It’s been three years since Nyx introduced me to Mary and I am now fifteen. Since then she has visited the house about once or twice a month when she has free time. While she was visiting I could never get any more information about her life no matter how I tried. All I could figure out was that she was very busy in her life which is why she couldn’t visit that often.
The days Mary visited I was allowed to take a break from training my magic and because of that I began to look forward to the days she would arrive. Today was one of the days that she was supposed to visit so I wasn't putting much effort into training my magic. When I heard someone walking around me I turned around expecting to see Nyx and Mary together but I instead only saw Nyx.
I wondered why Mary wasn’t here when I realized that she might have gotten busier than expected and had to cancel her visit, but just in case I asked Nyx about Mary. “Mother, where is Mary? Is she unable to visit today?”
“Yes Kat she was unable to finish all her work on time so she had to delay her visit. But more importantly don’t think I didn’t notice you slacking on your training.”
I desperately tried to think of an excuse to explain my actions but in the end I couldn’t come up with a believable lie so I dejectedly told the truth. “Yes mother, I was slacking because I wanted the extra energy to play around with Mary.”
“Oh I’m not mad or anything like that I was just teasing. However, since you seem to have been growing bored of your training lately, this is the perfect time to try out the new idea for training I had.” I wasn’t exactly confident in this new idea of hers but I figured since I was caught slacking I didn’t really have a choice if I wanted to try it out or not. “Ok mother we can try out this idea of yours.”
Nyx started to explain to me that my proficiency with magic was already really high as well as having a great imagination which allowed me to have great control over my magic because I could easily picture exactly what I wanted to do. Unsure of what she was trying to hint at, I silently waited for her to continue talking. “However, you have never actually fought anything other than wooden targets so I think it’s time for you to fight something that moves so that we can be sure you won’t get scared and freeze up mid-battle.”
Finally realizing her point I found myself agreeing with her. Even now I struggle to think of wolves without feeling scared and in my early years of living with Nyx anytime I thought of wolves I would feel phantom pain originating from my missing arm. After gathering my courage I posed a question towards Nyx. “What would you have me fight?”
“I plan to have you fight a bear that I captured for basic combat experience and if you feel brave enough and I judge you capable enough, I can take you to the wolves that attacked you after your village was destroyed.” Hearing what she said I unconsciously started to shiver with fear but that fear soon changed into slight enthusiasm when I realized that I could put my fears behind if I killed the rest of the wolf pack that seemed to taunt me when one of their own took my arm away from me.
Nyx gave me one last chance to reject her idea but I declined. I was too determined to leave my fears behind to stop now. I know almost every element of magic and I have trained my magic under the tutelage of a Great Spirit for about seven years now. I should be confident in my abilities.
Nyx teleported me to where she had planned to have me fight the bear and told me to prepare myself before she released it from her shadow magic. I mentally prepared myself while I went through my memories of when I was taught about the animals in the forest.
While animals couldn’t use magic on their own they still absorbed mana released all over the world by the Spirit Monarch’s overflowing magic power. Animals that hid themselves in sparsely populated areas were the most dangerous because they didn’t have to compete with other animals over who gets to absorb the absorb the most mana lingering in the area. Absorbing magic power made animals bigger, stronger, faster, sensitive to the presences of other animals, and sometimes more intelligent.
After I finished refreshing my knowledge I decided I was ready to fight the bear. “Mother, I'm ready to fight. You can release the bear now.”
“Are you sure Kat I don’t want you to get hurt so if you’re not fully prepared please tell me.” It seems Nyx’s overprotective instincts kicked in again. I let out a sigh before continuing to talk.
“Yes I’m sure mom. I feel perfectly fine right now and I am confident that I can beat the bear.”
Convinced by my words Nyx told me one last thing before setting the bear free. “I will watch over you and if it gets too dangerous I’ll save you. Also I’ll be grading you based on how well you do so try your best.”
With those parting words the bear suddenly appeared out of the shadows in front of me and Nyx teleported away. The bear immediately took a swipe at me with its paws but before they could hit me I teleported a short distance away. While I was confident that I could easily beat the bear in face-to-face combat I decided to be cautious and used Shadow magic to darken the area in order for me to gain the advantage. I used the first magic I learned to hide myself within the shadows and snuck behind the bear before firing a ball made of Earth magic that when broken would activate a subcategory of Fire magic called Explosion magic. It took a lot of magic power to create but I didn't want to worry Nyx.
Upon impact with the bear the ball exploded and as far as I could tell it instantly died. Though it didn’t take long for me to realize my mistake with the type of magic I chose to use. There was currently a decently big crater in front of me and the trees around me were on fire. I quickly used water magic to douse the flames and then I moved all the water into the crater to cover up my mistake.
When all the water was settled inside the crater Nyx suddenly appeared beside me and started to talk. “While I am impressed with your ability to avoid the bear’s attacks and defeat it without getting close to it’s dangerous mouth and paws. I am going to have to subtract some points for lighting the forest on fire. Bonus points for creating a pretty nice miniature lake though.” She chuckled at the joke she made while I stood there with a nervous smile plastered onto my face.
After what felt like a minute of silence Nyx finally started to speak again. “While there were a few things you could have done better, in the end you safely defeated the bear and even covered up the tracks that a battle took place here. As expected of my daughter I always had faith you would be fine.” I glared at her a bit after she said that but she ignored me and continued to speak.
“Ahem, well I believe you should be fine if you were to fight the wolf pack and I know you’re scared of them but this might be the only chance you’ll have to properly conquer your fears.” I don’t want to encounter wolves, I really don’t. But I already made my decision and Nyx is right about me not having a chance to fight them again. They are probably close to dying of old age by now and defeating their descendants wouldn’t give me the revenge that I need to conquer my fears.
So after I took a few seconds to calm myself I gave Nyx my answer. “I want to destroy that pack of wolves and get rid of my fears so that wolves can never scare me again. I am done being weak!”
