Mage War

Chapter Eight: A Promise of War

I’m with my parents, sitting at the table, eating dinner. There’s someone next to me, but I can’t see him well. If I focus on him, his form becomes blurry. He seems familiar, but I can’t remember his name. I look down at my plate. I’m done eating.

“May I leave the table?” I ask my parents. They nod, so I stand up. I walk to the kitchen, and start to wash my plate. I hear an argument coming from the dining room, but I ignore it. I focus on washing my dish. But the argument becomes worse. I hear angry screaming, and I cover my ears, and huddle up on the ground. I can still hear it. I scream, and stomp into the dining room.

“SHUT UP!” I yell. “Please, just be quiet.”

The blurry boy looks at me, cocking his head. “Won’t you support me, Zade?” He walks toward me and I back away. My da is talking to me:

“Zade, come here. Don’t listen to him. You still have time to be better.”

“NO!” I yell. “I won’t let all of you corrupt me. This isn’t fair. Can’t you just get along for once?”

“Zade, don’t let them poison you,” the boy tells me.

“I SAID SHUT UP,” I say, and then all hell breaks loose.

I focus on the blurry boy, and he gets thrown back, and crashes through the wall. He doesn’t stand up. I look at my parents, and I explode. I turn into flames, and throw myself at them. They scream as they try to fight me off, but I’m too strong. They fall and lay still. I get up, and revert back to my normal form. I look around. They deserved to die. It’s their fault.

I angrily walk outside, leaving the bodies on the floor, smoking. I slam the door, and pause as I see the world. Or what’s left of it. Everything’s gone, only ruins left. The house I live in is the only thing standing. I look around. There are people crying on the ground. Some missing legs, others missing loved ones. All pleading for help. Help I cannot give.

I wonder what happened here. It looks horrible, like a mage struck the entire world with lightning. Somehow, I know this is the apocalypse. Nothing comes after this. This is the end.

I hear a roar behind me. I turn and look. I gasp. It’s a huge army, celebrating. Some of the mages are tormenting civilians. Others are just dancing or pumping their fists into the air. Clearly, they are the ones who did this. There’s a man leading them. If you can call him a man. He must be at least nine feet tall, and his face creeps me out. His eyes are balls of fire, and he has wolves’ fangs where his teeth should be. He’s holding a mace in one hand, and a sword in the other. He looks straight at me and I back away.

“ZADE HELSTORM,” he tells me. “WALK FORWARD.”

My legs move of their own accord, and soon I’m right in front of him. He tilts my chin up to his face.

“DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?

“Dautha,” I croak out.

“GOOD JOB! BUT YOU OPPOSE ME.” I shake my head.

“No, I didn’t. I swear.”

He laughs. “DON’T WORRY, ZADE. I WON’T HURT YOU. I WANT YOU TO TAKE YOUR RIGHTFUL PLACE AS A DEMI-GOD.”

“Why? I would kill you if I had the chance.”

“YOU COULDN’T KILL ME IF YOU WANTED TO. BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER NOW. THE PAST IS THE PAST. JOIN ME NOW, AND ALL IS FORGIVEN. I’LL GIVE YOU A SPOT NEXT TO ME.”

I breathe out. “How do I know you’re not lying.”

“WHY WOULD I LIE?”

I nod. He has a good point. I don’t know what to do.

“CHOOSE NOW!”

“I accept.”

He smiles. “WELCOME, ZADE HELSTORM. MAY YOU LIVE FOREVER AS A SERVANT OF DAUTHA.”

I feel a flood of power wash over me. I feel so good. I see Dautha’s motivations. And I believe.

I believe. And it feels good.

I wake up sweaty. The dream is already slipping from my memory, but the feelings remain. I feel horrible and weak, like I just lost a lot of power. I take a while to fully recover my senses, and get out of bed. I get dressed. It’s morning, but the sun isn’t completely out yet. I focus on making a flame on my finger. I focus on letting it last as long as possible. I close my eyes as I do it to not get distracted by the outside world. I last twenty minutes. It’s my record.

I pick up the black book. I open it to the first chapter, and start to read.

CHAPTER 1:

The Core

Every mage has a core. No one knows where a Mage’s core is. It is only seen with eyes closed. Cores come in a variety of shapes and colors, but most are some form of sphere. The core has limited power, growing along with its Mage’s strength. That strength is called Mana. But the core has unlimited capabilities. It has the capacity to do anything, as long as the Mage finds a way to use it that way.

Most Mages can find a way to control their core completely in a year or two. The best Mages control it in a month. The weakest never do. If a Mage has control of their core, their Magic knows no bounds, except when the Mage is not strong enough mentally to take said magic. When a Mage uses too much Magic, it can either kill him, or expunge the Magic from his body turning him into an invalid. This is called The Burning, and it's the most painful experience a Mage can have.

There are ways to increase a Mage’s core. It’s called flexing. A mage must grip his core, and stretch it as far as possible. Then that step must be repeated as much as possible. The more a Mage does this, the more the Mage will improve his core. Not only will it increase a Mage’s power, but it will also decrease a Mage’s chance of Burning.

When a fledgling Mage wants to do a bit of Magic, they must use their core consciously. Once they are experienced, they can do it subconsciously. In training, to learn magic, a Mage must guide the core to becoming what they want to happen in the real world. The more complicated the magic, the harder it is to guide the core. The higher the level, the easier it is to guide the core.

If a Mage increases his level, his mana will grown, leading him to be able to do more complicated magic without the risk of Burning.

If a skill is acquired, the core is required to use the skill, but never enough to Burn the Mage.

All Mages have experience points. EXPs can be used to increase your core or improve on skills. Mages earn EXPs from using Magic. The more complicated, the more EXP.

I flip to the front of the book. There are two new things there:

Mana: 100%

EXP: 150

I close the book. I should go eat breakfast. Astil and Xavier are probably açready at the cafeteria. I yawn, open the door, and head for the cafeteria. I’ll finish the chapter later.

— — —

Astil is shaking with nervousness. Literally. He can’t talk without stuttering. I had totally forgotten that today was Astil’s date, but apparently he didn’t. Obviously, I try to cheer him up.

“Astil, calm down. She probably won’t kill you.”

He glares daggers at me. “D-d-don’t say t-that to me, p-p-please. She might do it.”

Xavier laughs so hard, it takes him a minute to be able to talk. “Anni is literally the sweetest person you’ve ever met. You think she’ll kill you?”

“She might.”

“You wanna ask her.”

“N-no, please.”

I see Anni. “Hey, Anni, sit with us.”

Anni happily comes over, ponytail bobbing as usual. She sits next to Astiç, and hugs him.

“Hey, Astil! How are you doing?”

“I-i-i’m fine, t-t-thanks for asking.”

I look conspiratorially at Anni. “He isn’t always like this. Only around pretty girls.”

She laughs. “He’s just sweet, right, Astil?”

He chuckles nervously. “Right.”

“I hope you’re ready for our date. I have a lot of ideas.”

Astil’s eyes widen, and he looks in horror at me. Xavier smiles at Anni.

“Don’t worry, he’s ready. He’s been talking about it nonstop since you asked him out,” Xavier says. I can’t help but laugh out loud. Xavier is telling the truth, just not the whole truth. Yes, Astil has been talking about it since Anni asked him out, but he’s been talking about how scared he is over it.

“I know my Atty is excited for it.” Anni says as she grabs his arm. I grin wickedly at Xavier and mouth ‘My Atty’. He nods, stifling a laugh.

Astil looks at us angrily, and stands up.

“I’ll see you later, Anni. As for you guys, please leave me alone.”

Me and Xavier look at each other innocently as Astil stomps off. Anni looks confusedly at us, and I wave her off.

“It’s ok. He gets nervous like this sometimes.”

She smiles. “I guess I’ll see you later. Tell Atty I’ll see him after lunch."

“We will,” Xavier says, and Anni leaves. Me and Xavier finish breakfast, and Xavier turns to me.

“If you don’t have to study tonight, I could show you the game room. I know you haven’t gone. You should see it.”

I smile. “Sounds like fun. Let’s go.”

— — —

The game room is massive, and a misnomer. It should be called game rooms. There are two. The first has a host of people playing strategy based magical games: games like chess or checkers. The second room has games that are purely magical and were invented here at Zenyth. Xavier leads me to one of his favorite games, which is called Jockey. Basically, there are three balls, and eighteen holes. It’s a simple game with little concentration, which is why Xavier loves it so much. All you have to do is lift the balls with your mind and get them in the cups. The problem is all I can do is make a flame with my finger. I haven’t learned to lift things with my mind. I decide to give the game a try anyway.

Xavier goes first. This game is mostly for mages who just started training, because with more skill, it becomes really easy to get the balls in the holes. He gets the first one in a hole worth five points, and the second in a hole worth three. The last one goes in a hole that gives him negative two points.

It’s my turn. I don’t know if i’ll be able to do it, but I decide to try. I close my eyes, and concentrate on my core. I guide it to becoming…what? What should it be? Should I guide it to be air or maybe the ball I’m trying to lift? I try making it air first, and my core evaporates, but I can still feel it. It worked! I try to guide the air to the ball in front of me. I concentrate hard. I open my eyes. I did it! The ball’s in the air.

As soon as I open my eyes, though, I lose concentration. The ball falls back to the ground. I groan. Now I have to do it again. I close my eyes. This time it takes more concentration and more time to get the ball in the air, but once I do, I fling it, thrusting my hands out as if they’re holding the ball. The ball goes flying too far, and lands on the wall before bouncing back down.

“The first time I tried to do that,” Xavier says. “I got the ball embedded in the wall. The Mages were furious with me.” I chuckle, slightly annoyed. I still wish I had done it.

It takes me fifteen tries, but I finally get the ball in a hole, and it’s worth three points!

I return to playing the game, and it takes me fifteen minutes to get the other two balls in. In the end, I got five points, which means I lost.

“I’m tired. This takes too much concentration,” I tell Xavier , catching my breath. He smiles wickedly.

“I know somewhere we can go.” He runs off, and I run after him. As we rush off, he keeps talking to me. “The day I arrived here I found a place nobody knows about. I’ve been able to eavesdrop on a lot of people from there. You would be surprised by what I’ve heard.” I smile as I imagine it. We arrive at a hallway, and he points to a wall. Across from it is a bench.

“When I got here,” he tells me, “I laid back against this wall, and the wall slid back. I don’t know anyone else who knows about this place, so it’s become my secret hideout.” He taps one part of the wall, and it slides open. I walk in after him, and the wall closes. At least, from the outside it does. From where I am, I can still see the hallway. It’s strange. I’m sure that people from the hallway wouldn’t be able to see me, but I’m able to see them.

We stay there for about half an hour. Only a couple people pass by, and eventually, I get bored in this tiny closet room. I’m just about to suggest we leave, when I hear something. Xavier puts his finger to his mouth, and I nod, understanding. Two mages appear, one speaking angrily to the other.

“They threatened us,” He says. I mentally call him the Irate One.

“I know. But we can’t do anything about it,” says the Calm One.

“So we just let it slide? If we don’t do anything, this is war!” The Irate One responds.

“I know. I know. What do you have in mind?”

“Stop the cult. Arrest a fanatic. Publicly denounce Dautha. Anything. We need to stop the Cult. We need to stop the war.”

“I don’t think you understand,” the Calm One replies. “We can’t stop this war. All we can do is delay it. Send another peace offering.”

“You have to be joking. That won’t work.”

“It has to. It has to.” The mages leave the hallway. Me and Xavier look at each other. Then we run back to our rooms.

— — —

I’m sitting next to my room in what is the Gallery. It’s the most popular place for mages-in-training to hang out, except for possibly the game room. Xavier and Astil are here, and we just filled in what happened to Astil. I’m still processing what happened, and Astil shakes his head.

“Really? As soon as we arrive, war is coming? That sucks.”

“Do you know what a war would entail?” Xavier asks. “Last time a war happened, the mages almost destroyed the world.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I say. “If they didn’t destroy the world a thousand years ago, they won’t now.”

“How can you be sure of that?”

“Because I’m here now. And I’m the savior of the world.”

We all pause for a second, and then burst out laughing. Xavier wipes his eyes.

“Imagine you actually thought that. You’d be so much more obnoxious.”

“That implies that I already am.”

Astil snorts. “You know full well how obnoxious you are.”

I gasp in mock outrage. “Me? Obnoxious? How could you?”

Astil rolls his eyes, and looks at the window.

“We should go eat.”

Xavier smiles. “You know what happens after that?”

Astil groans. “Please don’t mention it.”

We head off towards the cafetera and eat our lunch there. Anni is there, but Astil ignores her the whole time. Before he can finish his lunch, we abruptly pull him up, and push him back to his room.

“Hey, guys, stop! I wasn’t done. I’m still hungry.”

“Suck it up. We have to prepare you for your date.”

“Let me go!” We don’t let him go, obviously, and soon we’re back at his room. Xavier looks at him critically.

“You’re not dressing like this for the date.”

“What? Why not?” Astil is wearing a simple leather shirt and trousers, with his black cloak.

“I’m going to my room to get something. Xavier, take care of his wardrobe.” Xavier salutes at me, and I go back to my room. Within a minute, I’m back in Astil’s room.

“Okay,” I say, thrusting the perfume I bought at him, “You’re putting this on.”

“Why?” he complains.

“Because you’re not going on a date smelling like crap.”

He grumbles but does as I say. Xavier can’t find anything in Astil’s wardrobe that would be good for a date, but decides to force Astil to put on the black Zenyth Uniform.

“Everything looks better in black,” Xavier exclaims and I agree.

Eventually, Xavier slips back for a second, and comes back with a bouquet of flowers. That must be what he bought from the market.

“Here, give this to Anni,” Xavier commands Astil.

“What if she’s allergic.”

“It doesn’t matter if she’s allergic. You haven’t thought about this at all, have you?”

“Of course not. Zade got me into this in the first place.”

I groan. “We know you wanted to do this anyway.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“You’ll figure it out. Now go. Anni’s probably waiting for you.”

Astil heads out, and me and Xavier watch him go.

Xavier chuckles. “Our little boy is growing up.”

I playfully slap him on the shoulder. “We only know him for a week!”

He laughs. “Look at how nervous he is.”

“Poor guy,” I respond. “He needs this.”

“I agree,” Xavier says. “I think this will be great for him and us.”

“Why us?”

“Because maybe Astil won’t follow us around anymore.”

I glare at Xavier, and he chuckles. “I’m just kidding.”

I shake my head, and walk off.

“Where are you going?” Xavier asks.

“I’m going to train my magic. I haven’t done that at all today.”

“Won’t you come with me and see what Astil and Anni are doing.”

I grab him by the uniform. “Don’t you dare, Xavier. Let him be alone with her, okay?”

He grumbles. “Fine. I guess I’ll go train too.

— — —

“Focus on your core. Breathe. It is always better to prepare yourself before you do any magic.”

I close my eyes, as Master Thul guides me through my training. I asked him to teach me to levitate objects. He agreed but told me to practice what I already knew how to do first.

It becomes exponentially easier to do some magic if I’ve done it several times. My core seems to have muscle memory, and intuitively knows when I want to do the Flame Finger now. I barely even need to think for my core to transform itself. I guide it to my finger, and there it is. My gloved finger holds the flame as it dances around. I focus on the flame, not letting it die. It stays strong, and I close my eyes again, trusting it to stay as I mold my core as a flame. I want to keep it going, but Master Thul stops me.

“No need to waste your energy, Zade. You did tell me you wanted to do something else as well.”

“Right,” I respond, looking at him. “I was able to levitate a ball with Xavier, but it’s still really hard. I want to practice it.”

“As you should, Zade,” Master Thul tells me. “As you should.”

“Wait, before we do,” I ask him a question. “How do I acquire a skill?”

He chuckles. “Skills are acquired in times of great emotion, say joy or ire, even excitement. You do not need to worry about them until you get one, okay?”

I nod. “Alright.”

“Then let's start. Close your eyes again, and focus on your core. I placed your dagger on the table. Lift it with your mind.”

I do just that, and gently guide it to becoming mist and air. It evaporates, and I get a chilling sensation that I’ve lost my core. It’s irrational, because I can still feel it, but I can’t see it. I want to breathe fast, but I force the feeling down. Then, as my core starts to whip around, I put up a wall. The air is blocked from going backwards. I’m able to guide it then towards where Master Thul is, and where he put my dagger. I can imagine the dagger floating, but I keep my eyes closed to make sure I’m concentrating well. Eventually, I have to look up, and when I do the dagger is floating. But as I see it, suddenly I feel fatigued. The dagger is heavy. My core is getting weary just from picking it up.

I’m forced to let the dagger go, and I lay down on my bed with exhaustion. I try to catch my breath as Master Thul speaks to me:

“You should know your limits. You did good by releasing the dagger when you did. Any more and it could’ve knocked you out. Let this be a lesson for you. When you need to stop, you must stop. If you feel exhausted, don’t keep doing magic. Take a breather. If not, you could Burn yourself. Is that clear?”

I nod slowly. “What if I need to use my magic even when tired?”

“You better pray to God that doesn’t happen,” Master Thul tells me, “Or you’re dead.”

“Will leveling up help with that?”

“Sure,” Master Thul responds, “But you won’t level up that far until at least a few years from now.”

“That long?”

“I’m afraid so.”

I sigh. I knew that it would take years, possibly even decades, to learn magic, but if it takes years to be able to do magic while tired, it seems obsolete. Won’t enemy mages use that against me? I ask Master Thul my question and he nods.

“Of course. An enemy mage will do anything to dethrone you, or tear down your reputation. They’ll do anything to win. They’ll exploit all your weaknesses. You must make sure you are well rested every day. Now I advise you to take five minutes. When those five minutes are past, you must try again. Fatigue can Burn you, but it is imperative to learn how far is too far. Never stray so far that you’re close to Burning, but if you feel only a little tired, gauge yourself to see how much you can do before you’re too tired.”

I don’t know if I understand what he says, and he can see it. So he picks up the book, and hands it to me.

“Open it up.” I obey Master Thul and notice it immediately. My mana has dropped from 100% to just 65%.

“Some mages,” Master Thul tells me, “Can last all the way to 5% percent until they can’t do magic any more. Some stop at 50%. It’s different with a mage’s capabilities. And their level, of course. You must figure out where you have to stop. You will probably not take this book everywhere, but if you need it, it will tell you how much mana you have. Use it. Know your abilities. Know your limits.”

I nod again. I think I understand. My mana is currently at 65%, which means that I can definitely do more magic now. But I probably cannot do much more. I have to be careful. I do still have one question, though.

“How does my mana come back?”

“With rest. Sleeping is the best way. Taking a nap can do much. It’s not called a power nap for nothing.” He winks at me. “But you can also just take a break. Sit down and talk with your friends. Relax. When your mana is low, try not to engage in any hectic activities. That only makes everything worse. It won’t deplete your mana, but it will keep you tired longer. There’s dangers to being a mage, just like with any job.”

“Should I take a nap now, then?”

“Go ahead. I’ll wake you in fifteen minutes and we can try again.”

I lay down, and try to sleep.

— — —

I didn’t really sleep, but I felt ready after just fifteen minutes of resting. I was able to keep the dagger up for thirty seconds before it was too much.

I joined Xavier for dinner, and we just talked about Astil. We didn’t see him at dinner. Then we returned to the Gallery, and we’re here now, waiting for Astil.

“When do you think he’s coming back?” Xavier asks.

“I don’t think he is. He’ll be too embarrassed.” I respond.

“You think we act too immature for people with seventeen summers?” We stay silent for a minute, and both laugh.

“Nah. If so, all other seventeen year-olds are boring.”

“That’s been my experience,” Xavier says.

I chuckle. At Erenfeld, there were only a couple people my age. Danni is a month younger. Jade is just eleven months older. And Joh was three months older. I think most of them grew along with me, so we were all just as mature as each other. Or as immature, I guess.

Astil returns. Me and Xavier look up at the same time, but Astil doesn’t see us. Either that, or he ignores us, so Xavier calls him. Astil looks over at us. He looks flushed.

“Astil, how did it go?

He looks at us, and he’s catching his breath for some reason. He’s also smiling, which I take as a good thing. But he doesn’t answer Xavier. He looks a little distracted. So it’s my turn to talk. I walk over to Astil and grab his shoulders.

“Astil, how did it go?”

Astil cocks his head, and smiles wider. Then he finally responds.

“I… I think I’m in love.”

He walks to his room. No, he’s skipping? I’ve never seen him do that.

“Yes!” Xavier shouts. “We did it, Zade.”

I nod, and we laugh. “I can’t believe it. We really did.”

“I know. I know.”

It’s late, so we go to bed soon after. I think I can hear Astil singing from my room.

Astil is happy.

Therefore, I am happy. At least for today.

I am happy.