."
"Oh, I still won't be joining you. I was just a bit curious." Stella just pieced together the misunderstanding.
"About that," Jack chimed in, "since it is just about training. I want to help find Stella's sister first. We can train while we are looking, but I would like that to be a goal as well." Stella's eyes widened. Was this why he insisted she waited around?
"No Jack. We never talked about that. Ace has a serious mission as well. You shouldn't take his request as something that can be side tracked," Stella replied with the most hostility the trio heard from her since. How much more could they do for her? She was getting tired of this guilty feeling she had from being around these two.
"I thought about it yesterday. I didn't want to say anything because I was worried that I would be overstepping. I think it is a genius idea. Miss Stella, do you think it would be okay if we join you for the time being and then you can decide if to help us?" Ace stared directly in her eyes. She wasn't sure if it was the sincerity or the complete surprise, but she felt flustered.
"Are you sure? I feel like you both are trying to make this work for my sake," Stella stated finally letting the guilt show in her voice. "You really don't have to."
"You worry too much. We can do it all, but I do have a slight request to make," Ace chippered. "I have some stuff in the village I have to sort out, and I want to give Jack some training to catch up to you, so if you can continue the search and give us word when you find a lead. Do you have much more places to check?"
"Well, this is only the second village I have passed through in this area. I have heard that the mercenary group that took her all those years ago operates in this region, so I have a couple more villages to hopefully find a lead."
"Jack, are you okay with this?" Ace questioned.
"That sounds like a solid plan. Especially if we are going to have a run in with mercenaries."
"I am not sure she is still connected to them in anyway, but it is the only lead I have."
"Well, can you stay one more night? We can help you sort out a route and I'll pack some food for your travels," Ace offered.
"I would hate to take away from anything you need, but I really don't want to turn down those meals." Stella blushed.
"Perfect!" The enthusiasm in Ace's voice gave them all a wave of cheer. The rest of the day was spent planning and laughing, and the night was another sleepless one. Jack thought of tomorrow as the starting point. How strong can he become? Would he actually be a hero? How did he even end up in this situation? Questions of the future that he really couldn't wait to answer. He should get some sleep, but between his own mind and Mathias's snoring, it was a difficult first challenge.
***
Meals packed and a plan in hand. Stella jumped on a wagon to the nearby Torrs Village as her new friends waved her goodbye. Jack was holding a spare sword from the workshop and a small shield that someone never picked up, mounted on his gauntlet. His eyes sparkled as he waited for Ace to stop waving and meet his gaze.
"Oh yea, we aren't doing that right now." Ace chuckled while scratching his head again. The sparkles in Jack's eyes dimmed and his bottom lip rose.
"What are we going to do now?"
"Well, I wrote down some notes on mimic training. It's on the dinner table at the house, so you will go brush up on that while I go into the town and finish some errands. Trust me you will be glad for the break, because this section will be a drag to go through."
***
Apparently, Ace was training a team of villagers to gather resources and helping develop labour techniques to keep up with the quota he was making all these years. The townsfolk were glad to make the effort since they didn't want to go back to stricter jobs. Jack kept getting distracted, which was a new for him. Reading was his forte, but he felt that this would be harder material to grasp. He should try to follow the notes, that might help.
He stepped outside in the grass. He knows how to use fire mimics, but it never has a form. Ace's notes say that fire mimics are really sporadic and hard to control. It needs to be collected before thinking of it as a spell. The moment that he stops collecting them it should launch. Jack stood with his feet planted firmly on the ground. He squared his hips and placed his fully extended right hand in front of him. He braced the trigger arm with his left gripping his wrist. Gather...Gather...Gather... A red orb started to form in his palm. Smaller red orbs formed just outside the circumference, flowing into the large one, slowly increasing the size. Release! The red orb ejected forward but fiddled out in all directions without leaving so much as a gust of wind.
"It is a pretty hot day, there should be a lot of fire wisps in the air. I am surprised that didn't make an impact," Ace said walking up the hill.
"That didn't look too good did it." Jack chuckled. "I am not sure what I did wrong. The notes say collection then rejection."
"We will get to it soon, lets first see how much you understand," Ace said. He took a seat on the porch. "How do we use mimics?"
"Umm, mimics are the collection of certain elemental wisps that copy the behaviour of that element. Wisps are always present and invisible, but the amount of an elemental wisps depends on the surroundings, and this can contribute to how difficult and effective a spell can be. We use this collection of wisps to create forces."
"Sheesh, you could have used your own words. I see your memorisation is top notch." Ace grinned.
"You forgot that the environment doesn't affect ether wisps," Tenny said with a big smile on his face. Ace patted him on the head for his guidance.
"One more question and we will begin practice. What are the most common practises for each elemental mimic?"
"Okay so, the four common mimics are fire, wind, water and earth. This is what we learned in school. I see in your notes that it is a bit different. Red is something called plasma, green is gas, blue is liquid and yellow is solid," Jack said slowly. "Umm, I am a bit confused by this, but I understand that it is the density and controllability of the individual wisps that changes the uses. Red wisps are hard to control like fire, but they hit the hardest like an explosion.
"Green is less sporadic than red but almost works the same. It is best used to create something like a piercing force by compression and is the preferred choice of accelerating motion.
"Blue flows like water and generates the least amount of feedback force so it is used for creating something like a current to move objects or a dampener. It says that the military mostly uses it as a support mimic.
"Last is yellow which is the most dense and it is used to create a rigid form. It can only be used by almost making contact with the earth. This is the most commonly used support mimic."
Jack took a breath and stared up at the sky to see if he was forgetting something.
"Dark and Light wisps are unique and only people who have undergone special requirements can call on them. Dark is the densest of the mimics and can take almost any form and is almost impossible to break, but it cannot travel, so it always has to be in the palm of your hand. Light has no mass and is used to generate a light at any intensity. It is extremely fragile, but when someone has the ability to use dark and light wisps, they can unlock some seriously dangerous stuff," Tenny chimed in as proud as can be.
"Wow Tenny, you know a lot about those. Can you use them?" Jack said waiting for a demonstration.
"Nah. Only humans and the Three Divine Guides can control wisps. All other creatures use our mana to generate the actual element. When we use magic, it has all the properties of the element, not just the kinetic force. I learned about wisps with Ace since I use light and dark magic."
"I think you have a good grasp on the ideas, and you were almost spot on with the differences in density and controllability. The one factor that controls all of this is the energy between particles. Once you keep this in mind, controlling wisps will be a bit easier. If you take a solid and give it more energy, it becomes a liquid. If you do the same thing, then a liquid becomes a gas. Gas can be turned into plasma. We say earth, water, wind and fire because these are the general ideas we see in nature," Ace explained while gesturing to different parts of nature around them. "Because mimics are based on wisps and not the actual element, they only behave like the element. The only property they exert are mechanical forces, so a push or a pull. Fire mimics convert what would have been known as thermal energy used to expand the air around it, completely into a push force when it makes contact with anything. Simply this is the reason that your fire spell can't burn anyone, and your water spell can never drown anyone."
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"I understand the principles and knew about the not burning stuff, but everything else is a bit much for me to grasp fully," Jack said feeling a bit disappointed.
"That's okay. It really isn't that important but having a decent understanding of it will let you master it a little quicker later on. The important thing is practice and understanding what the steps are to use a spell. You said earlier that it is 'gather and reject' to use a spell, but what do you think of when you try this?"
"Well, I just imagine gathering red in my hand and then sending it away." Jack looked at his palm calling a small number of red wisps.
"I think that's where you are going wrong. The ability to call wisps comes from the mana in your body. It flows throughout your body and that is what gives us extra strength and durability, but the only place mana can gather wisps is in the palm of your hands. Collection and rejection are just what happens but that isn't really how you use mimics. It kind of works like how your body uses energy. We don't think about every muscle that reacts to get our finger to move, we just tell ourselves that we want our finger to move. The same idea for magic. If you want to launch a red ball, then you need to imagine forming the red ball and how much power you are sending it off with. The wisps will respond to your flow of mana. The more you use a spell, the easier it becomes, like muscle memory. Since the idea can really only occur in your head, we give spells names to help with tactics and recalling the sensation of using that spell. It is the same way we call a push-up a push-up but the way we actually do the push up is all in the head of the person. Got it?" Ace gave a thumbs up after his long-winded explanation.
"So, it basically is trial and error, and thinking what I want to do," Jack said with a flatness that echoed disappointment at the science behind it all.
"Exactly, so we are going to start with the spell that will be your speciality. It is what made me really dangerous, and I think it will best suit the person you are. We are going to use the Wind Walk." Ace curled his smile and lowered his eyes at Tenny. Jack was getting used to his stomach turning around Ace, but this time he felt extra nervous.
"Okay so I gather wind wisps, in my hand. My hand is pointed in the opposite direction of where I want to go. Imagine I am using the wisps to push me forward quickly and that is it?" Jack said getting in the form. He quickly stood up straight. "Wait how do I stop?"
"That isn't important right now, just focus on using a little push to get a couple of feet. Usually at extreme speeds, we use any mimic that can give us a brake force. It is easiest to use another wind mimic to stop movement in that direction."
"Okay, I'm going to give it a try." Jack placed his right leg behind him. He bent his left knee. A good running stance achieved. He placed both arms fully extended in line with his back pointing away from where he was staring. He gathered the wisps and shot forward. His foot immediately dragged on the ground causing him to slide face down a couple of feet. Ace and Tenny burst out laughing. They held their gut and pointed at the boy who decided dirt was his lunch.
"Don't worry about it. The wind movement spell is the last common spell they teach in the military. That is going to happen a bunch more times."
"Why would you make me do it first then?" Jack yelled at the pair that clearly set him up.
"Because I want it to be the first sensation you get when it comes to controlling your mimic. I am going to force all your other concepts around this one. This is what will make you scary. Don't worry too much, I have a way to make sure you get the hang of it," Ace said again with that evil smile from before.
***
The trio are standing in the grass fields a couple of miles west of the village. Large animals of all kinds are roaming around, and sudden glances from them caused Jack to jump back a bit. There are no dirt paths in this grassland, so Jack already had the feeling that it is not ideal for humankind.
"Okay the best way to learn is by surviving. I want you to avoid it as much as possible. No offensive mimics. You are not allowed to hit it. Just stay out of the way. Ready?" Ace said while finding a sizable rock.
"What are you talk—" Jack started.
"Set! Go!" Ace launched the rock at a decent speed pass Jack. Jack followed the projectile from the palm of his hand directly into the closest rhino that was clearly minding his business. Jack's spine twitched in a way he never felt. Every hair on his body stood up as the rhino turned around and stared him in the eyes.
"Why would you do tha—" Jack turned around to see Ace's back sprinting away holding Tenny between his bicep and ribcage. "Damnit!"
Jack felt the ground shaking. He didn't know if he would have time to turn around. He jumped to the left as hard as possible rolling away. The rhino continued in that direction for a couple of steps before making eye contact again. Jack got in his position. This time he angled his body and vision to move closely off the path of the oncoming beast.
"Make sure and follow through with your step as you are rejecting!" Ace called from a distance.
"Follow through, follow through, follow through, follow through," Jack kept mumbling as green light formed in his palms. The rhino was accelerating. Its head down and horned pointed. Jack launched forward pass the rhino, pass the rock, pass everything he remembered was close by before crashing into the ground at deadly speeds. The rhino stared at Ace and Tenny with a look of bewilderment. The three of them turn their heads to see what happened to the ragdoll that launched himself almost out of sight.
"I think the rhino is embarrassed for him," Tenny said bluntly.
"Yea, I think so too."
***
The trio moved closer to the village, this time just outside the walls. Thank goodness no animals in sight. Jack's clothes were torn up and his face covered in dirt. He never felt this tired before. He just used the spell roughly 5 times, but it felt impossible to find his breath.
"Gear up," Ace said while stretching a couple of feet away from Jack.
"I find it kind of brutal that you are going to fight me after having me chased by a rhino for an hour." Jack tightened the shield around his left forearm. He drew his sword and tossed the sheath off to the side.
"Don't worry, I am not going to take it too hard on you," Ace said, drawing a chef's knife from a holder behind him. A pure black shape formed from the edge of the blade and the handle. It now looked like he had a sword similar to Jack's but made out of pure black with the knife still completely visible.
"I am starting to hate when you say don't worry. I thought you didn't have mana." Jack stared at the picture that wasn't adding up.
"This is all Tenny. This knife is special and when Tenny is close by, I can use it to take this shape. The blade is dull for now. Come at me like you are trying to kill me." Ace signalled him to start when he is ready.
Jack rushed in and swung his blade diagonally downward from his right to the left. Ace glanced it away by holding the sword diagonally as well. Jack swung back in the same path but from left to right. Ace continued to glance the blade each time.
"Fighting is about rhythm. Trying to stay in your rhythm without falling into your opponents." Ace stopped his blade this time in place of the deflection and punched Jack with his left hand knocking him down. "By glancing each of your strikes I forced you into rhythm that was not yours, so when it stopped, I had the advantage."
Ace signalled for the boy to attack again. Jack rushed in and again Ace glanced the blade off. Jack continued but switched directions of the swings and held back the timing. "Very good, you are thinking about the rhythm, but a fight is also a force of will. Each strike must have a purpose." While finishing that sentence before Jack could start his swing Ace quickly punched him knocking Jack on his butt. "You are so focused on trying to ensure I don't force your rhythm that you stopped having a rhythm completely. Not only that but your swings stopped serving a purpose. Every action you do in a fight should have a purpose behind it. With experience you will know how to develop plans and tactics whether it be looking for counter attacks, powering through their guard, tiring them out. All of these are viable, but you have to believe in one to make sure every swing counts. The moment you make a swing without a purpose then you have surrendered your plan and are just trying to avoid falling into your opponent's plan." Ace helped Jack to his feet.
"That is a lot to remember when you keep punching me in the face," Jack said while spitting off to the side.
"Maybe you should stop getting punched in the face then. Every fight is a dance, and the factors of this dance is, rhythm and distance control. You will become a master of these two things in no time because I will beat in into you."
Jack rushed in again and Ace tossed his sword up in the air at him. Jack raised his own to block the blade coming down, but Ace was already in front of him. He took his wrist and flipped him over. He pulled out the sword from the ground and placed it on Jack's chest. "Let's go again."
They kept at it until the sunset, but now they found a seat in the soft grass and watched the sight while drinking water. Ace lit a cigarette.
"You think that if I can master both of those then I can beat anyone?" Jack asked.
"Not really because distance and rhythm are not techniques. It is something that will always just happen and using different tools such as mimics, allies, weapons, tricks, would change how the rhythm and distance behave. It especially becomes noticeable when the opponent uses things like Null Metal in the battle. The important thing is that you have to keep these concepts in mind while we train the basics into your muscle memory. The more you trust that your strikes will have a purpose and your defence will be there, then you can use your brain power to focus on your opponent and your tactics. If you are able to think about your opponent in the fight more than he is, then you have an advantage."
"I can understand what you are saying but do you think it would take only a couple months to get it?"
"I am completely sure because we are going to teach you while beating it into you. Plus, this will greatly increase your mana. Mana goes hand in hand with stamina. Many people think it is the same thing, but that just shows that we can't fully grasp the idea yet. It is generally believed that by practising magic, you are able to make the spell more efficient and so it uses less mana. By training your stamina, your body will naturally have more mana. Makes sense?"
"Well enough."
***
5 Months passed and the routine stayed the same for it entirely. Study, dodge animals, and fight. The only difference that occurred was the fighting started involving mimics. It was a tough time but after the second month, Jack noticed a drastic improvement. His body was so much lighter. He had energy to spare after each training session.
He often got distracted by wondering if Stella was doing okay. He really hoped she was making any kind of progress. He knew she probably was getting frustrated because if she found anything then she would have told them. She would tell them, right? He hoped that she didn't forget them. Thinking that she might send word for them any day pushed Jack to work harder because at any point they could be heading out. These thoughts filled his mind again this morning while sitting in front of his book at the dinner table.
"Today is the day you get your reward," Ace said pulling Jack out of his head.
"Reward? What is it?" Jack's head fell to a slight tilt.
"This is what helped me calm my mind and gave me an experience I think is completely worth wild. Follow me outside." Ace began stretching his legs out in the grass. "Follow me and keep up in any way you can."
Ace takes offs, jumping on his roof, he shoots forward into the trees landing on branches. Jack is close behind moving at intense speeds leaving a green trail with every step he took. They push off a tree and fly over the town's walls. Landing on roofs, going higher then lower. Jack never felt such a rush. He could barely see anything around him but whatever was directly in front of him was clear as can be. Ace was close in lead until he leapt up and off the town's water tower. Turning in the air to face Jack, he reached his hand out. Jack grabbed it and Ace threw him high up in the sky.
The point his momentum shifted from up to down must have been the reward. The hair stood on Jack's body again. His eyes widened and stomach jumped into his throat. The world was still. The village was a fraction of everything he could see. It was beautiful. He could barely gather a full thought. That might be the point of this. Amazing. What else was Ace going to show him?
***
1 month passes again, and Jack feels anxious. He wants to get started, but there is still no word of anything. He has gained some weight and the lectures Ace were giving him were clicking now with better control of wisps. He learned that Stella must be extremely skillful because using ice mimics takes a lot of control. It mixes blue and yellow to turn it into a form that can be more versatile than earth mimics since it can be formed in the air.
"Yo Matty, what brings you here today?" Ace called outside on the porch while tossing him an apple.
"Thanks Mr. Ace. Is Jack around? Mr. Sidra says that a letter came in for him. I think it is what he has been waiting for."
Jack rushes home to open the letter. It is exactly what he thought it was. Stella has found a lead in Nectar Village. That is a couple of days away from here. He has to pack and tell Ace.
"I am guessing that means you are leaving now?" Mr. Sidra asked Jack as he looked above the page.
"It would seem so. Thank you again for letting me do this. For giving me the push to do this. I promise I will make you proud."
"I wanted to give you this before you leave." Mr. Sidra pulled out a box from under the table. Jack wondered how he didn't notice the large crate when he walked in. His father pulled out a glistening blade that was attached to a housing made of shaped metal. The housing was painted a glossy black and it was placed on a leather gauntlet. "I know you have been getting better at mimics. I forged this so you will be able to use both hands if you ever need to use it."
"You forged a mounted blade for me? Where did you get the materials? I don't want to get you in trouble," Jack said worried but truthfully, he knew that he was trying to change the subject before he got emotional.
"I broke down materials from a sword that a customer didn't take."
Jack couldn't take his eyes off it. The metal reflecting any sunlight that visited their home. It really was beautiful. This was the first time someone was able to gift him something like this. The moment made everything feel real. He would be leaving now. The adventure begins. He was going to become a hero.
"Do you not like it? Would you have preferred a normal sword?" Mr. Sidra said as if he could change it if he tried.
"No, it is amazing. Thank you so much dad." The tears finally escaped Jack's eyes. He smiled quickly to indicated that he was crying because he was happy. He wiped his cheek and then the corner of his right eye. "I will be back soon dad. I am off to save the world."
"Yea Son."