– Seneca
Eli
My first memory was hazy. Two people were jostling me as they put me onto a stretcher. Blinking made time skip and jump. One blink and they were hauling me out the front door. Another had us stopping as sounds of fighting occurred nearby.
Blink. They were rushing to put me down as the two figures rushed toward a growling sound. A short yelp before they returned. For the next few blinks, I just watched as the sun traced across the sky. The group stopped a few more times to the sound of fighting. Other times to set us down as a couple of them ran off.
I was hopelessly lost with what was going on. Every time I tried to ask someone what was going on, it came out jumbled and mumbled. Finally, I just gave up and let myself fall back to sleep.
Alissa
I woke to pain. My bones were creaking and cracking. They even seemed to be screaming, or was that me? Those screams cut off as my throat constricted and the muscles twisted. The next sound that came out of it was a growling sound not unlike that of a wild animal. One that was wounded and fearful of everything around it. Not sure of what was going on but needed to defend itself.
My vision was distorted as shapes and blobs came toward me. They seemed to be reaching for me. One of my hands reached to bat them away. It worked as the blob jerked back. A deep red liquid splashing down on my cheek.
Suddenly another blob swung in fast. Hitting me on the side of my head. A yelp escaped my throat as darkness returned.
Leon
This just wasn’t my day. My group had the joy of checking on those people that had not responded after already being checked on by the military personnel. Each of us would rather have had the job of scavenging through unoccupied properties for supplies.
Was that looting? Sure. But it was sanctioned by the government, and given the situation, who cared? Every single combustion engine and generator seemed to run poorly, if it started at all. The only electricity we had was provided by hydroelectric stations and solar panels.
That would be ok, if we had been allowed the use of any of the electric vehicles in the area. But those were all being used to either transport materials and people, or for fast response. Instead, we were told to walk. At least it wasn’t raining. In fact, the sky was clear of nearly every cloud.
Four of us were each holding one end of a stretcher as we walked. The rest of our twenty-person group was on the lookout. It wasn’t just us out here after all. Whatever this disease was, it didn’t just affect us.
Dogs and other animals were just as affected. The disease flew through them, mutating them. The results were creatures out of nightmares, myths, legends, stories, and even video games. We had been lucky so far. None of the creatures we faced were far enough along to use any magic.
Before you go on about how crazy that sounds, I know. I thought the same thing when I was told about it this morning too. All it took was a small pack of large dog-like creatures attacking the fence around where we were staying.
Golden-yellow sparks sparked off their coats and struck out around them. Randomly scorching the ground and people nearby. A couple of well-placed shots took them out before they got to the fence, but it served as a wake-up call for me.
As we walked, we checked on some other houses. More than one had its door wide open, blood coating a wall or two inside. We didn’t find a single body. The only people we found alive were the two on the stretchers. The male kept going in and out of consciousness, talking incoherently at times. Occasionally a spark or light would flash in the air near him, but otherwise, nothing notable happened with him.
His female companion, on the other hand. She started to shift into a goddam wolf during our walk. Got Zander’s arm good too. A solid punch to the head from Stacy knocked her out. We had been warned that this might happen, but again, none of us had believed it.
Stacy radioed it in, and dispatch denied her request for a car. Instead, ordering us to hurry as they had another assignment for us. Something about diplomats.
Eli
The next time I woke up, I was no longer being jostled as people carried me on a stretcher. Instead, I was lying in what had to be a cot. My eyes felt like they were taped closed, my mouth was dry, and my body was sore and heavy. It took me a few minutes of effort to lift my right hand to my face.
Rubbing my eyes carefully, I broke what little crust was there. Still, my eyes refused to open. Slowly, carefully, I used my thumb and forefinger to pinch my lashes. Lifting the lid off my eye, I opened it only to yelp and quickly shut them.
The lights in the room felt like red hot needles were stabbing into my eyes. Repeating the same with my other eye resulted in the same stabbing pain. Squinting seemed to limit the pain to a dull poker rather than the hot needles.
Around me, the room was a muted grey with wisps of color floating. The colors seemed to be following strange currents as they moved around the room. Over and around other cots in the room. Each cot was filled with other sleeping bodies, all of whom were around my age. Suddenly, the door to the room jerked open, and light flooded in, forcing me to yelp in pain again.
“One of the patients in room five is awake.” A female voice called from the direction of the door. “Can I get your name?” She asked as she walked toward me.
“Eli, Eli Moore. Where am I?”
“Well, Eli, you are in the medical facility. Do you know how you got here?” She had reached me, and her hands were gently helping me to sit up. Turning to face her, I sat on the edge of my cot.
“No. What do you mean by medical facility? As in the hospital?”
“Ah,” Sighing, she sat on the edge of the cot across from me. Being careful not to jostle its occupant. “We can go over that in a few minutes. First, does anything hurt?”
“Everything is sore, and my eyes hurt when I open them.” I tried to squint again. They didn’t hurt as much as before. The light spilling in from the hallway revealed more and less of the room. It was all in color now, but everything seemed harder to make out. Though the odd streams of color I had seen in the dark were gone.
“That is to be expected. You have been asleep for well over a week. Overly sensitive eyes are not unknown. Have you noticed any other differences?” Figuring the floating colors had just been my imagination, I shook my head. “Ok, then let us get you down to the desk and processed.”
“Processed?” She made it sound as if I was going to be weighed and sold. “Where am I? What has been going on?”
A deep sigh told me how she felt about this conversation. “You are in one of the last safe places on Earth for humans. Specifically, the Everett Boeing facility.” Before I could ask a question, she held up a hand to stop me. “Just let me explain.”
Seeing that I wasn’t going to interrupt her, she continued, “As far as we can tell, most of the human population was infected to one degree or another. Don’t ask what it is; we don’t know. All we do know is that it changes those it infects. From what we have seen, the sicker a human gets, the more powerful and drastic their changes are. For most, it is only a cold that lasts a day or two.”
Unable to stop myself, I blurted out my question, “What kind of changes.”
I saw a flash of temper cross through her eyes before it faded back. “Some have found parts of their body changing into that of a beast. Of these, the more powerful are able to go back and forth between a beast’s shape and their human body. Other people are able to do some sort of energy manipulation.”
“So, which am I?” I asked when she stopped for a second.
“Based on the lack of any creature features, I can only conclude that you have the ability to manipulate energy. You will find out for sure when processed. Lucky for you, a tentative treaty was just signed. Turns out there are other creatures on this planet other than humans. The magic group will take people like you and train you in control, while the other group will take those that have animal characteristics and train them.”
“Why do we need training?”
“From the few rumors I heard,” she said in a conspiratorial voice, “Both groups refused to help humanity in any way unless we agreed to that.”
“Help with what? Does it have to do with why you said this place was one of the last safe places on Earth?”
Her head nodded, “Just as we were infected, so was every other living thing on earth. Most things are now deadly to anything that gets close. The entire world is in upheaval as each is asserting its dominance over an area. While guns and fire can deal with a number of these creatures, there are some that can do things. It is only thanks to the magic group that they cannot enter any of the safe zones.”
“You keep saying magic. What do you mean?”
She shook her head. “I think we have talked long enough. You will learn all about that when you go to learn control.” Standing up, she held out her hand to me. Taking it, she helped me stand. A bit wobbly on my feet, she pulled my arm over her shoulders to help.
Walking slowly, she led me out of the room and into the hall. The bright orange light forced me to squint for a few seconds as my eyes adjusted. A few posters were scattered along the walls. Ignoring them, we walked through another door at the end of the hall. Concrete stairs led up and down. Slowly, we made our way down to the ground floor. Seeing another set leading down surprised me.
The door opened out into a two-way street with cars and tricycles moving along it. On both sides of the road, people walked. Looking down the road, I noticed just how big the facility was. It was one thing to be told that it was the largest structure in the world by volume; it was another thing to see it.
A loud horn caught my attention. Looking up, I saw a crane moving a massive pallet of goods above us. No one around me seemed all that bothered that something so large was above them.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Yeah, it is a bit scary to have the crane crew moving stuff over you.” The nurse said, “It used to be that they wouldn’t allow anyone without a hard hat under their load. Now they really don’t have a choice, for a multitude of reasons. Also, there is always someone watching. If something happens, they are supposed to be able to catch it with magic before it can hurt anyone.”
She turned, pulling me to the left. Slowly we made our way down the side of the road. People flowing around us, a few grumbling about slow weaklings. I knew they were referring to me, but what could I do? Each of them looked not only stronger than me, but the majority of them had a weapon of one variety or another.
Stopping at a crosswalk, we waited to cross onto a one-way road. Not that there were any cars on it. The road was instead packed with even more people. On one side, there were even a few people hawking their wares.
Feeling strong enough to walk on my own finally, I pulled my arm back. The nurse gave me a look that I couldn’t interpret before taking the lead. Speeding up, she led me through a pair of glass doors and into a mess of an office space. Odd wall placement and how everything was arranged gave me the impression that this role was new.
Skipping most of the line, she led me to a bored-looking man. In a near-monotone voice, he asked, “What can I do for you?”
Grabbing my hand and pulling me up to the counter next to her, she said, “Greg, this Eli here just woke up. I need to get him registered and into a school.”
His hand waved at a flat piece of glass lying on the counter. “Place your hand here.” Before I could ask why, she practically forced my hand into position. A short buzz came from the device as it vibrated before a shock traveled up my arm.
Yanking my hand out of hers and away from the plate, I held it. “What the hell? The thing shocked me!”
“Eli Moore. Mage of the, that can’t be right,” the man said before clicking a few buttons on a hidden keyboard. “Whatever, Mage of the elements fire, water, wind, and earth. That’s too long,” a few more button pushes later, he continued. “That’s better, Mage of the Four Elements. Initial magic power, five hundred twenty, not bad, but not all that impressive.”
I was already sick of his commentary. I didn’t even really understand what he was going on about now. Magic power? His monotone was so even that there was no real break that I could use to interrupt him without talking over him.
“There are only a few academies that are open at this time. Only one of which has an opening in their next class. Their representative will meet you at the east teleportation circle in thirty minutes to take you and the rest of your class to the academy.” Reaching down, he grabbed something and held it out to me. “This is your new identification. If you have any questions, ask your academy representative. Have a good day. Next.”
With that abrupt dismissal, I turned and made my way through the doors and onto the road. The friendly nurse followed me out. “Forgive him. He has always been a bit brusk. It has only gotten worse after finding out he doesn’t have enough magic to cast a single spell. Put your ID into your pocket. The teleportation circle just happens to be on the other side of the facility, so we need to hurry.”
Her pace was fast as she led me back to the main road. We joined the faster groups as we hurried toward a large door. Just before we reached it, she pulled me toward a door that led outside. The clouds above were small and scattered, allowing the sun to beat down on us.
Looking around, I realized that we were between two buildings that were connected. They formed a large U-shape with us in the middle. People milled between the two buildings. The only break in the milling people was just visible. A single person stood in the center, with a group standing a short distance around her. Of course, it was in this direction that she led me.
Pushing past the last line of people, I saw what they were surrounding. An intricate diagram covered the ground. The outer edge was a solid white circle, while the rest was seemingly random. Symbols and shapes were drawn in a multitude of colors and thicknesses. There were even spots where the lines visibly overlapped.
Seeing the nurse, the women in the center walked towards us. Her red hair and sky-blue robe fluttered in a wind that only affected her. What surprised me were her ears. They were slightly pointed. Her looks were so perfect that she could have been a successful actor, though an older one. Grey coated her hair liberally and the wrinkles were nearly as numerous across her visible flesh.
With a soft voice that carried easily in the air, she said, “Nurse Mary, nice to see you again.”
“Professor Olivia.” the nurse bowed to the professor. “I didn’t realize your academy was accepting another group.”
“We did not have the number of applicants that we expected, so we have some spare room and teachers. Who is this?”
“Eli. He only just woke up less than an hour ago.”
“Ah,” The professor gave me a quick once over. “That would explain why he is fairly weak. Any weaker, and we would not be able to accept him. Our academy does still need to keep some standards, after all. Tell me, Eli, what elements do you have?”
“I, I only know what the guy in the office said I have.” I stammered.
“That’s fine. Out with it.”
“Earth, wind, water, and fire, ma’am.”
Waving off my formalities, she said, “Not bad. Do you know anything about the elements or magic?”
Sheepishly, I replied, “Only the things I have read in fiction and video games.”
“So worse than nothing.” She sighed. “I would highly recommend forgetting everything that you have ever read about magic. While some of it may be correct, most of it will not be. One wrong assumption could be the difference between life and death, a viable spell and a waste of effort. But enough of that. You will learn more as your classes progress.”
Bowing slightly, I accepted what she said as she turned to face the group. The nurse turned to me. Patting my shoulder, she said, “Don’t stress out too much. I am sure that you will be just fine.” Then she disappeared into the crowd.
Professor Olivia was walking back to the center of the circle when she started to speak. Even though she was facing away from me, her voice was just as clear as if she was right next to my ear. “Ok, each of you are going to come with me to the academy. Please hold your questions until I ask for them. Now please step into the circle. Please make sure that nothing you value is over the outer line.”
With that she waited as the group that had been standing around stepped into the circle. There were some that hugged an older person. The older people stood outside the circle, watching as we piled in. There had to be at least thirty people inside the circle when the professor started to raise her hands.
“Fabrica spatii, circumplecte et claude nos.” The professor’s voice was full of power. Something in the air resonated with it. While I didn’t know what she was saying, I saw its effect as she finished. A curtain of black seemed to rise up out of the circle before falling in the shape of a dome. Over and over, it did this. The dome thickening as she repeated the chant four times.
Her chant changed when the black curtain was dark enough to make even the sun look like it was just a bright spot above us. “Fer nos ad locum quem volumus ire.” As soon as she said this, the air around me seemed to compress and twist.
The twisting stopped at the same moment the dark curtain vanished. Instantly I was on my knees, retching, and I wasn’t the only one. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there was nothing in my stomach for my body to expel. This wasn’t the case for anyone else, though. I could smell the vomit of the people near me. It was nearly enough to cause my stomach to twist again.
Quickly holding my nose and standing up, I moved to where the professor was gathering people. Every other person was some shade of green or gray. When everyone was standing facing her, some of them were trying to hide the motion as they wiped their mouths; the professor spoke, “I am sorry for that. It is the only practical way to travel between there and here. Welcome to the Emerald Academy. This will be your home for the foreseeable future.”
“What do you mean by that? Are you saying we cannot go home?” someone cried out, interrupting the professor. Other voices chimed in agreement.
“We will not allow untrained magic users to leave this academy.” The professor said, looking directly at someone. It was probably the speaker. “As we do not know how long it will take to train the basics into you, we cannot say how long you will be required to stay here.”
She waited a few seconds, seeing as no one was planning on interrupting her, she continued. “You will also find that you are not the only students here. There are students who were born into a magical line. They are studying here just like you. Unlike you, though, their parents have taught them the basics of control, so they are free to come and go as they want. I would recommend avoiding them.”
“Why would we need to avoid other students?” A black teenager next to me asked.
“Discrimination. They were born to this and were taught that all those with magic are better than those without. There are still furious debates throughout our world about just how much that applies to people like you. People not born to their powers. Most of those in powerful families feel that you are worse than those without powers. Some even are calling on the magic council to kill your kind on sight.”
Our group was deathly silent. Only the rustling of the trees in the distance made any noise as she let that sink in. Finally, someone broke the silence, asking, “What is the academy doing to keep us safe?”
“That is not our job.” The professor said, shrugging. “We are here to teach you the basics. It is your job to learn how to use your power and use it to protect yourself. I would recommend learning a few defense spells. But your best bet is to just avoid conflict. Now, follow me to your dorm.”
The path she led us down was not made of asphalt or concrete. In fact, it looked like it was made from large flat pieces of a dark grey stone. Each was large enough for four people to walk abreast and long enough for two people to lay down with room to spare.
On either side of the path, various plants grew. Unfortunately, I had no clue what I was looking at, nor was I given enough time to study them. The professor was walking at a pace that was hard to keep up with, even with my long legs. Looking at the shorter people in the group showed me that they were practically jogging to keep up.
A few turns and twists later, we arrived at a set of large wooden double doors. Stopping in front of the doors, the professor turned to us. Some of whom were panting, clearly not used to any sort of exercise. Then again, I didn’t have any room to talk. The only reason I wasn’t as bad off as them was my longer legs.
Tsking, the professor said, “This is disappointing. Lucky for all of you, part of our curriculum includes physical exercise and weapon drills.”
Suddenly looking up, an out-of-breath teen boy next to me practically whined out. “What do you mean weapon drills? I thought the point of magic was to help us avoid being too close to any fighting.”
The professor laughed before disappearing. A soft tapping and squeak had me turning my head to look at him. Standing behind the teen was the professor. In her hand was a small blade. She was tapping his shoulder with it. “Magic is well and good, but it is not a miracle worker.”
Putting the knife away, she disappeared again. This time I heard a soft pop of displaced air. Back in front of the door, she continued, “Magic can only enhance what your body can already do. While magic can help restore a torn-off arm, it can not restore a torn-off head or heart. If you were to use magic to run at the speed that I just demonstrated, your muscles would tear themselves apart. Your brain and eyes are also unable to keep up with the movements.
“This is what the physical part of the curriculum will work on. Those who are unwilling or unable to keep up will find their future quite limited. Their magic unable to help them bridge the skill gap. Now, inside, you will find your dorm rooms on the second floor. One person to a room. You are all old enough to make your own decisions, but I would refrain from going too far with someone. You never know what can happen.”
I don’t know why, but it felt like she was warning everyone to avoid becoming too close to anyone else. Pushing the implications of such a statement to the back of my mind, I followed the group as we all walked up the stairs to the second floor. All of the outer walls of the building were made of stone, while the inside was a dark brown wood. Nothing hung on the walls or covered the floors.
Opening the last door in the long hall on the second floor, I entered my new dorm room. To my surprise, it was larger than I had expected. A bed sat under a window along a wall. The opposite wall held a wardrobe and desk. Between the two pieces was another door. Curious, I opened it to find a small bathroom with a simple shower, toilet, and sink.
Closing the door, I opened the wardrobe. Inside was a decent number of robes, shirts and shorts. All of them were a dull grey color. Ignoring them for now, I walked to the desk. Sitting on the desk was a small packet of papers and an emblem.
Curious, I picked up the emblem. It was a simple six-pointed star made of a dull silvery material with no other colors. Putting it down and instead pulling out the papers from the packet.
‘Welcome, Initiate Mage. This packet holds the basic rules and regulations for the academy as well as your initial class assignments. These classes are not set in stone. They will change through the year as you master the lessons taught in them.’ Ignoring the rest of the first page, I turned to the rules section.
‘Rules and regulations:
- Robes must be worn at all times when on academy property or on academy business.
- Emblems must be worn at all times, no matter where you are or what you are doing.
- Fighting outside a sanctioned duel is prohibited.
- It is recommended that magic is only used in designated sections.
Failure to adhere to these rules will result in adequate punishment as dictated by an academy representative, professor, or authority.’
The rules were fairly short and vague. It didn’t point out where these areas were, nor did it explain what it meant by duels. Not wanting to be caught breaking the rules already, I quickly got out of the clothes I had been wearing for at least a week. It was then that I smelled just how rank they were. Gagging, I tossed them into a corner and practically ran to the shower.