Soul of a Human

After the Agaton family had put aside their problems, they spent an evening chatting. Mor told about his time at school, while his parents looked horrified a lot of the time. But his parents also told Mor about their missions and adventures.

Then, late at night, Mor fell into his bed, content that finally everything had been said and a new understanding between him and his parents had been reached. Because of that, he slept well and awoke well-rested after a dreamless night.

°Ready to get back in action?° The human asked, and Mor grinned while he stretched his body, getting out the morning stiffness.

°Think, my parents can keep up? I think we should start with the intensive training. I mean, we don't need to think about any homework and lessons, so we have more time.° Mor said jokingly.

°You're evil. I like that idea!° The human agreed.

°Wait! That was a joke!° Mor shouted, alarmed.

°Too. Late.° The human stated and Mor groaned.

°I should have stayed silent.° He complained, and the human let out an evil laugh.

°Sometimes you will learn, but I won't accept any backsies. Until your next school year starts, it's 100-100-100-10 for you and anyone who can keep up. In addition, it's as much food and sleep as you can get. How long is your break anyway?° The human declared, Mor cursing his stupidity all the while.

°About four months, because we got off one early.° Mor grumbled.

°You summoned me pretty early in the school year, right?° The human asked.

°Yes about two months in.° Mor confirmed.

°So you're using a twelfe month system?° The human wanted confirmation, and Mor nodded.

°Another strange coincidence. Your calendar is set up like our human one.° The human mused, but Mor just shrugged at that, not really caring.

Mor left his room in a grumpy mood, finding his mother already up and smiling as she noticed him, but that smile then turned into a frown.

"Is everything alright, Mor?" She asked, and Mor let out a sigh.

"No, I was stupid and now the human demands a very exhausting training regime..." Mor grumbled.

"Then just refuse it!" His mother stated, and Mor groaned.

"It won't work. Once it has set its mind to something, there's nothing I can do. Well, I could fight it, but the pain would be infinitely worse."

°Yeah, you won't get out of that one anymore. Next time remember to not be evil, it will just bite you in the ass.° The human declared proudly, and Mor let out another sigh.

"I'm getting food..." Mor said, and he got some money from his mother.

°Perfect opportunity for your ten kilometers of running!° The human said.

Just as Mor opened the front door, a surprised Orth stood there, one hand raised to knock, a smile growing on his face.

"Good morning! Where are you going?" Orth asked, smiling.

"Finding a way to get rid of the human," Mor grumbled.

"Why?" Orth asked.

°Try me, bitch!° The human challenged.

"Because I hate it. I'm going shopping, and it wants me to do my running while I'm at it..." Mor said, dejected.

"Wait, I'm coming with you," Orth said, and Mor thought.

"You can try, but the human no longer goes easy on me. Just stop when you can't go on anymore." Mor decided.

"Great!" Orth said. "Where's your butler? I need someone to put my luggage away."

"We don't have one?" Mor said, surprised. "Commoners don't have staff. We need to do everything on our own."

Now it was Orth's turn to look surprised and realize that this might differ significantly from what he knew.

"Skip the run today and get yourself situated," Mor said, and Orth agreed, disappointed.

With that, Mor took off while Orth knocked on the open door and entered the little townhome. Sophie greeted him first and showed him around, and Orth was constantly surprised by how cramped everything was.

..........

Mor jogged at a fast pace along the familiar roads when suddenly a voice called out to him.

"Hello, Agaton boy. Why are you running?" An old woman asked, and Mor answered without stopping.

"Late for breakfast!"

The woman laughed at this and let him go. While he was underway, this would repeat a bunch of times with a bunch of different questions.

°It's nice that everyone is so friendly here.° The human said, and Mor agreed.

°Yes, it's refreshing after spending almost a year with primarily stuck-up nobles.° He said.

..........

"Sorry, but you need to share a room with Mor," Sophie told Orth, who slowly realized what he had gotten himself into. Just as he had put down his stuff and got situated, the front door opened again.

Morokhan was annoyed. He was summoned to the prince first thing in the morning, before he even could get breakfast, only for the prince to challenge him to that human game again. Morokhan did win again, but that did nothing to brighten his mood for that unnecessary summon.

When he opened the front door to his house, his wife and the young Obsidian boy greeted him.

"Right, we have a guest over," Morokhan said and then asked. "Where's Mor?"

"He's out right now. I sent him to get breakfast, and Orth said, Mor wanted to do some training on the way?" Sophie said, and Orth nodded.

"Yes, he wanted to do some running." He confirmed.

"Why? We wanted to join him." Morokhan asked.

"Trust me, you can't keep up with him. What he's doing is a long and painful thing." Orth said, shuddering. "In the beginning, I also wanted to "just" keep up with him, but soon learned that I had to go with my own pace."

Morokhan shrugged at this piece of wisdom, not seeing the truth in it.

"It can't be that bad, but while we are waiting for Mor to return, why don't we get to your magic training?" He asked, and Orth agreed excitedly.

Morokhan and Orth went down into the cellar of the Agaton home, which was just spacious enough for simple magic exercises. Morokhan began to explain his signature spell, guiding Orth through the first steps.

About an hour later, Mor returned with food for everyone. Morokhan and Orth stopped their training and joined them for a late breakfast, noticing that Mor was out of breath and glistening with perspiration. Orht shuddered at that, which Morokhan couldn't understand. Sweating was completely normal, and after "running" to go shopping, it was also understandable. Only Sophie sent her boy away to freshen up before eating with everyone.

After breakfast, Mor looked at everyone expectantly.

"Are you ready?" He asked, and his father gave him a confident smile while Orth flinched.

He remembered Mor's temper from before his shopping run and knew it was foreboding something awful.

"Yes, we are ready," Sophie told her boy, looking a bit confused as a big grin spread across Mor's face. And not one of the pleasant kind. Right now, Mor had more in common with a monstrosity that had found its next victim.

This time, the whole family, plus Orth, went down into the "training space", and Mor guided everyone through a series of simple warm-up exercises to loosen the muscles and limber up.

After a bit, he took a deep breath and smiled.

"Now, let's start for real! The warm-up is over," he declared, a bit surprised that only Orth groaned at this.

But as he took a look at his parents and saw their incredulous faces, he had to laugh.

°Soul-kin are wimps.° The human said, disappointed.

"What do you mean? Warm-up?" his father asked, completely winded. His mother was just sitting down on the floor and then flopping over to lay on the cool stone tiles.

"Don't tell me you are already done?" Mor asked right back. His father wanted to protest and keep going, but his body and shaking knees betrayed him.

"Not everyone is a monster like you!" Orth protested, but that only got Mor to laugh out loud.

°Don't laugh too much. You started out just like them. Also, I might just add a bit to your training if you have enough energy to make fun of everyone else.° The human threatened, and Mor instantly shut up.

"Well, just rest for now, but remember, no healing. Reducing pain is allowed, though," he told his parents.

After that, he started on the rest of his exercises. Orth tried to keep up as well as he could, but he was still far away from catching up. But at least everyone had the satisfaction of watching Mor fall to the ground, exhausted and shaking after the human had drilled the boy through all his exercises.

For the rest of the day, Mor explained some of the things the human had taught him, and they watched Orth and Morokhan train. All in all, it was a nice and peaceful day.