Chapter 25 - Stand

Ela helped me get to the dining room. She waited very patiently, even as I struggled to get down the stairs, one shaky step after the other.

When we eventually reached the empty dining room, I sat down on one of the chairs, sighing in relief.

"Say, why did you decide to teach us all of a sudden?"

Ela sat down in a chair and brushed back her hair.

"I am the best magician among the people who are willing to teach you."

I leaned back into the chair.

"And why do we need to have the best?"

Ela's mouth twitched.

"...I have put the majority of my hopes on all of you. Perhaps, you all will be the heroes of our time."

...Will that be possible?

"Maybe..."

Ned, Erin, and Alyx came carrying our meals. The time we spent eating was not long and Ela took us to the room that had the entrance to the palace. We were able to see the snow that raged across the lands. Whenever snow would have entered the palace, it would instead disappear, leaving the entranceway with little snow.

Ela had us sit in the chairs around the long table. I had recovered enough to walk on my own, and looked at Ela as I took a seat. Ela clasped her hands when everyone was looking at her, she spoke.

"I will first tell you about gathering mana. When you attempt to gather mana, we are disturbing the natural state of the world. Mana is hard to sense, especially mana that is not directly touching your body. However, if you practice sensing enough, you will learn to see this mana."

Ela reached out her hand like she was holding something. There were gusts of winds that were stirred up and above her palm, a condensed ball of mana started to form.

"When condensed mana is easy to recognize, however, it is more important to be able to sense mana in its natural state. Once you are able to sense this mana, only then can you more efficiently pull in mana, instead of fighting the mana's pull, you will guide it towards you. Once you reach that stage, you can naturally learn what that means from there."

The rest of us were lost in thought. The ball of mana in Ela's hand dispersed.

"The next thing is casting spells. To cast spells we observe diagrams and attempt to replicate these diagrams by melding mana into the proper shape. Many people get trapped in the thinking that they must recreate the spell by slowly shaping it into the diagram."

Ela started to cast the basic fire spell slowly, then she just stopped altogether.

"This method is inherently flawed. Once spells become more complicated you will be unable to fully cast them before the mana you initially melded starts to dissipate. Instead, you must imagine the opposite of what the diagram displays. By preparing your shaping, you are only limited by how fast you can gather and compress mana."

That... is what Ned did. Although the spell dissipating did not apply to me since I could hold it, I also intuitively copied how Ned cast by observing him.

Ned was nodding to himself as if he understood something. Alyx was paying attention very closely, not wanting to miss a word. Erin simply scratched her head and scrunched up her face.

Ela did not speak for some time, she wanted to give us time to digest what she said, I assume.

"Now I will teach you how to use spells, you have my permission to use any spells I teach you."

From then on while Alyx was studying her book, the rest of us listened to Ela explaining how to cast spells and intuitive tricks that supported the casting process.

Ned wished to learn the firebolt spell and was able to quickly learn it. I listened carefully and was able to memorize the firebolt spell as well. I asked Ela to teach us the elementary spell of ice. She explained the use of the spell, which was to encase an object in ice. It seemed the spell was made to preserve food.

A shrill screech interrupted our session. We looked out the palace entrance to see an eagle attacking the villagers.

Ela was quick to stand up, sending the chair she was on flying across the room. Scales emerged on her skin and her fingers started to quiver and contract. Her nails became deep black and elongated. Wings suddenly emerged from her back, pushing aside some fabric in the suit. It seemed the suit had a built-in feature.

While the rest of us were still at a loss, Ela flew straight at the eagle.

"Stay in the palace!"

Although she said that, I got up and walked towards the palace entrance, preparing Alyx's spell. After all, there was going to be far more than one.

There was an old man who had both hands on his cane, desperately trying to get away from the eagle, pushing down hard on the cane. The eagle dived, but before it could hit him Ela smacked the eagle to the side.

Her attacks had substantial force behind them, able to nullify most of the eagle's momentum and send it crashing into a building. There was a high-pitched scream that came from inside the building. A little boy's mangled body fell among the bricks that scattered across.

A tear dropped from Ela's face while she had grit her teeth as hard as she could.

But her eyes did not lose their conviction.

The eagle was in a daze as surprisingly large gash marks spread across its body. Despite bleeding profusely, it did not seem concerned. Shaking its head, it looked at Ela and dove at her.

Ela did not flinch. When the eagle was about to hit her, she slammed her claw on the eagle's head. The eagle plummeted to the ground making cracks in the cobblestone path, it did not move.

Right, when Ela wanted to relax, there was a shrill shriek in the sky... then another one... then one more. Ela whipped her head back to see eagles had started to fill the sky.

I stepped out of the palace, being blasted by the cold. But this wasn't anything new to me.

"Ned!"

To my call, Ned got out of his seat and rushed over to me. Alyx was fidgeting.

"Wait!... Ela said to stay in the palace!"

Ned did not even pause.

"It's too late for that now!"

Alyx curled up in her seat while Erin started walking towards the door. Alyx reached out to her.

"Wait, why are you going?"

Erin's footfalls were light but stable.

"I... have to try."

Alyx, though unwillingly came up with us.

When Ned stood beside me, I looked right into his eyes.

"I have a way to make the eagles weaker, when you see them shrink you firebolt them and they should die."

Ned did not question how I knew such a spell or the feasibility of the plan. He just nodded.

"Got it."

As confident I sounded, I was in truth terribly nervous. I remembered the fresh hell I experienced trying to cast the healing spell earlier, yet here I was about to cast another one.

Worse, assuming it somehow works out, what was taking down one eagle really going to accomplish with so many hanging in the sky?

But I still wanted to try. I wanted to prove to myself I could do something.

I decided to do something ambitious. I prepared the healing spell again. I pretended that there were no concerning creaking sounds that came from my body. I would need time to prepare this spell.

Ned was already drawing in mana sending snow scattering in all directions, and an eagle was about to attack.

There was no time...

I felt my skin tear apart and an unrestrained wind whip around me. I could feel my consciousness wavering.

I cast both Alyx's spell at the diving eagle and the healing spell at the same time. My consciousness completely blacked out.

I woke up on the floor, feeling the tears in my skin seal up.

I got up and the tears in my skin that just disappeared materialized once again. I saw a shrunken eagle that had its head blown off. Ned was a good shot.

There were so many eagles, Ela was desperately trying to fight off as many as she could. Though she was holding up fine, for now, she was starting to get surrounded by more and more eagles.

Trusting that Ned would follow up, I cast both Alyx's spell and the healing spell. I blacked out again.

My vision was blurry when I woke up on the floor. Before the tears in my skin mended they tore open once again. I once again cast both spells. I blacked out.

This time I was able to wake before I hit the ground and I caught myself before I fell down. My skin that only started to heal, started to bleed once again.

My eyes were bloodshot, I was screaming, but it kept getting interrupted by the blood I was coughing up. At some point I just kept casting the spells, my vision getting more and more blurry.

The cycle of pain and gentle healing continued.

It was like an addiction. My mind was eagerly anticipating the feeling of gentle healing, as little reprieve it was in the horrid pain. My vision got more blurry.

It was beginning to get hard to think.

I was barely able to make out Ela fighting with eagles all around her. As she blew the head off one eagle, another dived her from behind and pierced her neck. She fell down, trying to use her hand to stop the bleeding. The eagles seemed satisfied and searched for a new target.

Without thinking of the consequences I cast the healing spell on Ela.

Like an addict experiencing withdrawal, I started to uncontrollably spasm. I fell into a pool of my own blood that formed on the floor.

The eagles had turned towards us. It seemed to realize we were picking them off one by one. All the eagles started to charge at us.

Ned's clothes were completely drenched in sweat. His brows were furrowed as hard as they could have been and his eyes were bloodshot just like mine.

A drop of sweat fell down from his face. Even though so many eagles were coming at him, he still cast a firebolt, but it only caused minor damage to an eagle's face.

Ned anxiously gathered more mana even though he wouldn't be able to cast in time, and even when the spell wouldn't be enough.

I despaired. Was I going to have to try again?

I saw the time I spent with Ela flash by my eyes. When she helped me up from the street and carried me back.

It was then a chill came over so cold that it reminded me of my days in the forest.

Erin had both her hands out. In front of her was a massive cone of ice that had captured countless eagles, freezing them in place.

...She used the elementary ice spell.

"I... I did it!"

Before we could take a sigh of relief, a shrill shriek cried out. One eagle only had part of its wing trapped in the ice.

Ned hurriedly started to cast, but there was an intense frown on his face. He seemed to realize my condition would not let me cast a spell.

I slowly turned to Alyx and barely articulated my words.

"That spell... is the spell I was using... cast it..."

Alyx thankfully understood, but she shook her head violently.

"I... I don't know how to cast it, I can't gather the mana properly!"

I desperately fought my eyelids, forcing them to stay open.

"Have you ever... given up on yourself?"

The eagle broke out of the ice entrapment and flew up to prepare for a dive. Alyx was still. She stood there quietly, as a forlorn aura leaked out of her.

Alyx's hair started to whip in the wind and she pointed towards the eagle.

There was no visible mana forming at her fingertips, but she did not seem bothered.

The eagle dived.

Alyx cast her spell. The eagle immediately started to shrink and had a dazed look in its eyes. As it barreled towards Alyx, Ned cast his firebolt spell and threw it off course.

The headless eagle hit the floor with a loud thump and slid a few meters forward.

It was finally over.