After making a deal with the mage named Michael Stylus, Orin and Daron followed him and the girl named Cassandra out to a field just ouside of town. Orin and Daron stood next to each other while Michael and Cassandra stood opposite to them.
Powerful winds blew through the fields, and the boys barely managed to stay in place while the two others had no issues whatsoever.They saw Michael's lips move, but could not hear a single word he uttered. Suddenly, they no longer felt the wind after he lifted up his index and middle finger.
"Alright! Now that the wind's not a problem… As I was saying, The two of you boys are utterly pathetic as mages. I saw the end of your scuffle with that old man and I know damn well you have not been taught proper control of your mana. Who taught you?"
After a few seconds of shameful silence, Orin was about to speak, but Daron spoke up just before him.
"We studied alone since we were seven. Ain't that at least a little impressive, chief?"
"No. It's not just unimpressive to have only gotten that far within seven years, but it's also pathetic that you think you'd stand a chance against even a fourth grade mage. That dude was about second grade. Do you get me? If I hadn't intervened, you would've died without any significant meaning to your lives or deaths."
"You sonuva…"
"Dara, calm down. We are here to learn from this mage, not to be provoked by his taunting."
"Taunting? I assure you I was not. I do hate unnecessary repetition, but I'll make sure you at least slightly understand what I said earlier. You're in my domain. I make the rules here. I know what happens if I need to know it, I control the flow of mana, I attack, I defend, I do damn near whatever the hell I want."
Cassandra suddenly interrupted Michael's monologue.
"But master Mike, you already do that enough without your domain. And you shouldn't get sidetracked!!"
"Right! Good of you to watch out, Cass. Now, you boys, as I said, are pathetic. But we're gonna overlook your lack of any skill in manipulating mana and build the foundation for your bodies to understand it. Normally, it'd take a proper mage ten years to master the basics. Cass did it in four and you'll do it in two. Though the physical training will take a month or two, sooo…"
Michael snapped his fingers and Cassandra stepped forward.
"Dear Cass here is gonna be the milestone for your training. She's friendly, kind and you can figure out the rest. Now to dtermine how screwed you are, you'll try your luck sparring with Cass. This will be purely physical. Even martial art competitions often allow the use of regulated spells, but here we'll just be physical for the beginning."
Cassandra appeared as a standard, young girl, with defined muscles without much mass. She did not look to be much of a threat toward any of them. Orin stepped up and held up his hand to signal Daron to stay back.
"You sure, Ora? Chief said she's a full-fledged mage, so we should probably work together."
"No, just stand back, Dara. I was mostly helpless during our fight with that old man and I want to prove myself to this grand mage."
Orin raised his fists in an amateur-like guard, not knowing much about hand-to-hand combat to begin with.
"Ora? Shouldn't you use this if you want to stand a chance at all?"
Daron threw Orin's sheethed knife at him and as Orin was about to catch it, he recieved a swift and strong swinging kick to his wrist. Orin heard a slight cracking noise and felt a surge of intense pain in his wrist.
"That was a dirty play, you foul wench. Do not mess wi-"
Before Orin could finish his statement, he felt the impact of Cassandra's fist below his chest area. He keeled over and struggled to breathe for a few seconds.
"Say that again and you're dead, ankleshanker."
Cassandra's terrifying expression rapidly changed to an ecstatic one as she turned to Daron.
"So you're next? Let's hope you perform better than your little friend here."
Before they could start, Michael stepped between them and pointed at Orin, who was still on the ground.
"Fix that. He'd be a liability if his wrist doesn't work properly. I'll allow the two of you to use one of your spells once, no more no less. I wanna test the other one's skill since he used his mana earlier."
"Sounds good t'me, cheif!"
Daron flicked his wrist and five orbs started floating around his hand. Cassandra held up her hand above Orin's boken wrist. Bright blue embers emitted from his wrist as it was quickly healed and the embers dissipated into Cassandra's core.
"Are you ready, ballboy?"
"I have a name, y'know. And yeah, I am!"
Cassandra started slowly walking toward Daron while seeming to whisper something to herself. Daron could not make out what she was whispering. He though to himself. [Is she trying to say somethin'? Why's she whisperin'? Maybe it's part of some spell? Can't be bothered thinkin' too much for a simple test o' physical combat.]
Daron lifted his right leg, jumped forward using his left and attempted a swinging kick midair. Cassandra dodged it and kept whispering.
[Damn, she's good. That kick was pretty fast too. Oh well, guess I gotta do somethin' else than just kick.]
Daron lifted his hand toward Cassandra after he landed. The floating orbs rapidly spun around his hand and fired forward. Cassandra finished whispering and blue embers manifested in front of her. The embers swirled around, shaping an aproximately fifty cemtimeter sphere in front of her that flew toward Daron.
The flying orbs were stopped and destroyed by the sphere, which resembled a full moon, which flew even faster toward him. The spell hit him as he stood still in thoughts and he flew back. As the dust from the surroundings settled, he stood up and walked to Cassandra.
"Much as I don't wanna admit it, I lost to ya, fair n' square. Good job!"
"You did great! Of course you lost embarrasingly, but you did your best."
As Cassandra spoke up close to Daron, he felt only one thing. His mind felt completely still and quiet. He could not hear any voices in his head; only Cassandra, who was currently speaking to him. The sudden silence, which had not been present in his head for seven years, caused a sharp headache to pierce Daron's head.
He quickly keeled over to his knees and started scratching at his face while frantically screaming. Orin grabbed his arms, calmed him and saw that Daron could only weep quietly. Only the tears that fell down his cheeks and the small inconsistencies in his breathing went noticed. He then uttered a word that even confused Orin.
"…Sis…?"
Daron then fell unconcious on the ground, with his face covered in tears and blood lightly pouring from his nose and mouth. Michael started walking closer to him to check up on him, but Orin stood in his way and pointed hs knife at him, with shaky hands and slight amounts of blood and black smoke pouring from his star eye.
"Stay back!! I still do not trust you!! You are trying to get something out of us, Michael Stylus, now what it is!? And you, the girl! You did something to Dara, now reverse what you did before I butcher you both!"
Michael grabbed onto the blade of Orin's knife and snapped it in half, as he proceeded to step up to Daron and put a hand on both of them. Michael stood crouched, completely still and thought [What is this essence I feel from these two? It could be similar to him, but I don't feel his malevolence from them.].
"Listen. I don't entirely know what's wrong with Daron, but I promise that I will do everything in my power to make sure he's alright. Same to you, since you both accepted my proposal to be my students. I'll pay for your food and give you a place to live. I'll make sure you eat well, sleep safely, train hard, rest confortably and study valiantly. Sound good to you?"
Michael lifted the blade he had snapped off Orin's knife and cut his palm open. He put his bloody palm on Daron's forehead and then onto Orin's.
"I, Michael Stylus, dragon of the continental mage assosiacion, hereby solemnly declare that the two of you with my blood on your faces, are now my disciples and that I will do anything to make sure you remain alive and save, even if that should result in the sacrifice of my own life."
Radiant auras radiated from Michael and the blood on the boys' faces. A brand appeared on his bloody palm, which had seemingly healed itself. The brand consisted of a larger blue triangle with three smaller ones around, vaguely shaping a rose.
"Now, all three of you are branded as my responsibilities. Cass already was, and I'm serious about the sacrificing my life part. We all share a common goal of wanting to destroy the Blackhoods. You don't have to give me every detail, or even trust me for that matter. And I won't tell you all my details and reasons just yet either, but I see something in both of you."
"And what is that?"
"Well, actually, there's several things I see in you. I see a reminder of my first student, I see weakness and I see struggle. But don't be fooled, cause it's not all. Within your weakness, I see strength. Within your weakness, I see motivation, dedication, burning passion to this unending mission of yours. Which is why I, Michael Stylus, the dragon of the lair will teach you everything you need to know."
"Anyone ever tell ya you talk too much?"
Daron slowly sat up from his lying position.
"Dara! Are you okay? I was worried that you were going to die."
"Nah, I'm all good now. But I did feel very weird. Almost as if, for the first time in seven years, the world was quiet again, and my mind could run wild. I know it's hard to explain, but-"
Cassandra suddenly grabbed ahold of Daron's jaw and forced his lips to stay open. She took a thorough glance at Darons spiky teeth.
"Does she normally do things like this, master?"
"Master already? I'm flattered, Young student of mine. No, I didn't like that, so I'll just stick with calling you Orin for now. She's very enthusiastic about her studies in medicine, nursing and pretty much anything health related. You can think of her as our very own, kind, well-mannered and dangerous doctor."
Michael handed the broken blade back to Orin.
"By the way, You and I need to have a talk about this. You use a knife, which isn't bad on its own, but you wield it like a sword. Why's that?"
"Well, I am limiting my lethality by using a smaller weapon, making my opponents lower their expectations when I use a small, lighter blade."
Daron quickly interrupted while Cassandra still held his lips partially open.
"That's a huge load o' bullsh*t. We've never had enough money for weapons and food at the same time, so we settled for one knife we had at home."
"Though that may be true, I use the knife due to my excellent skill in handling it, making me a worthy pick for the blade."
"We flipped our only gold coin to see who got to use it."
Orin threw the empty handle of his knife at Daron as a response to Daron's commentary. Daron gently pushed Cassandra to the side and caught the handle with his teeth. He then started chewing the handle to pieces, swallowing the wooden pieces bit by bit and spitting out the remainders of the tang from the blade.
Cassandra was both fascinated and terrified at once and scooted slightly backward from Daron.
"Wha!? How'd you do that?! Are you a demon!?"
"Oh yeah, guess I've always been good at eating things. For some reason, my chompers make me eat anything they can break. So I advise not playing around too much with yer fingers."
"Noted. Though those teeth are quite interesting."
"Thanks! Your name was Cassandra, right?"
"That's right! Cassandra Moon. It's a pleasure!"
Cassandra reached out her hand for a formal handshake. Daron shook her hand, and his mind, once again, felt quiet, yet soothing and not as dark as before.
"Well, I'm Daron Shine! Just you wait, Cassie, cause me and Ora're gonna catch up t'ya sooner that ya think."
Orin and Michael stood at a distance from the two of them.
"The two of them seem to be hitting it off already."
"You're right, Orin; they are. You jealous of Cass for stealing your friend from you?"
"Do not be foolish."
"Relax, I'm just messing with you."
Orin approached Daron and Cassandra t properly introduce himself.
"If we are introducing our full names, then I am Orin Willow. And I apologize for my earlier behavior."
Michael walked up to the three of them.
"Now that we're all aquainted with each other, we can find a place to live and start training first thing tomorrow!"
"Huh? Y'sayin' we're homeless?"
"That's not what I was saying, but yes. We just gotta find someplace to make our home and we'll stay in a hut here for just under two years."
"Then let's have a look around, chief!"