Of Black

Magic.

What is its true nature? Is it a force to harm your enemies? To make them bow under your might? To break the hardiest of warriors?

Is it a force to aid your allies? To give them strength when they are weak? To heal them when they are hurt?
 
I believed the latter. I believed that magic's true intent was to help others. My goal was to prove it. I would help those around me as I traveled. I would show that the strength of white magic was stronger than any black magic. And... Eventually revive [her]. I think that's what drove me to learn white magic most of all. I could tell myself and those around me that I wanted to help, but deep down I felt like that was a secondary goal. I felt awful about it. Why can't I get [her] out of my mind? I wanted to truly be able to help my new friends.
 
That naivety is why Sable, my teacher and friend, lay unconscious in front of me. We had been attacked by another airship. Kaine and the others were preoccupied fighting with several of the enemy crew, leaving Sable and I to defend ourselves. We both specialized in white magic and couldn't keep up against our foe's strikes. We had both quickly run out of mana.
 
A wicked grin spread across the face of the sky pirate in front me as he prepared a fatal blow for Sable. Was this what comes of white magic? If I wasn't even able to protect one person, how did I expect to help anyone else? What's the point of living if I can't make a change in the world? If it is hopeless, should I just give in?
 
I refuse! I'll save Sable even if it kills me! I stared straight at the man and raised my arm. Cuts began appearing along my arm as if by an invisible blade as I tried to conjure any mana I could. A blast of wind struck the man and he collapsed to his knees. My arm was a bloody mess and the man was trying to stand again. I wouldn't let this happen. I shakily stood up and raised my other arm, again channeling mana. A bolt of lightning leapt from my fingertips to the man again.
 
He was still standing. I started to approach him, forcing my arms to cast with all the strength I had. Wind and lightning struck his body repeatedly until I was sure he wouldn't stand anytime soon, then I passed out.
 
When I woke, I was back in the medical room again. I sighed with relief as I saw Sable sleeping in a chair next me.
 
Apparently that woke her as she asked in a sleepy voice, "Oh, you're awake? Are you feeling better? Your arms were pretty cut up but I healed them as much as I could..."
 
She trailed off as she looked down sadly. I glanced down at my arms to find that they were covered in scars. I looked back to Sable and tried to reassure her.
 
"I'd rather have scars than both of us dead." Sable was trying not to look at me. "I don't regret saving you. What happened with the others?"
 
Sable told me that Kaine and Jessie managed to force the sky pirates to retreat, while Biggs and Wedge both had minor injuries. I was the one who was the most injured during the fight. After a few days, I felt almost as good as new again and I continued my training with Sable. Along with Sable's white magic, I began to practice black magic so hopefully I wouldn't be as defenseless as I was last time.
 
As we continued along in the airship, I came to learn that Kaine had many enemies, as we often came into dangerous situations. I began using black magic more and more as I got better with it, helping to boost our crew's offensive power. After battles, Sable and I used our white magic to heal our allies' wounds. I started to get used to it, and I almost started to forget about reviving [her]. Enemies had started calling me Zora the Black.
 
After travelling together for a bit over a year, we had faced our greatest enemy yet. The Empire sent one of their largest airships, the Leviathan, to defeat us. It was hardly a fair fight and we were soon captured and tied to the ship. The judges on board had declared us all guilty of treason and declared that we were to be executed immediately. There was one problem that they didn't spot however.
 
During the chaos of the fight, Kaine managed to slip away and headed towards the bridge. He had managed to knock out the pilot and the other operating crew and take control of the ship. As we were about to be executed, Kaine tilted the ship hard to the right, knocking most of the crew down and beginning to slide off the ship. Kaine was a Dragoon and thus very good at jumping. He jumped around the ship cutting ropes that had stopped the crew from falling. Soon enough, most of the crew had fallen off the airship and it was starting to correct itself. Kaine quickly untied us and together we managed to take over the ship.
 
We stole the Leviathan. News had started to go around that Kaine Highwind had stolen an astral level ship from the Empire. He was marked as public enemy number one by the Empire. Several other sky pirates that were planning to rebel against the Empire had began to join in Kaine's fleet. With each day I saw Kaine get more and more involved with his fleet and realized that his main goal was to rebel against the Empire. No longer were the days of flying around aimlessly helping where we could and learning more about Phoenix.
 
That's when I decided to part ways with Kaine and the crew. With Sable. I owed her so much and I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to repay her if I left. But I had to leave; I wasn't going to get any closer to reviving [her] if I stayed. Kaine made sure to give me a Linkpearl before I left so that we may contact each other if in need and then we parted ways.
 
With some experience in both white and black magic, I began my journey into the world alone.