Practice

Ember returned home at night, his grandma had fallen asleep while waiting for him at the corner of the hut. Seeing how outside in the cold, he sighed and woke her up.

"Grandma, go in. It's cold outside," he said to her after he had woken her up.

"Son, you are back," she said with a relived sigh but he didn't say a word. "I am sorry—" she said but he cut through her words.

"I am sorry for walking out on you earlier but I am not sorry about telling you my dream. I insist on becoming the mage king and there's nothing anyone can do about it, no one can stop me!" He said.

Seeing that Ember had really made up his mind to become the magic king, the lady sighed in defeat.

"It is not going to be an easy journey but I am solely behind you, my child. I am going to be alive so that when you become the mage king, I will leave this terrible place," she told him.

"Now you are talking, grandma!" Ember rejoiced and hugged her. "This is what I was hoping for from you."

The old lady hugged him back while secretly wiping away the tears that had gathered in her eyes. Just as she said, the journey won't be easy but she was going to stand by his side.

After wiping her tears, she said to him. "I made you your favorite pancakes and milk, let's go in so you will have them before bed."

"Yeah!" He yelled and the two of them went in and closed the door.

Ember had his dinner happily and when he was done, he washed the dishes before going to bed. As he entered into the room, he saw his grandma fast asleep and he smiled and laid down beside her but he didn't go to sleep immediately. He gazed at the roof and his thoughts drifted to the far future where he would stand tall before the large crowd as the new mage king.

"Oh, I can't wait!" He mumbled in excitement and then fell asleep.

He thought it was going to be an easy task, what he didn't know was that many dangers were lying in wait for him.

-------

The morning didn't seem like it was going to come any time soon, Ember woke up many times thinking it was already day break but each time he glanced outside, the sky was still dark. He was becoming impatient.

Finally, morning came and he got out of bed and began to carry out the day's works. After he made sure that he had done everything at home, he picked up the axe at the back of the hut and went into the woods.

In the village, the common people used firewoods to cook while the ones that feel they are rich used coals to cook or warm themselves during cold seasons. Unfortunately for them, getting firewoods was a difficult thing for the people because inside the woods were wild animals that attack them. The only ones that were always exempted from the attacks were those who can use magic to an extent and also Ember who fought against the wild animals. People were always scared of going into the woods to get the firewoods, and as such, Ember decided to take it upon himself to get the firewoods and then sell it at the market place.

Humans being humans that they are, a lot of people avoided him and his grandma because of the rumors they heard about him from his own village. No one knew exactly if it were true but they felt it was better to avoid them completely.

So even if he gathers a lot of firewoods and carries them to the market, many people will not buy from him, in the end, he leaves them there and returns home empty handed. This was why he choosed stealing.

Now, he was going into the woods to do his usual job again but this time around, something was different.

As he stood before the tree, he said to himself. "I am going to train myself starting from today. Even if I can not use magic, I will train my body to become fit so that even though I can't use magic to fight, I will engage my enemy into a combat battle and I will then win, yes!"

After saying that, he began to cut the tree. The tree was a pretty large one and if people were asked to cut it, it will take not less than five days to do it. But Ember despite knowing this still continued to cut with all his strength. He was determined to train hard because it was the only way he could make his dream come true.

"I must bring down this tree today, yeah!" He yelled and kept down hitting the tree with the axe, he was determined to cut the tree, not just one but as many as he can until he was extremely exhausted. The pain in his chest ached but despite it, he pressed on and kept cutting and cutting the tree until he finally brought it down.

"Yeah!" He yelled and wiped away the sweat on his face. "I can still go on!" He said and moved to the next tree.