First Steps II

[Saulus Lambent]

"You really had to go and tempt fate," Saulus snarked and directed a glare towards the cowering merchant who whimpered and tried to make himself smaller inside the carriage.

Saulus could only hope that the guy wouldn't just take the vehicle and leave them there.

With a shake of his head, he directed his attention back towards the creatures that started to spill out of the thick foliage at the sides of the road. Green scales covered most of their body with large spike-like protrusions coming out of their backs. Drool poured out of their maws, filled with yellow needle-like fangs, which were still stained with blood. He imagined that it came from the merchant's food stock crates they had already raided. The creatures hungry and gold eyes were directed at them. Saulus assumed that whatever the cargo contained, wasn't enough for them.

Three wolf-sized Jagras threateningly approached them from their right. Their hisses pulled their lips upwards to display their sharp fangs. Odd shaky movements made their scales rattle against each other producing a rattling and threatening sound.

"They are a mess," Arvid commented, standing sideways with a wand in his left hand already. Saulus spared a closer look at the Jagras then, noticing the oddities now that his friend was commenting on. Sure enough, the creatures seemed to be covered with poorly healing scars and broken scales. Moreover, while the creatures tended to be lean, he was fairly sure that he shouldn't be able to see hints of the ribs through the yellow skin of their underbelly.

After that quick inspection, he looked in the other direction. Jagras tended to be ambush predators, often preferring to use pincer tactics, after all. One side called for the prey's attention, and the other killed them from the back. Sure enough, they caught three more on the other side of the clearing, stealthily approaching them without emitting any noise.

"They look like they might keel over with a strong wind," Saulus said, which wasn't quite true, but at least they were familiar with these things.

He might not be an expert, but, after years of being "volunteered" to help, Wintergreen's local old hunter had taught him a thing or two against his will. He was fairly sure that healthy Jagras didn't look like that… nor tended to hunt in so few numbers. Most packs usually went from a dozen to multiple ones.

Granted, they had fought them at Wintergreen's walls and with other people having their backs but those had been proper Jagras. This pack really looked like his Ash Magic would be a proper threat against, instead of a distraction. That was reassuring, at least.

"Think they got kicked out of the main pack?" he asked as he stared down the rattling Jagras while Arvid fully turned to face the sneaky half of them.

"They look like runts, yeah. That one certainly looks like he went a few rounds against a leader and lost… badly," Arvid commented, nodding towards the biggest of the six creatures… which wasn't saying much in this case.

The Jagras, realizing that the jig was up and their simple ambush had been seen through, decided to throw caution to the window. In a moment, they all rushed towards both of them at once. Not that they would let them just do that and stand by, of course.

Saulus gathered his ashes at the edge of his hand, condensing them as tight as he could. He pulled his arm to the side in a slashing motion in the direction of the Jagras in the middle. The ash formed a horizontal, sharp arc in their direction, flying forward. His magic might not be great, but it was sure to be enough for some Jagras rejects, at least.

"Sables!" he called, more out of a sense of focus than necessity. Magic was highly based on emotions and concentration after all. He had found that it was always easier to do specific stuff, hard stuff with his magic when he put a name to it. It helped him focus, helped him visualize.

Sure enough, the middle Jagra let out a pained wail as it got struck by the slash, failing to change directions and dodge in its mad rush. It was not enough to bisect him or kill it outright, but the deep wound was more than enough to put the creature out of the fight.

He felt wind pick up behind him, where Arvid stood but he didn't turn around. They had their sides and unless his friend called for help, he'd cover his. Never leave a Jagras out of sight, that was a lesson he'd learned early on.

"That wasn't quite right," he heard his friend comment with a click of his tongue before the same rush of air happened again. "That's more like it," Arvid said, sounding excited. "You mind if I steal your move name, man?" he asked then, sounding just as excited as Saul remembered from when he'd crafted his first wand. Crazy bastard.

"Go ahead," he said with a shrug as he condensed the ashes all around his hand now. "I stole it from a dude from Desierto myself anyway." Some sand mage that got taken down by the Council a few years ago. He only remembered him because who in their right mind would name their son Caiman? Not that he was relevant anymore. Taken down by a dude with rubber body magic.

Saulus concentrated back into the fight at hand. The Jagras were already too close for his liking and for all their wounded and haggard state, those claws and teeth were still extremely sharp. Unwilling to face them in close combat, Saulus prepared his next spell. Luckily, this one was simple enough he didn't have to call out its name like an idiot.

He simply let go of the ashes by extending his palm forwards. A plum of gray ash was flooded out like a wave. It wasn't a particularly strong or creative idea, but it was more than enough to push the creatures back slightly and kill their momentum. The two Jagras started coughing and rubbing their faces with their paws then, desperate to dislodge the remnants of ashes from their throats and eyes.

A single Sables was enough to put both of them down.

'That… was a bit anticlimactic,' he admitted to himself with a slight amount of unwanted disappointment. He guessed he should be happy that their first fight was this easy though.

Less work for him.

All the while, he could feel Arvid using his own magic to fight his side. The wind on his back and the occasional plum of dust were clues enough, nevermind similar noises to those in front of him coming from the other three Jagras. That Dust Wand was proving useful, it seemed.

"The leader is tougher than he looks," Arvid commented from behind him, some frustration bleeding into his voice. Somehow, he still managed to sound excited though, the absolute madman.

"I already finished," he said in a smug tone to his friend.

"Yeah, well, you've had your magic for years. Took you long enough," Arvid replied with a laugh. "Come here," he muttered then as Saul turned around. He then blinked as he saw the leader of the small pack rushing at his friend while another Jagras lay on the floor trying to get back on its feet and the last thrashed on the ground.

His friend brought his hand back for an attack, but it wasn't with his wand. Instead, he swung his hand axe at the poor, unfortunate Jagras. Saul winced a little as the strike hit. He'd seen Arvid fall small trees with a single swing. The already weakened creature didn't stand a chance.

The rest of the Jagras seemed to grow wary as they recovered, stepping back and away from them. A moment later, they rushed deeper into the forest now that they didn't have their leader. The creatures were obviously unwilling to risk it now that they didn't have such a superior numerical advantage. He could even see the first one he had taken out limp away in the direction of the forest.

They didn't chase them though. The trail of blood would lead the Rune Knights right into their nest. Let those guys take care of the rest of the work. Arvid's wand was probably out of the equation by then and Saul didn't want to try and push things by himself if he could help it. Mostly because that would mean extra work.

"I got the cool points bonus, though," said Arvid with a smirk towards him.

"You wish. I cut them down with ashes, you used an axe. Mine was cooler out of principle," Saul protested as they both made their way towards the carriage after making double sure the downed Jagras would stay down.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Arvid replied, resting his axe over his shoulder, totally salty about his defeat, Saulus was sure. "I do need to make a stable wand to actually practice with though," he added, looking at what little remained of his Dust Wand, which was still falling apart in his hand. Then he looked at the Jagras at his feet. "Hey Fergus, you can take apart this one for a bonus, right?" he called as he turned towards the cart with their employer.

"S-Sure thing," the very scared merchant squeaked, his head coming out from behind a pile of crates.

"Sweet," Arvid said with a grin.

[}-o-{]

[Arvid Sawyer]

He'd barely been able to contain himself once they reached town and Fergus got to paying them. There wasn't that much to choose from, but Arvid had managed to pick and choose a handful of materials. Enough that he'd have stuff to experiment a little with and see what he could do with that, maybe improve his chances with that particular wand.

Unfortunately, wanting several things made things a little tighter on the budget that Fergus would allow, but that was fine. Arvid just took some cheaper materials to get some more quantity than quality anyway. After all, he wasn't delusional enough to bet all in grand materials when he didn't even know what he was doing with Wand Crafting just yet.

Maybe once he could have better guarantees of good or at least stable wands, he'd go for that.

As it was, he just picked a handful of materials with one thing in common and went from there. In the end, he made a wand with a core made out of the venom sack of a Horned Snake from Bosco, that injected acid instead of… 'Actually, would it be an acid sack?' Arvid wondered. Either way, the body was made out of wood from a carnivorous plant and it had a tip made of the fang of an acid-spitting spider… Also from Bosco, there were a lot of acid-related monsters in Bosco.

The result was a very nice, very dangerous wand that created and controlled acid. The thing completely burned energy to use, but that was a small price to pay for a very solid offensive option. The Dust Wand had been good and all, but using it for offense had been hard, especially since he didn't get to practice with it or anything.

The newly made Acid Wand was unstable too, but Arvid was resigning himself to those being the norm for the moment. Oh, how he'd relish the day he got something more permanent. Alas, it was not to be.

On a more cheerful note, the three Jagras they'd killed yielded some pretty good loot too. Fergus took his part of that, even if it was part of their bonus, but Arvid was fine with that. Most of the battered and weak creatures were useless to him anyway. There were, however, some usable pieces.

Which soon turned into a new pair of wands.

One of them he made with a Jagras scale core that he made after powdering some of the harder pieces he found and then wrapped the handle with one of the most healthy bits of the creature's skin. The second, he used claws for, as core and endcap. After they were done and he was somewhat happy that they weren't falling apart on their own, it came time for Arvid to test them.

The first seemed to form a protective layer of magic over stuff. It wasn't very strong and the energy efficiency sucked too, but he could cast that from a distance and it seemed to cover stuff pretty well from what quick testing he could do without the thing falling apart. Solid defensive option, he supposed, which was good too. Having some actual combat magic besides improvising with whatever random wands he had was neat.

The second wand was a little more odd. Mainly because he hadn't noticed anything when using it. Saul had though, pointing out that it was odd when he cast it over a rock. As if the rock was suddenly difficult to see, blurred or something like that. His friend had a hard time describing the effect, but after some discussion, they figured it was some sort of stealth magic.

Arvid was a little more unsure about the utility of it, but at least it wasn't bad, so it was just a matter of keeping it around until he found a use for it. Any wand he made was good enough for him. It was just a matter of keeping going until he got a better handle on it. Keep testing, keep experimenting… and one day he'd make absolute pieces of art, he was sure.

"I'm back!" he heard Saul's ever tired voice say as the door of their room opened with a loud click.

"Welcome back," Arvid greeted distractedly, looking over the integration section of the core to the shaft for the stealth wand. He wasn't exactly sure if he did something wrong there to generate that effect. It was worth noting it down for further projects though, he guessed.

"I'm gonna get you back for leaving the Rune Knights and Fergus to me," he heard Saulus say for what was probably the sixth time. Arvid, for his part, resolutely continued looking at his wands as if they weren't already finished. His friend didn't know that his "inspecting" was useless yet and he'd keep it that way.

Saulus plopped himself on top of the small red sofa that occupied the corner of their rented hotel room. It wasn't anything fancy, but in the end, all they needed was two beds, food, and some space for Arvid to work on his wands. They had got some spare money from Fergus for the Jagras parts that they hadn't taken, but there was no need for fancy spending. Magnolia wasn't going to be cheap, after all, or so he imagined.

"The guy just wouldn't stop whining about hiring us permanently as his bodyguards," Saul said with a tired voice, idly turning on the lamp at his side. He hadn't noticed how dark the room had become. Seemed like it was already night before he even noticed.

"Someone offered us work, woe is us," he replied flatly.

"Indeed," Saulus said with a nod and utmost seriousness. "Worst part, he wouldn't take a no for an answer. You would think that the first flat out 'no' from yesterday would have been enough. He kept it up all day today too. 200 Jewels an hour my ass, that is basically a 9 to 5 job."

"That does suck," Arvid agreed with a nod, setting the wand he'd been "inspecting" on the table next to the others.

"Yeah, I ditched him at the Knight's outpost. Pushed most of the paperwork to him as the 'main witness'. Oh, yeah. They said that they would send a scouting party tomorrow morning to finish off the Jagras. So, I guess that is also taken care of," he explained, picking up a magazine from under the coffee table next to him, and starting to leaf through it. "Anyway, are you done with the wand thingies already? The train leaves early in the morning and I don't want to carry your sleepy self all the way to the station."

"Yeah, I'm done," Arvid confirmed with a nod, unable to stop a smile from forming on his face. "Shame that it's so late," he added, looking at the clock. "I wanted to take a look around town."

"It is just shy of nine pm, I think," said Saul in a slightly unsure tone. "There are still plenty of places open out there, so if you want to go check it out, you are still on time. I will just go and sleep already," he continued while lifting himself from the sofa just to immediately throw himself into the bed face first. Arvid blinked at him. 'Didn't he just sit on that sofa?' he wondered, a little amused. Then he looked at the abandoned magazine where his friend had sat before. 'Guess there was nothing interesting to read.'

Arvid could also vaguely hear Saul murmur "This is the last time I leave who deals with Rune Knights to Rock, Paper, Scissors." That was a total lie and both of them knew it. They'd been doing that since forever ago. He'd heard him say similar stuff for just as long too.

Idly, he looked back at the clock. 'Right, I don't have to wake up ridiculously early anymore,' he mused, somehow surprised by that realization. Not going to sleep at nine had been reserved only for days when he spent the night at his friends' places, something that hardly ever happened. There was always work to do, after all, especially early in the morning.

"I'm gonna go out for a bit, yeah?" he said then. Was it weird that he was excited that he could say that? He was really looking forward to doing whatever he wanted and not having to worry about scoldings and disappointed stares. Somehow, the fact that he was free to choose what to do now hadn't sunk in until that moment.

It was confusing, maybe even a little frightening.

But he loved it, he really did.

[}-o-{]

Hearing Saul talk, Willowherb was tiny.

Arvid found it hard to believe, as he walked around the place.

Sure, he'd heard plenty of stories from his friend about what cities like Crocus were like, but they all seemed so… Farfetched. They all seemed like exaggerations, or maybe his friend didn't remember quite right, or his description skills weren't that good. However, comparisons were always a little more reliable, Arvid found.

So, if his friend said Willowherb was tiny then he was already feeling overwhelmed for whenever he was faced with Magnolia. For one, this place had enough space to get lost in already if you weren't familiar or paying attention. That alone was more than he could say about Wintergreen, although it was probably a very low bar, really.

Still, it was fascinating to just walk around and watch the differences. Buildings seemed to be generally bigger. Everything in Wintergreen had an older feeling to it than they did in Willowherb too. There were a lot more people too, there were a lot more stores. Those latter ones were more flashy in their outside design, probably to attract more people, since there was actual competition here instead of one of each.

Arvid didn't stop to look at anything in particular as he walked through block after block. Everything was very eye-catching. Everything was more… impractical, from the houses to the stores and from the squares to the fucking road. There was a lot more about looking good instead of just doing the job and Arvid loved that.

And then he froze during his exploration, his eyes looking through the front window of a particular shop. It wasn't special, outwardly speaking. It looked good, sure, but not any better than the rest he'd seen. Didn't even make the top ten, really, more like middle of the pack.

It still gave Arvid pause as he looked inside and checked the pieces of furniture that were on sale. Sharp edges, smooth curves, carved designs and even pictures made out of wood, all of it was present inside, sometimes more than once per piece. They reminded him of pieces that he'd tried to make, or even actually made when he could get away with it. Many of them were even better than the things he'd dared to dream.

And they were all in Willowherb, a tiny town within a days' distance from Wintergreen.

Arvid snorted, then chuckled and then outright laughed.

It was hilarious, in a way. It was also very sad, in another. He'd lived his life thinking that these kinds of pieces were great and they were the norm in a tiny town. What kind of things were out there? What kind of things would he see as he traveled?

His world had been so small, his view even smaller.

Suddenly, Arvid felt tiny in a way that had nothing to do with the comparison made between Willowherb and actual cities. He felt insignificant and pointless. He'd lived eighteen years of life and he'd gotten nowhere. His family had lived for seven generations and all they'd managed was a shop and a house in what other people probably didn't even consider a proper settlement. He could imagine people like Saul looking at Wintergreen and thinking it was a joke, or just sad.

In the grand scheme of things, they were nothing.

'Not anymore though,' Arvid thought idly, still looking through the window of the shop but not really seeing anything in there anymore. 'I'm out of Wintergreen. I can explore the world, see it, and maybe… maybe be a part of it,' he told himself. He had magic, and he could make wonderful wands once he got better. They'd be able to create great feats and they'd allow people like him, nobodies, to reach a little higher.

And it sounded wonderful.

Maybe he'd always be tiny and insignificant, but that didn't mean he couldn't try to be a little less so, right? Could his legacy be more than it was? Maybe the Sawyer family could be more than it was. His father had his own idea of what the family legacy should be, but Arvid could try to show him another one. He could try to make the man proud, if not how his father would have wanted him to.

A smile formed on Arvid's face as he started walking again. There was a whole world for him to see. There were many, a great many things for him to learn. There were places to visit, people to meet, feats to be done.

'I got a little too "existential crisis" there, I think,' he thought, but then again, it wasn't everyday that he experienced things like he just had. That, in itself, was a great experience. A little overwhelming, sure, but still great just because it happened and it was something that he'd never have experienced in Wintergreen.

'Off to a great start,' Arvid mused, stopping at a stall by the road and getting a snack from the vendor. It was probably overpriced, but he delighted in the fact that he could get it and nobody would tell him that it was a waste of money. 'First step out of Wintergreen and we've already done a job, fought monsters, gotten rare materias-' If they could be called rare, at least. '-and I've created a bunch of new wands too. This is great,' he thought, both because of what he'd already experienced in his journey outside his home and also because of the snack. Maybe it was how happy he was at the moment, but it tasted amazing.

It was terrible food and he knew it. He'd likely be able to make something much better himself, he could almost hear his mother say. However, he didn't need to. He could buy it and experience flavors that he couldn't have made himself, even if they weren't as good. He could just buy it and save himself the work. He could just buy it because he felt like it.

And that was great.

Arvid wondered, idly, if the feeling that everything was wonderful would pass at some point. Surely it would, right? However, it'd been a whole day and he didn't feel any less excited. This was what he'd always wanted to do and now he could just do it. There was nothing stopping him from doing anything except himself.

It was scary but also so very freeing.

'I can't wait to see what more is waiting for me,' he thought, looking around at the lamp-lit street with a huge and probably very silly smile on his face. 'I really can't.'

[} Chapter End {]

Adrian: They grow up so fast. *sniff*

Arc: Arvid is up and ready to take the world! And Saul… Well, he is not up, but at least he is ready to take a nap? Does that count?

Adrian: Er… Good enough. Besides, he did work a lot… for a definition of a lot, I guess. We can cut him some slack. Right?

Arc: I am sure Saulus himself would approve of that. They had a fight, that… Well, it went easier than expected, but not all adventures start with life-and-death scenarios after all. Not everyone gets the protagonist's luck of finding world conspiracies every time they go shopping.

Adrian: Not yet, at least. Who knows what the future holds? Certainly not me, I can tell you guys that.

Arc: He means that literally… Anyway, hope you guys leave a review here and there to keep us strong. We love Magical Routine and writing about these two, but some extra motivation is never too bad.

Adrian: With that said, until next time.

Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ