Serenity Academy

Chapter 23: Magical Beasts

The next three days continued as Zerif had explained.  Each morning he would spare with him and make very little progress.  Each time he would come close to landing a hit, a new spell would be revealed causing him to fail.  His solo training had progressed well, he could manifest his Wind Walk to be used as intended.  He could walk around the air forming the disks under his feet with each step.  Running was less polished, sometimes a disk would not form like he wanted due to his split concentration and he would fall.  

On the fourth morning things changed, Zerif walked up to Kyroth and stabbed his blade into the ground.  "Now you will learn the Gale Blade.  It is a spell I learned by watching the mantis in the area.  You have seen it plenty of times as well."  Walking away he turned and waited watching Kyroth as he did so.  

Hesitantly Kyroth grabbed the blade and pulled it out of the ground expecting the large blade to be heavy.  Falling back slightly he had used too much force for the light blade.  Holding it gingerly in his hands he was amazed at how light it actually was.  A few practice swings later he stood ready to listen to his teacher.  

"As you noticed the blade is light.  The mantis push mana into the blade there and then slash sending out the Gale Blade.  The weapon helps for a faster casting as well as more powerful."  Slashing out his hand a Gale Blade was sent out slamming into a rock only going a few inches in.  "Using that sword will help you learn the spell faster and with more ease."  

"First you will want to fill the blade with wind mana.  Hold it there for a few second and then swing willing it to fly out in the shape of a blade.  The more mana you put in the farther and stronger it will be."  Zerif stated walking next to Kyroth to watch him.  

Taking a few steadying breaths Kyroth pushed his mana into the sword feeling it as if it was a extension of his own body.  It was a strange feeling, letting it gather and set up he took a low stance and swung as hard as he could willing the blade to launch out of it.  A small green blade ripped from it to the side making a gash in a nearby tree.  "Well that was unexpected."  

"You created a blade which is good, however it was small and went in a random location.  You will have to focus it and force it to fly in the direction you want it to go."  Zerif explained slowly.  

The next few hours were painful for Kyroth as each attempt was just as bad as the first either too small to go far or it would go off in a random trajectory.  The blade definitely helped the process he could feel the ease in which the blade formed but it was hard to focus the direction.  

After another hour of practicing Kyroth growled tossing the blade aside.  "This is not working."  He huffed collapsing against a tree sweat dripping down his face.  It was infuriating to Kyroth, a lot of the magic had come so naturally that this was a new feeling.  Syn must feel like this, he thought as he ripped some grass up.  

"You did well, it will take time.  Let us take a break, there is someplace I would like to show you."  Scooping up his sword he flourished it a bit before sliding it into it's sheath.  Reaching down he helped Kyroth off the ground.  Zerif had been rough on the kid, but he knew that he would need all the help he could get.  

Dusting off his pants he started to follow Zerif as he went down a new path.  It was strange how little of the area Kyroth had seen.  Most of his time had been spent at the tree house or at the training clearing that they were currently leaving.  Much of his trip to the tree house was a blur, wind almost blinding him as they traveled via a tornado.  Kyroth could not really complain about it though, he had learned a new spell and gained invaluable knowledge.  

Half a hour of silence was enough as Kyroth broke it.  "Hey Zerif, I noticed that my Full augment is now green instead of blue, but I am not trying to use wind mana in it?"  He asked tossing one of his daggers into the air and nimbly catching it.