Frost

V. A Quagmire II

The mixed sweet scent of some spices were what stirred Akira from his slumber, his eyes squinting open to see the mage's back to him at the kitchenette across the room, and the window opposite the mage revealing the night sky. He stretched slightly at the small wooden seat he managed to squeeze himself in his attempt to lie down, hearing his bones satisfyingly pop.

He watched the mage reach out to a counter at the side, producing a huge bowl into which he poured the contents of what he was cooking, before shutting the stove and placing the bowl on a small table near the kitchenette. The mage's eyes lifted to meet his across the room, and he looked a little startled as he did, probably not expecting the wizard to be already awake. Akira suppressed a smirk as he smoothly lifted himself up to a sitting position.

"Dinner's ready," the mage said softly, his eyes falling away as he turned again to the kitchenette to busy himself with getting some spoons and smaller bowls. As Akira sauntered over to the small table to seat himself, he noted how the mage still looked quite out of it, but didn't bother to voice his observation.

The rest of the dinner was proceeded with some kind of tense silence. Akira wondered at this, and at some point decided to push at it. "The food is good," he remarked, eyeing the mage's reaction. In truth, the food was so-so, not really special-tasting, probably lacking in salt or sweetness for some but for Akira it was just right for his own tastes.

"Thank you," the mage merely said politely. Akira noted how he was avoiding his gaze.

"Aren't you going to ask how long you were sleeping?" Akira decided to push further.

"It doesn't really matter," the mage said softly, a quick glance up at Akira's eyes before going back down on his bowl again. Akira didn't know if the mage was just shy or there was something else he was thinking about that was probably adverse to Akira's person. "I thank you again for saving me."

Akira couldn't resist reaching out with a finger to firmly tip up the mage's chin, noting how the mage's eyes widened slightly and almost immediately backed away from the touch. "Almost the whole 24 hours," he said nevertheless. He retracted his finger, resisting again to smirk at the mage's embarassment at whatever. "One day you're going to kill yourself out there, you know."

The mage seemed to chew on slowly on what he would answer, but in the end decided to keep silent.

Akira took that as the cue to shut up as well. For the moment.


Being as polite as he was, he offered his guest to stay for the night. Who, to his dismay, agreed enthusiastically.

Vincent sighed, flexing and unflexing his hand over the water before finally giving up and letting it fall to his lap. He had been trying to cast a spell for almost an hour now, but somehow he couldn't.

He couldn't bear being with the wizard for long in one room either. That when he saw that the wizard had seemed to go back to sleep again at his previous position on his seating he quietly slipped out to the back, where just a few meters away a lake sparkled underneath a quarter moon.

He just felt too tired. Just being around that wizard... really tired him. Though Vincent practically didn't say anything else aside from answering the wizard's questions at dinner.

For someone as reclusive as Vincent, the wizard's outgoing behavior was just... too much for him.

One day you're going to kill yourself out there, you know.

He unconsciously touched his chin, at where the wizard touched him earlier, and almost in disgust furiously rubbed at it with his knuckle. I know that...

"Nice lake," a voice suddenly spoke up behind him, making him almost jump at his seat on the banks. He twisted around slightly to see wizard walking towards him. He turned back to staring at the lake, sensing the wizard sit down beside him. Thankfully not too near his personal space or else he would really leave. "I swear I have arranged that this would be near my cottage..."

Vincent looked at the wizard curiously then, not knowing what to make of his statement. The wizard looked back at him with his usual steady gaze. "I also rent somewhere near here, you know."

Vincent was about to open his mouth and retort why the wizard wouldn't go sleep in his own place then, but remembered that he was the one who offered the person to stay the night. So he just said instead, "Is that so."

"You're a water mage. Am I correct?"

Vincent was a little startled at the seemingly off-tracked statement. "Um... well..."

"Either that or a lightning mage. I heard you practicing at your cottage one time I was practicing nearby. Doing quite a lot of noise too."

When the mage continued to be silent, the wizard continued, "You were doing the wrong spell combinations. I saw you unconscious in your cottage after that one time. You were about to get killed by a few Elder Willows, even."

The skin on his back seemed to prickle slightly at the wizard's comment. He could remember the few practices he had with summoning Willows and Elder Willows in his cottage, and he recalled that one time... or is it two?... that he simply passed out because of energy drain.

"I don't remember you ---"

"You don't really know what kind of mage are you, do you?" the wizard interrupted, still looking at him intently that he wanted to shrink. "You couldn't even answer your specialty."

"It's not that," Vincent was really offended now, one of his hands tightening around the short grasses on the bank, his usual habit. "I'm just... I just want to master all the elements..."

The wizard began laughing then, much to his growing ire. Feeling his cheeks burn he looked back at the water and was about to stand up when the wizard said in between laughs, "There is no such thing as mastering all of the elements, you know. Whoever taught you that?"

That was pretty much it. Vincent had already moved to stand up when the wizard had seemed to catch the edge of his sleeve and abruptly yanked him back down, no time to yelp in protest as he came face to face again with the wizard. The wizard's eyes were still shining with mirth, and so was his lips, but his expression was fast changing into seriousness. "I'm not trying to offend you. But I just want you to know that is quite impossible. Sure you can know just a little of this or that element, but in the end you could only have one to three specialties in your lifetime."

"I don't think I've ever asked for your opinion on how to run my life, Mr. Wizard," Vincent let out the coldness he longed to spit ever since he knew for sure that he didn't like the wizard at all, which happened to be this exact moment.

The wizard merely raised an eyebrow at this, but still didn't relinquish his hold on the mage's sleeve, apparently unfazed by the frosty tone. "My point is, if you don't master at least one element first, you would really die out there."

"Let me go." Vincent tried yanking his sleeve out of the wizard's hold, never mind if his clothing rips.

"I would only let you go if you promise to hear me out."

"Why should I?"

"The truth is I don't really care about you," the wizard's eyes had turned steely, that Vincent almost faltered in his indignance. Maybe a bit irritated as well now. "I am a wizard --- I just couldn't bear see someone wasting the power of the elements. To illustrate my point... that time when I found you unconscious at your cottage, you have used Thunder Storm to finish all those Elder Willows you couldn't kill. The truth is, you could have easily killed an Elder Willow with just a single Cold Bolt spell without the rest of the Elder Willows noticing. That way you could have prevented aggro and saved yourself from being mobbed to death."

Vincent realized that he was already listening, much to his self-disgust. The wizard had also long let go of his sleeve. He tried not to put too much attention to that so the wizard wouldn't even think of gloating his victory, just shifting slightly on his crouch beside the wizard.

"A single Cold Bolt is fast casting, not too heavy on energy that you could use two to three of the same almost right after. A fast cast that is a fast sure kill, if it is mastered high enough," the wizard apparently didn't notice, as he explained further. "But a Thunder Storm... plenty of area damage, sure, but slow casting that an Elder Willow would most likely sense your magic even before you could finish your spell and attack you immediately. It also drains a mage's low energy supply that there would be no more for further spells, and if not mastered high enough and not used on the right creature would be sure death for the caster." He regarded the mage then. "Do you understand what I am saying?"

He hated to admit it, but he understood. Understood too perfectly that he realized just why he couldn't kill any creature fast enough. He thought he was just too weak in constitution that he couldn't, but it was actually because he was wasting his energy using the wrong spell sequences.

The wizard apparently didn't wait for him to answer, sensing that he was quite defeated. "Tell me your level in all the skills you have already learned."

Vincent quietly told the wizard all of the skills he learned so far, and how far he had gone with them, which led to the wizard shaking his head in the end. "No, that won't do. Your skills are all so scattered... no direction at all to a specialization. Why are you even thinking of mastering all of the elements anyway?"

Vincent kept silent. He felt he already had an answer deep within himself to that question, but decided to hold it back for now. He just couldn't tell the wizard, though deep in his heart he knew he was yearning to express it. Which was strange, but he waved it off to think about some day. "I just have to..."

The wizard seemed to study him for a while, before placing his attention back on the lake. "I can teach you. But you would have to re-learn everything again until you finally figure out what your specializations would be."

"What?" Vincent was incredulous... re-learn everything?? What the wizard was saying was ridiculous!

The wizard just looked at him sideways with a smirk. "So I take that as a yes. We start tomorrow then."

"Wait a minute ---"

"And my name's not Mr. Wizard. I'm Akira. What's yours?"

"I haven't agreed to anything yet!"

"You would. You have to. I know you want to."

Vincent slightly slumped, a little resigned, though deep within him his dislike for the wizard and his desire to elevate himself were still in odds with each other. "I don't have anything to pay you," he said, and at the moment he wondered if his voice sounded weak.

If anything, the wizard's smirk just seemed to grow wider. "I have a few conditions."

Vincent had a feeling he wouldn't like what those were.

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author's notes: Sorry, I realize it has been years^_^;;. I'm not playing RO (that regularly) anymore... tried being Gunslinger but that kind of fell away too. Just got too tired of all that leveling /gg. I'm into Guild Wars now^o^.

If noticed on the previous chapter, I took some liberties changing some of the details of the skills. Like Akira's Quagmire lasting for 20 hours, when a Quagmire in normal RO time is actually about 20 secs in 2nd to the max level of mastery. Forgive me, but I'll keep doing this XD. Mage/Wizard skills are very interesting.

Please continue the reviews! Thank you, I really enjoyed them and those were part of why I continued this story (hope I -finish- /gg).