>Distorted voice<
"Why are you still here?"
"God you're going to be a failure when you grow up."
"What? No gross, go sleep in your own bed"
"Get off me! *pushes* I told you I don't like you hugging me!"
"You stupid *hit* Usless *kick* Piece of SHIT!! *stomp*"
"What you're back? I figured you finally got yourself killed."
"Another death threat came in the mail. Not surprised, you're not even someone a mother could love."
"Not surprised, you're not even someone a mother could love"
"Not even someone a mother can love"
Suddenly I wake up vomiting. Covered in sweat and shaking I struggle to move as I grip my chest, the world beginning to spin. (d-damn...why are these back?!)
"FUCK!!" (The damn night terrors better not be back!)
"FUCK!! FUCK FUCK FUUUUUCK!!!"
The maid is the first one to enter the room to see the sorry state I was in.
"Y-Young master! Are you alright?! What happened?!" I can see she's trying to tell me something but for some reason I can only hear the long and heavy beats my heart's making.
(S-shit I cant let them see me like this. I have to calm down. I cant make them hate me! I cant make them...) Suddenly I began to shake and scream as I lost my mind ( They probably will hate me eventually. The maid already does. After all not even my mother loved me-) Suddenly the cold vanishes and I'm wrapped in a warm calming feeling. My heart rate slows and everything starts coming into focus. (W-What is Elxie and Hikari doing here? Don't they have better things t-)
"Its ok Samu...I'm here. You're safe" A strong and unfamiliar feeling hits me and I begin to cry.
"What do you need Elxie? Just give me a moment so I can get dressed and ready."
"It's alright Samu we have you." After hearing the familiar cute and soothing voice I've grown accustomed to hearing, something inside of me changed. Suddenly as I looked at the two girls something in me latched onto them. Though I didn't realize it at the time. (What?...what's going on? This feels like it did back then?..) I shake my head and cling onto the two of them just to savor the moment and feel this way for as long as I can. Suddenly Elxie lifts my face to meet hers
"Its ok, the goblins are gone." she seemed so serious. I've never seen her look at me with anything other than a cold stare. It took me completely off guard.
"G-Goblins?" Oh, she thinks its trauma from the goblins.
"They wont bother you here. And even if they do young master is strong enough to easily fend them off!" She makes a small punching pose. She has no idea how to punch making the pose look so silly. (How cute, she cares.)
"It isn't the goblins. It was just a bad dream." I try to just end this interaction as soon as possible. The sooner its over the sooner I can forget. I thought they'd both press on it more but they just smiled and left me to get dressed for the day. (I'm relieved. I thought they'd try and make me talk..)
Part 2
Due to staring at the wall in my room it took me longer than it should have to go down stairs for breakfast. Once I took my final steps off of the stairs I saw everyone talking together at the dinner table, at least until Hikari informed them I was now here.
"Good morning son, finally ready to start the day?" He's met with a quick smack from mother.
"Of course. I just got a little distracted when I was getting dressed." I figured he was most likely referring to how long it took me to make it downstairs for breakfast.
"You know Samu if you're having this hard of a time because of some goblins then you're going to have a hard time protecting anyone in the future" Suddenly both mother and Elxie hit him on the head.
"It wasn't the goblins. I just had a bad dream is all." Its the truth so why wont he just believe me?
"You know its ok to be weak, just don't be so weak that you cant use it to grow- Agh!" Now Hikari hits him with her staff while mother and Elxie punch him in the face. I just sigh and give up on eating and make my way outside for magic training.
"I told you its not like that. I'm not so weak to be impacted by some weak sub-human life form." I say back as I walk out the front door.
"He's our son you ass-hole!"
"What in the world is wrong with you! You shouldn't talk to the young master like that!"
"How rough can you get? Are you dense?" Hikari gives a quick glare then follows after me.
I don't even care about what happened with the goblins. He was right the first time, I saved the child and survived the fight. If anything his persistence in assuming its the goblins annoys me.
"Samu?.." I turn to see a worried Hikari
"What is it?" I tried showing her a smile so she would think I was fine. I think it worked because she decided to let it go.
"No its nothing." She gave me a light smile.
"Hey master, do you mind showing me how to cast fire spells without burning myself?" Hikari seemed shocked.
"You don't know how? I figured you were just a natural at everything?" She gives me a smirk as if she's looking down on me.
"Just show me how. It saved my life recently so Id like to be able to use it without the risk of injury." Man she can be annoying at times, though I dont mind it.
"Its all about using your mana. For instance if I used a ice spell I would need to use the appropriate amount of mana to 'shield' myself in a way. Simply do what you always do but try slowly filling your hand with mana instead of just the spell itself." I just nod and chose to trust my teacher. This time I fill my hand with a bit of my mana before charging up "Flame Bullet". As the fire grew I patiently waited for my hand to hurt as I filled the spell with mana. By the time the spell was ready I still hadn't needed to supply my hand with anymore mana. (Hah? So this whole time I only needed a small amount of mana in my hand? Am I stupid?)
"Master what's the strongest spell level you can defend against?" She ponders for a moment.
"Id say I could block up to advanced fairly easily depending on the spell." Good...
"Then Master. Please survive this."
(Finally I get a chance to try this combo!) I flood my hand with fire magic while using my off hand to use 'Gale Stream' to increase its output. Soon the flame became condensed and shifted to a light blue and focusing into a beam similar to a blowtorch. I can already tell the power of this will be immense.
(I shouldn't put more than the minimum amount of mana required for now, this spell might be stronger than I thought.) I faced Hikari after I was ready but was soon surprised. She ran a distance away from the home then turned to face me. Her face was filled with anxiety. As I slowly aimed my hand in her direction she panicked and started firing off defensive spells.
"I call upon the spirit of water! Shield my allies and I,
Protect what I cherish! Water Wall!
I call upon the spirit of earth and stone, be the bulwark that shields me and keeps my foes at bay! Stone Wall!" With those two spells she layered a three feet thick stone wall and a 10 foot thick water wall. (Why is she so cautious? Is this a spell she's never seen? Maybe I should name it?)
"I hope you can block this Master! Azure Flame!" The shockwave was immense. The sheer force of it nearly knocking me off of my feet. It traveled at blinding speeds before slamming into her defenses. Her water wall was evaporated as the flame passed through slamming into the stone wall.
"I call upon the spirits of the wind, imbue my staff with your crushing might. Hurricane Beam!" Just as she finish chanting my spell destroyed her stone wall and clashed with a beam of wind so thick it nearly seemed solid. The collision began to destroy the ground around it until eventually Hikari out lasted the attack with the flame dying out. She fell to her knees and let out a loud sigh of relief.
"Samuuuuu...." Crap, she's definitely mad!
"Stone Bullet!" Suddenly a ball of rock gut checks me knocking the air out of me.
"Are you crazy!? If I hadn't used that last spell on time I could have died! And what is up with that spell?! How can a flame turn blue?! How did that small flame deal so much damage?!" Dang Master give me time to breath!
"I combined Fire Bullet and Gale Stream to meld them into a new spell.." I struggle to stand as she storms over to me and lifts me up by the caller of my shirt.
"How the hell can you manage that!? Duel casting isn't something anyone's ever been recorded doing! If there's some hidden knowledge of spell casting ill have you share it with me right now!" Woah why is she so feisty? Was what I did such a blow to her ego?
"I use chantless casting to cast Fire Bullet, I use Gale Stream to fuel the flame and increase its heat. Then as its filling with both mana and air I also compress its power increasing its explosive output and its heat. That's...that's about it." Master sighs and lets go of me.
"I lose. That's just not something I can compete with."
"Compete? Why would you feel the need to compete with me?"
"The stronger you get Samu the more you feel the weight of competition grow. You might not feel it now, but eventually you will."
"Id rather not compete with master though.." Hikari simply laughs at me.
"If you plan on out growing me then you don't have a choice." I guess I can understand. I respect that way of thinking.
"Then someday master, once I'm grown and strong we should go on an adventure together. As equals." I hold out my hand but she decides to just pat my head.
"Maybe some day."