The Blaze slowly faded from the sky as Alix awoke. She sat up and quickly scanned her surroundings. The once peaceful and bright park looked as though it had been hit by some sort of tsunami or storm. That didn't make sense though as there wasn't even a cloud in the-
"What the-" Alix stared confused at the sky. Dark clouds now replaced the once clear sky. "Mo, what they hell happened?" The girl looked to the lake, which had noticeably less water in it, searching for the pink fish but saw no sign of her friend. "Mo? Where did you go?"
"Over yonder, Lexi!" Alix was surprised to here a familiar voice call out from behind her. She turned around and was shocked. Behind her, standing tall was...a tree. And in that tree on one of the higher branches was a round, pink fish. "Ahoy, Lexi! I have made landfall! Or treefall?" Alix stood up from the ground with her eyes still locked on the fish.
"How did you get up there?" Mo had his fins wrapped as far around the branch he was on as they would go. "Well, ya cast a spell. The lake exploded into the sky which knocked me out of said lake onto this tree." Alix squinted quizzically. "What do you mean I cast a spell? I don't have any sorcery spell prepped right now." Alix walked over to the base of the tree trunk and started to climb up to Mo's branch.
"Ya see that was when it got weird. Ya wrote the spell on the air like it was piece of parchment while mumbling a whole bunch of incoherent magic lingo." Alix climbed onto the branch and picked the pink fish up. "I wrote on the air? How?" Mo frowned at the girl.
"How in the hell am I supposed to know, Lexi? I wasn't the one writtin' on the air like a professional calligrapher." Alix shrugged and jumped down from the tree. "Anyway, how are you alive and speaking right now?" Mo tilted his head at the girl's question. "Whatcha' mean?"
"You know how you are a fish?"
"Yeah."
"And fish need water or they'll suffocate in the air?"
"Uh-huh."
"So how are YOU, a fish, ALIVE RIGHT NOW? You know OUT OF THE WATER?!" Mo looked around and placed a fin on his would be chin. "Hmm. Ya know, that's a good question. Maybe it's got somethin' to do with the spell ya cast on me."
"Wait, I cast the spell ON you?" Mo nodded his fish body up and down. "Mh-hmm. Said something about a contract and the screamed...uh. Cromina Fexas or somethin' like that." Alix sat down by the lake and put Mo back into the water. "Cromina- what? You mean Omnia Nexus?"
"Oh! So ya DO remember castin' the spell!" The fish crossed his fins...well they couldn't really cross each other so they just sat parallel but same difference. Alix frowned at the fish. "No, but I do remember the name of the spell that has constantly been on my mind for the past year."
"Oh, yeah that makes way more sense." The girl sighed. "Alright, well how do you fee-"
"HEY! ANYONE HERE?" Alix turned around and noticed a guard being followed by a crowd of people all entering the park.
"What do you think happened?" one person asked.
"Maybe it was some sort of monster." another responded.
"What if a powerful adventure came through here and used a powerful skill?!"
"You read too much news. What kind of adventurer would come all the way out here." Realizing the annoyance of the incoming situation Alix made the executive decision to evacuate from the park. "I'll come back tomorrow morning, Mo."
"Oh wait. I forgot to tell ya that I saw it." Mo called out as the girl started leave. "Saw what?"
"The string but it wasn't pink. It was silver." Without much time to digest the fish's words Alix quickly left the park. "The string was silver?"
...
After leaving the park Alix had many questions on her mind. How did she not know that she cast a spell? How did she write it on the air? What did Mo mean that the pink string was silver? All questions she desperately wanted to find an answer to. However, that was going to be difficult considering her current circumstances.
Alix smashed hard against the wooden wall wincing in pain. She didn't have much time to recover before she had to dive to the side to avoid a foot that slammed into the wall. She quickly attempted to retreat from her opponent but was not fast enough as a fist landed directly on her stomach sending her sprawling to the floor.
"You're slacking off, Alix. You're not normally this vulnerable." The woman standing over Alix said. "Well as soon as I got here you dragged me into the dojo, told me to change clothes and proceed to assault me. Not the kind of treatment one would expect to return home to, mother."
That is correct. The one brutally beating down Alix is none other than her mother, Sala Ren. She had medium length pink hair though one side was longer than the other. Her eyes were red, her skin white and her emotions none existent. Everything one could ask for in a mother.
Unlike her sorceress daughter, Sala Ren was a full blown martial artist. She knew that Alix wanted to pursue magic but that didn't mean that she wouldn't beat- I mean train her daughter in her family's martial teachings. It could be helpful for her in the long run.
"Stand up. We are not done with our training yet." Alix stood up from the ground. She was quite used to this by now so she did not need much time to recover. "Did I do something to make you mad or something? You always attack me with such ferocity."
Sala Ren closed the distance instantaneously and attempt to knee her daughter. Alix jumped to the side to avoid the attack but realized that it was bait and blocked the kick that came from the right side. "For someone in a fight you sure are talking a lot. Maybe I've been taking it too easy on you." Though the girl blocked the attack her mother finished the motion and still sent her flying.
Alix caught herself and charged toward her mother. She jumped attempting to land a flying kick which was easily caught by Sala. Alix wasn't finished though as she quickly used her other leg to build momentum and spin out of her capture and followed up with kick to the side of her mother's head. The kicked knocked the woman off balance giving Alix the chance to knee her mother...or so she thought.
Alix's leg was easily caught by Sala and immediately used to lift her into the air to then be slammed onto the floor. The impact was so intense that Alix bounced off of the wooden floor. Alix struggled to catch her breath after hitting the ground so hard when, while she was still bouncing back up, her face was palmed by her mother and she was slammed back into the ground even harder.
So, Alix was more or less unconscious after the impact. She came home from an annoying day at school and a strange day at the park to be beaten into unconsciousness by her own mother minutes after returning home. Honestly a usual day for the young spellcaster. Sala crouched over her sleeping daughter and sighed.
"Maybe the head slam was too much. Should've thrown her at the wall again so that I could unleash a flurry of punches on her." Sala pondered her own words for a moment. "Something really is wrong with me." She tossed Alix over her shoulder and took her to her room. After laying the girl in bed the woman went about her nightly routine.
"She was really distracted though. Something must've been on her mind." And so the cold woman went to her own room as if she did nothing wrong.
...
Late.
Alix was late because her beast of a mother knocked her out. "That has to be some sort of abuse." Alix didn't even have anytime to go to the park today so she sprinted through the streets. The previous day's effects had already cleared up. Not like it was anything other than a little lake water. Alix arrived at the school and rushed to the field to attend today's first class, "Magic Combat Duels."
This class was created to give the older students a chance to experience the magic battles that were so popular amongst the youths. It also worked to test how the students had improved their spellcasting ability thus far. Alix made it to the field just in time. The field was a large outdoor clearing in the center of the school. It was surrounded by a barrier being produced by an artifact so no damage would come to the school building during these battles.
"Ah, Ms. Deminal I see that you've arrived." A male instructor spoke. This was Winston Inengway. He was technically the Monster Studies instructor but he was also the teacher that oversaw the duels. Clearly unwillingly, if I may add.
"Go take a seat in the stands and if the two students that I just called could walk to the front." Alix nodded and moved to take a seat passing by Benjamin as she did.
"Insolent and tardy, huh? Little miss Deminal is becoming quite the problem child." Benjamin spoke under his breath as he walked by clearly intending for the girl to hear it. Alix rolled her eyes and sat down. 'I don't have anytime for big talking fools.' She thought to herself.
Benjamin and another student name Layla stood across from each other. "Alright you two. Remember the rules. No using spells above the second grade of magic. Though it would be shocking if you novices could use magic like that. Also no wands or staffs to enhance your spell power. These are just friendly duels after all." The two students nodded and stood ready.
"Then, you may begin." As soon as the disinterested teacher finished speaking Benjamin ran forward and held his open palm to his side. The air around his palm warped as mana gathered and a small ball of fire came into existence.
"FIRE BOLT!" The boy shot out the spell but it missed its mark as Layla dodged to the side. She held both her hands out in front of her and the air warped again as she shouted out, "SHOCK!" Lightning shot out of her hands for a short distance barely missing the boy.
"Hah!" Benjamin laughed as he shot out two more fire bolts this time hitting the girl. However, instead of making direct contact a shield appeared. The shield, which started blue, became yellow after the first and and red after the second. This shield was an artifact imbedded within the students' identification badges and would break after three hits. That is the goal to winning the duel...probably should've explained that earlier.
Layla panicked, realizing that she was in danger of losing. She ran to the side as she prepared another spell. This time the spell took longer to form giving Benjamin another chance to launch a fire bolt.
"You're finished!" Just as the fire bolt was about to make contact with the barrier Layla jumped to the side and finished her spell. "Electric Force!" It was a second grade spell. A pulse of electricity flew out from her and hit Benjamin who didn't have enough time to dodge after casting his spell. The spell was powerful and immediately knocked Ben's shield two levels down. Still shocked by the sudden counter the boy hadn't realized that the girl had closed the distance between them and launched another spell, "Shock!"
The spell did not miss this time. Benjamin's shield shattered and he was hit by the remnants of the spell causing him to scream in pain. "The duel has concluded. The victor is Layla. Now go sit down you two."
The girl ran over to her friends extatically, "I won!"
"You put that pushover in his place, girl!" One of her friends congratulated.
"It was nothing. He sure is stupid for a mage, though." The girls laughed.
Ben sulked over to his seat. "I can't believe I lost to a girl like Layla."
"You got careless bro. Nothing else to say." One of the boy's friends comforted.
"Alright, settle down. Get ready to for the next match." The instructor called out. Alix had honestly barely even watched the duel as she had been distracted by something completely unexpected.
'So did the duel get any better?' A voice asked
'A fight between two newborn guppies would have been more stimulating. Who would even enjoy a fight like that?' Alix responded. Alix was currently holding a conversation in her mind. You know, telepathically. The person she was talking to. Well, it wasn't really a person as it was a certain fish instead.
'Damn, Lexi! That's harsh!'