Adamagika: The Spirit Within - 11. Ch 11: The Mage Council

CHAPTER 11: The Mage Council

Jacob and I spent the next two weeks training.

He attended all my classes with me which mostly involved theory. Some of our classmates actually approached him and seemed to be interested in him. But as soon as they found out that he was from the village, they would promptly find an excuse to be anywhere else then leave.

I was worried that this would hurt Jacob’s feelings but each time I looked at him he seemed perfectly content having just me as a friend. Without having to think about it, I knew I felt the same way about him.

Magister Aenhol managed to procure special permission for us to train practical magic privately, separate from the rest of the students, citing Jacob’s lack of training in magic as a need to return to the basics. I found this somewhat unusual but it seemed Magister Aenhol’s influence was much more than I had thought before. Instead of including him in younger classes, it was deemed better if I were to instruct him myself. In the evenings though, he would be privately instructed by Magister Va’aelua, a teacher for younger groups of students who were only undergoing the fundamentals of magic. I didn’t know him very well but his kind face and upbeat attitude made him easily likable. His evening trainings gave me time to catch up on my own studies.

I spoke to Magister Va’aelua once a few days after Jacob started with him and he said that Jacob was a natural and wouldn’t take long to catch up to our level. Frankly, he was surprised that Jacob’s magic did not manifest itself sooner.

At first, I was skeptical with the arrangement regarding the practical magic training with me because of my obvious shortcomings in the practical side of magic. Magister Aenhol though thought otherwise.

The thing was I wanted to impress Jacob. I didn’t want him to see how weak my magic was. Although secretly, I was also afraid that Jacob’s magic would far outshine mine and that he would decide to find someone else to train him. I found out soon enough though that I wouldn’t have to worry about that.

We were eating in an almost empty dining hall for students and I was trying to show him how to conjure fire. With most basic elemental summoning magic, no spells were needed but rather just a mental image of the element you want to summon and a deep concentration and desire to summon forth that element.

I knew that I could barely summon a tiny wick of flame even though I would try to imagine a forest fire in my head. I had no reason to expect anything different this time.

It came as a shock then when instead of producing my usual flicker of fire, our table along with nine other surrounding tables around us went up in flames. Even more shocking was the fact that my entire right hand was covered in flames. I waved it wildly before me willing it to stop but if anything the flames around us seemed to rise higher.

Jacob was holding a glass of water before our table erupted in flames. He promptly thrust the meager contents of his glass towards my hand. I soon found myself sprawled on the ground completely soaked with more water than could have possibly come from that tiny glass. Looking around, the whole dining hall seemed to have been submerged in three inches of water and the fires had been put out, leaving the charred remains of the once proud tables in their watery graves.

My hand, thankfully, was unscarred.

We were promptly ushered out of the dining hall by a disgruntled Hall Mistress past a completely drenched and shocked Marcus. She yanked us out of the hall then gave us a stiff warning that if we were ever to do magic again in her hall or even anywhere near her hall, we would find ourselves kicked out of the castle without so much as a “sorry”. Later on, we were told by Magister Aenhol that we should avoid any further unnecessary destruction of school property or else risk expulsion.

Needless to say, we began practicing magic elsewhere.

We also developed the habit of sitting in our room with the chairs facing out towards the windows. From that point, there was a spectacular view of the north side of the city. You could see most of the busy streets that made up the northern face of the city. Beyond the city walls, you could see the long stretch of grass that surrounded Arantiva finally ending at the edge of the Brallic forest. Much farther away in the north east, you could see the distinct outline of the Hallean Mountains said to be the home of a mysterious being they called the Seer.

We would often spend the time talking about anything or even doing nothing. The silences that surrounded us every now and then were rarely awkward. It was as though we were just enjoying each other’s company in quiet contemplation.

The first few days, we would return to the room to find that the chairs we moved to the windows were returned back to the table. By the fifth day though, housekeeping must have caught on because the chairs were still in front of the window as we left them the day before. They’ve been like that ever since.

During one of the times we spent sitting in front of the windows, Jacob asked me if I had a special someone. I easily answered that there was no one special in my life unless I counted Magister Aenhol but I didn’t think of him in that way. I didn’t bother asking him the same question since I somehow knew the answer already so I promptly changed the subject and it was entirely forgotten.

We haven’t spoken much about what happened in the forest or even Jacob’s life before we met. Every time I would bring it up, Jacob would often become quiet and refuse to speak until I would change the topic. I found this awfully odd considering he seemed to be accepting being a mage quite easily but not how he arrived at that realization.

Magister Aenhol hadn’t spoken to me about Jacob yet either and sometimes it almost felt like he was avoiding me. I was dying to talk to someone about it, to understand what happened to us and more importantly why it did. I wished that they would be as curious about it as I was.

I also wanted to speak to him about the feeling of unease that has been growing the last few weeks. I’ve had it even before Jacob arrived. It was this nagging sensation inside me that felt as though I was being warned of things to come. Someone or something was watching my city and I knew that sometime soon, something terrible will happen.

It wasn’t until two weeks after we arrived that part of my wish was answered – well sort of.

We returned to our room to find a letter on our unused table.

“What is it?” Jacob asked as I picked up the rolled parchment.

“It’s a summons,” I said as I read through the contents of the letter. “They want us to appear tomorrow before the Mage Council to discuss what happened in the Anthium Forest.”

Jacob looked away from me as though not wanting to meet my eyes. I’ve just about had enough of that particular attitude.

“Okay Jacob, what’s up with you?”

“What do you mean?” he asked. He looked at me almost innocently but I knew better.

“You’ve been avoiding this whole topic ever since we got here. Every time I even mention anything to do with the forest, you clam up and say you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, I don’t,” he said defiantly.

“Well, you’re going to have to because this piece of parchment means we need to talk about it not only between us but in front of who knows how many mages.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” he said in a way that clearly conveyed his annoyance. He walked towards the window and took his usual spot in his chair.

I sat beside him and stared out the window. I glanced over at Jacob and saw his arm wound tightly around his chest, his shoulders stiff but slumped, and his lips curled in a defiant frown.

It would have been cute if I wasn’t so annoyed at the time.

I released a sigh. “It’s beautiful isn’t it?” I said as I looked over at the view that perpetually adorned our window.

Jacob didn’t show any sign that he heard me. It seemed he was intent on ignoring me the rest of the day.

I sighed deeply, feeling hurt by his behavior. “I’ve only been in this room for two weeks but I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of looking out there.” I paused as I took a mental picture of the view in my mind. “I’ve never seen this place so beautiful you know. Since you’ve come here, it’s like I’m seeing things in an entirely new way. Things I never noticed before or even paid any attention to suddenly seemed to take a whole new sense of meaning to me.”

I looked over at Jacob. His features were still solidly stuck in that stubborn façade except for his eyes. They seemed softer.

“Before you arrived here, I was really lonely,” I said surprised by the truth of those words. Hearing them seemed to renew old wounds. “I thought I was happy. Somehow I convinced myself that I was happy reading books and being ignored by other people. But when I met you and you came back with me here it just…”

I paused as I felt the unmistakable moistening in my eyes. I wasn’t afraid to cry in front of Jacob. I felt as though if anyone was allowed to see my cry, it would be this boy with me now.

“…it just didn’t matter you know. I love talking to you. I love being with you. And when you act all angry and talk to me that way, I just feel like…”

A pair of small arms enveloped me and put a cork in what I was about to say. In truth, I was happy because I was afraid of what would have happened if I had been given the chance to finish my train of thought.

Jacob tightened his hold around me. My body relaxed into his embrace. I leaned my head on his as his head fell on my shoulder. I thought he would release me from his embrace to get into a comfortable position but he remained resolute on his grip. I knew better than to pry myself out of it.

We sat there in wordless conversation, the silence speaking volumes. It felt like we were sharing a private closeness reserved only for lovers. I certainly did not think of us in that way but times like this made me wonder what if.

The peace that settled on us was rudely interrupted by a sudden wet spot that began to creep its way through my shirt from where Jacob was leaning his head. At first I thought he was drooling on me but the sniff that he released suggested that what I felt were his tears.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly.

“No. I’m the one who should be sorry.” Jacob sniffed, his voice cracking in obvious discomfort. “I didn’t realize how important this was for you. It’s just hard you know.”

I stayed silent, willing him to continue.

“I lost my entire family to mages,” he said softly, “and now I’m here living among them as one of them. Sometimes, sometimes it’s just easier to forget you know.”

Yes, in fact I did know.

“Do you know about the night Thomas and I ran away from the village?”

“Yeah, I saw that in my visions,” I said softly.

“Do you know what happened to them?”

“No, that part I didn’t get to see.”

“Well, when I got back a few days later to the village, it was a mess. All the houses were torn down and there were bodies upon bodies piled on each other.” Jacob shivered and I raised my arm to embrace him in a half hug. This whole time, his arms were still wrapped around me. Once he started speaking, it was like a dam broke and he couldn’t stop. “Some people from the neighboring villages had come. They managed to subdue some of the mages. You should have seen them. They looked possessed, almost dead. An elder from another village said they’ve been consumed by their magic and have lost their souls to its evil. Their faces were sunk deep into their bones and their skin was so pale that it was almost ghostly. It was horrible.”

That confused me. What he was describing sounded nothing like the mages I knew. In all my readings, they seemed to match only one other thing. “Jacob, you said they were subdued. What did you mean by that?”

Jacob finally released his arm from around me and seemed to pull away. His face turned towards me and I finally got to see his tear streaked face. The wet streams that rushed from his eyes flowed sideward influenced by his leaning position on my shoulders. He swiped at them angrily.

“They were horrible. They just wouldn’t die. It was like there was no life left in them to kill and something else was making them move. There were three of them. I only got to see one of them up close but that was enough.” Jacob looked out the window as though trying to draw strength from some unknown force. “He had at least two spears sticking out of his chest and as far as I could tell his hands were chopped off. But that didn’t seem to matter.”

Jacob looked at me and his pale blue eyes were unfocused. His face was a mask of confusion and fear. “He was laughing. He was laughing this most evil laugh and he shouted out in this unearthly chilling voice: Toil all you want humans, the Lord of the Dead shall rise and bring upon your end. Your souls shall suffer his wrath. And then this cold wind, this evil wind, just swept across the village and it seemed to take whatever life was bound into those bodies. They just stopped moving. They just… stopped moving.”

Jacob’s mouth hung open as he seemed to relive the memory of that day. Just watching his face gave me chills and somewhat glad that whatever he saw, I didn’t.

It was my turn to hug him in an embrace. Jacob seemed shocked by it because his muscles went stiff and his body seemed to be leaning away from me. But eventually he relaxed and welcomed my embrace. He needed my strength at that moment and I was more than happy to give it to him.

“I don’t think those were mages, Jacob.”

He pulled away from me and looked at me in confusion. “What do you mean?”

I wondered how I could explain this. “Well, what do you know of the undead?”

“Uhm, what are those?” he asked shakily.

“Hmm, well, from what I’ve read some people believe there are these things they call spirits. They’re like manifestations of pure energy except that they are capable of thought. By themselves though, they are often powerless. They need a host, someone or something they can posses so that they are able to channel their powers through to the material world.

“Some of them are good,” I continued “but mostly, they’re evil and capable of great evil. They say once a spirit possesses a body, it begins to wither away until it no longer needs anything to survive other than the essence of the spirit. That’s where the term undead came from. Their bodies are essentially dead and yet they aren’t. There are accounts of a kingdom in the east supposedly ruled by the dead but it’s at least a thousand miles away from here and for the most part, no one ever explores those territories.”

“So those things that attacked my parents, they were evil spirits? They were just corpses being controlled?” Jacob asked as though only half-convinced.

“They sound like they were bodies possessed by evil spirits. I don’t know if they’re still alive or not. No one really does. The mages here though are human like everyone else, Jacob. We bleed and if we bleed enough, we will die. Those things you described to me don’t sound like just ordinary mages.”

Jacob grew quiet perhaps pondering what I said. I just hoped that this discovery would help deflect his hatred towards mages even by a little bit. His forehead creased which indicated to me that some thought was bothering him. “Adam?”

“Yeah?”

“What does that make me?”

“What do you mean?”

Jacob seemed to hesitate as though he was unsure of his next few words.

I took his hand in mine. “You can tell me anything, you know. You can trust me.”

His face broke into a reluctant smile. “I know. It’s just, there’s something about me you don’t know.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

Jacob took a deep breath before answering. “I think I’m possessed.”

I looked at him and his face gave nothing away other than a sense of deep seriousness. I couldn’t help myself. I chuckled.

“What do you mean?” I asked. Jacob’s face switched to something closer to annoyance.

“I can hear voices.”

I smiled a wide smile at him. “I know.”

His eyes grew into saucers as his mouth dropped open. “You knew?”

“Yeah.” I said with a smug smile but as I saw Jacob’s face slowly turning from shock to annoyance I knew I had to say something else and quickly too. “If it makes you feel any better, if you’re possessed then I’m possessed too cause I can also hear voices.”

I offered Jacob a small grin that I hoped showed my sincerity. At first, he looked at me in confusion but as my words settled in deeper in his understanding, his eyes grew wide with happiness. There was no mistaking that he was thoroughly relieved to find out that it was not only him like that; to know that he was not after all alone.

He threw his arm around me for what seemed like an attack maneuver but just as quickly pulled himself away as he heard my laughter. He pulled away just enough to let our faces rest within an inch apart from one another, our noses touching tip to tip. Each set of lips seemed to scream out and yearn for a kiss. At least, that’s what I felt. For the briefest moment I considered leaning just a little forward and tasting him.

But regrettably it never happened. The moment passed when he broke away from me, though reluctantly if I observed correctly.

* * * * * * * * * *

The Mage Council was established in the early years of Arantiva to serve as the highest administrative body that governed the sovereign city. The council served as a government of its own answering to no one but itself. Though Arantiva was part of the Coalition of Mages, the latter holds no authority over how Arantiva was run by its people. For the most part, the coalition was formed as an informal alliance where one city recognizes the other as a friend and would aid them in times of great need.

The council was composed of nine mages: one High Mage Lord and eight Mage Lords. It serves as judge, jury, and executioner in all matters related to the safety and progress of Arantiva. Though there has never been a single recorded execution in Arantiva’s entire history, the council was capable of passing the judgment of death to anyone that would threaten the safety of the city or its people.

I was not familiar with the members of the council. I knew them by name but the only one I have ever met was Madame Rooste. I tried to look through books to find out more regarding her history and ascension into the Mage Council but the only new information I found was that her predecessor died a calm, rather peaceful death in his sleep – a heart attack the records said.

At that moment, all nine seemingly healthy members of the current Mage Council were staring down at me from their high seats in the Gathering Hall. They were seated a few feet apart from one another forming a semi-circle in the large round room. Five were seated in the front and four were on a second row above.

“Are you Adam Lowry, born on the 28^th of June, currently sixteen years of age, a ward of Magister Edward Aenhol, a mage and citizen of Arantiva?” the man who must have been High Mage Lord Khael said to me. I’ve heard of him being described as having a regal aura. He certainly looked like an old benevolent king and one I definitely could not imagine going to the Ice Queen’s Taverna, nowadays anyway.

“Yes, I am.”

“Speak up boy,” he said rather loudly. My thoughts of his benevolence went out the window.

“Yes, I am Adam,” I said with more strength.

“Let the records show as such. Gathered today as witness is the complete, serving Mage Council of the 21^st year of the 23^rd century recorded in known history.” He paused as he looked over at the mage farthest to his right who simply nodded at him. “Let the questioning begin.”

“Did you,” he continued, “accompany Magister Edward Aenhol on a trip to the Anthium forest that started eighteen days ago?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you enter the forest and come upon a human settlement noted to have been completely deserted?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Could you describe in your own words what happened when you reached the said settlement?”

I nodded and began describing what happened. I started with how my teacher and I went in to inspect the village, found it abandoned, and eventually discovered that it was a trap. I did, however, omit the part about hearing the voice though. Jacob and I agreed the day before that it would not be wise to mention the voice to anyone other than each other. When I got to the part about the obelisks acting strange, one of the Mage Lords interrupted me.

“You said you called you teacher’s attention to the statues,” said the only other female mage in the room other than Madame Rooste. She looked rather young to be a Mage Lord. She had long blonde hair that stood out on her royal purple robes. I nodded my response to her to which she said, “how did you know?”

I began to fidget but hoped that it didn’t show. In truth, I only knew because the voice had told me so but I certainly couldn’t tell them that at the risk they might think I was crazy, or worse possessed. I figured that I needed to lie.

“There was this prickling sensation, you see. It felt like magic was being drawn out of the whole area. I just figured that the statues, being the only things out of place in the whole area, must have had something to do with what was happening.”

The council members began turning to each other as though whispering. I found this strange since it would have been impossible for them to hear each other at that distance. I figured some form of magic was at work since they seemed to hear each other just fine and yet I could not hear them at all.

It took me a moment to realize that Madame Rooste was very still unlike the other Mage Lords who were having conversations left and right. She was staring down at me with very calculating eyes. It made me awfully uncomfortable.

The High Mage Lord called for silence. “Tell us about the statues.”

I described it to them. How it was covered with straw and wood and how underneath it all there was a black obelisk that was charred or painted in black. I described to them how Magister Aenhol managed to destroy two but couldn’t seem to do anything about the third once it had started glowing.

It was clear that this last pronouncement was unsettling for them. The few times that my eyes met those of the Mage Lords, I could see and feel a shared sense of unease. They was tinged with an understanding that said they knew exactly what happened and what it meant. They also suggested that the obelisks ultimately meant that they had something grave to worry about. I began to wonder if they experienced the same feelings of unease I’ve been having the last few weeks.

It was only Madame Rooste’s eyes that were different. They were cold and it felt like she would have wanted nothing else than to get rid of me at that very moment.

They asked me several other questions particularly regarding our escape. I got nervous when they started asking me about Jacob.

“He attacked me in the forest.” I said as they asked me to describe how we encountered each other. “Something happened between us.”

“Elaborate,” said Madame Rooste. It was the first thing she had said in the whole time I was there.

“It felt like there was an explosion of magic,” I said after a brief hesitation. Jacob and I had agreed that although we would keep the secret of the voice to ourselves, we would not withhold information on what happened between us in the forest. Magister Aenhol knew a little bit of it and it would not be wise to give accounts contrary to what he said in case he had mentioned it to the Mage Council.

“He was on top of me,” I continued, “his dagger was to my throat, and then it just felt like magic shimmered around us and somehow I saw bits and pieces of Jacob’s life. He also saw bits and pieces of my life and then I just, I guess I just understood him. It felt like we were connected somehow, bound my some common magic.”

At this, the council members broke again into unheard whispered conversations with each other. Madame Rooste seemed to have developed a disturbing interest on my neck.

After what seemed like ten minutes of continued conversation among the council members, the High Mage Lord called for silence.

“Thank you, Adam. That is all we need from you right now. Could you ask Jacob to come in after you?”

“Yes, sir,” I said thoroughly relieved that it was done. I nodded reverently before the council and made my way out of the Gathering Hall.

Jacob was waiting for me outside. His face was a mixture of worry and relief. It was clear that he was in the edge of panic. “How’d it go?” he asked.

“It went alright,” I said. “They just asked me a bunch of questions about what happened. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Clearly that was the wrong thing to say because Jacob started yammering.

“What if I say something bad? Or something wrong? What if they ask about my family? What if they find something and decide to send me back? What if there’s something wrong with me? I can’t go back, Adam. I can’t!”

“Hey, hey,” I said as I embraced him. He was shaking and this whole thing was clearly bothering him more than I would have thought. “It’s going to be okay. Trust me. I’ll be right here outside waiting for you, okay?”

Jacob’s shaking subsided a little as he seemed to draw strength from my embrace, his breathing was slowing down from the ragged gasps it was just moments ago. I held unto him, unwilling to be the first to break our embrace.

“I should get in there,” Jacob said as he broke away from our embrace.

I nodded and gave him a smile. I watched him disappear behind the doors of the Gathering Hall and as soon as the doors shut, all sounds from the other side seemed to die out. It took an hour at least before he made his way out again.

During my time of solitude outside those doors, I was worried for Jacob. I was afraid of what they were going to ask him, what they would find out, what he might accidentally say that could get him or us into trouble. I wished that I could have been there by him, holding onto his hand, giving him support.

There was no doubt that I was protective of Jacob. But that time outside waiting for Jacob made me wonder if my feelings stretched beyond our shared magical connection.

I wondered if there was something more.

By the time I saw him again, I was a wreck from worrying. His face seemed calm though, almost serene. I ran to him with my unspoken question and he smiled at me.

It felt like the world was taken off my shoulders.

“So it went well then?” I asked releasing the breath I’d been holding.

“I think so,” he said. “They didn’t even ask me about anything other than what happened in the forest. At first I was worried about what they’d ask me but then, you know when I was inside, it almost felt like you were there with me holding my hand. That gave me strength to answer their questions.”

I was so relieved to hear his words and feel my worry ebbing away that it did not even occur to me that what he had said was exactly what I had been imagining the last hour.

“Well, I’m glad it went alright,” I said as the situation seemed to return to some semblance of normalcy. “Come on, we should get back. We can still make it to some of our classes.”

As we made our way back towards the school, Jacob and I were so enraptured about retelling what had happened in each of our own interrogations that I did not noticed the boy standing over one of the balconies above.

He was watching our progress across the grounds with his metallic grey eyes. If I had seen them, there would have been no mistaking the look they had – they were brooding and angry.