Chapter 1

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Edwyr focused on nothing but the fireball hovering above the palm of his hand and the training dummy

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Edwyr focused on nothing but the fireball hovering above the palm of his hand and the training dummy. It had been enchanted to be nigh indestructible, a concept Edwyr still didn't understand much at all as enchanting was taught after an elf started to manifest their magical ability.

He raised his hand, frowning in concentration as he breathed in and out. Keeping the ball of fire in his hand was taxing on its own, there was no need to do it under normal circumstances, but it proved to be a great way to train his magical control, and so he did it anyway.

"Kinri," he said through gritted teeth, making the fireball fly out of his hand and at the dummy, enveloping it in flames. Edwyr kept his arm outstretched, trying to keep the flames from going out for as long as possible despite being given nothing to burn, but after a moment he felt too tired to continue, letting go.

The flames extinguished themselves quickly, and once they disappeared, the dummy was left white and spotless. The fact that it was white seemed like an intentional thing, meant to frustrate whoever would try to singe it. And Edwyr had tried countless times.

It was funny to think about. It had only been a little over a month and he already couldn't understand how he'd survived without magic. He felt so useful, so powerful, and he'd barely learned anything still. While he wasn't that great at controlling the elements, his main limitation was quickly running out of energy. Healing magic was also something he still grappled with, and illusion magic was completely incomprehensible to him.

And he knew there was so much more than just these kinds of magic. No one here tried to hide knowledge, or make it so only certain people could learn, but Edwyr was stopping himself from researching too far too soon. He didn't want to get overwhelmed. Usually that just discouraged him.

"You've improved your control of fire very much," a voice from behind him said, making Edwyr turn away from the dummy. Wyn was standing there, but that was hardly surprising. Now that Wyn was training him, they saw each other every day, and the training rooms were hardly a private area. Though Edwyr enjoyed that aside from one large room with training equipment, there were several smaller ones, with this one being the smallest, having only one training dummy. And since he liked his peace and quiet, he preferred this one above all others.

"I'm still better at controlling wind magic," Edwyr replied, wiping sweat off his forehead. He had wanted to sit down, but doing so felt impossible now that Wyn was here. He wasn't even sure why he cared, but for some reason his stubbornness wasn't letting him rest.

"Well, that is rarer," Wyn replied, smiling.

"Yes, you've told me as much," Edwyr pointed out, though he couldn't help but smile as well. The constant encouragement was very novel still, especially given that it was coming from an elf, but he liked it. It truly served to motivate him.

"I have some news you may find interesting," Wyn said with a smile. "But first, show me your wind magic."

Edwyr frowned, watching Wyn make his way to the dummy, standing several feet in front of it with his hands clasped behind his back. As the sunlight from the only window in the room hit Wyn, Edwyr noticed that while he was wearing the same black robes with silver highlighting he usually did, the top layers of his hair had been pulled into a high ponytail, with the rest of it covering his shoulders, and hanging from his long ears were silver earrings in the shape of several fragile-looking leaves. It wouldn't be significant if not for the fact that Orenis had mentioned that Wyn putting more thought into his appearance was a new development, and Edwyr couldn't help but wonder what that implied.

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