2 months later

“Alright, now focus. Repeat everything you’ve learned so far. And most importantly, don’t stress yourself out if it doesn’t work.” As I prepare myself, both physically and mentally, Cerolus’ words keep me still in the present.

Right, open the magical channels and focus on pushing the mana out of the hands, close all other paths, mix the arcane and fire mana together, swirl the mixed energy into a solid stream, inhale to stabilise your body, and… NOW!

I open my eyes as I exhale and open my palms slightly, a small burst of flames spreading out of my hand, only to quickly disappear into the air. It lasted less than a second, but I did it! I managed to cast a flame burst! It’s weak and almost cold even, but I did it!

I turn to Cerolus almost immediately, completely exhilarated. He taught me magic! Real spells! I almost leap into his arms and kiss him on the spot, completely careless about my surroundings.

He prolongs the kiss for a bit before putting me down slowly. His smiling face is incredibly pleasant to see. “I told you it’s going to be fine.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you…” I continue repeating the same two words over again as I dig into his chest with my face with my arms sprawled around him. I never thought I’d be able to do this! He’s been nothing but great to me all this time, and I must’ve been a huge pain to take care of.

“Now, you repeat that for a bit, and we go onto other spells,” he says caressing my hair.

“Why so soon? I mean, I just learned this one now, and we’re going to go for more?”

“Well, you don’t have a great talent in arcane spells, so anything you learn from this will be less useful than learning distortion magic properly. Flame Burst is a useful beginner spell since it contains only the basics of movement and does not require any finesse to perform. Just repeating it over and over won’t get you far. Sure, you’d be able to burn things in front of you, but with barely any control.”

I understand now. He’s been teaching me the simplest of the basic spells, but thoroughly enough so I understand how to start on more complex ones.

“For example, one of the most useful flame spells which can be used with either arcane or distortion mana is Fireskin.” Cerolus backs off to go in the opposite corner of the practice room, away from any shelves and books.

After taking off his shirt he's left with nothing but his pants. His rough breathing accentuates his chiseled body as he almost instantly combusts. Unlike the orange ember I managed to produce, the fire around his body is cerulean. Somehow, his pants remain unscathed and the flames never reach his face. Even his hair manages to remain safe from the flames.

“See, this is what I’m going to teach you. Complete control over what you want to accomplish. Having the flames bend to your every move and light whatever needs to be lit and nothing more. What you decide to do with the knowledge will be up to you, but I’m giving you the options.”

The fire stops as quickly as it started, leaving Cerolus’ body shining from sweat, his coated muscles reflecting the light of the nearby candles.

He towels off quickly and puts his shirt back on, the image burned into my mind.

“Now then, Flame Burst.” He walks around the room, putting away various books and crystals, and moving the target to where he just stood. Then he walks up to me and almost shoves me into place a few feet from the target. “You’re going to practice until you hit the target.”

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This… might take a bit longer than I expected.

I breathe slowly, trying to gather enough mana into my arms as necessary for the spell. Then I mix the two types. Open the channels in the arms and close the others. Breathe in, focus… NOW!

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After a grueling session of trying to reach the target, where I realized not only that my flames need to be strong enough to burn the target, they have to reach it, and they have to be concentrated enough to not dissipate in all directions as soon as they leave my hands, I leave the room to have some well-deserved dinner and a bath.

Cerolus had left a lot sooner, leaving the guard, Hiratun, to keep me company and, surprisingly, ask for advice. What I failed to learn before is that EVERY Demon knows Flame Break. Except for Shadowlings.

I have to admit, it took me a lot longer than I want to admit to coming to terms with the entire situation about Shadowlings. At first, I was disgusted by how Cerolus immediately took a child and made him a servant, until he pointed out, multiple times, that it would’ve come to us regardless.

The next thing I came to learn is that Shadowlings will grow up from that form quite rapidly, as Rikkir now looks similar in age to my youngest brother.

I still have reservations about the fact that Shadowlings are basically eternally servants to other Demons, but they themselves seem fairly content, from the little emotion they let out. I even tried to talk to Rikkir about it. His only answer was “I felt this is what I’m supposed to do, so I do it.” I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand them as a whole.

My quite pleasant dinner got interrupted rather suddenly, by a commotion coming from outside and Rikkir coming to tell me my presence was required in the Gardens. Leaving behind a big juicy Hellboar steak, rather begrudgingly if I may add, I head out of the castle.

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It’s Humans! On horses! The regular, non-meat-eating horses!

Wait, where do they come from? Why are they here? What is going on?

I approach the nearest rider, trying to figure out if he wears some kind of a sigil on him.

“Greetings, Milady. We were sent to deliver a message to you.” The rider bows briefly, still on horseback.

I notice Cerolus next to the other horsemen, reading a scroll that if I assume correctly holds the message. I approach him, taking him by surprise as I snatch the paper out of his hands. He merely accepts it and waits by my side for me to finish reading.

“Lord Kreshorok;

My dear sister Sophia,

I am proud to announce my marriage to the Princess of Basinea, and hope that you will come to the ceremony. The ceremony will take place on the sixth day of the twelfth month of current year.

I can’t wait to see you again, my dear sister.

Your brother,

Crown Prince Renald Leonia of the Leonia Kingdom.”

I turn to Cerolus, my mouth slightly agape. My brother’s getting married! This is such a great news!

“So, I assume we are going, Sophia?”

“We are?” I ask him back, as if testing to see if he has any reason not to go.

“I don’t see a reason not to go. I’m not going to keep you away from anyone, especially your family.”

First magic, and now this, today is such a good day. I can’t wait to see my family again, it’s been too long. Three whole months after I’ve come here, I can’t even figure out how I didn’t miss them so much.

“The wedding is in two weeks, so we have plenty of time to prepare for the journey.

And as for you, you’re welcome to stable your horses in the town for the night,” he turned towards the messengers, after which they promptly rode out of the Gardens. I don’t know what they were afraid of. Cerolus, maybe? He does give off a fierce look sometimes.

“And I think you’d need a visit from the tailor. You need a dress.”

“But I like the black one with the gemstones.”

“Really? Then that is taken care of, one less thing to have to pay for.” How does he even GET money? I never bothered to try and question Cerolus’ wealth. I myself never needed to use it, nor do I have any insight into how money works in Dralarag. I assume he’s wealthy if he had this castle built, especially considering how old he is, but I never checked.

I don’t even know if I could actually take care of any of the things here if he wasn’t around. What would happen if he had to go somewhere without me? The whole place would crumble apart.

But why am I thinking about money now? My brother is getting married, I get to see my family again, the Palace, everything! It’s going to be so amazing, I can feel it!