《The Time Mage》


 Leaving Home

    Leaving Home


    A young boy stood in front of a cottage looking up at his mother. He was rather short, with slightly pale skin that seemed to glow ever so faintly in the light of the setting sun. A wheel-less cart inscribed with many glowing symbols hovered at the end of a path which led from the cottage to a sort of road, an old man was sleeping inside at the control hub, mouth open; snoring.


    "Kason," his mother said, looking at him and smiling, "You know you can''t stay here all your life, you''ve got to go and experience the world". The boy blinked at her, his brown eyes tearing up, and nodded his head.


    "I''ll go, I know I should," a gleam of excitement replaced the tears and his previously gloomy face began to brighten, "the college will take me, won''t they? I will be able to learn magic?"


    "Of course," his mother said, sighing with exasperation, "you''ve asked me this at least seven times already today and the answer is still the same. Yes, they will take you. They promised your father that they would."


    "Sorry," the boy mumbled looking down at the ground, his mother smiled and patted his short curly brown hair.


    "Cheer up, make sure you come and visit your mother when you get time to, and make sure you behave yourself and don''t cause unnecessary trouble." The boy nodded and smiled weakly at his mother, the excitement gone from his eyes.


    "Goodbye." He said quietly, almost whispering.


    "Goodbye." His mother replied, her voice equally quiet. Kason looked at her for a moment longer and then turned and walked towards the floating cart. As he approached, the driver awoke and he looked down smiling kindly.


    "Ready now?" he asked.


    "Yes" Kason replied, his voice still quite weak. He then moved to get onto the cart but was interrupted by the driver.


    "Are you sure?"


    Kason looked round at him, face blank in puzzlement, only to see him point a bony finger towards a pile of bags on the floor next to his mother who was smiling again, trying to suppress laughter. Kason blushed and hurried to pick up his bags which he then slung over his back and clambered into the back of the cart.


    The driver nodded. He tucked his long white beard, which was tied together with a small piece of string, into his belt and pressed his hand to a palm-shaped imprint in front of him. The numerous inscriptions and lines around the cart then began to glow brighter and brighter, a low thrum began to reverberate in Kason''s ears and the cart bobbed higher into the air until it came to rest at approximately one meter up.


    Kason, who had but a minute before been wallowing in gloom, suddenly began to look around excitedly, his eyes aglow with curiosity. He leaned over the side of the cart as it began to move and yelled out to his mother who had started walking, almost subconsciously, towards the gradually departing cart.


    "Goodbye, mother!"


    "Goodbye Kason." His mother yelled back, her eyes slightly damp, "Be safe, have fun, make sure you study hard!"


    "I will." Kason replied.


    He looked back at the cottage, whose thatched roof and wooden walls were growing ever more distant as the cart picked up speed. He was a bit anxious and more than a little nervous; he was leaving his home of twelve years for the first time in his life and wouldn''t be back for four years at least, but in a way, this didn''t matter because he was going to learn magic!


    The cart reached a phenomenal speed as it sped over shrubbery and other debris, ignoring all obstacles as it flew along. Trees had been cleared to form a pathway through the forest and as he watched the trees streak by, Kason marvelled at how he didn''t feel the slightest discomfort. The wind which, in theory, should''ve been howling in his ears and buffeting him in all directions, seemed to be non-existent to the world inside the cart.


    Kason leaned forwards and, unable to curb his curiosity, asked the driver, "How come I don''t feel the wind when we''re going so fast?"


    The driver laughed and replied, "There''s a magic web inscribed onto this cart that reduces the power of the wind lad, we''ll be speeding up again in a bit so you should start to feel it then, it can only reduce it by so much." Having said that, the driver placed the fingers of his free hand onto the back of the other.


    "What''re you doing?" Kason asked.


    The old driver laughed again and said, "Didn''t I say we were gonna speed up? I''m applying more magic power, you''d better hold on tight."


    The cart gave a lurch and began to speed up again, Kason was flung backwards and landed next to his bags at the back of the cart. A minute later they were going so fast that the trees going by beside them had started to blur together into one brown and green mess. Kason looked forwards and felt his heart stop.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Up ahead the cleared area of trees came to an end and the forest blocked their way, towering tree trunks forming a menacing blockade of wood, that seemed set on stopping them from advancing any further.


    "Umm..." Kason said, anxiety showing in his voice, "We''re not going to crash, are we?"


    The driver simply chuckled and the cart began to speed up even more. Kason began to think of ways that he could escape from his seemingly imminent fate of becoming nutrients for the trees which were only a dozen or so seconds away.


    As the cart continued speeding up, Kason looked, horror rising in his heart and his breath coming in short bursts, at the trees up ahead. They seemed to fill his vision and dominate his mind, making him incapable of thinking of anything but how he was going to become just another splattering of dirt on the trunk of one of those massive trunks.


    When the cart was only seconds away, Kason shut his eyes and thought of his mother. ''Sorry mother,'' he thought, ''your son is going to end his life as tree food in a couple of seconds.'' His eyes were screwed up and he was bracing himself for the impact when he suddenly felt a strange sensation as if his body was stretching out as if he were being pressed as thin as possible in order to fit through a very thin slit.


    And then he was back to normal again.


    He kept his eyes shut for a couple of seconds longer before opening them cautiously and then opening them wide, gaping at the sight in front of him. The trees that they were about to smash into had vanished and had been replaced by lush rolling hills. Kason turned slowly on the spot and checked behind them, in the distance, he could see a slight darkening of the green, that might''ve been the forest that they had been in a couple of seconds before. A lake had also appeared, hugging the eaves of the forest as it wound its way between the hills, the water turned an orange colour by the light of the setting sun. He spun around again and leapt towards the driver.


    "What was that!" he almost screamed, the terror of a few moments ago still fresh in his mind.


    "Spatial folding," the driver replied hoarsely, Kason noticed that he looked to be much more tired than he had before the ''jump''. "It''s an invention that came out of the 21st college a couple of years ago, it folds space so that point A becomes superimposed over point B allowing almost instantaneous travel between the two points." He then sighed "It really sucks the energy out of you though."


    Kason nodded with glazed eyes and made a noise of vague acknowledgement, all the while thinking that he understood nothing the driver had just said. The driver seemed to notice and chuckled,


    "You''ll understand how it works eventually, you may even improve it, especially if you go onto do Planar Studies. You are going to the 4th aren''t you?"


    Kason nodded thinking that 4th must be a shorthand way of referring to Constantine''s 4th College for the Arcane Arts, the college he was heading to.


    "Yeah," the old driver said nodding gently "Great place that, went there myself when I was young. I went onto Planar Studies there so I know more than most about stuff like this. It''s their signature course you know, people come from all over just to be able to study it."


    While they had been talking, a town had appeared ahead of them, houses of some white stone with wooden frames colonised the small hill upon which they stood, their roofs sparkled slightly as light reflected off the gelatinous substance that covered the roofs instead of thatching.


    "Why are the roofs like that?" asked Kason,


    The driver, who had been starting to doze off, looked back at him "What? The roofs? Ah right your place won''t have got this stuff yet, it''s sap from Taernwood trees, some guy from the 7th college''s botany department wanted to find out how they can live for such a long time. Turns out that their sap absorbs water and has excellent replenishing and regeneration properties, even if there''s only a little bit of it left it can grow back to full size in a really short amount of time. I don''t really know the specifics though, botany isn''t my field of expertise."


    The cart came to rest in a town square of sorts, the ground was paved with the same white stones that made up the houses and small spaces were left between each one, presumably to lets water run through.


    Since it was evening, there were only a few people about, and those were hurrying to their homes. In the centre of the square was a slightly raised platform upon which rested a silver door frame which held a door of wood, that was almost black in colour.


    "Right," the old driver said standing up from his seat, "I''ve got you as far as I can take you, there''s still a long way you need to go if you''re going to the 4th, it''s practically on the other side of the country. To go the rest of the way, you''ll be taking this wormhole." He gestured toward the door.


    "That''s a wormhole?" Kason said incredulously, even a country boy like him had heard of them, they allowed one to travel vast distances as easily as walking a couple of paces.


    "Sure is." The old driver said matter-of-factly, "get your bags and come with me."


    Kason grabbed his bags and followed eagerly behind the old man as he walked towards the door.


    "Did you get a token of any sort from your mother?" The old man asked looking back at Kason.


    Kason rummaged around in one of his bags and produced a kite shaped jade green token.


    "Hold that as you walk towards the door." The old man instructed, "There''ll be a shield surrounding it preventing anyone who doesn''t have the authority from using it."


    Kason nodded looked at the old man, "Thank you for bringing me here." He said sincerely and bowed slightly.


    The old man smiled "It was nothing lad, your mother paid me anyway. If you''re ever around here again come and look for me, my name''s Tristian Katr."


    "I will" Kason said, while inwardly feeling mortified that he hadn''t thought to ask Tristian his name before. He turned towards the silver-framed wooden door and walked towards it, about two meters away from the door he felt as if he had stepped through a veil of warm water, he supposed that this should be the feeling of passing through the shield. When he reached the door, he turned back to Tristian.


    "Goodbye," he said and waved.


    "Goodbye lad," Tristian said and raised a hand, before turning and walking back towards his cart.


    Kason turned around to face the door, he reached out a hand and pulled at the handle. Behind the dark wooden door was what looked like an abyss, utterly black without a hint of any other colour, it looked as if it was the maw of some gigantic beast which wanted to swallow him whole. He shivered at the thought but walked forward, nonetheless, into the gaping blackness.

 Arrival

    Arrival


    A few moments later, Kason stumbled out of another identical looking black wooden door, his face pale and limbs trembling.


    The journey through the wormhole had been anything but pleasant. It had been cold, so cold that it seeped into the flesh all the way down to the bones, and so dark that nothing could be seen at all. It didn''t help that along with the cold and blindness, came the horrible sensation of feeling nothing, of a numbness so complete that he couldn''t feel his own body.


    After doing a bizarre kind of jig on the spot to drive away the lingering coldness in his limbs and straightening his grey tunic, Kason finally took time to drink in his surroundings. He was standing on a raised platform similar to the one on the other end of the wormhole, except this one was rather more packed with people. Although it was still evening here, there were lots of people bustling in all directions and their voices mingled together to form a discordant symphony that set Kason on edge. Being only twelve years of age and relatively short as well, Kason felt rather intimidated by the roiling crowd and the noisy atmosphere. People walked quickly by, while others flew overhead in contraptions similar to the cart he had been on earlier, all adding to the pandemonium. As he stood there, eyes slightly wet, a voice hailed him over the general hubbub of the crowd.


    "Young man in front of the wormhole! You, holding the token, come over here!" The voice emanated from the throat of a young-looking man in black robes which an insignia on the left breast depicting a scarlet rose upon which sat the number four. He was pushing his way through the crowds towards Kason waving an identical token in his raised fist. Kason blinked back the tears that had been gathering in his eyes and hefted his bags onto his shoulder before making his way towards the approaching young man.


    "You must be one of the new students." The young man said in a deep voice, putting his hand on Kason''s shoulder and steering him towards a quieter section of the square next to an ornate fountain. It had four spouts, each carved in the shape of a different mystical beast, all of which Kason had no knowledge of. The sound of running water soothed Kason''s nerves and, feeling more at ease, he nodded.


    "Excellent," the young man said "My name''s Ashton, can you touch your token to mine quickly? It''s the way we verify that you''re actually a student." Kason nodded again and brought the token in his hand to touch the one proffered by Ashton, as they touched, both began to shine with a weak green light.


    "Excellent," Ashton repeated, "keep the token for now, you''ll swap it for a college pendant when classes begin." Ashton then sat leisurely on the edge of the fountain and looked back towards the wormhole, paying no more attention to Kason.


    Kason was a bit perplexed but figured that Ashton was probably doing something important and so he just stood there looking around. With lack of anything else to do, he began examining Ashton; he had short, jet black hair and eyes, and a well-proportioned face, with a slight scowl that marred his otherwise handsome features. The flower insignia on his robe was ringed in gold and had the number three embroidered underneath it, Kason wondered if Ashton was a student and, if so, did the number refer to year? He didn''t want to disturb Ashton and so didn''t ask but after a couple of minutes standing, his legs began to complain and so, plucking up his courage, he called out to Ashton who was still gazing towards the wormhole.


    "Umm... Will we be going to the college now or..." His voice trailed off as Ashton turned to look at him.


    "I''ve got to wait and see if anyone else turns up, my shift ends in about ten minutes so we''ll be off at that time. Meanwhile, you can have a look around or wait here with me." He looked back towards the wormhole.


    Kason, who was starting to feel hungry, decided to wait with Ashton, not being willing to brave the crowds again. After a couple of minutes spent waiting, he saw a flash of light above the heads of the crowd which was beginning to thin slightly.


    "That might be another one, I''m going to check, you stay here." Ashton said standing up and beginning to make his way towards the wormhole entrance. "Oi, you in front of the wormhole..."


    Kason sat down on the edge of the fountain''s basin and put his bags down by his feet, he listened to the sound of running water and stared blankly in the direction Ashton had disappeared in.


    A minute or so later, Ashton returned with another boy in tow, he had long pale blond hair which fell down to his shoulders and sky blue eyes that seemed to shine out of his face. He was wearing a green top striped with bands of gold along with black trousers tucked into sturdy brown boots. He was taller than Kason and had a calm expression on his face, all of which gave him an air of maturity.


    "Hi!" He said brightly to Kason when he saw him.


    "Ah, hello." Kason replied, a timid smile on his face.


    "We''ll wait another couple of minutes, and if no-one else arrives, we''ll be off" Ashton announced before sitting down and casting his eyes back towards the door.


    The boy who he had brought back, walked over and sat himself down next to Kason on the edge of the fountain.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Well, I''m glad I arrived at the same time as someone else." He said enthusiastically, "I would''ve hated it if I had to wander around by myself without anyone to talk to. My name''s Harper Garent."


    "I- I''m Kason Vale" Kason replied slightly nervously.


    "This place is great!" Harper stated looking around, "I lived in quite a big city but this place is even bigger!" Harper carried on looking around and Kason, who didn''t really know what to say, stayed silent. "What year will you be entering?" Harper''s question caught Kason off guard, who had been thinking about when or where he might get something to eat.


    "I''ll be in the first year of the junior division," Harper carried on, evidently unwilling to wait for Kason to answer, "I''ve heard that it''s really difficult at first, students are only allowed to begin using magic after a year or so."


    "I''m in that year as well." Kason said, a little irritated that he hadn''t been allowed to answer the question posed to him.


    "That''s great, do you reckon we''ll be in the same class? How many people do you think will be in our year? I''ve heard that there''re..." The deluge of sound continued to pour from Harper''s mouth and Kason realised that the boy who he''d thought was mature, was actually a chatterbox, and quite a persistent one at that. As he let the torrent of sound flow over him, he heard something that piqued his interest,


    "You''ve got siblings in the college?" Kason asked.


    "Yeah, my older brother entered six years ago, he''s in his second year in the senior division."


    This information seemed to arouse Ashton''s attention, "Is your brother Nixon Garent?" he asked in his deep voice, without looking over.


    Harper gave a start, "Yeah!" He said surprised, "Do you know him?"


    "I know him alright, I''m pretty sure anyone you ask in the senior division will have at least heard of Nixon Garent. He''s well known for liking the sound of his own voice, even more than you seem to." Harper blushed slightly at his words.


    Kason felt a little sorry for Harper, being the recipient of Ashton''s harsh words, "Has he told you much about the college?" He asked.


    "Oh, yeah!" Harper said, becoming enthusiastic once again, "He''s told me loads, although that was two years ago when he came back to visit in the break between junior and senior division. He said that in the junior division, everyone''s the same age, you can only join when you''re twelve, but in the senior division, it''s totally different. ''As long as you understand the basics, they''ll accept you there'' he said."


    "That''s true," Ashton added, apparently still listening to their conversation, even though he was looking as intently as ever at the wormhole''s entrance. "I know guys who''re in their thirties who learn in the senior division."


    Harper nodded and looked proudly at Kason as if implying ''I told you so''. "You spend four years in the junior division, he said," Harper continued, "during the first year they don''t actually teach any spells, only theory and the way to prepare your body so that it''s ready for you to use it to cast magic. If you don''t prepare you can get all sorts of injuries, he said." Harper shuddered, "My brother told me about some of them, apparently there''s one where you can cause your brain to become entirely crystallised!"


    Kason, although feeling slightly incredulous, shuddered involuntarily at the thought. "D- Does it kill you if you do that?" Kason asked nervously, he didn''t feel like crystallising his brain.


    "That''s the worst part!" Harper said, seeming to become more excited, "You don''t even die if it happens! You just stay frozen in the position that you were in when it happened. It works a bit like ice my brother said, it''ll go back to normal eventually but it can take years! It''s called something like Cranial Etherifi- Etherification?" Harper stuttered as he struggled to pronounce the word.


    "Cranial Ethefication." Ashton said looking around at them, seeing Kason''s nervous expression he added, "They''ll teach you all about how to avoid it and other, much more dangerous accidents when you begin college." Kason shivered when he heard that the cranial ether-whatever-it-was, wasn''t even the most dangerous thing that could happen.


    "It''s time that we get going." Ashton said standing up, "My replacement hasn''t arrived but I don''t want to hang around any longer." Harper and Kason both stood and picked up their bags when he said this and Ashton gestured for them to follow him.


    They walked down one of the streets that led off from the square and saw moon crystal lanterns, floating in mid-air down the exact centre of the street each seeming to hold their own miniature moon, shining beams of silvery light down to illuminate the street below. They walked for a couple of minutes, Harper chattering away and exclaiming at things he saw until they came to the end of the street, where it opened up into a kind of circular plaza.


    The plaza was totally empty and in the centre, a stone monument that rose into the air, slightly taller than the houses surrounding the plaza. Ashton walked up to the monument, which began to glow as he did, sending gentle waves of silver light rolling out into the semi-darkness. When Ashton arrived in front of the monument, he turned and called over the two boys who were still standing in the entrance to the plaza, staring at the monument.


    "When I touch this monument, it''ll transport us through to a different plane of reality. That''s where the college is. Make sure you''re holding the tokens that you both have, that''s how the monument distinguishes who and who not to teleport." Having said this he waited for Harper and Kason to bring out their tokens. When they had, he looked back at the monument and slowly reached out his hand to touch it.


    A blinding flash of white light seemed to emanate from the monument, blinding Kason, but from the shadows he saw before he was completely blinded, he deduced that it had not actually emitted any light at all. The experience of being moved through to another plane of reality was totally different from travelling through the wormhole. It was rather strange, not unpleasant, but it made Kason feel as though his whole being was becoming slightly warped. It didn''t have the icy cold sensation that the wormhole journey had had, on the contrary, Kason felt like he was bathing in gentle sunlight.


    The warped sensation soon disappeared, then the white light receded from his eyes and he saw that they were no longer in the plaza they had been in but a few moments before. The monument was still stood before them, wrapping them in the same silver light, but around them were trees of all different types. They surrounded the open area where they stood, with large gaps between their trunks through which could be seen still more trunks rising out of the earth, each of differently coloured wood. Some grew tall and thin while others grew squat but sprawling, sending branches out in every direction.


    "Damn Botanists." Kason thought he heard Ashton mutter quietly, his face becoming a scowl. He quickly returned to normal though and turned back from the monument to look at Kason and Harper. "Well here we are," he said, sighing as if he were resigning himself to fate, "welcome to Constantine''s Fourth College for the Arcane Arts."

 Magic!

    Magic!


    "Where do we go now?" Kason asked, looking towards Ashton, who had turned to glare at the trees again.


    "Well, we need to get you a ring and a place to stay, so I suppose I should take you to the Registry office." Ashton gave a last fierce glare at the trees and stomped off down the only path leading away from the monument''s plaza.


    "What do you think''s got him so worked up?" Harper whispered to Kason as they followed behind Ashton.


    "No Idea." Kason replied, equally confused.


    They traipsed along, smelling the pungent smell of sap in the air and exclaiming at the myriad different colours of trees that they passed. When they broke out of the forested area that surrounded the monument''s plaza, Ashton began to point out buildings as they passed them, even though most of them could only be partially seen, being illuminated by moon crystals.


    "That''s the senior''s Coliseum, that pathway there leads to the Medicine Garden, that''s out of bounds for everyone most of the time. That''s an old building no one uses anymore, that''s the senior''s dining area, over that hill is the senior''s practice field, don''t go there until you know how to either run away really fast or create a really powerful shield." The names continued to spew from his mouth and Kason, at least, couldn''t remember even half of them.


    They eventually arrived at a cross-road with a signpost illuminated by moon crystals which indicated that the senior''s dorm area was to the left and main college buildings were in front. There was a right-hand path but there was no sign saying where it went and when Kason tried to see what was down there, he was only greeted with a long path bathed in light by moon crystals and another forest, this one more normal looking.


    "I live in the senior dorms over there," Ashton said, gesturing with his hand towards the building on the left. Kason peered through the darkness at it, trying to get a better look, but all he could see was the area around the doors which was illuminated by a different kind of moon crystal that emitted a warmer, golden light than the usual ones. The walls looked to be made from a grey stone and the double doors that stood in the entryway were made of some wood that glimmered very slightly in the light. There were also steps that led up to the doors, made of the same materials as the walls that, combined with the hulking mass of darkness the building looked to be in the night, gave Kason the feeling that he was looking at a grand manor instead of a dorm for students.


    "The Registry office is down with the main buildings, so that''s where we''ll be going next," Ashton said and began to walk down the front facing pathway. He had only gone a couple of paces though before a muffled boom rang out from in the direction of the senior dorms. Following this, fire began to pour out of some of the windows on the third floor which had been broken by whatever had made the noise. The scarlet inferno lit up the whole eastern face of the building, spilling out in great columns which rose a couple of meters in the air before petering out.


    Following this intimidating display of power, the stone that made up the building''s walls began to ripple and develop a bluish sheen that Kason assumed was some kind of defence mechanism. Even this defence mechanism couldn''t stop what happened next, however. Within moments of the fire being extinguished, another boom, this one clearer to hear, echoed out. The wall, which had just been coated in blazing flames, began to bulge outwards slightly. Not even a few seconds later, the wall gave way under the strain and exploded outwards violently sending chunks of stone flying into the night.


    Out of the newly created hole in the side of the building, emerging like some beast from its cave, a canopy of electric blue leaves sprouted, illuminated by an unlucky tree next to the building that had been set ablaze earlier. They grew from within the hole on an enormous branch that extended from inside the third floor of the building, it seemed that it was that which had made the booming noises, presumably as it forced its way through any obstructions.


    While all these events were happening, Kason and Harper stood gaping at the miraculous scene, while Ashton stood stock still, frozen by shock. After everything quietened once again, Ashton began to shake violently and gave a strangled cry of despair.


    "My room was near there you bastards!" He screamed and, thrusting his hand into his pocket, he vanished.


    Kason and Harper stayed where they were, still gaping at the marvellous scene over at the senior dorms.


    "That..." Harper said after a while. He cleared his throat and tried again, "That was amazing!"


    He turned to look at Kason, his eyes shining with excitement, "Do you think we''ll be able to do stuff like that when we''re in the senior division? Imagine that! Shooting fire and making trees grow through walls. I''d like to shoot lightning from my fingers!" He made a pose like he was striking some invisible enemy, pointing his finger dramatically and doing a bad imitation of sizzling electricity with his mouth.


    Kason was also thrilled and replied excitedly, "Yeah I want..." But his voice petered out and his face became gloomy "Do you think Ashton will come back?"


    "What? Oh him." Harper stopped and looked thoughtful, "Probably not." He concluded.


    "How are we going to get to that registry office place then?" Asked Kason nervously.


    "Well, he did say that it was down that way with the main buildings."


    Harper pointed at the sign pointing down the road Ashton had begun to walk down before he disappeared, "I think we could probably find our way there."


    "Let''s wait a bit and see if he comes back." Kason said, unwilling to risk getting lost in this unfamiliar place.


    Harper nodded and so they waited, talking enthusiastically about what magic they would use if they could. After around ten minutes, Ashton had still not returned and Harper began to complain about his hunger. Kason was also feeling hunger gnawing at his stomach and so, even though he was still somewhat reluctant to wander around without direction, he agreed to Harper''s requests to try to find the registry office.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    They began to walk down the path that led towards the main buildings, Harper still babbling on about magic, occasionally intersecting his monologue with comments about the empty state of his stomach. After walking down the path for a couple of minutes, and passing through another forest, this one of ordinary oaks, they reached the main buildings.


    The first building they saw looked like a mix between a manor house and a cathedral. Its walls were made of stone, like the senior dorms, but were ornately carved with symbols and other such designs. Above and on either side of the double oaken doors at the entrance, there were two massive circular windows of various coloured glass, each depicting a different creature, looking sort of like eyes on the building''s front face. Windows were inlaid at regular intervals to each side of the door, looking square and solid, giving the impression that they were soldiers standing guard. The cries of various exotic birds and other strange sounds coming from the forest they had just left added to the place''s grand yet mysterious atmosphere. All in all, Kason couldn''t help thinking that it felt like just the place to learn magical arts.


    Kason and Harper looked at the moonlit building, "Do you think this is the place?" Kason asked hopefully.


    "It doesn''t have a sign or anything so I suppose we just try the door?" Harper suggested. He walked forward and up the stone steps to the doors. "There isn''t a handle!" He exclaimed, "Oh wait, but there are some sort of grooves here, I''ll give them a go." He inserted a hand into each groove and pulled. Nothing happened. He pulled again, this time harder, but still, they didn''t move.


    "Looks like this isn''t the place," Kason called to him.


    "Yeah." Harper replied, panting slightly, "Probably not."


    Kason walked back up the path they came down and looked towards the building, looking to see if there was any indication as to what it''s purpose was. He found nothing but did see two paths leading off in opposite directions around each side of the building.


    He called out to Harper who was walking towards him and pointed towards each of the two paths in turn, "Shall we go down one of those paths? They might lead to the right place."


    "Sounds good, let''s go right," Harper replied.


    "Why right?"


    "Cuz right is right!" Harper chuckled and began to walk towards the right-hand path. Kason followed behind him inwardly thinking that Harper''s sense of humour wasn''t the best.


    They followed the path which led them around the side of the building and down towards another one. Trees lined the stone paved pathway in ordered rows and moon crystals floated, as usual, above the centre of the path. As they approached the new building, they suddenly felt a strange sensation as if a massive invisible hand was pushing against them as they walked, trying to prevent them from going any further. After walking a few more meters they found it impossible to go any further and so, feeling rather confused, they retreated back the way they had come.


    They walked back to the front of the main building with its stubbornly closed doors. They stood listlessly and stared at them in frustration.


    "What are we supposed to do!" Kason said, not really asking a question but just venting his annoyance.


    Harper, who had turned away from the doors to look up the path that led back towards the senior dorms, suddenly let out a cry and pointed, "Look, there''re people coming down here, maybe they''re more new students like us!"


    Kason turned around to look in the direction Harper was pointing and saw four people walking down the path from the forest. The one in front was taller than the other three, making Kason agree with Harper''s assumption that they were indeed new students with their guide.


    "Do you think their guide will be able to take us to that Registry office or whatever?" Harper asked his expression calm.


    "I don''t know," Kason replied, "what if they think we''re trespassers or something because we aren''t with our guide?"


    "It''s not our fault Ashton ran away and besides, we''ve still got those token things. Ashton used those to check if we were students so this guide should be able to do the same." Harper said this confidently but Kason couldn''t help but notice that his expression betrayed a hint of nervousness.


    They found a spot of dry ground off to the side of the path and waited for the figures on the path to approach. As they got closer, they were able to see them more clearly in the light provided by the moon crystals floating above the path.


    The guide in front seemed to be quite old, he had a bushy beard of greying straw blond hair which matched the colour of the many strands that fell off his head to a length almost as long as Harper''s. Although he seemed to be old, his build was still lean and muscular, and he carried himself in an upright position that gave his presence a kind of majesty one might expect from a ruler. He wore a rather torn and dirty green cloak about his shoulders which covered a similarly coloured, tightly fitting top and trousers.


    Behind him were three children, two girls and a boy, they were chatting away idly as they walked, obviously feeling quite comfortable in their guide''s presence. The two girls were both of average height for their age, one had mid-length, tawny coloured hair that hung freely down her head and brown eyes that shone with a glint of playfulness as she laughed with the other girl. She had auburn hair about the same length except that hers was tied into a ponytail that swung as she walked, her eyes were a pale blue, almost grey, which matched her equally pale skin. The boy who walked beside them, was much more muscled than any other Kason had seen his age, he had short hair that stuck up messily on his head and startlingly green eyes that were in stark contrast to his clothes and hair, which were both black.


    As they approached, Harper motioned for Kason to get up and they nervously walked onto the path where Harper called out to the guide.


    "Excuse me."


    The guide turned to look at them, he didn''t seem surprised which made Kason guess that he had probably already noticed them before Harper even called out. "What are you two children doing wandering around this place at night?" He asked in a rather slow, yet steady drawl.


    "Sir, we''re new students but we got separated from our guide." Harper proceeded to tell the guide about the incident at the senior dorms.


    "Mmmm..." the guide looked at them silently for a moment, in which Kason and Harper looked anxiously up at him. Then he sighed and said, "Well I''ll take you along and the people in Registry can decide what to do with you." He shrugged and carried on walking down the path, gesturing for the children to follow him.


    They walked down the path towards the main building whose doors they had tried to open earlier, the children who were walking behind the guide originally, occasionally glancing at Kason and Harper and whispering to each other as they walked in front of them down the path.


    When the guide reached the door, he pulled something from under his cloak and reached for one of the grooves in the door that Harper had used to try and open it. Kason and Harper both craned their necks and shuffled to the side, trying to see what the guide did, but they couldn''t, the guide''s frame blocked all his actions from view.


    Whatever he did must have been correct, however, because a few moments after he stepped away from the door, a slight creaking was heard and the doors swung open, letting golden light spill out onto the steps. The guide then walked forward without looking back at them, beckoning the children to follow him inside. The boy walked in first, followed by the two girls. Harper looked excitedly at Kason and then together they walked boldly forward, over the threshold.

 Colour Changing Rings

    Colour Changing Rings


    After walking through the magical doors, Kason with Harper at his side, entered a red-carpeted foyer area. It was circular in shape and had many doors leading off from it, each with a sign above it. Many spherical shaped moon crystals, emitting golden light hung from the stone ceiling, maybe three meters up, on golden threads. Kason wondered whether or not he should be calling the golden moon crystals ''sun crystals''. He had had never come across them before coming to the college, though, and so was unsure. The guide walked to the centre of the room where a statue of a man wearing tight-fitting robes and a monocle was placed, he looked back at the children and saw them all inspecting the many doors packed onto the walls.


    "These are all weak infinity doors." He gestured to the many doors leading off from the room and spoke in his slow voice, "Meaning that when you step into them, they will immediately take you to the room which they are connected to. These ones are not very powerful and can only be connected to one room, so they cannot really be called true infinity doors. Each door has a sign above it signifying where it will take you, we will be going through that one." He pointed to one of the doors on the left-hand wall, above which a sign read ''Registry Office''.


    The guide then set off towards the door and stepped inside, the children all following behind him. Kason stepped through the door, expecting to experience something similar to his trip through the black hole. However, all he felt was a slight tugging at his clothes like a light breeze had brushed past him, and then he was in another room.


    This room also had a red carpet and inside were several wooden desks, behind which several men and women sat, talking to each other. There were windows set high on the back wall and a silver chandelier set with golden moon crystals hung from the ceiling. When the guide entered the room, children in tow, they finished up their conversation and one called out to the guide.


    "Are these new students Brian?" The man asked. He seemed quite young and had a face creased with a smile.


    "Yeah," Brian drawled, "I picked up two extra on the way here, they say they lost their guide."


    "That''s fine, they must be Ashton''s pair. He sent word over that his two had disappeared."


    Kason inwardly felt indignant at being accused of disappearing, given that Ashton had run away from them first. Outwardly, however, he showed nothing, merely looking around the room that they were in.


    "Well, I''ll leave them all to you then." The guide called Brian said and, giving a lazy wave of his hand, he walked back through the infinity door. After he had, the man who had come forward to greet him turned to the children,


    "The two who were with Ashton come with me, the other three, go to one of the people over there and they''ll get you sorted."


    Kason and Harper went over to the man and he looked down at them, smiling slightly. "My name''s Brent, I received a message from Ashton saying that you two suddenly disappeared on him. New students aren''t usually the type to run away from their guides, and I doubt that you could''ve lost Ashton if you tried. How did it actually go?"


    Kason and Harper told their story and Brent listened, nodding.


    "That sounds about right. Ashton did say that he''d gone to sort out something and then when he got back you two were gone." He indicated that they should follow him as he began to walk over to a desk, "You two shouldn''t really have wandered off but then again, Ashton shouldn''t have run off either, so I suppose you''re even." He sighed and sat behind a desk and indicated two chairs for Kason and Harper to sit on that Kason would swear hadn''t been there when they entered the room.


    "It doesn''t really matter, you''re here now anyway. So you both need your rings and pendants don''t you." Brent put on an ordinary looking brown leather glove and gave a wave of his hand which fluidly transformed into a grasping motion, which ended up looking like a bizarre kind of wave directed at Harper. Harper looked a little bit confused but almost immediately after the wave, the surface of the desk rippled and two rings and sky blue kite shaped pendants on silver chains rose up from within the desk. Kason and Harper gasped at the sight and Brent chuckled, "This whole desk actually doubles as a storage device," he explained, "these things are yours." He pointed at the items on the desk, "Each of you needs a pendant and ring. The pendants are your identification for moving throughout the college. To activate them, just touch them to the green tokens you should have and they will transfer the information to the pendant. The tokens will then be useless so if you do it now, I''ll take your tokens off you after you''ve finished."


    Kason picked up both pendants from the desk and passed one to Harper. They then fished their tokens out from their pockets and touched them to the kite-shaped jewel on the pendant. They both glowed momentarily and then the green tokens began to turn grey, they both then passed their grey tokens to Brent.


    "What information is on these pendants?" Harper asked, bringing his to eye level and looking at it intently.


    "They have your name, year and hometown as well as any other info the college may add on if you take on special tasks, although you won''t really be doing that for a while. They also have other purposes but you don''t really need to know them just now." Brent replied, leaning back in his chair. He made a gesture with his gloved hand again and the rings on the table floated over to hover in front of Kason and Harper, who each reached out and took hold of one. "These rings have a long technical name that no one really remembers apart from the people who make them, the rest of us just call them utility rings. They start being really useful once you''re able to control ether, however right now they will still be useful to you. For example, they can tell you the date and time, just look at the inscriptions around the edge."Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Kason looked down at his ring and saw that metal was flowing as if it were liquid, indicating that it was just before eight in the evening. Further round the ring''s circumference, another set of numbers indicated the date, that being the seventh day of the first month.


    "The ring can also be used once to save you from most dangers if you ever get into any life-threatening situations, although it will break once that has been done." Brent continued, "It can also act as a light, and can be changed to any colour you like." He promptly turned his own ring, which he wore on his left hand, a bright shade of pink and made it light up, sending rays of pink light shining out from around his finger.


    "To make it light up, rub clockwise once around the ring''s circumference, and to change the colour, well," He frowned slightly, "you can''t actually do that until you can control ether." He seemed genuinely saddened that they wouldn''t be able to appreciate the joys of the colour changing rings.


    Kason, who was secretly similarly disappointed at being deprived of an interesting new toy, felt that although he understood how Brent felt, he would appreciate it more if he could get a meal and a place to sleep, preferably as soon as possible. He raised his voice to break Brent out of his despondent reverie, "So, can it do anything else? Also, where will we stay tonight?"


    Brent shook himself and, still looking slightly mournful, began to answer, "The ring has one last function and that is the map. If you rub counter-clockwise like so..." He rubbed around the circumference of his still pink ring, "A map will appear on the palm of the hand you''re wearing the ring on." He turned his own ringed hand towards them, showing them that, shockingly, the lines on the surface of his palm had begun to dance around like they had developed minds of their own. They writhed about, contorting into the shapes of various buildings and other landforms, smaller lines swirled into a curly, cursive script to label each of the shapes that appeared.


    "This map only shows the area roughly half a kilometre around your position and so is relatively useless if you ask me, but it''s better than nothing. There''re signs all over the place so by combining the two you can probably find your way around."


    "Why isn''t it bigger?" Harper asked


    "Well the guys who designed these rings were having a hard time fitting all the necessary stuff onto the rings, I mean they had a lot of stuff to engrave. So I think it came down to either one big stationary map that would''ve been bigger but still not able to show the whole place or a smaller map, but one that could move with you. They settled on this type obviously, not just because it can move, but also because this map can also be used anywhere as long as there''s nothing disrupting the flow of ether around it."


    Kason, who had been listening to the explanation, looked in surprise at the ring held in his palm, he would never have guessed the ordinary looking silver ring could do so much, and it seemed like there was still more that they couldn''t use yet!


    "Well that''s all the stuff you need to pick up here," Brent said and stood up, "make sure you wear your pendant around the college. Otherwise, you won''t be able to go anywhere and someone will be notified that there''s an intruder lurking around to eliminate." He said the last word in a rather sinister way, and Kason shivered, not wanting to experience whatever means the college used to ''exterminate'' intruders. Brent walked around his desk and towards the door that led back to the foyer area, "I''ll take you to the place you two will be staying in for the next four years, follow me."


    Once they were back in the foyer, they followed Brent through a set of double doors labelled ''Courtyard'' at the opposite end from where they had entered. Through the door, and they were standing outside another set of double doors, facing a large rectangular flagstone courtyard, with various patterns and images inlaid into the floor. The courtyard was surrounded on all sides by large buildings in the same style, some having thin spires and others solid looking towers rising out of the top. They walked across the courtyard towards the building directly opposite.


    "Unlike the senior dorms, the junior dorms are located next to the faculty, mainly because the juniors use the faculty buildings a lot more than the seniors do." Brent motioned towards the building they were walking towards as he said this, indicating that it was the junior dorms. When they reached the door, they noticed that there were grooves in the doors similar to those on the doors to the main building. "Hold your pendants in or near the grooves and the door will open," Brent instructed Kason and Harper.


    After doing as he said, the doors opened to reveal a room similar to the foyer of the main building, except this one was carpeted with a rug of royal blue. There were infinity doors around the room, although not as many as in the main building, and above each one was a number instead of words.


    "The numbers are floor numbers, for lack of a better description." Brent said, "Although with an infinite number of floors is it even worth numbering them?"


    Kason and Harper remained silent, unsure of what to say, but it seemed that Brent didn''t expect them to say anything anyway.


    "You guys will be living on..." He paused for a second as if listening to something and then continued, "Floor seventeen." He pointed to a door on the left.


    They walked towards it and Harper, who was frowning slightly, asked "How can there be infinite floors? I mean, if you kept on adding more then you''d eventually run out of space right?"


    "Well that would make sense if this were a normal building," said Brent turning round to look at Harper, "but, you see, this whole building is actually one big infinity room."


    Kason was the next to raise a question, "What''s an infinity room?"


    "I was going to explain that next," said Brent, "an infinity room is a room that can, hypothetically, go on forever. It just sort of, gets bigger when it needs to be. That means that whenever we need a new floor, we can build a new one without worrying about space. In fact, with this particular building, it will automatically make a new floor when all the rooms are full."


    Kason felt amazed yet again by the endless possibilities of magic, and also more impatient to begin learning himself. They then walked through the door labelled seventeen and, accompanied by the slight breeze, they ended up in a blue carpeted corridor with doors set at regular intervals in the right and windows lining the wall to the left.

 What a View!

    What a View!


    As soon as they entered the corridor, Harper walked over to the windows and let out an excited exclamation, "Look at this! Surely all of this isn''t just outside the dorm?" Kason ran over to join Harper by the window and promptly let out his own gasp of astonishment.


    Outside, there was a stretch of neatly cut grass reaching between twenty and thirty meters away from the base of the wall. Past that, rising out of the lawn like a wave from the sea, trees upreared their canopies of emerald leaves, getting progressively taller as they got further away.


    "It goes on forever!" Harper breathed in awe, "Just look at the size of some of them."


    There were indeed some behemoths deep in the forest, rising hundreds of meters into the sky, gnarled trunks twisting and turning in ways that no tree ought to. The whole place looked majestic, bathed in moonlight. Shadowy shapes flitting about under the canopy and across the tops of the trees; glowing bugs rose slowly through the net of leaves, shifting erratically in the night breeze. Brent, who had been walking down the corridor, turned to look out of the windows when he heard the exclamations of the two.


    He gave an appreciative sigh, "Looks like you guys got lucky with the view."


    "What do you mean by lucky?" asked Harper, "Surely it''s always like this."


    "Ah, well, not always. You see, the floors sort of move around the house sometimes when the dorm is getting rid of rooms that it doesn''t need. So this means a floor facing the back one year, like yours, might end up facing the front the next year."


    Harper nodded and, as Brent walked off down the corridor, came over to stand next to Kason who as still looking out the window, "He makes it sound like the house is alive." He complained slightly.


    "I think it''s awesome!" Kason said excitedly, "Just think, you can do all this stuff with magic! I can''t wait to start."


    "Same!" Harper replied with equal excitement, "But I still don''t really like the feeling of living in some giant house monster''s stomach."


    At that moment, Brent called to them from the other end of the corridor and they ran to catch up with him.


    "These will be your rooms," He said when they arrived, pointing to two adjacent doors, "you, Kason, will be in 17f and you, Harper, will be in 17g. There are ten rooms on each floor so you''ll probably have eight other floor-mates besides yourselves. Each floor also has a sort of common room and small library area over at the other end of the hall, which has an exit to the nexus, that''s the room we first entered." He pointed to a door at the other end of the hallway where another door stood. "To open the doors, you need to touch the grooves with the pendants you''re wearing."


    "Anyway, you can get food at the dining hall any time until midnight today and then starting tomorrow, between seven and eight in the morning, twelve and one at midday, and six and seven in the evening. You''ll have your uniform delivered before teaching starts, that is in three days time, and you will be expected to report to the room shown in your pendant at nine in the morning. On. That. Day." He took several deep breaths and began again, "I recommend that you try and get used to the college before that though so that you don''t get lost. You can look around in the days before college starts. If you have any troubles anywhere at any time around your dorm, there''s be a teacher supervising the dorm at all times so you''ll be fine." He then turned and began to walk away back down the corridor, waving his hand as he went. Kason and Harper watched as he passed through the door and out of sight.


    "Well now that''s over, I''m going to check out my room!" Harper pranced over to his door and tried to open it, but it wouldn''t but budge.


    "Umm, you need to touch your pendant to the grooves." Kason reminded.


    Harper nodded his head and did so. His door swung open.


    "Alright!" He walked inside and the door closed behind him with a light thud.


    Kason unlocked the door to his own room and walked inside. He was greeted by a relatively small room with a bed in the back left-hand corner and a wooden desk pushed flush to the wall in the middle of the right face, a chair floating in front of it. There were several empty shelves around the room and a rectangular window in the middle of the back wall, but apart from those items of furniture, the room was empty. Kason had the strange feeling that he was looking at a blank canvas like one might see on an artist''s easel.


    Light was being emitted by something, but Kason couldn''t figure out what. Feeling tired he dumped his bags down in a corner and went over to lie down on his bed. As soon as he did so, whatever was lighting up the room, turned off and blackness rolled in to fill the absence of light, except for a patch of silver on the floor in the middle of the room which was illuminated by the moonlight streaming through the uncovered window.


    Kason lay there and felt exhaustion overcome him. He was about to succumb to its assault when the door banged open and Harper''s voice came from within the darkness.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    "Woah, it''s dark in here!" He looked around and spied Kason''s limp form on the bed, "Come on Kason you can''t sleep now, let''s go get something to eat!"


    Kason grunted and rolled off the bed, landing on the floor with a thump. The lights came back on. Harper walked over and heaved Kason up off the floor,


    "Man, you can''t just fall on the floor like that, come on! Food!" He said, looking very serious.


    Kason rubbed his eyes sleepily and nodded, following him out of the room.


    "It looks like they lock themselves when there''s nobody inside," Harper said as Kason turned to touch his pendant to the door. Kason abandoned his endeavour and followed Harper, who started complaining about how the dorm was feeling more and more like a living thing, down the corridor to the door leading back to the nexus.


    They emerged from it and were walking across to the door signed dining hall when the sound of laughter at the entrance made them turn and look.


    The three other children who they had arrived with had entered with one of the other people from the Registry Office. They now wore close-fitting white and blue robes, the two girls twirling around showing off to each other, evidently happy with their new clothes, the boy walking behind. The person leading them stopped in the middle of the room and then, after a moment listening like Brent had, directed them to the door leading to floor seventeen.


    "Looks like they''ll be out floor-mates." Harper mused as they disappeared through the porthole, "And those robes are probably the uniforms, I wonder why they got theirs now?"


    Kason shrugged and they walked through the door to the dining hall. The hall was spacious and very clean. Tables were arranged in rows around the hall and there were one or two people eating at a few of them. Kason and Harper stood awkwardly at the entrance, looking around for where they could get their food.


    "Just sit down, there''s a menu at each table." A female voice sounded in Kason''s mind and he looked around confusedly for the voice. He saw Harper also looking around, seeming equally befuddled.


    "Did you hear a woman''s voice?" He asked Harper, still looking around.


    "A woman''s?" Harper stopped his searching and looked at Kason, "No, I heard a man. He said to sit down and something about there being menus at the tables."


    Kason shrugged and motioned that he was going to sit down, Harper waited for a second and then followed him. They chose one of the tables and sat down, immediately the surface of the table rippled just like the desk in the Registry Office, and two pieces of paper emerged, one in front of Kason and the other in front of Harper. Kason picked up the one in front of him and scanned its contents. A minute later, he looked up at Harper with a confused look on his face.


    "What are these things?"


    Harper looked up from his examination of the menu, "What''re what things?"


    "The things on the menu, I''ve only heard of a few of them."


    Harper set down his own menu and looked curiously at Kason, "Well I''ve not heard of a few of them but most things on here are usual meals." He chuckled, "What have you been eating all your life?"


    "Well I lived in a village all my life and we didn''t have any fancy things like these..." Kason mumbled feeling slightly embarrassed.


    Harper looked at him for a second and then picked up his own menu and began to explain the items on it. "Well most of the items are petty obvious, I mean it says what they are in the title like Lerran steak is steak made from Lerran meat and looks like it comes with various herbs and vegetables..." He continued to go through them until he came to the last three items on the list, "I don''t know what these last three are and they don''t provide any explanation so I suppose you''ve just got to try them out?" He shrugged.


    Kason looked at the last three at the bottom of the menu, they were called Ropla Stew, Nagrack stir-fry and Evine salad. Kason had a sudden urge to try something new, "I guess I''ll try the Rolpa Stew then." he said out loud.


    After he said it, the menu in his hand suddenly became heavier, like it was being pulled downwards towards the table. Kason let go of it and it sunk like a stone back through the rippling table, a few seconds later a steaming bowl emerged from where it had disappeared along with a spoon.


    Inside the bowl, there was some kind of pale coloured broth in which floated chunks of some blue meat and a variety of vegetables.


    "Looks nice." Harper commented with a grin, "But I think I''ll go for a tamer option. I''ll take the Halgrad finch." He copied Kason and said the name his dish and moments later, his menu disappeared to be replaced by a plate of meat and salad.


    They were both very hungry and so were finished very quickly, Harper let out a satisfied sigh, "Now that I''ve eaten I feel like I could fall asleep easily." He yawned loudly stretching his arms as he did so. Kason also felt full, the Rolpa stew had been surprisingly delicious if a little spicy. He had gone red in the face after a couple of mouthfuls, causing Harper to laugh uproariously, but after that, he had learned to take his time and so had managed to avoid embarrassing himself further.


    The sleepiness that had vanished when they entered the dining hall, had begun to assault Kason once again so he suggested that they return to their rooms. Harper agreed and so they made their way out of the dining hall and back to the door to floor seventeen.


    "Shall we go and look around the college buildings tomorrow then?" Harper asked Kason as they walked down the corridor towards their rooms. "We can meet in that common room place down there." He pointed to the door at the other end of the corridor,


    "Yeah, okay" Kason replied drowsily.


    "Okay, then let''s meet there at nine," Harper said after thinking for a moment, "that way we''ll have time to eat and do whatever else we need to do beforehand."


    Kason nodded, only half listening. Harper then said goodnight and went to his room; Kason returned to his and, opening the door with his pendant, he flopped face first down onto his bed not bothering to get under the covers or change into some other, lighter, clothing. He rolled onto his back and realised that he hadn''t shut his window. Through it he saw a sky full of radiant stars, sending shafts of shimmering starlight tumbling towards the earth below. His eyes became half-lidded as he lay there, slowly drifting off into sleep.


    Just before he relinquished his waking state in favour of blessed sleep, he saw a bright patch of what seemed to be starlight moving across the sky. Within the glittering light, he saw a human figure. It was beautiful to the extreme, perfect in every way imaginable, or at least it seemed that way in his current state. He could not tell whether it was male or female, all he could tell for sure with the lethargic state of his brain was that the figure was slowly coming closer like they were making their way towards the dorm where he lay.


    His body, however, would not be denied of sleep any longer so before he could see where the figure ended up, his eyes closed and he slipped into dreams filled with starlight wreathed enchanting figures and bowls of spicy stew.

 A Magical Map

    A Magical Map


    The next morning, Kason awoke to sunlight streaming through the window beside his bed. He groggily lifted his right hand, squinting at the ring on his index finger and fumbling around with it trying to find out what time it was. After messing around for a moment, he found that it was just before half past seven in the morning. He slipped out of his bed and realised that he hadn''t closed his curtains the previous night. He looked at the weak sunlight coming in through the glass and thought to himself that he was lucky that the sun still rose late otherwise he might have woken up much earlier than he wanted to.


    He tottered around his room still half asleep, feeling that he was forgetting something but unable to figure out what. After having changed his clothes, he decided to sort out the rest of the stuff in his bags onto the shelves around the room. After having done this he stood and looked out of the window, which he almost couldn''t do due to his height. The sun was still rising meaning that the barely visible horizon was dyed with a warm orange colour and the tops of the trees in the endless forest appeared to be crowned in flames. He was not sure how the same forest could be seen from both his window and the windows on the corridor but he figured that some magic was happening somewhere and it wasn''t anything bad so he wasn''t going to worry about it.


    His stomach rumbled as he stood there and he remembered that there was a time limit for having breakfast. He checked the ring on his finger again and his eyes widened as he realised that he was almost out of time. He jumped away from the window and ran towards his door, the time was ten minutes to eight which meant he only had ten minutes to get to the dining hall and eat!


    He bolted out of his room and down the corridor towards the infinity door leading to the nexus, cursing himself in his mind for not going to breakfast as soon as he woke up. He raced down the corridor and up to the door, but before he could open it, it opened by itself and a girl came through. She was the brown-haired of the two girls who they''d seen yesterday. Due to the close proximity between them, Kason barely managed to avoid fully crashing into her and, even as he dodged to the side, his arm knocked into her, causing her to stagger backwards.


    Kason stopped his dash to the dining hall and turned to see if he had hurt her. Luckily the girl did not seem to be hurt, just surprised. He hurried over to her, "A- Are you alright?" He asked nervously "I- I''m sorry for knocking into you."


    The girl looked up at him and gave a slight smile, "I''m fine don''t worry."


    "Ah okay..." Kason said smiling awkwardly, "Well I, umm, I''ve got to go and get breakfast so..." He gave her a wave and escaped through the doorway. When he was through he stopped in place for a moment and buried his face in his hands to hide his embarrassment, ''I should have been more careful!'' He scolded himself silently, ''Now I''ve gone and hurt someone!'' He waited a few moments to regain his composure and then resumed his journey to the dining hall, this time at a more subdued pace.


    He reached the dining hall a short while later and hastily found himself a place to sit. The menu appeared the same as it had the night before and he decided that, to save time, he would just order the first item on the list. He was just finishing his breakfast, which had been a plate of toast covered with a peculiar but pleasant tasting jam when he heard a surprised exclamation behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Harper was walking towards him.


    "I didn''t think there would be anyone later than me!" He said as he sat down opposite Kason.


    "I woke up late." Kason explained, slightly abashed.


    "Oh well, I''ll probably miss breakfast completely sometime anyway." Harper laughed amicably.


    He waited for Kason to finish eating and then they walked out of the dining hall together.


    "Alright, let''s start our exploration of the college!" Harper announced excitedly, "Shall we start with the common room on our floor?"


    Kason, who was also eager to begin, nodded enthusiastically. They walked through the door to the seventeenth floor and along the corridor to the other end where the door to the common room stood. Harper, who was leading the way pushed at the door, and when it didn''t open, he tried pulling instead. Kason was standing behind him and noticed a groove in the door like the ones that appeared on the doors to their rooms, he pointed it out to Harper.


    "I wonder why they lock all the doors, I mean, it''s our floor''s common room! Even if they''re trying to keep others out, surely we''re the only ones who would want to get in in the first place?" Harper said, sounding slightly annoyed as he bent down and inserted his pendant into the groove.


    The door swung open immediately revealing a circular room with another smaller room of similar shape set into the wall to the side of the door. The main room had a normal looking wooden table surrounded by ten straight-backed chairs as well as a fireplace in which a fire blazed happily, little flames dancing around on the charred logs. Around the fireplace, there were several armchairs and on the floor, there was a thick rug made of a material that looked like fur. The smaller room did not have the same luxuries however, it had a stone floor and several bookshelves lining its walls; each was laden with books of all sizes.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Kason and Harper walked into the room, looking around them as they did. They reached the centre of the room and split up, Harper moving over to the table and Kason walking towards the other room which he assumed was the small library that Brent had mentioned. He was stopped before he could reach it, however, because Harper let out an amazed cry and called him over,


    "Kason, Kason! Look at this!" Harper was looking up from the table which he had been examining and waving for Kason to come over. Kason hurried over to him and he pointed at the surface of the table. "Look! It must be a map of the college, the whole thing not just the however much is shown by the ring''s map!"


    It certainly looked like that to Kason, he looked over the whole map and realised that the college was much, much bigger than he had thought. There was complex where they were now, with the junior dorms and the building in which was the Registry Office and then to the north-west was another complex of buildings with names like the ''Centre for Spacial Phenomena'' and ''SC Research Lab''. He spotted a spire-like building on the map, under which words spelt out ''Spacial Monument''.


    "That must be the place where we entered here with Ashton." He said, pointing it out to Harper who nodded in agreement. They followed a path drawn on the map which they thought must be the one they had used to get to the main buildings and sure enough, after following it down for a moment, they found the main building which the registration office had been in.


    "Here''s the junior dorms." Harper pointed to another building behind the main one, "But what''s that over there?" He leaned over the table to get a closer look at a diagram in the top right-hand corner of the map. As he did, his pendant which was hanging around his neck on its silver chain, fell from where it had been hastily tucked under his shirt and onto the table with a tinkling clatter. As soon as it touched the table, the lines of the map disappeared and the words ''Harper Garent'' appeared in large letters in the centre of the table. Harper straightened up with a jerk, surprised by the sudden occurrence.


    After a moment, the writing on the table disappeared and the map reappeared in its place, looking exactly the same as it had been before. The same, except for now there was a small image of a person on the junior dorm building with the initials ''H.G'' underneath it.


    "Woah, that''s cool!" Harper said looking at the newly appeared icon on the map, he turned his shining blue eyes upon Kason, "You give it a go Kason!"


    Kason brought his pendant out from under his tunic and leant over the table to touch the pendant to its surface. When he did so, the map disappeared again and the name ''Kason Vale'' appeared on the surface of the table for a couple of seconds before fading away and revealing the map again. This time there was no extra icon on the map, but under the image of the person there was now another set of initials, ''K.V''.


    "Do you think the icons move around the map if we move around the college?" Kason asked curiously.


    "Probably, they wouldn''t be very useful if they didn''t, would they?" Harper replied. He then reached down with his pendant clasped in his hands and touched it to the table again.


    This time the map did not disappear but the initials ''H.G'' below the human-shaped image faded away slowly until only ''K.V'' remained. Seeing this, Kason also touched his pendant to the table again and watched as his initials also faded away.


    "Shall we check out the library then?" Kason asked once the map had returned to normal.


    "It''s just books isn''t it?" Harper replied sounding slightly derisive, "We''ll check them out later." He made his way towards a different door to the one they entered by, this one emblazoned with the word ''Nexus''.


    They walked through it and ended up in the nexus area with its many doors and exited through the one leading outside.


    The courtyard outside the dorms was brightly lit by the sun which had risen just high enough in the sky to shine over the roofs of the buildings. Shadows were still cast, like long thin fingers, by the stone spires and towers rising out of some of the buildings and a few people could be seen walking across the courtyard to reach whatever building was their destination.


    "Well, shall we go?" said Harper.


    "Go where?" Kason asked confusedly.


    "Around..." Harper replied vaguely, "That Brent guy just said to get used to the college so I suppose we just walk around anywhere we can."


    They set off, beginning by exploring the building to the left of the dorms. It wasn''t very interesting and they weren''t allowed to go to very many places inside, it was all teacher''s offices as far as they could tell. After exiting the building feeling slightly disappointed, they entered the building to the right of the dorms, which had the most towers rising from its roof.


    This one had three main floors with a massive gap rising up through the very centre of all three in which floated a massive spherical object with numerous smaller spheres circling it slowly. Each floor had a corridor running around the interior edge of the gap with one side open to it and many balconies were placed at regular intervals on each floor, obviously used to observe to spheres. Although they might not have understood it, it made a very majestic sight as they walked underneath it on the polished stone-paved floor, looking up at the gargantuan structure with awestruck expressions on their upturned faces.


    They continued to tour around the other buildings but found that none were as magnificent or awe-inspiring. There were several interesting places, like a room that seemed to be filled with an inky darkness so complete that nothing could be seen past the doorway, but none on the same scale or with the same grandeur. Eventually, they finished exploring all the buildings in close proximity to the dorms where they lived and found that it was time for their lunch.


    They returned to the dorm and made their way to the dining hall where they ate lunch. This time, Kason chose a strange looking fish with five tails that tasted surprisingly good.


    After the meal they sat and discussed where they would go next, finally deciding that they would try to visit as many of the distant buildings spread out throughout the vast land covered by the school as possible before dinner. They left the dining hall and began to make their way to the senior''s coliseum that Ashton had pointed out when they first arrived because both of them were eager to see more magic, the Coliseum seemed like the best place to start.


    Kason and Harper took the path which they had taken from the monument the evening before, this time away from the main building, through the forests and past the seniors'' dorms. Birds sang their songs as they flew through the sky and they saw several different creatures scampering around as they walked. Altogether, it was a very peaceful scene and Kason and Harper chatted idly as they walked, discussing enthusiastically what different kinds of magic they would see on display in the coliseum.

 Fight in the Coliseum

    Fight in the Coliseum


    Kason and Harper reached the Coliseum in high spirits. As they neared, they began to hear faint explosions and other strange noises, sounds that made them shiver and feel afraid. This fear was quickly replaced with renewed excitement, however, and they began to walk more quickly, impatient to reach their destination.


    At the entrance was a grand archway carved into the building which seemed to have been carved from one massive block of stone, there being no obvious sign of bricks being laid or rocks joined together. They entered through the magnificent arch and found themselves in a short hallway of paved stone with wooden double doors at the end.


    They proceeded through the doors and found themselves in another one of the round rooms with doors spread out along the walls.


    "Another nexus huh?" Harper commented when they entered.


    There were signs on each door like always, Kason spotted one that was labelled ''Viewing Platform'' and walked towards it, calling out to Harper as he did.


    They walked through the door and entered a large room with a rather low ceiling and a deep violet-carpeted floor. The wall facing into the stadium was made completely from glass and shimmered ever so faintly with an azure tint, suggesting that the glass was enchanted or in some other way, protected from being broken by whatever magic was released inside the arena. There were chairs and a few tables lined up near the massive window for people to use while observing whatever was happening below. Quite a few people were sitting there talking excitedly, most of them looked like they were seniors, but a few thrilled looking juniors could be spotted amongst the crowd.


    Harper and Kason wound their way to the window and looked down into the stadium.


    It looked like there was a whole world inside the stadium below the viewing area. The entire area of the arena was huge and looked more fantastical than anything Kason had seen so far, in one area, huge columns of rock protruded from the ground looking like gigantic thorns on some equally massive rose. In another area, clouds hung low over a barren looking landscape where enormous moss-covered, irregularly shaped lumps of rock hung in mid-air, completely at ease, as if gravity had given up affecting them like it should. Yet another area was covered in lush trees and thick undergrowth and although not being as impressive as the forest that was visible from the dorm''s windows, Kason thought it carried an air of wildness and ferocity that the forest outside their dorm windows did not have. There were other areas as well, a lake, a swamp and even a volcano, all fit into the massive arena.


    Kason could not begin to imagine how they had managed to fit everything into the coliseum but as he looked around, awestruck at the magnificent sights, he noticed that beyond the boundaries of the current environment that the contestants were sparring in, the land seemed to give rise to a sort of haze, the kind one might see on a very warm day. He didn''t know what this signified but, but it reminded him that there was probably some magic going that allowed the all the different landscapes to fit inside the arena.


    After a while lost in thought, gazing at the bizarre yet beautiful landscape below him, he was brought back to reality by Harper, who suddenly gave a delighted whoop. Kason looked over at him and saw him staring avidly at the competitors in the arena below. Kason, seeing his fervent gaze, looked down as well to see what was happening. One of the participants, a male, was retreating hurriedly away from the other, using some kind of magic to allow him to fly short distances, weaving between outcroppings of rock trying to get away. The other, a female, chased doggedly after him, blasting away the obstacles in her path with great bursts of flame. Both of their bodies were encased in a kind of light blue cocoon over the top of their college robes, the male''s being very faint to the point where it was almost invisible, whereas the female''s was much brighter.


    Kason watched as the male continued to run, getting further and further away from his pursuer. Then the female suddenly stopped on top of a rocky ledge, looking down upon the fleeing male, she waved her hand and closed her eyes, seemingly trying to concentrate. Kason noticed that clasped in her outstretched hand there was a short pearly white stick which she pointed in the direction of her escaping opponent. Kason assumed that since she had stopped chasing, she must have given up, maybe planning to conserve her energy for their next engagement and so he took his gaze away from the battle and looked around at the audience, only to see the crowd watching with even more absorbed expressions.


    Feeling a little confused he turned his gaze back to the arena. Just as he turned, the girl made a complicated gesture with her stick, ending with a flick in the direction of the man who had stopped and was taking something out from underneath his robes. Almost immediately after a red glow could be seen coming from the earth in the area where the male had stopped, evidently he noticed as well because he stopped whatever he was doing and hastily began to try and evacuate the vicinity, but he was too late.


    A great pillar of fire burst high into the air, the top contorting into the shape of the head of some massive beast which Kason recognised straight away. A dragon! The column of flame lasted for only a couple of seconds before it collapsed, and Kason, who had been greatly shocked by the sudden attack, looked anxiously at the place where it had been, would the man be alright? He very much doubted that anyone would be fine after being hit with something like that!


    As the lingering dust from the awe-inspiring display gradually dissipated, the man''s figure came into view, perfectly fine, except for the fact that the faint blue cocoon that had been surrounding him was now completely gone. A few moments later, shining white words appeared in the air announcing ''Competitor B has been eliminated, Competitor A has won.''The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    There was wild cheering in the viewing platform and even Kason joined in, caught up in the excited atmosphere. After a moment he returned to his senses and turned to Harper, so many questions burning in his heart that he suspected he would never have them all answered.


    "Who were they?" he asked slightly breathless, still feeling a slight thrill from the excitement of the match.


    "You don''t know them!" Harper asked incredulously.


    "Ah, no... Sorry." Kason replied, feeling embarrassed at his lack of seemingly common knowledge again.


    "Well, I suppose it''s not surprising. If I''m not mistaken, and I don''t think I am, then that girl should''ve been Emelia Ashworth, they say she''s vaguely descended from Almore of the seven great mages!" Harper said, a look of adoration on his face, "She''s in her second year in the senior division and she became famous in her first year for her outstanding control of fire. As for the other guy, well I actually don''t know but probably some guy from the senior division."


    "What was that stick thing she was using?" Kason asked curiously


    "Stick!" Harper practically screeched, "That wasn''t a stick! That was a wand! She was part of our college''s squad for north-eastern region''s annual Bout which our college won and that wand was one of the prizes. It''s said made from the tooth of a black dragon!" Harper sighed emphatically after he finished.


    "What''s a wand?" Kason asked in a small voice, subconsciously readying himself for another outburst from Harper.


    Harper just stared incredulously at Kason, who grinned nervously, for a moment before sighing in a resigned sort of way and beginning to explain, "They''re objects that help you cast magic. There''s not much more to them than that I think."


    Kason nodded and looked back at the arena, which was now empty.


    "There probably won''t be another match for a while, let''s go see some other places," Harper said after a while so they made their way back to the nexus and out of the entrance.


    Outside the coliseum, there were several groups of students standing around, still discussing the previous match. Kason and Harper walked past them and caught a snippet of their conversation.


    "...a pity that Stefan wasn''t using his wand. If he had been, I reckon he would''ve won easily."


    "I don''t think so. Emelia''s gotten much better recently, maybe she learnt something at the bout. I mean did you hear? Apparently, she beat Bethany last week."


    A sharp intake of breath followed this statement, "Wow! Weren''t they on the same level before the Bout?"


    "Yeah, she beat her quite comfortably supposedly and also..."


    They moved too far away from the group and were unable to hear any more.


    "Looks like the other guy was called Stefan." Harper commented as they walked, "They talk like he''s really good, he must just not be that famous. But even if he is as good as they think, I bet Emelia would still be better."


    "You seem quite confident in that Emelia." Kason said, smiling wryly.


    "She''s my idol!" Harper exclaimed passionately, "If you''d seen her matches at the Bout she''d be yours as well. Ah... She has the perfect balance between grace, elegance and destructive power."


    Kason made a noise of agreement, while also feeling slightly uncomfortable with this new side of Harper.


    They took a path that led down through a forest, trying to get to a place called the ''Observatory'' but, having forgotten the path shown on the large map in the common room, they could only rely on the signposts and the small map feature of their rings.


    As they walked along Kason continued asking his questions, "You keep mentioning this ''Bout'' thing, what is it exactly?"


    "Man, you must have lived in a ditch or something, do you really not know about it? Well, they''re competitions between the colleges that happen every year. The whole country is split into four regions, and all the colleges in each region compete against each other, we''re in the north-eastern region so we compete against all the colleges in the north-east. There''re different events like mock battles, displays of technique or control, races and lots of others. The mock battles are generally the most popular though, they''re super exciting to watch!"


    "Wow!" Kason let out a breath of amazement, "It sound fun!"


    "Doesn''t it! I wanna be in the squad at least once, I wanna fight in the mock battles, I''ve watched them a few times and they seem really intense!" Harper had an enthusiastic gleam in his eyes as he spoke.


    "I don''t think I''d like to be in the mock battles, they sound quite dangerous," Kason said hesitantly.


    "Maybe," Harper said, "But they have people watching over it, and they are supposed to be shielded from any serious damage so it''s not supposed to actually be that dangerous."


    "All the same..." Kason still felt that he would much prefer participating in a less violent form of contest.


    They continued along the path they were following and eventually came out of the forest they had been in and to a signpost at a crossroad. Kason and Harper both frowned as they looked at it, "This isn''t where we were supposed to end up." Harper gave voice to both of their thoughts.


    "Perhaps we went down the wrong path?" Kason suggested.


    "But there were no turn offs, the path was straight, we couldn''t have gone onto a wrong path."


    They both stood there looking around confusedly for a couple of minutes, then decided that they should probably start to make their way back to the dorms. They used their maps to figure out the direction that they should walk in and began walking again.


    Kason had to admit that their afternoon had not been as successful as they had hoped. Although they had seen the thrilling battle in the coliseum early on, they had spent most of their time after that walking, which wasn''t exactly bad but Kason''s feet had begun to ache. Perhaps it was this that alerted him, but he suddenly had a feeling that there was a large uncomfortable lump in his left shoe. He called out to Harper, saying he needed to check something, and sat down on the grass by the side of the path.


    He pulled off his shoe, turned it upside down, and shook it violently, hoping to dislodge whatever was stuck inside. After a few seconds of shaking, a round black stone measuring two or three centimetres across fell onto the grass from the inside of his shoe.


    "How did you manage to get that in your shoe?" Harper asked incredulously.


    "No idea..." Kason replied, equally confused.


    He picked up the stone and felt it between his fingers. It was warm from being trapped in his shoe and very smooth, the surface glinting in the afternoon sun. It was pitch black, Kason looked intently all around it and didn''t find the slightest hint of an impurity discolouring the black surface. There were also no scratches anywhere, which was surprising, given that it must have been picked up off the well-used path on which they had been walking.


    "What is it?" asked Harper, peering down at the stone in Kason''s grasp.


    "Looks like it''s just a rock." Kason replied, rolling it again between his fingers. Harper shrugged, not having any better suggestions. "Well I suppose I''ll keep it, it looks nice." Kason decided, slipping it into a pocket.


    "Suit yourself." Harper said moving back onto the path, and checking the ring on his right hand, "We should keep moving though, otherwise we''ll be late for dinner."


    Kason nodded and put his shoe back on and they set off again back down the path.

 Suddenly, Trees!

    Suddenly, Trees!


    The next day, Kason awoke much earlier than the previous morning, having made sure to go to bed early so that he didn''t end up in the same predicament he had before. He went to breakfast, ate, and returned to his room rather dazedly, still not having fully woken up. He sat on his bed when he returned and, quite suddenly, felt an inexplicable bout of sadness. He cast his eyes around at his possessions scattered about on the shelves around his room and realised that he felt an acute sense of homesickness.


    Although he had only been away from home for a couple of days, it was still the longest time that he had ever been more than a few doors away from his house and he felt himself becoming overwhelmed by a sense of discomfort. He missed his own comfortable bed and the homemade food his mother cooked, although it wasn''t anywhere near as fancy as the food he ate here, it was for some strange reason, tastier in his mind. He sat there reminiscing for a few minutes before mentally shaking himself and thinking about what he was here to do. He was here to learn magic, magic like his father''s.


    His father had died when he was still quite young so he had few memories remaining of him, but those that did were wonderful treasures in his mind. They were happy memories, bathed in a kind of golden light, of a kind-faced, white-bearded old man beaming down at him as he sat in his lap. He remembered how his father would tell stories and, with a wave of his hands, they would come alive, images blossoming out of his fingertips to create fantastical landscapes and creatures. He would tell of how he had ventured across the land, fought monsters, seen wondrous sights, and after all that he would create little golden bubbles which would float around Kason like tiny worlds in their own right, revolving around Kason as if he was their star. The young Kason would laugh in delight whenever he did this and reach out to try and pop the little golden spheres but always found that they made sure to stay out of his reach.


    These moments were some of the highlights of Kason''s childhood and it was his father''s wondrous magic that had inspired him to embark on the arcane path. He had mentioned this ambition to his father once, who had chuckled good-naturedly and proclaimed grandly that when Kason was old enough, he would make him into the greatest wizard in the world, at which Kason had cheered loudly and his mother had shaken her head smiling at their tomfoolery. It had been roughly a year after this that his father had died, leaving his promise unfulfilled.


    Kason remained in his room for a while, still feeling slightly glum. Eventually, he looked at his ring and realising that it was almost ten o''clock. He decided that he would have a look at the map in the common room and see if they had missed any interesting places yesterday while they were exploring. He entered the common room, which was empty, and looked at the map for a while, scanning over the buildings shown in the area of the junior dorms. He saw that there was a place labelled the ''Meditation Gardens'' which they hadn''t visited and there was also a library in the main building where they had met with Brent.


    Kason walked back out of the common room a few minutes later, thinking about his plan for the day. He would go to the meditation gardens first, then return for lunch and lastly visit the library. He didn''t really know if he would stick to this schedule but thought that having a framework to base his destinations on was better than nothing.


    He entered the nexus through the door from floor seventeen and walked through the exit, expecting to enter a bright, sunny courtyard like he had yesterday when he and Harper had exited the building.


    What actually happened was something totally different.


    He pushed open the doors, eyes half closed in anticipation of the sunlight but found that he couldn''t see anything at all. He opened his eyes fully and gazed around suspiciously. From what he could see of the ground under his feet, he should indeed, have been standing just outside the junior dorms, being dazzled by the early morning sun, but when he looked around, all he saw in the strange green tinted half-light was masses of sprawling undergrowth crowding around the bases of huge brown columns. Tree trunks grew out of great cracks in the flagstones, making it seem like they had quite literally forced their way, with no small amount of force, through the flagstones.


    Kason was still looking around, getting used to this unexpected environment, when he suddenly felt something wrap around his ankle. The feeling was highly unpleasant and he shivered with disgust as he felt the cool something coil around his ankle, looking down to find out what the thing was, he saw a green, tendril-like thing snaking around his leg. He almost screamed when saw it, remembering warnings that his mother had given him back at home about snakes that would coil around people they had chosen as their prey. He tried to move his leg to shake it off but to his horror, his leg wouldn''t move no matter how much he tried. Having no other choice, Kason slowly reached down with a trembling hand to try and prise the ''snake'' from his leg.


    Before he could do this, however, there was a strong tug from the ''snake'' and it pulled him clean off his feet. It continued to pull him by his leg, dragging him a short way through the undergrowth before hoisting him off the ground and high into the air. It was then that he realised that the ''snake'' was, in fact, a massive vine, snaking all the way down from the canopy above. He was lifted, feeling battered, bruised and rather like crying, up towards the treetops, passing branches as he went and collecting a rather fine collection of twigs in his hair. The vine finally stopped just below the canopy and he was left hanging there, breathing heavily in the silence.


    "Hi Kason, have you come to join us? We''re just, well, hanging out here. Hahaha..."


    A voice called out from behind him and Kason twisted his head to see who it was. To his surprise, he saw Harper hanging upside down, like he was, just a little way off. Beside him, there were two other people: one was one of the girls who they had encountered with the guide, Brian, and the other was a boy Kason hadn''t seen before. He had medium length purple hair which now fell straight down from his head making him look rather comical. All three were hung up by vines that looked like the one holding up Kason and all of them looked rather dishevelled, the purple haired boy had had the left arm of his robe ripped off.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    The boy with purple hair laughed slightly at Harper''s joke and Harper smiled at him appreciatively. "How long have you been trapped here?" Kason asked in as steady a voice as he could muster.


    "I got caught only a few minutes before you," Harper said and shrugged upside down, making his vine swing back and forth a bit.


    "I''ve been here for, maybe ten minutes?" the girl chimed in with a cheery voice, seeming quite unperturbed.


    "I''ve been here for ages!" The boy with purple hair burst out angrily, his voice quiet high pitched, "It''s literally been forever!"


    They hung there discussing their predicament and getting to know each other a bit more, the girl''s name was Kayla and she came from a city called Vitrica on the western coast while the boy was called Fenston and came from the city in which the college monuments were placed, called Constantin. Kason also found out for the first time where Harper came from, it was a city called Tarial which was quite far south of Constantin. Kason scolded himself mentally for never properly getting to know Harper even though they had adventured together for a couple of days now.


    They waited, suspended below the canopy, the others talking so normally that it surprised Kason, ''Perhaps they''ve all been through stuff like this before?'' He thought somewhat sceptically. After a couple of minutes, the boy Fenston called out in alarm,


    "Can you hear that?" A faint note of worry audible in his tone.


    Kason and the other three stopped talking and listened intently, straining their ears for any sounds. Then Kason''s eyes widened in alarm. A faint roaring was audible over the forest noises in the background, getting louder every second.


    "That''s a fire!" Kayla cried her expression one of panic.


    "It sounds like it''s getting closer very quickly," Harper added, also looking worried.


    The forest around them was beginning to writhe. Strange hisses and rustlings issued from all around them, the canopies of the trees began to shake and many small movements could be seen in the undergrowth beneath them, although Kason could not see what was making them. The whole forest seemed to have come alive like it was one massive animal screaming in pain as something began to burn it away, tearing at its life.


    The roaring of the fire was also getting closer, and as it did, the trees began to shake more intensely, leaves flying in all directions. Unfortunately, this also caused the vines that were holding Kason, Harper, Kayla and Fenston to being to swing wildly, as they too began to panic as the fire drew ever closer.


    Kason sailed through the air, being dragged along by his vine, and felt bile rise in his throat. The intense movement had begun to make him feel very sick, and he was beginning to worry that he would throw up at any moment, projectile vomiting all over his own face, which aside from being highly unpleasant, would also be very embarrassing.


    And then Kason felt a wave of heat blast over him from behind, he turned his head and, despite the berserk flailings of the vine he was held by, he managed to catch a glimpse of the fire through the thick trunks of the trees. The sight was both awe-inspiring and terrifying, crimson flames leaping from tree to tree, each being engulfed in flames much faster than reason said they should have.


    Kason now felt a very real feeling of panic and, by the strangled cries of the others, he could tell that they were feeling the same fear that he did, ''If the trees can''t survive what chance do I have?'' Kason wailed in his mind, the tears which he had been struggling to hold back, now tumbling freely down his cheeks which were a rosy colour in the heat.


    The fire grew closer and closer, the roaring it made now interspersed with high pitched whistles and spitting noises as moisture in the various plant matter it consumed burst into barely visible spires of steam. The vines which held the four children also began to swing even more violently and Kason found it a miracle that he had not collided with anything and received any serious injuries.


    Just when Kason felt that the there was no hope left, a deep voice thundered through the forest.


    "Stop!" It bellowed and everything became still.


    The fire was still there, but it was now motionless like time had stopped flowing in that particular area and the curling flames were frozen in place. The same occurred to the vines and the children attached to them, they hung in the air horizontally to the ground and Kason, who had long gone past tears and had just been staring blankly with dead eyes, blinked and looked around in disbelief.


    Everything had stopped, the noises, the movement, everything. And then, suddenly and inexplicably, everything began to dissolve. The trees, the fire, everything began to gradually disperse into blue sparks which glinted with a mischievous light that gradually became dimmer until they disappeared completely, leaving Kason and the other three children hanging in mid-air.


    The disintegration of the forest was a gradual process which meant that, although the treetops had gone, the trunks of the trees and the undergrowth around them still remained, blocking their saviour and the perpetrators from sight. Kason stared around him, the sun which was now visible with the removal of the canopy shone down upon him and warmed his dirty clothes. He looked at the quickly vanishing forest and felt relief, they were no longer in danger of being burned, whacked to death on a tree trunk or constricted by any more vines.


    This relief, however, did not last long. Perhaps it was because his mind had been preoccupied with the danger they had been in before, but it had not quite registered that he was, in fact, floating a long way above the ground with no obvious supports holding him up. Kason felt panic begin to rise again in his chest, but then it stopped, he had been floating for a while now and had not fallen to his death so presumably there was someone keeping him up.


    This thought gave him some comfort so he decided that he would just wait. What would happen would happen, and he couldn''t do anything to stop it at the moment so there wasn''t much point in struggling or complaining about it. Harper and the other two who had been strung up by vines with him were all floating beside him, they all looked a bit frazzled and their clothing looked in an even sorrier state than it had been before, presumably from the crazed actions of the vines in the face of the fire.


    Harper caught Kasons gaze, and with a dazed look in his eyes, he gave a rather strained smile and a thumbs up. Eventually, the forest completely disappeared, revealing four or five young men and women standing in front of a middle-aged man with a long beard and flecks of grey in his black hair. The older man was standing in front of the five younger people and was waving his arms at them, gesticulating wildly. He turned around and, noticing that the forest had completely dispersed, he paused whatever he was doing and made a gesture with a staff held in his left hand.


    Slowly, Kason felt himself begin to descend towards the cracked and shattered flagstones of the courtyard below, eventually touching down next to Harper and the others a few steps behind the middle-aged man.

 Botanists and Books

    Botanists and Books


    Once Kason, Harper, Kayla and Fenston had all been safely deposited on the ground, the middle-aged man turned back to the young people standing in front of him and began to rant at them, presumably continuing what he had been doing before he rescued them.


    "Can you guys not cooperate for even an hour? I leave to take care of an emergency and when I return, I find that you lot have gone and made another one!" The man shouted at the young men and women arrayed before him.


    "Supervisor," one of the five stepped forward as the man paused to breathe. He was a handsome young man with green hair and slanted green eyes. "It wasn''t all of us that started this, we," he waved a hand to indicate two of the four who were standing in line with him, "Were doing as you told us and standing guard, but those two," he pointed to the other two, who glared at him, "Started insulting us. Obviously, as there are only a few of us at the college and we had a new member with us, we couldn''t let them!"


    "I don''t care whose fault it is!" The middle-aged man in front of them screamed over him; the young man flinched and stepped back into the line. The old man cast a stern gaze upon all of the young men and women lined up before him, "I don''t care who started it or whose fault it is," he said again in a more steady voice, "All I know is that you almost seriously injured four new students, and that is an inexcusable offence. You will apologise to the four of them immediately and then come with me for punishment."


    The middle-aged man stepped aside and allowed the five young people to approach the four children. The young man with green hair who had spoken stepped forwards first, evidently having recovered quickly from being interrupted. He looked at the four children who were looking up at him.


    "I am sincerely sorry," he said in a calm, yet slightly sarcastic voice, then he stepped back and allowed the next person to come forward.


    The next to step up to them was a small young woman who had a worried expression on her face, she had green hair like the young man before her, but her eyes were brown instead of green.


    "I''m really sorry," she said in a voice which sounded like she was almost crying, "Did any of you get hurt?"


    Kason, thinking about the collection of bruises he had gathered as he was dragged around by the vine, was about to nod his head in firm agreement. But then he looked into the woman''s watery eyes and decided against it, she seemed harmless enough and genuinely sorry so he did not want to pile more guilt onto her. The woman walked back, still mumbling about how sorry she was, and the next person stepped forward.


    When they did, both Kason and Harper let out a surprised exclamation.


    "Ashton!"


    The young man, who had been walking forward glaring at the young man with green hair from earlier every couple of paces, looked towards the children in surprise.


    "Oh, I didn''t expect to see you two here. Anyway, I''m sorry for getting you lot involved in this mess," he bowed slightly to all the four of them, then he leaned in slightly to speak to Kason and Harper, "These are the Botanists, they wreak havoc everywhere they go, I would avoid them if you can. They also have all kinds of strange schemes and ideas, so you should be wary if you ever get asked to participate in anything organised by them."


    He said this in a rather loud whisper that evidently carried over to the green-haired young man, who gave a start and retorted angrily, "You aren''t much of a saint yourself Ashton, who was it that ran away from his charges when he was asked to escort them to the college? Let me think for a moment, oh yes!" He clapped a hand to his forehead in mock realisation, "It was you wasn''t it."


    "Shut up Perceval, you arrogant..."


    Ashton''s retort was suddenly put to an end by an angry outburst from the supervisor standing to one side, "Silence!" He roared, and Ashton stepped backwards hurriedly to allow the next person past.


    Once all five people had come forward and apologised to the four children, the supervisor turned to speak to them, "I am Rayleth, the supervisor for the junior dorms. I also am sorry for what happened, I had an important assignment and so left the safety of the dorms with these fools," he turned and glared at the five young people again. He then turned back and continued, "Obviously that was a mistake. If any of you have any serious injuries, I recommend you go to the main reception and ask for directions to Sir Kamadus the Healer, he can fix you up much better than I could."


    He then turned, moved to stand with the five young people and closed his eyes while gesturing with his staff. The air around the six of them rippled and then it seemed to collapse in on itself before returning to normal, except for the fact that all the people standing in that location had disappeared.


    The four children stood there, staring at where Supervisor Rayleth had vanished from, Kason was reminded of how Ashton had disappeared when they were being taken to the college. He wondered if he would get the chance to learn that kind of magic.


    After standing for a few moments, Harper stretched his arms and then stepped forward, turning to face the other three. "I was going to see my brother before this all happened so I''ll just be going now." He gave them all a wave and ran off down a pathway between two of the buildings that surrounded the courtyard.


    The other two also both went off their separate ways, waving to Kason as they left until Kason was left by himself, standing on the ruined flagstones. He looked around at them, taking in the shattered images that had been inlaid into the floor. He shivered slightly as he thought about the destructive power that Ashton and the other four young people had unleashed. He then turned back to the dorms, which he was still standing just in front of and walked towards the door, intending to change his now ragged looking clothing.


    ''Magic sure is amazing though,'' he thought as he walked to his room.


    A few minutes later he exited the building yet again and began to make his way towards his original intended destination, the Meditation Gardens. He took the same path that Harper had run down only a while before, going between the Planetarium, the building which held the impressive looking spherical objects which they had seen the day before, and another which had contained only classrooms.


    He walked into the shadow of a small bridge of the same bricks as the buildings, that connected the two buildings a couple of meters above his head. As he walked underneath it, his eyes were drawn to its vibrant orange coloured roof of wood, he could not help but wonder where such strange wood had come from. The wall of the Planetarium fell away on his right, leaving the wall on his left to stretch further on ahead, its evenly stacked grey stone bricks seeming glaringly bright in the morning sun.


    Kason followed the path which, in turn, followed the wall of the classroom building and gazed at the lawn that spread out in the place where the Planetarium had been. It reached down the back of the Planetarium and quite a way after, Kason could also see trees rising up from the lawn and realised that it was in fact, the same forest that could be seen from his bedroom window.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    He was immediately filled with an urge to go and investigate it, but as he began to run enthusiastically towards the trees, he suddenly froze. He then turned and, slowly walked back to the path and towards the meditation gardens. ''I will explore it some other time,'' he thought to himself as he walked, ''I''ve had enough of forests for today. I''ll ask Harper if he wants to go as well, after all, there''s supposed to be safety in numbers''.


    He arrived at the meditation gardens after having passed by two other places which he identified on his palm map as being the Training Ground and the Range. He was not entirely sure what the use for each was, but he could see people in the area they encompassed, though doing what, he did not know.


    After entering through an archway cut into the hedge that surrounded the gardens, he found himself on a large pathway of compressed dirt and pebbles leading straight down towards another arch cut into a different hedge. The path was lined with many trees, each planted at regular intervals, marching all the way down to the other archway. He walked slowly down the path and noticed a smaller one leading off through the trees that lined the path. He took it and wandered around for a while, looking at the trees and flowers. It was a very peaceful place as the name had suggested, short bouts of laughter could be heard at random intervals and the flowers looked as though they had just opened their buds for the spring and their petalled facades looked vigorous and bright.


    As he wandered around, he noticed that there was a small fence that seemed to split of the majority of the gardens from the part in which he stood in at the moment. He followed the fence, looking for a place which he could use to get through the fence and eventually found himself back at the main path where he had started, facing the archway at the other end.


    He checked his ring for the time as he walked towards the arch and realised that it was time he should be leaving for lunch. He turned midstride, and walked back towards the exit, feeling slightly disappointed that he had not managed to fully explore the place.


    He reached the dining hall in good time, ate and then left again soon after. He walked out of the junior dorms and towards the main building at the opposite end of the courtyard whose shattered flagstones had somehow been returned to normal. He was not going back to the Meditation Gardens, although he had not finished exploring them, he did not feel the need to do so just now, so he decided to pay a visit to the healer before continuing on to the library.


    After the incident that morning, he had not thought that he had been hurt badly enough to warrant going to the healer, but as he had been walking around the meditation gardens, he had begun to feel quite ill so he reconsidered and came to the conclusion that it would be better to see the healer after all.


    He reached the double doors which led to the nexus of the main building and entered the red-carpeted room. He walked slowly to the middle of the circular room and stood next to the statue of the man with the monocle, looking at the signs above all the doors. He couldn''t remember what the healer''s name had been, he had been feeling a bit distracted at the time, but he remembered it began with a ''K''.


    He looked around at all the signs one by one until he saw one which said ''Medical Suite''. He entered the door and found himself in a small room with several chairs scattered haphazardly about it. The room itself had cream coloured walls with a grey carpet on the floor and on the lefthand side of the wall opposite him, a doorway was cut into the wall. The doorway had no door in and Kason could hear the sounds of rustling paper from inside.


    "Come in," a voice commanded from through the doorway and Kason obediently walked over to the porthole and through to the other side. This room was much larger than the other one but decorated in the same fashion, with several windows in the wall which looked out over the entrance to the main building from the front.


    There were several beds lined up against one wall, although most of them were currently acting as temporary storage locations instead of places to rest. They were stacked high with great piles of paper, and the only one that was free was currently occupied by a large racoon-like creature which lifted its head to look inquisitively at Kason as he entered. A desk was placed against the back wall of the room and sitting behind it was a man with a young looking face, but hair as grey as the stones used to build most of the buildings. He looked up when Kason entered the room, then stood up and walked over to him, looking at him up and down.


    "New student are you?" He asked, but without giving Kason a chance to answer he carried on speaking, "You were caught up in that incident this morning? Feeling queasy? Been sweating more than usual?" Kason, who was rather dazed by the rapid barrage of questions, nodded his head slowly.


    "It''s overexposure to gaseous ether, resulting in your body being oversaturated," He said, looking out of the window. He then walked back over to his desk and pointed at it, making a beckoning gesture with his finger which caused the desk to ripple and a small vial of liquid to fly out of it into his outstretched palm. He then walked back over to Kason and handed it to him, "Drink this and you''ll feel better in a few minutes."


    He then went and sat back down behind his desk and paying no more attention to Kason. This had all occurred within the space of a minute and the fast pace had left Kason feeling slightly disorientated. He stood there blankly for a few moments, then blinked, said a word of thanks to the healer, whose name he still could not remember, and left the Medical Suite.


    Back in the nexus, he sat down on the base of the statue of the monocled man and drank the vial of liquid he had been given by the healer. Sure enough, after a couple of minutes, the ill feeling he had started to have in the Meditation Gardens receded and he felt completely normal again.


    Kason then stood up and checked the time on his ring, it was about one thirty in the afternoon so he still had plenty of time left. He looked around the nexus and, finding the door to the Library, he entered through it into a large and spacious circular room with a glass domed ceiling high above his head. He had entered through a door on a round raised platform, much like the one where he had exited the wormhole, with a few steps leading down to a red-carpeted floor.


    The raised platform was in the very centre of the room, with a couple of meters of carpet separating the bottom from the multitudes of wooden bookshelves which stretched away, seemingly endlessly, in every direction with aisles between them. Kason, standing in front of the door, felt his eyes widen with excitement as he looked around at the hordes of books sitting on the shelves, just waiting to be read.


    There were signs at the end of each line of shelves showing what subject the books in that area covered, the one directly in front of Kason was ''National History and Geography'', to its left was ''Ether'' and to its right, ''The Elements''. Kason wandered around the small circular space surrounding the door, looking at the signs for a subject which he found to be of interest.


    He ended up stepping down the aisle of shelves simply labelled ''Miscellaneous Works'', looking at the names on the spines of the books he passed and listening to the muffled noises his feet made on the carpet. He didn''t see any titles that were particularly eye catching so he decided to just choose one randomly. He walked up and down the aisle for a few moments then stopped, turned to the bookshelf, closed his eyes and jabbed randomly in front of him with a finger.


    The finger landed on a very thick book called ''The Great River'' which he took down with care. He then sat down, leaning his back on the shelves with the book propped open on his knees. Despite the rather unremarkable title, he found the book to be very interesting. Instead of being a book filled with various facts and figures, it was a discussion on the nature of time.


    He read until it became too dark to see the pages properly anymore, when he reluctantly closed the book, making a mental note of where he had read up to. He tried to bring the book out of the library but found that he could not, whenever he tried, a barrier of sorts kept him from even stepping onto the raised platform. He then tried looking around for someone to ask for help, but the library was empty so he had to accept the reality and replace the book, making careful note of where it was located.


    He left the library at about four thirty but given the early month, it was already becoming dark outside. He still had a couple of hours left before dinner so he decided to go back to his room. As he exited the main building he realised that if what Brent had said before was true, his uniform should have arrived today.


    Although it was only a uniform, he could not help but feel slightly excited at the prospect. He thought that the uniforms he had seen so far looked quite good on the people who wore them, and so could not help but want to wear one himself.

 Term Begins

    Term Begins


    Kason got up to his room and pushed open the door, his heart beating fast with anticipation. He grinned when he saw the neatly folded pile of clothes sitting on his pillow. He hurriedly walked over to them and found that there was also a small booklet lying on top of the pile with a short note that looked like it had been jotted down in a hurry and stuck on top of it.


    It read, ''I was supposed to give you this when you got your rings and pendants, but oh well. - Brent''


    Kason frowned slightly, he was getting the impression that Brent was slightly irresponsible, and not quite suited to the admin job that he currently had. After dispelling his doubts, he placed the booklet to one side and began changing into the newly delivered robes.


    They were exactly the right size for him, which he found slightly disturbing given that neither he or his mother had told the college anything about how tall he was, nor had the college had anyone come to measure him. After he had fully changed, he began to do a few light stretches to see how the uniform felt when he moved. The fabric stretched magnificently and felt as soft as if they were woven from clouds, he was extremely satisfied just wearing it and thought, half seriously, that he might never take it off.


    He then took a moment to look down and examine how he looked, lamenting the fact that his room did not have a big enough mirror to view his whole body. The uniform was composed of a robe that stretched down unbroken to his waist and then split off into two strips which reached down the outside of both his legs to the knees, as well as a pair of deep navy blue trousers.


    The robe was a brilliant white, with a sea blue strip running straight down from the collar to the point where it split, and in the centre of the blue strip around the area of the heart, was the insignia of the scarlet rose and number four. The rose was also embroidered on the cuffs of both arms, differing from the one on the chest only slightly, with a number one sitting on the open petals instead of a four. Kason assumed that the number one represented his year.


    Kason changed out of his uniform, folded it carefully, and put it away. He did not want it to suffer any damage before lessons even began. He whiled away the rest of the evening, reading the little booklet, which turned out to more or less be a simple rulebook, and trying to solve a puzzle which he had brought with him from home, which he couldn''t. He then ate dinner quickly before going straight to bed.


    He had a hard time sleeping that night, the thought of lessons beginning the next morning kept him up until well past midnight so that when he woke up the next morning, his eyes had great bags under them making it seem like he hadn''t slept at all. He went down to breakfast yawning every couple of steps and rubbing his eyes constantly, he sat down at a table and chose an item randomly from the menu.


    The food arrived a moment later and he ate it slowly, eyes half closed. He heard a thump from the other side of his table and looked up. Harper had arrived and sat himself down opposite him. Harper too had dark rings around his eyes and his head was listlessly drooping on his shoulders. Kason, seeing that his eyes were closed, reached over the table and gave him a poke.


    Harper''s head jerked up and he looked around wildly, before noticing Kason sitting opposite him and realizing where he was.


    "I thought I was still in bed," Harper said in a croaky voice, heading tilting forwards as he spoke, "I mean, I remember getting up but," he gave an almighty yawn, "I don''t remember getting here." His head then flopped down on the table with a thud and he began to snore.


    Kason sighed and reached over to poke him again. Harper groaned under Kason barrage of pokes and peeled his face off the table. He then ordered his breakfast and Kason, who had finished his, stayed and chatted with him as he ate it.


    In the midst of eating, Harper looked around the dining hall, "There are definitely a lot more people than there were a couple of days ago," he commented around a mouthful of food.


    Kason lifted his head and looked around as well, he noticed that Harper was right. A couple of days ago, the dining hall had been more or less empty at this time, but now it was bustling with people. He nodded and then stopped as he thought of something,


    "How come we don''t see the older years in the junior division at meal times? I see them about the nexus quite often but never in here."


    Harper shrugged, "Dunno, perhaps they eat at different times?" He swallowed his mouthful and then pushed his now empty bowl to the side, where it disappeared back into the table. "Right," he said, standing up so suddenly that the tiredness of a few moments ago seemed like just an illusion, "lessons begin at nine so we''ve got about an hour to get ready, do you want to meet in the common room in about half an hour to go find our classrooms?"


    Kason nodded and they returned to their separate rooms. Once inside his own, Kason immediately changed into his uniform and began to pace up and down his room restlessly. He could feel an uncomfortable sensation rising in his stomach from the nerves he was feeling and wished that he could have another vial of that medicine he had gotten from the healer yesterday. After a couple of rounds of pacing, he suddenly remembered that he still needed to get his equipment ready and began to frantically gather the relatively small number of necessary items he needed.


    He then went back to pacing and after a couple of minutes, he went over to his door. He went to push it open, thinking that he would go and read a book from the small library in the common room while he waited, but just before he pushed it open, he stopped suddenly; his face morphing into an expression of panic. He then turned and rushed back to the desk against the right wall of his room.Stolen story; please report.


    He sat down on the chair, which bobbed a little lower as he sat on it, and snatched the little rulebook off the table where he had left it. He then rapidly navigated to the section where it stated everything he needed to bring to classes and read through it thoroughly to make sure he wasn''t missing anything.


    This same process happened several times before Kason finally managed to persuade his over-tired and excited self that he had not left out anything that he was supposed to bring. He then left his room for the common room, still feeling slightly fidgety and a tiny nagging thought circling around in his head telling him that he had forgotten something.


    He reached the common room with around fifteen minutes to spare and picked a random book from the small library alcove before sitting down on a chair by the fire, which as always, was crackling away merrily. Ten minutes went by in a flash, at which point Harper swaggered into the room, dressed in his own uniform. He spotted Kason in the chair and walked over to him.


    "You ready to go?" He asked, his eyes shining with anticipation as he looked down at Kason over the back of the chair. Kason smiled nervously and nodded. He got up and replaced his book in the place where he had found it, then followed Harper from the common room to the nexus.


    "Do you know what classroom you''re in?" Harper asked as they entered the nexus.


    "N- no I don''t. Not yet..." Kason said, feeling a jolt of unease as he remembered what it was he had forgotten to do.


    Harper rolled his eyes, "Man, you need to be more organized. I''m in 1b, you know how to check right?"


    Kason pulled at the silver chain of his pendant, bringing it out from under his robe and holding it up, "Brent said you just had to look into this right?"


    "Yeah, it''s a bit weird, but all you have to do is stare right into it and you''ll see the number and letter just sort of floating there."


    Kason looked and indeed saw something. There was a misty number ''1'' followed by the letter ''b'' hovering lazily in the centre of the sky blue jewel.


    "I think I''m in 1b as well!" Kason said joyfully.


    "Nice!" Harper cried and tried to give Kason a high five, but missed. Kason laughed at his failure as they walked out of the doors into the courtyard and Harper pulled at the collar of his robe awkwardly, before rapidly changing the subject, "It''s amazing how they managed to fix this whole place in such a short time isn''t it?"


    The courtyard was much busier than usual, even at this time, people hurrying all over the place and calling out to friends they saw as they did. Kason and Harper walked across the courtyard towards the building next to the Planetarium where all the classrooms were located in front of which was a crowd of people, all jostling to get through the doors.


    Kason and Harper stood at the back of the crowd and let themselves be drawn slowly towards the entrance. They reached it after about five minutes of slow progress through the undulating crowd and found themselves in another circular nexus lighted by golden moon crystals, this one much larger than any of the others they had been in even though there weren''t as many doors.


    There were only four doors, in fact, each one with a number above the door going from one to four along with the usual carpet, this one a dark green colour. Kason and Harper wormed their way through the loose crowd of people who were standing near the entrance and found a quieter spot near the centre of the room to take stock of their surroundings.


    Kason had experienced quite a claustrophobic feeling in the crowd outside the doors, given his slightly small stature and the fact that he still wasn''t used to that many people all being in one place, he couldn''t help feeling a bit intimidated. He had let out a sigh of relief when they entered the nexus and he finally got some room to breathe.


    Once they stopped at the centre of the room, Kason began to look curiously around at the other students in the nexus. The majority of them looked to be older students, probably in the third year upwards; he could not see the number on the cuffs of their robes though and so could not be sure.


    Most of them were walking through the doors labelled with the three and four, so he suspected that the number signified what year group the classrooms beyond belonged to. He carried on watching people pass for a few moments until he was tapped on the shoulder by Harper, who had also been looking around.


    "I think, we go through that one," Harper said, pointing to the door with the number ''1'' over it. Kason made a noise of agreement and they both stood there watching it, neither of them willing to take the first step for fear of ending up in the wrong place. They stood there for a minute, just watching people walk by, still staring at the door.


    "Ok, this is stupid, let''s just..." Harper began, but all of a sudden a voice called out to them. They turned and saw the girl, Kayla, who had been caught up in the commotion with them yesterday walking towards them along with the girl whom she had been with when they had first arrived at the college.


    She walked up to them, with her friend following a couple of paces behind her, waving by way of a morning greeting. Kason and Harper waved back and waited for her to reach them.


    Once she reached their spot, Kayla began to ask something but was interrupted by a yawn. Kason noticed that she also had dark circles around her eyes, although not as pronounced as his or Harper''s. He glanced at her companion and found that she looked perfectly normal, it seemed that she had managed to get a full night''s sleep.


    Kayla began her question again when her yawn subsided, "You two are in year one right? Why are you waiting out here?"


    "We, err, we''re just, umm, calming, yeah, calming our nerves," Harper replied and gave a small satisfied nod as if to emphasise his credibility.


    Kayla eyed at him with a slightly confused look, mirroring the confused feeling that Kason was feeling, and his face flushed slightly under her gaze.


    "Whatever," she said dismissively, "This is Lexia by the way. You should get going, or else you might be late." She introduced her friend who gave them a slight smile.


    The two of them then began to walk towards the door labelled with the number one, with Kason and Harper following a few steps behind them. "Why did you say that we were calming our nerves?" Harper whispered to Harper.


    "I dunno," whispered back Harper, a slightly agonised expression on his face, "I just felt it would be a little bit embarrassing to say we didn''t know where to go, so I improvised."


    Kason shrugged and stopped his enquiry, he didn''t understand why being unsure was particularly embarrassing, but it didn''t really matter so he just went with it. They entered the door and found themselves in a long brightly lit corridor, much like the one outside their rooms in the dorm, with windows lining one wall and doors spaced out on the other.


    There were many students, all who looked to be around their age, strolling up and down the corridor, each gazing at something above the doors. Kason also looked, and saw that above the doors was a small plaque on which was emblazoned a number and a letter. The closest classroom to the entrance where they stood was one labelled as ''1a''.


    Harper, who stood beside Kason, let out a small sigh of relief upon seeing that they had reached the right place.


    "Let''s go find our room then," He said to Kason with renewed excitement gleaming in his eyes.


    He walked off down the corridor, with Kason following just behind him. They passed by Kayla and Lexia who had stopped to talk with some other girls and past the room marked ''1a'' to stand before the next one labelled as ''1b'', the classroom which they had been assigned to.

 The First Lesson

    The First Lesson


    Kason and Harper stood in front of the entrance to classroom 1b. There was no door blocking the entryway which was cut into the smooth white walls on either side, so Kason and Harper just stepped over the threshold into the classroom.


    The classroom was a pleasant looking place. Its walls were painted a pale blue colour, almost white, and there were thirty or so desks placed neatly in ordered rows of six going back from the front of the classroom, where a wooden podium was placed, presumably for the teacher''s use. The desks themselves caught Kason''s eye, for they had many intricate golden designs covering the wooden legs and up onto the corners of the flat top. The wood used looked to be a kind of mahogany or dark oak and unlike the rest of the desk, the majority of the flat surface on top was unmarked by the coiling patterns.


    Across the classroom on the wall opposite where they stood in the doorway, one big window took up most of the space, with about half a meter of wall underneath separating it from the floor. It seemed impossible that there could be a window on this side of the classroom that showed an outside view, given that there were windows in the corridor behind them that also did the same, but Kason had long stopped questioning the college''s choice in window placement. There was also a board which seemed to be made of the same wood as the desks, covering most of the wall behind the podium, it also had the golden intricate patterns on it, snaking around the edges of the board and its frame.


    There were already quite a few children inside when Kason and Harper entered. Most of them were huddled in small groups around several desks, chatting excitedly about what the lessons would be like. Several children turned when they noticed them enter and called out polite greetings to them, which they returned, before turning back to their groups.


    Kason and Harper stood in the entryway for a few moments before making their way over to a desk near the back of the room to settle down and wait for the teacher to arrive. One thing Kason hadn''t noticed when he had first entered the classroom was the chairs behind the desks. They were like the chair he had in his room. They were shaped like a teardrop which had had most of the inside and one of its sides carved out to give a smooth hollowed out area where one could sit. They floated above the floor at just the right height to sit on and were made from some material that Kason could not identify.


    These chairs couldn''t be moved from their places though, unlike the one in his room. When Kason gave one a nudge, it bobbed in the direction he had propelled for a moment before returning back to its original position. Kason sat on the chair he had just nudged and began playing with it, moving it a short way with his feet before lifting them off the floor and enjoying the whoosh of air as the chair moved back to its original position.


    Harper sat on a desk opposite him and watched him as he continued to mess around with the chair. They waited for around ten minutes until a sudden influx of people signified the appearance of a teacher. The woman who entered after the rush of people looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties, with brown eyes and long hair of the same colour which she had tucked behind her ears. She wore a cream coloured top and black trousers secured with a sturdy brown leather belt off which hung a wooden stick, (''No, wand!'' Kason mentally corrected himself when he saw it) and a pair of leather gloves covered in silver patterns.


    She walked smoothly up to the podium at the front of the class and surveyed the children who had all hastily scrambled to their feet when she entered, unsure of what they should do. She had a slight, warm smile on her face as she looked around which somehow made all the children feel less anxious.


    "Hello, my name is Mirella Luxford and I will be your teacher for this year. I do not particularly mind if you call me by my first name, but some teachers prefer to be referred to in the proper way, so you should all get used to calling me ''Ms. Luxford''." She paused for a moment and smiled around at them all before carrying on, "Well, we should probably just get on with it. You can all find your own seats, it doesn''t matter where as long as you have a desk."


    The classroom then became a flurry of motion as everyone began to move around to get seats with their friends. Kason and Harper ended up in the second row from the front, Kason making sure to quickly claim the seat by the window, leaving Harper to reluctantly take the seat next to him. In front of him, Kason noticed it was the girl from before, Kayla and her friend Lexia in the next seat, in front of Harper. Kason also noticed that in the third seat along, was the boy who had arrived with the two girls, who didn''t know the name of yet.


    Ms Luxford, seeing that everyone had finished finding seats, began to speak again, "First I''ll tell you about how your four years in the junior division will work. You''ll spend your first year learning about our nation''s history and geography as well as the science behind the natural world. You will also be given lessons on the basics of ether so that you can begin learning to control it as soon as you are ready."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Having said that, you won''t be able to use magic for the majority of your first year," There were several loud groans from around the classroom, and Kason felt his heart sink a little. Ms Luxford sighed as if she had seen this reaction multiple times from students already. "I know it''s disappointing," She said, "But if you tried to use magic now, you would only hurt yourselves. You see, using magic and casting spells means controlling ether. This is something that the human body isn''t built for so you have to work your way up to it gradually."


    "How do we do that Ms Luxford," someone called out from near the back of the classroom as soon as Ms Luxford had stopped speaking.


    "That is what we will be covering in today''s lesson," Ms Luxford said matter of factly, "But before we get to that, there''s something I need to hand over to you all." Ms Luxford then reached down to her belt and detached the wand from it, she then held it casually in her hand and made a flicking gesture at the podium in front of her.


    Like Kason had seen many times now, the surface of the podium distorted and a small tube-like instrument floated up out of it to be grasped by Ms Luxford''s other hand. She then held the object up, showing it to the class. "This is an Ether Marker or just Marker it doesn''t really matter. This is what you will use to take notes when I teach you so that you can review what you have learned and don''t forget."


    "To write with it, simply touch the pointed tip of the instrument to the desk in front of you and it will begin to write. To save your work so that you can review it later, slot your pendants into the groove in the bottom left-hand corner of your desks, you can then view the stuff you''ve written by inserting your pendants into this same groove on any other desk you see that has one. All the desks in your rooms should such grooves." Ms Luxford then threw the Ether Marker lightly into the air and pointed her wand at it, causing it to float in place at the top of its arc.


    She then made a small gesture with her wand and it floated forward and dropped onto Kayla''s desk. Ms Luxford then summoned another one from her desk and sent it to land on Lexia''s desk, while speaking to the class again. "I''ll carry on with my explanation of the junior division then, as I said, in the first year, you will learn History, Geography, Language, Mathematics and Science as well as the basic concepts to do with ether that you will need for your second year. In the second year, Language will no longer be compulsory but you may still take it if you want, Beastology and Magical Combat will also be added as optional subjects as well as a few others."


    "In the third year you will carry on with the subjects you studied in the second year and then in the fourth year, you will spend time at each of the four major departments of the senior division as part of your studies so that at the end of the year, you will have a clear idea which department you wish to move on to." She looked around at the students, who were all looking at her with slightly dazed expressions. "Well that''s all far in the future for now, and you''ll be reminded of it nearer the time so no need to worry about forgetting. So, shall we begin today''s lesson properly now?" She gave the class another radiant smile.


    Kason had been furiously making notes as Ms Luxford spoke, he had received his Ether Marker relatively early and had begun scribbling down what the teacher had been saying immediately, in case he forgot. The device had worked exactly as Ms Luxford had said, as soon as he touched the pointed end to the desk, silverly ink-like lines had appeared at the tip, and he had been able to write with it as easily as if he were using ink.


    He felt a slight sense of betrayal when he heard that his note making was pointless, but nevertheless, he brought out his pendant and touched it to the groove to save his notes just in case. The messy lines of silvery writing on the desk dissolved into silver specks of dust and moved across the desk''s surface, as if blown by a gentle breeze, down into the pendant slotted into the groove. It was a rather beautiful scene.


    Ms Luxford then began speaking again, so Kason stuffed his pendant back under his uniform and lifted his head to listen attentively to her. "Today we will go over the method our school uses to prepare our students to control ether, but first I shall explain how one controls ether and why it is necessary for you all to prepare before doing so." She looked around at the class who were now looking at her intently and began her explanation.


    "As you all should know, using magic is basically just using ether to perform different tasks. For example, if you want to make a fire, you need to give ether the instructions on how to do it, like so." Ms Luxford held her wand out in front of her, muttered something under her breath, and a small flame popped out of her wand. It stayed there swaying for a few seconds before vanishing. "The way we tell the ether around us what we want it to do is by using a special part of the brain which is called the ''Etheric Node'', I will not go in depth into how this works or why because you will cover this in the second year, but the node is located in the very centre of your brain."


    "Now, in case you don''t know, in places where there is a lot of ether concentrated in one place, humans can suffer from numerous different problems. Again, I won''t go into them now; you''ll learn about them later, but when you use magic, large amounts of ether gathers around the Etheric Node. And therefore, because the node is located in the centre of the brain, you can cause serious damage to the brain by trying to use magic without being fully prepared." She paused and looked around at the class again, giving them a few moments to take in what she had said.


    She waited until the people who were taking notes had finished their frantic scribbling and then smiled, "So that is why all of you cannot learn to control ether just yet and why you need to prepare for it. Do any of you have any questions so far?"

 Saturation and Tolerance

    Saturation and Tolerance


    The class gazed back at Ms Luxford silently. Seeing that no one had any questions, Ms Luxford began to speak again.


    "Alright, now that you all have an idea of why you can''t begin to use magic yet, I''ll get on with explaining how you should go about preparing yourselves so that you can."


    She turned and walked a few paces to stand in front of the wooden board with the golden patterns around the edge. She lifted her wand, pointed it at the board, and began to move it in elegant curling motions, writing like she was using one of the ether markers they had been given.


    She spoke as she wrote, with her back to class, "Everyone has a different tolerance level to ether, some people''s are naturally higher than others. This can be because your parents had particularly high levels of tolerance, although this isn''t always the case. It might also be because you were brought up in an ether rich environment."


    She finished writing on the board and turned back to the children, "Your tolerance level is linked directly to your level of saturation. Your level of saturation is how much ether is naturally present in your body, or how saturated you are with ether. Therefore, if you have a higher natural level of saturation, you will have a higher natural tolerance to ether. The higher your tolerance and saturation, the less severe the effects of overexposure to ether will be on your body, therefore before you begin learning to manipulate Ether, we will be working to increase your saturation and, in turn, your tolerance."


    Ms Luxford beamed around at the class when she had finished, she seemed very excited. Kason gazed at her with slightly glazed eyes, her explanation had been informative and he understood what she was telling them, but she had been talking rather quickly and he felt a bit overwhelmed by the torrent of words.


    After her speech, Ms Luxford reattached her wand to her belt and then pulled off a pair of silver patterned gloves that hung beside the reattached wand. "Once again, has anyone got any questions before we continue?" she asked as she slipped the gloves onto her fair-skinned hands.


    Seeing that no one was going to ask anything, Ms Luxford ploughed on with her explanations, the class eagerly listening as she spoke. "The ether in your body is not spread out evenly, so different parts of the body can have different levels of saturation and tolerance. To raise the saturation in a certain part of the body, that part must be exposed to higher levels of ether than are naturally present in it. This amount cannot be very much higher, however otherwise, you would begin to experience all the problems that we''re trying to avoid. So, in order to make sure you can all begin working to up your tolerance safely, I will need to measure the current saturation of ether in each of your heads."


    She then picked up a piece of paper which had been lying on the podium, "I''ve got all your names here so, once I call your name, come up here to me. While you''re waiting, you could get to know each other, you''ll all be with each other for more than a year from now on so you might as well get along."


    She then looked down at the list and called out, "Efemore." A boy at the back of the classroom stood up from his desk and walked nervously toward Ms Luxford. Although Ms Luxford had told the class to get to know one another, they remained seated, watching curiously and slightly anxiously as the boy called Efemore made his way to the front of the room and stood before Ms Luxford.


    Harper leaned towards Kason and whispered, "How do you think she''ll measure the saturation or whatever?"


    "I don''t know," Kason replied, paused and then said in a voice equally as quiet, "I just hope it''s not painful." Kason hadn''t really considered how their teacher would test their saturation, but now that Harper had pointed it out, he began to feel nervous and watched what was happening to Efemore with a greater degree of attention.


    Ms Luxford guided Efemore to stand in front of her and placed her hands on each of his shoulders. She smiled encouragingly at him and whispered something which Kason couldn''t catch, then held each of her gloved hands on either side of his head so that her palms faced inwards, a few centimetres away from his hair. She then closed her eyes and began to move her fingers ever so slightly in a kind of wave-like motion.


    Kason and Harper, along with the rest of the class, watched this process with intently but after a few moments, people began to shoot confused glances at each other. Ms Luxford and the boy Efemore had remained in the same position for almost a whole minute, both seemingly frozen in place by some mysterious force. There looked to be nothing happening at all that was out of the ordinary, except for the fact that they remained unmoving apart from Ms Luxford''s fingers which maintained their rather strange movements.


    Kason caught a movement from the corner of his eye and quickly looked around only to see Harper looking at him with a questioning look in his eyes. Kason shrugged back at him and went back to watching. He couldn''t help but think that something might have gone wrong and the vague insecurities that had been floating around in his mind became, suddenly, more prominent.


    No one in the class was making noise anymore, the people who had been conversing in hushed tones were now silent and a tense atmosphere had enveloped the classroom. Suddenly amidst the silence, Efemore let out a large breath of air and stumbled backwards. Ms Luxford also moved, reaching out to grab his arm and steady him. She gave Efemore another of her encouraging smiles and Efemore smiled back, looking slightly awkward still but noticeably more relaxed in his bearing.


    Ms Luxford motioned for Efemore to go back to his seat and turned to speak to the class, "I forgot to mention but you might feel a bit dizzy after this is done, but apart from that you shouldn''t feel anything else." She then used a finger to jot down something on the sheet of paper she had with the pupils'' names on and read out the name of the next person on the list.


    Efemore began to make his way back to his seat as Ms Luxford was speaking. He passed next to Harper on his way and Harper called out to him as he did, "Hey, Efemore!"


    Efemore looked at him blankly, "Erm, yes you are?"


    "Oh, right yeah, I''m Harper. Anyway, how was it?" Harper looked at him expectantly, a gleam of enthusiastic curiosity shining in his eyes. Kason also listened closely, wanting to know what it was like. He noticed that Kayla and Lexia in front of them had also turned around in their seats to look at Efemore.


    "Oh right, well..." Efemore''s eyes became slightly glazed, "Well, I didn''t really feel anything much. It was a bit weird really, my mind started to feel a bit hazy though and I sort of felt a bit sleepy? I''m not really sure how to describe it." He then looked around and saw all the people looking at him with their expectant gazes, he laughed a little nervously and said, "I think you''ll get what you mean when it''s your go."Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    He then walked back off to his seat near the back of the room, when he approached, Kason heard one of the people in the seats near where Efemore sat call out to him, "Hey Ef, how was it..."


    Harper turned back around to look at Kason, "What do you think of that!" he said with obvious delight, almost bouncing up and down in his seat with excitement. Kason grinned at his boisterous behaviour, although he felt just as much excitement, he still felt a little anxious and so wasn''t as visibly excited.


    "It seems pretty simple doesn''t it," he replied looking at Ms Luxford as she went through the same process with the next student she had called up.


    "I can''t wait for my go!" Harper said, still bubbling with excitement.


    "You don''t need to be that excited," said a voice, it was the girl, Kayla, who was sitting in front of Kason, "It''s not like you''ll be able to use magic as soon as you''ve been tested."


    "Yeah, but still... It''s a new experience and that''s exciting." Harper replied whilst turning to face her, seemingly unfazed by her comment.


    Kayla rolled her eyes at him then suddenly reached out to grab the arm of her friend who was sitting next to her, "But listen to this! Lexia''s already started training to raise her saturation, haven''t you!" She looked towards her friend, who had turned around and was looking at her with a disapproving look on her face.


    "Kayla, you promised you wouldn''t..." She began to say in a quiet voice but was cut off by Kayla.


    "Oh, what''s the harm, you should be proud of yourself. It''s not like it''s a bad thing."


    Kason, who had been listening in on the conversation, let out a noise of surprise and looked at Lexia.


    "Can you use magic already then?" He asked her feeling eager anticipation rising within him.


    Lexia looked at him, seeming a little shy at the attention, and began to speak, "No, I can''t use magic yet. Although I''ve begun to raise my tolerance already, I''ve not gotten to the stage where I can use magic." Her voice was still very quiet, so quiet that Kason almost had a hard time hearing what she said.


    "Oh," Kason said in a low voice that, despite being quiet, couldn''t hide his feelings of disappointment.


    "That''s amazing!" Harper exclaimed, "Is someone in your family a qualified igniter?"


    "Ah, yeah," Lexia replied in her quiet voice, "My father teaches at the Fourteenth College."


    "Cool!" Harper cried getting still more animated, "You must know quite a bit already then, can you help us is we have problems when we''re raising our saturation? Do you know... " Harper was interrupted by Kayla who, seeing her friend squirming uncomfortably under the barrage of questions, jumped in to save her.


    "Harper!" Kayla said sharply, cutting off Harper''s palaver, "Can''t you see you''re bothering her?"


    Harper seemed to see Lexia''s face properly for the first time, he noticed her uncomfortable expression; gave a nervous chuckle and apologised. An uncomfortable silence prevailed over the group for a few moments before Kason raised a question that had been bothering him since a few moments back.


    "What''s an, umm, igniter?"


    The other three children looked over at him, surprised. "You don''t know?" Kayla asked incredulously.


    "Kason has lived in a metaphorical ditch all his life," Harper said, smiling teasingly at Kason.


    Kason was going to refute this for being unjust, but seeing Harper''s mischevious grin he didn''t bother. Besides, he had come to realise that it was more or less true.


    Lexia then began to give an explanation, "An igniter is someone who oversees the process of raising one''s tolerance. A lot of things can go wrong if this is done incorrectly so igniters have to undergo a test to show that they can correctly guide people through the process."


    "Why is it called an igniter though?" Kason asked, the name didn''t really fit the description so he wondered how it came to be called as such.


    "I''m not sure," said Lexia furrowing her brow, "Sorry."


    "Ah, it''s okay..." Kason said, feeling a bit uncomfortable with her apology.


    They continued talking for a while and then Harper was called up. He came back and said more or less the same thing as Efemore had, except he assured them that he didn''t feel dizzy at all afterwards. Kayla went up next, after the boy who was on the other side of Lexia, and then Lexia a few minutes later. Once almost everyone else in the class had gone up, Kason''s name was called. He walked up to Ms Luxford, his apprehension much abated by the lack of accidents so far, but not completely dispelled.


    He stopped and stood just under half a meter away from her like all the other students had and looked at her as she smiled reassuringly down at him, "Are you ready?"


    Kason nodded and Ms Luxford moved her hands to either side of his head as she had done for the other students. She then closed her eyes and began to do whatever it was that she did, her fingers making minute movements, in and out.


    Kason waited, trying to determine what was happening, but felt nothing. Before he realised it, he began to zone out, his gaze becoming unfocused and his mind beginning to spin. He felt like he was drifting off to sleep, except it was happening very slowly, and in his muddled brain he could vaguely hear what seemed like voices whispering reticently in his ears, although they were so quiet it could''ve been his imagination.


    Then, he suddenly came sharply back to his senses. The abrupt transition from his half-asleep state to being fully awake made him stumble backwards and Ms Luxford had to catch him by the arm to steady him. She then looked down and smiled at him encouragingly, he gave a weak smile in return and she chuckled, "Remember the number thirty-two. I''ll explain what it means in a minute once everyone has been done."


    Kason nodded obediently and returned to his seat, "Welcome back," Harper said as he sat down again, "How did it go?"


    "Ah, it was fine," Kason replied, still feeling slightly muddled, "It really does make you feel weird doesn''t it."


    Harper laughed and nodded his head in agreement, then went back to discussing something with Kayla, evidently, they had been in the middle of something when Kason returned. Kason took up his ether marker which was lying on the table and jotted down a small ''32'' in the bottom right of his desk so that he wouldn''t forget what he the number.


    Kayla saw what he had done and spoke in a curious tone, "Is that the number you were given after?" Kason nodded and she sighed, "I don''t know, but bigger is probably better right? I got thirty-one" She took up her marker and jotted down the number ''31'' in a neat cursive script. Harper saw what they were doing and quickly chimed in to add his results,


    "I win then, I got thirty-nine!" He said triumphantly and wrote the number down on his desk with a flourish.


    "Lexy what did you get?" Kayla said curiously, tugging on Lexia''s sleeve to get her attention.


    Lexia turned from her conversation with the boy on her other side and said, "I got fifty-nine."


    "Wow," Kayla exclaimed, "Bigger must be better then, otherwise you wouldn''t have been told such a large number." She then sighed looked around Lexia at the boy whom she had been talking to, "What did you get Alford?" She asked.


    The boy who appeared to be called Alford turned around and replied in a deep voice, "I got forty-four."


    "Oh," Kayla looked surprised at the answer, "I didn''t know you had already begun training as well." Alford nodded, a solemn expression on his face. Kason was surprised with the result as well and was going to ask Alford how long he had been training for, but before he could Ms Luxford snapped her fingers creating a loud, reverberating sound to attract the classes attention.


    "Right, you''ve all had your saturation measured now. The number I told you is the saturation of ether in your head, measured in Constanti or simply Cs. The required concentration of ether to begin using magic safely is about one hundred Constanti and so you will all have to keep on raising your concentration until you reach this threshold."


    Ms Luxford looked around the classroom, "The typical amount of time it takes for a student to raise their saturation from thirty Cs to one hundred Cs is just under a year so to complete the process, most of you will require the majority of this year." She beamed around at everyone again, "Well, seeing that it''s going to be a long process I''ll now instruct you how to raise your concentration so that you can begin as soon as possible."

 The Effects of Ether

    The Effects of Ether


    Ms Luxford tuned away from the class and made a swiping gesture at the board with one of her gloved hands. The writing which had been on there before burst into silver coloured specks like many miniature fireworks exploding simultaneously, and were swept off the board in the direction which she had made the gesture.


    She then pulled off her gloves and, after placing them on the podium, took her wand into her hand and began to write on the board. "The stuff I''m writing down now is the basic theory behind the process I''m about to teach you. It would be a good idea to either copy this down or make sufficient notes so that you can remind yourselves if you ever have trouble remembering or if need to clarify something and can''t, or don''t want to, find me to ask."


    She finished writing and, while the class was writing notes, began explaining what an igniter was. An igniter, she explained, was someone who oversaw the process of raising your saturation. She went into some depth about the origins of the term, but Kason didn¡¯t really pay attention, being too busy copying the notes from the board.


    "Anyway,¡± he heard Ms Luxford say as he finished writing, ¡°as I said before, to raise the saturation of a particular part of the body, that part must be exposed to higher levels of ether than are naturally present in that part. To do this, I could just send you all to someplace with naturally high levels of ether, such as the Astral Fields that are near the college. But apart from being highly inefficient, it would also be very dangerous, so the college uses these things to help you instead."


    She held up a little indigo coloured marble measuring a couple of centimetres across which she had at some point acquired while she had been talking. It looked to be a perfect sphere and glinted in the sunlight that shone through the windows.


    "This is a ball of solidified ether." She said looking around at the class with a serious look in her eyes, "It is currently covered in a thin protective coating which prevents it from turning back into gaseous ether, but once that coating is removed, it will immediately begin to sublimate and after a few moments, it will disappear completely."


    "You can¡¯t just use the marble as is. If you did it would expose you to dangerously high levels of ether, so we will use a device to regulate the amount of ether that you are exposed to.¡± Ms Luxford held up a something that looked like a transparent container in her other hand, this container was comprised of a semi-spherical transparent section with an open end covered with a thin gauze of tightly woven, light purple threads.


    "This is a small-scale version of a device called a ''regulator''. It has a storage compartment made from reinforced, ethefied glass, fitted with an ether filter which will contain and regulate the amount of gaseous ether that can exit so that you are only exposed to safe levels. To use this to raise the saturation in the brain, you just need to have this somewhere near your head, within roughly half a metre, and the gaseous ether will disperse throughout the air near the filter in that radius. To begin with, you should not expose yourself to ether for longer than an hour every day, otherwise, the build-up of ether in your brain will go into unsafe levels. If this does happen though, you should visit the healer as soon as possible for treatment."


    Ms Luxford placed the two items she had been holding on top of the podium behind which she stood, "At the end of every week, I will test the saturation of ether in your brains just like I did today. At forty Cs and then every ten Cs you increase, you will be given a different filter which will allow more ether to pass through, allowing you to be exposed to more ether as appropriate to your level. This will allow you to progress at a steady rate.¡±


    Ms Luxford looked around at the class again, giving time for those who were writing to finish. "Whenever these mini regulators run out of ether, bring them to our next lesson and I''ll refill them for you." She said seriously, "You must also be aware that the process of increasing your tolerance isn''t something permanent. If you go for too long without being exposed to levels of ether around the level you have raised yourself to, then your saturation will begin to go down and your tolerance will decrease. So, you must all make sure that even once you''ve reached the required level, you don''t become lax."


    Kason finished off his notes with a small flourish for his own amusement and looked up at Ms Luxford, she had laid her wand on the podium next to the ether marble and the regulator and was pulling her gloves onto her hands again. Once she had finished, she picked up the ether marble and placed the regulator in the centre of the podium so that all the children could see it, "I''m going to show you how I fill the regulator using this marble," She said, "This isn''t really necessary, but it is pretty interesting so pay attention."


    The demonstration was, as Ms Luxford had said it would be, quite interesting. The small marble erupted into a surprising amount of undulating blue gas as soon as it was freed from the covering. This gas was then skilfully confined by Ms Luxford using some spell and then forced into the semi-spherical compartment of the regulator before being trapped in place by the filter.


    Ms Luxford showed the now full regulator to the class, which gave her an enthusiastic round of applause for her display, and instructed them on how to make it so that the filter would let ether through so that they could train.


    "We have just over an hour until you should all be released for lunch," Ms Luxford announced after she finished explaining. "In this time you''ll all do your first training session to increase your saturation. Also, remember that this should be your only session for today!"


    She then made a grasping motion to the desk and more full regulators came flying out of it to hover in front of Ms Luxford. Just as she went to send them to the student''s desks like she had the ether markers, she noticed that someone had raised their hand. "Yes?"


    "Ms Luxford, you said that we should only train for an hour to begin with, does this mean that as our tolerance increases we can train for longer?" The student who asked the question was a small girl with black hair who was seated in the front row on the other side of the room.


    "Yes, that''s true, although you should first confirm with me if you''re planning to do longer training sessions." Ms Luxford replied.


    Harper leaned across from his desk to speak to Kason again. "That girl sure is impatient, it''s only the first lesson and she''s already asking how to train for longer." Kason nodded, looking casually over at the petite figure who had asked the question. It was only the first lesson but she was already so concerned at only being able to train for one hour.


    Kason sighed and replied to Harper in a hushed voice, "Maybe she''s just excited, I mean if we train for longer wouldn''t we be able to use magic sooner?"


    Harper''s eyes widened slightly as if that reason hadn''t occurred to him, "That''s true! I''m gonna start doing longer sessions as soon as I can then."


    Kason rolled his eyes at him and went back to watching Ms Luxford giving out the regulators. When his arrived in front of him, gently landing on the desk with only the slightest noise to signal its landing, he immediately began to inspect it with ardour. He found, to his surprise, that the tightly woven gauze of purple threads was hard and inflexible, almost like it was a plank of wood instead of strands of thread.


    Once all the children had a regulator in front of them, Ms Luxford snapped her fingers again to silence the outburst of talking that had begun. "Although we call this training, it is just exposing yourself to higher levels of ether so you''re not actually doing any work. For this reason, most students usually find the process quite boring, so I would suggest ''training'' whilst doing something else to occupy your mind. For now, I will hand out your timetables for this year and then answer any questions you have about the college or magic or anything else you may wish to ask about."Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    She then indicated that they should activate the regulators sitting on their desks. Kason looked around quickly, just to make sure he had understood the method to activate it properly, and then rubbed his finger once, clockwise, around the edge of the filter.


    After Kason activated the regulator, he placed it on the desk with the filter facing towards him. Once she saw that everyone had successfully activated their regulators, Ms Luxford produced a stack of paper sheets from within the podium and began to hand them out the same way she had all the other items. While Kason waited for his to arrive, he played with the regulator sitting on the desk, batting it back and forth between his hands and letting it roll on its curved surface.


    His timetable arrived after a short while, floating down out of the air to land on his desk. Just after it landed, it suddenly moved and swatted at his hands which were still playing with the regulator. Kason jerked his hands away from the regulator, surprised by the sudden movement of the paper, and looked quickly up at Ms Luxford to see her giving him a look that said quite clearly that he had been doing something he shouldn''t have been. Kason blushed and looked back down at his desk feeling rather foolish.


    "Oh yeah," Ms Luxford said absentmindedly after she finished handing out the timetables, "I should¡¯ve said this before we started training but if you¡¯ve got a saturation of over forty Cs, these filters won¡¯t let you make good progress. When I release you all for lunch, can those who fall into that category please stay behind so I can sort you out with a more suitable filter.¡±


    Kason heard Harper let out a quiet sigh, "So close."


    Kason realised he must be thinking about his saturation, which was thirty-nine Cs if Kason remembered properly from their discussion earlier. Kason thought slightly dejectedly about his measly thirty-two Cs of saturation, but then remembered that Kayla''s had been even lower and felt slightly better about himself.


    Ms Luxford then jumped up and sat on the podium, her legs dangling down the front. "Right, does anyone have any questions they wish to ask then?" She asked lightly, swinging her legs slightly back and forth.


    Several people asked questions, some about mundane things such as whether students were allowed to visit the city of Constantin while they were at the college, to more unusual topics such as were there any other advantages that came with raising the saturation of ether in their bodies. Ms Luxford answered them all in an informative and in-depth manner, leaving Kason feeling much more learned than he had when he first entered the classroom.


    There was one particularly interesting thing that he found out as Ms Luxford elaborated on her explanation of the benefits of raising one''s saturation. "The higher the ether concentration in a part of the body, the more efficiently it operates. This is why mages who have raised the saturation of their entire body can live for many times longer than those who don''t. You will learn something of how this all works when you begin learning advanced biology in a year or two, but the most crucial benefit for you lot at the moment will be the increase in your ability to memorise and remember things."


    The class let out a collective ''Ooh'' and Ms Luxford smiled at them, "As you increase the saturation of ether in your brain, you''ll begin to realise that you have less trouble memorising things. For example, many of you would probably have trouble entirely memorising your timetables in just the time available to you today, but when you get your new timetables next year, you''ll be able to memorise them the day you get them."


    A burst of excitable chatter spread throughout the class at this news, "That sounds great!" Harper said to Kason, his blue eyes shining.


    "Yeah!" Kason replied, feeling equally exhilarated at the prospect.


    "As I thought, I''ll have to begin long training sessions as fast as I can!" Harper exclaimed clenching his fists in anticipation. He then turned and called out to Lexia, who sat in front of him, "Hey Lexia!"


    Lexia turned around and looked at Harper, giving him a questioning look.


    "Do you have super memory or anything yet?"


    Kayla burst out into laughter, evidently having heard what Harper had said. "Super memory?" she giggled, "What''s this super memory thing? I want it as well."


    While Kayla continued laughing, covering her mouth with a hand to let Lexia speak. Lexia gave a light smile and answered Harper''s question, "I do find it easier to remember things now, but not to the extent Ms Luxford described."


    Kason furrowed his brow and raised his hand. "Yes?" Ms Luxford said, seeing his raised hand.


    "W- Well, if it works like that, is it possible to never forget anything if your saturation is high enough?" Kason asked feeling quite uncomfortable as people stopped talking to look at him.


    "Good question," Ms Luxford commented, "It might happen eventually, but as far as we know now, that is not possible. You see, having a high saturation only improves what is already there. For example, if you aren¡¯t very strong, increasing your saturation won¡¯t suddenly give you big muscles, it will just improve the function of what¡¯s already there. The same works with our memory, us humans forget things that''s just how it is, so no matter how much our memory is improved, we will still forget some things."


    Kason nodded his head and made a note of this on the desk, just in case it turned out to be useful. "Of course, if any of you guys decide to go into research after you leave here, then this could be something you research. Maybe one of you will be the one to make a big breakthrough and discover a way to never forget," Ms Luxford said smiling around the class again, "I expect great things from you all."


    Kason pictured himself standing in front of some complex magical equipment, sharing some findings with colleagues, explaining how he had found out how to make it so no one would ever forget. It gave him quite a grand feeling just imagining it.


    The class then went into a lull, everyone seeming to have run out of questions. "Has no one got anything else they want to ask?" Ms Luxford asked, looking around, "We have about ten minutes left before lunch so if you have anything else then now''s the time to ask."


    Kason and Harper left the classroom ten minutes later and entered the hallway outside. It was relatively empty, with only people from their class making their way to the door that led to the nexus area. Kason, who felt a bit confused about this, pointed it out to Harper, but he replied that he was equally clueless.


    On their way towards the exit to the nexus, they peered in classroom 1a and saw that all the chairs were empty, their occupants having presumably left earlier. Just before they got to the door, a voice called out to them, asking them to wait. They turned and saw Kayla making her way towards them.


    "Hey, do you mind if I follow you two for lunch?" She asked when she got closer to them, "Lexia is staying behind because she needs to get her new filter and everyone else I know is in a different class"


    "Yeah, that''s fine, we don''t mind," Harper replied, Kason also nodded to indicate his approval. Kayla smiled at them upon hearing their answer and skipped over to stand next to Harper as they made their way through the door to the nexus.


    They walked to the dining hall in the junior dorm building, found a table, and sat down to eat. While he was eating, Kason suddenly remembered that he hadn''t checked his timetable at all since he received it. He fished it out of one of the pockets of his uniform and placed it on the table next to his bowl which contained some orange coloured soup.


    Harper, who was sitting next to him, spotted what he was doing and leaned over to have a look as well. The timetable was set out as a table, with days labelling the rows and times labelling the columns, there were a total of five lesson slots each day, each being an hour and a quarter long and one slot in the middle for lunch. Although there were five slots per day, Kason noticed that at least one of these slots was empty each day, he wondered what they were for.


    "I don''t really know why we have timetables this year," Kayla said from the opposite side of the table, evidently having spotted what it was they were looking at, "We have all our lessons in the same classroom so it''s not like we''re gonna get lost somewhere in between."


    Kason shrugged but Harper, unexpectedly, gave an answer, "It''s so we can get us used to using them. We''ll be in different classrooms for each class from next year onwards so it''s better to get used to having a timetable now instead of having to adapt suddenly next year."


    Kayla shot a shocked look across the table at Harper, "How did you know that?" She asked


    "My brother is in the senior division. He said that''s how it works."


    "Cool, has he said anything else about the junior division? Did he tell you how all the years work? Do you have all your optional subjects planned out?" Kayla began firing a barrage of questions at Harper, who tried his best to answer them all. Kason couldn''t help but let out a chuckle at this scene because Harper was usually the one to be firing rapid strings of questions at other people. It would do him good to have a taste of his own medicine, he thought slightly vindictively.

 A Tour of the Grounds

    A Tour of the Grounds


    ¡°That over there is the Forest.¡± Ms Luxford called out to the class following behind her. After everyone had returned to classroom from lunch, Ms Luxford had told them that she was going to give them a tour of the college facilities that they might use during their time in the junior division and so, without further ado, they had all left the classroom again.


    She had given them a brief overview of the buildings that lined the flagstoned courtyard which they exited the classroom building into, before leading them down the pathway to the Meditation Gardens. They had just now come out of the small alley between the two buildings and were gazing down the lawn to the mass of green that was, as Ms Luxford had just said, the Forest.


    "The college does not advise that you enter that forest, given that there are all sorts dangerous creatures hiding in its depths, however, if you are feeling particularly adventurous, you can go exploring inside from your third year onwards. If any you try entering at an earlier stage, you will be punished." She stopped and thought, then added, "And probably also injured in some way by the things that lurk inside."


    After Ms Luxford''s speech, most students were looking towards the forest with apprehensive looks on their faces. Kason felt less nervous, having grown up inside the outskirts of a large forest himself, but still couldn''t prevent a slight flutter of fear from appearing somewhere in his stomach considering that he had almost wandered off into that place the day before.


    Next, they visited a place called the Training Ground. Ms Luxford explained that the large rectangular area of some grey material was for, as the name suggested, physical training that would begin in their next school year. She also stated that it was occasionally used by different societies from time to time, which prompted a new question from the students.


    ¡°Societies,¡± Ms Luxford said in answer, ¡°are groups led by either a senior division student or a teacher where you can take part in various recreational activities. You can attend any combination of these you like during any free periods you have in your timetable.¡±


    She then went on to enthusiastically promote the society she ran, called the ¡®Pakaura society¡¯ which spent their time playing a sport called ¡®pakaura¡¯. Unfortunately for her, none of the students had ever heard of the sport, which seemed to disappoint her, but she quickly got over it and led them towards their next destination.


    The group next arrived at a place called the ¡®Range¡¯. It was a large stretch of verdant green, shortly clipped lawn with some targets placed at the other end from where they stood. Unlike the training grounds, there was a fence surrounding the area made of wood that, quite frankly, looked like a strong gust of wind could blow it over. A small clump of trees grew sparsely around the targets, seeming pretty pointless in the whole scheme of things apart from making the place look nice.


    Ms Luxford explained that this was the area that was specifically used to train in the various forms of ranged combat, like archery. She gestured for them to look inside and observe the people currently inside, which were a group of five students and their teacher. They watched as the five students stood, bows in hand, in a ready position with arrows fitted to their bows¡¯ strings which were pulled taut to their ears.


    Upon some unheard command, the archers released their arrows, which sped down the Range. As they travelled, Kason observed that each arrow seemed to release a different ability. One sped up to extreme speeds, while another let loose some kind of tether and attached itself to the speeding arrow, allowing itself to be pulled along by it.


    Kason watched, fascinated, as the arrows continued their journey. It seemed almost more like a race than any archery competition he had heard about before. The speeding arrow that had gotten ahead at the start was the only clear contender for the winner¡¯s position if this was indeed a race and not a normal archery competition.


    Just before it reached the target at the end, however, a deafening blast emanated from somewhere within the Range. Kason jumped at the sudden noise, as did most of the rest of the class, and just caught sight of a madly contorting arrow at the back of the pack before it combusted into a glowing fireball of purple flames.


    When the back dots in Kason¡¯s eyes faded away and his ears stopped ringing, he saw that one of the archers was currently looking rather sheepish while being scolded by the teacher who had been with the group. Kason assumed that it must have been his arrow that malfunctioned.


    After letting the class recover from the surprise development, Ms Luxford got their attention and led them off to the next destination of their tour. "That woman who was in there is Ms Hargreve. She leads the Archery society and also is one of the combat magic teachers so some of you may be taught by her in the future." Ms Luxford said as they walked.


    Ms Luxford brought them next, to the Meditation Gardens which Kason had walked around in the day before. She explained that the gardens were split into two parts, the recreational area where students could relax and which technically wasn''t part of the meditation gardens but since they were both in the same area they were both called it for simplicity''s sake, and the actual Meditation Gardens. She showed them where the dividing line was as they walked around in the gardens and Kason realised it was the same fence that he had encountered before.


    She then led them back to the main path and through the archway at which Kason had turned back when he previously explored the place. Through the arch was a small circular cobbled area surrounded by a low wooden fence, there were benches placed at regular intervals around the edge of the area with some older students sitting on them watching the class with mild curiosity.


    In the centre of the cobbled ground though, was a magnificent tree. It sprouted out of a basin filled with golden water that overflowed from its container only to disappear into the ground underneath the cobbles. The tree itself was strange and wonderful, it was around three meters tall and had a multitude of branches sprouting from its gnarled brown coloured trunk.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    The branches were the most peculiar parts of the tree, their appearances differed but could be roughly fit into four categories. Some of the branches were withered and dead looking like they might seem in winter, while others were covered in many bright green sprouts like in spring. Still, more had a lush and wholesome look, covered with midsummer leaves while others showed the small minute signs of wilt that come with autumn and were almost bare.


    The class stopped in front of this tree and many of them let out gasps of admiration at its unearthly beauty. Kason looked at it in wonder, its weird yet wonderful shape and contrasting appearance made it look oddly profound, however, somewhere in Kason''s mind, a little voice couldn''t help suggesting that the tree might''ve just forgotten season it was in.


    Ms Luxford let them admire the tree for a few moments before providing them with some background, "This is the Tau tree, it is said to have been planted in this spot by Constantine himself which makes it hundreds of years old. As you can see, it has a rather unique appearance and is currently the only known one of this species still around. Of course, we know that there is much of the world which we do not know, so there may be others out there, but in our country''s lands, this is the only one."


    "Why is the water around it all golden coloured?" Asked a student from the crowd.


    "It is because of the tree. Its roots secrete a substance which turns the water that colour and, incidentally, can also be used to make a wonderful golden paint."


    Ms Luxford then led them out of the Meditation Gardens, saying that they wouldn''t enter the actual Meditation Gardens so that they wouldn''t disturb anyone. They were then led back past the Range and the Training Grounds all the way to the main building into the nexus with the statue of the monocled man. Once there, Ms Luxford pointed out each of the doors in turn, telling the students where each led and what they were for.


    She then had them all cram into the library. Kason felt that the raised circular area where the door was situated was not meant to be filled with this many people but put up with it anyway. Once inside, Ms Luxford introduced them to a crotchety old man called Alivor, who was the custodian of the library alongside his apprentices. He gave them a short overview of all they needed to know before immediately disappearing back to wherever it was he had come from to begin with.


    Ms Luxford gave them a look of apology for Alivor¡¯s attitude and advised them to seek out his apprentices if they wished to borrow a book before shooing them all back out through the door to the nexus back to their classroom. Once back in the classroom she announced that they would have ten minutes to chat while she prepared material for the next session.


    Immediately as she turned to begin her preparations, Harper turned to Kason and began to batter him with excited babble. "What kind of societies do you think there are? Do you think there will be places where I can learn sword fighting and stuff?"


    "Isn''t sword fighting a thing of the past?" Kason asked curiously, he remembered books his mother had read to him as a child where there had been gallant men and women brandishing mighty swords and going on epic quests. He had thus been disappointed, when he had asked the teacher at the little school he went to back at his home if he could learn to fight with swords like those heroes and the teacher had replied that combat using swords and pikes and other weapons like that was outdated.


    Harper looked at him with his blond brows raised in surprise. "Not at all!" He said indignantly, "If you''d seen any of the annual bouts then you wouldn''t think that. Every year you see people with all sorts of swords in the mock battles, although the swords are usually different to just normal swords. Last year there was a guy called Gareth who fought with a sword that was over a meter long and covered in raging flames, it looked really cool!"


    After lessons finished for the day, Kason and Harper made their way back to their rooms to get some rest before dinner. They entered the corridor leading to their rooms which had taken on an orange hue from the setting sun hanging outside the large windows, they saw a familiar head of purple hair hobbling along a few meters in front of them.


    "Fenston!" Harper called out.


    The purple headed boy turned as he was walking and, noticing the two of them, stopped and waited for them as they walked over to him.


    "Hello," he said in his high-pitched voice, "How was the first day?"


    "What do you mean?" Harper said, furrowing his brows slightly, "Weren''t you just in class yourself?"


    Fenston rolled his eyes at Harper and gestured to his leg, "I hurt my ankle yesterday so I couldn''t attend, could I." he replied slightly exasperatedly, "So? What did you do? Actually, can we go and sit in the common room first? My foot isn''t completely fixed yet."


    They all walked into the common room and sat down on some of the chairs. Harper and Kason then began to narrate their experiences during the day, giving great detail about the explosive events at the archery practice they had witnessed.


    "Sounds like it was fun," Fenston said slightly wistfully when they finished.


    "Well, that''s what our class did. I''m not sure if the others all did the same." Harper added.


    "I''m IN your class," Fenston said, rolling his eyes again.


    "How did you know that?" Kason asked curiously, even the little rule booklet that Brent had dropped off with his uniform and that hadn''t had anything to do with classes in.


    Fenston''s face froze for a second before he answered them in a slightly uncertain sounding voice, "I, read it in the- the rule booklet that we were given when we went and registered at the registry office. Our entire floor is in the same class."


    Kason frowned slightly, but then dispelled his doubts, thinking that he had probably just skimmed over this particular piece of information, or perhaps he had simply forgotten it.


    "Really?" Harper said, sounding excited for some reason.


    Kason looked over at him, eyebrow raised in an unspoken question. "That reminded me that Lexia and Alford are on out floor," Harper explained, seeing Kason''s look, "This means I''ll be able to ask them about training to raise my ether saturation!"


    "You could just ask me," Fenston said, and sniffed, after hearing Harper''s exclamation.


    Harper turned to look at him, "You''ve already trained your ether saturation? What''s your saturation level?"


    Fenston made a satisfied smirk, "It was about fifty-five last time I checked, but it''s probably higher now."


    Harper made an incredulous look and then just leaned back in his seat with a helpless expression on his face. "Why did my family never teach me before I came here," he lamented.


    "I wasn''t taught either," Kason reminded Harper, trying to raise his spirits.


    They carried on talking, that is to say, Harper asked Fenston all the questions he hadn''t managed to ask Lexia, for maybe half an hour after which Kason decided that he would temporarily take his leave to change out his uniform. Although he was being besieged by Harper''s questions, Fenston still looked perfectly happy, so Kason decided to leave Harper at it and left.


    When he arrived back in the common room a few minutes later, he found Harper and Fenston still talking as they had been before. He went and sat back in the seat he had been in and watched them as they bantered back and forth, Harper obviously having run out of questions to ask. After watching them for a few minutes Kason remembered something that he had been meaning to find out ever since he had arrived and raised his voice to ask the two of them something.

 The Stars at Midnight

    The Stars at Midnight


    "Do you know where I could buy some small logs? Perhaps in the city or something?"


    Harper and Fenston both turned from their conversation to look quizzically at him.


    "Logs? Why do want stuff like that?" Fenston said.


    Kason flushed slightly. "I, err, I like to carve sculptures out of wood and stuff like that," He mumbled.


    "Sculpting? Why do you do that? Isn''t it boring? I mean, it''s just sitting chipping away at some wood." Fenston said, his voice taking a derisive tone.


    "Ah, no not really," Kason replied in a small voice to hide the hint of irritation that had crept into it. Fenston''s attitude reminded him of what most of the children at the school at his home thought about his little hobby. They had sometimes made fun of him for what they called his ''strange'' hobby, and although it had never gone further than this, it had still annoyed him to no end when they did. After all, he put hard work into and was proud of the sculptures he made and to have other people disparage them didn''t exactly make him feel jubilant.


    "Sculpting eh?" Harper said, "You''ll have to show me some of the stuff you''ve made." His voice, in contrast to Fenston''s, did not contain ridicule, but mild interest.


    "I don''t have any with me, I left them all at home so I want the wood so that I can make some if I feel inspired." Kason replied, a small smile replacing the frown that had been creeping over his face.


    "Ah well," Fenston sighed, "I don''t understand why you''d do something pointless like that, but I think there''s a lumber shop in Constantin where you might be able to get some wood. It''s near The Stars at Midnight, the jewellery shop on the main street."


    "Where''s that?" Kason asked, having only been to Constantin for the first time a couple of days ago.


    Fenston thought for a moment before replying, "The main street is at the end of one of the pathways leading out of the plaza where the monument is and then The Stars at Midnight is a short way to your left I think. Or was it right? Anyway, you should also know that the main street isn''t actually called ''the Main Street''. It has got an actual name that I don''t remember but everyone who lives in Constantin just calls it that."


    Kason thanked Fenston for the information but felt that they were rather lacking in the usefulness department. He looked rather helplessly at Harper, trying to ask without words if he could give some better instructions as to where The Stars at Midnight was. Harper, however, wasn''t looking at him and his silent plea went unnoticed, so he slumped back in his chair and began brainstorming how he would find out how to get to his destination.


    He immediately speculated that there must be maps of Constantin around in the college somewhere, so he asked Harper and Fenston, who had begun to chat again, if they knew where any might be.


    "Maps?" Harper said and paused looking thoughtful, "I dunno, I could ask my brother next time I see him if you want."


    Kason turned his hopeful gaze on Fenston, who shook his head. "I was thinking of going next Tarisday, do you think you''ll see him before that?" He asked turning back to Harper.


    Harper immediately shook his head, "He''s away from college for the next two weeks so I won''t get to see him until he''s back."


    Fenston looked interested at this bit of information, "Is your brother in the senior division?" He asked.


    Harper nodded. "Is he a member of the quest society?" Fenston asked, upon seeing his answer.


    Harper looked surprised, "Yeah, he is. How did you guess? In fact, how come you know so much about the college? It hasn''t even been a week since we entered and yet you know all sorts of things."


    Fenston''s face cramped up again and then began to morph into an expression of discomfort. He was about to answer but was saved from doing so by the arrival of Kayla and Lexia. They entered the room chatting but stopped once they entered to look around the room and spotting the three of them sitting near the fire, they walked over to join the conversation.


    Before Kason knew it, the Tarisday he said that he would visit the lumber shop on came around. He had breakfast and then went back to his room and collected some of the money that his mother had given him to spend during his time at the college. He also took with him the smooth black stone he had found in his shoe a few days before, he figured that since he the lumber shop was near a jewellery shop he would go in and see if he could get the black stone made into a necklace or something of similar sorts. He didn''t know why he particularly wanted the stone to be made into an ornament he could wear, he just felt that it was a shame to have it lying around on a shelf.


    He left the junior dorms and made his way towards the monument, following in reverse the path that he had taken with Ashton just over a week before. As he neared the monument, he began to get a slight feeling of wrongness about the place. A short while later, he made it to the monument, rising straight and tall into the sky. He was just walking towards it when he suddenly realised what had been causing the uncomfortable feeling, the trees were gone!


    He thought back to the evening when he and Harper had arrived and recalled that there had definitely been trees surrounding the small circular compacted dirt area where the monument was placed. He paused in his walk to the monument and made a slight detour to examine the grassy banks of the pathway, they looked perfectly normal and healthy, as if there had never been any trunks splitting the surface apart nor gnarled roots twisting up the earth. He contemplated this for a few seconds before giving up and, shaking his head in puzzlement, he continued on his way to the monument.


    He arrived on the smooth cobbles of the plaza where the monument stood in Constantin to the whisper of loud conversation carried over a long distance. He took his hand away from the monument and took a look around the plaza to take in his surroundings properly now that he was viewing them in proper daylight instead of the illumination of moon crystals.


    There were several places that looked like shops with doors that opened onto the plaza, all of them had their names printed in large letters above their doors and had various images adorning the remainder of the shopfront, obviously with the intent of luring in more customers.


    Kason then stretched out a hand, the one with the ring sitting snuggly on one of his fingers, and rubbed counter-clockwise around its circumference to activate the map function of his ring. During the past week, he had been asking around for the location of maps and, although Ms Luxford had told him where he could find them, she had recommended that he just use the map function of his ring.


    This suggestion made sense, too much sense in some ways though because it made Kason feel stupid for not thinking of it before, and so he decided to just use this method to find his way around. He looked on as the lines on his palm wiggled about and arranged themselves into a map of his surroundings before settling down in their places.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    The map looked to be fairly accurate and even had the names of the streets on, which Kason hadn''t really expected to happen. He had managed to find out that the name of the so-called ''main street'' and so he looked for it on the map and so, spotting it at the end of one of the roads that led away from the plaza, made his way in that direction.


    He found the main street in quick order and walked along it until he came to a shop displaying a sign upon which was written ¡®The Stars at Midnight¡¯. He paused outside it, wondering whether or not to go in now or after he had finished getting the wood he wanted. In the end, he pushed open the door and entered, thinking that it wouldn¡¯t do any harm to see what it was like


    Inside, the shop was quite large and dusty. There was a wooden counter running along the wall opposite the door made of some expensive looking wood and gilded in places with gold. Display cases were dotted around the room and hugging the walls were a multitude of cabinets, all holding various stands upon which were hung various ornaments and items of jewellery. Kason looked around, taking in the gemstones and precious metals that sparkled in the light of the sun crystals embedded in the ceiling which also created small glimmering spots now and then as their light reflected off small motes of dust floating in the air. He let out a sigh of admiration at the sight and couldn''t help thinking that the scene resembled the starry sky just as the name suggested.


    The shop itself was almost empty, with only two people inside apart from himself. One was an old man who was standing behind the counter gazing intently through some sort of eyepiece at something held in a cloth in one of his hands. He had a small amount of grey stubble on his chin and long, messy hair of the same colour that fell over a face full of lines that looked as though it spent most of its time smiling. The other was a tall man in a faded dark green cloak who was wandering around the shop admiring the items on display, although his face was mostly hidden by the hood of his cloak, Kason could still make out the end of what seemed to be a rather pointed nose.


    Kason wound his way through the display cabinets, his footsteps sounding noticeably loud in the quiet. He walked up to the place where the old man stood and waited. The old man looked up and removed the eyepiece from his eye. He looked down at Kason, whose head only just made it above the counter.


    "Hello young man," He said cheerfully, his face breaking out into a smile, "What are you here for?"


    "I- I would like to get a necklace made." Kason said shakily, feeling quite nervous.


    "Oh..." The old man said, still smiling, "Do you have anything specific you want putting on it? Any particular gems?"


    Kason blanked out for a short moment, having almost forgotten about the black stone. He felt his heart jump momentarily into his throat as he fumbled around in his clothes, wondering whether he actually had remembered to bring it. Then, with a small sigh of relief, he located the pocket where he had left it, took it out and placed it on the counter.


    "I was wondering if I could get this put on?" Kason said more confidently, his nerves having been slightly calmed by the old man''s friendly smiling face.


    "Most certainly, young man!" The old man exclaimed, picking up the stone with the cloth in his hand and looking at it through the eyepiece which he had put on again. "But this is a quite a remarkable stone, a totally unblemished surface like this is very rare in natural materials. Where did you find it? If you don''t mind me asking."


    Kason told the old man how he had found it in his shoe while wandering around the college. The old man let out a light breath of surprise, "Just wandering around the college, eh? Most peculiar isn''t it. So, you''re a student, are you?" Kason nodded. "Here''s a bit of advice, if you''re shopping around here in Constantin, showing your pendant will usually get you a discount at most shops." The old man said kindly, "So if you could show me your pendant just to confirm..."


    Kason brought out his blue pendant from beneath his top and presented it to the old man. The old man nodded and then went back to looking at the rock, muttering words like, "Extraordinary!" under his breath every so often. After looking at it through the eyepiece for a short while longer, he looked up and seemed to stare into thin air above Kason''s head for a few seconds before glancing back down at Kason.


    "You''ll have to wait a little while for this to be done young man," the old man said, "I''ve got a few other orders that need finishing before I can get onto this one, you see. It shouldn''t be more than an hour though, so you could go and look around Constantin in that time. I imagine you haven''t had much time to look around, given how the college is." He then went into thought for a moment, one hand absentmindedly stroking the stubble on his chin. "I might not be at the counter when you get back so if I''m not, just ask whoever is if they can call Castor, that''s me." He said and was about to turn away when Kason spoke up.


    "Umm, what about payment?"


    "Oh? We say that you only pay for what you get so you''ll pay when you come and collect the necklace. That being said, I almost forgot, how do you want this stone put in the necklace?"


    They spoke for a few more minutes finalising the details for the design and then Castor left via a door behind the counter to carry on with his work. Kason exited the shop and stood for a moment just outside it, looking at the people and vehicles rushing on, and indeed, above the main street. He then rubbed his ring again to bring up the map on his palm and checked to see if it showed the lumber shop that Fenston had said was around the jewellery shop. He had, however, forgotten that the map did not show the names of buildings, only roads, and so he set out back in the direction he had been going before he went into the shop, bemoaning the fact that he had forgotten to ask Castor if he knew of the lumber shop''s whereabouts.


    Half an hour later, Kason had still not found the shop he was looking for. He had gone down the street, then turned around and come back up after not finding it, only to go all the way back down again to double check that he hadn¡¯t just missed it. He was now standing at the corner of a side street wondering what he should do next. Five minutes later, he was just working up the courage to ask one of the people walking past when someone called out to him.


    "Excuse me. Are you ok?"


    Kason turned on the spot and saw a young woman with long green hair standing a few paces away, looking at him inquisitively. Kason''s eyes widened slightly when he saw her, it was the woman who had been with the green haired and eyed botanist in the incident just before college began properly. She was wearing a pale green dress and white leggings instead of the college''s uniform along with a thin headband to keep her hair from covering her face. Kason couldn''t help thinking that she looked quite pretty.


    The woman obviously recognised Kason as well as she let out a small gasp of shock when he turned. "You''re one of the ones that got caught up in the incident a while ago right?" She asked.


    Kason nodded and she smiled. "I am terribly sorry for that again." She said and gave a shallow bow, "Anyway, is there something bothering you? You look worried." She looked at him with a concerned look on her face, a portion of her green fringe falling out of her headband and over her face, covering one of her brown eyes.


    "Ah, yeah. I''m trying to find a lumber shop which I was told was around here but I can''t find it." Kason stammered, feeling considerably self-conscious all of a sudden.


    The young woman thought for a short moment, then clapped her hands together in a moment of realisation. "I think I know where there is a lumber shop around here, if you don''t mind, I could lead you there."


    "Ah, but don''t you have anything you need to do? It''s okay if you just tell me the directions." Kason said quickly, not wanting to inconvenience her.


    "No, it''s fine." She said and smiled warmly, "I just came out for a change of scenery, I didn''t have anything particular I wanted to do."


    "Oh, okay then. If you''re sure." Kason replied.


    The young lady, who Kason found out was called Ledia, led Kason back along the road. They passed The Stars at Midnight and down a little side street he had passed by multiple times but never gone down. They walked down it for a short while before taking another turning which led into a small walkway only wide enough for about three people to down walk side by side. They walked a couple of paces down this path before coming to a door in the wall on their left above which hung a sign upon which was an image of a grand oak tree.


    Kason left the shop a few minutes later, having gotten his hands on the lumber he needed. He walked out of the door, looking curiously at a little blue gem that lay in his palm. The man at the counter had said that the wood he had purchased was in this gem, but had failed to explain how Kason was supposed to get it out.


    ¡°Do you know how this works?¡± Kason asked, showing the gem to Ledia, who had been waiting outside for him.


    "You just need to manipulate the ether in it in a specific way to release the spatial lock on the gem which will release the stuff kept inside," Ledia explained.


    "But, umm, I can''t..." Kason mumbled feeling slightly embarrassed.


    Ledia smiled down at him, "Don''t worry, you can just find someone like supervisor Rayleth or your teacher to do it."


    Kason nodded, feeling relieved, then looked at the ring on his hand to check the time. He realised that the time the old man Castor had said he would have the necklace ready by was approaching so he thanked Ledia for her help and went off back to the jewellery shop.

 The Botanists Invitation

    The Botanists'' Invitation


    Kason, with the little blue gem safely stored away in a pocket, made his way back to The Stars at Midnight. He reached it just before the appointed time arrived and entered the shop to find that it was now quite crowded. There were many people clustered around the various stands and the hubbub of voices sounded loudly in Kason''s ears, even compared to the noise out on the street. Kason couldn''t help wondering whether or not there was a special event going on that Castor hadn''t mentioned or had forgotten about.


    After a couple of minutes, Castor appeared behind the counter and announced that he would begin handing out people¡¯s purchases. He started calling out names and the crowd began to thin as people gradually left with their purchases in hand. Kason¡¯s name was called near the end when there were only three other people left in the store.


    When he reached the counter, Castor handed him a small black box that felt like it was covered in a layer of soft fabric. Sewn onto the fabric were the letters ''S.M.N'' and in small writing underneath was Castor''s name in the same golden thread.


    Castor smiled at Kason and said, "You should check the necklace just now, young man. Just to make sure it''s how you want it."


    Kason looked down at the box and saw that it was split in half through the middle and one side was hinged allowing the top half to be lifted up like a lid. He carefully lifted up the top of the box and saw, resting on a small lavender coloured cushion, a small silver locket with a pattern like folded bird wings on the front.


    The silver locket looked brilliant! It glinted as Kason moved the box, looking at it from all angles, making it seem like a pair of angel''s wings, however, he couldn''t help wondering where the black stone had gone.


    Castor saw his slightly confused look and leaned over the counter slightly, "The stone is inside this locket," He said slightly sheepishly, "I know you said you wanted it on the cord but I couldn''t bore a hole through it no matter how hard I tried." He gave a slight grimace, "I don''t know what it''s made off but whatever it is, it''s too hard for me to cut through, no matter what method I use. Really, quite extraordinary..."


    His eyes seemed to lose focus and he stared off into space for a few moments. "Anyway, young man," His eyes focusing back on Kason, "The price is the same and I even upgraded the materials I used as an apology. The cord is now made of salamander skin instead of ordinary leather and the metal used on the locket is Argentum, a specially treated form of Silver."


    He then reached down with a finger and poked the wings on the front of the locket, which opened silently, the folded wings spreading out like it was a bird getting ready for flight. Inside, sitting snuggly in a little niche, was the black stone.


    Castor smiled and looked back at Kason, withdrawing his finger from the locket, "To open it just inject ether into the lock and it''ll open."


    Kason nodded feeling slightly glum. Of course, this was another thing that he couldn''t use until he finished training up his level of saturation. "Could I get a normal catch put on? I can''t use ether yet." He asked Castor.


    Castor looked thoughtful, "I could put one on for you..." he began, "But this spatial lock is much more secure. You''re in year one of the junior division I presume? So that would mean that you''d only have to wait, well, a few months, depending on how hard you practise. This spatial lock will also last for at least a couple of decades, whereas a normal catch may break after only a few years." He smiled down at Kason, "But if you really want it changing, then I will. If you ever want it changing back to a spatial lock, though, it will cost you quite a bit more than it will now."


    Kason thought, he didn''t really need to be able to access the black stone. He probably wouldn''t even wear the necklace all that often, at least to begin with. "Can I think about it for a bit?" He asked tentatively.


    Castor chuckled good-naturedly, "You can have until I finish dealing with the rest of the customers."


    Kason moved away from the desk and leaned against one of the walls near a display cabinet. He thought about the what he wanted to do as a rather large man wobbled up to the counter to collect his order. He gradually came to the decision to leave the spatial lock and just wait until he learned to manipulate ether, after all, it wouldn''t be too long relatively speaking. Or at least, that''s what he told himself as he walked back over to the counter where Castor stood waiting.


    Cator noticed him walking over and looked at him expectantly, "Well young man, have you decided?"


    Kason nodded, "I''ll keep it as it is."


    "Excellent choice!" Castor said emphatically.


    Kason handed over the amount they had agreed upon as payment and then left the shop. He stood for a moment outside and checked the time on his ring. Finding that there was still a while left until he needed to be back for lunch, Kason decided to look around some other shops for a while.


    He lost track of time while he browsed shops of wondrous magical items and only remembered that he needed to check the time when his stomach rumbled in protest at its lack of sustenance. He checked his ring with a sinking feeling in his heart and found that what he feared had happened was true. It was past one o¡¯clock, meaning that lunch was over, but more importantly, he wouldn¡¯t get a chance to eat until that evening.


    Just as he was debating whether or not he could just wait it out, his stomach made its plight known to him by grumbling in a rather loud fashion again. Kason blushed and looked around briefly to check that no one had heard and then began to walk quickly back towards the monument, he had spent all of the money he had brought with him on this trip on the necklace so he was going to go back to college to get some more and then come back to Constantin and find a place to eat.


    He was just hurrying along the street that led back to the monument from the main street, his stomach still growling every so often, when he heard his name called out again. He turned and saw that it was Ledia, the girl who had shown him to the lumber shop earlier, as well as the green haired man from the incident with the trees and a few others, all with green hair.


    They were sitting at a small rectangular wooden table in front of a small cafe and were all looking over at him, Ledia waving for him to come over. He walked over nervously, hoping that his stomach wouldn''t start rumbling all of a sudden.


    When he got over, Ledia smiled at him, "Hello, did you get the necklace okay?"


    "Yeah," Kason stammered, "It worked out fine."


    "That''s good," Ledia replied, "Anyway, this is Perceval if you remember. He wanted to have a word with you." She indicated the man sitting across the table from her.


    Kason looked at him, feeling a bit anxious. He had come across as having a rather haughty and arrogant attitude last time they had met, so he wasn''t feeling too keen on speak with him.


    Perceval surveyed Kason for a moment before beginning to speak, "Look, I''m sorry for what happened a while back. I know that I didn''t really come across very apologetically last time, but that I was just in a bad temper at that time. That Ashton just pisses me off." His face clouded over into a grim expression and Kason could fancy his fists were clenched under the table.


    "That''s alright." Kason said, feeling rather surprised by the contrast between how he seemed now compared to back then.


    Perceval nodded and said, "Well that''s all I really wanted to speak to you about, you can go and finish whatever you were doing, I won''t keep you."


    Kason nodded and turned to walk away, but as he did his stomach decided to grumble especially loudly. He blushed and began to walk away faster but a voice called him back.


    "Are you hungry?"


    Kason turned shyly and nodded to the person who had spoken. It was a woman who was sitting on the other side of Perceval. She was tall; had long green hair that fell to her waist and a face that bore a startling resemblance to Perceval''s. "You see that Percy, the kid''s starving. How about you buy him something? You owe him for all the trouble you''ve caused him after all."This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Perceval turned quickly to the woman with a rather distressed look on his face, "But sis..."


    "Huh! Don''t look at me like that! You''ll give our society a bad name." She responded harshly. Then, turning to Kason and speaking in a normal tone, she said, "Come and sit with us, we''ll get you lunch."


    "No, it''s fine, really," Kason mumbled, trying to squirm his way out of the situation.


    The woman would not take no for an answer, however, and so in the end, he squeezed on the end of one of the benches that were on either side of the table next to Ledia. While Perceval went off on his sister''s instructions to buy lunch, his sister began talking imperiously to Kason and the table at large.


    It turned out that all of the other people, were Botanists and that Perceval''s sister, who was called Philera, was actually the current leader of their group. She went on talking throughout the entire time that Kason was eating and continued on even after he had finished.


    Kason wasn''t really paying attention to what she was saying most of the time, instead, he focussed on his meal and then, once he had finished, on how he could successfully disengage himself from the group without interrupting Philera''s speech and appearing rude. He was, however, brought suddenly out of his contemplation when Philera directed a question at him.


    "We''ve got something planned for the two weeks today, do you want to come along?"


    "What?" Kason spluttered, "Err..."


    "That''s great, you can bring along some friends if you want. No more than four or five though. It''ll be fun you should look forward to it. We''ve not done something like it for a few years now, so I think we should be able to get away with it this year..."


    Philera continued speaking, no longer paying attention to Kason, her gaze now focussed on one of the other people sat around the table. Kason sat there feeling dazed. He remembered Ashton''s whispered advice from after the incident a while ago and, although he didn''t think the Botanists would be as bad as Ashton seemed to think they were, he couldn''t stop an ominous feeling rising from his stomach.


    Not wanting to remain much longer, especially with the ominous feeling from before, he soon made an excuse to get away. He got up, thanked Perceval for getting him lunch and said goodbye to the others before leaving back in the direction of the monument.


    After transferring back to the college''s plane of reality, he made his way back along the paths that led to the junior dorm building. As he walked, he thought about the invitation that had been forced upon him by Philera and shivered subconsciously.


    The words ''should be able to get away with it'' kept dancing around his mind and he was loath to think of what that phrase meant. ''Of course,'' he thought as he walked through the main building to get to the courtyard, ''They could just have been struggling with money or something like that, it isn''t necessarily something that will get people into trouble...''


    As he entered the junior dorms though, he remembered the look that had been on Philera''s face when she said that and such naive thoughts evaporated into thin air.


    "That was the face of someone planning trouble..." He muttered to himself as he entered his room.


    The next day, Kason awoke feeling refreshed and quite cheerful; having forgotten about the invitation he had received the day before. He climbed out of bed, got dressed and then exited his bedroom with the two blue gems safely stuffed into one of his pockets. He walked down the corridor and through the door to the nexus where he stopped for a few minutes and looked around, standing in the centre of the blue-carpeted room. He looked at the labels above the doors, trying to find one that might lead to wherever Supervisor Rayleth stayed or some other staff member who he could ask to take out the items he had bought the day before from the blue gems.


    He looked around for a couple of minutes, a slight frown slowly creeping over his face as he gazed at the long line of doors. Suddenly, he felt a thump on his back and he turned quickly to see Harper standing behind him.


    "Mornin''," He yawned, "What you frowning at?"


    "Good morning. I just realised that it looks like there are more doors here than there were when we arrived."


    Harper looked quickly around at the doors on the walls, "Really? Well, Brent said that this place adds more floors when it needs them, so they''ll need more doors to get to them, won''t they? We arrived quite early, after all, so it''s no surprise that more people arrived after us, anyway, let''s go get breakfast. I''m starving."


    As they ate breakfast, Kason asked Harper if he knew where he could find supervisor Rayleth. Harper had no idea, much to Kason¡¯s disappointment. He spent the rest of the time after breakfast with his search but still did not find anything. Eventually, he gave up and made his way to the classroom.


    When he entered the classroom a few minutes later, he saw that Harper was already sat in his place, talking to the person who as sitting behind him.


    Kason walked over and sat down in his place next to Harper who turned from his conversation to greet him, "Did you have any luck finding the Supervisor?"


    Kason shook his head and, as Harper went back to his conversation, slumped forward over his desk as a sudden feeling of tiredness swept over him. He closed his eyes, meaning to rest for the few minutes which were left before class began, but they sprung suddenly open as he suddenly remembered the invitation from the Botanists.


    Kason turned his head on his desk so that he could look at Harper. He wondered morosely what Harper would say if he asked him to go with him. He decided to ask him after he finished talking, but his conversation ended up going on until the sharp tapping of shoes on the floor told Kason that Ms Luxford had arrived.


    When she entered, Ms Luxford immediately began the lesson. She announced that she would be testing their saturation again. She immediately began calling out names and went through the same procedure as she had the previous week when she had tested their initial saturation levels. Harper was called out first from their group of friends, then Kayla, Lexia, Alford and lastly, Kason. When Kason heard his name, he walked to the front of the class and stood before Ms Luxford. She reached out her hands and the same feeling of absentmindedness swept slowly over him, his eyes drooped slightly and the faint whispers again sounded in his mind.


    Then the moment passed and Ms Luxford caught his arm as he stumbled, still not used to the sudden transition. "Your saturation is now about 33.4C which is about what is expected given that you were only at 32C last week." Ms Luxford said in a kindly voice as she steadied him. As Kason looked at her smiling face, he felt again the tug of guilt in his stomach and smiled awkwardly back at her before making his way back to his seat.


    When he arrived there he was greeted by the figure of Harper slumped over his desk exuding an air of gloom.


    "Umm, what happened?" Kason asked as he sat down.


    Harper let out a heavy sigh and peeled himself off his desk, "My saturation only went up by 2.1C." He said and let out a sigh full of despair before lying back down on his desk. Kason felt a sudden stab of anxiety as he realised that his had only gone up by 1.4C. He wondered whether Ms Luxford had just been trying to console him by saying that he was doing as expected.


    Kayla, who had obviously overheard what Harper had said, turned suddenly in her seat and spoke exasperatedly to Harper, "What do you mean by only 2.1C? Mine only went up by 1.4C and you''re complaining about yours not being enough."


    "Yeah," Harper said, his voice slightly muffled by his head being buried in his arms, "But at this rate, it''ll be ages before I get to one hundred Cs. It''s gonna take forever to start learning magic!"


    They talked were allowed to talk amongst themselves for a while longer while Ms Luxford finished examining the rest of the students in the class. Kason ended up narrating his trip into Constantin from the day before and ended up telling them about the invitation he had received from the Botanists.


    Harper looked at him with a worried expression on his face. "That sounds quite sketchy..." He said, once Kason had finished.


    "I know," Kason replied, "But I can''t refuse anymore, can I? I already said I would go, well no I didn''t say I would go, but you know what I mean!"


    "Can''t you just not go?" interjected Alford from the other side of Lexia.


    "NO!" Harper yelled.


    The entire classroom went silent at the sudden loud noise and everyone looked over at Harper with curious eyes. Ms Luxford looked over at him as well and said, "Is anything wrong?"


    Harper flushed with embarrassment and hurriedly assured Ms Luxford that things were fine. He turned back to find Kayla giggling at him and Lexia suppressing a grin. Even Kason was trying to suppress laughter from spilling out of his mouth, but at the same time, he tried to think why Harper had had such a strong reaction.


    "He can''t just not go," Harper said insistently, trying to steer the topic back on track, "They''d probably do something terrible to him!"


    "And it would be a bit rude," Kason mumbled, unheard by anyone.


    Alford, who hadn''t reacted to Harper¡¯s sudden outburst, frowned and asked, "What makes you say that?"


    "Ah well..." Harper suddenly looked slightly sheepish, "Don''t tell anyone else I said this, my brother would kill me if he heard that I''d been telling people."


    The group nodded in agreement, "Well, apparently, the Botanists do something every year around the time when the new students arrive. When my brother first came here, he was invited to join them and during this ''event'', but he chose to ignore the invitation. According to him, once they realised that he hadn''t turned up, they sent out some people and ambushed him while he was walking around the college!"


    "Did they hurt him?" Kayla asked nervously.


    "They didn''t hurt him exactly," Harper replied with a wry smile, "They knocked him out with something, then stripped him to his underwear and hung him from a tree which they grew in the middle of the courtyard with a sign around his neck saying ''Breaker of Promises''!"


    Harper sighed, "Apparently, the supervisor at the time used to be one of the Botanists whilst she was at the college so she left him there for an entire day before getting him down."


    The group fell into silence once Harper finished his story. Kason sat with cold sweat breaking out on his brow, thinking about how horrible that experience must have been. After thinking about it a little more, he decided that he would just go by himself. He opened his mouth to say as much when he suddenly felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder.


    "Don''t worry so much Kason, I''ll come along with you!"


    He looked up and saw that Harper was standing next to his desk, looking at him with a determined gleam in his eye. "Is it not the duty of friends to stick together through thick and thin?" He continued grandly, staring out of the window with a faraway look in his eyes. Kason looked up at Harper, a feeling relief washing over him, he was glad that Harper had volunteered.


    "I''ll go too then," said a voice from beside them.


    They both looked around and were stunned to find that it was Lexia who had spoken.

 The trip with the Botanists

    The trip with the Botanists


    Lexia saw Kason and Harper''s stupified faces and gave them an inquisitive look, "What''s wrong?"


    Kason and Harper exchanged a glance and then Harper replied, "Err, nothing. But it might be quite dangerous..."


    Lexia looked at him, her gaze unchanging. "I know. That''s why it''s exciting!" She said enthusiastically.


    "Ok," Harper started again, "So it will be me, Kason and Lexia..."


    "And me," Alford added firmly, "If Lexia''s going, then so am I."


    "Okay," Harper said, "It''ll be me, Kason, Lexia and Alford then." He turned to Kayla, "Do you want to tag along?"


    Kayla looked slightly reluctant, "Do you  even know what they''re gonna do this year?" She asked, looking around at the group.


    Kason shook his head. "I don''t even know where we need to meet." He said with a sigh, looking around apologetically.


    Kayla nodded absentmindedly, looking thoughtfully out of the window. She then turned, looked up at them with her mouth open to speak, saw Lexia looking at her expectantly and turned around to look out of the window again.


    She turned around again after a few moments. "Yeah, I''ll come along." She said with a slight grimace.


    Harper, sensing the reluctance behind her response, shot her a grin and said, "So that''s all of us. We''ll deal with whatever they''re planning somehow."


    Kason grinned around at the group, he had only expected one or two of them to volunteer, if any, so he was glad that they had all ended up doing so.


    They talked among themselves while Ms Luxford finished measuring the saturation of the rest of the class, discussing what the Botanists might have planned. They came up with several ideas, which became more dangerous and far-fetched as they went on.


    Their discussion was put to an end, however, by Ms Luxford who, having finished with the last person in the class, snapped her fingers to get everyone''s attention.


    "Most of you seem to have progressed by the expected amount." She said, smiling, "It''s a good thing that all of you are taking this seriously, however, there seem to be a few of you who are a bit impatient with your progress." She looked around at the class with a serious expression on her face, "I won''t say who those people are, but I cannot stress enough how important it is not to rush your training! I''ve said before how you can injure yourself badly if you rush ahead and expose yourself to high levels of ether for too long. I know that me saying this to you all in the safety of a classroom may make these injuries seem negligible or far off, but they are a very real threat that should not be taken lightly!"


    The classroom was enveloped in a rather sombre atmosphere after this lecture. Kason happened to glance towards Harper just after Ms Luxford finished speaking and saw that he, instead of looking serious like everyone else, had a rather complex look on his face. He seemed half bashful, half annoyed.


    The rest of the day went smoothly and the group didn''t discuss the upcoming trip again. That evening, after Kason finished his hour training session, he was walking out of the junior dorms on his way to meet Harper who was going to the coliseum, when he heard a now familiar voice calling out to him.


    He turned around and saw Ledia walking towards him, waving at him to get his attention. He changed direction and walked towards her, wondering whether this meeting had anything to do with the invitation that he had received. ''Perhaps she came to cancel it?'' He wondered wistfully as he walked.


    Once he reached her, she greeted him with a warm smile and motioned for him to walk with her.


    "Philera asked me to pass on the time and place to meet for the outing." She began as they walked and Kason felt his heart sink like a brick through water. She hadn''t come to cancel after all. He knew it had been a rather vain hope, but he hadn''t been able to stop a vague feeling of expectation building in his chest.


    "You and anyone who is coming with you, are to gather just on the other side of the forest which grows in front of the main building at three in the afternoon. Just follow the path through like you''re going to the monument or the coliseum and wait once you get to the other side if no one is there already." Ledia continued, oblivious to Kason''s state of mind.


    Kason nodded morosely, wondering at the same time, why they had picked him to go with them in the first place.


    They carried on walking in the direction of the meditation gardens, going down the side of the planetarium and under the little bridge that connected it to the building on their left. As they walked, Ledia changed the subject, asking Kason how his time at the college has been so far.


    Kason tried, in a roundabout fashion, to ask what it was that they would be doing, but he was ignored.


    When they arrived at the range, Ledia stopped walking. "I''m going in here," she said, pointing with her thumb at the range behind her, "So it''s bye for now. I''ll see you soon..."


    Kason watched Ledia as she jogged off and sighed to himself. He then remembered that he had been going to see Harper and turned back around to go and find him.


    They had arranged to meet in the nexus area of the main building and when Kason arrived, he found a fidgety looking Harper waiting for him.


    "Where have you been!" Harper called out to him as he entered the nexus. Kason began to answer but was silenced as Harper marched over to him and began to usher him over to the exit leading towards the path to the coliseum.


    "Actually, explain later, I''ve heard that Emelia will be in the arena sometime this evening. She might even be there now." He said, pulling Kason along almost at a run.


    They made it to the coliseum a short while later, quite out of breath, and after Harper frantically asked around about the matches that had taken place that evening, they found out that they had not missed Emelia''s match.


    Harper gave a sigh of relief and sat down in one of the chairs placed next to the window looking out into the stadium. Kason sat in a chair nearby and stared out of the azure-tinted windows into the many environs visible in the coliseum.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    After a moment, Harper turned his head to Kason and asked, "What were you trying to say earlier?"


    Kason told him what Ledia had told him earlier. "Well, at least we know." He said, his face impassive.


    Suddenly, a huge cheer went up around the viewing platform and the two boys turned to see what was happening. In the arena, a familiar looking feminine figure was walking to the centre of the marshland which was the current arena type.


    Harper let out a cheer of his own and stood up to get a better look. His previous expressionless expression having been replaced with an enthusiastic grin.


    The next two weeks passed much too quickly for Kason''s liking and before he knew it, the Tarisday which the Botanists had appointed as the day of their outing had arrived.


    It dawned a magnificent morning with clear skies and dew droplets sparkling on the vegetation of the forest out of the windows. Kason looked out of his window at the scene and couldn''t help feeling a small amount of dread. He couldn''t explain, even to himself, why he was so averse to participating in whatever it was they were going to be doing. ''Perhaps I just don''t like doing something when I don''t know what it is I''m doing...'' He mused as he made his way to breakfast.


    He whiled away his free time in the morning sitting in the library reading a book entitled ''The Greatest Survival Guide for all Situations''. Although some of the advice it gave seemed to be bizarre and totally irrelevant to the situation that it was supposed to be the solution to, some advice was sensible and Kason was glad he had read it.


    After lunch, Kason and Harper both sat up in the common room with Fenston as well as one of the other girls on their floor called Siana. They had explained to Fenston and Siana what their predicament was and were having one last brainstorming session before it was time for them to leave.


    Two o''clock came around in what seemed like only a few minutes and Alford walked in. He sat down and watched them as they conversed with a wooden expression.


    Half an hour later, Lexia walked in with Kayla, a grin on her face and wearing a rather strange outfit that seemed to be made of dyed leather. It was black and brown with patches of white and was comprised of a long sleeves top and a pair of trousers.


    Kason and Harper saw her curious looking getup and gave her a questioning look.


    She saw their gazes and stopped to strike a pose. "This is my adventuring  outfit." She said brightly, "Back home I used to go out to forests and other places quite often, so my father had this made for me."


    Kason examined the outfit as Lexia spoke, he thought that it looked very smart although it made her look more like a handsome young man than a girl. She did certainly look like she was ready for adventure though, the outfit had many pockets - on the breast and the waist on the top and then almost all the way down the side of the trousers.


    Lexia stopped showing off her clothes and said seriously to the room. "We need to be going now. The last thing we want to do is be late."


    Kason nodded and him, Harper and Alford stood up from the seats they had been sitting in. They said their goodbyes to Fenston and Siana, who wished them luck, and exited the common room for the nexus.


    As they walked through the college buildings and towards the forest beyond the main building. As they walked out of the main building, Kason was surprised to find a sliver of excitement amidst the sea of anxiety churning in his stomach.


    They arrived at the appointed place at ten minutes to three according to the ring on Kason''s finger. There was no one there apart from themselves unless you counted the little small animals crawling around just under the eaves of the woodland they had just exited.


    The group of five stood on the grass just beside the path for about ten minutes. They didn''t speak much, each preferring to keep to themselves for various reasons.


    After ten minutes passed, five figures came into view coming down the path from the direction of the senior dorms. As they got closer, Kason recognised three of them, those were the figures of Philera, Perceval and Ledia. There were two others with them, both male and with green hair, but where one was tanned and looked like he could smash a tree with his bare hands, the other was skinny and tired looking.


    The five reached the group of children after a few moments and Philera greeted Kason with a wave. "Glad to see you''re here," She said with a smile that made Kason shiver. "You already know Percy and Ledia so I won''t introduce them, but these two over here should be new to you. The brick over there is James..." The well built young man nodded and raised his hand, "And the bean sprout is Hugo." The thin young man shot Philera a reproachful look and then waved to the children.


    "Will you introduce us to your friends?" Philera asked looking at the faces of the children who were looking curiously at the Botanists.


    Kason looked around at them and was about to begin his introductions when Harper stepped forward of his own accord. "My name is Harper, first-year junior division!" He said enthusiastically and gave a sort of salute with his fist across his chest.


    Philera looked at him with an amused expression and said, "Well met Harper, and the rest of you?"


    The rest introduced themselves one by one, although none with the same flair as Harper. Alford''s was solemn, Kayla sounded nervous, and Lexia seemed to have reverted back to her quiet, timid form with any trace of her previous excitement gone.


    Once they had finished with the introductions, Philera began to explain what the purpose of this expedition would be.


    "Right," She said, "I haven''t told you what we''re doing or where we''re going, I thought it would make it a good surprise. But now, I suppose, it''s about time you should know..."


    Kason felt himself becoming nervous as the object of their many discussions came close to revelation.


    "Today," Philera continued excitedly, "We will be going into the Forest!"

 The invisible man

    The invisible man


    When Kason heard where it was that they were going, he felt the anxiety bubbling around in his stomach double in size instantly. He remembered what Ma Luxford has said during their tour of the college, that it wouldn''t be safe to enter the Forest until their third year in the junior division. He wondered what their objective was in going to such a dangerous place when they were so woefully unprepared.


    "Our teacher in the senior division is the head of the Botany department at this college and he sets us various tasks to complete throughout the year. As I''m sure you''ve heard by now, we usually do something with the new first years in the junior division every year, so this year we''ve looked through the list of things we''ve been given to do and picked out the most exciting sounding one to do with you lot." Philera explained, pacing back and forth in front of them, her black senior division robes billowing out behind her as a light breeze blew past them.


    "The task we''ve decided to do requires us to go into the Forest and get the eggshells of an Earth Drake. Earth Drakes are a species of Drake which belong to the Draconia family of creatures. If you''ve been taught about how creatures are classified in Beastology yet, then you''ll understand what that means, but if you haven''t then just suffice to say that it is a type of dragon. So what we''ve got to do is go into the Forest, find the Earth Drake whose eggs should''ve hatched relatively recently, and steal some of the shattered egg shards that should be lying around. Simple, right?" Philera smiled at them after she finished speaking, her eyes burning with excited anticipation.


    Kason let out a small gasp when he heard what it was they had to do. They were still going over the basics in Beastology and so had not covered such creatures as dragons. For this reason, he didn''t know what the differences were between drakes and dragons so all he could picture when he thought of a drake, was what he had seen in books that showed dragons as gigantic scaly monsters with four legs and enormous leathery wings.


    Having thought about what they were up against, he shivered and felt cold sweat blossom on his forehead. He looked up at Philera and the other senior division students with pleading eyes, hoping that one of them might either say that this was all a joke, or that one might try to persuade Philera out of doing this crazy task.


    Unfortunately, no one did any such thing and Philera began talking again, "Of course this earth drake is still quite young and this batch of eggs should only be its second clutch meaning that it will still be quite weak from the process of laying the eggs. This means it will most probably be sleeping when we approach it to get the eggshells and therefore we don''t need to worry about it too much." Kason, who still had images of giant scaly beasts chasing their group through the Forest going around his head, heard this and thought that the drake, even if sleeping, still seemed like a pretty large source of worry to him.


    "What we do need to worry about are its young!" Philera continued, oblivious to the nervous and scared looks on the children''s faces. "Although they won''t be very old and don''t have much intelligence, they will instinctively stick close to and protect their mother. They, unlike the adult drake, will probably be wide awake and vigilant when we get there."


    "So, how will we get the eggshell shards without being mauled by baby dragons then?" Asked Alford, his face pale and voice slightly shaky.


    "Glad you asked," said Philera, closing her eyes and nodding her head while smiling in a triumphant sort of way, "For that task, we have Hugo here." She gestured to the thin young man standing nearby. "For some reason, Hugo''s presence just doesn''t register with animals unless they come in direct contact with him or have high ether manipulation ability."


    Seeing the children''s disbelieving faces, Philera raised an eyebrow and said, "It''s true, no one knows why he''s like this, not even the headmaster. But this ability comes to be extremely useful in cases such as this, the drake won''t be able to sense him, let alone its offspring, so as long as he''s careful, Hugo should be able to sneak in and get us the shells so that we can take them back."


    Hearing this explanation of their intended plan of action, Kason felt his anxiety ease slightly. Even if they were going to be messing around near a dragon, at least he wouldn''t have to get close to it. He did feel worried for the young man called Hugo though, no matter what Philera said, he simply thought it impossible that someone could be ''invisible'' to animals like she claimed.


    "Anyway, now that you know what we''re doing, shall we get going?" Philera said, with a bright smile and began to walk briskly around the edge of the forest.


    As they began to make their way after her, a flock of some small birds flew overhead of the group. As they passed, one of them swooped down momentarily and jabbed its beak into the group before pulling back up while moving something around in its beak. On its way back to the fast moving flock, it just happened to fly straight into the back of Hugo who had been walking slightly apart from the group of people. The bird quickly recovered from the collision, flapping its wings furiously, and in a panic-stricken sort of manner, flew desperately away from Hugo as though it had just realised that he was there.


    The children stared wide-eyed at Hugo, who was rubbing his back while scowling in the direction that the bird had flown off in, while Perceval and the large young man called James guffawed with laughter. As Ledia hurried over to make sure that Hugo was alright, Kason stared off after the bird who had now rejoined the flock, thinking to himself that perhaps Hugo did indeed have some kind of special ability.


    Their shocked state was disturbed by a shout from Philera who was now a good distance in front of them. They jogged for a moment to catch up and then followed her as she continued walking. As he was walking, Kason thought of something and moved closer to Perceval who was nearby so that he could speak to him, "Why aren''t we just going through the college buildings? Wouldn''t that be quicker?"


    Perceval glanced down at him for a moment then rolled his eyes and began to speak, "Don''t you remember what your teacher told you when they gave you the tour on your first day? Until the third year of the junior division, it is prohibited to go into the Forest. Obviously, we don''t want you to get into the trouble being found would bring, and also they would punish us for bringing you along as well."


    "Then, umm..." Kason said, looking nervously up at Perceval trying to gauge his mood. "Why did you bring us along?" He asked in a small voice.


    Perceval looked down at him and grinned, what seemed to Kason to be, a slightly evil looking grin, "For the adventure obviously. Just because you first years can''t use magic yet doesn''t mean you can''t be part of the fun!"


    Kason grinned weakly back at him and slowed down slightly so that he could go back to walking with Harper and the others. He personally would have been fine with not being ''part of the fun'' as Perceval put it. He glanced at the faces of the others who were walking around him silently, all of them had far away looks in their eyes as though they were contemplating something important and all of them had grim expressions on their faces.


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    All of them except Lexia. The timid look she had shown while they were introducing themselves to the older students earlier was gone and now, from the odd quaking of her lips, Kason guessed with mild incredulity, that she was trying to suppress a delighted grin from spreading across her face. She marched along in her leather suit with a spring in her step and head held high, quite the opposite of the other children.


    Kason pondered her sudden change of attitude while he walked in order to take his mind off the thoughts of dragons that would otherwise consume his mind. After considering for a few minutes as they walked around the forest and he came to a conclusion that disturbed him slightly.


    She was enjoying this whole experience.


    In fact, thinking back about her behaviour from the point he had first told her about it, she had never seemed to be particularly worried about it. She had happily volunteered herself to come along without even knowing what it was they were doing and had only seemed to lose this excitement when they were introducing themselves to the senior division students.


    He remembered how when they had first met, he had thought that Lexia seemed to be a quiet and reserved girl, but he got to know her, her behaviour had gradually become more and more outgoing. He had never really thought about it before, but this did indeed seem to be the case, he had just never really realised it.


    ''So, she''s shy around strangers but fearless in the face of dragons.'' He thought, looking over at her with a half admiring, half helpless gaze. ''People''s minds work in strange ways...''


    They walked for about fifteen minutes from the path where they had first started, following the forest''s edge until it curved abruptly away from them, revealing a stretch of grass which disappeared after a short distance under the cover of the Forest''s canopy. The group stood for a moment at the edge of the forest, looking at the tangled mass of trees, vines and other shrubberies that grew only a short way away from them.


    In Kason''s eyes, the trees seemed to grow ever taller and the darkness between their trunks ever thicker as he stared at them. The gnarled pillars of wood, wrinkled with age and covered with withered debris, seemed to loom over him, even at the distance they were from him and Kason imagined he could feel a pair of eyes watching him from in the gloom. Accompanied by what seemed the soft thud of wings flapping in the air.


    Suddenly, he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder and jumped slightly. He turned and saw that Harper was looking at his with a slightly worried expression, his long blond hair blowing in the slight breeze that player around them. He licked his lips nervously and smiled at Harper, who smiled back and let go of his shoulder. Kason then turned back momentarily to the Forest, but the illusion was broken and the trees, which had seemed ancient and sinister, now looked to be relatively young and the soft thump of wings, he now realised, was just the breeze buffeting the treetops.


    Kason, still feeling a bit shaken, brought a hand up to his neck and felt for the smooth leather strap which hung there next to the silver chain of the college pendant which he was wearing. He found it and tugged on it so that he could grasp the silver locket in his fist. He had put on on a whim earlier that morning when he had been getting dressed but now he felt a strange sense of security from its presence. He then looked down at his right hand to make sure he was still wearing his ring. He remembered Brent saying that they could be used once to save oneself from danger so he was anxious to make sure he didn''t lose it before they made it to their destination.


    Philera moved to stand in front of the group. She pointed to the eaves of the forest across the grass and said, "We will have to cross this gap at a run. There isn''t usually anyone keeping watch over this strip, but just in case..." Philera then took out a wand from inside her robe, "Hugo and I will cast some spells on you youngsters to make you faster so that you don''t fall behind." She then looked towards Hugo, "Just a simple enhancement SSP type will do, we don''t need anything fancy."


    Hugo nodded and took out a pair of fingerless gloves which he slipped onto his hands. He then moved to stand in front of Kason. He looked down at him and said in a slightly gravely voice, "I''ll just be a moment."


    He then moved both of his palms towards sides of his head, fingers splayed and suddenly pulled them away, as if he was trying to pull something out of his ears using his palms. He then bent down slightly and pushed both palms towards Kason''s legs until they were almost touching them. As Kason watched, he thought he saw a slight silvery radiance dance around his ankles for a moment as Hugo moved his hands away, but it was gone the next moment leaving Kason unsure of whether it had ever really been there.


    Hugo then moved onto Harper who was standing nearby and began the same process again, leaving Kason free to watch Philera applying a spell to Kayla. Philera''s spell was done in a completely different way to Hugo''s, she whirled the tip of her wand through the air around in a circle several times, before flicking it daintily in the direction of Kayla''s feet.


    Once all the junior division students had been seen to, Philera stood in front of them again and said, "Okay, so on three we all need to just rush as fast as you can towards the forest over there." She looked around for a moment and then began to count, "One, two... Three!"


    As soon as the word ''Three'' rang out, all of the people standing behind her began to run at once. If anyone had been watching all they would''ve seen would have been a cluster of white and black figures streaking across the grassy stretch at speeds too high for a normal human to achieve.


    It took them only about fifteen seconds to reach the Forest, but to Kason it felt like much longer. When he first started running, he didn''t really notice anything was different. But as he got going, he felt the breeze which had previously been gentle, blowing hard against him, pushing his hair back on his head and making his white robes flap against his body. As he ran, he took a look to his right for a moment and saw a hedge growing a short way away. He thought for a moment and realised that they must be running along behind the meditation gardens.


    They safely reached the leaf-strewn eaves of the Forest and stopped to catch their breath. As Kason stood there, he suddenly felt a strange sensation in his legs and realised that whatever spell had been cast on him to make him faster had finished operating. He also felt a wave of slight fatigue wash over him and put a hand out to lean on the trunks of one of the trees that grew nearby.


    They stood there for a couple of minutes, recuperating, and then Philera moved to stand in front of the group again. She looked at each of the senior division students, checking silently that they were all ready, and then addressed the group of youngsters, "We''re here now. Make sure you stick with us at all times so that you don''t end up getting hurt and don''t make any loud noises once we get inside unless you want to have, err, problems..."


    Philera spoke in perhaps the most serious voice Kason had heard her use so far with them and so he took her words very seriously. Although they did not do anything alleviate the anxiety that was still squirming around inside him.


    Philera took one last look at all the assembled students then, with a nod of her head, signalled that they should begin their journey into the Forest.

 Into the Forest

    Into the Forest


    Kason and the others taking part in the expedition all walked through the Forest in silence. For the children, Philera''s warning about making noise that she gave just before they entered the Forest was enough to shut them up, and for the senior division students, Kason thought that they had probably been in the Forest before and so knew what they were doing. Or, that''s what he hoped was the case anyway.


    the Forest, as they first entered into its depths, was a realm of close-growing trees, with low and lush canopies which let sunlight filter down to the forest floor in patches making the ground, which was covered in dead leaves and other underbrush, a patchwork of light and dark splodges. The undergrowth, along with other plant matter, made walking through the Forest a slightly more dangerous undertaking than it could have been otherwise. They blocked the Forest''s floor from view meaning that, apart from the small trees and other bits of brushwood that kept on catching one''s feet, one also had to be careful not to trip over the tree roots that protruded up from the ground but was hidden from view.


    Kason himself tripped over several such roots before they even reached the ten-minute mark. He had, however, been saved from actually falling over by the quick reactions and strong arm of Hugo who had been walking along beside him. Some of the others weren''t so lucky; they were walking with Philera and James at the front clearing the front, then came Alford and Harper, then Kayla and Ledia, Perceval and Lexia and lastly, Kason and Hugo. This meant that Alford and Harper were without anyone to help them if they tripped and Harper had seen both of them stumble repeatedly, and Harper had fallen over once. He hadn''t been hurt, but his hair and clothes were now distinctly ruffled.


    As they walked through the Forest, apart from keeping an eye on the ground, Kason also looked around for any strange creatures that might be lurking nearby.


    ''There must be a good reason that students under third-year aren''t allowed to enter the Forest.'' He thought as he looked around.


    Although he never actually saw any creatures, he did hear many strange and wondrous noises as they walked, spine-chilling shrieks echoed out from within the gloom through the trees along with muffled snorts and several distant sounding roars. When they had first entered the Forest, Kason could still hear the pleasant chirping of birds every so often, but now, ten minutes in, they had completely stopped.


    Their first scuffle with the native wildlife happened at roughly the fifteen-minute mark. It happened at the front of their little convoy so Kason could not clearly see what actually happened. After they started moving again, Kason heard from Lexia in front of him, that a coal-coloured panther-like creature had pounced upon the leading pair of James and Philera from a low positioned branch, but had been successfully beaten off by James after a short fight.


    As they continued their treck deeper into the Forest, they came more and more frequently upon creatures in their path. A swarm of what looked like bats but noticeably smaller had descended from the gradually rising canopy above and had tried to latch onto them, apparently intent on sucking their blood. They had been scared off by the combined efforts of the senior division students but Kason still glanced fearfully after their tiny retreating silhouettes, afraid that they might suddenly turn back.


    They had then encountered an attack from the undergrowth by small mole-like beasts that leapt up at them from the concealment of the foliage under their feet. One had jumped up right in front of Kason and only by chance had he managed to avoid its sharp little fangs as they snapped at where his wrist had been!


    These moles had again been beaten back by the seniors using some quick spell work, but this experience particularly had shaken Kason. The fact that he could so easily be safe one moment and then in danger the next disturbed him, because even though he had been into the Blackwood sometimes with his parents before and so could handle the walk a bit better than the likes of Kyla, Alford and Harper, he had never been exposed to this level of sudden peril. It unnerved him and made him jumpy, his heart permanently beating slightly faster than it should have been.


    The presence of the seniors did help to alleviate his worries though. Whenever they encountered a creature, they would deal with it effectively and efficiently and tried their best to ensure that the juniors were never in serious danger.


    After they had been walking for about thirty minutes, the trees began to thin out. The smaller trunks were now completely gone, having been replaced with only the large, gnarled trunks of mighty old trees that stretched up some hundred meters into the air. These trees were goliaths that had overcome all adversities the Forest had thrown at them to become sovereigns in their own little patch of forest. The ground around these trees was almost bare except for the ever-present layer of debris, with only a few of the hardiest plants surviving under the shade of the ancient trees'' massive canopies.


    The world under these giants was not dark, but also not illuminated by the golden rays of the sun. Instead, it was filled with a dim greenish-yellowy glow that came from the many lichens and creepers that clung to the trunks of the massive trees. There was also a light mist that permeated the space under the treetops, drastically reducing the view distance of the group and making the atmosphere on the ground seem oppressive and mysterious. The loud cries and screams of the various beasts of the forest had almost all gone quiet now, there now being only a few small noises heard every now and again.


    After they reached this part of the Forest, their pace gradually increased. Without the foliage underfoot, there were fewer hazards for them to worry about as they walked. Kason walked through the mist, his eyes roaming around occasionally, but always coming back to rest upon Lexia''s back in front of him. He was afraid that if he looked away for too long, he would find that when he looked back, Lexia''s black and brown coloured back would no longer be moving steadily ahead of him and he would instead, see only the churning mist.


    Several minutes after they entered the domain of the giant trees, they entered a clearing where a large tree stump jutted up from the earth, its uneven edges making it look like the gigantic maw of some dangerous beast in the half-light. Philera called softly back along the line, telling them that they would take a break in this clearing and that they should make themselves comfortable for a bit to give their feet some rest.


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    Kason made his way over to the rotting stump and perched himself on the edge. Harper came and sat down beside him, followed by Kayla. Kason noticed that Lexia did not come and sit down, she seemed perfectly fine and wandered off to the other side of the clearing to examine some interesting flowers that were in bloom over there. Alford, who also looked fine, walked discretely after her, his head turning this way and that all the time, obviously still on the lookout for any creatures that might be lurking in the shadows.


    As for the senior division students, they stood in a loose huddle at the edge of the clearing, discussing something. Kason pulled off the sturdy boots he had been wearing and began to massage his feet; they were aching slightly from the difficult walk and, although he had a bit of experience walking through forests like this, he found the terrain her to be exceptionally rough and the added tension created by their constant vigilance for beasts had not made it any better.


    He looked over Harper and Kayla were doing the same as him. Harper looked especially bad, he was wincing slightly every time he moved his hand over a certain part of his foot, making Kason think that a blister had probably formed on it. After allowing the children around five minutes to recuperate, Philera and the other senior division students finished their discussion, with much gesticulating on Philera''s part, and walked back over to stand before the junior division students.


    Philera called Lexia and Alford back over. As they walked back, Kason thought that Lexia seemed to be remonstrating Alford for some reason. "Right," Philera began, still talking in a soft voice, "This place we''re resting is near the location of the Earth Drake''s nest. We should be able to get there within five minutes of walking." She looked around at the group, her face grave. "However there is something wrong with the Forest at the moment, it is both too quiet and not quiet enough! Most of us have been here many times throughout our time at the college and we all agree that the current atmosphere around here isn''t normal."


    She exchanged glances with James and Hugo who were standing either side of her and they both nodded in agreement. "Therefore, we''re only going to make one trip to nest. Originally, we were going to make several trips and take only a few people at a time so that there would be a lower risk of provoking the Earth Dake''s young, however now it is more important to get the job done quickly so we will take the risk. We will all be leaving for the Earth Drake''s nest in another five minutes, take this time to prepare or rest or whatever. If any of you are feeling particularly sore, then talk to Ledia, she can help you out."


    Philera''s serious face then split into a smile, "Of course, this is all a great adventure. It''s nothing to worry about."


    Kason looked at Philera''s face, feeling slightly incredulous. According to her, they could be in a rather serious predicament at the moment, but she could still smile that same confident smile that she had during the other times he had met her and say such brazen things with seemingly little care.


    Kason couldn''t help feeling admiration for her, her courage was surely astounding. And at the same time, he felt a bit better about their situation.


    They then rested for another five minutes as Philera said they would. During this time, Kason took a drink from a water bottle that Lexia kindly offered him, and Harper, after some internal debate, went off to see Ledia about his foot. Alford looked to be in a huff, perhaps because of what Lexia had said to him earlier, and was standing staring out at the forest with a slight scowl on his face.


    After their rest was over, they all gathered together near Philera at one side of the clearing where a small dirt track ran off into the Forest.


    "We came here the day before yesterday to make sure the Earth Drake was still here and get lay of the land." Philera said, her face again wearing a slightly grave expression, "We made this path then, it leads to another clearing where the Earth Drake has made its nest. As I said before, it will take about five minutes to get there from here, on the way there you must make sure that you''re quiet. We don''t want to alert the drake or its young to our presence if possible. You can talk while we walk but after you see me make this signal," Philera raised a hand and clenched her fist high above her head, "you must be silent."


    She then looked around at all of the junior division students, making sure that they understood. "I''m sure that most of you haven''t seen any kind of drake before, let alone an Earth Drake. It looks a bit unusual and a bit frightening when you first see it, but please," She gave a wry smile, "try not to scream or anything like that."


    On that rather ominous note, they set off down the dirt path that Philera had indicated. The mist that had been almost non-existent in the clearing, was now back in full force. It clung, thicker than before, to the trees as they passed through the large trunks that stretched above them, looking like pillars as the mist hid their branches from sight.


    Because of the large space between the trunks, the group could walk in pairs again, this time Kason ended up with Perceval. Kason called quietly out to him, feeling very conscious of how loud his voice sounded in the oppressive silence, "What did Philera mean by the Forest being both too quiet and not quiet enough?"


    Perceval began to explain as they walked, his voice low and gaze still darting around them alertly looking for possible threats, "As the others put it while they were talking earlier, the smaller creatures are too quiet, like they''ve been spooked by something. But at the same time, the larger beasts seem to be more active than usual, you can hear them making noises in the distance. I''ve only been into The Forest twice before now so I don''t really feel it as much as the older ones like James and my sister, but even I can tell it feels different to usual, although I couldn''t tell you how."


    Kason nodded and they went back to walking in silence. A few minutes later, their procession halted and Kason saw Philera hold her fist high above her green haired head, then set off at a slightly slower pace.


    Kason took a quick glance at the people around him and saw that Perceval beside him had a slightly tense look about his face. He looked away and concentrated on walking, as they got ever closer to their destination he could feel a feeling of anxious anticipation rising in his stomach. After another few minutes, although they seemed to take forever to Kason, the procession halted again and a whispered announcement was passed down the line.


    They had arrived!

 Earth Drake

    Earth Drake


    After receiving the whispered message from Perceval, Kason felt a thrill of anxiousness rush through him and felt goosebumps spring up along his arms. They then began to move forward again, this time very slowly, creeping along with utmost stealth.


    Kason could not actually see the earth drake yet. The trees had become more numerous and close-growing just before they reached this point, meaning that their path had shrunk to being just wide enough for them to walk in single file. So it was with trepidation that he stepped through the gap in the trees that Perceval had just gone through and emerged into a brightly lit clearing.


    Kason had to close his eyes for a moment after he stepped, it was so bright. He opened them again as he was pulled aside by Perceval to let other people come in and let out a sudden soft gasp.


    The clearing they were in this time was noticeably larger than the one they had rested in and was entirely free from flora of any kind. The ground was bare and beaten as if it had been trampled upon for a long time, enough to make it so that even weeds did not poke their hardy heads through the dusty surface. Far above their heads, the canopies of the surrounding trees seemed to have been burned back, and several of the gnarled giants showed singe marks on their might frames, all evidence of some kind of fire that must have ravaged them. Sunlight from the mid-day sun streamed down upon them from the gaping hole in the sea of green, brightening the environment tremendously and making a stark contrast to the gloomy half-darkness in the last clearing they had been.


    The thing that made Kason gasp though, was not the rather strange appearance of the clearing though, but the large, lizard-like creature that languished in the centre of the clearing, curled around the stump of some broken giant that had long ago collapsed. It was a dark muddy brown colour and had four stumpy limbs sprouting from a body that was thicker, even than some of the gigantic trees that surrounded the clearing. One end of the massive serpentine body snaked off into the shadow of the trees on the other side of the clearing, getting thinner and thinner as it went. That was obviously the tail of the beast.


    The head which was resting on the ground almost directly in front of them was almost as big as the body. There was no obvious neck separating the two and it was covered with the same leathery hide that covered the rest of the animal. It had a short snout that stuck out that stuck out from the face and its mouth hung slightly open letting Kason see a row of cruel, sharp and pointed, stone grey teeth in front of a large black tongue.


    Kason took a small step backwards, his eyes lingering on the teeth of the beast. He stared at it for a moment more and then wrenched his gaze away to glance quickly at Perceval next to him, wondering what it was they were supposed to be doing. Kason was, however, alarmed to see that Perceval''s face was twisted in a grimace and he was scowling so deeply that his two green eyebrows seemed to have combined into one.


    He then turned to Kason and, moving very slowly, bent down to whisper in his ear. "It''s awake." He said simply and then straightened up, still moving very slowly, his eyes never leaving the drake.


    Kason, whose eyes had been too fixed on the drake''s mouth to look at its eyes, looked up the face to where the eyes were. He found two inky black spheres gazing back at him drawing his gaze to them as if they had some kind of gravity to them. The two eyes were about a quarter lidded, but Kason had no doubt in his mind that the drake could see them all perfectly fine. Kason began to tremble imperceptibly and a sense of dread washed over him. He looked back at Perceval, hoping to receive some instructions about what their next move would be.


    Perceval was still looking intently at the drake, his eyes hardly even blinking, but he suddenly jumped slightly and looked quickly to his left, away from Kason. A moment later he nodded and turned back around and, still with careful slowness, gestured for Kason to make his way back towards the gap in the trees where they had entered the clearing.


    But Kason didn''t even get a chance to move before a low rumbling sound, like the purring of a very large cat, began to reverberate around the clearing. Kason immediately looked back towards the drake in the centre of the clearing where the noise seemed to be coming from and saw that the drake''s head, which had been resting on the floor, was now raised off the ground slightly and was swaying slowly back and forth in the direction of the students.


    The mouth, which had been slightly open in a lazy sort of fashion before, was now closed and it was that which seemed to be emitting the sound. Everyone froze as the drake slowly lifted its front end of the floor onto its front legs and swung its head slightly more vigorously from side to side. Kason had no idea what it was doing, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he noticed that it actually looked quite comical and, had he not been scared stiff, he might have chuckled a bit.


    After a few moments, the drake stopped its strange movements and looked straight at the group. The low rumble, which it had kept up unceasingly, now began to quieten, until it was barely audible at all. Then, suddenly, it raised its enormous head to the sky and let out an almighty roar which seemed to slam into Kason like a physical object, making him flinch and reflexively take a short step backwards.


    Suddenly he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder and he turned quickly to see that Perceval was leaning in close to him and saying something to him. Feeling slightly dazed and overwhelmed by the drake''s roar, Kason could not make out what it was that Perceval was saying and the loudness of the drake''s bellows, that were still ongoing, made it so that Kason couldn''t hear what he was saying either.


    Then the drake stopped its deafening roars and Kason could finally make out what Perceval was saying. The ringing in his ears, an aftereffect of the drake''s thundering cries, made it a bit difficult to make it out but nevertheless, Kason began to hear Perceval''s voice over the top, saying repeatedly, "Go back! Go back!"


    Having now understood, Kason nodded to Perceval to show that and, taking one last quick glance at the drake which was now silent in the centre of the clearing, moved hurriedly to the gap in the trees through which they had entered and plunged back into the gloomy shadows of the Forest.


    A couple of panic-stricken minutes later, Kason stood panting back in the other clearing at the other end of the path where they had rested less than twenty minutes before. Besides him, there was Harper, who was standing staring blankly at the ground muttering something under his breath, Kayla, Hugo and Perceval who was following behind him.


    He stood near the large rotting stump in the middle of the clearing and took in large mouthfuls of air, thinking back on the events that had taken place at the earth drake''s nest. The whole experience had seemed quite surreal to him as it was happening, it was like his brain couldn''t handle the amount of new information it was being asked to process and so its solution was to just not process it at all.


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    But now that he was out of immediate danger, it was like his brain had just turned back on and he suddenly realised that everything that had happened was very much real.


    His breathing quickened slightly as he processed that realisation and he cast his gaze around subconsciously to find something to distract himself. As he was looking around, he caught sight of his legs in the corner of his eyes and realised that they were shaking. He staggered over to the rotting tree stump, sat down on it and placed his hands on his knees, hoping that this would stop their trembling.


    A couple of seconds later, and a loud rustling from the direction of the path announced the arrival of the remainder of the party. First Lexia burst through the underbrush, looking very pale and out of breath, then came Alford, with a similarly grim expression, and lastly James and Philera who were bringing up the rear.


    As soon as they entered the clearing, Lexia and Alford came and sat on the stump near Kason, both of them were out of breath. Philera, on the other hand, called the other senior division students to her and, after speaking a few words to them, then walked over to the stump to speak to Kason and the rest of them.


    "That didn''t exactly go to plan," She began, sounding a bit flustered, "but it''s nothing disastrous." She smiled around at them and despite the slight unease in her voice, it was her usual confident smile. "We''ve decided that Ledia, Perceval and I will take you lot back out of the Forest as fast as we can and Hugo and James will stay to get the egg shards." She then sighed, "It''s a shame though, if only..."


    At that moment Philera suddenly stopped talking and cocked her head to one side while looking over at the path they had just entered the clearing from. After a few seconds, an alarmed expression flitted momentarily across her face before it was replaced by a slight frown.


    Kason distinctly caught her swear under her breath before turning to the children and saying, "Well that doesn''t matter get ready to leave, the sooner we get out the better."


    They all got up from the stump, while Philera turned around and issued orders to Hugo and James who were staying behind. The group were ready to leave within thirty seconds and were standing ready for Philera''s signal. Kason''s legs had stopped trembling and everyone had gotten their breath back.


    Harper walked up to Kason, wearing an uneasy smile. "I''ve got to admit, when I said that I would come along, I didn''t expect that we''d be doing anything this crazy." He said in a low voice, shaking his head slightly.


    Kason just nodded. Although he had tried to keep an open mind during their discussions, he had still been surprised when they had found out the purpose of their expedition. They had concluded in their discussions that they would probably be collecting some kind of poisonous plants or something, he hadn''t really been expecting an encounter with a drake.


    Philera then walked over to their group who were still standing near the stump. "We''re leaving now. I will take the lead, Ledia will walk in the middle and Perceval will take up the rear. We''re not going to run, but we''ll try to move faster than we did on the way here, so make sure you''re careful with your feet." She turned away for a moment but then, as if she had just remembered something, she said, "And this time, be doubly sure to be as quiet as possible."


    The group nodded seriously and followed Philera across the clearing towards the exit which would lead them back towards the college. They had barely made it halfway there though when Philera suddenly slowed her steps and looked back at the path leading to the earth drake''s clearing, her expression becoming slowly more severe.


    "Go, quickly." She said in an urgent voice to the group, "Follow Perceval for now." She turned to Perceval, "You lead the way, for now, I''ll bring up the rear. Ledia you go with Perceval. James..."


    Kason wondered what it was that had caused her sudden change in attitude, but then he heard strange sounds coming from the direction of the path to drake''s clearing. It sounded like there was a heard of dogs running towards them through the trees, or that''s what the yelps made it sound like. Except it couldn''t possibly be dogs, because these yelps were oddly distorted, with a deep gravely tone to them that Kason had never heard before.


    A small part of him wanted to stay and see what strange animal it was that made these strange cries, but the rest of his brain was already clamouring for his legs to start moving as soon as they could. He began to move at a jog with the rest of the group towards the trees, hoping that once in there, they would be able to throw off their pursuers, whatever they were.


    They reached the trees just as another roar rang out from where the drake was. This was answered by a chorus of long howl like sounds from their pursuers and, disturbingly, one lone howl from somewhere in the direction that they were heading.


    Regardless, they plunged into the misty darkness of the trees, the low light making it all the more difficult to move quickly even though there was plenty of space. They moved at a steady pace for around five minutes, some of them stumbling over tree roots, but none of them had fallen. After that time, Perceval and Ledia who were at the front suddenly stopped.


    The rest of the group stopped as well, with some crashing into the person in front because of the suddenness of the stop. Philera, who was at the back, pointed her wand at Perceval in front with an expression of impatience on her face, Perceval turned and pointed his own wand at her briefly before turning back to look forward.


    Whatever Philera had understood from that movement, did not make her any happier. She whacked her wand on her sleeve out of frustration and then went back to keeping an eye out for threats. Kason wondered nervously what it was that had caused them to stop, but then, when the mist shifted a little, he felt a chill run down his spine as he caught sight of what it was.


    On the path in front of them was an animal that looked like a small version of the earth drake, except with legs that were longer in relation to its body. It was standing stock still in the path, head slowly moving this way and that as if it were searching for something. Kason felt a thrill of fear run through him as he realised that its target was probably them.


    He stood frozen in place, hoping that by doing so they would somehow be able to avoid detection by the miniature earth drake. Time seemed to pass by at a snail''s pace and the drake in front of them stubbornly remained stood in the same place, blocking their exit route. A while later, the small drake in front of them slowly moved its head in their direction, whether by chance or intention Kason did not know, but at that moment, Kayla who, Kason noticed, was visibly trembling, took a small step backwards.


    There was a small crunch as some dead leaves under her feet were broken by the impact of her boots. The sound it created was very quiet, Kason would not have noticed it had he not seen her do it, but in that instant, the little drake''s head snapped in their direction and it let out its signature long howl.

 A Tense Escape

    A Tense Escape


    Kason felt as though there was pit in his stomach. The howl signalled that even tougher times were upon the group and although Kason did not think that it was impossible for them to escape, it would certainly be much harder to do so now. Even as the smaller drake was still howling, it began to lope towards them, seeming wolf-like on its oddly long legs.


    Philera, who had begun to tense up as soon as the beast came into sight, immediately sprang into action. She pushed her way past the children who were still frozen in place and stood next to Perceval who was looking anxiously at the rapidly approaching animal, his wand raised.


    She shouted something to Ledia who was a few paces behind her and looked like she wanted to say something to Perceval, but then the drakeling, as Kason assumed it must be called, pounced at her.


    Its large frame shot towards her at a surprising speed considering its size, propelled forwards over the ground by its powerful legs, its maw open wide to show two rows of pointed teeth. Kason, still rooted in fear, saw its strong jaws clamping down upon where Philera''s left arm had been but a few seconds before. However, instead of Philera''s arm, the pointed teeth sunk, with a muffled thump, into the mottled green body of a thick vine that had sprouted out of the earth a few short moments before.


    The vine then curled around the drakeling''s head and lifted it high into the air before hurling it against one of the nearby trees. Kason gave a small cheer as he saw the light brown body fall heavily down to the tree''s base and lie there motionless, however, his voice faltered as he saw it stir and rise, seemingly unhurt, a few moments later.


    Perceval who, by the looks of it, had conjured the vine, tutted impatiently as he saw the beast rise. He glared at it as if it had personally affronted him and, with a flick of his wand, sent the vine after it, snaking across the leaf-strewn earth. The drakeling however, seemed to have become wary of the approaching vine and loped off into the shadow of the trees in an attempt to throw it off.


    This tactic succeeded as the vine, which travelled at a relatively slow pace, could not keep up with the drakeling''s long stride and Perceval was forced to begrudgingly abandon his attempt. With another flick of his wand, the vine disintegrated into fine particles of pale blue which vanished almost as soon as they appeared.


    Now that the action of a few moments before had ceased, silence covered the group again. All were straining their eyes and ears, trying to find a trace of the drakeling that had seemingly run away into the mist.


    After a few moments of tense silence, during which Kason watched the swirling mist with fanatic intensity and flinched at every little noise, Philera spoke quietly to the group, "We''ll continue back, Hugo will be fine by himself, given how he is..."


    Kason felt relieved that they were moving again, but then realised that it was only now that Philera pointed it out, that he noticed that Hugo was missing. He assumed that he must have gotten separated from them at some point during the rushed escape.


    They moved slowly and in silence, with Philera now at the front with Perceval, and James and Ledia bringing up the rear. All seemed to be going well, they had not encountered any other creatures since their encounter with the drakeling, but Kason could tell, by the tense looks on the older students'' faces, that they did not think that they were out of danger yet.


    As they walked, James began to give a whispered lecture to the junior division students. He spoke in a voice so quiet that Kason could hardly hear him, giving them advice on what to do should they be unfortunate enough to get separated from the senior division students.


    "If you ever get separated from us," He began, "Don''t wander around, find a safe place and stay put. Most beasts won''t attack you unless you get too close to them, but if you are attacked, run away as fast as you can. If whatever is chasing you is a particularly territorial animal, it will stop chasing you if you get far enough away from its territory, but if they are hunting you for other reasons, then the best idea is just to keep running until you lose it."


    He paused for a minute and then continued, "Another way to escape from most land-based animals is to climb some way up one of the trees. Most beasts won''t be able to climb any further than they can jump up the tree so unless you''re particularly unlucky, this should keep you safe. If you do decide to climb a tree, do not ever go up to the canopy! There are many dangerous flying creatures up there and if you become their target then you''ll be in deep trouble."


    He paused again, giving them time to remember what he had said, "But remember, if you''re not being chased by anything, just stay where you are. If you do wander off, there''s a high chance that you will encounter something that will attack you. As for those young drakes, if you..."


    He suddenly stopped and looked over his shoulder apprehensively. They were passing through an area of particularly thick mist, through which the shadowy silhouettes of the trees seemed to appear and disappear like wraiths. James turned back around, his face looking stern and from inside his black college robes, withdrew a jet black object about the size of a wand but much thicker. He then held it out in front of him and watched silently as it grew rapidly to the point where it was now a staff which was roughly three quarters the size of James himself.


    Kason stared in surprise at the staff which had so suddenly appeared in James'' hands. This was his first time seeing someone use a staff apart from supervisor Rayleth, and he had not seen him use it for very long. Despite their current situation, Kason couldn''t help feeling impressed with the way the staff could turn from something the size of a wand into a staff that was taller than he was.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Just as he thought this he frowned, surely it wasn''t right for the staff to be taller than him, right? He comforted himself with the knowledge that he was still growing just as James pointed the top of the staff in Philera''s direction. Philera, who froze momentarily in helping Kayla over a large tree root, shot a glance in James'' direction and shook her head in denial to whatever it was James had asked.


    James grimaced when he saw this, then whispered something to Ledia and turned on the spot, planting the butt of his staff firmly in the ground in front of him. Kason wondered what it was he was doing, but before he could find out, Ledia was urging him onwards with the rest of the group.


    They left James where he was and continued on through the trees. A few minutes after they had left James behind, they heard a dull rumble coming from behind them as well as the pitiful yowls of animals in pain. Kason looked back over his shoulder into the mist, hoping that James would be alright facing whatever creature, or indeed creatures, that he had encountered.


    Soon they reached the part of The Forest where the larger trees began to give way smaller, but closer growing ones. The mist also began to disperse, much to Kason''s relief; his white college robes which he had been wearing had been slowly becoming more and more uncomfortable as they absorbed the moisture from the air.


    It seemed that the others were also feeling better now that they could see some sunlight shining down through the holes in the canopy, although the luminescent foliage of the mist-filled forest behind them had not been particularly unpleasant, it had begun to seem rather eerie on the way back.


    They carried on moving, although not at as fast a pace. Philera reasoned that the drakelings would have a harder time moving through the denser growing trees of this part of The Forest and so they would be able to hear them coming and prepare themselves accordingly. Kason appreciated this decision because although he could now see better, the thick underbrush was now back and clinging to his feet almost permanently, making him trip several times within the first minute.


    The group walked cautiously along, although not with the same tension as before. As they walked, Kason wondered why James, or Hugo for that matter, had not caught up with them yet. It must have been around five minutes since they had left James behind, and apart from that initial rumbling, Kason had not heard any other signs of combat behind them.


    ''Perhaps he decided to stay back and wait for Hugo? Or perhaps he''s waiting for us to get outside of The Forest first?'' Kason thought as he walked. He mused about several other reasons that James might have stayed behind, but then, unwittingly, a chilling conclusion seeped its way into his thoughts. ''Perhaps something happened to him during the first encounter? Perhaps he''s...''


    Before he could finish that ominous thought, a loud scream sounded behind him causing him to whirl around in a panic. He saw, with a feeling of horror rising in his chest, Ledia, who had been walking behind him, being pulled by the back of her robe backwards across the undergrowth. Behind her was the figure of one of the drakelings, its head bowed behind Ledia, the back of her black college robe clamped tightly in its powerful jaws.


    Kason stumbled backwards away from the drakeling, his foot caught on a tree root, and he fell with a thump onto the earth, still looking with dread at the figure of the drakeling. Somewhere in his mind, something was shouting at him, yelling at him to get up and go to Ledia''s aid, but his limbs were paralyzed with fear. He wasn''t sure whether it was the shadows beneath the trees or just a trick of his mind, but all of a sudden the drakeling seemed so much bigger than it had the last time he had seen it.


    All this happened mere moments after he had heard the scream. He was still sitting stupidly on the underbrush a few moments later when Philera and Perceval rushed past him to confront the beast, Lexia and Alford following behind them. Then Harper appeared beside him and helped him to his feet, all the while looking anxiously at what was happening in front of them.


    Philera and Perceval had both drawn their wands and had already managed to free Ledia from the drakeling''s grasp. Ledia''s college robe was torn at the back where the drakeling had bitten her, and there was a bloody gash showing through the hole. She was now standing behind Perceval, leaning on Alford for support and half crying, half moaning in pain.


    The drakeling, on the other hand, had now been thoroughly strung up by the combined efforts of Philera and Perceval. Where it had previously stood was now a green bulbous object that looked a bit like a cocoon, only the random shakes and sudden protrusions let on that the drakeling was actually inside. Philera turned around looking stern, she quickly marched over to Ledia and waved her wand over the wound on her back. Slowly, a light blue coloured scab began to grow over the scarlet gash on her back until it was completely covered.


    Ledia sent a weak, tear-stained smile towards Philera as thanks, before gingerly removing herself from Alford''s care and stretching her back, seeming a bit like a cat, and grimacing all the way. Kason looked at her pain filled expression and felt a wave of guilt wash over him, had he not been so scared, he might have been able to do something to help her.


    Philera, seeing that Ledia was okay, then turned to the junior division students. "We need to go, now! and quickly!" She said sharply, her previous calm and collected manner had disappeared to be replaced with severe agitation.


    Kason found himself nodding, slightly dazed, still sending guilty glances towards Ledia. Philera began to make her way towards the front of the group, escorting Ledia with her as she went. They had hardly gotten half-way, however, when a roar sounded through the trees.


    This roar sounded a bit like the howls that they had heard coming from the drakelings before, except this one sounded much closer to the roar given by the Earth Drake back in the clearing. Before anyone of them could react to this sudden development, there was a great rustling in the trees to Kason''s left, and out of the trees emerged three other drakelings, their mouths open and teeth bared in nasty snarls.


    Kason let out a great gasp of surprise and leapt backwards. The nearest of the three drakelings had been only several meters from him. This sound alerted that same drakeling to his presence and it turned its black, opaline eyes upon him.


    Kason, who had almost fallen over again, clenched his teeth and stood his ground. Determined to this time, not look as much of a fool as he had before. There was a tense moment where the group of students and the beasts stared at each other, neither of them making any movements.


    Then the three beasts leapt into their midst and everything devolved into pandemonium.

 The Apparition

    The Apparition


    The drakeling that had been looking at Kason let out a yowling howl and lept at Kason, its teeth bared. Kason stumbled sideways, his head just missing being clobbered by one of the beast''s clawed feet. As the beast flew on past him, carried on by its own momentum, Kason noticed that its hide, which looked scaley from a distance, was instead covered in very fine hairs making it seem more of a wolf than ever.


    He took his eyes off the drakeling for a moment to see what everyone else was doing, but the only person he could see was James, who had suddenly appeared and was tackling the other two beasts. A menacing growl brought Kason''s attention back to the drakeling, it had landed and turned to face Kason again. Kason mentally scolded himself for being distracted and began to edge slowly away from the creature, aiming to put a tree or indeed anything between them.


    He inched backwards, going slower than even a slug might have, his eyes never leaving the drakeling. It, in turn, began to slink towards him so that the distance between the two got neither smaller nor greater, and Kason, with a building sense of dread, got an opportunity to examine it properly for the first time.


    As he had noticed before, its legs were oddly out of proportion of its body, as if they never grew any longer throughout its life and remained at that size until it died. Kason supposed that that would explain why the adult earth drake from earlier had had legs that seemed so stumpy. Apart from its legs, Kason observed that its body was more or less just a downsized version of its mother. It also had a rather stubby little tail, that was nothing like the enormous snaking appendage that the adult earth drake had had.


    Despite being young, the drakelings were still massive. As Kason stared relentlessly at the drakeling, he hardly had to incline his head to meet the black pit-like eyes that were embedded in its face. Kason''s rambling thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt by the sudden sensation of something hard colliding with his back. It made him jump, given the mental strain his mind was under, and that sudden movement seemed to be the very prompt that the drakeling was looking for.


    It suddenly sprang at Kason and let out another loud roaring howl. Kason, who still hadn''t recovered from the scare of colliding with the tree trunk behind him, barely managed to avoid the drakeling again by using the tree trunk behind him to push himself out of its way. He heard a low whistling of wind followed by a crunch behind him as the drakeling collided heavily with the trunk he had just been standing in front of.


    Without looking around to see how the drakeling was faring after the collision, Kason dashed away between the trees. He had no idea where he was going, he hoped that he was going in the direction of The Forest''s edge but he wasn''t sure, all that was going through his head was the advice that James had given him earlier. ''Climb up a tree'' he had said, and that''s what Kason planned to do, but only after he had put plenty of distance between himself and the drakeling.


    A five minutes later, he arrived in a small clearing. It was quite a strange space, in that the trees on one side were different from the others. Kason wasn''t sure how it had happened, but on the side he had entered from, the trees were shorter and close growing, exactly as they were in the part of The Forest that they first entered, but on the other side, the trees suddenly became the behemoths that they had only begun to encounter deeper in The Forest near where the earth drake''s lair had been.


    The massive trees on the other side of the clearing had correspondingly sized canopies that cast large shadows on the green carpeted ground. These covered roughly two-thirds of the clearing and, for some reason, seemed oddly dark in the light of the gradually setting sun. Despite its strangeness, it was peaceful in the clearing; there was the odd noise of birds calling to each other and the slight sigh of wind playing in the trees, but apart from that, the clearing was more or less silent.


    Kason couldn''t help but let a slight smile blossom on his face as he took in the placid atmosphere, his breath was coming in heavy gasps due to the difficult journey through the tangled undergrowth, but his heart was suddenly at peace. Then, the moment was broken and he turned to look anxiously back the way he had come, listening intently for any noise that might signify the drakeling was still in pursuit. After a few minutes of listening to nothing but the wind, he concluded that the drakeling was either still so far behind that he couldn''t hear it or had lost him completely.


    He smiled again, this time a broad grin. In his current state, he was willing to accept either outcome, anything that meant the drakeling was not running after him was a good thing in his eyes. He walked slowly towards the edge of the shadows and stopped, turning his head to stare up at the sky.


    Given that it was still early spring, the sun set early in the evenings so even though it couldn''t be later than four o''clock in the afternoon, the sun was already nearing the horizon. Kason looked towards the sun and sighed, he didn''t know how much longer it would take them to get out of The Forest, but he didn''t fancy staying in there for the night.


    As this thought passed through his head, he began to feel the beginnings of panic rising within him. He frowned slightly and force them back down, panicking would do him no good now. He was quite suddenly brought out of his reverie by the disturbingly loud noise of breaking wood not too far away.


    He looked back over his shoulders apprehensively and then turned and looked around the clearing for a tree that looked suitably easy to climb. He spotted one that had a particularly gnarly bark with several small burrs and a branch that protruded quite low down the body of the tree. He hurried over to it, looking over his shoulder repeatedly as he went, praying that he wouldn''t suddenly catch sight of the drakeling rushing towards him from behind.


    He reached the tree and paused for a moment before beginning to climb. Kason had much experience climbing trees from when he lived in Selmore village. Being a young boy with an adventurous nature as many young boys had, he had often snuck away from home to roam around the outskirts of the Blackwood forest.


    And that adventuring naturally included climbing the tallest trees he could find.


    Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, he had once fallen while climbing a rather tall tree and had hurt his legs quite badly. The result of this was that his parents had insisted that he didn''t go around climbing anymore and he also started to have a slight fear of climbing up to high places, both of which resulted in him not climbing trees very much from there on after. Of course, that did not mean that he had forgotten how to climb, to the contrary, he managed to climb up to the branch with hardly any problems.


    Once he reached it, he sat down, legs swinging beneath him, and peered across the clearing in the direction that he had heard the sound of breaking wood coming from. Sure enough, a couple of moments later, Kason spotted a shadow moving among the trees and a few moments later, a bedraggled looking drakeling made its way into the clearing. It had obviously forced its way through the closely growing trees because there were wood splinters caught around its mouth and leaves plastered onto various parts of its body.


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    The drakeling walked a few meters into the clearing and stopped. It stood still for a few moments, head swaying back and forth as if it were searching for something. Kason sat there in the tree, not daring to move and trying to keep his breathing as quiet as he could, he watched as the drakeling began to move again, prowling slowly around aimlessly, as if it didn''t know exactly where it was going.


    The drakeling wandered around the clearing a few times, coming very close to the spot where the tree in which Kason was perched was located. On its third pass of the tree, the drakeling seemed to notice something and began to circle around the bottom of the tree trunk, still with its head swaying back and forth ever so slightly.


    Kason looked down on it, the feeling of panic that he had forced back down earlier coming back up at full force. He began to hold his breath, wondering whether he had been breathing too loud. Then all of a sudden, the beast lifted its head and looked up into the tree slightly to the left of where Kason was sat on the branch.


    Kason''s heart immediately jumped into his throat and tears began to form at the corners of his eyes. The branch he was sitting on was only about four or five meters up from the ground, but he didn''t know whether this would be enough to stop the drakeling. As the drakeling continued to stare up the tree trunk, Kason lamented having worn his uniform for the trip; it was a pure white mixed in with several patches of blue, both of which weren''t exactly good camouflage in the dark shadow of the tree.


    He continued to sit there on the branch, waiting for the drakeling to begin roaring again and to leap up the tree to get at him. But as the seconds stretched by and became minutes, Kason did not hear the expected sounds of the drakeling scrabbling at the tree trunk. Just the rustle of the leaves in the wind.


    He shivered in a sudden chilly gust which blew through the tree and caused the leaves to rustle louder. Kason nervously sat, still as a stone, hardly daring to breathe and staring straight ahead. He didn''t dare to look down and check whether or not the drakeling was still there, so he just sat there staring straight ahead blankly and mentally shouting at the drakeling to go away.


    As he was just working up the courage to look down and check whether the drakeling was there or not, he noticed something move out of the corner of his eyes. He glanced upwards towards where the movement had come from and saw a large owl standing on a branch above him, its large dark eyes looking at him intently.


    Kason stared back at the owl, feeling a bit wary of this animal that had so suddenly appeared. The owl, on the other hand, seemed to be uninterested in Kason; it moved its beak and began to preen its light feathers. Kason watched it with interest, he hadn''t seen an owl this close up before and so he observed it with great interest. Its feathers were a light brown colour that was interspersed with flecks of bronze and chestnut brown, and its beak was a golden colour that became a blur as it moved with astounding agility among its feathers.


    After it finished tidying itself up, its head turned back around and it started staring at Kason again. Kason continued to gaze back at it, looking straight back into its eyes, which he discovered to be a dark shade of navy blue. As he continued to gaze unceasingly into the owl''s eyes, Kason was startled to find that he could not pull his gaze away.


    From the outside, he looked calm and emotionless, but on the inside, Kason was beginning to panic once again. There was definitely something strange about this owl, he realised with regret, why had he been so stupid as to think that it would be a normal animal despite the many dangerous creatures that they had encountered on their journey through The Forest so far.


    The gaze of the owl seemed to bore deep into his own eyes like they were looking for something deep inside his head. After a short while, Kason began to feel a chill congregate at the top of his spine; it felt like lots of small bits of ice were being slid across his back to gather at the base of his neck. Kason did not like the feeling at all, but no matter how much he tried to fight the owl''s mysterious gaze, he could not remove his gaze from those oceans of blue.


    The chill continued to accumulate until it became almost completely unbearable, and then it began to move down his spine. It moved so slowly that Kason didn''t even realise that it had begun to move, but as it did, Kason felt as though all warmth was slowly draining from each part of his body that it passed.


    After about five minutes, the little clump of cold had passed down to the middle of his back. Kason could barely feel the top half of his arms and his the tip of his nose which he could just see at the edge of his vision was beginning to turn a light shade of blue. On the outside, despite looking much paler than usual, he seemed to be perfectly normal still, but on the inside, he was crying with all he was worth. He wasn''t sure what would happen when the cold lump moved all the way to the bottom of his spine, but he was sure that when it did, something horrible would happen.


    He had tried many times to imagine what was happening to him, but his knowledge was not enough to even begin to fathom what it was that was currently happening to him. The only theory that kept coming back to him was that he would eventually turn into a gigantic ice statue.


    The lump of cold had now made it to the area just behind where his stomach sat and Kason had long since stopped despairing. Instead was just waited. As he sat, feeling the icy sensation move closer and closer to his pelvis he thought about his mother waiting back at home and wondered how sad she would be if he ended up dead; he did not want her to be sad but at this moment in time, there was hardly anything he could do.


    As he sat there, the lump of cold slowly travelling further and further, he thought that out of somewhere he could hear a voice calling his name. The voice sounded oddly familiar, but he found that he couldn''t remember who it belonged to. He continued to listen to the voice as it gradually got louder and louder until it sounded like it was more or less next to him. He still could not figure out who the voice belonged to, and because his gaze was stuck on the owl in front of him, he could not look around to check who it was. For some reason, it really annoyed him that he couldn''t remember and, for a moment, he forgot completely about the cold that was slowly creeping its way down his spine.


    As soon as the presence of the icy sensation disappeared from his thoughts, he began to feel warm again! His limbs suddenly felt as they always had and he found that his gaze, which had previously been fixed on the owl, was now free to wander wherever it liked!


    He was just rejoicing in his newly found freedom when he suddenly experienced a sharp pain in his cheek. The abrupt change made him jerk backwards wildly and, with a horrible feeling in his stomach, he dropped out of the tree to land with a painful thud on the ground.

 Outing Successful?

    Outing Successful?


    Kason closed his eyes as he fell in anticipation of the painful impact with the ground that was surely waiting for him. To his surprise, however, all he felt as a slight bump around the middle of his back before he was pushed back up by something soft and springy beneath him. He immediately turned his head to see what it was that had saved him and saw that a thick layer of moss had sprouted up from the earth to form a sort of bed upon which he was lying.


    He puzzled for a moment over this strange phenomena, but then he heard a slight rustling and his name being called again. He looked up to find the worried face of Lexia looking down at him.


    "Are you alright?" She asked in a gentle voice.


    Kason looked back at her speechless for a moment, then he quickly replied that he was fine and pushed himself into a sitting position. Lexia moved backwards and to allow him room to sit and as she did, Kason noticed that she was limping slightly.


    "Did something happen to you? Are you alright?" He asked with concern.


    Lexia smiled wryly and explained how, after the drakelings had ambushed the group, she had run off back in the direction that they had come from, but had unluckily tripped over a protruding tree root and almost sprained her ankle. Kason looked up at her with sympathy, she looked as though she had been through a lot.


    Her tawny hair had broken free from the ponytail it had been tied in and was cascading down past her shoulders. The special outfit that she had worn for the outing seemed to be in one piece, however, Kason could seen streaks of mud and crushed greenery all across it; discolouring the white stripes to a colour more like the brown that made up the rest of it.


    "Did you manage to get away from the drakelings?" He asked and then realised that it was a stupid question, given that she was standing in front of him at this moment.


    Lexia smiled, "Yeah, one of them came chasing after me, but Hugo came along just in time and rescued me, he probably cushioned your landing just now as well. But I wonder where he''s gone now?"She looked around briefly, trying to figure out where he had gone. After a moment she stopped looking and turned back to Kason, who was in the midst of pushing himself to his feet.


    "Oh, yeah! You lost something when you fell" She said, pulling something out of one of her many pockets. It was the necklace with the silver bird-winged locket that Kason had been wearing.


    Kason looked at it in surprise, his hand subconsciously going to his neck to feel for where the strap should have been. He took the necklace back from Lexia saying a heartfelt thanks and giving the locket a once-over to see if it had been damaged in any way. As he looked over it, he puzzled over how the necklace could have come off while he was falling; he had been keeping it under his college robes after all so it shouldn''t have fallen out, even when he was falling.


    As he was busy examining the locket, Lexia looked at him with a bashful expression on her face, "I''m sorry that I made you fall." She said in a quiet voice.


    Kason, who was only been half listening, accepted her apology and replied with a half-hearted word of forgiveness. After he spent a while confirming that the locket wasn''t damaged in any way, he looked back up at Lexia. She was standing a little way off, now examining one of the flowers that were growing in the shade of the tree that Kason had fallen out of.


    Kason gazed at her absentmindedly, thinking about what she had said while he was examining the locket. After a moment he frowned slightly, she had apologised for making him fall, but he hadn''t even realised that she was the reason he had fallen or how she had even found him in the first place.


    He walked over to her. "Ledia," He called out in a soft voice, "umm, how exactly did I end up falling out of the tree?"


    Lexia looked over her shoulder and shot him a quizzical glance. "I was, umm, a bit distracted while I was up there." He explained with a nervous laugh.


    Lexia shot him a glance that clearly expressed her disbelief in this explanation, then stood up and turned around to face him. "Well, after being rescued by Hugo, he told me to come with him while he went looking for anyone else who had gotten lost in the Forest." She began, "So I went along with him and he came to this clearing where he spied you sitting up in that tree. He must have also seen something else because he sent me over to get you while he went and did something else."


    She went into a thoughtful silence for a moment but then continued, "Anyway, I came over to the tree and called up to you from beneath it, but you weren''t answering, so I decided to climb up and see what you were doing. When I got up here, I saw you were just sitting there on the branch staring off into space."


    Lexia stopped her explanation to give Kason a concerned look, "You looked quite creepy as well, just sitting there, pulling at that silver thing on your necklace; it looked like you were trying to pull it off! Anyway, you were being weird so I called out to you a bit more, but you weren''t answering still so I decided to give you a tap to see if you would react. I only meant to give you light slap on the cheek but you moved and..." She trailed off and looked down at her feet.


    Kason looked at her, a smile slowly creeping over his face. It had been Lexia''s voice that had woken him from that horrible frigid nightmare.


    "Thank you." He said, in a voice full of heartfelt gratitude.


    Lexia quickly looked up at him with a confused expression on her face. "What for?" She asked in a bewildered voice.


    "For helping me wake up from that dreadful owl''s trance." Kason explained.


    To his surprise, Lexia looked even more confused. "What owl?" She asked.


    Now it was Kason''s turn to feel bewildered. "There was an owl up in the tree perched on one of the branches. It was had brown feathers and..." He trailed off seeing Lexia''s disbelieving gaze.


    "There wasn''t an owl in the tree when I went up." Lexia stated slowly, looking at Kason with a worried gaze again.


    "Oh, but I... umm, nevermind..." Kason replied feebly, looking away from her.


    He felt his face begin to turn scarlet from embarrassment. He couldn''t have imagined that owl could he? No, it wasn''t possible! Was it? He fell silent as thoughts of doubt whirled around his mind, making him wonder whether the owl had actually ever been there.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    They were still standing in silence and a few minutes later when Hugo returned to the clearing. He appeared silently from the shadows beneath the huge trees that grew up from one side of the clearing, casting several glances over his shoulder as he walked over to them.


    At first glance, he seemed to be exactly the same as he had when Kason had last seen him, but as he got closer, Kason realised that he too had obviously had a rough time in the Forest. His black college robes were torn in places and his tired eyes looked to be sunken further back into a face that was now slightly sallow looking.


    He approached where Kason and Lexia were standing and cast Kason a piercing gaze. "Did you experience anything strange whilst you were up in that tree?" He asked in a rather sharp tone of voice.


    Kason, who was startled by his unexpected tone, answered him in a slightly shaky voice, "Yeah, I- I did..."He began and then went on to describe his encounter with the owl, adding onto the end what Lexia had told him only a few minutes before. Once he had finished, Hugo examined him with pursed lips for a few moments; he seemed to be contemplating something.


    Kason squirmed uncomfortably under his gaze, thinking that Hugo didn''t seem at all like he had on the journey into the Forest. Eventually, Hugo let out a short sigh and then turned to Lexia, "You say you couldn''t see this owl when you climbed up the tree?" Lexia nodded and Hugo went once again into contemplation.


    He looked up again after a moment, "Can I see that locket?" he asked Kason. Kason nodded and hastily pulled at the leather strap around his neck to pull the silver locket out from under his college robes. It emerged, glittering in the evening light, a few moments later, and Kason wordlessly handed it over to Hugo.


    Hugo took it and turned it over in his hand. "Is there anything inside?" He asked after a moment.


    "Y- Yes" Kason replied, and explained about the black stone that he had found while walking around the college on the day after he had first arrived. Hugo nodded silently and went back to examining the locket. He poked at the silver-winged doors with one of his fingers and they swung slowly open for him, just as they had done for Castor in The Stars at Midnight.


    Hugo gazed down at the little pitch black stone that sat inside and fell into silent contemplation again. He stood there staring at it for so long, that Kason and Lexia began to glance at each other; silently trying to persuade the other to get his attention.


    After a few more minutes of this silent conversation, where neither managed to convince the other, their exchanges were halted by Hugo who came back out of his trance-like state and absentmindedly handed the now-closed locket back to Kason, who took it gingerly from his hand. He then took a long look around the clearing before looking at the two children again.


    "We had better get going," he said, "I''m sure neither of you wants to hang around here much longer." He smiled slightly at the two of them and Kason let out a small sigh of relief, it seemed that the normal Hugo was back.


    Hugo began to lead them through the Forest back towards the outer edge where, he told them, the rest of the group were gathering. "Everyone else is safe," he said as they walked, "James managed to beat down the other two drakelings. Only the ones that chased you two managed to get away."


    "He didn''t kill them, did he?" Lexia asked


    "Oh no!" Hugo said, shaking his head, "No, he just subdued them so that they wouldn''t bother the rest of them anymore. They should wake up in a clearing somewhere soon feeling as though they had been lying under a tonne of boulders." He smiled slightly as he said this in a way that Kason could understand. He too, wanted the drakelings to suffer at least a bit for all the terror they had caused them.


    They reached the rest of the group without any other mishaps occurring. There was a pleasant outcry upon their arrival, Harper, who spotted them first, stood up and ran over to check if they were both okay, closely followed by Kayla and Alford. Kayla and Alford both focused more of their energies on Lexia. Which was understandable, Kason thought, they had known her much longer than him anyway.


    Harper stood next to Kason and watched as Alford fussed over the state of Lexia''s outfit and spoke at great lengths about how she shouldn''t have run off all by herself, to which Lexia just nodded and rolled her eyes. He told Kason about how he, Alford and Kayla had managed to escape with Ledia and Philera while James dealt with the drakelings and asked how things had gone with Kason.


    Kason turned away from the scene occurring around Lexia and explained to Harper all that had happened to him in the clearing. Harper frowned as he described what the owl had done to him and looked at him with sympathy in his eyes.


    "Are you sure you''re alright?" He asked in a worried voice.


    Kason nodded and smiled at him, thankful for his concern. Harper smiled back and began to speak again, telling him about the inane things that he had heard from other students about the Forest. Kason, although not entirely in the mood for it, went along with it all the same. He appreciated that Harper was trying to take his mind off what had happened to him in the Forest and so let himself get caught up in the flow of conversation until he had almost forgotten.


    Just as Harper began to tell Kason about a flying squid-like creature that someone had sworn that they saw drifting between the trees a while back, Philera coughed to get their attention. The five children all stopped what they were doing and looked at her.


    "I''m glad that you''re all safe." She began, addressing all of them "Although things went a bit awry during the process, I think we can all agree that the trip could be called a sort of success." Kason, who immediately began to question Philera''s sanity, cast a glance around at the other Botanists to see what they thought of this statement and was surprised to see that many of them were nodding along with Philera.


    "After all," She continued, "We managed to get the egg shards, courtesy of Hugo." Hugo bowed slightly from where he was sitting next to Ledia and the other Botanists gave him a light smattering of applause. "So now that our objective has been accomplished, it''s time for us to make our way back to the college..."

 The Introduction Fair

    The Introduction Fair


    The group managed to get out of the Forest without any further interruptions. When they arrived back at the path leading to the main building, Philera turned and spoke to the children.


    "We''ve now officially finished our excursion into the Forest. I expect that you will all be rather tired and hungry so you should hurry back to your dorms." Her face then took on an expression of slight embarrassment, "I am, umm, sorry that things ended up being so dangerous. Make sure you go and see Kamadus if you''re still hurt in any way, I''m taking Ledia to see him now so you''re welcome to tag along if you want to."


    She looked around at them for a moment longer and then said, "I don''t expect I''ll see any of you around the college so the next time I''ll see you will be two weeks, which is when I think, the introduction fair is."


    She gave them a bright smile, waved and then walked away, supporting Ledia with one of her arms, down the path that led to the main building. The rest of the Botanists said their own goodbyes to the group of children and went their separate ways as well, Perceval following in his sister''s footsteps towards the main building while Hugo and James wandered off in the direction of the senior dorms.


    Kason and Harper split off from the others, who were going to see Kamadus at Alford¡¯s insistence, and made their way to the junior dorms. Once inside his own room again, Kason promptly walked over to the bed and flopped down, face first, on top of the quilt. He didn''t know, or particularly care, about how dirty his clothes were; at that moment, all he wanted was to take the weight off his aching feet. He lay there for a while breathing deeply, his face buried in the soft fabric, going over the events that had happened that afternoon in his mind.


    It was perhaps a blessing that he managed to get to sleep so quickly that night. Or then again, as he thought later, perhaps it wasn''t. His dreams were plagued by larger than life forms of the drakelings which prowled around the outside of his dream self''s vision, howling unearthly howls that were much distorted from as they had been in reality.


    In one dream he ran through a maze of trees, fleeing from the spectral four-legged forms that haunted him. In another, he found himself trying to run down the corridor to his room, only to find that he seemed to have forgotten how to run. He flailed and shouted in distress but the only thing that answered him was the long, lonely call of an owl that floated to him from where he knew not, accompanied by a chilling cold that froze him down to the bone.


    Needless to say, Kason awoke many times that night, each time covered in cold sweat with his heart beating hard in his chest. When morning finally came, he felt as tired as he had when he lay down to sleep and although he hadn''t thought that he would get a good sleep, he still felt terrible.


    The day that followed passed in a haze of tiredness. He could hardly pay attention to what Ms Luxford was telling them in class and once lessons were over, he went straight back to his room to take a nap. Thankfully, his nap was uninterrupted by any nightmares and so when he awoke again two hours later, he felt a bit more refreshed.


    The next day he felt slightly more awake. He had slept better, although not perfectly, and so could now begin to pay attention in class without dozing off every couple of minutes. He noticed as he took his seat in the classroom, that Harper and the others who had gone with him into The Forest also had drained expressions on their faces and dark rings around their eyes. He supposed that they were also having problems sleeping satisfactorily.


    Harper seemed to be faring the worst out of them all. He entered the classroom with a listless sort of atmosphere about him and slumped over his desk as soon as he sat down, resting his head on his arms. A few minutes later, the sounds of deep breathing and light snores coming from him told Kason that he had fallen asleep. Kayla and Alford, on the other hand, looked to be faring quite well, they were both visibly tired but not to the extent that Kason or Harper were.


    Lexia, however, took the uncontested place of least affected by the excursion. She seemed to be almost back to her usual self; her looks and actions showing only small signs of tiredness. Kason observed her for a few moments while he waited in his seat before the first lesson of the day began. He thought back to when he and Harper had tried to dissuade her from coming along on the grounds that it would be dangerous and sighed at how badly they had misjudged her.


    Ms Luxford entered the classroom at exactly nine o''clock and walked up to her podium at the front of the classroom. Kason took the chance while she was still preoccupied with laying her things on the desk to poke Harper awake so that he didn''t get into trouble. Harper awoke and gave Kason a groggy scowl before putting his head back on his arms and closing his eyes again.


    "Wake up Harper!" shouted a voice from the front of the classroom and Harper''s head immediately sprung up from his hands to look towards the front where Ms Luxford stood gazing at him with a stern look in her eyes.


    "I noticed that you fell asleep in my lessons yesterday as well!" she continued, "Your desk is a place for you to learn, not to sleep!"


    Harper blinked at her for a few moments before giving her a croaky apology. Ms Luxford pursed her lips and gave him one last glare before turning to look at the class as a whole.


    "I have an important notice to give you today," She said tersely, "so it would be best if you pay attention and try not to doze off." She cast a pointed glare Harper''s direction, who was in the process of laying his head back on his arms. Hearing her words, he looked at her guiltily and quickly changed to lean upon his hands instead.


    "A first-year senior division student had their college pendant stolen from them last week. It happened in Constantin at around mid-day and as of yet, we have not been able to locate the missing item. This may not seem like devastating news to you lot, but I''m telling you to remind you that just because you are near the college, we cannot completely guarantee your safety. If you ever go out to Constantin just make sure to be careful and don''t deliberately put yourselves in situations where something like this could easily happen."


    Someone''s hand went up towards the back of the classroom and Ms Luxford signalled for them to speak. "Do you know who took it?" Asked a young boy''s voice excitedly.


    "No," Ms Luxford replied, "but I''m sure that they''ll be found soon enough. Anyway, that''s all I have to tell you this morning so let''s get on with the lesson. Today we will be continuing our work on transverse waves and their ether applications, if you could all locate your notes..."


    The lesson went on like any other. Ms Luxford explaining the theory and setting them problems, with no more mention of the stolen pendant. Time seemed to flow particularly quickly to Kason, as it tends to do when you''re having fun or are in dread. Luckily it was the latter case for Kason; he enjoyed science the most out of the subjects they took, mainly because it incorporated the most magical theory.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Once lunch arrived, Kason went with Harper and the others to the dining hall to eat. He was feeling particularly hungry that day and so ordered one of the largest things on the menu, thinking that, given his hunger, he should be able to finish it all. Unfortunately for Kason, his stomach began to complain of over filling before he was even three-quarters of the way through the dish. He glanced around surreptitiously, trying to guess whether or not any of the others would be willing to help him with the remainder.


    To his dismay, however, the others were already beginning to talk about leaving. "Are you coming too?" Harper asked him as he stood up.


    "No, I should finish this." Kason said with a wry smile.


    "Are you sure?" Harper replied, "You don''t have to finish it you know."


    "No, I''m sure. I''m still feeling hungry." Kason lied. Obviously, he didn''t really want to finish eating it but he didn''t want to seem ungrateful to whoever was cooking and so felt a sort of duty to finish the meal.


    Harper shrugged and left with the others, saying before he did that they would be back at the classroom when Kason finished. Kason nodded and watched them depart before turning reluctantly back to his plate and picking up his knife and fork.


    He left the dining hall ten minutes later massaging his stomach as he walked uncomfortably into the nexus. He was just deciding whether to go back to his room and rest for a bit before heading to the classroom when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped slightly and turned around to see Lexia standing behind him.


    "Hello," he said in a rather shaky voice, "I thought that you would be in the classroom with the others."


    "I was going to, but I decided to stay. I''ve got something I need to talk to you about." she replied firmly.


    "Okay?" Kason said confusedly and waited for Lexia to begin speaking.


    "Well, I think that we should go back!" She said enthusiastically.


    "What?" Kason replied, feeling even more bewildered, "Go back where?"


    "To the Forest."


    "The Forest!" Kason exclaimed. This was totally out of his expectations. "No! We can''t go back!"


    He had spoken rather louder than he had intended and immediately began to feel embarrassed and guilty, especially after seeing Lexia''s hurt expression.


    "I- I mean we, we shouldn''t go back really, should we? It was so dangerous in there, or..." He paused while he struggled to put together a better argument than ''I don''t want to''.


    "Well, shouldn''t we at least until we know enough magic to protect ourselves, right?"


    Lexia looked less affronted than earlier but still had a stubborn glint in her eyes. "It wouldn''t be too bad. We don''t have to go as deep in as we did last time, I just want to go back to that clearing where Hugo and I found you up that tree."


    Kason, who was thinking that it wasn''t how far that she wanted to go which was the problem, sighed in distress. "Why do you want to go back there?" He said, shuddering as he remembered what he had gone through in that place.


    "It''s about that owl!" Lexia said excitedly.


    "But I thought you said that you didn''t see it?" Kason mumbled.


    "I didn''t," Lexia continued, "but I trust you. And you say that you saw something, which means that something strange must have happened there! Doesn''t it make you want to investigate?"


    ''Not particularly'' Kason thought as he looked at her, trying to figure out what to say next. He gave a nervous laugh and looked around the nexus in desperate need of inspiration. He found none, however, and looked back at Lexia''s expectant face, grimacing to himself.


    "A bit." He began half-heartedly, "But I think it would be better to wait until after the introduction fair..." Lexia looked at him suspiciously. "I mean," He continued hurriedly, "it would be good to have a period to rest and concentrate on studies, right?"


    Lexia nodded slowly and seemed to go into thought. "Yeah, I suppose that''s a good idea." She said with obvious reluctance in her voice. Kason tried to keep a suitably blank face as he secretly rejoiced in his mind at having successfully avoided giving an actual response.


    "Okay then, we''ll go after the introduction fair then!" Lexia declared, suddenly becoming enthusiastic again, "We could ask the others if they want to go as well."


    Kason immediately tried to protest that he hadn''t actually said that he would go after the introduction fair but before he could get the words out, Lexia had already begun skipping over towards the exit, waving at him to come along as well. He sighed and began to walk over in the same direction, glad that he had, at least, managed to escape having to go in the near future.


    The rest of the day went by as usual and flowed seamlessly into next with the busy school routine providing more than enough distraction for Kason to forget about his discussion with Lexia. The following week also passed by with relative speed and the day of the introduction fair came around quickly before Kason really realised. And so, it was for that reason that Kason was still asleep at half-past eight when Harper suddenly barged into his room.


    "Kason, let''s go and look around the introduction fair!" he proclaimed loudly as he pushed the door open.


    A couple of minutes later, Kason was out of his room, running a hand through his bedraggled looking hair and yawning copiously. They walked out of the junior dorm building into the courtyard and then down the path beside the planetarium going towards the Training Ground, Kason¡¯s stomach grumbling at the lack of food it had received.


    As they neared it, Kason saw that there were a great variety of different tents and stalls set up on top of the smooth grey surface. They slowly approached them, passing by the metal post at the closest corner of the area and stepping onto the Training Grounds itself. This was the first time Kason had been on the Training Grounds and, to his surprise, he found that the grey surface which he had assumed to be rock, was actually slightly springy.


    His feet left faint indents on the surface as they walked over towards the closest stall, though they faded away after only a few seconds. They reached the stall after a couple of moments and found that it was empty. The person, or people, managing it had obviously not turned up yet.


    "Well, we are a bit early..." Harper said as he gazed at the empty stall.


    Kason nodded and looked down at his ring and, after twisting it around on his finger a bit, found the little flowing inscriptions that showed the time. The inscriptions showed that it was just past quarter to nine, meaning that they were indeed quite early. Kason looked at Harper and asked whether they should wait for it to open.


    "Nah." Harper replied nonchalantly, "We''ll just walk around. There should be some people here, we just need to find them."


    With that decided, they set off at a leisurely walk around through the various stalls and tents; Kason enjoying the feeling of the slightly springy surface underfoot.


    Unfortunately for them, most of the stalls in their area were just as uninhabited as the first one they had found. They wandered aimlessly for a couple of minutes when all of a sudden, a loud shout from behind a tent to their left made them both jump. After getting over their momentary fright, they made their way around the tent to investigate who had made the noise.


    On the other side, they found a group of five people sitting down in front of a half-completed tent having an argument. As they appeared from around the red fabric, one of the five people spotted them and got up to greet them.


    "Hi!" The young man called out jovially as he walked towards them.


    Kason and Harper returned the greeting and looked curiously at the tall young man walking towards them. He had light brown hair, whose colour reminded Kason of chocolate, which he wore cut short. His eyes were the same colour as his hair and he looked rather muscular in a close-fitting black top.


    "Hello," He said again as he reached them, "If you''re here for the webmasters'' tent I''m afraid we''re not quite ready yet."


    "We weren''t here for anything particular," Harper replied, "we were just wandering around."


    "Oh right." The young man said, nodding. Then an idea seemed to suddenly strike him, "Do you two need to go be somewhere soon?" He asked.


    Kason and Harper both shook their head.


    "Okay, do you think you could help us out for a bit?" The man asked with a pleading expression.


    "Umm..."


    Kason looked at Harper, who shrugged, then back at the young man. He nodded his head.


    The young man smiled when his saw this and spoke in a gratified voice, "Thanks, if you could just come over here, I''ll explain what it is we need doing.¡±

 Jeralds Problem

    Jerald''s Problem


    Kason and Harper followed the young man back towards the group of people he had left earlier, who were still arguing with each other. As he approached them, the young man called out to them and silenced their arguing before leading Kason and Harper to within their midst.


    He then gestured for the two to sit down on some chairs which he pulled from within the half-completed tent, then sat down himself and began to tell them what he needed them to do.


    "Right, so first of all, my name is Jerald." He said, placing a hand on his chest and giving them a solemn little bow. "I''m a third-year senior division student from the Engineering and Enchanting department and I''m in charge of the webmasters'' tent for this year''s introduction fair. We''re practically ready, except..." He gave a guilty chuckle, "I''ve managed to mislay a critical part of the demo which we had planned for today."


    He cast another apologetic gaze around at the others who were sitting around him and then turned back to Kason and Harper. "Basically, I just want you two to help us look for this part I''ve lost. It is a golden cylinder about this big." He said and used his hands to show that it was about ten centimetres in length. "Luckily we don''t need it until around mid-day so we''ve got time yet to look for it."


    "So, do you have any idea where you might have lost it?" Harper asked.


    "Well, no, not really... But it should be around this part of the Training Ground." Jerald said. "If you find it at any time, just come back here. I''ll be here all day as I have to keep an eye on this place."


    And so, after promising that they would do their best to find the missing object, Kason and Harper resumed their walk around the introduction fair. They passed through webmasters'' half-completed tent and entered into a circular area surrounded on all sides by tents, much like the webmasters''.


    There were only a small number of tents, but all of them were noticeably bigger than others they had seen elsewhere. They were also all of different colours, making it seem to Kason that they had just walked into a rainbow or something of the sort. A couple of the tents were still only partially complete like the webmasters'' one was, but most of them were already fully set up with the sides facing the plaza held open in various manners so that their insides were visible to anyone standing nearby.


    Kason and Harper slowly walked towards the centre of the open area, looking around at the surrounding tents with mild curiosity. Suddenly, Kason smelled the fragrant scent of some kind of meat being cooked. He stopped for a moment, breathing deeply, indulging in the smell, when his stomach abruptly began to rumble loudly as if demanding that he go and get a sample of whatever it was that was cooking.


    He looked around the plaza and saw what seemed to be a grill inside a dark green coloured tent. On the grill were several patties of meat which were being tended by someone, although Kason couldn''t see who as they were hidden by the fabric of the tent.


    Kason stood and contemplated, wondering whether he should go and ask whether or not he could get something to eat. This only lasted a moment, however, before his hunger got the better of him and he called out to Harper, saying that he was going to try and get something to eat. Harper turned back when he heard Kason''s words and they both ambled over to the green tent, Kason eagerly awaiting the prospect of some food to fill his empty stomach.


    They entered the tent after a few moments and almost immediately after they had, they heard a voice call out to them.


    "Hello!"


    Kason turned his head to see who had spoken and felt his heart lurch slightly upon seeing who it was. Ledia was walking towards them, looking much better than when they had last seen her, waving a hand in greeting. She seemed have not realised who they were when she called out to them because she suddenly paused as she was walking towards them.


    "Oh, I didn''t realise it was you two." She said and smiled before resuming her walk.


    Kason was quite glad to see her. Or, more accurately, he was glad that it was her that had noticed them instead of someone like Philera or Perceval. He and Harper took a few steps towards her as she approached them and said greeted her as well. They then spent a few minutes talking with her about how they had all been since their expedition into the Forest, but then mid-way through their conversation, Kason''s stomach rumbled again.


    Ledia obviously heard because she laughed good-naturedly, "Are you hungry?"


    Kason, whose face began to turn red with embarrassment, nodded. "I didn''t get to have breakfast this morning..."


    Ledia nodded her head and turned towards the grill which had still been sizzling merrily in the background while they were talking. "Could I get something to eat Percy?" she called.


    "Yeah." Came the unenthusiastic sounding reply from behind her.


    Kason and Harper both moved slightly so that they could see who it was that was tending the grill and saw Perceval standing with a spatula in hand; wearing a white apron over his black robes. He had a rather bored expression on his face as he skillfully flicked a patty of meat off the grill with the spatula and then made it float through the air before landing perfectly in the centre of a bun which had been lying open on a small table nearby.


    He then trudged over to the table and put the finishing touches on the burger before carrying it over to Ledia. He then presented it to her with a lazy flourish, saying in the same bored tone, "Here you go. M''lady."


    Ledia chuckled and took it from him with a slight bow of the head and a word of thanks before handing it over to Kason. Kason accepted it and took a moment to examine it before taking a bite out of it. It tasted remarkably good, he thought as he felt delicious fatty juices erupt into his mouth the moment he bit into the meat.


    He finished the burger in less than a minute and, after deciding that asking for seconds probably wasn''t appropriate at that moment, came out of his own self-absorbed little world and looked around to see what everyone else was up to. He saw Harper, Ledia and Perceval were standing only a few paces away chatting about something and so moved over to them to join their conversation.


    Just as he came over, he heard Harper talking about the golden cylinder that they had been tasked with finding by Jerald and assumed that Harper was telling them about the task or asking for help or something. Harper finished telling them what he knew and then paused, giving the two botanists a chance to think. Ledia looked puzzled and as if she didn''t know what had happened to the missing item, but Perceval was nodding slightly with a faint grin on his face.


    "Yeah. You don''t have to look for it." He said


    Harper looked cast him a surprised look and Perceval began to elaborate.


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    "We took it from them this morning." He said with a grin, "That Jerald is such a daydreamer sometimes, that you could take something from right under his nose and he wouldn''t notice. Of course, that''s just what we did."


    Ledia gave him a stern look, "You shouldn''t, they need that..."


    "I know," said Perceval, waving a hand dismissively, "we''ll get it back to them before they need it. When was their demo? Midday? There''s still plenty of time to enjoy watching them buzzing around like bees trying to find it."


    He nodded his head again and watched as someone, who Kason recognised as Jerald, walked hurriedly past the opening of the Botanists'' tent, looking around with an anxious expression on his face.


    "Of course," He began again, turning to Kason and Harper, "this is all to make sure they don''t do it again. We, as fellow students, have a duty to our peers to help them develop as people by pointing out their flaws. So, in fact, I think we''re doing old Jerald a favour."


    He paused momentarily.


    "Even if this is about the fifth time we''ve done it."


    Kason wasn''t quite sure what expression he should make after hearing this, so he tried to keep his face suitably blank. He personally thought that this wasn''t the best way to help Jerald, but he wasn''t going to say that to Perceval in case he got angry.


    Kason and Harper stayed in the Botanists'' tent for a while longer, chatting with Perceval and Ledia. It turned out that the rest of the Botanists were all away at that moment finishing of last-minute preparations for the day ahead, which was why it was only Ledia and Perceval minding the tent.


    Somehow, their conversation ended up on the different societies and clubs that would have stalls or tents at the introduction fair. Perceval, who had helped out last year at the fair, regaled them with tales of various societies that had been there in previous years. He told them how the societies weren''t always the same each year, what with new students coming in and older ones leaving, some societies disbanded while new ones were created.


    "But the minor departments have always had their societies running, as well as several from the major departments." He said


    "What are the minor and major departments?" Kason asked.


    "Well, they are all different sections of the senior division." He began, "Each specialises in a different area of study. When you finish in the junior division, you will join one of the departments of the senior division, that''s how it works. The minor departments are those whose main administrations are at another college, whereas the major departments are those whose administrations are either at this college or are totally independent of any college."


    Kason blinked at Perceval, he now understood what the minor and major departments were, but he was having problems working out why such an arrangement was necessary.


    "Anyway," Perceval continued, "The blue tent is the Webmaster''s one, they''re from En''E, that''s one of the major departments. And then there''s the Quest society, but they''re a little bit special and, err..." He continued to list off several other societies and which departments they were associated with.


    "And then there''s us! The Botanists'' main place is at..." he thought for a moment then, apparently giving up, turned to Ledia for help.


    "Tarial." she said, "Come on, you should know that."


    A few minutes later, there was a great commotion outside the tent that made them all look outside to see what was going on. Outside there was a large stream of people all flowing into the plaza area from a pathway that presumably led from the edge of the training ground. Some filed into the tents that surrounded the open space, whereas others made their way through gaps between them to get to other others behind them.


    Ledia looked her ring and let out a small exclamation. "It just about nine, we should start getting ready." She said to Perceval, who nodded.


    Kason and Harper, sensing that they would just be in the way if they stayed in the tent, excused themselves and walked back out into the plaza. There were still a few people hurrying about but for the most part, it seemed like the worst was over.


    Kason and Harper stood still for a moment, wondering what they should do. Now that they knew what had happened to the item which Jerald had asked them to look for, they didn''t need to bother looking for it so they no longer had any restrictions on where they could go.


    Since it was still a minute or two before everything officially started and most people seemed to be making last-minute preparations, Harper suggested that they wander to the other side of the training ground; the opposite side to that which they had entered from. Kason, who didn''t have any better ideas, agreed and so they both set off.


    They squeezed their way through a gap between a purple coloured tent and a faded yellow one and found themselves on a path leading away on each side, with another row of stalls and tents in front of them. Not wanting to get lost somewhere in the maze of paths created by the tents and stalls, they decided to take the most direct route to their destination, which meant finding a suitably large gap between the booths and making their way through it.


    This tactic worked well for the first two of times they did it but soon they found themselves in a dilemma where they couldn''t find a suitable gap to fit through. They walked up and down the path they were on for a few minutes trying to decide which gap would result in the least squeeze before deciding on one.


    Kason volunteered himself to go through the gap first and so, trying to make himself as thin as he could, he began to make his way through. This one time, Kason was glad that he was smaller than most at his age. The gap was really too small for him to fit through, but with a great deal of effort, he managed to get the majority of the way through.


    Just as he thought that he was out, he felt a tug from behind him. He turned his head to see what had happened and let out a groan of frustration. One of the pockets of his uniform had gotten caught on something that was sticking out from the stall he had his back too. Kason tried his best to manoeuvre a hand around to unstick himself, but for all his best efforts, the position was just out of his reach.


    Having determined that he couldn''t unstick himself, he began hopelessly tugging at it. Throwing his body forward and backwards to try and somehow get it to dislodge naturally. He did this for a few moments, thinking that he must look pretty stupid to anyone passing by, then suddenly, it came free!


    He went flying out of the gap between the two stalls and collided straight into someone with a great thud. Whoever he had crashed into let out a small shout as Kason collided with him and immediately shoved Kason, who had been startled by the sudden collision, away from them. Kason stumbled backwards away from the person and almost fell over, rubbing his arm which felt like it was probably bruised.


    "Oi! Watch where you''re going, you twit!"

 Before the Demonstration

    Before the Demonstration


    Kason recoiled slightly upon hearing the irritated exclamation and looked up to see who had spoken. He saw a boy standing before him. The boy wore the white uniform of all junior division students, although his seemed to hang slightly baggily on his frame. He had a rather angular face of olive toned skin and a pointed nose that, combined with his current glower, made him seem quite intimidating. His hair, was most fascinating to Kason, however; it was black at the roots, but slowly became a platinum sliver as it extended out from his head.


    The boy tutted impatiently, stirring Kason from his observations. He gave Kason a look of mild disgust and said, "Well? Haven''t you got something to say?"


    "Ah, I-" Kason fumbled with his words, unused to someone speaking as aggressively as this, "I''m sorry. I, I wasn''t looking where I was going. Sorry."


    The boy rolled his eyes, "Yeah, idiot. Be more careful, okay?"


    Just at that moment, Harper''s voice came out from the gap which Kason had emerged moments before, soon followed by his body.


    "Did you get through alright Kason?" He said as he stumbled out of the gap.


    He gave Kason a smile and then his gaze fell upon the boy who was standing nearby. His smile faded, almost instantly. The boy, on the other hand, noticed Harper as soon as he came out of the gap between the stalls and his mouth morphed into a slight smirk.


    "Hi, Harper." He said in a sardonic sounding voice, "Fancy seeing you here."


    "Hello Roan," Harper replied stiffly.


    "Oh, why so dull? Where''s the enthusiasm that I''m used to?" The boy, evidently called Roan, said.


    "I thought you were going to study at the First?" Harper replied, ignoring Roan''s goading.


    Roan''s face twisted into an unsightly grimace, "Obviously I didn''t!" He spat.


    "Oh?" Harper began, a note of derision sliding into his voice, "And why is that? Were you not good enough for them?"


    Roan didn''t reply, but a look of rage appeared on his face. He took a step forward and seemed about to speak, but before he did a streak of golden green flew out from behind him and hissed menacingly at Harper.


    Kason was surprised to see what looked to be a miniature dragon hovering in mid-air in front of Harper. It had scales that glimmered in the sunlight with dancing shades of gold and emerald, and wings that beat the air with regular flaps as its small head moved side to side as if trying to intimidate Harper. The most amazing thing about it was, however, the fact that, unlike in all the stories that Kason had ever heard, this dragon was only about the length of his forearm.


    Kason was immediately entranced by this curious creature and he unconsciously took a few tentative steps towards it, trying to get a closer look. The little dragon seemed to sense his approach however, and shot him what seemed to be a warning glare, before flapping back to perch on Roan''s shoulder. Roan raised a hand and began to stroke the little dragon''s nose as if soothing it. It nuzzled into his hand and wrapped its long tail around his wrist.


    While Roan was preoccupied with this, seemingly having forgotten about his previous rage, Harper looked on with a nostalgic expression on his face.


    "How is it?" he asked shortly.


    "Fine," Roan replied absentmindedly, disentangling his wrist from the miniature dragon''s tail.


    "Anyway," Roan began, his tone changing back to the same confrontational one had been using before, "don''t try anything here, okay?"


    "What do you mean by, ''try anything''?" Harper said, sounding both incredulous and annoyed.


    Roan didn''t answer. He simply gave a snort then turned and walked away from them, the miniature dragon still perched on his shoulder.


    Kason looked after him for a moment before turning to Harper, "Who was that?"


    "Someone I know," Harper replied vaguely.


    Kason, sensing that Harper didn''t want to talk about it, let it be with that.


    "What was that dragon thing which was with him?" He asked excitedly, eyes shining as he turned to glance at the small creature which was now climbing about on Roan''s retreating back.


    "It''s a type of dragon. A Pukus I think it was." Harper replied.


    "Wow..." Kason breathed, as he watched the dragon which was now flying in the air above Roan''s head. He didn''t know a thing about dragon species but nevertheless, a dragon was still a dragon!


    "Come on, let''s carry on," Harper said after a moment of silence, "there are still a lot of places to see."


    They wandered around for quite a while after that. They did as they had said they would and found their way to the far end of the fair before making their way back in the direction they had come from, stopping at interesting looking stalls as they did.


    Kason saw many fascinating items and skills on display as they went around. Each stall or tent was manned by some people from the society that they represented and each had a selection of activities or items on display to show what it was that their society was about. Most stalls and tents also gave out leaflets as well, which were difficult to refuse, so that by the time they had made their way back to the plaza where the Botanists'' tent was, Kason''s pockets were bulging with leaflets from the different places they had stopped at on their way back.


    They got onto the main path that led to the plaza and walked along it at a leisurely pace. Harper checked his ring as they walked and let out an exclamation, "It''s almost half past eleven already! I didn''t think we had been walking around for that long."


    Kason checked his ring as well and realised that Harper was right. He too was surprised that they had managed to spend so long walking back.


    "The Webmaster''s demonstration thing was supposed to be at around noon," Harper said, "shall we go and see if they''ve started yet?"


    Kason nodded. "I wonder if they''ve got that part back from the Botanists yet."


    Harper shrugged. They continued down the path and eventually came to the plaza which was filled with rather more people than it had been earlier. Kason and Harper stood still at the entrance to the plaza for a couple of moments, looking around at the crowd of people. Kason was surprised to see so many older students in the crowd. From the look of it, around a quarter of the milling students were wearing the black uniform of the senior division.


    Kason and Harper made their way across the spongey grey surface to the back of the crowd. Harper, being the tallest of the two, tried to see what was going on nearer the front, but he was still too small to see over or around the tops of the older students who seemed to have congregated at the back of the crowd. Whilst they were at the back trying to glean an understanding of the current state of proceedings, they noticed a familiar green haired head a short way in the crowd.


    They managed to manoeuvre their way over to it and emerged next to Ledia who seemed to be in a bit of a panic. She noticed them as they popped up next to her and gave them a strained kind of smile.


    "Hello," She said distractedly, then tried to make a sudden dash through a gap in the crowd that opened suddenly in front of her. Kason looked at her with bewilderment, wondering why she was seemingly trying to run away from them.


    Ledia didn''t manage to get through the gap. The natural jostling of the crowd made it so that the gap closed only seconds after it had opened and Ledia was forced to return to her prior place.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "What are you doing?" Harper asked.


    "Ah, well," Ledia said still looking for a chance to get through the crowd. "You see, we''ve not managed to get that piece back to Jerald yet." She smiled wryly, "Percy gave it to me to hand over, but I can''t get through. I tried going around the back but it''s all blocked off around the back of their tent. Their demo is set to start in about ten minutes as well..."


    Ledia hopped anxiously from one foot to another and fell silent. "I''m just the wrong height!" She burst out suddenly, "I''m not tall enough, or strong enough, to just push my way through, but I''m too tall to try and squeeze through as well."


    She cast an agitated gaze around at the people surrounding her, then her eyes landed on Kason and Harper. They widened slightly as if she had just thought of something.


    "Hey," she called out to them, "Could one of you take it? You should be small enough to worm your way to the front quite easily."


    Harper looked doubtfully at the crowd and then turned his gaze upon Kason. Kason, under the combined pressure of the two gazes, squirmed uncomfortably and looked at the people surrounding them. Although there weren''t actually that many people, they all seemed to want to get as close to the front as they could which resulted in them all being packed together and creating the difficulty that Ledia faced.


    He didn''t really want to dive into the seething mass of people, but the urgency of the situation made it all the harder to refuse. He cast an imploring glance towards Harper and found him staring back with eyes that plainly told him that he wouldn''t do it. He then glanced at Ledia and found her brown eyes staring hopefully back at him.


    He wanted to say that he wouldn''t, that he couldn''t do it, but then he suddenly remembered the sight of Ledia''s back, gashed and bloody after she had been attacked by the drakelings in the Forest. He remembered his helplessness and felt again the guilt he had then.


    "Yeah. I can take it." He said.


    He hadn''t done anything to help her then, he reasoned, so now was the perfect opportunity to start to make up for his mistake. Ledia beamed at him and took from her pocket a cylindrical golden tube that fit the exact description that Jerald had given them earlier.


    "That''s great!" Ledia said, "Just try to get to the front and hand it over to someone in the tent. But be careful, you could end up getting hurt accidentally while you''re getting there."


    Kason took the cylinder and forced it into one of his pockets amongst all the leaflets. He then glanced around at the crowd before squeezing through a gap that appeared momentarily in front of him.


    He wasn''t aware of how long exactly he spent floundering around in the mass of people. In his mind, it all turned into a blur of white and black playing with the drone of indistinct voices in the background, punctuated every so often by an exclamation of pain or annoyance every time he stepped on someone''s shoes. Each time this happened, he made sure to call out an apology, but in the chaos, he couldn''t tell who he needed to apologise to. He could only hope that the correct individuals heard his apology in one way or another.


    Towards the end of his journey, the crowd seemed to have noticed that there was someone trying to make their way to the front and so his journey became less difficult as people began to budge sideways as he passed to make room for him. Eventually, he made it to the front of the crowd where he found a thick, blue low-hanging rope that kept the crowd from actually getting into the Webmasters'' tent.


    He looked at the little of the inside of the tent he could see from where he stood and saw quite a few people milling around with anxious expressions on their faces. He recognised a few of them as some of the people who had been sitting with Jerald earlier, but Jerald himself was nowhere to be seen. He debated whether he should call out to them, but seeing that he didn''t know anybody''s names, he wasn''t confident that he would be able to get a response.


    Kason stood at the front of the crowd, eyes peeled for any signs of Jerald, but as time crawled by and Jerald still hadn''t appeared, he began to feel anxious. A minute or two passed in this fashion with Kason standing there, his distress mounting. He had just decided that he would just have to try and climb over the rope that blocked the crowd off from the Webmasters'' tent, when Jerald finally appeared in the opening, a worried expression on his face.


    "Jerald!" Kason yelled, startling many people standing near him.


    Jerald, who had been scanning the crowd with a nervous expression on his face, heard him and looked in his direction. He noticed Kason standing there at the front of the crowd and immediately hurried over to him.


    "Have you got the piece?" He asked in an urgent tone.


    Kason nodded his head and pulled the golden tube out of his pocket sending several leaflets fluttering to the ground as he did so. Jerald''s eyes lit up when he saw it and the anxious expression on his face vanished to be replaced by a look of profound relief.


    "Brilliant!" He cried hoarsely and let out a sigh, "Just in time as well, a few more minutes and we would''ve had to cancel."


    He then stuck the golden cylinder securely in one of his pockets and began to run back to the entrance of the tent.


    "You come in as well, Kason." He called over his shoulder.


    Kason, feeling quite self-conscious, climbed over the low rope and followed Jerald into the tent. He almost found himself running as well, just to get away from the curious stares of the people in the crowd. He entered the tent and stood in the entrance, unsure of where he should stand or sit or whatever it was he was supposed to be doing.


    Another senior division student, presumably one of the other webmasters hurried past him to speak to the waiting mass of people outside and Kason moved to the side to allow him to pass through the entrance. He stayed there and began to examine the inside of the tent.


    The inside had very few items in it, which was probably mainly due to the fact that there wasn''t an awful lot of space. The majority of space under the blue canvas was taken up by something that stood almost as high as the tent and was covered in a dirt coloured tarpaulin. The tarp hung on the thing in such a way that it was impossible to tell what was contained underneath, but occasional movements suggested that something was moving underneath it.


    Kason observed the movements of whatever it was under the tarp for a few moments when to his surprise, the dirt coloured material was lifted up and Jerald emerged from underneath it. He wiped his hands on the tarpaulin after he exited, turned, and saw Kason standing in front of him. He walked over with a cheerful expression on his face and put a hand on Kason''s shoulder.


    "It''s all ready!" He said excitedly, "Just got to wait for everyone to be in position."


    He then steered Kason over to a section of the tent where some other senior division students were standing and planted him in their midst.


    "You can watch from here, okay." He said, "It would be a bit dangerous to watch from anywhere else." He then turned to a senior division student who was standing nearby, "Can you make sure he''s okay Spencer?"


    Spencer looked over at Kason, then looked back at Jerald and nodded. Jerald nodded back at him and then walked off to another group of senior division students with whom he began to converse in hushed tones.

 An Opportunity

    An Opportunity


    Kason stood with Spencer and the other senior division students for another couple of minutes. From what he could hear, the babble of the crowd outside seemed to have quietened and someone was now speaking to them. Kason couldn''t quite hear what they were saying from inside the tent which he found slightly strange given that they couldn''t be standing that far away, but he wasn''t too bothered about it.


    Eventually, Spencer tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention and told him that the demonstration would be starting in just a few moments, so he should make sure not to wander off. Kason nodded to show that he understood and looked expectantly towards the tarpaulin-covered something in the middle of the tent.


    Given that there was nothing else that was particularly noticeable in the tent, Kason assumed that whatever it was under the tarp would be the subject of the demonstration. As he had noted before, the tarp gave no indication of what was beneath which only made Kason more excited, wondering what was kept there.


    Then Jerald, who was standing at the head of a group of senior division students, made a large swiping motion with his wand which he had pulled from somewhere. The tarpaulin flew high into the air and from beneath it emerged a large contraption which looked much like a large flower (in shape if not in colour), covered with many blue glowing lines and symbols.


    Its ''petals'' branched out from the base, curving upwards slightly as they got further away from the main body, enclosing within a small golden rod that stuck up in the very centre. Kason immediately recognised it as the one he had given to Jerald only a short while ago and wondered, given its auspicious placement, what it was supposed to do.


    Kason stared at it, entranced. It looked just, well, magical. His eyes roamed over its surface, following the pulsating aquamarine patterns, and as he looked, he tried to discern from some distinctive features, what its intended function was.


    Kason then saw out of the corner of his eye, that Jerald and the other senior division students were beginning to move again. The all lifted a variety of instruments in unison and made the same movement, bringing them sweeping through the air to point at the machine in the centre of the tent.


    Kason assumed that they were casting some spell of some kind because Jerald was using his wand, however, the implements held aloft by the other students made him slightly doubtful. Several were brandishing some variant of measuring stick and others had other tools grasped in their hands that Kason wouldn''t really associate with magic.


    As Kason continued speculating, the magic that Jerald and company had cast began to take effect. The machine in the middle of the tent gave a soft whir and the ''petals'' began to vibrate slightly. After a few moments, Kason saw a barely visible blue coloured mist begin to appear within the confines of the ''petals''; particularly around the yellow rod.


    Then Jerald made another motion with his wand and suddenly a great force slammed into the top of the tent, pushing it upwards so that it looked like a huge dome and placing enormous strain on the tent pegs which struggled to keep the tent firmly attached to the ground. Less than five seconds later, with a clatter of falling tent pegs, the tent flew high into the air, rippling in the wind as it climbed; looking like a flag that had gotten free from its post.


    Jerald''s face was frozen in shock as he followed the tent''s path through the air with his eyes. Even as he remained there immobile, several of the senior division students who had been working with him hurried away to catch the tent before it fell.


    There was a smattering of applause from the crowd who were still waiting behind the low rope and several whoops. It sounded like the crowd was unsure whether or not this was supposed to be part of the demonstration.


    As if awoken by the noise, Jerald unfroze and walked around the machine so that he could stand in front of the crowd.


    "Hello!" he said weakly, "Welcome to our demo. We''re the Webmasters'' Society form Engineering and Enchanting. This year, we''ve brought out a project that some of the senior graduates made in collaboration with a few of the professors about halfway through last year."


    He motioned to the flower-esque machine behind him with one of his hands. Kason found this to be a wholly unnecessary move, given that the machine was now one of the only things left behind now that the tent had been sent flying.


    "This machine is a small-scale replica of the spell towers that came out a couple of years ago and it was designed to focus on speed of casting, instead of power or efficiency as most commercial models are. So, we managed to bring this thing out as our demo because several of our older members actually worked alongside the professors and senior grads to build this thing!"


    Jerald paused and coughed once or twice. "That and it''s also one of our more exciting projects as well." He added. "Anyway, you didn''t come here to listen to me talk about it, so I''ll just get in position and then we can fire this thing up properly and show you what it can do."


    There was a round of enthusiastic applause from the crowd as Jerald retreated back to the group of senior division students that he had been with before. Once he reached them, he looked around at them briefly before giving them some signal and they all waved their variety of instruments above their heads again. This time though, Kason could see several of them muttering some words he couldn''t make out as they went through their movements.


    Almost as soon as the group began their new round of spellcasting, the machine began to whir louder than it had been before, the barely audible hum becoming a dull drone. The faint blue mist inside the ''petals'' also seemed to become denser, adopting a steadily deeper shade of blue as it did.


    Then, after only a couple of seconds, a spark seemed to ignite just above the top of the yellow rod in the centre of the blue mist. A column of flame shot high into the air above the machine, eliciting cries and shouts of shock from some of the younger members of the audience. Kason was also surprised by the fire''s sudden appearance and took a step backwards from where he stood.


    Just as abruptly as this column of flame had appeared, it shrank down so that it barely reached above the tops of the ''petal''s'' curved ends. Then with a great whoosh of whid, that Kason could''ve sworn carried the cry of some bird, the fire turned a striking emerald colour and flew from within the machine over the heads of the crowd, which shrank away from it as it passed overhead.


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    Kason watched the fire''s passage over the crowd and was surprised to discover that it seemed to have taken the shape of a bird! The flame bird apparition circled over the heads of the excited crowd a few times and then returned to the machine. Just as it dived back into the top of the machine, however, a great wave of water came gushing out from within the blue mist and swallowed the bird whole.


    The flame bird promptly exploded with a loud bang and sent droplets of water flying in all directions. But before these droplets could fall to the ground below, Kason saw that they morphed into fishes of different sizes and began to swim through the air; gathering together until there was one big shoal of them swimming in unison around the crowd.


    Kason couldn''t tell how long the display lasted. After the fish, an earthen figure in the shape of a man, except for being many times taller, seemed to unfold from within the machine. It strode towards a terrified-looking junior division student which it lifted up in the palm of one enormous hand and placed on top of its head before parading around with them still up there. When the student was let down, he looked slightly dazed but was smiling nonetheless.


    After the earth giant, several other displays of element-themed magic followed before the machine''s whir went quite and Jerald and company lowered their arms. Jerald looked okay, a bit tired but okay, but several of the other senior division students in the group looked like they could faint at any moment.


    Jerald then walked back to stand in front of the crowd, which gave him an ardent bout of applause to which he smiled appreciatively, before speaking in a slightly hoarse voice.


    "Well, I think we managed to show off what this thing can do. Those of you who can already cast magic know that to do any of the spells we cast just now requires a mixture of power and skill that most mages cannot achieve on their own. One solution to this is to gather together a group of similarly skilled mages to do group casting, but that requires all the mages to be familiar with each other and highly coordinated. This machine eliminates the need for this high level of coordination and teamwork, and could even be worked by one solitary mage if we had the full piece of kit down here."


    He pointed to a few empty sockets on the side of the machine and continued his explanation. "There is actually a terminal which is supposed to be used with this machine. Its job would have been to coordinate all the machines functions so that it could cast the spells effectively, however, seeing that we didn''t have it, we had to resort to group casting in order to replace it."


    He paused a little, looking a bit embarrassed, and then continued, "Well, that sort of invalidates the whole point of the thing. But the speed it can achieve in spell activation is something that most mages cannot achieve without considerable practice." He paused again and looked around at the crowd his mouth open as if he were going to say something.


    "Well, that''s all for our demo." he said eventually, "If you want more information on our society then just speak to any of the senior division students around the machine and they can hopefully fill you in." He gave a shallow bow and stepped back away from the crowd before lifting his wand and waving it. The low hanging rope in front of the crowd lifted off the posts which had been supporting it and flew off to the side where it collapsed in a heap.


    Jerald then walked away from the crowd, who clapped one final time, and towards Kason. Kason, who had been reminiscing about the magnificent show which he had seen a couple of minutes ago, didn''t notice his approach until he was standing right in front of him.


    "I prepared a proper speech to give after the demonstration but, by the Seven I can''t it anymore." Kason heard Jerald mutter as he reached him. Kason, who was slow to arise from his reverie rushed to think of something to say to comfort him, but Jerald began to speak before he could.


    "Anyway, I owe you for bringing that piece back in the nick of time like you did." he said.


    Kason immediately thought to explain that he hadn''t really found the piece. "Ah, I didn''t find it. I mean..." he then suddenly remembered Perceval''s warning not to tell Jerald it was them who had taken the piece and his mental processes ground to a halt.


    "I mean, I didn''t do it alone." He finished shakily.


    "Ah right, your friend helped as well didn''t he?" Jerald said, remembering about Harper. "Well, I owe both of you still. Is there anything I can do for you two at the moment?"


    "Umm..." Kason thought for a moment. Given that he still couldn''t cast magic, there wasn''t much point in asking for anything magic related, otherwise, that would''ve been the first thing he asked. He continued thinking for a minute or two, but nothing really came to mind. "I don''t think so..." He replied eventually.


    Jerald looked at Kason for a short moment as if considering something and then began to speak, "You''re still a first-year right? Still training up your ether saturation?"


    Kason nodded.


    "Well..." Jerald began slowly, "There''s a bit of an experimental project I''ve been working on lately with some of my friends which could theoretically reduce the time it would take you to increase your saturation. It''s only an experiment of course, so there''s no guarantee that it will work, but if you and your friend want to help out as test subjects, then we could get some vital test data and you two could increase your tolerance faster."


    He paused and then added hurriedly, "It''s nothing dangerous! Well, we don''t think it will be, but it would mean staying with Kamadus in his medical suite for a month or two to make sure nothing goes wrong. So, what do you think?"


    He looked at Kason expectantly to be met with Kason''s eager expression. Kason''s eyes had begun to sparkle as soon as he heard that it would mean he would be able to cast magic sooner. He had hardly listened to anything after that, having been immediately swept up into daydreams of him using magic.


    He came back to his senses when he heard Jerald stop talking. "Yes!" he answered immediately, then suddenly thought for a moment, "Actually, I should probably ask Harper as well..."


    "You go and do that. I''ll be here for a few hours still so come back once you''ve gotten his opinion." Jerald replied, nodding his head to show his understanding.


    Kason nodded and, hardly able to contain his excitement, ran off to find Harper in the now scattered crowd.

 The Offer

    The Offer


    Kason found Harper after only a couple of minutes of searching and immediately filled him in on the offer that Jerald had made him. Harper was as thrilled as he was when he heard about how it might let him get to the ether threshold quicker. He insisted that they go and find Jerald immediately and tell him that they agreed to take part in the experiment.


    They found Jerald standing almost exactly where Kason had left him and let him know that they were alright to participate in his project. He seemed almost as happy as they were and immediately went off to notify the other people working on the project. Before he went, he told them that he would get back to them as soon as he got further information.


    The rest of the Introduction Fair passed uneventfully and at the end, Kason and Harper left to go back to the dorms, with neither of them having found a society which they were particularly interested in.


    The next few days passed as they normally did, except they seemed an age to Kason. He couldn''t stop daydreaming about using magic and wondering what Jerald''s experiment would be about, which just made the time seem to pass even slower. Apart from his impatience, another problem had also cropped up in Kason''s life. One that he had forgotten about, but really should have expected.


    Lexia had come to find him the day after the Introduction Fair and proudly announced that she was ready to go off to the Forest whenever he was. Kason had only then remembered the conversation that they had had a while back about going back to the Forest and inwardly groan while trying to think of another suitably plausible excuse he could give for not going.


    In the end, he had managed to avoid giving a concrete answer, but ever since that day he had been careful to never allow himself to be in a situation where he was alone with Lexia. So far he had managed to avoid giving any more answers but, as Tarisday rolled around again, he wondered imploringly how long it would take Lexia to forget this reckless adventure of hers.


    He spent the rest day completing that week''s assignment from Ms Luxford and hanging around the common room with the rest of his floormates. That is until he received a message from Jerald telling him to come and meet him in the Planetarium. He received the message in the same way he had found out what classroom he was in and promptly dropped the book he was reading at that moment and made his way to the Planetarium.


    He entered the building and found that Harper was already there with Jerald. Seeing that he had arrived, Jerald waited for him to reach them and then led Kason and Harper away towards a flight of stairs. They walked across the checkered floor, their shoes making sharp taps as they crossed the stone floor, and up the stairs until they reached a landing. They followed the landing along for a short while, Kason walking close to the bannister on his right so that he could gaze upon the spheres that were suspended in the middle of the building until they reached a wooden door.


    Jerald knocked twice on the door and then opened it, holding it open for Kason and Harper to pass through. Kason passed through, saying thanks to Jerald as he did, and examined the room on the other side. It seemed quite old-fashioned, as did the whole building, with dark wooden panels on the walls and floor. It looked as though it might have jumped out from a storybook about times long ago, except that there were sun crystals floating up near the ceiling.


    Kason was so caught up in examining the room that he didn''t notice the person sitting on a chair in the corner until they called out a greeting to Jerald. He spun around upon hearing the voice and saw another senior division student, with short black hair and dark skin sitting on one of the teardrop-shaped floating chairs.


    Jerald went over to him and sat down, pulling over another of the chairs from a bunch of them which were floating around in one corner of the room. Once he was comfortable, he addressed Kason and Harper.


    "This is Randall, he''s probably the one who has put the most effort into this project, so he''ll be the one to introduce you two to it," Jerald said and motioned for Randall to begin.


    The young man beside him cleared his throat, sat further forward in his chair, and began to explain. "Well," He began in a deep voice, "First let me tell you how glad I am that you agreed to Jerald''s proposal. We''ve almost reached the limit of how far we can test without any actual test subjects and since all of us have ether saturations far above what we''ve designed for, we were quickly approaching a block in our work."


    He lowered his head slightly in their direction and then carried on, "I''m sure you''re both eager to see what it is you''re getting yourselves into so I won''t waste any more time..." He reached into one of the pockets of his uniform and pulled from within, what looked like a normal filter that would be usually be fitted on the front of one of their Regulators. It differed from the normal ones, however, in that this one had a gauze of pure white threads instead of the blue or indigo colours of the ones Kason had seen so far.


    Kason and Harper examined it with baffled interest. Taking Randall''s proffering, Harper took the filter into his hands and turned it around, Kason peering over for a closer look as well.


    "It looks almost like a normal filter," Harper commented after a few moments.


    "Yes it does," replied Randall, who had been watching them examine the thing, "and that''s because it is technically just a filter. But not a normal one. This is what we''ve called, for lack of a better name, a self-adjusting filter. You''ll have to wear some headgear while using it, but that lets the filter keep an eye on the saturation of ether in your heads and adjust the ether throughput so that you don''t develop overexposure.


    It also uses this to try and adapt the amount of ether it lets through to let you use it for as long as possible. What we want you to do is to give it a go while you sleep, so that we can get some data for how it performs over longer periods of time on real people. You''d have to use it for a couple of months for us to get enough data, but if you feel uncomfortable at any time, you can tell one of us that you want to stop."


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    Kason and Harper both nodded, unsure of what exactly they should say. They went back to examining the filter for a bit longer before handing it back to Randall. There was then an awkward moment of silence before Harper spoke.


    "So, when do we get to start?" He asked, sounding excited.


    "Well, if you want to go ahead with it, then just meet us at Kamadus'' Medical Suite this evening at about nine. We should be able to gather all the equipment together by that time." Jerald said, "I take it you''re both willing to take part then?"


    "Yes!"


    "Of course!"


    Kason and Harper''s voices overlapped as they both declared their willingness. Jerald and Randall looked happy with their decision as well and so, a short while later, they all left the building in high spirits, with plans in place to meet in the nexus of the main building later that evening.


    The remainder of the day passed slowly for Kason, who was eagerly anticipating the evening to come. At ten minutes to nine that evening, he made his way out of his room and across the courtyard into the main building. There he found Harper, sitting on the pedestal of the statue of the monocled man. He didn''t look a bit tired, despite the relatively late hour, instead, he seemed more awake than ever as Kason sat down next to him to wait for Jerald and Randall to arrive.


    Arrive they did a few minutes later, walking at the head of a small troupe of other students who were carrying various bundles in their arms. Upon entering the nexus, they directed the students following them to move all their bundles into the Medical Suite before coming over to Kason and Harper.


    "Wait a minute for us to finish moving everything inside, then you can come in." Said Jerald, before moving off to the Medical Suite to deposit his own bundle.


    They waited for a few minutes more, then all the students streamed out into the nexus before dispersing and Jerald popped his head around through the door to tell them to come in. They entered through the door, passed through the small antechamber and entered the room with all the beds.


    They were still quite as cluttered as they had been the last time Kason had seen them, except for two which had been cleared of debris, presumably so that he and Harper could use them. Randall was standing beside one of the beds, fiddling around with something that Kason couldn''t see. Kamadus the healer stood beside him, watching. They approached the pair, with Jerald leading them and Kamadus looked up as he saw them.


    "Are these the two you''ve roped into your experiment?" He asked, sounding slightly bored.


    Jerald nodded and Kamadus sighed before turning to address Kason and Harper, "I don''t envy you unfortunate pair. I suppose it''s a good thing you don''t... Anyway, I''ll just begin the safety talk."


    Kason listened intently to Kamadus as he told them what he would be doing during the experiment, although not as intently as he might have done. He was distracted all the while, by the words that Kamadus had muttered just a short while before. Kason couldn''t be sure, of course, but he was pretty certain that Kamadus had muttered, ''know how many things can go wrong,'' earlier when he first began speaking to them. Needless to say, this did not exactly instil Kason with confidence, however, his natural excitement over the whole thing made it so that he was able to put that aside.


    After Kamadus finished, Randall took over. He presented them with the headgear that they would be wearing, which looked like just silky hoods, and showed them the apparatus he had set up around their beds. There was a regulator positioned near the head of each bed, and also a small diamond shaped blue crystal floating above where one''s head might be when they laid on the bed.


    After all the explanations were done, Kason and Harper changed into a set of night clothes and got into the beds; the fabric hoods placed securely on their heads. Jerald and Randall left soon after, saying that they would come to check up on them in the morning, and Kamadus went back to his desk, where he began to leaf through his seemingly endless sheets of paper.


    The next morning, Kason awoke feeling refreshed, more so than he normally did. He sat up in his bed and looked around, only remembering that he was in the Medical Suite when he saw the other beds and the morning sun streaming through the windows. Kamadus, who was still sitting at his desk as though he had never moved, noticed he was awake and gave him a terse morning greeting before returning to his work.


    Kason looked around at Harper and found that he was still asleep, drooling slightly from a half-open mouth. Kason stayed in his bed for a few more minutes, before getting up and changing back into his uniform. He checked the ring on his finger and found that it was about a quarter to seven in the morning. He wondered when Jerald or Randall would turn up. After all, they had said they would visit in the morning and he had lessons today and so couldn''t just stay and wait for them.


    Luckily, Jerald turned up only a few minutes later; right at the same time as Harper woke up. He gave them a morning greeting before snatching the light blue crystals out of the air from above their beds and pocketing them.


    "These contain the records of the devices'' functioning during the night," he explained as he did so.


    He then told them that they could leave the rest of the equipment where it was for the day and to come back at the same time as last evening before leaving.


    The day passed by quickly, and soon Kason and Harper were back in the Medical Suite to get suited up again. That night went by equally smoothly and soon a whole week had gone by since they started the experiment.


    Kason felt that the whole thing was going great. He had asked Ms Luxford to give him an extra saturation measurement at the end of the week, and she had obliged. This showed him that his saturation had increased marginally more than it usually did over a week and, even though it was only marginally, Kason felt over the moon.


    This feeling continued throughout the following days until, on the second night of the second week, he was awoken in the middle of the night to find Kamadus standing over him. Seeing that he was awake, the healer looked at him gravely, as if weighing what he should say. Eventually, he opened his mouth and said that the experiment would have to be postponed.


    A problem had occurred.

 Return to the Forest

    Return to the Forest


    Kason looked up at Kamadus with a blank expression, still feeling rather groggy from having just woken up. He took in what Kamadus said, but didn''t seem to really appreciate what it meant. Kamadus, seeing that he didn''t have much of a reaction, instructed him to take off the hat he was wearing while he plucked the little blue crystal out of the air above Kason''s head. He then collected the hat from Kason and told him to go back to sleep.


    Nodding, Kason fell back onto his pillow and lay there for a couple of moments before falling back into a deep sleep. He slept fitfully through the remainder of the night and awoke the next morning, almost without remembering the happenings of the night. He lay still for a few moments after he woke sure that something had happened during the night but unable to quite remember what.


    He moved his hand to scratch his head and as he did, realised that he was no longer wearing the hat they had been given. He immediately sat up, having remembered exactly what had happened. Kamadus had mentioned a problem but hadn''t said what. He looked around the medical suite for Kamadus and as he did, caught sight of Harper lying next to him.


    He too, was no longer wearing the hat, but in its place was a different kind of headgear. This one seemed to be made of metal and was covered with lightly pulsating patterns of blue. Kason examined it with interest for a few moments, he wasn''t sure what its purpose was, but he assumed it was to do with whatever the problem was that had made Kamadus stop the experiment.


    He slipped out of bed and changed into his day clothes. He then padded over to the waiting room area to see if Kamadus was there. He poked his head through the doorway and spotted Kamadus sitting on one of the chairs next to a senior division student who Kason didn''t recognise. The student had long blond hair much like Harper''s but his face was turned away from Kason so he couldn''t see what he looked like.


    Kamadus noticed Kason and stood up to come over to him. "You''re awake I see, Kason. Come with me for a minute, I''ll explain what happened during the night." He walked through the door with Kason following behind him, calling out to the senior division student he had left behind. "You can come through as well Nixon, I''m sure Harper would be glad you''ve come to visit."


    Kason followed Kamadus over to his desk, wondering who this ''Nixon'' was, and stood in front of it while Kamadus sat down on its other side.


    "Well," Kamadus began, moving a few papers around on his desk as he did, "During the night, I discovered a bit of a problem with the device, the self-adjusting filter, that Randall gave you. It was showing normal readings but when I checked on Harper over there, I found he was suffering from mid-stage overexposure." He sighed, "I stopped the device as soon as I could, naturally, and I''ve given him some medicine to take which should fix things but it was quite unusual."


    He looked up at Kason and saw him looking worried. "Don''t worry," he said, guessing the source of Kason''s distress, "I checked you as well, and you were fine."


    Kason let out a sigh of relief and waited for Kamadus to continue. "Anyway, Randall and Jerald are looking at the devices now, to see if they can find the fault. You should come round when your lessons end for the day to see if they''ve found out anything. I don''t know how long you''ll have to wait for the experiment to continue, but you''ll probably be able to sleep in your own bed tonight for a change."


    Kason left the Medical Suite a few minutes later, passing the boy called Nixon on the way out. He was sitting on a chair next to Harper''s bed reading a book while Harper slept next to him. Kason''s mind stayed on the mysterious Nixon throughout breakfast; he felt like he should recognise the name, but whatever significance it had was temporarily lost on him.


    He had just finished his breakfast when he realised that it was probably Harper''s brother. He couldn''t remember for sure what his name was supposed to be, but ''Nixon'' seemed to ring a few bells so Kason thought he was probably right.


    He arrived back at the Medical Suite after lessons had finished, with Kayla, Lexia and Alford in tow. He had explained the situation to them during lunch and they had all volunteered to come and see how Harper was doing. And so it was that they all turned up in the Medical Suite, to find an argument going on between Randall and Nixon.


    The two of them were standing near one of the windows and shouting at each other with angry expressions on their faces. Meanwhile, Jerald hovered around the two of them trying every so often to get a word in and Harper sat on his bed, head resting on his hands looking bored.


    He noticed them as they walked in and waved them over to his bed, his face lighting up with a smile. They walked over as he had instructed and Kason asked Harper what was going on. Harper explained that Jerald and Randall had come over about half an hour ago to report to Kamadus on the state of the faulty device. Nixon, who had overheard their report, then made a snide comment about their skill as engineers which had made Randall pretty angry and the argument just grew from there.


    The argument carried on, showing no signs of stopping. Eventually, after one last yelled insult, Randall stormed out of the Medical Suite. Jerald, after giving an apology to Kamadus who had remained at his desk the entire time, followed him.


    Nixon, evidently having won the argument, came over to where Kason and the other children were playing a card game on Harper''s bed. He waited for the current round to end and then joined in. They played for quite a while longer, though with Nixon playing more to his own rules than to those set by the game.


    As they were playing, they talked and Nixon asked them about how they were finding college so far. Kason, who had had a vague feeling this topic might come up, felt a slight twinge of dread as he asked the question. It wasn''t that he particularly minded the question, but that it would give Lexia the perfect opportunity to ask him to go into the Forest again.


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    He prayed within his heart as the game went on that the events he feared wouldn''t occur, but even as he was eliminated from that round, Lexia began to speak. She narrated to Nixon all that had happened in the Forest, with Harper, Kayla and Alford adding in their opinions when they thought it necessary. After she finished her narration, she told Nixon of her plan to go back; innocently adding on the end that Kason had said he would go with her.


    Kason turned his head and let out a soft sigh before turning back to hear Nixon''s reply.


    "That is strange..." He said and seemed to think about something for a couple of moments. "When are you thinking of going back into the Forest?"


    Lexia shot Kason a glance and then answered, "We haven''t really arranged a date, just sometime soon."


    "Hmm..."


    Nixon nodded and was silent for a moment then said, "Could I join you when you go? You see, I major in Advanced Reconstruction in the senior division and this seems like a good chance to get some practice."


    Lexia immediately nodded her head at his suggestion and Nixon smiled, "Shall we go this next weekend then? Better sooner rather than later don''t you think?"


    Lexia agreed readily and Kason echoed her enthusiasm, although with markedly less vigour. Harper also opened his mouth, as if he were going to ask if he could come too, but Nixon put an end to that thought before it had even left his mouth. Alford also looked like he wanted to go too, but he kept his mouth shut.


    With this agreement now firmly in place, Kason couldn''t help but slightly dread the coming weekend. He felt better about going in now that Nixon was going to be going with them, but all the same, he would definitely prefer not having to go at all.


    The weekend came around, bringing with it their rest day and also the task of going into the Forest again. Kason walked the same route he had done before to meet the Botanists the last time they had gone in. He went through the trees that were out the front of the main building and saw Lexia and Nixon already there and waiting.


    He joined them and they set off around the trees towards the end of their expanse where there was the short stretch of lawn separating the woodland area from the Forest. Once they reached it, Nixon performed the same spells that the Botanists had and they all ran across the gap at speeds that reasonably, shouldn''t have been possible.


    Once under the canopies of the trees, they began to make their way into their depths. Lexia striding along in front with Nixon, and Kason following along behind. Lexia spoke to Nixon every so often, guiding him through the trunks that surrounded them towards the clearing where the incident had occurred. Kason had no idea how she even remembered where the clearing was, he surely didn''t have a clue. He attributed it to whatever previous adventuring experience she had had at home, although this made him wonder what sort of stuff she had gotten up to let her develop such an insane sense of direction.


    Sure enough, after maybe ten minutes of trudging over the leaf-strewn forest floor, they reached a clearing. Kason entered after Nixon and looked around. He immediately saw a familiar looking tree and realised that this was indeed the clearing where he had seen the apparition of the owl. He drifted off into a bit of daydream and came back a few moments later to find Nixon staring at him.


    "Can you show me where you encountered this owl?" He asked.


    Kason nodded and led him over to the tree. Once they were both standing beneath it, he pointed to the branch he had been sitting on.


    "I was just sitting there and then I saw the owl perched on the branch above me."


    Nixon nodded and promptly jumped up into the tree to examine the place further. Lexia came and stood next to Kason and together they watched Nixon as he did whatever it was he was doing. He stood on the branch where Kason had sat and stared intently at the place where Kason had said the owl had been.


    After a couple of minutes, he pulled out an oddly shaped wand which looked more like a miniature version of a tree branch with many other small branches sprouting off in many directions. He then waved it around in a complex kind of pattern and muttered some words that Kason couldn''t hear.


    Kason watched as he continued to do this and suddenly, he saw a shadowy shape begin to coalesce on the branch where Nixon had been staring. After a few seconds, he let out a small gasp and heard a similar exclamation from Lexia beside him. On the branch in front of Nixon, was a shadowy, barely-distinguishable version of the owl he had seen that day!


    The owl moved about in a very strange way, or at least that''s what Kason thought until he realised that it was doing everything it had been doing when Kason had last seen it in reverse. He watched it preen its feathers backwards and was sort of looking forward to seeing it fly away in reverse, but contrary to his expectations, that did not occur.


    The owl took off from the branch, but instead of flying away through the trees as Kason had expected it to, it flew backwards a few paces and then disintegrated into a mist of blue sparks which then also gradually faded into nothing. Kason looked at the sight and felt a chill run down his back; had the animal just popped into existence mere moments before he had seen it?


    He glanced at Nixon, half hoping that something had simply gone wrong with the spell he had been casting, and saw him wearing an ugly expression, brow furrowed so far his eyebrows almost met in the centre of his head. He seemed to contemplate something for a minute, then he closed his eyes and pursed his lips, a look of increasing frustration visible on his face.


    "But that''s just impossible!" Nixon exclaimed.

 Breakthrough

    Breakthrough


    That night, Kason lay on his bed in the junior dorms thinking about the events of the day gone by. Nixon''s unexpected outburst back in the clearing had shaken both him and Lexia. After his sudden exclamation, Nixon had remained in the tree, squatting on the branch and muttering to himself. Kason had thought privately that he looked much like an oversized crow, perched there on the branch in his black uniform.


    Once he had finished his private brooding, Nixon had climbed down while Lexia immediately went up to examine the area as well. She had come down a short while later with no results and so, on their way back, they had both pestered Nixon to tell them what it was he had discovered.


    Initially, he had refused to tell them anything, but after enduring their constant barrage of pleas, he eventually relented. He told them that he had used a spell to determine if any magic had been cast in the area, and if so, how powerful it had been. This had returned traces of an unusually complex and powerful spell, whereupon he had decided to try another spell to see if he could find out where the powerful magic had originated from, and it was this that had sparked his incredulity.


    It was at this point that the content had become a bit too hard for Kason to understand. Nixon had said something about breaching dimensional walls and violations of some magical laws, but to Kason, it just went in one ear and out the other. What he did gather though, was that Nixon had failed to track the spell and that there was some problem with how the spell had been cast.


    Kason thought about this as he lay on his bed. He now knew that something out of the ordinary had definitely happened back there in the Forest and this was probably bad, given that the spell had seemingly been targetting him. This obviously made him fearful and was currently keeping him awake, but deep inside, he had a vague feeling that he was not as worried about the situation as he should be.


    He spent another long while just lying there in his bed, worrying. Occasionally, he glanced over at the shelf upon which he had put the necklace with the locket, in which rested the black stone. In the darkness, he couldn''t actually see the necklace but that didn''t matter. As he lay there, speculating, he couldn''t help but wonder whether the black stone had anything to do with it.


    Lexia had said, after all, that he had been pulling at the necklace as if trying to remove it from his neck. Perhaps he had been trying to give it to someone? Perhaps that owl had somehow taken control of his body and was trying to get him to give the necklace to it? Whereupon it would promptly deliver it to the caster?


    Kason scoffed and rolled over, dismissing this idea as lunacy. Obviously, it wouldn''t be something like that. Even if the materials that the locket was made from were quite precious, since Castor had managed to get hold of them, surely a powerful mage such as the one who had cast that spell would be able to as well? And as for the stone, it was just a random thing that had gotten into his shoe somehow. Surely it couldn''t be some all-powerful magical artefact or something of the sorts, could it? And even if it was, what are the odds that it would have ended up lying on a dirty path around the college?


    Kason eventually fell into an uneasy sleep, but surprisingly awoke the next morning feeling quite good. His mood was further improved when he arrived at the dining hall and spotted Harper sitting at one of the tables. He walked over to sit down opposite him and congratulated him on his recovery.


    They talked as they both ate breakfast and Harper told Kason about something his brother had told him the evening before, after he had returned from the Forest.


    "Apparently," he began, sounding slightly muffled around a mouthful of cereal, "there''s this society that runs towards the end of the year that''s only open to those students who pass the ether threshold early. It''s called something like the Young Quester''s society."


    Kason looked up from his food, his interest piqued. Harper took another spoonful of breakfast and continued, "According to my brother, if you join that society, you''ll actually be able to learn magic before you enter the second year!"


    Kason put down the fork he had been bringing to his mouth and looked incredulously at Harper.


    "Really?"


    "Yeah!" Harper replied, "There''s only one problem though. You have to have reached the ether threshold before the second month in autumn, meaning we have just a bit over seven months left to get there."


    Kason looked at him worriedly, "Can we even make it in time?"


    "I did some calculations while I was bored yesterday and found we would''ve been cutting it very close if we tried to do it normally." Harper paused and his eyes began to twinkle, "But we don''t have to do it normally do we? We''ve got those devices that Jerald and the other guy made."


    Kason felt his heart soar as he realised this was true. He nodded and grinned broadly at Harper, who grinned back. That morning, he could hardly concentrate on his lessons as he was daydreaming about the society that Harper had mentioned, his thoughts of the necklace and the mage who might be targetting him driven to the back of his mind.


    Later on, during their lunch break, Harper told Kayla, Lexia and Alford about the Young Quester''s society as he had to Kason that morning. They were all as enthusiastic about it as Kason had been, but after their initial bout of excitement, Kason saw Kayla looking worried. He was going to speak to her when he realised that she was probably worried about her own progress and whether she would be able to join at all. After all, she lacked both the headstart which Lexia and Alford had, and the improved filters that Kason and Harper were using. He stopped in his endeavour, unsure of what he should say to her and had still not thought of anything when they returned to the class for afternoon lessons.


    The society remained on his mind for a quite a few days afterwards, mingling with the worry he had about whether they were ever going to be able to use the experimental filters again. Luckily, roughly a week after the night when Kamadus had woken Kason to tell him of the issue, Jerald found Kason and Harper to tell them that the problem had been fixed and they could begin to use the devices once again.


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    So began Kason''s usual life in the junior division. His nights were spent in the Medical Suite under Kamadus'' watchful eye, using the experimental device to increase his ether saturation, and his days in learning and enjoying himself in the company of his friends. Apart from another announcement concerning the, still missing pendant that had been stolen a while back, there was nothing particularly out of the ordinary that occurred. Much to Kason''s satisfaction.


    One thing Kason noticed as the weeks passed by, was that their lessons became gradually more oriented around the various mechanisms of magic. From science to mathematics, and even language, the content of their lessons was slowly shifting until every lesson incorporated some aspect of magical application related to the subject.


    They were taught in maths and language that a technique called ''visualisation'' could be used to help draft and work through complex pieces of work. Kason particularly enjoyed it when Ms Luxford demonstrated this technique; the words on the book she was using had literally flown off the page and begun to circle around her as she read them.


    In history, they had begun to learn about the more distant past, a time more than seven hundred years prior when an empire called Anor''phi had ruled over the majority of the continent and of the events that brought about its collapse. They learnt again, although only briefly, about the Seven Great Mages who had settled the first cities of Nevadil after escaping from Anor''phi, which at that time had been caught up in its last death throes, and the history of the colleges each had founded.


    Ms Luxford seemed particularly excited to teach this topic. She told them with her eyes gleaming, about how their college was the very one founded by Constantine himself and told them sternly how thankful they should be to be able to study in such an ancient and prestigious institution.


    Although these events were certainly interesting to learn about and inflamed the imagination to picture long gone times of splendour, Kason couldn''t stop himself from finding these lessons quite boring. He was pleasantly surprised that someone sharing his own name was mentioned in the annals detailing the college''s founding and early years, but apart from that, everything else just became a sea of dates and words in his ever-expanding collection of notes.


    Geography was also another subject that Kason found rather a bore. Most lessons consisted of them examining various geographical features of the land which were generally quite dull. The most interesting lesson, in Kason''s opinion, had been one when Ms Luxfrod had brought out a map of Nevadil for the class to examine.


    They had spent a whole lesson poring over the various names and places on it as well as gawking at the scale of it all. Constantin, it turned out, was situated more or less centrally, but also about as far north as it was possible to go. Further north and one came to the Duncalta mountain range which separated Nevadil from the dry expanses of the endless deserts beyond it, while to the extreme west and south lay only oceans. To the east was the vast Blackwood which stretched beyond the edges of the map and in whose outskirts Kason had been raised. He had, while Ms Luxford talked, tried to find Selmore village on the map but had been unsuccessful.


    **********


    Spring passed and summer too, carrying away with them the festivals of High Hearth and Vigil. These occasions, which would normally be celebrated with vigour in any city and town in the outside world, were only mentioned briefly in the college. High Hearth had never been a popular festival in Selmore, so Kason didn''t really mind the lack of festivities on that occasion, however, Vigil was a different matter. Kason had always enjoyed the Vigil celebrations in Selmore, and so was quite disappointed by the lack of such at college. There were, of course, the customary thanks given to Eastwatch and the frontier guards but apart from that, no other festivities were observed.


    Kason did not have the leisure to remain disappointed for long, however, because the passing of Vigil signified that autumn had come; meaning that there was only one month left to reach the 100C threshold if he wanted to join the Young Quester''s society. He was not too worried, however. At the rate he was currently going, he predicted that it would only take him another week or two to get to the required level.


    And so it was that two weeks later, Kason walked into the classroom on athiday at the beginning of the week, heart brimming with anticipation. The previous week he had been on 98.0C so he was pretty much certain that he would finally reach the threshold. He took his seat next to Harper, who had reached 100C three weeks before, and waited impatiently for Ms Luxford to begin testing everyone.


    Lexia had, unsurprisingly, been the first to reach the threshold first, with Alford following about a month later. Two others from their class had then reached the threshold and then after them, Harper. From their group of friends, Kason and Kayla were the only ones who had yet to get there, and as Kason was pretty much guaranteed to reach it today, that left only Kayla. She had made astounding progress, however, and seemed on course to reach 100C within another two weeks, much to everyone''s astonishment, apart from perhaps Lexia.


    Eventually, after what seemed to be an age, Ms Luxford entered the classroom and began the usual routine of asking people forward in the same way she had all year. Kason, as always, was called towards the end, leaving him to stew in anticipation for half an hour or so. When it was finally his turn, he practically ran up to Ms Luxford and presented himself to her, bobbing up and down on the soles of his feet.


    Ms Luxford noted his impatience with raised eyebrows and a faint smile before beginning. She placed her hands on either side of Kason''s head in the same familiar way and Kason readied himself for the etherial murmuring that usually accompanied the measurement process. He waited for maybe fifteen seconds before he realised that the usual feeling of empty-headedness was not materialising. He glanced uncertainly at Ms Luxford and noted a pleased expression on her face. She withdrew her hands from Kason''s head and beamed down at him.


    "Well done!" she said, "It seems like you''ve gotten past 100C."

 The Young Questers society

    The Young Questers'' society


    Having his success confirmed for him made Kason grin widely. He didn''t really feel any different from how he had at the beginning of the year, however thinking back, he realised that lessons had seemed to become slightly easier as the year progressed. He chuckled lightly, thinking to himself that he had finally gained the ''super memory'' that Harper had been on about at the beginning of the year.


    He returned back to his seat and the lesson continued. After that day''s lessons ended, Harper took Kason to sign up for a place in the Young Quester''s club. They wandered into the main building and through one of the many doors leading from the nexus into an office in much the same style as the Registry Office from all that time ago, with a red carpeted floor, high set windows and a chandelier.


    He led Kason over to one of the desks and called out to the man on the other side. As they had been walking on over, Kason had thought he seemed familiar, but it wasn''t until Harper called his name that he realised who it was.


    "Brent."


    The man on the other side of the desk looked up and smiled as they approached, "Hi again Harper, and you were..." he squinted at Kason, "Kason. Right?"


    They chatted as Kason filled out the necessary information, Brent asking each of them how they had found the college, given that the year was almost over. It prompted Kason to reminisce properly for the first time on the months that had passed since he first arrived. He thought back to the kerfuffle that had occurred with the Botanists during the first month and a half and smiled with a kind of fond nostalgia.


    As for the mysterious mage who had targeted him with the spell deep in the Forest, he had been informed that on the basis of the information provided by Nixon and Hugo, the college had conducted an investigation. The investigation had not produced any further information, however, and so both the college staff and Kason let it sink to the back of their minds.


    After he finished telling Brent about the events at the introduction fair, however, he scowled and fell silent momentarily. There had been one thing that had marred his otherwise enjoyable time at the college. Roan, the boy who he had met at the fair, had been a regular annoyance for Kason.


    He seemed to have a kind of simmering hatred towards Harper that, by association, seemed to have transferred to Kason as well. Every time Kason saw him, he would always be greeted by some scathing comment or cruel jest which left Kason wondering in slight disquiet, what he, or indeed Harper, had done to elicit this kind of animosity. He mumbled about this to Brent as well, Harper nodding his head in agreement.


    After signing up, Kason waited excitedly for more news on when the first session would be. He was disappointed, however, that after waiting a couple of days, no news had come and he was forced to conclude that no further information would come until the deadline for entry had passed. Therefore, he waited impatiently for the remaining two weeks to pass, which they eventually did with what seemed to be malevolent slowness.


    He received the news he was after on the tarisday before the third week of waiting. He woke that morning to find his pendant, which he had left on his desk, all aglow with a blue radiance. After sweeping it off his desk and panicking for a bit as he tried to determine the cause of this unknown phenomena, he cast his gaze deep into the azure depths of the blue gem.


    From within rose a message in the usual misty white letters which read, ''All students who signed up to the Young Questers'' society should make their way to the Training Ground for one o''clock today.''


    He read and re-read the message several more times and felt excitement rise up within him, he hadn''t expected the society to start meeting so quickly.


    He immediately rushed out of his room and down the corridor to the common room to see if anyone was in there who he knew had also applied to the Young Questers'' society. In there he found Harper and Alford playing a game by the fire while talking animatedly to each other. He rushed over to them and asked slightly breathlessly whether they had received similar messages. They both grinned broadly, which was all the answer Kason needed.


    So it was that just after lunch Kason, with Harper, Kayla, Lexia and Alford, made their way to the Training Ground for the first meeting of the society. They reached the place about five minutes early and stood around to wait for the rest of the students and the instructor to arrive. As they waited, Kason heard an unpleasantly familiar voice call over to them from within the crowd of other waiting students. Kason groaned, thinking of the scene that was about to occur and took a few steps back, hoping that he could avoid being noticed.


    "Hi, Harper," the voice came drifting lazily over the heads of the crowd, the distance not lessening its spiteful tone. A short moment later, and the voice was followed by the inevitable figure of the boy Roan who sauntered over with a few of his friends.


    "I''m surprised to see you here Harper, I''m not sure why you''d want to begin displaying your inevitably woeful spellwork any earlier than you have to. If I were you, I''d have waited till the last possible moment, I mean, going by your track record unless you''ve changed..."


    Roan''s voice trailed off, the taunt hanging in the air as he and his friends grinned at Harper. It was true that throughout the year, Harper had not performed quite as well as perhaps he should have in the field of magical theory, but despite looking annoyed, Harper managed to keep his cool.


    Seeing that he was not going to get a response from Harper, Roan continued, "Oh, but where''s your little friend? I heard that he''s rather good at theory, perhaps he could help you." Roan made a mock searching gesture, shielding his eyes from the sun and looking about as if he couldn''t see Kason. He then cast his eyes downward and made an obviously fake gasp of shock, as if he had just noticed him.


    "Oh, there you are - Kason was it? - I''m sorry, I didn''t see you. You know, you''re just so tiny, I had a hard time finding you. You really do need to grow someday, otherwise, you might just be mistaken for a mouse."


    Kason flushed and scowled at Roan. He still remembered the conversation between Roan and Harper at the fair while Roan had been fussing over his dragon, it had seemed quite civil, so Kason knew he could be quite pleasant. Why he behaved like this was beyond him.


    Just as Harper opened his mouth to respond, Alford walked forward, his large muscular frame standing out particularly in his uniform which had already become slightly small for him.


    "Hie yourself off elsewhere," he growled. One of the larger students in Roans gang of friends snorted and pushed his way forward as if prepared for a fight, but Roan spoke before he made it.


    "Right you are," he said in a teasing tone, "come on, we wouldn''t want to be caught by this, bear."


    They walked away, much to Kason''s relief, without much more fuss and Alford returned to their group.


    "Quite unpleasant aren''t they?" Lexia commented.


    The instructor arrived a short while later and gathered the group of around fifty students to the centre of the Training Grounds where she began to speak to them.


    "Welcome everyone," she began, "to the Young Questers'' society. My name is Ms Hargreve and I will be your instructor for the first two weeks of this society, after which another instructor will take over. As some of you may have guessed from the name, this society is run indirectly by the Questers'' society with the purpose of teaching you some basic magic to both, make it easier for you at the beginning of the second year, and satiate your inevitable desire to do magic, now that you''ve all reached the required ether saturation levels."


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    She paused and took a sip from a bottle that hung from her belt before continuing, "Let me remind you though, as I''m sure your teachers have already, that just because you''ve reached the initial threshold, does not mean you can stop raising your ether saturation. If you lot ever want to be able to cast anything more that cantrips, you''ll need to keep raising your tolerance to higher levels."


    She sighed and then hoisted a bag of the ground at her feet over her shoulders, "Well, no point in waiting around any longer, might as well get started with the first steps."


    Ms Hargreve then walked among the students passing each of them a leaf, a pebble and a short wooden rod. Several other students in senior division uniforms also came from behind the group and began to hand out the same equipment. When Kason received his lot from one of the senior division students, he weighed them all in his hand and examined them curiously wondering what they were going to do. He cast an enquiring glance around at the rest of the group to see if they knew, but all of them wore the same inquisitive expressions as him.


    Once everyone had been given the strange set of three items, Ms Hargreve returned to the front of the crowd and began instructing them on what they were going to do. The wooden rod, she said, was a trainee wand that they would be using as a focus for their spellcasting, whereas the leaf and pebble were just ordinary leaves and pebbles.


    Kason''s eyes widened when he heard that the stick was a wand and he looked at it with renewed attention. He knew what focuses were, of course, they had learnt that early on in the year. Generally, before a spell could be cast, the caster needed to gather sufficient ether from their surroundings to provide ''fuel'' for the spell. This process, they had been told, was often the most time-consuming part, especially for novice mages who weren''t used to the process, so focuses were devised to automatically gather ether from the environment around them so that the mage didn''t have to.


    After having explained their equipment, Hs Hargreve began to tell them what spell they would be casting. "Today, I have decided to get you to try aided telekinesis. This is probably the simplest magical process and isn''t really even classified as a spell. It is called ''aided'' telekinesis because you will be using a focus to help you, whereas normal telekinesis should be accomplished without one."


    She then proceeded to explain the theory behind it and gave them an example by taking another stone and making it float above the tip of her own wand. She then directed them to begin trying to make the leaf they had been given float above the tips of their wands as she had just done with the stone.


    Kason placed his stone down by his feet and laid the leaf across his palm with his wand held tight in his other hand. He gazed at the leaf feeling not a little disappointed. He had understood that they wouldn''t be working any grand magics, especially seeing as they weren''t even in their second year yet, but he was still a little disheartened at the seeming mundanity of the task they had been set.


    That being said, he still set to work as they had been told to. He followed the steps that Ms Hargreve had demonstrated and tried to focus all his attention on the leaf laying on the centre of his open palm. Then he pointed the trainee wand at the leaf and mumbled, "Lift."


    He knew immediately that he had failed. For one, the leaf was still sitting resolutely on his palm, unmoving, not even a quiver. For two, he had not felt the slight pressure building in his head that he had been told to expect during the process of cast a spell. He tried a few more times with no more success and then stopped to think what he might have been doing wrong.


    He looked around to see how everyone else was getting on and saw that no-one seemed to have had much success. Harper was staring so hard at his leaf that he was going crosseyed and was mouthing what seemed to be the word ''up'' over and over again.


    He looked back at his own leaf and contemplated it for a few moments, wondering whether he should change the incantation he was using. An incantation, they had learnt, was a word or series of words that helped the caster to direct the ether at their command to accomplish a task. Depending on the skill of the mage and the complexity of the task, some people could forgo incantations completely but for novice mages such as Kason, such methods were essential.


    An incantation, they had been told, should try to describe in the most concise way possible, the task that the mage wished to accomplish and therefore, which words were used often depended on the mage and their understanding of the magic they were trying to cast.


    Kason had thought that the word ''lift'' would be sufficient, given that the leaf appeared to be lifted into the air, though now he wondered whether that was good enough. He tried several more words, but none seemed to have any more effect than ''lift'' and so he went back to thinking. His thinking was, however, disturbed by Harper who let out an explosive breath and sighed an exasperated sigh.


    "I can''t get it to work!" he exclaimed dismally.


    Half an hour later, there had still been no progress by anyone, and the atmosphere on the Training Ground was becoming more and more agitated. People were becoming louder in their incantations, which didn''t exactly help Kason''s concentration, and a few had just given up and were sitting on the ground with bored expressions on their faces.


    Ms Hargreve and her senior division helpers moved among the students offering advice and suggestions and also telling the odd loud-mouthed student to be quieter. Kason was still persevering, he had decided that the word ''rise'' was the best incantation to use because several of the times when he had used it, he had felt a slight pressure in his head. Although he did wonder whether this was not a headache brought on by the long period of concentration.


    Kason was, though, slowly finding it harder to concentrate. A feeling of tiredness was slowly creeping over him and making it all the more difficult to focus on the leaf still sitting on his palm. He was just starting to daydream about the meal he had eaten at lunch roughly an hour ago when a loud shout from just behind him startled him into alertness.


    "LIFT OFF MY PALM YOU DAMN LEAF!" a male student bellowed in frustration, eyes bulging and wand arm shaking.


    Ms Hargreve immediately came over and told the embarrassed looking student to shut up before moving away again. Kason let out a light smile and looked down at his leaf again. He looked at it for a short while then pointed his wand at it in a determined fashion. He had decided that this was the attempt where it would happen. If it didn''t, then he would give up until the next meeting.


    He tried to eliminate everything from his thoughts other than the leaf and went through the steps on more time in his head, before opening his mouth to say the incantation.


    "Rise."


    For a moment, Kason suspected that he failed again, but then something seemed to open in his head. He felt as if something was continuously rushing into his brain from all angles and then being expelled towards his wand. It felt quite uncomfortable and caused him to scowl slightly from its suddenness.


    The leaf in his palm wobbled and then, miraculously, began to float upwards! It rose up off his palm into the air, following a straight line upwards towards the sky. Kason lowed his shaking hand and let out a cry of delight as he watched the leaf rise slowly, his wand following it as at it rose. His cry alerted others near him and he heard their gasps as they saw what was happening.


    He felt a sense of wonder bubble up within himself as he watched the leaf, which was still going higher, continue its journey upwards. Then, all of a sudden, a feeling intense tiredness washed over him and his knees buckled.


    He fell to his knees on the spongey grey surface of the Training Ground, head still tilted back, watching his leaf which was now spiralling down towards the earth.

 Challenge

    Challenge


    After Kason''s successful attempt at making his leaf float, he was rewarded with a lecture from Ms Hargreve on the proper construction of safe spells. He sat to the side of the group and listened to her harp about spell boundaries and energy management, interjecting whenever she paused with a suitably sombre sounding word of agreement and repentance.


    "Luckily I broke the ether stream and stopped your casting before any real harm was done," she concluded, and then sighed, "All the same, I must congratulate you on being the first one to make your leaf float. Well done."


    She sent him a smile, which he nervously returned, and began making her way back to the group, "Once you''ve finished resting, continue trying to levitate your leaf. Once you can make it float stationarily at a constant height, then try doing the same with your pebble."


    Kason returned to Harper and the others after a couple of minutes. When he got back, he was met with many impressed comments, not just from his friends, but others who had witnessed his feat. He blushed at first but soon became more lively, his sombre mood that had come about from Ms Hargreve''s lecture being replaced with one of pride and excitement.


    Soon enough, however, most of his admirers went back to practice the magic themselves, enthused by his success, and he was left to continue his attempts at improving his magic. He offered to describe his experience to Harper and the others, thinking that it might help them but was rebuffed by all except Harper.


    He felt slightly hurt at this but Harper, nodding sagely all the while, explained that their pride was probably what had made them do it.


    The first meeting of the society finished at three o''clock that day. By the end, several other people had managed to cast their first spells as well, those being Lexia and some others who Kason didn''t know. At the end, Ms Hargreve gathered the students together again and told them that the society would meet again at the same time in a weeks time. In the meanwhile, she said, they could practice their telekinesis, but only if they could get a teacher or member of the senior division to supervise them.


    Luckily for Harper and Kason, they spent their time with Kamadus in the evenings anyway, so they could ask him to also oversee their practice at that time as well. The original agreement with Jerald would have seen them return to their own dorm rooms with the devices long ago, but after the slight accident at the get-go, Kamadus had decided that they should stay with him as long as they were using the devices. They asked him that very night and he said that if they were just going to practice in the time they usually took to chat before going to bed then it would be fine.


    The next day, after lessons finished, they asked Ms Hargreve for the practice wands and other equipment they had used at the society and brought them over to Kamadus to keep for later. That evening, they both spent half an hour or so practising aided telekinesis before they went to sleep. Harper got his leaf to rise for a couple of seconds before letting it drop, an achievement with which he was obviously delighted.


    Kason also managed to perform the spell again, although he encountered the same problem he had before. Luckily enough, he was able to spot his mistake and stop the spell before he came to any harm. As he watched his leaf wind its way through the air to the floor, he pondered why this particular problem was occurring.


    As with his first attempt, he had somehow ended up casting a spell without the appropriate boundaries. Setting boundaries for a spell was an essential part of the construction process as they limited the amount of ether a spell could consume. As a spell carried out its effects, it consumed the ether that had been gathered beforehand. If, however, the ether gathered was fully used, the spell would begin to feed off the ether stream - the stream of ether sent from the caster which carried instructions on what the spell should do. This then resulted in the caster having to send more ether to make sure the spell continued, which took up more energy and could lead to death in very extreme cases. Or that''s what Kason remembered learning from Ms Luxford.


    He thought for a while longer, listening to the light scratching from where Kamadus sat as he wrote on a piece of paper at his desk. Then, shaking his head with a helpless expression, he gave up and went over to give Kamadus the practice wand and leaf so he could get ready for bed.


    It took Kason almost two weeks to fully master aided telekinesis, although only when he did it with the leaf. He could make the leaf float at a constant height, or fly around wherever he directed. He had tried to do the same with the pebble but was met with a lesser amount of success. He had asked at the latest society meeting why it was so much harder to do it with the pebble than with the stone and had been told that it was mostly to do with its weight.


    This doused his hopes of lifting something as heavy as a person any time soon, which effectively put a plug on his and Harper''s plan to cast the spell on each other at the same time so that they wouldn''t have to walk anywhere.


    On the last meeting of the society that would be led by Ms Hargreve, she had them all demonstrate how far they had come with their casting. Kason was the only one who had managed to master the spell using the leaf and was one of the best with the stone. Lexia, and Kayla to a lesser extent, was also close to mastery of the spell using the leaf, as well as a few others including Roan.


    Alford was the best at using the spell on the pebble, which made Kason wonder whether he had dubbed the leaf to puny for him and concentrated all his efforts on the stone and Harper, to his credit, had managed to come somewhere in the top half of the group.


    After the demonstration, she let the all carry on with their practice while she and the senior division helpers went around as usual and offered advice, based on the performances they had seen. Harper talked idly to Kason as they and the others went to find a less crowded space to practice.


    "I never thought that I''d get that good," he said with a pleased expression, "I suppose it''s due to all the extra practice we''ve been getting," he chuckled.


    Kason nodded, he too felt that getting half an hour practice every evening was helping tremendously.


    "Oh, so that''s how you got so good," said a voice from just behind them, "I was wondering what had happened." They turned and saw Roan walking nearby.


    "I was beginning to worry for you Harper," he continued, "I mean, if you''re dad''s any standard to go by, then the current form you''re showing is quite the mystery."


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    Harper glared at Roan and said, "Like you''re dad''s any better."


    Roan raised his eyebrows and sighed, "Yes, I suppose you''re right," but then he grinned, "but that being the case, doesn''t that make me - who hasn''t done any extra practice - more talented than you?"


    Harper rolled his eyes and moved to walk away, but was stopped by Roan next words.


    "If you''re dissatisfied, then how about a competition? We''ve not done one of those in years. Not since - well..." Roan''s face darkened momentarily but then regained its impassive nature.


    Harper turned around to face him again, an annoyed expression on his face, "I thought I told you back then that I wouldn''t compete with you anymore?"


    "Oh yeah, well, times change," Roan said brightly. "So how about just before the beginning of next year?"


    Kason stood to the side as the two of them argued. He saw that the other three had gotten quite a way away from them and anxiously sought an opportunity to interject so that they could get moving again. He made several attempts to no avail until Roan noticed his agitation.


    "Hm? You wanna join in as well Kason?" he said and smiled nastily, "I mean, if you want to, that''d be fine. We could make it a big thing - I''ll invite some people, you could bring along the others you hang out with, we could make it a spectacle."


    "No. Thank. You." Harper said and turned abruptly, "Let''s go."


    "Okay, I''ll get the people on my end then!" Roan called after them and laughed as they walked away.


    They caught up with the others who had stopped when they realised that they were no longer just behind them and found their preferred spot and began their practice. Ms Hargreve came over to their towards the end of their session to give them her parting advice.


    She gave Lexia advice on how to fix the last few mistakes she was making with her control of the leaf and told Alford to make sure he could control the leaf as well as the pebble. She gave Kayla much the same advice as Lexia and had Harper show her his spellcasting again, pointing out improvements that could be made as he did it and lastly came to Kason.


    "Well, I can see that you''ve more or less mastered the spell. From what I saw earlier, your control of the leaf was superb and with the pebble, all you need to do is just practice." Kason smiled shyly at the comment and thanked her in a small voice. She prompted him to show her the spell again so that she could check more closely for any minor adjustments, and Kason obliged - making the leaf float up above his wand, then around his head and ultimately back onto his palm.


    "Yep, you''ve got it," Ms Hargreve said, "This spell may have taken a long time to learn, but you''ll find that as you get more used to casting, the time it will take you to learn other spells will decrease."


    She pondered for a moment then began again, "That''s the only spell I was supposed to teach you. In all honesty, I''m not actually a teacher associated with the Questers'' society so I''m not sure what they would move you onto next." She fell silent again for a moment and then called over one of the senior division students moving nearby and spoke to him in tones that Kason couldn''t hear.


    She turned back a minute later and told Kason that the student who had come over would now take over his instruction. "That is, for the rest of this session. Next time Professor Kinora should be back." She then walked away to see to the last few groups of people, leaving Kason with the senior division student. The student looked down at him.


    "Do you have any idea what you''re doing next?" he asked - Kason could tell it was a male by his voice. Kason shook his head and the student made a troubled expression, "Probably elemental spells right? Ahhh, I''m no good at them - not cast one in years." He fell silent and went back to thinking.


    "Oh well, I suppose I''ll try and teach you one of the Questers'' society''s signature spells. What focus are you using? Ah, a wand," he tutted and rolled his eyes, "Well, it should still work..."


    He pushed up the sleeves of his robe and revealed his gloved hands. "I''m going to try and teach you a spell we call Analyse. It''s very useful for helping you try to determine what something is made of, and if you don''t know what it is you''re trying to analyse, then hopefully this will allow you to identify it."


    He bent down and picked up Kason''s pebble from the floor and placed it on the palm of his left hand, displaying it to Kason. "When you cast Analyse, it gives you feedback straight to your mind in the form of..." he paused as if struggling for words, "flavours? It''s a bit like you''re tasting something. All the components of the object you''re analysing will be shown as a different ''flavour'' in your mind and if you can learn what each of these ''flavours'' represents, then you can tell what the components are."


    He stretched out his right hand over the pebbled, closed his eyes and muttered a word under his breath. "For example, this rock... Hmm, I can taste what we call just ''rock'' and then a hint of iron? Perhaps," he opened his eyes, "Overall, not a very interesting object." He then handed the pebble to Kason.


    He then explained how the spell was supposed to function, as well as words that were commonly used as its incantation, and set Kason to trying it on the pebble himself. It took him numerous attempts to get the spell to work, but when it did, he immediately felt it.


    A rush of strange sensations overcame him as he felt a rush of, something, come streaming into his mind. The sensations were, as the student had said, only really describable by the word ''flavours'', however that didn''t really encompass everything either. It felt so strange to Kason that he freaked out and dropped his pebble.


    The senior division student laughed upon seeing his reaction and said, "Yeah, it feels weird to begin with, keep trying."


    Kason did so, and soon could hold the spell for up to a minute before he had to cancel it. Unfortunately, he could make neither head nor tail of any of the sensations that the spell was feeding back to him which left him feeling quite downhearted. He said as much to the student.


    "That''s about right for a newbie," he said, "Most of us at the Questers'' society keep a notebook which is quite good at describing common flavours and allows you to get used to it. I could try and get one for you, although it might cost you a small amount."


    Kason nodded enthusiastically and his instructor said that he would try to get it sorted for their next session. Kason then went back to practising the telekinesis spell, having decided to wait for this booklet before trying to do the Analyse spell again, and soon enough, the session came to a close.

 Professor Kinora

    Professor Kinora


    Kason awaited the next society meeting with mild curiosity. Ms Hargreve had ended their previous session without introducing the new teacher who would be taking the sessions in her stead after she stopped. Since the only thing Kason, or any of the students, knew about the new teacher was that they were called professor Kinora, there was little he could do apart from asking around to see if anyone else knew who they were. Kason and Harper put this question to Nixon, the next time they saw him. Luckily for them, it turned out that Nixon did know who this teacher was and proceeded to tell them about him.


    "Professor Kinora, well..." Nixon began, "He''s a relatively new teacher, from what I know. Started about half-way through this year I think. I''ve never even met him personally, but from I''ve heard he''s a bit like old Alivor in the library; dislikes the students and, unlike Alivor, seems to equally dislike his job. I don''t know if that description has been exaggerated or not, but if it hasn''t, then I''m not sure how he even managed to get hired here in the first place."


    Kason and Harper listened to Nixon ramble on for a few more minutes before extricating themselves and evacuating to the safety of their dorm floor''s common room.


    "He doesn''t sound very pleasant, does he," Harper said once they had sat down.


    Harper nodded in agreement, voicing his concerns about how the society would be with that kind of teacher leading it. They sat down, talking about how bad this professor Kinora might actually be and eventually got back onto what had happened at the last society meeting.


    "What are you going to do about Roan''s challenge?" Kason asked.


    Harper snorted, "Ignore it obviously. If I don''t do anything, neither can he. It takes two to compete, after all. Anyway, I doubt he was really serious..."


    The next society meeting came quickly and Kason made his way with the usual group over to the Training Ground. They arrived there slightly early, hoping to arrive earlier than the new teacher. They achieved this objective and when they arrived, there were only a few others present.


    The teacher did not turn up until exactly the moment when the session was supposed to start. Kason had been looking around absently, wondering where the teacher was when suddenly he noticed a man in a swathed in a green cloak standing where Ms Hargreve usually stood when she started the session. He had no idea when the man had appeared and many it seemed, hadn''t noticed him at all.


    The man took off his cloak and laid it on the ground by his feet before lifting his head to survey the group of students before him, many of whom were still talking, unaware of his presence. Kason took in his features as the man stood there, he had hair so pale it was almost white, a long, pointed nose and eyes that seemed as if they had never smiled in their life.


    "Silence."


    The single word was spoken quietly but was heard by every member of the group. It sounded cold and indifferent - uncaring, even - and the lively chatter of the crowd died away the instant it was spoken. The man, presumably professor Kinora, continued to survey them, his face impassive.


    "I am professor Kinora," he said in the same apathetic voice, "I will be overseeing the running of this society from now on. Other teachers may have given you permission to call them ''Mr Kinora'' or ''Sir'', but not me. If you require my assistance, you will address me as I tell you to. Either by ''Professor'' or ''Professor Kinora''."


    Kason glanced at Harper and caught his eye. Harper made a worried face before looking back as professor Kinora started to speak again. "I have been told that you have all achieved some level of competence with the telekinesis spell, but I would like to see it for myself." He looked around at the students and pointed at five of them in turn, including Kason. "You five, show me what you can do."


    One of the students he had pointed to raised his wand but professor Kinora''s voice cut across his actions, "Not there! How am I supposed to see how you do if you''re standing so far away? Come to the front. All of you."


    Kason made his way, slightly nervously, to the front of the group. Once there, professor Kinora had them all perform the spell, one after another and then sent them back to stand with the other students. "I see that there is quite a range in ability within the group. Some are up to standard," he glanced in Kason''s direction, "and others not so much. You will all continue to practice the spell for this session. I was told that you were ready for me to move on to the next spell, but obviously, the majority of you are not. Now go! Practice, and maybe when you get up to a reasonable standard we shall continue on."


    The group dispersed into their smaller sections as they usually did for practice, and professor Kinora began to move amongst them as Ms Hargreve had, giving advice. As he moved with the others to their usual space, Kason couldn''t help but notice that the senior division students seemed to have placed themselves as far away from professor Kinora as they could.


    They spent the session practising the telekinesis spell, which Kason found to be very boring. Having already been told by Ms Hargreve that he had pretty much mastered the spell''s use, he spent his time idly, trying to get the pebble to achieve the same level of competence. He had hoped that his senior division student instructor would have managed to procure that book of flavours that he had said that he would, but so far he hadn''t contacted him about it.


    Professor Kinora came to their group around halfway through the session and stood, observing them as they practised. He stepped in after a few minutes and spoke, rather harshly in Kason''s opinion, to Alford and Harper about their ''poor'' control of the leaf and then returned to watching for a moment.


    Kason continued his practice, hoping that by ignoring him, he would go away sooner. He made the pebble float above the tip of the practice wand and move about in a figure of eight and was just allowing it to move in circles around his wrist when a voice by his ear startled him.


    "Poor."


    Kason jumped forwards in shock and almost fell over. He collected himself and looked over at the professor Kinora who had been standing behind him.


    "I had thought that you were one of the better ones when you demonstrated earlier, but..."


    Kason''s face fell at these words, but he just nodded and continued to look at professor Kinora. The professor looked back as if waiting for Kason to say something, then snorted lightly and turned away, his eyes flicking up and down Kason, momentarily pausing on his chest. Kason looked down, wondering what had caught his eye, and saw that the locket he always wore, had fallen out of his uniform and was laying on top of it just above his chest; its silver winged doors glittering slightly in the light. He tucked it away and scowled at professor Kinora''s retreating figure, feeling hurt by his comments.


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    The session went past in monotonous practice, as did the next. Throughout each, professor Kinora continued to live up to his reputation of being generally unpleasant, in fact, Kason could not recall hearing him say anything remotely positive about anyone so far. This much dampened Kason''s excitement and enthusiasm for the society and he supposed that others also felt the same. The general atmosphere of the students at the society had become significantly more subdued ever since professor Kinora had started leading it.


    At the end of their second session with professor Kinora, he announced that, despite not having walked amongst them at all that session, he thought that they should be ready to move onto the next spell. This elicited a slight cheer from the crowd of students, which died away when professor Kinora gave them a particularly cold look. Thus, the next session, Kason and turned up with a slightly happier feeling than he had for the previous one.


    Professor Kinora gathered them together as Ms Hargreve had done when she taught them the telekinesis spell. "Well, I''ve been told that the spell I can teach you is any one of the basics from the elemental branch of spellcasting. So, I''ve chosen a simple fire starting spell; it should be straightforward enough for you all."


    He then explained the necessary theory and shooed them away to practice. As Kason walked with Harper to their usual practice spot, he thought that he had much preferred Ms Hargreve''s explanation, which had been more in-depth and had featured a demonstration to help their understanding. Harper also complained loudly as they walked, moaning about how knowing the theory wasn''t enough to translate the spell into reality.


    That session, Kason fumbled around with various incantations and approaches to the spell, all of which failed. He consulted with Lexia and the others, wondering whether they could offer him any insights, but unfortunately, they were as clueless as he was. In the end, no-one managed to successfully cast the spell, which Professor Kinora made sure to admonish them for at the end of the session.


    Kason left with Harper and the others, feeling rather put out. They made their way back to their floor along with Lexia, Kayla and Alford, and all entered the common room where they flopped down onto the chairs near the fire.


    "Well, that didn''t go very well did it," Alford said, breaking the silence


    There was a general mutter of consent from all of them and then silence again.


    "It''s just not fair!" Kayla burst out, "He hardly gives us any instruction and then just sets us loose and expects us to be able to cast the spell immediately!"


    "Did you see that look he gave us when he was telling us how badly we did? It looked like he was enjoying it," said Harper.


    "I''m surprised you managed to see any emotion in those eyes," commented Alford, "They might as well belong to a dead man for all the emotion they show."


    Kason stayed silent, listening to their exchange. He too felt that they had been dealt an injustice, but he couldn''t think of anything they could do about it. After all, Professor Kinora was a teacher, and it wasn''t like he would listen to them if they said anything. Most likely, he would just laugh at them or something and just carry on with more of the same. Another depressed silence developed, all of them swallowed by their own thoughts.


    "How about we go and learn the spell by ourselves?"


    Everyone looked over at Lexia, who had just spoken.


    "What do you mean?" Alford said.


    "Well, surely there must be books in the library or something that have instructions on how to cast spells in? Why don''t we try and look for them? I''m sure they''d be more helpful than the professor at any rate."


    Everyone brightened at this bold idea. Kason hadn''t considered this, but it was definitely possible now that he thought about it, they were at a college that taught magic after all. He looked around at the others, who seemed equally invigorated, and noticed from the corner of his eye the alcove in the wall of the that housed the common room''s own little library.


    "I''ll check in there!" he said excitedly, pointing towards it.


    Harper jumped up to join him in his search and together they looked down the spines of all the books the little library heald but unfortunately didn''t find anything that seemed like it might contain any spells. They returned back to the other three to report their findings, feeling a little bit disappointed.


    "I would''ve been surprised if there was a book like that in there," Alford said, smiling wryly as they rejoined them.


    Having eliminated that option, the five of them trooped out of the common room and towards the library in the main building. They arrived on the raised circular dais and immediately split up to consult the plaques on the end of each of the bookshelves for a subject area which seemed promising. Soon enough, Kayla came to find the others, saying that she had seen one which read ''The Elements''.


    "I thought that it would be a good place to start," she explained.


    They all thought that that was as good a place as any and so they all went to scour the shelves for any promising material. After about ten minutes of searching, Lexia called them all together again and presented them with a book titled ''Elemental Spellcasting: A Beginner''s Guide''. She then leafed through a couple of pages and showed them a section where it gave an explanation of a basic fire conjuring spell like the one Professor Kinora had begun to teach them.


    "This looks like a good one, doesn''t it!" Lexia said excitedly.


    The others nodded. "See if we can borrow it, we can''t practise in here and it would be a hassle to have to come back in here every time we run into a problem," said Harper.


    Lexia nodded and dashed off to find Alivor or one of his apprentices. The others waited around in the aisle, distractedly looking for any other books that seemed promising. Kason found himself reading the spine of the same book several times in a row, concentrating more upon listening for the sounds of Lexia''s returning footsteps than upon reading.


    Eventually, he heard the sound of footsteps getting gradually louder and knew they signified Lexia''s return. He looked up expectantly, waiting impatiently for Lexia to arrive, but when she turned into their isle, Kason saw that her face wore a dispirited expression. His heart dropped as he realised that there must have been a problem. They all rushed up to her and asked her what had happened.


    "We can''t take it out," Lexia said miserably, "I found one of Alivor''s apprentices and he said that only students in second-year junior division and up could borrow it."


    The rest of them look at her in dismay. "We could make a copy of the segment we want, couldn''t we?" Harper asked.


    "No, Alivor is very strict on stuff like that. Apparently, he''s got some harsh punishments set up."


    They all stood in despondent silence, wondering what could be done. Kason sighed to himself, they were so close! That book would allow them to avoid Professor Kinora''s ridicule, but where one problem was solved another soon emerged. How were they supposed to get the book out of the library?

 The Professors Suggestion

    The Professor''s Suggestion


    Thinking back that night, Kason supposed that they were pretty stupid, expecting to be able to bring the book out. Back at the beginning of the year, Alivor had given them an explanation of how some books would be restricted. In his excitement at finding the book, Kason had forgotten about this fact and so, it seemed, had everyone else.


    The issue of getting the book out of the library wasn''t as much of a problem as they had initially thought after their failure. At first, they tried going to some other apprentices, explaining their plight to them and hoping one of them would be sympathetic to their cause. This approached almost worked on one of the apprentices but was foiled at the last moment by the sudden appearance of Alivor, who gave them a stern talking to before marching grumpily off with his apprentice at his heels.


    They also had to think about how they were going to acquire their practice wands. Given that they could only have them if they had a supervisor willing to oversee their training, they also went about trying to find someone who would be willing to supervise them. They spent another couple of days after their initial discovery trying to solve both of these problems with little success.


    Then, when they had all begun to get rather tired of the whole thing, the solution to it all presented itself in the form of Nixon. On one particularly dismal evening Harper, who had gone to visit his brother, appeared suddenly in the doorway to the common room where they were all sitting in gloomy silence.


    "Nixon said that he could get the book for us AND be our supervisor!" He told them breathlessly.


    So, with no further obstacles standing in their way, the group met up with Nixon the next afternoon after lessons to collect the necessary items before going off to begin their practice. When they met him, Nixon had already collected the book so all that was left was to get their wands and then, steps light with eager anticipation, they went off to the Training Ground.


    That short afternoon was much more productive than the entirety of their last society meeting, at least in terms of their proficiency with the spell. The book proved to be rather useless, being geared more towards students with a higher level of basic understanding, but because Nixon was there, this did not matter as much.


    It was rather useful that, as Ashton had pointed out all that time ago when Kason had first arrived in Constantin, Nixon loved to talk so much. When they approached him for help or advice, he always jumped at the opportunity to talk. He never seemed to be bothered by their many questions and queries and looked eager to explain to them the many intricacies that they failed to grasp as they read through the book.


    It was mainly due to this sound advice that Kason, much to his own surprise as the others'', managed to cast the spell that evening, just as the sun was sinking below the trees of the Forest. He looked with wonder at the spot where the scarlet ball of flame had momentarily burst into existence just above his palm and his eyes traced the orange sparks that danced through the air to land on his still open palm.


    He looked up and grinned widely around at the others, his eyes landing last upon Nixon''s face who was smiling down at him as well. He felt a great surge of gratitude towards Nixon but it was soon submerged under his rising feeling of excitement as his mind fully processed his achievement.


    By the time the next meeting of the Young Questers'' society came, both Lexia and Alford had also managed to successfully cast the spell and Kayla and Harper had managed to produce sparks, if not a full-blown flame. They all marched proudly down to the Training Ground, anxious to see what kind of expression, the cold impassive face of Professor Kinora would show when he saw how far they had come in such a short time. So they were rather shocked when they saw that it wasn''t Professor Kinora who was standing in front of the small group of students who had already arrived. Instead, it was Ms Hargreve.


    They stood at the back of the small group and conferred amongst themselves, wondering what had happened to the Professor. Kason was quite glad that he wasn''t there - although he wanted to surprise him with their sudden increase in skill, he would still much prefer and nicer teacher, like Ms Hargreve, overseeing the session.


    Ms Hargreve started the session with an announcement. "Professor Kinora had something important and so will not be able to oversee this week''s session, which is why I am doing it in his stead." There was a short cheer from the listening students, which Ms Hargreve greeted with a small grin. "He will, however, be back again for next week''s session." She concluded at which the students'' cheer turned to a groan.


    That session, she walked amongst them as she had before when she had taken the meetings. Kason''s group were the only people who had even gotten close to casting the spell at the beginning of the session, something for which they received lavish praise from Ms Hargreve. She brought them all up to the front and had them demonstrate their ability to the watching crowd, most of whom looked suitably impressed with the exception of Roan and a few of his friends, who were scowling.


    The session passed with a far more friendly atmosphere than the last couple had and at the end, Kason left with a spring in his step, clutching to his chest a small notebook bound in a thick leather cover. By the end of the session, both Kayla and Harper had also managed to conjure a fireball and the other three had managed to create a sustained fireball that could be thrown or otherwise launched in some direction with the help that Ms Hargreve provided. Many others in the society had managed to


    The book which he held so protectively was the notebook that he had been promised by his senior division instructor a few weeks prior. The black-robed young man had come up to him in the middle of the session to carry out the transaction, which Kason had been more than glad to go through with. After obtaining it, Kason had quickly flicked through the pages and was surprised to find that the back half of the pages in the book were blank. He asked the senior division student about it and he found that this was so he could make his own notes on the flavours he encountered.


    Throughout the following week, the five friends continued their evening spellcasting practice under the surveillance of Nixon. They demonstrated the results of that week''s society meeting to Nixon, who applauded their effort, and then suggested that they learn a simple water conjuring spell as well, saying, "It would probably be a good idea to be able to put out any fires you accidentally start."


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    The book that they had found for helping them learn the fire conjuring spell also contained information on spells for all sorts of other elements, including water. So in the week before the next session, they all split their time between continuing to improve their ability with the fire conjuring spell and learning the new water conjuring spell.


    It was easier to learn the water conjuring spell after having already learnt a conjuring spell for another element. Or at least, Kason found it to be that way. The hardest part, he found, was finding an incantation that could embody the process of conjuring the required element to a high enough level. Balls of fire, or water, did not usually spontaneously pop into existence, after all, meaning that the whole process was so abstract, that describing it succinctly and in a way that Kason could easily picture was quite difficult.


    Towards the end of the week, however, he managed to create small bursts of water that did little more than flow through his fingers and wet his feet before the spell cut off. This made him pretty disappointed, given that he was aiming for the same kind of ball that he had accomplished with the fire, but this disappointment was offset by his relative success in the other spell he was practising. The Analyse spell.


    Given that this spell was not very difficult and could be practised almost anywhere, he had taken to carrying around the little book of flavours wherever he went so that if he ever had a bit of time to himself, he could find something to quickly pick up and analyse. He had gotten quite good at identifying basic flavours, such as ''rock'' or ''wood'', although both of these could also be identified further into specifics like ''granite'' or ''redwood''.


    The week passed by quickly and soon, Kason and the rest were once again on their way to the Training Ground. They approached with less excitement than they had last time. Sure, they were all quite proficient with the fire conjuring spell and could probably give Professor Kinora a good shock, but having had Ms Hargreve for the last week''s session, it was hard to stomach going back to Professor Kinora.


    They trudged onto the grey, spongey surface and made their way towards the crowd of idling people. As per his usual routine, Professor Kinora appeared mere moments before the time the session was supposed to start and promptly issued his order for silence. He observed them for a few seconds, his indolent gaze passing over them, and then began to give his instructions for the session.


    His orders consisted of mainly going off and practising the fire starting spell he had shown them before while he roamed around and inspected their progress. He gave no explanation for his absence the previous week, nor did he answer the question when it was posed to him by an inquiring student. Instead, he brushed past the topic, saying it was none of their business, and dismissed them to begin their practice.


    Kason practised the fire conjuring spell rather half-heartedly. He already felt that he had a firm enough grasp on the spell, after all, he could conjure the fireball in less than a second with the use of his wand and sustain it for longer than a minute. And after having conjured up over a hundred practically identical fireballs over the past week, he had rather gotten tired of the experience.


    He was lazily making his fireball spin slowly around the tip of his wand, trying to exert the same control over it as he might have done with the leaf or the pebble when he heard an annoyingly familiar voice hail them, or more specifically Harper, from a short distance away. Roan sauntered over to them with a nasty grin on his face, flanked by several other white-robed boys.


    "Hi again Harper, haven''t talked to you in a while," he began, "so, how''ve you been? Oh wait, I don''t care." He smirked over at Harper''s stony face, "I didn''t end up hearing back from you about my competition proposal, so I took that as your firm acceptance. And, I went ahead and prepared a list of things we might compete in."


    He paused for a second as if waiting to see if Harper would react, before continuing, "First off, there''s magic. We could compete in our competency with spellcasting, but I''m sure your woeful efforts would go to vain, as I am obviously the better spellcaster. I mean, I''m not sure how you managed to fake casting the fire spell last we-"


    "I didn''t fake anything!" Harper cried finally, glowing at Roan, his fists clenched


    Roan put on a mock look of surprise, "Really? I was sure your midget friend had somehow managed to-"


    "What''s all the noise about here?" came a cold, disinterested voice from nearby.


    They all turned and saw Professor Kinora walking slowly towards them, looking as dead as ever.


    "Nothing, Professor." Roan said, politely, "We were just discussing something."


    "An unnecessarily loud discussion," Professor Kinora commented coldly, "and one that shall be continued at a lower volume, if you wish it to continue." He made to turn away, but then seemed to decide against it. He carried on walking until he stood amongst the group of students.


    "Given the volume of your ''discussion'', I couldn''t help noticing that you lot seem to be planning your own sort of contest?" He began. Roan and Harper both glanced around at their respective groups of friends, before turning back. Roan nodded, uncertainly.


    Professor Kinora smiled slowly, the muscles of his cheeks moving with agonising slowness to produce an expression which only made his face all the less appealing. "If I may suggest something," he continued with baleful slowness, "I would be interested in overseeing your little, ''contest''. I feel it would allow me to get a better understanding of the student ability here and, if you haven''t already decided on a form of contest, might I suggest a duel?"


    All of the students present looked confused at this. They remained silent, pondering, until Kayla voiced their question allowed, "What do you mean by a duel? Professor."


    "A duel, silly girl. Surely you''ve seen the duels in the coliseum?"


    Kayla flushed slightly, lowering her head. Kason looked at Harper, feeling anxious. He wasn''t sure whether Professor Kinora''s involvement was a good thing or a bad thing, although he thought probably bad, but a duel? Surely they didn''t even know enough magic to duel.


    "Professor," Harper began, "I- I''m not sure that''s a good idea, we don''t have an arena and we don''t know nearly enough magic and-"


    "Worry not, I will prepare you and the arena." Professor Kinora said, laughing softly, "Everything will be ready for the time." He turned and walked away, leaving the students to look silently at each other, feeling more than a little perturbed.

 Tutoring

    Tutoring


    As he watched Professor Kinora move away from them, Kason shared a concerned look with Harper. Why had Professor Kinora suddenly taken such an interest in their activities? Usually, he would have just told them to quiet down, then informed them of their inadequacies before wandering off to bully some other poor soul. Perhaps they had misjudged him? Perhaps his usual indifference was just a facade and he was really just like any other person? Kason rather thought not.


    Kason then glanced over at Roan, whose eyes were also following Professor Kinora''s retreating back. He too had a rather strange expression on his face, something between concern and pensive thoughtfulness. An uneasy silence prevailed over the group for a few moments before Roan turned back to speak to Harper.


    "Well... That''s decided then. You can''t get out of this now Harper."


    Harper stared at him in silence, his face impassive. Roan held their eye contact for a short moment more, then he turned and walked away, his friends walking quickly after him. Harper watched them leave and then turned back to Kason and the others.


    "What do you make of that?" he said, his voice sounding slightly hoarse.


    -----<>-----


    Kason wondered how Professor Kinora would prepare Roan and Harper for their upcoming duel. He wasn''t sure whether the Professor would keep to Roan''s original timeline for their confrontation, but if he did, then it would mean there was still quite a while left for them to learn new things. Of course, this would pass in no time if the time taken to learn all new spells was like it had been for the few that Kason had learnt so far.


    His query was answered soon enough, however. During one of their lessons only a few days later, Harper was called out of the lesson by senior division student who said that Professor Kinora wanted to talk to him. He left, looking nervous and returned about half an hour later trying to hide what seemed to be a worried expression.


    Kason wanted to immediately find out what had happened but as the lesson was still ongoing, he waited impatiently for the small break between lessons, before pestering Harper to tell him what Professor Kinora had said.


    "He said he wants to give us extra tutoring!" Harper exclaimed. "If it were any other teacher I would be happy, but given how he''s been in the society sessions, then I doubt I''ll learn anything at all!"


    Kason smiled ruefully, feeling sorry for Harper in his predicament. "At least you''ll still be able to practice with us in the evenings if there''s anything you''re stuck with I''m sure we, or your brother, will be able to help you."


    Harper shook his head looking vaguely distressed, "He''s scheduled it all in the evenings, so I wouldn''t be able to come and practice with you lot any more. It''ll just be me, Roan and Professor Kinora."


    "Sounds like fun" Alford snorted sarcastically.


    "What''ll he be teaching you?" Kayla asked


    Harper thought for a moment before replying, "He didn''t say, but it should be combat stuff shouldn''t it? Like force, disabling and destruction spells."


    "I doubt you, or any of us, would be able to perform any decent spells of those types," Lexia pointed out, rolling her eyes, "My dad only starts teaching them in the third year of the junior division.


    Harper shrugged, "As I said, he didn''t say so I''ll just have to find out when they start."


    -----<>------


    That evening, the four of them left to meet Nixon in the usual place, Harper having left them a short while earlier to go to Professor Kinora. When they met, Nixon inquired about the whereabouts of his younger brother, and they informed him of his newly established meetings with Professor Kinora.


    Nixon too expressed his surprise at the Professor''s interest in their duel. "I would think it''s a bit inappropriate on Kinora''s part to suddenly authorise a duel between students like that," he mused as they walked through the overcast evening gloom at the end of their practise session. "As far as I''m aware, duelling shouldn''t even be allowed between students until the second year of junior division, although that''s probably to prevent some fourth-year beating up the first years, who can''t even use magic yet."


    Kason suggested that it might be because of them being participants in the Young Questers'' society, and Nixon shrugged, "All the same, I hope Harper''s careful."


    They split off from Nixon, who carried on towards the senior dorms, and waited in their floor''s common room for Harper to get back. When he did about half an hour later, Kason stared at him in shock. He had a couple of scrapes on his face and his college robes looked dishevelled and dirty like he had just dragged himself through the Forest again.


    "What happened to you?" Kayla asked, standing up to let him sit down in one of the comfier seats.


    Harper sat, with eyes closed for a few moments, then let out a long sigh and opened his eyes. "Can you imagine what he had us do?" he said in a tired voice.


    The rest of them remained silent. "He had us run laps around part of the Training Ground and climb trees and all sorts of other stuff! No magic at all! How is that supposed to help us with spellcasting? If I wanted to do stuff like that, I would have signed up to the bodybuilding society! I swear, the Deadmoor will grow green again before I go to another one of those sessions!"


    Harper''s outburst ceased and he seemed to slump deeper into his chair. The others sat silently looking at him, not knowing what to say. Kason shivered where he sat, wondering whether he would''ve been able to do all that, he rather doubted so.


    "Well, he could be making you exercise to build up your stamina. Spellcasting is quite energy consuming so having good stamina increases the number of spells you can cast," Lexia said into the silence.


    "It''s a duel as well, so you''ll probably end up running around a lot. Better stamina would help you go on for longer," Alford added.


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    "Yeah, yeah. Okay, I''m just tired." Harper stood up unsteadily and made his way back over to the door and paused, "I''m going to bed, I''ll see you all tomorrow," then he was gone.


    Despite Harper''s reluctance to go to any more of Professor Kinora''s tutoring sessions, he still ended up continuing. As a result, he came back the next two evenings looking just as dishevelled and exhausted as he had the first time. After his fourth session, he came tumbling through the door to the common room with unusual vigour and immediately tripped over his own feet, landing spread-eagled on the carpet. He heaved himself off the floor, flushing at the laughter that came from the group who had looked over as he came in, and proceeded on his way over to them.


    "No sessions for almost forty-eight hours!" he exclaimed in a satisfied voice as he sat down heavily on one of the chairs.


    "Do you have the tarisday off then?" Kason asked.


    Harper nodded and nestled further into the cushions of his chair. They continued chatting about various things for a few minutes, Harper joining in occasionally, but mostly remaining silent. Eventually, there came a lull in the conversation which was broken by Harper.


    "Hey, guys. Umm..." he began, "You know, err..."


    Kason looked over at him feeling slightly surprised, it was unlike Harper to have difficulty expressing himself. They waited patiently and Harper, after taking a moment to collect himself, began to speak again.


    "So, you know Professor Kinora obviously thought that the duel was just between me and Roan right?"


    Everyone nodded. "That''s how I thought it was always supposed to be," Alford added, "was I wrong?"


    "Well, Roan technically challenged all of us, but I didn''t tell you as I wasn''t planning on going through with it. Anyway," he let out a long sigh, "Roan blurted out that the competition was supposed to be between our two groups during tutoring earlier and..."


    "And?" Alford said, not understanding the significance of his words.


    "Well, he''s asked me to tell..." Kason''s heart began to sink as he guessed what Harper was going to say, "He asked me to tell you guys that you will need to come to the tutoring sessions as well from now on."


    Silence prevailed over the group for a couple of seconds after this announcement, then Kayla spoke, "So, are you saying that we''re to take part in this duel as well?"


    Harper nodded, not looking at her.


    They spent the rest of the evening discussing what exactly went on during Professor Kinora''s tutoring sessions, their discussions interspersed every so often with complaints from Kayla about how she hadn''t even said she wanted to take part. This made Kason begin to feel quite guilty, after all, it could be said he was the reason that they had all been involved with the competition instead of just Harper.


    After one particularly long bout of complaining, Kason felt like he had to come clean and rather nervously explained his part in the whole thing to the others. Halfway through his explanation, he was cut short by a fit of giggles.


    "I''m not really that annoyed," Kayla said lightly and Kason looked down, suddenly feeling rather foolish.


    As the evening of the next day came around, the five of them brought themselves over to the Training Ground for the second time that day to meet with Nixon for what would be their last practice meeting with him.


    The society meeting that day had been pretty standard fare. Professor Kinora had decided that they could move onto another elemental spell and, in a gesture that surprised Kason, allowed them to vote for which spell they would learn next. He had also, about half-way through the session, come over to make sure that they had all received the message about his tutoring sessions, but apart from those anomalies, everything was the same.


    They met up with Nixon in the usual place and immediately explained to him how they wouldn''t be able to do the evening sessions anymore. Upon hearing this, he suggested that they do a little presentation to show how well they had come along in the casting of the various spells they had learnt.


    So, for that last session, they had fun messing around with the spells they had learnt so far. Showing off how far they could throw fireballs, or how much water they could conjure all at once. It was fun to play around with the spells, although Kason suffered from a minor burn on the back of his hand from when he had lost control of one of his fireballs, which promptly imploded in a shower of sparks. All too soon, however, it was time for them to go back to their dorms. They said goodbye to Nixon and thanked him for his help before going back to their rooms.


    The next day came and seemed to pass all too quickly for Kason''s liking. The history lessons, which always seemed to drag, flew by with uncanny speed and before Kason really realised what was happening, it was evening and they were all assembled to go together to Professor Kinora''s tutoring.


    They marched out of the junior dorms and, following Harper''s lead, traipsed in the direction of the Training Ground. That, however, turned out not to be their destination because they walked past it and on up to the Range, a place Kason hadn''t visited since their tour of the grounds on their first day.


    They went through the gate in the wooden fence and walked inside onto the neatly clipped lawn. As Harper then led them down to where the targets would usually be but was currently clear, Kason saw Roan already standing there with his gang, waiting. Roan evidently noticed them too, because he sneered at them as they approached and opened his mouth as if to speak, but was prevented from doing so by Professor Kinora''s voice.


    "You were almost late," he commented, giving Kason a fright. He cast he gaze all around but couldn''t figure out where his voice had come from. Then he noticed a shift in the shadows of one of the nearby trees and Professor Kinora appeared wearing his pine-green cloak.


    "That hardly matters, however," he continued, "Now that you are all here, we will begin our..." he paused and gave them a glance which Kason thought contained a slight smirk, "Tutoring."

 History with a side of muscle pain

    History with a side of muscle pain


    After this ominous statement, Professor Kinora instructed them to do a variety of stretches before sending them off to jog up and down the length of the Range. After five minutes, which seemed like forever to Kason, he stopped them and gave them a list of other exercises to do, while he went and rested beneath one of the trees as he had been doing when they first arrived.


    When they finally finished roughly fifteen minutes later, Kason and some of the others were already breathing deeply and had sweat forming on their brows. Alford, Harper and Lexia seemed to be faring better as Kason judged by their breathing. He felt a stab of jealousy towards the three of them for a short moment but as he saw Professor Kinora coming back over to them, it quickly turned to trepidation.


    After the warm-up, Professor Kinora set them various tasks to complete, such as climbing trees and sprinting or pulling heavy weights up and down the range. Kason, having already been slightly out of breath at the beginning, felt like he could almost hear his muscles screaming in process at the treatment they were receiving and though they were given ten-minute breaks every so often to help alleviate their fatigue, he was still dead-tired by the time Professor Kinora called them together again.


    "That''s all for this evening. Go jog once down the range again, then walk back up here. You''ll be free to go after that."


    Professor Kinora then made to walk back to his resting place, when suddenly an angry outburst caused him to turn again.


    "Why should we be doing stuff like this? Surely we should be learning magic instead of wasting time running around like this!"


    Professor Kinora turned and sent an annoyed glance towards the speaker, one of the boys from Roan''s group. "A healthy body makes a healthy mind, as the saying goes. And I doubt any of you have the ether tolerance to learn any useful spells."


    "But you''re a teacher! It''s your job to teach us spells and stuff to prepare for the duel. If this is all we''re going to be doing, I might as well not come anymore!"


    Professor Kinora sent a scathing look to the boy, who recoiled slightly, "It is precisely because I am your teacher that you should do exactly as I say! I will teach you magic, only when you are ready." He paused for a short moment, then continued, "And if you don''t have a very good reason for not turning up to one of these sessions, I will make sure that you get punished."


    A while later Kason slumped down into one of the chairs in their floor''s common room. He closed his eyes and tried to forget about the ache that was slowly setting into his limbs. He rolled over and looked at the others, sprawled in similar fashions across various other items of furniture. The ''tutoring'' had probably been the hardest thing Kason had done since coming to the college, at least in terms of physical exercise.


    He hoped that a good night''s rest he would help him feel better and at first when he woke up the next morning he thought it had. But then he moved and all at once, the dull throbbing from the previous evening came back in full force.


    He persuaded himself to get up and go down to breakfast, then wobbled into the classroom just before Ms Luxford entered. He sat at his desk, trying to find a position that was comfortable. The first lesson that morning was language, followed by science and then history. Language and science went by quickly enough and Kason rather enjoyed them, at least they took his mind off his aching muscles.


    The history lesson began and Kason let out a sigh. They were studying the founding of Nevadil, a topic which he had thought sounded interesting, but had soon realised was almost the dullest of all those they had studied so far.


    "As part of our study into the early days of Nevadil, it is important that we look at the way magic was used by the people who lived back then," Ms Luxford began, "Before we begin, can anyone tell me any of the differences between the modern Athian magic system and the older Anoran magic system which was used at the time of Nevadil''s formation?"


    There was silence around the classroom for a short while, then someone raised a hand. Ms Luxford signalled them to speak and so they did, "The Anoran system was more powerful than the Athian system wasn''t it?"


    Ms Luxford smiled, "Correct, but only partially so; I will explain in a minute. Anyone else?"


    "The Anoran magic was slower to cast!" someone else added


    Ms Luxford nodded and waited for other suggestions. Once it seemed that no one else had anything to say, Ms Luxford began speaking again. "The Anoran system was the official magic system in the magical society of Anor''phi and was designed to be able to bring about great displays of raw power. The mages of the empire were able to wreak destruction on a much larger scale than anything our mages possibly could. However, this power resulted in their magic being much more unstable than ours, and much more difficult to learn. From studying records of the times, it is thought that the average age for a fully trained mage in Anor''phi was around thirty years if you were lucky, and closer to forty if you were not. The Athian system, developed by the Seven Great Mages, was made to control less raw power but in exchange, gave stability and ease of learning, as evidenced by the fact that you lot will be fully qualified by the age of twenty-five. In its creation, it is also thought to have borrowed much from the long gone civilisation of Ouroak although that is mostly speculation."


    She paused and, seeing the students'' curious expressions, began again, "Ouroak was a nation, though only in a broad sense of the term, which existed many hundreds of years ago in the south around lake Aleria. There will be a segment on them in your third year, although it''s not a very big one."


    ----------


    That evening, Kason and company dragged themselves back down to the Range to meet Professor Kinora for their training. Throughout the day, Kason had felt the ache in his muscles dimish to the point where they hardly hurt at all in comparison to how they had been in the morning. The others also seemed to have recovered, although Alford and Lexia didn''t seem to have been affected that much to begin with.


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    That didn''t last long, however. In the evening after the tutoring session, Kason was once again in the common room, draped over the arms of his favourite armchair, wondering whether or not he could just sleep where he was for the night. The tutoring session had been much the same as the previous day''s and Kason was beginning wonder whether whatever punishment Professor Kinora could arrange would be any worse than the torment each of the sessions was turning out to be. Even though he thought about skipping sessions, sometimes more seriously than others, he continued going; along with the rest, and as the days went by, he gradually got used to it.


    One session during the second week of their tutoring, Professor Kinora had them doing a particularly difficult set of exercises. Kason had taken off his college robe as he had found it was quite restrictive and made feel like he was boiling. He had laid it and his necklace down at the base of a tree, near where Harper had placed his and went over to the others to complete the routine.


    After he finished, got unsteadily to his feet, wiped the sweat from his brow and made his way back towards the place where he had left his clothes. As he approached, however, he saw Professor Kinora leaning against a tree trunk nearby, holding the locket he had set down in his hands. He was gazing at it intently, turning it over and over in his palm and only looked up when Kason drew near. Kason looked at him feeling rather nervous and wondering how best to ask to have his necklace back, but Professor Kinora spoke before he reached an answer.


    "This... This necklace is yours, is it?" he said slowly.


    Kason nodded, an inexplicable feeling of disquiet washing over him.


    "It is rather... Beautiful," Professor Kinora said idly, "I wonder, could you tell me where you got it?"


    "It was from The Stars at Midnight," Kason replied, his mouth feeling rather dry, "In Constantin."


    "Ah yes... I have heard of that shop, I must visit it some time..."


    Professor Kinora went back to examining the locket and Kason wondered briefly what he was looking for. He didn''t sound like he usually did, the cold undertones of his voice were absent and he didn''t sound nearly as disdainful as he often did when talking to the children he taught.


    "Oh, but there is some kind of lock on here. Is it a locket? Do you mind if I take a look?"


    He poked the lock with one of his long fingers, even as Kason was saying he didn''t mind, and the twin winged doors sprang open to reveal the ebony stone behind them. Kason, studying Professor Kinora''s face, saw one of his eyebrows rise slightly as he first beheld the stone.


    Then he turned to Kason, "What''s this?"


    "It''s, um, just a stone that I found lying around the college," he stammered, "I thought it looked good and so I had the man at the shop put it in the locket for me."


    Professor Kinora nodded, gave the stone one last glance, then pushed the silver doors closed and handed the necklace back to Kason. "It''s quite a nice necklace, isn''t it. Make sure you''re careful with it."


    He then walked past Kason and over towards the other children, passing Harper, who was making his way over, on the way.


    Harper let out a great sigh as he reached Kason, "Man, that was pure torture!"


    His long blond hair was currently plastered quite comically across his forehead and he was breathing heavily. Kason grinned and nodded in agreement. Harper then went to his own pile of clothes, picked up a water bottle he had left lying on the top and came back over. He saw Kason still standing with his necklace in his hand and nodded to it.


    "What are you doing with that?"


    Kason, who hadn''t realised that he was still holding the locket, looked down absentmindedly and then glanced in the direction Professor Kinora had walked off in.


    "When I got back for a drink, Professor Kinora was looking at it," he said, "He seemed quite curious about it, asking where I got it and what the stone was."


    "Puzzling..." Harper said, his brow furrowing in thought, "Or perhaps not, maybe he''s just a jewellery enthusiast?"


    Kason laughed, the thought of Professor Kinora having an interest in something like jewellery was amusing, to say the least. Harper joined in his laughter and soon they were both out of breath again. The two of them chatted for a while longer, trying to recover as much as they could before they were called back over by Professor Kinora to begin whatever the next brutally exhausting workout would be.


    During the rest of the tutoring sessions of that week, Professor Kinora showed no more interest in Kason''s necklace. He carried on delivering gruelling workout regime after gruelling work out regime but although they were all still excruciatingly hard, Kason could feel himself slowly becoming stronger. At least he didn''t get out of breath by simply doing the warm-up anymore. On the evening before their day off, Professor Kinora called them all together at the end to speak to them.


    "I can see you''re all enjoying these sessions," he said with a cold smile. There was an indignant snort from someone, but Professor Kinora ignored it and carried on, "I thought that I would let you all know that I have gotten a facility for you to hold your competition. And, seeing that there are only a few weeks left until that time comes, I have decided to begin teaching you some spells in preparation."


    No one said anything, but Kason could practically feel the excitement from everyone at these words. "We will begin in two days time, as on Athiday I am away from the college. I expect you all to come with your most recent ether saturation level memorised, though if it is less than 120C, then you might as well not turn up."


    There was some anxious shuffling of feet, but silence remained amongst the students. Professor Kinora surveyed them for a moment longer then turned away, waving a hand in a gesture of dismissal.

 Unusual Events

    Unusual Events


    Kason arrived at the Range on the second day of the next week by himself. The others had all gone on ahead while he was sorting out some of his possessions which he had inadvertently knocked down from the shelves in his room while getting changed during the day. He charged through the gate at a half-run and jogged up the field to join the back of the group of which had Professor Kinora had seemingly just called together.


    Luckily, it seemed that Professor Kinora was a bit preoccupied as he did not notice his late arrival, in fact, it was a few moments longer before he began talking. He sent them off to do their usual warmup exercises and Kason wondered whether or not he had forgotten about what he had told them at their last session. It seemed he hadn''t however, for after they finished, he gathered them together once again.


    "Last week I said I would teach you magic," he began, "that is, of course, dependent on the fact that your ether saturations are up to the required level. You should all have them memorised so I''ll have you tell me now."


    He pointed at Roan, signifying that he should start them off.


    "I''m on about 135C, professor" Roan said in a boastful tone.


    Professor Kinora cast him an annoyed glance, "I need specifics boy, not ''roughly''s or ''about''s!"


    "I''m on 134.1C, sir," Roan said again, the arrogance gone from his voice.


    They went around the group starting from the front until they got to the back. Roan''s group had an average of about 128C with most of them being around that mark, except for Roan who had the highest. In Kaosn''s group of friends, Lexia still had the highest saturation with 144.2C with Alford not far behind at 139C. Next came Harper with 130.3C then Kason with 126.7C and lastly Kayla with 122.2C, just above the threshold Professor Kinora had mentioned to them at their last meeting.


    After having heard their numbers, Professor Kinora split them up into pairs and told them to move so that each pair had a good deal of space around them. He then walked amongst them and began to talk as he made sure they were sufficiently spaced out.


    "When it comes to combat magic, force spells are the most basic, and usually most effective spells one can use." He paused as he directed Alford to move into a different place and then continued, "They function much like the telekinesis you have learnt. If you think of telekinesis as pulling something along, then force spells do the opposite; they push. They are, however, classified as LSP type spells and so cannot be taught until you reach the senior division. If you get there that is." He paused and snorted to himself, "Although you cannot be taught them, their effects can be imitated in a rough manner by using air manipulation spells. It is that which I will attempt to teach you."


    He then explained the theory to them, of how they should use ether to direct the air around them to move as they wished, and then set them the task of using their magic to push their partner backwards.


    Having already gotten used to using spells with two other elements, Kason found that this time, it was much easier to get the spell to work as he wished. Compared to the many hours that he had spent trying to get the fire spell to work, it took him a mere half an hour to conjure up a light breeze to blow against Kayla, who he had been partnered with.


    This initial breeze didn''t do an awful lot, as Kayla commented whilst thanking him jokingly for cooling her down. She managed a similar feat a short while later and in that time, Kason managed come up with a way to increase the force his wind exerted. As Kayla sent her own gentle breezes his way, ruffling his hair and whistling softly in his ears, he considered how he might compress the wind under his sway into something more focussed, and ideally, more powerful.


    By the end of that evening''s tutoring, Kason had managed to successfully compress the air under his control into something the size of his own head, which he had been quite proud of. This had not, however, been significantly more powerful given that it still travelled rather slowly - but it was a start, and Kason thought he could quite easily ramp up the speed with practice.


    After a quick lecture by a disdainful sounding Professor Kinora about how they should surely have made more progress than they did, they all made their way back to the dorms. Harper walked along grumpily, his feet grinding into the path with each step as if he had some personal vendetta against it. He had been partnered up with Roan and, if his current attitude was anything to go by, he hadn''t had a pleasant time.


    They took to talking as they walked, comparing results and observations, and Harper complained in sullen tones at the taunts and nasty comments which he had had to endure throughout the session.


    "It''s not my fault that I''m not as good at magic as he is!" he raged to no one in particular, "And it''s not fair how he can just pick things up so easily."


    "Did he manage to cast the spell quite quickly then?" asked Lexia dryly.


    "Yeah, it only took him around thirty minutes to get the spell working right. Then..." he began his tirade anew and only stopped when Lexia interrupted with a sarcastic comment of mock sympathy.


    Harper glared at her, but she simply glared back. Eventually, Harper looked away with an irritated huff and continued walking in silence. it wasn''t until they reached the alleyway leading past the observatory to the dorms, that Harper spoke again.


    "Lexia," Harper said sounding thoughtful, and slightly accusatory "A while back, I thought you said that we could learn force spells in the third year? But, according to what Professor Kinora said earlier, that''s untrue."


    It was Lexia''s turn to huff this time. "I thought so, or at least, that''s how my dad does it," she said sounding miffed, "Perhaps the colleges all have different systems? Or perhaps he only starts the theory in the third year? I don''t really know."


    ----------


    The next day, they got a sudden surprise as Ms Luxford told them in class that morning that the entire faculty was having a meeting in the afternoon, so they could have that time off! This was highly unusual, given that there had never been meeting during lesson time before, but Kason felt enthused none the less, and if the atmosphere of the class was any indicator, so did everyone else. When lunch came, Ms Luxford dismissed them with a wave and they went off to eat.


    After having eaten, Kason wondered whether they all might go together and practice the wind spell that Professor Kinora had taught them the evening before. He was eager to get back to it and carry on tinkering around with the spell to make it more powerful. This idea was quickly shot dead in the water by Lexia, however, who pointed out that if all the teachers were in a meeting, then they would hardly be likely to find anyone to oversee their practice.


    They therefore all decided to go off and do their own things. Alford and Kayla went off to finish some work and Harper invited Kason to come along down to the coliseum to watch some duels. Kason readily agreed and Lexia, who had overheard their conversation, asked if she could come as well.


    And so, a short while later, the three of them wandered down the path away from the main buildings, towards the coliseum. They passed by the senior dorms and stopped for a short while to watch as several of the older students pranced about on the roof of the dorms, throwing something that looked like it could have been some kind of animal around between them. The thing eventually exploded in the hands of one rather startled looking student, who was blasted off the roof of the building by the explosion. He fell a short way, eliciting a gasp from Lexia, before bringing himself to a halt and zooming back up to the roof, shaking his fist at the other students who were all doubled up with laughter.


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    They walked up past the path that Kason and Harper had gone down during their initial exploration of the college grounds, the place where Kason had picked up the black stone that now sat in his necklace. They then reached the coliseum and paused for a few moments outside the entrance.


    "I wonder if the place Professor Kinora has arranged for us to use for the duel is anything like this?" Kason wondered aloud, looking up at the imposing grey walls.


    Harper shrugged and Lexia said, "I think this coliseum is pretty irregular. I''ve been to a few - for the regional and national bouts - and the coliseum''s they are held in are pretty different to this."


    "Yeah," Harper said, nodding, "They''re all sleek and new looking, whereas this one looks... Well, it looks a bit odd, doesn''t it?"


    "Maybe it''s old," Lexia said and led the way inside.


    They ended up staying for a few hours, watching various people enter the arena and face off against their opponents. Originally they had meant to stay for a shorter amount of time, but as they were about to leave, Harper''s idol - Emelia Ashworth - had entered the arena and Harper had insisted they stay to see her matches.


    When they eventually left, the sun was already beginning to set. Harper marched along in front of the other two as they exited the coliseum, regaling them with a more or less play by play recap of the last of Emelia''s match. He gushed enthusiastically about how she had defeated her opponent, reams of words flowing from his mouth, which Kason had long since decided not to listen to.


    That was not to say that he had not found the fights interesting. He had cheered as much as the others as he watched Emelia and the other students duke it out in the arena, all the time under the protection of the pale blue shield the coliseum provided. It was just that after the initial thrill of the fight left him, the same cold feeling always clawed its way to the fore of his thoughts, reminding him that he would have to do something similar in less than four weeks time.


    They walked along the path back towards the main buildings, Harper still speaking non-stop even after several minutes had passed. Kason was looking at the ground, letting Harper''s words wash over him and thinking of nothing in particular when he noticed that Harper had suddenly stopped his lecture. He looked up to see what had happened and saw Professor Kinora walking towards them from the direction of the main buildings.


    Lexia hastily tugged him to the side of the path where she and Harper were standing, respectfully allowing Professor Kinora to pass. Kason hurriedly joined them and watched the professor walk past.


    He paid them no mind as his feet carried his green cloaked form past them, not even seeming to notice their presence at all. Kason noticed that the hood of his cloak was lowered for a change, letting his white hair run freely down the back of the cloak and his face be illuminated by the rays of the dying sun.


    Perhaps it was this that allowed Kason to notice the slight abnormalities in it, for he surely wouldn''t have normally. In the instant that the man passed, Kason noticed his mouth was slack compared to how it usually was and his eyes, which were never very expressive anyway, seemed glazed and glassy, as if he were looking without properly seeing his way.


    Then the moment passed and Professor Kinora carried on his way, walking with what Kason now realised was a slight limp to his left leg. It was all very peculiar, and he said as much to Harper and Lexia after watching Profesor Kinora disappear down one of the turnings just before the coliseum into a small patch of woodland. Lexia nodded, having also thought he looked strange, but Harper was sceptical.


    "Maybe he''s just tired from the meeting or something like that?" Harper suggested, "I''d image stuff like that can be plenty tiring."


    "What about the limp though?" Kason said, not totally convinced.


    "Perhaps he had an accident while teaching this morning?"


    Kason nodded uncertainly and looked at Lexia, who was looking off in the direction that Professor Kinora had disappeared into.


    "How about..." she began, "we follow him?"


    "What! Why?" Harper said.


    "Well, he''s supposed to be tutoring us in a little while and yet he''s still wandering off like that. Isn''t that a bit odd?"


    "Yeah," Harper said, "But not enough for us to follow him to wherever he''s going surely?"


    Harper and Lexia argued back and forth for a short while, as Kason remained silent and watched. Privately, he felt that although it would certainly be interesting to follow Professor Kinora, whatever he was doing was probably something personal and trivial that they need not poke their noses into.


    Eventually, it was decided that they would just go back and meet up with the others before going to off to the Range for the tutoring session. Whatever Professor Kinora was doing was his business, not theirs, and they would surely regret being late to a tutoring session more than not following Professor Kinora at this instant.


    However, Professor Kinora never turned up to the tutoring session that evening. They waited around, not wanting to go and then get told off for being absent if Professor Kinora arrived late, but he never arrived. After half an hour, Roan stomped off with his group of friends complaining loudly about how the wait had been a waste of time and a few minutes later, Kason''s group followed suit.


    Kason went to bed that evening, thinking that the whole day had been rather a strange one. First of all, there was a staff meeting and then Professor Kinora missed his tutoring session. He thought, with a wry smile on his face as he lay in his bed, that perhaps they might have been better to follow Professor Kinora earlier on.


    He awoke the next morning and went to the first lesson, still pondering the possible reasons for Professor Kinora''s mysterious disappearance. His train of thought, however, was disrupted by the content of Ms Luxford''s morning announcements, which were again surprising, though not in the way the previous day''s had been.


    "Two days ago, on ivurday evening, there three break-ins by some unknown individual in Constantin," Ms Luxford began grimly, "I say this just to warn you to take extra care if any of you go to the city any time soon."


    She then paused and an uneasy silence spread throughout the classroom. After a moment, Ms Luxford cleared her throat, "I''ve also been asked to tell you that some of the woodland sprites have been complaining about someone messing around in their homes. I know many of you might not even have met any woodland sprites yet, but that''s beside the point. If anyone''s been messing around in any of the wooded areas around the college, please stop. The sprites have been here longer than many of the teachers and it would be annoying if they started causing a ruckus."


    She gave the class another glance over and then began speaking again, "Well, no need to look so dismal. These things will be sorted out in no time. Anyway, onto today''s lesson..."

 Earth Shield

    Earth Shield


    Kason wondered whether the coming days might present any more strange events, but contrary to his expectations, they did not. In fact, the rest of the week passed by in the same way as any normal week would.


    Professor Kinora''s tutoring sessions continued in the evenings and the Young Questers'' club meeting was held as usual on their day off. During the next tutoring session, Kason had been tempted to see if he could get any information out of Professor Kinora about why he had missed their previous session, but he seemed to be in a particularly bad mood and so Kason gave up this endeavour.


    On the bright side, however, he finally managed to get to the point where he was happy with his wind manipulation spell. He had managed to reduce it down to the size of a fist and although the speed was still not as fast as he would have liked it, it still had enough force to knock someone off balance if it hit them in the right place.  He had found that as he gradually reduced the size the air got harder to control. With his end product, he could fire it at a relatively fast pace - but only if he increased its size.


    During the Young Questers'' Club meeting, they continued to doggedly practice the fire starting spell. This was becoming something of a bore to Kason, given that he had already grasped this spell sufficiently.


    On the first tutoring session of the next week, Professor Kinora made another announcement. After their customary warm-up, he gathered them together and began to speak.


    "You all seem to have grasped the wind spell to some degree, at least enough where you can go and practice by yourself. That being the case, we will be moving on to studying a new spell."


    He paused and Kason wondered what they would be doing next. Following a logical progression, their next spell would be the last of the four traditional elemental spells, earth.


    "I thought that this time, I might give you a choice of what spells to learn. Given that you will be duelling in just under two weeks time, I thought it would be a good idea to give each of you some variety in your repertoire. After all, it would be kind of boring - not to mention unrealistic - if you knew every spell which your opponent  could perform"


    He then told them to wait while he took each of them aside individually and presented them with the possible spells they could learn.


    When it was Kason''s turn, he walked a short distance away with Professor Kinora before the Professor signalled him to stop and began speaking.


    "So what type of spell do you want to learn?"


    "Umm..." Kason had expected to be presented with a list of potential spells and so was momentarily at a loss for what to say. He after coming out of his daze, he quickly cast his mind to what spells might prove useful during the duel. He already had a few methods of attacking with his fire, wind and water spells and he supposed wind and water would also be quite good at causing distractions, but in regards to defence...


    "Come on boy, quickly now!" Professor Kinora said.


    Kason gave a start then spoke, "I would like to learn a defence spell, Professor."


    "What kind of defence spell? A barrier? A direct counter?"


    Kason began to panic. He didn''t know what would be best, he had come across different types of defence spells in class, but only in passing and they hadn''t studied them in depth. Professor Kinora watched him flounder for a few moments then tutted and said, "A barrier would best suit your situation, boy."


    "Ah, yes. Thank you, Professor." Kason said, letting out a soft sigh.


    Professor Kinora then told him about the various types of barriers. How they, like most spells they were learning at the moment, were often better when done with a force type spell, but could also be achieved through other means. In the end, he concluded that an earth element barrier would work best and so explained the theory before sending him off to practise.


    Kason wondered off, past the group of people who were still waiting, and moved into a relatively isolated area to begin working out how he could get the spell to work. At its most basic, the earth barrier was simply a tower of dirt raised up from the ground so that it stood in between a caster and their opponent. From this foundation, the caster could then try to strengthen the dirt with ether so that it could withstand greater impacts without collapsing.


    After an hour or so of shouting a variety of words at the unresponsive ground beneath his feet, Kason decided to take a break and see what his friends were doing. He looked around and seeing that Lexia was nearest, made his way over to her. At the moment that he approached, she was standing still but occasionally, Kason had seen her striding about the quite vigorously, occasionally bursting out into a run.


    He called out a greeting as he reached her then asked her what spell she had gotten from Professor Kinora.


    "I wanted some kind spell to help me find out what spell the opponent might be casting. But he said that was too advanced right now, so we settled on a speed enhancement spell instead ." She pouted as if to show that this wasn''t adequate, but stopped on seeing Kason''s questioning look.


    "Basically I''m supposed to do some stuff with air magic and it''ll make it so that I can move faster. Do you want to see? I can only do it well on one arm so far."


    Kason nodded and before he had even finished nodding, he saw a blur shoot forward accompanied and uncannily quiet whooshing of air. He then felt a dull pain on his ear as Lexia tugged on his earlobe before retracting her hand with a girlish giggle at his look of annoyed astonishment.


    Kason rubbed his ear, frowning at her "Why did you do that?"


    Lexia shrugged, "You wanted to see didn''t you?"


    After this display, Kason went to find the next person available, who happened to be Kayla. She said that she had just asked for some help with the spells she already knew, which Kason acknowledged as a smart choice. He soon left Kayla to her practise and began looking out for either Harper or Alford.


    As he walked, he wondered whether or not it would have been better to have asked for more help like Kayla had. Even though he felt pretty confident about his ability in the spells he had already learnt, it had been a long time since he had had any real guidance with regards to any of them.


    He was contemplating whether or not to risk asking Professor Kinora for help when he suddenly realised that he had ended up back where he had started without seeing any signs of Alford or Harper. He frowned, wondering whether he might have just missed them by chance during the mental blindness bought about by his session of introspection.


    So he went around again, this time making sure to give his full attention, and he managed to spot them, although he almost missed them again. He pushed his way through into a particularly dense clump of trees and found Alford and Harper facing each other with raised fists. They both immediately turned with fists still raised as Kason noisily entered their clearing but relaxed their stances when they saw who it was.


    "Hi," Kason said in an attempt to break the tension, "What are you two doing?"


    "We''re practising our new spells," Alford replied gruffly.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "Oh... But why are you practising in here? Why not out in some space where you''ve got room to move?"


    "Because here we can hide from Roan and his lot."


    "Do you really need to be hiding?"


    "Yes!" Alford said frustratedly, "And you should too, it''ll stop the others from knowing what you can do, which was the whole point in Professor Kinora telling us our spells privately anyway. In fact, go and get the two girls, we''ll all move to a place where we can practise in private."


    Kason nodded and hurried off, he often felt quite intimidated by Alford''s tall, thickset figure and deep voice. The other boy had grown enormously over the course of the year, while the same couldn''t really be said for Kason.


    They all continued on for the rest of that week, practising the spells that they had been taught at the beginning of the week. Harper, who had also gone for a sort of shield, succeeded in making a wind barrier by the fourth day and was immensely pleased with it, even if it could be broken through with a well-thrown rock.


    Kason had also managed to get his shield to work properly. He could now successfully call up a large, if rather thin, mound of earth to protect himself from incoming magic. He had also started trying to strengthen the earth to improve its durability but found that this task was particularly draining. If he was going to keep his energy consumption manageable, then he could only strengthen a meagre earthen wall which could barely cover his small frame.


    With the group now having two working shields, Alford eagerly sought out both Kason and Harper so he could test his spell. The spell that he had learnt was definitely the most combat oriented of all Kason''s friends. He was now able to coat his fists in an element - Kason had seen him using fire and water so far - for a small duration of time to add more power to his hits.


    To test out their defences, Alford took them each in turn and struck them as hard as he could with each type of his elemental fist. Harper''s wind shield mostly dissipated after each strike and Kason''s earth barrier was reduced to just a lump of dirt after his water element punch. His shield did, however, managed to hold up rather well against his fire element punch - standing mostly intact with the exceptions of a few stray cracks zigzagging across its surface. Emboldened by this success, Kason excitedly asked Alford to test his strengthened earthen barrier. Alford said that he shouldn''t however, given that he needed to recharge.


    For the rest of the week, Professor Kinora gave them free rein to practise their spells as they thought necessary. At the end of the last session, however, he gathered them together again like he usually did when he had something to announce.


    "Next week will be the last week before your duel. I won''t be teaching you anything specific, therefore, as if you haven''t learnt anything by now, then there''s no point in trying to get anything through to you at this late stage," he paused and snorted to himself, his eyes wandering over the group and pausing on a few individuals. "That means you are free to do as you wish. You could even take the week off if you want. But if you want to practise still, I might find it in me to turn up as usual." He then dismissed them with a wave and walked back over to the trees to pick up his cloak.


    The next day was a welcome break for Kason. The whole business with the duel was becoming quite a hassle for him. Yes, it was exciting to learn new spells and all that, but the increasingly antagonistic atmosphere between Roan''s group and Kason''s that was present whenever they met - whether in or out of tutoring - was beginning to wear on Kason''s mind. He spent the day relaxing, apart from that week''s Young Questers'' meeting where he spent the time trying to avoid the members of Roan''s group and before he knew it, he was back down at the Range with the rest of their group.


    As he had said, Professor Kinora didn''t teach them anything, in fact, he didn''t even do anything for the entire session. After a few minutes of awkwardly standing before Professor Kinora, waiting for him to do something, they cautiously broke away and began their regular routine. That first session, they went about it as they might any of the previous few tutoring sessions, except for the fact that Professor Kinora remained as active as a rock throughout it.


    During the next session though, Harper called them all together after their warm-up.


    "I''ve been thinking... Perhaps we should come up with some kind of tactics? I mean, we can''t do an awful lot at the minute, but it wouldn''t hurt to try and prepare some kind of game plan?"


    What followed was a long drawn out discussion on how they should be doing things. A lot of times the regional bouts were mentioned, Harper and Lexia both using examples of formations they had seen there as suggestions for their own. Kason tried to participate, offering up some of his own ideas, but when they began tossing around some technical sounding jargon that Kason didn''t understand, he gave up. He then stood there and listened as words like ''tankers'', ''rearguards'', ''glass-cannons'' among others were thrown around over his head.


    At the end of it, however, a general consensus seemed to have been reached. As one of the only two of them who could produce a good enough shield, Kason was given the job of going up front with Alford and Harper and helping to stop everyone getting hit as soon as the match began. He didn''t much like it but understood the necessity of such a move nonetheless.


    As for the general plan, it would start off with Kason and Harper creating shields and then using them as bases from where to harass the opponents and stop them from having enough time to cast their own spells. While this was happening, Lexia and Alford would try to go around the sides and start hitting the opponents from close range. At the same time, Kayla would remain behind Kason and Harper and try to hit their opponents from long range.


    This all sounded all well and good until, well, things didn''t go exactly as they planned. What if, as Kason thought later that night, Roan''s team could cast their spells faster than he could prepare a shield? What if they could produce shields of their own? What if he failed to cast his own shield properly under the pressure? Of course, there was a veritable sea of things that could go wrong and the answer that was given the next day when Kason voiced his concerns was hardly satisfactory.


    "Just improvise."


    For the rest of the week, they practised their formation and tried to set in place some back-up plans in case things went wrong. Kason practised his shield more vigorously as well, hoping to get it so deeply implanted in his memory that he would just be able to pull it off by sheer force of habit.


    Soon enough, the day before the duel came around. At the end of the tutoring session, Professor Kinora once again brought them all together to give them the last minute information they needed.


    "Tomorrow, you will need to meet me in the nexus of the main building at eleven o''clock in the morning. We will then travel to the coliseum which I have arranged and begin the duel before coming back here in the afternoon." Professor Kinora then dismissed them as he usually did, but after a second he called them back. Kason and the rest turned and saw Professor Kinora sneering at them.


    "Good luck," he said with a short laugh.

 Duel

    Duel


    Kason walked through the short dimly lit tunnel into the arena''s interior and blinked in the sun that shone down through the gathering clouds. They had left the college just after eleven with Professor Kinora, Ashton and two other senior division students as supervisors. From the college, they had gone to Constantin and from there taken a levicraft to another city called Dura''ma. Then, from the terminal where they landed, it was just a short walk to the coliseum.


    The arena was actually quite small considering how large the one at the college was. He looked around at the edges as he entered and saw that instead of a viewing platform, there were rows of low benches rising in concentric circles around the outside of the arena. The first row was raised up maybe ten meters above the ground - which gave rise to the same sort of haze that the coliseum at the college did to obscure the other available terrains.


    As he surveyed the barren, rock spattered environment, he felt the nervousness he had suppressed rise again in his stomach. He glanced over at the rest of the group spread out around him and caught Roan smirking silently as he gazed out at the arena.


    Professor Kinora walked through their group, followed by a young woman in green robes. "You will be fighting in a minimal cover environment," he said, "that is to say, this. There won''t be any spectators for this match apart from those here."


    "And, of course, you need to know the rules... Everything up to the fog is in bounds, if you try to encroach on the fog, you will be repelled and eliminated, understood? On the starting signal - a whistle - the coliseum will apply a shield for you to prevent serious harm. This means you can use any spells you know, without concern for hurting your opponents. They won''t get hurt. Well, not much."


    His mouth formed a slight smirk before he settled it back into his usual expression and continued. "The shield will also show you whether you''ve been eliminated or not. After your shield takes a certain amount of damage, it will flash white and then remain a milky colour until it is removed. This will show you that you have been eliminated. You will also not be able to use your wands, or whatever after you have been eliminated. Once you''re eliminated, make your way back over to this archway and one of these three will see to you." He gestured to the three senior division students.


    "This place isn''t as up to date as the stadium at the college, so I will need to oversee the match. I will proclaim the winner when one team has been eliminated and then we can all go home. As for wands or other foci, the coliseum crew will be able to provide..."


    He looked towards the woman, who nodded and stepped forward.


    "I have with me wands, gloves, and staves," she said in a pompous tone, "You can choose whichever you want. Just tell me and I''ll get it for you."


    They each told her which implement they would like, and after each request, the woman would wave one of her hands. This hand was covered in many rings, one on each finger except for her thumb. After each wave, the requested focus would appear and be presented to whoever had asked for it. Kason chose a simple wand, as that was what he was most familiar with, and most of the others did the same. The only exceptions were Alford, who chose gloves, and one of Roan''s friends, who chose a staff.


    After they all had their implements, the woman nodded to Professor Kinora and walked back down the tunnel, leaving them alone. Professor Kinora then dispatched them towards opposite ends of the stadium, where they would start for the fight. Just before their group set off, Ashton came over to speak to them.


    "You lot got yourselves sorted?" he asked, "Got a plan?"


    They nodded tensely, and Harper said, "What''s wrong?"


    "Nothing," Ashton said, "One of the other supervisors is the older brother of someone in the other team, so he''s gone to give them advice." He said and jabbed his thumb over his shoulder towards the other team where one of the other senior division students was talking to the other team. "I thought since I''d like it to be a fair fight, I''d come and give you some pointers."


    Ashton then embarked on a rather detailed speech about the dos and don''ts of group battles. He talked for a few minutes about flanking manoeuvres and sneak attacks, which just made Kason more nervous until Professor Kinora shouted at them for wasting time and forced him to stop.


    Kason walked beside Harper towards the end of the arena that they had been allocated, twisting his borrowed wand between his fingers. They reached it, a flat depression with several waist-high rocks surrounding it, and huddled together for a last minute talk before the fight began.


    "Everyone remembers the plan, right?" Alford began, "Kason and Harper at the front, shields, me and Lexia forward, Kayla stay back."


    They all nodded.


    "So we''ll go forward until we can see what they''re doing. There isn''t an awful lot to hide behind so we shouldn''t have too much trouble seeing if they try to go around us or something like that. Once we''re close enough to be in range, we''ll begin as we planned."


    Just as Alford finished speaking, a short sharp whistle rang out over the stadium. As soon as it did, Kason''s vision flashed with a bright blue colour that faded as quickly as it had come. He cast a glance at the others of his group and saw that they were now covered with a translucent, hardly visible blue barrier. This, it seemed, was the barrier the stadium provided to prevent harm from coming to the fighters.


    As soon as the whistle blew, Alford had begun to move forward out of the depression they currently stood in, Lexia a few steps behind him. They had reached the top before the others had realised what was happening and called down to them impatiently.


    After Kason, Harper and Kayla scrambled up the bank, to join the other two, they all set off towards the centre of the arena. They didn''t walk fast and kept an eye out for the other team all the while they walked. The arena wasn''t very big, and they found that they could see the other team almost as soon as they got out of their starting position. From what Kason could see, they were doing roughly the same as them, just walking towards them at a relatively slow pace.


    "How far do you think you could hit them from?" Harper asked Kason as they walked.


    Kason opened his mouth to answer, but all that came out was a hoarse grunt. He cleared his throat and tried again, "From here, maybe when they reach there?" He said, pointing to a large rock that jutted out of the sparse grassy ground around twenty metres away. If he was being honest, he didn''t really know what the range of his spells was. That was one thing, he realised now, that he had forgotten about during practice.


    Both teams carried on their walk until they were maybe thirty metres apart. Kason was just wondering whether they should be settling down to attack when suddenly, Lexia who was walking in front of him, gave a shout and stumbled backwards.


    "That was a wind spell or something!" She cried as she steadied herself.


    Kason, who had been absorbed in his thoughts as they walked, quickly looked up to see what the other team was doing. He could see that three of them were indeed stood still. The boy who had picked the staff was stood with the staff pointing towards them while another two stood by his side. The remaining two were charging across the ground towards them.


    "Shields up, quickly!" Alford shouted, firing a wind spell himself with his hastily raised wand.


    Kason''s wand immediately rose, although his mind was still not totally focused.


    "Rise!" He heard himself shout, as if in a dream. He felt the rushing in his head as ether poured from him to his wand. Not even a moment later, the ground in front of him grew upwards to form the earthen barrier Kason had called for.


    Lexia ran past him at that moment, having already righted herself, and rushed towards the approaching students at top speed. "The staff has a longer range than the wands," she cried as she went past the group, "until they get closer, there''s no need to worry about the other two!"


    Finally coming to himself, Kason quickly crouched behind his conjured wall as a whistling overhead suggested another wind spell had just flown past. What was he supposed to be doing again? Ah yes, attacking. He peered around the stone to get his bearings and to check on the progress of the people running towards them.


    Looking around his shield, he saw Alford running forward and to the side, following Lexia to circle around and intercept one of the incoming enemies. Kason briefly wondered what the other two students who had stayed with the staff-wielding student were doing, but quickly dropped this thought and turned his wand on the other student still barrelling towards them.


    He was moving with a speed that could only come from some kind of magical enhancement so that he had already gotten three-quarters of the way towards them. Kason, still peering around the side of his rock shield, took aim with a shaking hand and said, "Blast!"


    He felt again the rush of ether and saw the rippling air as he fired his own wind spell at the student. He tried to trace its movement through the air but couldn''t. He did, however, see the student stumble as his wind spell passed by one of his legs. Then, before the boy could recover, another two spells collided with his chest causing the student to fall over backwards - his wand flying out of his hand.


    Kason took a quick glance over his shoulder and saw that Harper and Kayla, both of whom had stayed behind as discussed, also had their wands raised, pointing at the now grounded student. Kason lowered his wand momentarily and let out a shaky breath. His nervousness had disappeared, remaining only as a vague memory from a few minutes prior and had been replaced by some new marvellous source of energy that made Kason feel as if he could do anything.


    Kason saw the grounded boy begin to rise and realised that he had not been eliminated. He hesitated for a split second and then decided that getting closer would be better for the moment.


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    He emerged from behind his stone shield and sprinted over to where the student had fallen, thankful - for the first time - for the physical training they had been doing. The boy was on his feet, however, he did not have his wand. Seeing that it had landed a few meters away, he tried to make a grab for it but Kason quickly pointed his wand at it and pulled it away using telekinesis. He then conjured up a ball of fire which he threw from his wand at the boy, who failed to dodge and went down with a shrill cry.


    Kason, conscious of his lack of cover, began conjuring another fireball, but before he finished another ripple of air shot past him and struck the boy in the side. The blue shield that covered the boy''s body then pulsed with a pearly white light, putting out the magical flames that still licked at his body and signalling his elimination from the match.


    Kason turned and ran back to his stone shield, giving Harper a grin as he returned. He jumped down behind it and let out the breath he had subconsciously been holding. He thought it strange that he hadn''t been targetted by any other spells while out in the open and peeked over his shield to check on the three students of the enemy team who had stayed behind.


    They were gone!


    He looked around wildly, trying to figure out where they had gone when suddenly his ears began to ring and he experienced a sharp pain in the back of his head. He cried out in surprise and pain and threw himself to the ground just as another spell flew over his head, striking his stone shield with a crunch and showering Kason with dust.


    There as a shout of laughter from behind him, and as Kason raised his head, he saw one staff and two wands raised in his direction.


    "How in the Seven''s name did they get there?" Harper shouted as he fell over while dodging a spell.


    Kason didn''t reply as he was too busy scrambling to get on the other side of his shield, but a mocking voice floated over to them along with the bombardment of spells.


    "That''s what happens when you don''t pay attention Harper!" said Roan, his tone gleeful.


    Kason, now safely behind his shield again, realised that the other three students must have snuck around behind them while he and Harper had been focussed on defeating the other student. As for what had happened to Kayla, Kason had no idea. He hadn''t seen her when he looked over at Roan and company.


    Another spell crashed into his stone shield, breaking a chunk off the top and bringing him back to the present. He stuck his wand tentatively around the edge of the barrier and blindly fired off a wind bullet in the general direction he knew Roan to be in. There was no sign of it hitting anything so he didn''t try again and instead sat, thinking furiously.


    He glanced to the side and saw that Harper was hunkered down behind a nearby boulder. The shower of spells had stopped, but Kason was sure that as soon as either of them broke cover, they would immediately be under fire. He wondered where Alford and Lexia were, surely they would have finished dealing with the other student they had been dealing with by now? And what about Kayla?


    Another spell hit his shield and more of it broke off, hitting him on the head and making him jump. He couldn''t stay behind the shield that was for certain. He looked back towards where Harper was crouched, wondering how long it would take to get there.


    More of his shield broke off and he decided. Now was the time. Before the rubble had even touched the ground, Kason was off. He leapt away from his shield and sprinted towards Harper''s boulder. It was only a few meters away and yet it seemed to take an age to get there. As he ran, he glanced to the side to see what their three opponents were doing and saw that two of them were gradually making their way closer towards their positions, while one was circling round to come upon them from the side.


    He ducked as a flash of light whizzed behind him with a crackling sound and jumped down beside Harper, who pulled him into a safer position.


    "There''s a guy creeping around the side of us!" he said in a slightly breathless voice.


    Harper nodded and said, "We''ll rush him, no point in hiding here forever."


    "What about the other two, we''ll be hit easily!"


    "Doesn''t matter, we can take a few hits. We just need to keep moving and not get hit too many times."


    After saying this Harper jumped up and pulled Kason back to his feet and said, "You go that way and meet him, I''ll go the other way and hopefully get him from behind."


    Kason nodded and they both began to run. Kason had only moved a short distance, however, before he encountered the boy running at full pelt towards him. He had obviously started running as soon as Kason had spotted him and Kason, busy listening to Harper, hadn''t heard his steps.


    With a cry, they rammed into each other. Despite Professor Kinora''s exercise regime, Kason was still the smallest boy in their tutoring sessions and was knocked over by the bigger boy''s weight. The other boy, caught by surprise, also tripped and fell, landing across Kason''s legs and eliciting another cry of pain from Kason.


    The boy righted himself first and, finding himself wandless, used the next best weapons he could find, that is to say, his fists. His first blow struck a still disoriented Kason in the chest, the next in the head.


    Kason raised his arms dazedly to try and protect himself, feeling his body ache from the assault. Then, suddenly, there was a roar and a surprised yelp, and the weight was removed from Kason''s legs. He lowered his arms and saw the hulking figure of Alford standing over him, the boy who had been hitting him, held in one gloved fist. Alford gave a grunt and threw the boy to the floor then gathered a ball of fire in his open palm which he tossed, almost leisurely onto the boy''s body.


    He then held out his other hand to Kason, who grabbed it and pulled Kason to his feet. Kason stood on shaking legs and let out a quavering breath


    "Thanks," he said with a weak smile.


    Alford nodded and said, "Would''ve been over earlier, but the guy me and Lexia were tackling did something weird. Made our feet sink into the floor. Anyway, Lexia will be over as soon as she gets out."


    There was a brief moment of silence, in which Kason suddenly became aware of sounds of battle from the direction Harper had gone.


    "I''m gonna go help out over there. You finish off this guy and come as soon as you can," Alford said as he broke out into a run again. Kason nodded and went about searching for his wand. He found it lying a short distance away and fired off another fireball at the boy, who was still on the ground.


    After the flash of white, he hurried in the same direction that Alford had gone - hoping that Harper had been able to hold his own against the two opponents he had been facing.


    He came around the boulder a few moments later just in time to see Alford punch the staff-wielding student in the gut with a flame coated fist just one of those flashes of light hit him in the back. The student keeled over while Alford grunted and fell to one knee. Harper who, miraculously, had still not been eliminated, dodged away from a spell from Roan and finished off the student with a wind spell that hit him in the arm. The staff fell out of his hands just as his shield flashed white - leaving Roan as the only one remaining on the enemy team.


    He was backing away slowly, his face set in a grimace and eyes darting about. As Kason ran up to get clearer aim, he fired a spell at the still recovering Alford, who didn''t fall but whose shield flashed white all the same. This left Harper, Kason and Roan as the only combatants in the area.


    There was a tense moment, where Harper and Roan stared at one another, then shouts filled the air as all of them fired spells at the same time. The flash of light that was discharged from Roan''s wand flew faster than Harper could react and hit him squarely in the chest. Harper''s was slower, however, and Roan dodged out of the way.


    Kason could see a smile play upon his lips for just a moment as he escaped and began to move in the direction of cover. But then it froze. Kason''s wind spell hit him in the side, below his outstretched arm, and he could tell that Roan had not seen it coming.


    There was a flash of white light and Roan''s legs gave out from under him. So did Kason''s. He sat on the floor and a grin spread across his face.


    They had won.


    There was a clamour of footsteps on the ground and Lexia burst into view, her college robes flapping about her as she ran. She skidded to a halt and surveyed the situation. She saw Roan and the other student on the ground with their shields glowing faintly white and a smile broke out over her face.


    "We''ve won!" she cried, jumping up and down on the spot.


    There were more footsteps and Kayla appeared. Her shield had the white sheen of someone who had been eliminated. She took in the scene as well and ran over to Lexia to join her in celebrating.


    Kason slowly got to his feet and went over to Harper, who hadn''t moved since the Roan had been eliminated. He patted him on the back and he turned around.


    "We''ve won!" Kason said, grinning.


    Harper swallowed and said slowly, "Yeah."


    Then Alford''s voice came over to them and stopped their celebration. "But Kinora hasn''t said anything yet, you sure we got everyone?"


    Realising Alford was right, Kason looked over to where Professor Kinora was standing. Was it possible that they had missed one?


    Professor Kinora was standing on a small floating platform that hung a short way from the stands above the entrance tunnel. Below him, Kason saw the senior division students also looking up at him, then as one, they all turned and to their left. Kason frowned, he glanced up at Professor Kinora and saw that he too was looking in that direction.


    Kason looked over in that direction as well and gasped as he felt a nostalgic cold sensation begin to gather around his lower back. A figure, wreathed all in black, was standing on the top row of benches, looking down at the stadium.

 Chaos

    Chaos


    Kason stared fixedly at the figure, dread slowly rising within him. The icy feeling grew steadily stronger as he remembered that time months back when he had met the owl in the Forest. He shivered and his eyes left the mysterious person. The cold immediately vanished leaving his back covered with a layer of cold sweat.


    "Who''s that?" Harper whispered.


    Kason shook his head and looked back at the figure. The two of them made their way haltingly to where Lexia and Kayla stood and Alford joined them, all watching the figure carefully.


    For a few minutes, no one moved. A cold wind whistled through the arena, particularly noticeable in the tense silence. Eventually, the black-clad figure began to descend towards the stadium''s floor. They moved downwards, going from bench to bench, taking strides of a length that no human ought to and with such unnatural smoothness that they might have been floating.


    As the figure reached the low barrier at the very bottom bench, Kason caught another movement from the corner of his eye. He looked away from the figure just in time to see Ashton vaulting over the barrier from his seat to land on the stadium floor. He then hurried towards the black-clad figure, casting concerned glances at Professor Kinora who was still staring at where the figure had been a few moments before as if he hadn''t noticed they had moved.


    As Ashton approached the figure, who was making its way slowly towards the children, Kason was shaken out of his dazed state by Alford''s voice, which was quavering.


    "We should head to the entrance tunnel. I don''t like that guy."


    It was only then that Kason realised that they had simply been standing where they were. He nodded, not wanting to speak and they all moved off in the direction of the tunnel.


    Meanwhile, near the centre of the field, Ashton had intercepted the black robed person and was speaking to him. Kason could hear him asking who the intruder was and what they were doing, his voice ringing strangely throughout the arena. As far as he could tell, the figure gave no answer, they simply stood and regarded Ashton from within their ebony hood.


    The silence stretched on, the only sound being the muffled footfalls of Kason''s group which were drowned by Ashton''s commanding tones. Kason felt a tension building in him, like a spring gradually compressing. He licked his lips and rubbed his hands together, feeling the dampness of sweat on his palms. Ashton had begun his round of questions again, his tone turning angry. Kason wished he would just back off, the black-clad figure was dangerous - maybe even being responsible for the apparition he had seen in the Forest!


    More than once he thought about calling out to Ashton, telling him to come back with them, but fear and something else held him back. A feeling of relief, quickly followed by shame, that the figure was occupied with Ashton and not them.


    Halfway towards the tunnel, Ashton finished his round of questions for the second time. Kason, who was beginning to feel quite ill, reached into his uniform and pulled out his locket. He held it tightly as he walked, and gazed at the winged silver doors - thinking beyond to the stone that lay inside.


    He closed his eyes momentarily, wishing that the figure in black would leave or at the very least, say something. He wished that Professor Kinora, much as he disliked him, would do something! He worried as he walked and as he began to feel overwhelmed, he felt what could only be described as a touch. Not a physical connection but something in his mind.


    The touch brushed gently against his thoughts and seemed to calm them. His mind instinctively shied away from the connection, but it stuck to him and he could feel a sensation of hurt transmitted across it. What was going on?


    "Kason?"


    Kason opened his eyes and the feeling disappeared. The others were all looking at him nervously. By the way they had all ended up slightly ahead of him, Kason guesses that he had stopped walking momentarily. He took a steadying breath and waved a hand, opening his mouth to say that he was fine but before he could, a piercing scream cut the air.


    Kason leapt into the air in fright and spun around just in time to see Ashton crash into the wall of the stadium and fall to the ground. Mouth agape and heart sinking faster than iron through water, Kason turned his head to look at where the black-robed figure was.


    He saw that the figure was now striding towards them, robes billowing around them and making them seem all the more intimidating for it. Kason heard someone nearby whimper as the black-robed figure raised a sleeve veiled hand towards the children, causing a slight thrill to run through Kason''s body.


    Kason tried to run. Even though every instinct in his body was telling him to flee, his limbs would simply not obey. It was as if they were no longer his to command; as if they were under the sway of some higher power than his own. And so Kason could only stand stationary as the mysterious person swept towards him. The fact that he was the closest to the person only served to heighten his sense of dread so that by the time the figure stood before him, his body had practically shut down and he couldn''t have run even if his legs did decide to listen.


    As the figure stood menacingly before Kason, he could see some vague outlines of a face within the hood. The shouts and cries of the other senior division students as they surged across the arena towards them faded into the background and all that occupied Kason''s mind was the man - for he could now tell that is was a man - before him. The dense facial hair beneath the hood hid the remainder of the face that might''ve been visible, but the eyes remained clear. Bright green and piercing, they bore down into Kason and brushed over his face to fix upon the locket that was sitting, exposed on Kason''s chest.


    With one swift movement, the man grabbed hold of Kason and lifted him from the arena floor. Up close, Kason could now smell a putrid scent of cloying sweat coming from the man. With the hand not holding Kason, the man took hold of the locket, ripped it from Kason''s neck, and held it up for examination. It glinted in the weak sunlight as it sat on the man''s palm, who stared at it momentarily then, closed his hand into a fist, causing the locket to shatter into many silver shards which fell in a tinkling shower from the man''s grasp. Uncurling his fingers, revealed the smooth black stone resting in the man''s open palm. The green eyes gleamed triumphantly as he beheld it and then, seemingly by accident, moved back to Kason''s face.


    Kason saw them take in his features momentarily and then move back to the locket only to flick back a split second later. A small part of his mind that wasn''t currently shut down by fear noted that shock seemed to float across the pupils. Then Kason was lifted higher and turned this way and that as if being examined himself, before being brought back to eye level.


    From within the hood, Kason thought he heard a vague rumbling voice say, something. The man then waited as if expecting an answer. Kason, still paralysed in terror, moved his mouth to say something - but all that came out was an incoherent gurgle. The man snorted and peered at him a moment longer then, almost as suddenly as he had been picked up, he was flung to the floor where he lay trembling for a good few minutes.


    When Kason recovered, he looked up from the dirt to see the black-robed man standing only a few steps from where he had been, facing the two other senior division students. The black-robed man looked at ease, whereas the two students were obviously tense and uneasy. In the background, Kason could see Ashton still lying spread-eagled on the ground beneath a cracked portion of the wall.


    He turned to check on the others and found them still standing rigidly in the positions they had been before. They looked down at him with concerned and teary eyes but otherwise remained immobile, still under the sway of whatever spell the figure had cast on them. Kason turned back briefly considered attacking but then realised that his borrowed wand was not on his person. He glanced around again and saw that Professor Kinora had still not moved from his previous position. He also wondered what had become of the arena staff. Surely they should have come to help by now?


    As Kason was thinking the standoff between the students and the intruder continued. The senior division students stood, various implements held at the ready but unwilling to act first in case they hit one of the children. The black-robed man stood as before, still at ease, but one hand seemed to twitch every so often.


    After a few more moments, one of the senior division students let out an anguished cry and brandished their wand at the intruder, sending a column of fire roaring towards him. The intruder seemed to contemplate the fire for a split second before pushing out his palm towards the flame. When the column reached a meter away from the open palm, it collided with some unseen barrier and exploded in spurts of flame around the point of collision.


    At the same time, the other student, seeing that his companion had begun attacking, also swung his staff about to point at the black-robed man. Kason, who had been alerted by the fire to the commencing battle, could not see anything burst from the staff as the fire had, but the intruder must have sensed something as he raised his other hand, clenched in a fist, and drew out a circle in the air with it.


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    Seeing this, the staff-wielding student gave a look of panic and tried to leap aside and dodge whatever it was that was coming at him. But some force seemed to catch him mid-leap and force him back to the ground. As soon as his feet touched the earth, his robes caved in at a point on his stomach before billowing out as the student was sent spinning a short way into the air before crashing down to the ground.


    The other student, seeing that they were suddenly the only one left to face the intruder, began to back up. As they stepped backwards, however, the earth under their feet began to break apart and shake as if they were suddenly caught in their own localised earthquake. They quickly lost their balance and fell to the ground before being hit by another of the invisible spells that had felled the other student.


    Kason who was now standing again, saw the man glance once back at them before he began to walk past them towards the tunnel out of the stadium. As Kason watched the black-robed back walk away, he suddenly felt a sense of loss. It came on so suddenly that he was momentarily immobilised by its intensity. It was an ache that formed in the front of his mind, radiating in uncomfortable waves throughout his head. As quickly as it came, however, it shifted again, becoming a peculiar feeling that Kason couldn''t immediately put a name to.


    As he stood with his leg stretched out, frozen in a half step, and watched the retreating back of the man, he realised that it was some kind of plea for help. And now that the intensity had dropped, he recognised, with some revulsion, the same touch as earlier. It was getting weaker over time, and it was across this connection that the silent plea was being transmitted.


    Kason felt himself begin to panic. Whoever it was asking for help seemed to be desperate and he, Kason, didn''t even know where they were to help them. He thought back to when he had last felt the touch, trying to grasp what had triggered it. He had been worried and had taken out his locket... But the locket was gone, destroyed. Then the man had taken the stone from inside and fought off the other students and...


    Kason''s eyes widened as he realised. He looked towards the man''s fist, in which he knew was held the stone he had taken. And that was it, wasn''t it? The stone was, somehow, calling out to him asking for help.


    Kason stood where he was as the man walked further away. Fear at the realisation at what he needed to do kept him glued to the spot. While he remained frozen in indecision, the intruder made his way to just before the spot when Professor Kinora''s platform was floating high above. Then, just before he passed beneath it, the black-robed man stopped.


    The ground before the man then erupted in a cloud of dust as something landed on the earth before him. Then, Professor Kinora emerged, walking with halting steps, from within the cloud. He walked as if each step was costing him some great effort to take and his face was static in a mask of concentration. The black-robed man watched him approach and seemed to cock his head, peering at the approaching teacher.


    "I thought you were going to stay out of my way." A rumbling voice came from within the shadows of the hood. Unlike when Kason had heard it, it was oddly accented and rolled like thunder around the stadium.


    Professor Kinora did not respond but stood, straight-backed and jaw clenched, the muscles moving noticeably beneath his skin. The black-robed man, seeing that no response was coming, shrugged and raised an arm.


    Immediately a blast of some crackling turquoise energy erupted from his palm, rocketing towards Professor Kinora. Professor Kinora raised his own hand and seemed to bat the bolt away before retaliating with his own spell. After this opening display, the fight continued with bursts of energy from both sides flashing back and forth between them. Kason still stood where he had been, dazzled by the display of power taking place before him. He puzzled momentarily over what the man had said to Professor Kinora before they fought but quickly lost concentration.


    Suddenly, in the back of his mind, an idea began to form. Perhaps, now that the man was occupied with Professor Kinora, he could do something to try and get the stone. He took a couple of steps forward, still considering what it was he was going to do and then before he even knew what was happening, he was running at full pelt towards the black-robed figure.


    The trigger was a piercing mental cry of a strength that dwarfed all others. Such was the overwhelming urge it gave him, that he only realised what was happening when a stray spell whizzed past his head, stirring him from his stupor. He let out a shrill cry as he realised what was happening, but quickly shut up as he realised that he was only a meter or two from the intruder''s back.


    Meanwhile, Professor Kinora and the black-robed man were still duelling. As Kason approached, Professor Kinora launched a missile of yellow light towards the man at the same time as he released a pulsating red beam towards Professor Kinora. The two attacks collided in mid-air, resulting in a miniature explosion that caused both of them to stumble backwards.


    Kason too felt its effects and almost fell as he ran, but at the same moment another mental cry came and he ran forward with renewed vigour. He neared the black-robed man as the other was still regaining his footing and, seeing his chance, grabbed the fist in which he knew the stone was held. He heard a grunt of surprise from the man and heard a shout from Professor Kinora, but he paid them no mind. To his disoriented brain, all that mattered was that he somehow got the stone.


    Kason''s fingers scrabbled at the closed fist of the man, trying to prise the fingers open - but the man''s grip was too tight, his fingers too strong. Kason felt himself being raised into the air even as he still clung to the fist. The man was yelling something at him, but Kason didn''t know what. His mind was too clouded, it had shut down, and Kason couldn''t understand anything except the base urge he felt to get the stone.


    Suddenly he was being shaken. The man was waving his fist violently, with Kason still hanging on, in an effort to dislodge him. Then, just as suddenly, there was a burst of noise and light and the man stopped shaking him. The fist to which Kason had fastened himself jerked backwards and Kason lost his grip. He felt his tired fingers, shaking from exertion and slick from sweat, slip on the coarse skin and, in a last ditched attempt to save himself, made one last wild grab before he was shaken off.


    He flew through the air and thudded into the floor a short distance away. Winded, and gasping for breath, Kason looked up to see what was happening. The man who he had been holding the stone had been hit with another spell and was falling backwards. His mouth was open and he was bellowing something in distress, his hand extended and grasping for something even as he fell.


    Following the direction of the man''s hand Kason saw a glint as something flew high through the air. The stone! He began to get to his feet, intending to rush forwards and grab the stone as it fell. He started forward but was stopped abruptly in his tracks as a hand clenched around his wrist. Eyes still fixed on the stone he shook his arm, trying to dislodge his captor.


    "Kason, are you mad?!"


    Someone was talking to him. He struggled harder but then fell still, eyes widening in horror. A spell, crackling with pure energy and glowing bright white was speeding through the air. As if in slow motion, he saw the pulsating streak soar straight into the stone. He saw the small orb become slowly engulfed in blinding white and for a moment, everything seemed to be still - frozen in time except for what little could be seen of the little black sphere. Then Kason heard a sharp crack.


    Black mist erupted in great billowing clouds from the point of collision. In all directions it spread, darker than the blackest clouds, quickly immersing Kason and his friends within its undulating mass. Within the dense clouds, Kason was blinded - unable to see. He quickly turned his head, looking for something that could be seen through the blackness. After a few moments, he was forced to concede that the only thing visible, if it could be called that, was the inky mist that surrounded him.


    Taking a deep steadying breath to push down his rising panic, he thought about who had been around him when the mist came. Someone had been right behind him... Harper! Kason quickly stuck out his hands behind him, feeling for Harper who should''ve been right behind him. They came up with nothing. With panic now beginning to take over, he cautiously began to call out to anyone who might be nearby.


    After a few moments, he fell silent to listen for any replies. It was eerily quiet in the mist, even the sounds of the wind did not penetrate in from the outside as if when inside the mist, Kason was part of a different world. After a moment, he thought he heard a voice calling his name and immediately plunged towards it through the darkness at a half sprint.


    As he went he kept listening, trying to hear the voice again but even as he approached the point where he was sure it had come from, he did not hear it again. Had he imagined it? He could have. Breathing hard and almost sobbing, he broke into a full sprint. Someone must have said something. And how could have the stone have given out so much mist anyway? Suddenly his foot caught on something that did not give way and he pitched forward. The scream he let out was cut short as his head made contact with something hard and his consciousness slipped swiftly away.

 Strange Situation

    Strange Situation


    Kason awoke to a tingling sensation under his nose. Still groggy, he sneezed himself awake and took a deep breath, taking in a rich earthy smell. Then the ache hit him. Creasing his brow in discomfort, he rolled onto his back and reached up to rub his forehead which had developed a large swelling. He sat up and quickly placed his hands down to prevent himself from falling again during the spell of dizziness that followed.


    He closed his eyes momentarily and then looked around at his surroundings, taking them in for the first time. His mouth fell open as he examined the enormous tree trunk that rose into the sky a short distance away. More trees rose behind it, and their leaves, which were mostly a ruddy bronze, rustled in a gentle breeze which also made the lush emerald carpet of grass beneath him sway gently. A huge gnarled root stuck out of the earth near his feet and he assumed that was what he had tripped over earlier on.


    Bemusedly he got to his feet and made his way over to the root and stared at it. There had been no trees in the arena, let alone what looked like a whole forest of them. What was going on? He walked around the tree, wondering vaguely whether this might help him find some sense in the situation. It did not. He stood on the opposite side of the tree and gazed at the scene that had been behind him. The little forest which he stood at the edge of, seemed to be situated on the top of a small hill, allowing Kason a good view of a landscape consisting of rolling hills of verdant green. Above all this, fluffy, milky white clouds scudded across a blue sky, tinged with the colours of an early evening.


    Was this all due to the mist that had come from the stone? Kason didn''t know but that seemed like the only solution that fit. So the stone was gone, and it had somehow brought Kason to this place, wherever it was. He went and lay back down in the place where he had awoken and shut his eyes. In the darkness behind his eyelids, he silently prayed that when he opened them he would end up back in the arena.


    A few moments later, he opened his eyes again and took in, once again, the leaves growing on the tree overhead. Nothing had happened. He lay there staring at the trees, trying not to think about anything too hard. If he did, he worried that panic might start to set in and that wouldn''t be any good for anyone.


    Then, as he lay there, the touch came again. He shuddered as he felt it brush against his thoughts and sat bolt upright. It was weaker now, almost indistinct, but Kason recognised it. That meant the stone was nearby, perhaps it was the key to getting back!


    Kason scrabbled around on his knees, looking for any sign of the stone nearby. He was getting awful grass stains on his uniform, but he didn''t really mind, the stone was more important. Following the vague sense of direction he got from the touch, he crawled slowly forward, raking every patch of ground he could see with his eye.


    A few minutes later, he found it lying behind a root at the base of the tree which he had originally tripped over. He crouched over it and, with shaking hands, reached down towards the small black mass sitting in a small indented patch of grass. Then he froze, this wasn''t the stone. It had the same inky black colour but wasn''t the perfect sphere that the stone had been. Instead, it was like a ring, although one whose width varied wildly along its length. It went from being rather bulky and slowly slimmed down before joining back with the beginning.


    That and it was much larger. The stone had been only a couple of centimetres wide but this ring was closer to five in width and looked as though it would only just fit in Kason''s palm. After a moment''s pause, Kason picked up this curious object, and promptly had to keep himself from dropping it. The thing was warm! Not so hot as to burn him, but a steady comfortable warmth that Kason might''ve felt from a person. And as for the surface, Kason could now feel that despite how smooth it looked, the surface was actually riddled with slight indents which occurred irregularly so that they resembled scales.


    Yes, this was most definitely not the stone. Kason was just contemplating where he should leave this- thing, when the touch came again. After it passed he looked down at the ring with a grimace. This ring was most definitely where the touch had come from, and it was hungry. How could a ring be hungry? But then again, how could a ring do whatever it was doing to initiate the touch? No, this thing was alive; definitely not just a ring.


    As Kason thought, he began to haphazardly pat himself down, looking for something edible that might be on his person. He found nothing. He began looking around to see if there was anything that might be edible growing nearby but froze when he heard muffled voices. They were shouting something, though Kason could not make out what.


    Rising slowly to his feet, Kason walked as cautiously as he could towards the voices. He took the black ring, for lack of a better term, with him as he crept around the edge of the trees. After a few moments, he caught a flash of colour past a trunk and immediately flattened himself to it so that he wouldn''t be seen. As he stood there, wondering whether he dared take a peek at the people nearby, he finally caught a snippet of what they were saying.


    "-n''t even know where we are! We can''t just wander about, even if Kason might be out there somewhere."


    "Yeah, but if Kason''s about, we need to find him! Who knows wha-"


    Kason''s heart lept into his mouth and he froze against the tree at the mention of his name. It took a few moments for him to calm down enough to realise that the voices sounded familiar, that voice might have been Alford and the other, Lexia?


    Heart still hammering in his chest, Kason stepped cautiously around the tree. He knew that this would be pretty stupid if the people weren''t his friends, but who else would know his name and sound exactly the same as them?


    He slipped the black ring creature into his pocket and made his way cautiously around the tree. With heart still thumping in his throat, he walked, first cautiously, then quickly and lastly at a run towards the voices. A few moments later, he erupted out of the forest and saw four faces looking at him.


    It was them!


    Kason gave a strangled cry and ran towards Harper, Alford, Lexia and Kayla, just as they did the same. The two groups met somewhere in the middle in a complete mess. They then spent the next minute extracting themselves from one another before settling down to talk. Still caught with Harper''s arm over his shoulder, Kason looked into his friends'' excited faces.


    "Do any of you know where we are?" he asked hopefully.


    They all shook their heads and Harper said, "One minute we were in that mist, then next we wandered out into this little clearing here." He sighed in exasperation.


    "Do you think that it could have been that person who, uhh, showed up at the end?" Kayla said to the group.


    "Oh, it could have been Professor Kinora! I''ve heard of magic that teachers are taught to use in case of emergencies to send students to safety," Lexia said.


    Of course, these were all just speculations, Kason knew, but it was comforting in a way to know that they might see a familiar face sometime soon. He listened to them discuss other possibilities for a few minutes until there was a lull in the conversation. It was then that another pang of hunger was transmitted through the touch.


    "Umm, do any of you have anything edible on you?" he asked, feeling rather awkward doing so.


    Everyone looked around at him, their gazes carrying their unspoken questions, and began to check their pockets. In the end, Alford produced a scrap of bacon, which he sheepishly handed to Kason. Kason took it, wanting to ask why he that had been in Alford''s pocket, but instead, reached into the pocket where he had slipped the ring creature and lifted it up into the open on his palm.


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    There were gasps from Kayla and Lexia as they saw the creature and Harper said, "Where did you find that?"


    "It was just on the grass near where I woke up," Kason said, placing the bacon on his palm near the ring creature, "I think it might have come from that stone I had put in my locket..."


    "What is it?" said Lexia, sounding excited.


    "And how did you work out that it came from your locket?" Alford asked.


    "I don''t know, and-" Kason began, but at that moment the thick bit of the ring where it joined with the thin part, seemed to split in two. The two halves opened up to reveal a pink coloured inside with rows of barely visible teeth and the creature slowly unwound, removing what Kason now realised was the end of its tail from inside its mouth.


    The creature''s head moved blindly as if it smelled the food but did not know where it was, its mouth still open. Across the touch, Kason felt another cry for food and he hastily picked up the scrap of bacon and placed it inside the open mouth. The little jaws closed on the piece of meat and a sense of satisfaction floated over to Kason. He smiled and let out the breath he had been subconsciously holding. He heard similar releases from the others. There was another silence among them as they all watched the little creature finish its meal and then promptly curl up again, sticking its tail back in its mouth. Then Harper coughed.


    "That was, uhh, something..." he said vaguely as if he couldn''t find the right words to say.


    Kason understood how he felt. A strange feeling had welled up within him as he watched the little creature feed which he couldn''t put a name on, let alone articulate. He watched it for a little while longer as a light breeze tousled his hair, waiting to see if it would do anything else but it just sat there with its tail in its mouth, unmoving. Kason wondered whether the thing had gone to sleep. Eventually, he got fed up waiting for it to do something and so he placed it gently back into his pocket, before looking back to the others, wanting to discuss what was going on.


    "Stay where you are! Move your hands away from your sides and keep your fingers splayed, I want no sudden moves from anyone!" A voice commanded from somewhere nearby. It spoke with an odd accent and some words did not sound quite right, but Kason could understand it loud and clear.


    Kason remained frozen, his mouth open to speak a question that never came. The others, he could see, were also similarly immobile, expressions of shock and fear on their faces.


    "Hurry up now, if you are not in the position within the next ten seconds, I will take that as a declaration of hostility!"


    Kason slowly raised his trembling arms from his sides until they were about level with his shoulders and kept his fingers splayed wide, just as the voice had asked. Glancing at the others, he saw that they were shaking. He couldn''t fault them, after all, so was he.


    "Now turn around, slowly still. Turn to my voice," This time the voice seemed less aggressive, though still just as stern.


    As one, the group turned stiffly to face the direction from which the voice had issued. Kason looked into the trees, tentatively trying to see who had caught them. Then, a man appeared from within the shadows. He was tall and bald, with a rugged, weather-worn face and was wearing a mottled brown and green robe that clung tightly to his well-muscled frame. He walked towards the children, heavy boots making rhythmic thumps on the earth as he walked, and stopped several paces in front of them.


    "Who are you? Identify yourselves please," he said.


    There was a short silence and then Alford spoke, "I- I''m Alford Herson. I am thirteen years old." Although his voice was shaking the man did not seem displeased with the response. The others soon followed suit and introduced themselves in the same fashion. Once they were finished, the man regarded them with what looked like suspicion.


    "What are five children doing alone out here then? I don''t know of any registered journeys in this area today. Where is your chaperone?"


    The children stayed quiet and exchanged nervous glances. It seemed, at least to Kason''s mind, that none of them knew why they were here.


    "Well!" the man snapped.


    "We- we don''t know how or why we''re here," Alford bravely began, "We were just in the coliseum with Professor Kinora and then..." Alford''s voice faded into silence under the man''s disbelieving gaze.


    "A coliseum? I don''t know of any around here!" he snorted aggressively, "And who is this Professor Kinora? A teacher?" They all nodded. "Don''t talk nonsense, the nearest school is miles away! Why are you here?"


    They stayed silent for a moment and then Alford, in a trembling voice, told the same story again. The man shouted a word which Kason didn''t know at them and rolled his eyes before saying, "I already said that is not possible! Why. Are. You. Here!"


    It was at this point that Kayla burst into tears. Kason knew that his cheeks were also slightly wet and the others looked similarly terrified. The man''s expression softened slightly. "At least they''re not morphlings..." Kason heard him mutter.


    "Well," the man began again, and Kason was shocked at how much friendlier he sounded, "you may have your own reasons for keeping your journey a secret, but you will not be able to hide them forever. Come with me."


    He turned and lifted his hand into the air, making several gestures with his figures. Immediately, more figures materialised from the trees and moved to encircle the children. They were all in the same cut as the first man, with the same tight-fitting mottled robes and shaved heads. Then, once they were effectively surrounded, the men began to march away from the forest and the children had no choice but to follow.


    They walked for maybe ten or fifteen minutes, Kason couldn''t tell, until they came around the base of a hill and up to a large tent. The whole party entered and inside saw two men and women, standing around a table and discussing something in hushed voices. When their group entered, the conversation came to a halt and the woman closest to them turned and addressed their captor.


    "Jerret, what is it? The patrols aren''t due back for another hour, what happened?" She then spotted the children following behind him, "And who are these children?"


    "Ma''am!" Jerret began, going into a salute with his left hand pressed firmly across the base of his neck, "I found these children just at the edge of the copse we found to the north-east. I questioned them on their intent, but they could not give a satisfactory answer." There was then silence for a moment, in which some other information seemed to be exchanged between the two and then the woman nodded thoughtfully.


    "Very good Jerret, return to patrol. I shall take them from here."


    Jerret gave a low bow and retreated from the tent, taking his men with them and leaving Kason and his friends facing the four people around the table. All four turned to examine the children and after scanning each of them with a piercing gaze, the woman who had spoken to Jerret asked them the same questions Jerret had. They, in turn, gave the same answers and after that, the four adults engaged in what looked to be a heated discussion but was somehow made silent to the ears of the children.


    After a short while, the main woman slammed a hand down on the table and said audibly, "We should just take them to Lord Constantine and get his judgement!"