A Father's Last Gift

The main streets didn't lead a direct line to the old city, so Chloe decided to follow the path she believed in and wound her way out of the main streets. Crowds were less down here, shops were in the process of closing for the night. Taverns were opening and people returned to their houses laden with heavy goods. The streets lead her true, onto the old main road that once cut through the busiest section of the city now lay almost abandoned and headed in the direction of the city wall that separated the old city from the new. Luckily the Mage's guild was still inside the city wall, she wouldn't be taking any risks so early in her journey by leaving the safety of the city at night.

After a few more minutes of walking down the wide, rather empty, road she noticed an old sign between two run-down buildings pointing to the Mage's Guild. She would have normally been a little nervous, in this section of the city, but Aran was there to defend her. No doubt he took all the nervousness upon himself. Down the thinner side-street lay the ruin of the Mage's Guild.

A grand building it had once been. A brick and stone building-face looked over a large courtyard, one that had once been enclosed by metal fences that had since been taken away for use somewhere else in the city. As Chloe approached she noticed just how ominous the building looked. The windows were shattered, the walls around them were charred black. From what she could make out the inside of the building had been completely gutted by fire, she could see the inside was lit in many places so it clearly lacked much of a roof. It was no wonder that people had refused to rebuild it after the Corsairs sacked the city, the place looked as if it would be haunted even if it was rebuilt completely.

Chloe didn't have much fear of Ghosts, whereas others would struggle to face one due to their ethereal nature, Chloe had Magicka at her finger tips. She could turn a Ghost into a pool of ectoplasm with a few fireballs. She stopped in the center of the broken courtyard. "This is the place. Can you imagine it before it was abandoned and destroyed? So many Mages, living under one roof. So much Magicka was used here. Right here, in this courtyard." she took a deep breath, opening her arms wide for a moment, she could "Feel it, all around me. Residual Magicka, it's exhilarating."

She turned to face Aran, unsheathing her sword and holding it lowered by her side. "Enough about Magicka, what can you teach me about the steel in my hand." she gave him a little smile, holding her head up high and pushing her body out to make herself look that little bit bigger, stronger. More of a fighter than a Mage.

"If it please you, lady Chloe. As I am sure you know, the sword you carry is called a shortsword. Most commonly, it is used with light armor, so that it's bearer may move nimbly as they fight their enemy. It also used with a small shield or buckler, which protects the user from blows while they near their opponent, though sometimes it is preferred as simply a one handed weapon, so the free hand can be used for grappling. As such, it is considered more risky then other weapons, as it requires swift movement and skill with the blade. That being said, the forms used for it are the same as any other. If it please you, today I wish to teach you the basics used by all master swordsmen."

Chloe nodded once before her response, "I would appreciate it if you teach me what you know of the shortsword. I would like to defend myself when you cannot and my Magicks fail me." it did mean quite a lot to her, she hadn't the chance to learn it back at the Estate, her mother had put an end to her training with weaponry many years ago.

"The first thing that must be learned is a type of focus, though not in the same way as you would use to cast your spells. It has many names, though all mean the same thing. Some call it Zen, other's the Void. Di'to, the One Flame, Emptying the Soul. I simply call it finding Focus. You must free yourself of all emotion, all thought. Fear, anger, hatred, joy, pain, everything must be forgotten, and only Focus must remain. It may assist you to picture a hole, or a flame, a flower or a stream. You must push all thought within to be swept aside. It will be difficult at first, and even more difficult to maintain, but practice each day, and eventually it shall become as natural as breathing. Only while focused will you be able to see the reality around you as it truly appears, and become one with your weapon."

Chloe pondered this 'Focus' for a few moments. "I can see similarities between this and the teachings of my tutor. We were supposed to ignore all emotions when casting Magicka, stray thoughts of anger or hate could cause the more complicated spells to go awry. A rather dangerous thing with Destruction Magic. Anyway. I shall give it a try."

"Okay. I think I could practice that. I may need to, but it'll be hard to clear my mind of all thought when a Mage is trained to think of the next spell before they need to cast it." She closed her eyes for a few second, gathering an image in her head. The image was that of the brook that ran through the Estate. A favourite spot of hers to flee to when she was angry, worried she would burn down the house. Flowers bloomed, it was spring. The water bubbled gently across rocks. Colours moved beneath the water, small fish. A frog croaked. She opened her eyes. She did feel calmer, but thoughts remained in her head. She ignored them, for the time being. She would work on perfecting this art after this session. Air slowly poured out of her lips, her chest deflating. "What next?"

She watched her servant become a different man before her eyes, his body language completely changed and she saw it happen. Although she thought him intimidating to begin with, with his large armour and impressive build. She almost shrunk away beneath him, but the fire inside her kept her strong in the middle of his stride. He was much more interesting in this fresh light, he oozed confidence. Every stride was meaningful, he looked like a king. The Slave King. She was in silent awe, until he stopped, turning himself into the impassive servant she had met earlier today.

"It is also good for approaching others," damn right it was ",if you mean to give the impression you are better then them. Some times intimidation is a more powerful weapons then a Daedric Blade or a Firestorm. Of course, without practice, a crack in the floor might bright your stride and balance."

"I could always intimidate someone with a Firestorm?" she smiled, for a few seconds, before putting a more serious face on. "I will try to do it." She took another deep breath, squaring herself up against the weight of the air. She began to walk, putting on the refined pose that her mother had taught her. Her muscles relaxed, she walked as if she levitating above the ground. But as she walked she felt the fire inside her flourish into an inferno. It squared her shoulders off, puffed out her chest. She had the air of a Master Mage about her, if she had been approaching a battlefield she would have been aglow with Magicka. But she kept it down, eventually settling the inferno down and lowering her stance. She relaxed again, returning to her casual appearance.

"How did I do?"

Chloe was a little angry at herself for failing the second test, but she took Aran's notes to heart. As he took her around the courtyard, practicing each different step as they went, she realizing just how good a teacher Aran was. He was teaching her by showing every step of the way and she listened to every note as she would if it was the method of casting an Ancient magic spell.

He had called it the Cat's Stride. And eventually she had the grasp of it. She seemed more larger, heavier, as she did it. A contrast to what Aran had said about letting his muscles ignore the weight if her equipment, but she felt secure on the ground. She should use this urging combat, with a Sword or not. Being firm on the ground would help her cast the harder spells.

She smiled at him when he told her she had learned the basics of this walk, she assumed this was him saying 'good job'. The next seemed a little harder, she had never had to balance before. This 'form', the Cat's Balance, was in complete contrast to what he had just taught her, but she would attempt it anyway.

She took her sword in both hands, facing it towards the sky as she rose her leg, matching it to the same position Aran's went into, she also raised her sword over her head. This part was tricky, she had a slight wobble from side to side. She managed to correct herself, shifting the blade slightly to alter her centre of mass. After a few seconds she began to wobble again, this time she surrendered to the wobbles and just dropped her leg.

She was quite frustrated when she dropped, she hated failure. Hated being bad at something. "What am I doing wrong?" she asked Aran, pleading with him to teach her again what to do.

Chloe followed Aran's commands to the letter, her body molded at his touch until she was perfectly balanced with her weight. She was a little off put by Aran touching her body, especially her hips, but he didn't seem to care so she merely chastised herself for being overly protective of her body. When he had finished it was almost as if she wasn't carrying anything anymore, everything seemed perfectly normal. It was slightly disorientating, so she did as he suggested and tried to focus herself.

She didn't close her eyes this time, instead imagining herself and Aran stood in front of the gentle brook. She imagined the birds, the sound of the water, the feel of the air on her arms which she gently pushed against to keep balance. It took her a while to fully focus, fully relax. A few minutes passed, she remained in the position Aran had instructed of her. She struggled at one or two points, the beautiful picture shaking away as she too wobbled. But she corrected it, until she couldn't feel the weight anymore. Then she remained for quite a while longer, until her leg decided it had enough.

She crashed back to reality when her leg shook. She had to drop her other leg to stop herself from falling over. She let go of the blade with one hand, lowering it towards the floor with the other. "
That wasn't so bad, right?"

She tried again and again, until she had perfected it. It didn't take her long, but then again she hadn't so much as 'perfected it' more 'didn't fall over anymore'. Her muscles just didn't have the capacity to hold her up for that long, she was a Mage not a Warrior. She ended her final attempt with a heavy sigh, holding herself in this form was quite draining. She noticed that it hadn't affected her mind at all, merely her muscles, she needed to work on her stamina a little more.

The sky had gone quite dark now, but Chloe hadn't really noticed. Her eyes had adjusted well to the gradual change in light, but by the shine of the torches on the walls of the street, she could tell it was definitely darker. "
I can practice that. You should remind me to, I'd like to learn how to balance. I think it'd help when it came to exploring. Anything else you would like to show me while we are here? Or would you like me to show you what I can do?" she ended with a happy smile, all of this bodily exercise was making her quite happy.

Chloe grinned at his comment, she doubted she could burn the entire city down, just a small section maybe. "I'll try not to set anything on fire. Try." She added a smile onto the end, showing that she meant to not burn down the city. Chloe took a deep breath, her legs ached subtly from trying to balance but that shouldn't affect her.

She took a few steps away from Aran, positioning herself facing the burn wall of the old Mages Guild. She imagined a scene. A charging bandit, perhaps an Ogre. Magics coalesced into her palms, it was slow moving and pure white. Flakes of frozen air and water dropped from her hands. "I know the branch of Frost Manipulation. Not as much as Flame, but I know plenty of this too." Suddenly icicles the length of half her forearm formed in her grasp, with the dexterity of a knife-thrower she whipped these spears forwards, propelled by Magicka, into the surface of the brick wall. One shattered on impact, showering the floor with dangerously sharp shards of ice. The damage would've been clear to an opponent, the shards shattered in all directions and an unguarded face would've been hit. The second spike found a weak spot in a wooden window frame, embedding itself halfway into the soft wood.

Chloe could feel the subtle symptoms of Magicka loss, similar to the feelings of tiring. But she had much more Magicka than that to throw around. The colour of the Magicka in her hands changed to a deep blue, it moved more rapidly around her palms. Sparks of lightning shot out in random directions from her hands. Harmless ones that disappeared mere inches away from their point of origin. "I know as much about Shock Manipulation as I do Frost. But I rarely practice it." She focused more with this casting, the Magicka around her palms expanded into wide balls. Her hands came together, joining the two for an easier and more precise cast. She shot the ball forwards, aiming at the ice spike embedded in the widow frame. It struck it almost directly, shattering the ice spike into sharp shards and exploding a sharp explosion of deadly sparks.

She smiled at her aiming, "I'm getting better at that it seems." She took a deep breath, that one was quite taxing. Her palms became warm, her body embraced what was coming next. The Magicka slowed, not quite as much as when she cast Frost Magicks, but still slowed. A calming warm flame appeared centred in her palms. It seemed to follow their every movements, gently licking the flesh without burning it. "Flame Manipulation. My personal choice in combat. Stand back for this one." This time her actions were almost instantaneous, both palms shot into the sky. She looked as if a dancer were about to perform a spin, her leg even arching slightly to the side. Fire erupted from her palms, flames trickled down her frame as if water, following the contours of her body until he was coated in the fire. It settled to a gentle warmth around her, a Flame Cloak. She looked happy, a wide grin on her face, her eyes sparkled in the flame. She turned to Aran, showing him how much she enjoyed casting this spell, even if it was a little tiring.

She bounced a little on the spot, enjoying her moment of Magicka-infused joy. She stared at Aran after she had finished. The spell was nicely warming to her, but he looked like. . . Well usual, he didn't seem to know why she enjoyed it so much.

Chloe listened intently to Aran's attack plans, cancelling her Flame Cloak to stop herself from expending useful Magicka. She gave him a curt nod as he strode off down the hall, putting a serious face on. She had plenty of faith in her abilities to defeat Aran at the first attempt. There was no way he would reach her, she would pull out all the tricks to stop him. It was just like proving herself to her father or her tutors.

She put a finger to her amulet when he asked her if she was ready. A superstition, that the amulets enchantment would only be affected by her direct contact. But she knew that while it was on her person it would be working perfectly well. She could feel the Magicka in the item, its warm glow. It gave her more courage. "I am ready, Aran!" she called out.

Magicka coalesced in her palms. A deep red that signalled the birth of fire. She shone in the slow darkening of the night. As Aran began his approach, skipping from side to side like a dragonfly, Chloe released a volley of smaller fireballs. She didn't want to harm him, even though he was in armour. This was practicing her aim after all.

She fired three fireballs in quick succession, one to the left of him, one to his right and a more powerful charged two-handed cast towards his middle. A simple technique, hoping to catch him off guard.