Stranger From a Strange Land (canceled)

Chapter XIV: Encounters

Aries cheers. Did I really just do that? Luna and I pull away from each other, and she looks into my eyes. I pat her head softly, smiling warmly. Yeah, I definitely just did that. "Why don't you go home for now, Luna?" I say. "Okay..." She says, leaving. Then, I turn to Aries, cracking my knuckles. "I think we should have a nice, long talk" I say sinisterly. "umm, Deisuke? You- you're scaring me..." She says. "Firstly, why in the sweet cinnamon toast fuck would you do that to us?" I say. "I'm sorry" she says. "Do you have any idea how we felt? We thought you were dead!" I yell, and she looks away meekly. "I was on the verge of giving up on this goddamn mission" I say, approaching her. "Promise me one thing, Aries, just one." I put my hands on her shoulders, and her teary eyes gaze upon me. "You will never, ever, do anything like that ever again!" I say. "I'm sorry, I'll be more careful next time..." She says. "You'd better, or there may very well not be a next time" I say.

"So, you're saying you lied to us?" Asks Sammy. "Not us, she did" I say, pointing at Aries. "We all thought you were dead" says Carne. "And we're all furious that you put us through that" says Claire. Aries rubs her head. "I'm sorry, guys" she says. "Now that that's out of the way, I think Aries needs to rest a little" I say. "She did take a direct hit from a dragon, after all" says Carne. Aries mopes upstairs, and we're left to discuss the situation. "So, now what?" Queries Sammy. "I'm not sure of you noticed, but we took down a dragon that was under the control of a Demon Lord" I say. "There's no way they're letting that go without retaliating" says Carne. "It's likely they're preparing to do so as we speak" says Claire. "Indeed" I say. "So... What will you do?" Asks Sammy. "I'm not sure. Even though I'm strong, I still can't use magic. And I can't beat any kind of demon Lord without that" I say. "Indeed" says Carne. "We haven't got much time, then" says Claire. "Precisely, which is why I've set my marks on learning magic as soon as possible" I say. "But how will you do it if you don't know any spells?" Asks Claire. "I made one" I say. "What?" Questions Carne. "Well, technically it's only a paper theory, but it should work. Now I just need to learn how to use magic" I say. "And how're you gonna do that?" Asks Claire. "I'm still figuring that part out" I say. For a moment, it looks like they all lose hope. "And that's where you come in, Claire" I say. "Huh?" She queries. "I'm asking you to please teach me magic" I say. "Me? But I don't know how to teach!" She says. "It'll be fine" I say. "I just need you to learn the spell, and then teach me how to use it. From there, I should be able to figure out the rest" I say. I've always been good at that sort of thing.

"This looks quite complicated" says Claire. "Relax, it'll be fine" I say. The empty filed that lay out before us stretches out so far you can see the trade city Gauna sitting on the horizon, even though it's more than a thousand kilometres away. She lifts her hands, closes her eyes, and breathes in deeply. But nothing happens. "Are you alright, Claire?" I ask. "I don't think I can do this!" She says. "Alright, well... How about of instead of you trying to learn how to do that, you teach me how to use magic in general?" I ask. "That's a much better idea" she says. I take place in front of her, standing with my legs wide. "Alright, so now what?" I ask. "first, let's conjure up a simple fireball" she says. "Great. And how do I do that?" I ask. "Firstly, you should hold your hand our in front of you and spread your fingers open" she says. I lift my arm, and hold my hand out. "Next, just try to imagine the flow of energy around you" she says. I close my eyes, and envision the flow of energy in everything around me. Pretty soon, I can begin to feel how the energy flows. "You got it?" She asks. "Yeah, I think so" I say. "Alright. Now, try to gather some energy from the thing's around you. The amount of energy you muster will determine the size of the fireball" she says. Without leaving a sing thing out, I begin to pull energy from the area around me. Not too much, as I wouldn't want to ruin the area before testing out my new spell. "Alright, ready?" She asks. I can feel a blistering heat right in front of my palm. "Now, open your eyes and imagine it shooting forward and away from you!" She yells. I open my eyes, breathe out, and watch as the ball of flames shoots away from my hand. It slowly sinks in the air, and eventually digs down into the ground and dissipates. "I... I did it!" I yell, getting all giddy. "Yes, yes you did" Claire says, nodding.
Now for the start of the show.
I raise my hand above my head, close my eyes, and slowly breathe in. I then begin drawing as much magical energy from around me as humanly possible, eventually draining the area. Then, I begin the spell. It takes a while to reach the truly devastating part, but I can feel the air in front of me heat up as the first beam of ions shoots down. Then another, and another, and they keep coming until they draw a circle. After that, I open my eyes, and they begin turning around and around, closing in on the area in the middle. When they reach the centre, they disappear. "That's it? Rather flashy, don't you think?" Claire says. Just then, the final blow shoots down from the sky like a massive beam of concentrated lighting, turning the sky black. What remains is simply a charred crater, smoking from the blow it just received. I turn to Claire, dusting off my hands. "How was that?" I ask. "You don't think you went a little too far with this spell?" She queries. "Maybe..." I say, rubbing the back of my head. "But at least it worked, right?" I query. She lets out a sigh and we return back to the city.

"So, How'd it go?" Asks Sammy when we get back. "To be honest, it went better than expected" I say. "That's what you think!" Yells Claire. "Oh, come on. The spell worked, and I learnt how to use magic!" I retaliate. "That's true, but in any case, with your wrecklessness combined with lack of magic control will get you killed faster than you can learn to use it to your advantage!" She says. I huff. "Fine. It's not like I need magic anyway" I say. "Well, I for one think it's great!" Says Sammy. "On another note, it's getting pretty late" says Carne. I take a look outside, and am surprised to see that it's actually nearing Midnight. It was already dark by the time Claire and I finished, but I didn't think it took that long to get back to the city. Then again, that field was really far. "Sorry guys, you're gonna have to pay quite a bit for lodging tonight" says Sammy. "I suppose there's no getting around it. We're quite the full house" says Carne. We cough up the money, and then pack up for the night.