Spirit of Vengeance - 2. Ch 02: A New Friend

CHAPTER 2: A New Friend

“How much longer are you going to pretend to be sleeping?” Ernie asked sounding half-worried, half-amused.

“I’m not pretending,” I muttered sleepily. It was too early for Ernie to be dragging me out of bed. He knew better than to wake me before it was time for training. “Go away. It’s too early.”

“I think you can be excused for today’s training,” my uncle’s serious voice caused my eyes to pop wide open. I jerked up at the sound of his voice and was half-way to sitting up when he spoke again. “Easy now. We don’t know yet what’s wrong with you.”

“Wrong?” I asked confused. I blinked and looked around realizing that I was not in my room as I had thought. It wasn’t also just Ernie standing there as I had expected with an annoying mischievous smirk. Well, sure he was smirking but he wasn’t alone as I expected. My uncle was there also. To my surprise Nathan was also seated on an empty bed looking curiously at me as though I was some fascinating plant specimen.

Magister Edward Aenhol was also there as was Mistress Heilen, one of the Academy’s healers. Both of them were peering intently at someone on the other bed. Magister Aenhol did nod briefly at me though when our eyes met before returning to watch the still figure before him as if waiting for something to happen.

“What happened?” My uncle asked. His voice was still serious as it always was but I could detect the hint of concern lying underneath. “Your friends said you fainted.”

“I’m sorry,” I replied as I recalled everything that had happened in the courtyard. “I don’t know what happened. I just felt this severe pain in my chest and I dunno. I couldn’t stop myself from screaming. I’m sorry if I made a scene.”

“Screaming?” Ernie asked with a frown. For a moment I thought he would make a joke of it but the serious expression on his face suggested otherwise. “You didn’t scream. You just collapsed.”

“I didn’t?” I asked trying to dig up the memories of what happened. I remembered the pain, the screaming and the hoping for it to stop, and then the presence… something dark that was threatening to come over me.

“You’re an empath,” Magister Aenhol said. It was more a statement than a question. All eyes were drawn towards him. He moved around the bed of the unconscious trainee and towards my own. Ernie moved aside as he stood by me looking at me with great interest. “That is a rare and potentially dangerous gift, especially in a Water Mage.”

“Let us not jump to conclusions, old friend,” my uncle said with a reproving voice. Magister Aenhol nodded at him, taking the words for what they were.

“What’s an empath?” Ernie asked no one in particular.

“Empathy is a mage talent that allows one to feel what others are feeling,” Magister Aenhol replied easily. “But more than that it makes you particularly sensitive to magic around you, able to pick up instinctively what others might normally miss without using a spell.”

“So, he’s like a very sensitive boy?” Ernie said with a deadpan serious voice.

“Yes,” Magister Aenhol chuckled while I glared at Ernie who at least had the decency to look sheepish. “It can vary from one empath to another but one of the common manifestations is that you should be able to sense how powerful a mage is magically. Are you perhaps able to do that?”

“Yes!” I said easily and I could see my uncle frowning openly at me. “I don’t know how but when I look at someone, it’s like I can see an aura about them. But it’s not really an aura that glows but just sort of like an invisible presence that surrounds someone.” I struggled with the words never having really been able to explain it much less talk to someone about it. Finally meeting someone who seemed to have some knowledge about it was a relief I never expected. “It’s like I just know, you know?”

“Yes, I do,” he chuckled.

“You said empathy was dangerous,” my uncle stated. “What exactly did you mean by that?”

“Potentially dangerous,” Magister Aenhol corrected. “Empathy can take many forms and when uncontrolled can overcome the mage with the gift. Like what you saw yesterday, young Samuel here was overwhelmed by the emotions and magic going through Matthew?”

“Yesterday?” I asked with a frown. I had been unconscious for a whole day? “And who’s Matthew?”

“Matthew Holmer is the trainee brought in by Journeyman Rhayda,” Magister Aenhol replied with a look towards the other bed where the new trainee was still unconscious. “I believe you might know her better by the name Flo.”

“How is she by the way?” Ernie asked looking towards Mistress Heilen.

“Resting,” Mistress Heilen replied when it became apparent that the question was directed to her. “The poor girl was quite hysterical after what you did to her charge yesterday.” She was looking at Magister Aenhol with a disapproving glance. “She thought you had killed him when he stiffened and open his eyes momentarily before going limp again. I daresay you’re lucky that girl had enough self-control to think things through before acting.”

“Trust me my dear lady when I say that I know no fury worse than that of a young girl’s,” Magister Aenhol chuckled amiably.

“What was it you did exactly?” She asked with a frown. “For the life of me, I could not sense any evidence of any magic performed by you on the boy yet I was certain you did something. I did after all see it with my own eyes.”

“First,” Magister Aenhol said, “I would like to ask young Samuel something. And if you please, may I ask anyone below the rank of a Master in your Circle to please leave for just a few minutes.”

It was obvious from his words that he was telling Ernie and Nathan to go out and the former was certainly not happy about it.

“He’s going to tell me about it later anyway,” Ernie insisted. “Right Sam?”

Before I could reply, my uncle spoke. “No he won’t. And I insist you two swear on it now that you will not ask him about anything that will be discussed in this room when you two leave.” At this Ernie’s eyes bogged out and it looked like he was about to whine or something. “Swear on it,” my uncle repeated in a stern voice that anyone who went to the Academy knew was not one to ever be questioned.

“I swear on it,” Ernie said reluctantly. Nathan merely shrugged like it didn’t matter to him either way before swearing on it himself.

“Good,” my uncle said and I knew he expected the two to stand by their oaths or else there would be great trouble. “Now you two should perhaps head back to training. Your break is almost over and your time would be better spent learning something new.”

Ernie looked even less happy about that but nonetheless complied. He and Nathan left the room until there were just four of us left, three adults and myself. Five if we included the unconscious Matthew.

“Mistress Heilen,” my uncle said to the healer. “As a healer of Malden and as your close personal friend, I ask that you never discuss or divulge anything you may learn here today to anyone below the rank of a master. You are included in this now because it may now be necessary to prepare ourselves for a new kind of threat that will put our city and our people at risk. Though you have not been initiated into our Rites, I know that you are fully aware of the gravity that bears that kind of oath. I ask you now to swear with the same level of dedication as though you yourself would undergo the Rites.”

Mistress Heilen seemed taken aback by my uncle words. She was not a Water Mage like the rest of us though she did have some aptitude in Water Magic. However, healing was strongest among Life Mages (a branch of Earth Magic). As such, she never underwent the process that all Water Mages would eventually undergo which would severely dampen their ability to heal. Having lived in Malden for many years and trusted by the most prominent mages, she was well aware of the trials that trainees underwent to become journeymen. It was necessary to know them in order to heal those that would return wounded from their trials.

“Yes, I swear on my life and to The Lady that the secrets I learn will be kept to those trusted and deserving of the knowledge,” she said.

My uncle nodded, obviously satisfied. He then turned to Magister Aenhol who was watching the exchange with some interest. “So,” he said. “Will you make sure that it is indeed still him in there?”

Instead of answering, Magister Aenhol looked me right in the eyes in a way that made me distinctly uncomfortable. It was almost like he was trying to peer into my soul. I could almost feel him there in my head. And then for a moment, I did feel him there looking, almost like he was poking into my mind. I gasped as I realized what he was trying to do and I fought trying to push his presence out of my thoughts.

“Good,” Magister Aenhol said with an approving nod.

“You were reading my thoughts!” I declared out loud.

Mistress Heilen gasped at my words and stared at Magister Aenhol with incredulity. “You’re a mind reader?” she asked half-fascinated, half-disturbed.

“Yes and no,” he replied to her. “I am an empath much like young Samuel but my empathy takes a different form perhaps because I am not strongly affiliated with Water Magic. I can, so to speak, peer into another person’s soul. I can find out who they are simply by looking them in the eyes and at times I can even see what they are thinking or at least what is at the forefront of their minds.”

“That sounds wrong,” Mistress Heilen said with a frown. “It’s like your violating another person by simply looking at them.”

“Some may think of it that way,” Magister Aenhol said with a nod suggesting he had conceded in a similar fashion to previous arguments regarding this. “That is mostly why the concept of mind readers is highly disturbing to some people. They do not like the feeling of being powerless against something, being exposed without any means of defending themselves. I assure you though that I have not ever used it to pry into the mind of another individual with a malicious intent.”

“I’m not saying I doubt you, Edward,” Mistress Heilen said quickly. “It’s just the very idea that there are people capable of such things makes me shudder.” As though to prove her point, she shook in place. “I always thought the mind was one place magic could never interfere.”

“Sadly, that is not true and quite far from it,” my uncle spoke. “I’ve always suspected that something was unusual with you Edward. You were far too canny to be an ordinary mage. However, I thought it was a gift of divination that allowed you to almost predict how others would react. I thought you could just foresee how others would behave to certain events.”

Magister Aenhol shook his head no. “I have never been blessed, or as some would think cursed, with the gift of foresight. I have never been able to see the future. However, you know the people I work with and they have given me more than enough information that I am unsurprised that you’ve suspected I was a seer myself.”

“So what do we do now?” my uncle asked. “Does this discovery of Samuel’s mage talent change anything? Would he have to be trained elsewhere?”

I frowned at that. It seemed my uncle was far too open to the idea of sending me away. Fortunately, Magister Aenhol looked pensive as though he was truly wondering if it was a good idea or not.

“No,” Magister Aenhol said after a long silence. “I know a few people aware of our Circles who might be powerful enough to train him. And make no mistake. The fact that he can with little to no training push me out of his mind means that he will likely grow to become a powerful empath someday. I cannot at this time take him as an apprentice. I have just brought Adam to Arantiva and bringing in another student from nowhere would raise further suspicion. The Mage Council of Arantiva cannot know this early that we are preparing for war. We do not know how well they will react.”

“War?” I asked surprised.

“Yes, Samuel,” my uncle said. “I suppose there is no need to hide it from you since you will be involved in it in one way or another. You know of our constant struggle against those we call the Lords of the Dead. We try whenever possible to prevent mages from falling into their hands either by recruiting them into our own Circle or by helping them find a new home safe from the threat of being turned. We believe though that the Undead are planning something and things will take a turn for the worse within the next decade.”

“Is that why there are more and more students coming in?” I asked.

My uncle nodded at that, seeming satisfied. “Very astute observation. Partially yes, though there are in truth many reasons for the increase in our numbers. One of them is that the Undead are spreading their tendrils of power across our world. They have left the seven cities and their territories alone for the most part. And the Mage Councils of these cities have grown complacent seeking to defend only what is theirs. They do not seem to care for outlying villages or remote areas where mages with great potential are being lost to our enemies.”

“Then why don’t we tell them about it?” I asked. “If we know a threat is rising then we should tell as many people about it as we can, right?”

“And who would believe us?” Magister Aenhol asked. “Divination is not exactly a precise branch of magic. People are highly sceptical about predictions of the future. In Arantiva, people are more open. We even have a tradition to send every student in the Academy to visit the Seer in the Hallean Mountains when they turn seventeen. However, not everyone thinks that way. Most other cities shrug off the very idea of seers.”

“So we do nothing?” I asked.

“Other than what we are already doing, yes, we sit and bide our time,” Magister Aenhol said with a somber nod.

“I still don’t understand how this has anything to do with me?” Mistress Heilen asked. “Well, I know now that we are preparing for a war but how does knowing about it now help me in any way? I cannot fight. I have always dedicated my life to healing and fighting goes against everything I have stood for my entire life.”

“You are here because you must learn to recognize when a threat is lying before you in plain sight,” Magister Aenhol said. “You asked me what I did to young Matthew and why you could not detect a trace of magic on him. That is because the spell I cast was not directed to him but rather the magic or perhaps it’s better to say the mage behind the magic that was controlling him.”

“Controlling him?” Mistress Heilen asked with a frown. “You make it sound like he was possessed.”

“Simply put, yes, he was,” Magister Aenhol said. “You know the ways of the Undead, I presume? They do not kill the body but rather imbue it with dark magic such that the mind is bent to the will of another. With the mind under control, the body and its magic will follow. It is not a feat anyone can just do which indicated immediately that it was a Lord of the Dead that was responsible. Fortunately, we know that there are only three in the world that can do such a thing. I also know which one was responsible for this. He had perhaps attacked young Matthew and possessed him in the hopes of finding this place or possibly weaknesses to your defenses that he could exploit in order to cripple your efforts. With my empathy, I managed to sense him immediately. It is my hope that he was pushed out of this place before he could discover any of its secrets.”

“But I am not an empath,” Mistress Heilen said. “How am I supposed to know if someone is possessed?”

“There are spells that can be performed to know such things,” Magister Aenhol said. “Empathy is the easiest and most natural way to detect the presence of a mage in another mage’s mind but the spells can be just as effective though quite exhausting. I will teach them to you before I leave.”

“Okay,” Mistress Heilen nodded.

“What about the journeyman who brought Matthew here?” my uncle asked. “Could she be possessed as well?”

“I have checked her as well and I assure you she is fine, although quite distraught over the health of her charge,” Magister Aenhol said. He then turned to me and had a serious look in his face that made me apprehensive. “There is something I must ask of you though.”

“What’s that?” I asked when it was clear that he was addressing me specifically.

“Young Matthew will need a friend,” he said. “I suppose rumors are flying around now and I am almost certain that one or two of those rumors would be quite close to the truth. He was after all thrashing and screaming in front of everyone just before he spoke to me in an unearthly voice. If people suspect that Matthew is possessed, they will likely shy away from him. It’s even possible that they may do him harm, all in the belief that they are doing what is right. He will not survive this alone and if we send him back out there, then we might as well hand his body to our enemies. He will need a friend, someone who will stick by him through thick and thin.”

“Edward,” my uncle said in a reproachful manner. “I assure you that our students are above such things. We will not harm one of our own.”

“My old friend, wise as you are in the ways of magic and teaching, I’m afraid you are blind to certain human affairs. Bullying has existed as long as man, perhaps even longer. Whether you are a fresh trainee in an academy or a renowned Mage Lord in a City Council, it is something everyone must face, perhaps everyday even. Everyone has an opinion. And often, everyone thinks they have the right one. Some would exercise any means to sway others to follow what they believe.”

My uncle stared hard at Aenhol and I thought for a moment that he would impart harsh words. In the end though, he merely nodded at Magister Aenhol.

“So what do you say, Samuel?” Magister Aenhol asked as he once again turned to me. “Will you take this burden upon yourself and become Matthew’s friend?”

I turned to look at the still figure lying down on the only other occupied bed in the infirmary. His face looked so peaceful and calm, I would have thought he was just having a pleasant afternoon nap. I knew nothing about him other than his name. I didn’t know if his personality would clash with mine or if we would share the same interests. For all I knew, he would quickly join the others who thought such negative things about me and would one day invent his own insults as we crossed each other in the Academy’s halls.

But then things could just as easily go the other way. He could end up being tormented worse than me. In all the time I’ve been ostracized, I had never been accused of being possessed by the enemy. The things he would go through could be far worse than what I was going through. Plus, he didn’t have the benefit of an uncle who was the Master of the Academy. People always knew that although they could push me, they could never push me too far or else face the wrath of my uncle. Matthew didn’t have that. As far as I knew, he didn’t have anyone.

I turned to Magister Aenhol with a smile. He simply smiled back and he didn’t even have to read my mind for my answer.

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