Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur

That man is wise who talks little.

Weeks passed and Junhong’s skill remained fairly stagnant. It was difficult for him to open himself up to such unfamiliar powers, despite his willingness. The academy had taught him to fear the unnatural, and to not associate with it. Yet here he was trying to practice something so taboo with a man he hadn’t seen for nearly eight years. At the very least, his unconscious reluctance was by no means unfound.

They started off with something simple and something that screamed nostalgia. Yongguk had clutched his hands together, focused, and produced a small sphere of light from within them. Junhong couldn’t count how many times he’d tried the trick as a child, but still even in adulthood he couldn’t manage to emulate the results. It was frustrating. Nothing would work. Yongguk suggested more meditation, but he had long since exhausted that option. When it got to the point where he was ready to quit, the small, unimpressive light sphere he'd been producing shone like a sun and grew to the size of his hand. Thus, his faith in magic was restored.

Things continued in this manner. Junhong would lose faith whilst practicing the impossible, and then when he finally was ready to put everything to rest and head back home something clicked. Hard work alone didn't help him flourish. It was the risk of losing his adventure that made his body eager to comply. In the span of six months, Junhong was able to almost completely master the beginners magic that he should’ve learned. It had been damn hard, and he’d ended every single day with sweat on his brow and exhaustion quickly taking hold on his consciousness. But he did it, and Yongguk congratulated him. As a final test of his ability, Junhong was asked to have a sort of ‘magic battle’, as suggested by Yongguk.

Yongguk was extremely gifted. Junhong wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but he certainly hadn’t been anticipating that.

As soon as the battle started, Yongguk’s tattoos took on an eery glow. It was unexpected, sure, but little things like that no longer tickled Junhong’s wonder as strongly; he just simply accepted it. However, as Junhong threw attack after attack, things began to get far more interesting.

He began with the most basic skill, those spheres of hot, raw light that Yongguk had so graciously guided him with. They burned upon impact -- something that he learned the hard way in a previous skirmish -- though the damage they did was minimal at best. What Yongguk countered his attack with had all of the grandeur of an old and expensive mansion. He’d brushed one of the tattoos on his left arm, and it glowed with a brighter, whiter light. A protection circle, on the smaller side, took to the air in front of him and effectively fizzled Junhong’s light out. He stood, stunned at what had just transpired.

It seemed as if Yongguk wanted to show off.

Ditching his attempts on light magic, Junhong switched to something he thought would be a bit more successful. Muttering the quiet incantation under his breath as he ran to get a better angle, he enacted a beginner’s level evocation spell; a small ball of fire that he had increasing issues mastering. No impenetrable magic circle met his strike. Instead, Yongguk parried the attack with his hand. He really was showing off, and Junhong wasn’t jealous in the slightest. More than anything, he was intrigued.

Junhong bombarded Yongguk with attack after attack. None of them hit. One tattoo gleamed after another, and each produced a different outcome; a protection seal, a shield, even one that sent Junhong’s attack back on him. He was sweating profusely, and his body was screaming with exhaustion as well as pain from the magic that had been him. Each and every spell that he conjured took more and more out of him. He used everything that he could think of: simple evocation spells -- such as the fire balls, illusions, enchantments, and all other walks of magic besides those from his own class.

Finally, when he collapsed on his knees with a heaving chest sweat pouring down his face, Yongguk gave him a short congratulations along with a genuine applaud.

“Nothing even hit,” Junhong huffed, sitting back as the world around him was reeling.

Yongguk laughed, bent down in front of him with a pride-filled smile. “That’s not the point. You remembered everything, didn’t you?”

He was right. Junhong had remembered everything, and according to Yongguk he had executed it all with great finesse. He smiled before laying back into the dirt and leaves. The sky above him was crowded with bright green foliage, but there were spots of light blue peeking through. Despite his fatigue, Junhong felt unbelievably relieved.

Now the fun stuff started.

———

In celebration of his new achievements, Yongguk cooked a feast. Like usual, Daisy hovered behind him waiting for scraps whilst he cooked at the large, almost ancient stove that looked completely out of place in the temple. Junhong wasn’t even sure how it worked in a place that had no electricity or wiring whatsoever. Once, when prompted, Yongguk had said something about dabbling in evocation magic and that he coupled that with some other class Junhong couldn’t wrap his head around to make electricity. He was still so new to magic, and hearing Yongguk talk about it always served to further bewilder him.

Once the small feast littered the little wooden table in the centre of Yongguk’s makeshift kitchen, they all sat down -- including Daisy. She always sat in on dinners. Yongguk gave her a plate of her own along with a separate meal. Daisy ate with such fervour and joy that it made Junhong irrationally jealous. He just wished he could enjoy meals like she did.

The food that Yongguk had made smelled delightful. It was something Thai, as that seemed to be all that he cooked, but it was a lot more than Junhong had ever seen. Soups, side dishes, and different sorts of fish and meats littered the table. It was in true celebratory style, it seemed, and all of the different aromas blended together to create one delicious, fulfilling scent that filled the room. The three of them ate in silence for a short time, each one of them enjoying their own plate of mouthwatering foods. Finally, though, Junhong thought of something that would spark conversation. It was something that had been poking at his curiosity for some time now, anyway.

“Hey, Yongguk. Just who are you?”

Said man put down his utensils and blinked. He seemed to be formulating an answer as his brows furrowed and his mouth shifted from side to side. “I’m Yongguk.” He finally said shortly.

Junhong expected this, but he was still a bit aggravated. “You know what I mean. Who are you? Why are you here? Where did you come from? And… And why did you leave?”

“Junhong.” He let out a lazy sigh, holding his head in one hand. “You really don’t-”

“Yes, I do!” Daisy jumped with the sudden volume of Junhong’s voice, and looked to him in confusion. “Why do you have to be so cryptic? You used to tell me all this stuff about your hopes and your dreams and everything. Why can’t you tell me the rest?” He exhaled weakly, tears already prickling at the corner of his eyes. “Aren’t we friends?”

Yongguk looked down at his plate, unwilling to watch as Junhong wiped at the tears spilling uncontrollably from his eyes. “Of course we’re friends, I just,” He scratched the back of his head, trying to find the right answer. “I just don’t know if you’re ready.”

“Ready?” Junhong stood up, more angry than heartbroken. “Of course I’m ready! You know everything about me. About my parents, and everything that happened at that Catholic school. Hell, when I realized who you are, I told you everything that had happened in the past nine years. Why can’t I know about you? Why are you keeping yourself from me? We’re friends, aren’t we? Aren’t friends supposed to know these things? Yongguk, I don’t even know your last name.”

“Bang.” His tone was even and completely stoic. “It’s Bang. Now, will you sit down? I’ll tell you.”

Junhong would’ve smirked if it wasn’t for the intimidating timbre in Yongguk’s voice. All he could do was comply with his commands and sit down quietly, eager to hear the story that would soon unfold.

“When I was little, I lived in Korea.” It was a fairly generic start, but Junhong knew there was so much more to come. “I didn’t have a father, as far as I knew, and I lived alone with my mother. She was an apothecary. We ran her little shop together, and I remember always helping her mix the medicines and pick the herbs out in the mountains.” He smiled lightly, in a reminiscing sort of way.

“We lived near a small town full of humans. They confided in her when their modern medicines wouldn’t do the job. My mother always enchanted the medicine, depending on the customer. She would enchant them as she saw fit. If the person was suffering from a nasty bout of the flu, she would enchant it with a child’s joy. Having something like that makes someone awful pessimistic.”

His smile suddenly upturned into a deep grimace. “Each new generation that came hated my mother more and more. They believed more in their newfound medical science than her antique ways. Eventually, they started calling her a witch, and when she went into town for supplies people would yell horrible things at her or tug on her clothes. Even then, she still smiled.

“She was so damn compassionate.” He muttered, his eyes going glossy as a tear slipped from his eye and down his face. “You should’ve seen her. She just cared so much, and wanted to help everyone. It was awful, watching her be degraded like that. She just breathed life into everything; plants, medicines, people, you name it, yet they still did that to her. Such a wonderful woman didn’t deserve to walk the Earth with people like that.”

Yongguk shook his head, wiping any unseen tears from his eyes. “When I was fourteen, my mother sent me off to find myself. I had long since found my own little artifact in the mountains. She couldn’t teach me necromancy. She was just an apothecary. So, to help me fulfill bigger and better dreams, my mother steered me towards China and let me do as I pleased. I learned a lot there, and ended up going to Japan to study under Shamans afterwards. It was quite the enlightening experience.

“About a year and a half later, I returned. When I stepped through the door my mother was nowhere to be found. At least, not in the house. Things were in disarray, and I was so worried that she’d gone mad after I’d left her. To this day, I’m still not sure exactly what happened. All I know is that a spell must have gone wrong, because when I found her around the back of the house she was completely comatose. I couldn’t talk to her, get her to move, anything. She was just… Unresponsive. I remember crying a lot when I first found her, and I spent every moment I could with her. When I wasn’t trying to get to the bottom of the enchantment I was right by her side telling her about my day.

“Somewhere down the line I realized how futile it was. I think I said this before, but someone like her shouldn’t walk with people who are jaded and destructive. Now, I had learned necromancy, the art of death, so this wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. What I really wanted to do was make it so the plants would at least help her live, but that was far beyond my ability as well as class. I realized that what needed to happen was the opposite. She was to give back to the Earth what she had taken. Now, my mother was an eccentric woman. So full of vitality. She had just the right stuff for the plants to live and thrive around her. So, I left her. I left her and went to further study necromancy among other things.

“This is where I meet you. I enrolled in the academy just as I turned sixteen. I worked some basic illusion spells that I knew could fool humans and I was set to go there for two years; until I turned eighteen. You were such a lively kid, and I really loved you. I think you were what kept me sane in that strange place. Humans are so strange, you know? They do some ridiculous things in the name of faith. Of course, we’re not a completely innocent species either, but you’ll learn of that later.

“The moment I turned eighteen I left. I felt bad about leaving you, but I no longer wanted to waste my youth in that miserable little place. We may live longer, but youth is still youth. I think I went to Ireland next. It’s a really beautiful place, and I met someone there. Maybe you’ll meet him, too. I spent about a year there, learning about the culture, the history, and the magic. It was nice, but I really wanted to find a place for my own, you know?

“Unfortunately, I decided to do a bit more travelling. I went back to China and Japan to better my skills and then eventually to India. India is truly a magical place. I want you to go there, too. It’ll be a good experience.” He smiled as if he had this whole plan formed in his head. “I met Daisy there. Picture this: a grown man in a little ramshackle hotel sleeping with this giant asiatic black bear. Quite a sight. She’s quite the snorer.

“We bonded and Daisy became my familiar. It was a very exciting experience. I’m not sure if you’ll get the opportunity to, but if you can I believe a familiar will really strengthen your magic.”

Junhong nodded, eager to hear more. He had been so engrossed in the story of Yongguk’s past that he’d forgotten to even respond to most of it.

“That’s… Really about it. We left India, found this place here, and now I do tattoos.” He shrugged. “Sorry for such an anticlimactic ending.”

“You’re really so cool.” Junhong gaped. “You’ve been through so much. You’re so cool.” His eyes were alight with excitement. “What did you learn in China? Ireland? India? What about Japan? Will you teach me?”

Yongguk laughed, finding Junhong’s sudden influx of questions hilarious. “I’ll teach it to you in time. Why don’t you finish your dinner first?”  

With newfound vigour, Junhong rushed to finish his plate. Yongguk seemed so wise and knowledgeable. There was no doubt that he could learn everything he needed to know from this man. He was eager to learn all that Yongguk had to teach.