Chapter V

Having finished thirteen pages of the tome, Azrael finally got to a page that taught a spell. Page fourteen of the Novices' Guide to Fire Magic had a spell that he could learn. The spell was Firebolt. This spell would create a ball of fire that was about the size of an adult man's fist. This ball of fire would then be propelled forward rather quickly and impact the caster's target. However, upon contact it would not explode. According to the tome, this was the difference between Firebolt and Fireball.

The basic chant for fire magic was: Adara, God of Fire, grant me your power so that I may turn my foes into ash. Once you finish the chant you would then speak the spells name. 'Alright, this is rather simple...Huh, I wonder why Soul Drain and Life Drain don't have a chant? Did the god of death forget to include it? Eh, no matter. I better head outside to test this spell. I don't want to burn the house down.' Azrael placed the tome into his ring. He then stood up and proceeded outside towards the skeletons that were standing in ranks.

Once there he inspected the skeletons once more. There didn't seem to be a change. He even tried ordering them again, but to no avail. 'Whatever, I suppose they'll make good targets.' Azrael stood about 5 meters away from them. He raised his hand and said, “Adara, God of Fire, grant me your power so that I may turn my foes into ash. Firebolt.”

Immediately after he finished saying the spells name, a ball of fire the size of an adult man's fist swiftly shot forth from his hand and impacted a skeleton in the shoulder. The skeleton jerked backwards and bumped into the one behind it. After a moment it recovered and moved back to stand in rank with the others.

'Hmm, not too bad. It had some good force behind it. But there doesn't seem to be much damage inflicted to the skeleton, just a hairline fracture...Hmm, then again it's all bone. If it was flesh, it probably would have been burned and a fracture even if it's a hairline one is still better then nothing.' He thought to himself as he observed the results of the spell.

He raised his hand towards the skeletons again, “Adara, God of Fire, grant me your power so that I may turn my foes into ash. Firebolt.” Once more he chanted the spell and upon finishing, a Firebolt the same size as the previous one darted forth from his hand. It impacted the same skeleton, however instead of the shoulder this time it hit the skeleton's sternum causing it to be blasted off of its feet and crashing into the skeleton behind it. 'Hmm, this spell has a good amount of force behind it. It could actually have such an effect on that skeleton. Guess I should work on my accuracy though...I was aiming for its head with that last one.'

 Azrael practiced the firebolt spell for hours. As he was practicing he would end up feeling tired or drained. This was the effect of running out of mana. Once he felt like this, he meditated for about a quarter of an hour before his mana would be replenished. Thus, he practiced until he ran out of mana and then immediately meditated. Repeating this cycle, hours had passed.

The sun was beginning to set, when he decided to stop practicing. Looking over the results he couldn't help but shake his head. 'Hours of practice yet, I only hit the skeleton's head maybe twelve times total. Definitely need to improve my accuracy.' The skeleton he had been using as a target was covered in fractures all over its bones. 'Although my accuracy barely improved at least I was able to see just how effective this Firebolt spell is and just how many I can cast at the moment, before I run out of mana. Ten...wish it was more but for now it will do.'

If any mage could hear Azrael's thoughts right now, they would shake their head and cover their face with their palm out of sheer disbelief. For an ordinary mage whom was a beginner, being able to cast a single Firebolt with a handful of failed attempts, the moment after they learned the spell, would be considered good. Being able to cast ten while having just learned the spell, with no failed attempts at casting it and with no previous training...this was extraordinary. 'The sun's setting...hmm...' He looked over to where the two charred corpses of the mages were. He walked over and picked up their staves, 'This'll do as a makeshift torch for a bit.'

 Finished with his practice he returned to the house that he had previously been in. Once there, he sat down at the table and placed one of the staves on the table. The other he held in his hand and begun to recite the chant to cast a Firebolt while pointing at the top of the staff. Once he finished casting the spell, a firebolt flew out from the tip of his finger and impacted the top of the staff shattering it. However, the part of the staff that was left had caught fire.

'I suppose this will last for a little while.' He thought as he was holding the makeshift torch. Satisfied with his creation, he took out the Novices' Guide to Fire Magic. Another hour passed as he finished reading the tome. In that hour, he had to use the other staff as a torch. 'Hmm, only two spells in this tome...well I suppose it is the Novices' Guide.' The tome he had just finished reading only contained two spells: Firebolt and Fireball. Fireball, this spell would create a ball of fire that was about the size of an adult man's head. It would then be propelled through the air towards the caster's target. Upon contact it would explode.

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Besides just the two spells, the rest of the tome gave an introduction into the ways of manipulating fire that already existed, as well as fire that was in the form of spells, with mana. This would allow one to change the course of their spell once it was already launched through the air. As well as slightly impair an enemy's spell that was coming towards oneself.

One final area that this tome touched upon was how to increase the power and speed of a spell by injecting more mana into it. However it didn't go into much detail as it stated: to be continued in Vol. II Intermediate's Guide to Fire Magic. 'Hmm well I suppose I should go practice Fireball now.' As he thought this, he stood up and proceeded out of the house.

 Standing in front of the skeletons again at about 5 meters away, Azrael thought, 'Let's see just how powerful a Fireball is..' Raising his hand he chanted, “Adara, God of Fire, grant me your power so that I may turn my foes into ash. Fireball.” Right as the word Fireball left his mouth, a ball of fire the size of an adult man's head appeared in front of his hand, lighting up the surrounding area.

It hovered for half a second before it vaulted across the air and collided with the same skeleton he had used for target practice earlier in the chest. Upon impact the fireball exploded in a brilliant flash of light, shattering the skeleton into pieces. 'Wow, that was pretty destructive. Hmm but maybe it was because that skeleton was already fractured all over the place. Only one way to be sure.'

Aiming his hand at another skeleton he chanted the spell once more. A fireball the same size as before appeared in front of his hand. It acted just like the previous one, hovering there for half a second before soaring through the air and impacting a skeleton in the chest. On impact it exploded and shatered that skeleton into pieces. 'Wow, so the Fireball spell has enough power to destroy these skeletons.'

Amazed at the results of the Fireball spell, Azrael moved his hand and aimed at one of the empty houses. He chanted the spell and watched as a fireball sailed through the air. It exploded upon impact with the house creating a rather decent sized hole in the wall and making the wall ignite. 'Yep...Fireball has a good amount of power behind it...' Is what he thought as he watched the outcome.

'Well, three fireballs and I still feel okay, let's see how many I can cast.' He continued to cast two more Fireballs at the house, littering the wall with three holes. After having cast his fifth Fireball he felt as if he was exhausted. 'Alright so at the moment I can cast either ten Firebolts or five Fireballs before I run out of mana...I don't know if this is good or bad though...'

Having figured out his current limits, he stood there and watched the fire burn as it illuminated the night sky. 'Alright, standing here watching the flames burn, isn't going to accomplish anything.' Noticing his makeshift torch was about to run out, he threw the remainder of it into the burning house as he decided to return to the house he was in before and look through some more tomes.

Azrael sat down at the table once more and searched through the contents of the ring. As he was searching he stumbled upon a tome that caught his interest. 'Oh, whats this?' He thought as he withdrew the tome. The tome appeared a little bit above the table, it fell and landed on it with a thud. Azrael pulled it closer to him. 'E-eh, what's this! How can I see so clearly right now?'

He got up and looked out the window only to find that it was still night. He could see the stars and moon. “Just what...” He uttered, as he turned around and observed the room. 'I can see everything as clear as day...amazing, it must be because of this body...Now I feel like an idiot for making those torches...' He sat back down and started to examine the tome.

 As he did so, his interest was peaked. The entire tome was black and very thick. The front cover of the tome contained no words, there was only a skull centered in the middle of the cover. He flipped the tome over to check the back of it, but it was completely blank. Flipping it back to the front he thought, 'Well, let's see what's inside.' He opened it up, when he did so, a black mist spewed forth and engulfed him just like when he had opened the thin tome.

 After a few moments the black mist was absorbed back into the tome as Azrael was unfazed. 'Huh? That again. Wonder what that was about.' Looking back to the tome, on the first page it read: The God of Death's Revised Death Magic. After reading that line Azrael grew eager. He flipped to the second page and began to read. He sat there reading for the entire night. It was already late morning by the time he stopped reading.

In all that time he was only able to read and understand about five percent of the tome. “Incredible” he uttered. 'Death Magic...as it's name implies revolves around death...I suppose I don't really have a choice in the matter...I'm an undead after all...Well I already made up my mind. If I end up becoming evil so be it...Hmm, my mana still isn't fully recovered, I guess I better meditate before I begin experimenting.' Thinking to there, he started to meditate.