After the annual village race, Dyllan, Tint, and Cronaxx return to the cave to sleep off the celebration. Dyllan is proud of Tint for doing the right thing and saving all the competitors. And Cronaxx is impressed that Tint is developing his attitude towards the other villagers. Tint smiles in his sleep. Even though he didn't win the race, he knows he won the night.
Dyllan feels happy as he falls asleep. He entered his dreams, finding himself in outer space like his previous dream. "This is very strange," he said. "Didn't I dream of this before?" Then, he finds the staff floating above him. The moment he grabs the staff, red smoke fills the area. He finds the still figures of his best friends surrounding him and smiling at him. He smiles back and reaches out to them. Just before he could touch their hands, he wakes up by the light of the sun shining in his eyes.
The very next morning, Tint wakes up with a much bigger smile on his face. Before long, he starts waving his finger around like a music conductor. Magical auras begin floating around the cave, making breakfast, sweeping the floors, and lighting the campfire.
Dyllan wakes up to the smell of eggs sizzling. "Good morning Tint," he yawned. He sees his salamander friend smile, which makes him smile too. "You look like you're in a good mood."
Tint turns to Dyllan. "I sure am," he said. "I can perform magic at my own free will again. My punishment is over!"
"Actually," said Cronaxx. "Your punishment was over the day of the race." Dyllan chuckles at Tint's deadpan face.
"What!?" Tint gasped. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I just wanted to see you're expression when you're not so focused on magic," replied Cronaxx.
"And I wanted to see how long it would take you to realize that," said Dyllan.
Tint just shook his head with a grin on his face and the trio sit down to eat. Dyllan is happy to know it is springtail omelets again. Of course, it is the only recipe he would tolerate with bugs in it.
"Now that the race is over Dyllan," said Cronaxx. "We must continue with your training you started three days ago. I hope you're feeling better after a long break."
Dyllan is a tad upset to know he still has to continue his training on the mountain peek. But after eating his breakfast, he takes Lerrad's staff and accepts. "I sure am."
"Good," said Cronaxx. "Tint, I need you to go into the fields and collect more blisterworts for your potion brewing lesson."
"You got it Uncle," said Tint. He grabs his satchel and makes his way out of the cave. Dyllan and Cronaxx watch him leave, smiling.
"Come along Dyllan," said Cronaxx. "Let's get back to your training."
Dyllan nods, takes his staff, and the two oddballs climb back up the cliffside above the cave. "And don't worry," said Cronaxx. "I think I know how you can succeed this lesson."
As Tint slides down from the cave, he walks past a few salamanders who wave to him. Tint waves back, or uses his magic to make tree branches high five for him.
"Hi Tint" they said. "Good to see you're performing magic again,"
"It's good to be performing magic again," said Tint.
He finds Spots having trouble climbing a tree to reach some fruit. So he casts a levitation spell on him. Never before has he used magic to help the other salamanders. Performing the gesture makes him feel good.
"Thanks Tint," said Spots.
"Don't mention it," said Tint. "Just try not to fall again."
He journeys his way past the creek, now flowing with water again. Tint realizes that his efforts to save the salamanders, blindly cause the drought to disappear, and the fish flow freely again. He spots Te' Kaya hunting for fish with his spear and net. The two wave hello and Tint offers him a fish using his magic. Te' Kaya kindly rejects it, and pokes his spear in the water.
Out in the fields, Tint finds a herd of earth worms the size of cows, grazing in the open fields. Among them, was Flaps. He looks very distraught, shoveling worm fesses onto a wheelbarrow. Apparently after his con was exposed to the public, the chief decided to teach him a lesson. And what better way to do that than to revoke his privileges, and give him a job tending to the earth worms. Tint sees this and just walks away with a sly smirk, knowing that Flaps lost more than he could imagine.
Tint enters the treeline where a lot of blisterwort is growing. He takes out his satchel and starts using his magic to pick off the fungi piece by piece and levitate them in his satchel. 'It feels so good to finally perform magic spells again,' he thought.
Back at the cliffside, Dyllan resumes his training with Cronaxx supervising him. Dyllan is able to reconstruct the pile of rocks properly. Cronaxx nods in approval. Dyllan thinks back to his previous attempts to perfect his balance, and is concerned he would fail again.
"It's okay," said Cronaxx. "Just concentrate, and focus on the task at hand."
Dyllan climbs up on the post and gets in a hand stand. He put all his arm strength into holding his ground, and his leg strength to keep himself in perfect balance. He begins to feel the blood rushing from his legs to his head, and the sweat dripping down from his face and onto the rocks.
He starts to twitch, making the rocks shake and clack together. But Dyllan keeps his mind focused on the one thing that matters to him right now: the support of his best friends. His arms lock into place, and maintains a steady breathing pace to keep him stable.
Cronaxx smiled, "Excellent. Now hold that pose for a few more minutes."
After picking up the blisterworts, Tint makes his way back to his cave. He overcomes every obstacle with his magic, no matter how small or big they are. At the cliffside, he looks up to barely see Dyllan doing his handstand. He smiles knowing he may be perfecting his lesson.
As Tint begins climbing, Dyllan looks across the valley upside down for a brief second. Causing his arms to shake, along with the pile of rocks below him. And at the last minute, Dyllan rolls off the pile, unknowingly dislodging one of the rocks. The rock slides down the cliff, and rolls at a very fast pace.
Dyllan and Cronaxx walk back down the cliffside to take a breather. "You almost had it," said Cronaxx. "Just a bit more practice and you'll get the hang of it." He smiles, "The best tip to perfect this lesson is to clear your mind, to muster all your focus on the subject at hand. Do that, and you'll have what it takes to perform your first spell."
Then, out of nowhere, they hear a scream from the cave. "Tint," they said. Dyllan picks up Cronaxx and races down as fast as he could. They find Tint climbing on the ledge and the falling rock slams onto his right hand. The sudden impact made Tint drop all the blisterworts he gathered.
Dyllan quickly picks up the rock and throws it away from the ledge. He grabs Tint and brings him into the cave. "Tint, are you alright?" he asked.
Tint groans in pain. "Ngh! NO! My hand! I think it's broken!"
"Hang on Tint," said Cronaxx. "Let me have a look."
Tint opens his hand and reveals a lightly purple hand, with a few scratches and slightly red spots all over it. The worst part of the injury is Tint's index finger, that is slightly bent backwards. Dyllan goes pale seeing his hand all messed up.
"Nothing too serious," said Cronaxx.
"Not that serious!?" Dyllan exclaimed. "His hand is crushed!"
"You forget," said Cronaxx. "You're in the presence of wizards." Cronaxx places his hands on Tint's and starts humming an enchanting spell. Cronaxx's aura glows a light green, and the purple bruisings on the hand start to fading away. But, the fractures in Tint's index finger were healing at a slow pace.
"Did it work?" Dyllan asked.
"Yes, it's working," said Cronaxx. "But now his hand needs some time to recover. By the time the sun reaches high noon tomorrow, his hand will be working properly again. But until then, he can't perform magic."
"Why not?" Dyllan asked.
"Because salamanders that perform with recovering injuries can make their magic unpredictably dangerous," replied Cronaxx. "Watch this."
Tint points his injured hand to a broken tree branch and his hand glows a light blue aura. Then out of nowhere, the tree branch just freezes in a block of ice. "And I was trying to burn the branch," said Tint. "It's not fair. On the day I can finally perform magic on my own free will again, is the same day I have to wait a few more hours! Where did that rock even come from!?"
"I think it was the rock from the pile on top of the cliffside," said Cronaxx.
Hearing this, Dyllan feels a sense of guilt in his mind. He remembers he tumbled around on the rock pile, which caused it to make one of the rocks slip and fall. Dyllan sulks in shame.
"I'm really sorry Tint," said Dyllan. "I'll make it up to you for this."
"You don't have to," said Tint. "I know it was an accident."
"I insist," said Dyllan. "As a Loyalitat, It will be my honor to make sure you recover until the day your hand heals."
Just as Dyllan takes one step, he suddenly slips and slides out of the cave and falls below. Tint and Cronaxx look down to see the floor covered in soapy floors. Cronaxx counteracts it by making the floor normal again. "This is going to be a long day," he said.
Shortly after, Dyllan comes back up with the blisterworts Tint collected and finds Tint just sitting on his bedroll. "I got the blisterworts Cronaxx," he said. "I may have a bruised bum, but it could've been worse." He limps over to Cronaxx trying not to agitate his bruises from the fall.
Along the way, Tint struggles trying not to use his magic while his hand is recovering. But Tint accidentally uses his magic to light the campfire. The fire sparked and bolts of lightning start shooting across the cave. And one of the bolts shoot right behind Dyllan.
The sudden impact of the lightning bolt, jolts Dyllan up in the air and make him drop all the blisterworts and fall on the ground. Cronaxx counteracts the fire and stabilizes it to stop the lightning from shooting. "Dyllan, why don't we go harvest some crops today," said Cronaxx. "And Tint, while we're gone, please rest up. And don't use magic."
Dyllan grabs a satchel, and the two make their way down the cliff and into the forest. At the same time, Tint stretches his fingers, hoping it would help him feel soothing and calm. He points his fingers out at the forests, and accidentally make the trees shake with his magic. Then, he hears a shriek, "OW! My butt! Again! Stupid branch!"
"Sorry Dyllan!" cried Tint.
A couple hours later, Tint takes off his bandages to clean up his scratches. He places fresh fish skin on his injury, and Tint quietly tries to use magic again to sweep the floors.
At the river bank, Dyllan and Cronaxx pass a couple salamanders fishing. They wave at the boy, and Dyllan waves back. Just then, a fish jumps out of the river and swings its tail in Dyllan's face. The stinging of the smack made Dyllan fall down again. Cronaxx grabs the fish by the tail and throws it back into the creek.
Later on, they reach the open fields. Dyllan finds Spots harvesting crops and waves hello. "Hey Spots, how's it going?" he asked.
"Things are going well Creature," replied Spots. "How are you doing adjusting to things around here?"
"It's still really scary," replied Dyllan.
"Luckily, me and my nephew are helping him get by," replied Cronaxx.
Then out of nowhere, the crops start growing at a rapid pace. They grow high as the trees surrounding the plains. This scares both Dyllan and Spots. But then, Cronaxx rescinds the crops back to normal with a wave of his hand.
"What was that just now?" Spots asked.
"Tint," replied Cronaxx. Spots turns to the salamander to hear more. "He just injured his hand just today because of..." Cronaxx at that moment, isn't sure if he should tell Spots about Dyllan's magical abilities. He figured that no one would even believe him.. "Because of our magic training session. His podium of rocks were really slippery."
"Ah, that makes sense," said Spots, buying in on his half truth. "Hopefully this won't last long."
"This will only last until tomorrow," said Dyllan. "Cronaxx said so."
They harvest the crops and prepare to take them back to their cave. "I better get going," said Spots as he waves goodbye. "See you around, Creature! And thanks for saving me before!" Dyllan waves back as he enters the forest.
"Call me Dyllan, Spots!" said Dyllan. "My name is Dyllan!"
"Come on, Dyllan let's head back," said Cronaxx.
"How come you didn't tell Spots about my new abilities?" Dyllan asked.
"Would you find it hard to believe that a creature like yourself just gained magic abilities?" Cronaxx asked the human. "Everyone knows that only salamanders can practice the arcane arts, it would be hard to believe that anyone else could do that."
Dyllan nods, understanding that Cronaxx is right. Even he finds that very hard to believe himself.
Along the way back, they spot the thickets shaking and turning purple like oleander flowers. Cronaxx keeps Dyllan away from the bushes. "Don't touch them, they could be as poisonous to you as they are to us." Cronaxx then waves his hands again and reverts the bushes back to normal. "That fire salamander can really get under my skin."
"Does he really irritate you that much?" Dyllan asked.
"He does," replied Cronaxx. "He's at an age where he will one day outgrow my protection. But he's the only family I've got, and I can't lose him. It's even more frustrating when there are times he forgets that he's not as powerful as me."
"He should be loyal to you for everything you do for him," said Dyllan. "From my experience, loyalty matters a lot in my family. And to my closest friends."
Cronaxx smiles at the human's trait. "Your loyalty may as well be the best feature about you," he said. "But it is also important that-"
Then, out of nowhere, the branches from the trees suddenly pick up the two wandering travelers. Dyllan hangs upside down, dropping all the crops from his backpack. Cronaxx gets grabbed by his hands and feet struggling to break free.
"Cronaxx can you do something about this?" Dyllan asked.
"Give me a second," replied Cronaxx.
Cronaxx closes his eyes and concentrates on counteracting the spell. Without even waving his hands around. The branches holding him up suddenly let him go. He drops to the ground, then waves his hands to get Dyllan down. As the branch let him go, Dyllan fell flat on his face.
"This has got to stop," he said.
"Agreed," said Cronaxx.
Back at the cave, Cronaxx covers Tint's hands with layers of fish skin and bandages on his hands. Soon, five layers of fabric cover the salamander's hands that it makes them difficult to scratch itches. On the side, Dyllan tends to some small cuts on his own.
"I want you to know that this is for you own good," said Cronaxx. "You nearly got Dyllan and I killed!"
"I'm sorry," said Tint. "I just thought I could-"
"Enough," said Cronaxx. "I get it, you're young and ambitious. But you've got to heal your finger! I am telling you as your teacher. Stop thinking your more powerful than everyone else! Because you're not!"
Tint sulks in disappointment hearing what his uncle said. Cronaxx takes a deep breath. "I'm gonna go trade for more supplies from the village. Dyllan, can you keep an eye on him until I get back?"
Dyllan nods as Cronaxx leaves for the village. Tint goes to his bed mat and sits down with a grunted look on his face. Dyllan sits next to him to try comforting the poor lad. "Don't let it get to you," he said.
Tint didn't say anything. He gets up from his bed mat and rushes outside. Dyllan follows him feeling concerned that what his uncle said may have hurt the young student. Dyllan races through the thick jungles, overcoming leaves, tree roots, and barely giant fly traps. Sometimes, he could see Tint performing his magic, and Dyllan dodges most of swinging branches that come out to hit him in the face and chest.
Later, Tint slows down after leaving the jungles, and enters a secluded part of the valley with a crystal lake. The lake sparkles with clean water and the water ripples flow with the gusts of wind. Decorated with green allege and lily pads, the small fish were hiding among the vegetation to sneak up on the wandering insects.
Tint sits next to the lake to look at his reflection. Dyllan sits next to Tint to look down with him. "This is where I go to clear my head from emotional stress," said Tint.
"Don't be so hard on yourself," said Dyllan. "He's just worried about you."
"That's easy for you to say," sulked Tint. "You never had him latched onto you with every step you take."
"He's your uncle," said Dyllan. "He's just wants what's best for you. You're the only family he's got."
"He's my great great uncle," said Tint. "He's only lived much longer than everyone else because wizards last longer. Not like the rest of my family."
Dyllan slides next to Tint, wanting to keep the conversation going. "Okay sure, he may be off by almost a century, but at least he's trying. And he told me that he's not giving up on you. You're just making it difficult for him with your ambition with magic."
"So what? I love magic. You can't expect me to not perform magic whenever I don't want to. Magic means everything to me. Don't you understand?"
Dyllan sighs, "My greatest ambition is to get back home to my friends and family. And I want to get there in one piece. Being stuck in this world with each passing day is gut wrenching to me. So yeah, in a way, I understand."
Tint looks down at his bandaged hands and his nostrils start to twitch. "Uh.. Dyllan," he said. "My face itches."
Dyllan smiles and scratches near his nostrils. Tint smiles in relief, he lowers his hands and asks him. "Do you think you could be my hands for the rest of the day?" Tint asked.
"Like I said. As a Loyalitat, I am sworn to help you until your hand gets better," replied Dyllan. "I may have a way on how to make time go by quick."
Back in the cave, Dyllan takes out his little black book and pencils. "I may be a lacrosse player," he said. "But I'm also quite a sketcher. If you want, I can illustrate you as the greatest wizard in all of Amphibia."
Tint nods and says, "That sounds like fun." He gets into position, his legs square up at arm's length. His arms reaching up to the sky like he's calling upon the winds and rains in the sky. His face as firm as his confidence in being a wizard. "Got my good side?"
"Perfect," said Dyllan. "Now just try and stay still."
"That'll be easy," said Tint. "Take all the time you need."
For the rest of the day, Dyllan sketches Tint in his little sketch book. Tint waits for what seemed like a very long time. He changes from one pose to another until the sun set in the sky. There are times Tint feels like he wants to put his arms down. But he endures his pain and keeps posing for his friend's drawing.
Sometime later, Cronaxx arrives back at the cave and smiles at Dyllan helping Tint getting through his tough time. He sees Tint look at him with a smile on his face, and nods at his nephew for listening to him. Tint gives his uncle a solid wink, signaling that they're okay.
"Done," said Dyllan. Tint lowers his injured hands to the ground with relief and looks in Dyllan's sketch book. The sketches are a tad off, the anatomies of Tint's arms, legs, tail, and neck are either stretched or shrunken, and the values of the lines are unbalanced.
"What do you think?" Dyllan asked.
Tint smiles at the gesture, but he decides to be honest to his new friend. "I appreciate the efforts," he said. "But you need to spend a little more time on your sketches."
"You saying I'm not a good artist?" Dyllan asked with a small snap.
"You can be a good artist," replied Tint. "Sketching just takes patience."
"Like the patience Tint must endure with his injury, and the patience you must endure with your training," smiled Cronaxx.
"Exactly," said Tint. "Give your drawings a little more attention, and you'll see what I mean."
"Okay boys," said Cronaxx. "Lights out. We've got another day to endure tomorrow."
The very next day, Dyllan and Tint are out by the creek spearing for more fish. Now that Tint's hand is starting to feel a bit better, he can move his seven fingers again. His index finger is still bandaged and splintered, as a reminder that Tint's magic is still unstable. But he can still use his hands to hold things.
He watches the river flowing as he spots more fish flowing up the stream. He throws his spear but misses his fish. He is tempted at first to levitate the fish with his magic. He waves his hands, but he stops himself. And remembers from yesterday how he gave Dyllan a lesson in patience. He takes his own words into consideration and decides to wait a few more hours.
Luckily, some of the salamanders were fishing nearby and are successful at catching them. And to Tint and Dyllan's shock, they give them some of their fish.
All the salamanders say are, "After Cronaxx told us you got hurt, we want to help as a thank you for saving us at the annual village race." Dyllan and Tint smile and accept the fish.
Later on, Dyllan decides to take Tint's advice from yesterday about patience. He takes his spear, finds a fish swimming up the creek, and throws his spear into the water. The spear narrowly cut through the fish, leaving a red trail flowing in the water.
Dyllan catches sight of the red trail and realizes that it's blood. The sight makes him a little pale, but so much while eating bugs. Then, the fish starts floating upside down with the stream. Dyllan grabs the fish, and rushes it back to his fish sack. He almost pukes his guts from seeing the wound he inflicted upon the fish. But he is more satisfied that he caught his first fish to eat with the Tormaks.
"I gotta say Dyllan," said Tint. "You did a good job catching your first fish."
"I almost got that one Tint," said Dyllan. "All I need is a little more patience."
It is now nearly high noon, and Tint and Dyllan return to their cave after a long day of hard fishing. Along the way, more salamanders wave hello to the two. And they politely wave back at them.
"It's like they're getting used to seeing me," said Dyllan.
"Well we salamanders have a saying," said Tint. "You harmonize with nature, and nature harmonizes with you. We may see you as a strange creature, but every day we can see more of you, except for Chief Nightoum. Don't worry, just because he's blind doesn't mean he can't sense your soul."
Dyllan shakes his head with a small smile. "It's nice to know they're not judging me by my looks," he said.
"Well, not all of them," said Tint, gesturing to Flaps. He and Dyllan pass the herd of earthworms Flaps is tending to.
As they walk by, Dyllan watches Flaps opening the gates to escort the worms out to the chasms. "Hup Hup!" he called out. The earthworms start crawling out of the pen and Flaps follows them from behind. As they leave from plain sight, Dyllan and Tint continue their journey back.
Inside the cave, Cronaxx brews another batch of health potions to trade with the villagers. He turns to see Tint and Dyllan return with a fresh batch of fish. "I'm guessing the fishing was a success today?" he asked.
"Actually," said Dyllan. "We got most of the fish from the villagers who were fishing as well. They said it was a thank you for saving them from the giant turtle. And, I almost caught my first fish."
Cronaxx smiles, "I am pleased to hear that," he said. "It sounds like the village is starting to warm up to the two of you." He looks to the sun outside and takes Tint's hand. "And I think the time has come."
Cronaxx removes Tint's bandaged index finger, revealing his injury is now fully healed. Tint smiles with glee and uses his magic to start the fire. With a snap of his fingers, a spark of fire ignites the wood and the fire burns a proper glowing orange color.
"Good as new," he said.
The moment after he said that, a small rock falls from the top of the cave and slams right into Dyllan's bed mat, piercing his pillow. "Oh come on!"
"I swear, I had nothing to do with that," said Tint.
Dyllan takes a deep breath and removes the rock from his pillow. "Yeah, yeah. So much for sleeping comfortably now."
Before the sun begins setting, Tint and Dyllan make their way back to the creek to gather more insects for dinner. But this time, this journey is different. Before his injury, Tint would be conjuring up magic like a storm. But now, he is using his magic a little less. The only time he uses magic is to sense where the fish are swimming up the creek, or the crickets as they chirp near the water.
Dyllan uses his spear to hunt for fish again. And thanks to a bit more patience, he jabs his spear into the water and out comes his first fish, perfectly pierced. Dyllan smiles, and takes it back to his fish sack. He watches as the evening fishermen wave to him with smiles. Dyllan smiles and waves back to them.
As the sun sets, the two friends return to the cave. Tint starts cooking up some fresh fish thanks to his fire magic. Dyllan and Cronaxx watch with pride, seeing him happy for the first time in days.
"You must be really proud that he's using magic again," said Dyllan.
"Perhaps" said Cronaxx. "But, what I'm more proud of, is that he's connecting with other salamanders besides me. I've never seen him do that before."
Tint serves his uncle a plate of fish, and Cronaxx continues talking to Dyllan. "Now I know that the idea of patience is difficult. But I constantly endure it every day. I've endured patience through Tint's adolescence, through his magic training, and mine. So remember, you're not alone."
Dyllan steps out of the cave and climbs back up the cliff to continue his training. Cronaxx and Tint watch with delight as he slowly gets into a perfect handstand and holds his position as the moon reaches high in the sky.
Cronaxx smiles and nods in approval. Tint however, took Dyllan's little black sketchbook and starts drawing the concentrated human. By the time he finishes, Dyllan gets down from his podium very carefully.
Then Tint shows him his hand at drawing. Dyllan sees his sketches and is impressed that Tint's perspective is more superior than his own sketches. There is more value to the shades. The anatomy is surprisingly similar to Dyllan's, and Tint only just met him for a couple of days. And there is more attention to detail in the environment surrounding him. "I can also give you helpful tips on how to draw backgrounds like me," said Tint.
"I think I'll keep this drawing for inspiration," said Dyllan. "But before I do, would you please sign your drawing?" Tint gladly accepts the offer and signs his name right next to his drawing. Cronaxx yawns and instructs his students to go to bed.
That night, while they are asleep, the Staff of Lerrad starts glowing again. But this time, it glows brighter with a strange ruin coming from the crystal. The strange ruin peels off the crystal, floats around the cave, and then lands on Dyllan's scared hand. The ruin disappears, leaving a trail of magic dust floating above Dyllan's head.
Stay tuned for the next chapter... Keep on Truckin'!