"Concentrate"
August sat in the cross legged position calming his pace of breathing.
Ever since he was a child, August dreamt of becoming a mage. Even now when he was in his teens, he could never erase this lingering desire to be a mage and perform miracles.
However, life never was fair to him.
August had no core element. No element had chosen him or dare he say he wasn't the perfect fit for any element. August thought the problem lay in him. Which was very easy to think considering his situation.
But when he was standing in a place where people were using elemental magic without possessing a core element, maybe he finally had a chance or that's what he thought.
No matter how much he sharpened his sword skills, compared to a mage, he was still inferior. Which was also the truth.
While he may have been able to make the creature of the dark retreat, that was only his senses and keen intuition. He was able to figure out a way to deal with the creature only because of his presence of mind and not by the skills.
Indeed he defeated the dark beast while confronting the swarm of darkness and the rogue night faction at the same time but it wasn't enough. If a mage with a stronger core element was to be put in his situation they would've surely figured out a way much sooner than him. A better and efficient way nonetheless. That was what he thought.
At first he thought the motivation of learning magic only because of the inferiority complex would not be the best reason for him. However, he convinced himself that he had people to protect.
Maybe he was lying because of the obvious reasons, maybe he just wanted to perform miracles himself and make his childhood dreams come true or maybe he wasn't lying at all. Which meant he was serious about the people he had the responsibility towards.
"What.. exactly are you doing?" the saint asked, standing before him with a lantern as the only source of light in her hand.
August opened one eye and said in a confused tone, "Uh… Concentrating?"
Hearing that the saint let out a long sigh, "That's not how it's done. Stand up, let me show you."
August was curious about whether he could try using magic here or not for a long time now. So, he asked the best and strongest mage here to teach him.
Saint Aireen was without a doubt the strongest mage within the armada. No one aside from his parents had he seen unleashing a spell of that caliber before, which contained an enormous beast within it. Not to mention the storm was so violent that August had to struggle against the wind only to keep himself firm on the ground and keep himself from blowing away.
The saint stood still facing towards the dark forest,
"Hear that?"
August scratched the back of his head not sure about what he was supposed to hear exactly. He opened his mouth to say something but saint interrupted him,
"Shh…" she raised one hand, "hear the wind as it passes through your ears, feel it on your skin as it caresses you gently, and remember the secret. Then you will be able to do it."
Saying that, she flicked her wrist, at the same time deep in the forest it seemed as though a sudden wind had struck the giant trees making their leaves rustle in the silence of the night.
"Wait," August was nothing short of awestruck. Then he asked, "...you haven't told me the secret yet."
"You want to know the secret on your first day?" the saint seemed offended.
August thought he had made a mistake by giving words to his thoughts when the usually calm saint was suddenly angered by him,
"Ah.. I apologize. I shouldn't have asked that"
As he said that the saint burst into laughter suddenly. August had no clue, he only got to know when the saint explained herself. She said wiping tears of joy from her face,
"Oh… I am just joking"
August stared at her for a moment and then joined her in laughing. For some reason he felt relieved that he hadn't said anything that would have hurt the saint.
"The secret is…" the saint turned to him with a smile and spoke, "...belief. Just believe you can do it and you will be able to do it. Just as simple."
Again August stared at her lightless eyes in disbelief,
"Don't say it, if you don't want to, okay."
Suddenly it seemed to August as though the saint's lightless pupils were staring at him even though she was unable to see.
"Believe me it's the truth. Belief …is the truth."
August thought her words as a joke at first but now it doesn't seem like she was joking anymore.
'She has to be… Belief? Really'
"Magic is powerful," she continued despite his amazed expressions, "to be able to use magic is power. And power is nothing if you don't believe in it. As so it happens that power resides in you, that's why you have to believe in yourself."
She contemplated her words carefully and asked,
"...and you know what this power is that I speak of?"
August nodded in agreement. He has to be a fool for not getting it by now,
"It's consciousness."
"Right," the saint said quickly, "consciousness is what allows you to perceive the world as it is. Ironically enough we don't know about consciousness at all. Only one thing that it remains even after the physical body is gone."
That was about the summary of life actually. To us life exists because we know it exists due to our consciousness. At the same time we can't be sure that we even exist.
Just like inside a dream we can't tell it apart from reality.
"Just like that the elements are only consciousnesses that may or may not have possessed a body at some point in time but they are here now so that we can make use of them. To control an element means to control a consciousness governing a particular phenomenon. And for that, one has to prepare themselves by convincing their minds that they can do it. That's what people call belief."
The words of the saint were wise but to him they were only words, and August had read countless of them. It was easy to tell someone what to do but in reality a person has to go through their own struggle. Only then they could understand the meaning because of the experience. No one can work hard for another person after all.
His only class about learning magic with the saint was over. And August was still as clueless about magic as ever.
Thanks to the help of the storyteller, the echoes do not bother him anymore but he can never be so sure. What happens if he manages to make them return somehow?
That's why August was reluctant to try forming a spell.
He did not want to repeat the incident from trial class once again.
Looking into the starry sky above he let out a long sigh.
"Warrior Augustus" a familiar voice called out his name, "you are quite busy nowadays aren't you"
Miles sat down beside him trying to follow his gaze,
"So what are we searching for?"
"Nothing really," August replied, trying to sound gentle, "I am just enjoying my peace time."
"Peaceful?" warrior miles said with an amazed expression, "this place? Where do you get that impression from?"
August let out a chuckle as he understood the young man's intention behind his words. That was how anyone should react to a place like this. Eternal night, horrifying screams, dark forest, the young warrior wasn't wrong at all. That was definitely how a normal person was supposed to react.
And here was Augustus, surrounded by tall trees, endless darkness and gazing upon the stars above and thinking it was all peaceful. Something was really wrong about him.
"Ah… you must be referring to those stars," the young warrior continued, "you think those are beautiful. Well I like to disagree. Those bastards conspire against their own Sun only because they weren't able to match its light. Did you know that?"
August answered with a smile, "I do"
Without hearing his answer Miles continued,
"It was only their inferiority complex that brought doom upon the entire world and resulted in night consuming it whole. Like how can you even do that. You can't be this jealous… never. Obviously the rest of the world is more important than some shitty self absorbent stars."
Indeed, this was the history of the place August got to know from the saint. She also portrayed it as a tale of envy. Up to some extent this story reminded him of his own self. He also deemed himself inferior to all the mages after all.
However, this wasn't an emotion August could just turn off. It was like a name carved into a weapon by a skilled weapon crafter again and again which will obviously take some time to be erased. Or he just has to become a mage by clearing the hurdle if he wants to do it quickly.
"You think so?" August asked Miles while looking at the stars with a distant expression, "it's right to sacrifice someone we love to save the world?"
"Absolutely" Miles answered as if it was the most obvious answer, "the world is more important than one person's life, that's what I'd like to say. But I also kinda understand what you're getting at so now I am confused."
August wasn't able to suppress his laughter at the unsure words of warrior Miles. Seems like he had been taking the world too seriously, lately. While it was true that there were many things August had to do, and many responsibilities that he had to get back to eventually, it was also not wrong for him to take it easy sometimes.
As it seems like warrior Miles was intending to make him laugh.
"How's your burn by the way?" August asked out of genuine concern.
"Ah… it's terrible" Miles pulled back his right arm sleeve. There on his whole arm starting from the palm was a terrible burn wound.
At the sight of it, August's expression grew somber out of guilt perhaps,
"I am really sorry" he apologized.
"You don't have to," Miles replied with a cheerful smile, "it's not your fault that I am a moron who went to collect your burning sword."
Apparently Miles wasn't injured in battle but when he tried to retrieve his sword Fallen star from the ground. For some reason it was raging with unseen fire, enough to leave a burn mark on the skin of the young warrior.
Not like August could be blamed for it though, he was as clueless as everyone. However, even after knowing that Miles got hurt because of him he could not possibly act oblivious.
"Oh come on, cheer up" warrior Miles said looking at his somber expressions, "you know since the last battle you have become somewhat of a hero among the maidens" the information was new to him so August did not know how to react, he just stared at Miles in disbelief,
"Really warrior Augustus, I am telling the truth. You have won many hearts by showing your battle skill. I bet you can just ask and they'll agree to be your wives in a heartbeat."
The last part, it seemed like he said in a lower tone.
'He wouldn't be feeling jealous of me right?'
August was lost in his thoughts when Miles added in a hesitant tone, "the saint seems to like you also" his voice sounded kind of nervous, "I mean good for you but you should probably stay away from her, if you have that kind of affection towards her you see, just an advice."
"What? No" August heard the young warrior and had no idea what he was going on about, "saint was just teaching me about elemental magic. It's nothing as you think, if anything she reminds me of my sister. Only she's not dumb as my sister of course."
"Is that so?" the young warrior let out a sigh of relief, "then that's uh… good …uh you …you never told me you had a sister by the way."
"Was I supposed to tell you?" August stared at him with a blank expression, "must have slipped my mind. Now you know it. Congratulations."
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