Lionheart

The Darkest Of Gifts

"Dark side u say, but....I mean what is that supposed to mean", Linley was still a bit sleepy, his thoughts were a heap of parts of dreams and memories.

Maud looked at him with the worst imitation of a smile hiding tremendous pain could look like and spoke with a broken voice, "Well apparently" he paused and coughed about ten times, Linley hurried down and brought him a glass of water.

Maud leisurely gulped the water down then kept the glass on the bedside, "That's better, so where was I... yes, so apparently u have a good affinity for dark magic".

Linley was shook listening to those words "What!...that means I am a threat". Maud looked at Linley and saw what was clearly visible, fear. "That means I am no better than those dark mages who killed my father. Linley was literally about to cry when Maud pulled himself up with all the strength he had and firmly held Linley's hand.

"It is okay child, it is not necessary that people with dark magic are always bad, it is true that usually people with high dark magic affinity gain an affection for the dark arts but dark magic has a pearl of certain wisdom in it, it may drive its user mad or lead him to greatness."Linley looked at Maud with a bit of hope in his eyes. "Is it true teacher?"

Maud smiled and said "Yes!, in fact magic is known as the magic which ends lives and yet it may be more dangerous dark magic is the purest magic that exists, and it is because of this that it is nearly impossible to control, ur father did it and it gave him the power to win a fight against fifty opponents simultaneously. "

Linley was surprised he always thought dark magic was impure and disregarded it...but wait there was something else."Teacher!... My father was a dark mage ?" Maud looked at Linley and said with a calm expression.

"Yes, he was...I did not tell u this because...well let us leave this at that I did not think u would dark magic at such a tender age, I mean mages take at least five years of training to get that amount of dark magic to flow through them but u did it so easily and with such expertise although you did end up almost killing me, u marvelously failed so yeah that's it ."

Linley's face grew pale and he instantly said, "killed you ?".

Maud laughed and said," It's nothing boy stop pondering over the past and look at what lies ahead Linley, not much time for your enrollment you see."

Linley was sort of comforted by this, "So, should I go train master"."Yes, but as u can see I think it will be better if you go alone", Linley smiled and said, "Well that is probably for the best".

Maud smiled back and said, "definitely for the best, this old man needs rest too you see."Linley bid him farewell and was just about to leave when he heard Maud calling him, "Boy, there is one more thing".

Linley turned back but did not move, "Here have this".Linley looked at Maud, he had the rune stone in his hand, but it seemed like a different one, it was blue in color.

Maud smiled an said, "Well I guess u can have this now." Maud saw the confusion on Linley's face and said, "I guess you are wondering if this is the same stone, well it is, when a stone is filled with magic it changes color you see but I had to use the magic I stored in it for..let us say educational purposes and it also absorbed some of your dark magic so it has a dark shade."Linley took it from Maud's hand and said, "Thank you for everything you have done teacher".Maud looked up and said, "It is only natural boy, just concentrate on your training, Go!, and listen you cannot tell anyone about your dark magic boy, no one can know."

Linley smiled and left. He picked his sword up and carefully the runestone in the hole, as soon as he did a small stream of magic appeared, it was pure black, Linley presumed it was dark magic, it was as if it was flowing from the rune into the sword.

Linley noticed quite the change in the sword after that, the sword was as light as a feather and its blade lost all of its glow except a small part, the sharpest point of the blade was now brighter, it seemed as if now it was a hundred times sharper cutting even the light that fell on it."Well this is new!" said Linley as he carefully placed the sword back in its sheath.

He told Jean that he was going to practice and he left. It seemed weird to him walking in the streets of the town, it was too secure than the dark shrouded forest. But he liked it, he previously thought the town was boring but now it seemed lively.

He slowly made his way to the bank of the river where he and Maud usually practiced only he was alone today, he walked slowly adoring even the smallest of details of the town he came across, the people, the stalls, the vendors chanting their goods, and the children running around jolly as they always were.

Seeing them the only thing that came to his mind was that for how long it had been since he had last met Sasha.

It made a bit sad but he walked towards the bank, soon he reached his destination, he went to the spot they trained at a small area almost hidden because of thick shrubbery around it.He stopped suddenly as when he crossed the trees, he saw Sasha sitting there moping, he looked at her. She was as pretty as ever, she wore a cute red dress with a small pink band on her head, but she was crying, it made him mad he did not know why but it made him really mad, he started walking towards her when she finally noticed him.

As soon as she saw him she got up crying even harder and grasped him as hard as she could, Linley saw her, crying, her head on his chest. Seeing her this was he almost wanted to cry, he hugged her as well and said, "Stop crying, it is not like you to cry" she did not stop though."I...I cannot take it please stop, I will cry too if you don't stop", Sasha looked at him finally letting him go and said, "Yesterday, I saw Maud carrying you, you were hurt really bad, I went ahead to see you but Maud would not let me see you, I knew you would come here, so I sat here waiting."

Linley looked at her and said, "Well look at me, do I look injured?". Sasha looked at him and he really was not injured, not even a sign of injury.

"Well, I saw what I saw." Linley looked at her and saw a strong of determination on her face he thought for a moment and said, "Well me and Maud went mountain climbing you see, and there suddenly there was a landslide and I got trapped in it, that is why I was injured but Maud used his magic to heal me".

Sasha looked at him a look of disapproval and anger clearly visible on her face, Linley thought she had seen through him but then she said, "Don't ever do something as remotely as dangerous as this or I will kill you before you kill yourself".

Linley looked at her and laughed, a few seconds later Sasha started laughing as well. The moment was beautiful as finally, he could see Sasha smiling, it filled him with warmth and joy, but still, now that he knew he had dark magic In him, he realized is he went berserk again he could hurt everyone close to him."Dark magic eh....I guess it's about time I learn to control my darkest of gifts."