Zoe was in shock that Ida would take such a big risk rushing into the field of battle. She had known Ida for sometime, she was tough like her father, hardworking, and dedicated, but not careless. Much like Anthony her heart was a lot bigger than her brain which caused her to do foolish things. Now, holding a burlap bundle of Emerald Leafs, she practically tossed it to the very people they were trying to hide it from.

“Here are the herbs, just leave us alone!” She pleaded to the three mages holding Anthony.

“Ida, you fool.” Zoe called out before she was quickly interrupted.

“Hey, new guy, you want to be useful for once?” Castor stared at Notes who had been quiet through this whole exchange. “Check the goods.” He pointed to the burlap shaw.

“Y-yes, sir.” He bowed his head and rushed toward the herb bundle.

Upon unwrapping the rope and inspecting the goods, he found what appeared to be an ordinary bundle of fresh leaves. However, from an experience in the art of medicine and Wind Mage, there was a simple way to make sure that it was actually an Emerald Leaf. Aeration was the first level of Lesser Wind Mage craft, normally used for cooking and keeping plants healthy and strong, elemental healers learned that it could elicit a strong reaction from plants that had been cut off from their roots as well. When it came to Emerald leaf, a small bubble of wind could be created and injected with oxygen allowing the herbs to take on a more lively appearance, or in this case, allow Emerald Leaf for one brief moment to take on its fluorescent lime green hue.

“It’s good.” He nodded his head to his superiors.

“That’s all the herbs I could acquire, but I doubt your thieves will be contemptuous with even this much.” Zoe frowned with her wrinkled brow.

“Ha, you know us too well, granny.” Oceanus dropped Anthony to the floor face-up with little care next to Castor’s feet. “Truth be told, you mentioned it was a family heirloom, and that means this little girl knows where the rest of the plants are.”

“It’s nothing personal Ms. Gaia, but your recent bolder activities can’t go unpunished, so I’m afraid the field must be dealt with.” Castor smiled, opening and closing his fingers to play with his sparks of lightning. “You should have just been content with selling soaps and cold beverages.”

“How about it little girl, are you going to be good and show us the way?” Oceanus creeped up on her and grabbed her by the wrist.

“Don’t you dare...” Zoe cried out ready to fire a light beam right between his eyes.

“Think carefully.” Castor lowered his hand to the fallen Anthony, his hand just inches away from his chest. “One more shock could cause his heart to stop if you’re not careful.”

“Wait, you said we were here to retrieve some herbs. You never said anything about burning an entire batch of Emerald Leaf.” Notes jumped up in protest.

“The family wants to set an example, besides what’s one little field, when there is plenty more.” Castor said.

“Do you realize how beneficial this leaf is when grown naturally?” He held up the leaf for emphasis. “We should call a reclamation team, not...”

“Hey, I don’t care who your family is, but you’re not the boss around here!” Oceanus barked at him. “You wanted field experience, welcome to the real side of the family business.” He laughed as he turned back to Ida holding her hand tightly so she could escape. “Now, how about those fields?”

Ida could feel her arm getting colder with each passing second. She saw the icy breath escape from his mouth as her skin began to turn red with cold. The pain was like a series of small needles relentlessly pinching her flesh. She tried her best to escape his grip, but could not escape from his freezing grip. Zoe’s blood boiled wishing to enact a vengeance against these men attacking a defenseless teenage girl, but with Anthony’s life in the balance of Castor’s grip there was nothing she could do. If she made one wrong move, could risk Anthony’s life, a life she was not willing to do.

Anthony could barely hear the sounds of Ida crying in pain, the frustration in Master Zoe’s groans, even felt electricity near his chest raising hair on his body. Although he was beaten badly and barely able to keep his breath he tried to maintain focus on what needed to be done. At this point, he was a liability to his teacher and to this family. With his knife so far away from him, he couldn’t attack and he had no means to defend. The only thing that came to his mind was the words Master Zoe had told him that echoed into his ears louder than the sound of thunder.

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“Sometimes in a desperate situation, you’ll do something incredibly brave or stupid.” He heard Master Zoe’s voice.

With that phrase in mind he mustered up the last of his energy for one final move. His hand was wounded when he pushed through the pain and used it to grab Castor by the wrist. From this position he maneuvers his hand to his stomach instead of his chest. Then with one strong pinch to his wrist he allowed Castor to release the full force of lightning into his body.

“Ahhh! What are you doing?” Castor was shocked that someone would willingly get zapped with such force. “Do you have a death wish!”

In that moment of extreme pain and agony, Anthony could see visions of his life flash like a play of shadows. They lead him back to his childhood, the words of his mother, his father, and even wisdom he had gathered from unexpected sources giving him clarity, magic and the source of lightning.

“Your body is just a conduit, guiding it in the precise direction.” The voice of Master Orion said.

Despite Castor’s best efforts he could not break Anthony’s grip, if anything he started to grow stronger with each second. Castor’s grip could not loosen or break free as Anthony seemed to absorb the electricity within every pour of his body.

“Let go of you fool! Let go!” Castor said, feeling the strength draining from him.

His shouting of panic caused Oceanus to stop what he was doing and loosen his grip. The moment he did, Ida ran toward the woods, but before he could give chase the voice of his partner continued to call.

“Don’t just stand there, help me!” Castor commanded.

Without much thought, Oceanus ran toward his cohort pushing Notes across the shoulder.

“Don’t just stand their rookie!” He asked for his assistance.

Suddenly, all three mercenaries were surrounding Castor trying to help him pry his hand away from Anthony. No matter how hard the three of them tried they could not pull his hand away as Anthony’s conviction gave him amazing force to counter. Anthony gripped his teeth, weathered the pain of electricity in his muscles and bones as he thought about another point in his past.

“Let him learn all he wants, third, fourth or fifth circle, but what good will it do in this world?” He heard the shout of his father from his study.

Anthony tried to think of all the magic theories he had learned drawing circles after circle in his head, creating a diagram of the circles' magic. Four Circles united together and in the middle to form magic, this was the inner circle of the body. From those four circles upon four more circles form the elemental diagram, from the elemental, the material, the natural, and celestial circle, all of which branch into the four known elements. It all aligned perfectly like a row of steps, each leading on step to another.

“Sometimes, I wonder what goes on in that head of yours, Anthony.” The voice of his sister Helena whispered.

“Get him off me, get him off!” Castor practically screamed trying to kick and push Anthony’s vice like grip off him.

He was joined by Ocean who tried targeting all his weaknesses. His arms, his legs, his chest, his head, but nothing seemed to shake Anthony loose from his concentration of his determination.

All the while this was happening he kept visualizing the circles of magic, of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. By now, they were a tumbled mess of blurred lines and jumbled letters, lines blurring like a painting drenched in the rain, words trying to make sense. In the midst of all this pain, he couldn’t keep it all straight, it was too complicated to precise. As the lines became blurred, imagery became brightly a giant sphere that expanded and then contracted into the size of grain. It was at this moment that he remembered his mother’s words from so long ago.

“Those who make the impossible happen will find that anything is possible.” The sweet sound of his mother’s bedtime story, resinated like a call to arms.

“What’s happening, why isn't he letting go?” Oceanus shouted in fury as he stomped on Anthony’s limbs.

Notes who had only been trying to help pull on Castor this whole time noticed something that nobody else did. He was not looking at Castor anymore but at the point where Castor’s electrical shock made contact. It was no longer red and burning, but glowing as bright as a torch, but his body did not burn, in fact it seemed to be reforming. Zoe, through all this was too shocked to move, noticed that the wounds on his arms and legs were now closing. As if the blood on his arms and legs was evaporating back into every crevice of his body sealing the wounds as if they had never occurred.

The glow on Anthony’s body was no longer at his stomach but reached out to his torso, his chest, his limbs, and when it reached his head a sudden explosion of powered power fired in every direction. It was as if Castor had released all his power at once into Anthony but could not destroy him, it was enough to cause a Thunder Clap so loud and powerful that Caster, Oceanus, Notes, and even Master Zoe were thrown back. The ground and grass were scorched, the three miscreants were down and disoriented, while only Zoe was just far enough to see what remained from that blast. To her surprise, it was Anthony sitting up from the ground, alive and glowing with a strange unnatural white light at the center of his head.