Chapter 13: Focus and Visualize
Morning came by and Floyde was wondering what led him to this. It was around 6 A.M he got out of bed, and now, he is back in the forest.
" ... "
"Why are we here again?" Floyde asked Luis.
He thought for a moment and replied, "Training."
"Does training mean eating wild boars for breakfast?" Floyde said.
"Un. It is. Don't you know what this forest is?"
"No..."
Luis stood up from the ground, raised both of his arms like he owns this place, and said, "This is my forest."
Floyde looked at him in surprise at what he said. "Really?!"
"No. This isn't really mine. I just call it 'My forest', cause you know, I spend most of my time here," Luis said.
With a dumbfounded expression, Floyde continued eating, simply ignoring what Luis just said.
From the place they were in yesterday until to the deep forest, they sprinted for roughly an hour. Floyde would always suggest to Luis to stop and rest for a while or walk instead. But Luis said to Floyde that if he couldn't even manage this for 30 minutes or more he would start calling him 'Old man'.
Motivation grew in Floyde. He wasn't that much of an athletic person before. But his new body right now was fit and muscular. It would be such a waste to not use it to its fullest.
The morning was quiet when they left town. Only some bars were open which didn't have that many people in them. The town was wide, marvelous, and was full of enormous signs with each of their own bar names. They made the town streets of stones; they made even pathways of stones.
The difference between the world of Floyde from where he is now is that there weren't any tall buildings YET. The only buildings you could see right now were wide, but not tall.
After Floyde and Luis were done doing their so-called 'training', Luis told Floyde to follow him deeper into the forest. Floyde had guessed that the forest was huge. Not only didn't he see yet the village of Amira, but he had also now seen other kinds of creatures and foods that were new to him.
"You see that?" Luis asked Floyde, pointing to a large dark blue wolf by the tall trees that had the same height as them from a distance.
"Yes."
Luis threw a rock at the wolf who was roaming in the forest with a perfect aim, straight to the head. The wolf looked to where the rock came from, it immediately rushed to both of them as soon as they were spotted.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Floyde exclaimed, his hands rapidly shaking his head and hair. Floyde tried to run, but before he could escape, Luis immediately stood behind Floyde and whispered. "Focus it."
"I don't know what you're talking about! So move!"
"Listen to me. Visualize your own Fire magic," Luis said with a serious gaze and firm tone. "First, accept the mana within you."
Floyde was panicking but he hesitated for a second, looked at Luis, then pondered for a little until he nodded. It was better to give it a try because he heard Luis state yesterday that he had an exceptional talent in magic. Plus, knowing that you can do magic, what else could there be.
Floyde closed his eyes, inhaled, and slowly exhaled the air within him. Tiny white particles started appearing around Floyde, those particles headed to his hands. "And then, make it travel through your body," Luis continued.
As he opened both his hands, he faced his palms to the gigantic wolf that was heading toward them. Suddenly, after multiple particles fused in his hands until they started glowing brightly into a red magic circle, he opened his eyes, then released them.
A large fireball came out from his hands as it went straight to the wolf, engulfing its entire body with fire until it was completely burnt.
Floyde fell to the ground in his butt, his eyes open in disbelief. "Huff... Huff... That was amazing!"
Luis chuckled. "Huhuh. Your first expression right now was totally different from what I had imagined."
"Oh. What did you expect?" Floyde asked cheerfully. He then stood up and placed both his hands on his waist.
Luis answered, "Something like, 'Wh-What did I just do?!'" with some gestures.
Floyde laughed at what Luis said. "When you just saw someone try to kill you with magic yesterday, would it shock you when you too can do magic?"
"Kid, do you know what you're talking about?" Luis asked Floyde seriously.
"Yes. I just said if you can do magic then why can't I?"
"... Let me say one thing," Luis said with a firm tone. "Do you know what magic is?"
"Yes," Floyde was puzzled but he answered immediately. "Didn't I just do what you did?"
"... It seems you don't know what you're talking about," Luis said as he walked to the burnt wolf. "Magic is special. This isn't some hereditary shit you get from your parents or ancestors."
Floyde didn't know what to reply. He remembered the voice say, "Magic is normal here." Floyde expected everyone could do magic, but in reality, not all could.
Luis continued. "You don't just use your magic when you feel like doing it. There are consequences when you use that ability of yours to abuse the weak or anything that comes to harm."
The silence in the forest with the mix of whooshing winds made their talk somewhat serious. The forest was dense, the countless leaves of the trees made the sun not able to thoroughly send its light, but you could still see rays passing by the small openings. Both of them were gazing at each other steadily.
Luis clenched his fist and took a deep breath. "Ok, ok. Let's continue training. The awkwardness is giving me the chills," said Luis, as he turned around to stop the uncomfortable silence.
"Phew. Finally, we're done," Floyde said. "That was some intense lecture."
Just before Luis was going to carry the wolf with his magic, he still had this question in his mind that no matter how hard he tried to connect the dots he couldn't get the result, so he turned back around and asked Floyde, "Again, How did you know this is the Izura Continent?"
"... " Floyde's mind was going in turmoil, trying to figure out what to reply to Luis. Instead of speaking properly, he spoke like a child who was in front of the class who was called by the teacher, hesitating whether to answer or not, "Uh.. Uhhmm.. Ouuuumm..."
Luis glared coldly at Floyde. "... It seems you won't reply. I won't kill you. So just keep this in mind, don't EVER mention to anyone that this is the Izura continent."
Floyde nodded. "Mhm."
"When I mean anyone, everybody, your parents or friends. And don't mention that to me either. It's better to end this topic now. We don't know if someone might lurk on us right now or they might be listening already."
Floyde twittered his head up and down to let Luis know that he completely understood everything, and he wouldn't ever mention that again.
"One more thing, if you dare say that, even one slip from your tongue, your death won't be pleasing." When Luis said that to Floyde, he showed a grimacing smile to him.
'He's scary!' Floyde thought to himself as he smiled back at Luis, but fearful with sweat dripping from his face and back.
Floyde had to gulp down his own saliva by just thinking how his death would be. 'I shouldn't mess with him. No. I should never meet him again,' he clarified to himself. 'I need to leave later.'
"Ok, let's eat- I mean train!" Luis said blissfully. He headed back to where they roasted the wild boar earlier. Floyde followed behind in puzzlement.
In most cases, after people had a serious talk, they would stay serious until the end. But Luis was different. For him, the past is the past, and now is now.
Luis was on the grass, happily eating the wolf Floyde had just burnt with his first-ever magic. Luis told Floyde to eat some because whenever you use magic, it drains a portion of your energy.
Floyde politely declined. Even though he felt his stomach rumbling, he didn't have the mood to eat.
Days have gone by and never once did Floyde ever forget about his family in his previous world. When he had nothing to do, he would always stare up: ceiling, sky, wherever he is, he would just look above.
Right now, Floyde was on the grass, looking in the sky, wondering how his family was doing. How are they? Are they healthy? Are they eating properly? Being in this new world feels lonely, especially when you don't have that much information about it.
He doesn't know anyone. Luis is an exception. He told himself he would leave this guy as fast as possible.
Luis noticed Floyde's sorrowful expression. He was wondering what happened to him. He thought maybe it was because of the lecture he gave him, but it's not.
Luis stood up and moved in front of Floyde's face, who was looking up. "Ahh!" shouted the frightened Floyde.
"What are you thinking about?" Luis asked. "Eat, c'mon eat!!"
"No, it's ok. I'm still full from the wild boar we just ate earlier," Floyde said, pointing his fingers to the leftover bones they ate.
Floyde chuckled at Luis, because who would've thought that a scary person like him would be concerned for others.
Even though Floyde showed a bit of joy, he still had that obvious sad expression on him.
"Ok!" yelled Luis, as he pointed his index finger at Floyde. "I shall now take you as my disciple!"
"Huh?!"
In response to what Luis suddenly proposed, Floyde unconsciously let out a strange voice.