Melodies From Long Ago [Solo Spec Training]

Often, Ariel wondered who he had become. Whenever he peered at a mirror, he could not help but wonder if that was actually him. He was almost convinced it was someone else. He would surely believe that another was looking at him had not he known it was an improbable possibility. Still, he found it hard to believe that the same gleeful child was looking at him with sullen and resentful hazel eyes. Where had those bright, innocent orbs gone? How had it been replaced with the dull eyes that lay before him. Where was the smile which had always adorn the forever flying child? When had it become so cruel, so twisted? When had that sweet smile been replaced with a devilish smirk? Though he longed to remember, he could not pinpoint where the change had occurred. Perhaps he had always been like that. Perhaps he had just never noticed. No, that could not be. He could recall happier days where his smile was genuine. So when had the change occurred?

A bitter and hollow laughter followed those curious thoughts. Who was he kidding? He had never been happy or content. Those smiles had always been faux. Beneath them there had always been a will to explore. To discover something totally new, outside the small, poor, little village which he knew as home. He had been selfish and an utter fool. To want anything new besides the happy life that had been given to him? What an ungrateful kid he had been. An utterly stupid one. For him to think that another life would be far better. To be so naive. How wrong those wants would prove themselves to be. For now, he could not even fake a happy smile before being called on. It was far easy to read his smiles. They were full of cold, chilling remorse. It made people pity him. And... he did not want anyone's pity. After all, pity was for the weak.

Though men disliked him, he could not be bothered. If people hated him, why would he care? Honestly, Ariel liked it that way. If people hated him it meant they would (usually) leave him alone and he enjoyed that lonely sort of peace. It wasn't like he was actually yearning for company or anything! He wasn't! Sure it did get a bit old with those cold stares and sure he was tired of them but that did not mean he was lonely. By no means! He wasn't lying to himself! He was definitely content keeping to himself. It was better if they left him alone. Better for both parties, honestly. He could never become attached to anyone. Ariel knew better than to allow himself to trust another so freely as he once did. No, he could not even allow himself to trust with caution. Humans were such flighty creatures. They often turned their back against others and were very indecisive. It was far too easy for them to even betray their closest friends. Such selfish creatures they were, only out for themselves. That was why he refused to trust himself or other people. Neither could not be trusted to not betray him. After all, both were too selfish not to.

Ariel rose his head towards the tree's leaves overhead. A couple of leaves fell down and rested daintily on Ariel. One landed perfectly on the top of his head. It was swiftly flicked off by him. He leaned back again, his back resting on the trunk of a tree. Empty, hazel eyes disappeared, replaced with dark, long eyelashes. He had actually been planning on working on his magical skills but he was currently enjoying resting his head peacefully against the bark. It wasn't like he was committing a crime by doing so! Besides, he was exhausted. He had been spending so much energy completing jobs for money that he had forgotten to take a break. He felt too heavy to do anything other than sleep. So for now he would take a quick nap. Nobody would mind, and even if someone did, Ariel could care less. He was tired and nobody could protest against him! He really needed his sleep!

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Word Count: 705/500 words

Ariel awoke begrudgingly by the splash of something wet on him. He hissed in annoyance for being made dripping wet. Opening his chilly, hazel eyes, the black magician shot an angry glare at the source of the liquid. With his hair dripping messily down his back and his clothes quite soaked, he had a foul, radiating aura to him. He clenched the ground beneath him with an angry grasp. Though in epic vain, he attempted to calm himself by breathing in and out slowly and deeply. His hazel eyes shot upward and he yelled at the perpetrator with seething, hazel eyes.

"Seriously!? I was trying to sleep, if you hadn't noticed!" he yelled, his eyes twitching.

But alas, it seemed the cruel woman who had soaked him completely ignored the foreign magician. This resulted in the use of hateful curses towards the lady under his breath. What sort of heartless person just dumped a bucket of water on someone and then completely ignore the poor, unfortunate, wet soul? Then again, such a thing could be expected in this world of evilness and cruelty. Still, he did not appreciate being wet and not a single apology! Yes, he did know better than to expect one but nonetheless, it was appreciated by him. True, he was not one to talk, but show a bit of courtesy and manners! If that woman even had any.

Well, now that he was up, he may as well do something. He felt rested enough and the first thing he should do, he decided, was change into dry clothes. Except, he didn't have any other clothing besides that of which was on him. Which meant he would need to buy some clothes. Great. He really couldn't afford to purchase anything new like clothing. What he could do was bask in the sun and hope his clothes dried off in it. Yes, that is what he would do. Bask in the sun and dry off. Like an ever color changing chameleon or the trees that searched for the sunlight to warm their dewy leaves.

"Where should I go. I definitely am not staying here, lest that woman come back!" murmured Ariel.

He climbed to his feet, a dark outline of water showing where he had been sitting. Water splashed to the ground as he moved, as a result of being soaked. He miserably waded in his clothing until he reached the edge of the city. With no hesitation, he stepped out of the safety on the city and stood under the sun. He did not want to lay down, for fear of getting sand stuck in his clothing and hair. While he didn't mind laying on it, it was difficult to get out of his hair and clothing afterwards. Anyways, standing allowed him to dry faster.

As he began to dry, he decided this was a perfect opportunity to practice and hone his magical abilities. With his staff in hand (because since when did he ever go anywhere without it?) he waved it across the ground. The rukh which had manifested around the orb of his staff collected and gathered into strength magic. He swooped his staff upward and a fair amount of sand followed. The particles glomped his staff and made the orb invisible, too hard to see under the numerous grains of sand. He repeated the same motion again and as his staff hovered over the ground, sand began to fall swiftly back into their proper place. When he was done, it was as if nothing had happened.

"Too easy," Ariel decided.

He had often pondered about the numerous types of magic. There were 11 types of magic: Heat, Water, Light, Lightning, Wind, Sound, Strength, Life, Clairvoyance, Poison, and Curse magic. They all had seemed very interesting to Ariel but in the end, he found himself particularly drawn towards strength magic. But he had heard of other magicians having the ability to use more than one type of magic. So he wondered if he had the aptitude to be able to control numerous types of magic. This seemed to be a good time as ever to try out his skills. After long contemplation, he decided to first try out wind magic. He reasoned that it was because it was probably the closest sort of magic to strength magic.

Indeed, he was not far off from being correct. Still, it remained a difficulty for him to even cause the slightest of breezes. Yet he would not give up hope. He remembered when he had first tried to learn magic, he had not even been able to spark any type of magic. To learn a type of magic in one day was extremely unrealistic! Perhaps not impossible, but definitely unrealistic. He was doing quite well so far anyways.

After exhausting his magoi to the point where he was almost too tired to stand, Ariel sluggishly dragged himself back into the city. With his clothes quite dry now, he trudged through the sand, searching for an inn with a weary and tired mind. He barged into one, haggard and weak looking. A few eyes turned to the magician, eyeing him with suspicion. He noticed these looks but completely ignored them in favor of turning to the bartender.

"Do you have any extra rooms?" he demanded tiredly.

The innkeeper nodded kindly and graciously led the weary magician up to a spare room. The brown haired magician immediately collapsed onto the hard bed. Despite it being so uncomfortable, he was quick to fall asleep.

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Word Count: 1644/500 words

"It most definitely isn't foolish to believe that I can create a tornado. I'm not being an idiot by trying to do so? I can do anything I put my mind to. That is what they all say, after all. Right? It isn't a lie told to silly little children so that they may grow up and evolve to be the puppets of nations? So that they may fight and strive, while being manipulated, only to find their efforts in vain?"

"Of course not. Silly thoughts that should ever enter my mind. Certainly not. Those who's effort is true and great, they will have what they want in the end. Too bad it works for both evil and good. For the light grays and dark grays. Such is the curse as well as blessing of life."

Ariel hung half of his body over his bed, strands of brow hair falling down. Since he was on his back he was looking up at the ceiling. His hands fell before him. With his left hand, he picked up strands of hair and rolled them through and around his fingers subconsciously. He was actually thinking very deeply about magic. He was wondering how he could improve his skills. Well, of course he would need to practice, but what and how would he practice? He would probably go outside the city gates as he had done yesterday. Maybe he would continue to practice wind magic? Surely it wouldn't be easy but in the end, that seemed the most interesting. Besides, he enjoyed challenges.

Once he was outside of the city again, he immediately began his training. He closed his eyes, trying to feel the rukh around him. He opened his eyes and lifted his staff up slightly. He could now see the rukh visibly. They gathered around his staff, where he was channeling his energy into. With his brow turned and his face showing both determination and frustration, he tried to command the rukh to create winds. However, it soon changed to strength magic and pure force crashed through the air. He winced at his mistake, wearing a guilty look on his face. Things weren't going the way he was wanting them to. Perhaps it kept changing on him because wind magic was too similar to the type of magic he was use to? In that case, he would either need to change thought process or change the magic he was aiming for.

After much debate, Ariel chose to try out sound magic. He wasn't exactly sure why he chose this type but he felt like it was the right choice. Honestly, he was clueless as to what he was suppose to do. Warily, he hesitantly submitted the command to turn the rukh into sound waves - and into particles as well. A single, quiet note rang through the air. He blinked in surprise. He had not expected it to be so easy. He wanted to experiment more. With much concentration, he commanded the rukh to change their wavelengths. The sound was slightly higher.

He paused momentarily, trying to catch his breath. It wasn't like yesterday, where he had used up so much Magoi. Today it was because the new sensation of the vibrations around him shook him slightly. Nonetheless it was very obvious that sound music was definitely something he was going to learn. For he was a true musician at heart. He wanted to try to play different melodies using sound magic. Could he perhaps play different melodies at once? Probably. He realized the possibilities were endless. It would definitely be exciting to see what he could do!

Full of excitement, Ariel attempted to string some notes together. He found it easier to tradition between smaller notes and he found it harder to make more giant leaps on the scale. He also found increasing the amplitude of the waves increasingly strenuous. As he repeatedly pushed the limits farther and farther, the sun started setting farther and farther. Until the red sky was in the background, he continued to practice and experiment with the wave lengths.

After taking a slight break, he rose his head towards the sky. Judging by its colors, he decided that it was probably his cue to finish the training for today. Though he had not gone too far, he felt like he had done well anyways. With a certain sparkle to his eyes, he strode into the city again. He entered the same inn as last night and asked for a room once more. He was grateful for the kindness of the innkeeper, though his face did not reveal any gratitude. But he had other ways to show his thankfulness. For example, in the morning, the bartender would find the downstairs room very clean.

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Word Count: 2449/500 words

He would pursue his training for several more days. He practiced constantly with different musical tones. It was a great mental exercise for Ariel. He was still very much a beginner at magic but over those days, his magic became stronger. As well as gaining basic understanding of sound magic and being able to use it to play simple tunes, he practiced his strength magic. He became more skilled and learned how to simultaneously perform more than one act of magic efficiently. By using the trial and error method, he found himself growing into a more proficient magician everyday. Even after his numerous days of training he would still have a long ways to go before completely mastering those skills. But nonetheless, he was well on his way to becoming a very skilled magician. He already had the aptitude, now all he needed was the experience and practice.

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Word Count: 2597/500 words