Chapter 7 - The Beginning Of Magic
After the massacre of the hyenas, Zak and Evan went to other hot spots together. For all those battles, Evan got used to his new body.
He saw a lot of new things and also realized how strong Commander Zak really was. Watching his battles, he began to slowly understand what magic was in this world. However, he was still woefully short of the knowledge he needed.
Swing.
Zak killed the last soldier in silver armor and turned to Evan: "So kid, will you come with me to Mossy Vulture? You have all the makings to be a great warrior. But in many things, you are still an ignorant who doesn't know how wide and great this world is."
Evan calmly replied, "Okay, Anyway, I have nowhere to go back to, but..."
"But, what?" Asked Zak.
"I am genuinely impressed by your abilities, and the power of magic. I want to learn it by all means!"
Evan was determined to follow the path of magic and be a demonologist as he had been in his past life. He had already figured out that he could use the power of demons in this world. All he had to do was to deal with the magic then, he could climb to the very top.
Hearing his words, Zak frowned heavily, and asked uncertainly: "Evan, what do you know about magic?"
He heard the expected response, "Nothing."
Zak sighed heavily and shook his head, "Not everyone can master magic, I would even say there are incredibly few of them. Even the very rich and powerful people cannot expect that they or their children will be ever able to master magic. If a person doesn't have a shred of talent to begin with, no amount of money or resources will help. At least that's what I know."
"Then, how to know if there's a chance of mastering magic?" Evan knew he was going to hear something like this, so he didn't get worried or upset in any way. The rules were pretty similar to his past world.
"We will get to the town and I'll arrange everything, but I can tell you that chances are slim. Only one in a thousand has the potential to be a magician. If it doesn't work out, don't feel bad. You'll be an excellent warrior even without magic."
Zak didn't hide the brutal truth from Evan, but he didn't bury all his hopes at once, either.
"Okay, when are we leaving? And how long before we get there?" Evan was already itching to touch the magic of this world and see if his luck was favoring him.
"AHAHAHAHAHA, I see you're ready. Don't worry it's not far, it's usually two days away. But considering we have less than a hundred people left, we'll make it in a day. We are leaving in an hour, get everyone together."
Actually, Zak didn't want to be in such a hurry; he just didn't need to. He wanted to strengthen his relationship with this talented young man.
Evan didn't answer anything, and just ran to tell the order to anyone who was still breathing and able to move. Truth be told, if it had been up to him, he would have left them all there. But right now that was not an option.
One hour later, exactly sixty-seven people, including Zak and Evan, gathered in one place. They took all their surviving supplies and headed for the Mossy Vulture.
...
The whole journey of their small group took about fourteen hours. It was less than a kilometer to the city. Evan could see from afar all the magnificence of the wonderful place he would soon find himself in.
The Mossy Vulture was a huge city by a gigantic cliff, with dense, green forests all around it. A huge stone peak hung over the city itself, covering part of the city from sunlight and rain.
The city itself looked like the picture from a fairy tale. Some of the houses were of wood, some of them of stone. From afar, you could see a lot of high towers and buildings.
The city got its name because of the natural wall around it. It was a stone, mossy barrier in the shape of vulture wings.
Suddenly, Evan heard Zak's voice. He decided to tell him a little story about the place: "It is said to be one of the oldest cities where, long ago, a large number of magicians were born. No one knows why, but in ancient times, almost every second native of the Mossy Vulture became a magician."
Evan said nothing and simply admired the view. In his past life, he had seen more beautiful and astonishing scenery. So he wondered why he was so fascinated by this simple green forest.
Evan thought to himself at that moment, "Oh, how simple, but how beautiful.
...
A few minutes later, they reached the gates of the city. As soon as the guards saw Zak at the head of the group, they bowed respectfully and quickly let them all pass through.
Once inside the city, Zak handed out instructions to everyone. Although, by and large, he just sent them to the four winds without any support or information.
"So, kid, are we going straight to the Tower of Magic or are we going to take a break and eat first?"
Evan replied without thinking, "I think my answer is obvious".
"AHAHA, okay, okay, I see, follow me."
On their way to the Tower of Magic, Zak and Evan left their horses in Zak's personal stable. They had less than a mile to go to the place where everything would be solved.
Evan didn't really know what he to do if he didn't have a talent for magic. After all, everything would all depend on it.
...
After a few minutes, they reached an incredibly huge and tall tower. There were many guards around it, as well as a large number of people constantly running back and forth.
As before, when they saw Zak, they were let through without any problems. To Evan's surprise, they did not go upstairs, but downstairs.
The lower floor was a vast room of colossal size, with many rooms and passageways.
They went to a central room with a large, wide door made of some kind of light-colored wood.
When they opened the door, they saw a rather simple room. In the center of the room, there was an old man with a long white beard. He was writing something with a quill pen.
"Oh, look who is it! Zak, who is that you brought? That doesn't sound like you." The old man's name was Rait Sokk, and he knew Zak very well, as he had seen Zak awaken his magic many years ago.
"Hey, old man, that kid is like me, when I was young. He's hot, tough and determined. Anyway, he wants to try awakening his magic."
Like Zak, Rait was well aware of the odds of success in this difficult endeavor. But there was no point in refusing Evan. Every day there were dozens of people like Evan who wanted to try their luck.
"All right, since this is your request I'll deal with it personally, you may go."
Rait put the papers aside and headed with Evan to one of the rooms.
As for Zak, he left hurriedly, quickly saying goodbye to Evan.
Upon reaching the small room that contained only one bed, Rait proceeded to explain.
"To find out if you have talent is quite a long process. It will take about one week, which you will spend here without leaving this room."
Rait pointed to a crystal ball in the middle of the room and said clearly: "Put your hand on that ball and try to enter "Nirvana". If you succeed, you'll find out what it is. You don't have to do anything special, just concentrate. The talent will show itself."
Rait turned around and said one last word: "Boy, even though I said seven days, and since Zak personally cares about you, I'll tell you a secret. If it doesn't work in three days, there's no point in trying any more. I'm off, see you later."
The old man said nothing more and just left.
Evan, on the other hand, did not waste any time. He immediately walked up and put his hand on the crystal ball.
...
Exactly four days had passed, and Evan had only a displeased grimace on his face. For in all the four days he had accomplished nothing. That meant that he had no talent for magic.
Crunch.
With anger, Evan slammed his fist into the crystal ball with all his might and shattered it.
His eyes grew bloodshot and his gaze grew incredibly cold. Kicking the door out, Evan left the Tower of Magic and left the Mossy Vulture.
After that day, both gangs of bandits and ordinary merchant caravans suddenly began to disappear.