~*~*~
Khor had worked hard throughout the night, attempting to focus his magic and tried to break through this barrier Vathen had spoken of. He had eventually fallen asleep on the cold stone floor while attempting to ignite a fire once more.
He slowly woke up, his face cold as well as the rest of his body. He slowly stood, rubbing his face. He glanced at a small clock hung above his bed. According to it classes had started and gone several hours ago.
At first feeling panic that eventually subsided into anxiety he quickly changed into his usual clothes and stepped out of his room. Before he went anywhere he wondered where Rakari might have gone.
He instantly thought of the atrium and began to walk there. Traveling down several flights of stair and seeing several students look at him suspiciously. Ignoring them he continued down to the atrium.
When he at last reached it was bustling with hundreds of students. Most had dragons the size of Khor’s fist but some were simply talking with friends. Khor pushed his way through crowded areas and reached the end of the atrium.
There standing, gazing out into the rain filled sky was Rakari. Khor smiled and began to approach her. She was wearing black pants and a white and black jacket over a white shirt.
Khor slowly stepped up next to her and gazed out with her. “You weren’t here today.” It wasn’t a question. “I’m sorry. I fell asleep while training.” Khor braced himself for an accusation of some sort but she smiled and laughed quietly.
“Knowing you it’s probably true.” Khor relaxed as she continued,
“What were you training for?”
“Uh…” He wasn’t sure if Vathen wanted the news publicly known or if he wanted to keep it a secret for some reason.
“I was training with my magic.” She turned to look at him and responded,
“Why? I thought you could already do magic.” Khor slowly answered,
“Yea, but… It’s complicated.” Rakari gestured to the atrium.
“We’ve got all day.” Khor rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his hair.
“Um, okay.” Khor quietly told here about the book and how Vathen had restricted him from using magic. He also told her how he didn’t understand the reason for all this either. She stood silently thinking.
“Okay, I’ll help you train.” Blown away he immediately responded.
“What? Uh, no I can’t let you. You could get hurt or something.”
“No I won’t. You’ve seen how good I am with my magical ability. I get straight marks in magic classes anyway.” Khor shook his head and replied,
“No, I can’t take that chance. I’ve already lost too many people, I’m not gonna let you become one of them, especially because of me.”
“Stop being stupid. The more you forbid it the more I want to help you.”
“You’re something Rakari.”
“I know.” The rest of the day they discussed options and possibilities. It was impossible for them to train during the night because of strict visiting rules and not in the morning due to nearly all the door being locked. So the two decided to meet in the atrium after every class session and work together.
It was becoming late and the two agreed they would get in severe trouble if they were late another time. Rakari kissed Khor on the cheek before leaving and he quickly ran back towards his room.
When he finally reached his room he was unsurprised to see Vathen sitting on his cot waiting for him. “Late but it could have been worse.” He commented as Khor entered. Khor gave a dry smile and walked over to him.
“Are we going to train more?” He asked.
“You are, yes. I’ve come to see the progress you’ve made.” Khor nodded and stood beneath the lamp. He looked up and closed his eyes. Khor dug into his magic, searching for the small hole that Vathen had told him about. He reached for the magic and drew on as much of it as he could. Not submitting, he could only extract a small amount of magic.
“.” He felt the magic he had drawn upon spark and ignite the lamp. The lamp instantly lit with mesmerizing silver light. Khor looked at it amazed and looked at his open hands in shock.
“Vathen. What is that?” Vathen reached up to the lamp and pulled off the tinted glass cover. The tiny pure white flame shone out and lit up the room brightly. Vathen looked at Khor and said, “Its pure light.”
“What?” Khor looked at his hands again and inhaled deeply, attempting to calm himself. He walked over to his cot then back over to the cabinets, pacing, trying anything to understand what had just happened.
“How?” Was the only thing he could manage to say then. Vathen smiled and before Khor could notice he quickly smothered it.
“Your magical ability has intensified more than I ever expected. Khor, reach into your magic again.” Khor complied, searching for the power that had created this. He eventually found it, beneath the strange unpredictable outer layer.
He delved his mind into it, basking in its power. “What do you feel?” Vathen asked softly. Khor attempted to search for an answer. It was nothing he had ever felt before.
He drew on it, only managing to scrape a tiny sliver of the magic. He let it into his mind, felling it for the first time. Once again trying to find it, he slowly responded.
“It… It feels strong. But more than that. Like an intense heat that’s warm at first but then expands and becomes something entirely different. Its familiar but had changed, intensified.” Khor lost touch with it and looked at Vathen. He had his hand over his mouth, obviously thinking hard.
“This changes things but not by much. Continue to practice, but learn to focus it, harness its raw power. Once you’ve done that I’ll instruct you on what to do next.” He began to leave the room and Khor asked,
“Is it dangerous?” He stopped, gazing intently at the door.
“I don’t know.” Khor looked up at him, fear rising in every part of his body. This was the only question Vathen had never answered. He either knew the answer and told him or he didn’t. He had never known Vathen to not have an answer. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Clam. He tried to tell himself. Calm. It’s not that bad. At least you can control it. It could be worse. He stood and paced around the room again. Glancing at a clock he realized how late it was. He sat on his cot and took off his jacket. After removing his boots and shirt he quietly slipped off into sleep.
Khor slowly awoke, knowing it was time to get ready for lessons. He grudgingly sat up and looked around the room. The lamp hanging over the room still shed bright, unfiltered light through the entire room.
Khor stood and changed into his uniform. Noticing it was particularly chilly in the castle today he left behind the sweater vest and donned his white jacket. He also took the large pack he had been given to carry his books with. Stepping out into the hallway he saw several students coming out of their rooms a well.
Khor followed them, glancing at his sheet of paper every now and then. After pushing through hundreds of tired students he tightened the single strap on his shoulder pack that stopped at his hip and continued on.
Khor eventually found the classroom where his first class met. As he entered the room several students looked up. “Hey, it’s the one from the outside.” Came a smug voice. Khor searched for the speaker and saw a tall, short brown haired boy sitting on a desk in a group of other students.
Khor found his seat, attempting to ignore him. “What? Ignoring us insiders? Apparently we’re not worth your time, outsider.” Khor didn’t much care what this idiot thought about him and was too tired to make an affective remark.
Khor sat his bag next to his seat as the boy came up to his desk, placing his hands on the surface. “You need to show your respect, outsider.” Khor looked up into his brown eyes and said, “I’ll respect you when you get the guts to do something if I don’t.” The boy stood and wagged a disappointed finger at him.
“Oh, of course, we can’t treat the only survivor of the almighty Spark Bright Academy this way. What are you gonna do about it?” He said, threateningly.
“Ignore you.” Khor answered simply. Khor heard a bang from the front of the class and saw the teacher step in. The boy immediately returned to his seat. Khor smiled.
After the interesting history class about The Four Great Wizards and the war that followed the death of The Second, Khor stepped out into the hall with all the other students, attempting to find Rakari.
Has he walked down the hall slowly searching for her the boy from earlier caught up with him. “What was that? Still trying to ignore your superior?”
“The day you’re my superior is the day The Wound of the Earth will heal.” Obviously fueled by this comment, the boy came back, “How was it? You know, crying like a baby while your school was destroyed? I can imagine it now; you curled up in a ball crying while the Shades killed your friends. If you had any.” Khor stopped and turned, glaring at him.
“What are you gonna do in front of everybody?” Every student around the two stopped to see what was happening. A space cleared in between the two and Khor looked at him, rage building up inside him. He felt his magic stirring underneath the barrier. He reached out to it and remembered what had happened last time. He may be a jerk but I could kill him if I’m not careful.
Khor let go of the spell he had ready in his mind and pushed past him. “Oh! So the outsider’s better than the rest of us. Us, who were brought up in powerful families and this outsider strolls in and joins us without a thought.”
The boy gripped his arm as he walked by and looked into his face, “Are you better than us?” Khor looked at him and replied, “Better than you.” Khor shook him off and pushed through the large crowd that had gathered. A shrill bell rang and Khor ran down the hallway to his next class, not wanting to be late.
After a particularly boring literature class, Khor met up with Rakari and walked her to their next class. The next class met in the arena where combat classes usually took place. Today it was being used for magic classes.
Khor and Rakari stepped onto the edge of the sunken circle along with the rest of the students as a short old man walked into the center. He had a rough, bristly beard that was grey. His head was covered by a drooping pointed hat.
He wore magician’s robes that were extremely old and torn slightly at the seams. He wore large round glasses and looked worried for some reason. A shrill, feeble voice came from him that silenced the class.
“Class! Settle down! Alright. Now, where were we? Oh, yes, of course. Shielding charms.” He called out two students names and they stepped into the center of the circle.
Khor noticed one of them was the boy who had been bothering him earlier. Not sure which he was, he merely watched in anticipation. “Alright, Gerin, you start.” Referring to the boy Khor had wondered about, the teacher recited a very simple strike spell to each of them.
Gerin called out the spell and a beam of blue light shot out of the air towards the other boy. The other boy threw up a large blue disk that absorbed the spell. Khor had never practiced very hard on shields. It was interesting to see others do so well with them.
The boy who had shielded now recited the spell and Gerin shielded. They did this several time until the teacher called another pair of students to try the same thing. Some students paid attention while others struck up conversations with each other.
After the pair was done the teacher called out Khor’s name. Khor looked up, shocked. I didn’t want to have to do this… Khor said to himself harshly. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the sheet of paper he never wanted to use.
He walked across the arena towards the small fidgety man and slipped the paper into his hand. “I’m excused.” He said quietly. The tiny man unfolded it quickly and looked across it for a moment.
“Alright,” He called out, “Julin, you then.” Khor returned to the outer circle as his cheeks began to flush. “What? Is he to good to do this with the rest of us?” Gerin called out. Khor glared across at him and he sneered back.
“He has been excused.” The teacher replied. Khor took a deep breath as Rakari stood closer to him. “What does he have against me?” He asked as the next set of students began their bout.
“No offense but, you’re an outsider. We stopped taking people from the outside hundreds of years ago and some still think they’re not worthy to be taught in Mourn. He’s an idiot who believes what his parents tell him.”
“Yea, only other people are bound to believe him too.” Khor replied, discouraged.
After magic class Khor and Rakari finished the remainder of their classes. At the end of the classes they both agreed to meet up in the Atrium after they had changed back into normal clothes.
Khor began to walk towards his room as he noticed Gerin was following him. He glanced back and saw he had a few friends following him. Khor quickened his pace as ha walked down the now empty halls.
He heard their paces match and exceed his. When he finally reached his room they caught up with him. Gerin stepped in front of the door and looked at him. Khor had to look down slightly to look him in the eye. The two glared at each other.
Khor had no problem with Gerin and would like it much more if he and nearly everyone else would leave him alone. Khor didn’t know what he wanted and didn’t much care.
“Get out of my way, Gerin.” Khor told him.
“Why should I? Outsider?”
“Listen, I don’t have any problem with you or with Mourn. Now could you please just leave me alone?” Gerin’s supporters gathered around Khor. There were five or six, Khor counted quickly.
“Yea, but I got a problem with you. You see… Mourn doesn’t need anyone like you fouling up its good name.”
“Ditto.” Khor slipped in. Gerin glared at him and continued,
“You need to show proper respect for your superiors. We here have been brought up in powerful families. Unlike you. Now I want you to leave.”
“And where would you suggest I go?”
“I have a few thought. But I really don’t care. Just as long as filth like you stops roaming around Mourn.” With this, Gerin and his friends left Khor in the empty hallway. Khor glared at his back as he left and entered his room. When he did Vathen was sitting in one of his chairs.
Unsurprised, Khor walked in and opened his closet. “What was that?” Asked Vathen. “Nothing.”
“The Khor I used to know would have beaten that idiotic kid into an inch of death then spat in his face.”
“Yea well…” Khor said stupidly.
“Why didn’t you?”
“Fighting’s not allowed.”
“You’ve never been one for the rules.” Vathen said fairly. Khor smiled and replied, “I didn’t have Melden.” Vathen stood and walked up next to him as he began to rip clothes from his closet. “Try not to kill him.” He said as he left.
After that small encounter Khor realized what his past self would have done and realized it was the, almost sensible thing to do. If he left it alone he would keep on coming back, worse every time.
Khor gazed into the closet and saw Melden hanging there in her sheath. He smiled and took her off of the rack and tied her to his belt. After changing into a black shirt and white jacket, Khor felt almost like his old self again.
Looking in the mirror he realized what he was thinking. It had only been about nine months since the attack and he was talking about himself like it had been years. You’ve grown up a lot since then. He told himself.
It was true. As he looked at himself in the mirror he saw he was much taller. His hair was longer and still unkempt. He had become much more muscular and where before he was only a foolish child… Now he was killing Shades, fighting off spirits, and running from the R.A.
Khor lifted up his shirt and saw scars. He lightly ran his hand over them, reminded of Kizen. His expression darkened as he remembered the cold cell. Being trapped in his own mind. Khor let his shirt go and walked out the door.
*~*~*
The morning was brisk and cool. The coolness of the mountains rushed down into the small grassy field where Derez and Knall were spending their last night in some sort of forestation.
After Derez had recast the blankets and pillows Knall followed him over into the hard rocky ground. Knall drew his wings in and looked around nervously. The excitement of yesterday wearing off quickly as the tall imposing mountains loomed over him.
Knall looked up and saw the tops of the mountains lost in the clouds. Things suddenly became grey and colder. Knall drew his wings in closer as he looked at Derez who seemed to be completely unaware of the chill.
Knall thought for a moment and muttered a short spell. Warmth crept over Knall’s body and he instantly became more comfortable. Sooner than Knall had thought, the two were walking in between two massive mountains.
The rest of the day went on like this until the sun had begun to set behind them. Knall glanced back and looked up slightly. There were thousands of large rocks jutting out in random places. It felt as if each were hiding something vicious.
Settle down. You’re just being paranoid. Knall told himself. The sun crept even lower into the sky, throwing shadows all around the mountains. Knall only now noticed they were walking on a thin line of flatness in between two mountains.
As if on cue, Derez began to walk up the side of a slopping grey behemoth. Knall nervously followed the chill seeming to return despite the spell. The two walked up and along the side until the sun had completely disappeared, leaving the two basked in darkness.
Knall heard the crunching of Derez’s boots on the rock stop and a sphere of light appeared above the two. Derez walked towards a small sheet of rock, jutting out like a platform. Derez walked over to the other end and sat down, levitating the orb of light only a few inches about the surface.
Knall sat across from him and looked around again, his head sticking out from his wings that were now curled around him. The light dimmed and Derez spoke out in the eerie silence, “I’ll take the first watch. I’ll wake you in two hours.”
Knall silently nodded and laid his head on the sheet of rock, eyes wide open. Why do we need a look out? Knall would usually be thrilled to be settling in a mountain range, having grew up in one. But now, he had no idea what dangers might lay ahead. Before h had always been the most fearsome creature in his home, who knew what could be lurking in these mountains?
Knall turned away from the light and closed his eyes, fighting sleep, and failing.
.
. Good job 
!
