Young Writers Society

No one seemed to notice as I rose to my feet, making as little noise as possible. There was a mere flicker of mental activity through the class and the teacher looked up, but didn’t pause in her mindless droning. I mumbled an excuse about the bathroom and moved towards the Clockwork.

When I stood before it, the Clockwork turned around and began walking down the hallway in its lurching, mechanical way.

“What are you doing?” I hissed to it. No response. I immediately felt silly. What had I expected, an answer? All Clockworks could follow voice activated commands, but it wouldn’t respond to me; I wasn’t a member of nobility. Then again, this Clockwork was doing things I’d never expected.

The Clockwork turned right into an empty conference room. I stepped in, and the door slammed, cutting off all light. I was blind, but the Clockwork wasn’t. I cursed myself, realizing what a foolish mistake I had made. What had I been thinking? It was entirely possible that the Clockwork was acting strange because of a glitch, and now, locked in a dark room, the Clockwork could see everything it normally could and I was at an extreme disadvantage. I didn’t know what it was going to do, but if it involved locking me in a dark room, I didn’t want to find out.

On a reflex, I searched for the Clockwork’s mind, but, of course, found nothing. The Clockwork didn’t have minds, they obeyed commands, that was all. I hit a chair and fell to the ground. I heard the mechanical steps move closer. I made a mad dash for the door, hoping against hope that I would reach it, but my foot slammed into an object. It could have been a box or a table leg, but I had no way of knowing.

The Clockwork’s hand covered my mouth. Its clawlike hand grasped my forehead and pain surged through my head, like its hands were red hot and searing through my skull. I tried to scream, but nothing escaped through the Clockwork’s other hand. And then darkness consumed the world.

In my pain-induced unconsciousness, I had an epiphany, or maybe a crazed delusion. Just for a second, everything was clear, and I saw how small everything was. Not just me, not just my planet, but my entire universe was small, insignificant. There were worlds beyond my own, universes I couldn’t comprehend, places so utterly alien that the things on them defied rational thought. Archora was a grain of sand in a desert that reached the ends of the world, but each grain was so complex and fantastic, each grain was a world of possibility. I saw it all. I knew it all. And then it was gone.

The world was shaking beneath me. The first thing that leapt to my mind was the tales I’d heard from near the sea. People called them ‘earthquakes,’ but I’d never experienced one. What was far more plausible, I realized was that I was inside a carriage. This theory was reinforced by the facts that I could hear the creaking of the axle and could feel the boards pressing against my face.

I groaned, opening my eyes and pulling myself into a sitting position. The carriage was more of a small, portable room. It was a six-foot-tall box with wheels, and a bench attached to the far wall.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” said a man sitting across from me. He had neat hair and clothes, with a white hourglass emblem emblazoned on his right shoulder.

“Whaddsgoanon?” I groaned. “Whairmai?”

“Sorry?”

“What’s going on? Where am I?”

“My name’s Quint.” The man extended his hand. When I didn’t take it, he pulled it back. “Can I ask you something?”

“Uhh… Sure.”

I stood up and looked out a window. Buildings rushed past outside; they were a similar build to the ones I was used to, but they were taller, newer, and better cared for.

“Have you ever felt that you’re different from everyone else?” Quint asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Hasn’t everyone?”

Quint chuckled. “Look, there’s no easy way to put this… You’re a mage.”

Oh. He knew. Which meant that I was in the cart because I was being taken away.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked, trying to keep fear from reaching my voice.

“The Eternian Academy,” he said. “You probably know it as Needlespur. We’ll be arriving in a few moments.” Quint paused. “Look, Thørn, I’m sorry it has to be this way. This is for the greater good. We need mages to help people. If there was any other way…”

“But how did I get here?” I asked. “What happened with the Clockwork?”

“Well, we had to make sure you were the one we were looking for,” Quint explained.

“You were looking for me? You ordered the Clockwork to ….You sent it to kidnap me,” I realized.

“No! No. We arranged everything with your parents.”

“You did what?”

“Your parents were informed two days ago.”

“And they agreed to this?”

“Not at first, no, but eventually they realized that all of this is in your best interests,” Quint said, endeavoring to remain diplomatic.

“Why didn’t they tell me? And how did you find me?” I was becoming frustrated with the pattern that every answer I got prompted two questions.

“We knew there was a powerful mage in the area, we just weren’t sure who it was.”

That only answered about half of my questions, but there were other things to worry about. “You train mages?” Mages weren’t really a part of society; we were kept separate by the fact that we were almost entirely noble. Most mages were given status in exchange for their services. I didn’t know much about us and had definitely never heard of a mage school. “Why haven’t I heard about this?”

“Very few people have,” Quint explained. “The King, his inner circle, and only a few others know about us.”

“Why?”

Quint sighed. “I think that’s for another time.”

I arched an eyebrow and stretched my consciousness towards Quint’s…. and hit a wall. I hadn’t heard his thoughts earlier, but I hadn’t been trying. Now, even when I was trying to, I couldn’t.

He sighed, looking honestly disappointed. “Thørn Feltrix,” he said. “Do you really think that the Academy would have been foolish enough to send someone to bring back a telepath who couldn’t make a halfway decent mind block?”

I said nothing. All my life, things had come easily to me, but now there was a secret that I couldn’t find out with ease. I had been tossed into the deep, and I had no idea how to find land.