Dawn broke with the harmonious songs of the birds. While the rest of the village was still in a deep slumber, Izanami and Zane were in the hut preparing themselves for their first day of Red Mage Warrior study. They did not say a word to each other. Izanami was quietly sitting cross-legged on her bed, writing in a leather book while occasionally glancing out the window and enjoying the tranquility of the village. Zane was in meditation so he could prepare his mind for whatever the new training might test him with, mentally and physically.
Only Red Mage Warriors had the privilege of studying under all of the Elders of the secret society. The only exception was that the Herbalism Elder trained both divisions of the Red Mages, since herbalism was essential for the survival of the society. Red Mages were taught their skills by other, more experienced, Red Mages, or Red Mage Warriors that had not succeeded to Elder status. It was now rare to have a Red Mage Warrior mentoring the Red Mages. With each passing generation there had appeared fewer and fewer Red Mage Warriors. Presently, there were now a total of six Red Mage Warrior understudies within the village. The eldest, Derrick, was twenty-one years old. He was quite tall, dark-haired and blue-eyed, and held the rank of leader of the understudy Red Mage Warriors, since he was the eldest and most experienced. Lucinda, who was twenty years old, was short, with vibrant green eyes and long flowing black hair. She spent much of her time hanging on Derrick's every word and action, but was often less than tolerant of the others. Armand, who was also twenty, was very muscular and had short, dark brown hair. He never spoke much but was a talented Mage, especially in the art of combat, due to his excessive strength. At eighteen years of age, Santo, with wavy hair just past his shoulders and big brown eyes, was the carefree personality of the group. Nothing ever seemed to bother him. The latest, and youngest additions, Izanami and Zane, rounded out the group.
“Are you ready, Izanami?” Izanami nodded her head in agreement as she stood up from her bed and put her leather book inside her cloak. Together, she and Zane walked towards the new path that life had offered them. The air outside had the intoxicating aroma of moisture as the two Mages wandered out from the medical hut. After a harsh month of drought and persistent heat, the village had finally been blessed with a downpour of rain overnight.
Understudies of the Elders had a special training ground that was located deep within the forest. As Izanami and Zane left the village on the path leading to these training grounds, the forest became quite dense. An eerie fog soon began to dance around the two Mages as they trekked through the narrowing pathway. At first, the fog lingered around their ankles, but the closer the two came to the training grounds the higher and denser the fog became.
“Well, this is creepy. Zane, are you sure this is the right way? I sense something strange up ahead,” Izanami said, hesitantly. After taking a few more steps, Izanami tripped over a protruding tree root and fell.
“Are you okay? I guess I should have told you to be careful there, but since you are a Red Mage Warrior now, I didn’t think you needed the heads up,” Zane poked fun as he turned back to Izanami. Izanami’s right foot was still caught in the twisted forms. She did not look up as Zane joked to her. In her mind, she was hanging her head in shame. Zane’s words, even though they were meant as good-natured teasing, rang inside her mind tauntingly. She was a Red Mage Warrior now and tripping over roots should not happen. She should be more aware of her surroundings. Izanami looked down at her foot and let out a sigh. “Hey, Izanami, it’s okay; let me help you up.” Zane held out his hand, but Izanami rejected the aid. She dislodged her foot and stood up. She doubled her walking pace as she brushed past Zane, and remained silent.
The path was beginning to widen again. Limping slightly from her fall, Izanami became more alert as she scanned her surroundings. Nearing the end of the path, Izanami stopped suddenly. Zane ran towards her from behind. “What’s wrong?” Zane asked.
“Someone is here. Can’t you sense it?” Izanami whispered. The fog had become so thick that the two Mages could barely see each other even though they were only inches apart. Behind them the fog settled back to ground level. “Someone must be manipulating the moisture in the air to create this fog… very clever.” Izanami slowly moved deeper into the fog ahead.
“Izanami, wait! It may not be safe. Let me go first.” Without acknowledging Zane’s remark, Izanami continued further into the fog. Zane caught up to her and cautiously kept pace with her. Suddenly, Izanami let out a gasp, and she and Zane looked at each other. In a split second, the two of them dived in opposite directions as a massive ball of fire shot towards them. “Izanami! Are you okay?!”
“For now!” Izanami shouted. Suddenly, the ground began to shake and split underneath her feet. “Oh, crap!” The ground shook more violently and, no matter where she ran, the cracks deepened and followed her. Izanami climbed onto a tree. The shaking stopped. Letting out a sigh of relief, she moved to jump down from the tree branch but, as she was about to let go, a branch wrapped around her arm. “Oh, please no!” she whined, swinging in the air in the grip of the branch. It suddenly unravelled and, falling from a relatively high distance, Izanami landed on her feet, then collapsed onto her knees from the impact. She turned around, and saw that all the tree's branches had come “alive" and were slithering towards her like snakes. After a last quick look at the advancing menace, Izanami began running in the opposite direction. The snake-like branches bolted vigorously towards her. “This isn’t fair!” Izanami yelled. One branch grazed her cheek as it crashed forcefully into the ground. Dodging the blows of the branches, Izanami could see a faint light ahead of her. She dashed towards it as quickly as she could. It was the fire left from the fireball that had first attacked her and Zane. Izanami dived towards it while reaching out with her left hand. As her body was sliding across the coarse ground, Izanami was able to manipulate the fire and send it flying like a cannon ball back into the snake-like branches.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the fog, Zane had his own troubles. The ground surrounding Zane had been split open, and geysers of lava violently spewed upwards. “Damnit, now what do I do?!” The extreme heat from the lava made it exceptionally difficult for Zane to analyze his situation calmly. He was surrounded by a wall of fire, with no immediate way out. The intensity of the geysers increased. Getting down on one knee and placing his hands flat on the ground, Zane closed his eyes. He began manipulating the moisture in the air from the fog. He started focusing the water particles into a large sphere above his head. As the sphere became larger, the more Zane concentrated to keep the energy that was built up from being released until the time was right. The heat from the lava was heavily affecting Zane’s mental stamina while he manipulated the energy of the sphere. Once the sphere was at saturation, Zane released the energy within the sphere like a water shockwave. From the centre, where Zane stood, it split and exploded in a ring-like formation, leaving Zane relatively dry. Steam hissed all around Zane as the geysers were supercooled. Zane looked up around him. The cracks in the earth began to fill in with the cooling rock, and soon Zane’s surroundings became calm. As Zane walked out of the circle of neutralized geysers he muttered, “Well, that wasn’t too bad.” Then, the earth began to tremor under his feet once more. He turned around slowly. The heat just beneath the still-steaming geysers exploded out with thunderous force and transformed into the shape of a flaming dragon. Zane stood, too stunned with fear to move. The fire dragon let out a terrifying roar. The eyes of the beast widened and charged towards Zane. At that moment, Zane ran out of ideas and began to run.
Still on the ground, and huffing and heaving from her ordeal, Izanami yelled to Zane as he raced towards her, “Hey, Zane, are you OK?”
“Run!”
“Zane, what are you talking abou… What is that thing?!”
Izanami’s eyes widened and she let out a high-pitched squeak as she scrambled to her feet. Just as Zane reached Izanami, the fire dragon leaped and moved to swallow them in its path. Zane grabbed Izanami as they fell to their knee
s. He tried to shield her from the flames but, before they were engulfed, the flames and fog completely disappeared. Laughter filled the air. The four Elders and the other understudies came out from behind some trees. Once Izanami heard the laughter, she pushed Zane off her and sat down cross-legged on the ground, with a sheepish look on her face. Zane, still on his knees, looked confused at the abrupt disappearance of the fireball.
“That was quite the show the two of you put on. Very impressive for novices!” said the Combat Elder as he chuckled.
The Elder of Black Heka then spoke, “Let me formally introduce you to your peers. This is Derrick, the eldest of the understudy Red Mage Warriors… Lucinda, Armand, and Santo.” Turning towards his son, the Elder added, “Zane, remember that when you’re studying here I’m no longer your father, but solely the Elder of Black Heka. Don’t expect any special treatment.”
“I know, Elder,” Zane said as he rose to his feet.
“And, in case either of you do not already know them, I’ll introduce you to the other Elders. The man who first spoke to you is the Combat Elder. He may look like he is just all muscles, but you can learn much from him. The man to my left, in the white cloak, is the Elder of White Heka. He doesn’t speak much when he doesn’t have to. Of course, you two know the Herbalism Elder.”
“If you don’t mind me speaking now, Elder, I’d like to say a few things to our new comrades,” said Derrick. The Elder of Black Heka nodded. “It seems that the Elders are quite impressed with your first test. You gave Santo and me a rather hard time keeping up with making obstacles,” explained Derrick.
“THAT WAS YOU TWO!?” snapped Izanami.
“Yes, we test all new Red Mage Warriors this way to assess your skills,” Derrick replied.
“Which one of you had me attacked by a tree?” Izanami questioned.
“That was me,” Santo spoke up.
“LET ME AT HIM!” Izanami tried to get close enough to show Santo her wrath but Zane held her back, as everyone else laughed.
“Now, young Mages,” interjected the Elder of Black Heka, “let us continue your training. Izanami and Zane, the two of you will first need to learn what it means to be a Red Mage Warrior. The roots of this honourable heritage will be taught to you by the Elder of White Heka. Soon after, I will teach the two of you the basic understandings of Black Heka. Once each Elder has introduced you to each subject of the arts, we will integrate you into the rest of the group, where you will continue to learn from the Elders, but also from your peers. Is this understood?” said the Elder of Black Heka.
“Yes, Elder,” Izanami and Zane answered together.
While the rest of the group left to prepare for the day’s training, Santo and Derrick stood around a while longer. “You guys are gonna enjoy that story! I always do. In fact, that was the best part of my training – everything else is the boring stuff!” Santo joked. Derrick smacked Santo across the back of the head. “Hey! What was that for?”
“You know why, don’t play dumb. Listen, Izanami, Zane, it’s important to know what your roots are; it’s a part of who you are. What our ancestors did in the past destined us to be here right now. The training that the two of you will go through is no joke. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication, understand?” Derrick explained to them in a more serious tone than he used when he was first introduced. Izanami and Zane nodded to signify they understood the point Derrick was trying to make. The Elder of White Heka motioned for the new understudies to come and begin their first lesson.
Now that the fog was gone, the expanse of the training grounds was fully visible. The grounds were circular in shape and, currently, everyone was positioned near the center. A blacksmith work station stood directly ahead of them. To the left of it appeared a place set up for lectures. Under a grand oak tree, that seemed to be as old as time itself, rested a golden, tall-back chair with spiralled arms and legs that resembled intertwined vines, with leaf-shaped carvings on the tips. A velvety, crimson red cushion lay on the seat. Here, the understudies would sit on the ground, absorbing all the knowledge that each Elder had to offer while speaking to them under the shade of the majestic oak. To the far right of them were three storage structures. The structure furthest from the training ground entrance was a wooden building, around ten feet tall and fifteen feet wide, with a wooden roof instead of the traditional straw roofs seen in the village. Its entrance was a large two-door iron gate, through which one could see a store of weapons. The next of the three structures was a greenhouse. This was where most of the herbs for advanced herbalism were grown, and where the understudies practiced this art. The last structure, closest to the entrance of the grounds, was shorter and composed of black bricks, and had a metal door with several heavy locks intertwined in thick metal rings. It appeared to be an access to something underground. It was not immediately apparent what this building stored.
The Elder of White Heka led Izanami and Zane to the lecture area under the grand oak tree and motioned for them to sit on the ground at the foot of the chair. Behind them, the rest of the understudies were practicing combat techniques in combination with transmutations. “Elder, if you are going to enrich us with the origin of our ancestry, shouldn’t we go to a more quiet place so we can clearly hear your words of wisdom?” Zane asked.
“Children, a Red Mage Warrior must be able to force out all distractions and focus on what needs to be attended to. On the field of battle, the noise will not silence itself to allow a warrior to fully concentrate. Now, young ones, let me tell you the tale of the Red Mages."
Chapter 6