The Dracomancer

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY

    The next day, in attack spells, Alex taught Lana an explosion spell. He brought in the sturdiest practice dummy they had, and it proved to be sturdy enough to withstand her explosion spell. Alex seemed surprised at this performance after all of her previous ones, but he shrugged it off and ended the lesson. Lana asked him why he seemed surprised at first, and was shocked when he stated that his explosion spell had caused the practice dummy to clear the lake near the shrine. She felt a brief tinge of envy, but she got over it.
    After a break, she went back to the practice area for her next lesson in demon magic and found that Serena had brought Jaden to help this time. She wondered why, but she soon found out. Serena taught her a blocking spell. She brought out Lightbringer and cast the spell, then Jaden brought out his sword and took a few swings at her, which she easily blocked with Lightbringer. The whole time, she felt Alex’s presence in the shadows and knew that he would practice this spell with Jaden’s help, even though he was fully trained in swordplay and could block most attacks without the spell.
    During her second spare, she practiced her explosion spell on the practice dummy that Alex had brought out previously, but found no improvement. She decided to take a break from this spell for a few days and go back to it another time. Perhaps she would improve if she practiced her other attack spells more. Only time would tell.
    Lana went to her next lesson in healing and resurrection to find Alex mysteriously dead. He was the Dragon God! What could possibly kill him?! She stopped wondering and revived him with the sadness from seeing that he was dead. When he came around, though, he explained what had happened.
    "I killed myself so that it would be easy enough for you to use sadness in your resurrection this time. Now I know what it feels like," he said.
    "You jerk!!" She exclaimed, hitting him hard.
    He then told her that she was done all of her lessons with him and recommended that she tell Serena this and ask her about her lessons in demon magic. After this, Lana was glad that she was done her lessons with her malicious cousin, but she still loved him. This was utterly cruel, but she knew that he had good intentions. He did say that he did it to make it easier for her to use sadness, but he could have assigned her to revive something other than himself. That was despicable.
    Lana found Serena in the study in the library and told her what Alex had told her earlier and asked about her lessons in demon magic. Serena replied by saying that her last lesson in demon magic would be the next day, and after that, she would be trained enough to fulfill her destiny. Lana asked what magic she should use and Serena said that she could use whatever magic she wanted to along with ranged attacks with Lightbringer. Lana pointed out that she didn’t know how to use ranged attacks with Lightbringer and Serena said that she would teach Lana how to do that tomorrow as well. She told Lana to meet her in the practice area when she used to have attack spells so that she could teach Lana how to use Lightbringer. Lana said that she would be there. Serena said, "Good," and dismissed her.
    After meeting with Serena, Lana went to find Jaden and they went to another secret room together. This one had paintings of dwarfish kings who had died long ago. Lana told him what Alex had done for her final lesson in resurrection and he palmed his face and shook his head. They kissed again, which took Lana’s mind off of Alex’s cruel action. She felt better about it now because she knew that Jaden thought it was stupid of Alex to kill himself just for that.