Capítulo 4: Chapter 4
(Magic lesson)
Reskeme lay on the ground gasping for breath. His arms were throbbing and his back felt like it had sand ground into his skin. Reskeme stared up at the cloudy sky, wondering where he had gone wrong. He was so sure that Terrance's stick was out of the way when he fake attacked his leg. But just before Reskemes stick hit him, the sword appeared instantly in front of the swing. Terrance's swing felt like that one time Reskeme had gotten kicked in the stomach.
That stubborn mule had deserved it when Reskeme Punched its side and more. His only regret was he hadn't dodged its revenge kick.
Reskeme thought he could still hear the mules braying laughter as it glared at him before trotting after its owner. Oh, wait. That laugh was Terrance. His laugh really sounded like that mule. After pushing off his back, Reskeme clambered onto his feet, wobbling. Reskeme got ready for another attack, only to realize he was out of the ring and therefore had lost his challenge.
Grumbling at this predicament, Reskeme asked, "how in the hell did you block that attack?"
"I'm just that fast and you are just that slow." said Terrance, grinning widely.
"You need more speed and better tactics to get a hit on me. You will need to develop your skill for years before you will have a chance of touching me with that glorified walking stick." said Terrance, rocking on the balls of his feet.
"I may not be very good at magic and rituals. Fighting and weapons are my specialty. I am the best in our guild." said Terrance proudly.
" How do I know that." said Reskeme.
"You should be honoured that I am instructing you. Most new students get given to the thug trainer Jarcies. All those guys know how to do is bully and intimidate people. Half of them couldn't draw those pieces of scrap metal they call swords." said Terrance, spitting to the side.
" If you get on my nasty side, I will send you to the thugs. And I guarantee a little monster like you will get his throat cut. Or at the very least get your head bashed. Reskeme stared at the trainer, clenching his fists. He might hate the guy, but damn Terrance was fast, and he sure was strong.
After saying his piece, Terrance yelled toward one of the other students that were doing push-ups with the rest of the group.
"She is a trainee that has survived here for two years and one of our better students. Trisha show this boy to the square to meet Rufus! He wants to evaluate the kid for magic and to give him some basic lessons." said Terrance.
Reskemes heart skipped a beat, Magic? Like a witch or a warlock? Was it possible?
"By the way, Trisha, if you kill him. The guild master is going to make you pay off his dept." said Terrance.
Reskeme grinned, After that response. Every trainee in the hall looked up. Surely it wouldn't be that bad? After all, he was only a monstrous boy that surely was broke. Reskeme laughed to himself. They must think the guild master found him in some backwoods somewhere. Having a few gold dept wasn't bad, right? Reskeme bared his teeth in challenge to them all.
" I know what your thinking, probably not even a silver to kill the kid." Said Terrance nodding his head.
They were surely jealous, as they probably had to fight tooth and nail to gain the instructing of Terrance.
"If you kill him, you will owe the guild Ten thousand gold. Plus tax for the inconvenience of making the guild waste its time." said Terrance.
The students gasped. Turning back to Reskeme, Terrance said, "this doesn't mean you have a free pass. If you don't show promise, we will try to sell you to another organization to make up our losses. That means if you don't work your ass off, you will end up with worse conditions than you have now."
" I did not ask for this. You jackasses will get what you deserve." Said Reskeme.
"At least I'm worth something." mumbled Reskeme.
"What did you say?" replied Terrance?
"Nothing I meant I will work hard to pay back the guild for everything." Lied Reskeme.
After that statement, the crowd stares at Reskeme, slack jawed. He knew what they might be thinking. Maybe he had hidden wealth? Or he had a powerful master before he was taken.
Upon seeing the faces of the other students, Reskeme knew he was in trouble. They would surely go through his stuff, probably interrogate him. Maybe even beat him until he told them all his secrets. As long as they didn't kill him, he guessed anything was fair game. After all, why would they want a demon. If he couldn't defend himself? He was of no use to the greedy guild if he was weak. Reskeme would need to come up with traps or alarms when he slept to wake him. He was dreading his nights.
Terrance didn't care about Reskemes issues and told Trisha to get him to the mages' training square on time. Reskeme limped from the courtyard. It exited him to see if he had magic.
Reskeme followed the taller young woman, eyeing her curly brown hair. Unsure of what to say, Reskeme kept quiet. The two went thru a door up some stairs and started walking down a side passage. It was dark in the passage, as there were no torches here. Trisha didn't seem to notice or care. His Heart skipped a beat, why was it so hard to ask a simple question?
"So what is the magic teacher like?" asked Reskeme. The woman turned toward him, catching him off guard with her piercing brown eyes.
"What do you want? Your lucky you owe so much because otherwise, I might kill you right now." said Trisha coldly.
" It is not my fault, I did not ask to become this monster." hissed Reskeme.
Reskeme clenched his fists, gritting his teeth. Maybe he was so mad because he knew this would be everyone's reaction to him for the rest of his life.
"Your presence is of evil and bad luck. Most people are superstitious, and would never have something like an actual demon in their house. Yet you walk the halls and now they are going to teach you magic." said Trisha, cocking her head curiously.
Reskemes stomach tightened, his heart raced, and he took in deep breaths.
" You could have just said, shut up or screw you, there was no need to be a dick about it." Reskeme replied, frowning at her.
To his surprise, this made Trisha smile for a moment. After a couple of minutes of walking, they reached some stairs. ahh stairs, the arch-enemy of people with sore legs, worse when bruised and beaten. He kept tripping and stumbling. Trisha sighed down at him and returned. Allowing Reskeme to lean on her shoulder as they ascended the stairs. Eventually, with some stumbling, they made it down to the main floor. Reskeme limped, but leaning on Trisha helped immensely. Trisha took a step away from him, glancing towards a door. The door Resembled other training hall, only it was made of stone.
"Thank you for your help." said Reskeme.
" I did nothing." said Trisha, scowling at him.
"This is it. Go in and don't die." said Trisha.
"Thank you for your advice, oh wise sage." said Reskeme bowing like a noble to her. Only to trip and stumble. He pretended he tried to do that and smile at her, his face flushing.
"That's the best advice, I can give you." said Trisha, unable to mask her smile as she turned and left him.
That was an extremely ominous warning. Trishas warning made Reskeme nervous. Especially coming from a girl who freely admitted she would kill him with no remorse. Reskeme would not take her warning lightly.
Reskeme pushed opened the heavy doors. They were almost twice as tall as him, which made little sense. Reskeme was tall enough to be considered a young man. He heaved on the heavy doors. They opened silently, not making a single sound. How bizarre, Reskeme thought. Normally doors make some sound. He stepped inside the quart yard, the air immediately feeling heavy and oppressive, smelling of copper and dust. The courtyard lined in grey stone, as were the walls. The square was wide, there were dummies with a mark on their chest. The dummies were burned, cut and broken but still seemed held together.
In the middle of the courtyard was a crouched man drawing some red marks on the ground. Creeping closer, Reskemes heart skipped a beat. Was the man using blood? The man was writing with the thick red substance while reading a tablet. The man moved to the center's biggest circle, placing the tablet before backing away. Reskeme watched in fascination and dread. Reskeme recognized those markings. They were part of the ritual that changed him to a demon. He could vividly remember the ritual flashing red light and mind numbing pain.
Setting aside his fear of what they had done, Reskeme moved towards the circle. Before he could enter the outer edge, the guy who had drawn the lines turned to him.
" Wait!" said the man. As he walked back to the farthest circle away and stood in the middle.
"Go stand in the biggest circle and don't touch the paint." said the man. There was a big circle with some straight lines. Another circle intercepting the first largest circle, connected with 8 circles with different squiggles in each. One circle linked to the biggest circle with 8 circles around the smaller circle. There was a line that went around all the other circles. What did that even mean?
There was one big circle with one smaller circle attached to it, 8 smaller circles were orbiting the smaller circle that was orbiting the big one. Reskeme stepped carefully in the outer edge of smaller circles, yet nothing happened. The man kept watching him with an expectant gaze. In Reskemes opinion, the small man didn't look like he could hurt a fly.
When Reskeme entered the center of the outer ring, the man started drawing something and began chanting. The big array of markings Reskeme was walking into began glowing all around him and glowing a red light. Oh shit! What was the man doing? Reskeme did not know what these markings were, but his body shook and his hair stood on end. After a moment of the wizard chanting. Reskemes bones creaked and groaned. When a presence came to life in the center circle, it made Reskeme stumble and almost pass out his body screaming at him in stabbing pain. The force pulling him to his knees.
The inner ring felt malicious. Reskeme could feel the power in the ring looking at him as if it wanted him to enter. Reskeme didn't enter the main circle. He suspected that all that was in the circle was emptiness. Reskeme wanted to enter. That scared him. Why couldn't he run? Screaming in panic, Reskeme tried to crawl away.
Reskeme said, "No way in hell am I entering that!. Reskeme crawled through the outer ring of circles and drifted back towards the outside. Reskeme ran into an invisible wall. He swung at it, driving his hand into the barrier. He screamed in pain at the solid resistance.
Rufus laughed at Reskeme uncaring as he stare down at him.
" You are smart. I bet Enis you wouldn't be dumb enough to enter the portal to the abyss. Since you have won me some gold, I'll tell you why you can't leave the outer ring. That is a tear in the fabric of reality, a very minor one you activated when you entered the outer circle. It is truly marvellous." said Rufus, grinning like a villain.
Now that Reskeme was looking at Rufus. He noticed the man was in his own small circle and gazed at him intently.
" Why did you let me walk in if you knew I might die?" Reskeme said.
"Because it would have caused some impressive fireworks for one. And I have never seen a hole to the abyss opened before. I'm not sure what will happen when a person gets too close or if it will cause you to be torn apart for not being powerful enough."
Reskeme stared slack jawed at the man. "You say that is a rift? And it would force me to the nine hells if I had entered that ring?" Reskeme shouted through the pain.
The man now had a wide grin.
" Well we had bets on the outcome. I'm glad you acted smartly. Enis will be pissed." said Rufus laughing.
Reskeme frowned, his heart raced wildly. Rufus was bat shit crazy!
"Ok "Reskeme replied, trying not to show his fear and anger. If Rufus was right, that circle in the middle was a blatant attempt to kill him.
"Alright, let's begin the test you probably wonder why you can't leave" replied the sadistic sorcerer. Also, my name is Rufus. Im sure you already guessed that. If you must know and I am going to perform a test to decide what kind of magic you have.
Reskeme stood in Rufuse's runes and glared at him. The finger sized tear in the air made Reskeme extremely uncomfortable. Reskeme paled as Rufus began chanting once more.
Every syllable grated on Reskemes nerves as the chanting made his skin tingle. A shiver ran down his back. The language sounded awful; he felt as though his ears might bleed. The chant reached the end and three of the runes flashed.
A moment later the runes flashed like a torch. Reskeme leaned towards the side as something pulled on him.The pull wasn't painful, although his eyes were drooping. The power pulled something out of him. The substance funnelled into the red lines and made three circles out of the nine flash with different colours.
Reskeme swallowed hard. That did not look good. One flashed green, one white, and the other flashed purple. A moment later all the marks went back to a normal blood red. The portal in the middle disappeared, there was a loud hiss and a crack as the portal vanished. Where the tablet once sat was dust, making Reskeme smile. At least that the cursed tablet was destroyed with the portal.
The mage let out a whistle as he mumbled, "Three elements, huh?"
"What was that you just said 3 elements?" said Reskeme angrily.
"Oh, right," the thoughtless mage replied. "It seems you have three separate paths of magic, green is life magic, white is light magic and purple is soul magic. These are two soul magics and one regular magic affinity." said Rufus. Reskeme stare at Rufus, anger rising in his chest.
"Come sit down over here, boy." said Rufus. Reskeme looked at his sweat-soaked, dirt-covered body and shrugged why not. He was tired anyway, sitting down would help immensely. Reskeme slowly stepped out of the rings on the ground. They were no longer working, but he was cautious for once and tried not to disturb the squiggly lines.
Reskeme walked towards the man. Rufus slumped on the ground, his hair a mess and his clothes drenched in sweat. Rufus was short with black hair, a goatee and a well-groomed moustache. The mage took out a scroll from the bag on his side and unrolled it. He pointed at a 9 sided star with colours in each star.
Rufus said, there are five fundamental elements they are the ones in the middle each one had its own circle, red for fire."
" Well, that's obvious." cut in Reskeme. The man glared at him before continuing, " Fire, air, water, earth and life. There the four other stars that represent the aspects of soul magic. Those are tricky and they usually never show the same powers, although it will all share the same aspect depending on the colour.
Reskeme was focusing all of his attention on this information as it was gold to him. He was getting excited.
"For example, if you and ten other mages had the same colour of soul magic, all ten of you would use your power different. Only trial and error will show what you can do." said Rufus rubbing his eyes and groaning.
"Now go, it has been a taxing ritual." said Rufus.
With a glare, Reskeme replied: 'I was the one in it!" The man gave the Reskeme a rude gesture. Rufus offered Reskeme the scroll. The rolled up parchment dusty.
This is a scroll of the elements. It Describes what elements are and the counters to each. Also, some basics on the four soul magics. As he was leaving, Reskeme raised his hands in excitement. He was actually learning some magic. Hopefully, he could understand what the scroll said. Reskeme was excited and couldn't wait for the next day. Feeling as though his luck had changed, he headed for the exit. Just before Reskeme left, he caught the man's voice through the door.
"That's the only scroll you get. We are not a charity, don't expect another one if it's lost or stolen." shouted Rufus.
Reskeme clenched his fist growling to himself. These people were trying to make his life difficult on purpose.
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