“Can you show me your innate spell?”

Alice nodded before reaching for the familiar feeling and summoning the Bubble around her. The instructor looked at it curiously and even touched it, testing the resistance. The Bubble was thinner and weaker than the first two times she used it, but that’s because Alice didn’t power the spell with her jewels.

“Hmm, interesting… To form such a strong innate spell… The Duchess is expecting a lot from you…”

She could only swallow dry, to have the Water Duchess eyes over her wasn’t something she wanted.

“Since your advancement is complete we can move forward with your training. Before we move on to other elemental spells, have the dreams started?”

Her inquisitive look was all the instructor needed as an answer.

“Invoker is just the first step in the journey of understanding the element and your connection to it… Soon, you’ll experience strange lively dreams, they’re an attempt of your mind to comprehend the connection in your soul. Every time your understanding deepens your power will grow stronger… Each Mage has a unique connection, so I cant teach you how to engage it, but I can help you use your current power better…”

“First, your innate spell is taking too much of your spiritual energy. Since it’s stronger than most, spending a little more is unavoidable, but you could use some strategies to lessen the cost. The easiest and most obvious way is to train it, the improvements as very small but can build up with time, so is something for you to do in the long road.”

“A short-time alternative would be altering the spell to use less spiritual energy. Let’s start from the beginning, how is it formed?”

“Hmm… It starts from my lungs, my spiritual energy flows to it to form the Bubble, which grows while passing through my body…”

“The Bubble is formed by three components, water, air and your spiritual energy. The problem lays in the last, since it’s a strong spell you’re using too much spiritual energy to bind the other two components into forming the Bubble… So, you only need to change the mix, using less energy while using more water and air from your body. Try to activate it more consciously, paying attention to its formation and what resources it’s draining…”

.........

Reaper moved anxiously through the Palace's corridors towards his brother’s chambers, he already guessed the reason for the summoning. Even though they are brothers, their positions in the Water court are completely different. Timber was the most promising candidate to enter the Royal Parliament representing the Water Houses, while he was a secret weapon. So, Reaper had to be kept hidden while his brother was bathed in glory.

The Serion Kingdom Royal Constitution dictates that the Kingdom can only be controlled by a Royal Parliament formed exclusively of hybrid Mages. History tells that the four founders of the Kingdom tried to alternate in power but that only ended up in internal wars and power struggles, which led them to create the Royal Constitution.

The idea was for each of the four Elemental Houses to keep the power inside their region, while the central power was given to the descendants of two elements. Elemental Mages are prone to form strong bonds with their same element peers, which would result in favoritism while ruling, but the hybrid Mages didn’t have this problem, even between themselves they wouldn’t have any special bonds.

Even so, the Royals (Parliament members) had to count on their backings to maintain power and would often favor them in the decisions, which kept the power struggles between the four Elemental Houses alive but also controlled to certain levels. Although Timber was the House of Freezing Water’s pride, Reaper was a reminder that if he was to betray them they would send death after him.

However, if Timber was loyal, the deadly tool could also be his weapon against the other Royals, causing him to have mixed feelings towards Reaper. He had tried to keep a neutral stance towards the death Candidate, but unfortunately, Reaper had extended his hands to touch something that belongs to him, or so he believed.

“Brother… What can I do for you?”

“Oh, Reaper… Why do you insist on hurting yourself?... Anyway, I heard about your disagreement with Ivy. I plead for mother to show that servant her place, but you know her… She thinks that we need to show our superiority through force, but I couldn’t let it go. So, I decided to help you train, little brother…”

“Thank you Timber, that means a lot to me, but I would prefer to …”

Before Reaper could politely refuse his brother’s help (beating), the other was already moving on him. Timber dismissed a friendly spare and went directly for a serious fight, the dagger in his hand was a clear statement of it. Fortunately, Reaper was used to surprise attacks, his usual training made sure that he was prepared for the assassination attempts that would surely come.

The blades crossed before the boys jumped back, Timber was calm while Reaper had a complicated look. Because his training was focused on fighting and he didn’t have to study other subjects, Reaper was a better fighter than his brother, who had to train his Magic and other Royal necessary abilities. The situation brought uneasiness to the death Candidate, he knew that his brother would change for a magic attack as soon as he lost the martial fight.

However, after experiencing Ivy’s attack, he was done with been bullied. Instead of backing down like their usual fights, Reaper decided to fight seriously. He dashed forward and slashed at Timber without holding back, for each defense, Reaper would attack two times from different angles. Timber stumbled backward hissing, blood dripping from a cut on his right shoulder.

“Good! You finally grew up, dear brother… So, let me show you how a true Mage fights!”

Timber moved his glowing hands back before swinging them towards Reaper, the wood plates hanged over the walls flew at him forming Wooden Spears midair. Reaper dashed to right and used his short sword to block the right Spear. Since he was all-in, he didn’t hesitate to launch a throwing knife using his free hand.

The wood Mage had already discarded the dagger to the side and was holding a wooden sword. Energy circled from his hand to the handle, stretching the wood to form a Shield just in time to block the knife. Reaper couldn’t help but praise the Mage’s speed in his mind, few Invokers had this level of control.

Reaper had to dodge the other two upcoming Wooden Spears by rolling in the ice floor, before launching another throwing knife, which was blocked easily with the Shield. Fortunately, the wood attacks weren’t very strong at distance, neither were area-effect like Ivy poison, but the Mage’s defense was on another level.

However, Timber grew tired of playing in his brother’s tune and ran towards him after picking up a wooden stick. Reaper was faster, so he would have a good chance of landing an attack in close combat, but the wood attacks would be much stronger too. He bent forward, ready to attack the approaching Mage but before he could move, the wooden stick expanded towards him. He dashed to the side but the stick hit his side and threw him against the wall. 

He was ready to risk being cut by a Wooden Spear to get a chance to land an attack on Timber, if he got close enough there was a good chance of ending the battle, but he wasn’t counting on a strong pushing attack.

“What did you think of my new spell? It’s called Wooden Punch... You didn’t expect, did you? Here goes lesson brother, if a Mage chooses to engage in close combat, he probably has a good reason…”

While Timber talked, the fallen wooden stick started to stretch and bent around Reaper’s neck. He struggled for air, but fortunately, one of the Duchess’ attendants interrupted them.

“Young Masters, forgive this lowly servant for interrupting your training… The Duchess requests your presence in the Throne room…”

“Let’s go brother… I can continue helping you later…”

Reaper got up to follow the attendant while massaging his hurting neck and cursing Timber on his mind.

.........

Reaper entered the Ice Throne room and hurriedly kneeled beside his brother, the strange silence inside the room and the long pause to allow them to rise was a clear indication of the Duchess anger. He could only pray to the Origin that he wasn’t the target of her emotions, to make his mother show dissatisfaction so openly couldn’t be a small matter, neither would be the consequences lighter...

After raising, his sight wandered around the Court seeing scared faces everywhere, even the Lords of the water Houses were scared of his mother. However, he couldn’t help but step back when he looked towards his mother’s neutral expression, more exactly to a silhouette that looked like a girl standing behind her.

The image of the wickedly smiling girl could make any Mage hesitate, but everyone attending to the Water Court knew that it wasn’t a girl. The Hydra stepped forward and…