Mysticon Origins

Tale of Three Mages, Part Three

Eight years have already come and gone, yet it still seemed like only yesterday when Zorlon had met the two Grimm siblings and took them in as his own. They were all at the astromancer academy, where everyday they honed their mystic skills.

Zorlon became a top level astromancer. He seemed to be much less raggedy than he was from years passed. He still had long, raven hair, only he wore it in a formal ponytail, and his lumberjack-like beard had been trimmed wn to a full goatee. His attire had changed quite a bit as well, wearing a navy blue shirt with a light blue astromancer symbol on the front. In addition, he wore a long, pitch black coat reaching down to his ankles, with some light blue on the shoulders, and black pants with a belt and long leather boots.

Malvaron and Tazma, on the other hand, wore astromancers cloak that was provided to them. Malveron styled his hair into an afro, while Tazma was wearing her hair in a small ponytail. Malveron didn't much care for the cloaks and often thought about changing his attire to be similar to that of Zorlon, whom he always looked up to ever since they met.

Zorlon trained under Nova himself. To say that training with Nova was a pleasant experience would be quite a stretch, as the old astromancer was impatient, domineering, and very harsh. Even still, Zorlon became one of the most, if not the most, powerful astronomers at the academy because of it. After each training session, he would train his young wards, but nowhere near as harshly as Nova would have. He was patient, calm, welcoming, yet wasn't above discipline here and there.

***

It was time for Malvaron and Tazma to spar with each other once again. Tazma had won the last few rounds, but Malvaron was confident he could win this time. Both of them stood at the center of the training hall on opposite sides of a training circle, staring each other, ready to go at it.

The rule was simple, try to push the opponent out of the circle to win. Zorlon stood firm, looking at his disciples as they wait with anticipation. After a moment of silence, the mighty mage raised his staff high, then slammed it hard in the ground, beginning the match.
Both began firing magic beams at each other, though neither manages to land a hit. Malvaron turned his orange beams into an energy ball, which he fired at Tazma, only for her to create a barrier around her that negated the spell. Malvaron was a little frustrated with that, but he wasn't discouraged, and still proceeded with his spells. Tazma, however had her own battle plan.

Tazma closed her eyes and took a small breath. Her hands were surrounded by a dark, purple aura, surely not like the typical purple aura the other mages used. Then, in the blink of an eye, her hands morphed into two blades of energy. Without warning, she lunged at Malvaron, swinging at him with full force. The poor younger mage was trying, seemingly with his life, to dodge these attacks. He managed blow Tazma away with a wind spell to get some distance, but she just kept coming with her attack.

Zorlon was starting to see the aggression in Tazma's technique. From the moment he met her, he suspected she was quite the trouble maker, and indeed that started to show when she was bullying some of the other starlings back in her younger years. Yet, as the years went by she started to grow more distant and cold, even towards him and Malvaron. It seemed all that bottled up rage was coming to the surface.

After a good deal of narrow dodges, Malvaron managed to gain the upper hand and trip up Tazma did a light spall to blast her out of the training circle. Just like that, the match was over, Malvaron had won. He turned to Zorlon, who smiled at the young pupil, to which Malvaron smiled back.

Tazma could not believe it, had she really been bested by her own little brother? No! then summoned her dark purple tendrils that trapped Malvaron. She then proceeded to squeeze him very hard, to the point where Malvaron could hardly breathe.