The night was rather pleasant, or as pleasant as one could be when sleeping on a bed of hay with the horses. Zoe had a bed in her study, since she spent most of their sorting and filing paperwork for Gourd City Commerce. Selene had always told her to file them neat and according, but never seemed to get around to do it. The room was just a pile of papers, stacked upon various tables and shelves, with an order that only Zoe would know how to sort.
Anthony had little trouble sleeping, since he had spent many nights since becoming a hunter learning how to sleep in the wilds. It was far cry from the comfy beds of his childhood manor and sofas of the Neoptolemus National Archive, but it was manageable. Although he experienced camping out and forage extending to the vast estate of the manor, it was still very similar. What it did teach him was the value of keeping his senses more alert since the occasional wild beast was the least of his worries from the Great Beasts that roamed the wilds. It was those senses that alerted him before the break of dawn when he heard a large bell ringing in his ear.
Ring, ring, ring! The sound frightened the horses a little but not enough to break them out of their stables. Anthony reached for his knife, having forgotten he had placed it aside for the night. He woke up and saw Master Zoe ringing a large brass bell in the middle of his hay bed.
“Rise and shine, we gotta start the day before we begin to train.”
“I thought you were a professor, not a military instructor.” He groaned getting up to his feet.
“I also spent 7 years overseas fighting demons in the mainland, don’t forget.” She tapped on her wooden leg to remind him. “I may be a little slower, but these old bones have a fire still left in them. That’s why every morning I get up before dawn to greet the day.”
“...Very well Master Zoe.” He walked off with her without even grabbing his leather gear and accessories, but there was one thing that she did mention he would need.
“Oh, bring a trowel with you, it's on that shelf over there.” She pointed to a nearby shelf.
“A trowel?”
“We still got a while before daybreak, might as well check on the herb garden. See how it’s doing?”
“I thought Jason was in charge of the herbs.”
“He may grow them, but only a master of medicine knows when they’re just right for picking. Just listen while I tell you which ones to pick.”
Anthony went to a work-shelf in the stable, among several tools, he found an iron garden trowel that had been dulled and crusted with dirt. While he could have preferred a sharpened spade incase of hardened roots, he figured it would suffice for simply picking herbs. Around the corner of the stable, Zoe led Anthony where the sun could be rising in the west giving the plants great exposure for the morning sun. He dug in the dirt while Master Zoe touched each leaf, examining its color and growth. When she came to the ripe one she pointed to it and instructed Anthony to be careful so as not to damage the root or stem.
“So, what kind of herbs am I removing?” He said while digging cautiously in the dirt.
“Mostly parsley, sage, rosemary, common incenses that can be found in my soap.”
“Or in a kitchen.” Anthony mentioned.
“Yes, a lot of people don’t realize the true power of herbs that go into your daily supper.” She chuckled. “The other things are for some light remedies that the healers corps will allow, chamomile, ginger, peppermint. Lot of people think these are for simple things, but it’s the way they’re used that make them good medicine. Not unlike yourself, kid.”
Anthony smiled from the compliment, but noticed the sun was nearly breaking just when he was finished pulling out the last herb for her. He saw Master Zoe staring at the horizon of the East taking slow, smooth breaths as the sun began to peek out from over the trees and land outside the city. When the first rays hit her body, Master Zoe bowed in respect to the sun and Anthony did so too as he listened carefully to the prayer she uttered.
Stolen story; please report.
“I give thanks to you Sol, the Seventh Aster, who brought peace and unity to the second continent.” She lifted her eyes up to the sun itself staring into its bright place. “As the sun rises, let us remember all the Kings that came before you and may your light shine as bright as the dawning of the day.”
When she was done, Anthony finally felt the need to question.
“You worship the Kings of Aster, as the Empire worships the Sacred Flames, the most renowned Fire Mages in our history.” He walked alongside his master and they returned to the shop. “My mother practiced a similar custom, but to the Sacred Flames, in a very similar ritual.”
“Of course she did.” Zoe nodded. “Before the great unity, I learned that we worship the Sacred Beasts as they do in the Free States. When the Empire considered Heresy we worshiped the five Kings, each with a Sacred Beast as its coat of arms.”
“Why should it matter who or what we worship, so long as we believe in something?”
“He, he, that’s a good question, Bios.” She smirked. “Philosophies aside, let us move onto a much roomier location.”
“Aren’t you gonna open the shop?”
“I already did, the staff should arrive soon. I left them instructions where we’ll be, I told them not to interrupt me until it’s absolutely necessary.”
Together they walked off into the forest surrounding the city, leading into the wilderness, a forest that marked the edge of the slums. In that forest there was a clearing where many hunters had made camp numerous times, making it an unmarked rest area. Today, it would serve the purpose of training between master and student. It was wide as an arena, but with a wall of brush on either side. When they reached the entrance Zoe instructed Anthony to stay still while she walked over to the furthest side of the clearing.
“Tell me Bios, how do you summon fire?” She spoke as she neared her destination.
“Fire comes from the soul, which is found between the stomach and chest called the Solar Plexus. You take in air from the diaphragm and exhale through your breath on the first circle of fire magic known as Spark. In time it can be manifested in the hands and thrown in a sphere or Fireball, and even concentrated at the fingertips and concentrated as Torch, the last step of the outer circle.”
“A textbook answer, but you’re wrong.” She turned around to face her pupil eye to eye. “That’s not the only way to summon fire, and it’s not the way I learn how to create it.”
“How can you create fire by harnessing the power of the Soul?”
“I did it with this.” She pointed to her temples, tilted her head back and exhaled.
Anthony watched as her finger tips started to glow and she pointed to an area on the ground. In a moment the area she pointed to started to glow white as light and exploded in a small fire on the grass. As she waved her hands the fire quickly died down leaving nothing a black scorch mark in its place.
“I learned to create fire from watching the way the Wind Mages train.” She said catching her breath. “Once you learn the basics it’s simple enough to replicate the basics of Fire Magic, such as Spark...” She breathed through her nostrils and tilted head forward, breathing flames through her nostrils. “...Fireball...” She barely twitched her head and created a fireball in her hand before dispersing it. “...and Torch!” This time she only turned her eyes to her fingertips and her two fingers turned into a bright orange flare at her fingertips before these too were dispersed. “Do you understand how I was able to do that?”
“You drew on the power from the force of mind, the technique used by Wind Mages.”
“Good, I didn’t think they taught wind mages techniques in the Empire.”
“They don’t, but they have an extensive catalog of wind mage techniques and manuscripts in the National Archive just gathering dust. I believe it was to identify weakness should they encounter adversaries with similar crafts.”
“That makes sense, you did say you worked at a Library, but I never thought about the National Archives.”
“It was only the backlogs, I think my status as the general's son gave me some leverage in the position, but it did give me an opportunity to study a closer inspection of 4 inner forces that govern magic.”
“Most students and pupils I taught relied on Soul force because they could only deal with fire magic. They didn’t feel the need to keep their other forces strong, when they only needed Soul to summon fire. For me it was a necessity to learn, like when I learned to walk on one leg.” She rubbed the wood on her leg and then the flesh on her body. “I had to travel all over the Duchy to learn to draw from other forces, before I could use soul force. As I learned Mind force from the Wind Mages, I learned Body force from the Earth Mages, then Spirit Force from the Water Mages, and by the time I reached the Fifth Circle I had learned to keep all the forces needed to become a master. If only I had been born in a different time, I could have become a master in five years instead of thirteen.”
“Why didn’t you Master Zoe?”
“You’ve lived in the Duchy for two years, surely you’ve noticed that everyone here has a cast in life, and I was nobody from the Low States, where most experienced masters would move to the middle or luxury states, even the Empire if they were truly gifted. All the masters I learned from, I had to practically beg, bribe, or blackmail for their teachings...” She composed herself realizing she was getting off the real topic. “...That experience aside, I think your problem may not rely on potential, but finding the right source. On that note let’s just try them all and see what works.”