NINA
As soon as everyone arrived, Ren summoned us to gather round a table at the side of our rest house. We sat and stared at him while he was speaking in front of us. He was like a teacher talking in front of his students. I can imagine some naughty things in that regard, the teacher-student thingy.
I chuckled within myself, afraid that he'll become angrier at me at that point. But luck maybe is never part of me, because he looked me in the eye. I froze, afraid that he may read my face and my emotions. Good thing he just looked away and addressed the crowd.
"Okay, so now that we are all gathered here, I think it's time that you know what we are facing. I have talked to the other leaders of the other teams. The Great One can't hide these things anymore."
We all nodded in understanding. The severity of the situation multiplied ten-folds now that everyone is informed about our enemy.
Ren started telling about Asgard and the four pillars of magic in our world. He discussed about the origin of the beasts we are facing and the means on how to execute them.
Apollo raised his hand in the middle of the discussion.
"Yes, Apollo?" Ren said, a tinge of irritation in his voice.
"You said that Asgard was the father of all the damned beasts. But in our lessons before, it was the Dark Wizard who made them, right?"
"Yes, there really was a Dark Wizard. He commanded the beasts in the war we had five years ago. But new evidence found that Asgard may be alive, seeing from a photo we extracted."
"He was caught in a photo?"
"Yes, but for the details, I wasn't given permission to share it to you yet. So, let's just settle at that. So, now that we know he was alive, there was a possibility that the Dark Wizard was Asgard or the Dark Wizard was an ally of Asgard as he can command the beasts at will. We know that the Great Mages of the past killed the Dark Wizard. But knowing now that Asgard is still alive, the Great One has a strong hunch that the Dark Wizard is alive or they are the same person."
He paused for a while, letting all the information sink in our heads, and then added, "Just so you know, the Dark Wizard has the same magic with Asgard."
"Darkness and Earth Magic? Those are tough to face with." Sylvia said.
"I know," Ren said. "But we won't be focusing so much on that. Our top priority as of now is how we fight the beasts. If by any chance we ran out of luck and face Asgard or the Dark Wizard, we have to defend until reinforcements arrive. Don't worry, aside from attack, we will be training our defense also."
Everyone's faces were grim. We were all mages, and I know that everyone here are ready to fight for what is theirs. But, I'm still feeling a little bit left out. All I'm feeling now is how to defeat them and get to my Grandpa, my Dad and seek justice for my Mom.
And I think that's enough for now. I'll show those bastards that my family can't be trampled with.
"Okay! So for our first agenda this afternoon," Ren said, bringing me back to the discussion. "I would like to see the extent of your powers. Show me your most powerful attack and defense spell, as well as your weakest attack and defense spell.
"As for you, Cellon and Ling, I want to see what you can do that will aid us in a fight. Whatever you think that can somehow push more advantage to us, show it.
"Apollo, you go first."
We walked to the open area of the estate. Apollo moved a little bit forward from us, creating a space for him to show his fire magic.
Ren conjured an ice in front of us, adding more to the defense the space provided.
"Ready?" Ren shouted to Apollo. As an answer, Apollo conjured a fire dragon. As to how that happened, Apollo could only answer.
As the fire dragon moved around, it left a trail of fire in its wake. When it faced us, he spit out blue flames. The dragon was so far away from us and yet it melted Ren's ice in a beat.
We ran away immediately. The heat from that fire was enough to burn my whole body, if we didn't run, we would be toasted humans - or mages.
"Good god Apollo, when did you learn conjuring blue flames?"
Apollo shrugged then jogged towards us, a cocky smile showing in his cute face. "I studied the laws of fire, human and mages alike, and then studied on my own fire magic. Connecting everything I learned, I developed strategies to make my flame even hotter.
"Unfortunately, the blue fame is nearly not enough. I wanted to create flame that is even hotter. In the human's context, something violet or indigo is the hottest."
"Correct," I chimed. "The hottest stars in space are blue or blue-white. You are on to something Apollo."
Apollo smiled dazzlingly at me. Good gracious, he is so charming.
"Thanks Nina. And she's right. I aim to get the hottest flame, that even I can't directly hit the enemy, the heat would be enough to incinerate them."
Ren nodded. "Could your blue flames be only conjured together with your fire spirit?"
"As of now, yes. But - "
"Fire spirit?" I cut Apollo. It was a new term for me.
"It is your magical spirit, the harbinger of your most powerful spells. When you use your spirit, it would multiply your magic depending on your spirit's level."
"Every mage has one," Cellon said. "My healing spirit is a fairy."
I looked at Ling and he couldn't do anything but sigh and answer my stare, "A cloud is my spatial spirit."
The confusion in me is growing by the second. How do they know of their spirits? And what is the connection of the spirit and their magic, it doesn't make sense to me.
"My lightning spirit is a cloud too," Sylvia said, my confusion skyrocketing to the sun.
"My ice spirit is a sword," Ren said, nailing my confusion in the depths of Pluto.
"Holy moly, how do you know that that is your spirit? I mean, I understand Apollo's since dragons produce fire according to the legends. But to the rest of you, nothing is connecting it to your magic. Is the spirit even connected to your magic or is it something random?"
Ren sighed, "Yes, a mage's magical spirit is something given in random during awakening. Sometimes, magical spirits run down in the family. The bigger your spirit is, the higher its level and magical output. Apollo's was a good example. But although it enhances your magical spells, it is quite mana exhaustive. That's why communicating with your magical spirit is a must so that your magic and the output it generates is in sync and does not harm you."
"And," Cellon added. "Magical Spirits are very unique for each individual. Although some may have similar kind of spirit, as in most cases in every family, there is a slight difference between them. Let's take for example Sylvia's and Ling's magical spirits."
Ling raised his hand and a white, transparent cloud floated above us. Sylvia followed suit, but if Ling's was a fresh cloud, hers was a violent one. The cloud was very black, with purple light popping now and then.
"Wow. So you mean Sylvia and Ling are family, then?" I said while marveling at the clouds above us.
"Yes," Sylvia replied. "We're cousins."
They dispelled their spirits then. And I looked at Cellon and Ren, "Can you please show me your magical spirits too?"
Cellon sighed and reached out his hand to me. Above it was a cute little Tinkerbell. "Oh wow, she's like Tinkerbell!"
"It does look like the Tinkerbell in the movies. My Dad has this but his was a male with purple hair. See, it's always different per every individual."
I beamed at him, "Thank you guys for showing. Ren, will you?"
A sword appeared out of thin air from his hands. A sword I find very familiar. I cocked my head and asked all of them, "How do you know or call the spirit out?"
"Your spirit should be the one who helped you in your awakening." Ren said, letting me see clearly his ice spirit. "Close your eyes, and seek it out."
I nodded as he dispelled his magical spirit.
'Sword,' I called out in my mind. The sword appeared in front of me, a replica of Ren's. I thought every mage's magical spirit is different? Maybe there is a slight difference between ours.
I asked it, 'Are you my magical spirit?'
The sword approached me and disappeared. But I felt something in my hands.
I opened my eyes to see the shocked expression of my friends.
I looked down at the sword and looked back at them, "What's wrong?"
Sylvia looked at me, then back to Ren. "Commander, would you show us again your magical spirit?"