Chapter 31: Phoccus and Scrattius

I can't take it anymore and opened my eyes, desperate to get out of the vision that I was seeing. I went back to the calm grass field that I knew, and in front of me was Cainne, staring at me with confusion as he kneeled. The heat from the sun came back to me, and that's the only time that I appreciated its presence on my skin.

"W-What's wrong?" He said with his eyes full of concern, trying to open his arms in case I'll fall to my consciousness.

"I-I…" I answered, still couldn't be able to find my voice after the unknown images and scenes flashed before my eyes. I reached for my head. "I saw a vision… sort of…"

After saying that, he crossed his arms on his chest, as I just waited for his response. The sun started to move to the very top of the sky, but he still stood quiet.

I lowered my head. The room that I witnessed wasn't familiar to me, and based on their expensive walls and ceilings, it must be in a rich establishment. But… where?

"Well, I didn't expect that." He uttered, sticking his fingers on his chin while his eyebrow raised higher than the other. "There must be something that I forgot…"

Then, the whole place was back in deep silence, none of us decided to talk about the matter. He continued to cross his arms, as I was staring my hands clutching into fists, resting on my lap.

No matter how I tried to remove that strange vision I saw, the results are still in vain. It was stuck in my mind.

"Do you still want to continue… or take a break?" Cainne said as he stood up from sitting on the grass, giving me a sincere smile.

"I-I want to continue," I answered as I leaned my upper body forward, with stiff posture, eager to learn what he was about to explain. I shouldn't be bothered by that vision, I should focus on making myself better and stronger.

"Very well."

After that strange interruption in our lesson, we decided to continue. This is the third and final day of us staying in Zentra, so we must finish my training as soon as possible. I didn't know what will happen to me once I'll step out of this town but I know that we have a journey to travel, and that is to go to the Ritensore.

"Before we go on, there is something you must now." He said, going back on crossing his arms while I stood up from kneeling down the grass. I brushed the dirt and grass remains that were stuck in my clothes and finally corrected my posture.

"I must know?" I asked in curiosity, sticking my eye contact on him.

"There are two types of magic in the encantra culture." He explained, raising his head and stared at the air on top of me, trying to avoid my eye contact. "The Phoccus and Scrattius. Believe me, this is more complicated than it seems."

"Okay…"

"Phoccus is a magic that can let you change anything into one factor, and Scrattius is a magic that can let you change one object into any factor." He said without stuttering in his words, like he had been used to saying it all the time. Meanwhile, I blinked and tilted my head, didn't understand anything that he said.

After seeing my face, he sighed and raised his index finger.

"For example, you have the magic that can shrink any objects into small versions of them. But… you can't make them bigger or wider, since your magic focused on making objects smaller." He started explaining further, in which I understood a bit. "That is Phoccus."

"And you, you have the ability to create great force and control it whenever you like. But you can't create anything other than force since your magic focused on manipulating forces only." He added, using my magic as an example. "That is Scrattius."

Then, I rested my chin on my fingers, narrowing my eyes as I looked at the ground, collecting everything that I just heard. That means if you have a Phoccus magic type, you can be able to change anything of your choice into only one cause. And if you have Scrattius, you can change only one thing into any cause that you like.

"I kinda…get it now…" I said, still unsure. I can't believe that the encantor have this magic system. When you finally understand what each magic type is, you'll realize that it was actually simple. I haven't heard or read something like this in the books, and that's why I was so eager to know more.

"There are more to this magic system than you know," Cainne said, in which I raised my head and my eyes started to sparkle at the new knowledge that I was about to know. "So there are more to that magic ability of yours than you have."

"And that's what you have to uncover." He said with a smirk. I raised my hand, staring at it for a very long time.

At first, I hated this magic of mine, wishing that I didn't discover about me having it. But then, as time goes by, I started to accept its existence and it's the change in my body that I couldn't be able to deny. So instead of looking back, I must accept the change and move forward.

***

The trees surrounding them was covering the heat of the sun from passing through, but the armour that completely covered their body instead did the job, making their faces bathe in their own sweat. Their faces are full of exhaustion though all they did since morning was to sit down in the back of their armoured horses.

All but three had their backs slouched, can't be able to move. One of them still decided to stick with a proper posture, facing his chin up, as the small strand of his black hair was soaked. Danico is both a son of a king and a remarkable captain, so he wouldn't let his image be ruined by mere sunlight.

And there's his loyal subordinate in front of him, a green-haired tendrin, Pete, that wasn't bothered by the heat, kept looking forward to checking their destination through the map that he was holding.

The unknown knight that refused to show his true face behind the helmet had been standing still the hold time, didn't care about the heat nor the exhaustion. The prince had kept his eye to him, but right now, he didn't make any suspicious actions.

After a while of travelling, they finally went out of the forest and faced a wide scale of mountains looking down on them, as their summit screamed at them to not continue their journey. But the path in front of them was still visible, welcoming them to the peak of doom.

"Sir, we made it into the north side of the Gandrian Range," Pete said with sparkling eyes and a great sincere smile like that of a kid. He turned around to see the prince. "Erimia Kingdom will be on the other side!"

"Is that so?" Danico responded, still not removing the smirk in his face as they went on.

They decided to continue towards the intimidating mountains of the Gandrian Range, not turning back to where they originally were. They had been travelling like this for a few days, including the time that they rested in one of the towns they passed by. But that won't stop them from executing his plan that would claim his throne as the king.

As they walked to the open path made by the previous travellers in the mountains, they encountered unexpected visitors along the way. Their will to be alert came back as soon as they saw what's in front of them.

They started grabbing their swords and shields, moving their horses forward and attempted to protect Danico. But he didn't care and pushed them away, wanted to see more of the scene.

A group of winged creatures are feasting over a dead mountain goat. Their upper body was similar to a normal eagle but wider and bigger. And instead of a normal tail, they have long slithering tail like that of a snake, rattling in their backs.

"What are those?" He asked, expecting to receive an answer from the army.

"Hmm… that seems like snake eagles, sir." The tendrin said with his fingers grabbing his chin as his eyes narrowed. "Their blood is deadly venom. You can't defeat them through slaughter, and they'll eat anything they see edible."

"I see…" He uttered, removing the smile on his face as he noticed the threat in the eagles. Their eyes came from vampires, and their long tong made slithering sounds as they chewed to the meat.

"That tendrin was trying to show off."

In between those disturbing scene, he heard one of the knights whispering on his back. Out of curiosity, he focused his ears to the conversation further until he was satisfied.

"He was too cocky and clingy to the prince. What a jerk." The other one said.

"He thought that he can do anything and tried to win Prince Danico's attention."

With those statements, it was enough for him to determine that they were talking about his subordinate Pete, who was now lowering his head beside him, filled with sadness in his eyes. It's obvious that he heard what they were saying about him, and he couldn't help but to accept it.

Danico stared at him for a long time, trying to understand the struggle and shame that he was experiencing right now. He's a tendrin after all. But he knew that it isn't the right thing to treat them.

"Pete." He called for his name like it was not a big deal at all. Most of the army knights widened their eyes and turned their heads to his direction, even the skinny tendrin.

"Y-Yes, Prince Danico!" He stuttered in his words, didn't know how to respond to the summon. He had been flooded with guilt and embarrassment that he lost focus on the present.

The prince turned around to seem, with a wide smirk covering his face. "Take care of it, will you?"

"Y-You mean…" Pete said, couldn't believe what he just heard. "…the snake eagles?"

"Of course," Danico answered as he crossed his armoured arms on his chest plate, as he stared at him, trying to give him a gesture that he can only understand.

The tendrin received the secret message and smiled with warmth and eagerness, proud of the offer that was given to him, like a little kid that bought a new toy.

"Understood."