Chương 5: We are Bound like the Book
Will was halfway through practicing a pushing spell when his attention was broken by a loud crack. His gathered energy was released like a rocket behind him and scattered a heap of books. Gathering himself, he noticed that many of the others had done the same. They all looked around for the source of the noise and saw Lily fretting over the charred visage of James. Jonas floated down towards them with a scowl.
"What spell were you trying to cast?" He screamed into James' ear.
"Lightning Ball." He whimpered. Jonas turned to Lily.
"And you?"
"Fire Bolt." She replied sullenly.
"So it melded together and created an uncontrolled Lightning Bolt. May I ask why you were each attempting a different spell?" Jonas was fuming.
"Um... James seemed disappointed that I couldn't use fire magic, so I wanted to try and make him happy with a simple fire spell. I didn't know that he had already moved on to try another one." She cried, and instantly James was hugging her and patting her head.
"I'm warning you, do not upset Lily again." He glared at Jonas, then turned back to Lily. "That's so sweet. But please don't try to impress me again, I'll be sad if you get hurt, okay?" She nodded. Jonas rolled his eyes with his entire being and scoffed.
"Oh, get a room, you two. I'm here to get you all fighting fit, against my wishes I might add, and I'm going to have to hurt more than your feelings to do so." He turned around and yelled. "And you lot! Why the fuck did you let yourselves get distracted by that? We have already gone over the fact this power is dangerous and unstable, and why you should never lose concentration, and yet half of you shat it out like a frightened mammoth. No-one, not even one of you ignored the noise and continued casting! At your current level, I would not even be able to train you in duelling, let alone actual fighting!" He took a few moments to rest, panting and sweating. There was a pregnant silence, then a scrawny blonde kid at the back piped up.
"With respect, sir, there is one of us who even ignored your tirade. He's still concentrating, look!" He pointed towards Michael, who was standing in a meditative stance. Somehow the chaos all around him had avoided a perfect circle centered on him, leaving an unnatural calmness in the air. Jonas' head snapped towards him, and he made a beeline straight for the boy, head down like a bull mid-charge.
"Pay attention!" He spat in Mike's face. "Hey! Listen when I'm talking to you!" Will could have sworn he saw the ghost of a smirk flash across Mike's face. Jonas wound back an arm and slapped him powerfully across the face. Mike made no reaction at all.
"See here. It's all well and good keeping concentration, Michael here is years ahead of all you. But if you can't deal with incoming attacks, it's meaningless, you'll still be killed before you can release your spell." Jonas yelled at the group, still uncomfortably close to Mike's ear. Will chuckled and attempted something radical. He strode straight at Will and threw an uppercut at his chin. Jonas stared aghast as the strike rocketed towards the boy's unprepared skull. Mike leaned out of the way and pulled Will to the ground, before a circular pulsation of energy knocked him into the debris. He stood up, groaning.
"See, he's defending himself just fine. He simply didn't see you as a threat." The rest of the group guffawed as Jonas stood there, fuming.
"You would be wise to not attempt to embarrass me, scholars. I am suffering your antics because I know how harsh my methods may appear, and I will benefit from your expedited training. However, do not forget that I am doing this as a kindness and the real world will not be even close to as lenient as I am being." The room went silent as the students began practicing once more. Michael carefully let out a stream of fire around him, while Jonas nodded approvingly. He whispered into the boy's ear.
"Well done. Thank you for putting up with that. You're a promising student indeed. I'm going to help some of the others now, so just continue practicing that." He walked away, beaming, while Michael grinned to himself subtly.
Will began his pushing spell again, and Jonas approached him cautiously. Angelo whispered in his ear.
"Be careful, Jonas is probably going to try to distract you." Will's eyes pushed against the inside of his eyelids, but his focus remained. Nodding approvingly, Jonas started talking conversationally.
"You know, you're now the custodian of this place. The mess is yours to clean up. I suggest you start soon, and you might want to leverage some of your guildmates, too." Will's face contorted with effort.
"At the moment, I'd prefer to focus on the training - if that's alright with you?"
"Of course, of course. You're already doing great if you're able to speak with me while holding in power." Will's face switched to puzzlement then immediately back to exertion. "Try handing off some of the power to your demon. He's there to help you, and it'll be easier to focus and control your power if you're holding less of it. Besides, your link functions like a belay rope. As long as you're touching some of it, you can always stop it when you feel it slipping." After ensuring that Angelo was prepared, he began siphoning the built-up power through the link while loosening his grip on it.
"Now that it's gone, I can tell that power was really uncomfortable to hold onto. It feels so relaxing to let go of it." Jonas nodded approvingly.
"Indeed. You do need to practice holding onto large amounts of it, because there will be spells that are incredibly taxing. For practicing spells, however, you merely need to build the power enough to direct it, and your demon can hold onto it until you're ready to release it. I'll show you a technique later that uses the same principle to store multiple spells at once." Will was astounded and stared after Jonas as he left, before snapping his attention back to the spell when he felt some power slip. He slowly sidled over to where Michael was practicing.
"Hey, this Jonas guy is way cooler than he came off. I'm guessing he told you to give some of the power to the demon as well?" Michael opened his eyes and looked at Will.
"No, he seemed rather disappointed when he saw I was already doing that. He just explained how it works and why I was doing it. Understanding the principles gave me a lot more control and allowed me to make a suboptimal decision for different results. For instance, when I continue to hold the power, I can divert some to improve my reflexes."
"You WERE still holding all that power back then?!" Will asked, incredulous.
"Of course I was holding some power, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to push you like that." He grinned. "But actually, that was just me realising I was holding too much and losing control. I just pushed a load out at once so I could focus. Same sort of thing happened when that lightning bolt hit. All that loud noise and things flying at me broke my concentration, so I had to push out a steady stream until I could regain control. Thankfully I'd had enough time to build up that power again by the time he looked back at me, otherwise he would've had my hide." Will stood, O-jawed.
"Man, Mike. Jonas said we're to be an elite unit, I'm saying you're going to be our alpha force. You're lightyears ahead of all of us." Michael reached into his thick navy trench coat, picked out a compass, and handed it to Will, from whose hands Angelo snatched it greedily.
"Hey, just because I'm ahead of you, doesn't mean to say I'm always heading in the right direction. That's your job, Will. You're there to guide us, make sure we're always moving forward, in the right direction." Will was at a loss for words, taking a step back. Michael proffered a hand, and as Will clasped it, a string of leather began to wrap around their arms, appearing to stem from Michael's Grimoire.
"I will try my best, brother." Will uttered, fighting back tears. Angelo flew up and tied a knot in the leather string as it now dangled between them.
"A symbol of brotherhood, we are bound by the Book. Using the very same bindings to cement our bond, we are bound like the book." Angelo chanted as Michael's demon mirrored his motions. When they were done, the two demons became bathed in green light. Slowly, as the light faded, Angelo grew taller and less wrinkled, and Ignel grew wings.
"A fitting partnership. We have created the first Helfire demons in centuries, and what better clan leaders than the rebels of the family?" Angelo laughed.
"Speak for yourself. I'm no rebel. I merely seek greatness beyond that which my relatives are willing to pursue. I'm not happy about being stuck with such a wimpling, but I shall bear with it for the power it will give me."
"Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not a coward, I just find humans fascinating. I'm more than happy to kill demons." Ignel blinked, then slowly a smile drew across his face. He bumped fists with Angelo.
"My apologies, brother. I misjudged you."
"Think nothing of it. Now, we are the strongest team." They both grinned at each other as embers flashed down the inside of their wings, staining them black.
"Well, well. I finally get here in time to see the final stages of transformation." Jonas muttered calmly as he strolled towards them with his hands in his pockets, pushing his trench coat aside. Will and Michael started, coming out of a trance.
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