Chapter 134: A revelation and a good job
Cass was incredibly grateful when Draken slowly transford back to his old form, the one he was familiar with, and took control of the magic lesson again. Instead of explaining principles again, he actually got around to showing Cass what he could do.
It was simple stuff, as if Draken was following along with the beginner book that Cass had read. Unlike with the book, he actually got to witness Draken doing the moves and speaking the words.
Draken’s moves were practised, elegant, and showed that he had a deep understanding of magic. One Cass shouldn’t have been as surprised about as he was. He had to police his face, because Lord Blackburn would not have been surprised by this. This was a full Cass emotion, and he didn’t need a visit from Lord Blackburn to tell him that.
It was...nice, actually, to learn that Draken wasn’t just all brawn, but had an intelligence to him. He was still reckless, and a dragon, but he had a delicate part to himself. Layers. The man had layers.
Cass almost felt like he couldn’t feel the pulsing bite mark on his shoulder.
Draken was a good teacher. He was patient, and he listened and watched, letting Cass repeat him even as Cass grew frustrated at his lack of results. Draken offered suggestions, and help where he could, but watched as Cass got more and more frustrated. Even his normal one, the water, was hard to get a response from.
He hadn’t really expected much from the others, but the water? That should have responded, even if he couldn’t move his fingers as much. Or at all. Draken had a concentrated look on his face, one of deep thought and consideration. Cass was ready to throw in the towel. The sun was sinking lower in the sky so the clearing was cooling and Cass was getting a little chilled.
"Alright, this doesn’t appear to be working." Draken said and Cass’ stomach lurched. Was he giving up? Understandable. They weren’t seeing any results. Even if it deeply disappointed Cass, he understood why. Why would you keep repeating the sa thing over and over if nothing was coming from it?
"I understand." Cass said, swallowing down his disappointnt. He shouldn’t have expected anything from him. This was-
"I’m not getting anywhere teaching you like a human understands magic. I wanted to start here because that’s what everyone learns, but I should have known better. Your ability to use magic has never really felt like the sa way that Edgar and Ava use it. I just wanted to cover all grounds before we went off the deep end." Draken said. He glanced around the clearing, his face twisting as he sighed. "Still, it is getting late. I’ll just explain what I want you to do, and we’ll try it before we head back in. We’ll have to save it for the next lesson, tomorrow. Is that alright with you, Cassian?" Draken had surprised him. Twice.
He hadn’t given up on Cass, and he’d asked for permission. An old dog could learn new tricks.
"Well, I can’t exactly work like I want to, so that seems reasonable. So, what do you an I don’t use magic the sa way that Lady Ava and Vespertine do?" Cass asked and Draken chuckled. His orange gaze was soft as he looked at Cass, before he turned his gaze towards his hands.
"Well, human magic is all about waving your hands, speaking so words and that sohow speaks to the magic all around us. Dragons and other beasts aren’t like that. We’ve never had to learn all that complicated stuff. I just did it because I was curious about it once." That was a nice way to say he beca obsessed with it. "We just feel the magic and move it how we want to. You treated magic the sa way. I wanted to see if learning magic the way that others did would help you regain your knowledge, but I think that won’t help you. My best bet is to suggest that you get books that have pictures. You’ll need these pictures to visualise what you want to see when you do a specific spell, otherwise you could hurt yourself. I would also like to suggest that you do not do it while I am not around, but I understand that you aren’t a child." Draken’s lips turned up slightly. "I wouldn’t feel this way about a child."
"So, you just feel the magic that’s around you and that’s how you use it?" Cass said, ignoring Draken’s last comnt completely. Draken laughed, a smile twisting his lips completely.
"Yes, that is what I am saying. It’s like a prickly, static kind of feeling. I just move it when I want to do sothing. Say I want to make a small fla, I just think of what I want and-" Draken held out his palm, facing towards the sky and suddenly a small fla was on his palm. Cass stared at it in fascination. He could feel the heat coming off of it. It looked and behaved like a real fire. Wow.
"Oh. Okay. Is that the reason you suggested pictures? So that I am able to understand the size of the magic summoned?" Cass asked and Draken’s eyes curled along with his lips.
"Yes, Cassian. That is the reason. I find that having a visual aide does help in this. Especially if you don’t want to flood the forest or burn it down." Draken’s words were slightly teasing, but Cass nodded. Draken had said before that Lord Blackburn had a lot of magic inside of him. He was respected, and was implied to be one of the greatest mages of his ti. His reputation had been tarnished by his own actions, but that didn’t make his powers any less powerful.
So, all Cass had to do was learn enough magic in a few days to fake that he was at the sa level as Lord Blackburn. No biggy. It wasn’t like he’d given himself a month to do that, and had co out empty handed. Totally wasn’t like he was going to force the issue of him going to the dungeon. Even if he knew that he was going to be useless in the dungeon, that didn’t an he was going to let them leave him behind.
Cass needed to understand the reason why those assholes had forced him here. Why they were so insistent that soone else needed to do their dirty work? Because so far? Cass hadn’t really seen anything bad about demons, and had seen more problems with people who believed the temple’s doctrine than anything else.
That hadn’t been his intention before now, but after being injured more than once, the bond and now the deep questions about Lord Blackburn, it was ti to co face to face with what was actually going on in this world.
Even if he hadn’t co into this novel the way he wanted, as a baby so that he could adjust to the way of life of this world easily, he had co into this novel in a relatively peaceful ti. They had a whole month off from traveling and closing dungeons. From Cass’ understanding of the novel, that didn’t happen often.
It had only happened a few tis in the book, which had taken place over three years. The ’gods’ had been ’generous’ in the ti that they had given him to adjust, he guessed, but they had either known that Lord Blackburn had made another deal, or they hadn’t. Cass didn’t like either option, and now he had to deal with the consequences.
Missing mories, lack of magical powers, inability to access his funds, know his future plans, and what Lord Blackburn had begun to lay down in a mission to steal the item that was supposed to stop the demon king.
So, the first step was making it to that dungeon to see what he was up against, and why so many people were against the demon king taking over. For the ’gods’? He felt like they were just worried about losing control over sothing.
Hell, if he was an almost all powerful being who had control over several tilines and universes, he might be able to sympathize. Cass was, unfortunately, not one of those, and couldn’t find it in himself to feel pity for them. He felt pity for himself, since he was being forced to be a pawn for them.
Actually, why hadn’t he felt this angry over the way that they had been treating him for the past several days? Since he had visited them that one ti? Wait.
Wait wait wait. Had that fucker taken that anger away from him? Had he manipulated his feelings? Cass thought back to his desires, his anger, all of his emotions and was shocked to find that his feelings towards the gods had been...lighter. Not as harsh. He had almost felt like...forgiving them? In fact, it felt like he’d had those feelings towards everyone, not just the gods.
Those motherfuckers! They had tried to manipulate him! They had tried to make him compliant! Those fucking asssholes! He didn’t think he could trust them, but for it to be this fucking bad? Now he couldn’t go yell at them without fear that he would co out of it a drugged, god-believing good boy.
Cass’ wanted to clench his fists tightly, he wanted to rage. He was so pissed right now.
Draken began to chuckle nervously.
"Cassian, if you’re suddenly feeling a lot of emotions, you’re going to have to reign it in, or control it. Otherwise, the magic around you will react." Draken’s warning cut through the burning rage that was filling him and Cass swallowed. Right.
He was in a magic lesson. So that he could control his magic.
"Okay. What’s the safest thing to channel right now because I just rembered sothing that is making
pissed." Cass asked, his tone dark. Draken hmd for a mont before he shifted closer, grabbing Cass’ hands and using his arms, turned his body towards the pond.
"Water is probably the safest for you, especially now with the change in the flavour of your magic. Make a huge water ball. You know how to make a small one, so just...try to imagine it bigger. Without the hand waves, or words. Just say, ’water ball’ and try to visualise it. I find that when I use magic it feels like I am sucking it in. Like I’m inhaling it, drawing it in from all around
until it fills up a vial, and then I can use it."
It was a good visualisation, and Cass nodded. He tried to tune out his anger, and began to visualise a giant ball. Because of his own knowledge, he could give himself an actual size. The size of a yoga ball. That was the size of a water ball he was going for, and he too, could feel the drawing in of power that Draken had been talking about, but he found out that there was sothing different about it.
Unlike Draken, who pulled from outside of him, Cass pulled from within him. It was like there was a tank inside of him filled with magical power. As soon as Cass tapped into it, he found that it was overflowing. Too full. That was probably what Lady Fiona and the others were worried about.
Cass tugged at the hose that was connected to the tank, taking as much as he thought he needed for the water ball that he wanted, before his lips shaped the word.
He’d barely finished the vowel of ’ball’ before a giant, slightly bigger than a yoga ball flowing, twisting, ball of water ford in the air before them. It hovered over the pond, and Cass felt his jaw drop as he stared in wonder.
"Focus! Don’t drop concentration, Cassian!" Draken’s barked orders had Cass scrambling, focusing. He was right to be yelled at, he had almost dropped concentration on the water ball. It was just too fucking cool.
He could feel the tug, the pull, and could feel the longer that he focused on the water ball, the more magic it took from him. He could feel the tank slowly emptying, and Cass wondered how big his tank actually was if this giant ball of twisting water was only taking a little bit at a ti. Could he do sothing bigger?
"Cassian! Focus, or dispel it!" Draken’s tone was firm, giving him orders and Cass needed it. Even if he didn’t want to admit it. He needed the other man here to keep him focused. His mind was wandering too much.
"H-How do I dispel?" Cass asked and Draken groaned.
"Think of it like, popping the water ball, but instead of everything splashing down and around, think of it scattering away?" Draken suggested, and Cass was impressed. That sounded far too easy. Cass was pretty sure he hadn’t dispelled any of the spells he’d cast before. He just...let them be.
Cass focused on the magic before him, closing his eyes as he visualised exactly what Draken said. Draken’s hands tightened on Cass’ but Cass didn’t open his eyes as he popped the water ball. He imagined everything scattered to the wind like sand, fading into the sky and when he opened his eyes, the water ball was gone.
"Amazing. You did amazing, Cassian." Draken whispered. "Now, why don’t we head back to the castle? You can rest while we go back, and I’m sure Sam is anxious to see you safe and in one piece. That was enough magic for one day, I think."
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