No, my faith shan’t be challenged, I must focus on the matters at hand. The cattle has more freedom now, but with such freedom also comes dangers, which need to be taken care of… I shall direct a team of special forces, ‘Inquisitors’ which will make sure that the cattle does not get any ideas.
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Kai rushed through the dark alleyways, racing against the sun, whose light illuminated the city. He hid behind his cloak, mask, and a few other articles of clothing, which would soon prove useless if he didn’t hurry. Thankfully, even in his weakened state, with the help of mana, the distance between Karfi’s bar and Barhm’s house was almost negligible. Just as the sun shone with full intensity, the bell to the door jingled softly as he stormed through it, Onyx following suit. He quickly came to a halt, and took in a relieved breath.
Looking around, he noticed that the bar was half full, with plenty of drunk clientele making Karfi run around like a madman. Natasha was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Tausi. Kai gave a simple nod to the man, who had no time to greet him properly, then dashed off toward his room, where the sun didn’t shine safe for a few minuscule crevices.
Gently closing the door, and locking it with a makeshift lock - a chair - Kai took off his mask and fell on the bed. Almost melting in the cushions, the adrenaline from his body fading as he felt safe. With a heavy sigh, he placed one arm over his eyes, then removed it as he stared into the dark void of the ceiling.
A shiver ran down his spine as he recalled the horrific three days he spent as Barhm’s lab rat, and vowed to himself to take better care of his body, to the best of his ability. So many things to do… so little time. And that was his last conscious thought as he fell into a deep sleep.
…
The next evening, a warm, wet tongue, and a smelly breath crashing against his face quickly awoke Kai from his slumber. Wiping the saliva off his face, he reluctantly got up and yawned lazily. A soft smile creased his lips as he pat Onyx’s fluffy head. The Obborik’s tail wagged with happiness, and the two stood like that for a couple of minutes. However, Kai’s thoughts were elsewhere, and his companion placed his snout on his leg after climbing onto the bed.
My body may be weak right now but my mana core and star are full. Training is out of the question, as I just advanced toward a Mid Rank One Star Mage, advancing further will require a lot of effort… and pain.
Without mana pills it will take me forever to reach the bottleneck, so Barhm is my only chance right now. However, even if I can’t train my Body Mage Spells, I can still train my Mage Spells. He sighed, standing up with a determined expression. I’ve yet to seriously train that side of me besides the little I did with Elly, and that was just the basic spells.
However, a smirk soon decorated his pale face, and he put his mask on as the door opened. I have six elements, after all, it’s about time I put them to good use. With that thought in mind, he left his lodging, and the bar’s door creaked as he stepped through.
As soon as he showed himself, Natasha and Tausi rushed over to greet him. The little girl had a face full of smiles, and tightly held in her tiny hands was a drawing. “Look, look!” She said, her tiny, high-pitched voice sounding as excited as a puppy.
Shoving the picture in Kai’s face, he wasn’t able to make sense of what she drew. Thankfully, Natasha quickly picked up the little girl and smiled softly. “There Tausi, calm down, you’re scaring him.” She said, taking the drawing from her hands. “Sorry for that, she’s really excited to show you what they taught her at school.”
“School?” Kai questioned, raising an eyebrow behind his mask.
“Yeah, the local church has classes every first, third, and last day of the week. The nuns took to teaching the children the letters and numbers, as much as they can.” She explained, glancing at the little girl with a tender look. “Today was her second day learning the alphabet. Thankfully Karfi didn’t neglect that so she knew the letters, but had trouble putting words together.”
“Why couldn’t she go before?”
“Well…” Natasha bit her lower lip, the tip of her ears turning red as she forced out the next few words. “It’s not exactly… free. A donation per lesson is required, if you understand. “
Hearing that, Kai sighed and looked at Karfi, whose clientele only increased from that morning to this evening. “Does he ever take breaks nowadays?”
Natasha chuckled, as she too, looked in the man’s direction. “I doubt so, he closes during the night, but besides that, he’s been very busy. Don’t get me wrong, he’s happy, but not used to it anymore.” A light sigh escaped her lips as she turned back to the boy, and showed him the drawing.
On the small piece of paper, the rough outline of a large wolf with grayish white fur and yellow eyes was messily illustrated, accompanied by his name, written in mangled letter - Onyx -. A light smile broke out on Kai’s face, and he reached out to pat the little girl’s head. However, his eyes flew toward Natasha’s skin for a brief second, then toward her most vulnerable spot, the neck. He quickly pulled back his hand and looked away, then cleared his throat.
“That’s amazing, she’s so smart at such a young age.” Was all he could muster to say before he excused himself, and rushed out the door as quickly as possible. Onyx followed him, and Natasha looked at him with a strange expression, then shook her head and put Tausi down.
…
Kai skipped all formalities as he rushed out of the city, only stopping after a couple hundred meters, at which point he found himself deep into the forest. Surrounded by trees and darkness, he felt safe enough to partially uncover his face, and he coughed violently, to the point of falling to his knees.
Bringing a sleeve to his mouth, he tried to calm down the coughing, however, it was useless, and it only ended after about five minutes. At that point, his pale face turned red, and trace amounts of blood littered his shirt and the blades of grass.
What the hell?! He cursed inwardly as he got up, Onyx whimpering softly at his feet. “I’ll be alright,” Kai reassured his companion and slowly walked through the forest.
That night proved especially quiet, as not even the nocturnal birds made a sound. The eerie silence brought a weird sense of comfort to Kai, who slowly made his way through the treacherous, unmarked terrain. Shortly after, the sound of running water rang in his mind, turning more violent as he walked forward.
Eventually, the harmonic song of the river turned into a murderous orchestra, that had no dirigeur or sense of rhythm. Approaching the source of the sound, a tall, impressively wide waterfall greeted his senses. The thundering sound of crashing water bombarded his hearing, and the sweet, almost fishy aroma made him lick his lips.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The waterfall itself looked like a dark wall, illuminated only by the gentle rays of moonlight, which it reflected. At its base, a clear, calm pool formed, flowing into the river and feeding into the town. Flowers of yellow, light blue, and red that glowed with a phosphoric light stood near it, and they nodded gently to the currents of air it created.
Taking a deep breath, Kai ran his fingers through Onyx’s fur as he incited the Obborik to walk forward. The cold air created by the waterfall sent an icy feeling throughout his body, and the tall grass swayed gently, brushing past his legs as he approached the furiously flowing water. He didn’t dare get too close, however it was close enough that he couldn’t even hear himself breathe.
Smiling softly, Kai sat down crosslegged, slouching slightly. He turned to Onyx and gestured him to come close, and the Obborik did as told without any hesitation. Patting his fluffy head, a glint shone within Kai’s crimson pupils and decided to send a small amount of mana to Onyx.
Doing so put the Obborik into a slight panic, however, he quickly settled down, and fully accepted his companion’s ‘touch’. Onyx’s entire mana system revealed itself within Kai’s mind as soon as he was accepted, and, little to his surprise, found that they shared a somewhat similar structure. Four mana veins from his extremities, and another one from his neck, meeting in the center of the chest in a core situated close to the heart.
However, unlike Kai’s core, Onyx’s was smaller, and had no stars or any sign of talent, just the core itself. Interesting, Kai commented inwardly.
Interesting? A sudden voice that was not his own, yet ringing within his mind, startled Kai. The loss of concentration caused his mana to go haywire inside Onyx’s body, at which point he yelped and backed off slightly.
“I’m sorry!” Kai quickly leaped to hug Onyx, whose nervous disposition didn’t allow him to stay still. “It’ll be alright, forgive me.” His companion’s soothing voice made his ears perk, and he quickly settled down, only letting out a light whimper upon putting his snout on Kai’s shoulder. “That won’t happen again, alright?” The Obborik sat down, his tail wagging slightly. Kai separated himself and exhaled heavily after taking a deep breath. Just what was that, my imagination, perhaps? He brushed it off and stretched his arms, then glanced at Onyx.
“Hey, boy,” Kai called out softly.
“Woof?”
“Show me what you can do, why don’t you? I remember you had wind magic and the ability to nullify it, right? Show me what else you’ve learned.”
“Woof!”
Onyx’s tail wagged as he stood up, his size increasing back to his actual one, which towered over Kai. Damn… The boy thought as he looked up at his companion, who he hadn’t seen in his true form for a good couple of months. Not even since we left Evicario, and he wasn’t this big… they grow up so fast. He almost shed a tear, however couldn’t due to the chuckle escaping his body as soon as he finished that thought. The Obborik didn’t understand the humor in the situation, nor could he read Kai’s thoughts, so he just did as instructed.
His body glowed with a faint light, and a light air current lifted Kai’s hair before another, stronger one completely disheveled it. Onyx dashed off into the distance, his figure disappearing into a blur that reappeared fifty meters away. What the… he’s even faster than me! To think I was the one slowing him down? However, Kai’s time to be shocked wasn’t over yet, as Onyx turned toward a tree, seemingly copying Kai, and opened his mouth. A muffled howling sound reverberated in the air, however, it wasn’t the howl of a wolf, but of the wind, seemingly from a tornado. The Obborik barked, seemingly firing off an arrow as the wind whistled, and in the next second the tree before him shuddered.
Shortly after, it collapses, clashing against other trees, breaking branches, and scaring off any fauna present in the area. With a mouth agape, Kai watched Onyx walk toward a thicker part of the grass, where tall bushes, flowers, and other herbs grew. He pulled his head back, then pointed his snout toward the gathering. With a long sough, the plants all got uprooted, flower petals and severed blades of grass flying about as the entire patch cleared out, leaving behind wet dirt. Then, Onyx wagged his tail, and in two long strokes, all vegetation within the left and right of him rustled. Afterward,d he turned to Kai, his simple expression meeting his companion’s shocked pupils, and arfed loduly, his tail wagging normally.
What the fuck? Was the only thought Kai had in his head as he watched all this happen in the span of less than fifteen minutes. When the, how? He couldn’t bring himself to understand how Onyx, who basically never left his side -Well except in Evicario when I had no time for him, and he probably hung around with Aina… or when I got kidnapped… or on many of my outings… Hm. These moments quickly put his mind to rest, and he watched the Obborik approach him with a content expression. Looks like he’s smarter than me… how do Magical Beasts even measure their strength?
However his train of thought quickly broke as a sudden feeling of heaviness startled him awake, and he found himself lying flat on the floor, with a large Obborik over him. His drool dripped down his tongue, landing wherever on Kai’s face. “Can you get off me now?”
Onyx replied with a large lick, coating Kai’s pale skin with saliva.
…
“Fwah!” Kai exclaimed, resurfacing from the freezing cold water that was in the pond right below the waterfall. His blistered, wounded skin turned red from the temperature. However, he didn’t seem to care as he went back in for a swim. Onyx watched from the side, tilting his head sideways. He dipped his paw inside the water, but quickly recoiled upon feeling its iciness, and stared at Kai with a bewildered expression.
Of course, Kai felt the temperature too, and his muscles shivered from it, however unlike Onyx, he shut down his self-preservation instincts. After emerging once again, he took a deep breath, and his spatial ring glowed with a soft light. The wand appeared in his hand, and he swiftly switched all the crystals for water ones. Alright… Mom mentioned that practicing magic surrounded by its physical element would make it stronger and my learning faster. It’s been… a long time since I did any actual magic.
Truly, even as an adventurer fighting against magical beasts, Kai’s usage of Onkos magic was very rare, preferring the sword over the wand in most cases. That being, despite using a wand for most of his life. I must have gotten really used to it in a year or two… Regardless, he put those thoughts aside and stood still. When casting water magic, one takes the water mana from the air, however, whilst near any body of water… All six crystals on his wand shone with a light full of splendor, and the water within the pond stirred. In a matter of seconds, a small column rose and gathered into a ball, floating calmly, seemingly waiting for Kai’s orders. A light smirk creased his lips, and, eyeing Onyx, sent the ball flying directly toward him.
Without any time to react, the young Obborik got hit squarely in the face by a few cubic centimeters of icy cold water. “Awooo…” He cried, annoyed, and quickly used wind magic to dry himself, which only made it worse.
“You need to use fire magic as well, dummy.” Kai jokingly mocked his companion from a distance and quickly pulled out a rather large fire crystal. Throwing it to the shore, Onyx approached it apprehensively but quickly cuddled around it after a couple of sniffs. “Arfffrrr…” He grumbled, however, quick to forgive, and fell asleep around the warmth.
So cute… Kai thought, dazed for a second, however he quickly turned his attention to the important things. Alright, so I can pull water from natural bodies to use instead of calling upon the mana in the air… easy enough. He cleared his throat and murmured under his breath as he lowered his wand in a circular motion. As soon as he did so, water rose and formed a circular, shield-like shape in front of him. Giving it a light punch, Kai hissed in pain, his knuckles had turned red from the briefest touch. Nice!
Waving his hand, he undid the spell, and quickly began another one. His whispers reverberated in the air, and the water crystals shimmered, however, nothing happened even as his muffled voice died down. After a few seconds, he cringed and sighed. I have to say it out loud, don’t I…
Taking in a deep breath, and pointing the wand forward, his lips parted.
“Oh, water spirit, clear be your light, grant me thy strength… Boiling Mist!”
As he chanted, the crystals glowed, and the water temperature surrounding him quickly rose, bubbles appearing on the surface of the pond. Steam surrounded him, and, for a brief second, it almost felt like the perfect temperature to bathe in. However, that moment quickly passed, and he suddenly started feeling like a lobster, a weird aroma dashing past his nostrils. Shit!
Quickly getting out of the area he turned into a death zone, he undid the spell and waited for the boiling water to flow toward the river. Letting out a light sigh, his racing heart only beat quicker as the cold shock he got after re-emerging almost took his breath away.
*Snap
The sound of a breaking branch quickly raised his alertness, and, without waiting for the person to show up, he dove under the water, squinting toward the surface.