Codex

9 - The Invitation

Pyro's stew spoon fell out his hand and the beautiful bronze concoction toppled to the ground. Dawn froze up, then released a nervous giggle, "You're, kidding, right?" she asked.

"I'm serious. He met an old friend and chose to stay with that person," I informed them, slipping in a slight shrug at the end. Pyro stood up and yanked my shirt, holding me off my feet. Either he had a sudden influx of strength or I'd underestimated his physical prowess all this time. In some deep tones, he glared right at me and asked simply, "Is this the truth?"

"It is the truth."

"Is this person called Kira?" he asked, his voice even more hushed to deter Dawn's vigilant ear from picking up. I nodded, surprised that he'd know her name. He sighed, said sorry, and silently continued his breakfast.

Dawn encumbered him in questions, but he would not tell her, saying it's not his place. It didn't feel right leaving her out the loop like that, but I had to adopt to a similar mindset. Needless to say, she was easily annoyed by our silence on the matter.

I'd have thought their training would suffer from Volt's impetuous choice, but they progressed as normal. In the midst of the third month, Phoenix and Hydra's hellish training bore fruit. Dawn and Pyro could maintain their wyrms and cast spells as they usually could without disrupting the connection to the spirits. To complement their achievements, they were taught a spell each. For Pyro, his coveted Phoenix Wave was finally in his arsenal of spells. A much more tamed spell, Water Prison, was taught to Dawn by Hydra herself. This was the same spell, in nature, that Hydra used to encase Dawn's father in order to heal him.

The occasional apparition, failed magical experiment, or beasts of the desert would suffice to feed their cooperation with their wyrms. By nature, wyrms were much speedier than elementals, but their calm and laidback inclination usually burrows this feature into a rarely seen spectacle. They would rest around their master's neck, coiling around like a snake.

Their training was a success. Despite my distaste in their accompanying me on this trip, they showed a speed in learning new magics I hadn't seen them display before. Pyro survived Phoenix somehow, and Hydra was unexpectedly strict with Dawn.

Divergence was mastered without too much difficulty. Division was closer than ever. Things were looking up. We gathered our gear and set out to Aquan again, finally arriving at noon some days later. Pyro insisted he'd break the news to Volt's fiancé, so I let him. She'd have known him a lot better than she did me anyway. Dawn and I went our separate ways, eager to get to bed.

In what just felt like a couple minutes, I woke up from my slumber. The cause? A stupidly loud banging that jumped me out of myself. Off to the corner of my room was a figure holding onto a pan and spoon. I grumbled, "August..." losing my strength and falling back onto the bed. The thick-skinned blacksmith sauntered over and dropped himself onto my bed. "Haven't seen you in years," he ruffled my already dishevelled bed hair, "you eloped or somethin'?"

What a friggin' pain!

"Don't be lazy. You slept half the day." Donna pointed out my indolence. The nerve of this woman...

After a couple minutes of incessant talking, I finally decided to get out and have some pints with the lonely blacksmith at midnight. Deep into my second glass, I already began to feel its influence taxing my brain.

"How's the Order treatin' you?"

"I dunno," I answered, "I ranked up, but I got suspended."

August tilted his head in question, "Your stupidity amazes me. How did you manage to pull that off?"

"The same way I managed to leave a student in Inferno Desert."

August spat a bit of his beer out, unable to hold in his laughter. "Are you glutton for punishment?!" He slammed his mug on the wooden table, his inhibitions loosening with every gulp. I sighed and leaned back on the wall behind me, having seconds thoughts about leaving Volt behind. It did worry me, but the calm way Pyro went about it made me feel my decision was the right one.