Dreams of Power, Mina's Trip to the Magic Guild

Three friends were on the road heading through the woods. One was a seventeen year old girl who was wearing a long red tunic, long steel greaves that covered her pants entirely, long steel gauntlets, a steel breastplate that covered from the top of her breasts to the stomachwhere it then split down the middle and became two guarders for her sidesand a steel headband. She had short curly blond hair and green eyes.

The second was a thirteen year old boy wearing a white tunic and breeches with small fingerless gray gloves and short gray boots, along with a pair of gold armbands, a gold belt with a diagonally lay square shaped ruby in the center as a clip, and a circular amethyst clip holding on his black cape. He had wiry black hair with a large portion of it flopping down over his right eye, and blue eyes. What was different about him was that his entire body was made of blue stone, and bits of gray gravel littered every inch of it.

Leading them was a girl of about fifteen; albeit she was still the shortest of the three. She had on a light blue tunic with darker blue breeches, leather gloves and boots, and a gold belt with a circular ruby for a clip and a gold chain hanging down from it. On each wrist and ankle she had a bracelet that looked just like the belt. Dangling from her neck was a crescent moon shaped pendant with her name, Mina Felicia, written on it. The same shape was on the clip that held her cloak in place. This garment covered her hair and most of her face. All that could be seen were her bright blue eyes. It stemmed from being scarred as a little girl.

They were on their way to the town of Inion, where a tournament was to be held to find out who was the best swordsman in the land. Sandi, the older girl, was to compete in it with her sword; the Wing Blade. It was a longsword that had what appeared to be an angel spreading its wings for the hilt. The angel's head went up to cover a small portion of the blade, but it was long enough so not to be worry for her in combat.

The tournament was held once every ten years and Sandi was determined to compete in it. If she missed this chance, she'd be twenty seven before it was held again. So after a lot of begging, she managed to convince Amelia and Zel that she should be able to go. And after a whole lot more begging, Mina was able to get them to let her and Noel go as well; in order to support Sandi when she fought of course.

Mina had another reason to head to that town. The guild there was famous for turning out great sorcerers. Not that she wanted to enroll, but she hoped to learn a few new spells. After all, competitors had to arrive at least a week early for screening. Thus, Mina could pop into the guild, learn the spells she wanted to, and then get her rear in gear and go watch her friend kick butt in a swordsmanship tournament.

'At last,' the girl thought, 'This will be the day I finally learn it. The Dragon Slave. I've been putting it off out of a strange cowardice since the incident five years ago. But I shouldn't underestimate myself any longer. I am destined to become a great sorceress, and this is the chance at taking that huge first step.'

S...S

After making it to town, Sandi went right away to the arena. Mina didn't want to wait around with the warriors for the whole thing to start, so she dragged Noel to the Magic Guild. The only way she'd been able to get Amelia and Zelgadis to let the boy come was if she stuck with him and watched over him. If she was busy, he would have to go to Sandi. Not much for her to do except wait for the tournament to begin.

"Can I help you, young lady?" inquired the receptionist at the front desk. Mina and Noel walked up to her, a smile on the girl's face. The lady knew her to be a sorceress right away, and could tell that she was older than her height suggested. Even without seeing a face, she could tell the girl had experience.

Mina inquired, "Is this a guild that can teach Black Magic? I am on my way to learning more of the art, but my Masters have little expertise in the field. So, I wish to find out on my own. I have learned much from textbooks I took out of libraries, or that my Masters owned, but I still cannot learn the ultimate spell in all Black Magic. The Dragon Slave, famous as a trademark spell of the great Sorcery Genius, Lina Inverse."

The clerk was used to this kind of response. In this day and age, many had heard of the powerful deedsregardless of them being heroic or self servingof Lina Inverse. Young girls especially longed to be like her. They wanted to show the world that the female gender could provide for itself and such abilities were not restricted to one sorceress. In other words, what Lina could do, they could do. They wanted men to respect them, even fear them, so they would not be forced to sit around and listen to their husbands all their lives. They were pioneers in that world's feminist movement. If Lina hadn't left on an adventure in foreign lands long ago with Gourry in tow, she would probably be commending all of these girls for their determination and ambition. Especially since they all described her as a "great sorcery genius". So the clerk motioned towards a room on the right. "Here, you can train to learn advanced magic spells in there."

"Mina," Noel inquired, "Are you going to be awhile? If you are, I'll just go hang around with Sandi for the afternoon." He turned to leave, when Mina grabbed him by the arm. She didn't want him just running off again. The town could be dangerous if he was by himself and recognized as the young Prince of Seyruun.

"At least put your hood up Noel, your Chimeric state makes you stand out like a soar thumb. And I want you to try one more time at casting the Fireball. You've had trouble with that spell for some reason. It is still a basic spell Noel. Yet, you can cast Astral Break and Digger Volt just fine," Mina informed the boy.

Noel concentrated as Mina glared at him. Suddenly, the fire began to dance between his left hand. Then, in a panic, he tossed it at a wall. Luckily for them the guild had provided for such instances. A spell had been raised to protect the walls from damage in case of a miscast spell or a sorcerer letting off steam.

Mina told him, "Not the greatest one I've seen, but it's an improvement over before. Keep up the good work Noel. Don't be afraid, it's just magic. Besides, just think of Uncle Zel's old stories. Look at Aunt Sylphiel and how she could barely cast a Flare Arrow without either turning it into a carrot or having the backlash slap her own allies. You haven't done either so I'd say you're doing just fine with your magic."

Noel smiled and ran off to find Sandi. Mina, in the meantime, went into the back room where a man was waiting to teach students advanced magic. Something about her unsettled him but he had his job to think about. So he worked with Mina on the theory behind the Chaos Words that made up the spell. But before he could finish, Mina ended up invoking a Dragon Slave out of pure boredom. She managed to even break the shield around the guild, and blow up a good portion of the back wall. Remember, this wall is supposed to withstand an average Dragon Slave. Luckily, the building's back was to an open field only.

The surprised guild instructor looked at Mina, who smiled. "Wow, didn't see that happening. I think I really am a natural at magic. Well, gotta go meet some friends." She took off before he could get over his shock and try to make her responsible for the destruction. It almost looked like Lina Inverse on a good day.

"My mother was right," he moaned, "I should've become a member of the Seyruun Guard instead."

Teefa's Last Words...

This would have been out several weeks ago but I got obsessed with La Pucelle Tactics. Funny TRPG; the heroine is a lot like Lina Inverse just without the magic (she's forever slugging people who irritate her and hitting them with her baton...one time she even pulls Lina's "Innocent Girl" routine).

Just a little humor to end the chapter. That is Lina on a good day, on a bad day the town would have been fried.Remember, there was that barrier that should have stopped a spell from destroying the guild. Imagine what would have happened without it. I think they'd have had to cancel the tournament on account of sorcery accident.