Kristopher wakes up to David mumbling. "What is up Davey?"
"Uh..." David Replies startled, "did I wake you?"
"I mean.. I Don't know. I just woke up hearing you. It's barely sunrise. You okay?"
"Yeah. I just had a weird dream." David says, averting his eyes.
"About?" Kristopher says, trailing off and turning his head slightly.
"There was this tree, and the moon was huge and it-"
"Said that the branches were evil and stuff?" Kristopher completes.
" How did you know?" David says in bewilderment.
"I had the same dream just a few months ago."
"Alrighty. Well this should have been expected. I mean we did just get pulled into another world through a backboard and kill a dragon. We even ate its heart and now are noticeably stronger." David says chuckling.
"Okay strongman, what training are you doing today?"
"I am gonna go to Fenol's and learn some magics and stuff." David laughs.
***
David walks into Fenol's room. He is the only one training for a week so Fenol can train David specifically. David pulls his robe on with magic. The robe is imbued with magic for David to pull and use. "Hey Fenol."
Fenol turns closer from behind his barricade made for when magic goes explosive, "Yes?"
"I feel like trying to destroy boulders is too easy." I'd rather learn how to do something more up my alley." David says.
"Such as what?"
"Well, a few months ago you said something about 'even if I could control it' when we were talking about that dragon."
"So you wanna learn to control a pet?" Fenol asks.
"Yeah. Is that possible?" David asks wide-eyed.
"Wholly and entirely."
"How can I?"
"First, you have to imbue a glass spherical object. Glass egg of ball works. That sort of thing. But you also have to have the creature's love or respect. That sort of thing. Then, you have to link its mind to the ball or egg or whatever." Fenol instructs.
"What if it dies when you can't see it or control it?"
"Then instead of seeing the companion walking in place or whatever, you would see it's skeleton preserved in the ball. But the thing is, when you link your mind to the animal, it can take you over. The animal instincts can take control."
"Do you have one?" David asks with gripping interest.
Fenol leans over and winks. "I have a tiger." David's jaw drops.
"Can you help me get a pet?" Fenol holds one finger up and walks over to his locked trunk. David follows. Fenol pulls out a glass cube about six inches long as well as a black orb with a tiger in it. David sees a lavender colored glass egg with a skeleton in it.
"Woah," Fenol says, turning around, "haha you snuck up on me," Fenol snaps quickly while walking away from the trunk, "Jeba has been trailing you well!"
"So Is that black one your tiger?" David says while thinking of the egg.
"Yeah. you want an egg or an orb?" Fenol says, raising the cube into the air.
"Uhh ball." David says looking toward the unlocked trunk. The cube spins and morphs to a sphere.
"Open your hands." Fenol tells David, who follows instructions. It lands lightly in his hands.
"Hey I'm hungry. Can we go take a break?" David asks. Halfway down the stairs, David turns to Fenol. "Hey. I gotta take this robe off. I don't wanna get it dirty." David says and runs back up.
When he reaches the top, he checks behind him for any extra eyes. None to be seen. He rushes to the trunk that is still unlocked. He opens it and reaches to the egg. Upon inspection, he realizes what he sees. the egg has the skeleton of a dragon in it.
***
Kristopher walks into Fenol's castle. He sees Fenol coming down the stairs. "Hey, where is David?"
Fenol points behind him, "He said he didn't wanna get food on his robe. What are you doing here? I thought Jeba was training you."
"Yeah, he said was already a month or so ahead of what he thought I should be so he said I could come here and try to learn stuff beyond turning a page and lighting a match with magic." Kristopher says as he runs up the stairs to his brother.
David hears feet tromping up the stairs and freaks out. He throws the egg aside and runs to the doorway. As he gets closer he recognizes his brother's footsteps. His brother gets to the top and David puts his finger over his mouth. Kristopher side-glances his brother and follows. David shows Kristopher the egg.
"What is that?" Kristopher looks bewildered.
"Ask Fenol how to connect an animal to you and how to tell if it is dead. that will explain it." David says sternly.
"Why can't you just tell me?" Kristopher asks.
"Because I can't remember exactly how he said it." David says.
"Perfect." Kristopher says. They head back downstairs to eat, egg hidden in David's knapsack. "Hey. Fenol. David was telling me how you can connect yourself to a animal with like a glass thingy."
"You can. You have to have a rounded glass object so the magic you imbue wont bust out at a fixed point. You also must have the pet's trust." Fenol says.
"What if the dear old pet dies? Will the glass object shatter? or maybe wither away?"
"You and your brother are so similar. He asked the same thing. The pet will look like a skeleton."
Kristopher looks at David "Neat," then back to Fenol, "so, how come we can use magic here and not on earth?"
"Your home has no magic. I would assume Shasta took it long ago. Who knows how old Shasta was when we defeated him. But here in Armada the magic is still finite but there is a whole lot more. It is attracted when you summon it. Like a Magnet."
David looks to his brother, then his teacher. "You know a lot about that."
Fenol looks to David "Yeah. Shasta went on a long tangent when he thought he had won. explained the universe. You know how evil people monologues are."
Kristopher looks at Fenol. "I guess that explains why you know what a magnet is."
"What?" Fenol says quickly.
"A while back, this shopkeeper had these knapsacks that used what he called 'rocks that attract each other'. When I said 'magnet he didn't know what I was talking about."
"Oh. I understand." Fenol says on edge."
"Yup," Kristopher pours some hot tea into his cup and then throws it at Fenol "Run David!" Kristopher flips the table and uses his warrior's gift to slow time. Hee grabs his brother, slings him on his back and runs.
***
The brothers burst into Jeba's house. Jeba, startled says, "Hello boys! What is wrong?"
"Fenol is evil." the boys say together. Jeba notices Kristopher twitching.
"He used his gift too long. He might need to calm down." Jeba says.
"No time. We need to go to town at a pub and talk." Kristopher says.
David looks to Jeba, "Is there any way I can push my memories to you?" Jeba nods and explains how to use magic to do it as they rush to a pub. There was a lot of talking to be done.
