Chapter #4Friendship Forged in Fire by: Juac   âYou are like the sunset, hidden amongst the clouds at the end of the horizon. Saying goodbye to the world. You are like the night, hiding false things so truth may be seen in your guardian moon. Youâve shined brightly in the deepest black. You are like the dawn washing the world of itâs bad. Seeing you rise brings warmth I canât fathom unless a day could be experienced in a moment. âSathomia Myfel,â you read aloud to Tilgasse as he sat next to you on the tree. It was your and his favorite poem written on the day of the Equivalence. It was two centuries ago, longer than any can remember besides the older demons. That day a single woman rose between the forces of Hell and the people of Earth. This was her final writing before she died on the battlefield.
It was a bright and sunny day with few clouds in the blue sky, almost Ethereal from the look of the Earth now. Few days were like this. Since the war, the moon was shattered leaving itâs remnants floating around the plant, disconnected from itâs large piece which was still being held together. Some days the sun would reflect off these pieces and create an Aurora in the sky. It was hard to see in the day, but it was there, dancing in its prism like rays.
Itâs been exactly 263 years, the mayor said, since the end of the war. When the demon race broke through the surface of our world and began to destroy everything in their paths. Our magic was a match for their strength but their numbers were infinite. It was then that a pious woman, Sathomia, called upon the power of the angels. She struck the moon with her might and the world fell silent as thousands died in a rain of destruction directed towards the hole they tore through. She sacrificed her body and laid her soul to rest, proclaiming her return if chaos returned.
Demons formed a forced pact with humans due to her power. And the world began to rebuild. Things were much nicer than most suspected. Demonâs sheer strength brought about easier methods of rebuilding, both races even gave each other design principles and ideas. From philosophy, culture, did you know demons had a government? Now almost three centuries later youâre laying here next to your friend Tilgasse reading from an old text from the time written by Sathomia and her kinsmen during the war.
Tilgasse had just fallen asleep as you were reading, you could hear him snore. You were about to as well until you heard a familiar sound. Your dog Fray yelping in the distance as he practically galloped to you. Quickly jumping up to you and licking your face. Although you called him a dog he was clearly a black wolf, with a bright yellow and blue eye, but still one of the nicest dogs youâd met. Even more amazing was that he was a three year old wolf that Tilgasseâs father found abandoned in the woods. He became your birthday present the week after and youâve been together ever since. âHey Fray, haha, what are you doing all the way out here? Did father call for me?â He ran back and flipped to face you as he barked once. âOkay, Iâm coming. TilâŚhey Til!â you lightly rubbed Tilgasseâs shoulder. You wish he werenât such a heavy sleeper. âTil, your fatherâs calling for dinner.â
âWhatâŚalready? Good thing tooâŚIâm starvedâŚâ he sat up groggily. You couldnât help but burst out laughing as you got up. âWha-whatâs so funny.â
âOh nothing, ghaha. Just that your plate will be very empty if you went home to eat now.â
âWhat?! Damn, again? You always get meâŚevery time!â
You ran a little ways away from him, âMaybe if you didnât walk and sleep on your stomach you wouldnât be so easy to trick. Hahaha!â
âGrrgh!â he jumped up and started chasing you in a playful manner knowing it was only a joke. And as he did you quickly whispered a spell that made his legs stop in midair as he juts upward. âDamn it, what did I tell you about using magic, haha! I swear when you teach me magic Iâll make you regret it! And donât take back your word either, you promised!â
âHaha, yes I did. You only specified fire magic though, all else I can let slide. Maybe only teach you a parlor trick or two like being able to catch up to a dear friend who likes to tease you. HahahâŚghaâŚgaghâŚâ your knees buckled under pressure and you fell forward on one.
The spell you put on Tilgasse wore off and he had to catch himself, almost effortlessly as he ran towards you. âWhatâs wrong!?â He ran next to you and kneeled down to catch you on one arm.
âUhhâŚnothingâŚgahâŚI held the spell for too long. I need to stop using magic without my staff, my body canât take it too well. Iâll be fineâŚâ
âYou donât look fine to me, here,â Tilgasse scoot in front of you and held his arms back as he scooped you up over his shoulders.
âGah, no Til, you donât have to,â you tried to protest.
âIâm not listening to a word you say till we get back to your house,â he didnât allow you to say another word. Thankfully he was going where you were supposed to go, instead of trekking to his house then having to tell him to carry you to yours. When things like that happened it always ended up like this; bullies, accidents, magic exasperation. It always ended up with you being carried home on Tilgasseâs back. Even if he was the one injured.
You just lay forward and accepted it and quietly whispered so he couldnât hear, âthanks TIlâŚâ
âŚ
When you got back your father was in a proud uproar about you getting a letter from the Arch-Mage Academy. âMy boy a general Sorcerer!â He never praised more embarrassingly than anyone else. Your father was a business man, more the calm and rational man. But when it came to outward joy, he was awkward to say the least. He began planning a party in your honor, started writing letters as your mother planned the party. Some of your relatives were already there talking about it as well, giving congratulations.
You gave your best smile, through sweat from the overabundance of attention. Then while everyone was preoccupied you took Tilgasse around back to the river bed leading out of town. You sat on the cobblestone bridge over the low water. âWhatâs wrong? Arenât you happy about going? I think itâs great youâll be a genuine sorcerer. Then when you get back we can go adventuring like we planned.â
âItâs not thatâŚIâŚI never liked things to change, even if itâs for the betterâŚitâs happening so fast. My father isnât helping either. I want to become a skilled mage. I want to go see the world like we planned. There are still some demons that refuse to comply with us and their people who have joined with us. Iâm glad that no one bothers Ms. Rosaline because her son is half human half demon. But I donâtâŚwant to leave yetâŚâ Frey was now next to you, and you pet him with one hand as you kept your balance with the other.
ââŚitâs not going to be like that.â
âWhat? What do you mean?â you were surprised to hear him say that.
âYouâre really smart, and you like to help people a lot. Youâre more skilled than many magic users your age, especially for a sorcerer. I hear it take years to be that class for normal people. Only a few make it to where you are by how old you areâŚbut the point Iâm trying to get at isâŚYouâll be in and out of that school like that!â he snapped his fingers.
âAnd Iâll be waiting and training every moment youâre gone. So donât be upset about it. We both need to get better at what we do. After all, youâre the brain and Iâm the thing that isnât a brain!â he held up a partly flexed arm.
You nearly fell off the bridge laughing at his comic sayings, âdid you truly forget the word muscles?â
He let his arm over the back of his head and gave a childish smile, âmaybeâŚâ
Your sudden burst of laughter made you slip off the bridge, thankfully you suspected it would happen and quickly cast a spell to make yourself float. Tilgasse ran to the edge of the bridge as Frey jumped off, he saw you float down to the shallow water then look up at him as your dog panted and wagged his tail. You whispered another smell that made him trip onto the dirt end of the cobblestone as he was running down to get you, âwhat was that for?!â
âMy wet shoes. and pants,â you said as you walked past him back to your house.
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