Project 7 the First: The Hero's Great Come Back

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

It was also sunny in Excalion. The sky was bright blue like always. The clouds were drifting across the vast sky. The trees were tall, and the plants were planted accordingly. Different cretures were everywhere, but they were not terrorizing the village. The people were out playing with magic games and whatever. It was just like the real world, but it was less civilized compared to the real world. Excalion basically looked like a bazaar from the Medieval to the Renaissance period.
Yes, it was a normal day for the people of the Excalion dimension...except there was a small problem. Lance was falling out of the sky. He did not expect to have a flying part of the training.
"What the heeeell!!!" Lance screamed while falling out of the sky.
"Lance," Pagos called, "remain calm and summon your wings!"
"How can I be calm if I'm falling out of the sky!" Lance shouted.
Then, before they hit the ground, Lance shielded himself in an ice ball.
A big BANG scattered around the area. The ice ball cracked and into different sizes and scattered to defferent places.
Lance was lying in the bushes. His head was throbbing after that fall. He got up from feeling quite dizzy. Then, he shook it away and felt fine.
"Why did we come from the sky?" asked Lance.
"When you teleport to one place from another, you need to visualize it. You haven't been here, so you don't know where to go," Pagos replied.
"Whatever. I should work on summoning my wings while falling," said Lance as he brushed off the leaves on his coat. "So, what are we doing in this dimension?"
"We're going to train here now. There are few people from your school that are here, but I believe that it will only be a small percentage of seeing them," Pagos predicted.
"I guess you're right."
"Now, go to a wider space. You really need space for training. And, you don't want people to figure out that you did this mess, now, do you?" said Pagos.
"Yeah, yeah. Shut that mouth already," Lance said with irritation.

They found a very wide and round area. Trees and bushes were surrounding them. Above them, the sun was shining bright.
"This is a perfect spot!" said Pagos.
"Yeah, it is," Lance replied. "So, what am I supposed to do now?"
Then, the snowflake on his spear glowed brightly. It was so bright that it can burn any person's eyes. The light faded, and someone was standing across him. Lance was surprised to see that person. It was Pagos.
It was the first time that Pagos ever showed up in front of him. He usually teaches Lance while he is in the pendant that Lance carries around his neck.
"Don't be too surprised," said Pagos with a serious look. "I am just a spirit."
When Lance looked closely, he noticed that Pagos's appearance was not clear. It was like he was going to vanish anytime.
"Oh."
"Okay, I'll be teaching you new techniques that will not only improve your combat skills; but also exceed your limits of using your power." said Pagos.
"I can't w-"
"However," Pagos interrupted, "I won't guarantee that it'll be easy. From this point on, I'll be teaching you moves of my very own. Even Shimo doesn't know some of them. I believe in you, Lance, so make this training worth it."
"Don't worry," said Lance with a grin, "I'll learn all of those tricks in a week's time! You'll see!"
"Now, don't get your hopes up. Remember to concentrate," said Pagos.
"Yeah, yeah!"
"Okay, the first technique I'll be teaching you is just a simple dash which can act as offense and defense. It can also act as a way of moving around," Pagos explained. "It is called 'Blizzard'."
"Sounds...interesting...I guess?" said Lance as he crossed his arms.
"Judging by your tone, you don't seem to be interested," said Pagos.
"Well-"
"It's because you haven't seen the demonstration yet," interrupted Pagos. "Watch."
Pagos closed his eyes like he was concentrating. Then, he spun like a wheel except it was white as snow. He rolled around Lance so fast that he was not able to catch up to him. He stopped rolling like he did not even done anything. He stood in front of Lance still looking clean.
Lance was filled with amazement and said, "Whoah! I just took back what I just said."
"See? In other words, don't judge it by how it sounds," said Pagos.
"Teach me! I can't wait already!"
"Alright. First, you need to concentrate your energy through out your body," said Pagos as he observed Lance forcing himself to concentrate. "Don't push yourself. Anyway, you should feel a spicy burn throughout your body. Next, you need to picture a spinning aura in your gut. It should start slowly and it gradually speeds up from time to time until you reach your limit. This exercise will allow you to spin as fast as a wheel or even faster."
Lance focused real hard. He was already perspiring. Then, he realized something.
"Wait," he said as something came in to mind, "how do you know when you get that spinning or spiraling gut feeling? Do you feel it or something?"
"Not really," said Pagos as he thought about it. "When you accomplish this, you'll get to do this."
Pagos stepped back a few steps and turned to his back. Then, he jumped in mid-air and did a somersault. His somersault spun continuously in the air. Then, he dropped from mid-air and rolled around so fast like a bowling ball. He stopped rolling and said, "That's step one."
"Ooh! My turn!"
Lance placed his weapon down as he was about to do the activity. He sticked his palms together like he was praying. He closed his eyes and concentrated. After a few seconds, blue aura glowed around him like he was burning. He raged to the maximum until his aura grew bigger and bigger. He separated his hands and jump in mid-air exactly doing what Pagos did. Then, he did a continuous somersault in mid-air.
Pagos crossed his eyebrows as he studied how Lance did it. He looked like something was wrong with his performance. He felt that something bad will happen.
Lance dropped on the ground and started rolling like crazy. He was overwhelmed with himself.
"Look at me!" Lance said in glee as he rolled around Pagos. While rolling around, he suddenly wobbled an went out of control. He began rolling around the forest.
Pagos expected that would happen, so he chased him. He spread his wings and flew through the forest.
Lance was fast that Pagos could barely catch up. Pagos flapped harder and gained speed. He finally caught up to him and stopped him with one kick.
Lance went flying back to where they practiced. He bumped in to a tree and lied on the ground.
"Wh-what happened?" asked Lance dizzily.
"I told you not to push yourself," Pagos warned.
"Sorry," said Lance as he tried to get up, but he fell on the ground again.
"Your Oraekisu is not that stable yet. You should build up your strength first," said Pagos. "You really exerted your strength there. Just rest for a while. I'll go look for a river. You must be thirsty by now."
Pagos turned and started walking.
"I won't give up," said Lance as he tried to get up again. "Quitting is not an option!"
Pagos stopped and said, "Fine. But, if you lose all your energy, you would probably die. It's up to you."
Pagos walked slowly. As he went deep in to the forest, his body slowly faded until he was gone.
Lance fell on the ground again due to his weak body. He faced tha sky and wondered. Slowly, he closed his eyes; and, the next thing, he was already in deep sleep.

White
Just white everywhere. Lance was floating in a white space. He looked at his hand. It was still the same.
"Where am I?"
"You are in your self-conscience," replied another voice that sounded like his age.
"Who's that?"
"Don't worry. It's just me," said the voice.
Lance turned around and saw a man almost wearing the same outfit as he is except he had a staff. He wore a lighter shade of blue. Perhaps it was a sort of mint blue.
It was Shimo himself.
"H-hey, it's you!" said Lance in awe.
"Yes! And, you must be the new frost mage, correct?" said Shimo.
"H-how-"
"Believe me. I have my ways of knowing," said Shimo cutting Lance's sentence.
"Why did you show up in my dream?" asked Lance.
"Because I needed to talk to you," Shimo replied.
"Okay? Why at this time?"
Shimo waved his staff summoning a mist that showed a scene.
"You're out cold. So, this IS the right time," said Shimo looking at the scene. "You must be having hard time with Pagos's training, haven't you?"
"Well," said Lance trying to hold back. He did not feel ready to talk to the legendary Shimo face to face. "It's just that Pagos makes them look easy, but it's not," said Lance looking away. "How can I learn all the things I need to learn in a span of a week?"
Shimo laughed slightly and said, "Pagos already told you that he won't go easy on you, didn't he?" said Shimo.
"Yeah, you could say that," Lance sighed, "I feel like giving up already."
"You just told him that giving up isn't an option, right? So, show him what you can do! Find a way for things to become easy for you," Pagos encouraged. "You've already reached to where you are now. This is not the time to back down. I remember when I first learned that technique. It took me two and a half days to master it completely."
"T-t-two and a half days? Are you kidding me?"
"I'm dead serious here. The technique is very simple, you see. Like what I said, find a way to make things easy for you," Shimo explained. "I can't do back flips and somersaults. I can only do front flips. The thing is that you need to imagine of an ability you can do that is similar to the technique and enhance it. As simple as that."
Then, Lance thought of it. He remembered that he can do cartwheels. And, suddenly it hit him.
"Thanks for everything, Shimo! I guess you helped me a lot," said Lance.
"Don't mention it!" Shimo said with a smile. "I'm running out of time, so I guess our conversation ends here. So long!"
"So long!"

Lance opened his eyes and came back to his senses. He stood up feeling refreshed. So, he tried the move one more time except that he will add a little twist to it.
He did the gesture again. He concentrated deeply. Calmly. Then, blue aura glowed around him. Afterward, he started to cartwheel. He started off slowly. Then, he gradually gained speed until he reached maximum level of speed. He was rolling like a wheel, but he was as thin as a blade. He rolled so fast around the wide space continuously.
Pagos came back with water containers in his hands. He was suddenly surprised to see Lance already improved in less than three hours. He didn't sense a flaw this time.
Lance jumped in the air still rolling. He landed on the ground on his two feet. He was like a professional already.
"What do you think, Pagos? Was that good enough?" Lance said as he turned to him.
Pagos was applauding for him with a slight smile on his face. "That was excellent!"
"Glad to hear!"
"I guess there's no need for breaks now. Let's move on, shall we?" said Pagos.
"I'm ready!"
"Okay. I'm warning you, this next one won't be as easy as the first one," warned Pagos.
"Throw anything at me. I can take it," said Lance with a grin.
"Brace yourself, Lance!" said Pagos as he did a stance. "This next one will blow your mind away!"

***End of Chapter 23***