Jayden Larkspear took aim and made a well-placed shot on the carved out portion on the tree a couple steps ahead of him. He was practising with Elizah in the depths of the forest once more. A few months had gone by since they had met Jade, but they had trained their magic every day since then. They’d learnt a good amount of tricks with their magic. Jayden now knew enough to defend himself in any situation thrown at him. On offence, he was getting better slowly. He was also able to control his use of power well, reducing the fatigue that he’d usually suffer.

Elizah, on the other hand, had turned into a very skilled healer. She could heal anything and infuse small elixirs with a bit of her magic, making her a famous apothecary in the town. She was careful to avoid adding too much, to prevent suspicion, as if even one person caught her trick, she’d be in trouble. This also helped her to contribute to her family’s earnings.

Now Elizah’s main focus of her combat training had shifted from offence to defence. One of the main ways they did that was a dual combination of Jayden using his archery skills and Elizah avoiding the arrows. Initially, it wasn’t Elizah’s favourite type of training, but soon she knew that defence was also important.

“You’ve got to be more careful. I almost hit you with that last one,” Jayden said and set down his bow and quiver. He was standing and watching Elizah’s alert stance as she stepped slowly over to Jayden. Jayden, in turn, picked up his bow once more and aimed perfectly to hit the shield. The arrow knocked out of the bowstring soared and embedded itself into the shield. Jayden was triumphant about his arrow and began to set his weaponry down for a break.

He didn’t observe the ground as he walked up to Elizah to give her some tips. Still, when she turned to the other side, Jayden accidentally tripped over a protruding root, causing him to fall flat onto the ground.

“You should be more careful about where you’re going,” Elizah laughed at his clumsiness.

“Very funny, Liz,” he said and was about to stand up when he noticed the tingling sensation of healing occurring in his fingers. He looked up to see the tips of his fingers touching the surface of the pond. He quickly withdrew his hand in surprise and observed his palm.

“Liz, could you come here for a second?”Jayden ushered her over as he sat down in the grass and continued to observe the smooth skin on his fingers.

“What is it?”Elizah asked when she saw how curiously Jayden was observing his fingers.

“I could swear on the spirits that my fingers had cuts on them moments ago. That’s why I set down my bow to rest, but now--” Jayden began.

“--They’ve vanished,” Elizah finished and touched the calloused hands. She’d tried pleading with him to heal the wounds earlier that day, but Jayden had declined.

“I can’t do long distance healing, nor can anyone, but if it wasn’t me who was it?”Elizah wondered aloud.

“I just dipped my fingers in the water for a moment, but when I removed them, the cuts and scrapes were gone,” Jayden said.

“Wait a minute,” Elizah said and placed her hand over the surface of the water. She was lightly brushing the water, but only with her fingernails.

“That adds up now,” Elizah said when she opened her eyes later.

Jayden gave her a questioning look, and she gave a smile. “This is surprising, but hard to explain, so I’ll have to try my best. See, according to the old myth about dark magic and the Larkspear family, it was said that dark magic was completely eradicated or trapped in some way. But that is impossible to do altogether. There has to always be a balance,” she began.

“All of our powers are interconnected by dark magic in its own modified way. This is the reason why the types of magic exist. Without this dark magic, no magic can exist. What the public call dark magic actually is just magic that has been pent up inside a person. This dark magic was originally bound down by the sources of magic. The sources of magic were shrines, but they were destroyed, and the gemstone that bound them down was trapped in six amulets. When the first Larkspear King had set off to unbind the magic sources, he unknowingly created a void. When the dark magic had been ‘eradicated’, slowly, a few people began to lose their magic. But magic can’t vanish into thin air. While the essence of the structures that made the sources were trapped in the amulets, spirits who were part of the sources now reside here in the pond. The smallest bit of the water can hold extreme power, which shouldn’t be misused. If the bindings were restored, so will the entrapped power of the pond,” Elizah said.

“So what you’re basically saying is that to even out the types of magic, the pond created itself. But what does that have to do with us?” Jayden asked.

“The structures which have vanished must possibly return. I assume that is the only way to change the current state of magic use. But that may have consequences we don’t know,” Elizah said.

“Now, to bring back balance, the entire path is in our hands. As we free the powers of the spirits, the light will find its way out,” Jayden said.

Elizah nodded in response. “Sometimes, it’s worth the risk to try and bring a new change, even if danger can arise as a result instead. Especially when that change has chances for a better world,” Elizah said.

“Maybe our intentions might not be understood by everyone at first, But if all goes well, the world will be a much better one,” Jayden said, and Elizah agreed to that.

“So for now, what exactly should we focus on about the magic at present?”Elizah asked him.

“For now, I have something else that has my attention, I really don’t want to do it, but I have to,

” Jayden said.

Elizah rose an eyebrow at that. “Is it your duel tomorrow?” she asked with a hint of concern on her face.

Jayden only gave her a nod. “I’m just not that confident yet,” he said to her.

“You’ll do fine. Relax,” Elizah said and touched her hand to his wrist. She closed her eyes, and before Jayden could figure out what exactly she was trying to do, he felt heat energy flowing and humming in his veins. It refreshed him and made him feel more robust than usual. The blood was singing in his veins. When Elizah retracted her hand, he felt the energy flowing through every part of him.

“Why did you do that?” he asked her. She had transferred her energy from herself into him, improving his senses and powers while depleting her own.

“Your welcome,” she mumbled, “It will help you to at least fight a bit better tomorrow. I only want the best for you tomorrow.”

“Thank you for your help. I better head back to finish some last-minute practice. I’ll try to come out here once the duel is over,” Jayden said, and the two of them parted ways from the forest.

The following day, Jayden waited anxiously to enter the arena. Elizah’s infusion helped him become more agile and quick but not noticeably different. He walked in when the guards told him to and waited in the centre of the arena.

He hoped that his opponent would be someone around his own stature, considering that he was shorter and smaller in build than most boys. But when his opponent had arrived, he knew luck had not favoured him this time.

It was one of the best students in his year, who could easily knock anyone down within moments. But he was also a big bully and not the kind of person one would like to be friends with.

Jayden took his sword up into a squaring position, and his opponent followed suit. The two boys circled one another for a couple moments before either was ready to have the first strike. His opponent took the first strike, aiming to disarm the sword out of Jayden’s hands, but a simple deflection stopped the weapon from causing much damage.

Jayden had practised deflections like that since most people who tended to attack him took that as his weak spot. Jayden took the next hit on the boy’s sword and tried to find a point of leverage. The two of them continued to fight similarly, with a couple dreadlocks coming between them occasionally. Still, otherwise, neither of them were willingly giving in.

When a while passed, Jayden was still going strong, but his opponent was starting to lose his grip. He was growing tired, and it was clearly visible. Taking good advantage of the situation, he used the same attack strike that his opponent had used on him to lodge the blade out of the opponent’s hands.

It was a successful manoeuvre, and the crowd erupted into cheers upon finally seeing the Prince as the victor.

Jayden looked around and spotted Cyprian clapping and smiling broadly for once over his son’s victory. He even came down to the ground to congratulate his son’s achievement. Jayden Larkspear had finally made his father proud and showed everyone how he could also fight like the others. Jayden finally was proud of being the Prince.