Chapter 3

The sky shines at the dawn of a new day as Kai and Visha stand outside of the house in front of a pair of wood dummies.

"Okay today I'll show you how to properly cast spells." Kai bounces up and down clearly excited to learn how to cast magic "First you need to learn the two main principles of magic, Purpose and Control." Kai sits down and looks up at Visha listening happily in the interest of the basics of Atriax's magic."

"First is Purpose, for example when casting a simple lightning spell what do you wish for it to do? Kill?" She shoots a green lightning bolt at a dummy taking its head off with one blast "Or perhaps you desire to stun and immobilize your enemy" She proceeds to shoot another bolt of lightning this time an electric current can be seen running around the dummy like a chain.

"That's awesome!" Kai says as he jumps up in excitement "I want to try!" Visha gives a light chuckle in response patting his head and having him sit down again "You will get the chance today but first I have to explain the other principle and arguably the most important one."

She clears her throat before continuing "Control this principle determines whether you can actually cast your spells successfully and are vital to low-level and high-level spellcasting alike, I'll show you what happens when the control on a spell you attempt to cast fails" She proceeds to start casting another lightning bolt but purposely lets it fail causing Visha to get a light shock of electricity through her body making her shake a little as a small field of lightning surrounds her seemingly another blowback from the control being lost before turning around and smiling to ease any worry from Kai.

"As you can see it sends an equal amount of power back at the user who attempted to cast it, failure can also happen if the user attempts to cast a spell without having the needed amount of mana to cast it." Kai nods and stands up stretching "So I need to learn how to control my mana and understand the purpose of what I'm using it for, I can do this!" He says clearly confident

Visha gets behind him and lifts his arm pointing it towards one of the dummies "Now then I want you to try to cast a low-level lightning bolt, try to hit the chest" Kai nods and closes his eyes "Feel your mana course through your body and imagine the lightning bolt itself and its creation piece by piece then expel it like you were training your mana" As Visha speaks Kai follows her advice imagining the lightning bolt's creation, slowly growing the image in his head till it's fully formed. His black aura surrounds him as he opens his eyes and attempts to expel his magic out from his palm shooting out a small black bolt that shoots fully through the dummy's arm.

Visha smiles at the sight and Kai pumps his fist in celebration "That was amazing I know I missed it's chest but I purposely casted real magic for the first time!" He says as he turns around and hugs Visha "Thank you so much, you gave me a chance I thought I lost once I was born with this aura."

Visha can only hug him back and smile at him understanding exactly what he is talking about "Well make sure you keep training it don't want it to be weak if you plan on traveling later on" Kai nods and starts to try to start casting again before Visha stops him. "Have you done your workout for the day?" Kai turns his head as an awkward silence fills the area and he simply takes off doing one of his daily runs as Visha yells out to him "A strong body is just as important as a strong mind Kai!" she says as Kai starts on his daily workout hating every moment of it."

Two years pass as Kai continues his training to become as strong as he can he has grown stronger and older still a rather small child barely reaching five foot. He stands in the yard shooting a rapid fire of his signature black lightning bolts smirking as he stands back and looks at the damage seeing the dummies almost completely destroyed.

He takes a moment of rest his blue hair clean but messy from a lack of care as he flops onto his butt, smiling to himself as he can feel how much he's grown in just two years of simple training. He looks to his right as he sees Visha walk out of the house smiling at the woman who in many ways has taken to acting as a mother figure for the child that he's never truly had.

"Hey Kai I got a surprise for you!" Kai quickly gets up and runs over to her excited to see what she has in store for him. "We are going to visit one of my sisters today since she's close by" Kai is surprised by this knowing that her sisters seem to be a touchy subject he can never really get full answers about. "Really? Which one are we going to see though I've only really heard you talk positive about Kimi." He says remembering her talk about the fire kitsune

"No, we are going to go see Rin today she's closest by and I know that she'll help you no matter what she tries to say." She gives a light chuckle which only confuses Kai as Visha starts to walk away "Come on now it's not too far so we should arrive there in about three hours" Kai groans out in despair despite being fit and able to run and walk for long periods of time he still despises it.

Around three hours later they finally arrive to Rin's house a brick constructed home with two floors all painted black giving off a scary vibe "Here we are... I hope she's home so we don't have to wait here for her" "Oh shut it you're the one that always shows up unannounced you know; we do have scrolls to send messages with it only takes a few moments" Both of them hear a new voice, Visha smiles as they turn around and see Rin her nine tails swaying behind her, each one with a black circle on them marking her as the one and only void kitsune.

"Ah there you are Rin!" Visha says as she walks over and hugs her sister. Rin attempts to dodge the hug but fails as she is caught in a tight bear hug. "Visha let...go!" Rin pushes hard against her sister before finally escaping and panting as she catches her breath.

"You do this every time! Stop bear hugging me to death" Rin then hits Visha lightly on the head before moving over to Kai and looking at him sensing his unique aura and the amount of mana his body has stored. "Impressive he has a lot of mana compared to the average ten-year-old child" She says before going back to Visha leaving Kai to his own thought for a moment.

"That remind me, Visha why did you take in this child! You know the agreement we all made after that event! You know the one that specifically said no interacting with the people of the world under ANY circumstance!" She says in a harsh and stern tone, Visha can only let out a long sigh as she is interrogated.

"Yes, I know and I couldn't help myself I saw Kai about to get murdered and I just acted" Rin groans and shakes her head "That sounds right for you, never could just let something bad happen, especially to children." She stops for a moment before continuing "You want me to help train him, right?" Visha nods to this "Well fine you're family and one of my favorite sisters so I'll help you."

A few hours later the three are gathered in Rin's house as she tries to teach Kai how to use void magic. "So void magic something rare to see in your world since for some reason users of the past banned it for years till it became nearly forgotten, same with your light magic though that seems to be returning... anyway." She clears her throat before casting a small ball of void, purple in color as it floats in her hand causing Kai to jump up and admire it.

She smiles faintly easy to miss if you aren't looking as she send the ball towards a dummy at extreme speed as it suddenly expands around the entirety of the dummy. As the purple void ball disappears so does the dummy erased completely like it was never there. "Did it just erase the dummy from existence?!" Kai yells out as Rin makes a gesture that details kind of. "Yes, you can say it erased it, consumed it or whatever else but the thing to take away is the fact the dummy is completely gone and won't be returning."

Kai listens closely as he tries to understand this magic "The key to using this magic is being able to understand that the void is everything and nothing at the same time, a continuous paradox, this is one of the reasons void magic is very difficult but also very dangerous to use but if you can its potential is nearly limitless."

Kai looks on trying to wrap his head around the function of void magic "I know it's complicated but I promise you before you leave this house you will learn how to use my magic." Rin gives him a small smile as Kai looks on determined ready to learn this powerful and mysterious magic.

Two days later Kai is sitting alone in front of the dummies cross legged and focusing his mana attempting to understand and cast void magic as he struggles with the concept. He yells out in anger after spending the entirety of the last two days trying to use the magic. "Why can't I figure this out! Is it a sham and only Rin can use it?!"

He falls onto the floor laying on his back as he thinks about the events of the last two years. He thinks about Visha and how she gave him a second chance at life and someone to look up to and admire, someone else who seems to truly love and want to protect him other than his dad. This chain of thought sends Kai's mind spiraling thinking about the events that still haunt him to his day.

The slaughter of his town, the people, and the destruction of his home of which he'll never see again, and finally his father the man who raised him for years, taught him and cherished him. Tears fill Kai's eyes as his thoughts continue to spiral his sadness turning into rage as he thinks about the army that destroyed his town the drakes, the mages and the soldiers.

His pitch-black aura surrounds him as he unconsciously summons the mana in his body as his thoughts send him down the ditch feeling the true feeling of emptiness as he feels nothing but pure rage before suddenly it all vanishes, his aura, his rage and thoughts. Kai quickly summons his mana and sends a small black ball towards a dummy with his palm thrust outwards before closing it into a fist as it connects watching as the dummy is ripped apart before disappearing never to be seen again.

"I understand now, the continuous cycle of empty and full, everything and nothing. It's all connected to take something and fill it with nothing and to stare into an abyss as it stares at you." He nods as he lets out a small chuckle "Thank you dad you helped me unlock the door I needed to open; I'll make you proud I promise." He talks to himself as he looks at his hand not noticing the two proud kitsune behind the wall.