C4: Arion the Warlock
Arion awoke that morning after he stopped meditating that night and lay down to sleep. He found himself staring up at yet another smoky sky with absolutely no light seeking through it. His head rested on something hared and furry, but after feeling some heartbeats and spotting some pure golden fur, Arion knew instantly that it was Forion who had been resting with him. Arion continued to lay back with his head resting on Forion, with his legs outstretched and his arms on his muscular stomach. His chest and stomach were being revealed, as he didn't wear shirts in his sleep (he gets nightmares when wearing shirts to sleep), but his dark pants with several tears were the only thing on his body. And with a yawn, Arion sat upward. He yawned again, which was echoed by Forion's loud yawn as he lifted his head.
Arion stood up and stretched his back and scratching it a bit. His dirty-blonde hair now fell down below his shoulders, with waves of curls that looked outstanding. He did trim it though so it wouldn't go below his shoulders, because that way it wouldn't get in his way. Arion took a nice bath after that in a lake close by in a section not many people left to in the mornings. Then he came back, and he started to stretch for several minutes. He got breakfast as a local diner, where now everyone in the entire village knew his name and most trusted him. He ate some rice that tasted really good, and then he left he place. Arion went back and he got dressed in his proper clothing.
His clothe he wore was a type of clothing that greatly resembled something you could only wear in a true fantasy, a type of medieval clothing that could only be worn by someone of great royalty. His clothing's was given to him by Baleiar, who said it belonged to his first Chela. He put it on, and it was all grey, black, and some scarlet red. He wore a black leather shirt, made entirely of thick cloth, with long dark sleeves that stretched to his wrists. His shirt had straps that worked like buttons, which was not strapped above his naval, and his shirt was left open above the naval. Underneath the black shirt was a brown shirt made of fabric that looked as though it was torn several times but sewed back together. On his hands to his elbows were thin black gloves with a strap that went around them tightly several times and then tied tightly. A scarlet red belt went around his waist twice and was also tight, but not too tight, with a circular buckle. The belt covered the belt of the scabbard, which held the sheath. And within the sheath was a magnificent long-sword. His black pants were the same type of cloth as his shirt, which was not baggy at all, but had many wrinkles in it, causing several shadows and making it a bit darker. He wore brown leather boots that went half way up to his knees with several thick laces on it. Arion also had on a golden arm-brace on his right arm, symbolizing the Adept. He also tied up the back of his hair in a ponytail.
Arion decided not to bring his long-bow and his arrows because he broke the string for the bow and forgot to get another. The shop called Weaponry Center was on the other side of the village, which is about seven leagues all around- the Weaponry Center is four leagues away. There, you could get repairs on your weapons, trade in old weapons for new ones, or buy some new weapons. It was a great place to get armory, weapons, ammunition, etc. So he didn't bother on going. It was already 12:00 by the time Arion was done changing, and then he left back to the forest.
After about half an hour of walking within the forest on the path- with Forion following him-, he finally came to the area of the forest where they had always trained for the past seven weeks. Arion sat down on the ground, this time he didn't meditate, but paid more attention to the environment around him. Then he heard the sounds of footsteps on cracking leaves on the ground, and he realized that Baleiar was approaching. So Arion did some stretching real quick and jumped up onto his feet real fast. Baleiar came just then with a smile on his face. Baleiar was dressed in his original clothe.
Baleiar smiled greatly when he saw Arion and stated, "Properly dressed and in shape. This should be one of my more interesting battles yet." "Let's not forget, master, its not how you dress to win a fight, it's how beautiful you are." Baleiar gave a smile as he responded with, "Then I must have the upper advantage…. Now begin-!"
Arion barely expected this. Baleiar just arrived, and before anything could happen, it started. Of course, Arion knew, Baleiar did this a lot to make sure that you were always ready. Arion never was. Which is exactly why when Baleiar said 'Now begin', Baleiar made a lucky swing at Arion's stomach, which could have easily been avoidable, and Arion flew back. It didn't hurt Arion at all, but Arion- back at home in Atlantis- liked dramatic scenes in plays and movies. So, Arion went, "OW!" Then he acted like he was going insane, whaling on the ground just going nuts. He was acting as though he were being cut into two. Baleiar walked over in confusion and looked over at Arion. Arion had Baleiar fooled, because at the moment Baleiar took his foot right by Arion's to look at him, Arion made a sudden kick with his foot, hurling Baleiar onto his back with a clump. Arion managed to just then jump with his back and onto his feet quickly, and he was ready again.
"I've won master," Arion said as he stuck his hand in front of Baleiar's, as though he were going to do a curse. Then Baleiar did one of his own attacks- he vanished. He wasn't given a warning, it just happened. Baleiar was gone, and now Arion was standing there, his palm opened at the ground, looking like an idiot.
Just then, Arion made a jerking sound as he got knocked forward, almost onto the ground, but Arion caught his balance. After catching his balance after several steps, Arion made a twisting turn around and saw his master standing there, laughing at Arion. "I told you I was going to put it on my fullest. And didn't I tell you to watch your back." Arion smart mouthed for an answer, "No, you told me to cut off my arms and legs with a chain saw so I could be the almighty Torso Boy." Baleiar sneered at Arion, and then he pulled out a short-sword. Then Arion laughed and pulled out a dagger from his boot that he placed in it. He readied his dagger while saying in an Italian accent, "Now say hello to my little friend."
Arion lunged at Baleiar and tried to stab the side of his cloak (if Arion did that, he won), but was easily blocked by Baleiar's short-sword. Arion was on the attacking side, trying to stab or cut his dagger at Baleiar, but kept being blocked by Baleiar's sword. Baleiar teased by saying, "Your dueling is… as bad… as your cooking." "O yes- and yours is food of the gods." Arion almost got Baleiar in a dive, but Baleiar jumped out of the way a second soon. Arion landed on the ground past Baleiar, and was on his stomach. Then he turned onto his back and saw Baleiar running towards him, his sword raised high above the air, ready to strike down Arion. But Arion raised his hand in front of him and made a force field in front of him, which cause Baleiar to run into it and then get chocked backwards onto the ground. Baleiar landed again with a thump on the ground. Arion got back on his feet slowly, and then threw his dagger on the ground.
"And by the way," Arion said, as he took in a breath, getting into a fighting position, "I cook the best cow tongue back where I'm from." Baleiar had to laugh, but then stopped himself a second later. Baleiar stood up, and searched the ground for his beautiful sword. It was on the ground, but it was several meters away from him. Baleiar looked back at Arion, and smirked at him. "Now," Baleiar stated, "We see who's more talented with magic. Of course, the most beautiful is always the one." Arion took a run at Baleiar as he said, "I was being sarcastic." Arion made a ball of fire in his hand and threw it at Baleiar, but Baleiar did a back-flip, and the fireball went right past him above the stomach. Baleiar landed and then got slammed in the face with Arion's iron fist, which caused Baleiar to fall back onto the ground. Arion, ran past Baleiar, and turned around a second later and saw Baleiar fall onto the ground. Baleiar slowly stood back up, his back was facing Arion. Then Baleiar turned around to face Arion, and slowly, but quickly, Baleiar's wound's on his dark face started to heal, and in a few seconds, his face was cut-free.
"Man!" Arion exclaimed. "You didn't teach me to heal because I'm white, isn't it?" Baleiar rolled his eyes and sarcastically said, "Yes, because you're white. And my last four Chelas died because they were white." Baleiar scowled at Arion.
Then Arion jumped up a tree, attempting to run in a circle around the trees, and trying to lose Baleiar. Arion hid in a tree with many branches, and then jumped to another when Baleiar wasn't looking. Baleiar looked around at each tree, wondering where Arion had gone to. Arion was an excellent tree climber and had good balance- and good at a game for professionals called Hide-and-go-Seek. So he hid in the very dark branches of the trees. Baleiar tried to throw a fireball at a tree and see if Arion would come out, but there were so many trees that he couldn't find Arion. Arion once almost gave it away where he was, but he jumped to another tree just in the nick of time. Arion was back in the darkness in the high branches of a tree, looking down onto Baleiar. Then, he extended out a hand and pointed it at Baleiar's back while he wasn't looking, and he shot an icy blast at Baleiar's back, which made Baleiar take several steps forward. There was a little bit of frost, but nothing bad. Then, thinking, Arion took several steps backwards onto the very thick branches. He back up, until he felt a warm breath breathe against the back of his neck. Arion slowly turned around to look at what it was. Arion saw a lion behind him, and it made a growl. Arion took several steps backwards, and he slipped. And as Arion slipped off of the tree, he noticed the lion was Forion. Arion yelled, "DMN YOU!" as he fell off the twenty high foot tree and onto his back on the ground. Baleiar made a sharp turn around and saw Arion lying on the ground.
Arion looked behind him as he lie on his back, and saw Baleiar, and Arion waved at Baleiar saying, "You like lions?" Arion turned around onto his stomach and then pushed himself up, but when he looked ahead of him, he noticed that Baleiar wasn't there anymore. Before Arion could move anywhere he had to crack his back because he could hardly move it. With a crack, Arion looked up and saw Forion standing on the branch looking down on Arion. Arion shook his head at Forion and said, "That's what I get for hitting that baseball into Mrs. Waterman's window."
Then Arion looked around, and he got the idea that Baleiar was now mimicking him. That was, until, Arion was sent a mind-reading message from Baleiar saying: 'Watch your back'. But, it was too late. As Arion was turning around, a wave of an icy blast shot at Arion's hip, with a lot of frost on it. "Darn!" Arion exclaimed as he clutched his side in pain and agony. "Now I'll have to get my hip re-waxed." Then Arion made another fireball with his hand, and putting it right by his waist the frost melted and his side became better. As Arion let go of his hip, he looked around trying to spot Baleiar. Baleiar wasn't in the trees, so he obviously was running around in circles around that area. Arion would have thought his master was smarter than this, but it was very dark in the surrounding forest and for some reason- probably because of Baleiar' magical skills- there were no noises being made from Baleiar. So Arion then pulled out his sword, which took only a second, and he readied it tightly with two hands. Knowing his master was going to attack soon, Arion raised his sword. Good move. Because just then, another ice blast shot at Arion from behind, but this time, Arion was ready. Arion turned around quickly, and he moved his sword in between the blast and him, and the sword blocked the blast.
Just then, Baleiar appeared out of nowhere behind Arion, and knocked Arion onto his back. Arion rolled over, and looked up at Baleiar and saw that within Baleiar's face was a dark, serious figure that now stood over him. Arion knew that this fight had gone serious somehow. Baleiar lifted his sword that he retrieved and tried to stab Arion. But Arion rolled out of the way. Baleiar tried again and missed, this time because Arion blocked with his sword. "Hey!" Arion cried. "I thought we weren't going to kill each other!" "We're not!" Baleiar stated as he lifted his sword. Then he drove it down, but then missed again as Arion rolled backwards and then onto his feet. Arion stood up quickly, a bit dizzy at first, and stared at Baleiar. Arion ran at Baleiar and swung his sword at Baleiar's waist, but was blocked. Then Baleiar tried to get Arion's knees, but Arion jumped up and avoided it, just as he brought his sword at Baleiar's shoulder. Baleiar jumped back just a little, but it still got a cut a bit and Baleiar twisted around in a circle. As he came back he tried to bring his sword back on Arion's face, but Arion blocked with his sword. Their duel went that way for several more minutes, and then Baleiar kicked Arion backwards onto the ground. Arion landed two meters away on his rear end. Baleiar pointed his sword at Arion, and then he started to lower it very slowly and cautiously. Arion would have felt safer if Baleiar didn't start to say these words:
Fire of a Dragon in my veins
Green of darkness is their bane
Unleashes power through thy soul
The Green Fire of Trewlar's goal
Arion knew right then and there as he heard those words, as he saw the green light illuminating from Baleiar's hands, that this was the ultimate test. If Baleiar wasn't going to kill Arion like he said (because this was a Chelas training) then Arion was sure hoping for some sign from Baleiar. But there wasn't. And as the green light got bigger and bigger, Arion felt like this was no training at all. Then Arion came up with what he was going to do. Arion stood up and sheathed his sword slowly. He faced Baleiar with a smile. Just then, the enormous, fiery blast called the Green Fire shot out from Baleiar's hand and at Arion. Arion- just before the blast hit him- used the power of levitation that Baleiar taught him and he levitated himself over the Green Fire. Baleiar didn't notice it, but Arion did make it over and he went behind Baleiar. The Green Fire ended, and the green light and the sound of fire disappeared, leaving dead grass and burnt trail of the forest left of what was in the Green Fire's way.
Arion tapped Baleiar's shoulder a second later, and as Baleiar turned around to face Arion, Arion punched Baleiar square in the face. Baleiar fell hard to the ground, slamming his head hard on the dirt. Arion pulled out his sword quickly and then pointed it right at Baleiar's heart. It was only inches away from Baleiar. And as Baleiar looked at the sword and slowly upwards to Arion's face, Arion noticed the shock in Baleiar's face. And two words ended it all. "I win."
Arion withdrew his sword, sheathed it, and then he extended his hand out towards Baleiar. Baleiar stared blankly at Arion's hand, and Arion shook his hand as if to get Baleiar's attention after several quiet seconds. "I won't bite." Baleiar grabbed hold of Arion's hand and Arion lifted up Baleiar from the ground. Baleiar stood off and wiped the dust off his clothe. Then Baleiar looked vividly at Arion and said, "I now proclaim you Arion, the Warlock."
They walked back to the village, both worn out. They were discussing the battle on the way home. Baleiar told Arion the reason he all of a sudden went so evil-like was to get Arion focused in, because Arion was making jokes the whole time and still succeeding. And Baleiar knew that Arion would avoid his Green Fire, he had faith in him. Forion caught up with them after several minutes, and with a yawn, Forion ran ahead of them. They made it back home, and went into Arion's hut, which was closer. They sat down on the chairs, and they spoke some more. After an hour in that June day, Baleiar was about to go back. Before he left, he said, "Arion, your quest will begin very shortly. I do have one more companion for you and Forion on your mission. Her name is Zeya. You will meet her once she arrives from the Ryu Kingdom. You just get some rest."
"I will," stated Arion. "Good," Baleiar said. "And have a good one- Arion the Warlock."