Awakening III
Lucien was intrigued by the sounds made from stomping along the sand. It was unlike the grass. The felt like the stomp’s impact was scattered throughout the many grains that were made of the sand. “So this is sand…”
“What? You’ve never run on sand or seen sand before?” Marianna turned her head to Lucien. They both ran along the sand, and she was in the front.
“Well, like I said, I have no memory of anything…the only thing that felt familiar was the grass.”
“…hm…anyways, We’ve taken out two crazy wizards. So if, by chance, there was a wizard for every primary magic, there’d be five more left. But…I’d doubt that.” she chuckled
“Primary magic?” Lucien asked
“Yes. The primary seven magics. Fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, light, and shadow.”
“Oh…” -Did Theos have fire magic?- as he looked at the scenes, he saw a figure at the edge of the island, who seemed to be sulking. “H-Hey! It’s a crazy wizard!” He and Marianna stop, and he pointed at the figure
“Wait, Lucien. We don’t know if they’re all aggressive.” Marianna started walking toward the figure. It was a young man with burnt sienna hair that pointed up, along with a white shirt and black pants. His head was hung, lower to the ground. “Hello? Are you okay?” Marianna tried, but the young man looked at her, growling. He had visible veins on his eyes, his teeth were fully shut, and drool dripped from his mouth. Marianna saw his expression and stumbled back. The crazed wizard formed a wind magic circle in his hands and fired a wind gust at Marianna.
“Marianna!” Lucien dashed and tackled her out of the blast’s trajectory. While they both were on the ground, Lucien got up and raised his right arm to fire at the crazy wizard, but his magic circle couldn’t form -what?- Right beside his right arm was Marianna’s, who fired a water stream with one hand. The crazy wizard grunted as the water stream hit him, pushing him multiple meters and splashing into the sea.
“M-Marianna…how did you do that? You fired with one hand…”
“Yeah…it’s not too hard to learn. You just need to channel more of your magic energy into one arm.” she said humbly, as if it wasn’t that big of a deal
“Also…your water magic’s so strong…you defeated that wizard with one attack.”
Marianna giggled, flattered by Lucien’s appraisal “I’ve had water magic for a month, so I’ve gotten a bit used to it.”
“And Also…is it safe to assume that all of the wizards here are crazy?” Lucien persuaded Marianna.
“…Maybe. Only if they attack us first. Come on, we’re almost at the eastern woods of the Island.” They both continued their run throughout the island. The more Lucien viewed Newground Island, the larger it became to him. It was more than just a small refuge in the middle of a blue landscape. The island would be the perfect place for someone to train their magic.
The two neared the forest that was ahead until they heard the sound of static lightning. He turned to the left and saw a blond-haired girl in a teal shirt and blue shirt. Lightning emanating from both of her arms. She walked toward the two with a confident look on her face.
“Is that a-” Marianna starts before Lucien cuts her off.
“I’ll take her on, Marianna.” He faced the lightning wizard, determined. She lets out a wicked cackle as she fires a lightning bolt that immediately strikes Lucien in the shoulder, who yelped in pain.
“Lucien!” Marianna called out
“N-No…don’t step in, Marianna. I can do this on my own…” -lightning magic…it’s instant, I can’t avoid it like wind or earth. But I think there’s a way to tell when it’s about to strike.- The lightning wizard laughed confidently as she cast a lightning magic circle. -That’s my cue!- Lucien realized. The lightning bolt struck the sand, Lucien had dodged. -Now’s my chance!- He formed a magic circle with his two hands and fired it at the lightning wizard. It exploded against her as she screamed in pain from the shadow withering on her skin.
Lucien walked toward the lightning wizard, now on the ground, clutching her stomach. As a final stand. She quickly cast a magic circle with one free arm. Fortunately, Lucien reacted on time and sidestepped. The lightning bolt shot out into the sky. The lightning wizard, defeated, collapsed fully into the sand on her back, shadows still lingering on her skin. “You know…these wizards were just starting out, by how easy they were to defeat…did going insane make them fragile…?” -or was it me?- he contemplated that last part. He winced when the pain of the lightning bolt shot back to his brain.
“Lucien, are you okay?” Marianna checked his armpit, where the lightning bolt hit
“I’ll be okay…” Lucien surveys the surroundings “I think that’s all the crazy wizards in the sand area.”
“Yeah…I think so too…” a few feet in front of them, was a steep ledge leading to the forest above. Lucien and Marianna got in distance of the wall, and the two inferred that it couldn’t be climbed alone
“Get on my shoulders.” Lucien offered as he pressed his back on the wall.
“Thank you,” Marianna climbed on top of Lucien and got atop the grass on the ledge. She reached down and helped Lucien up. They now faced a much smaller ledge that was climbable, but now they heard sounds. The sound of splashing water.
“Do you hear that too, Marianna?” she nods. The two get up the small ledge, back in the forest. But this wasn’t the same forest Lucien had woken up in and met Theos. It was much smaller. Unlike the forest, the sound of the splashes got larger. “The sound’s coming from ahead of us.” Lucien pointed forward. They cautiously walked forward, where the sound’s noise was increasing slowly. “Do you think it’s a crazy wizard?” Lucien asked
“It could be.”
The two only found the source of the sound after they were at the very edge of the forest. It was a wizard shooting water blasts from both of his hands into the sun.
“Is he…” Lucien tried to whisper when the wizard looked back at the two of them. And with his angry face and drooling mouth, it was obvious his mind had been augmented. He held two water magic circles, one on each arm. Before he could fire the two out, he was engulfed in a shadow blast. Lucien had fired it with one hand. The crazy wizard cried in agony as the shadows stuck to him, and he fell off the cliff at the edge of the forest. “Marianna…I think these wizards are weak to shadow magic. Someone could’ve used shadow magic to make them go insane, and that’s why it’s so effective against them.”
“That’s a good hypothesis. It could be true…I had to defeat most of the wizards I encountered with multiple water blasts…and I’m more experienced with my magic…”
“Well, that makes five,” Lucien starts walking away. “I saw a bridge while we were walking through the forest. It could lead to the larger forest where I woke up.”
The two walked across the comfortably stable bridge that was right about the sandy area. As Lucien suspected, the small forest connected to the big forest where Theos resided. “In this forest is where I woke up…with no memory of my past…or anything. This all still feels like a dream I’ll just wake up from soon.”
“Look at it like this,” Marianna tried to convince him it was real “You’ve been hit. A lot of times. If it was a dream you’d wake up. Would pain hurt that much if you were dreaming?”
“…” Lucien didn’t respond, because though a part of him felt like it was all a dream, another part of him knew everything was real. When they got across the bridge, they were taken by surprise when two wizards jumped out of hiding from the tree and ambushed them. The two fired a light beam and fireball at Lucien and Marianna. Marianna got struck in the stomach by the light beam, and Lucien was hit by the fireball in the chest. They both stumbled back and hit the ground from the unexpected ambush. Marianna fired a water blast, but the light wizard ducked behind a wall to avoid the blast. The fire wizard came rampaging to Lucien, who fired a shadow blast and took out the wizard. “Great…now my clothes are even worse.” The front of his shirt was now slightly burnt.
“The light wizard got away…” Marianna grunted frustratedly
“We can split up and find her.”
“Are you sure?” Lucien nods.
The two of them split up and entered deep into the forest. Marianna looked around, with her magic circles armed. She frantically looked around, to make sure her guard wasn’t down. The light wizard, emerging from a tree like a spider about to catch its prey, crouches slowly and charges a light blast. Right as it fired, Lucien tackled her. The light beam just missed Marianna by her hair. Lucien was on top of the light wizard, holding her down with one arm, and charging a shadow blast in the other. He jammed his shadow magic circle imbued fist into her face, and the shadow coursed through the surrounding grass. The light wizard was defeated.
“Thank you, Lucien…, if you hadn’t been there.”
“It’s okay, Marianna, you did save me.”
“Heh…” She smiles cutely
“Now, let’s see if there are any remaining crazy wizards around.”
Lucien and Marianna checked everywhere in the forest for the crazy wizards, even climbing down a small ledge to another part of the forest. “Yeah…I think that was all of them.” Lucien scratches his head as he and Marianna walk through the woods
“So there was a wizard for every type of primary magic. What a coincidence.” Marianna said with a hint of being satisfied
“Yeah…so now I have to go back to-” They get past a maze of trees when they come back to the same clearing Theos was residing in. Theos immediately stood up from his grim expression when he saw the two “Young wizard!”
“Theos.” Lucien replies calmy
“Theos, The War Phoenix!? I-I’ve only heard about you! It-It’s an honor!” Marianna bows down.
“What?” Lucien looks down at her “Is Theos well known?”
“I suppose I do have some reputation across the seas,” Theos explains
“Oh. I didn’t know…” Lucien said cluelessly “Anyhow, we’ve defeated all the crazy wizards on the island.”
“You have? Great, I knew you could do it.” Theos congratulates proudly
“It wasn’t just me. I had her help too.” He looks at Marianna
“It’s nothing, really…” she blushes
Theos approached Lucien “As promised, Young wizard, here is your reward,” he handed the young man a dull white dagger “This is a magic dagger,” Lucien took the magic dagger from Theos’s hand “You can use it to conduct your magic.”
“Wow! Thank you, Theos.” Lucien admired the dagger
Theos nodded as a way of saying “You’re welcome” “Now, Young Wizard, I suggest you head to Doom Island. It’s north of this island. You’ll notice it by the one surrounded by the stormclouds.”
“Doom Island? S-Stormclouds?” Lucien said with a bit of panic
“Oh, I’ve heard of that place. It’s just a village where the Doomarians reside.” Marianna tried to explain to Lucien to make Doom Island sound less threatening
“Yes, It’s a regularly neutral island,” Theos continued. “But I’ve heard recently they’ve been having issues with their leader, Marua.”
“Ok…” Lucien replied
“I wish you two the safest of journeys and the challenges you might face in your endeavor. I hope we can meet again, young wizards.”
Marianna lightly elbowed Lucien “Did you hear that? He said young wizards! The two of us!” she squeaked excitedly.
Theos grew a pair of wings made of tail and yellow flames. Lucien and Marianna stared at them in amazement as Theos flapped his wings, and flew up into the skies above.
“He can fly using magic…I wonder when I’d be able to do that,” Lucien pondered
“Well, we’re far from there. Lucien. I still can’t believe I met the War Phoenix! Come on, I came here with a rowboat. We’ll set sail towards Doom Island.”
“…” -I have a lot to learn when it comes to my magic. I will master it, and bring it out to its fullest potential…- he clenched his magic dagger
Chapter 1, Finish.