Eldrick waking several times throughout the night was thankful for the tea on his bedside table. His head ached with such pressure that it felt like it was about to explode. After a few sips, he was ready to sleep again. Before returning to his slumber, he cast a spell on the tea, it would be warm when he next awoke. Cold restorative tea was bitter and hardly efficacious.
Awakening for the day, he felt refreshed and eager to continue his studies. He had more knowledge filling his mind than when he went to sleep. He wasn’t even sure when he fell asleep. Jumping out of bed, he dressed quickly and left his room to complete his chores before settling down to study.
Worried that he had failed somehow yesterday by collapsing before being given leave to cease his lessons, he approached Sergei with some trepidation.
“I am sorry sir; I should have waited to be dismissed last night, but my body overrode my common sense. I hope I have not disappointed you,” Eldrick said timidly. “I didn't even learn the trance you wished to teach me yesterday. I was contemplating how to use noncombative spells combatively and how to use combative spells defensively when I seem to have blacked out.”
“No worries there Eldrick. You seemed to have a moment of insight during that contemplation because you instinctively entered the very trance, I was going to instruct you in. You devoured the tomes which I had produced for your study. Surprisingly you flew through all the volumes I had originally thought would take you a week. I hope you are not feeling too bad after the information overload. I have a few more tomes for you to go through," he gestured to the pile beside his chair. "I believe these should take you longer to absorb as they are more advanced and it took me several read-throughs to completely understand them myself, and I was much older than you when I did so.”
“Are you certain I am ready for such advanced knowledge sir? I mean if you weren’t ready when you first read them to understand how can I be?” inquired Eldrick tenuously.
“My dear boy, I do not think you are ready to completely understand what is in them however, reading them now will allow you to consider what is written in them. Over time you may garner lessons from them, which I did not. As I said, they are more advanced in knowledge, and you have all the basics to use them, not necessarily the experience that will come with time. Do you remember how you entered the trance or was it just a spontaneous accident?”
“I am not sure how I entered the trance, but I will try to enter it on my own," he bit his bottom lip in thought. "If I should fail, I would gladly accept instruction on how to do so.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eldrick sat in the center of the circle as he had the day before. Beginning the relaxation techniques, he had been taught for meditative trance work. Unsure if it was the correct method. Sergei was entering a meditative trance when there was a sudden blast of golden energy exactly like the day before. Watching the energies when this happened, he noticed that Eldrick had tapped into the draconic power which was an integral part of his energy structure though somehow separated from the human energies by the other types of magic. This was going to be a severe problem if Veldar ever noticed. He needed to discuss disguising his power levels with Eldrick. If Veldar came to learn Eldrick could harness dragon magic his life would be forfeit in an instant. That was an outcome Sergei could not bear to consider. He wouldn’t be on hand to bear witness to that act.
'My dear boy, I am sending you into more danger than you should be forced to endure and for that I am sorry. I am happy that Sebastian has chosen to accept the burden of accompanying you on your quest, though that also puts him in danger.' These thoughts ran through Sergei’s mind forcing him out of his trance as his concentration broke and not focused on the task at hand.
Being forced out of a trance was like someone striking the back of his head with a shovel. The accompanying headache blasted his senses instantly. Knowing he should not have let his focus waver and let in stray thoughts, Sergei rose to his feet and carefully left the room to prepare the restorative tea. This time he decided to prepare a large pot. Eldrick was going to need it once he came out of the trance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the light flash faded from the room, Sebastian glanced at an exquisitely ravishing young female dragon sitting in the place Eldrick had sat moments before. As he watched the form shifted back to that of Eldrick, almost as if forced and yet accepted. Withdrawing from the room back into his sanctuary, Sebastian knew without a doubt that this was indeed the cause of his imbalance. The thought of Eldrick brought up unfamiliar feelings of longing, desire and protectiveness. He resolved right then that nothing would ever happen to Eldrick. If he had to stand aside so Eldrick could choose another that would be the price. Understanding Eldrick may choose not to break the spells which he laboured under was heart-rending, but that was Eldrick’s choice not his own. He would not even bring up the knowledge for fear of destroying the one he was falling for.
'Damn you, Sergei!' Sebastian thought viciously. 'Why would you do this to me? How can you ask me to watch after the only one I will ever desire and yet force me to deny my heart's desire? Eldrick may not be interested in females and may choose to partner with a male even while male himself. I can deal with that if it happens. My only hope is he chooses me over someone else.'
Racked by anguish, Sebastian calmed his mind and entered the learning trance. Reaching for the more advanced tomes of draconic magic, his right by heritage, he dove into learning everything in them. By day's end, he would have finished all these tomes and would require more. He desired to examine the human magics and learn those arcane secrets. If these tomes had been collected by his uncle, according to draconic heritage rights, he had the inalienable right to wade through all the accumulated tomes regardless of magical philosophy, or origin. Considering this information, he needed to approach Sergei with sensitivity, they are heirlooms of his family.
