"That's too expensive for just a leather strap," Vega bargained to one of the apprentice at the academy trading center.
The apprentice squatted down and took something from behind the table, "This one is twenty. Look, different quality and different materials."
"But no, see the scratch? What's good about it?!"
"The leather for example? That's an expensive dire wolf skinned by our very best."
"But…" The banter went on and on, until finally Vega gave up and placed one magic crystal on the table, "Here! I want this, that, and one set of the ingredients too."
Vega came to this stall knowing that this ones had all the things he needed. After learning about potions and how much money he could gain, he was eager to learn the two potions Wyatt told him. After discussing with Wyatt the other night, he told Vega to prepare for couple of things before making his own potions.
With his handful, he brought all the things he bought first before locking the door behind him. He didn't forget to strap the book behind his back with the new leather strap and cover it with his robe. Now, he could be the only apprentice who still like to wearing his robe wherever he goes.
The port was full of people walking about shouting and screaming. The smell of salty from the ocean mixed with sweat was something normal. Some weird soulless slaves holding three to four bandages following an apprentice with a nose that was too sharp for his face. Another apprentice held two bags with a smile on her face.
Vega finally saw the ship that brought the new people in the port. Many newcomers stood on the dock looking around unfamiliar places around them. Some looked scared but many looked anxious being here. Boys and girls about thirteen years old coming to unfamiliar places and potentially be someone powerful or someone's slaves, yeah nervous was pretty normal.
"Hi Mayne!" Vega waved and shouted at the short looking apprentice leading the group. He
Mayne looked over and stared at the new initiates and asked them to wait. He then ran approaching Vega, "Hi Vega, it's nice to see you outside the library?"
"Yeah. New initiates?" Vega glanced over the kids who stood on the dock nervous.
Mayne looked back, "Yes, only four people were nobles, the others are commoners. All of them were from the mainland." Looking at Vega he joked, "No one as crazy as you coming from outerland. Most of the ships nearing the Islands were without survivors, so you were lucky."
"Yes, yes. I heard that a lot. Don't make Master Grondor wait. I saw him smiling weirdly when I passed by before."
Mayne's smile disappeared and excused himself. He ran back and ordered all the initiates to follow him. He walked faster than Vega ever seen him visiting any class.
Vega smiled. He hadn't been friend with Mayne the past weeks when he had to catch up to the free lessons for intermediate apprentices. He only met the short boy several times in the library copying a stack of borrowed notes. The short boy always came late to the free class for intermediate apprentices. Most of the times the adepts in charge of the class forced Mayne to wait outside borrowing notes from other people.
Mayne was the only commoner he knew that was really friendly with a lot of people regardless of their status. Vega also saw him once joked about with adepts that normally the apprentices trying to get away from. The only adept he seemed to be scared of was the old Master Grondor. After getting to know the boy more, Vega learned that Master Grondor was still a relative of Mayne's which explained his behaviour toward the old man.
Vega finally reached the weird looking building he was looking for. It was easy to spot where his mentor lived. Proudly, Vega took his new medal and unlocked the formation by himself. Vega stopped for a moment with guilt clear on his face. It would be nice to enjoy the moment with Dion. Alas, he was trying to keep his distance because of his past. The noble hadn't answered him every night he tried to contact him. Otherwise he would totally be happy for him.
After a satisfying click, Vega shook his head and didn't allow himself to wallow in the sadness. He stepped on the circle and felt formation scanning him. The pressure was stronger than the one he experienced at the academy gate. The smell reminded him of the sweet scent of flower garden in the city.
Professor Addilyn was a beautiful looking lady in her fourties. But based on the wrinkles she could even older than sixty years old. Vega felt the mana danced around her. Each mana strings played different melody reverberated in the room. When he focused on the melody, he felt sadness overcame him. Recalling the previous accident, he sat down, meditated and kept his emotions stable.
Focusing on his emotions was not as easy as the first time he tried practicing meditation. It was like when he tried to be calm while facing three guards finding his way out. Back then his survival instinc helped him to focus on the task at hand. Now, the sadness evoking the memory of Dion's smile waving at him. It felt like the noble was saying goodbye to him and smiling.
He felt tears threteaning to come out. Knowing that fighting his emotions was useless, he focused on the scar he got when fighting another kid. The scar throbbed and Vega suddenly remember what was the fight about. His emotion turned into anger. His palm sweat and he felt a strong urge to punch someone. When the feeling intensified, he chose another sad memory when losing the old man. The melody stopped abruptly and Vega felt like himself again.
"A heart of illusion is a method to distance yourself form your emotions and your body. Imagine your soul and your mind connect. When the you started to fall unconscious but still conscious enough to realize your surrounding. It's your time to let go." Professor Addilyn finally talked looking at the boy sitting facing her.
Vega bowed noticing that his mentor was looking at him. Vega tried to recall the sentence but he only remembered a heart of illusion. "What?"
Addilyn stared making Vega lost his composure and bit his lip. After a long pause, his mentor finally said again, "It's about balance. You feel but not feeling."
Vega repeated the sentence over and over again in his mind. "So, basically ignoring your emotions but also notice it's there?"
Finally, Addilyn smiled and nodded, "Correct. That's the only thing you can do as an apprentice. You don't have the capacity to separate your soul. Everything you experience physically, your soul experience the same thing. A heart of illusion help you to change your perspective. Instead of getting emotional, you can step back and watch your feeling without getting involved."
"I think I understand," Vega looked at his mentor.
"Now, I expect that you get the same first spell as mine. Imagine the sharpness of the sword and the sharpness of a strong wind. Remember, illusion could also be a reality by changing your perspective slightly."
Vega did what his mentor asked. Touching his mana pool, he activated his first spell. The air around him gathered and a slash of a sword appeared and marked the wooden floor instead activating the illusion he unconsciously used his two-dimensional spell model. Vega scratched his head confused, "I think the spell model merged together into one."
"Ah. That spell model," Addilyn noticed the sword mark. "Let me erase it first for you" She lifted her hands and plucked an imaginary string on the air. She went inside Vega's mind and plucked the crude model and broke it into several pieces.
Vega felt something disappeared from his mind. The pain flowed through his left ear and he heard a ringing sound. He felt something wet flowed from his nose. When he brushed his finger, he saw a trace of blood.
"That's the effect of discarding a spell model," Vega heard his mentor spoke coldly. "Build the first spell model again and now focus on the mana where you can hear the illusion."
Several slashing sound filled the room. When Vega ran out of mana, Professor Addilyn forced him to meditate and repeated the process. After several tries Vega finally was able to create a slight wind on the place he concentrated. Even though his head hurt, a smile plastered on is face for finally being able to create an air blade without a spell model.
"Focus on that feeling, I want you to try splitting those teacup in half," Addilyn pointed at a new ceramic teapot on her table.
Vega embarassed but after looking at his mentor that looked at him seriously, he tried activating his mana and finally on his fifth try splitting the teapot in half. The other time he lost control of the spell and instead a gust of wind knocked over the cups and they fell clattering down on the wooden floor.
Vega ran toward the fragments of the cups and apologized again and again at his mentor.
"That's okay," his mentor said looking at the mess his apprentice had made. "Leave that. We focus on the heart of illusion."
The sound of zither filled the room. Now Vega was ready and he sat down and focused on listening but not listening. Vega shivered because he didn't expect that the memory that now resurfaced was something he tried to forget.
He recalled a strong hand gripped him while he begged for mercy. He remembered a strong hand groped him. He remembered his cries when the noble forced himself inside. He remembered hugging his leg crying, seeing four silver coins clattered on the stone pathway. Painful memories going through inside his mind over and over again. Vega kept his focus and watched the memories play in his mind without interfering and relieving the memory.
The melody grew louder, and the memories felt more vivid. Vega almost lost his calm, relieving his traumatic childhood memories. After getting used to the feeling, Vega hummed the melody. The two timbres in the same frequencies intertwined together evoking a sense of eeriness in the room. When they reached the climax, a high-pitched sound broke the whole melody and the room grew quiet again.
Vega gasped for air until he couldn't hold his tears anymore. He cried and cried until his clothes darkened because of his tears. He hugged himself while crying uncontrollably. Finally, a new peaceful melody in his ears made him relax. Vega wiped his eyes and looked over at his mentor who looked at him coldly.
"We will work on your mind and focus at a later date. Now I want you to practice with any instruments of your choice," Addilyn didn't dwell long on what had happened and continued listing some instruments. "Have you ever learned how to play any instruments at all?"
"No," Vega answered shortly looking at his mentor accusingly. Fortunately, the last melody made him forget what had happened, but his wet clothes and the tears that won't stop coming from his eyes made him sure that something had happened. He thought back to some urban legend associated with people who can play instruments. Most of the stories he remembered as something that could scare any kids or even adults from touching musical instruments. Bars and pubs only allow singers and dancers as entertainment.
Vega smiled, recalling the first time enjoying some warm bread and soup. A whole night filled with laughter, dancing, and singing. His friends and he huddled together, warming themselves near a fire and listening to scary tales. The most memorable was the story of 'The Old Bamboo Krimitak'. Vega sometimes dreamed of playing his own bamboo flute, killing a wandering noble with perverted eyes.
"A flute," Vega admitted his clear intention to his mentor smiling while imagining all sorts of horrible situations while he was living on the street.
The air around him stilled unnaturally, and the stare from Addilyn made him sweat. "You know that the flute has the worse association because of Krimitak, right?"
Vega abruptly looked at his mentor, "Is Krimitak real?"
"Yes, the reason why sound magic is forbidden in some academies," Addilyn took a paper from the air. At a glimpse, it was only several dots and lines together on the paper. She focused and changed the picture into one whole complete map the whole continent. "This," she pointed at a little dot that was slowly got bigger and bigger, "the place where my mentor started his journey. A little island is known for the bamboo forest. Krimitak created his first flute and from then on his massacre began."
Addilyn pointed island to island with the x mark on the map. "Several academies and their histories disappeared. Then the hunt began. Several guild members were alerted. About one hundred adepts fought Krimitak and finally he drew his last breath leaving a legacy for dark adepts." Addilyn stopped and her eyes looked empty. "Krimitak was my mentor who made my journey difficult," she finally said.
"The past erased by the Guild trying to keep me clear in association with Krimitak," she said and took something out. The long pipe gleamed green in the light and it reflected a majestic aura that changed the ambiance of the whole room. "This flute was something I worked hard to create during my years being an adept. The jade was a mineral believed by the practitioner as a royal crystal." She sighed and for the first time, Vega saw a change in expression in his mentor face.
"Now I give this flute to you, I hope the sound magic won't lead you to the dark path. With this I can finally fulfil my promise to my mentor." Professor Addilyn sighed.
Vega could see the lady grew older and the unfriendly and cold facade she kept shattered. Holding the cold flute, Vega felt a strange connection even before he pricked his finger and made the flute his own.
Addilyn looked at the smiling boy sitting across her and promised to meet Vega with Dion together. She hoped that her apprentice didn't hold any resentment toward her or any nobles to keep him from the dark path like her mentor. She wished that Vega would forgive the nobles who had hurt him before by getting closer to Dion.