Yaghma goes outside

After Heydar began learning magic his schedule was relaxed yet demanding. He woke up at 5 and began his tempering at 6:30. The sessions usually lasted for 3 hours, they would stretch to 4 if his mind was tranquil, and cut to 2 if otherwise. He would rest for a few hours afterward then wake up and memorize as many spell variations as possible. The spells he chose to learn were: Fireball, mudball, waterball, slimeball, smoke screen, light screen; high screech; stone knuckles, demon's spit, and demon's tongue. He wanted to focus on more but decided against that. The spells were extremely long. A single spell was about 6 lines of glyphs. And glyphs, in nature, were complex symbols. They could not be seen with the naked eye. To attract the desired glyphs mages had to envision the precise shape of the glyph, with no fault. Lest they attract nothing or a glyph with an unknown property that could either change the spell or cause it to malfunction and explode. Which would harm the core. The books also had questions which he answered in the third book given to him by Yaghma, which was a blank. Some of the chapters in the beginner's magic book spoke about the history of magic, which fascinated Heydar a lot, he was currently reading the book on the stump which he decided was his favorite. 'The magi of the past are beyond impressive. If only the meaning of glyphs weren't lost to time and wars. Only a handful of magic schools still have magic dictionaries. Those damnable people decide to hoard them for themselves', Heydar felt a slight contempt for mages of the current era. They kept all good things to themselves and on the rare occasion that they didn't it would usually be because they had no choice or what they shared had no value anymore.

Normal people who haven't become magicians face many struggles that could be solved with beginner magic. Yet magicians never taught them nor even helped them. Magicians like Yaghma were rare. They learned magic by chance and were not affiliated with magic schools. Though they were known as outlaws since magic studies not authorized by a magic school or the royal family were considered illegal. 

Heydar's days went by like that, after a month he sat on the same stump and gazed at the moon at night. He wore plain brown pants that had many tears, he was shirtless and his feet were bare. It was currently snowfall. Yet not a flake of snow touched him. He kept gazing at the moon with droopy eyes, as if stuck in a trance. The snow around him was stirred by a magical force. He started perspiring and his body steamed. He was stuck in this trance for an hour till his eyes suddenly opened wide, his pupils dilating and turning a dark red before returning back to normal. With a start, he stood up and clenched his fist. His expression emotional, he looked at the moon again but this time with clear eyes. "Stage three", he said with a dry voice. ' I'll never not love the feeling of improvement, if only mundane personal improvement felt like this, we would have a society of goal achieving junkies' The feeling of advancing was too addictive. It felt as if his mind was submerged in a cloud. The snow that previously wasn't touching him was now coating his hair. He hurried back into his room and decided to bath before falling asleep

The next morning he decided to dedicate himself to memorizing the spells to completion. Although he had already reached stage 3 red core he couldn't cast any spells yet. 

He sat on the stump and concentrated on his core. After he was in the right state of mind he began to visualize the fireball spell. Glyph after glyph were attracted to his core and he lined them up according to the spell. The glyph's started to glow brighter before going dim and breaking apart. "Another failure? I was so close this time", he remembered how he constructed the spell and tried to spot were it was he went wrong. He fetched the book of spells and looked for the fire spell. Comparing the given spell to what he tried to achieve. "The problem seems to be on the final line of glyphs, I didn't get the shapes of the last two correct. Ok let's try again", he set the book aside and did what he did last time, this time though after constructing the spell the glyphs let out a bright glow before sticking to each other. And with a buzz, they combusted and turned into a fist sized ball of fire. "Success!" Heydar shouted in excitement. Though Heydar was already stage 3 red core, he never felt like a mage due to him not being able to cast any spells. He looked around brimming with joy but could not find any target, there were many stumps but Heydar liked them. He stood up and walked a few steps from his stump and released the spell from his core, projecting it onto the ground. *Woosh!* the spell flew hit the ground *Boom!*. A small explosion resounded and the spot where it landed was charred and missing a small patch. "Hahahah!" tears of joy fell and Heydar laughed joyfully. 'I've worked so hard to finally reach this point, it was all worth it. I'm one step closer to being a true magician' he thought while wiping his tears. This was the most emotional day of his life, even more than when Yaghma first told him he would teach him magic. He gazed at Yaghma's house in the center of the huts, 'I wonder what stage his core is at and how many spells he knows' Heydar's own display of power gave him a deeper understanding of how profound Yaghma was. "My core doesn't feel weak and I don't feel tired, let me practice other spells till I can't". He sat back down on the stump and tried constructing the light screen spell. He failed the first 3 times but succeded on the fourth. He projected it on the same patch of ground with his eyes shut close. From behind his eyes, he could see a a piercing light that would've hurt his eyes had they been open. "If I ever come across those wolves again I can cast light screen which will give me the initiative to either attack again or cast another spell", Heydar was quite satisfied with his choice of spells. He decided to cast fireball and light screen for the rest of the day, trying to perfect them. He could cast spells 4 times before growing weak and tired. He took a nap and then continued trying to perfect them. By the end of the day, he could cast them perfectly on the first try, though not fast, his casting time was 10 seconds. Which would cut down once his core improved. 

Heydar spent a whole week casting spells and perfecting them. The next week he stood outside his house. He made 4 makeshift practice dummies out of sticks and grass. He stood in silence in front of them with his eyes closed. He suddenly extended his hands and a blinding light shot up with a hum before disappearing. Followed by a ball of smoke that exploded and filled the space around the dummies with smoke. Heydar ran around the dummies and rolled before opening his mouth *Screeeeeeech!!!*, a sharp sound came out and the air smoke shook a bit. Heydar ran around panting with weary eyes. He stood kneeled down and with *Woosh!* a ball of fire shot out to the dummies. The smoke had already cleared, *Boom!*, it landed on one of them. The dummie's torso blew off. *Huff huff* Heydar was panting heavily with his gaze blurry, some drool fell out his mouth but he didn't notice. He stood up weakly and his knuckles turned grey before being covered with stone. He ran with shakey steps towards a dummy and tackled it. He started pummeling it with heavy punches. *Huff! Huff!Huff!* he was grunting and panting after every punch. His punches came to a stop and he slumped on the dummy. He rolled off heaving. Stood up barely able to keep himself from falling and strutted to his room. Opening the door proved a herculean task, he opened a crack and slipped inside. He got to the bed and slumped onto it. He fell asleep as soon as his head touched the bed.

In the main house, from a window, Yaghma had been watching Heydar. "A common but tactical spell arsenal, does this child plan to be a combat mage or a runesmith? None of his spells are movement or amplification-based hehe " Yaghma commented with an amused tone. "His choices are to be expected, beginner spells that aren't combat related are generally unpopular amongst novices, I was the same when I began." He left the house and approached the dummies. He extended his arm and 4 arrows made of fire materialized before flying towards the dummies with a *Woosh!*, *BAM!* the dummies exploded in a blaze of fire. The fire slowly spread out words but Yaghma cast water balls that killed them. His hand glowed with a green light and a vine grew out before entering the ground. Grass started growing wildly and all the charred areas of the ground were now brimming with grass. Yaghma gave a satisfied look and walked back to the main house. *Ting Ting Ting!*, the sound of a ringing bell arrived. "Hmm?" Yaghma had a curious look while stroking his beard. He followed the sound and left the huts, going until he arrived at the gate. Yaghma's land was very large and his houses were in the distant center, he lived on a hill for the sake of seclusion. Upon arriving at the gate he found 4 old women with haggard expressions waiting for him. As soon as they saw him they went on their knees and began to weep. "Oh sir Yaghma, our village has been met with a fire. It was caused by a group of detestable men who are not from here. All the men in the village are trying to fight them off. We beg of you sir to come and help us" They wept and stared at him expectantly. Yaghma's expression turned serious and he gazed towards the direction of the village. There was a blurry blob of yellow and black. *Vrrrr!* Yaghma's body was carried by a spiral wind and it took him towards his house, he came back with a sword in his arm and a shawl. The women were mystified and their expressions turned to joyful ones. " Go to my house and rest there, my son will wake up sometime tomorrow and help you with whatever you need, but do not wake him up for now. I will send someone in a few days once it is safe to come back". Before they could say anything Yaghma was already gone, they stood in a daze before helping each other up. "Will he save the village? The bandits had a few people that seemed like mages" one of them women asked with a worried tone.The rest had no answer for them. They could only walk in silence and hope for the best. 

In one of the huts Heydar was still sleeping peacefully, unbeknownst of either Yaghma's leaving or the guests walking up the hill. His core was exhausted and his mind even more so. Practicing magic was not for the weak. This would be one of his longest periods of sleep since beginning his magic apprenticeship. Underneath the sun a village was burning and the common man was fighting desperately for not only his life but more importantly the lives of his family, his freinds and all those he loves