Rey De-Heavens (English)

7.5

Right off the bat, the little boy, who almost only had to reach out his hand to touch the tree, was caught by a kick from his master, who was not very skilled in hand-to-hand combat, but it could be seen that he made good use of his strength and size. Rey was sent hurtling across the field, until his feet and hands were able to slow the momentum.

Heroclades gave a few guffaws into the air:

"So like me, your body doesn't help you much. It doesn't match your talent or ambitions. After enduring much pain and being on the brink of death, I can deduce that you have immense willpower. As long as you don't have strength, speed or knowledge, control, ability and charge will be the three alternative factors that can help you become more powerful. You can have all the energy in the world, but if you don't know how to control it, you will be nothing. Perfecting the art of killing and living is no easy task..." Running his hand over his forehead, feeling his human nape and forearms, he continued. "You've made me sweat in this fight, but in the condition you're in, I doubt you can make it to the end."

Rey straightened his posture, lifted his chin and dusted off his body.

"Acting arrogant because you managed to get a little closer to the tree?"

He returned to his attack stance and after flipping through the pages of the book made a humanoid shaped creature appear on the field between him and his disciple.

"That is one of the many creatures in this book. It's about your size, and its strength I suppose is more or less comparable to yours. Now, why don't you do your part and try to survive?"

The little white-eyed boy took a step back at the sight of the strange being. It had four limbs, but no head. It didn't act normal either, its arms were shaking and its legs were almost falling off. "A creature with a consciousness of its own that does not need to be controlled by the wizard. Now Heroclades has time to summon another clamed, as well as his barrier. On the other hand, even if that being has the ability to reason, it is not a good idea to engage directly against something I do not know. The time is near...", Rey said to himself as he closed his claws.

"Oh, you are doubting. Never doubt or stop believing in the strength of your will. Once you have passed the limits, it is she who prevents your soul, body and blood from giving up. That can be a weak point. If you abandon her, she may end up abandoning you. On the other hand, if you are a hunter, you would be grateful that what you face runs and tries to escape from you. It makes your blood boil, it makes you want it even more. As you run, you become prey."

The master's words were right, Rey was forced to pull out from the only garment that covered him the unicorn horn he had so jealously guarded as a weapon to defend himself.

Heroclades, arching his eyebrows as if it were a very serious situation, said:

"You seem not to have learned about the first lesson. The law of advantage dwells in the minds of those with murderous intent. A sharp weapon in a fist fight... is not very honorable. Your actions bring consequences, and pulling out an instrument like that gives me the option to respond with an attack of equal or greater lethality. One that can kill you... no regrets. From the moment you crossed the line, I hope you were prepared to give up your life."

Rey, availing himself of his right hand, tossed the horn into the air. "Am I not someone honorable?" he asked himself as he ran as fast as he could, and employing a fine set of movements dodged the headless being's attacks. "I haven't had time to stop and think about it...maybe this is my last chance. But, if life were to be taken from me, what would be left?" He attacked, counterattacked, and superimposed himself over the creature. "I do not know the answer. For that reason, if, in order to find the path of knowledge, I must sacrifice my honor and fight against the light of a god, I cannot hesitate to become a torch of flesh and blood." At the precise moment when Heroclades was about to cast an incantation, Rey kicked the falling horn to the ground. "It is done. There goes my honor along with that horn. There's no turning back... Now I feel like something dies on this field... A rather hollow victory. No, I don't know why, but I'm not willing to regret it, I'm not made to let myself be defeated. Even if I have to walk with honor in tow, I will carry it on my back and carry it to the end."

Heroclades had his barrier deactivated and his eyes on the book. As soon as he was ready to cast the spell, he felt how his disciple's murderous intentions disappeared, something that gave him a bad feeling and the presentiment that he had kept his guard down for too long. Something was coming and he had to dodge it, the air did not lie when it sounded the way it did when something was approaching at high speed. Indeed, as soon as the tan-skinned lord focused his gaze back on his disciple, he was forced to tilt his head to the side.

Rey kept running with all his might, causing the grass and the ground to split in two. Heroclades closed the book and quickly used his other arm to grab his disciple by the neck and prevent him from getting any closer to the tree.

"What a face that," holding the little boy, Heroclades thought. "The face of someone who has the upper hand. If he has the advantage, it means I'm about to lose. In fact, it's amazing that you made it this far...". Heroclades, valuing a bitter grimace, waited a second and added aloud:

"You won. You won without honor, but a victory is a victory" Rey vanished into thin air. "I underestimated you from the beginning. You have surpassed all my expectations. You must be advanced degree in the arts of 'close combat' to be able to defeat my clamored. I congratulate you for having the ability to control "Aura". Managing to disappear your presence and create copies of yourself is something you could not achieve on your own, maybe Silvia had something to do with it. On the other hand, if you use your vampire lineage, you would have the affinity to hide in the dark without having to learn "Aura". Well, there are different ways to do the same thing, not that I have anything else to teach you....."

Stepping out from behind the tree, Rey walked calmly.

"You can teach me sorcery....".

Heroclades' eyes sparkled, but as if he was holding back joy, he put his hand to his head.

"Hmmm! Sorcery is a very long process, complicated to learn, difficult to master and almost impossible to begin. An incomplete art and replete with negative consequences for the user. One day would not be enough to explain the consequences if you fail, much less go over the terms you will need if you want to awaken the first energy vortex. Sorcery, in terms of development, is like an unborn child, even though it has been studied for so long; unveiling new secrets without consequences has become impossible and all developers of the art, if they don't end up dead, are cursed."

"Changing the saddened tone of his words...."

"Besides, if I teach you what I know, I would end up being the one who knows nothing. You have to understand that, as I'm the oldest of the group, I have to reserve my courage... but I can show you the techniques and spells in my book that I'm not able to use so that you can add them to yours. Without anyone else knowing, of course."

Given the attention the white eyes were giving her, Hero got a little carried away.

"For now, if you want to get stronger, take advantage of the light and meet with the Elder of the Forest or the Elder of the Lake. In the eternal night they might guide you to more opportunities. Put to work what you know and pay even more attention to what you don't, that will be my second task."

"Where can I find them?"

"As when I first set foot in The Heaven, today I also came to be able to feel in the Ever-Changing Forest the presence of countless souls. In this same place I can feel countless presences that we cannot see, nor can they see us, among these presences are the two old women. Something tells me that in the same space there are two different planes and the way to access the other is in the forest?"

Rey kept silent. He did not believe his master's words. "That in the forest there is an entrance to another place which is this same one, but in another plane? I spent a whole night touring such a place from top to bottom and encountered nothing but Paradise guardians and flying beings. If I couldn't even find the exit, how can I find another entrance? Although, on the other hand, Heroclades need not be wrong. Maybe the forest is much bigger than I imagined."