Stories from Paxsalam: The Orb of Wishes

Chapter 7: Brothers in Training

  A little friendly reminder: getting hit by a snowball in the face is not cool.

I waited so long for this moment, and I can't believe that it would happen. Today, would be the day, of my first training.

After a few days after I got my Ice Element, I kept waiting until Claude's mood will signify that it would be time for my first training. I can't keep the crystal out of my sight, it is the most precious thing now, I can't let it go missing. I kept keeping an eye on it for every ten minutes, and sometimes, even when I'm minding my own business, I have to take my crystal with me.

And till today, Claude had agreed to take me to a place for our first training. I was so excited and nervous, that I leaped every time we walked. I followed Claude, as he took me into a forest that I have never knew existed.

The trees were abnormally tall, at least eighty meters for the tallest ones. Once we entered, it went silent, with the only noises being the chirpings of birds and insects, and the calls of primates from miles away. Light barely shined down to the forest floor due the huge trees, the plants here were barely the height of my ankles.

I felt nervous about this place, and I'm worried that a wild beast will leap out from the shadows and tackle us. Claude seemed to be reading my thoughts, as he said, "Don't worry brother, there aren't many aggressive beings around here, the only things that are dangerous here are probably... tigers and elephants. And sometimes, there will be some migrating dragons." "Tigers and dragons?" Just after I had finished that sentence, an insect just flew passed by my face, and landed on a tree. In a heartbeat, a gecko just appeared out from nowhere, and caught the insect in its mouth, and started crunching on it. And again, a small figure appeared from the branches... a mantis. The larger insect then snatched the gecko with its pincers, and it started to bite onto the poor reptile.

I panicked and fled the unsettling scene, and caught up with Claude. "Why do you have to bring me to this place? Can't we just go to a garden instead?" I asked, not wanting to be involved in another predator and prey moment again. Claude already had an answer for that as he replied instantly, "You know, this place. It's a sanctuary that houses many endangered species of animals and plants. It was a project that our... late Mother was dedicated to. You know, Mother was actually in love with all kind of animals. And she and Father agreed to help the World Wildlife Fund by opening a sanctuary for conserving many kinds of endangered wildlife."

I never knew about this place, and it is interesting to know that our parents built this sanctuary to help the WWF. "And you know, this is just the rainforest biome. In this sanctuary, it includes all the biomes on this planet, like the tundra biome, the savannah biome, the desert biome... We can search the rest up. And all of them houses many endangered species that are native to those biomes."

 As we were walking around with Claude telling me more facts about this sanctuary, Claude changed the subject. "Yeah, we're almost there." I gasped with delight, "The place that you've been talking about?" "Correct,  I used to practice magic here when I was about your age, and I would like, to introduce you to this place." We came out from the forage, and I was surprised to see what was in front of me.

A temple.

There, stood a temple made out of rocks, it was at least seven meters tall, and it must had been hundreds of years old. We stepped in, and light shined down from a hole in the ceiling, blinding me for a moment as I didn't see much light in the forest. And in the middle, something that looks like a staff, laid on the floor.

Claude stepped forward and took the staff, "Before we begin, you would need a magic staff, and I had prepared one for you." He tossed the staff, and I caught it. "Hoped you liked it." The staff looked like it was made from bronze, the head of the staff was a head of a tiger (don't worry, it's not the head of a real tiger), it felt a bit heavy, but I still can lift it with barely using my strength. "Yeah! It's awesome!" I called out.

Claude nodded and smiled, "As for your knowledge brother, there are seven positions for the Element of Ice. To form each position, you will need to concentrate." I scoffed, "Concentrate? Bro, you know I am a pro at concentrating." "Yeah, yeah." Claude replied. "But for this, you really have to concentrate to your potential." He raised his staff, and closed his eyes, and spoke out, "Element of Ice, First Position, Snowball." The eagle head of Claude's staff barfed out a snowball, and my jaw dropped. "Oh. My. God." I muttered. Claude took the snowball and began tossing it in the air, catching it every time he thrown it. "Now, I would want you to concentrate, remove every thought in your head, and only think of," He showed me the snowball, "A snowball."

I don't think it was that hard to concentrate, and thinking only about snowballs. I took a deep breath, and said, "Element of Ice, First Position, Snowball." Nothing happened. I looked at Claude, confused. What could I had done wrong? "Aw shoot, I forgot." Claude said, "Do you have your Ice Element with you?" "I always bring that thing along wherever I go." I replied, and held my hand into my pocket, and took out the crystal.

"Alright, now turn your staff to the back, and you might see a hatch there." I did exactly what Claude told me, and I saw a hatch and the back of my staff. "Found it." I replied, "Now open it." I opened the hatch, and I saw something in there, and that is: nothing. I don't know what I can put in there, but the size seems similar to... "Now place the crystal in there.", I took the crystal, and put it in, with fits just right in there. I closed it, and turned to my brother. "Good, now try again."

I concentrated, I took a deep breath, and spoke again. "Element of Ice, First Position, Snowball." I looked again, but still, nothing happened. "Huh?" I asked. "I don't get it, brother, I had already concentrated, did I make an-" As I spoke, a snowball bounced out of my staff, and landed on the floor. I gasped, I did it, my first spell!

"Oh that, um. For beginners, it might take a while to cast your first spell." Claude added, "But hey, that was your first spell! Congratulations!" I smiled, pleased with myself. "Now, let's start our first lesson."

"You will need to defend yourself when you face against threats. For your first lesson, you will need to learn how to fight with magic." Claude said, "As for today, how about let's play a game." "A game?" Seriously, what does games have to do with magic? "You know dodgeball?" I nodded. "Okay, But instead of using actual dodgeballs, we would be replacing that with the snowballs with our magic." Now this, got my attention. Dodgeball? With magic? Oh yeah, this can actually count as training. " Cool, just like actual dodgeball?" I asked, "Just like actual dodgeball." Claude agreed. "Now, shall we begin?"

We took our corners, nodded at each other, and raised our staffs. We both casted a snowball, and thrown it at each other. However, Claude easily evaded my snowball by doing a backflip over it (teach me that sometime, brother!). But me? I failed to react in time and Claude's snowball splattered against my face. Well, it doesn't hurt at all, but the temperature of the snowball was freezing.  "Arggh! Gah! Son of a-" I shivered from the cold of the snowball, "You alright?" Claude asked, "I guess..." I replied, "Dang, that's cold!"

And guess what, we have to repeat it again and again. And honestly, it's fun to do this. But on the other hand, I don't like it when it hits me on any parts of my body, the face was bad enough, but getting hit in the arms were even worse, and we don't talk about getting hit in the stomach. And  I can't even land a hit on Claude, even if I managed to throw one in his direction, he just evaded it almost instantly.

Time passed, and it was sunset before we knew it, I was trembling from the cold of the snowballs, I collapsed on the floor, panting. "That," I said, "Was awesome! Except for the hits from the snowballs. Those things are cold." Claude laughed, "Yeah, it does not feel good to be hit by those." He sat down, and placed his staff down. "So brother, do I have to train until I'm ready for The Magician Games?" I asked. "Yup." Claude answered. "And how long will this take?" "For me it was about... three years." "T-three years? We have to play snowball fights for three years?"

 "Not for the snowball fight part, but yes. Practicing magic might take several years to do that, but it depends on their users, and what training they did, as well as what position they are learning." Oh gosh, I don't know whether I can handle magic or not, if it was three years for Claude, it might be four years for me... "Well, can we go back now? I'm exhausted." Claude must had understood how tired I am. "Sure, let's head back." He lifted me up, and assisted me as we headed back to our palace. And I was thinking about magic, will I actually master the forms of my Ice Element?