Another Tiring Day of Magic Read online

battle against monsters with increasing intensity, but sometimes they fought each other or went through dangerous dungeons when the academy landed.

  “Alice, your turn.”

  The random monster generator activated and was cycling through her possible targets. The monsters weren’t of course real but magically created, and subject to certain parameters depending on who was fighting them.

  “Grrrrrrraaaaaaa!”

  “Oh no…”

  Alice was exceptionally unlucky today. In the large training room was a dragon, a divine beast that outclassed any other.

  “A triple S rank, good luck!” The teacher threw those words at Alice before locking the door and getting behind the safety screen.

  “She’s toast.”

  “No way, she can’t beat that!”

  The training room was designed to protect the students, so no fatal injuries should befall her, but that didn’t seem convincing as she looked into the dragon’s yellow slit eyes. Its breath let out gaseous fumes of heated air and its scales tensed as if enraged. Thud…thud…thud. The beast advanced, swinging its tail back and forth like a pendulum. Its large hooked talons dug into the floor and tore it up with each step. The flames trickled out down the dragon’s mouth and seared the ground, while its eyes were fixated on Alice.

  Before she knew it, the dragon was directly in front of her. One swift movement and she’d be eaten if it was in the wild. Magic wasn’t going to help her here; dragon scales reflected most magic and Alice doubted she would even scratch them. Thankfully Alice had read books about these creatures and decided to give her knowledge a shot. She bowed low to the dragon and held that stance for a while…

  The dragon didn’t advance any further and seemed hesitant to attack now.

  “So there are humans who still respect us.”

  Eh!

  Alice swore she heard the dragon speak into her mind, and looked around hastily.

  “No you are not hearing things.”

  Alice calmed down long enough to remember that ancient beasts such as dragons possess advanced telepathic magic and can see into the minds of others. Alice focused her willpower inwards and communed with the dragon in a broken sort of way.

  “Can you help stage battle?” She thought, and held her head from the thumping headache she now had.

  “As you wish…”

  The dragon jumped back with great force, rocking the airship forwards and backwards. The students who were taking bets on how she’d be killed were startled and the teacher stood up getting ready to halt the fight at a moment’s notice.

  Alice wasn’t very athletic and was having a hard time dodging and blocking the dragon’s breath attacks. He even held back for her and gave half-assed attempts at trying to fry her. Whoooosh! Another blast of fire swirled past Alice and hit the wall behind her. She readied her sceptre and chanted words of power, feeling confident thanks to the dragon.

  “Energy of the world, heed my call, give shield form to the atoms of space, gather thine power and protect this vessel with your divine influence!”

  A great bright purple mystic barrier emerged from her sceptre. The barrier absorbed the blast of fire the dragon unleashed at her and accelerated its velocity before sending it straight back at its conjurer. The dragon’s eyes widened in shock as he took this amplified fire; his scales were singed and his body was broken as he collapsed to the floor in defeat.

  “Well done…” he said before disappearing.

  Alice felt a sigh of relief as she had completed the battle. Her fellow students were riddled with shock and confounded as to how she performed so well.

  “Well done Alice …Alice?” The teacher came running out as Alice fell to the floor in exhaustion. She must have really given it her all, and felt so drained that she lost consciousness.

  ***

  Her breathing was strained and her body felt weak as Alice opened her eyes.

  “Ouch!”

  She inspected her small body and was shocked to find out her skin was badly burnt. A headache assaulted her brain as she tried to remember what had happened. The dragon in the training room had talked to her and she had defeated it …right? Her injuries opposed this train of thought and she suddenly felt helpless and inadequate again.

  A new memory arose in her weak mind, one that contradicted her previous thoughts.

  Kaaarrr!

  “Eeeee!”

  Alice remembered the battle (if it could be called that) clearly now. The dragon had burnt her to a crisp as she had bowed to it, and she was rushed off to the emergency room while seemingly hallucinating about beating it. She must have been unconscious for a while and was moved to her bedroom for recovery.

  Sniff. Tears fell from her beet-red face and dropped onto her small, sensitive arms. She recalled the depressing day and it intensified her distressed feelings. Alice cried herself to sleep as she yearned for a change in this troublesome life.

  If only a handsome knight would come and rescue me from this prison…

  Alice polluted her thoughts with delusions such as this to distract her from her living nightmare.

  She’d have to wait for this wish to finally come true, and even then it wouldn’t be how she imagined it one bit…

  ###

  Thank you for reading my book! I hope you enjoyed it and it would be awesome if you were to review this at your favourite retailer.

  Thanks!

  Nathan

  About Nathan Anton

  Nathan Anton is a fantasy author currently studying Japanese to sate his love for the most interesting place on the planet. Apart from writing novels and short stories, Nathan is an avid video gamer and connoisseur of Japanese anime. Inspiration for his vast universe is everywhere, be sure to get sucked into it!

  Most of the stories Nathan writes about are set in the same universe and are sometimes linked to one another discreetly. Deeper meanings are everywhere in Nathan’s novels, keep that in mind the next time you read one.

  Other books by Nathan Anton

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  Upcoming books

  It’s Alive! (Short story)

  Leros of the Underworld Series – The Tournament (Full-length novel)

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