[A Few Miles Outside of Wichita, Kansas]
"So…you're the guy my uncle wants me to train, huh?" Cyrus's new instructor said while giving the young man an appraising look.
The woman standing before the 'tree magic' user was none other than Constanza Flowers, one of the more popular members of the Blair family. The woman was of average height, with jet black hair, light blue eyes, a lightly freckled face, and pale skin. And despite not being the most physically impressive person out there in terms of overall stature, the fact that she was very clearly an S-rank sorcerer based on the amount of mana that surrounded her let the young man know that she was not one to mess with.
"It's nice to meet you." Cyrus greeted the woman with a polite nod.
The two 'plant magic' users were currently standing in the middle of one of the many plots of open land that the Blair family owned around the state. The place usually served as one of the family's training grounds that its members could use whenever they felt like. And it would be where most of Cyrus's training would take place for the remainder of the month.
"Hmmm…." Constanza hummed as she walked around Cyrus to get a better look at him. "Y'know, you don't seem like all that much. I can tell that you're decently strong, but nothing to write home about compared to some of the people in my family. You do have a nice face, though. So at least you have that going for you. And those scars do give you the whole rugged badboy look."
"Thanks…I guess." Cyrus raised an eyebrow at the woman's candid assessment of his appearance. He didn't really know how he was supposed to take that.
"Elaine did tell me a bit about your magic, though. And I'm not going to pretend that I'm not interested in seeing what that can do. She said that your overdrive skill is nothing to sneeze at either, so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing it for myself. But since you're a part of her inner circle, I guess that-"
"I'm sorry, what?" The young man immediately cut her off.
Okay, that was certainly not something that Cyrus was expecting to hear. What exactly did the woman mean by that? And why did she suddenly bring up Elaine of all people out of nowhere like that?
"Oh yeah…I guess we forgot to tell you, huh?" The dark-haired woman folded her arms across her chest. "Since we weren't sure whether or not I was going to be the one training you, we decided to keep it under wraps. But now that you're here, I don't really see a point in keeping the secret."
The sudden realization hit Cyrus like a freight train after he finally digested those words. And a lot of things were now starting to make a lot of sense.
"Wait…you're in Iznana?"
"I am." Constanza smiled at the freckle-faced teen. "Surprised?"
"Yeah." The young man nodded. "I just…wasn't expecting that."
"I get it. Can't really blame you."
"At least now it makes sense why the Boss was so insistent on me coming out here. I do wish I had gotten a bit of a heads-up, though."
"Yeah, I can see how that would be kind of annoying. But you know how the Boss likes to play things close to the chest. You can never be too careful these days, right?"
"So…what exactly is the plan here?"
Instead of immediately responding, the elder 'plant magic' user sat down on the ground and let out a brief sigh before answering Cyrus's question.
"Simply put, exactly what you've been told. My uncle wants me to spend the rest of the month training you to help you get better control of your magic. As does Elaine. But…" The woman then let out a slight chuckle. "He also wants me to cozy up to you and try to seduce you or whatever. It was the reason why he tasked me with this and not my uncle, Jonathan. Obviously, that's not going to be the case, but I had to agree with his crazy-ass scheme to make sure that the two of us met."
"But…?"
"In reality, Elaine thinks that you still need a bit of fine-tuning when it comes to your magic. And since I'm one of the people in charge of training others in my family, she thinks that I'll be able to help you out on that front. I know a bit about the big plan that she has in the works, and that you're a critical part of it."
Cyrus nodded his head in understanding. This did make a lot of sense, at least in his opinion. He hasn't been able to sit down and train his magic as much as he would've liked in recent weeks on account of the uptick in cryptid activity back home. And there were still a few areas in which he was lacking that he wanted to work on. So, learning under someone like Constanza was no doubt going to be a major help for him until the day that his new benefactor decided to finally put her big plan into motion.
"I guess that makes sense." The 'tree magic' user then said. "And how exactly are we going to do that?"
From there, Constanza took the time to lay out the training schedule for the next month. In short, for the next couple of weeks, Cyrus was going to spend his mornings doing physical training while his afternoons were going to be filled with nothing but magic-oriented exercises and combat drills. Once that was done, he was going to go out on cryptid hunts with Constanza and some of the other agents from the Wichita station to get some hands-on practice with what he learned.
A simple formula, but no less effective, based on what he was told.
"Sounds like a plan." Cyrus nodded in agreement.
"Good!" The woman finally stood up and took a second to dust some of the pollen off of her clothes. "I look forward to working with you. It's not every day that I get to see the Boss's new protégé in action."
With that, the two began with some stretches in preparation for what was going to be their morning exercise routine. It was still pretty early in the day, and the weather was rather nice out. And on top of that, the soil here had been specially treated to allow 'plant magic' users to maximize their abilities in one way or another. Which was something that the young 'tree magic' user certainly wanted to learn more about in the near future.
"So, how long have you been a part of Iznana?" Cyrus then asked as he leaned forward and touched his fingers to his toes.
"A few years." Constanza replied with a grin. "I joined right after the Boss took over for Kwame Ayew after he got his skull blown to pieces by the Thunder God. I've been holding down operations in this part of the country with one of my cousins ever since."
"Good to know."
"Now, now, let's save all that for later. We have a long day ahead of us. And we need to make sure that you get up to where you need to be before it's time for you to leave."
"Agreed."
And with that, Cyrus's training began in earnest. He could already tell that this wasn't going to be a walk in the park. But in any case, he wasn't going to waste the opportunity. Too much was riding on him to succeed here. And the young 'tree magic' user wasn't going to disappoint those above him.
-(o)-
Character Profile: Constanza
Name: Constanza Amaryllis Flowers
Alias: N/A
Gender: Female
Age: 26
Birthday: December 8th
Birthplace: Des Moines, Iowa, United States of America
Height: 65in
Weight: 172lbs.
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue
Race: Hispanic/White
Magic: Plant (Poison)
Occupation: DPA Agent, Iznana Operative
Stat Chart: S
-Physical Strength - 3.5
-Intelligence - 4
-Magic Amount - 5+
-Magical Control - 5+
-Magic Sensing - 5+
-Special - 5+
Fun Fact:
-Favorite food is grapes.
-Favorite hobby is knitting.
-Hates bugs.
-Firmly believes the theory that sorcerers have been around longer than most people assume.
-Nation Rank: 104
-World Rank: N/A
-Alma Mater: Kansas State University (BS)