Part 1
As we walked through the narrow, shadowy alleys, I couldn't help but feel a chill run down my spine. The sunlight could barely penetrate the high brick walls, creating a play of light and shadows that seemed to dance around us. My heart was beating fast. It was the first time walking through such an environment, especially accompanied by Shadow's older brother, and I didn't know what to expect. The funny thing was that they didn't look alike in appearance.
"So, how long have you and Shadow known each other?" he asked, his voice echoing softly off the alley walls.
"Hmm, not long ago." I replied, being quick.
"Interesting. He never told me anything about you and he always tells me everything." He ended up giving a sideways smile.
"I don't think he had much to say even though we only exchanged a few words." I try to keep talking as we turn into one of the alleys. "But I was happy to meet someone with a skáld for a companion, I still have so much to understand how he managed it."
"Ah, he has unknown talents with scaly creatures, that's a mystery even to me but he still needs to learn how to control his anger." His tone became a little more serious. "You may have already noticed this before."
"Well, not without anything about anger but I know he gets serious pretty quickly." I say in a relaxed way.
I wanted to understand more about Shadow's brother, so I risked a question.
"So you're always so calm." I ended up noticing a sideways smile coming from him as I watched him.
"Oh not always, I was once as impulsive as my little brother. Maybe I was even more than him, but I learned the hard way that losing control doesn't solve many things... especially if you're a Felles." he ended up placing one of his fingers over the eye patch.
After a few minutes the path began to open up to a wider area, the terrain was uneven and looked like a small improvised arena, with some old boxes, training dummies and some swords scattered across the floor. But you could still hear the sound of punches in the air, shouts and laughter in the distance.
"Do you train here too?" I asked, curious.
"Yes, sometimes only on days when I'm not busy." he replied, with a nostalgic tone. "But now I only come here to look for Shadow." It looked like he was trying to find something.
Suddenly, a loud noise of fighting caught our attention. We stopped and looked towards the middle of the arena and that was where the sound was coming from. Amidst the inhabitants around the fight I ended up seeing Shadow, he was in a fight with three other boys. His movements were agile and quick, but clumsy too, clearly dominated by anger.
We stood there, observing the scene in silence. I wanted to step in and help him, but something on his brother's face made me hesitate. He seemed focused, his eye analyzing his younger brother's every move.
"Aren't you going to stop the fight?" I asked quietly.
"Sometimes we need to fall so we can learn to get up and that's how we become stronger." he said, without looking away from the fight.
His words kept echoing in my mind as we continued to observe the scene. Shadow was at a disadvantage, but he was not giving up. Her punches and kicks showed her anger even if they were misdirected.
Finally, when Shadow punched the taller boy very hard, making him fall and faint, the others backed away, he was panting and badly injured but standing. When it was all over, he looked around with a look of anger and relief, until he saw us. The expression he had before changed completely, softening when he saw his brother.
Without saying a word, we approached. Yahir placed his hand on his shoulder, it seemed like a silent gesture of support for his little brother. Shadow at first seemed surprised but took a deep breath trying to regain his breath and composure.
"Nice punch, this will teach them not to mess with a member of the River family, no matter how short you are." He said the encouraging one. "But you still have to train a lot more to not come out like this." he said pointing to some visible bruises.
I watched them talking between some explanations of fights, so I started to understand a little more about the dynamics between the two of them.
Part 2
The sun began to hide behind the roofs of the houses, painting the sky with light shades of purple-orange. I slowly walked through the training area to where Shadow was, he was sitting on an old box, still panting and with his face marked from the fight. His brother ended up walking away from us, as he had gone to get a first aid kit from other companions who watched the fight and ended up leaving us alone.
"Hey, Shadow?" I called, approaching carefully. He looked up in alert mode, the expression on his face was one of surprise and distrust at the same time.
"You…" he began, hesitating. "You're not the wizard of the high forest, are you?"
I laughed, a little nervously, trying to relieve the tension. "What? No of course not! Why would you think that?"
Shadow relaxed a little, but there was still wariness in his eyes.
"It's just that when I saw you next to my brother, for a second I thought it was him. The way it appeared out of nowhere... it was kind of strange, you know."
I imagined that this was due to the local inhabitants' strange rumors about my master, he was not very well regarded due to his cold and indifferent temperament and he hated anyone who tried to enter his territories.
"- No wonder we don't have many visitors, but to confuse me with him? What do these people have in their heads, but it's also no surprise that they're scared, even I'm scared of them most of the time." I briefly imagine him lecturing me with those serious eyes.
I sat next to him, trying to look as relaxed as possible. "I understand that the previous situation led you to think that I could be him. But no, I'm not him hehe actually he's my mentor." I said trying to contain my laughter.
His eyes widened when I mentioned it.
"Your mentor? Serious?"
I nodded. "Yes, he teaches me about magic and how I should control my mana. I think because I'm short and you're in that forest, I must have left that impression on you."
He watched me for a moment before becoming completely calm.
"That kind of makes sense. Sorry man, I'm not very good at noticing certain things." he said scratching the back of his head. "But then what did you come to do here in the village?"
"Oh! I'm just here because I wanted to thank you."
"Thank me? What for?" he asked, visibly confused.
I think he ended up forgetting that the last time he helped me he ended up giving me a ride to my house when that storm was happening, but even I would go since it happened a month ago.
"Well for your help on the day of the storm in the forest. Do you remember? I was lost and you helped me find my way back. I never got the chance to thank you properly for that."
He scratched his head again, looking embarrassed. "Ah, that... It was nothing. I just did what anyone would do."
"Still, I owe you a lot. You had no obligation to do that. You could have gotten hurt too."
Shadow shrugged, but a gleam of pride came into her eyes. "Well, it looks like we're even now, doesn't it? I helped you that time, and today you're here to support me, it was cool to see my big brother watching me beat up those idiots, it was super cool, but having a friend supporting me made my most memorable victory."
I smiled, feeling a wave of joy. "Yes, but that's not all. I'm here to thank you properly." I opened my bag, revealing some colorful potions.
"They are advanced potions that my master helped me make. I want you to have them."
He looked at the potions in surprise. "Wow, really? That's... pretty amazing man."
"I can help with those injuries too." I added, stretching my hands over his injuries. I concentrated and muttered a healing spell. A soft light emanated from my hands, closing the cuts and reducing the bruises.
He looked at his arms and some of the bruises, in awe. "That's... really cool. You really know how to do magic."
"Yes, I know but it doesn't even compare to the things my master can do."
"You're very lucky, although even though I'm a Felles I don't have many skills with magic, it seems like he hates me."
"Because from what I've read, Felles have a high capacity with the Ardent attribute."
He ended up taking a break for a moment, it seemed like it was bothering him. "I don't know, others mention that it must be because I'm a River, but that never made sense to me."
That didn't make sense to me either, but as he was distracted I took the opportunity to do a quick mana test on him. "- Hmm... from what the master told me, mana reacts more with the attribute with which you are most compatible, luckily I have affinity with all the problems I have difficulties with some, but this test will be easy to see which ones he has."
At first it was difficult since his mana was a little dense but I managed to try the first one and it was the Ardent one and I really had almost no reaction so I moved on to the next ones, in just a few seconds I ended up getting a reaction from two.
"Hey Shadow, have you ever tried using magic with other attributes other than Ardent?" I asked waiting for his reaction.
"Of course not, our species is not very good with other attributes other than Ardent, so there is no point in using it, but big brother told me that in the village there are some who risk using it."
"I know this might be a strange question, but I just did an attribute test on you and two of them reacted with your mana."
He was surprised by what I just said. Shadow told me that he had already taken this test at the village guild, but had not obtained any results, which ended up disappointing his brother. To calm him down, I explained that sometimes, depending on the person or object performing the test, it can be difficult to detect the attributes if there is no involvement with them, so I mentioned that he had attributes linked to rocky and ether.
"I think that's why you were so fast and strong in that fight, since these elements are linked to strength and agility, perhaps you were using them without knowing it, this could even explain your connection with Skama."
I tried to explain in the same words that the master told me a few times about these attributes, he seemed confused at first but then he got excited or asked me to teach him how to use these types of magic.
"Well, I don't know much about spells and magic related to these elements, but luckily for you, I read it in a book about the ether attribute just yesterday, but I haven't tested it yet." "- Well, even if I tested it, it wouldn't be any good since, according to the explanations in the book, it was an offensive magic that created lightning and it wouldn't be good to use it indoors."
"There is! Well, if you haven't tried it yet, let me try just to see if what you told me is true." Positioning himself in front of me.
At first I was a little uneasy since it was an offensive type magic, but looking at Shadow it wouldn't hurt to try and even if something went wrong I could use my magic and healing again.
With little time I managed to remember the spell that activated the magic and I told him, but so that no one could get hurt, I told him that it was better for him to aim the magic at a training dummy. He positioned himself and began to recite the spell, at first nothing happened, but the third time after saying ÉATRAVOLL¹ everything changed.
At first neither he nor I believed what had happened, because after he finished speaking a huge sound erupted along with a strong light in the place and when we realized the doll was on fire, we finally ended up laughing at the situation but I could see the excitement of Shadow in his gaze for finally being able to use magic.
Before he could answer me, his brother came running back with the first aid kit in his hands as he was worried because of the loud noise. However, he stopped when he saw us and noticed the change in mood.
"Well, it looks like you two have come to an understanding," he said, opening the kit and beginning to tend to Shadow's remaining wounds.
We were silent for a moment, just enjoying each other's company. Finally, it didn't take long for me to have to leave as it was getting late, so I decided to say goodbye to both of them.
Yahir was willing to take me to the wall gate since I didn't know the way back, I ended up accepting and finally said goodbye to Shadow who stayed behind training his new skill.
Notes:
1 - ÉATRAVOLL: Allows you to conjure and launch a powerful electric beam against a specific target. This spell is ideal for ranged attacks, causing significant damage and, in some cases, temporarily paralyzing the enemy due to the electrical discharge.