A Spar With A King

"I'm not sure," Kies responded with uncertainty. He looked blankly at Tornon. How did they even end up here, talking about strangling owls?

"Well whatever." Tornon got up from his seat and walked down from the shadows that covered his throne. "I guess I should show you the reason why I asked you to come here." Tornon held his hand out and chanted a spell. A magic circle formed in front of this hand then expanded and formed what looked like a portal. Kies wasn't able to see the other side of the portal since the center was just magic swirling around.

"Hmm, a bit small," Tornon mumbled. The portal was about half of his size and it looked like he would need to hunch over in order to squeeze himself through. Tornon pointed at the portal and muttered something again and the portal became bigger. "This should work." The portal was now about the same size as Tornon. It was still a bit smaller, but it shouldn't be much of a struggle for him to get through.

"Is that your magic?" Kies asked out of curiosity. From what he saw so far, it seems that every demon really did have a unique magic.

"Not really, spatial magic is not my specialty. I only know how to open portals which is pretty convenient by itself. My magic is something completely different."

"Am I able to learn it as well?" Kies asked. The magic certainly did look useful and it would be nice if he were able to travel long distances. "It looks very handy to have." Tornon looked at Kies with an uncertain expression. "You don't have to if it-"

"No, it's not that. I don't mind teaching it to you, but I don't know if you Aeos could use anything other than wind magic." Tornon explained. "But I'm no expert on your race, so I guess it wouldn't hurt for you to try to learn it."

Kies was quite eager to learn how to open a portal since he had a very strong feeling that it would come in handy which was strange since he wasn't supposed to feel any emotion. But for some reason, when it came to magic and a few other things, he still felt something towards them. 'Huh, I guess I haven't lost my sense of emotion completely.'

"Okay, let's go." Tornon went through the portal and Kies followed after him through and found himself in a giant arena.

"This is where our soldiers usually train," Tornon told Kies, waving his hand around in a circle to display how big it was. He then stretched his body, cracked his neck, and said, "Though there's no one here today because I wanted to see what you are capable of."

"Hm? Haven't I already lost to one of your soldiers? How am I supposed to beat you?"

"Oh, we're not fighting. As much as I want to, you're not strong enough yet. I heard that Aeos become increasingly more powerful by each passing day and I want to see if that is true." Tornon finished stretching and then stomped his foot on the ground. "I want to test your power every morning from now on. For today, I won't attack. You just need to attack me and I'll only be on the defense."

Tornon made a gesture with his hand that indicated that he was ready and wanted Kies to start attacking.

'Guess I don't have a choice,' Kies thought to himself. He had wanted to train by himself, without the interference of others. The isolated hut in the forest would've been perfect for that, but it seemed like Tornon had a different idea. Well, it wasn't so bad anyway. This might be a good way to gain some actual fighting experience as well as training.

"What are you hesitating for?" Tornon snapped his fingers twice. "Hurry up."

Kies began to gather magic to his hands like he usually did. He then shot a blast of wind which was deflected by Tornon with ease. Kies then shot two more in rapid succession and started running at Tornon while the projectiles were still traveling. Tornon, once again deflected both of the attacks with his arms while keeping his attention on Kies.

"Hm? You fight at melee range as a mage?" Tornon asked. This wasn't exactly how Kies had fought before but he thought that he should start trying out new things.

Kies reached Tornon and started to slash at him with his hands which were coated in wind. Tornon easily dodged all his strikes, but compliments Kies on it anyway, "Your fighting style is interesting, but it doesn't look like you're trained in fighting with fists."

Kies continued to slash at Tornon with his hands and then quickly concentrated the wind on one of his hands to his palm and brought it onto the floor. A shockwave of wind was released at impact and sent dirt flying everywhere. The force had even pushed himself a few feet away. After the dust had cleared, Kies saw that Tornon was still standing in the same exact place which surprised him. He had expected Tornon at the very least to be pushed back a little by that.

"Not bad, that will definitely catch people off guard," Tornon complimented Kies. "Though, you do need to make it a little stronger and have a follow-up with that attack."

Kies started to gather the winds to his hand again to prepare for another attack but Tornon waved him off. "It was rather quick but that will be it for today. I have a lot of work to do. You're free to train here if you want." Tornon opened a portal and put his body halfway through it before stopping and saying, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot, but to get back to the hut use this." Tornon took something out of his fur coat and threw it at Kies.

It was a rolled-up piece of paper. Kies untied the string and saw that it was a map... a poorly drawn one at that.

"Alright, I'll see you again tomorrow," Tornon said as the rest of the half of his body went through the portal.

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