Believing in Myself

And now, yet another chapter written. This one is a bit short... well, shorter then what you might be used to reading, but I promise the next one will make up for it.


Chapter 7


"What business do you have that would waste my time now?"

Beras was sitting in a rather large chair, which appeared to be a throne. Symbols were carved all over the chair however, as though telling a story of something long forgotten. Some strands of black hair covered parts of his eyes as he watched the demon that stood before him.

"Yes sir. It's about the boy. It's been almost two weeks since you told us not to go after him."

"Yes, so?"

"I wondered what action we should take. It would seem his powers are developing quite well."

Beras frowned. "Is that all?" But suddenly, he said something totally irrelevant to the issue. "And, did you find it?"

"Huh? It?"

Beras scowled and the demon cringed. He knew better then to make him mad. "Don't play stupid with me. Have you got it or not?"

"We are… close to obtaining it."

"Good."

Beras looked up to the ceiling of the room, as though the conversation was over. However the demon remained.

"Lord Beras… the human? What should we do?"

"Hmm…. The time is coming… for me to take action."

"You sir? Surely another-."

"No. I shall do this. You continue to search until you obtain it. I want to see for myself… just what we are up against."

"Yes sir…"

With that the demon leaved. Beras stood up and walked to the window, the same one he always looked through. From his position in the tower, Beras could see the entire village below him.

"He has a weakness… much like his foolish father before him. That weakness will be his downfall. Now Dias… let us see if your son is as weak as you were."

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John tossed and turned at night. He was sweating, dreaming, of a dream he had nearly forgotten.

"No! NO! FATHER!!!"

John clawed and fought his way. He watched the fires consume the burning building, whose roof had just collapsed. Then the feeling of no one seeing him returned, and he was free. The light appeared, walking to him.

"Mother."

John moved forward, trying to get closer. He shielded his eyes as the light grew brighter. Suddenly as he approached, he saw, not his own mother, but Jessica, smiling at him.

"Jessica… but, what does this mean?"

Jessica gave no answer as she slowly moved away from him. He gave chase, not wanting her to go. Then, the ground between them became black as night. Something rose from the blackness, something that seemed to carry an aura of the very essence of darkness itself. Its features were blurry, but one thing stood out most.

Eyes. Cold blue eyes that seemed to pierce at his very soul. John stopped at the sight of this stranger, and saw that he blocked his path to Jessica, who was still moving further and further away. John took a step forward, when the blackness surrounded him, threatening to choke him. The stranger's words seemed to cut into John's heart.

"Die, like your worthless father before you…"

John snapped his head up. He was breathing heavily as though he had never breathed properly before. He looked around the room, and saw it was all still here. He placed a hand to his forehead and tried to ease himself.

It never went that far before…

Ever since he met Jessica this dream had not plagued him again. Yet now it returned easily, and more frightening then before.

He placed his hand over his head and said in a low voice, "Water."

A small ball of water appeared and fell into John's head, effectively cooling him down. He sighed and shook the water from his hair. John had forever tried to get Jessica to teach him something other then fire magic.

When she finally conceited, John tried other magic elements. Earth came almost just as easily as fire now, but water he was still shaky on. And wind was considered nothing short of impossible, as he had spent the last four days trying to master it. Then again, Jessica had told him that keeping track of so many spells would be tough for him.

John now spent some time exploring the strange room he found about two weeks ago. He tried to read the spells in other books, but some of them he couldn't even read, let alone find the spell. He marveled over how the books continued to list possibly hundreds of spells.

One book in particular caught his eye, a book with a lock on it. Whatever was inside, someone didn't want anyone to know. John would spend time wondering what was inside the book, and try as he might, he never found the key in the room. But he was determined to find out what lay inside.

Turning back to his bed, he tried to regain some sleep. He would need it, considering how out of breath he would be after the training in the morning.