by Simon Archer
“Excellent.” Nadeine nodded as a firm expression clouded her features. “When do you think he will be prepared to continue on our journey?”
“Very soon,” Siara said. “Tomorrow, we will work on combining the offensive combat spells as we did the other spells yesterday. If he is as successful at that as he was at learning them today, you should be ready to leave for the forest on the following morning.”
“This is very good news, Leo,” Marinka said, turning from Siara to me and brushing my hand with her own. “Our quest will truly begin shortly.”
“Yes,” Anil squeaked. “And then you will return our magic to us once and for all.”
“I will drink to that,” Bernsten said, raising his glass. The rest of us raised our own to return his gesture.
“We have no alcohol in this facility, Brother,” Nadeine said, rolling her eyes. “A proper toast cannot be made.”
“Ah, and regret that I do every night we spend here, Sister,” Bernsten said, smirking.
“Why are there no taverns here?” I asked. I’d been so tired the past two nights that I hadn’t even noticed the absence of our usual evening activity.
“This facility is meant for focusing and for training to be at the height of our physical and mental capabilities,” Nadeine explained. “Alcohol would counteract that goal for obvious reasons.”
“I must disagree, Sister,” Bernsten grinned. “All work and no play makes for a lack of fun, and thus a lack of motivation, and a lack of focus.”
“You would believe that, Brother,” Nadeine said slyly.
“May we come to see you practice tomorrow, Leo?” Marinka asked, changing the subject.
“Um, sure,” I said, a bit surprised. “If you want to, I mean.”
“Oh, I would very much like to witness your magical abilities,” Marinka said, brushing her hand against mine again. I felt my cheeks grow hot. I was a little nervous at the prospect of Marinka watching me practice, but I couldn’t say no to her.
“Yes,” Nadeine said. “I would also like to see how much progress you have made, Leo. And it may be a good idea for us to all be prepared for what your abilities are and how we can best utilize them before we enter the forest. This is a good idea, Marinka. We will all join you in the training room tomorrow morning.”
“Excellent, we will see you all there, then,” Siara said. Anil looked excited at the prospect of an audience.
“Perhaps one of you can be the one to go up against Leo Hayden tomorrow in the battle circle, then,” Bernsten said, looking a bit grumpy. “I could use a reprieve from that horrific bubble.”
“Oh, the bubble had formed to you now, Sir Bernsten,” Siara said, and a sparkle appeared in her eye as she looked at him. “I think it would be an unwise use of our time to change tactics on it at this time.”
“Ah, very well then,” Bernsten muttered, sipping his drink and undoubtedly wishing it was alcohol.
After dinner, I went straight to bed. Bernsten had wanted to hang out some more, but I could barely keep my eyes open after learning all those new spells. I was surprised he wasn’t exhausted too after getting beat up on by magical objects all day. I think I fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow.
The next morning, I awoke to all three of my companions knocking on my door. I crawled out of bed, pulled on my robes, and met them in the hallway.
“Good morning, Leo,” Marinka said, smiling at me.
“Good morning,” I said, returning the expression. We all walked to the dining hall together. I grabbed some eggs, bacon, and juice and sat down with my friends.
“Oh, I forgot to ask you yesterday, Nadeine,” I said, turning to her. “Did you go back to the forges to check on your new sword?”
“Ah, yes, I did do so,” Nadeine said. “Edan had completed the base of a sword for me to test. It suited me well, though I had some suggestions. He will be making the appropriate alterations today, and the sword should be ready for my use on the ‘morrow.”
“That’s good,” I said, thinking I didn’t want one of my companions out of sorts and hating her own sword in the middle of the forest.
“Perhaps now you will be a more agreeable companion, Sister,” Bernsten said, punching Nadeine playfully. She only glared at him in response.
After a short breakfast, we made our way to the training room Anil and Siara had set up for me. The elderly elves were there waiting for us, and so was the bubble Bernsten had been wearing during the previous day’s practice.
“Must I?” Bernsten asked, eyeing the bubble lying on the ground with disdain.
“Only if you don’t want your head chopped off,” I said, grinning at him.
“Very well,” he sighed and walked over to pull the bubble on the way he had previously. When it had reformed to his body, he stood there staring at his feet in exaggerated anguish. Nadeine and Marinka both started laughing their heads off, and Nadeine, in particular, seemed to take pleasure in her brother’s discomfort.
“You look ridiculous, Brother,” she chortled.
“It’s not… that bad, I suppose,” Marinka said carefully, trying to stifle her laughter.
“Yes, yes, have your fun,” Bernsten said, glowering at them. “At least you do not have to be attacked by enormous weapons and hands.”
“That is a sight I would pay much gold to see, dear Brother,” Nadeine said, still cracking up.
“Well, you’re going to see it for free,” I said, trying to keep from laughing myself.
“Very well, very well,” Bernsten said. “Let us get it over with, then.” He made his way over to one of the combat circles and positioned himself on one end. I followed him and did the same.
“Alright, everyone,” Siara said, looking around at us. “Today Leo is going to combine his offensive combat spells against Bernsten. Then, should that go as well as we anticipate, we will have him combine all of his combat spells, both offensive and defensive. Does that sound amenable to both of you?” She looked pointedly at me and Bernsten on the last question.
“Yes,” I said, staring straight ahead and going through all of the offensive combat spells and their associated scales and variations in my head. Bernsten just nodded.
“Very well,” Siara said. “Please begin, Leo.”
I began to hum the first spell I learned, the one with the straightforward harmonic scale that created the sword with the pendulum swing. Just as it had yesterday, the sword appeared and launched itself at Bernsten. As the particles of golden light came together to form the sword, I heard Marinka gasp in awe, and Nadeine let out a triumphant cry. I smiled to myself, enjoying the attention.
I moved through the various offensive combat spells one by one, switching them up sometimes mid-scale once I thought that the current spell had done its job, and it would be most beneficial to move to a different one. I kept Bernsten on his toes, and to his credit, he did his best to counter my spells with his sword and to dance out of the way when he could. But I could tell the combat was beginning to wear on him quickly. Beads of sweat cascaded down his hands, and he began to fumble with his sword since his hands were so slippery. Finally, he gave in while being jostled around by a pair of golden fists.
“Alright, alright,” he called out, waving his hands in the air. “I believe you have won, Leo Hayden. You have bested me once again. You may call off your fists.” I stopped humming, and the fists disappeared with a puff of golden light, the remaining particles falling to the ground and evaporating. I walked over and helped my friend up, assisting him in pulling off the bubble in the process. Bernsten breathed deeply and stretched out his limbs.
“Ah, fresh air,” he sighed. “And ample personal space.” He eyed the spot where the giant golden fists had been just a moment ago with weariness.
“Well done, Leo,” Marinka called out, and she, Nadeine, Siara, and Anil erupted into applause.
“Yes, well done, Leo Hayden, well done,” Anil cried.
“Excellent,” Siara said. “Let us take a brief b
reak and then attempt combining the offensive and defensive combat spells. Does that sound amenable to you, Sir Bernsten?”
“Yes, of course,” Bernsten said, panting. “I just… need a moment to collect myself.”
Anil scurried out of the training room and returned a few minutes later with two large glasses of water. He handed one to me and another to Bernsten, and I sipped mine as I watched my friend guzzle his as if he were dying of thirst. He drank so quickly that streams of water missed his mouth and fell down the sides of his face.
“Are you sure you want to keep going?” I asked him.
“Yes, Leo Hayden,” he said once his water was gone. “I will be fine. This is good training for me as well.” He reached out and handed his glass to Anil for a refill, then began gulping the water down again, but slower this time.
“This is excellent news, Leo,” Nadeine said while we waited for Bernsten. “I believe you are more than prepared to face any enemies we may meet in the forest.”
“What kind of enemies do you expect us to run into?” I asked.
“I do not know,” she answered, her expression darkening, a frown appearing on her already sharp features. “It is impossible to say what we are to face there. We know very little of Viktor’s movements after he left the kingdom.”
“What do you think he’ll do when we find him?” I asked. “Like, he probably just won’t hand over your magic.”
“We will have to make him tell us how to rectify the situation,” Nadeine said, staring past me and straight ahead as if envisioning the obstacles before us.
“Let us not worry about such dark things today,” Marinka said, coming up to us and placing a hand on each of our shoulders. “Today is a day for hope and progress.”
“Indeed,” Nadeine said, shaking her head to snap herself out of whatever dark place she was in and nodding. “You are right, Marinka. Let us celebrate your progress today, Leo. We will discuss Viktor further when we continue our journey.” I nodded. I did want to know more about Viktor and the forest, but I had to focus on the task at hand.
When Bernsten judged he was ready to continue, he pulled the bubble back on, and we walked over to the circle and assumed our positions again. Bernsten looked even more tired than he had earlier.
“Are you sure you can--” I began to ask again, but he cut me off.
“No, Leo Hayden, this is fine. I am fine,” he said, waving his hand as if to brush away my concern. “That I am weary is a good sign that we will be victorious over any foes we may meet in the forest.”
I nodded and began to hum again, this time for a spell that was supposed to form a magical mace. But before it could form, Bernsten attacked me, swinging his sword at my shoulders. I jumped out of the way and switched to a defensive combat spell, humming a complex variation on a C minor scale. Four spirals of golden light appeared and molded together to push Bernsten’s sword out of my way.
While my friend recovered, I quickly shifted back to the diatonic scale that was associated with the mace spell. This time, it worked, and particles of golden light appeared and formed a giant mace, covered with long golden spikes of varying lengths. Bernsten’s eyes widened at the sight of it, and he leaned back towards the ground and raised his sword over his face to defend himself. The mace leaned back itself and tumbled down on Bernsten like a falling chess piece.
Bernsten winced, raising his sword and arms higher over his face. He turned his head away from the golden mace and closed his eyes tightly. The mace crashed down on the bubble, causing it to ripple, but Bernsten was unharmed.
Before Bernsten had a chance to recover, I switched to another offensive combat spell, this time for a set of daggers. I felt a little bad about ganging up on him with so many spells, but I figured what else was I supposed to do? I switched to another variation on a diatonic scale, and the mace disappeared, leaving behind golden particles of light that reassembled themselves into several daggers that shot down at Bernsten, who was still leaning on the ground with his sword over his head.
The daggers pelted down on him, and at first, Bernsten stayed leaning on the ground, bracing against the blows. But then he opened his eyes, set his face back into a stoic position, and with a burst of energy and determination rose and maneuvered through the spaces between the daggers, coming at me.
The daggers dissipated when he got past them, and I switched tactics, anticipating Bernsten’s next blow and humming the spell to counteract it. Golden particles of light reappeared and formed a shield in front of me, blocking Bernsten’s sword. I grinned and swished out of my friend’s way, positioning myself on the other side of the circle where he had just been standing. I started humming again, and two giant fists assembled from the dust that had just been my shield.
The fists rose in the air and descended upon Bernsten, coming at him from either side. They would have pummeled him if it weren’t for the bubble. I was really starting to get into the flow of things now, and as Bernsten bent down to get out of the way of the fists, I felt a strange sensation come over me.
It was a tingling sensation, and I could feel it all over my body, and I even thought I could feel it inside my body, buzzing in my bones. It was an amazing feeling, kind of like the intense flow state I used to get into when I played my cello, but even better and more physical. I hadn’t been able to really get into that flow state since my injury. Not like I used to, anyway.
Bernsten was readying himself to strike me again, raising his sword up straight above his head with both hands. He lept, intending to strike me on the head. Of course, just like my magic couldn’t inside the bubble, Bernsten’s sword couldn’t get out, so I was never in any real danger, but it was no matter. I was owning the combat circle now, even more than I was before. The tingling feeling buzzed in my fingertips, and I switched to a defensive spell to combat Bernsten’s blow. I hummed an ascending variation on a D major scale, and golden particles appeared to create three sheets of light to stand in front and around Bernsten’s sword, blocking it and pushing him back down to the ground.
Except the sheets of light weren’t all that appeared, and suddenly I understood what the new tingling sensation met. A long golden cello, perfectly sized for my body and arms, appeared in front of me in the circle, and a bow materialized in my right hand. The instrument settled onto the floor comfortably, and I noticed a golden endpin had also appeared to keep it steady. I sat down, and even though there was no chair, the air beneath me was hard and held up upright. Everyone in our audience gasped, and I heard Nadeine speaking.
“That is a cello,” she called out over the sounds of Bernsten and my battle. “It is his instrument from Earth.”
I grinned, put the bow to the string, and began to play a new spell, this time a harmonic scale associated with the second offensive combat spell I had learned the previous day. A golden sword of my own appeared, forming from particles of light that sprayed out of the f-shaped holes on the front of my cello. At the sight of this, my smile grew even wider, and my cheeks started to hurt from being so excited.
The sword swished to Bernsten’s sides, aiming at his neck. He ducked out of the way but got trapped between the sword and the ground. I was about to stop playing and call it a day, but Bernsten was able to wriggle himself out from under the sword and launch himself over at me again. He was coming at me on my left, and I started playing a new scale, an E minor variation that created a tall, long shield on my left flank from the dissipated particles that had made up the sword.
Unable to stop himself short, Bernsten crashed into the shield and fell back to the ground. I was getting really into my playing now. The cello was very comfortable, the best, most resonant instrument I had ever played. The sounds emanated from it and echoed throughout the room. I realized, for the first time in years, I was playing without any hint of pain.
Before he could raise himself again, I played another harmonic scale, and the sword reappeared above him, swinging back and forth like a pendulum. It pinned him to the ground for good
this time, and my friend raised his arms in surrender.
“Alright, alright, Leo Hayden,” he cried out, panting heavily. “You have bested me…. You have bested me once again.”
The cello slowly disappeared from the top downwards, like it was being blown away by a soft wind. The particles of golden light swept off into the distance, slowly fading off to the outskirts of the training room. I raised myself to a standing position, looking off after the golden light wistfully. My new cello was gone far too soon. I walked over to where Bernsten was still lying on the floor, panting and sweating, and knelt down to help him up.
“Are you okay, man?” I asked him when he didn’t get up.
“Yes, yes, my friend,” he said, and his voice was raspy. “I have just never participated in such a stunning battle. It was… amazing. I thank you for this honor, Leo Hayden.”
“No, thank you,” I said, pulling the bubble off of him. “That was awesome. And you were awesome, too.”
“Thank you for your praise, Leo Hayden,” Bernsten said, finally pushing himself up off the ground and wrapping an arm around my shoulders to steady himself. “It means much to me coming from a great mage such as yourself.” I grinned, liking the sound of that last part.
The rest of our group rushed over to us now, and Anil handed Bernsten and me some more water. I gulped it down, not having realized how thirsty I was until then. I rubbed my stomach, and it grumbled, telling me I needed to eat, too.
“That was amazing, Leo,” Marinka said, touching my forearm.
“Thanks,” I said, grinning and looking around at my audience. “What did you all think?” They all launched into a chorus of praise and exclamations about my cello.
“An astonishing performance,” Siara said. “I could have never believed my ears.”
“Oh, it was so beautiful, Leo Hayden, so beautiful,” Anil squeaked, hopping up and down in excitement. “Even as a child, I never heard any instrument so rich and deep as that.”
“It was even better than when I heard you in your dirty tavern,” Nadeine said, referring to the first time we met. “The instrument’s sound is even richer here in our world.” She was right. It was richer. And deeper and more beautiful. I was beginning to realize that everything was better in Eviorah. Then, I remembered something.