Chapter 10

"So you'll actually teach me?"

"Yeah, sure! I'm only a year older, but I know my stuff. It isn't hard to get a hold of, you just need to practice to become better."

"Thank you! I really need a teacher."

"Yeah, what mark do you have anyways?"

"Um... r-ROCK! Rock... yeah." Chelsy facepalms while Thanatos gives a weak thumbs up.

"Ooookay... well, I can kinda help you there, but you'll probably be on your own."

"That's fine! I just need to learn plant at the very least."

~~~

"I cannot learn plant!" I was trying to control a vine that Dani made, but it was going all over the place.

"FEEL THE VINE!"

"I'M TRYING!"

"TRY HARDER!" Chelsy was somehow caught by the vine.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?"

"I DON'T WANT MORE SCARS, GET ME DOWN!" She didn't want to destroy the vine, but she also wanted to get down.

"FEEL THE VINE!"

"THE VINE FEELS ANGRY!"

"THEN MAKE IT NOT ANGRY!" I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I start trying to... talk to the vine?

Okay. Calm down Mr. Vine... or Ms. Vine. Or even just Vine, I don't judge.

"GET ME DOWN!"

Okay... tangent. Could you put my friend down please?

"I SHOULD'VE CHOSEN MY WORDS BETTER! LUNAAAA!" I peek my eyes open and Chelsy was free falling. I start panicking and thankfully, Thanatos manages to catch her.

"You could've saved yourself, right?" I laugh nervously.

"I'm going to fucking kill you- but of course I could've. I just don't want to waste any more energy. Besides, Thanatos caught me." He puts her down.

"How about we start with something easier?"

"Please."

~~~

"Please tell me how you managed to make a flower into a bigger flower?" Dani, from what I could tell, was a nice guy. He seemed like a cheery guy. But now? He looked dead behind the eyes.

"You've done that before... right?"

"I've never made the flower start attacking people." He starts softly laughing, which scared me.

"Well... it's good for attacking?"

"Not when the flower is attacking you!" We were both running away from a rampaging daisy. Dani was adamant about not using his magic to help, but I could tell he was regretting that decision.

"Ha! SUCK IT, LOSERS!" Chelsy and Thanatos were over by the sidelines, laughing at our misfortune.

"Wow! THANKS!" I grab onto one of the leaves and climb on top of the flower. I start trying to pin it down.

"What are you doing!?"

"I don't know!" None of my teachers ever taught me about how to attack a flower, so this was a learning opportunity?

Down. Stop attacking us! Just be a normal flower!

It starts squirming and trying to get me off.

Why won't you just let me control you? I want you to stop!

It grows angrier and angrier, even getting bigger.

"LUNA! DON'T CONTROL IT, GUIDE IT!" Dani yells at me from the ground. "IT'S A LIVING THING, NOT LIKE THE OTHER ELEMENTS!"

Oh... okay. Can you please stop attacking us? I mean, you're probably just getting tired... right?

Slowly, the flower starts shrinking until I was sitting next to a daisy.

"Damn, this element is hard!"

"Yeah, but it's also very powerful. I mean... a flower just tried to kill us." He cracks a weak smile.

"Okay... something way easier."

~~~

"So... I'm hopeless?"

"No, you are not hopeless... you're just not great at it."

"No, she's hopeless!" Chelsy yells from across the field, keeping a safe distance.

"Thanatos, smack her for me!" I hear a small ow coming from their direction.

"Anyways, I can't make a plant, I can't control a plant. What can I do to a plant? With a plant... for a plant- that doesn't make sense." I yell out a groan

"Every mage has the potential of learning their element or branch. It's the matter of determination a mage has that makes it possible."

"That was strangely really moving, but I think another plant is trying to kill us again."

"MOTHER FUCK-"

~~~

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay. Just repeat after me."

"Okay? I don't see how this is gonna help." Dani grabs both of my hands and places them on the ground.

"Etheria, hear me."

"Etheria, hear me?"

"I am one with the earth."

"I'm one with the earth..."

"The plants listen to my command."

"The plants kinda listen to my command."

"I- never mind. Etheria, hear me."

"Etheria... hear me." The grass around me starts growing and a single rose pops out. Disappointing, but it was progress.

"Woah, what was that?" Chelsy walks over.

"Sometimes saying stuff like that can help a mage understand their element more. It usually means using less energy too, but it's not very practical for battle. You can try it."

"Alright..." Chelsy cracks her neck. "May the oceans give me their strength. May the waves never stop. Water gives you life, and your blood controls you."

"Is that true?"

"Shut up." Water surrounds us, spinning and turning. I was scared to touch it, I thought it would chop my arm off or something.

"Huh, I guess it does work. But it's a little stupid." She makes the water disappear.

"Yeah, but it's good for beginners. Some people even say something out loud when doing dual spells. But it's something small, like... duality: light and darkness." He shrugs. "It keeps their magic in sync instead of branching out."

"Thanatos! Get over here!" He does what he's told, but with some resignation.

"Am I gonna get hurt while we're doing whatever it is we're doing?"

"Probably not? I just wanna try something."

"Oh gods, she's going to kill me." Thanatos claps his hands together. "Let's do this."

"Yes!" She timidly grabs his hand and points both of their's to a nearby clump of trees.

"What exactly are we doing here?"

"Unison spell, just try it with me." Water surrounds their hands, making a sphere. Slowly, shadows seep in until blue and black swirl together.

"𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦: 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦!" They look at each other, surprised, before turning back to their spell. Their sphere grows into a wave, splitting apart to attack their target in multiple directions. The trees are nothing more than tree bark by the time they're done.

"Woah." She whispers out.

"Well, I'm not dead. I'd call that pretty good." The two high five.

"But the trees!"

"You can grow them back."

"That's not the point." They start bickering like an old married couple. I was just standing there, with a few flowers.

I didn't know how to do... any magic. Wasn't I supposed to have all of them?

"I'll be back!" They didn't pay much attention, but I didn't mind.

~~~

"All I can do is some grass. Wow, mage of the fucking millennium." Granddaughter of Lucifer, bearer of every known magic, princess of Prebia. All I can do is grass. Grass and flowers, I guess.

I called out to the trees around me. They didn't listen or they didn't hear me. The basic fundamental part of the nature mark was nature itself. If I couldn't get that, I didn't know if I could get any magic.

No magic, what kind of mage is that? No magic when you have every magic. No magic when you're supposed to be powerful. No magic... I guess I was always doomed to fail. Was that why I didn't have a second magic? Do I just not have the potential? That scared me more than I would like to admit.

So I sat down in the grass. I submerged myself with the dirt and the bugs and the trees and their roots. I guess I fell asleep.

When I woke up, all I could hear was screaming.