FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 15

"Not a word of what happened in that forest is to be mentioned to the master, alright Dax?" Russo demanded of the wolf as soon as they used the funds so generously provided by the mimic to buy as much salt, sugar, pepper, and cinnamon as they could carry from the trading post. They had spent the previous night at an inn nearby and woke up bright and early to grab what they needed as soon as the trading post opened for the day.

"Why not? Wouldn't the master be proud of us for killing a mimic? You said it yourself that they're really tough to kill!" Dax grunted as he picked up a sack of salt.

"Put that back on the ground. No way in hell are we carrying these back. I'm teleporting all of this back home." Dax did as he was told and placed the sack back on the ground. "Besides wolf, do you really want the master to know exactly how we killed that thing?"

"Well no... but can't we just tell him we killed a mimic and leave out the details of how we did it?" The wolf asked as he rubbed his paws in the dirt.

"No, because if we do that then he's going to expect us to elaborate and give us the rundown on exactly how we pulled it off. He doesn't need to know the damn thing exploded after we were through with it, nor does he need to know how you contributed. He'll probably just get pissed at me for putting you in danger if we were to even broach the subject."

Dax unhappily kicked at the dirt on the ground. Russo tussled the fur on top of the wolf's head to cheer him up. "Yeah, I know it sucks you can't brag to anybody about killing a monstrosity like that. You'll have plenty of other chances in the future to show off though and prove your worth, don't worry. Besides, I know what you did back there in that forest. You did good Dax," The human spoke as he smiled gently. He continued to playfully mess with the wolf all the while. Dax stuck out his tongue teasingly and wagged his tail as he cheered up.

"Do you still think you can try and teach me some magic sometime when we're both not busy?" Dax asked with hopeful eyes, pleading for a commitment from Russo.

"We'll see," A gentle blue aura surrounded Russo's hands as he readied a multi-teleport spell. "Ready to go?"

"I guess so," Dax stood next to the human and clutched his red cloak. His eyes darted around worriedly before he began speaking. "Well... maybe not. I've never actually teleported before," The wolf said as he clung tighter to the human's cloak.

"You'll be fine, you won't even feel a thing." Dax switched from clinging to Russo's cloak to one of his arms in response. "*Sigh* Fine, just hold on tight if that's what'll make you feel better." An instant later the human and wolf, along with their supplies, disappeared in a flash of blue light. They reappeared in front of the main door of the Tedrah guild seconds later.

"You can open your eyes now," Russo said dryly as he looked down at the wolf who had attempted to bury his face into one of the mage's arms. "I don't get you. You're excited as can be to learn about magic, you complained at me when we were running from the mimic about not teleporting and yet look at you now."

"S-sorry. I love seeing you and others cast spells and more than anything. I want to learn magic but I... guess I'm still a little scared of it, up close anyway. Most of my experiences with magic have involved me being on the receiving end of it. Either from you or others your size."

"I could see how that might make you a bit fearful of it," Russo scratched the back of his head and his expression softened. "Come on let's drop these off in the kitchen." Russo lifted up a sack of pepper while Dax grabbed the salt. A second trip was required for the cinnamon and sugar and as they emerged out of the kitchen the master hailed them from the top of the stairs.

"Good work you two. I trust your trip to the trading post went well?"

"It was as boring, uneventful, and unnecessary as expected," Russo replied. The master shot him a dirty look.

"And you managed to do what was needed without obliterating somebody or something in the process?"

"Cut me some slack. I can actually manage to do as I'm told to from time to time."

"Dax?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you confirm this?"

The wolf fidgeted under the master's gaze as he descended down the staircase. "W-well Russo didn't actually blow anything up." Dax nervously said. "More like something blew up of its own accord after Russo fought it," he thought to himself.

"Dax!"

"Go on," The master urged Dax as he came down to the ground level and stood before the human and wolf.

"But he did, well I guess you could say he obliterated some um... thieves."

Both Russo and the master raised their eyebrows in surprise. "Really now? Care to explain?"

"Sure. While Russo and I were walking through the woods we came to a fork in the road. One path led to the trading post while the other led to a clearing of trees with a chest in the middle of it. Russo taught me how that was a trick thieves use to lure in and try to rob people. And how good guild members get rid of thieves or situations like that whenever they come across them. So that way there isn't a chance other people can get hurt."

The master smiled to himself impressed. "Russo really told you that?"

"Mmhmm," Dax nodded in affirmation. "After that I helped him lure the thieves out and he beat them up pretty easily. It was pretty fun!"

"Well now. Russo, rooting out some thieves isn't something that I'd ever look down upon, you know that. And I have to say, if what he says is true than you've got the makings of quite the role model. A rather unique one at that but a role model nonetheless."

"Th-thank you master," Russo said surprised.

"Is there anything else you need us to do today?" Dax inquired.

"No, no that's all for now. With all that you two brought back I'm sure that this harvest festival will be one to remember! Both of you are free to go." The master shooed the both of them off to enjoy the rest of the day.

As soon as they exited the guild and were out of earshot Russo began talking. "I'm pretty sure that I was very clear that not a word of what happened was to be mentioned b-"

"B-but the master was thrilled to hear about what you did to those thieves! And I'm sorry, but I can't lie to him, I had to tell him something!" Dax complained.

"You didn't let me finish. I know that I told you not to mention anything. But somehow you managed to let slip just enough so as to make me look like, well, an upstanding guild member. That's really going to help out with my suspension. ...Thanks for that."

"No problem. So..."

"So?"

"So now that we have the day off, do you think that you could teach me some magic? Please please please???"

"*Sigh* I guess it's not like I have anything better to do with my time and I do sort of owe you. Think you can conquer your fears long enough to keep them from getting in the way?"

"Definitely!" Dax said resolutely. That resolution faltered a couple of moments later as they kept on walking. "Well, hopefully."

"Don't worry we'll take it slow. And I promise that you will not be on the receiving end of any magical spells today. Sound good?"

"Sounds good," Dax shot Russo a toothy grin and wagged his tail. The human shook his head in response.

"Come on, let's get a little ways out of the town first. It'll be easier to concentrate out there with less people." Russo led the way out of Tedrah. They walked a little over a mile outside of town, travelling via one of the main roads out. The tall grasses, weeds and wildflowers Russo had grown accustomed to seeing while travelling during the summer had for the most past disappeared. Tall grass was all that remained and even now it wasn't quite as bright or tall as it had once been. The tips of the blades of grass had burned and crumbled away under the heat of the sun and no new growth had replaced it as the weather had grown progressively cooler. Not that Russo minded. It had more or less been pruned back from waist height to now just a little above his knees. He stepped off the path into the grass and Dax dutifully followed. Russo came to a stop after traversing a few hundred feet and turned to face Dax once he was ready to begin his first lesson in the magical arts.

"Alright then. I'm not entirely sure whether or not teaching a size shifting giant magic is a smart decision or not, but hell, I'm willing to give it a shot. First off, get rid of that dispel crystal Dax. That thing's only going to get in the way."

The wolf quickly removed the crystal from around his neck and laid it down on the grass where it was easily visible.

"Good. Now I'm not really knowledgeable about magic theory or anything like that but I do know that everyone is able to utilize magic. Or at least that's what all the books and tomes I've read have said. I don't know if that's just because magic is inherent to every being or if everyone just has the ability to draw it from the Earth or whatever. Regardless, some people are better than others when it comes to concentrating and channeling magical energy. Myself, I've actually got a knack for magic. I have an easier time than most when it comes to gathering magical energies. You, I haven't the faintest idea whether or not you have an aptitude for it."

"Are you going to get to the part when you actually teach me magic anytime soon?" Dax said impatiently as he stamped his feet.

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there! Now look. Magic at its most basic is using your will to give form to energy. More simply, you use your imagination to determine what kind of spell you're going to cast with the magical energies you've gathered. Even more basic, and important than that, though is actually gathering magical energy. Look here."

Russo extended his right hand in front of Dax and the wolf looked on in fascination as swirls of magical energy began to appear in the palm of Russo's hand. The swirls rotated in a circular pattern for a few seconds until they converged together into a tiny white orb. It swirled and grew in size until it was almost too big to hold with. It hovered about an inch or so above Russo's palm and it radiated warmth. "See this? This is the easiest, and surprisingly, the most powerful spell I know. All you do is gather magical energy in the palm of your hand, compress it into a ball shape and then let loose with it. Depending on how much energy you cram into the ball it can either tickle or devastate whoever or whatever has the poor misfortune to be on the receiving end of it." Once the explanation was over Russo ceased concentrating and let the energy in his hand dissipate. The ball quickly disappeared. Dax's ears drooped down in disappointment as it vanished. "You're up Dax. Your goal is to concentrate enough energy in your hand to form a magical ball like I did. It doesn't have to be big or perfectly spherical or anything like that. You just need to learn to be able to actually gather energy."

"I can do that!" Dax said eagerly as he extended his right hand out in front of him and concentrated. For a couple of minutes nothing happened.

"Need any pointers on how to start?" Russo dryly asked, breaking the silence.

"... Yes please." Dax said looking down, somewhat embarrassed and discouraged.

Russo walked over to the wolf and gently grabbed the wrists of both of his hands and held out both of the wolf's arms. "Okay, first things first, don't get too far ahead of yourself by trying to channel magic right away. Stand still for a second and relax, focus on how it feels to have your blood circulating through your body. Out from your heart to your fingers and then back up your arms into your chest. And if you can't actually feel it, then imagine how it would feel. Can you do that?"

"I-I think so." Dax said with some doubt in his voice. He looked down intently at his hands and tried to focus.

"Feeling anything?"

"I... yes. Yes, I am!" Dax said excitedly, his tail wagging and his ears perked up.

"Don't get too excited yet. Keep at it for a couple of minutes." Russo let go of Dax's wrists and concentrated on forming another magical sphere in the meantime. He purposefully kept this sphere tiny in size. "Feel like you've got the hang of it yet?"

"Yep!" Dax happily asserted.

"Good. Hey Dax, you know how I told you earlier you wouldn't be on the receiving end of any spells today?"

"Yeah?"

"Well I lied," Russo grabbed Dax's right hand with his free hand and more or less high fived Dax with the other hand, smashing the orb between his hand and the wolf's.

"Heehee, that tingled," The wolf giggled afterwards.

"See, that wasn't so bad. Now pay attention, this is really important. Focus on what that tingle of magical energy felt like okay?"

"Umm, okay."

"Now, instead of imagining how it would feel for your blood to circulate through your body, imagine how it would feel for that tingle of magical energy to flow throughout your body."

"Got it!" Russo grabbed hold of both of the wolf's wrists and held out his arms again to assist in the process. Dax closed his eyes to concentrate and after a couple of minutes Russo noticed with alarm that his fingers slowly ceased to fit around the wolf's wrists. He looked towards Dax and noticed that he was slowly growing and had already reached around seven feet in height.

"OH MY GOD STOP, STOP, STOP!" Russo frantically urged.

"Hmm? Aww why, I just got the hang of it!" Dax complained. He opened his eyes and found that the human now only came up to his chest. "Oh. That's why." The wolf quickly shrank back down to size, now a couple inches shorter than Russo. His clothes had stretched during the growth process and were now a little loose on him.

"That's... not supposed to happen." Russo said worriedly as he tried to assess the situation. He looked around in all directions to make sure that no one had been around to see what had just transpired. "Let's uh... let's move a bit further outside of town before we try this again," Russo tentatively suggested as he made a beeline away from both the main road and the town. Dax followed close on his heels after grabbing his dispel crystal off the ground.

"I-I don't understand why that happened, it was an accident I swear! I was imagining that magical energy was flowing through me like you said. I didn't even feel myself growing!" Dax said in a worried tone.

"Shit. I don't know, maybe magic works differently for giants than it does people of smaller sizes? Don't freak out, we'll try again."

After walking a good ways into deeper grass, Russo thought this was a good a place as any to resume the lesson. "Okay so... I'm not really sure what happened last time but I guess we can call it a success. Sort of. You know what it basically feels like to channel magic energy now right?"

Dax nodded .

"Alright then. You can channel magic energy, so now the next step is to learn how to gather it. Provided you don't explode with growth again, here's the plan." Russo fetched out a gold coin from one of the pouches attached to his belt and placed it in the palm of Dax's right hand. "Just like before I want you to channel magic energy, you know, imagine how it feels for that tingle from before to flow throughout your entire body. It's just that this time, as you feel the energy flowing out from your heart out to your hand, instead of having it come back I want you to try and focus on swirling it around this coin." Russo tapped down on the gold piece he had just placed in the wolf's hand.

"So imagine energy flowing out to my hand and when it reaches there start swirling around the coin?"

"That's what I just said, yes. And try not to double in size this time, okay?"

"I-I'll try." Dax focused on again on the task at hand. As he began to channel magical energy once more he began to grow.

"Stop." Russo said in a commanding tone. Dax sighed as he realized in that short time he had already grown about a foot. "Try again, this time WITHOUT growing," Russo emphasized.

Dax set about at gathering magical energy again and the result was the same. As soon as he began channeling magical energy he began to grow, regardless of whether he consciously wanted to or not."Arghh!" He complained out loud as he shrank down a few feet back to a normal size.

Russo sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Geeze, so every time you so much as channel magic you begin to grow? Great..." Russo continued scratching as he thought about what all it meant. "So that means what Jem thought was right though. His growth is magical in nature. Which means that the dispel crystal would do the trick to stopping his growth since it would stop him from channeling magic. Kind of odd that Jem was so on the mark..."

"I'll get this, I'll get this, just... give me more time I can get this under control!" Dax pleaded, desperate to learn how to cast even the simplest of spells. He tossed off his (formerly Russo's) cloak and handed it to the human. "M-maybe I'll just have to grow a bit before I can get this gathering energy down. Can you hold on to this? I don't want it to rip or tear..." Dax said embarrassed.

Russo rolled his eyes and accepted the cloak. "It's fine. Keep at it if you want to, but I'm going to cut you off if you grow too much, got it?"

Dax sighed and conceded to Russo's conditions and set about to the all-important task of learning how to gather magic. His first new-new attempt ended with him reaching nearly twenty feet in height after a couple of minutes of trying before Russo stopped him. A torn shirt and severely stretched and ripped pants were all that the wolf earned as a result of his efforts. Dax whined and shrank back down to size. He tried again and again yet no matter how much he grew, or how long he tried, he simply couldn't get that magical energy to swirl around the coin.

"I... I can't do it," A very large Dax said heartbroken as he sat down on the ground with a resounding thud after trying for nearly an hour. This final effort ended with him giving up after reaching about seventeen feet in height and utterly destroying his shirt in the process. His pants fared little better and were incredibly tight and ripped in multiple places on the huge wolf.

"Remember what I said earlier about how some people have an aptitude for this and others don't? Don't give up so easily, maybe it just takes giants a bit longer than most to learn how to cast spells." Russo tried to reassure him.

"No, you don't understand! Learning to channel magic was easy but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the slightest bit of magic to swirl around the coin. I tried and I tried, but no matter how badly I wanted it to swirl it wouldn't! Maybe giants just weren't meant to learn magic..." Dax whined and softly arooed as he shrank down to his regular size.

"Come on don't be all melodramatic like that." Russo said softly as he walked towards the wolf and gently draped what was formerly his blue cloak across Dax's back. He fetched the dispel crystal out of his pocket and handed it to the wolf. Dax pocketed the crystal and grabbed the sides of the cloak and wrapped it around himself like a security blanket. "We'll practice some more tomorrow. You'll get the hang of this sooner or later." Russo extended out a hand out to the wolf to help him back up. Dax hesitatingly accepted. "Let's get back to town and buy you some new clothes." A soft blue glow surrounded Russo's hands. Dax clung to the human's arm and silently buried his face into it. "God dammit," Russo thought to himself. "I try and do something nice and look what happens..."

After a brief stop to shop for new clothes Dax wasn't in the mood to do much else. "...I'll see you later Russo." Dax quietly said as he waved goodbye to the human and headed back to the guild. Russo grumbled to himself and headed off to the pub to grab some dinner and then went home for the night.

"Christ, he gives up and gets all sad and mopey only after one day? What a joke." He grumbled out loud as he fell back onto his bed. Still... he did catch on to channeling magic pretty fast and the wolf really had his heart in it. It had to have been aggravating to progress so quickly only for all of it to come to a sudden halt. *Sigh* Maybe Dax was right. What if giants weren't capable of casting spells? Dax was able to channel magical energy fine, or at least he claimed to be able to. And when he did he grew. Maybe the magical energy that giants naturally possessed was what let them grow to such heights and a select few of them shift sizes? Maybe that magical energy unique to them wasn't well tuned towards casting spells or something???

"Aggghh! Too confusing!" Russo yelled out to himself as he flailed about on his bed. "Shit, why do I even care so much about this anyway? This is that tubby wolf's problem, not mine." Russo settled down on his bed as he paused to think. "Uggh... a tubby wolf whose hopes for learning magic I got all riled up for nothing. A tubby wolf who I prefer being annoying and energetic rather than sad and mopey. A tubby wolf that I guess I'd call my friend..." Russo sighed and stared up at the ceiling of his home for a time, pondering how he could help Dax.

----------------------------------The next day -----------------------------------------

Dax glumly swept the floor of the guild hall, trying to make himself useful in any way he could. Shortly after noon Russo burst into the guild, his hands filled to the brim with blue magic crystals. "Dax! Ditch the broom and come with me, we're going to learn you some magic!" He yelled out as he attempted to point to the wolf.

Dax warily looked at the human. "I-I'm not really in the mood today Rus-"

"SHUT UP YES YOU ARE," The human declared as he grabbed hold of the wolf's arm and immediately teleported them both outside of the city limits.

Dax whined as soon as he saw where they were. "Russo why are we back out here again? You saw yester-" The wolf's complaint was cut short as Russo slapped him in the side of the face. "Ow!" Dax said smarting. "What was that for!"

"Quit complaining you big baby. I'm trying to be nice here."

"But you just hit-"

"SHUT UP," Russo interrupted him. "Right now I really ought to slap the shit out of you for giving up so easily yesterday. You think people can learn any given spell just within a few hours of trying? Do you think I was able to learn how to do all that within a day? Hell no! It took me days of trying and God knows how many hours poring over books to learn those tips and tricks to gather magic, much less channel it. Yet I save you who knows how many hours, maybe days, of wasted effort yesterday and as soon as things get a little bit rough you give up? That's pathetic and fucking insulting!" Russo yelled at the wolf.

Dax's ears drooped and he bit his lip.

"*Sigh* Like I said I ought to do that but I'm not going to. I think you unfortunately might have been on to something when you remarked that giants just weren't meant to learn magical spells, at least in the traditional sense. You may not realize it but you're not the only person to have sucked at magic and not have much of an aptitude for it. Countless others before you have tried to learn the basics of magic and have failed spectacularly. Do you know what people do when they want to learn magic but suck spectacularly at it?"

"Give up?"

"Well that's one option. The other is to cheat." Dax's ears perked up and his curiosity was aroused.

"What do you mean cheat?"

"See these crystals here?" Russo asked as he dangled two handfuls of magic crystals threaded through strings in front of the wolf.

"Yeah."

"Well these little babies right here are how people give a colossal middle finger to fate for making them suck at magic. These crystals are... well crystallized magical energy. Don't ask me how it happens but regardless with these we'll be able to bypass your problem of not being able to gather magical energy. As well as your *ahem* problems associated with channeling energy. Go ahead, take one," Russo offered out a hand filled with magic crystals to Dax. Dax timidly took one out of Russo's hand. "These things don't contain too much magic though so they're only good for a spell or two."

"I guess you get what you pay for," He quickly and quietly said to himself under his breath. "Wrap your fingers tightly around it and tell me if you can feel anything."

Dax slowly curled his fingers around the crystal and concentrated on the feeling in the palm of his hand. "It feels like... it feels like that tingle of magic you hit me with yesterday," He slowly trailed off.

"Good. I want you to uncurl your fingers and focus on the crystal and that tingle you can feel in the palm of your hand. Casting spells with crystals is a bit different than casting spells using your own magical power so try and pay attention. Because the magical energy is already collected and gathered for you, a lot of the casting process boils down to using your will and imagination."

Dax's demeanor became slightly less depressed as he did as he was told. The frown and mopey look disappeared from his face and was replaced by one of concentration.

"Starting off say... mentally picture that there are some tiny clouds floating in place right above the palm of your hand. Now think about those clouds slowly swirling around the crystal in your palm."

Dax couldn't keep a straight face and a small smile formed on his muzzle. "That seems kind of silly but okay, I'll try." He closed his eyes and took in a few deep breaths to concentrate. Russo watched on and noticed that the crystal began to glow.

"Alright then. Now I know this might sound a bit weird but focus on that tingle of energy coming from the crystal. Think about those clouds again but this time imagine that each cloud contains a fraction, a tiny portion, of that magical energy you feel resting in the palm of your hand. So now think about multiple tiny tingles of magic swirling around in your hand. Focus on how that would physically feel on the palm of your hand."

"You're right that does sound kind of weird," Dax said as he stuck his tongue out at the human with his eyes still closed. He did as he was told though and Russo saw that weak and unstable swirls of magical energy were circling around the glowing blue crystal in Dax's palm.

"A little better. Imagine that those clouds are rotating faster and each one contains more energy than before." Dax nodded and Russo looked on satisfied as the swirls stabilized. They were still incredibly weak but the wolf was proceeding in the right direction. "What do you feel in the palm of your hand right now?"

"I definitely feel something. Like, like some warm air is swirling around."

"Good to hear. Quit thinking about those images of clouds for now and focus solely on that feeling. Are you getting a feeling of warm air swirling above your fingers too?"

"Mmhmm."

"You don't want that. Try to condense that swirl of warm air. You only want to feel it on the palm of your hand, nowhere else." Dax nodded and tried to follow Russo's instructions. The swirls grew a bit larger and bunched closer together. "You're doing great Dax, keep it up."

A huge smile formed on Dax's muzzle and his tail began to wag. He slowly began to open one of his eyes to look at the results of his efforts.

"Hey, hey, hey keep those eyes closed!" Dax pouted but did as he was told. "You're really close now. Right now, you're probably feeling some air or some sort of warm energy swirling around the palm of your hand right?"

Dax eagerly nodded his head.

"Okay. Now here's the tricky part. Now you should be feeling the individual swirls flitting around on your hand. What you need to do now is pull off a delicate transition. You need to slowly stop thinking about those swirls and instead think about a single condensed ball of energy spinning in your hand. You remember what those orbs of magic I whipped up yesterday looked like right?"

"Yep."

"While focusing on how it physically feels to have that energy swirling in your hand mentally picture that there's a small ball of magical energy swirling around in your hand. I know it seems like I'm asking for a lot by expecting you to both at the same time. What you end up wanting to do is to coax those swirls of magic energy to come together, stick together, and wind up with a ball of energy."

"I can do this, I can do this, I can do this..." Dax assured himself as kept his eyes closed and desperately focused on successfully completing his first spell. Russo watched on as the swirls condensed together. Very slowly a ball of energy formed in the palm of Dax's hand above the crystal. Initially it looked incredibly unstable and wobbled uncontrollably like it was going to collapse. Somehow though, Dax pulled himself together and the ball of swirling energy stabilized. It was lumpy and small but Dax had pulled it off. He had successfully cast his first spell.

The human smiled softly as he told the wolf the good news. "You can open your eyes now."

Dax slowly opened his eyes and gazed upon the fruit of his magical labors. He sported a toothy grin a mile wide and his tail began wagging furiously. He looked down at his hand and gazed upon the ball of magic like it was the most beautiful goddamned thing in the world. He slowly turned his gaze up towards Russo and he smiled sincerely at him. He relaxed his focus and the ball disappeared almost instantaneously. The crystal stopped glowing and took on a dull gray color.

"Hope you didn't forget what the whole process felt like. I'd rather not have to explain everything all over to you again," Russo smirked.

"Don't worry, I didn't forget," Dax said smiling. He continued looking at Russo for a moment before he leapt forward and tackle-hugged him. The wolf nuzzled the human's neck liberally. "Thanks for not giving up on me and for being the best teacher ever!" The wolf continued smiling as he hugged the human tightly and his tail wagged dangerously fast.

The human sighed and rolled his eyes as he patted Dax on the back. "Geeze, both you and Jem are way too physically expressive, you know that? Hmm... but flattery will get you everywhere though..." He said as he gently smiled to himself. "I've got plenty more magic crystals. Feel like practicing some more?"

"Of course!" Dax replied instantly as he plucked another crystal from Russo's hand and stepped back and got to work.

-----------------------------So then that happened ------------------------------------------

"I did it, I did it, I did it!" Dax kept telling himself with glee as he practically skipped back to town, giddy with delight. "I'm a mage now, just like you Russo!" The wolf told the human triumphantly as he ran circles around him.

"Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves now. You're borderline decent at one of the simplest spells there is after practicing for most of the day. I don't think that makes you a mage, but it's definitely a start," He dryly stated as the wolf ran by. "Besides, you won't even have the chance to become an apprentice mage until you're sixteen or so."

"Well then you can be my teacher and I can be your apprentice!" Dax said excitedly. "Oh man this is great! First I'll practice and get good at what you showed me today, then I'll learn to teleport, then how to cast fire and then..." Dax continued listing on the plethora of spells he planned on learning. Which happened to be every spell thus far he had seen Russo cast. That boundless enthusiasm was something that still wore down on Russo's nerves rather quickly but... it was preferable to seeing Dax all sad and mopey. That and Russo was slowly building up a tolerance to all that optimism. "I guess it wouldn't be absolutely unthinkable for me to consider him as an apprentice some day," Russo thought to himself as the duo entered into Tedrah. The sun was slowly starting to set on the town, and a warm pink and orange glow bathed the town and the air was crisp and cool. As Dax continued talking about all the practice he would get in before the harvest festival Russo found his thoughts drifting towards that of his other furry friend, Jem. "Hope he gets back in time to celebrate it with us," Russo thought to himself as he followed Dax into the guild to grab some dinner. It wouldn't kill him to eat with the wolf tonight, that and the food was free.

Elsewhere, miles away and soaked by the same pink and orange glow of the sun, a certain rough collie was slowly making his way down a wide dirt road. Jem had passed through Norn hours ago and was making his way towards Sanos, attempting to find some clues as to who or what it was that had been responsible for the mass disappearances. All of them thus far had occurred during the middle of the day, when it was supposedly the safest time to travel. The collie reasoned that who or whatever it was behind these disappearances had grown accustomed to acting during the day. So he settled upon conducting an investigation in the evening. A time when most people would be doing their best to get off of the roads and towards civilization, would likely be a time when whatever was responsible wouldn't be prowling. That and should the situation turn sour, growing to a gigantic size along a poorly traveled road during the middle of the night posed little risk of being found out. So there was that too.

As Jem came to the crest of a hill he looked down and was greeted by the sight of a demolished wagon. Jem approached and found splinters of wood and pieces of the wheels littering the road. A handful of broken crossbows, broken spears, and swords could be found among the wreckage and littered along the road as well. It suggested that this wagon had belonged to the armed escort the two towns had tried sending out to guarantee safe passage. What was most suspicious though was the utter lack of bodies.