Trouble

"What do you know of your own sorcery?" Brodin asked

Lucian shrugged as the waiter brought them cups of water alongside a jar with ice on it, "Not much." he said, "I was just taught to turn my ether into flames or lightning." 

"Ether Conversion." Brodin nodded, "Elemental Sorcery relies on the conversion of Ether to a specific element." 

Lucian took a sip of water, "Hm." He said, "Something like that. I had to pull out my ether and convert it to my element." 

"Sorcery is the after-effect of your Calamity." Brodin said, "Yes, you can perform powerful attacks with elements but it's not your forte. I've dealt with a few Calamities in my time here, I know that no matter how powerful their elemental sorcery is, their true Calamity is even more terrifying. The true power, as of this moment, relies on your Wyvern." 

Lucian looked at Lucy who was sitting on the chair next to him, unusually quiet as she looked at them. 

"Lucy?" He said

"That wyvern is the manifestation of your Calamity, a Dragon." Brodin continued, "To tap into your true power as you are now, you must make a connection with the wyvern. When she was captured, your mind was shaken, your connection severed and she was unsure of what to do, reduced to a small and scared animal. But when the two of you are full of conviction, determined to win a fight, the Wyvern accesses her true power." 

Lucian nodded, "I see..." he said, "When she first manifested, I wanted to escape that Lunaris chick whatever it took and Lucy hit her with the massive fireball." 

Brodin nodded, "And when we fought that Oni, which I was surprised how easily it went down, the Wyvern was calm and acted on your emotions and thought process." He said, "To fully control that power, that connection, you must control your emotions. If you doubt yourself, she will not know what to do." 

Lucian raised an eyebrow, "You are awfully informed about this." 

"Druid Sorcery, a powerful variant, works the same." Brodin said, "But unlike your Calamity, Druids require to bond with an already existent animal to become their familiar. Think of Ether like pure energy, the source of magic in Infernis. While powerful Sorcerers can make constructs that are lifelike with their Ether, Calamities like yours can actually create and control life, bound to you. That is why they're so powerful and unstable." 

The waiter came back, holding a platter that had three plates on it, filled with meat and mashed potatoes. This prompted Brodin to close his mouth and look at her seriously. 

She set the plates down in front of them, "That would be 3 gold pieces." She said with a smile

Brodin pulled the coins out of his coin purse, "Here you go, thanks." He said as he handed them to her

As she left, Lucian gave Lucy a piece of meat, which enthusiastically ate it. 

"I see." Lucian said, "I don't know...when I use the flames, it feels natural, like I already know what to do. Once I managed to convert my ether to elements without pulling it out, I sorta went along with it like nothing. Everything just came to me. I'm not sure what's that about." 

"It's the latent ability of a Traversed. Not many of our kind can tap into that." Brodin said as he proceeded to eat, "But in your case, the Calamity is giving you more reason to fully unleash it. The stronger the Calamity, the more unstable it'll get. Unless you fully control it, it's extremely dangerous." 

Lucian nodded, "So I've been told." 

Lucian was told by Lunaris about the dangers of a Calamity. They're incredibly potent magical attributes that sometimes develop a voice of their own to fully assimilate themselves into the Cursed One, becoming one with them and changing into forces of malice and destruction. If the Cursed One can conquer the Calamity, however, they're still incredibly powerful but can display different personality changes. 

Lucian wasn't sure if that would happen to him and so far, he feels fine.

Brodin took a sip of his water, "To overcome its allure, you must have a powerful will." He said, "So far, you seem to be capable. But who knows, the more seals that are undone, the more power that is released." 

"You know of the 64 Seals?" Lucian asked him as he ate

Brodin nodded, "Yes." He said, "I've seen it be used on an old comrade of mine. He died, unfortunately." 

"Oh, sorry to hear that." Lucian said with a frown

"Worry not, it was years ago." He replied

"So where will you go now?" Lucian asked him

"Home." Brodin said

"Where's that?" Lucian asked

"Don't worry about it." He old man replied

"Ah." Lucian said with a chuckle, "Okay then." 

Then, they heard the doors to the tavern slap open and several armored men walked in. The people in the tavern murmured amongst themselves as the men walked in, one with a white cloak stepped forward. 

"People of Rivertown." the white cloak said, "We are searching for two Traversed, they might've passed through here." 

Lucian hunched his head, "Us?" He whispered

"I don't know." Brodin said

"Who're they?" Lucian asked, "Darklight Sect?" 

"No. Bull Kingdom's soldiers." Brodin replied

Lucian noticed a black bull engraved in their bronze armor, "Oh." 

The one with the white cloak took a couple of steps, "These Traversed had an incident not too long ago." He said, "A monster was sighted and they had apparently dealt with it." 

The solider was tall with short brown hair, his eyes a certain gold. He walked up to the bar counter as Brodin and Lucian slowly ate their food, Lucy being conveniently out of sight as she was sitting on a low chair and they were at the corner of the room. 

The barkeep shook his head, "No Traversed, from my understanding." He said, "Not like we'd know. Gonna gave to be more specific in your descriptions. What they look like? What's their names? You Bull Soldiers are always so uptight." 

The white cloak frowned, "One of them is a tall and young man with black hair and dark eyes. His name is Lucian." He said, "The other one is an older man wearing a dark grey military uniform, they call him Brodin." 

Brodin narrowed his eyes, "What the hell?" He said, "Why is the Bull Kingdom looking for me?" 

"Who did you piss off?" Lucian whispered

"Nobody!" Brodin replied lowly

"This is suspicious..." Lucian said, "That Lunaris chick might've tipped them off about me, but I don't see why she would know about you." 

"My thoughts exactly." Brodin said

"Guess we're stuck together." Lucian said as he finished eating, "I'm not getting captured again. Good thing you paid for the food." 

Brodin sighed as he looked at the window next to them, "These Bronze Bulls are excessive, I rather break into a pursuit than argue with them, they'll be aggressive and hostile when they spot us." He said 

As he said this, one of the soldiers walked up to them, narrowing their eyes, "Hey..." He said as he spotted Lucy who was busy eating the mashed potatoes, "Wait a minute.....you two, stand up and walk outside, you're coming with us." 

The white cloak turned around and looked at their direction, "What is it?" 

"I think I found them." the soldier said

"Yea, we'll stand up and step outside, alright." Lucian said while reaching for Lucy

"Everyone, close your eyes!" Brodin said as he threw a flashbang into the air

The flashbang detonated as Brodin and Lucian covered their eyes, Lucian holding Lucy who was closing her eyes. The majority of the room was blinded, mostly the soldiers who were taken aback. 

Without warning, both Lucian and Brodin stood up and ran towards the window, jumping through it, glass shattering and flying everywhere. 

The white cloak rubbed his eyes, "Dammit!" He shouted, "Get them! Now!!" 

"Don't let them get away!!!"