I decided to give the mercenaries a break for this chapter since it has been one conflict after another so enjoy a slightly fun-filled chapter for once!
The Zatuo Arc
Prologue
Magic Instruction
Soren looked over in the direction of Zatuo. Another land, what battles awaited them there? He hoped never to encounter another vampire because of what danger it got him into while on Hitenticul. He hopes for it to be like Thyremog where everyone was ignorant of his fate. Then again, who knows what Zatuo is like? So he must prepare for anything and everything.
"Soren!" Mia cried out followed by Zihark and Leah. He turned "Yeah?"
"We want a favor." he gave them a questioning look
"Alright…" "Well since we…mainly me…taught you the sword, we want to learn magic from you." He gave them a surprised look "Magic eh? So you come to me?" they nodded "Well I guess I could try to teach you. But the ancient language is hard and integrating it with-" Zihark laughed, "We will manage! Come on let's get started!" Soren nodded "Alright then."
"Who is interested in Wind Magic?" they all raised their hands. He shook his head "I only have one tome…" none put down their hand. "Fine let me try again. Who wants to use Fire Magic?" Leah jumped "Me! I want to burn things!" Soren tossed him the tome but he missed. He blushed
"Ah…heh… that was-" he ran after it. Soren rolled his eyes "Thunder?" Mia jumped "Over here Soren!" he tossed it to her and she caught it. Zihark laughed "Leah you got shown up!" "Shut up!" Soren looked at Zihark
"Alright…what about you?" "What else? Wind! Come on!" Soren shrugged
"I only have my tome and its used up. Let me get a new one." "No that is fine. I get to use the master's tome!" Soren eyed him "No you get a different one." "Come on! Please!" He rolled his eyes "Don't beg…it's disgusting!" Zihark laughed "Just give it here and I'll-" Soren threw it and it smacked Zihark in the face "Argh!"
"Oops (not really) alright lets begin!" Soren proclaimed.
Surprisingly it took only three and a half hours to teach his pupils the ancient language…or at least the basics. Soren knows that they have to apply the basics to more complex scripts. If not he would have to spend even more time on teaching it.
He went to see how Leah was doing with his fire magic. He pointed to the sky and brought his arm out trying to call out the fire "Come on!" he continued to wave his arm around
"It can't be this hard!" Soren rolled his eyes again "Leah! You can't go too fast. Gradually slow down and find your speed. Magic is patient with its users." Leah nodded "Alright." he tried again and a spark appeared at the end of his fingers
"Oh! Hey! Cool!" Soren nodded "Just be careful not to-" Leah tried again but the spark ignited and exploded "GAAAAAAAA!" Leah flung onto the deck burnt and black. He coughed "Gah! What the hell!" he turned to Soren "You said magic was patient!"
"Yeah I did. But I didn't say it was understanding." Soren replied "Touché." Leah said before picking himself up.
Mia had the timing right but the magic wouldn't appear. "Hey Soren what am I doing wrong." He came over to her "Let me see your chant and let me hear you recite it. Mia nodded
"OK…let's see…that is it right?" Soren nodded "Yeah but in between the last two verses you forgot the direction. It is supposed to be spoken so the magic can be launched in the correct way. You don't want magic flying in some random direction or not at all right?" Mia nodded
"Thanks Soren let me try again." she did it but the thunder shot against her and past her "What?!" it struck the foot of the lookout and it came tumbling down with the crow's nest and the lookout himself. Shinon cried out
"Hey! What the hell!" Mia gasped and then blushed "Heh…s-sorry Shinon!" Soren laughed.
"Alright Zihark. How are you doing with this?" Zihark turned "Great! I have everything down unlike SOME PEOPLE!" Leah threw his sheath at him and Mia threw her tome at him "Ow damn it!"
"Show me." Zihark turned away "Alright Zatuo take this!" the air shot out but much too intense and Zihark was flung across the deck and broke through the ship's railing and out into the ocean
"H-hey! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Zihark fell into the sea a few miles away from the ship. "Leah go get Ike… we need the main mast picked up…railing repairs…and a rescue operation." Leah nodded and ran below decks. Mia came by "So who was closest?" Soren shrugged "Honestly?" "Yes." she said "None of you." Mia slapped him "Hey! You're supposed to side with me!"
"You said honestly! Not favorably!" she rolled her eyes and he turned away "You 3 clearly aren't made for magic." "And yet somehow you are made for swordsmanship?" he shrugged "No idea."
The pupils came back to Soren "Well I guess that is it…we suck." Soren laughed "No worries." Leah sighed "It just doesn't make any sense how we can't learn magic…and yet you can learn the sword? Were is this world's justice!" Zihark shrugged
"There is a bright side to everything…we have fish!" he said pulling one out. Mia shook her head "Oh well. Sword time!" Zihark and Leah ran away as fast as they could and she pouted
"That isn't how we train!" Soren put his arms around her and smiled "Let them go. The two of us can train alone." she sighed "I guess. But if it comes down to it that those two are our last hope they will regret not training!" Soren nodded
"They probably will." he kissed her cheek before pulling out his sword and standing up "OK then let's go."
"Looser buys dinner when we get to Zatuo!"
"Deal."
Well I apologize for taking so long to update but I'm getting to it so expect a few more chapters in a few minutes, I have all the way to chapter 12 written out on Zatuo and I'll get it all on up here!