Sonope

Chapter 14

Vanessa gave a bored sigh.  "Olive. Like the tree.  How nice.  Are you sure you shouldn't have been a dryad?"

Olive laughed.  "Very funny, but I'm pretty sure this whole Turning thing isn't random.  Catch you later, V!"

She turned to leave.  "Do not call me that."

"Heh. Bye!"

She stood there for a little longer, hands on her hips and grinning like a fool as she watched Vanessa stalk away, muttering to herself.

"Excuse me, would you happen to be the new demon?"

She turned around to see a middle aged demon with glasses.  He looked kind of posh.

"Oh, me? You bet!"

"I have been assigned by Ezra to instruct you in demon magic and prepare you for assisting the cause of Hell.  You may call me Mr. Lucio."

She cocked her head.  "Cause of Hell?  And what would that be?"

He sniffed and looked down his nose at her.  "First we shall see if you are competent."

She shrugged and smiled.  "Can't say I blame you.  What's first, Lucio?"

"Mr. Lucio."

"Right, Lucio, that's what I said."

He turned his head to the side and glared into the distance at nothing in particular and thought 'she's going to be such a handful, I can already tell.' 

He turned back to the eager girl and placed his hands together with a sneer, shaking his wings as if to rid himself of something nasty.  "First we will examine your ability to wield demon magic and see how skilled you can be with a weapon."  He gestured at the ground.

"Gather shadow."

Olive glanced around, taken aback.  "Are you...gonna give me any hints as to what that could mean?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose.  "Right.  I forgot that you did not grow up a demon, so you don't even know where to begin, do you."

"No, I-"

"That was not a question. Observe."

He extended his hand and straightened his back eyes focused on his surroundings.

"Picture the shadow as a physical entity that you can manipulate."

He twisted and slowly raised his hand.

"Then force it to bend to your will.  It is under your control and is manipulated by your mind."

He released the impressive amount of shadow he had been holding and turned again to face Olive.

"Now you do it."

She looked skeptical, but faced the shadow he had been using.

"Okay, Lucio, whatever you say..."

He muttered "Mr," under his breath, but nonetheless observed his pupil carefully.

Olive took a deep breath and straightened out.  In her mind's eye, she focused her vision to identify the mass of shadow, giving it solid form.  She then raised it off of the ground, and all seemed well when she released it and it fled back to it's corner on the ground.

To Lucio's trained eye, however, something peculiar had happened.  Yes, the shadow had risen, but it was slightly before her hand had started to move.  To him, this meant she might have had a very strong mind, and the shadow obeyed her thoughts rather than her motions, but for a newbie who had seen it performed once, it was preposterous.