Master and Student.

"Are you sure? There are no written records how can we be certain that it actually exists?" King Illum asked.

"Have some faith in me, have I ever failed you?" Ilam said putting his hand over Illum's shoulder.

"Well ... "Illum replied tilting his head, "I am sure i can think of something."

"This is real, I found evidence. When you follow the mountains to the mountain range to the point where it hits the sea, there's a hidden cave. Deep within it is an inscription in the old tongue."

"Old tongue? I thought that was only found at the peaks above our castle."

"Some of the inscription was corroded and unreadable since the cave was waist deep in sea water, but from what i could translate, directions on how to acquire an ancient power."

"And how does that connect to the plains of Tervia." Illum asked skeptical.

"Brother be patient, I am not finished," Ilam said, "From what I have gathered so far, a thousand years ago on the plains of Tervia, a magnificent kingdom rose up until 500 years ago when stars fell from the sky and the kingdom disappeared without a trace, Its culture and citizenry were lost forever."

"I know all this..." Illum said getting exasperated, "get to the point."

"History was fabricated. It seems that kingdom was purposefully destroyed and not by accident." Ilam said.

Illum looked at his brother in utter bewilderment. Such thoughts had never crossed his mind. To have enough power to wipe a kingdom in its entirety. Shivers ran down his spine.

"Do you remember that old song that mother used to sing when she was sad? A heart of gold is hard to find, when i think n'one comes to mind, once a man was filled with greed, and doomed one and all a friend, unsurprising for that was the creed,and thus the gods saw him as a fiend and with the starts they judged him, i think it went. Well when we connect these two together what comes to mind?"

The king's eyes widened as he came to the realization. "The man can be the king, became greedy can be wanted the power, and judged by the stars and the doom of his friends is the destruction of his kingdom."

"Exactly, the people of that old kingdom must have discovered the source of the ancient power, and when they tried to unleash it the kingdom was destroyed along with its secrets and records of its existence. It could be that the power that destroyed it was so great that the bards translated them to divine punishment."

"There are four things that i can think of now, first this is a bit speculative, second the place where the legendary kingdom was supposed to stand is now a lake, third we need more information and finally if the legend is real, won't this doom our kingdom?" He said counting with his fingers.

"Brother, history is supposed to be our teacher, we will act in moderation and reason and not incur the 'wrath of the gods'," Ilam tried to assure the king.

"But you clearly said, take over the world." Illum protested.

"Did I, what I meant was we can protect ourselves better..." Ilam said a single sweat dripping on the side of his face.

"If I agree, if, you will have had to bring me more solid information, I cannot act on speculation. But tell me about your general plan. I trust you and I want to have a general idea what you are thinking."

"First, I will pay the elves a visit. I have made some like minded friends in my travels. If there is information on such matters they must have it, they are very meticulous about these things," he said.

"You? Friends with those detestable elves?" the king almost spat.

"They don't know who I am, they think I'm a historian. Anyway when the time is right we will march into Tervia under the guise of expansion, they'll think its our usual thing and take over the plains. We can do it there that way even if a cataclysm were to occur our kingdom wouldn't be --" he made an explosion gesture with his hands.

"You've seem to have put a lot of thought into this, I'll think about it." the king rang a bell that was on a table near where they stood and his attendants came back in.

URSULA

This whole thing made no sense. She had just gotten of the phone with the police. They had questioned everyone at the party and few of them remembered and describe John as very eager but none of them remembered seeing him leave. Takeshi-san recalled that either he was not feeling too well or was crouching . He did not pay too much attention since he was called by the journalists. The gallery had closed late that night and the staff had made sure that there was no one in when they closed.

The cameras were located in ares that didn't show clearly where John might have gone. One was located above the painting and the others in the middle walls facing the entrance but none showed him leaving. This was bizarre to say the least. As far as the world was concerned John had disappeared without a trace. At this moment she regretted not taking the time to get to know him better. Besides school, work and his interest in art she had no idea what he was thinking most of the time. Frustrated since she had no idea where to start she had called one of his college professor just in case they had decided to meet about the showcase but she had also not talked to him since the school went on break.

She picked up her phone and called her father to ask how Carol was doing. She was the most shaken by the news which was no surprise considering how she doted on him. She was however hanging on to hope that the police would find out something about his whereabouts. She told them she would be home after work. She was planning on going through her brothers room with a fine tooth comb to find even the smallest clue. She remembered reading Nancy Drew as a child and this was her time to become detective. She put her phone down and got back to work.

JOHN.

He and the old man had talked a lot since the time he administered the test. Since his body was too frail to practice at the moment the old man had been filling him in on how magic worked as well as how he was planning to teach John.

Magic in the painted world was grounded in the belief in oneself. It was an egotistical power the old man had said. Most often the people who had the strongest sense of self were the better magicians. If humans were able to use magic it would inflate their sense of self bringing about disaster since they easily succumb to temptation. The elementalists power was based on faith in the spirits and brought about a sense of awareness of those around you. It was the worlds way of keeping balance. The hearts of men are fickle things, the old man had said. He was planning to have John start practice once he was able to walk without the cane regardless of his injury.

"So how exactly do I train my magic?" John asked.

"Magicians have power within themselves, it's a part of their body. Magicians have a reservoir in their body and magic flows from there to every part of their body and interacts with the magic that is in nature", the old man begun to explain.

Magicians begin by understanding the flow of magic within them before they can start to manipulate the magic found in nature only then could you become a true magician.

"The same way a muscle grows from training is the same way your magic reservoir grows and expands meaning that it can hold more magic and magic can flow faster in and out of your body. With that in mind as soon as you can walk well you can start. Your body will heal as you train your magic system, this will make you stronger. The health of the body is tied closely to the strength of your magic."

"Isn't there a magic that heals wounds?" John asked.

"Well there is but unfortunately for you I do not know it and Miner is still learning how to use her elemental power to heal, she could only help to ease your pain as I tended to your injuries last night."

"Where is she?" John asked for the first time that day.

"There is a small fort town nearby that has a college for elementalists, she goes there thrice a week." the old man said as if annoyed by the idea. "I wanted to teach her myself but she wanted extra lessons."

"Refusing lessons from this pleasant sage, she must be out of her mind," John said sarcastically

"You get me John," the old man said. "only, I haven't told her I am a sage, she only knows me as her rescuer, an old elementalist."

"Why did you tell me then, she was bound to know when if you were willing to teach me magic. Or would we go to some cave to train in secret?" John asked

"I had not though that far ahead ... you did just show up leaking blood like a faucet." there was an awkward silence. "Ahem, do not question your master's decisions. And you've grown quite the mouth from the shy timid boy I saw last night afraid looking into peoples eyes."

Yes master John thought.

MINERVA

It was about an hour to sunset. She was sitting on her horse looking at the falling leaves. She was in the forest on the road leading home. There was a huge old but dead oak tree. This was where she had found John. She recalled as she whipped the horse to a gallop. She had lost track of time. At the time she had seen the shadow of something lying down next to the tree and in the twilight it looked like an animal. She had her guard up as she approached her spirit ready but it didn't move. When she was a few meters away she noted that this was a person who was sleeping on the side of the road.

A drunk this far out? she thought to herself as she poked him with her stick and he groaned. She could smell blood so she flipped him over and he was covered in it. He was wearing strange clothing, Black pants and a very white shirt with a black string hanging from his neck to his waist with a weightless dark coat. Using her bond spirit she lifted him up onto her horse and led it to walk fast enough that it didn't aggravate his injuries.

The house was coming into view now and John was sitting on a chair on the walkway into the lake. She led her horse into the stable. The sunsets in the fall were always the prettiest she thought as she approached him. He seemed to be basking in the evening sun. So you think its pretty too she thought as she walked up behind him. He was holding a piece of parchment and a charred stick and there was a half sketched picture of the boat. He had fallen asleep and was muttering something incoherent. Thank the gods we won't have another sleepless night.

"You are nothing but trouble, "she said removing a stray hair from his face, "and you need a shower."

John opened his eyes and looked up. He couldn't see her face because the sun was in his and had to raise the his left hand and use the parchment to shield his eyes. Minerva was startled and withdrew her hand.

"I smell?" John asked.

She withdrew her hand and started walking towards the house. John stood up grabbed his cane and followed her.

"I'll prepare a bath for you," she said teasing. Her fingers were on her nose.

"Okay," John said keeping his distance.

Inside the house the old man was sitting on the same chair he had been the night before. He was smoking a pipe. He looked up with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Miner, I sensed you were back, I have decided to take John as my pupil." he announced and looked back into the fire as if it was the most normal piece of news.