My Journey with the Demon King

17 - Learning Control

I woke up to sounds of sheer rage and sorrow. I quickly sucked in a breath, my body realizing the air it was hungering for was available. Almost as soon as I did, the noises stopped. My head and vision were still incredibly fuzzy though. I struggled to remember what had happened and what was going on. Distantly I could remember a booming voice, filled with anguish, shouting "Ad auras reverti!" Everything after that was too indistinct for me to pick up.

That same voice as before spoke once more. This time it wasn't quite as loud, but it was still full of anger. "Stulte! Paene occisus es tu!"

I turned my head to the left. I was startled to find that I was high up in the air. Fifteen feet away, a tall man with a terrible visage was glaring at me, floating high up as well. His eyes were black, orange, and purple, with the pupils slit like a snake's. His expression was dark with rage, but his eyes held a tiny light of relief. His lips were pulled back in an angry snarl.

"Vis dimittere agri! Fortiorum conteres tuis."

Mutely, I shook my head. I didn't understand what he was saying. I felt he was very familiar, but my mind was having trouble remembering him. I could only assume it was damage from the lack of oxygen.

His expression softened slightly. He let out a long sigh, closing his eyes before taking in several deep breaths. "I'm sorry. I forgot to speak English. I mean, Common," he muttered, correcting himself quickly when he brought up a half-foreign term. His eyes opened as he brushed a stray strand of hair from his face.

I closed my eyes as well. Hearing his voice, saying words that made sense, helped my mind pull forth his identity. "Z-Zane?" I asked faintly. "W...What's going on?" I opened my eyes.

His voice still held an edge of anger, but he seemed to have calmed down quite a bit. "I'm going to have to implement some sort of safely measure on you. You are much too powerful for your own good. Please, Ana. You have to stop pushing yourself like this. I know you want to get better at magic and I know you want to do so quickly. But some things you need to take the proper amount of time to do. Magic is one of those things. Especially in your case, it seems. Yours is so...erratic and wild, its nearly impossible to control. And until you do learn how to control it, I'm going to have to place major restrictions on your use of it."

Slowly, I nodded. He sighed again. "Now, I need you to calm down and lower this force field. Somehow, you tapped into an insanely large amount of magic and it went out of control. I was successful in getting it to decrease in size by half, but even I can't quite bring it under heel. It doesn't want to listen to me. I need you to focus and call it all back inside yourself. Imagine that you are inhaling all the magic, pulling it back. Just...don't let it out. Don't exhale."

I nodded once again. I closed my eyes and imagined doing what he had said. I could see the boundaries of the magic. Now I willed them to decrease in size, more and more. It was slow going. It took me nearly ten minutes to drag it all back inside myself. When I did, I felt a sense of heaviness pull me down. It was almost as if my magic acted as a form of weight that kept me grounded. Suddenly, I was hurtling toward the beach, fifty feet below.

Zane's quick movements caught me before I had fallen more than ten feet. "Whoa!" Abruptly I was pulled back up. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me secure, before descending back down at a safer speed. Once we were on solid ground once more, I felt much better. My knees were shaking a little though.

"Thank you for catching me," I murmured nervously. "I honestly don't mean to cause so many problems. Really, I don't. I get just as scared when this stuff happens as you do. I'm sorry."

He sighed, pulling me closer for a few seconds before releasing me. "It's not...exactly your fault. And I know you don't do it intentionally. I forgive you, love." He cleared his throat. "Like I said before. I'm going to have to put a stop to your magic's out-of-control antics."