The Magician's Shout

It hadn't taken long for Tiren to get a handle of telekinesis.

His Father was right. It was magic in one of its purest and simplest forms. The trick to it was that he had to get a mental grasp on where exactly he needed to direct the forces on said object, and apply the forces accordingly. This was not any easy thing to wrap his head around but eventually spinning, twirling, pushing, pulling, and most importantly launching an object in any direction became quite natural. He had been practicing every opportunity he got over those three days, trying not to use his hands for any simple task, instead using his spell.

He also reread books like "Mixed Unit Tactics" and read knew ones he found in his father's library like, "Mages on the Battlefield" and "The Imperial Battlemages". He wanted to study and work through all the combat situations that he would use destruction magic in, so as to prove to his father that he could handle it.

Finally three days past, and Tiren awoke to find his father waiting outside for him. Styrnbjorn stood dressed in his blue mages robes, and wore a determined grin on his face. As Tiren walked into the morning sunlight, he saw that his father was standing next to a large pile of melons. Tiren was confused.

"Melons?" Tiren questioned.

Then that orange glow of telekinesis covered his father's gloves, and he launched a melon right into Tiren's hands. Tiren realized these weren't melons, they were ammunition.

"Good morning son! Welcome to combat training." Styrnbjorn said with a smile. Styrnbjorn pointed at what appeared to be a ghostly man about 40 yards away. "Today your going to be working on using magic to launch projectiles such as firebolts, or in our case melons, in combat situations. See that is a specter I conjured? He is going to charge and attack you. Hit him with a melon and he will disappear. Understand?"

Tiren looked at his father and nodded in response. Styrnbjorn snapped his finger and in that instant the specter charged. It was a blue ghostly image of a bandit dressed in simple fur armor and wielding a greatsword. The specter ran with reckless abandon at Tiren, but Tiren confidently grabbed a melon with his telekinesis. Taking only a split second to aim, Tiren fired his melon as hard as he could and it slammed into the torso of the specter. With that, Styrnbjorn snapped his fingers again, dismissing the ghostly warrior.

And so the training was laid out. Styrnbjorn would summon a specter, and whenever it's weapon touched Tiren or it was "killed" with a melon, the specter would be dismissed instantly.

They repeated this exercise again and again, and even expanded on it. Several times multiple specters were sent at Tiren at once, and it was up to him to fight all of them off. During one exercise in particular, four specters charged him, and while Tiren was able to dispose of two before the ghosts reached him, he had to fight close combat against the ghosts. No weapon in hand, Tiren dipped, dove, and ducked away from the flurry of attacks until he could gather his energy and strike again. But he eventually cleared this challenge as well.

Styrnbjorn had even accounted for the reality of spells with a blast radius, such as the common fireball. In response to this issue, he'd enchanted specific melons to explode on impact. He then trained Tiren on proper use of exploding attacks to dispose of multiple enemies.

Finally the pair broke for lunch, and proceeded to eat salted meats and berries from the garden. Styrnbjorn was proud of his son's progress, as it was truly remarkable his natural talent on the matter. But even his son hadn't prepared for what he would face in his next test.

Styrnbjorn looked at his son sternly.

"You've done great with the combat exercises up until now, but now we're going to have you facing a much more serious reality. Magic is your weapon; it is your means of fighting. And why is it that you wish to learn to fight son?" Styrnbjorn said solemnly.

Tiren took a moment to think on the matter, and then finally came to his conclusion. He'd read books and stories of powerful warriors and mages that used their strength to fight for what was right. Those who fought for honor and the safety of those who couldn't.

"I wish to learn to fight to protect myself, but more importantly, to protect the innocent, the defenseless, and those I care about." Tiren said with an aura of confidence.

Styrnbjorn nodded at his son's answer. It was perfect.

"Then that is why this next exercise is so important. Magic is your means of protecting those important to you, but used incorrectly, can also hurt those which you mean to protect, Tiren." Styrnbjorn said with a depth and tinge of remorse in his voice.

Tiren wondered for a moment what his father was thinking, when all the sudden his father began to move. He waved his arms in a swirling motion and then lifted them up high in the air. With this he summoned this time ten specters total in a circle around the two of them.

Styrnbjorn took a moment to catch his breath, and then casted a red illusion spell on three of the spectors. Tiren couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the blue ghostly warriors become the image of children. Even the color of their aura change to a bright red, and the children stood innocently.

Tiren looked at his father with amazement and asked, "What is the meaning of all of this father?"

"These children are those you wish to protect, and they will be scattered throughout the forest. The specters are those whom would hurt them. It will be your job to protect them." Styrnbjorn said as he snapped his fingers.

All of the sudden the specters faded a way, only to reappear at their assigned locations throughout the Falkreath forest. Styrnbjorn handed Tiren a large knapsack full of melons. Tiren lifted the sack waiting for a large weight, but was pleased to find out a weightlessness charm had been placed on it. Tiren looked at his Father for further instruction.

"Inside that sack are five melons. Two exploding, four simple. This limited ammo is similar to your limited magicka in a fight. Should you hit a child in any way, it will fade. Should you let the other spectors strike the children, then they will fade. We will run this exercise repeatedly until all three children are saved, and every specter defeated."

On Tiren's third try, he was determined to finish properly. He had failed his first time by running out of melons before he could kill the last specter. His second attempt a child had been caught in the radius of one of his exploding melons. This time though, he was determined.

What made the task difficult though, was that their positions and circumstances changed each time, so repeating the task again provided little advantages.

Tiren ran into the forest and heard the first child screaming. A ghostly boy ran as he was chased by a specter, and Tiren fired his first simple melon hitting the specter square in the back and it disappeared. Tiren ran over to secure the child, but before he could reach him, another specter came out from a tree behind the boy and surprised him. Thinking quickly, and with no time to ready an attack, Tiren sprinted at the child and grabbed him before the specter's axe swung down.

Feeling increasingly confident in his Bosmer agility, turned and launched a simple melon at the specter and hit the side of its head. Scanning for further threats to this first boy, Tiren assessed he was safe and left the child where he stood.

He ran further into the forest to see three specters cornering a little girl against a tree. Tiren readied an exploding melon this time and took particular aim. His goal was not to hit the specters head on, for that would hit the little girl as well. Instead he aimed behind them, far enough to simply catch them within the radius.

He slung his melon with perfect accuracy and it unleashed a barrage of red, sugary, death upon the specters. Styrnbjorn watched from afar, snapping his fingers and dismissing his ghosts.

Tiren looked left and right for the third child, and finally spotted a the boy running from a pursuing blue ghost. Tiren was about to bolt after them, when he felt his reflexes telling him to duck. He has done so at the perfect moment, just managing to dodge a spectral greatsword as it swung high and hit a tree beside him. Tiren turned to face his attacker, but had to immediately go on the defensive as he dodged swing after swing. Much to his dismay, one slash caught his knapsack, causing his last two melons to fall to the ground and roll several paces away.

To make matters worse, Tiren glanced over at the boy to see that his pursuer had cornered him against a tree. To make matters even worse, Tiren's own attacker stood between him and his precious fruit on the ground in front of him. Both specters lifted their weapons high for a final attack, and Tiren knew he had to strike quickly. He had no time to pull a melon in close and fire, so he was unsure of his aim, but he simply had to trust his instincts and reflexes. He closed his eyes and breathed.

Then in one motion he pulled one melon towards his body at full speed, hitting the specter in front of him square in the back, and then spun to fling the other melon at the second specter with blinding speed. In one moment melon exploded all over the back of one, and hit the skull of another.

And both specters vanished.

Tiren wiped a small piece of the red fruit from his brow and shouted with glee. He'd done it! He was ready!

Styrnbjorn looked down the hill at his son and smiled. He was so proud of the boy's accomplishment.

"He's definitely your son, Sienna." Styrnbjorn thought as a tear rolled down his cheek.

Now he was finally ready to learn about the world of destruction, no longer having its dangers held back from him. Styrnbjorn was frightened at the thought, but then nodded to himself. His son was ready.

Styrnbjron looked into the sky with a tearful smile.

But then his heart stopped.

And then the dragon roared.

Tiren felt a hard chill flow down his tired spine. He was going to need some bigger melons.

Author's Note:

Now you may be wondering, "what the heck is a specter?!" For the concept of the training exercise to work, I wanted a conjure that seemed human. So you know how every "important" ghost is skyrim is basically a blue version of themselves? Well imagine specters to seem something like that.

I also hope you'll appreciate some of the liberties I've taken with magic. Stuff like more than one conjure, the strengthening of telekinesis, etc. I will be using the spells in the game for the base of all the story's magic, but I'll be taking similar liberties throughout.

Also, what'd you think of the melon-based combat? Lol I promise it will not be a mainstay in the story, but telekinesis will, and I thought it was an interesting way to train Tiren in fighting.

Please review, follow or favorite! I'd love the criticism or input!