The second chapter! Enjoy!
Review the story, and give me feedback on how I can make the story better and more appealing for you guys! I have this weird thing for posting two chapters on the first day...
Chapter 2: Five years
The cave, although dark, had been blessed with some light.
The beast that lay in the corner looked at a small boy, the slits in his eyes carefully watching the salmon-haired boy who climbed the rocks. The boy had great upper body strength, and for a five-year-old his potential was immense.
The large beast began to move, slightly startling the boy who hung to the wall with one foot and one hand because he had turned to watch how his father moved. The cotton, roughly cut shorts waved slightly as the boy wobbled on the wall.
After seeing that the large beast, which was a deity level dragon, had just been getting comfortable, he began his ascent up the rocks again.
When the boy had begun to learn how to walk he grasped a hold onto it very quickly, and now, every day for two years, the boy climbed the rocky wall trying to get higher every day.
Cold to the touch, and rough to feel, the boy had begun to get higher every day. And this, of course, pleased the five-year-old as he had achieved.
Excitedly, the boy would begin his descent, yelling for his father to come.
"Father, father!" He had yelled every day for two years, "Look I made it higher!"
The beast would roar with laughter, and congratulate the boy, before telling him about the world above the cave.
"Above this cave is a village," And the story began, the boy would jump off the rocks and onto his father's scales, "A village with people, and beyond that village one with people like you. They have the same gift you do, they are strong and hold magic within their bodies. They train it so they can become stronger, which you will start doing once you turn six."
"Why when I become six, father?" The boy would pout, slightly agitated, "I can start now."
"You cannot start now, as your magic will only come to your body when you are at a stage of peak development," The beast would sigh, then would continue his story, "We gather the natural energy from around us, in the ground and the air; in the sky and the sea, and we take it into our on bodies while meditating. This helps one to have a break through, and become more powerful than before."
Today was different, though, the boy continued to climb even when his hands bled, and the beast looked amused at the boy. He began to shift into his human form and sat cross-legged on the floor watching the boy.
"What are you doing, Natsu?" The man asked, eying the boy with a cold look. The boy stopped and looked back at his father, the one who had raised him from a child and taught him perfect English.
"I want to be strong enough to learn magic, so I decided to try harder today." The boy admitted, slightly scared of what his father might do to him.
"I cannot teach you magic until your sixth birthday, but I can make you a strong warrior if we start a vigorous training," Slightly ruffling his own hair, the man thought carefully about his plan. "But you are not meant to start until you turn eight, and you are a way off becoming eight. And, one must have the dedication to train for four hours a day-!"
"I have the dedication!" The boy nodded his salmon head and replied eagerly.
"Come then." The boy found himself drifting downwards with a wave of his father's hand.
Natsu found himself on the floor within seconds, his feet bare on the ground. He stood rigid in front of his father, the man inspected his son. 'His upper body needs a little work, and his legs and his arms are in good condition due to his climbing. His endurance is a little bit disappointing, but can be fixed with training.'
"When I train you, do not call me father. Call me Igneel," The man said ruthlessly, prodding the boy to test his muscles in certain spaces, "A warrior also has to rely on the nature around him, the purest energy mother nature has to offer can be trained into one's body. Without actually taking this energy a warrior can reach the sixth rank before needing this energy to break through to the seventh rank, after that you need to train the strength of your mind and inner body."
"Why does one need to train their mind?" The boy inquired, focused on his father's words.
"Hm," Igneel finished prodding the boy, then looked at him dead in the eye. "Many Mages have spells that can pierce one's soul and inflict damage, this gives them a chance to kill, and they will not waste that chance. If one trains one's mind, it will cause one to be less prone to these attacks? Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand!" Igneel reached outwards and placed a hand on the boy's hair.
"Let us begin," Retracting his hand, and placing it at his side he used magic to lift multiple rocks into the air.
The air around them moved in several different ways, uncoordinated with itself as the rocks began to rise into the air. They began to mould together, shaping a rod with two, round lumps on the end. It hovered in the air for several moments while finalising, and then was slowly placed on the ground. The wind vanished from the cave, leaving a slight breeze and the everlasting flame that had been in the cave for five years.
"This is to help your upper body strength," Igneel spoke, picking up the bar in the middle that was connected to the two lumps at the end, "You do quite a bit of climbing, but mostly use your arms. This will help train one's upper body. You will pick this up, and bend down with it, your upper body staying still and lower body moving downwards, and your legs will bend. This will build upper leg strength and leg strength."
"How many times should I do this?" Staring at the rod with two circles on the end, made from rock, in his father's hand, the boy inquired.
"For now – fifteen times, every morning and every night," He positioned his son correctly, making sure the boy's legs were a shoulders width apart and the rod rested on his shoulders. "After you find this easy, you must do thirty. And, after training one's body to the maximum with the rod, you will be able to life rocks twice the size of you, weighing 200kg. This will only happen when you reach rank five as a warrior when you reach rank three one can lift 100kg."
The boy began training straight away, making sure he was doing it correctly. His concentration surprising the pale, red-haired man, who watched his son with content knowing he would be a great man someday. But, if Natsu were to
But, if Natsu were to leave someday, and explore the continent he wouldn't be able to fit in with ease. He was raised in a wild way, he had no manners or courtesy and he hadn't learnt of material things, such as money. Igneel would have to call upon an old friend who lived in a city to help.
Not only would the boy have a hard time to fit in, but he'd be thrust into the raging war between humans and beast, and the war between the humans and the humans. Such a pitiful species to fight amongst itself for power and land.
When the time is right, Igneel will tell the truth of Natsu and his existence, and what he truly is. Unfortunately, this would not be until he was older – Natsu couldn't comprehend this at his current age, and Igneel would only confuse the poor boy.
Natsu dropped the rod; with sweat dripping down his face, he grinned toothily at his father.
"That was more than I told you to do, boy," He shook his head, taking his arms and crossing them across his body, "You will only strain your body if you continue to do that."
"I apologise, I could not help myself, though, Igneel," Natsu smiled simply at his father, "What is next?"
"You will run around this cave, until you drop," He eyed the boy, whose eyes filled with a fiery passion and determination, and the boy began to run around the cave.
A year later...
The boy bounced around the room like a ball. Full of excitement and happiness he looked towards the draconic beast that began to change into a human, the dragon chuckled and took on his human form looking at the boy.
"I can guess why you're excited," The man chortled, amused seeing how excited the boy was to learn what magic he could control. "I am going to amplify the natural essence around us. There are only four magics you can wield, you may only get one, but if you are exceptional you may get three. The most a person has had is two, and they became a Mage Saint and went to another plane."
"Come on, Come on!" The boy jumped with joy, running up to the wall and the walking up it, then using his legs to flip himself back off it.
Over the past year the boy had been building up his body strength, but Igneel already knew that the boy could become a Battle Saint from when he was three, but what he later realised is that the boy could go beyond that.
Natsu could now run hours around the spacious cave without even working up a small amount sweat and had reached a rank one warrior almost three moons ago. The boy could now lift anything that was 50kg and bellow, because of his young age he was hindered a little in his training, but when Natsu is to become eight he will no longer be hindered and his training will become quite rapid.
"I want you to enter a meditative state, and then tell me what colour dots you see around you and if they are plentiful or weak," Igneel spoke, his eyes filled with excitement too as to see if he could train the boy in fire magic.
Natsu sat down on the cold ground and focused all his thought on the energy around him.
He felt it.
He felt it surrounding him; engulfing him. He felt it in his fingertips and in his hair, and he could see the coloured dots in his eyes – so plentiful and glorious. They mingled together, the red dots and the brown dots stood out the most, but the green dots were weaker than the other coloured dots.
"What do you see?" His father's voice fluttered into his ears, almost unwillingly.
Natsu awoke from his trance and said, "I saw red and brown dots the most, but there were some greens too."
"Fire and earth, and a weaker wind element," His father grinned at him widely, Natsu had never seen that before. "Maybe you are a genius – look forward to the next two years of magic training, boy."