Waynack

Magic

The journey for the holy grail started for William and Pierre as both of them were excited, and somewhat prepared, for the voyage that awaited them.

"This is it, Pierre! We're on our way!" William was still at the pique of his excitement, Pierre thought that this was just who he was at this point, expecting him to stay at his pique as if he were stuck in limbo.

Pierre flipped through the small notepad given to him by his father, fixing his glasses after each flip, "In father's notes, it says that we should first head to Harmstead, and follow the path from there all the way to the last point that Arthur went to—say, Sir Waynack, what made you want to become a King?"

William was reluctant to share with Pierre his true motives for the insurmountable goals he set for himself. "Well—It's—it's a long story, but it's just something that I have to do."

"Oh—ok." Pierre realized that he knew nothing about the boy who accompanied him on his mission, and thought that maybe he should attempt to find out more about this person that he was to spend countless nights with on this journey that no man reached the end to. 

Pierre glared at the large pack that William carried as the tarp covering it was still a question that loomed over his head. "Say, Sir Waynack, what is in that large travel pack of yours anyway?"

"Oh—well—that's um—complicated." William replied as Pierre's attempt was shot down, why was William's guard still tall, what did he expect this journey to be if he can't even trust his partner.

"Well—Sir Waynack, did you know that I am an expert mage?" Pierre attempted to end the one-sided conversation in favor of symmetry, and flaunting his many accolades was his usual niche for things like this, which is often used for the lovely women within Taverns.

William expressed enticement with a small glare of wonder, "Whoa!—" Then, the bright glimmer died and became a shadow, an expression of cluelessness daunted the face of curiosity, "What's that?"

"You don't know what a mage is?!" Pierre couldn't believe it, he knew that the child was ignorant, but he couldn't believe he didn't even know what a mage was, even though he knew who Merlin was and he knew what a Wizard was as well. This child clearly must have lived under a mountain for most of his short life.

"Nope..." William shrugged.

"It's someone who uses magic!"

"Oh—Like a Wizard?"

"No one calls it that, that just makes it sound lame!"

"How do you use magic anyway?"

"You're joking right?"

"No... I don't think so..."

Pierre couldn't believe he was stuck with another toddler from his classroom. "Well, almost everyone within Kosmos uses magic, either for small tasks or for military and defense purposes, or something even more useful, knowledge."

"Knowledge?" William was completely clueless, and Pierre finally realized that this will be more difficult than teaching a class full of toddlers, it was apparent that William had nothing within that hollow shell he called a head.

"Ok—I'll have to tell you everything about magic since apparently, the person who wants to be king has been living under a rock all this time. Magic is a complex system with thousands of different forms of it. The more stars a mage has, the more different and/or complex types of magic they can use. For example, let's say that you are a one-star mage."

"Whoa, I get a star?" William joyfully asked, although the idea of stars remained elusive to him.

"Yeah, sure. But if you are a one-star mage, you are only capable of learning one basic magic type. The four basic magic types are Water, Fire, Earth, & Wind. There are over one hundred different types of magic but those are the basic types, and a one-star mage is only capable of learning one of them, since your Ren isn't strong enough or compatible to learn more complex magic or even capable of learning a second basic magic type. This doesn't limit your skill though, just your learning capabilities."

"Ren?" William stumbled on the explanation at hand, questioning the only piece of information that caught his attention.

"Oh—Ok—Well, Ren is the energy that resides within all of us, it's like our spiritual force. We use it to learn and use magic."

"Oh, so that means even I can learn magic?"

"Yes—not much though with that thick head of yours..."

"So, how many stars are you, Pierre?"

"Me—I am a five-star Mage."

"Whoa! A five-star can learn anything, right!"

"Yes, a five-star mage's Ren is so flexible that they can learn numerous different types of basic and complex magic."

"Oh, so you're like the strongest one then, right?"

"Well, no. Being a five-star mage doesn't make you the strongest, it just gives you the biggest amount of room to learn magic. Think of it like this, two people, a one-star mage and a five-star mage—Both have the capabilities of becoming an excellent mage. But one can learn more magic than the other. Let's imagine that both the one-star and the five-star magicians have a wardrobe behind them... The one-star mages wardrobe only takes red clothes and no other color of clothing, so he can make the best of the red clothes that he has. He can still look fashionable but just in red. But the five-star mage can basically wear whatever colors he wants. He has a variety of clothes to choose from and can look just as fashionable as the one-star mage. So stars don't necessarily show the skill of that mage, it just shows the learning barriers that the mage has. Do you get what I'm saying, Sir Waynack?"

William was overwhelmed by the explanation before him, so much so that dismissive response was preferred, "Umm—Yeah, sure."

Pierre was a bit livid because he knew that William didn't intake any of the information he just gave him, he was simply worse than a toddler student, and Pierre is stuck with him on this journey for the grail.

"So where is this Harmstead, anyway?" William asked.

"We should be there any minute now." Pierre notices the obvious, the barren roads ahead of them, and Harmstead nowhere in sight.

"Weird... In Father's notes, it says that Harmstead should be in sight right about now." Pierre said.

"Well, it means that we can't be far, right?"

"Sure."

Pierre couldn't get past the idea that William knew nothing about Ren. Ren is quite visible to Mages, especially if one isn't attempting to control their Ren, it looks very similar to a misshapen bubble around you, glowing bright like a magnesium flare. 

William on the other hand is flowing with it as if he were flaunting his magical capabilities to his opponent, but it was obvious he had no idea about his limitless ceiling of Ren. Pierre couldn't believe it, something just isn't right about this, how could he have that much room for knowledge yet know absolutely nothing about magic. 

Pierre just assumed that William was hiding something, that he wasn't being completely honest with him, and this won't create a good partnership when deceit is already in the air. Pierre stopped in his tracks, and William walked a little further before noticing. "I'm going to ask again, Sir Waynack, what is in that Travel Pack of yours?"

"You really want to know?"

"I hardly know you and yet I have this feeling like you are hiding something from me—whatever that is must be in that pack of yours, so what is it?"

"Fine, I'll show you." William swipes the large and heavy pack from his bag and slams the weight onto the floor, covering the space between him and Pierre.

"Whatever happens, don't freak out."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Alright, here it goes—"

William swiftly takes off the blanket that was wrapped around the backpack and reveals a sleeping baby dragon inside of it. The dragon is colored crystal blue and a similar size to the head of its carrier.

"A dragon?!"