Kingdom Rivalry

Chapter 8

A little while later, Astral came in with Zeon, who closed his eyes when he arrived in front of the Dark Number. Silence fell over the members in the room as the king searched for something in Mist's body that would confirm his son's suspicions. After what seemed like an eternity, he opened them again with a smile.

"Astral was right," he said and brought a chair with his magic, sitting down beside the bed. "Listen, Black Mist, there may be another way to get stronger. Right now, in your body, you have the potential to learn and master necromancy."

"Necro-what?" Black Mist asked, clearly confused. "What's that?"

"Death magic," Astral explained. "My magic includes party tricks, healing, long range attacks, and short range bursts. That is what my body is able to do; however, yours is specialized for only one type of magic, and that is necromancy."

"It is a complicated kind of magic," the king added. "One has to have a strong body in order to even have the potential to learn it. You should have learned how to use it when you were younger, but it seems that nobody in your family knows how to use magic." Zeon smiled brightly. "But that is going to change now! Astral will be teaching you the basics of how to control magic in general since I have much to do." He got up and left the room, calling out as he left, "You will start the moment you are released from recovery!"

~.A Few Days Later.~

The woman in charge of healing finally released Black Mist from the room. The Dark prince exited the room excitedly and hurried to the garden, where Astral said was the meeting place for their first training session.

Astral was waiting by the fountain, sitting on the rim with his eyes closed. He had his slender sword in its sheath and leaning against the fountain, his cloak fixed over his shoulders like a cape. His legs were crossed and his hands were loosely in his lap. He looked so vulnerable yet defensive, as if a single provocation would trigger some kind of death beam.

Black Mist approached him and sat beside him; Astral didn't move an inch. It was like he didn't notice! There was silence for a while before Astral spoke.

"Nice to see you out of bed," he said in a near mumble. "Our first lesson will be listening."

"Listening?" The Obscure prince scrunched his nose. "Why?"

"I will explain when we start."

"Fine..."

Astral opened his eyes and made a soft ball out of his magic. "I want you to hold this in your hands and remain perfectly still. If you feel the urge to shift, squeeze the ball. I only want your hands moving. Close your eyes and breathe slowly."

Black Mist took the ball and closed his eyes. He tried calming his breathing, but this was something he never did on command, so it was rather difficult to even start to understand how to do. The only times he ever lowered his breathing down to nothing was when he was in stalking mode, and that was an involuntary thing!

"Relax," Astral said. "I will cast a calming spell to help you, but you will have to do it on your own soon."

A wave of soothing hit Black Mist, and he soon fell into the steady, calm, slow rhythm that would help him unlock the death magic within him.

This feels pretty nice, he thought. Better than beating someone's face in, actually. He allowed himself a small smile.

Astral opened his eyes some and saw the smile. His eyes lit up at how nice his face looked now that he wasn't scowling as usual. This is a nice change from how I first met him. "Now, I want you to look and listen inside yourself for a small switch," he instructed in a low and soft tone. "When you find it, do not be afraid to explore it. You may experience a dream in this state; that is perfectly normal. It may even help you unlock your potential. This will be the easiest step during your training; you will complete this if you can get over your fear. That is what you need to do for you to activate the switch."