Leo woke up in his room. He could remember the test, but he didn't know how much had he been sleeping. He felt stupid for always ending up just too tired and not being able to keep up till the end, but he felt strangely good that morning so he changed to the usual clothes, and went downstairs. He met Ly there, while she was cooking something.
- Good morning Leo. It's nice to see you awake already. We didn’t know how much would you sleep.
- Good morning Ly… it smells good.
- Yeah, it seems to be coming out well. Will you want some?
- Sure.
When Andur went back into the house, they all ate and talked for a bit, then he asked Leo to follow him outside.
- So Leo, are you ready to start practicing?
- I think so. I woke up in a good mood today.
- Nice. It seems you have already figured out how to trigger your eye, but that way of opening it will not work for discrete usages. It’s meant as a protective measure for the body, and it will draw all the spiritual energy it can reach, without limit, and quickly build an aura, but that means it uses a lot of energy and anyone with a little experience will notice the disturbance really fast. There is a better way to open your eye. It requires a bit of practice, but once you learn it, it will be a lot easier. Just remember: never use a trigger unless you are in a hurry, and doing it the normal way is not an option. Now, sit there, looking at me.
Leo and Andur sat down one in front of the other, with a few meters distance between them.
- Now, close your eyes and do what I tell you. - Leo did. - Relax your body… empty your mind… and breathe deeply.
With the eyes closed, Leo started to breath deeper, trying to remove everything from his mind. At first he couldn’t stop thinking about other things, and was getting distracted easily, but after a few minutes he reached a state of calm. Andur noticed it, and talked to him.
- Ii seems your spirit is in calm now. Look at me, but don't open your eyes, instead, try to use your spirit… don't force it, just let it go… no one has done it fast… it could even take hours, so don't rush it.
At the beginning, Leo couldn't see anything other than the shadows and highlights through his eyelids. He had that strange mood that day which helped him keep that calmed state, and don’t lose the patience. He only had one thing in his mind: trying to see. After some minutes, some faint flashes started to appear in his mind... flashes which didn't come from his eyes. Those flashes started to become stronger and more defined. He could see the shape of things... a bee flying, the figure of a tree dancing in the wind… a butterfly... a lot of other kinds of smaller and bigger living things, some fast, some slow, but all of them had a pulsing light which made them what they were. He then saw a really faint silhouette just in front of him… he looked around and noticed another one from the direction where the house was.
- I can see... everything...
With his eyes still closed, he saw a butterfly flying near him. He raised his hand, trying to catch it, and the butterfly flew away, scared.
- Nice... it has been faster than I expected... you really are special, boy.
- Thank you. Why is your spirit so faint?
- You noticed that? That means you really can see. I did it on purpose, as a test. Anyone could pretend to see, but only a fully open, and trained, eye can appreciate the spirit of a person who decides to conceal it. You just started, so I didn't reduce it all I can - Andur reduced the aura of the spirit so much that Leo couldn't notice it anymore -. Can you see it now?
- No...
- Right now, only someone who had mastered magic could detect me. You will probably need years of practice before you can reach that level of subtleness - his spirit went back to a normal brightness -. Concealing your spirit can be really useful in some situations but, just like using magic, it uses energy, so it will get you tired. - He breathed deeply. - Now that your eye is open, and you are still relaxed, let's try to start with the simplest magic... wind. Do you remember the word for wind?
- I think... Saa. Right?
- Yes. Good. Now you will have to teach your brain how to tell the spirit to control the wind, and learn to recall it when you think of the word 'Saa'. As you should remember, we do this because in stressed situations it's hard to keep your mind clear, and words are the best way to link memories. This will become easier to you once you get used to it, but it might be hard this time. Look at my spirit, watch it use wind magic, and try to copy me. Imitation is the fastest way to learn, and words are the fastest way to remember, never forget this.
After that, Andur raised his hand, with the palm upwards, and suddenly, the breeze that was flowing became stronger, and Leo could see a really faint red light in it.
Then he looked closely, and noticed something which extended out from Andur’s body, something which could only be described as long light tentacles.
He knew he had to do the same so he tried to tell his spirit to do it. He thought about moving the wind. Remembered wind is just the air around him moving, so he tried to tell the air to move. He tried to ask every atom of air around him to move forward. Then his spirit reacted... its glow changed from faint white to red, and the air started revolving around him, like a whirlwind. Leo told himself to relax, stopped moving that wind, and started again, with less strength and more direction. After a few attempts he learned how to tell the air what direction he wanted it to go, and how fast. With every attempt, he kept repeating the same name in his head, the name he wanted to link to that feeling... Saa.
- You are doing well, Leo. It's impressive how fast you are learning. It looks like you are gifted for this. That might be a result from having a completely white spirit... Now let's try with a different one. You have learned how to make the wind move, where you used energy manipulation magic to give energy to the air and make it move. Given the kind of spirit you have, you could be just as good as handling blue magic, so let's see if you can do like me, and summon water from the river near the house. To do that, just like you could order the wind to move, you will have to try to call the water, but not tell it to move, just make it appear here. Try it without my help first... do you know the name?
- Khir? - Leo said the word, and Andur moved his head affirmatively.
Leo closed his eyes again, and relaxed. He had to call the water, but to do that he had to know where to find the water. He breathed deeply, and slowly. With his eye, he chose to find the water. He looked around him in all directions, trying to find the flow of the river. Water isn’t alive, so he didn’t have to look at the water itself, but at all the live which exists in it. After a few minutes, he found it. Then he raised both of his hands and called that water to him.
He wanted the water to appear in his hands, to flow from them. He sent that message to his spirit. And awaited for an anwer. Then his hands started to feel wet, but nothing else. He did manage to call a few drops of water, but he needed more. He needed a flow of water. He tried again, adding more strength to the message, but while he did call some more water, it was still only a small amount, and not a flow. He had to stop and breathe a few times to regain the relaxation. Then he tried to figure out what could go wrong.
And after a bit he realized the answer: Continuity. He was calling water, but just once. He needed to keep calling, more and more, until he had enough.
So he tried again, but this time instead of just calling it, he continued to call and give energy to the spirit, so it could summon more. He created a flow of energy through his spirit, which converted into a flow of water from his hands. The water started to fall from Leo’s hands into the ground, until the puddle of water reached his pants. The surprise broke the concentration, and with it, the flow was gone.
- Ah! Cold! - said Leo. And Andur laughed -
- Nice. You really are fast learning... even without my help! As you will have noticed, this type of magic needs a constant magic level, this makes it a bit harder to control, so you will need to practice more until you can control it properly. You are wet, and probably tired, so we will stop training for today, and I will give you the rest of the day to relax and get those words written into your head. We will continue tomorrow.
Leo got up, and went into the house to change and relax. As Andur had said, he was really tired form just that small training.
After that day, the training continued every day. New words, with new effects… he learned many things in the following days. But the training wasn’t only about magic. Combined with energy, matter and space manipulation, he also trained spirit control, and didn’t stop the body training even one day.
One day, after three weeks, Andur told him instead of training, he would take him to the city. He was happy for the change, because as much as he loved magic, he was getting tired from all the training. And since the day he went to that world, he had never seen a city or town. Ly told them she would also go, as she had some things to do in the city.
The three of them left soon after dawn. Andur used space manipulation magic to open a portal which led them to a big, circular hall with many other portals opening and closing. Andur explained Leo they had some strong magic bindings in that place, which prevented two portals from ever opening in the same spot.
The hall of portals was in the third floor of a bigger building someone decided to call the 'meeting point'. Leo thought it must have been the same guy who named the fridge substitute, but didn’t give it any other thought. They went out, and let Leo look at the city a bit.
The city seemed big. It extended as far as he could see from where he was. Most houses and buildings were usually of only one level, but some of them stuck out with a second or even a third floor. There was, however, one building bigger and taller than all the others. It was surrounded by a tall wall, and had many smaller towers around a bigger one. Leo couldn't tell if he was looking at a castle, or a cathedral, or something completely different, but he was admiring it too much to ask.
Andur told Leo they had to leave, and started to walk downstairs.
The building was made of white stone with a lot of drawings in the walls, and had three floors. The floors were connected by stairs in the outer side, and each level had four doors, one in each cardinal direction.
As they walked down, Leo noticed the second floor was closed, and warning messages were placed in the doors, asking people to not enter for any reason. He was curious as to what could be there, but didn’t see any reason to disobey the warning, especially because he didn’t know that city, and if he lost Andur and Ly, he wouldn’t know where to look for them.
They kept walking down, and when they reached the lower level, Leo saw it was a big hall just the same size of the one they arrived to, full of tables and chairs, in a shape resembling a restaurant, but without any bar or waiter. Even like that, there were many people sitting, some were alone, waiting, others chatting, and occasionally a few people could be seen near floating balls with liquids of varied colors.
There was a big street that connected the meeting point with that big place. It had trees on the sides, and just as many other people, they were talking on it. After a bit, Ly said she had things to do in a different direction, and left. Leo and Andur continued to walk towards that big building, until they reached a big door in the wall which separated the building from the rest of the city.
- Sir Andur! - said a man coming from their left - How nice seeing you around, it has been a while! Is there some important matter needing the attention of the Order?
- Nothing worth telling, that's for sure. I just want to show this boy how things work in this world.
- Oh? Let me accompany you, I might be able to help with that.
- I'm sure of it. Come, we are heading for the cathedral; I want to show him the Blaar.
Leo was surprised to hear Andur being called 'sir', and supposed it was just out of respect.
They walked a bit more until they reached the gates of the cathedral, that were guarded by two men.
- Identify yourselves please - said one of the guards -.
- Do I need to? - said Andur -
When the guard noticed him, his face changed to a state between fear and surprise, then he quickly turned around and looked up to the gate workers.
- Open the gates to Andur, the High Bladir of Naar!
That title shocked Leo more than anything else, as he had read about the Order of the Bladir, but never expected Andur to be part of it, and even less to be so high in it! There are only four persons with the title of 'High Bladir', one for each of the main spirit colors, red, green, blue, and silver, and the only one between them and the gods is Supreme Bladir. Naar was the ancient goddess of time and space, and that attributed Andur the title of the most knowledgeable expert on time/space manipulation. Suddenly, Leo had an answer for some of his questions, like how could Andur save them from the cave without suffering any damage, or why did he have such strict test to accept a disciple.
When the gates were completely open, they walked into the cathedral walls. As he had seen from the meeting point, there was a bigger central tower with smaller towers around, but inside the walls, those towers didn't seem small at all. Leo noticed the bottom part of the central tower had no doors of windows at all, and guessed it was a security measure. In the case some invasion tried to reach the central tower, they would have to go through the few doors in other towers. They walked to one of the smaller towers, and they had to do a short ritual in to clean their spirit, before they were allowed to go to the central tower. To reach it, they had to use a bridge many meters above the ground.
Leo noticed everyone in the tower bowed before Andur, as he walked, and it made him respect even more the person who had been training him.
Partly because he didn’t want to get too close to Andur in front of other people, and partly because he was observing all the kinds of details placed in all the walls, columns, doors and windows of that tower, without realizing it, Leo found himself walking a few steps behind Andur.
They reached some stairs in the back of the building and walked up through them. Then they had to talk through a long corridor near the outer walls of the tower, to reach a big door in the opposite side.
When Andur knocked at the door, and opened it, Leo could see a big circular room which, from his calculations, occupied the whole space in the center of the tower, only surrounded by the corridor around it, and the outer walls. In the room there were many seats. There were four groups of ten seats at the inner, bottom rows, in the shape of half a circle, and each of the four groups had a bigger, upper seat behind them. At the opposite side of the room, there was some kind of throne. The door where they went in through was in the opposite side to that throne, with two groups of seats in each side. Leo noticed all the seats except one were being used, and Leo realized that the missing person was most probably Andur.
Unlike what he expected, the people of the order didn't wear any uniforms, marks or drawings that could identify them as being part of a specific position in the order. Even the Supreme Bladir, one or the more important persons of that world, if not the most, was wearing casual clothes.
When the people in the room heard them enter, they stopped talking, and looked at him. The doors closed behind them, and Leo noticed the man that was with them didn't enter the room.
- I am sorry for my lateness, your Supremacy Khaar - said Andur with a strong voice -. I was busy with other matters that delayed me. And he is one of them - he said, while looking at Leo -, as I will tell you when the moment comes. For now I will sit in my place and let the Blaar continue. - Andur looked at Leo and continued in a softer voice - You stay here. Don't sit, don't talk, don't walk, and try to make it seem like if you weren't here at all. It won't take long.
Even if it didn't take more than an hour, Leo had troubles to keep himself that way. His legs were tired of staying all that time in the same place, and he was really bored, so he ended up thinking about some of the ancient words he had learned in the past days. He was so concentrated in his thoughts he didn't notice Andur had walked to the center of the room, and was talking in there.
- ... no special events have taken place in the eastern area. I came today to present you, against what most of us thought after the incident three years ago, my latest, and probably last disciple - the people had varied reactions, but the most general one was surprise -. His name is Leonard, and he is a visitor from our brother world, Kthalen, or as they call it, Earth.
Andur looked at Leo and made a movement with his hand telling him to go where he was. Leo walked slowly, trying not to trip over because his tired legs, and happy to be able to move at least. When he reached the center of the room, the Supreme Bladir, Khaar, talked.
- Welcome to the Blaar, boy - said the Supreme Bladir with his soft, melodic voice, before looking at Andur -. How come you decided to accept a new disciple, Andur? I thought you didn't want to do the test anymore? Did you accept him without a proper test?
- No, no. I accepted him because he is special. I saw his power in use before the test, and even if it was rough and without control, the potential was there. He did pass the test.
- Special? - Said a High Bladir - This is an uncommon word around here, Andur. How come you consider him… special?
- Do you not trust my judgment?
- In the position I am, I have to doubt that 'specialness' of him.
- Then, why don't you test it? - said a voice coming from the other side - make him show us his power!
- Good idea. Leonard! If you really want to be part of this world, you will need us to accept you in it. And for that to happen, you will have to show me your power. The one which made Andur use that rare word!
Leo was somewhat scared, and he was getting ready to open his eye, when Khaar interrupted him.
- Not so fast. Rhuar, I know I can’t stop you now, but if you suddenly started to fight in here, you could break something! Let's first turn this into a better place for this little demonstration.
And with a small movement of his hand, the whole place changed around them. The seats around the center moved away and the center of the room became big. Also the walls disappeared completely, letting them see the sky of the morning, with a few clouds, and the shining sun.
Everyone in the room moved in their seats, and even Andur, that was near him, moved away with them. The change in the room left Leo and the High Bladir, Rhuar, in the middle of a big area where nothing would disturb them.
That change in the place somehow calmed Leo, and replaced the fear with a strange excitation he had never felt. Rhuar wanted to see his power, and he would show him.
- Show me! - shouted Rhuar while he opened his eye, showing a big red aura - Show me your spirit!
Leo didn't doubt to do the same as Rhuar, and while he knew how to avoid using a trigger, he couldn't stop himself from doing it the showy way. He closed his eyes, searched the point, and talked to his spirit.
- Open! Let… me… see! Now!
His aura then exploded in white, getting a surprise in everyone's eyes. The surprise in Rhuar's face didn't last long, replaced with a crazy smile.
- White? You really are special, Leonard! But that will not be enough! It is a never-seen thing, but the aura will not prove your worth. Show me your real power!
After saying that, some red tentacles seemed to appear from Rhuar's hand, soon converted into an uncountable amount of sparks, and at the same time he started to run towards Leo.
Leo concentrated to recall all what he had learned the past weeks: It was electricity, so he would just ground it away. He recalled what he knew about matter manipulation, and built a steel shield between him and Rhuar.
Rhuar hit the steel, and his attack vanished into the ground, but he didn’t hesitate, and soon enough he was already running around the shield with both his fists bursting in flames.
Leo ran in the opposite direction, while thinking of a way to stop the master of energy manipulation.
- You are good! - Yelled Rhuar - I might even enjoy this! Show me more!
Rhuar was about to reach Leo, and he had to use wind to push himself away. Then he recalled a waterfall right in front of Rhuar’s fists, and after it used wind again to pull himself upwards in a big jump.
While he was starting to think about something, he started to fall, and had to use wind again to slow himself before he reached the ground. Then he started to run again, because Rhuar was already behind him.
Leo realized all he had been done until that moment was defend, and he thought maybe he would have a bit more luck attacking.
Instinctively, he turned around pushing himself again, this time directly towards Rhuar. He then created a bunch of icy spears and threw them. To which Rruar defended, easily melting them into a thin rain.
Leo then tried a few times, with varying types of matter, but none was effective enough to even touch Rhuar. He started to get nervous from his failing tactics, and lost the concentration.
Rhuar was outrunning him quick and without a plan, Leo reacted to the attack with the first thing which appeared in his head: fire. Leo created a ball of fire, and directed it towards Rhuar, at the same time Rhuar was doing the same.
- Wrong! – yelled Rhuar.
The collision from the two attacks produced a huge explosion, and the blast wave pushed both Leo and rhuar back a few meters. Rhuar was fast enough to soften the fall, but Leo didn’t react in time. And fell on his back hitting the solid ground. When he tried to get up after the flames vanished, the pain didn't let him, and he had to stay in the ground, breathing irregularly.
- You are good, Leonard. You lack training and experience, but you are indeed special. Now I understand why Andur decided to take the chances and make you take the test. You made a mistake today, which in a real fight of powers could have been paid with your life. From now on, remember: never go against a master with his own element. I could have easily made your fire turn against you, and burn you to death.
- Are you okay? - Said a female voice near them - That hit in the back could have broken something. Let me look at it.
- I can’t move... it hurts too much.
Leo recognized the woman. She was in one of the High Bladir seats. Would that mean she was the silver master, the High Bladir of Eanel?
The woman opened his eye, and Leo felt how she looked at his body, or more specifically, inside it.
- There are a few things broken, Leo, but nothing I can't fix - said she with a smile – Thinking about it, there's really few things I can't fix. Can you roll a bit, and stay on your side?
With great pain, Leo managed to do what she asked, and felt terribly tired just from being in that position. The woman softly touched his back, and Leo could feel her magic flowing into his body, fixing it. After a few moments, the flow vanished, and the pain was gone, he was left with almost no energy left. He got up from the ground, and noticed the room was back to normal, but now almost empty.
After a few steps, his legs couldn't hold him anymore, and he was about to fall, but Andur grabbed him, and held him.
- You will need some rest after this. After all, it was your first fight. You did well Leo, I didn't expect Rhuar to be so impulsive, but I also didn't expect you to hold up so well against him. Let's go.
Leo, helped by Andur, walked to the meeting point, where they found Ly waiting for them. After sitting a bit there and resting a bit, while Andur explained Ly what happened, they walked upstairs and used a portal to go back to their house. Leo was so tired he didn't even want to eat anything, so he just went to bed, and fell asleep almost instantly.