Welnar sits in the back of a wagon amongst various other boxes, slowly being pulled along a road in a vast plains by two horses, An old man sitting at the helm of the wagon. Welnar managed to hitch a ride from a passing traveler after getting out of the forest, albeit they were pretty wary due to his halo giving away his newly attained magic abilities. Not that he even knows what they are… It doesn't feel like he can channel anything at all. Why is that? Maybe the awakening failed?

  {“Nope. You're definitely magic capable, I can sense it.”} Monarch cuts into Welnar's thoughts.

  {“How can you even tell? Maybe your senses are wrong.”} Welnar argues.

  {“My senses can't just be wrong. I can't explain the way I “see” in a way you'd understand, but just trust me! Maybe it needs a bit of time is all.”}

  {“Well, I hope you're right Monarch.”}

  The next hour is spent in relative mental and verbal silence, Welnar almost dozing off completely… Until he feels the wagon stop. He wonders if they've arrived at the destination initially, surprised by how little time it took. But those thoughts are dispelled when he hears footsteps approaching. Two people? Welnar is just about to peek out from the wagon when he hears the old man yell, then something hit the ground. Bandits? Damn it, why now?! Welnar sits still in the wagon, trying to formulate a plan… Does he get to the front of the wagon and try to run?

  No. Welnar dispels the thought. He's supposed to be a hero. He can't abandon this old man. He'll have to fight.

  {“One is coming to the back. Better think quick.”} Monarch informs Welnar.

  Sure enough, a few seconds later, a cloaked figure walks around to the back of the wagon, looking at it.

  “A lotta boxes!” The bandit calls out.

  “Well, get searching!” The other responds.

  The bandit lowers the back guard and starts to climb up into the back of the wagon… But just as one of his feet hit the floor of the wagon, one of the boxes suddenly flies at him! It knocks him off the wagon, the bandit hitting the floor with a hard thud as Welnar, having positioned himself behind the box he kicked laying down to stay out of sight of the bandit, swiftly gets up and leaps out of the wagon, landing square on the man's chest with his feet. He yells out in pain as Welnar steps off his chest. He peeks over to the side of the wagon the bandit came from, but the other isn't there?

  {“BEHIND YOU!”} Monarch calls out, Welnar whipping around to see the second bandit about to swing downwards on him with a dagger. He just barely manages to backstep away, getting a glancing slash on his shoulder.

  Just then though… Memories flash in Welnar's mind… Why now?

  …

  “Alright kiddo. You know the starting drill by now, right?”

  A taller, well built man speaks to the small, child Welnar. He's only 15, but this place is still familiar. It's the slums he's been in all his life.

  The man is right though. Welnar does know. He's done this hundreds, thousands of times. He stares daggers at the shoddy, hand-made dummy as he assumes a boxer's stance.

  Bam bam! Two left jabs strike with surprising power for the young child. Bam! An even stronger right straight, followed closely by a left hook. Each blow is aimed as a kill shot, all straight for the face. But now, the young Welnar mixes it up as he throws a swift body kick with his right leg.

  It's all muscle memory at this point. He knows what he's doing. He's just waiting for the real challenge. The challenge that has felt insurmountable for 3 long years.

  “Not bad. Now let's do this for real.”

  Welnar turns to the man, only a sneer visible on his shadowed face as he assumes a stance of his own. But this one isn't a boxing stance. No, it's something else.

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  Welnar knows well what it is by now. This man, his father, has shown him it countless times. Has beaten, humiliated him countless times with it. But never taught him.

  Welnar charges his father, opening the fight with a swift left jab. It's easily blocked, but that's fine. Welnar follows up with a right hook, only for his father to slip under it. Before he can recover, a left elbow comes up and strikes Welnar on the chin, causing him to stagger back. His father presses the offensive, stepping forward and aiming a head kick. But Welnar blocks with his forearm, landing a left straight punch for the gut in that same moment. His father nearly doubles over, Welnar about to land a right uppercut… But the doubling over was merely used to disguise a devastating downwards elbow that smashes against Welnar's face, and causes him to stumble to the ground. Blood pours from his nose and mouth, he's seeing stars… But he focuses.

  His father is just about to reach down for the prone Welnar when he throws mud up to his face, a rock mixed in that manages to hit his father and momentarily throw him off. Welnar takes advantage of this, kicking his father in the side of his knee while still prone, causing his leg to buckle and drop. Welnar quickly gets up, nearly slipping in the mud as his father falls. Once his father is on one knee, Welnar leaps towards him, striking with a devastating flying knee to the face! His father falls back, grunting in pain. Welnar falls on top of him, and continues his attack, aiming to end this here and now with a submission. Welnar rolls to the side of his father, pinning his body with his legs, his father still reeling from the knee strike. Now, with his father's arm between his legs, Welnar grabs hold of the arm… And, using a classic arm bar, Welnar is in control.

  He begins slowly falling onto his back, pulling his father's arm with him. This hyper extends his father's arm, which can get painful quickly. Welnar knows all of this very well. If his father doesn't tap out, the elbow will be forcefully bent the wrong way and broken.

  His father struggles and squirms. But he isn't tapping.

  Welnar continues, slower now. Hesitating. His father should be tapping… Why? Why isn't he?

  “THIS IS LIFE OR DEATH BOY!”

  Welnar snaps back to reality as his father yells. His pin is weakening, his father will break free soon. Life or death.

  And so, with one last pull, a sickening crunch is heard… As his father's arm is broken at the elbow. He screams in pain, Welnar letting go and backing away, heaving. After a few seconds, the screaming stops and is replaced by… Laughter.

  “I am truly proud… My son.”

  “Show no mercy to your opponents, as they will show none to you… Behind your weak looking body, is immense strength. Use it well.”

  The first time his father had ever told him he was proud of him.

  Welnar returns to the present… He despised that man ever since. He beat and tortured Welnar relentlessly, in the name of training. He was never truly a father. Just a trainer.

  And yet, that experience was invaluable. Even more so now, Welnar realizes as deep blue energy begins to swirl around him. The bandit grips his dagger tighter, fury in his eyes.

  “DAMN YOU SORCERER SCUM!” The bandit yells, charging Welnar recklessly. He slashes horizontally, Welnar ducking back… The bandit tries to advance further and slash again, but is cut short as Welnar immediately steps back in, throwing a powerful gut punch. As he does, his arm becomes coated in the blue energy that swirled around him, his fist becoming much harder. The bandit doubles over immediately, coughing up blood and clutching his stomach. The first bandit Welnar had attacked with the box has finally gotten up, beginning to charge Welnar as well. But with incredible swiftness, Welnar meets him halfway with a hook punch, his fist coated in that blue energy yet again. The punch connects easily, knocking the bandit out immediately.

  Welnar turns back to the second bandit, who is only just now getting back up from the gut punch. “Get out of here. I don't want to have to kill you guys.” As he says this, Welnar gives the knocked out bandit a light shove towards the other with his foot. He gets the idea, quickly scrambling over and lifting up his comrade before leaving down the road, the way Welnar had come.

  Finally… He approaches the old man, who had retreated off to the side, watching the fight in awe. “Are you alright?”

  “Y-you…” The old man stammers.

  “You saved me… W-what do you want? Money? Y-you can take whatever you want, Sorcerer. My life is-”

  “No! No no no, I don't want any of that. I'm not like the other Sorcerer's, seriously!”

  The old man sits there, seemingly stunned by Welnar's words.

  “Oh, but I would like you to at least bring me to where you're going, still.”

  “Yes, yes of course young man!” The old man says as he gets to his feet, dusting himself off.

  “You sure you don't need a couple minutes? You look a bit roughed up.” The old man did look a little bruised and battered, so Welnar was worried. “Bah, I'll be fine. This old coot can take a beating.” The old man responds though, hopping back on the wagon. Although still a bit concerned, Welnar decides not to question the old man further, heading to the back of the wagon and putting the box he had kicked out back in, before hopping on himself. Just like that, they're back on the road.

  As their journey continues, and Welnar's adrenaline is finally wearing down, he begins to realize that… He feels an innate understanding of his magic now?

  {“It's normal, just how it is. Usually the first usage of one's magic ends up happening instinctually.”} Monarch quickly chimes in, explaining to Welnar.

  Satisfied with Monarch's explanation, Welnar just thinks over what he knows about his magic now… It seems like a more instinctual magic for the most part, happening almost automatically.

  The blue energy that formed around his hands hardens his body before impact, allowing him to hit harder but also lets him take blows he wouldn't be able to normally. On top of that…

  Welnar opens his hand, and in the palm a small blue orb of energy forms. He can solidify this energy into objects, although it's probably pretty limited in the range of objects.

  He tosses the orb out the back of the wagon, and it flies out for a few meters before stopping midair and reversing direction, flying straight back to Welnar and disappearing just before it makes contact. Limited range. But also limited in what he can create… He can't make anything big, otherwise he'll lose too much energy.

  {“Y'know, your form of magic seems pretty unique. In general, most Sorcerers would rather not engage in close combat, but more than that, most Sorcerers also refine their mana in some way to control it. But not you.”}

  {“Your mana is unrefined, raw power. It's pretty neat.”} Monarch seems genuinely interested in Welnar's magic.

  {“Wow… So I had this kind of magical potential, and yet… Because I failed some invisible lottery, I couldn't realize it.”} This realization just seems to upset Welnar a bit though.

  {“Hey now, no point moping about it! You ended up finding me, and awakening to your magical potential through me… As well as gaining even more power. So maybe it was ultimately a good thing!”}

  {“Monarch, do you even know how I got to that forest?”}

  {“Not really, no… I just sensed a new humanoid lifeform in the area, so I tried to make contact.”}

  {“Then let me tell you how I ended up there.”}

  And so, Welnar told Monarch the full story of how he ended up in the forest. The Sorcerers that pestered him and his village regularly, and the night he truly thought he was going to die.