42 A leap of Faith (1/2)

I glanced around, the sudden closeness made everything awkward. The car bent deeper into the very limits of its suspension, but at least the tires didn't pop. Kessiah glanced out the window,

”So here's the thing...” She turned back to me, ”I think there's something wrong with Torix.”

I raised an eyebrow, pulling my helmet off my face, ”What do you think? He has seemed a bit, I don't know, brutal I guess.”

She leaned onto one of her arms, restless like nowhere was comfortable, ”I don't know. I'm not good at stuff like this, but he's different now. When he crushed what-his-face...Uh, Whatley?”

”Whitley.”

”Yeah, that guy. That wasn't like him. It's almost like there's something really bothering him, and he isn't talking about it. I tried talking to Althea about it, but that's like talking to a wall.”

I rolled my eyes, ”She just doesn't like talking much. Either that or she's nervous. Back to Torix.”

Kessiah nodded, ”Yeah yeah.” She crossed her arms, ”I think the pressure's getting to him.”

”What? Pressure?”

”Yeah. I know Torix. He wasn't a risk taker at all. That bag of bones has been alive for a long time. I outleveled him, and I just kind of fuck around is all. He must have taken things slow. Like, really slow.”

I nodded, ”So now he's in a high pressure situation, somewhere he's uncomfortable. If you think about it, he did end up struggling with the ritual to get us transported off world.”

Kessiah sighed, ”Yeah, he told you guys that was because of Schema's new quest. That's true now, but him being late and slow didn't have anything to do with the quest of survival. He was just messing up stuff.”

I turned towards Kessiah, ”Anything we can do to take some of the pressure off?”

She scratched the back of her head, ”Uh, if you could help with the runes that would be awesome. He really enjoys the dominion magic too. Just having someone to talk to about everything would help him a lot.”

Kessiah put a hand on my shoulder as she said, ”I'm sorry I'm having to ask this of you. You're already pretty damn busy with all your other...stuff I guess.”

I noticed the hand on my shoulder a bit too much. It made me think of things I shouldn't, so I killed off a few wandering thoughts. Kessiah let me go, giving me space to think as she continued,

”He needs help, and I can't give it to him. I get bored, and even if I try not to sound like it, he picks up on it pretty quickly. Althea's nothing like him. She's into tech.”

I shrugged, ”I'll give it a shot. I can do it when everyone else is sleeping anyways, since I don't have to.”

Kessiah grinned before hugging me to her. She let me go, opening the car door,

”Thanks Dan Dan. I'll see yah around. Try not to spend to much time in cars during night. Can't imagine that's too healthy.”

I grinned back, ”Eh, sometimes it's good to think.”

Kessiah bounced away, a nice pop to her steps. The melancholy melted, and now she was back to her old self. It surprised me how much faith she had in me to help Torix, but she knew him better than I did. I decided to put the same kind of faith in her, for now at least.

With everything handled, I stepped out of the car and paced around the camp. I Torix set up shop nearby, in a normal suburban house off to the side. I knocked on the door,

”Yo, can I come in?”

No voice replied, so I stepped inside. Unlike most of the nearby houses, this place was nearly untouched. A comfortable, warm air flowed inside the building. Several portraits, trinkets, and paintings hung on the walls of the two story house. The walls were brown, tan, and other subdued colors. The whole place was soft, from the fluffy carpet floors to the toys spread on the ground.

As I walked deeper into the place, the staircase towards the basement was left open. Where else would an evil necromancer set up shop then in the basement of a building afterall? Once I reached the bottom, the cinderblock walls gave off an earthy smell. The smooth concrete floors were dry, just like the air I was breathing in.

Torix leaned against a desk, papers spread out across the entire expanse. The desk was slanted, and he was rolling a marble up the desk before letting it roll back down to his finger. It made the same sound, over and over. After hearing it a few times, the sound blended into the background of the room, like it was meant to be there.

I paced down the steps, Torix ignoring me as I entered. I reached behind him before leaning against a nearby wall,

”You alright?”

Torix snapped out of it, his head shooting up. He turned towards me, then back at the desk,

”Oh. Daniel. I'm sorry about this. You shouldn't see your master in such a distasteful, lazy light.”

”Everyone needs to loaf around sometimes. Anyways, I was hoping you could elaborate on dominion magic some. If you're not too busy that is.”

Torix sighed, ”I would love too, but I'm busy helping organize the mess I made when I killed Whitley. It was blunder of mine, like many others that you've no doubt noticed.”

I rolled my eyes, ”Everyone makes mistakes.”

Torix spread his hands out wide, staring at the wall, ”Yes, of course they do, but should a master make so many in front of his student? I think not.”

Torix slapped the marble, sending it clattering onto the floor nearby, ”It's absurd. You've seen me fail more than you've seen me succeed. How can you possibly learn from me when I can't accomplish any task at any turn.”

I sighed, ”Eh, I wouldn't think about it too much.”

Torix leaned into his hand, covering his face, ”It's all I can think about. We are so close to destruction that I can taste it. If I were to sleep, I would dream only in nightmares. This isn't the time nor the place for mishaps and screwups. I am ruining our chances of killing Yawm.”

I bit my lip before he pressed his hands against the sides of his head and continued, ”When I trained Alfred in the ways of the dark arts, I only made one mistake during the entire process. That one mistake was enough for him to leave me. I took one unnecessary life, and he abandoned me from his own. I was crushed.”

Torix sighed, ”Sorry for letting you know this all...I've been rather stressed as of late.”

After a joyless laugh, I patted his shoulder, ”Yeah, I noticed.”

Torix nodded before turning to me. His fire eyes flickered, ”Do you know what I was thinking when I met you?”

I cupped my chin in a hand, ”Uhh...I don't know. It seemed like you were deciding on whether or not to kill me.”

Torix shook his head, ”No, not at all. I was thinking that this was a chance at redemption. I could pass on my legacy, teaching you all I know so that I may pass on without worry. I painted this picture of an immortal, invincible magician that knew everything.”

”You did a damn good job, I think.”

A puff of laughter escaped Torix, ”But you have seen the cracks in painting. I'm not invincible. I make mistakes, and I'm struggling with handling the situation at hand. I was supposed to be the ideal master. Now, you can't even trust me. What kind of master puts so much stress on his student, that he begins hearing voices? I mean it is absurd!”

I tapped Torix's shoulder, ”You know I shut that voice up. When I did so, I found resolve. I found my own way of doing things. You didn't teach me where to walk Torix. You taught me to walk on my own.”

I let him go and spread my arms wide, ”Everyone fails, Torix. I mean everyone, but it's not about how hard you fall man. It's about how many times you get back up. If anything, show me an example of never giving up or some cheesy bullshit like that. You got it in you.”

Torix laughed, a tiny grin sliding onto his face. He nodded, ”You may be right, Daniel.”

I tapped my chest, ”Hell yeah I am. Let's get your ass out of this dungeon. I got some magic to learn, and you're the only one who can teach it to me.”

The tiny grin turned into a full fledged smile as Torix stood, ”I suppose I can find some time to help you. You are my disciple after all.”

We walked up the steps of the basement, chatting about the intricacies of dominion magic. We walked outside, finding the open yard. Torix created a table out of black liquid. I walked in front of it before pressing my weight down on it. It held, though ripples were sent through the expanse. It was weird. It didn't feel like it was supporting my weight. It was pushing back instead.

Torix reached up a hand. With a bit of glowing mana, he created glowing lines as he lectured. The short, dense orations were followed by me scrambling to apply the concepts towards my own dominion magic. There was a glaring problem though. Without the voice's intervention, I couldn't create dominion magic.

Of course I could learn the concepts behind the magic. The photographic memory from the intelligence perked helped as well. This made learning much easier, but breaking the barrier into applying my newfound knowledge was an enigma. Torix said I would gain a fluid control of my affinity with time. I already knew that wasn't true though. I needed a change in mentality.

I wouldn't revert back to using the voice though. It was like I was compromising on who I was for strength. Fuck compromises. Fuck letting something else control me. I would get a handle on the dominion magic, even if I had to kill myself doing it.

Before I could though, Torix turned the lesson back towards augmentation. He taught me new runic combinations, each of them wild and different. They didn't suit me quite like my own incantations, but they were like new tools on my table. I could use certain combinations of runes for adding to my own original inscriptions.

That enabled quite a bit of improvement on my current formula. It was at that point that I asked Torix if there was any common breakthroughs I could use for gaining tree points. He knew of many for dominion magic and his chosen fields, but he didn't know much for my specific style of fighting.