Apprentice of the Mystics


I figured it would be better not to tell either of them that I'd be watching, so I hung as a bat in the corner of the room to watch the boy and Slash. That boy was such a wimp, I was sure he had no reason to whine…

"Come on human, don't drag your feet," Slash said sharply. The boy glared and quickened his pace just a bit. "Now draw your sword."

The child pulled a thin sword from its sheath. "…I'd rather use a scythe…" he muttered.

"Silence," Slash snapped, rapping him across the head with the blunt side of his sword. The boy cringed. "Begin." They faced each other, swords at the ready. Slash made a couple of opening swipes, which the boy parried without too much trouble. The swordsman jabbed a little more forcefully. The boy ducked away and parried that too. Slash followed him, his moves becoming faster and more fluid. The boy blocked most of the slices, but got some nicks and shallow cuts on his arms.

"Too slow as usual," Slash said critically, never stopping his assault.

"Nnn… I'm… trying!" insisted the child, though his concentration suffered when he spoke. Slash got in another few hits on him.

"Trying is useless if you don't succeed," Slash countered with easy words and blows. He whacked the boy on the head again with the flat of the sword, making him clearly dizzy. "Simply trying is for the weak and the useless." He punctuated his words with swipes at the child's shirt, leaving cuts through it, and shallow gashes in his chest. "You'll never succeed." He delivered a heavy blow to the boy's sword, knocking it out of his now numb hand. "Too slow," he sneered. Then he spun behind the child, grabbing his wrists in one hand and holding his sword to the young human's trembling neck with the other. "Now… How about I get rid of you, and do everyone a favor… Me, Ozzie, certainly Flea… Yourself… And any worthless family or friends you had, in whatever hellhole you crawled out of…"

"…Oh I don't think that's such a good idea, Slash." The swordsman and child jumped as one, which was good, because if it had just been one or the other, the boy's throat would have been slit. It was already starting to ooze blood a bit.

"Flea! Show yourself! What business do you have here?" Slash hissed.

"I thought I'd take a look at what you've been doing lately, since you seem to think you can barge in on MY lessons with MY apprentice whenever you want…" I spread my wings and glided down, changing form as I went, to stand before him. The boy was staring at me with wide eyes.

"You're the one who wanted me to teach it to fight. And it's damn useless, too. Did you see how bad it is?"

"Oh yes, if you expect him to suddenly become a top-notch swordsman overnight, he's doing terribly. I quite agree!" I rolled my eyes. "Slash, it's a little kid. There's no rush. He's not perfect at magic either, but he's improving. As he obviously has been here, too. So what's the problem?"

"The problem is, I expect perfection," Slash stated flatly. "And this whelp cannot deliver that." He cuffed the boy to accentuate his point.

"Yeah, well I expect the same thing!" I retorted, starting to get angry. "But I'm not living in a fantasy world where I can just tell somebody to live up to my expectations and expect them to be able to obey. He's gotta work at it, but the only way for him to improve enough is for me to work him through it. Be realistic Slash, he's still getting used to all this. And he's getting better. Don't be so impatient!"

"What, are you defending your wimpy little friend?" Slash sneered. "Got a soft spot for something that looks so much like you? Don't be such a human."

That was too much. I flew at him like lightning. He went for his sword, but I had already drawn up the wind to swirl around us. "Now who's slow? Don't you ever call me a human again, you fish-faced freak! And that's MY apprentice, you understand? Go get your own to beat up on!" I resisted the urge to pummel him as the wind swirled him down to the floor, where he continued to spin dizzily, trying to find his balance. The boy watched silently from a distance.

"…Come on," I said after a moment. I turned and floated out of the room, hearing soft footsteps follow me quickly. We returned to his room, where I turned to sit on my throne before him. He stopped, defensive and uncertain.

"So. Maybe you're not quite as whiny as I thought," I conceded. The boy watched me through narrowed eyes.

"…I'm not going back. He would have killed me…" he said quietly, his eyes daring me to disagree.

"Yeah, he probably would have," I agreed, looking at the angry red streak that was dripping blood down the boy's neck. I reached to my belt and pulled out a bottle. "Here. It's a mid-tonic, you look like you need it."

He snatched the bottle from me, and I watched him pour the liquid over his wounds. They healed before my eyes. There was a bit left in the bottle, so he drank it up.

"Feel better now?" I asked.

"…Yes," he admitted almost reluctantly.

"Good. Take a rest, and then you're going to have to teach yourself to fight for the most part. I'm no weapons expert, and I'm not much good with a scythe."

The boy nearly grinned. It was certainly a nice change from the constant glare. "Then… I don't have to go back to Slash…?"

"No," I sighed. "You can try to teach yourself, and I might help a little. If you don't progress well enough though, you're just gonna have to suck it up and go beg Slash to teach you again.

"I will," the boy said quickly. "I'll learn. I'll do well."

"Good. I expect you to."

"…Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. I expect you to be able to beat me in magic and beat Slash in a fight by the time we're through, princey," I said with a smirk.

"Rrg… I have a NAME!" he shouted angrily. "Quit calling me that!"

I considered the boy for a moment. "Yes, I know," I said quietly. "Janus. Probably named after the ancient two-faced god. Just like your namesake, you look back to the past and forward to the future at the same time. And two faces would suit you better than you seem to know. You may hate Slash's guts. I do too sometimes. But that doesn't make it smart to make the relationship between you bad."

"He hates me too," Janus pointed out.

"Yeah, he does. You're a human. We don't think too well of you for that."

"You're at least fair…" the boy mumbled.

"I know better than to make enemies of anyone who I might not want to face in the future," I corrected him. "I'd rather minimize the trouble I might get into later."

"So… then you… really don't like me either?" he asked quietly.

"Like is such a strong word… I wouldn't take pleasure in hurting you… But I wouldn't hesitate to kill you if the need arose," I clarified.

The child was silent for a moment, looking down at the carpet and rubbing his shoe on it. "…I wouldn't want to kill YOU…"

"I never said I'd want to. I wouldn't. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't do it if it came down to that. And I would expect you to do the same." I raised an eyebrow at the boy, who was looking more and more uncomfortable.

"…But… We'll both be on the same side! We're both Mystics. I don't care if I'm a human, I don't have any loyalties to most of them… Why would I even have to think about that?"

"Janus. Think about it. Do you want to be Ozzie's underling all your life? My advice would be to do that as long as it works for you. But when you're older and more experienced, I bet you could easily take command from him. Or you could turn on him."

"You're… talking treason," he said uneasily.

"I'm talking about living your own life. Don't be a flunky forever. Think for yourself," I said, keeping my voice low just due to the nature of my speech.

"…What about you, then? Aren't you serving Ozzie…?" he asked uncertainly.

I smirked. "While it suits me. It's a pretty good way to start out."

"…What do you want to do… after this? Will you lead the Mystics? Will you leave them…?" The boy sounded rather lost.

"Eh, I don't know," I said with a shrug. "I like being near the top, but I don't know if I'd want to be all the way up there. I'm not sure what else I want to do either. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, I guess!"

"…Then… you… don't know what I should do either…?" he asked hesitantly.

"…Not in the future, no. But now, I know exactly what you should do." He looked up at me hopefully. "…Just what you've been doing. Get stronger, improve your skills… grow a little taller… Keep up your looks… I'd say when you get a little older, you'll do fine."

He smiled faintly. "You think so…?"

"Sure!"

"…And you think I'll be good enough some day that you'll have to stay on my good side?" he asked, grinning.

"Well, if you don't slack off, it's possible."

"…Thank you, Flea…"

"Eh, no problem. Talk is free, princey."

"I HATE that!" He glared at me.

"I know!" I grinned back.