Chapter 6

Ozymandias woke up feeling excited. Today was the day he continued learning magic from his mother. He hoped that meant no 'training' from his father today. After arranging his bed in order to ensure his mother's happiness, he washed his body using the bucket of water in the corner and the washcloth. Putting on a pair of fresh clothes and strapping his dagger sheath to his side, he made his way out of the room to the dining table where his mother was sitting with a bowl of porridge for him.

"So what are you going to teach me first?" he asked with excitement in his voice as he imagined himself shooting balls of fire out of his hands and calling lightning down on his enemies.

"Before I teach you anything, I need to know what you remember about magic" she said with a serious tone in her voice. The duo stayed quiet for a while as Ozymandias tried his best to remember what she had told him about magic. Seeing that he didn't remember anything, Ordria let out a sigh before speaking, "There are many theories about the origin of magic. Some think that it's a gift from the gods, others believe that they inherited it from Askr and Embla; the first man and woman."

"What about you?" he asked as he pushed aside the now empty bowl, paying utmost attention to his mother, "What do you believe?"

"Magic is just a tool" she answered "One of the many tools that gods and mortals alike use to bend creation to their will" she held up her right hand and conjured a ball of fire in her palms. As Ozymandias watched in awe, she turned the ball of fire into a ball of floating ice which she turned into a ten-inch-tall sculpture of an armoured female with four birdlike wings sticking out of her back, a spear in one hand, a shield in the other and a longsword strapped to her side. Her soft facial features gave her a look of purity, but something told him that underneath her innocent look was something extremely terrifying.

"Magic is the act of making the rules that govern the world follow your will to an extent" She proceeded to breathe on the ice sculpture, causing it to shudder before suddenly flapping its wings and flying off her palm and towards her son. The ice sculpture of the angel landed in front of him, examining him with a curious expression on its face.

"However, these rules were placed by the gods, meaning that at some point you'd run into limitations that are impossible for you to overcome further with magic without the permission of the gods themselves" the sculpture picked up the spoon and threw it in the air before using her spear to deliver a series of thrusts and slashes to the wooden utensil, effectively dismantling it. "Meaning you can't bring things to life, change the rules of time or make it rain gold" she signed at that part, imagining how much easier it would be if she could. "However, that only applies to those who follow the standard way" she then pointed towards the ice angel, letting magic flow out of her fingers and into the ice sculpture. Ozymandias watched in awe as the sculpture began to crack and bits of ice began to fall, revealing flesh and steel underneath as consciousness began to bloom deep in it.

"What I'm teaching you is how to create your own rules, powered by your own kjarna and acting only to your will. This way you can do things like that" she pointed to the figure on the table that was currently examining her body and equipment in awe.

Finished with the examination of her body, the miniature person turned her eyes to her creator; Ordria. "This one greets her esteemed creator" she said with reverence in her voice as she fell to one knee, keeping her face to the table in order to avoid meeting Ordria's eyes. "For what purpose have I been given life?" she asked, her cold colorless eyes burning with desire to please her maker.

"Your job is to keep him safe" Ordria pointed to her son who was watching their interaction from his chair. Following her finger, the winged woman stared at Ozymandias before spreading her pale wings and attempting to fly towards him, only to fumble and fall to the table, exhaustion evident on her face. Seeing that the woman was having trouble moving, Ordria used her thumb's finger nail to nick her index finger, crimson blood seeping out of the cut. Lifting the miniature female, Ordria placed her bleeding finger over the female's mouth. "Drink" she commanded.

The female placed her mouth over the cut and began to drink the blood greedily, taking along with it the magic Ordria poured into her as well. As she drank, her upper wings began to take on a deep crimson hue while her deathly pale skin slowly began to gain color. Breaking contact after five minutes of drinking, the female placed her spear on her back and wrapped her colorless lower wings around her waist before spreading her colored wings and flying towards Ozymandias whose hair she then proceeded to nest in, her weapons gripped in her hand as her eyes searched the house for any threat. "I shall protect him with my life" she swore from her perch.

"You do that" Ordria responded nonchalantly before laying her head down on the table in order to rest, the amount of blood taken from her by the winged female caused her to feel drowsy. "Your father is waiting for you at the training field" she mumbled, her head resting on the table.

"But you said you'd teach me magic today" Ozymandias whined, already getting phantom pains over his body as he remembered the pain he was subjected to in the name of training.

"I know Stolt, but Synd drained me more than I'd expected" Ordria responded in a whiney voice that put off her son. "I'll join you when I recover" she promised as she closed her eyes, the sound of light snoring soon followed.

Knowing how impossible it was to wake up his mother once she slept, Ozymandias drew out a dagger out from the sheath built into the table and placed it into the sheath strapped to his side. Leaving through the back door, he took a deep breath, letting the cold air seep into his lungs, the sting of the cold waking him up fully. "Hold on Synd" he called, causing her to raise an eyebrow in question. Taking a deep breath in, he held it in for a while before letting it out. Tensing the muscles in his legs, he broke into a sprint, denting the ground beneath his feet.

Synd was not enjoying herself. She was an elite creature made by a being she couldn't even begin to comprehend and yet here she was struggling to hold on to the hair of her charge in order to avoid being blown off by the wind. While she was capable of flight, she didn't think that she'd be able to keep up with him in her current state. Grabbing onto strands of his hair to anchor herself, she slowly began to inch forward until she reached the center of his head. Grabbing handfuls of his hair, she anchored herself down and waited for her charge to reach his destination.

"This is amazing!" Ozymandias shouted as he wove through rocks, trees and the occasional bush, his mismatched eyes keeping track of everything in his path. Every once in a while, he would come across a sturdy tree branch ahead of him and he would leap onto it, eagerly testing his limits. So far, he had been able to reach branches that were roughly twenty meters above the ground and he could clear roughly thirty meters in a single jump.

Knowing that the clearing was roughly a hundred meters from his current position, he came to a halt on a thick and sturdy branch. Taking deep breaths, he steadied himself on the branch he was on as he tried to determine the best way to sneak up on his dad. Looking around, he noticed that most of the trees ahead were missing their branches, no doubt cut off by his dad to limit his options.

"Hey Synd are you alright?" he asked, checking up on his miniature passenger as he tried to think of the best way to reach the training field and most importantly, sneak up on his dad.

"I'm fine" she gasped from her position above him, thankful that he couldn't see her facial expression which said that she was doing her best not to throw up-if she was even capable of that action or had anything to throw up for that matter. "If I may ask, why exactly did we stop?" she questioned from her perch while examining her surroundings, her eyes searching for anything dangerous.

"I'm trying to sneak up on my dad" he told her before leaping to another branch a few meters away. "I've been trying for an entire week and he always catches me every time" he grumbled, the impatience of a child showing in him. Not seeing another branch nearby, he then proceeded to leap to the ground.

"Why are we trying to sneak up on this 'my dad'?" Synd asked as her right hand reached for her spear "Is he an enemy?" Her eyes shone with bloodlust and the desire to complete the task given to her.

"What? No!" Ozymandias responded in a low voice as he trekked the last stretch of the journey, doing his best not to make any sound. "He's my dad. He and mom made me" he tried to explain, not understanding how she didn't know what a dad was, completely forgetting that Synd didn't exist until a while ago.

"I see" Synd said to herself. "So you're a creation of Ordria, like me" she said firmly, "But since I'm obviously of superior quality, I rank higher than you" she said firmly with a look of superiority in her eyes.

"I was here first and I'm obviously smarter and stronger than you" Ozymandias countered, "So by that reasoning, I should be the one in charge" he stealthily crept forward, doing his best not to disturb the snow, nor step any of the branches that littered the floor.

"I see" Synd muttered, contemplating Ozymandias's words. "However, I was made by the great one's magic and she breathed life into me" she said smugly, finding ground for her superiority "So therefore I'm obviously better and thus should be the one in charge" she countered, feeling triumphant.

"I was made by both my mom and my dad" he said, emphasizing on the word both. "That means I was made by two which is obviously better than one" Ozymandias countered again, crouching in order to pass under a fallen log, the distance between him and the training ground reduced to roughly forty meters, his leap in logic somewhat making sense to him.

"I see. That makes sense" Synd responded from his hair which she had rearranged to accommodate her, his words making sense to her. "I shall follow your orders for now" she intoned in a solemn voice.

"As you should" Ozymandias said without thinking, his instinct telling him that it was only natural for him to be served and his orders followed. Reducing the distance to twenty meters, he motioned for Synd to be quiet, his eyes scanning the area for any signs of his father while his heart violently in his chest. "Where is he?" he questioned internally, ignoring the sudden gust of wind that came from behind.

Cautiously entering the clearing, he noticed two things; first and most importantly, his father was nowhere to be seen and that caused him to worry. The second thing which was probably as worrying was the myriad of weapons that littered the area, ranging from swords to war hammers to spears and even a few shields.

Just as he let his guard down, his ears picked up the sound of something cutting through the air right before a spear with a dull and round tip slammed into his chest with great force, cracking his sternum and sending him flying back. Crashing to the floor, Ozymandias stared at the grey sky above, gasping for air as pain wracked his body.

"Oz!" Synd cried, flapping her upper wings, blowing the snow off her while lifting her into the air. Retrieving her spear from her back and raising her shield, she hovered above Ozymandias's down form, as her rage filled eyes darted around, searching for whoever threw the spear. "Show yourself coward!!" she cried with anger, wanting to tear apart whoever it was that hurt her charge.

"You should really watch your tone little one" a cheerful male voice said from behind her. Despite the cheerfulness of the voice, she felt shivers of fear roll down her spine, her grip on her spear loosening as all she wanted to do was crawl into a corner and hide. "People aren't as forgiving as I am" the voice dropped to a whisper, taking on a dark tone. Petrified in fear, Synd's watched as the world around her slowly got darker. However just as soon as the darkness came, it vanished, leaving her gasping for air and a stream of yellow fluid leaking down her legs. Turning around slowly, she stared at the source of the voice; Aldos who was currently grinning.

"Boo" was all Synd heard before everything went dark as she fainted midair and fell to the floor. Chuckling to himself, Aldos examined her body before crouching over Synd's unconscious form and biting his index finger hard enough to draw blood. Placing his thumb over her mouth, he allowed his blood to flow down her

He then placed his bleeding finger over Synd's mouth and watched impassively as his blood and magic flowed down her throat, her colorless lower wings which were wrapped around her waist slowly turning a deep purple as she drank.

Five minutes later, Aldos broke contact with Synd and turned to face Ozymandias who was currently on his feet, massaging his chest with a slightly pained expression on his face. "Your healing ability has improved" he commented as he walked towards one of the many weapons that littered the snow; a sword with a dull edge. Pulling it out of the dirt, he gave it a few test swings before facing his son. "That means you can take even more of a beating"

Picking up the unconscious Synd from the floor, Ozymandias placed her on a rock that his dad used to rest on after their training sessions every day. Seeing that she was in a safe place, he drew his dagger and turned to face his dad, his mismatched eyes growing cold.

Seeing the change in his son's eyes, a wide smile grew on Aldos's face "That's right son" he called as his grip on the sword tightened "Come at me with the intent to kill" he cheerily said, his purple eyes glowing with happiness "You'll have to do it sooner or later" he finished, the last part of his sentence too low for anyone but him to hear.