Chapter Twenty Two - Returned

Noah got back to the house and sat on the couch, thinking of everything that had happened. From the ring; to the garden and finally to the building with the dragon in front of it. Everything seemed off like a bad dream.

Yet anytime he thought of it was all so real, from the magic aura particles surrounding him and choking him to the dragon that slept and to the heartbeat he heard what sounded like it was from the egg.

He just couldn't comprehend it. Noah didn't want Master Quin to think that he was a complete nutter, so he put his hand to his chest trying to feel for the ring. He couldn't see it when he looked down but he could feel the chain and ring in his hands.

Just like when he first teleported he tried to remove the chain and drop the ring but, he couldn't get his hand to open up and drop it to the floor. Scrunching up his face, a loud sigh came out his mouth. Accepting the reality of the situation, Noah rubbed his temple feeling all the information overload him.

Picking up his sword and staring into the blade. He decided that no matter what he had to better himself, walking outside and looking around he noticed that his master had disappeared. Figuring that he was planning to sneak attack him again, his hand clenched on the handle of the sheathed blade.

Noah walked over to the lake before kneeling and drinking some water to refresh himself, afterwards splashing his face to waken his senses. Closing his eyes as he kneeled, Noah listened to everything around him trying to sense his Master.

His couldn't hear anything but he could feel in his gut that something was away to attack him from behind so he quickly rolled to the right and stood back onto his feet, sword raised and aimed at the place he felt something come from.

There were a few splashed behind him coming from the lake, as a rock skimmed over the lake making a big SPLASH just as he turned enough to glimpse it.

"HAHAHA, you're learning."

Quin approached from the shadows of a tree, his sword glinting and his dark eyes giving off a murderous tone. Taking large steps towards Noah, who had lifted the sword in a defence position. Taking the initiative, he slowly started to circle trying to take his Master into a normal match.

Focussing on Quin's movements as they quickly circled each other, Noah decided to go first with attacking, Swinging his blade for his Master's throat. He felt the clang of blades send vibrations up his arms, in turn making him think of the feeling of being consumed by the particles of aura.

They clashed over and over, the more Noah thought of the memories of the all-consuming particles the harder he started hitting. There were flashes of white and black as their swords hit each other. Noah could feel the magic in the air rippling from their clash, presuming that it was Quin that was starting to do this, Noah started hitting harder and willing for his sword to smash down Quins.

Their fight grew more intense, the spark of the swords flying off every attack, their palms sweaty and tight around the handles. The sun reflecting off the swords with every clash. Feeling like the air was buzzing with each strike Noah decided to try and make use of the magic just like his Master clearly was.

He did his best to will the particles into his bodies centre, picturing them just like how they covered him. Small vibrating and ready to do as they were told. Using the experience from when he found the ring which helped him a little more he found that he felt full of energy compared to when he started the fight.

Urging the particles to turn into an aura around his arms and sword, Noah striker harder. A black-light covered his sword slowly and quietly smothering it a little more with each hit. Quins eyes widened at the realisation of what the young boy was going.

No instruction or help he was using the magic particles to turn into an aura and fight him closer to an even fight. If it wasn't for the fact Quin used to be a Dragon Trooper who went through years of training and was accustomed to magic battles a normal opponent would be dead.

Having to fight back by using his own aura, he noticed that the aura Noah was using was only black compared to how he had previously seen it. Wondering if it was due to another magic experience from the previous night or not he decided to push Noah harder.

They fought long into the day, the energy from using magic on their blades seemed to act as an energy supplement to keep their bodies going. Once Noah started feeling tired it was the end, he could no longer feel the vibrations in his body; or the air. The magic felt dried up and used his hands were barely able to keep the sword above his waist.

The ground was flattened, the grass dried up. Quin was squinting at Noah, wondering how the boy kept on using magic for so long without a backlash yet, but feeling that this was it coming. Pushing more aura into his blade, he twirled around one of Noah's strikes and knocked his sword to the ground by using the blunt side of his sword to smash against Noah's hand.

A gasp came out as he dropped the sword and fell to one knee, clutching his hand.

"Much better than yesterday, what were you doing differently?"

Sheathing his sword away and sitting crossed legged in front of Noah, staring into his eyes but making him feel like his soul was being observed.

"When I felt Master start to use magic, I decided to try and gather the magic particles into my centre and push it to cover my arms and sword." Noah rubbed the back of his hand, his eyes half closing suddenly feeling a wave of fatigue cover him. He nearly collapsed there but held on while trying his best to tell his teacher how he had felt the particles in the air and willed them to help him.

Quin listened quietly to Noah's description with a calm expression but on the inside, he was confused out how Noah had managed to leap to this stage without meditating and learning his limits. The more he listened the more he decided that the training would have to just consist of sparring and stamina training, meditating felt like it would be no good for Noah.

He could see the boys exhaustion from all magic he had bared earlier and told him to go back into the cabin and sleep while he got the afternoon meal as a reward for being able to establish a link to his magic.

The sun was setting as Noah drifted into a deep sleep on the couch only just being able to pull a blanket over himself and falling into the slumber.

During the fight in the shadows of the trees

The man with the thick beard from Noah's adventure stared at the two men fighting. Their clashes sounding out through the forest, when they started it was a normal fight but the more intense it got the more magic aura was used.

The older man was just pushing the younger man as if he was trying to encourage him to release the built-up power inside of himself. The older man was skilled, he had clearly previously been a Dragon Trooper previously before coming to these woods.

What confused the man was there was no dragon presence near them in the closest 5 KM surrounding them. There were only two of them as they fought with no signs of any other life. The old man stared fascinated by the younger man's use of magic.

It was clear he had barely had a grasp of even the basic principles of magic and was using pure instinct to release the onslaught of attacks against the other. He could only barely keep his laughter inside that such a young boy could do this, he hadn't seen talent like this in decades.

Laughing at the fortune of having the intruder being someone so young and inexperienced but the old man at rest. He was confused at how the boy had gotten the magic ring but it was something he planned to question him at a later date when he could take him back to the mausoleum and garden to interrogate him more as well as test a theory that he had.

He watched the fight until the end with a smile on his lips before disappearing into the shadows of the trees just as he had appeared not leaving even a ripple of magic in the air.