Don't own W.I.T.C.H. or D&D
Special thanks to my beta reader Sniper Fodder.
Sorry for taking so long, but hopefully this chapter will be worth the wait.
Chapter 5: Arrival, Training and Pranks!
The trip was only two days but to Susan it had felt a little longer seeing how teaching some one with limited reading skill can be quite hard. But once Will grasped the basics of reading better she was able to read the storybook quite easily.
Although right now Will was wrapped up in a blanket asleep in the seat across from Susan and was resting peacefully, despite there being a few bumps every now and then. 'Guess that means she is in a deep sleep that won't be fun to deal with when we do early morning training' Susan thought to her self as she looked out the window of the carriage.
The lands under Susan's control were vast forests, open plains, and farmlands. Though she was more of a simple peacekeeper with a lot political pull then the actually leader of these lands. Royal Knights did have their say in how things went in the areas under their control, but it was mostly a job to keep the nobles in line then actually run things.
A Royal Knight's lands were actually the lands of other nobles and the knight's job was to handle any problems that popped up. These were to either deal with feuding nobles, dealing with the more major crimes committed against the kingdom, taking care of major threats like the rare Orc, raider's attacks on towns and villages, or the more powerful then normal monsters.
This was why the Royal Knights were a very small and elite group made up of only the most trusted and powerful members of Meridian's people were asked to be members. Many nobles often say that the knights are given too much power due to the fact that they only answer to the members of the royal family. The complaints though tended to be from those who have had the knights get in their way in the past.
Susan knew before long it would take this level of authority to protect Will from those whose blind hatred of her would have them call for her death. 'The gods forbid they let her have some peace in her life' Susan thought sarcastically as she kept looking out the window and noticed the city she called home off in the distance.
The elf felt she had to breathe a sigh of relief knowing Will would want to finally get out of carriage and move around. It made sense, since Will a young girl who was used to being on the move or had something to do most of the time. Sitting in one place for two days with only the same book to read from was probably driving Will crazy.
Though Susan had to admit that at least she knew Will's reading skills were not going to take too much time out of training to control her powers and teaching her to fight. The only thing that worried Susan was how the people that worked in her home would react to Will.
Susan knew that even though it was well known to every one employed in her service that she did not stand for any from of racist acts towards half-elves, it did not mean Will was safe. There was no way Susan could guarantee that one of the servants in her home would make Will's life difficult when she was not with her.
'I'll have to hope that I'm just being paranoid' Susan thought to her self as they were getting closer to the home of the Elvin knight. As they got closer to their destination Susan knew she had to wake the girl in front of her. She knew she would need Will's help to get her new room ready.
Susan gently leaned over and took hold of Will's shoulder to shake her lightly "Will time to wake up we will be working soon" she said getting a drowsy groan from the red headed half-elf. "No more evil book" Will mumbled and pulled the blanket over her head getting a chuckle from Susan.
"Don't worry, it's something else," Susan said as she gripped the blanket and pulled it down to see Will's grumpy face getting another laugh from the pure blooded elf. "I was right. You're not a morning person," Susan said as she had a short tug-a-war for the blanket with Will clearly losing in her drowsy state.
After Susan had pulled the blanket free from Will's grasp, Will had fully awoken though she was still glaring at the woman in front of her. Of course Susan just ignored the glares and looked out the window of the carriage with a smirk on her face and said, "You should have gotten up when I asked".
Being still a little grumpy Will just gave Susan a 'humph' sound as she crossed her arms and pouted which only made Susan smirk grow. "Now you're just being childish," the elder passenger said just wanting to tease the girl a bit more. This only made the young girl turn her head to look out the window to ignore Susan and then noticed the beautiful scenery out side.
"Wow" was all she could say as Will looked out at the vast open plains that surrounded a large city with a fortress like wall surrounding it. In the middle of this well protected city was a white colored castle. To a tomboy like Will she did not see a lot of things as beautiful like most girls did, but in this case even she had it admit a sight like this was breath taking, especially with an early morning sunrise in the back ground.
Susan was watching the gasping girl with an amused smile. "I found it breath taking when I saw it at sunrise for the first time myself" Susan said sitting back as she watched the girl stare at the scene not showing any sign of noticing what the Elvin woman said.
A little later they arrived at the front gates of the city wall, which were closed at the moment. Will looked over to Susan and asked, "When do they open?" confused as to why they were closed when Susan was trying to enter her own city.
Susan just held up her hand and started raising one finger at time saying "5, 4, 3, 2, 1...Now" With the last part spoken Will heard the gates open, revealing the city within. The young half-elf looked back at Susan who had another amused smirk on her face "Done this enough times you know how long it take for them to get every thing ready down to the very second" she explained.
The carriage then started to move again and was heading down the main road that lead to the castle. Will looked the window to see the streets were not busy yet, due to it still being early but there were places such as bakeries and other such stores that were getting ready for the day.
Will could guess that in a few hours the market would be even more hectic then the one in Trader's Central seeing how this place was much larger. She had to admit this place was much more beautiful then the trader town, the buildings being more artistic and had trees and small flower beds to add to it's beauty.
Though Will did not know what this city's name was, she guessed it was either a city to begin with or they had longer to develop this place into the way it was now. Will thoughts were interrupted by Susan's voice. "Still mad at me for waking you?" the Elvin woman asked with a grin on her face as she watched the girl stare out at the city in amazement.
Will using Roy's favorite come back of sticking her tongue out at Susan only made the elf shake her head at her student's antics. Fifteen minutes later they arrived at the castle were Susan lived and both were greeted by four servants and two guards.
When Will saw the guards she wanted to run but Susan had placed her hand on the young half-elf's shoulder "Don't worry those two are part of those under my command and they know how I feel about your kind being mistreated" she assured the nervous girl.
As the group of six came closer they were confused at Will presence especially when they saw the circlet around her head. One of the servants stepped forward "I'm sorry my lady we did not get word you had a…is she a prisoner or guest?" the confused servant asked.
Susan looked at the group and said with bit of authority just to be safe "This is Will. She will be staying her during her forced service. So I expect you and all others working in my home to treat her as one of the staff. I also expect any act of hatred toward her race or powers to be brought to my attention immediately do I make my self clear?" this had had made the six present more confused but they nodded yes to the commands.
Susan knew that the second she mentioned powers the staff would have rumors going through them with in the hour, but she wanted to get the cat out of the bag as soon as possible. She wanted to weed out as many of Will possible haters as quickly as she could. Will would only be around trust worthy co-workers.
Will on the other hand wanted to know why Susan had hinted at her warlock abilities, but kept her questions to her self. 'If she hated me she would not have been this kind to me so far…right?' Will thought to herself nervously. These thoughts were ended by Susan who started to order the servants to bring all the bags into the castle and leave them in her room for now.
Susan did not have much being a light packer but the servants had a bit to bring in seeing how Sade had made sure that Will did not need to go clothes shopping any time soon. The queen had gotten more then just the tunic, pants, and boots Will wore right now but also more of the same clothing as well as few dresses for when Will needed more girlish clothing.
Of course being a tomboy Will did not like skirts or dresses when she found out, but Susan explained that they were meant for more formal occasions. Of course Susan said she would try to keep Will away from things like that as much as possible but it was better to be safe then sorry.
While the servants started to unload the bags, Susan took Will into the castle followed by the two guards. Once inside Will's mouth dropped open a bit at the sight of the interior. The floor was made of marble that was a golden color, with long red carpet that lead to a large staircase. The walls were white like the out side of the castle with a few pictures of people or places along them. All the while Susan continued to enjoy watching Will's awed expressions at such things. "Lets get moving Will we have got a bit of work to do before we can get breakfast" Susan said and started moving again with Will following close behind.
The two guards still followed them as well waiting for their Lady's orders until out curiosity one asked "Lady Vandom, what did you mean by hatred of her power?" getting the group to stop as Susan turned around to look at the man.
Will stared at Susan with begging eyes not wanting her to answer, which Susan noticed, but gave her an apologetic smile know this could not be avoided. "She has been tested and confirmed to a be Warlock by birth. weather it was one of her parents or an ancestor is still unknown," Susan stated and noticed Will look at her with a betrayed look on her face.
The two guards looked at Will then back at their lady noticing this problem so the other spoke "Are we to keep this quite or spread the word among the rest of guards to watch for any misconduct from the rest of staff or populace?" This got Will to now give the begging look at the guards who also smiled sadly at the half-elf.
Susan was glad the at least two guards knew their duty and her feelings about both warlocks and half-elves, so perhaps Will wouldn't have too much trouble after all. "Yes make sure every one with in the castle knows I know. It will most likely spread news into the city but it can't be helped. I would rather be able to train Will to control her powers with out having to hide her away like something that is to be ashamed of." The Royal Knight explained getting a salute from the two guards and a shocked look from Will.
"We will get to work then Lady Vandom and make sure all guards are to keep a close look out…shall we implement the former regulations or do you have new ones?" the first guard asked, which this was going to be a touchy subject.
Susan had a sad and distant look on her face as she thought it over while Will tried to figure out what they meant by former regulations. After a few moments Susan spoke again "Yes all former regulations are to be put in place. Make sure any violators are punished accordingly" she instructed getting one final salute from the guards as they moved on spreading the news and orders.
Will was still looking very confused and shocked at what just happened, but Susan had taken Will by the hand leading her further into the castle. Susan knew she would have some explaining to do but it could wait until they reached their destination.
The rest of the walk was silent and the only thing that kept repeating in Will's mind was the last thing Susan had told the guards, about not wanting to hide her like she was something to be ashamed of. 'But wouldn't it be easier to hide my existence? I'm supposed to be someone to be ashamed of...aren't I?' Will thought to her self, as she was lead up to one of the higher floors of the castle.
When they finally stopped at the door Will wondered what was inside until Susan turned the knob and revealed a rather simple looking room.
The rug near the bed at one end of the room was forest green, as was the blanket that covered the large bed. There were a pair of windows that were like doors straight ahead of them that lead to larger then normal balcony. Out on the balcony were a few things that looked like training devises which made sense, since Will knew Susan got up early to train. On other end the room was a dresser and large desk. But the thing that caught Will's eyes was a door off in the corner.
This door especially drew Will's attention as Susan led Will into the room heading straight for the other door. Will thought it might have been a closet, but found it strange it had a lock on it. Susan took out a key and after unlocking it made it swing open to reveal another room.
This room was a lot more messy then the one behind them and was filled with a book shelf, though most of the books were scattered all over the place on either the table in the middle of the room or on the floor as well as papers scattered all over the place.
One bookshelf stood out though because it had a cage like door on it with a lock making it seem like it had important books in it maybe. Susan then spoke, snapping Will out of her train of thought "This will be your room once we get it cleaned up a bit and get a bed in here" she explained and took Will over to the table in the center of the room.
"I'll help sense you are probably not familiar on how to sort the books, and it would take you awhile by your self any way. You go gather all the papers for now while I deal with the books" Susan explained as she started to stack a few books on the table into a pile.
Will noded her head and went to gather the discarded papers and noticed they have all sorts of notes on them, though she could understand them one bit. It took three hours for the two to finish the clean up but now that it was done the two were sitting down at the table to rest.
A few minutes later some food was brought in for them as well as a small bed and a dresser by several servants, though to Susan displeasure some of them kept a close eye on Will. 'I guess it's to be expected but it's still disappointing to see people who know my views act like this' Susan thought to her self taking a mental note on possible problem people.
Once all the servants were gone the two started eating. Susan noted that Will had been to tired from the work and focused on the food to notice the looks from some of the servants.
'Ignorance may help her for now but her training will make her more aware of her surroundings. That will put a lot of strain on her once she is constantly aware of those who fear or hate her. The hate may be something she is used to, but fear... I don't know how she will react to it' Susan thought getting worried about how Will would react to this development.
Susan tried to focus on her meal to keep her mind off of things but her thoughts were making her loose her appetite. Susan looked up from her plate to see Will was almost done "Not very hungry are you?" Susan teased the girl so help brighten her own mood.
This got Will glaring at Susan or at least until the older woman traded plates with her "You not hungry Susan?" the half elf asked confused at the elf's action.
Susan noded her head and answered, "Ya, I guess I'm still more tired then hungry because of the long trip…after your done why don't you take a nap your self. It will help get us ready for a little training this afternoon" the Elvin woman suggested.
Will stared at Susan confused "Are we doing the dancing stuff again?" she asked getting a playful glare from Susan "It is not dancing. It's martial arts or do you need to get tossed again for me to prove it?" the elf said trying to give the young half-elf a playful swat on the head while said half-elf ducked the swing.
Later after Susan was done teasing Will, she had left the half-elf to finish her meal. Will decided to take Susan's advice and take nap. Though her sleep was not as peaceful as the ones she had recently. This time nightmares from her past haunted her dreams.
Will was surrounded by darkness unable to see anything. The darkness scared Will but not a much as the voice that was yelling at her from it. "Stupid Half-Breed! You think any one cares for you?! Just wait! Eventually the elf will treat you like the worthless trash that you are!"
Will was on her knees begging for the voice to stop. Her fear was so strong she did not know to just wake up from the dream and escape the voice she had not heard since she five years old.
In the waking world Susan had finished her meditation/nap and was trying to figure out the best training program for her young charge when she heard something from the next room. 'What is she doing in there?' Susan thought to her self as she went over to the door to Will's new room.
Once she entered Susan saw Will thrashing about in her sleep. Susan quickly went over to the bed started to shake the girl while saying "Will wake up!"
This made Will shoot upwards in a sitting position drenched in a cold sweat panting heavily. Susan sat next to Will and started to rub her back to help calm the young half-elf while asking, "Bad dream?"
Will finally looked at Susan after she had recovered from the shock of waking up from her nightmare. Will managed to answer Susan's question with a small nod, not trusting her voice to work. 'I hope it stays that way…why is my father's voice in my nightmares again?' Will thought to her self.
Susan could tell that what ever the dream was, had really shaken Will so she thought maybe a little exercise would help get the young girl's mind off her troubles. She gently took Will's hand and pulled slightly to signal Will to come with her.
Susan then lead Will out onto the balcony from earlier. Susan let go of Will's hand and went over to the stand holding what looked like wooden practice swords and grabbed two. Susan tossed one over to Will who caught it a bit clumsily while the elvin woman said, "Why don't we start that training session I promised earlier. It might help clear your mind if you focus on something else for while"
This made Will a little nervous seeing as how she was about to have a lesson from some one who was most likely one of best sword masters in the kingdom. 'Why can't we do that martial arts stuff from before?' Will thought to her self as Susan started to speak.
"We will start things off like I did when I showed those stances of the Dancing Leaf style. So just copy me like last time and you will do fine" Susan assured Will, knowing it may seem to strange to learn new types of skills so soon after only starting martial arts a few days ago.
The reason for teaching Will swordsmanship so soon was because Dancing Leaf was one part of Susan's sword style. Soaring Blade while basic sword training made another part.
Dancing Leaf was based on speed, agility, and flexibility. Basic sword training combined with physical conditioning helped build up strength, endurance and stamina.
The final part that made up Soaring Blade was analyzing and predicting enemies by watching and predicting movements as well as locating potential weaknesses they had. This part was difficult to learn but could be done by playing games of strategy and by simply gaining experience by sparring with a lot of different people.
This made Soaring Blade a very flexible style because of this, and was favored by those who preferred to have both a strong offense and defense. But Susan did not explain all this to Will just yet. She knew that the best way to get Will to grasp the basics of this complex style was to have her learn them with out knowing what she was doing.
'The process worked on me when I did not think I could ever learn Soaring Blade so it might help Will. And if it doesn't then her physical abilities will be greatly increased anyway' Susan thought to herself as she got into the first stance.
Susan instructed Will on how to perform simple downward slashes. Susan explained it was important to ingrain the right method into her student's mind so that it would come naturally when used in a real fight.
For the whole afternoon Susan had Will practiced basic sword attacks as well as getting in some more practice with Dancing Leaf, learning stances and katas. Through out all of this Will was ignorant of what she was really being taught and what she would have to face tomorrow.
By the time they stopped it was mid sunset and Will's body was sore all over, but Susan not finished with her student yet. "Now we are going give your mind a work out" Susan said and smiled at the loud groan from of her student.
Will followed her teacher grumbling at the fact that the torture was going to continue and noticed Susan was taking a board off her desk. This made Will thank every god she knew of that it was not another book then noticed Susan taking a wooden box out of the drawer.
Will was trying to figure out how these were going to train her mind as Susan lead Will back into her room and set the board down on the table. Will sat in one of chairs while Susan opened the wooden box and took out some black and white objects.
Susan placed the whites pieces closest to her self and put the black pieces closer to Will's side of the board then said, "This is a game called chess and it will teach you something you need to know if you plan on making use of your magic or fighting skills"
Will did not how this was going help improve ether of those areas until Susan continued "Chess is a game of strategy and, knowing when to use what move and at the right time is critical. It's does not matter if it's moving a game piece, using the right spell, or striking an enemy at the right time and with the right technique with your weapon"
This did make sense once Will heard it explained like that, but she still did not see how this was going to teach her all that. But for now she just listened on how to play the game and how the pieces moved. Once that was done the first of many games began.
It was quite clear Will had no chance, being only a beginner against some who has had many years of experience, and Will's growing frustration was not helping her. After three hours of playing she had lost track of how many times she lost to Susan who had finally put an end to the game for the evening.
"Don't worry Will. Once you learn some of the finer point of the game you'll do fine. They are just the things you need to learn from experience" Susan reassured the young girl as she put the pieces away.
As Susan turned to head back to her own room she said "Tomorrow's training will begin first thing in the morning so try to rest up okay" though Susan's only received response was a groan as the worn out girl dragged her-self over to the bed.
Susan only chuckled at Will's antic knowing most new to such heavy training responded the same way. The Elvin woman left her young student to get some sleep hopping the training wore Will out enough to get a good nights rest.
Luck was on their side because the only thing that woke Will up was Susan using a spell to create water and drop a bucket's worth of water on to the slumbering half-elf. "Aaaaahhhh!" Will screamed from the sudden dowsing of cold water.
She shot her teacher a weak glare due to her tired state that the Elvin woman just ignored as she handed Will a shirt made out of chains. "Welcome to Gifted boot camp Will. Yesterday was the warm up. The real training starts now so put the chain shirt on and we will get moving" Susan instructed.
Will just stared at the elf "Why would any one wear a shirt made of out chains?" she asked getting the Elvin woman to roll her eyes.
"It's the strongest of any other light armor so you need to get used to moving with it, so put it on" Susan explained as she helped Will slip the armor on. Though the one thing Susan did not mention was that this chain shirt was about 5 pounds heavier then a normal chain shirt for Will's size. This was to help Will build up her strength thought five pounds was not going to make a huge difference it still helped a bit.
Will of course found it difficult to move in the heavy chain mail that covered most of her upper body. "How can any one call this light armor?!" Will said as she almost fell over when she tried to stand up and move.
Susan just laughed as Will stumbled around trying to get used to the new weight. "You'll get used to it. Now we are off" Susan said placing her hand on Will's shoulder to teleport them to the rampart of the city walls.
Will looked confused to why they were here until Susan spoke "Start jogging." This got the elf a look of horror as Will screamed as she pointed to the chain shirt "In this thing!?"
This got a nod from a smirking Susan and she pointed off in the distance "Yes and your doing three miles of the city wall before breakfast so get moving if you want to eat" she told Will.
Will started moving with Susan following close behind. They had passed several guard stations along the city wall with guards waving hi to Susan and few playful jokes at Will expense.
One of Susan's favorites was when one them decided to make up a story that eventually Will would be doing several laps around the whole wall. This of course was a lie because even Susan would be worn out by doing one full lap around the city wall seeing how big this city was.
By the time Will had done her three miles she felt like she was going to die as she collapse into a the chair of the guard station they stopped at and was giving Susan another death glare. "You…are…insane!" she managed to growl out between her panting.
This has two guards present laughing so hard at Will's declaration they nearly fell over. Susan just rolled her eyes but had a huge smirk on her face as she said "The fun has only just begun"
This made Will go pale white as Susan teleported them back to the castle for a breakfast of oatmeal, bread, and fruit. Will practically attacked the food as she ate startling some the servants at the speed but had Susan laughing.
Susan would never tell Will this but as child she did the same thing after her own training. The life of a gifted was never easy, especially those with a warrior based class. 'Good thing the sorcerer and warlock training will be easier then she probably thinks they will be' Susan thought to her self as she watched her young pupil devour her third helping of oatmeal.
Once breakfast was done Susan took her back to the training spot and taught Will the few things she needed to know about how to use her magic. Sorcery was actually much simpler then people thought. Most assumed it was complicated because of hearing of how hard wizards had to study for their spells. So many thought sorcery would be the same way.
In reality all sorcerer, or in this case sorceress, just needed to read or be shown a spell, then practice the spell it self. Once some one of the sorcerer class casts a completely successful version of the spell they gained something like permanent memory for that spell and could use it whenever they wished. This was different then a wizard who had to always study spells to keep the information fresh in their minds.
Of course for this to happen the student needed basic mastery of the spell first, which was why Susan was helping Will with them right now. First Susan had helped Will perfect the flare spell she had used when her magic first awakened. Susan also helped Will learn some other low level spells as well.
These spells were light, arcane mark, prestidigitation, true strike and shocking grasp. Light obviously worked exactly how it was called providing a source of light when ever needed.
Arcane Mark was something magic users used as something to place a personal symbol on personal items or in some cases legal documents. Arcane Mark was used for this because it's difficult for even skilled forgers to duplicate an arcane mark giving the caster a little extra security.
Prestidigitation had exact use too. It was mostly used for young casters to practice or entertain people. This was because it could do only little things like move objects of at most one pound in weight. It could color, clean, or dirty objects as well as warm, cool or flavor things. The final minor trick the spell could do was create small objects though they were crude and fragile. For the most part unless your entertaining people for a living or were trying to relieve boredom it was not a spell used often by veteran casters.
These spells were called zero grade spells or 'cantrips' and were the weakest of all the spells. There are 10 grades of spells, zero being the lowest and nine being the highest. The final two spells Susan taught Will were first grade spells that at this point in Will's development were the strongest she could cast.
True strike was a spell that for a single attack allowed the caster to have greater odds of hitting a target. This was a very useful spell for Will because she would be able to combine this spell with her sword attacks and almost no chance of missing.
The final spell, shocking grasp, was just as the name said. It sent a powerful electric attack into who ever the caster was touching. This was the strongest of all the grade one spells but it was also one of the most dangerous spells for most new magic users.
Normally new magic users learned shocking grasp later because it required to get into range of melee attacks. This was something most magic users were not able to handle because most low level magic users lacked the skill to defend against melee attacks. Most prefered long range spells at first.
But Will was a gifted after all and would not have this weakness, so she had more freedom to choose such close range spells sooner. Though Susan did encourage her young student to be careful about using it though. "Just because you have better odds of using it successfully does not mean you should use the spell to often. It can leave an enemy an opening to hit you while your casting it" she had instructed.
After they were done with the sorcery lesson it was time for the one Will hopped they would not do. She did not want to learn to use her warlock powers but Susan had been quite insistent about it, warning Will that her supernatural magic would grow weather she used it or not. Once it grew to a certain point, if Will did not have proper control of it, the energy might send small but destructive bursts like when she punched that guard.
Will had reluctantly agreed to learn how to control her powers after hearing this. Susan had expected this reluctance but she knew Will needed to learn how to use her eldritch blasts and invocations.
It took a while to help Will to summon the power. This was because warlock power was controlled by ones will and since Will was still some what reluctant it made it hard for to force it to do anything.
Once Susan had helped Will get a general idea on how to summon the power, she told her student to focus it into her hand. Will did as she was asked and focused the power slowly making her hand glow with purple energy.
Will looked at Susan, her eyes were asking the silent question of what to do next. Susan then instructed Will to point her hand out into the horizon and will the power to fire out of her hand as a blast of energy.
It took Will a few tries to make the blast fire out and when she did it did not fire straight. It instead curved back and forth in a random way signaling it was not being properly controlled. "Will you can't be afraid of it. I know your scared of your power, but just because it comes from a dark source does not mean you need to be scared of it" Susan said hopping Will would realize no matter were it come from the power was hers and hers alone. She was not going to turn into an evil force of destruction by using her warlock abilities.
Will nodded her head nervously but noted that Susan stressed the power was hers and not a demon's power. 'But if it gave my family a small bit of its power how come that means I'm not tainted?' Will thought to her self but thought back to something Susan explained to her about magic durring the trip here in the carriage.
Susan had told her that the origins of warlock power were in a sense no different then that of a sorcerer's. Dragons were one of several ways sorcerers came into being. Dragons in a way created sorcerers by mating with humans, elves, and others races and down the line those who descended from that union created sorcerers.
Though this being different from creature infusing power into mortals to give them warlock magic, the basic idea was the same. Susan had explained that if Will was a demon, she was a dragon as well and pointed out she did not see any scales or claws on her.
This did make Will feel a little better and better able to focus on controlling her supernatural magic as she thought over and over in her mind 'I am no more demon then I am a dragon'
When she fired the blast it shot straight like an arrow but this time it was a different color then before, a pinkish red instead of dark purple. Will looked at Susan confused at the sudden change.
Susan sensed the question and answered with a proud smile on her face "That would be the sign of you starting to gain control over your power. Before you where just using the dark energy and not seeing it as your own, but a demon's power. You see reason warlock magic is called supernatural power is because it come from your very soul. Once you accepted the power as apart of you the dark energy and your soul's energy worked in harmony and mixed together changing its color" Susan explained.
This made Will a little nervous again seeing how old habits died hard, but Susan assured Will nothing bad was going to happen just because the two energies mixed. After that Susan helped Will learn her first invocation but first gave Will a quick lesson about invocations.
Like spells, invocations came in levels of strength, of which there was least, lesser, greater and dark. They were also further separated into three types of invocations. These were essence, shape and other.
The essence type was to add effects to an eldritch blast like make enemies feel ill or cause them to feel fear when hit by a blast.
The shape type made a blast have greater range or effect a larger area.
Other was the type of invocation to cause varies effects such as like mimic the effects certain arcane spells or increase their abilities.
The invocation Susan suggested was called hideous blow, which allowed a warlock to channel the power their eldritch blast into a melee attack. Susan suggested it for two reasons, the first being that Will did a crude version of it when she punched the guard. The second reason was it also gave Will a little extra power for her attacks.
Performing the invocation was a simple matter of making the supernatural magic flow into and around what ever weapon you were holding, be it a fist weapon or a sword. Susan had Will practice this invocation along with her sword training to get the hang of doing both at the same time.
Each swing and thrust was for a few seconds covered in pinkish red energy and slowly through out the long training session Will gained basic control of her power. Will still was far from proficient with any of her classes but now she was starting to get a solid foundation by the end of the day.
By the time Will was sent off to bed that night she was worn out both in body and in mind, but one thing brightened her mood. She was still a bit ticked at having to wear the chain shirt all day thought she was starting to get used to but she still wanted pay back.
Fortunately today's training had given her the means to do it. If she could wake up early enough then she would have a little surprise for teacher. Will fell a sleep as she thought up her plan not knowing fateseemed be on her side. Susan had decided to go to sleep later that night do some late training of her own and even her four trance would not save her from Will's little scheme.
The next morning Susan came out of her sleep like trance not knowing of what her student had done early that morning but she was soon going to find out. Susan had opened up her night stand to pull out a brush and a mirror to brush her hair before waking Will only to see a shocking sight.
Her normally black hair was now a bright shade of pink and her face was an equally bright red. Will had used the prestidigitation spell she had learned yesterday to make these changed remembering the pinked headed lobster jokes from several days ago. Will had wanted to get even for those and thought the irony was perfect.
It took Susan a few minutes to realize who the culprit was and now advancing toward the door of her student's room. 'Oh you are going to get it young lady' Susan growled in her mind as opened door to see Will pretending to read a book waiting for Susan's grand entrance.
Will looked up at Susan innocently and said "Morning teach…something seems different about you today but I can't seem to put my finger on it" she said with sweet yet triumphant tone of voice.
Feeling of victory was quickly ended as she saw Susan moving toward her with a look that brought fear into the half-elf as she grabbed Will's shoulders and quickly pulled her to her feet.
Five minutes later Will was doing the jog in the chain shirt like the day before but with two 'minor' changes. She was running in her under wear and was given 10 miles to run. Susan who had returned her hair and face too normal and was following close behind make sure Will kept moving.
"Let this be a lesson to you! I don't get mad I get even!" Susan said smugly as she nudged Will to go faster. Will on the other hand made silent vows to be careful the next time she tried to prank the pure blooded elf. If she lived through her punishment to be a next time that is.
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And we end on that (hopefully) humors note. Next chapter will bring in the the team and might have actual action as well.