Chapter 4: CHAPTER 4
The circle teaches that there are four schools of magic, the other branches of magic are all extremely controlled, not everyone, for example, was allowed to learn Spirit healing magic as it involved the summoning of spirits from the fade, unlike the common spirit magic which could be considered as simply magic derived from mana itself.
Those schools of magic are Creation, Entropy, Primal, and Spirit.
"Let us revise then what is the focus of each school." Zathorn took a book from the bookshelf and opened it on a specific page. "Ah, here it is, let us begin then. Tell me, spells focused on healing an individual are from which school of magic?"
After thinking for a moment Abraham remembered that common healing spells were all taught by books of Creation magic, however, he turned to look at Oliver and smirked, since he wanted to be considered the best, he would allow him to answer the majority of the questions. It is not like competition would change anything for him anyway, getting some candies and sweets wasn't exactly the kind of rewards he was after anyway.
Unfortunately for him, the art of studying the arcane was something that vastly approached that of being a bard, which mage wasn't a resourceful individual with hawk eyes and ears that reached even across the walls?
Zathorn clearly noticed that Abraham remembered the answer first, but he wasn't worried about it, in fact, he thought that for his age he was quite mature, to conceal one's power and capabilities behind a wall of humility and/or ignorance might not be the qualities of a great mage, but it was the quality of someone wise, no doubts about that.
His other student, however, needed more teachings on how to truly act when it comes to his power. After all, they lived in Orlais, a dent of foxes that wish more than anything to bite at their competitors at the first opportunity.
"I know! I remembered the answer!" Oliver stood up and gave Abraham a prideful smile as if he just discovered the meaning of life.
"Wow, I'm really impressed! As expected from your highness Oliver." Abraham nodded matter-of-factly.
Oliver scoffed at him. "You only say that because your jealous of how much better than you I am!"
"Ah, how did you know!? Heavens I'm so ashamed now!" Abraham put his hands on his cheeks and looked at him slack-jawed.
Seeing his students' antics Zathorn sighed and leaned his back on his chair, his head throbbing with pain... He would have a long day ahead of him...
The lessons ended more or less at 4 pm, Zathorn went back to his chambers feeling like his head was about to explode due to the stress of teaching those two.
Seeing Zathorn leaving while massaging his head, Abraham couldn't help but laugh, being a child again was a refreshing feeling, not having to worry that much about the future was truly a privilege.
"Humph!" Oliver sneered at him and left without looking back.
"Ah, children... truly funny creatures, hahaha!" Abraham had a triumphant smile on his face as he watched Oliver leaving with clenched fists, without even trying to be better than him, he somehow managed to annoy the boy to the point that his face became red with anger, at this rate, his hair would start falling due to stress before he even went through puberty.
Leaving the library he walked for some time until he found the dining room of the castle, considering the number of people living there the place was more like a refectory.
His roommate, the perverted Pawen was sitting together with a dark-skinned human boy, she had a lute on her hands and was singing some sort of tavern song for the boy.
[A/N: A lute is like a medieval guitar, don't worry about the details, I'm just saying this to help you imagine the instrument.]
"Once we were
In our peace
With our lives assured.
Once we were
Not afraid of the dark.
Once we sat in our kingdom
With hope and pride.
Once we ran through
The fields with great strides.
We held the Fade
And the demon's flight
So far from our children
And from our lives.
We held together
The fragile sky
To keep our way of life.
Once we raised
Up our chalice
In victory.
Once we sat
In the light of our dreams.
Once we were
In our homeland
With strength and might.
Once we were
Not afraid of the night."
[A/N: Dragon age OST, Once we were]
Her voice despite not being the loudest was so beautiful, it resonated so well with the music that everyone there stopped to hear her music. The elves especially all seemed rather sad when they heard the music.
With each word the power of her voice seemed to bring out emotions from the depths of each one of her listeners, somehow, every single one of them could picture the image of the elves fleeing from their homeland while the Tevinters destroyed everything in their path, that single music was enough to share with the humans the pain and the suffering that elves suffered through the years.
Abraham himself couldn't believe what he heard, of course, he knew this music, but it never affected him so deeply, he even had tears streaming down his face.
Pawen opened her eyes and noticed that everyone was looking at her, she blinked and smiled in a rather playful way. "I'm sorry, I think I got too excited while singing."
Everyone sighed and went back to their business.
"As expected of the perverted Pawen, such beautiful music, I'm really touched by it."
Pawen raised an eyebrow and looked at Abraham with angry eyes. "Who's the perverted Pawen? People say I'm the singer Pawen!"
"Only when you are not going around peeking at men 'features'."
Hearing this Pawen stuck out her tongue and turned her back to him.
Seeing how the two were fighting with each other, the dark-skinned boy laughed. "Haha, you two are really funny."
"Who are you?" Abraham asked him as he reached out his hand to compliment him. "I'm Abraham by the way."
"Nice to meet you, Abraham. I'm Edwin Bryant." They shook each other's hand.
"So what are you two doing here? A competition to see who sings better?"
Edwin blushed slightly as did Pawen, seeing that Abraham opened his eyes wide. "Don't tell me! Did the pervert really managed to steal someone's heart!?"
Before Abraham could react a punch came flying at the speed of light, launching him away almost a meter.
"Shut up brat! Is that how you speak about ladies!?"
Abraham massaged his chin as he turned to look at who punched him. There staying just a meter away from Pawen and her boyfriend, was the Knight-Commander Penthagast.
"Ah, so it's the Knight-Commander... I should have known that punch came from you..." Abraham sighed as he stood motionless on the ground, waiting for the pain to fade away.
Dianora shook her head as if she was disappointed. "So much training and you still can't take a single punch... tsk, tsk... Even if you weren't a mage I would definitely never allow my daughter to get close to you."
Hearing this Abraham's back shivered slightly, this demon clad in armor was too dangerous...
Seeing those things happening in front of her, Pawen started laughing. "Hehe, this what you deserve for calling me a pervert."
She grabbed Edwin's hand and stood up. "Thanks for avenging me Knight-Commander, teach this brat how to respect a lady!" She gave her a salute and Dianora smirked as she saw the girl leaving together with Edwin.
"Uh... what do you want iron lady, can't you see I'm resting?" Abraham muttered something as he looked at the ceiling, imagining if one day he would be able to take at least one of her punches.
"Hu? I came here looking for you, to give you some good news and that is how you thank me? Ah, such an ungrateful brat..." She shook her head as if disappointed with his behavior. "Since you don't want to know the good news I might as well let sink in the river of ignorance."
Seeing Dianora leaving, Abraham quickly stood up and reached her. "Oh, c'mon Iron Lady, don't be like that, tell me what the news, please!" Abraham bowed to her, hoping that it would be enough.
"Alright, alright, stop acting like a child." Dianora sighed. "I came to inform you that from now on I'll be your instructor in martial arts."
"What!? I mean, interesting, but why the hell are going to teach me martial arts? Actually, why is a templar offering herself to teach a mage anything!?"
"What? Do you really think that mages only fight using magic? You must be dumb if you think so, every mage needs to know how to use at least one weapon, in the middle of a fight you won't always be able to calm down and cast a spell, that's where martial arts play an important role." She grabbed him by the shoulder and started guiding him towards the training grounds on the real garden of the castle.
"As for why I'll be your instructor in this matter, it's because I'm rewarding you for making my life more lively in this hell of a place, ever since you came things got much funnier for me, makes me spend less time thinking of my daughter, besides, I'll be transferred to another post in a year or two, so I want to repay you with a training that only an experienced templar would be able to give you."
Hearing this Abraham nodded, it made sense somehow, however, he got a little sad that Dianora would be leaving in the near future, they became quite good friends in the little time he knew her, she might act all mighty and pretend to have an ice-cold heart but that was all on the surface.
Now she wanted to reward him simply for giving her some company... He couldn't help but feel touched by her actions, she might not be his mother, but she sure acts like a mother for him, if possible he would look for means in the future to repay this gratitude.
"So, what sort of style are you interested in? I'll only teach you two and you have to go with that."
"Hm... do you know how to fight with staffs and swords?"
"I understand swords but why staffs?" Dianora looked at him with curiosity.
"Well, swords reminds me of wands, and staffs reminds me of... well, staffs. Even if I learn how to use all sorts of weapons, the most common thing I'll have with me most of the time is this sort of weapon which helps us mage to cast, so it would be good to know how to use them in a brawl-"
Before he could continue she punched him in the head making him eat his words. "What brawl? I'm not teaching you how to beat the crap of some drunk man on the street, I'll be teaching you how to kill people, I'm teaching you how to fight!"
"Ai, yes, sorry!" Abraham frowned as he touched his head to make sure he wasn't bleeding after that strike.
"Well, alright, I'll teach you how to fight with those two weapons."
When they arrived at the training grounds she took a wooden sword from a letter bag that was waiting for them there and threw it at Abraham who almost let it fall on the ground.
She took one for herself as well and walked a few meters away from him before assuming a stance with the sword.
"Now, before we begin, I'll ask you some questions, with each wrong answer I'll beat you once with the sword, are you ready?"
"Eh... okay." Abraham nodded as he held the sword lazily.
"What are we doing here?" She shouted, her words reverberating in his ears.
"We are training!"
"Good, what are you going to do here with this sword?" She shouted with a smile.
"I'm going to try-" she hit him in the head with the sword making him fall on the ground. "What the fuck!?"
"Watch your words boy, otherwise I'll beat you again! Do it, or do not! There is no such thing as trying, you will learn it no matter what!"
Hearing this, Abraham couldn't help but look at her with renewed respect, such powerful words! He couldn't help but admire her even more, this woman was not only the most beautiful one he had met in his life, but she was also the strongest person he knew, now he had no doubts about that, what batman? What superman? She was now his favorite superhero, and even better, she actually existed, unlike those characters he mentioned!
Excited he stood up with a smile on his face and shouted. "I WILL LEARN HOW TO FIGHT WITH THE SWORD!"
"GOOD!" She shouted as well and gave him thumbs up.
That was what she wanted, she wanted him to be inspired not only by her actions, but by her words as well, she wanted his blood to boil just from the excitement of learning, she wanted him to have that not only as something he needed but as a passion as well, that was how someone truly learned something, not by being forced to do it, but by liking it so much that you can't help but seek out more knowledge regarding the matter.
She was a good teacher, but for him, she would be the best, or her name wasn't Dianora Penthagast!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone