Auxiliary Magic

Ares slept peacefully in the empty dormitory waking early to begin his training with Miles.

Ares had noticed before his body had been getting fitter ever since his interaction with the orb in the mine; this change had unfortunately slowed and now despite being a healthy weight he found that sleeping did not change his body in the slightest.

Ares arrived at the pre-arranged area by the abandoned house at five fifty. It was ten minutes before Miles told him to arrive.

"I see you arrived early, good. I like your enthusiasm." Miles said as he appeared from a nearby street. He wore the exact same clothing as the day before. Ares was unsure if he had even changed his clothing.

Miles had a brown shoulder bag swung haphazardly over his head there was a metal chink as he came closer.

"I have brought you a weapon suitable for your… " he coughed "experience." Miles opened the bag and withdrew two metal glove like pieces of armour.

"Put them on." Miles demanded as soon as Ares received them.

Obliging Miles Ares put the metal gloves on his hands. They came to the top of his wrists and were very heavy. Ares's arms were weighed down to his sides as soon as he had put them on. The glove like armour was thick and movement was almost impossible in his fingers Ares's hands were locked open palm. Ares was unsure how much use these could be in a fight, he could barely use his arms at all.

"The gauntlets are mostly a defensive measure but combined with magic they can become a destructive tool; their versatility cannot be under-estimated."

Ares was still sceptical, he would have to be able to move before this versatility could be displayed in the slightest.

"Now before the rest of the training. The morning will contain strength training, the evening sparing. In the lessons during the week I will try to teach you specific movement skills that may prove beneficial. We will continue today by going for a run, you will follow in my stead."

Ares began to remove the heavy gauntlets as soon as he was told that they would be going for a run.

"What are you doing?" Miles asked.

"Taking off the gauntlets for the run." Ares replied.

"Keep them on." Miles gave Ares a look that clearly left no room for argument.

If this was what it took to become stronger Ares was willing to suffer a little he lamented.

Miles confirmed that Ares wasn't going to backchat then began running. Ares followed as closely as he could. An hour or so passed with Ares following Miles, Ares could no longer feel his arms and his vision felt blurry. More than once Ares thought he was going to lose sight of Miles but somehow as if sensing Ares Miles would always slow at the right time.

Miles slowly came to a stop after the second lap of the city. Ares could not see far at this point and almost collided with Miles. Miles put his hand out before they made contact. Ares stopped as Miles palm pushed against his sweat soaked top.

"Today you have done well, I will cancel tonight's spar for you today. Tomorrow we will begin again at six." Miles then disappeared into a building leaving Ares behind.

The rest of the day passed quickly. Ares only had understanding magic and spell craft lessons today. Ares already didn't think much of understanding magic; the lessons were boring and the tutor was some elderly man who glared at anyone who spoke too loudly or asked questions. Ares had learnt more in the few hours in the library he had spent then in the long boring lessons. In the spell craft lesson, he was once again confined to the dome and asked to find his magic core which he did with ease, strangely the lake like entity was ever so slightly wider than the day before.

The next day the running continued with Miles insisting Ares wore the heavy gauntlets. Following the exhausting training he was given an hour to recover before making his way to the chosen optional module; Auxiliary magic. Ares had no idea what this subject covered but felt it was likely to be more interesting then history of magic. The class was within a thin tower near the outskirts of the compound. As he knocked on the door he could hear a vague sound of snoring.

Ares waited outside the door for several minutes with no response; he could hear the snoring continue. Biting the bullet, he pushed the door open and looked in. There were papers and books on every surface of the somewhat small room. In the middle of the room was a wide desk piled high with bottles of different colours. Ares couldn't see anyone in the room but the snoring prevailed. Following the sound Ares could see behind a pile of papers was an old woman asleep in a chair. She seemed to be about sixty years old but retained a glimmer of youth in her wizened face, she wore a long pointy hat and had dark green robes on.

"Hello?" Ares said. There was no response from the woman.

Glancing at the desk Ares could see a half-submerged name plate. Spellcaster Aurora- Auxiliary magic.

"Spellcaster Aurora?" Ares said hoping the name would jolt the woman awake. There was once again no response.

This is going to prove a pain Ares pondered. He approached Aurora and decided to poke her in the shoulder to awake her. As he extended his finger and moved to poke Aurora her eyes snapped open. Having been caught with his finger extended in his direction Ares instantly felt worried.

"What are you doing here?" The woman said, her voice weathered and raspy.

"The class?" Ares said as he quickly retracted his finger.

"What class?" The woman asked.

"You are spellcaster Aurora? Who teaches Auxiliary magic…" he pointed at the name plate.

"Yes… and you are?" Aurora asked.

"Your student, Ares." He said.

"OH." She replied. After another second, she said again.

"OH." Another second passed.

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, that was today! Come in, come in." She said quickly moving her chair behind the desk and pushing a pile of papers onto the floor from another chair.

Ares took a seat and inwardly scolded himself for picking this lesson.

"You are the first to pick this class in several years so I was a little unprepared, call me Aurora." Aurora said a smile quickly spreading over her face.

"Why did you pick this class?" She asked looking muddled herself.

"I wanted to know about auxiliary magic it sounded interesting." Ares didn't wish to tell her it had been one of only two choices and he had selected it at random.

"Good, good, good. Auxiliary magic is marvellous." Aurora said gaining a little clarity on her face.

"Sorry Aurora but what is Auxiliary magic?" Ares asked.

"Well there are many types but since I am the teacher of this lesson I will be teaching you my most proficient Auxiliary magic; absorption. With this spell you can absorb the contents of any book directly into your mind. Theoretically you could read a whole library in a day with this magic mastered, as it stands I can absorb about a book a day." She smiled at Ares.