Celestia and Obsidian are now sitting on chairs near the door, the table and food in front of them. Unsurprisingly, popcorn was one of the foods they brought. They are both lazily throwing some in their mouths while staring at Luna and I intently.

"Jeez, is it that interesting to learn dark magic?" I say quietly to Luna.

"Yes, for dark magic is not used often by many beings. Only a few that either received a great trauma in life or have a natural affinity for it can use it efficiently and properly. It will destroy you if used improperly. I am here to prevent that. You need to learn the balance of control, power and separation. Control is so you don't lose your sanity. Power is so your spells don't go wild. Separation is so you don't get consumed by it subconsciously. Master those three things and the Dark alignment will be your most powerful tool." Luna says with a mentor-like tone.

"What about the light alignment? Can that also destroy you as well?" I say, genuinely curious.

"Light has it's own issues to deal with. Most of it comes from the corruption of control. Those consumed by light often are overly controlling and pay no mind to others opinions." Luna explains.

Well then I guess a lot of humans are consumed by light.... Constantly trying to control everything and are so stubborn to the point they will say anything besides them is wrong.

"Alright, well what should I start with?" I say, eager to learn something new.

"I want you to change the shape of your shadow. To anything at all, just picture a different form. This can be used to intimidate enemies or confuse them." Luna says, displaying her prowess by increasing her shadow size to twice as much and making it look more feral.

I feel a small chill go up my spine while looking at her shadow. It starts moving in a somewhat disturbing way before pouncing towards me and disappearing at the last second, scaring the crap out of me.

"Dont.. Do that... Ever.. Again.." I say slowly, catching my breath.

"As you can see, it works against you. Now try it for me." Luna reiterates with a warm smile.

Alright.. So just make my shadow look different right? Should be easy enough, though I have no idea how you can make a shadow bigger like she did without bending light or something.. Or maybe getting rid of it? I guess that's what the Dark alignment is.. The controlling of shadows and the removal of light. So if I go off of thaaattt...

I focus for about ten seconds on my shadow, working off of that theory to make my shadow change. After those ten seconds I see my shadow get slightly bigger. I look back at Luna with a grin who gives me a somewhat surprised look.

"I expected you to take at least a minute, amazing! I suppose you have what it takes, but let's stop a bit for now." Luna says with a nod and a smile.

"But why? I just started and it only took me ten seconds! I think I can recreate the feeling when I did it too." I say, looking back at my shadow and attempting to make it bigger again.

"Devan, wait!" Luna exclaims, shooting herself next to me.

But it was too late.

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I feel nothing but emptiness. All around me is just darkness, and beyond that is more darkness. A chill is running throughout my body, making me curl up and seek warmth from myself.

Where am I? Am I doomed to be here forever? I was just with Luna... What happened? I can't see anything. Am I blind now? And deaf? Did I do something wrong? I have so many questions, but I suppose I should try and find a way out...

I uncurl myself slowly, with some trouble and increasing amounts of cold rushing through my body. I force my way through the freezing temperatures and ache that is affecting my body. I float forwards using the small amount of magical essence I do feel inside me. I keep going for what seems to be minutes, maybe even an hour, before finding a small hole. Looking through it I see Celestia, Luna and Obsidian looking at me in horror with weapons out.

Huh? Why would they be attacking me? I'm not doing anything.. Wait, why do I have this weird top-down angle on them? Unless I'm in some monster or something... That must be it! I need to get out!

I enhance my body, increasing its natural strength with a basic spell, before gripping the inside of the hole and attempting to pull it apart so I can get out. Unsurprisingly the hole is hard to open up. With each inch I move the holes outer walls, the harder it is to move. Eventually I open it as wide as I can by using all I have left, and a light shines through that almost blinds me. I feel myself falling to the ground before passing out.

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Waking up, I stare at the ceiling.... Again.

Why is it that I keep doing dumb crap that causes me to pass out in this world? I didn't pass out often back on Earth, yet here I seem to do it almost every week. So.. Time to find out what happened.

I start to sit up but feel a pressure bring me back down to the floor.

"Okay... What's happening?" I say aloud, hoping I would get an explanation.

Luna walks into my view, standing over me. "Devan? Is that you?" she says with a nervous tone.

"Yes? Who else would I be?" I say quizzically.

Celestia comes over and looks at me closely and sighs before I feel the pressure disappear and hear her voice. "You can stand now Devan. Make sure you listen closely to what Luna has to say."

I stand up and notice how exhausted my body is. I shake my head and stretch once again before looking at the three interesting faces that are staring at me. Luna is giving me one of concern, Obsidian is displaying one of anxiousness and Celestia is simply showing me a blank one.

"So, what happened? I went to some dark zone or whatever and it really cold. How badly did I fuck up?" I say, waiting impatiently for an answer.

Luna is the first to reply. "You tried to make the shadow grow bigger, yes? Even more than before? You kind of gave it too much power to work with, causing it to overwhelm you. Since you're new to controlling dark magic, it wasn't hard for it to take over and well..."

Luna looks away and Obsidian steps forward before speaking. "You turned into a monster. Shadows covered your entire body, basic stunning attacks from us didn't harm you at all, you made shadows solid and attacked us. Your face was as pale as the snow and nothing we said got to you. After a small time you happened to just stop and everything receded back into you before you fell to the ground. I haven't seen anything like that in my time alive."

I look at myself and think of nothing but shame.

Ho.. How could I let that happen? I've never dealt with something like this.. But I almost hurt my friends, the ones I care about. I always thought magic just listened to me I suppose. Guess I'm just being given power from magic huh.

I feel a small pressure on my shoulder and see Celestia looking at me with a motherly gaze. After a few seconds she mumbles a few words to me. "Don't be so reckless again. I don't want to lose a friend the same way I lost my sister for so many years."

I feel an even greater guilt wash over my body as I move to the bag nearby, pull out a gem, and revitalize my body.

"Let us continue Luna. I wish to learn how to control it, so I may continue to protect others." I say with blatant conviction paired with a serious look.

Luna nods at me and we continue to train over the next five hours, progressing bit by bit. Control over shadow size increases, reduction in power when it goes a bit wild and seperating my feelings from the magic I use. I was informed that dark and light magic react to emotions and willpower more so than other types. That light represents the giving of emotions while dark is the seclusion and bottling of emotions. Dark eventually does overflow and burst outwards, but it can be diffused subconsciously. Light uses up emotions, and can make one apathetic to others for a short time. But finally, after those agonizing hours, I do something amazing. I control it completely, if but for a few seconds. I have a shadow moving to my commands that Luna gives me to tell it. Left, right, bigger, smaller. She gives me one last command to give the shadow.

"Transform it into an animal that you think others would fear." Luna requests, staring at my now disciplined shadow.

Alright.. Come on... If evil taken over me can do it, so can I! But what? What would be fear inducing...

I think back to my fears, and find a memory I wish I could forget. Looking at my shadow with anxiety, I calm myself and give my shadow a form I despise myself. It morphs, gaining a solid form, one of a large wolf. Its eyes are glowing red, and a few scars run down its sides. I continue to stare at it while Luna walks up to me.

"That, is your dark feelings and emotions put into form. The being that allows you to use dark magic. Natural leylines allow for use of the elements, but light and dark come from within. You must tame this beast if you want to master dark magic. Once you master your inner fears and negative feelings, only then will you be able to use it for good." Luna says quietly before walking away and continuing. "Now that you can at least attain some control, let us take a break. It is getting late and I must prepare for night council. Tonight, after my duties, we will mix dark magic with other magics."

I nod while continuing to stare at the wolf before I command it to return as my shadow, which is does.

I will have to leash you sometime... But for now, I'm starving.

I notice that Obsidian and Celestia are looking at me with a sense of pride, and I walk past them in order to hide my blushing from embarrassment.

Like parents watching their kid grow up or something! Makes me sick.. But yet... I feel accomplished as well.

Author's Note

Shorter chapter this time. Didn't wanna drag on the beginning of dark magic training too long. Just woulda felt weird to continue after that ending.