Chosen Paths

Chapter 10

Ghost followed Shadow into an empty room in the castle. The only thing inside was a small window.

"Any reason why there's nothing here?" she asked.

"So you don't accidentally destroy something," Shadow told her.

"Fair enough." Ghost set what she brought on the floor, then picked up one of the strange daggers. The fact that she had to bring them still bugged her. "So... can we start with how these things are supposed to help me with magic?"

"They absorb any magic that comes in contact with them." Shadow plucked the clear dagger from Ghost's hand and then conjured a dark aura to his hand.

Ghost watched as the magic began to seep into the clear dagger, causing it to glow a dark purple.

"Then the energy will be unleashed whenever you strike at someone. It'll create some extra damage depending on what's inside."

Shadow hands the dagger back to Ghost. Once it's in her hands, she can feel the darkness emanating from the small blade. The feeling is odd. A bit cold. It gave her the feeling that she was walking through a haunted house or a dark forest. It sent a small shiver down her spine.

"So once it's filled with a certain type of magic, will it just stay like that?" Ghost then asked.

"No. Whatever's inside will get used up after you use it a few times and you'll have to refill it. You can put whatever you want in them." Shadow said. "Old man in the shop says it helps newbies get an idea on how using magic is supposed to feel."

Ghost nodded and tied the dagger onto the belt that the set came with. Might as well save this one for later when there were plenty of others to use for this lesson.

Shadow reached over and grabbed the spellbook, then started to flip through the pages.

"Now let's see... since you're clueless we'll start off with... this." he stopped flipping through the pages and showed the chosen spell to his apprentice. Based on the picture of the flame on the page, Ghost guessed it had something to do with fire. "Summon fire to your hand."

Ghost took the spellbook back in her hands, studying the page. There didn't seem to be a lot of instructions on how to cast the spell. "And... how do I do that?" she asked.

"Just hold onto the book and focus." was the simple answer she got from her mentor. Shadow snapped his fingers and a small flame appeared, hovering over his finger. "Sometimes little hand gestures help."

Ghost deadpanned at the boy. "Real descriptive there teacher."

Shadow simply shrugs and stands there, waiting for her to do something.

Ghost stared back at him for a few moments, hoping to get something more than what was told. But nothing happened. Was she really supposed to summon fire to her hand just by holding the book and focusing? What was she even supposed to focus on?

She sighed and studied the page once more. Ghost held the book in one hand and with her other hand, snapped her fingers. Nothing happened. She then waved her hand around but to no avail. Not even drawing a flame pattern in the air helped. Finally, she held her hand still and said the word fire. Not even a puff of smoke appeared. Ghost's opened hand curled into a fist when she heard Shadow's half-hearted attempts to contain his laughter.

"Didn't think you'd be this bad." he snickered.

"Well, it's not like you're helping!" Ghost snapped.

"If you don't know how fire works then that's on you."

Ghost went to hit him with the book but Shadow easily avoided the attack. This time not holding back his laughing fit as he floated in the air.

"Poor little apprentice. Can't even conjure a simple spark."

"Then get down here and do the job the princess told you to do." Ghost gritted through her teeth.

"I said to focus. You're not focusing."

Ghost wonders if she threw the book, she could land a hit on him. But she stopped herself before she could even prepare to throw it. Were there little hints being dropped throughout this teasing? She supposed there was always a small chance for that. Ghost then began to start thinking of ways that someone would start a fire. Rubbing sticks together and using flintstones were the most common methods. Out of those two, the only method that could be related to snapping fingers was the flintstones.

Would this work? Well, with nothing else to go off of, she had to at least give it a try.

Ghost placed her hand on the fire symbol and with her free hand, began to snap her fingers. This time having the image of two flintstones clashing together to make a spark. When she snapped, she saw the tiniest hint of a spark. She snapped again and the spark was bigger. After a few more attempts and she had a tiny flame at the tip of her finger.

Shadow grinned and floated down to Ghost's level. "See? Now was that so hard?"

Ghost sighed and looked up at her mentor. "Something tells me that you're gonna be very annoying throughout all this."

"Before you go criticizing your teacher on the first day, you may want to worry about the fire in your hand."

It was then that Ghost realized her entire hand had felt warm. She looked down to see that the little flame on her finger had quickly covered her hand. In a panic, she grabbed one of the empty daggers, and the flames were absorbed into it. The dagger gave off an amber glow once the flames were trapped inside. She let out a sigh of relief before setting it down.

"Ya know, you never told me how you're able to use magic when no one else in your family seems to use it." she pointed out. "Kinda contradicts what you said the other day."

Shadow shrugged. "Let's just say I'm a special case."

Ghost wasn't sure how much she believed that. At least to her, it was obvious that he just dyed his hair. And having red eyes wasn't all that rare. Did something really happen to him? Maybe she would find out later on. Her train of thought was interrupted when Shadow spoke up again.

"Though I am curious as to why you want to become a mage. You seem to know how to use those daggers you had pretty well. Any particular reason why you want to learn magic?"

"I just wanted to and couldn't find a teacher back at home." Ghost said with a shrug. "Those daggers were just a way to defend myself until I could get a teacher."

"This world is far from short of teachers for sorcery. Why couldn't you find one where you came from?"

"It's complicated."

Much to her surprise, Shadow didn't press on the subject further. This whole kingdom seemed to be more open-minded and laid back than...

Ghost didn't allow herself to finish that thought. The last thing she wanted was to think about those people when she finally started to do what she left home to do. She continued to look at the fire spell. Maybe this time she could do it in one try.