A Beautiful Saviour

Chapter Nine

The clouds had covered the moon and it was pitch black amongst the forest, so it was a very good beginning to the lesson.

“Move the clouds Joseph.” Niklas said. It was with an audience that he finally let loose on everything that he held so tightly within.

“Don’t think badly of me.”

“Joseph, I’m jealous! But I know the burden. I do not think badly of you. Now move the clouds so we might have light.”

                He sighed. Looking up at the heavens he knew that sorcerers used wind to blow the clouds away. He didn’t need to do that; he could command the wispy white shapes without needing anything to aid him. He drew in a breath and lifted his hand. Magic flowed inside of him, inside every particle of his body. All he had to do was push it out. Slow and precise were the skills needed at this bit and it required much more concentration. Magic had a tendency to leave his body all at one; the hard part was that utter control needed for delicate procedures. He pushed slowly at the current in his body. That was what magic felt like, a little current in his bloodstream that he could always feel and was always aware of.

                The clouds in the night time sky slowly drifted to the side and moved out of the way of the moons rays.

“Good, that was rather well controlled but how about something heavier.”

“The heavier it is the harder I am at controlling it.”

“I know that. So lift that tree.”

                Joseph looked at the old and gnarled tree with knots at the bottom of its trunk leading to the floor. He could lift it far too easily but he had to do it slowly or he could pull out the entire ground the roots covered. He could create a hole in the middle of the very forest.

“Don’t worry.” He heard a reedy voice behind him, it was thin and old and Joseph turned to it and smiled an old man who was staying far back but watching closely. “We are here if you need to be reigned in.”

“Thank you.”

                He nodded and looked to the tree, lifting his hand he made a gesture from bottom upwards with his palm flat and facing the sky. The tree lifted instantly. Its roots travelled far under the ground, deep down and far away; always searching for more water. He knew what he needed to do; he had to keep the forest intact. So with his other hand he held it out palm facing the floor. Very slowly he pulled his finger inwards so they almost closed his hand. Then he stretched them out again and repeated the action while moving his hand in the general area of a bundle of roots.

                In time he had pulled the roots together, huddled them in a ball at the base of the tree and then eventually pulled the tree up, roots and all, forest intact.

“Good! Good! Now put the tree back.” Niklas commanded. So this time instead of drawing his fingers inwards he pushed them out, put the tree back in the ground and spread out his fingers unwinding the roots and sending them back to their places beneath the earth and near their water source. He was rather proud of the control he had used and turned back to Niklas looking rather pleased with himself. “There see, that wasn’t so hard was it. You have good control for the small things. Shall we move on? Let’s see if you can move the ground and control the sea shall we.”

“What?”

“The beach is this way. Clouds and trees are beginners level.”

                He laughed at his relief, looks like he wasn’t past the worry then. He followed the sorcerers out of the forest and over to the sea where he had to learn how to control tide, how to lift water, stop waves from crashing down and how to push back the waves from the shore. He had to learn to make the water creep like snails up onto the sand and keep the grains from moving an inch. He was to locate a crab from the deep sea and bring the crab to the land and put it back where he found, all without stepping a foot into the water. Niklas said when he mastered all that he had to move the cliff an inch into the water and back again. The point was not him doing the actions; those he could do very well, it took very little strength to do such things. The point of the exercises were control. It wasn’t about moving the water, that was basic, it was moving the water slowly. It was making the waves fall back to the sea bed with the lightness of a feather falling to the floor. The immense power he had meant that he could make waves crash and cause a tsunami  if he lacked the apt control. Everything was about moderation. And since he had so much more strength than them, a lack of control would lead to even more disastrous consequences than they could imagine.