Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]
CHAPTER START---
Walking into the field behind the guild, a large green lawn greets Oberon.
30m -100ft- ahead of him is a steep drop-off, and 100m -300ft- below that is the water of the lake.
"Wow," Oberon says.
"I know right, view never gets old," Gildarts takes a deep breath of the fresh air and walks toward the edge.
Oberon follows a few steps behind him.
Gildarts stops with his toes just over the edge, squinting as he looks at the lake, the mid-day sun causing to water to glisten in a soothing manner.
"Still can't see the other shore from here," Gildarts says. He then points to the small mountains surrounding the lake on all sides. "Those mountains have nice game in them, if you ever want to try hunting. Personally, I'm more of the fishing type myself. How about you?"
Gildarts looks down at his side, but doesn't see Oberon there, then looks back a few meters to see the boy standing away from the edge.
"Scared of heights?" Gildarts chuckles.
"It's a cliff. Why aren't you scared? Can you fly?"
"No, but I figured you could, Gravity Magic after all."
Oberon pouts. "I don't have that yet, it's still too shaky..."
"Ahh, well, it'll happen in time, kid, don't sweat it. But some jobs you'll be going on will need you to traverse some dangerous trails, like cliff sides," Gildarts spreads his arms wide. "The world is too vast and beautiful to let fear stop you from exploring it. Let fear guide you to stay alive, but don't let it become a cage that stops you from walking the path you want, understand?"
"Uh-huh," Oberon slowly walks up, and Gildarts feels a small hand grabbing a fistful of his shirt.
"Already a natural." Gildarts ruffles his hair. "So, ready to learn some Magic?"
"Always!"
Moments later, Gildarts is sitting at the edge of the lake, legs crossed.
His simple battered long pants and t-shirt were gently moving along with the wind, and his shoulder-length hair was loose and flowing along with it.
With his eyes closed and hands clasped, he focuses his thoughts.
Beside him, Oberon was in the same pose, wearing his simply long pants and t-shirt provided by the Rune Knights.
His hair moved with the wind as he tried to clear his mind, slowing his breathing and awaiting instructions.
"Now that we're properly relaxed, shift your focus from your internal Magic Energy, to the Magic Energy of the world around you. The Ethernano in the air which we Wizards absorb and convert into Magic Energy, feel it enter your body and your Magic Container.
Feel it in the air and in the surrounding earth. Let it guide your thoughts and lift your spirit. This is the first step to reaching the summit of Magic."
Oberon feels the Magic Energy in his body. He feels the wind on his face and moving his hair.
He clears his mind and relaxes his senses, opening himself up to Magic Energy, to the Ethernano in the air.
And after 5 minutes...
"All I feel is wind," Oberon says.
"..."
"I said all I feel is wind."
"..."
Opening one eye, he looks up at Gildarts, only to see the man slouching forward toward the edge of the cliff, completely asleep.
"Hey!" Oberon shakes Gildarts's shoulder.
"Huh! What?!" Gildarts is startled awake, then remembers what happened. "Oh, sorry, guess I was meditating so hard I got too relaxed." He laughs it off.
"I said I can't sense any Magic, just wind. This didn't work when I did it with dad either..." Oberon pouts.
"Hmm, really, none at all?" Gildarts was skeptical at best. "I figured you'd be a natural at this since your Magic Control is so insane. Even now I'm looking right at you, but can't sense any Magic Energy from you. That's a first... but so is a Wizard not being able to sense Magic Energy."
The news clearly saddened Oberon, but he mustered up the courage to ask, "Is it that bad?"
"Hmm," Gildarts thinks about it for a moment. "Being a Wizard who can't sense Magic Energy is like being a blind guy in a boxing ring."
"Oh," Oberon frowns.
"It's not... completely impossible. But we Wizards use our natural ability to sense Magic Energy like a sixth sense of sorts, especially in fights. It lets us react to spells and other Magics faster than normal people. Most Wizards don't even think about it because they're just able to do it the moment they learn Magic, but it's vital to our survival."
"So it's like I can't hear, instead of being blind."
"Uh, sort of."
"Wait!" Oberon's eyes widen. "I sensed the Dragon Lacrima! So it's not impossible, just difficult."
"Hmm," Gildarts scratches his chin. "That doesn't really say much because at that point even regular people can feel the Magic Energy. Those things just give off way too much of the stuff. But the energy of a Dragon is also different, so what you felt could have just as easily been primal fear."
"Awe..."
"Alright, let's try something," Gildarts says. "I'll start releasing Magic Energy, and you just tell me when you start to sense it, alright?"
Taking a deep breath Oberon closes his eyes and focuses his senses once more.
'Alright kid, let see how bad your senses really are...' Gildarts thinks as he releases Magic Energy
The surrounding air moves quicker, and his hair flows haphazardly.
'Still no reaction huh,' Gildarts glances over at the guildhall, hesitant, but increases his output even more.
The air around him is pushed aside, as if it feared his Magic Energy.
Oberon gently rocks backward before stabilizing himself as the wind crashes into his face.
'Still nothing, seriously? Alright...'
Gildarts furrows his brows as he puts his back into it, and the Magic Energy he's releasing now becomes visible. Glowing white light radiates off of him and raises upward, as if reaching for the skies.
The wind holds his hair up, and he focuses in on Oberon's expression, trying to see any discomfort.
But all he sees is the boy being slightly annoyed by the wind along with the now rumbling ground beneath them.
'Seriously kid, you can't be this bad at sensing Magic Energy...how the hell do you plan to survive as a Wizard?'
Taking it one step further, his body releases so much Magic Energy that a thin pillar of white light envelops him, and he maintains it for a few seconds before the surrounding ground begins to crack and shake apart.
"Alright," Gildarts stops releasing his Magic Energy.
Oberon opens his eyes. "I felt a lot of wind and shaking at least," he says in a hopeful voice.
"If I kept going, the entire town would have felt that part of it, but did you seriously not feel the Magic Energy I was releasing?"
"Sorry," he looks saddened by the question, shoulders slumped and gaze falling to the lake ahead of them.
"Honestly kid, I'm not much of a teacher," Gildarts admits. "I was born with a lot of Magic Energy and some destructive Magic, and even now sometimes it goes haywire when I'm not paying attention. Sensing Magic Energy is like breathing for me, so I don't know what to tell ya..."
"Maybe if you did more?"
"I can't release any more within the city. That would upset a lot of people," Gildarts says. "Besides, I released more than most Wizards have, hell that was more than most S-Class Wizards have, just makes me wonder what kind of power was in that Lacrima if you sensed it."
"He likely sensed more than just Magic Energy from it," Makarov says.
They both turn to see him walking over to them, the backdoor of the guild open with a few people peeking out.
Makarov was wearing a green and yellow costume of sorts, with a silly hat to match. Quite a strange look for a Wizard Saint.
"So is that why you interrupted our rehearsal with that release of Magic Energy?" he asks Gildarts.
"Sorry Master, but the kid couldn't sense any of my Magic Energy. Looks like the cost of his perfect control is being blind to it," Gildarts says sadly.
Makarov sighs, "Well, that is quite a tragedy, but it doesn't make his dream of reaching the summit of Magic impossible. He'll simply have to work harder than everyone else, and more importantly, be more careful than everyone else."
"I will!" Oberon says.
"Well, I suppose it's not the worst thing," Gildarts says. "Never having it is better than learning to rely on that sense, then losing it. This way he can build up his habits and style of Magic naturally while already factoring this into it. It could work."
"It certainly will take much effort to overcome, but all the best things in the word take hard work to achieve," Makarov says.
"Mom used to say that, too," Oberon adds.
"A wise woman, I'm sure. Now I'll let you two get back to training. I've got to perfect my moves for tomorrow..."
With that, Makarov turns around and saunters back into the guildhall.
"His clothes were weird," Oberon mutters.
Gildarts laughs quietly, "yeah, the whole Fantasia Parade stuff is a bit too flashy for me too, that's why I never join. Plus... being famous sucks, at least from my experience."
"I think it would too. How bad was it?"
"Well, the more famous you are for being a powerful Wizard, the more people want to kill you so they can get famous. Plus, you've got people always hounding you to teach them or to give them some pictures and interviews... it's all just so annoying," Gildarts sighs.
"Was there anything good about it?"
"Well, you get higher-paying jobs, and the women are a lot nicer to you, plus a lot of weaker mages just won't fight you if they know who you are. But I generally avoid pointless fights anyway, so that last one isn't really a problem for me."
"But how do I get the good stuff and not the bad stuff?"
"Well," Gildarts thinks about it for a moment. "What worked for me is just don't let anyone take pictures of you, keeps it simple and let's you get your name out there. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. First you need to live long enough to become someone people actually care about."
"Right! Then I'll be stronger than you, then stronger than everyone... even Acnologia!" Oberon says excitedly.
Gildarts just shakes his head, 'this kid seriously only gets excited about Magic, probably the best trait to have in an aspiring Wizard, once he doesn't take it too far.'
"Alright, let's get the next step of your training complete. You ready?"
"Always..."
END CHAPTER---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]