Adamagika: The Spirit Within - 2. Ch 02: The Warning

CHAPTER 02: The Warning

So, here I am. I’m telling you my story not because I want you to know, but because I’m hoping you already know because you were with me that day. If you are the spirit who spoke to me back then when I was a boy rescued from a life of darkness and death, please speak to me. You said you would return when the time was right.

Somehow, I feel like that time is now or will be very soon.

And somehow that same feeling is compelling me to return to the village.

There is a darkness lurking in the horizon. It is evil and its life is linked to the village. The worst part is I know its eyes are set on this city – my city. I don’t know how, but somehow I just do.

This is my home now and I’ll be damned if anyone or anything will destroy it or hurt its people.

“Adam?”

I looked up to the front of the class where my teacher and savior, Magister Aenhol, was looking at me with amusement. You see, I found out eventually that it was him that saved me that day from certain death. He was the one who came with a blinding flash and lifted me towards safety.

Once we were safe, he explained to me about mages and magic. At first I was reluctant to believe anything he would say. After all, I was taught to hate mages because they were evil. And yet, when I looked at his elderly face with streaks of gray and white, there was nothing but kindness in his face.

He told me about this special place, this city of mages, where people like us lived in peace, safely and harmoniously with other beings. He called it Arantiva. Having nowhere else to go, I went with him. We journeyed by foot and horse which somehow disappointed me since I was still eager to see more magic. He just said that there were right times to use magic and it should not be abused by those that could wield it.

When I saw the castle standing in the midst of the city, I fell in love and I knew Arantiva was my new home.

I asked him once if he was the voice that spoke to me the day I was rescued. He said no and that mages did not normally hear voices in their heads. He said it might be best if I was not to speak with anyone about the voice again.

Naturally, I hadn’t. I just tucked it in the back of my head.

But now, I needed it to come back out.

“Yes, sir?”

“We seem to have our heads in the clouds today don’t we, Adam?” he chuckled.

I blushed finally noticing that my classmates were looking at me and snickering.

“Sorry, sir.”

“That’s alright. I was just asking you if you could explain to us how our understanding of magic differs from how it is understood in non-magical communities.”

That’s something I always found odd with my teacher. He always called them “non-magical communities” as though “the village” was politically incorrect. Sometimes, I wondered if he had a specific name for the village people.

“Well, sir,” I began easily since I was comfortable with the topic already, “in the village, people are taught that mages are people possessed by malevolent spirits who hunger for power and destruction. All mages, once they practice magic, are consumed by these spirits and lose their souls. Effectively, a mage is no longer human and is just a host for the spirit’s evil intentions. It justifies their murder of mages.”

Magister Aenhol nodded in agreement. “And, what of our understanding of magic?”

“What studies show us,” I continued, “is that during The Great Discovery, humans used science to accidentally rip a void into another dimension, some theorize another plane of existence, where different forms of life exist and are absent in our own world. From this rip poured out the many creatures we have come to know as demons, malignant spirits that possess the living and turn them into the undead, and even mystical creatures that display neutral tendencies. It is from these malignant spirits that the beliefs of the village people are based on.”

My teacher smiled slightly at that but said nothing.

“Along with these life forms,” I continued, “there were waves of energy that tore outwards that pretty much ripped the world apart. From the center of the void we’ve now come to call The Dead Scar, energy spread out towards the four corners of the world. Those who were exposed to large quantities of the energy were either destroyed or possessed by the malignant spirits. The same happened to the area around The Dead Scar where everything was destroyed.

“However, the energy weakened with distance. Those who were exposed later on either suffered only from minor discomfort or dizziness. For some, it had the unusual effect of granting supernatural or magical abilities while on others, it had absolutely no effect. We are still uncertain to this day why it only affects some and not others. However, we have learned that magic is genetic and can be passed on from father or mother to son or daughter. There is no spirit possessions involved in this process.”

Magister Aenhol smiled widely at this as though he had expected such a detailed answer from me when he asked the question. “So, how about the belief that mages who practice magic are consumed by it to become power hungry vessels of evil?” He chuckled lightly as though he said an amusing joke.

“Well sir,” I paused when I realized how much I like to start my statements like that, “unless you are a power hungry vessel of evil, I think that belief is wrong.” I smiled back to him.

He chuckled before responding. “Well I guarantee you that I am no such thing. And I might just add, neither were the scientists who accidentally ripped the void into the other dimension. They were simply in the search for knowledge and used the technology they had back then to explore the different facets of our universe. This knowledge we may never come to understand.”

“Sir,” a blonde boy named Lucas sitting two seats to my right said, “if they had the technology to rip open a door to another universe, how come we don’t study that technology in order to understand how magic came about into our world?”

Magister Aenhol looked towards me expectantly. “Well, Adam?”

“Well sir,” there I go again, “we’ve come to understand that magic and technology seems to share a common power source and that they seem to be exclusive of one another. For instance, when people would still use electricity from power plants, all mages near these areas were drained of their magic as though the energy from power plants provided a dampening field that affected mage powers. But, we also know that mages emit their own energy field that can counteract the energy that comes from technology. A very large group of mages can for instance practice magic right outside a power plant.”

Another blonde boy named Marcus huffed in a low tone. “You only need a few strong mages to overcome that. Maybe you need a large group for sissy mages.” He looked towards me with a sneer. I couldn’t help feel that he was singling me out.

“Well Adam, that’s right,” Magister Aenhol said as though he didn’t hear what Marcus said. “There, is a reason why mages tend to congregate. We are not only stronger with numbers but the energy field that surrounds each of us is amplified the more of us there are. The people from the larger non-magical communities, however, have come to embrace technology as a weapon to use against us. A mage or even a few mages who enter the larger settlements in the outlying villages would find themselves powerless amongst hostile people. It would be suicide these days to go into these communities without at least a substantial army.”

I shuddered for a moment with my memories of the past. Those people in my settlement were horrible and dangerous even without technology. How much more dangerous could they be if they had the weapons of technology.

My thoughts were disrupted when my teacher called for our attention.

“Now, I’d like each of you to review the importance and methods of detecting energy fields emitted by technology. You are to write an essay due in one week. One thousand five hundred words minimum, two thousand maximum.”

This was responded with by multiple groans throughout the class. Though, perhaps the reason behind the groans might have varied. For me, two thousand words were hardly enough!

We began heading towards the door. I didn’t wait for anyone nor did anyone wait for me. I was different from the other students. All of them came from upper class mage families from the city. They were all rich and had family histories that stretched centuries back. They were also all known to have powerful mage blood. They pretty much knew each other through their parents or relatives.

Well, as for me, nothing close. I was an orphaned mage who had no friends and hardly registered a two point zero in the Richter scale of magic. In fact, my magic has not improved much from the little lightning bolt I made when I was nine years old. I worked hard to develop my magic and make it stronger, but it just really wasn’t there.

And so, I’ve resorted to books and knowledge. While others were showing off the spells they learned from school or their families to each other, I spent most of my time in the library studying history and theory. I pretty much aced all theoretical work, but I was barely passing with the practical stuff. In fact, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t even be passing onto the higher levels if not for some kind of intervention from Magister Aenhol. I asked him about it once and he just said that cookies were the way to a teacher’s heart.

I’m not sure I liked what he meant by that.

I continued walking towards the Hall of Knowledge where the writings of known and renowned mage authors were kept. The Hall of Knowledge wasn’t like the common library open to everyone. It was exclusive to teachers and older students taking advanced classes on magic. But having read every book in the library (hey, I was reading since I was nine years old. No friends, remember?), I asked Magister Aenhol for special permission for someone my age (fourteen years old then) to access the Hall of Knowledge.

Some teachers did not immediately agree having known my lack of “practical application of magic.” But they eventually gave way to the insistent petition of Magister Aenhol. There was one particular teacher opposed to granting me access to that special hall. Her name was Madame Rooste. But I was not entirely surprised at that since she seems to have had it out for me since I got there all those years ago.

I was so engrossed formulating what books I would read and what I would write in my essay that I didn’t notice I was being followed by several students.

Suddenly, I was just shoved roughly to the wall, forced to face my assailant.

“You think you’re so smart, do yah?” It was Marcus.

“Well actually, I am.” My eyes widened in fear when I realized what I had said. Marcus was a nasty bully, and not the dull kind either. He was the nasty, intelligent, and very, very rich kind of bully. His magic was strong as was his athletic body. I wouldn’t want to fight him in a challenge of might or magic.

Unfortunately, he decided from the time I arrived that I would be his special victim.

“You think reading some books makes you a good mage?” His mouth twirled into a sneer. “Well guess what, it doesn’t matter how much you know if you can’t use what you read. We know all about you. You’re a weak mage that can hardly produce an energy ball.”

To prove his point, he raised his hand to my face. Lightning shot out from his fingers to form a perfectly cylindrical energy ball brimming with power floating on his hand. The three or four other students with him laughed manically.

“So, can all that reading help you do this?” He raised the energy ball closer to my face. The hairs on my head started to crackle with energy and I could distinctly smell something burning. “I think they might have made a mistake with you. They should throw you back to that village they…”

“Is there a problem here?”

We all turned as one to the source of the voice as the energy ball dissipated from Marcus’ hand.

It was my savior.

“Nothing’s wrong, Magister Aen-haaaul,” Marcus replied with what I assumed was a mocking drawl masked in false respect. He twisted me to my side to face our teacher and wrapped his left arm over my shoulder and around my neck. He did it rather roughly giving me a chocking sensation in my throat. “We’re just showing Adam here some of the spells we’ve learnt at home. You know, since he’s homeless and all.”

The other students snickered at this, but fell silent at the not-so-amused look on our teacher.

It was common knowledge that I slept in one of the rooms in the castle for the servants. I couldn’t afford to have my own student room in the castle, much less my own house. Magister Aenhol petitioned to have me granted my own room as a consideration for my circumstances. But one teacher was adamantly against that being granted for me. Magister Aenhol said that her argument was that they couldn’t show favoritism amongst students and that student rooms were limited as it were even for those who could afford them.

Three guesses on who she was. Hmm…

“It’s such a beautiful day outside. Perhaps you boys should head out there and enjoy yourselves, hmm?” Magister Aenhol asked with one eyebrow raised.

Marcus’ lips spread into a wide grin. “Of course sir, we wouldn’t want to waste the day staying in here now, would we boys?”

The others snickered as though they were privy to a very secret joke. I personally thought that it was very obvious.

Marcus roughly turned me around, taking me with him as he moved towards the outer courtyard.

“May I have a word with you, Adam – in private if you please? Why don’t the rest of you head outside now?” Magister Aenhol asked from behind.

Marcus lowered his arm from around my shoulder. He half turned his head back to our teacher forcing a smile, “of course, sir.” He continued with his group of thugs down the hall and I heard him saying something about a few ideas he might have regarding my privates. I was sure I must not have heard it correctly.

“Now, Adam, why don’t you take a walk with me for awhile?”

“Thank you, sir.”

“For what, Adam?”

“Well sir,” uhh, damn, “for saving me back there. I think Marcus would have singed my eyebrows off if you hadn’t come along.”

He looked at me for a moment as though he was contemplating what to say next. “As much as I do not adhere to violence, Adam, I was wondering why you didn’t stand up to those boys.”

I stared at him blankly, probably with shock written across my face because he chuckled after awhile. Certainly, he wasn’t saying that I should have used magic against them.

I must have been gawking for a few minutes because the next thing I knew, we were outside the door that led to the Magister’s Chambers. This door was a good ten minutes away from where we started.

“Well, Adam?” he said in the same tone I would have said well, sir.

“Uhm, sir, you do know my magic is very weak. I wouldn’t have stood a chance against one of them, much less five.”

“You don’t give your skills enough credit, Adam. You’re the wisest in your age and your magic may be a bit underdeveloped, but it is far from weak. It just needs the right catalyst to set it free.”

I felt a sudden tingling in the back of my neck at his words. I just ignored it.

He continued. “I’m leaving the castle for a few days starting tomorrow. Perhaps you would like to accompany me?”

I looked up at him again. His bright grey, almost silver, eyes looked deeply into my brown eyes as though asking for my permission only as a courtesy. “You want me to accompany you on one of your trips, sir?”

He chuckled softly. “I don’t take too many trips away from the castle, do I?” he smiled genially. “But, yes, I would like you to accompany me. You see, I’m going to one of the non-magical human communities and I’d like to have your expertise with me while I am there.”

I stiffened immediately at the implication of his words. He must have noticed because he quickly resumed speaking.

“We are not going back to your old village,” he said solemnly. “There is no need for you to go there unless you choose to. In fact, you don’t even have to come with me if you don’t want.” He smiled reassuringly.

I relaxed a bit when he said that, but the tingling at the back of my neck became somewhat stronger. I figure it was just my nerves.

“Of course, sir. I’d be happy to go with you. But, sir, how about all my classes? My homework? I’m going to be behind in my studies.”

At this he laughed heartedly. “My dear boy, you’re so advanced in your studies, you’d have to take a leave for a year before you are behind. As it happens, I’ve already asked your teachers to excuse you for the next few days as I will be bringing you along with me. Knowing how ahead you are, they naturally had no objections to it.”

“You already knew I would say yes, sir?” I gave him a wide smile.

“Well, I was hoping you would, but it never hurts to ask permission as early as possible so as not to offend them. Besides, the cookies were already ready for them and I figured I might as well ask while they were in a good mood.”

Again with the cookies.

“Sir,” I began to ask, “you don’t really give them cookies as bribes, do you?”

“Not as bribes, no,” he said and he left it that.

“Well sir, if it’s alright with all my teachers then I will gladly come with you. Is there anything I need to bring with me?”

“Just bring a few sets of clothes and some food. I’ll take care of our shelter and transportation.” He looked down the hall as though he were expecting someone to come around the corner. I looked towards where he was looking but saw nothing. “Well,” he added after awhile, “be ready before sunrise and meet me by the stables, okay?”

“Yes sir, I will.”

With that, he vanished quickly into the Magister’s Chambers.

I stood there for a moment looking at the door wondering at the abrupt end to our conversation. I turned around and immediately fell backwards. I would have hit the floor if I wasn’t so close to the door.

Madame Roost was staring down at me.

“What are you doing here?” she ruffled. I used the term ruffled because with every word she seemed to shake her head. And her hair was so thick and feather-like that she seemed to be ruffling feathers when she spoke. The rumpled, somewhat wrinkly but rough skin that covered her face and body didn’t help any. I always thought her name was somewhat appropriate.

“What are you doing here, boy?” she asked again, somewhat more irritated.

I was contemplating telling her that I was talking to Magister Aenhol and that I didn’t need to have permission to be standing outside this particular room when all of the sudden the tingling on my neck came back with a vengeance. This time, it returned with something I had not heard in years.

She must not know. She is evil. She must not learn about Jacob. Hide the truth!

Instinctively, I knew what I had to say. I explained to her that I was seeing this other professor about this essay I submitted. I was worried that I might not have gotten the highest possible grade. Knowing myself, it was a perfectly reasonable explanation to be standing there.

She looked at me again as though analyzing what I was saying and not finding the slightest shred of truth in them. Eventually, she spoke again. “So why are you still standing here?”

I stared at her for a second and then started walking down the hall. Neither of us said another word. I heard a door behind me open and close as I walked away.

It was maybe thirty seconds later that I suddenly stopped in my tracks, the full implications of what had happened finally hit me. The voice! It spoke to me again after all these years. And what’s more, it warned me that Madame Rooste was evil and to withhold information from her. For a moment, I contemplated going back to tell Magister Aenhol what happened. But with Madame Rooste lurking who knows where, it might not be safe. Besides, who else might possibly overhear that conversation… I wouldn’t want anyone to start thinking I was crazy.

No, that conversation would be best held outside the castle.

But what did that warning mean? Could Madame Rooste be dangerous (other than being a pain in the ass)?

More importantly, who the heck was Jacob?