Eldin sighed as he watched the light outside start to dim. It was now or never, he decided to work on preparing to cast the spell. He went over in his mind and imagined how he would go about casting it. He left the scroll on the desk and walked outside to the casting range. A large empty field filled with various craters and scorched areas of grass and stone.
He worked on trying to cast just the 3 elements. It took a few tries, but Eldin managed to create a vacuum, and store it inside a sizable rock he formed from the ground. The only issue was that he couldn’t store a fire inside the rock holding the vacuum. Applying fire to the outside of the rock, he launched the earthen projectile a good distance and watched a small implosion snuff out the flames before it could explode.
“Working hard at it I see.” Eldin paused and looked behind when he heard the familiar voice. “Dad. Hi uh… yes. I have been working hard. I think I got the hang of it. Elrin brushed aside his long bright blond hair as he looked at his son. “When I couldn’t find you in the house, I thought you would be out here.” He held the scroll in one of his hands as he spoke. “Alright then. Show me what you’ve accomplished.”
Eldin could feel the nervousness creep into his mind, he had just been practicing it, it shouldn’t be that much harder to add in the fourth element. But now his father was here, scrutinizing everything he did. Eldin spoke aloud commanding the elements to do as he said and performed the advanced spell, successfully adding the influence of a barrier of darkness to prevent the flame from being snuffed out prematurely.
Elrin smiled as he watched the spell unfold. While the resulting attempt created a minor fiery implosion, it wasn’t exactly what he was looking for. “That was impressive. You accomplished something like this at such a young age.”
Using multiple elements at the same time takes a lot of energy and even more focus. The slightest off-thought can disrupt a spell entirely when one attempts to weave the elements. The best way to counteract this is to speak aloud what you are trying to accomplish. There is significantly less failure in completing a spell when spoken as it is difficult to think of anything else while speaking.
“You mean I passed the test?” Eldin said excitedly. Elrin shook his head, “No. No you did not.” Eldin’s happiness was quickly replaced with confusion and annoyance. “What do you mean? I used four elements!” Elrin sighed as he held the scroll his son had been studying earlier. “You did use four elements at the same time. In that fact you passed, but you didn’t open your mind to what this spell could have been.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Eldin looked at his dad confused, “How else would you pull off a spell like that?”
“Watch.” Elrin said as he held the scroll out at arm’s length in his hand. Normally, he would have had his son cast the spell from the scroll, but this particular one required an immense amount of energy. It was after all an experiment created by his peer Adrok. If he had let his son try to use this spell, it could potentially drain all of his energy or even kill him in the process.
The scroll started to glow as Eldin felt an unimaginable pool of energy being pulled into the parchment from his dad. He could only marvel at just how much his father wielded. The scroll disintegrated and Eldin looked around waiting for something to happen. “Was it a bad scroll?” He asked. “Wait for it.” Elrin assured his son.
A few seconds later, the wind in the air began to pick up to a powerful gale. Elrin created a slab of earth in front of them to help prevent them from being pulled in. A bright flash of light followed by a super massive explosion rocketed seismic sound waves throughout the area. Eldin fell back in surprise and fear as he watched the devastating explosion incinerate everything in a wide area leaving a barren crater of earth and stone. Clouds of dirt and ash falling from the sky.
Eldin looked up to his dad. “Wha…what was that?” He had never seen such a ridiculous display of power. Elrin sat down next to his son as the bells in Woodvale began to go off, the nearby lumber village going on high alert. “You think the mayor is going to let me off easy?” He said with a chuckle as he put an arm around Eldin. “I think that sums up what you missed when you studied that spell. I think this demonstration provided all you needed to know to help you take the next step in your studies.”
Elrin stood back up and looked over to Woodvale off in the distance, a contingent of militia were already leaving the gates to scout out the explosion. “I should probably go and explain to them what happened.” He said as he started walking off.
Eldin quickly stood up, “Dad?” He stopped walking and looked back to his son, “Oh right. I forgot.” He walked back to Eldin and handed him a badge. “I wasn’t expecting you to pass that last test. What I showed you from that scroll was a perfect example of what true mastery of elemental control looked like. And, I have been wanting to get rid of that scroll for some time. I didn’t like the idea of such a dangerous spell lying around the house. He said as he patted his son’s shoulder before walking off again, “I’ll see you at home later tonight alright?”
Eldin stood there completely lost. In his hand was the coveted badge he had been wanting. Proof that he had become an Elementalist. Yet after seeing such an awesome display of power executed so perfectly, it felt kind of empty. It was very apparent to him that despite all his studies, all his success, he still knew very little. What was he missing? What did he not understand?
He gripped the badge in his hand and walked back to the house. There were so many questions in his mind, he was constantly replaying the spell over and over in his head. None of it made any sense, yet he saw and felt it clearly.
Letting out a sigh as he looked at his empty hand, then to the small dearth he had made, then to the desolated area that had just been created. He clenched his hand and continued on home. He wanted to reach that level of mastery. He had no idea how, but he was going to figure it out.