He was warm, his bed was comfy, and he would give anything to say in bed for just two more minutes, but alias that was not the case. As he laid surrounded by his dreams, he felt as if he was moving downward. He awoke suddenly to find himself on the floor, his side in pain, and his father above him.
"I told you we would wake at dawn." The older man smirked.
"How can you even tell down here?" he yawned, still groggy from being rudely awoken from his slumber.
"I don't know, maybe a little thing called a clock, you've heard of those right." The sarcastic remark came.
"Very funny." He got to his feet before asking. "Am I allowed a shower or do I have to wait?"
"You'll wait till we're done, no reason to waste water twice today." He nodded going to his bag to change only to find all of his clothes gone.
"Where are my clothes?"
"Those heavy things will only hold you back. There are new clothes in the dresser. I will meet you just outside, grab some fruit on the way out. It's the only food you will get till the sun goes down." With that his father left, leaving Bickslow speechless.
Not wanting to start an argument this early in the morning, he took to the dresser to find nothing but simple clothes. There was nothing special, dark brown pants and light brown shirts. He would have thought that the Raven Tail guild would have had cooler clothes lying around. From the reports he had read they wore darker outfits. Just looking at Ivan and his father's clothes the reports had been correct. The outfits were slick and made to hide in the darkness, which made since most of the guild's actions were done at night.
He finished getting dressed and did as instructed, grabbing an apple from the table, before exiting out the door. His father was leaning against the wall waiting for him.
"Took you long enough."
"Sorry I was caught up with all the options you gave me." He scoffed sarcastically, pointing at his clothes. His old man let out a half of laugh before motioning for him to follow. He followed him down the stairs, through the stone glyphs, he still couldn't get over the natural splendor of the cave. He had been so absorbed in exploring the cave that he didn't notice his father stopping in front of him and collided with his back.
"Watch where you're going, I know it's a lot to take in, but you need to focus on the here and now." He watched as his father placed his hand on a stone wall. The stone broke way, revealing stairs to the surface. He could see a small glimmer of light from the top.
The stayed in silence till they reached the outside. The field was just a magnificent from the outside. He couldn't really call it a field, more of a meadow from the stretch of long grass and flowers.
"I don't understand, why does a dark guild have their base in such a pretty place?" Laughter mocked him.
"Dark guild? Ha! Don't assume that we are a dark guild just because we don't have certification."
"I don't think the King would allow you the privilege, after some of the stuff you have pulled."
"Ha, you're the type that believes everything they tell you huh."
"No, I don't believe everything per say, but it looks bad when you rob the magical council."
"Rob? Ha! We only took what belonged to us! Do you even know what we took?"
Bickslow froze. No, he had no idea what Raven Tail had stolen from the council. He figured it was classified information. "What could have possibly belonged to you in the archives of the magic council?"
"How about our DNA? Files on ourselves from the past."
'DNA? What would the council want with DNA?' He thought to himself. 'And why would they have files on Raven Tail's members?' Dark Guild files were usually kept at the various legal guilds so that master had quick access to them. The main copies being in the royal archives, mainly so the royal guard knew who or what to look for when protecting the royal family.
"I'll tell you everything else later, maybe tonight if you lucky. Oh and to answer your question from earlier. It's the last place people would look for us. Think about it, most of the unregistered guilds have pretty noticeable hideouts. It makes them easy to find."
This made sense at least, it made more sense than the DNA thing, but he disregarded it. He was promised answers later after all.
"Are we going to just train out here or are we going somewhere else?" He questioned.
"We can do this out here. This space will make it easier for you to practice teleporting and shielding. As we progress we will move to more wooded areas and to healing eventually."
"Why is healing last?" He said confused.
"It's the opposite of your first ability, your healing a soul and body, not removing it. Also it takes more energy to heal as a whole because you're giving energy to someone else, mostly your own energy. One can never heal themselves. As you only have one magic you're using, one you have yet to fully control, it would be best to start you off small."
Bickslow decided to ignore his father's small insult. "So what are we starting with?"
"My forte, shield magic, now I need you to sit down."
"Why sit?" He thought they were going to get physical by the sound of it. How would he get tired by sitting?
"Just sit, you need to empty your mind or this won't work."
He obeyed only to make his father stop with his nagging.
"Okay, now close your eyes. Empty your thoughts and think of nothing."
He tried to do what he was asked, but his mind kept flashing images through itself.
"You're not doing it."
"Well sorry pops, it's not easy to turn off your brain." His tone mocking.
"Once you get used to it, it will be easy. Unless you're too stupid that is." He said, taking a jab.
"I'm not stupid!" His eyes had snapped open to look at the older man. He had way too many people in his life tell him those exact words.
"Then prove it, show me you can do this."
"Fine I will!" He snapped, closing his eyes again. He took a deep breath. He would show him. He emptied his mind, to the best of his ability, dismissing random thoughts and images. His head began to pound. It felt as if an ice pick was being pushed into his skull. His fingernails were digging into his palms as he tried to keep his mind off of the pain. He began to feel numb.
"That's enough!" He released a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"What the hell!" He breathed harshly.
"You need to do it till you feel the pain and stop, if you don't than you will use too much energy."
"How am I even using energy with doing that?" He was still trying to catch his breath.
"You're asking me this while you still struggle to breathe. Eventually you will no longer feel the pain, then and only then can you use the shielding magic."
He found he couldn't argue with his father. He knew far more on the subject than he did.
"Do it again. We will do this till dawn." His father took a seat opposite of him, closing his own eyes.
'Something tells me this will be a very long day' He thought.
'I heard that, get back to clearing your mind.'
Bickslow cursed himself. 'I don't even get my mind to myself, lovely.'
"I still hear you."
He took a deep breath hoping the rest of the day wouldn't be as bad as he thought it would be.
It was just as bad as he thought. As the sun fell in the sky, he felt more pain then he thought was possible. His face was covered his sweat and he his chest hurt from the lack of oxygen.
"That's all for today. We'll pick up back in the morning."
He just barely nodded it hurt too much to talk right now, let alone move. He dragged himself up, it was harder than he thought. How could something so basic cause him so much pain?
"You did well today."
"What do you mean?" His voice was scratchy, most likely from all the gasping.
"You got farther every time you closed your mind." He had a proud look on his face. "We should get to actual shielding by the end of the week."
'One whole week of this torture, lovely' He thought only to have a sharp pang snap through his mind.
"Come on back to the house. Ivan promised me there would be food when we got back."
He like the idea of food and sleep right now, just not the idea of climbing all those stairs. He felt his father's arm on him as the man led him back to the entrance to the guild. He would have moved faster, but even the soles of his feet felt like needles were being slabbed into them with every step. He didn't pay the guild hall any mind as he was dragged past the water fall and to the stairs leading to their dwelling. He was thinking of skipping food, in exchange of sleeping.
As they got to the door finally, he changed his mind. He could smell the bounty on the other side. The door opened and he saw Ivan sitting on the couch reading something.
"Still here?"
"Yea, foods on the table." He pointed to what looked like pork, maybe. "We got some wild boars earlier."
"Go ahead and dig in." His father waved him off to the food.
He didn't need to be told twice. He gorged himself. Some of the pain dissipated as he ate. He burped, covering his mouth fast.
He was only met with laughter. "Full?"
He nodded.
"Then take a shower and get some sleep, you have another long day tomorrow."
Figuring his father knew what he was talking about he rose and turned into the bathroom. Getting into the hot spray he let his mind unravel and drift, but also was trying to stay awake.
Ivan waited for the sound of the shower before asking. "So what did you really call me here for?"
Remy paced back and forth. "He's already asked the mom question."
Ivan paled. "Oh…"
"Eventually we need to tell him everything." He seemed to be staring off into space.
"Well it wasn't really our choice." Ivan started.
"We're still both responsible, even if he was made without us knowing." He said turning to face his friend.
"He may not understand it though. I say we wait a little longer." Ivan argued.
"One month, I'll tell him the truth then, his magic should vastly have improved by then." He wasn't going to skirt around this issue.
"How would you even start the conversation? Hey son, you were born in a laboratory. Some idiots at the council took my DNA when I use to work for them and made you, also just for shits and giggles they took his best friends DNA and mixed it in there."
"You know as well as I do what they were trying to do. They want a super weapon. We weren't the only agents they stole DNA from."
"Yea, look at this whole guild, ha!"
The two laughed at their own private joke.
"You knew he's going to ask if we're gay right." Ivan inquired.
He couldn't help but laugh. The very idea of him and his best friend that way was absurd. "You use to have a wife and you have a kid."
"He's still gonna ask, I bet you 600 jewel." His friend laughed.
"Fine you're on."
The conversation ended when they both heard the water stop. Seconds later Bickslow emerge from the bathroom. He didn't look at either of them, from the looks of it the boy just wanted sleep. He walked into his room and shut the door behind him.
"One month, also would it hurt you to act more like a father?" Remy whispered.
"No promises, I already fucked up with the first one. What makes you think I would be good with this one?"
Remy sighed rubbing his head, it was going to be a rough month, he could already tell.
To Be Continued….
