Amelia walked into the training room, nervously glancing around. Seris had woken up early and left a note, instructing her to meet her at the temple when she awoke. On the way Amelia texted Orion who had told her he wasn't sure what Seris was up to either.
"About time, sleepy head! You must have been sleeping well judging by the snoring," Seris called out as she stepped through a door on the other side of the large room.
The room itself was massive, perhaps the largest room in the temple. Its dirt floor and stone walls were heavily enchanted to withstand a wide range of damage. The room was meant for sorcerers to practice their offensive and defensive spells. Scorch marks on the walls showed proof that fire and lightning based spells had been launched in this room.
"I wasn't snoring," Amelia turned red at Seris's comment which caused Seris to laugh in response.
"Like a bear,"
"Seriously, I don't snore."
Amelia noticed that Seris was carrying a sheathed sword in one hand.
"What's that for?" Amelia asked, pointing at the weapon with curiosity in her voice. Was Seris planning to test her progress with defensive magic?
Seris lifted the sword and held it out towards Amelia before saying, "this is for you. Your progress with defensive magic has gotten significantly better."
Amelia continued to blush at the compliment but Seris was merely stating fact, not attempting to flatter her student.
Amelia had been practicing hard, starting with visualization exercises before graduating to actual spell casting. Thankfully, the training had been successful so far as it allowed Amelia to cast the barrier spell in Harborton that not only saved her life but Erin's as well.
After that battle, Amelia had devoted herself to learning new defensive spells and was pleased to find that she was able to cast them, though they didn't seem as potent yet as she would like them to be. She knew though that strength would come in time, for now mastering the basics was necessary.
"Thanks but I don't understand why I need a sword? Healing spells and defensive spells don't require weapons."
Seris gave her a pointed look, conveying complex emotions with just her sky blue eyes.
"Amelia, war is coming. The elders are aware of this, humanity now understands this. You've gotten stronger since you became my pupil. When you first started you couldn't cast a simple healing spell. Now though? You're slowly becoming a force to be reckoned with."
Amelia averted her eyes, staring hard at the dirt floor. She felt immensely proud of her mentor and she was growing more confident in her own abilities as the days progressed but she didn't know if 'force to be reckoned with' was the correct expression to use.
Seris walked across the room with a determined look on her face. She stopped in front of Amelia and gently cupped her chin with her free hand. Amelia found her face slowly being lifted up to make eye contact with her teacher.
"I know power when I see it and I know potential. You have almost limitless mana reserves, reserves that are probably greater than my own. You've only just begun to tap into the power that lays ahead of you. I will keep my promise and you will become a sorcerer that is even stronger than I am."
Goosebumps broke out all over Amelia's flesh at hearing those words. She knew staring into Seris's face that she was dead serious. Amelia couldn't picture herself as more powerful than her mentor but Seris clearly could.
"Here, take this."
Seris handed her the sheathed sword and took a few steps back, crossing her arms across her chest before giving a sly grin at Amelia.
Amelia drew the sword, noting its heaviness in her hand. The pommel was wrapped in white cloth and had a purple crystal attached to the end of it. The crossguard was silver in color and the blade looked similar to pictures she had seen of katanas.
The blade hummed with anticipation or was that her imagination? Amelia wasn't sure. The light glinted softly on the steel which was razor sharp.
"This is beautiful but I don't know how to sword fight."
"I know, that's why I brought him."
Seris pointed a finger at someone behind Amelia.
Amelia turned and nearly died of fright. She hadn't heard this man approach her at all.
"My name is Gaidon and I'll be your sword instructor."
The man was thin but athletic looking with short black hair. He was also smaller in height, matching Amelia's own as she made eye contact with him. His green eyes were sharp, like a hawk's. He wore a simple black tunic with the Temple of the Earth symbol over the right breast.
"He's from another temple? Is he a ninja or something?"
"I'm not sure what a ninja is but he came highly recommended by Orion. Orion and the head of the Earth Temple both agreed that there was no better swordsman in the entire order."
"I'm flattered but I wouldn't go that far, there is always a bigger fish."
Seris gave Gaidon a wry smile at his humility.
Amelia was nervous as she held the heavy sword. She felt confused, how did she go from being a healer and defensive sorcerer to offensive?
"I still don't understand. I'm a healer and I just mastered the basic defensive spells. Are you expecting me to fight with a sword on the battlefield?"
"Oh yeah and you're going to totally kick ass while doing so. After you master the basics of sword fighting I'll take over and start teaching you offensive magic. For now your lessons will focus on two areas."
Seris held up a single finger, "the first is that you will continue to improve on your defensive and healing spells. I am aware that the order stopped teaching a lot of basic stuff over a hundred years ago. I am also aware that because of this change in teaching, sorcerers these days are far more limited than they should be."
Amelia slowly nodded while Gaidon remained silent. Amelia couldn't tell if Gaidon was offended or privately agreeing with Seris.
Seris held up a second finger, "your second focus will be on improving your martial skills. In my day all sorcerers were taught the basics of marital combat. I always preferred hand to hand without weapons but all sorcerers should be skilled in combat."
"Agreed," Gaidon softly said.
The simple truth that couldn't be denied was that in Seris's time, all sorcerers were prepped and trained to defend humanity against the undead and the demons. Enhancing physical attributes, learning combat and defensive based spells, even utility spells were all considered part of the curriculum.
For some reason that Seris hadn't yet uncovered, over a hundred years ago the order shifted from this and began to water the teachings down. While specialists certainly existed in Seris's time, such as necromancers and healers, these days sorcerers seemed to only specialize in a handful of spells while largely ignorant of their own potential.
Then there was the other matter that Seris hadn't forgotten about. Someone or multiple people were betraying the order. It had become painfully obvious from her observations. Not just because of the weakening instruction in magic but also because of the increasing amount of bad intel, ambushes, and spike in sorcerer deaths. She had no idea who or how many were responsible but she was going to find out.
Seris wanted Amelia strong enough to protect herself from the enemies within and without.