“Dorin. You can let go now.”
Dorin snapped out of his reverie as Sebastian whispered to him. He looked down on his right hand and saw that he was still gripping Seb’s arm tightly. He quickly let go, noting the red hand mark left on his friend’s pale skin.
“Sorry.” he mumbled as he stood up.
“Are you two okay?” asked Agate who walked over to them. Dorin felt relieved and anxious at the same time.
“Well, all’s well that ends well,” said Major General Marcus with a big laugh. “At least now we can enrol you into the Military Division!”
“What do you mean Military class?” Professor Althea piped in angrily, “Obviously, he’s joining the Magic Division!”
“Why would he want to learn stuff he already knows?” General Marcus answered back, “Of course the best way to go is to be a military mage like his mother and I!” he looked at Dorin who was watching his two new guardians bickering. “Isn’t that right Dorin?”
“Well... I’d love to learn new things from the Military Division, Marcus...”
“See? The kid’s with me!” General Marcus said with a triumphant grin, “By the way, here in University grounds, you address me as Major General Marcus or as sir, you got that?” he added.
“Yes, sir, Major General Marcus, sir,” said Dorin with a smart salute. “But...”
Marcus’ grin disappeared, “But what?” he asked Dorin.
“But you see, sir, my mother told me to graduate as an Arch Mage.” he explained, “Thus, I would have to join the Magic Division.”
“But... a soldier with your level of talent and experience would be a huge advantage to the Military Division!” Marcus tried to reason out, “Wouldn’t you want to be in the same class as your mother was?”
“True, particularly since I have never used military artillery before...” Dorin frowned in deep thought, “Is it true that mother used to develop elemental weapons for the military?” he asked his new guardians.
“Yes, she was the best artificer in her time.” Professor Althea said proudly, “She was the one who developed the elemental cell. It’s a type of battery that can store elemental energy to power up a weapon.”
“Because of her research and developments in this field, even soldiers without a thaum of magic in their bodies can now use elemental weapons with ease.” General Marcus finished.
“I guess my mother was really something, huh?” said Dorin, the thoughtful look still in his face. “I wonder, though, why she never once taught me about these weapons she developed.”
General Marcus went silent. He was still looking at Dorin but refused to speak.
“There are also a lot of things we want to know about your mother, Dorin.” said his aunt Agate, “But we have no answers to such questions either.” She went to her nephew’s side and touched his hand. “I’m afraid only your mother can answer that.”
“What’s important now is that you are here, in the Royal Aubrianne Imperial University.” said General Marcus, “And this is a place of learning.” he placed a firm hand on Dorin’s shoulder and looked him straight in the eye. “Who knows,” he added, “perhaps the answers you seek can be found right here in the University grounds.”
“And now, it’s time we went back to campus!” Professor Althea took out her wand. “Sebastian, are you ready?”
“All set” said the slate. Sebastian had taken the time to change his clothes.
“Wait!” Dorin raised both hands, “I haven’t changed my clothes yet.”
“Don’t worry, no one would notice.” said his Aunt.
[Doesn’t look any different from what you were wearing when you first came here] added Seb.
“What, so you lot are just going to leave me here?” complained General Muller as he pointed at his truck.
“We’re all going back to the Magic Building anyways,” Professor Althea replied, indifferently.
“What about Dorin’s enrolment?” General Muller grumbled.
“Don’t worry,” Agate smirked, “I’ll take care of my nephew’s enrolment.”
“See you soon, Sir!” Dorin called with a wave as his aunt cast the translocation spell.
The three of them disappeared in a cloud of vapor.
When the smoke settled down, Dorin found himself back in his aunt Agate’s room. It looked more clustered than it did before, with books scattered all over the desk, spilling onto the floor, most of which lay open with several notes attached on the pages. Agate went straight to her bedside table and opened a drawer, taking out 2 iridescent bands of thaum woven into a bracelet, much thicker than the one she had given him before.
“Take off those bands.” She ordered him, “I want you to wear these instead.” She handed Dorin the new bands. As soon as he touched them, he felt his magic being blocked by an invisible force. He looked at his aunt questioningly.
“Damien told me about your encounter with those imperial mages.” Agate explained, “He told me how you were able to use different elements with ease. Just like your mother does.” She scrutinized her nephew from head to foot. “Are you an elementer, Dorin?” she asked.
“I’m not an elementer,” Dorin replied, “I only use what is already there, just as mother taught me,” he raised up a hand, fingers separated. “see, the only element that is natural to me is wind.” at this, he flipped his pointer, creating a miniature whirl wind which blew his hair and a couple of notes stuck on the bed post.
“How about your lightning element?” Agate asked him once more while picking up the notes that blew away. She saw Seb leaning over the books on her desk. “Hey, stay away from my stuff.” she called to him distractedly.
“Well, I can do that a bit...” Dorin wiggled his pinky, making small sparks as he did. “I can’t control it that well, though,” he added, “I always end up with a big bang.”
Agate stepped back involuntarily.
“Besides,” continued Dorin, “lightning magic comes from wind magic, so isn’t that about the same thing?”
“True,” Agate said thoughtfully, “and you were in the vicinity of the Dark Forest, so there’s more than enough elements and thaum to power up your attacks.” She gave a sigh and turned around to face Seb. “Stop taking pictures of my notes!” she shouted at the other boy who was guiltily placing his cellphone back into his coat pocket.
“Anyway,” she continued, facing her nephew once more, “It seems that I have underestimated your magic capacity. Obviously, these bands are not enough to hold your power back.” Agate knelt down and touched the two translucent bands around Dorin’s ankle. Both gave a snap and fell limp as she pulled them off, looking as iridescent as they did the first time Dorin received them, though visibly thinner. “As Damien reported to the rest of the faculty who ‘witnessed’ the aftermath of your battle, you and Sebastian are supposed to be a couple of wimps who are not worth kidnapping.” She took the new bands from Dorin and placed them around his ankles. It quickly tightened around his leg and turned translucent. “This will make sure that you turn out to be just that.”
“Wow, that’s pretty potent!” Dorin marvelled as he felt like his body was being enveloped by an invisible sieve, blocking the passage of thaum from the pores of his skin.
“Better than being targeted by the same group again,” his aunt reasoned out. “Now, it’s just about lunch time,” she continued as she stood up in front of a sad looking Dorin, “go back to your dorms and rest up, tomorrow I’ll accompany you to the registrar’s office. I will officially enrol you as my nephew from the Quercus Kingdom.” She looked at Seb who was still busy looking at the opened books. “Remember, if anyone asks about the incident, tell them you remember nothing, and you,” she returned her gaze back to Dorin, “just came back after your mother finally decided to enrol you here.”
“Yes aunt Agate.” Dorin replied.
[Yes, Professor Althea.] Replied Sebastian’s slate. [Is there anything else we missed while we were gone?] He asked.
“Hmm...” Professor Althea thought back. “You’ll need a new pair of glasses, and a new slate too, it seems” she said after looking at Seb’s board disapprovingly. “Also, your friend Margarette seemed to have noticed your changeling, so I had General Marcus put her under house arrest while you were gone...”
[WHAT?] Seb’s lilac eyes went wide, [What did she do? What did they do to her?]
“What’s a house arrest?” asked Dorin.
“Don’t worry. We merely got her into cleaning duty,” muttered Agate, “Just tell her what you want, as long as you don’t tell her too much.”
[Too much being?]
“I think you know what I mean, Silver tongue.” Professor Althea retorted, “Two young mages defeating spies from the imperial army!” she sighed exasperatedly. “Good thing Damien and his kin were there to save you... but what they did was overkill, why, there haven’t been a slaughter in campus since the revolt 14 years a...!” she trailed off.
Seb looked at Dorin. The young mage’s expression did not even flinch.
[We understand] He wrote to the Professor [We’ll tell her it was a failed attempt and stick to the story Damien told the other professors]
"Right." Agate sighed deeply. "Now get ready to be translocated."
* * *
“You begged for an audience. Now speak.”
It was a dark room. No light, no windows. In the center, from a glowing ball came the image of Damien Wolfsbane.
“Please pardon our insolence,” said the voice of a hooded figure, “We only wanted to make sure that the two children were safe.”
“So you sent that piece of trash to trespass in our kingdom?” the other muttered. “Did you honestly think we would not find it?” He raised a hand, showing a battered clockwork object that once must have looked like a mouse.
“I dare say you only found it on the second day...”
“This conversation is over.” Damien Wolfsbane began to stand up.
“Wait, please, I beg your pardon once again, groundskeeper... Please, I merely want to talk...”
“About what?” Damien sat back down with an exasperated sigh.
“About the Golden Sun and the Silver moon,” said the hooded figure.
Damien’s face darkened.
“Please hear my request...”
“That is of no concern to you, wizard.”
“But it is...” The wizard slowly pulled off his cloak. Golden hair spilled out, covering his face. Damien Wolfsbane’s eye widened, then looks down.
“What do you want to know?”
- The End of Book 1 -