Year 6 and a half

  A boy woke in the morning with the rays of the sun beaming down on him from above calling for attention. He turned his head, slowly coming into wakefulness and stretched longly then he was up.

  With a deep yawn he stood and gently stepped on the hard wood before shifting his gaze to his wrist.

  "Shit."

  Beast was late.

  With light steps he walked to the edge of the roof picking and with two slight stretches did a a mighty jump ten feet down and rolled away.

  He ran quickly on the soft prairie gress that met his fall

  before dashing towards the forest.

  Behind him he heard.

  " BEASTTTTTT! I told you to stop sleeping on the roof! "

  "Won't do it again Mom! " He yelled back crossing his fingers.

  Beast chuckled and continued on, rushing through the forestry and sparing slight time to observe the forest as he went.

  The meadows roared green and white, the vibrant rich green of summers grass and the white of tens of petals floating upon the wind.

  They lay still for the most part , the curve of the leaf well suited for floating on even the most lackadaisical of windy days.

  Beast spared them his gaze as he jogged as he pondered how long they stayed aflout. Vaguely a thought of spending a day in the near future watching them to see how long they took to fall.

  Beast fell into those such thoughts as he jogged.

  His attention slowly falling away from his surroundings and giben priority to the nonsensical.

  Yet, when one of the petals began to emit a wisp of something strange he still was able to notice and do a double take.

  It was gone as fast as it had appeared the wispy smoke, but Beasts still full stopped his jog to give it his full attention.

  He narrowed his eyes. . . . . Nothing.

  He lifted a unconvinced eye and slowly turned his head and printed to look away, before taking a step.

  The wisp appeared again.

  This time when he turned back and it dissapeared he had decided he had enough.

  With quick steps he was forward a petal caught between his fingers.

  Almost immediately, his eyes burned in response. It felt like a wave of heat roaring in front of him as the world was taken and pulled away.

  A sensation of his eyes opening twice followed.

  Instantly the world had shifted. No longer was white white ang green green.

  Now white had enough shades he could see them split up on the petal, and green was so vibrant he almost had to turn away.

  Speaking of turning away, he covered his eyes as a vibrant orange fell upon his eyes.

  He looked up to the strange sight of orange falling upon him from above, small thin orange lines that wriggled and dissipated before getting close.

  He could see the suns rays as they fell.

  Beast put his face in his palm.

  He had only looked at three things since touching the petal and now all of them were quite different than before.

  He chuckled softly at the realization was that their was no way he would be on time now.

  Beast made a hmmmm sound and turned away from his thoughts and onto the petal he was pretty sure was the culprit.

  Like smoke the petal faded away into a white mist that floated to the sky.

  Beast realized then , that this was one of those moments when something very magical was happening.

  He frowned. He only had three choices in moments like this. His first was out of the window, for there was nothing to kick.

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  His second choice , that he had recently obtained after his confrontation with the tiger, was a sword he had earned for Bravery. He shook his head , that option was out of the window as well.

  And so Beast went with his third choice. He calmed himself and took it all in stride.

  With lights steps he kept his eyes relatively on one thing at a time and began walking again slowly.

  The details of bark, the fluffyness of the clouds, the legs of the bugs as they flew above him, the wings of the birds flapping, the wind as it curved under a leaf.

  They all called for attention as he walked. A thousand minature movements that called to him. Slowly and curiously he addressed some of them, but for the most part the others he realized he could put off with a flex of will.

  Slowly he did so and much like before the world regained it's calm. The colors sharper , the details richer , but not mind bogglingly so. He shook his head and continued on finally free of the need to stretch his eyes when again a wisp smoke appeared.

  This time wisp floating from the ground.

  He looked down at a bed of purple plants he knew to make fruit, and their decayed shells that showed thier emptiness that occured at the turn of the season.

  A purple fog drifted from them and off into the sky. It was similar to the mist he had seen on the petal and Beast without real thought walked closer to get an observation.

  Before he could lay a finger on it , the plant was taken, a small reptile dashing out of the underbrush and plucking it in it's maw.

  The reptile that dashed emitted a haze of green and brown, a potent sight he could still see as it dissapeared into the brush.

  Although the reptile was gone from his eyes it hadn't been for a bird who was hidden from sight and with a dash the lizard was eaten as well. The birds smoke a pluming grey that was gone as quick as he.

  Beast looked through the forest for signs of life and began to see the smoke everywhere if he looked close enough with his magnified eyes.

  From the bugs on the ground , to the birds in the sky, the difference colors and shades of smoke emanated from all life he could see.

  Beast sat down then. As a magnified world was replaced with one of colorful shades of smoke, he sat and pondered a thought he'd been thinking allot today.

  There was absolutely no way he would be on time.

  In hindsight Beast sat for a rather long time looking at the smoke. So long in fact that he didn't notice the footsteps approaching from behind.

  "It's called haze. " His mother spoke from behind.

  He turned. "Haze?"

  His mother's face fell into a sigh. " You never jump. "

  Beast tilted his head with pride. "Slayers never jump. "

  "Is that right." A gravely voice appeared from behind him, he felt cold steel on his neck. "Slayers never get caught by surprise either. "

  Beast looked at the blade on his neck and judged the situation.

  He threw his head back further. "I give up!" He declared proudly.

  His father leaned over in surprise. Beast took the moment. twisted and struck out with a sword strapped to his back. Cold metal rang loudly as his father blocked.

  He retreated in a dash of two back steps. He leaned his blade over his right shoulder and began coiling his body, when he felt it again, the roaring heat in front of his eyes.

  As he stopped , waiting for his eyes to do a thing, like they had been doing a lot today, his father's blade stopped.

  Instead of falling down in another strike, he placed it above his head and just like a roaring tide, haze rushed away from hi..

  It was unlike what he had seen in the forest, a wispy smoke, and instead almost a liquid red. The haze of red pulsed out of the sword in small ripples. Almost like the a rock hitting the water of a pond.

  Beast narrowed his eyes. What in the ten was that?

  The sword didn't answer, but instead raised, it's tip pointed to the sky.

  The ripples stopped spreading in response, one by one slowing and began closing on the sword, when the last ripple settled , they shot to the sky, faster than his eyes could-

  and then it wasn't. As he stared at the beam shoot, the world sharpened again and his eyes gained a focus. Beast breathed in and out, and felt the breath come slow and cold. His heart rocked in his chest steady and strong. He felt it like the beat of a drum.

  The beam was still too fast to make out the details, but he tracked it as it shot to the clouds above, it's speed was fierce and the beam went midway through the tops of the clouds before reaching a halt.

  Without a sound the Magyk began.

  With a red light so bright that Beast had to look away, the clouds above were ripped assunder. Like the streak of a soaring star, the sky was painted with a sword stroke as far as his eye could see.

  The clouds had been cut in two.

  His father lowered his sword and placed it into the sheath with a small click, then patted his head.

  "That, Beast. Is the power of haze. "

  Beast nodded, his eyes gawking at the cut.

  His mother looked over them.

  "You were supposed to be hunting this morning, yes? "

  His father nodded. " He was late. I had come to find him. "

  "Good." She looked toward Beast.

  " This will be a good test for your haze sight Beast. Make sure you use all the senses of the haze. It is a trait best developed young, so try your best. "

  Beast nodded. "I will do it with ease. " He said throwing back his head.

  His mother sighed. His father patted his head.

  "It is the Slayer way. " He added.

  She walked back to her meditation chamber behind the house waving her hand. "Just don't get hurt, my lil Slayer. "

  Beast blushed. " I'm not little! I'm just small big." he looked away and finished with a mutter.

  His father laughed loudly in response. "Slayers are never small." Then he finished his laugh and regained a calm weight of seriousness.

  "Meet me at the hunting location." He said, and before he could register it his father was gone.