Chapter Three – Mage Power

Three weeks have past since the incident with Moko, and everyone in the class had received royalties for every demon they killed. Together, Millie, Alex, and Naida had gotten a total of 500 gold, which Millie spent half on weaponry. Alex took her share and bought a flute to play on/with.Lastly, Naida bought herself a silver bangle, which she used as decoration for her hair.Looking at it with misty eyes, she was incredibly happy at the sight of money. Living with her new family boosted her attitude, and she no longer felt lonely and depressed. Although Alucard was hard on her the first week, she was determined to be happy in her new home..

Alucard especially enjoyed having Naida around, since she actually did work around the house. The other two were lazy bums that lived in personal pigsties. Even Alex, who was the cleanliest of the group, was slacking off. Since buying that flute, she had been stuck in her room, working day and night on it. When Alucard said that it was time to practice, she finally came out.

"Alex, what have you been doing in your room all this time?" he asked.

"I was upgrading my flute, so I could use it to enhance my white magic. I call it the Angel Flute!" she said

"Hum…well, go and practice with your sisters."

"Fine…"

Alex walked off to the arena with her flute. The flute itself is a regular playing flute, except for the angel-like wings on the end. Its base is made of pink gold, something no one knows where Alex got. The flute had beautiful flower designs engraved in its gold frame. The designs were highlighted with regular gold, which looked like it was melted and poured into the etches. She went to the training grounds and met up with Millie and Naida. Of course, Millie was practicing her moves with the scythe. But Naida decided not to participate and stood there.

"Naida, how come you're not doing anything? Is there something wrong with your magic?" Alex asked as she walked into the room.

"I don't have any magic…except when I use my sword," she said.

"Well, can I see your sword again?"

"Okay, but be careful not to get too close. It burns anything it touches."

Naida then went on to take out her sword. She spread out her arms and held her hands parallel to each other. Then she put them together and pulled out a steel broadsword. It was about Alex's height, and it glowed with dark power. Naida gave it to Alex, who then looked over it. She evaluated its level of strength, and thought about how Naida was able to pull off doing a Shockwave Pulsar so easily. Then, she turned to Naida and asked her a question that bewildered her.

"Naida, do you know what a black mage is?" Alex asked.

"Well, yeah. They are a very rare type of mage that can learn all the offensive magic spells. Why?"

"Well…that move you did on that demon…it was a move that only black mages can learn. And we seem to think that you are a black mage…"

"Me? A black mage? You're joking…" said Naida as she looked at Alex with disbelief.

"Okay…what do you know about white mages?"

"They're just as rare as black mages, and the do low level holy magic, like Cure, Cura, and Curaga. They also can summon beasts to help them in battle."

"Would you believe that I and a white mage?"

"Well, no."

"Then let me show you…"

Alex gave back the sword to Naida and called Millie to her side. She told Millie what to do, and walked a little ways to her right side. Naida didn't know what they were going to do, which was good, since she was being exposed to new things. Alex then started to glow a white gleam, and Millie had blue aura surrounding her as well. Alex took out her Angel Flute and played it. The sound of her flute was wonderfully rich, and it reminded Naida of walking in an enchanted flower garden in spring. Then, a burst of pink light appeared in front of her and formed into a shield.

"This is called Shell. It halved the strength of magic attacks aimed at you.Now, Millie will show you her powers as a blue mage..."

Millie nodded and swung her scythe in a full circle, and did what looked like her powering up for another attack. The blue aura around her intensified, and she ran to a nearby punching bag and punched it several times. The punching bag was full of metal and concrete, but it was still reduced to rubble.

Millie smiled at her work and said, "That was called Goblin Punch. I learned it from that demon guard we fought the other day...but kinda lame."

"Naida, now she learned was called an enemy skill, and only blue mages can learn certain moves from whoever they're fighting. It's pretty neat, since some enemies like to heal themselves…"

"I get that you two are mages-"

"-HALF-mages…" Millie cut in curtly.

"Yeah, half-mages, but what does all of that have to do with me being a black mage, of all things?" Naida asked.

"Hmm…Naida, have you ever felt as thought you wanted to burn someone for annoying you?" Alex questioned her.

"Yeah…"

"Ever wanted to go through a thunderstorm and wanted to get struck by lightning?"

"At times..."

"Do you like eating ice, even when you're in a cold climate?"

"Yup"

"Do you love swimmingfar into the ocean?"

"Of course. Who doesn't?"

"Idiot! You AREblack mage!"

Naida gave her an angry look. "How can I be one? Everyone else likes to do those things, so how can I be any different?"

"Here, let me show you…" Mille said.

Millie took the palm of Naida's hand and held it out in a flat position. She told Naida to think about fire and focus those thoughts into her hand. Naida couldn't believe what she was doing, but she agreed to do so. She thought of a house that she saw burning once, and focused that into her hand. It was hard, since she was a beginner, so nothing came out at first.

"See? I told you..."

"You must have thought of a stronger fire scene than what's needed. Try thinking of a candle flame and keep practicing. You'll get it soon." Millie said.

It took a couple of hours, but Naida was finally able to conjure up a Fire spell. It took a lot of tries, but she succeeded in making a piece of paper catch on fire. Unbeknownst to her, a special kind of energy is growing inside her heart, soon to form a crystal. This crystal will determine whether or not she can learn stronger black magic spells and skills…

Meanwhile, Alex and Millie were discussing what spells to use to make new ones. Being mages, they both have the ability to combine powers. So, when they need extra power, they could make up new spells from their shared powers. Naida then walks in and overhears their conversation. Unable to comprehend, she asks them that they mean by combinations of their magic.

"What are you guys talking about?" she asks.

"We're talking about making up new ways to attack, defend, and heal ourselves…" Millie said.

"How does it work? And can I try?" Naida responded.

"Sure…try out your new spell first." Said Alex.

"Okay…here goes nothing!" yelled Naida

With a swirling mass of dark energy from her hands (AN: aura and energy are the same thing…), Naida managed to conjure a fire spell from air. Alex was impressed, and Millie clapped at Naida's progression.

Millie gave her a pat on the head and said, "Good, you've learned a Fire spell quickly. From what I've heard, most black mages take months to learn something so simple. Maybe it's because you're older, and had more experience in battle…"

"Yeah, maybe they start their training young?"

"Most likely. Now, let's try making new things…"

"Sure."

Naida then took out her sword on Millie's orders and held it out. Millie then told Alex to cast another spell onto Naida's sword. While playing her flute, a strange orange glow was added onto the sword's black energy. When Alex's song was finished, the sword shone bright orange, with black wisps floating around it.

"What did you do?" a surprised Naida asked.

Alex smiled and said, "I added the status effect Confusion. Your sword already has Death on it, so that's why you were able to kill that huge demon in one swipe. To almost always have the effect activated, you need to change Death into Death Strike, which has a75 percentchance of inflicting Death on an opponent. Speaking of that," she said witha sternglare,"I think it's wise not to use it when sparring with us, because you might accidentally kill one of us."

Millie snorted. "As if THAT will happen. But if it does...either I -if I'm not dead too- or Uncle will be there to reverse it."

"Reverse? do you mean...revive, as in bring-back-from-the-dead revive?I thought that people stay dead…" Naida said immediately.

"Well, yes, after a period of time. A person is permanently dead after 30 minutes, but a Phoenix Down can work up to 33 minutes. That's why we have to hurry and use them. But most people either don't think to use them, or they are against magical items. There are a lot of people in the Human realms that are still against mage folk…"

"Tough life, being a mage in Kariad…"Naida aid sympathetically.

"Yeah, but disguises and fake identities do wonders" said Millie happily.

Naida spent the next day practicing more on how to use her newfound powers. "Being a Black Mage is great!" she would say every time she burned something to ashes. She also started to use other low-level magic, like Thunder, Water, and Ice. Once, during dinner, her drink wasn't cold enough to enjoy, so Naida tried using an Ice spell on it…only to have the whole thing -including the cup- turn to ice. Then Alucard yelled at her to use magic only when she needed to.

Taking care of a blue mage and a white mage was hard work for Alucard, but since Naida joined the family, he has had guardianship over the whole set. Although, he misses having a red mage around to help him with everyday things. But it's best to have different types, because they can do different things better than others. Especially when cooking and cleaning (Naida using her Water and Fire spells) in the home. 'On second thought, having a Black Mage in here is quite useful…' Alucard thought one day. Too bad he never thought of teaching Naida how to control her new strengths.

"ACK! I got shocked again!" Millie would yell whenever she and Naida were in the pool at the same time.

"Ugh, not again…Naida, did you freeze the pipe water again?" Alucard would complain.

Things weren't going too well for Naida. She started to take in the others anger and become depressed. Good thing Alex noticed this, or something worse would have happened. So she told Alucard about he situation, and in turn, Alucard made an announcement to the family.

"Girls, since we have a problem with Naida's difficulty with controlling her magic, I have decided to take her to Elsine, the old Red Mage in Thoros." He said.

"Thoros? 'The city in the trees' you mean?" Millie asked.

"Yes. Elsine will be able to help Naida to restrain her powers better."

"But isn't that place full of man-eating wolves? You could get attacked…" Alex mentioned.

"But, with all of you with me, it wont be much of a problem." Alucard said.

"Excuse me, but I heard a peculiar rumor about some of the humans keeping wolf pups are pets," said Naida, "which is supposedly illegal, yet the law enforcement there doesn't step up their patrols."

"Hmm…well whatever it is, it's not our problem." said Millie.

The journey from their house in Lamina to the old red mage that lives in Thoros took only a few days. The family traveled in their fastest means of travel -their alter forms, with Alucard being his wolf form, Millie her demon form, and Alex her angel form. Naida didn't have anything to transform into, so Millie had to carry her on her back. Because of this, Millie often complained about Naida being too heavy for her to carry such a long distance. Alex would promptly tell her to "deal with it until we get to the gate!" which made Millie be quiet.