"Yeah, and learning from her sure wasn't easy," Lydia admits.
"You were a slow learner," I comment.
"YOU were a fast teacher." She counters.
"You had little to no knowledge of even the basics of magic. I needed to teach you everything and push you physically."
"Well sorry I didn't have a teacher up to that point." Lydia folds her arms and huffs.
"Neither did I." I glared at her. Lydia whistles innocently.
"Anyways."
I leaped across the rooftops of the city casually. From one building to the next. I walked to the edge of the building and leaped to another, letting my feet guide my path. Behind me trailed Lydia, curious yet cautious in her learning.
"So magic flows through everything, but mages actually can produce it inside their bodies. It's this ability that gives us the capability of using magic around us." Lydia summarizes a portion of what I told her a moment ago.
"Correct. Continue." I leap to the next building and she is close behind.
"Only one other mage in history has realized the greatest strengths and weaknesses of mages and magic. The Goddess of Fire. She learned that strong emotions like anger can fuel her powers, but fear would strain them."
"Keep going." She was retaining this surprisingly well. Although I had lied and told her that the Goddess of Fire and myself were two separate people. The same way the rest of the world saw it. This was likely for the best for now.
"Here's where I get lost a bit. What do you mean we produce a 'field' around us?" Lydia scratches the back of her head, likely trying to picture this scenario.
"Perhaps a demonstration would give you an idea." I turn and aim my palm at Lydia, to which her eyes go wide in shock. Around her, a small ring of flames floats at her feet about an inch away from her.
"Your body can't contain all of the magic it produces, creating a field where your magic pushes away other forms of magic. Were this field not present, I could simply light your skin on fire." I had tested and proven this against Maxus once. I lower my palm, and I can hear Lydia swallow a lump in her throat. We continue walking along the rooftops of the city with Lydia noticeably more tense.
"I wouldn't imagine the field is impenetrable," Lydia says after a long while of silence.
"Not by a long shot. If you exhaust too much energy it'll become weaker. Seeing as the magic your body produces stays within you to restore itself. Of course, overall power is important too." I stop at the edge of a building facing a four-lane road. Lydia strolls up beside me.
"What happens then?" She looks at me.
"Better hope you don't get hit," I say before leaping across the wide road onto another building. Lydia takes two steps back and then, with an extra step forward, floats across.
"What's it like on the island?" Lydia's next question is a bit of a surprise, I had not expected more personal questions.
"It's been a while since I've been. Many of the villages that were scattered have come together to make a small town. They have walls for protection, and they use magic freely. No electricity, they grow crops, and everyone works happily together." I can't help but scoff at their blissful lives. Meanwhile had I not kept the normals occupied for the last sixteen years they'd all probably be annihilated.
"Sounds... Peaceful." Lydia stares up at the clouds overhead, imagining.
"Peace never lasts." I make a sharp turn and change our course as we traverse.
YOU ARE READING
Torva Messor
ActionI did not want this power, nor the judgments you laid down upon me. I have lived and survived both. Growing. Learning. I've lived in fear, but now the world will know that same fear. For none have seen what I've seen. Done what I've done. Sacrificed...
