Immediately after leaving the empty shop, Zomarus was confronted with the bright sun above the town. It was mid-afternoon and Zomarus had plenty of time before he needed to head back to the academy.
Zomarus walked around the marketplace looking for some items or supplies. Since Sugarton was a trading town, it was filled with many merchants and buyers alike. The streets were filled with people which made it hard to navigate through.
Eventually, Zomarus stumbled on some books that interested him. The stand was monitored by an older man in a large coat. It was quite a distance away from the main street but to Zomarus that meant better items.
The books in question were of some Demigod techniques. Most of the books were fairly common techniques, but one stood out from the others.
[Technique books were labeled by the color of the cover. The color was based on which elements it took. Fire techniques would be red, water would be blue, life types would be green, and so on.]
There were many different colored books, but the one that caught Zomarus' eye was purple. Purple was normally connected with the shadow element. Shadow books were quite rare to find above the clouds but nevertheless possible.
Zomarus did not want to stand out so he grabbed a mixture of techniques. He would grab a total of four books. A thunder technique, two fire ones, and the shadow book.
"How much are these four books?"
Zomarus held out the four books in front of the older man and awaited an answer. The man took a while to respond as he took a look at the young boy's books.
"You have three different element books. To learn these techniques your soul must be able to coexist with all these elements. And to be frank I don't believe that you can coexist with three powerful elements."
The man was serious when he spoke and gave good insight into the different techniques. Zomarus gave out weak spiritual energy and the man did not believe he could learn all the techniques.
"Do not worry sir. Most of these books are for my friends. Each with different elements, so you don't have to worry about a thing." A small smile planted on Zomarus' face.
"In that case, the total will be two gold coins."
Zomarus' mouth flew open as he heard the price of the books. He did not expect them to be so expensive. Earlier in the day, he had just given his last gold coin to Bella and her father.
Zomarus grabbed his coin bag and looked inside of it. And inside were only 120 silver coins. That wasn't even enough to buy three books from the man. From that, he looked up at the old man and smiled as he pulled out 100 silver coins.
"It looks like I only have 100 silver coins left. I guess I will only be taking these two books."
Zomarus put back the two fire books and was left with the thunder and shadow book. It was a little less than what he was hoping for but good enough for now. He gave the man the coins and wished him goodbye.
While he walked towards the main street he could feel a presence following him. It seemed very real but every time he would look around his surroundings there was no one in sight.
For now, Zomarus needed a safe place to read his newly acquired books. He made sure he wouldn't be followed and headed back towards Sugarton Lake.
Finally, Zomarus arrived at the big tree where he once slept. The lake was nearly empty besides a couple of people fishing and kids playing. It wasn't as empty as he hoped but better than the town he just came from.
Zomarus placed the two books in front of him and looked at them. Buying technique books could be a gamble since it was possible not to learn the technique. Even if one coexisted with their element their body could reject the technique altogether.
[Individuals can learn to coexist with new elements by understanding it. It seemed to be easier to understand a new element while being surrounded by it. For example to understand the thunder element someone would have to be training their soul during a thunderstorm.]
Zomarus would use the tree for his advantage. The tree was enormous and cast a shadow underneath it, perfect for the shadow element.
It seemed to be the late afternoon and still gave Zomarus a couple of hours before nightfall. He wanted to meditate at night to understand the shadow element more effectively, but he needed the night time to travel back to the academy.
He placed his hands together and began to focus his mind and body. He needed to connect with his soul space which would be difficult to do.
Human's souls were smaller than gods so to connect with their souls' humans needed more time and effort than gods.
~~~~~
Several hours had passed since Zomarus started meditating and there was little to no progress. He was still unable to connect with his soul space after several hours and the sun had already disappeared.
The night had just begun and if Zomarus wanted to be at the academy by sunrise he would have to leave. He took his books and hid them in his coat and left the tree once again.
Afterward, Zomarus started to get the same feeling he had in the marketplace, the feeling of being watched. And again he couldn't see anyone nor feel anyone's spiritual energy around.
"Is anyone out there?"
Zomarus yelled out to the darkness with no reply. The sound of night rang inside his head while standing still. However, the sound of the night was disturbed by the sound of the bushes being moved.
With his fast reflexes, Zomarus turned his head to the direction of the sound and found someone standing next to a tree. The figure was hard to see in the dark but he could tell that they were wearing a hood. Zomarus walked towards them and shouted out to them.
"I know you're there. Why have you been following me all day?"
The loud introduction seemed to scare the figure as it took off running. Although the figure was quiet, Zomarus had his eyes on it and started to follow it.
"Stop running! I just want to talk."
Once again Zomarus screamed out for the figure. No matter how much Zomarus ran after them his speed was no match for theirs. Right, when Zomarus was about to give up his left eye began to glow a dark purple.
It was a strange feeling as his body was moving with ease. Almost like he was connected with the shadows surrounding the forest. He was much faster than before and caught up with the dark figure.
Zomarus was close enough to reach out to the figure and pull on their hoodie. As he did the hoodie came off and long black hair came from the hoodie and waved in the moonlight.
"Ivy?"
That one name came from Zomarus mouth and echoed around the forest. The name seemed to resonate with the girl as she stopped in her path and quit running.
"Is that really you…"
Zomarus placed his hand on her shoulder and walked in front of her to see her face. However, he let go of her shoulder once he found out who it was he was chasing.
"Wait what. Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in the academy right now? No, wait, why were you following me. What is happening right now? Is it really you… Iva?"
The mysterious person seemed to be the school beauty, Iva. At that moment more questions started to come up rather than answers. Zomarus took a step back while he processed everything that was occurring.
Iva was just as surprised as Zomarus was, but for another reason. How did he know the name Ivy? And why did her body seem to stop once she heard it?
Instead of answering his questions Iva placed back her hood and began to walk away from him. She wasn't running away but it was obvious that she did not want to stay there anymore.
"Are you headed back? Why don't I go with you? I'm going back to the academy so maybe we can go together."
"Do whatever you please."
Zomarus had a fake smile on his face as he walked beside the beauty and left the forest together. It was mostly quiet for most of it besides one or two words being said.
However, Iva wanted to ask Zomarus what he knew. She did not know how he would react but still asked.
"Earlier you called me Ivy. Who is Ivy?" Iva made sure to not give away that she knew too much and just asked a normal question.
"Yeah, I guess that must have been weird for you. It was just when I saw your hair in the moonlight it reminded me of a special moment with her. It's actually a long story, you probably wouldn't want to hear it."
"It's okay. We have a couple of hours until we reach the academy so why not."
Iva had a big smile on her face as she faced Zomarus. At first, Zomarus was reluctant to tell the story but decided to in the end. It was not like he would ever see her again.
"It was a long time ago when I first met her. As a kid, I didn't have the best relationship with my mother and was always taking care of myself. The lake was a place I normally went to when I was feeling lonely or sad. Then one night a mysterious girl walked around the lake, she was beautiful and cute. I didn't talk to her at first but then she started to come every day and soon we started to talk.
We used to talk together and play with each other and even made a secret place to meet. We used to meet every day under the big tree and one day she told me, 'If one day I never come back, please forget about me.' At first, I thought she was joking around but the next day she stopped coming and every day for a year I kept going back.
But once I got accepted into Silver Winged Academy I would only go a couple of times a year hoping one day to meet her again."
Zomarus rubbed the back of his neck while ending the story leaving some things out. Iva on the other hand was looking straight at the ground not saying a single word.
"Maybe I shouldn't have told that story. It's very depressing once I say it out loud." A weak laugh escaped from Zomarus afterward.
Eventually, Iva looked up and smiled at Zomarus. "It's fine I was just thinking about the past as well."
"Since we're talking about such things, why were you doing at the lake."
Zomarus' question echoed in her head. Why did she even go? Was it for the same reason she thought to herself?
"It's just that I haven't been out of the academy since the summer break and needed time out. It's good to be out and smell the fresh air."
"Yup, you're totally right. Maybe I should leave the academy more often."
The two finally arrived at the academy later in the night and said their goodbyes. The two started to talk more after the story and kept telling stories and talking about classes and ranks.