Aura

*Inhuman screams could be heard coming from the supplies shed in New Lorden. Heath took the newly acquired goblin scout inside two hours ago and has been inside ever since, Derrick approaches Leon and sighs* "Lord, is this truly necessary? These screams are horrible, I know that they are a goblin's screams but this makes us no better then Bron." *Leon turns and looks at Derrick with a stern expression* "Do you think that I don't know that? I want nothing more then to stop this, but I don't know what to do otherwise. Bron is strong, unnaturally strong, you took on a troll Derrick, a troll. And Bron defeated you, after training with Thron for 6 months he still threw me around like a child, perhaps the only way to beat him is to think like him." *Derrick takes a deep breath* "Leon, as your retainer I will do whatever you ask of me, but as your friend I am telling you, this is not the answer." *Derrick bows and walks away leaving Leon to his thoughts*

*Another hour passes before Heath comes walking out with his familiar grin* "Hey there boss, all done, the little guy will do whatever I say." *Leon closes his eyes and thinks for a moment* "Heath, I understand why you did what you did, on paper this is a good plan, but in my heart I know that what we're doing is inhumane, even if it is a creature as nasty as a goblin, it is still a living creature." *Heath tilts his head then looks back at the shed briefly then back to Leon* "Torture? Is that what you thought I was doing? No no no, Bron's men all have the insignia of a boar on there skin, in order to command the goblin I needed to remove the branding and replace it with my own, that goblin was just a big whiner, but don't worry I'm his top dog now." *As Heath finishes explaining the greenskin walks out of the shed and stretches his arms. Leon looks closely and notices a few differences, the eyes of the goblin are different, they are brighter, its body is lither and its claws and fangs are sharper and longer, it's more beast like*

"Heath, what did you do?" *Heath raises his eyebrow* "I just told ya, I replaced Bron's brand with my own." "Yea I know that's what you said but what does that mean?" *Heath walks and sits on a nearby crate* "Hmm, how do I explain this…Obviously you know that I am a Skin-Changer, well I am what we call an Alpha. What an Alpha does is he leads a pack, and I used my aura to imprint on our friend here, now he is a member of my pack, not only does that ensure his loyalty but it also gives him a bit of my power." *Leon sits down and closes his eyes sighing deeply* "So…This aura, what is it?" *Heath shakes his head* "Good lord kid, didn't that king teach you anything?" *Heath takes a deep breath* "Aura is the energy of a persons soul, every persons aura is unique of course because no two people are the same, but most auras fall into certain categories, think of it as the personality of person coming to life, someone who is cruel and powerful will have an aura to reflect that."

*Leon nods slowly* "So what your telling me is, every single person has this…aura…inside them that is kind of like their inner strength, the strength of their soul?" *Heath nods and smiles* "Exactly." *Leon stands and paces back and forth* "So even I have this aura?" *Heath chuckles* "Well you are included in everyone so yes, yours seems a bit different then most I've seen, especially from a small-town boy like yourself." *Leon stares at Heath* "You can see my aura?" *Heath smiles* "Of course, it's not much to look at right now but with some training I think yours will be quite bright." *Leon sits back down and smiles* "This is it, this is how I can defeat Bron, I can defeat him with my aura!" *Heath puts up his hands* "Slow down there greenhorn, you just found out what aura is, Bron is an orc warrior that leads his own hoard, he's probably been using aura longer then you've been alive, and besides your two personalities are vastly different, be careful when blindly attacking aura users, they could have an aura that trumps your own." *Leon stares in confusion at Heath* "You mean there are certain kinds of aura that are just better than others?"

*Heath thinks and sways his head from side to side* "Yes and no. There are some auras that are considered stronger in the sense that they are easier to do big things with, but an aura is only as strong as the user, so yes at certain points you may encounter someone who has an aura that is naturally stronger then your own but you can always overcome that aura with pure strength of will. But don't think that you can just win with the power of dreams and hope, yes that will help your aura be stronger but you don't want to push out more power then you can control, if you use 100% power but can only control 50% then you will end up hurting yourself and those around you. That also leads me to my next point, some auras are wilder than others, someone like Bron probably has an aura that is like fire, strong and passionate but easy to lose control of, if he doesn't keep it in check then it will spread beyond his control."

*Leon closes his eyes and rubs the sides of his head* "This is a lot to take in." *Heath laughs and smiles* "Yea I'm probably not the best teacher, but that friend of yours Derrick, he knows how to use aura, maybe you should ask him to teach you." *Leon looks up at the sky and takes a breath* "Thank you Heath, you've really widened my horizons today." *Heath smiles again and stands up* "No problem boss, if you have any questions let me know." *Heath looks at the goblin* "Come on you." *The goblin nods and follows Heath towards the forest*

*Leon sits for a moment longer and tries to process everything Heath told him. Can he really learn how to control his aura? And if he does what would he even do with it? Leon stands and walks towards Derricks home, he knocks on the door an hears some commotion from inside before it opens and Lana greets him* "Hello Leon, so nice to see you. I'm sorry I haven't visited your mom recently I've been here with Sara pretty much 24/7, especially with your mother sick and Derrick so busy I haven't had a moment to myself." *Leon smiles and shakes his head* "No problem at all, you're a mother now, your first priority is your child." *Lana gives Leon a hug and smiles* "Oh but listen to me ramble on and on, you're here to see Derrick right? Well he's out back training." *Leon nods and smiles* "Thank you Lana, stay safe ok?" *She nods and Leon walks around the house to the backyard*

*As Leon approaches he hears Derrick's grunts and breathing from his training. Leon stands just out of Derrick's view and watches him train, for the first time in a while Leon sees Derrick's wound clearly, he remembers that day so vividly, when Dave was fighting Bron and Derrick was laying in a pool of his own blood. As he relives that horrible day Derrick sees him and walks over* "I apologize lord, I didn't see you." *Leon shakes his head and comes back to reality* "No no, it's alright, I wanted to watch you for a while, you seem to be healing quite well, not only physically but mentally, I know how much you've gone through and I'm sorry for always asking so much of you." *Derrick waves his hand* "No need to apologize Leon, to be honest serving you has helped my healing, it has given me purpose when I thought I had lost everything, but now I have more then I did, I will serve you until death, and I will protect Lana and Sarah with all my might." *Leon smiles and pats Derrick's arm* "Glad to hear it my friend. But I did not come here only to talk, I need your help." *Derrick leans against the fence* "Anything you need I will try my best." "I need you to train me." *Derrick raises his eyebrow* "Train you? You had 6 months of training from King Thron, I believe your past the point where my training will help you in any significance." *Leon shakes his head* "Derrick, I need you to be my Aura teacher." *Derricks eyes widen slightly* "Leon, I didn't even know you knew about aura." "I didn't, Heath just told me a few minutes ago." *Derrick sighs* "I see." "Why didn't you tell me about this? Learning this could have given me the edge I needed to defeat Bron."

"I never told you because I don't think your ready, you still have so little actual experience, both in battle and in life. You are still young, aura is no laughing matter Leon, it takes time and control, and after that fight with Bron a few days ago I saw that you don't have that control." *Leon looks down* "I know that I lost myself that day, but I promise I won't do it again, please Derrick, please teach me." *Derrick sighs and looks down as well then back up* "Alright, I'll teach you, not only will I teach you to use aura but to control it." *Leon looks up and smiles* "Thank you Derrick! When do we start?" *Derrick smiles and walks back to the training field* "We start now."