Chapter 78:

Volume 3, Chapter 22: Broken Magic Flow

Heroes of the Past


Wednesday Winter Quarter 2016 Week 6

“Huh, Felicity?” Kisai asked, shooting multiple flame projectiles at me.

I dodged the majority of them, but two of the projectiles merged, striking me. I stood back up, brushing the dirt off my pants. Kisai was doing more advanced attacks now.

“Are you still feeling good?” Kisai asked, pausing.

“Yeah, it caught me by surprise. Just wanted to know what Felicity was like in high school,” I revaled my intentions.

“Well, she certainly is interesting,” Kisai replied, allowing me time to recover.

“Come on, you have to be give me more than that,” I requested.

“Felicity is uh…. an interesting character. S**t, I hate it when I repeat words like that. She’s very ambitious and quite demanding, I guess?” Kisai pieced together his response.

“That’s true, but how do you view her as a friend? That’s what I want to know,” I clarified.

“Let me think about it,” Kisai responded.

“Fine, so what’s next? I got the basics down. Are we moving onto something harder?” I asked, looking over at the magic user.

“Time for you to channel magic into a weapon. Should be useful if you keep using a sword,” Kisai decided, a glowing sword appearing in his right hand.

Purple colored electricity coiled around the sword blade. Did this mean he was taking things more seriously now?

“How exactly should I start?” I asked, summoning my sword too.

“Whenever you use magic, you feel energy manifest. It’s kind of boring to keep mentioning it. All you have to do is shift that feeling into the weapon. It’s a bit vague, but try it out,” Kisai directed, dimming the glow on his weapon.

He didn’t glance at his weapon and the glow intensified. It originated from his hand, flowing into the blade. All of a sudden, purple electricity coiled around his weapon once more. I stared at my own weapon and tried it.

I conjured up magic, but felt a shock run through my hand, trying to push it towards the weapon. I dropped my sword, grasping my right hand.

“Let me take a look,” Kisai walked over.

I observed a faint green flicker of light around his hand. The experienced mage stood back, staring upward. He nodded and then stared at me.

“Tomo, can you let me check your hand for a few seconds? If it makes you uncomfortable, then you don’t have to do,” Kisai requested.

“Go ahead. If it’ll help my powers, it doesn’t really matter to me,” I consented.

He grasped my fingers and green miniature orbs orbited around his hand. Kisai released my hand, moving his left hand across the air. Very faint particles of light appeared, vanishing immediately.

“Your magic isn’t flowing properly, like an incomplete chemical reaction. You have to refine the magic. You’re pushing out “broken” magic,” Kisai analyzed.

“I don’t really get it,” I said, confused about what he meant.

“It takes effort to transfer magic. There’s a certain threshold you have to pass. Consider magic as a collection of particles and if a certain amount don’t make it, then it won’t work,” Kisai rephrased.

“There’s real life bullsh**t going on even with magic?” I asked in an exasperated voice.

“Yeah,” Kisai replied with a smile.

After a few more attempts, I transferred some of my magic over. It was for a short duration, but I succeeded. Kisai ended the training session, noticing my fatigue.

“I was wondering, but how well can you use magic while using a weapon too?” I wondered.

“It takes effort. You can still use spells even while attacking with a blade. You just have to manage two sources at once. It’s not easy for a beginner. I did pick it up really quickly,” Kisai replied.

“Can everyone do this then? This dual usage?” I questioned, curious.

“Most people just pick casting. It’s a lot easier to manage. Of course, I wanted to be better, that’s why I do both. Probably different for Feng though,” Kisai replied.

“Okay. Thanks for everything like always, Kisai,” I thanked him, leaving the training facility.

“Nah, I should be the one thanking you,” Kisai laughed.

“You have work today?” I asked, walking toward the parking lot.

“Nah, not sure what I’ll do when I get home. If there’s a basketball game on, I might watch it before doing any homework,” Kisai replied, pulling out his phone.

When I arrived home, Yukie stood near the stove. She noticed me entering, giving me a slight bow. Mom was getting pretty lazy, letting Yukie taking over.

“Hey, Yukie, is dinner ready?” I asked.

“Ah, not yet. Uncle is not home yet, so Auntie said we should wait,” Yukie answered with a smile.

“Where’s Mom?” I inquired.

“She is currently in the garage inspecting Uncle’s workshop space. I believe she is taking the opportunity to clean during his absence,” Yukie responded.

“How rare. She usually doesn’t care what Dad does in there,” I muttered, surprised by her actions.

“Ah, excuse me, I must tend to the soup,” Yukie took out a ladle from the dishwasher.

I threw my backpack down in my room. What to do? I should start doing my homework, but felt pretty tired after training. I glanced down at my hands, considering his words about transferring magic.

“Pure”, huh? What a strange way of phrasing it. You would think magic followed no rules. However, Tess mentioned Kisai incorporated natural world principles in his magic. He seemed like the type to break the traditional mold, venturing off and making his own set of rules.

“So weird, they aren’t exactly what I envisioned, especially compared to Ichizen’s ideals,” I muttered, leaning back on my office chair.

I grabbed one of Ichizen’s books from my shelf, thumbing through them again. Ichizen wrote notes and highlighted certain lines of text. This book wasn’t assigned as classwork. Something caught my eye at the top corner.

“Ace?” I said out loud.

I laid the page down on the table, inspecting the comments Ichizen left pertaining to her. Some of the ink was smudged, but still legible.

“Today I met a really cool person who agreed with me today!”
“She didn’t call me an idiot like Yuki and encouraged me to pursue whatever I believed in. I hope I get to meet her again.”
“She remind me a lot of a character in this story actually. I wonder if she’s ever read this series before. I should definitely tell her about it if I ever see her again.”
“She didn’t give me a full name but just told me to call her Ace. What a cool name. I wonder if it’s related to something special about her.

They were all just gushing compliments about Ace’s coolness and personality. There were also a few side remarks about me being mean. Besides that, not much more. Damn it. However, if he mentioned her here, then maybe more references were present in the other books of the same series. I should definitely flip through the other ones, seeing what else I could find.

During dinner, Mom kept looking at me. Either something was definitely wrong, or she found blackmail material on me. I wouldn’t put it past her. Yukie ate with elegance as usual, keeping her entire area clean.

“Yuki, how long were you going to keep it from me?” Mom finally said, her smile really freaking me out.

“What?” I sighed, knowing she probably did it on purpose.

“Hmm, have I?” Mom replied, shaking her head in innocence.

“What’s this all about?” Dad asked, showing interest.

“Yuki’s found herself in interesting company. I’ve always banked on Ichizen, but with him unfortunately gone, I was worried. Guess I shouldn’t be anymore,” Mom revealed with a big smile.

How many times would I be forced to endure this? Mom did this on purpose. Dad usually didn’t care about things like this.

“Oh, what kind of people would they be?” Dad asked.

“Uh, normal people? It’s not like they stand out much,” I answered, not exactly sure what kind of answer he desired.

“I see. Then, there’s nothing to worry about. I would like to see some pictures of these people,” Dad asked, looking over at Mom.

Actually, what did I care? After dinner, Yukie washed the dishes and Mom pulled out her tablet. I was curious about what types of pictures Mom had. I glanced over at her screen, seeing pictures of me near the training facility speaking with Kisai and others. I never told Mom where I went, so she followed me there.

“Mom, when did you take these?” I asked.

“Over the past few weeks. I was curious about where you headed off to after school. Looks like a regular gym though. Having this phone tracking app is really useful,” Mom revealed, looking over at Yukie.

“Should have known,” I muttered.

“There’s nothing to worry about then. I’ll be in the workshop,” Dad showed no more interest.

“Oh, Dear, I cleaned up. I left all your stuff alone, but did a quick sweep,” Mom said.

Dad nodded, leaving. I wanted to help Yukie with the dishes, but knew she would refuse. I decided to complete my homework. After that, time to investigate those references Ichizen left behind in the books.