Chapter 12
"Welcome, grandson." Korgan beckoned to Ren who just now entered the beautiful courtyard.
"Hi grandpa" Ren said while slightly waving his hand.
Korgan thought 'Grandpa? I suppose I should get used to being called that by now.' Both of them simultaneously thought 'but it's still weird!'
"Now then, it is time for your training to begin" Korgan said while clutching his left arm into a fist and flexing his bicep. It was evident that his arm was very strong, packed with dense muscles.
"Training?" Ren asked confusedly.
"Of course. I am glad you have high ambitions for your future and I am thrilled that you act upon your ambition." He paused. "But it will only get you this far. You will need to have the strength to accomplish your goal."
"What do you mean by strength, grandfather?"
"Magic" Korgan extended his left hand, a second later a black flame appeared within his palm. It was an extraordinary sight to see, Ren was left awed with such a skill. Never had he seen flame so dark that seemed to absorb everything into it.
"Amazing!"
"I know you currently do not know how to use magic, which is why I am going to train you in order to awaken your potential." Korgan knew that Ren currently did not have any ability in using magic; he could only guess how Ren managed to make it so far without using magic.
"Awaken my potential? How?"
"I am going to train you of course." Korgan approached a candle and lit it with black flame from his finger. The black flame spread towards the candle, now burning on the candle tip. There were at least a dozen candles. Korgan only lit three candles as demonstration.
Then, Korgan turned towards Ren.
"Magic manipulation is essentially creating a substance from the energy within your own body." He gestured towards his body. "Any living being's body produces energy that can be used for magic. There are many types of energies. The energy produced within your own body is called kuat."
"Kuat?" Ren asked confusedly.
"Indeed. It refers to energy produced by your own body, just the body alone. It is an energy that any living being possesses naturally and produces within their body." He now gestured to his horns. "Unlike other creatures, we demons, have horns that allow us to use different type of energy called Mi. Some demons prefer to specialize in Kuat while others specialize in Mi, but there are some that combine both in order to achieve powerful effects."
"Observe." From the tips of Master Korgan's horns appeared a gust of wind. The wind swirled until it was visible into a spinning sphere. Then he lit the air sphere with the flame from his index finger. The sphere of air now burst into a huge ball of black flames that still retained its swirling motion.
"WOW! THIS is amazing!" Ren exclaimed.
"It is just two kinds of energy being combined into one." Korgan remarked.
"I have never heard of anyone talk about Kuat and Mi before, everyone keeps referring to magic as mana, or something like that… "
"Mana is the human name for Kuat." Korgan said abruptly. "Human beings naturally can't use Mi due to lacking horns, so the only energy they can use if Kuat, but the name mana seems to be more popular nowadays." Korgan sighed in his mind. 'I really am out of touch with current trends, I can't believe even demons refer to Kuat as mana!'
"I see."
"You have not yet grown your horns, so teaching you Mi is out of question." Korgan put his hand on his chin. "But I can still teach you how to use Kuat… I mean mana."
"Sounds exciting!"
"Then let's get started."
Ren sat down on the gra.s.s, facing Master Korgan who was giving him instructions.
"First of all, you must understand that kua… mana is within your body. It is essentially connected to your life force, the bare minimum of mana keeps your body alive, while the rest can be used for magic. Is it clear so far?"
"Yes."
"All right. Mana can be converted into a substance, just like I demonstrated earlier. The type of substance depends upon your affinity, the type of magic that your body is naturally suited towards." Korgan took out a crystal from his pocket.
"Ren, Touch this crystal and concentrate."
It was a crystal similar to Jan-Tas, but with a different function, for it determined the affinity of the user. For fire it turned red, for earth brown, for wind yellow, for lightning it would be completely white, for water blue, and in special cases black for darkness, and very bright for light. There were also results for uncommon elements but they were not widely encountered or expected. They were very unlikely.
Ren took the crystal and concentrated.
Yet, nothing seemed to happen. Minutes pa.s.sed. Awkward silence that followed could only be described as humiliating.
Ren 'Not good! Crystal is doing nothing! Is my talent really this bad?'
"Grandfather, are you sure crystal is not broken?"
"It is not, I have tested it out myself before giving it to you, the results should be accurate. Can you show me what you got?"
Ren nervously turned the crystal over and showed it to Korgan. "I think I failed this test."
Korgan squinted. He couldn't see any changes in the crystal.
"I see. Worry not, it doesn't mean it is hopeless." Ren's face changed to a smile. "It only means you don't have an affinity." Ren's face turned sour once more.
"No affinity? Wait, are you meaning to say I don't have any talent towards any type of magic?"
"Not necessarily. While theoretically a living being is capable of mastering any type of magic given time and training, some types of magic come easier or harder than others. The type that suits the person the best is the affinity, the magic type one can master with best results. You having no affinity must mean that your body leans equally towards all types of magic."
"Basically saying, I don't have a specialty magic, right?"
"Unfortunately so. But specialty can be developed." He gestured toward the candles. "Since you have no affinity, it wouldn't hurt to start with the element of fire in order to make you learn how to produce magic from your mana."
Ren moved towards the candles and sat down.
"Now, feel the energy within your body, circulate it and then manipulate it outside your body and then release it." Korgan showed it in practice. Three of his fingers now were coated with black flames.
Ren cringed, grunted, and flexed his hands, but nothing came form them. He felt no energy within his body.
"I think I may be doing it wrong."
"Worry not, it takes some time for any beginner to find his or her method for mana control. But keep this in mind, the substance created by mana could be called a living thing by some standards, so it needs to be controlled." He purposely let small spark of flame fall on a branch. The black flame spread from the branch, now spreading towards the tree. It was going to destroy the tree very soon.
"As you can see, without me controlling it, the substance I created with my magic does not disappear. It just goes out of control." Korgan flicked his fingers. The flames on the tree stopped spreading; now they flew back to his hand, leaving no trace of themselves on the tree except for burn marks. "This fire was created by me, and it is essentially a living thing. Just like any magic. If unattended, it will do whatever it wants to."
"Mana makes substances that have will of their own?"
"Precisely!" Korgan exclaimed. "Mana creates a substance, breathing a life into the substance in the process, so it is necessary to control it." He demonstrated how he could mold the flames in his left hand into various shapes without letting it burn him.
"I see, so unless you control it, it is not connected to you by any means, right?"
"Indeed. If I were to let it loose, then it will harm anything it touches, including me, its creator."
"What I want you to learn is the process of creating a substance with usage of mana of your own. The task you have at hand is to light the remaining candles using only your mana."
"I see. Then I suppose I can proceed."
"Of course, by any means necessary." Korgan moved away from the candles allowing Ren to access them.
"How much time do I have to do this?"
"Take as much time as you need."
"All right, I will try" Ren extended his hands towards the candles, visualizing flames coming out of them. Yet, nothing happened.
He flexed his hand and tried to do it again, to no avail. Then he tried to talk in gibberish and concentrated his focus on tips of his fingers. Still no progress.
He did so many different things without making any change.
Korgan thought 'This might be harder than I thought.'
Ren spent the entire day without lighting a single candle. The candles lit by Master Korgan strangely never stopped burning even under wind.
The next day, Ren tried to be creative about his approach to his training, only to make a complete fool of himself by shouting weird made up word such as "Guarara!" or "Rahi raha!" at the top of his lungs. Korgan could only watch in awkward silence. Aijasyl and Akjan who were watching his efforts could only leave with dull eyes of disappointment.
The fifth day, Ren had about enough.
"Master Korgan… I mean, grandfather. This is utterly hopeless!"
"It is indeed is unusual. It is almost as if your body has so little mana that it is only enough to maintain your life. I am not sure what to say."
"It just means I failed, again!"
"There is no need to be so pessimistic about this, my grandson. It is just a minor setback."
"A minor setback? More like an apocalyptic setback!" Ren turned his back towards the candles. "Grandfather, if I can't master magic, which so many other demons can use, then I will be at a disadvantage. It is just so frustrating!" He sat down on his knees and punched the ground in anger.
Korgan, who was looking sympathetically at his grandson, just noticed something strange. Just at the moment Ren punched the ground, the candle flames behind him extended upwards, forming something akin to spears.
'Did my eyes start failing me, or was it…' Korgan wasn't sure; the flames would not go out of control because he gave them command to stay in small shape and not change even in face of the wind. But just now, the black flames seemed to have a will of their own that negated Korgan's will upon them. "How strange." Korgan whispered.
"Strange! Oh, great, now I can't even use mana! No horns, no mana, I just don't know what I can do anymore!" The black flames behind Ren now extended again, forming a fist.
'It wasn't my imagination' Korgan thought. The flames seemed to be reacting to Ren's will.
"Ren, please turn around."
"What? Why?" Ren turned around and saw black flames shaped like a fist, complete with five fingers clutching the palm. He looked at it with open mouth. Three seconds later the fist disappeared and the black flames were back within the candles again, flickering in tiny dark way.
"What was that?"
"Mana control." Korgan said with a smile. "Now I understand. While it is true that you have no ability to emit mana to create an elemental substance, it seems you have the innate ability for controlling the substances made of mana." He made thumbs up sign. "Now we just need you to master your control of mana."
"Control? You mean I can learn how to control these flames at will?"
"Not just flames,
"Unlike other demons, you can't rely on producing spells for you have no ability to do so. Instead, we shall focus upon building up your control of mana. This without a doubt will make your style rather unorthodox, but we don't have much of a choice in the matter. Frankly, I am rather surprised that you can't use energy within your body to produce magic, considering what Ymit could do."
"Ymit? Who is that?"
"Your father. My second son, Ymit Karatengu."
"Woah! Wait, I have never heard of him before. Can you tell me more about my father, grandpa?"
"Of course." Korgan sat down. "Ymit Karatengu, he was the son I was always proud of. In times of peril, he would not back down; he would stand up and keep going until the end. That quality he possessed was caused due to what happened to his older brother, Omir, your uncle. Many years ago, the Altyn clan of Phoenix demons had allied itself with human beings and waged an attack upon our clan. Omir fell victim to it. Before that event, Ymit was rather gentle and frankly a lazy demon that showed little potential. Witnessing his beloved older brother's death completely changed him. He became more focused, wiser, and in time more powerful than I ever was in my prime. He desired most of all to protect his clan and earned strength in order to do so. Ymit worked tirelessly as the leader of the Karatengu clan, defeating many of our enemies in battle, ensuring our clan's survival. Back then I thought he would be alright and live a good life, but the fate had proved me wrong. I don't know how Ymit met his end, but I know that he disappeared after he was betrayed. I suspect one of his trusted allies chose to turn against him." Korgan turned to Ren. "I never thought he left a child before he died. For that, I am truly grateful."
"I see. So my father was a great demon, huh." Ren sadly asked. Being told that his parent died after he was betrayed is not exactly easy to take.
"A great demon indeed. He mastered usage of several elements, was extremely proficient in power of Mi, and even managed to awaken Demon Eyes. He truly was a prodigy."
"Demon eyes? What is that?" Ren tilted his head while asking the question, making him look like an oddly shaped question mark.
Korgan looked at Ren's eyes, and Ren witnessed as Korgan's dark eyes turned completely white all of a sudden, now they were glowing as if there was light within them.
"These are Demon eyes." Said Korgan. "Demons are capable of awakening Demon Eyes, doing so allows for demons to gain power unique to themselves. Observe." He looked in Ren's direction.
Ren suddenly found himself floating in the air. It was as if all the weight in his body was gone, he was off the ground by five meters, like a leaf lifted by the strong wind.
"Woooah!" Ren cried out in surprise.
"Not only that, Demon Eyes enhances all of your abilities-physical, magical, or any other attributes will be enhanced to a higher level, at the cost of using up your body's energy much faster." Korgan turned off his Demon eyes, making Ren land on the ground. He fell clumsily on the ground, but immediately stood up, pretending it did not happen.
Korgan watched his grandson in amus.e.m.e.nt.
"Demon eyes can be awakened in different circ.u.mstances, each different for any demon. What I know is that there always is a trigger, different for each demon. Some demons never awaken Demon eyes. Some awaken them but don't realize it until it's too late. Those who do realize it can train themselves in order to advance their power. After all, Demon eyes get more powerful as the user gains strength."
"I see. So Demon eyes truly are something really neat. How do I awaken them?"
"That question I cannot answer. Each demon gains Demon eyes in a different way, the way I awakened them is not going to be helpful for any other demon. Know this, there always is a trigger to awakening the Demon eyes, the question is, however, what is the appropriate trigger for you?"
Seeing Ren's confused expression, Korgan sighed and continued on.
"Instead of wasting time on power that has to be triggered by unknown means, let's focus on something you can learn through practice. The goal of your training has now changed. The task at hand is for you to subjugate these flames to your will, see if you can manage this."
"Ok. I will try." Ren approached the candles.
He extended his hands and tensed his muscles, fully thinking that if he flexed his hands hard enough the flames would bend. Instead the flames remained the same.
"Ren, the flames are controlled by will, not body. Instead of putting pressure on your body, put pressure on your mind and soul. Think of something that motivates you, something that makes you feel the need to act, something that is close to your heart. Find in your heart what you consider your true pa.s.sion, the truest desire. Take hold of that desire and hold on to it tightly. Then think of the flame in front of you as manifestation of that desire. In your mind, take hold of it, bend it, twist it, and subjugate it. Make it answer your commands, make it extension of yourself."
"I am trying!" Ren concentrated upon the flames, trying to draw them to himself. For some reason he could almost feel as if there was a tug of war going on between his will upon the flame and the flame itself. The flame seemed stubborn, refusing to bulge. "C'mon! Obey my command!" with heavy concentration of his will, Ren shouted it out at the top of his lungs. Suddenly, as if a snake sprung out of the basket, the flames shot out unexpectedly upwards. Like a firework, the flames scattered in every direction, the impact was preceded by the light explosion which ended up launching Ren backwards, slightly burning tips of his hair.
Ren just sat there, thinking 'What just happened?'
Korgan smiled awkwardly and patted Ren's flaming hair, putting off the flame in the process.
"Perhaps it is enough playing with fire for one day."
Ren had no choice but to agree, so he nodded his head in a meek fas.h.i.+on.
Master Korgan promptly left the training grounds.
'While it is disappointing he did not inherit the magical ability from his father, but his willpower more than makes up for it. It is almost as if he clings to life so tightly that it allows him to establish his authority over magic of others. While controlling your own magic is expected, it is highly unusual to be able to control someone else's. If I can teach him how to be able to control the magic of any nature, then his handicap of being unable to produce magic will be partially solved. Still, his control over magic… it is not a talent, not something you are born with…it is something taught by life experience. Unbendable will…the tenacity to cling on to his own life with extreme determination- that is what allows one to control magic. I wonder what kind of past this kid must have had to have willpower so strong.'
Ren, who knew nothing of his past, but now knew at least something about his deceased father, was sitting on the ground, and then he lay upon his back in exhaustion.
Apparently using your will to control takes a lot of energy, not mana, but mental focus and concentration combined with unwavering spirit. Unfortunately, neither mental fort.i.tude nor willpower was infinite. Using them just this much made him heavily exhausted and panting for breath.
"I didn't use by body to control the flames, I used my will, then why am I sweating so much?" Ren wondered, without realizing how body in many ways was a reflection of person's inner self. To use willpower to control magic takes energy to concentrate and subjugate the magic, so naturally body uses up some resources for it as well.
When mana is used to produce magic, the body uses up its own reserves to produce mana within the body. Similarly with control, except the body uses its reserves to strengthen the will and mind of the user. In both cases, the body will be highly exhausted after overuse. In each case, the pract.i.tioner will feel extremely hungry afterwards.
As he lay there, hungrily looking at the crimson sky, a certain cat-eared demon came by.
"It is unusual to see you so exhausted when the day just began." Akjan Tang voiced her concern.
"Give me a break, will you? Controlling the flames is much harder than it looks!"
"What do you mean controlling the flames?"
Ren pointed at the candles that were lit with black fire.
"Those are Master Korgan's flames. He wants me to learn how to control them."
Akjan looked at Ren with astonished look in her face.
"You are learning how to control someone else's magic?" There was a sense of disbelief in her tone.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"I, I thought it is impossible to control magic other than your own. I never imagined there was such a skill to allow you to control someone else's magic. It is extraordinary!"
"Is it really that unusual?"
"Yes! I have seen many types of magic that defied imagination, but all of them were users who used their own magic not of others! This, this is unprecedented!"
Seeing the enthusiasm in Akjan's face, Ren couldn't help but smile bitterly. 'The only reason I am learning how to control someone else's magic is because I cannot produce magic on my own. This totally sucks!'
"Oh, by the way, what kind of magic do you use, Akjan?"
Akjan stopped talking for a second, and then in a calm voice replied.
"Would you really like to know?"
"Of course, why be so secretive about it?"
"Well, here it goes. I use element of Darkness."
Ren just opened his mouth "Eh?"
"Element of Darkness, don't make me repeat it!"
"C'mon, I never heard of that element, why be so secretive about it?"
"Don't you know? The users of element of Darkness are hunted down for their abilities. Many who are born with this power end up victims to those who desire their power."
"I did not know that." Ren admitted. "The technique for crossing the mountain, is it by any chance related to element of Darkness?"
Akjan's face looked mildly shocked as if Ren made a spot on deduction. Her face betrayed the truth.
She sighed in defeat.
"I knew I couldn't hide that fact for long."
"You just told me that you use Darkness element, how exactly were you hiding anything? It looks more like you are hiding everything on the open!"
"Not so loud!" She covered Ren's mouth with her hand.
In a low voice she whispered. "I know, I am terrible at keeping secrets. The waterfall crossing technique indeed is an application of Darkness element. I am sorry for not telling you about it."
"No problem at all. By the way, how long do you plan on covering my mouth?"
Akjan embarra.s.sedly removed her hand. Realizing she received a kiss upon her hand made her blush from embarra.s.sment.
"Anyways, can you show me usage of Darkness element?"
Akjan nervously looked around the grounds.
"Are you sure about this? If anyone finds out I am a Darkness element user…"
"I am pretty sure Master Korgan already knows, others may know as well, considering they usually pick up on things faster than me."
"Then…"
"It is ok. In this clan, none will sell you out. So showing that you are a Darkness element user will not harm you."
"If you say so." She extended her hand. She chanted some strange words Ren couldn't quite hear. Then a ma.s.s that seemed to suck away all light around it appeared within her hand. It looked like liquid except it was completely black. It was circular, imperfect circle, constantly moving sphere of pure Darkness.
"This is Darkness element, in its true form" She demonstrated to Ren.
"Wow, this is completely different form of magic from grandfather!
"Well, Darkness element is completely different from fire element…"
"I see. Can you show me what it can do?"
"Ok" She nodded. She threw the sphere of dark ma.s.s upon the ground, it became flat and now looked like some kind of a black puddle.
Immediately she jumped into the puddle and disappeared within it. It was like Darkness swallowed her.
"Akjan! Akjan! Akjan!" Ren frantically called out to her as she disappeared into the darkness.
"Over here!" a voice sounded out from the above.
Ren looked up and saw that Akjan was on top of the tree, waving her hand at him.
"Wow, how did you do that?"
"This is one of applications of Darkness element, ability to teleport and travel along the shadows." She saw Ren looking at her with confused look and said "Basically, it means I can go anywhere as long as there a shadow there, and I know where I am going."
"So it means you can go anywhere? That is awesome!"
"Not exactly. Each usage uses up a lot of my stamina. I can't use it more than twice per day, and I can only travel to location I know of." She sighed. When she was chased by Kas clan, she was forced to use her ability twice to escape pursuit, but they still caught up to her, after two usages she was left extremely exhausted, allowing them to swiftly catch up to her.
"While this is most versatile aspect of Darkness magic, it also has several more drawbacks. As I mentioned it takes huge amount of energy to perform and is limited to known locations, but it also uses up more energy if you teleport to far locations even if you know the location. For example…" She gestured towards the horizon. "If I were to teleport to the border of Demon Kingdom from here, it would not only use up all of my mana, but it would leave me in an extremely emaciated state. It would truly be disastrous."
"I see. So that power has some drawbacks, huh."
"Yeah, not to mention it can't be used if the user is in injured. It puts too much pressure on the body, so much that it is unbearable to use with damaged body."
"I see." Ren nodded.
"This is the most powerful Darkness ability I know of, but there are other skills that are much less dangerous." She made tiny wisps of darkness on each of her palms, somewhat like gloves. Then she approached the ground covered in leaves. The leaves immediately were sucked into the void inside the Darkness gloves.
"Not only does it suck everything away in close proximity, but it also sucks away any weak magic nearby."
"So basically, it is like a cleaning tool?"
"No! No, no, no! It is not a cleaning tool!"
"But it looks like it could be used for cleaning dust in rooms instead of using brooms, right?"
Akjan smiled in embarra.s.sment. "If you say so, but this is my clan's secret technique" she said while pouting. "To be reduced to cleaning tools is…"
"Ok! Never mind I said that!"
She continued on.
"Darkness element's main abilities are to absorb and to move things. To be completely honest, I have not completely mastered this element." Her face turned rather sad all of a sudden.
Noticing the change in her face, Ren asked "Not mastered it? Why not?"
"My training was not finished. I was taught by my grandfather, the only one among my family who possessed the same ability I did. But before my training was complete the Kas clan attacked us." Her expression turned rather icy. Anything pertaining to Kas clan made her usually sweet and cheerful personality instantly switch to cold and murderous one.
"I see." Ren did not want to continue this flow of conversation.
"As such, I have not learned everything about the Darkness element. There are many things I don't know about it. My knowledge is rather limited on it."
"But can you teach me?"
Akjan's expression showed pure surprise. "Teach you? Are you Darkness type compatible?"
"Nope, but I still think I can learn it, with your help of course."
"Then, what would you like me to do?"
"That leftover blob" Ren pointed at the large puddle left after Akjan used it to demonstrate teleportation. "Can you control it?"
"I think I can." She pointed at it and used her will upon it. The puddle of dark ma.s.s floated upwards, now levitating in midair.
"Ok, now can you please stop controlling it?" Ren asked.
"Ok" The puddle now just dropped to the ground. Other than losing its shape and looking more like a badly made painting on canvas, the puddle of darkness looked largely the same.
Ren now remembered something which did not make sense if he thought about it.
"Um, Akjan, why did you not use your Darkness traveling ability to cross the mountain, instead of using that weird pa.s.sage?"
"The mountain range cannot be crossed by Darkness usage. The mountain has a seal upon it that prevents any Darkness user from crossing over. Only members of my clan know the secret of pa.s.sing through the mountain. Any Darkness user that attempts to teleport to the other side of the mountain will be violently thrown backwards away from the mountain."
"I see, that makes sense."
"Once you are beyond the mountain, teleportation no longer is an issue. The mountain is like an impa.s.sable fence, unless you have the key."
"I see." Ren focused his attention up the dark puddle, ignoring the beautiful white Demon who was looking at him with loving eyes.
He extended his hand and tried to connect to the will of the puddle. 'Just like it was with fire, it has to have something I can feel, something I can grab on to with my will, just where is it.' Ren explored with his will, trying to get a hold of the Darkness. The Darkness element was completely different from Fire, so it required somewhat different approach.
It took him sometime, but he figured it out eventually. Firstly he had to visualize Darkness element as spread out, then he had to have his will grab on to every side of the Darkness and get a hold of it. Then he had to pull all of the darkness together, not piece by piece like it was with flames.
Darkness was not as heavy as flames, but it was slippery. Ren had to force his willpower to cling tightly to it, not willing to let go. For all means, Ren felt that Darkness element was rather slimy and kept easily slipping out of his clutches, until finally Ren had a firm grasp upon it.
"Okay, got it!" Ren cried out.
"What?" Akjan watched from top of the tree something unbelievable happen right before her eyes.
With a forceful command "Obey me!" Ren had forced the puddle of Darkness created by Akjan to float in the air.
'He is controlling my magic…but that is impossible! Even if he could control flames, Darkness is completely different matter! Just what kind of demon are you, Ren?'
Instead of stopping there, Ren decided to play around with the darkness. The bloated dark substance floated in the air in circular motion. Ren decided to make it change shape so he concentrated his will upon it, fully intending it to change its shape to resemble a square. Yet, he forgot the fact that he used up most of his willpower on controlling the black flames. To control darkness, he just didn't have enough mental and physical stamina; he soon found his vision darkening while everything in front of him started to spin.
Ren's body fell over backwards from overuse of willpower, much to Akjan's horror. "REN!" that was the last thing he heard before everything became dark upon him.