The Mystic Arts

“Where are we going?” I asked. “Manai Falls,” answered Halvor. “Why?” I inquired. “It's where The Hero's Dream is, and stop asking questions,” answered Aprix. I followed them until we reached a deep cavernous trench with waterfalls lining the sides. “Where to know?” I asked. “Leap,” ordered Halvor. “The hero must have faith,” said Aprix. As soon as they finished talking they both dropped into the trench and disappeared into the fog and water. “No, no, no, no. There is no way I am doing this,” I said, but I felt as if something was pulling me down, something urging me to have faith, to believe, to take a leap of faith, and without noticing, I was already on the air, falling towards the water. I shut my eyes, but when I opened them again, I was standing in front of the opened gates of a large ancient city.

It looked like it came out of an old Arabian story. I then saw Halvor and Aprix emerge from behind me. I immediately asked, “What is this place?” “It is our city, our land, the place we train, the place we defend, it's The Hero's Dream,” replied Aprix. “So this is where the guardians are?” I asked. “Correct,” answered Aprix. “Come,” ordered Halvor. We went to the largest building I had ever seen, it was not tall, but it covered a lot of ground. As we went in, I kept looking at the inside of the building that didn't cease to amaze me. It was lined with redwood and glass shaped into beautiful domes and structures. We went into an isolated room with many golden murals on the wall. “I recognize that guy,” I said. “The ancient hero?” asked Halvor. “Yes, he is the one that wrote the book I found the dagger in,” I said. “The sacred texts!” exclaimed Halvor, “Where is it?” he asked. “It burned with my other stuff,” I said. “Dammit!” yelled Halvor. He then held my shoulders and asked, “Do you remember what was in the book?” “Yes, it was the hero's diaries, and it explains how he defeated all the monsters until Gyvor, but these pages were torn out.

Do you know what happened to him?” I asked. “Look, I was a kid when this happened, so I'll try to remember as accurately as I could. One day, a helpless freezing man was found outside The Dream (short for The Hero's Dream) we rescued him and helped him recover. In the beginning, we thought he would leave, but he stayed and learned, and we accepted that, but one day, he came to our master with the seeking weapon, your dagger, and his mark was found. He had intensive training, and he sailed the land, defeating monsters, beasts, giants, and even demons. Every day he would send us about his achievements and location. Until one day, he said he had defeated all the monsters in this world, and that he will face Gyvor, we waited to hear about his success, but it never came. We never heard of him ever again, and until now we don't know where he is. In his last message, he said he was in Egypt, but after that, there was no follow-up,” narrated Halvor. “What did you mean when you said that he stayed to learn? What did he learn?” I asked. “He learned the mystic arts,” answered Halvor.

“What are the mystic arts?” I asked. “The mystic arts are eight groups and three levels. The beginner level has the five essential elements; air, water, fire, and earth. The high level has two elements; metal and electricity. Lastly, there is the expert level, which has only one element; blood. We determine the trainee's element using his mark, which is always on the shoulder, we classify the elements based on how hard they are to master. I should also mention, we cannot create or destroy the elements we master, but we shape them from one shape to another,” replied Halvor, “I just remembered, you should have a mark too, it should be on your shoulder.” He cut my sleeve and looked at my shoulder, but there was no mark, the same thing happened with the other shoulder. “I… I... I don't understand, how could you have the seeking weapon but not the mark.”

“Which camp should he go to?” asked Aprix. “Ah, yes, put him in the blood cabin for now,” answered Halvor. I followed Aprix into a scarlet cabin with emerald highlights. The door had a sign that looked like a ring of blood, obviously to signify the cabin. As I went in I saw many teens of my age practising, some were practising how to attack with blood, others were practising how to heal with it. Aprix opened my room, which I must say, was cosy. He told me that this was my room and that I had to change my ripped clothes.

I took a shower and wore the blood cabin clothes, which were a scarlet T-shirt with dark red murals on it and simple blue pants. I stood in front of the mirror and thought, The same brown hair, the same tanned skin, the same dark brown eyes, the same moderate height, but it seems that as I continue on this, my feelings change. I don't know what to feel anymore, should I just leave this place and forget all that happened, or do I stay and learn? I have to stay, I have to prove that I am the hero, if what they say is true, then the world's fate is in my hands.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard the sound of the door opening. Outside, was a girl that I saw earlier in the healing room. She had short black hair and grey eyes and the same height as mine, but with a lighter white skin tone. "Aprix wants you to come down to training, follow me," she said. I followed her into the healing training room. Aprix was standing at the front of the room with many students, wearing the same clothes as mine, sitting in front of him.

The girl and I sat next to each other as Aprix started to explain. You have been learning how to heal people with blood magic, but today you will learn how to defend yourself with it, just for emergencies. We will cover basic defensive tactics that you could implement when in danger. Please stand up and pick your partner. I looked at the girl and asked, "Wanna partner up?" "Sure," she replied. we stood up on opposite sides, facing each other, but with a 3-steps distance between one another. "I never had the opportunity to ask for your name," I said. "May, my name is May," she answered.

Aprix interrupted our conversation saying, "One of you will attack the other with normal non-magical attacks, while the other will use pre-known blood magic to defend. Let's see what you already know." "You could start attacking," said May. "If that's what you wish," I replied. I started to launch at her, and suddenly I found a solid red disk thrown at me. I think she intended to knock me down, but instead, I jumped and tripped over the disk and fell on her. Our faces were just inches apart when we heard war horns.

I stood up and asked Aprix, "What's happening?" "There is a raid," answered Aprix, "The Hero's Death are attacking." "You mean like the guy we faced outside the hotel?" I asked. "Yes," answered Aprix just before he started running. I decided to follow him, but as we went outside I suddenly stopped. There were thousands of those guys fighting our trainees with what seemed like dark magic.

I didn't have time to look for a long time because just after I went out, a spear launched into the right part of my chest, and the world went black. The next time I woke up I was on a stretcher, my vision was fuzzy, but I could see lakes of blood coming out of my chest, and I started coughing it too. I also noticed, something like a blue forcefield around my chest, which was probably the thing that didn't make me feel any pain.

I was rushed into a room, where many blood trainees healed the injured. I was put on a bed with May as my healer. "Oh no, this looks bad," she said. She then started using blood magic to heal the wound. "The wound is deep, I can't heal it from the surface," she said as she tore my top. Shock filled her face just after she tore it. "Aprix might want to see this," she said.