Hey guys I know it's a little late ,but I hope you all had a Happy Valentines Day! I'm back again with a new chapter! Let me know what you guys think.
Review Replies:
Phetiamwantip - Thank you! I hope this new chapter won't disappoint.
Chapter 18
Koso could not, nor would he ever shy from admitting the fact that he had an excellent memory. The man's mind was like that of a filing cabinet that had just about every minuet experience he had ever lived through safely tucked away until it was useful for him to recall it.
However that being said, Koso would try to refrain from confessing the fact that there did exist one memory that remained an absolute blur to him. That memory was the first time he managed to summon a mere glimmer of his elemental power.
It had all happened so fast Koso could only recall a few minor details. Two of which were that he had been physically exhausted and his mind had been in a state of strangely numb bliss. He remembered being able to think of nothing else ,but the sensations of his body laying perfectly still against the thick winding grass beneath him.
Then in a flash a colorful swirling vortex was slammed into existence like that of a sword suddenly slicing through the skin of a person's throat.
To this day, Koso was still uncertain what had been the exact cause that allowed him to call upon his elemental power that fateful day ,but he was convinced that it had to have been something to do with his mental state.
The reason for the sage green eyed man's hasty conclusion was the simple fact that every time he had had to summon his powers since then, he had to focus his mental capacities into not thinking about anything at all, not something as complex as the creation of all sixteen realms nor something as pointless as the way his rice hat sometimes felt itchy against his scalp. Of course this was easier said than done, even for someone half dragon.
The act of calling upon his powers was usually so difficult he often needed to set aside time to meditate in order to clear his mind and this was never a pleasant experience for the dark haired man to go through, because to Koso's mild embarrassment he couldn't stand meditating!
Of course, he didn't want to, nor meant to feel this way about the simple activity ,but Koso simply couldn't help it. As both a sorcerer who had to be quick witted in order to remember an excess amount of spell symbols, and a warrior most skilled in fast attacks, Koso found it very hard to sit perfectly still and not think of nor do anything at all for an extended period of time.
That was the reason he really dreaded having to do the act of snapping his fingers and transporting him and his bratty relatives out of the cave and into the expanse of meadow that surrounded his humble cottage home.
As soon as that was done, Lloyd and Morro both unsurprisingly immediately began to ask stupid questions.
"Wait what?!"
"Old man, why are we-"
"Shhhh!" Koso hushed, cutting them off as he held an elongated finger to his lips.
"I believe I already informed you both what we are going to do now." The sedge hat wearing man stated in a hoarse whisper. "We. Are going to meditate, for half an hour." Koso explained as he dug a hand into the pocket of his white cloak and produced a small pocket watch.
Lifting it up for the two teenagers to see, Koso announced. "When the time reads 4:30, we shall have completed today's training understood?"
"Wait!" Lloyd spoke up. "Are you really telling us that's it, we just fought for hours and now we're just gonna sit arou-"
"Great nephew." The sedge hat wearing man interrupted. "If I wanted your opinion on my methods I would have asked for it."
"Yeah bu-"
"Ah ah ah ah, enough talking all you're doing is wasting time now, it's when the time reads 4:32, we'll have completed today's training."
"Bu-"
"Ah ah."
"Wai-"
"4:34."
"I jus-"
"Stop. Speaking." Koso made a gesture with his left hand that was clearly trying resemble that of a mouth being closed. "We're all going to find a spot to sit at then we will begin our meditating got it?"
"Well I-"
"4:35."
Forgottenfamily
After what seemed like forever the trio had finally managed to get into the proper positions required for meditating.
Lloyd had decided to sit up against a near by tree while Morro had taken a spot on a random rock that stood outcropping from the meadow like a site thumb. Koso had simply sat upon the tall grass, his form may have been hidden by the vegetation surrounding him were it not for his oversized rice hat.
'This is stupid.' Lloyd couldn't help ,but think. 'How will we even know if it'sis working or not?'
Perhaps there would simply be an obvious sign like his or Morro's eyes would start glowing or something like that.
The green ninja let out a soft sigh as he at least tried to obey Koso's orders and 'clear his mind'. While Lloyd had never been very fond of meditating he could at least admit it was a useful tool that could very helpful to aid one in centering themselves.
Sometimes even, the blonde found himself enjoying the feeling of soothing nothingness that came to him whenever he was finally able to actually let go and relax. Truth be told though this was usually only accomplished when one of his siblings were accompying him. Lloyd couldn't pin point the exact reason why, but something about having someone whom he trusted and cared about sitting next to him, put him at ease and he could never truly achieve this effect on his own.
Man, what he wouldn't give to have just one of his beloved family members sitting here with him. Lloyd was really starting to miss them and he knew they were probably worried sick about him.
'Don't worry guys I'll figure a way out of here soon.' Lloyd mentally promised.
Forgottenfamily
Despite what either Koso or Lloyd may have presumed Morro was actually quite knowledgeable in the art of meditation.
Now that was mainly to do with the fact his sen- Wu always made him to do it whenever his temper got out of control which was admittedly quite frequent.
Even during his time in the cursed realm, Morro found it helpful, if for nothing else than to get away from the pressure being bestowed upon him by his ghostly subordinates who were all just waiting for him to slip up so they could get their chance at being the preeminent's champion.
'Jokes on me I guess ' Morro couldn't help ,but think as his mind wandered into less than pleasant memories. ' I was her greatest fighter and she still dragged me down with the rest of them.'
The former quickly shook his head after the thought entered his mind.
Repeatedly telling himself, 'None of that sh** matters, nothing matters what's the point in think of anything when nothing matters. It's just like old times, relax and don't let anything bother you.'
Morro sucked in a breath as he slowly closed his eyes. 'just f**king relax.'
Forgottenfamily
Once that awful half hour had passed and Koso had announced it to his two charges he quickly lead them back inside the cottage where Jasper sat waiting for them on the living room couch that was surprisingly still intact.
Upon seeing Koso walk through the dismantled door, Jasper let out a an angry growl ,but his attack stance was quickly forgotten when his glowing blue eyes witnessed Lloyd and Morro quickly follow behind.
Leaping directly into their path, Jasper was quick to jump up on his hind legs and lay his front paws upon Morro's shoulders. Due to the black haired teenager's short height, it was easy for the Nira wolf to begin licking his face joyfully.
Very surprised and even more disgusted with the display of affection Morro quickly pushed the wolf down hard enough he had to fell off of him ,but not too rough to the point the canine might have been injured upon his landing.
The Nira wolf though clearly a little offended by the rejection, quickly shook off and began walk along side the former ghost while nuzzling his large head against Morro's thigh much to the wind master's obvious chagrin.
Lloyd while failing to contain his laughter at the amusing display on the outside, inside he felt just little bit well, jealous that Morro seemed to be the affectionate wolf's new favorite person.
' It's like he thinks Morro knows him or something.' Lloyd thought confusedly. ' weird.'
Before the blond had too long to think on the strange phenomena , Koso suddenly spoke up, his firm refrain echoing just slightly against the cottage's walls.
"Alright, while I am aware it was just your first day, I have to say I am still disappointed that niether of you were able to summon so much as a spark of my original elemental power."
While Koso's bluntness did make a part of Lloyd did feel a little inadequate, he still couldn't stop a defensive remark from slipping out of his lips.
"Well maybe we would have done better if you just-"
"Ah ah," Koso held up a boney hand as he effectively silenced the blond teenager. "I don't want to hear your excuses, I just expect better tomorrow."
"Tomorrow! You mean we're going to repeat this?!" Morro suddenly shouted, momentarily turning his attention away from Jasper who was still running against him like the oversized puppy dog it was.
Koso narrowed his sage green eyes whilst replying to the black haired teenager.
"Yes we are, until you both can consistently summon my old elemental power."
"But, that could take forever!" Lloyd cut back in throwing his arms down like that of a child on the verge of a temper tantrum.
"Well than you two better get your act together." Koso sarcastically remarked before turning away from them, most likely so he could head out the broken front door and grab a chicken to prepare dinner with.
However before he was even a step outside he felt something tug on his cloak effectively stopping him in his tracks.
Looking over his shoulder Koso saw that it had been his bratty great nephew who had halted him.
After a beat of tense silence Lloyd looked up from his position a of staring at the floor, a look of determination present on his youthful features.
Seeing Koso's sharp eyes on him, Lloyd swallowed silently before saying.
"I-Look I want to get out of here as soon as possible, so I definitely will try my hardest to, summon that stupid element okay ,but...my family is definitely worried about me and they might even think I'm dead or being tortured or whatever so can,...can you just let me I don't know write to them, so I can tell them I'm okay?"
Koso cocked an eyebrow as he considered the blonde's request. He would no doubt need to use a teleportation spell to deliver the blonde's writing, no way in the departed realm was he going to waste time and energy running that long distance away from his home just to search for a specific air vessle.
To cast the spell though he would need to remember exactly what the ship looked liked, specifically inside so he didn't risk teleporting into the air by mistake and falling to his death. That was a problem because he could recall very little about what the bounty looked like from the inside. He had been so preoccupied with kidnapping his great nephew he had had little time to admire the ship's interior design.
Oh ,but wait, of course! He could simply teleport to Greta's destroyed shop! His excellent memory could recall enough detail about the neighborhood the destroyed shop had been built in that he could just finger snap his way there and then search for the bounty from that specific point.
Of course, the question remained of why he should do the little brat this giant favor.
Looking down at the blonde who despite his best efforts to hide his desperation, was still visible to Koso, the sedge hat wearing man sighed as he finally broke the tense silence by speaking.
"Alright, great nephew how about this, if you can manage to summon just a little bit of my old elemental power by the end of the week, I shall do you the favor of delivering you comforting letter to your dear family. Do we have a deal?" To emphasis his point Koso turned around, knocking Lloyd's grip on his cloak and held out his right hand for the green ninja to shake.
Despite this act seeming all to familiar to that of one of his many conniving former enemies, somewhere deep down Lloyd felt that Koso was being completely honest so with little reluctance the blonde quickly grasped Koso's outstretched hand and shook it quickly.
"Deal"
Forgottenfamily
After dinner which consisted of more chicken stew and Morro's continued attempts to get Jasper to leave him alone, Lloyd was quick to empty his plate by sneaking large bits and pieces under the table for Jasper to hungrily consume whenever Koso's head was turned.
Once he had tossed the plate in the sink and scrubbed it clean. The green ninja hastily dismissed himself and ran to his and Morro's room ,but not before grabbing the charcoal pencil and old parchment paper he had had Koso give him after they made their 'deal'.
Upon entering, Lloyd was reminded that the twin beds were still pushed against one another.
Due to the fact that they were no longer chained and he was not fond of the idea of willingly sleeping so close to his enemy (?), the green ninja quickly decided it was best to push each of beds away from one other until they were each occupying their own space against the opposite walls of the small bedroom.
Once that task was completed the blonde claimed the left side of the room as his own by resting upon his now separated bed.
Once he was seated, Lloyd immediately began to start writing his letter. The blonde soon became lost in his words, as he descriptively wrote down everything that had happened to him on piece after piece of paper. He even included some clues as to where his location was, though he was sure that would be ineffective, considering Koso would no doubt look over his writing to make sure nothing interesting was being revealed.
A part of Lloyd wanted to include telling his brothers and sisters about Morro ,but he decided against it. The point of this letter was to make sure they knew he was okay and they definitely wouldn't believe that if they knew Morro was with him.
After a while of scribbling down word after word, Lloyd suddenly realized that due to the quickly setting sun, it was soon going to become hard to see what he was writing. Getting up, the green ninja hastily ran out of the room to get some matches for his bedside candle.
Upon leaving the room, Lloyd saw that Morro had finally finished his dinner and was heading towards the bed room with Jasper hot his tail. Brushing past them Lloyd quickly found Koso still sitting at the kitchen table, this time with writing materials of his own. The sedge hat wearing man refused to acknowledge his existence and Lloyd was fairly certain that he didn't want him to.
So wasting no time, the green ninja walked over to one of the kitchen cabinets and grabbed the box of matches he knew were kept there.
With his prize in hand Lloyd sprinted back to his and Morro's room
As he entered the green ninja was slightly surprised to see Morro on his side of the room, looking over his multiple paged letter with a sort of thoughtful look on his face. Jasper sat curled up around the wind master's feet, looking very much like a hairy rug
Tilting his head in confusion, the blonde decided to make his presence known by clearing his throat. The wind master jumped as if he had been caught with his metaphorical hand in a non-existent cookie jar.
The black haired teenager looked back at Lloyd a slightly guilty expression present on his features as he cautiously stepped away from Lloyd's side of the room with Jasper following behind him.
Perplexed by the former ghost's odd behavior, Lloyd frowned as he made his way to his bed and sat down before getting to work on lighting his bedside candle.
Hearing Morro take his own seat on his side of the bedroom with Jasper following suit, the green ninja let out a small awckward breath he had not realized he had been holding in and once more let his mind be emmerced in the words he was writing to his brothers and sister.
After a few moments of silence. Lloyd was suddenly aware that Morro was speaking to him.
"So...what are you writing about?"
Lloyd frowned whilst looking up to see Morro staring at him awckwardly not paying any attention to the fact that Jasper's large head was resting in his lap.
"Didn't you see when you were looking at it earlier?"
Morro's eyes widened slightly as if he had just accidentally revealed something important. Letting out a clearly nervous chuckle whilst uncharacteristically reaching up a hand to frantically rub his thin neck, Morro replied with an unconvincing.
"Oh, yeah I just, nevermind."
Lloyd probably should have just let it go, and he would have, honestly! However something inside him made him come to a very hasty conclusion, like a puzzle that somebody miraculously solved with the just the bare minimum of clues. Whether it was his tiredness or sheer stupidity that made Lloyd announce his discovery by asking one singularly idiot question he would never know.
All he knew was that before he could think about what he was saying Lloyd suddenly found himself uttering the words.
"Do you know how to read?"
Ooooh What a startling discovery! Also who all thinks they know why Jasper likes Morro so much. Guesses in the reviews are welcome! Till next time BYE