“I thought we were going to be training today,” Airen complained to Jourmind as they entered the courtyard after breakfast, “isn't that what you told Yuli?”
“We are training today. Training your mental fortitude that is.” Jourmind replied as he pulled out two chairs for the two little ones. “A good warrior trains his mind, and a good mage trains his body. “
“Isn't it the other way around, Teacher?” Yuelei asked as she sat down. “Shouldn't mages train their mind while warriors train their body?”
“A good warrior already has a trained body, and a good mage has a strong mind.” Jourmind elaborated. “One must make up for their weaknesses before bettering their strengths.”
“I see.” Yuelei responded. “How would Airen and I practice magic if we don't even know about our affinities yet?”
“You'll find out the day after tomorrow during the ceremony. But today, I'll tell you a bit of magical theory so you won't be too overwhelmed when we start” Jourmind poured out some black-speckled sand from a pouch onto the floor in front of him. “Watch.”
Jourmind furrowed his brow and floated his hand above the mound of sand. The sand began to shift and condense into a small sphere. A few seconds afterward the sphere started to warp and grew a pair of arms and legs. Before long, a miniature Airen figurine was looking back at them.
“This is one of the middle ranked Earth affinity spells, Clay Image.” Jourmind explained. As the figure walked towards Yuli, she picked it up and held it next to Airen to compare.
“Wow, he looks exactly like you, Airen!”
Airen peered face to face with his miniature self. “Does not. My head isn't that big...”
“A higher ranked mage would be able to create a life-sized one, but it takes an enormous amount of soul power. Perhaps, you can ask your Lord Father to demonstrate when he returns tomorrow.” Jourmind smiled. “Put him back on the ground, Yuelei.” As she did so, the figure returned back into a pile of sand.
“The first of using magic is to gather the element in the area around you using soul power.” Jourmind waved his hand, and the pile of sand drifted towards him before settling in front of him. “The second step is changing it.” He furrowed his brow and the sand formed into the shape of a needle. “The last step is to manipulate it” After finding a target, with a gesture from Jourmind, the needle shot into the air and impaled a migrating goose, before returning with the corpse. “Each spell is different. For example, large-scale spells usually require a large amount of soul power to gather the elements, and magical enchantments require skillful manipulation. Generally speaking, it is up to the mage to create, shape, and use a spell.”
“If it's up to the mage to create a spell, how come people give certain names to common spells?” Airen asked.
Jourmind chuckled as he turned the earthen needle back to sand and started to skillfully de-feather the bird. “Most of the time, spells like this Earth Bolt, is given that name because of the magic's purpose and the way the magic is cast. Although I made it into a needle, I could have easily made it into a smooth round rock or a spiked ball. However, either way, it was meant to be formed quickly and shot at the enemy.” As he explained, he started to gut the bird, and a hole started to dig itself next to him “Basic magic manipulation can also be used to change the environment, for example, this hole is being dug with magic. I'm simply gathering the earth element from a specific area, and moving it elsewhere” Jourmind threw the innards and feathers into the hole and packed it with dirt.
“Are you going to cook that bird, Jomin?” Yuelei asked. “Should we ask the servants for some firewood?”
“I've already prepared some.” Jourmind grinned. He carefully prepared a spit-roast pit and placed the wood inside. Once he finished, he stopped and stared intently at the wood.
A few minutes passed, and Jourmind did not move or make a sound.
“Jomin?” Airen and Yuelei chirped quietly. They didn't get a response so they raised their voices and repeated themselves. At the interruption, Jourmind turned towards them and put a finger to his lips, and they quieted instantly. He returned to staring at the fire.
One minute passed. And then another. After a full six minutes, a flame burst forth from the wood, and Jourmind slowly coaxed it into a cozy campfire. Yuelei and Airen stood and stared at Jourmind, for they have never seen him use fire magic before.
“Are you a dual-element magus?” Yuelei ventured.
Jourmind chuckled. “No, I'm not your lord father with dual earth and fire element. I'm just a humble earth mage.”
“But... that was fire magic. We both saw it. “ Airen interjected.
Seeing his pupils’ faces, Jourmind couldn't help but start laughing. “Yes, yes it was.”
“Then-,” how did you do it? The unasked question hung in the air.
“Just because I'm an earth element mage doesn't mean I can't utilize the other elements. A mage can use any element, but it is extremely difficult to use an element that they don't have affinities with. As you saw, it took me a long time to simply create a small flame while it took a few seconds to create an Earth Bolt.” Jourmind revealed as he took out a dagger and cut snippets of meat for Airen and Yuelei.
“That's precisely why dual-element mages are dangerous. Although neither one of their elements are as powerful compared to an element of a pure-element mage of the same rank, they can combine the effects of both elements to create new spells.” Jourmind drunk from his canteen that he always carried around. As he watched the two little ones eat, he asked. “Do you know why your father was called the 'Fist of the Heavens'?
“Isn't it because he fights with gauntlets?” Airen asked.
“That's part of it” Jourmind responded. “There's several stories that most people don't know about that led to him getting his name.”
“Tell us Jomin.” Yuelei said. “Tell us!”
At their clamoring, Jourmind closed his eyes and tried to remember his adventuring days.
“The first event that set everything in motion was probably a tournament hosted in The Holy Land of Ecclisa. Your father did not know he was the heir to a kingdom at the time. He had no fame to his name, or country to call his own, or even a home that he can return to. His only valuable possession was the ring his mother had given him. He was just one of the wanderers in our small band of mercenaries. Despite that, your father was a strong and compassionate individual. When times were desperate, he would forego food so the young war orphans we picked up would be able to eat. I was one of them.“ Jourmind's eyes glazed over as he recalled the past.
“When our leader died in one of our missions, your father was unanimously voted to be the new leader. A few years afterward, he decided it was time that our rag-tag band would have a home, and participated in the tournament with all intention of taking the monetary prize. He was the only person without the name of a weapon school or magic academy backing him to pass the preliminaries. “
“I still remember how he climbed into the finals. All the spectators and judges were whispering among themselves 'who was this man'. None of them knew, but we did.” Jourmind smiled.
“ 'He was our leader,' we had thought to ourselves at that time.”
“When the final duel took place, that was when the foundations of his name was built. The opponent introduced himself as the son of the Acher Clan and asked for his name and status. Macha introduced himself as well, and the opponent, upon finding that he was fameless individual, started to insinuate that he was cheating. Your father ignored him and waited for the bell to signal the start of the match. Right before the bell went off, his opponent made the mistake of calling our small band a group of highway bandits. The fight was over in an instant. Macha had sent the enemy flying into the skies with a flaming uppercut. In stunned silence, the judges pronounced that his opponent had died.”
After another sip from his canteen, Jourmind continued. “Using our newly-acquired funds, your father bought a large estate that we started to reside in. After his display of strength, more and more people came to us for jobs. Our living conditions were much better than before.”
Jourmind 's face darkened. “It wasn't uncommon for people to die in the tournament, especially if they refused to yield, but the Acher house came for revenge. It was... a massacre. After waiting for Macha to go out on a job, they came and killed everyone. Our haven for wanderers turned into an execution ground. A few of us managed to hide in the hidden underground storage room, and we had to listen to the screams. After they were finished, they set the place on fire to hide the evidence. Black smoke started to waft in, and eventually, we passed out.”
Jourmind 's hands were clenched and his teeth gritted. Remembering that Airen and Yuelei were watching, he forced himself to relax. He started to wonder if this story was too gruesome for the two.
“What happened next?” Yuelei quietly asked.
“When I woke up, someone had taken me out of the wreckage. I sat up and saw Macha digging through the rubble trying to find other survivors. I took a look around and saw the eight of us, the eight that were hidden in the storage, on the ground next to me. We were the few that survived. I called out to your father, and when he saw I was awake, he rushed over to see if I was alright. His expression that day, I could never forget it. It was the face of a man devastated by emotions. And then I told him what had happened.”
“That was how we came to the Kingdom of Belsing in pursuit of the Acher clan, all for the sake of revenge. If you recall, Belsing was your grandfather's name. He had recently passed away and there was a war being fought over the succession. It was rumored that he had a son, but nobody was sure of who it was. As a result, several people came out claiming to be the son. The man your father killed in the tournament was one of these false pretenders to the throne. We infiltrated the Acher clan’s estate posing as mercenaries posing under a different name and sharpened our fangs. And one night, we returned the favor done to our home.” Jourmind paused.
“We spared anyone that surrendered. Just as Macha was about to strike down the Acher clan leader, that person noticed the ring Macha was wearing. With Macha's appearance, his power, and the ring, he put the pieces together and begged your father to spare the others’ lives in return for his own, calling him a 'benevolent king.' Perhaps it was the realization of who he actually was, perhaps it was the Acher leader's two daughters jumping in front of him, maybe both, but Macha's anger receded. He asked for the person that ordered the massacre, and found out it was the clan leader's second wife. And then he gave them an offer. Her life, his allegiance, one of his daughters, and he won't exterminate his clan.“
“The rest from there is unimportant. Your father had reached Divine Being status at that point, and he single handedly won the war. Some of the loyal factions he managed to persuade, several of the pretenders he crushed with an iron fist, but what made him king wasn't power but rather the admiration of the public. After five years of civil war, the masses were tired and hungry. Macha ordered the clans on his side to open their gates and use their money to feed the people. When fights broke out between factions, Macha would appeared and it seemed to onlookers that he fell from the heavens, as he slammed the ground causing the earth to splinter and crack. With both the backing of the public and several powerful clans, your father eventually properly succeeded your grandfather. And that was the story of how your father became the ‘Fist of the Heavens’ as well as how the Kingdom of Macha came to be.”
“What happened to the young girl that father took as a hostage?” Airen asked.
Jourmind stared at the sky that was starting to turn a shade of orange and red and chuckled. “It's funny how love works, because that girl was your mother, Airen.”
“What?” Yuelei exclaimed “How did that happen?”
“A story for another time.” Jourmind promised. “Right now, it's time for the younglings to be off.” He stood and ushering the two towards the Imperial Palace for their daily bath, ignoring their complaints and waving them off to a servant.
As Jourmind was cleaning the fire pit, a blue sparrow darted from the skies and onto his shoulder. Jourmind rummaged around his pockets and pulled out a small bag of nuts that he fed to the sparrow.
“To think that someone still uses our old band's method of communication...” Jourmind mused. “I wonder who it's from...”
As the bird pecked at the dried nuts, Jourmind retrieved the message that was tied to it's leg.
Reading the message, Jourmind's eyes first widened, then steeled into a glare. He glanced around him to check if anyone was watching. After asserting that there was no prying eyes, he hid the message within his pockets. He knelt down and brushed the sparrow's head a few times before finally pulling himself together. Jourmind quickly left, and when he returned, he tied another message to the bird's leg.
“Little bird, you may have saved us all.”
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