Hidden Power

It's the next morning and Merlin is waking up. He gets up feeling uncomfortable like he was sleeping on a rock when he suddenly realizes he is about to fall off the waterfall. He frantically reaches for something to grab to keep him from falling and manages to stop himself. He climbs back to the top and stands up very confused. Realizing Alvis is there with him he begins to get angry.

"Why am I up here...How am I up here?", exclaims Merlin

Alvis replies, "Don't worry everything was under control. I brought you up here using magic."

"Magic? Whats magic.

"Oh, that's right you lived in a magicless village. Don't worry I will explain everything."

"You'd better, but first tell me who you are exactly."

"I already told you I am a mage, but I guess I can tell you more. Over the many decades I have lived I've searched for different magic and mastered everything I could get my hands on."

"But why are you here"

"I will get to that Merlin just let me tell the story."

Merlin looks at him confused.

"How do you know my name", Merlin says cautiously.

Alvis explains, "I know everything about you. I have known about you since the day you were born. But I will get to that, so let me continue."

Merlin backs down, interested to hear what he has to say.

Alvis continues, "After I had acquired most of my power, I felt a shock in my body. I did not know where it came from or what it was but I knew I needed to find out. For the past 13 years, I have been searching for the cause of the shock and finally found it here in this village. It came from you, Merlin. Since then I have been looking to your past to learn everything I have missed in the years before I found you. As I was doing this something terrible happened. As you undoubtedly know, your village was attacked and burned..."

"Do you know what happened to everyone? Are they alive?" Merlin says energetically.

"Most of them I can confirm are, in fact, dead, as for the rest, I'm not sure. They may be dead or they may be alive."

"So, there's still a chance," Merlin says under his breath.

"I will continue. When this happened I could do nothing, I was still looking into your past. Doing this puts me in a weakened state where I cannot use any magic powerful enough to do any real damage. I watched with the fear that you would not survive or you would be broken past the point of repair. However, you did live and are not broken, in fact, you are even stronger than before. Many times you have faced danger and I wanted to help but I did not need to. See, you have a power surrounding you just like me. I believe you can see a white glow around me?

"Yes, how did you know."

"Because I can see one around you, that's how I found you out of the millions of people in the world."

"That makes sense, but what color can you see?"

"Oh, interested are we, well, you are surrounded by a beautiful green haze, just like your eyes."

"What do the different colors mean?"

"Your green means you are well adapted for nature magic and based on the exact color, you have a strong affinity for anything natural in this world. Meaning you can influence anything that lives without a soul; meaning you can't command humans. That's the reason I felt a shock when you were born because I had the same color."

"Wait, do you mean I can control plants and animals? Also, what do you mean you had the same color as me, you have a white glow."

"Yes, you have the ability to control plants and animals. And about the color, when I was born and for most of my teenage years I had a green glow just like yours, but after many years of dedicated training I eventually mastered all basic types of magic, so I needed to search for other types of magic. Gaining these different affinities; the colors started to merge and eventually turned white."

"So you can control all types of magic. But what is it?

"That's a tricky one, think of it like this, the younger someone is the more energy they have and the older the less energy. Magic is similar, everybody has it but only some have a lot of it. It takes many forms. That's how we can see the different affinities when a person is born. You can train your body and mind to increase the effect and power of your magic. Magic is used to create things like fire, water, light, darkness out of nowhere. The power you were born with allows you to quickly and efficiently learn how to manipulate animals and change plants."

"So, I can manipulate animals, I get that but what does "change plants" mean?"

"It means you can: slow or increase growth, strengthen or weaken, create them out of thin air, etc. Mostly anything you can think of. But don't worry about that now."

"Ok, but back to you. Why are you here? It's not just to explain this to me."

"No, I'm not here simply because of that; I am here because I want to train you to control your powers."

"You want to train me? Sure, but how.

"Don't worry about how I'm going to do it, just listen to what I have to say and do your best with what you are told. It's simple.

"Ok, fine I will listen to you, but why do you want to train me."

"Well, it's not because I feel bad about your village or your parents. But I feel like it's my duty to help you because of how I was trained by someone in the past. They didn't need to and got nothing from it but he did tell me something I will never forget 'there is no joy greater in magic than that you get by teaching another'."

"Ok, I see, you want to train me to return the kindness that was given to you. That's a good enough cause for me."

"I'm glad, but I do need to start your training soon because you are already into your teens and know nothing about magic other than what I have just told you. It will be difficult for you and may even seem impossible, but I believe you can do it."

"If you think I'm up for the challenge then so do I. Anyway, when are we starting?"

"Right now is best, but I need to figure out the most efficient and effective training to help you master your magic so that it can catch up to your age."

"Just tell me when you are ready!", Merlin shouts as he runs off the edge of the waterfall.

(Alvis lets out a chuckle)

"I have high hopes for you Merlin, don't disappoint me", Alvis says to himself with a smile.