“None of that,” Red hissed in disgust. “Don’t make me separate you two.”
Annabel’s giggle came out of the spirit box, before she said, “Let me quickly give a brief overview of the other two affinities, so we can get started on practicing some magic.”
At her words, the witch turned to face the direction he could only assume Annabel was standing.
“The Ceaseless Hunter is very straightforward. It brings with it heightened senses, a keen ability to hunt, and a strong connection with other living creatures. This includes the ability to control and communicate with said creatures, along with channeling their energies and fierce wills of existence.
“The Unknowing, on the other hand, can be described as darkness personified, and has a strong connection to the mind, memories, and hidden past events. Though control of the darkness is one of the abilities associated with The Unknowing, the powers are very much about fear of the unknown, and uncovering, often unwillingly, all that hides in the dark.”
“So literally animal-like hunting for the first, and…possibly mind fucking for the second?” Jahla drawled.
Ollie wrinkled his nose. “Did you have to word it that way?”
“What?! Does it not sound like it fits?” she huffed.
“It fits well enough,” Noble agreed. “The Unknowing has a strong association with bringing one’s enemy to their knees in fear. And the ability is mostly mental.”
He just smiled when Jahla eyed him suspiciously. What else could he really do about the look? Nothing, that’s what. The woman had looked at him that way since the beginning, so he was sort of used to it by now. Besides, suspicion was usually a witch hunter’s best friend.
“Okay, enough talk, time to train. And since you’ve already used your first two affinities, we might as well start there.”
“Okay, I’m ready!” Ollie said, with possibly a bit too much cheer, bouncing a bit in his hold. “What do you want me to do?”
“I’m guessing this is my time to just back up and stay out of the way,” Jahla mused as she stepped back.
Noble pressed another kiss to Ollie’s forehead, murmuring, “You’ve got this, Baby,” before releasing his hold on the witch’s waist and moving back to stand beside the man’s best friend.
“Why not try to have him burn something?” Annabel suggested.
Ollie frowned. “Burn what exactly? Also, did anyone think to bring a fire extinguisher? As I didn’t, and I’d rather not accidentally set this forest alight.”
“It’ll be fine; I can put out whatever fires you start,” Red said dismissively. “But fire is as good a place as any to begin. Or we could rot something? Either ability can be performed through a worded spell, but also with just thought alone, and even then, it’s not exactly considered advanced.
“What usually is more advanced, when it comes to rotting, is to what degree, how fast, and so on… While with fire it is how hot, the speed of the spread, and the amount of control. But conjuring a simple fire, and a bit of rot, isn’t considered difficult. As for what to use…one of the stumps, possibly?”
Ollie gasped in horror. “The stumps!? But we use those!”
“Ollie, they’re stumps. They can be replaced!” Red huffed.
Ollie knewhe could find other stumps, but the question wasn’t if they could be replaced. “Yeah, but will the replacements match the rest? No, they won’t, because all of these stumps, and the ones in storage, were bought at the same time, and therefore, have aged the same.”
“They’re stumps!” Red hissed.
“They’re MY stumps!”
“What about one of the trees? There are plenty of those, and one being gone wouldn’t be super noticeable?” Noble suggested.
Ollie glanced back at the man, his eyes narrowing when he noticed Noble was struggling to keep a smile off his face. “If I use the trees near here, we will then have a partly burned or rotted tree near the camping area. That’s a safety hazard!”
And an insurance nightmare.
The man held up a hand with a hesitant smile. “It was just a suggestion.”
“Ollie, just sacrifice a few stumps!” Jahla snapped. “You literally have an almost endless supply in the damn shed back here and you know it!”
It didn’t matter that he was well prepared. It didn’t take much to go from well prepared to stump-less! Like, why weren’t they understanding that the more they sacrificed in the name of practice, the closer he was to having to replace every single one, just so they would match when he needed to use them all! Ugh, even Annabel looked as if she was confused about what the problem was.
After a moment of them staring and waiting for him to cave, he let out a whine and cried, “Fine! Two, I am willing to sacrifice two, and that is it! And there better be something else for me to practice on next time! Or at the very least, we go to a different area where I don’t mind damaging the trees!”
