Chapter 4- Magic!

It has been 2 years since I've been born and now for the first time in this life I can read books on my own! In fact my reading skills have left my speaking skills way behind! This crowning achievement of mine was the product of Claire and I reading picture books day after day. Although purely informational books are obviously out of the picture, this is a huge step in my language studies!

To celebrate my freedom, my mother went into town to buy a book for me. To be honest I'm quite thrilled, but not too thrilled I got to stay calm and collected. I wonder why mother never takes me into town as well though?

I can easily guess that I'm part of rich family, as I've said before. Maybe I'm a noble's child? Maybe they are just fearful of a kidnapping situation? That would answer many of my questions. However the question is what do noble children do? Or more importantly what do children do?

I feel like my recent actions have spurred my mother's worries too much, and she has now hired a middle aged man in a blue robe to watch over me as well. When I first saw him I noticed that he gives off an impressive amount of Nature energy.

As such I've been thinking about when my mother has created that ball of flame despite being only a mortal. This man probably can do the same as well from the feeling I'm getting. I just don't know how to ask him.

Recently I've been wondering the house looking for easy to read material to pass the boring years of my youth. Claire would follow me tirelessly and tell me how to say some words that I had trouble with. The man would also follow, but he stayed far away and I would sometimes find him sitting down furiously reading an odd book with equally odd symbols.

Wait!!? Don't tell me there are more languages!?! At that point I felt a very sour feeling take me over, but the blue robed man saw this and reacted instantly.

He hurriedly waved his hands and a sphere of water floated above his right palm. When he saw my look of awe he smiled and with the flick of the wrist the sphere elongated into an arrow, then formed into an impenetrable castle, a running wolf, and finally into a mighty dragon!

"That!" I tried to get his attention with my usual one word responses and to my luck he understood.

"This?" He gave a teasing smile as he pointed at the dragon created from water. The shape changed back into a sphere and dissipated into the air. My face may have distorted again when he dissolved the sphere and he stared to laugh.

"Haha, well that was what we call magic!"

"Majik?" I said the strange word to myself, but ended up sounding a little off. However the impact didn't lessen even a little. This was manipulating Nature energy! Only truly talented immortals had the privilege to gain techniques that utilized Nature energy! As I was only a mere soldier I received no such benefits, and had to rely on my partial heavenly body to even offensively use Nature energy.

When I tried to meditate that night I was caught up in the idea of magic. Such a fantastical ability I need to learn it right away. Thinking of making giant flaming dragons descend on my foes makes me giddy. I stop all my attempts at cultivating the [Heavenly Bodies Transformation] since I already completed the first transformation and, it would be too long of a wait if I finished congealing my second Nature energy infant now.

Even if I could, I can't even utilize the abilities of my own heavenly body till I have at least reached the Qi Nurturing stages. Sighing at my temporary uselessness, I quickly fall asleep to the dreams of my bright future.

The next day I wake up and immediately go to find the man in blue robes. I find him sitting on a chair in the large hallway leading up to my room. Next to him is Claire. They both seem to be laughing and joking around. And now that I take a good look at the guy he's not so bad looking. He has deep blue eyes and short brown hair that match his fairly angular face. Although his figure could use some muscle training, he seems to be quite fit. He as the image of a kind and gentle person that fits him quite well.

I am a former immortal so I know the proper decorum when a man's putting the moves on a lady would be for me not to barge in and declare my demands rudely. Thinking so I sneakily pass them and head towards the library.

After a couple minutes of wandering through the grand hallways I find myself at the 20 foot tall double doors. If it was the me without a heavenly body I would be hard pressed to even crack open these huge doors due to my age. Now, with a little bit of elbow grease, nothing is impossible for me.

I open one of the doors by just a bit and slide my toddler body in right before it closes. I find myself in a dry two story room with books lining every single space on the wall. Wooden ladders extend up the walls to reach some of the higher ones. And wooden tables and chairs are found scattered in the room. A woman with soft brunette hair and gentle blue eyes is staring at me with a large smile pinned to her face. She is holding a book in her hands and slowly walks towards me.

"Now what are you doing here alone?" Mother asks in a questioning tone that is neither angry nor sweet. I find putting the words 'Claire and my other warden are on a date' hard to say in their language, so I shrug my shoulders with upturned eyes. My mother nearly melts from my childish antics.

It's not like I like acting like a child. Its just that mother might die from a heart attack if I come out and say I am a thousand year old immortal from another realm. Except for a couple of hiccups I believe I perfectly have portrayed the image of a child.

"You naughty child come here I have your book!" Mother brought me into her embrace while laughing. She then handed me a thin book with a picture of a man in armor kneeling in front of a giant red lizard with wings. This was obviously my picture book that she went and bought, and in big letters the title read: The Dragon's Knight.

My hands were trembling as I took the book from my mothers hands. I was mainly caught up with the fact that I had seen another dragon! This proves that dragons inhabit this world as well! The thought makes me remember the dragons that had soared the skies in the immortal realm. Terrifying things they were, but I still wanted to fight one...

"Dragn!" I excitedly yell in an attempt to grasp my mother's attention. My plan is successful when she starts to talk about dragons.

"You like dragons don't you, would you like to hear more about them?" Mother beams a smile in my direction while I nod furiously. Although it is embarrassing to fake the actions of a two year old, I try my best to gain as much information as possible.

"Well, legends say that dragons used to roam the skies and were as common as birds. They were all intelligent beings who could speak and peacefully live along us. They taught us many things; they even taught us the ability to use magic!"

"Majik." There was the word again. It makes no sense for a divine beast such as a dragon to impart knowledge to use Nature energy to someone. Maybe if it owed them a favor? I don't believe mother will tell me such specifics; I am a 2 year old child after all.

"Hmm~ so you already know about magic? Was it Harold who told you?" Mother seemed a little depressed at the fact that I already knew of magic. It confused me since I vividly remember her showing me a ball of flame when I was two months old. Or rather is it normal for two month old babies to have photographic memory?

"Majik!" I try to goad her into telling me what I want to know, but she simply smiles at me while patting my head. Although I lament about the fact that she won't properly teach me magic, I just shrug it off and find a place to sit and read.

Mother sees my focused look and leaves while bidding me goodbye. Finally I can open up my picture book.

"Once...Upon, a t,ime." From the first couple of words that I read out loud I knew I would be in here for awhile.after what seemed like hours of reading and searching for similar words I finished the book. To put it on simple terms the book followed the story of a knight who met with a red dragon in the mountains:

He was born with no talent for magic and sought a dragon to help him. He was given three tasks by the dragon, and in exchange he would gain the knowledge of magic from the beast.

His first task was to find and defeat a fairy king, and after that he was supposed to take it's gem. The knight finds the fairy king after a long journey and defeats it in a duel then takes it's gem.

The second task was for the knight to climb to the highest peak in the world and place the fairy king's gem there. After he had found Mount Vernal it took him several months to climb the mountain where he had help from the creatures of the rock, or golems.

The third task was for him to wait at the mountain top for the dragon. And so he sat down and waited for the dragon. He waited for many years and years until he became an old man. Then finally the dragon came. He was already on the last years of his life, and he asked why the dragon took so long. The dragon replied that he had asked for talent for magic, so it gave him tasks that would represent how he should've went about learning magic.

The first task represented that he needed to learn from battles. The second was that he needed to seek help to reach his destination. The third represented the time he would need to reach his desires.

The old knight listened to the dragon's response, but wasn't angry and just stood up, thanked the dragon for the lesson and hiked down the mountain. When he reached the bottom he was miraculously and mysteriously sent back to his youth! He took the chance to journey the world while studying magic, and later became one of the greatest mages in the world. There was a signature at the bottom that read T. Tallowstone.

For a children's book it holds quite a deep message. It was well written and had many easy to understand pictures. Albeit it took me awhile to read, but that's secondary. My guess is that it is an adaptation of a novel into a children's book.

Anyways I learned many things from it. The most important and interesting information I gained is that magic is quite similar to the Dao of cultivation; They both need the person to be relentless in all that he does and struggle time and time again to finally reach his desired peak.

I make a note in my mind to remember the name T. Tallowstone just in case I need to remember it for later. I tuck the book in my armpit and walk back to my room.

I found Claire and the man in blue robes, Harold, silently waiting for me. They awkwardly smile when they see me and both stand up to greet me. I'm pretty sure mother gave them an earful for neglecting me.

Suddenly I hear the sound of clanking iron and the thundering of feet. The echoes of the clattering armor meanders into my ears and I see a massive entourage of knights marching in my direction. I worriedly check my surroundings and find no one else they could be looking for.

They seem to lock in on me. This is bad. Do they know something? Thoughts about how I could appear different from other children race through my head. I find many cases that attribute myself to being different very quickly in my memories, and start to look for an escape route.

The knights stop a few feet in front of me before I could find a foolproof method of escape, and the first couple of rows separate to the sides of the hall in unison. A man in a green and red uniform that flared out at the sleeves and ankles appeared from inside the knights and kneeled down in front of me.

"I greet the third prince Glen!" The man drops some words that clear up most of my misunderstanding. Then the brigade of knights kneel down as well.

"We greet the third prince Glen!!" A chorus from the mouths of the knights thundered out and filled the room. I slowly take in the situation in front of me and a wry smile spreads across my face.