Sometime had passed, and with the absence of light in the room, I couldn't tell if it was day or night. My body finally had the feeling of energy surging through every vein, as if I was no longer drained. The first change I had noticed though was the absence of my red armor, replaced with cloth pants and shirt. As I began to stand, my new ruler entered the room.
"I glad to see that my pupil has finally regained his strength."
"Where's my original armor?"
"Oh, it's been disposed of. Its part of your past, a part that you will learn to forget. But do not fear, for I have a gift for you." The hooded figure then dropped massive black heap.
"I don't see anything."
"Yes, I know. It's pitch black armor. Extremely hard to see at night, which is always a good thing, because training starts now. You will suit up, and you will run from here to the edge of the woods and back. Do be careful though, for there are quite a few pesky rodents out there that can easily harm one with no sword."
"You're giving me armor without but not a sword?" I asked. The figure then laughed.
"The armor was a gift. One of the very few gifts you will be receiving. If it's a sword you want, you will earn it."
"And how long will that be?"
"Until I feel you are worth enough of wielding one. Now you had better start running because you will be back before sunrise."
Remembering the amount of pain that this person caused while I was a dragoon reminded me that he was no joke. I quickly suited up, and ran through what seemed like a door. The sounds of crickets and owls while running reminded me of some of the evening I would spend in the woods outside of Seles. More particular though, it reminded of one of the few times Shana would approach me while I was alone.
I was sitting on a rock under a favorite tree of mine that I had climbed since I was ten. She then walked over and looked right at my eyes. She told me that it was something about the way the light shined in them, that she would know that something was wrong. "You're always running off from the village now." She said.
I just scratched at the rock, and looked at the dirt. I didn't want to seem dismissive though. "Well, I've been thinking."
"About?"
"I've been thinking about my mom and dad. I was kind of young when I lost them, and it hurts. Ever since, I always have the image stuck in my head of sitting in the woods with my dad saying 'wait here.' And I waited, and I never saw him or my mother again, all because of some Black Monster."
"Dart, it's not your fault."
"I never said it was. But I just every time that I think about the, I feel as if I'm failing them."
"Dart," she said, but I didn't want to listen. I jumped up from the rock, with my fists clinched and a glare in my eyes,
"No, it's always Dart, Dart, Dart. No one seems to understand. You all didn't lose your parents and friends to some thing. I've lived with this too long now. So long, that I think it's finally time." I reached for my sword, latched it to my belt, and started to walk down the road through the woods.
"Dart!" she yelled. It was the final thing I heard her yell until I rescued her from Hellena prison.
After thinking about my past, I realized I reached the edge of the woods, and in the distance, the light was slowly coming over the horizon. Not wanting to feel the pain again, I turned, and dashed through the woods, and I as I began to sprint, a powerful gust came through the trees and knocked me backwards. I started to stand, but I watched as the outline of a huge shadow moved across the ground. The sound of a large bird then raced through the air. It dawned on me then, that bird was looking for food, and must have spotted me, because the sound became louder every second.
I staggered to my feet, and sprinted through bushes, dodging branches. I looked back, and I saw no shadow. My stomach knotted as my heart raced, and I felt as if I should look up. My eyes quickly shot upward, and the huge bird was swooping down through the foliage to catch me. I dropped, and rolled into a near by bush as his talons missed my shoulder. It flew back up in the air, and turned around to make another attempt. I stood again, and started to run back to wherever I left from for the jog. The sound of the birds squawk and part roar rang through the air as it began to plunge towards the ground for prey. Before I dove for the second time to save my life, an arrow stuck in a tree caught my attention. I quickly snatched the arrow, and ducked behind the tree as the bird attempted to talon at me. After continuing to run, I reached an open field, and panicked because the humongous thing could easily tear me from limb to limb. As the though ran through my head, the birds call once again sounded, and he went into his dive again. As his talons started to enter my skin, I thrust the arrow into its underside. The bird quickly released me and flew off. Not too long afterwards, it then fell back into the woods.
I started to sit from being relieved that I survived, then noticed that the sunrise was starting to reach this side of the world. I dashed back into the woods, and ran for the place. Upon reaching it, I was hit by a massive force that knocked me to the ground. I raised my head an noticed that it was him.
"When I say be back by sunrise, I mean be back when its still dark outside."
"Well the sunrise didn't completely reach here yet," I said as I pulled myself up from the ground. After fully standing, my face was smacked by a powerful force sending back to the ground. After struggling to look up, I noticed that force was nothing more than a punch.
"I thought we had an understanding of one another. I give the commands, you follow them, and everything works perfectly." He then turned around and stood quietly before saying, "However, I did see that little spectacle you had with the bird, and I must say it was quite impressive how you handled that. Especially since you don't have a sword." Before he walked back into what now I knew was a barn, he tossed a heavy book over his shoulder, landing inches away from my face.
"What's this?" I asked.
"It's a book of highly complicated magic. You will learn to perform the most difficult of them by tomorrow." He then tossed a small cloth bag. "It's magic dust. It will help you perform them easier until you can learn to perform magic without them." He continued to walk into the house, but stopped in the threshold. "Oh and one more thing. Don't fail me again." He then disappeared into the darkness of the place.
I stood, and looked at the cloth bag and book sitting on the ground. Not wanting to waste to time, I grabbed both items and headed out into the woods to practice. After finding a comfortable rock, I dropped the bag on the ground, and opened the book. The pages that contained the important spells had been marked with an orange dash at the top of the page. The first spell had read "Aloud in your head, repeat the following scripture. Failure to pronounce perfectly could result in the wrong spell or damage to the caster. Practice aloud before trying." After the instruction was the scripture were a bunch of letters that had seemed to be randomly combined. Not too long afterwards, I figured out that these random letters were names of past winglies and dragoons. "Rafat nailuj rovid." I whispered the scripture at first, having no clue what it would do. It sounded as if I understood how to pronounce it.
I wanted to slack off for a while, and I laid down on the rock until I heard what sounded like something falling. I sat up and noticed that in the distance, trees were rapidly falling down. I also could hear what sounded like a faint roar. The roar sounded as if it became louder, along with the sound of falling trees. I knew the bird was headed towards me, and this time I was unarmed. I looked around for another arrow, and then noticed the cloth bag on the ground. I quickly reached for it, and continued to whisper the scripture. I didn't know how to use the dust, so being ignorant I took some out, and rubbed it around in my hands, and placed my hands forward. The bird was still rampaging towards me, and when it was only inches away, I said the scripture in my hand, and a pitch black light orb formed around both my hands and shot forward at the bird. The tiny orb of light then morphed to fit the birds shape. The bird quickly fell to the ground, and the longer the orb remained attached to the creature, the darker it became. Eventually the orb then shot back at me, and into my chest, only it didn't morph to my shape. It felt as if I had gained power. I looked at the bird and it had turned to pure stone.
The feeling . . . the feeling of having the ability to take from something so easily felt grand. I felt as if I craved more. I wanted more power. I picked up the book and the bag, and walked back towards the barn