Lea rolled his head off of his pillow and slowly exposed his eyes to the morning sun. Almost every muscle from his torso up burned with rejuvenating energy. The training was taking a much larger physical toll on him than would have imagined.
Slowly pushing himself up to a seated position, he could feel the lactic acid drain from the strained muscles. Pushing through he started his daily routine and walk the smooth cobble path to Merlin's house.
Something was off as he entered the layer of magic. The old man was usually bursting around and concocting some form of potion at this time of day. Lea scanned the room and found no aspect of movement of even life. He slowly inched his way deeper into the room and can up to the massive cauldron. Emanating heat, Lea guess that the blacken kettle held something within.
He carefully removed the iron lid and slid it on to the table behind him only to turn around to the wizard's face. Decapitated and floating slightly above the simmering liquid sat the head of Merlin. The essence of the apparition appeared to be the fume of the bubbling fluid that rest below.
Then the figure began to speak. "Hello there and welcome to Merlin's Magic Apothecary! If you are looking for a Cure please place your name on the list on the table by the door. If this is an emergency, contact the Gullwing Fairies as they probably have an object that can assist. If you are Lea, pour a drop of the white, opaque liquid in the potions cabinet into this solution." After the final words were spoken, the form dropped back into the cauldron leaving the room empty.
Glancing around, Lea locked on to the old piece of wooden furniture and fumbled with the tumbler the open it. The door creaked as the boy swung it open to its capacity and revealed row upon row of different remedies, poisons, and other materials that he didn't have the faintest idea were. Glossing through the inventory he finally eyed a small goose-necked flask whose contents mimicked that of a cloud.
Lea gripped the mixture and transitioned back to the pot and dispensed a single drop of the liquid into the vat. Smoke erupt from the cauldron again and condensed into the bust of Merlin. The apparition smile and continued his speech.
"Lea, I am sorry that I was not able to tell you this is person but an unfortunate circumstance arose about a little blonde boy. I don't know how long this will take me to deal with but I am confident enough in your abilities that I believe you can train on your own. Remember that practicing all Elements is important, but I am of the mind that perfecting Fire should be higher on your priority.'
"To return to the Outland Desert that we traveled to yesterday, simply place a drop of the potion that activated this on the ground, step into the portal, and concentrate precisely on the destination location. Make sure to bring the potion with you as you will need it for your return journey. Stay safe and practice. I hope to be back soon." And with that, the vapors again condensed. Lea replaced the lid and stood in the middle of the room. He had no doubt that he would be returning to the vast expanse of dirt to practice, but first he had some unanswered questions to take care of.
Lea strode over to the colossal bookshelf that took up an entire wall of the room and started to skim for the volume that would be most helpful. Most of the texts covered specific manifestations of magic including Elements as well as some others that Lea knew to hold the knowledge of Teleportation and Gravity manipulations. The latter where complex forms of magic that only those with extreme practice of the arts could harness, though Lea hoped he would eventually be able to harness that amount of energy.
Just when Lea was about to fold and travel on to his practice he eyes caught a tome near the end of the top row. Lea's eyes had a hard time adjusting to the book. The cover seemed to simultaneously emit and draw in light. The teen's brain danced and he barely kept his footing as he reached up and deshelved the book.
Pulling back the exterior of the massive text, he read The Battle of White and Dark Magic on the title page. Lea's pulse quickened as he leafed through to find the chapter contents. Honing in on the page, he scanned and found what he was looking for- The Combination of Dark and White.
Sliding his finger across the title, he located the page that would get him to the information, page 767. Lea flipped through the degrading paper and landed on the chapter he was in search of. He started skimming through the text to find something that resembled the experience he had had. After a few pages of history of The Mage War, he finally came across a passage of the experiments done by Dark Wizards.
One of the many experiments that the Masters of Dark tested included the combination of both White and Dark Magic. Two wizards stood within a pentagram clasping hands and each would summon a type of Magic. In most cases the forces seemed to inoculate the other but in a few freak occurrences a shimmer would appear between the two, burn extremely bright, and explode inward, leading the wizards on to the next life.
Sweat collected on in the wrinkles of his hand and he quickly search for more explanation on the twisted combination. Page after page he turned but no other mention of the marriage appeared, just grotesque accounts of Dark sorcerers performing unfathomable deems.
Lea's hands shook to the beat of his heart as he gently reshelved the book. He quickly moved to grab the cloudish potion to the portal to start his practice. The text had unnerved him and he had no passion to remain in the room a moment longer. Dropping a single trickle onto the warmed wood floor, Lea backed away as the white mist created the window to the other land.
The boy stepped in, cleaned his wracked brain, and submerged himself in the memory of the day past. As the thought formed in his mind, Lea could feel the sun before him and he walked on to enter the arid environment.