~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Sparring with Fay was more fun than Lucas had expected. Neither of them were taking things seriously and they were mostly just trying strange or silly ideas and uses for their magic. The shadowy spikes that Lucas threw at his girlfriend were all blunt and the waves of air that Fay hurled at him only knocked him over rather than sending him flying with concussive force.

  It was a nice time where the two could just fool around and have a bit of fun rather than stress about what was to come. And for Lucas, he was especially thankful for the distraction.

  But it couldn't last forever. Eventually, the sun began to dip low towards the horizon and Lissa called the two teens in for dinner. Unlike at breakfast, Magnus was already sitting at the table waiting for them.

  The rest of the family all ate a delicious dinner of roasted chicken that Lissa had cooked, but Lucas chose to take the older woman's advice and eat a light meal. He had a bit of the chicken, and it was delicious, but mainly had a small meal of eggs and fruit to tide him over.

  After he finished eating Lucas kissed his girlfriend on the cheek and made his way out into the backyard with Dusk in tow. He chose to ignore the amused look from Lissa and the dry glare he got from Magnus as he did so. The bright smile that the little gesture elicited from Fay was what he really focused on.

  Once he got outside, Lucas dropped to the soft grass below and quickly fell into the increasingly familiar meditation routine he'd figured out to better connect with his mana. He sank into the magic, dipping into the sea of strange darkness that represented his mana. What had started as a way to access his magic in the first place turned out to also be incredibly relaxing as well. Something about sinking into the depths of his own mana was just incredibly helpful at letting him relax and forget about his worries for a time. For a little while, everything else just faded away and he floated peacefully in the dark.

  A hand on his shoulder abruptly pulled Lucas out of his meditation and he awoke with a gasp. Fay was crouched before him, her hand gently gripping his shoulder and shaking it. When she saw his eyes open, she pulled back with a small smile, though one tinged with worry.

  “You ready?” She asked softly.

  Looking behind his girlfriend, Lucas could see Magnus standing in the yard and doing a few stretches. The sun had almost fully set, and the sky was darkening as the last slivers of light dipped beneath the horizon. It wouldn’t be an issue, though, as the lights set up around the yard illuminated the space more than enough for everyone to see. More importantly, they also cast a lot of shadows all around.

  “I'm ready,” Lucas replied with an excited grin.

  He knew he wasn't going to win. Magnus had years of experience over him and plenty of skill. But it was the first time since the fight with the Direwolves that Lucas had been able to really fight with his new magic. The bit of sparring that he and Fay had done didn’t count since neither of them were actually trying to hurt each other and Fay definitely hadn't been going all out.

  And even if he was likely to lose, Magnus had chosen the worst time to challenge Lucas to a match. Even as he stood to his feet, the teen only had to use a small trickle of magic to make his shadow writhe beneath him.

  “Yeah, I'm ready,” He repeated.

  Fay chose that moment to pull Lucas into a kiss. A long, drawn-out kiss that lasted much longer than it needed to. She only seemed to stop when Magnus loudly cleared his throat.

  Fay pulled back with a playful grin, her cheeks dusted pink as she kissed him one last time on the cheek.

  “For luck,” She whispered before backing off towards the house where Lissa also stood, waiting.

  “All done making out with my daughter?” Magnus asked dryly.

  Lucas felt his cheeks heating up a bit, but he also couldn't hide the wide grin as his gaze flickered towards his girlfriend for a moment.

  “I mean, I could always use more luck,” He joked.

  Watching Fay bury her red face in her hands as Lissa quietly laughed beside her daughter was incredibly amusing to Lucas. Magnus didn't seem to agree, though.

  “That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble one of these days,” The man pointed out. “If you're not careful you might lose it.”

  “But I've got so much that I still want to use it for,” Lucas immediately shot back.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “…”

  For a moment the backyard was quiet, then Lucas heard Fay let out an embarrassed squeak and Lissa nearly doubled over as she burst out laughing. Very quickly, he realized the other ways what he'd said could be taken and Lucas’ face went bright red as well.

  “... So, the fight?”

  Lucas found himself actually thanking Magnus for the distraction and the reminder.

  “Yes! Yeah, the fight!” He quickly agreed.

  “I'm not going to be taking it easy on you, Lucas. I'm not going to try and kill you, but I'm going to beat you down and break some bones at the least.”

  There wasn't any joking in Magnus’ tone as he spoke. Instead, it was all just cold professionalism. It wasn’t exactly a comforting thing to hear.

  “Yeah, because that’s reassuring,” Lucas mumbled to himself.

  “I want you to try and fight me like you’re trying to kill me,” Magnus ordered. When he saw Lucas staring at him in shock and disbelief, the man grinned. “You’re not going to be able to, even if you try. And even if you wound me, we have potions ready. But if you want to lessen the beating that’s coming your way, you’ll try everything you can and give me a good fight.”

  Yet another ominous statement from Magnus that sent a little shiver down Lucas’ spine. The more Magnus talked, the more Lucas began to wonder if what he was about to do was a good idea. And it rapidly began to look more and more like the answer to that was ‘no’.

  “You’ll need these,” Magnus said as he tossed Lucas a familiar blade that he was quick to catch. Like when he’d went out for his trip with Fay, the blade was sharp and ready to cut. On the other hand, the staff that Magnus created a moment later was as blunt as a weapon could be.

  Lucas took a deep breath, gazing down at the metal blade. He hadn’t backed down before, so he couldn’t back down now. And with Fay watching, he at least wanted to try and impress her.

  “Hey,” He mumbled, reaching up and scratching under Dusk’s chin. The fox had been content to perch herself upon his shoulder while he’d been meditating, but he didn’t want her caught up in the fight. “Go stay with Fay, ok?”

  There was a bit of hesitation from his familiar, but even Dusk knew that the fight wasn’t going to be one that she could take part in. So, with a theatrical huff, the little black fox hopped off Lucas’ shoulders and went to join Fay. Dusk certainly seemed quite happy when the blonde picked her up and began to scratch behind the fox’s ears.

  “Ready?” Magnus called out.

  “As ready as I can be,” Lucas replied.

  “I’d wish you luck, but I am still quite annoyed at you. So, try to last a little while, kid.”

  The two silently stared one another down, neither making the first move. Despite nobody calling it, the match had already begun and they both knew it.

  “You know,” Lucas spoke up as he let a grin slowly spread across his lips. “You did make one mistake with this.”

  “I made a mistake?” Magnus cocked an eyebrow at that.

  “Yeah, you did.”

  Lucas took a deep breath and smiled as he felt his mana flow through his body in a rush.

  “You decided that it would be a good idea to fight me at night.”

  His mana surged as he spread a massive bubble across the entire yard. In an instant, Lucas vanished from view as he allowed an illusion to conceal him. To add to the trick, he added more layers, pushing his current knowledge as far as he could. The auditory illusions that Wren had worked on teaching him came in handy as the sound of rustling grass came from multiple different spots all across the yard, all converging on Magnus’ position.

  The man’s eyes flickered across the yard, but he stood still as a statue. And his eyes locked onto a particular spot even as the sounds grew louder.

  “You’ve still got a lot to learn,” He chided as he lunged forward, lashing out with his metal staff in an overhead blow meant to crash into Lucas’ invisible form.

  Instead, the staff slammed into the ground and partially buried itself there, much to Magnus’ surprise.

  Laughter came from off to Magnus’ left and Lucas’ voice rang out from his right. “The old lady made sure to point out every mistake I made and taught me a lot. But you don’t know how much she’s taught me.”

  Lucas knew he stood no chance against Magnus in a fair fight. The man was much stronger than him, faster than him, and far more skilled than he would likely ever be. So, Lucas wouldn’t fight fair. His affinities worked best not in direct confrontations, though he certainly could, but in being cunning, sly, and taking his chances when he could.

  His best chance was to play to his strengths and fuck with Magnus’ head.

  “How the hell hasn’t she killed you yet for that?” Magnus mumbled as he took in the empty yard. Lucas had covered his tracks well, though, and Magnus wasn’t a Direwolf that could smell him.

  Laughter from multiple sources was Magnus’ only answer.

  “Ok. That’s enough of this. I’m done playing around, Lucas.”

  Lucas wasn’t sure what Magnus was planning, but he braced himself nonetheless as the man planted his staff into the ground. He was expecting a lot, but he was not expecting the man to clap his hands and send out a burst of flames rushing from his body in all directions.

  “Shit!”

  Instinctively, Lucas threw his arms up to block his face as the wave of flames washed over him. They stung and singed his clothes, but they didn’t burn nearly as intensely as the teen had figured they would have. But when he lowered his arms and saw Magnus staring straight at him, he realized what the man’s intentions had really been.

  Lucas had been hiding and Magnus had succeeded in breaking his concentration and smoking him out. And now that he was visible, the older man clearly had no intentions of letting Lucas slip away again.

  “Playtime’s over, kid,” Magnus repeated. He grabbed his staff and lunged towards Lucas, not giving the teen any time to set up another illusion.

  “Double shit!”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~