Over the next few days, I pondered Sylra's request. It was an intriguing idea, but I had other matters to investigate. Taking on a student might prove problematic down the line yet, at the same time, it could be... amusing.
I spent a week observing everything closely, evaluating the situation.
Darian behaved normally after the incident, which was fascinating. He wasn't shaken in the slightest. That alone made the idea of mentoring him more appealing.
He already held a decent chunk of Esenia within him. Training him in its use wouldn't be difficult.
The next day, I took him to an open field to begin our training. He grinned broadly, clearly ecstatic at the prospect.
"To start," I said, "conjure stones like you did against that bear."
He hesitated but eventually produced a few stones. The process was slow. Too slow.
"Now, conjure flames."
A weak spark appeared. Small. Sluggish.
I had him try wind, then water. Like the rest, they came forth at a crawl.
At this speed, he would die in a matter of minutes on the battlefield.
To demonstrate, I conjured flames, water, earth, and air with Esenia. It was a strange experience for him, judging by the awe on his face.
Over the next few days, I focused on speeding up his conjuring. While he improved slightly, it was still far from acceptable. Pitiful, really. The entire process was becoming a headache.
While he attempted to conjure another stone, I heard him murmur, "Let's see... a big aculeatus (spiky) stone."
That caught my attention.
I asked, "What do you imagine while conjuring those things?"
Darian tilted his head, confused. "A stone?"
"You just imagine the whole stone, start to finish?"
"Yes. Isn't that how it's supposed to be? My sister always told me that's what she does."
"I see. That's why your conjuring is so pitiful," I said flatly.
He looked mildly offended.
"Instead of imagining the final product the entire time," I explained, "picture it forming bit by bit. Imagine small pieces clumping together, like fragments assembling into a larger whole."
He gave a slow nod and resumed his conjuring. This time, the stone formed noticeably faster than any of his previous attempts. He looked perplexed by this.
"See?" I said. "The image you were using before was too heavy—too complete. When you break it down and create the parts first, your mind has less to hold, and the result is much faster."
So, over the next few days, he learned to create a few solid stones, and the speed was passable, but we would have to work on it in the future.
He learned water conjuring quite quickly. He was able to create and manipulate water like he did with stones.
I had him try the same technique with fire next.
"Alright," I said. "This time, conjure fire. But don't imagine a whole flame."
He looked confused again. "Then what do I imagine? Fire is… just fire."
"That's your problem," I said. "You think of it as one thing. It isn't."
I conjured up a flame in my palm. "What do you see?"
He leaned closer. "It's... flickering. Bright. Kinda dancing?"
"Exactly," I said. "It moves. It breathes. Fire isn't solid, it's alive in a way. If you try to conjure it like you would a stone, you'll fail. It resists structure."
He narrowed his eyes. "Then how do I imagine it?"
"Break it down. Not into structure, but into behavior. Picture heat, flicker, light, motion all coming together at a single point."
He blinked. "So... not an object. More like a feeling?"
I nodded. "Yes. A rhythm. A force. Don't conjure the fire. Conjure the conditions that give birth to it."
He hesitated. Then closed his eyes.
A second later, a tiny flame sparked into existence. Then it grew—unstable, but real.
"That's it," I said. "Now again. This time, keep the rhythm."
He did it again. Slower. But more stable.
"You're not creating an object," I reminded him. "You're invoking an event. A reaction. Fire is change."
After hearing that, he created a much more stable flame than before.
He was very happy after this and had gotten a proper rest.
Then he started working on air. He was struggling a lot. He wasn't able to conjure anything at all. He didn't have the proper way of doing anything.
So, I stepped closer as Darian stood, hand raised, struggling to conjure air.
"You're still imagining it wrong," I said calmly.
He looked at me, frustrated. "But it's not doing anything."
"That's because you're treating it like stone again — trying to force shape into something that isn't meant to be solid."
"So then… what is it?"
I knelt and drew dots in the dirt, spaced far apart, barely touching. "See these?"
He nodded.
"These are particles. Think of them like… small particles that make up everything, if you want. For stone, they're tightly packed. For water, they move around each other still close, but fluid. But for air?"
I tapped the widely spaced dots.
"They're loose. Distant. But still... bound together by something like threads you can't see. You need to imagine that. Imagine the particles far apart, like they want to drift away, but you keep them gently linked."
He furrowed his brow, focusing. I continued.
"Let them float. Let them spread. But don't let them scatter. Feel them tethered by your will light, invisible strings, barely touching. Then, with a nudge… give them motion."
Suddenly, a breeze swirled around him. Dust lifted from the ground. His eyes widened, a smile breaking across his face.
The next day, he went excited to his sister and told her about his training and how he could conjure and manipulate all the basic four elements now.
Hearing that, his sister, Sylra was amazed and looked towards me and said , " Learning the basic four elements takes at least three months. You managed to teach him that within two weeks?."
"How did you teach him?"
"Just taught him how matters and particles are formed and rest he did it himself." I replied to her.
She looked confused at my answer but nevertheless she accepted my answer with a nod.
The next few weeks were a blank, I learnt more about thing world's culture and history.
The war was apparently started for a land rich in Esenia and it has been a while since it started. Though the next day, some patrolling soldier stumbled upon this town at the edge of the country.
The soldiers seemed quite surprised on seeing the town. And when they saw Sylra and Darian they were even more surprised and immediately bowed towards them.
"Lady Sylra and Lord Darian of the House Elyundra, we are deeply sorry as we thought you had been killed in this war." One of the soldier said kneeling down.
Sylra sighed and said, "It's fine, stand up now, you came here now, and that's what matters."
"We ought to report this immediately and call backup soon for evacuation of the entire village." said one the soldiers and pulled out a crystal that was bursting with Esenia. He spoke into it and explained the entire situation.
Darian looked completely confused during this entire interaction and said, "Hey sis, what's going on? Why are they calling you 'Lady' and calling me a 'Lord'? What is the House Elyundra?"
And one of soldiers replied with surprise, "You don't know about your own lineage?"
That reply made Darian even more confused and he tilted his head even more, it was an amusing sight to be hold.
The soldier then said, "House Elyundra is the noble family that directly answers to the king, and you two are a part of that family."
"Also, Lady Sylra used to be one of the ten saint before she succumbed to her illness."
Darian's eyes widened in surprise and asked, "What's a saint?"
"Now, is not the time." said Sylra to Darian. She then asked the soldiers to gather the town's folks for evacuation.
The soldiers did as ordered and Darian proceeded inside the house after that.
After some hours had passed a lot more soldiers came with foods, medical supplies and water. And few carriages for the population.
The people looked quite happy and relieved after help arrived.
Then the people were boarding the carriages that came for them. Little by little the carriages filled up and there was a decent sized team for this.
Darian and Sylra also got into a separate carriage of their own, Sylra looking relieved and Darian looking somewhat confused.
I was about to leave, when Darian called me out and said in a pleading tone, "Won't you come with us?"
I pondered there a moment, I did complete my end of the bargain, but a chance to visit one the major cities and see it for myself might be amusing.
So, in the end I joined them and Sylra nodded towards me.
The journey was quite hectic to say the least. There were tons of abandoned towns. A lot of corpses and moreover, it was pretty silent as everyone was observing everything that was happening outside and seeing the bleak scene made everyone quiet.
In the middle of the trip while we were travelling through a forest, we encountered a weird creature. It was a giant insectoid creatures with bodies made of crystalline structures. It looked quite terrifying and it destroyed a small portion of the forest.
The soldiers took it down quite fast and effectively by a three man tactic where the three soldiers moved as one, precision coming to each step, watching and estimating with practiced acuity. The largest of the insectoid monsters advanced, its clear, crystal carapace glistening glaringly, bright and unnatural in the day.
One of the soldiers, this team's Esenia manipulator, took a step forward and raised his hand. With a slight flick of his wrist, he summoned a pulse of pure Esenia energy, infusing with sharp focus to send a sharp shockwave towards the insectoid's legs. The plates started shaking violently, small cracks beginning to spider across the joints.
The second soldier, this team's marksman, took his instant. The bow string twang was barely audible yet synced with the blast of concentrated energy. A personalized arrow flew from his bow with the force of a tomahawk. His arrowhead was concentrated obsidian, fused with Esenia at the point. The arrow found a weakened joint just behind the stable forelimb, shattering the crystal joint and causing it to stumble.
The remaining soldier charged forward with accomplished poise. His sword glimmered faintly with the subtle essence of Esenia energy. He determinedly and rapidly struck the fragile areas that were exposed from the energy manipulator and marksman. Each purposeful strike chipped off some of the brittle crystal from the crystalline armor surrounding their animal opponent.
As the opponent was moving to retaliate, the energy manipulator sent another pulse of energy to jar the bigger creature off balance. The marksman loosed another arrow, finding its home in the shattered joint of the insectoid.
The swordsman struck the soft, broken crystal, leaving a shatter of rich crystal particles everywhere.
Then they brought the corpse of the monster. And continued with our journey onwards.
Finally after days of travelling, we finally reached pretty bustling city, where everyone seemed quite pleased. The townspeople were escorted to nearby shelters to provide them aid.
And we were taken to the mansion at the center of the city, there was a lady dressed well and nicely. Sharing some semblance to Darian and Sylra. She hugged Sylra then looked at Darian and said, "So, this is your brother. He was grown up quite a lot."
Darian was visibly confused, he looked at the lady then his sister and asked, "What is she talking about?"
The Lady replied, "Oh! you don't know. I am Rina Elyundra, your aunt."
After that Darian looked shocked and said, "I.. I have an aunt."
"Yes dear, your parent's were quite close to me but it is a shame what happened to them." she said
"We can do all the catching up later why don't you freshen up." she told him then she called some soldiers to escort him.
Then she looked towards me then Sylra asked, "Who might this gentleman be?"
"Well, he is the one who helped us through the predicament we were in."
"I see" she said looking at me reluctantly.
"You must tired right now, so let me arrange a place for you to stay." she added as she called for one of her servants to escort me towards a room reserved for me.
I stayed there for the entire duration of that night.