The darkness within, the darkness…
My eyes were closed as I sat there searching for this imagined feeling. Feeling as if I was searching every corner of my mind for a way to produce what I just saw. How do you even begin to define darkness? I started thinking of the darker parts of human society, of the world. Finally I was able to see a black smoke within myself.
Is that.. My darkness?
I reached out and was finally able to grasp that darkness. I opened my eyes and shot a beam of dark energy at Luther. With his palm he was able to make the energy disperse around him.
Luther started to laugh,
"that's the spirit. Picked it up quicker than I could have hoped"
Over the next week we spent the days training with dark magic, my ability to control the dark magic increased exponentially day by day due to my master class. Luther also taught me about gravity magic, a slew of applications from slow falling to stopping your enemies. The more chaotic magic they wouldn't teach me until it was closer to the invasion. For their safety.
We started with drills for learning the range and various uses of my dark magic manipulation. Luther looked at me,
"Yuki send a dark magic wave at the boulder to knock it up. Then use your gravity magic to stop it mid-flight."
I raised my hand and sent a wave of energy below a boulder, knocking it into the air. I then created a cloud of dark energy around the boulder holding it in place.
Luther yelled,
"Perfect, now stay like that for the next three hours. If it drops you have to start over."
Day after day I spent hours training this ability, getting stronger and stronger. By the end of the week I was able to suspend four boulders in the air using my magic for over four hours.
Luther walked over at the end of the day,
"I couldn't be more proud. Your potential is out of this world. Let's call it today."
I nodded and fell on my ass trying to catch my breath.
Holding a boulder for over four hours.... I was watching my mana and it barely went down as I was using my abilities. It's like I can tap into nearly infinite mana, or it just recharges sup quickly.
I smiled, "Mina, I'm getting stronger, I will come for you as soon as I can."
It was the end of the day's training and we all made our way to the castle's bar. After a couple hours had gone by, Akira still was yet to join us.
Koji stood up,
"I'm going to check on Akira, this is taking way too long."
Like clockwork Akira walked into the bar,
"Guys, Sorry they barely let me breathe after they found out I was a hero."
Koji replied,
"shiny new holy armor, created for the hero by the kingdom's best blacksmith. Custom for blah blah blah…"
Akira sighed,
"Yeah I'm really over all the attention this hero title is giving me. I wish I had the concealment that you do Yuki."
I started to laugh nervously,
"yeah it is nice.. But everyone except the instructor has been giving me the silent treatment. That's some really sweet armor though Akira. Wear it proudly you deserve it"
Dante added,
"Well tomorrow we start our weapon training. I picked up a sweet ax at the blacksmith, curved edge like a glaive. Hope we get the chance to spar sometime. Would be fun to test our abilities''
Emilia yawned mug in hand, slouched over onto Dante,
"It's time for bed. I'm so tired, yah. Please Dante, I need your strong arms to carry me to bed"
Dante blushed,
"Quiet! You're drunk. I'll take you to bed."
Akira added,
"Might as well call it a night, we will need our sleep if tomorrow we start more hands on close quarters training."
Everyone started to go towards their respective rooms. Akira and I walked back together. Though he was not nearly as talkative.
We got back to our room, he closed the door behind us and asked,
"Yuki I have been meaning to ask, why didn't you tell them you're a beastmaster? We're here to fight for them and might as well let them know so they can help you—."
I interjected,
"We shouldn't trust them, they summoned us against our will to fight some rebels that for all we know could be in right. During my time training with Luther we talked about how the ruby kingdom took the land of the demon inhabitants. They call it colonizing, it was a bloodbath of pure hell. These aren't good people, Akira."
Akira seemingly agitated,
"The demons attacked them for years before that. They had every right to attack back! The point is… I know you got that Rank S concealment, you're hiding something and I don't know why."
I looked at Akira, unable to speak as I couldn't figure out what to say. I looked down to the ground. Akira walked to me grabbing my collar and pushed me against the wall.
"Yuki! What is wrong man? We have always had each other's back. We're literally going to war together. We need to be able to get it all on the table man."
He released me from the wall and apologized.
"I'm sorry.. All this training has really had me on edge, I didn't mean to accuse you like that."
He sat in the chair next to his bed, head in hands.
"That Pontius is putting so much pressure on me to be this hero of legend but that really isn't me. I thought it was but I was wrong. On top of all of it, I feel like you're hiding something. The world is falling apart around me.."
Akira started to tear up as he wiped his tears. I responded;
"Akira, you're like my brother. Let's get it all on the table. There is one thing I've been keeping to myself. I'm.. I'm a demon now…"
Akira stood back,
"A… A demon! The ones we're going to war with… I thought they would look like a horrible inbred mix of animals. That's what the clergymen implied."
A tear went down my face as I muttered,
"I don't know what to do, I also possess the fire affinity. If I were to use it, they would know what I am since it would be purple."
Akira walked over to me grabbing my face, squeezing different parts of it trying to see if I'm different or a monster in disguise.
Akira sighed,
"No monster under a mask, that's disappointing. I would have loved to see you turn into some sort of creature hahaha!... Really though this is a problem, they're going to execute you if they find out what you are. Do you have a plan?"
I nodded,
"Yeah, after I brush up on my sword techniques I'm going to find a way to escape. I need to be able to train with my fire magic as well. Not just that, we need to find Mina. I need to go, she needs saving. I've checked the adventurers book we have, and there are no new events for Mina other than her arrival. Going after her seems like the right thing to do."
Akira looked troubled,
"I mean we agreed to help them, they're looking into where Mina might be. Are you sure you want to leave without getting any information from them? It's risky but they might be able to help."
I shook my head no,
"I'm not leaving Mina's fate in the hands of some zealots that would rather use us than help us find our friend."
Akira sighed,
"We can't all simply abandon them, Hino wouldn't do good on the road. Plus if we ran we would be hunted down like animals. If this training with the instructors has taught me anything it's that even though we're summoned heroes, there are some incredibly strong people out there."
*Sigh*
I looked at him, making excuses for wanting to stay here. Something has changed,
"Strong or not, doesn't mean I will just sit here in fear of what might happen. I owe Mina too much to just sit by while she's in danger."
raised his voice and responded, "
You can't just leave us! I need my best friend… What…. Do we just all leave here? You want to put Hino, Emelia, Hinabi and the rest in danger to save one person?!"
I replied,
"Akira we were all in danger the moment we came to this place, don't be delusional and think that this place is full of friends. At the end of the day they're using us."
Akira sighed and replied,
"There is no right answer, you're right. There is danger no matter what direction we go. What a fucked up situation."
"Akira I can't figure out anything this tired and tipsy. I'll at least stay for this close quarters training, and then we can figure out what to do from there. I have to just believe that Mina is going to be ok. No sense in going to rescue her if I just die to a monster on the way due to lack of training."
I laid down expecting to drift off to sleep but had the biggest inclination to check my stats. I looked at my level, I was now level 5 from training with my instructor and raising my dark magic ability. I also noticed that I had another bar that was filling below my health and mana. It was purple, the same shade as my eyes.