Time Ticks By

The first week flew by quickly. The elemental mastery training seemed to be progressing swiftly. Lionel had at first been unable to use more than one element at any given time. That slowly changed as the week went by. On the seventh day of training Drindle would call out 4 elements at a time.

'I got this' Lionel thought to himself while feeling the subtle flow of energy from the back of his mind. Using magic was still stressful on his mind but it seemed Lionel had become more efficient with the use of his vervane. Lionel didn't even close his eyes to concentrate as 4 elemental balls of energy floated in front of him. There was lightning sending jolts of electric bolts around it. Next to it a fireball floated with the flames licking upwards into the environment. Beside the fire ball was a clod of dirt that seemed to flow like a liquid, its surface was dark brown and moved with slow ripples. Finally a crystal clear globe of water levitated.

"Good, Now add air to the mix" Drindle stood nearby in his usual training attire of a tight fitting tunic and breeches. "Come on boy, we haven't all day" He impatiently tapped his foot while looking at Lionel sitting cross legged on the ground.

Sweat beaded on Lionel's brow. He was focusing intently. It seemed with each new element that was summoned, his mind's focus would be split. It was an incredibly uncomfortable feeling at first. When Lionel had first summoned two elements his mind felt stretched and thin. Now Lionel could summon three elemental charges and feel no more strain than he felt with one.

'alright, visualize the air.. feel its flow.. focus... and release!' Lionel talked himself through the steps he had been taking to summon each ball of energy. There was a small ripple near the earthen ball of energy. Lionel felt his focus slipping. Suddenly each of the elemental balls spit and sputtered out of existence. The boy leaned forward holding his head, he could tell he used too much energy.

As Lionel had been performing magic on a daily occurrence he began to understand the limits of his vervane. The boy still held his head with his hands and focused on his vervane. His ethereal figure shimmered over a vast lake of purple liquid. He looked at the fluid, it seemed to have grown a deeper dense shade of purple the more he trained. He could also tell that the fluid level had gone down more than a half meter. 'I can use even more energy now without damaging my mind' Lionel thought while still observing his internal plane.

"Well now isn't that a doozy?"

Lionel's ethereal figure was startled and immediately turned in the direction of the new, familiarish figure. A strange being floated above the purple fluid. The newcomer, was a figure of a man in his late forties or fifties. Since the being was ethereal, just like Lionel, it was difficult to take in fine details of its face. It seemed that there was a gossamer sheen that coated the figure. The only characteristic that stood out was the pale blue eyes that reminded Lionel of someone. "It can't be.." the boy's ethereal figure spoke.

"So this is the purple lake you told me about?" The middle aged man peered around. Lionel finally recognized the voice of the being, It was Drindle.

"How are you even here in my mind?!" Lionel could clearly see the Drindle-ish figure in front of him but he couldn't understand how the old man did it.

"Oh, don't get your panties in a wad" Drindle's young appearance threw Lionel off, he watched the middle aged figure. "This is an advanced technique I will teach you soon, I just wanted to see your vervane for myself" as the male figure finished speaking, he shimmered and faded.

Lionel opened his eyes to see the older Drindle in front of him. "Why were you younger in my mind? and why did you want to see my vervane?" The boy couldn't help but be surprised by the geezer's actions.

"Simple, My ethereal figure takes on the appearance I see of myself" Drindle stuck his hand out into the air in front of him and pulled his gnarled wooden rod out of the slipspace. "As to why I wanted to see your Vervane, I just felt like it." the old man stuck his hand back into slip space and pulled an ash polestaff out. He hit the butt of the weapon against the ground while looking at its rounded end. "Hmm.. Here" The old man tossed the polestaff to the boy sitting on the ground. "let's move on to weapons practice, we'll just have to say your training in elemental magic is done for now."

It wasn't quite noon when Lionel stood up to face off against Baltaz. Drindle had summoned her. The old man's robe hung loosely on the black figure. it didn't matter that Lionel had faced this weird being for the last week, he was still not used to seeing the dull black shell that made up her exposed body. Not for the first time, did the boy find himself wondering what Baltaz's black shell was made of.

Lionel stood at the ready as the fiendish being charged. The boy had been practicing with different swords and shields, a sling, different pole arms, as well as a slew of other weapons. Drindle would let Lionel face off against Baltaz with a weapon for only a few bouts before pulling out another weapon for the boy to fight with.

The constant change in weapons meant that Lionel hadn't really become proficient with any of them. That also meant that the boy was covered in bruises from Baltaz constant barrage of attacks. Lionel had learned that whining about changing weapons got him nowhere with Drindle. He stood on guard with his two hands equidistant from the ends of the staff. He held the pole in front of himself horizontally. Baltaz still held the same sword in her right hand, She charged forward.

Lionel had become accustomed to staying calm. Over the past week he had gotten frustrated many times. He would get so enraged that he would swing wildly at the velthum The only thing that his many tantrums got him was more bruises than normal. So the boy remained calm as Baltaz brought her sword down in a vertical strike.

Lionel lifted his pole staff up and stopped the blow, He immediately shifted his weight onto his right foot. he then released his left hand from the staff. Baltaz blow still had some momentum and was thus deflected to Lionel's left. He took opportunity that brought, to quickly thrust his right arm towards Baltaz's head. His staff was flying fast towards her. The red cracks that were the fiends eyes seemed to narrow as the staff drew close to her forehead.

All of the sudden Baltaz leaned slightly backwards. Lionel was startled by the quick movement, he couldn't stop the staff quick enough. He felt a pain blossom on his left ribs and winced. Baltaz had moved her head out of the way by just leaning quickly to her right, In doing so it gave her enough time to recover and slam her sword into the boys exposed ribs.

Lionel was kneeling on the ground holding his ribs while trying to catch his breath. "Ha, She got ya good!" the old man was leaning on his twisted wooden rod with a large grin on his face. "You did a better job that time at least" Drindle walked over to Lionel and helped him to stand. " Just remember, when you attack with a staff you must always be ready to defend."

Lionel stood still rubbing his left smarting ribs. He recalled the many times he had used a staff through the last week. One of the first things Drindle had told him was to defend first and attack later. He didn't quite understand it until the old man broke it down for him.

"It's simple really, How can you continue to attack if you're dead?" Lionel still recalled the old man's annoyed expression. "Plus you have a staff, versus a sword. You have longer range but it takes longer to swing, so keep her at a distance. If that fails, defend and attack at the same time"

Lionel stared at Drindle who still sported a smile. "Why do you think it's SO funny when I get hurt?" The boy was annoyed that he hadn't improved much. When it came to magic he could feel himself improving relatively quickly, but with weapons, He felt like he hadn't even gained the slightest insight.

"Well the way I look at it, it's better you than me getting a beating, Heheh" The old man's eyes had a humorous sheen.

Lionel was feeling irritated, this wasn't the first time the man laughed as he was hit repeatedly. "I'm glad you are enjoying this so much, but shouldn't you be teaching me how to use this thing?" The boy looked at his staff. "I don't even like the staff, shoot the sword wasn't much better either" His irritation made him continue to gripe. "Why can't I just use magic? These weapons suck and I am dependent on my strength, which is obviously lacking"

The old man's face seemed to tighten as a colder expression showed through. "Do you not realize that your magic and body go hand in hand? Just look at your vervane, it is improving because your body is improving." a look of indignation was clear on Drindle's face. "Your strength of body dictates your vervane's density." Lionel didn't quite understand what the old man was meaning but he stood there waiting for more information. "Look Ank.. Huumm.. The easiest way to explain this.. So as your strength improves, each of your cells are able to hold more energy. This is a natural process that everyone goes through. That increase in energy allows your muscles to draw on it and do more. As your body's cellular reserves increase so too does your vervane density."

Lionel felt like he could grasp what Drindle was saying. Basically by getting stronger his vervane would continue to grow in density, but that led him to a question. "But if everyone can increase their Vervane that way, wouldn't all mages be able to use magic continually?" Based on what the geezer had said before, most mages weren't able to draw out immense levels of energy from their own bodies, so they had to learn to use environmental energy to supplement their own.

The old man's bushy eyebrows rose. "I'm impressed you actually listen to me, and the answer is no" Drindle shook his head before continuing. "You can only improve your Vervane density so much from strength. But in the lower mage tiers that slight advantage, is the difference between life and death."

Lionel had witnessed his own parents die. What Drindle said was more than enough to give him a renewed sense of purpose. 'I will get stronger, physically as well as magically. I never want to be powerless again' The boy stood tall and turned to face Baltaz again. The velthum began her assault on the boy with renewed vigor.