Narix glanced at Reya. "I helped this nice girl out of Virgus, and she brought me here. She said she was taking me to her friends. Now I know you're one of them... maybe I should be going."
Godar's voice was gruff. "Yes. You should."
Reya stared at him. "You." she said, angrily. "You say you want to save the world. But while you're travelling in comfort in your WorldRunner, your own niece is stuck stealing to survive in the back streets of a city you're trying to fight against! How can you claim to be trying to save the world if you don't even help your own family?"
Godar glanced at her, then sat down in the command chair of the WorldRunner. "It's not your business." he said, after a notable pause. "Narix and I haven't been on good terms for... a long time."
Narix scanned the room, trying to take in what had just been said. "Trying to... save the world?" she asked. "Uncle Godar is trying to save the world? That's a laugh." She snickered. "Want to know about him? Want to know what he really is?"
"Narix-" began Godar quickly.
"Shut up, Godar." said the young thief. "I'll make you a deal. You don't want these people to know about all that stuff. You take me with you and I don't tell them."
Godar looked at her face, sighed. "This was why I never wanted to see you again." he said. "Fine, come with us. But only if you help."
"Right." said Narix. "Save the world. Huh. Let's go."
--==[-Nexus-]==--
Narix and Godar both kept to themselves for much of the trip. Godar hadn't explained to any of them exactly where it was that they were going or what they were doing next, but Reya still seemed willing to follow along for now, and that had been enough to keep Kenris here. Orca, for his part, was still enchanted by the idea of saving the world.
"So," said Kenris, "Godar has some big secret. Why am I not surprised?"
Reya raised her eyes from their intent gaze at the table directly in front of her. "I don't understand him. Some part of him seems... good and noble, somehow, but it's like that's only half of him."
"I'm not so inclined to trust him, really. He did kidnap you, remember?" stated Kenris.
"Yeah." said the young woman. "But if he can give me control of myself, then... I'm willing to do whatever."
"Right." said the Wind Knight. "And I'm your defender. Okay? Remember that. If you ever get into any trouble, that's what I'm for."
--==[-Nexus-]==--
A couple of hours later, the door chimed on Reya's room. "Come in," she called absentmindedly.
Orca stepped into the room, finding Reya sitting at the desk in one corner, sitting and apparently just thinking. "Hey," he said. "Still interested in some magic lessons?"
She looked up at him. "Yeah... I guess so." she said. "I want to be some use without having to become something dangerous."
"I guess I can understand that." said the kid. "I guess I should see what potential you have."
"Potential?" asked Reya.
"We all have a bunch of magical ability inside us. I have quite a lot of it, although it's my control of it that makes me so awesome, rather than the quantity." He grinned. "Still, if you don't have enough, we may as well not bother."
"Ah... okay." said the woman. "How do you tell?"
"Magic for magic," smirked Orca. "There's this spell I can use to check out stuff like that. It's called Scan. Has a bunch of other uses too. Tells me any elemental stuff you might have, and whether you're hurt or not."
"Not bad..." said Reya. "Go ahead, then."
"Right." said the mage. "Let's see what you've got inside - Scan!" Even as he finished the statement, Reya felt as though she was being watched by a million eyes. It was very uncomfortable for a moment, then the feeling was gone.
"Sorry if that felt weird." said Orca. "But... wow."
"Wow?"
"Yeah. Wow. This is quite amazing. You have the most huge pile of magical stuff in you I've ever seen. But... it's kinda weird. It shows up a bit different to mine and most people's I've seen. Most of you does, actually."
Reya looked at him. "Like I'm... different." she said, slowly.
"Kind of." he said, not realising exactly what she meant. "Anyway, you wanna learn some stuff?"
"Yeah, okay." she said, clearing her mind of her concerns for the present. "Where do we start?"
"Well." he said. "White magic is different to black magic. You basically just use spells to do stuff, but with black you call up the kind of thing you wanna use and then do stuff with it. To learn your white spells, you have to find and use these things." Orca reached into his pocket, pulled out a small, glowing blue cube. "Here... take it."
Reya took the cube and examined it. No heat emanated from it, and it had no notable properties aside from its perfect cubic shape and the blue glow which continued to protrude from it. "What now?" she asked eventually.
"That thing is called a Learning Cube." said the kid. "Hold it in front of you and say 'absorb'."
She complied, raising her hand to face level. "Absorb!" she said. As she did, the blue light extended beyond the edge of the cube, and then appeared to somehow seep into her hand. In seconds, it had completely disappeared. And in another second, the cube shrunk and vanished into nothingness. "Er." she said. "I didn't feel a thing..."
"It's okay, that's normal." said Orca. "Now you have a basic Cure spell in you, though. You just have to learn to cast it."
"Al...right." she said eventually. This was very strange to her; magic was something she had never even considered in the past. "How do I do that?"
"It's all about talking." said Orca. "The key is the name of the spell. This one is obviously Cure. But that's not all you have to say. Every spell needs a preamble. I can say basically anything I want as a preamble to a spell," he grinned again, "but that's just because I rock so much. Most people need to say something related to the spell. Some people go for poetry or whatever. Come up with whatever, really, as long as it's about curing and stuff. You have to say at least six syllables." He looked himself over. "Here, I've got a bruised arm. Try it on me."
Reya struggled to take all of this in. "Let me see... Powers, come and help my friend - Cure!" Much to her surprise, she was instantly enveloped in a blue glow, and a beam arced from her to Orca. Orca was then surrounded by a faint green light for a moment, in which the bruise on his arm completely vanished. "Whoa..." she said.
"Not bad." said Orca. "Here's a couple more Cubes - this one's Scan, and this one's Blink. You can practice with them for a bit. I'm gonna go get some rest, okay?"
--==[-Nexus-]==--
Four hours later, the WorldRunner came to a halt.
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Some reviews would be really cool! =)
I'd like to know people are actually reading this.
-maestro7