Theodore Chrono

by Shanon Chong

  “The evidence wasn’t substantial enough for the council to rule in my favour.”

  “So, this is revenge?”

  “Yes. They can’t deal with me, so you’re a fine target.” He took a breath. “By the way, I’m going to take one of your dreams; someone is getting a little too big for his britches.”

  “Do what you want,” I replied.”

  I walked to the end of the road within the dream. My father watched me dubiously.

  “You can’t break off a connection.”

  “I need to wake up. I’ve got classes,” I replied, mustering all the energy I could within the realm that my father had taken me to.

  “It’s only five in the morning. Unlike you, I can actually keep time in my sleep.”

  “How?” I asked.

  “You couldn’t do it even if you tried. It gives you an extra eight to ten hours to think if you can use it fully.”

  “So, this is your dream realm?”

  “Something like that.” He stared me down, his dark hair parted to show his eyes. “Anything you want to ask? I mean, Bill might not have given you the whole story.”

  “Why haven’t you already killed the Old God?”

  “Because I can’t. I’m leaving that to you.” He sat on the ground. “I taught him literally everything I know. He knows me too well for me to kill him.”

  “Right…” I replied hesitantly. “So, you’re placing the hopes of a nation on a fifteen-year-old.”

  “I can buy you six years …” my father responded fervently. “The Old God’s plans haven’t fulfilled certain criteria yet. I’ll delay them for as long as possible.”

  “Why are you placing your hopes on me?” I asked. “It’s ridiculous!”

  “You’ll figure it out eventually,” he muttered. “This isn’t just your responsibility… It’s your fate.”

  “I-I…” I took a breath. “What time is it?”

  “About seven. Why do you ask?”

  “Please wake me up… I’ll have to eat before class.”

  “Stay responsible, Theo…” He paused. “I’m sorry.” He hung his head low, not looking up at me.

  I stood in silence and shifted uncomfortably. “Will you let me wake up now?”

  “Ah, yes.” He held up his right arm and pointed it in my direction. A loud snap cracked the surroundings. The fluorescent pink walls faded into dust, and the white sky turned a murky grey before inky black darkness flooded the space.

  My eyes snapped open; the purplish roof greeted me as I lifted myself from the bed. I paused, contemplating the possibility of just continuing on with my day. However, the thought occurred that I’d possibly had my first meeting with my father in a fair while. I paused for a moment longer before sliding off my bed. I returned the blanket to an adequate position and made my way out of the room. Opening the bathroom door, I grabbed my wooden toothbrush and rinsed it with water before I scraped at my teeth, removing the grime that had accumulated overnight. Flashing a smile at the polished mirror, I felt clean. After washing the brush head, I returned the toothbrush to the cup where I had found it.

  “Ah, you’re awake, Theo.” Rachel yawned as she stumbled into the bathroom, wiping at her eyes and scratching her belly. Her slim physique made me avert my gaze before she started feeling uncomfortable.

  “Want to head down to the dining hall for breakfast?” I asked as I looked into the kitchen that came included with each room. “You know what purpose our kitchen serves?”

  “Heating up leftover food from restaurants? Cooking?” Rachel suggested as she cleaned her teeth. Rinsing her mouth afterwards, she grabbed a transparent glass and filled it with water. She drank before she continued speaking. “Does the dining hall open for breakfast?”

  “I wouldn’t know…but we can always check.” I changed in the closet whilst Rachel waited patiently by the door. “Anyway, I might not be here tomorrow. The Mage Association is taking me in for questioning.”

  “Yeah, when I get changed, we can go check the dining.” She paused and then did a sudden double-take at my previous sentence. “You’re being interrogated?”

  “Yeah. The man who kidnapped the student on the coach ride has become significant.”

  “I’m assuming a witness interrogation?”

  “Harrold has some strong accusations on his back.”

  “Is he okay?”

  “I honestly don’t know…” I replied frankly.

  “Is the Church involved?” Rachel waited for a second as my expression affirmed the positive. “Your family has a horrible relationship with the Church!” she exclaimed worriedly.

  “I heard that story. I’ll be fine… I think,” I muttered.

  “Did my mother say anything about it?”

  “She just told me to attend classes as usual,” I replied. I had little to hide.

  “She’ll probably be our teacher for one of the periods. She’s not going to let a single one of her friends get heckled by the Church.”

  “Want to go get breakfast?” I offered. “We’ll find out soon enough about your prediction.”

  “Yeah, let’s go.”

  Rachel, who had changed clothes during our conversation, led the way. In the main building, the dining hall was located on the first floor, in a secluded corner. It was rather plain inside, not differing greatly from the rest of the building. After getting our meals on wooden trays, we went and inhabited some of the few remaining seats.

  As we ate, we made quiet comments about how the food was lacking, with Rachel saying it wasn’t nearly as good as the food at the Bunker’s Entrance. When we’d finished our meals, she grabbed my tray and placed it on a pile next to the door.

  “You have everything for class?” she asked.

  “I’ve got my book…” Touching my chest pocket, the missing tool I required came to mind. “I forgot my quill.”

  “Borrow mine. The school provides ink.” She handed me a fine quill. Its felted handle fit comfortably between my fingers.

  At the end of the hall, two students were waiting at the door of our class.

  “I think the door’s locked,” the one standing to the right explained. She looked us up and down. “I don’t think I know your names. I’m Lucy.”

  “And I’m Norah,” an excited voice interjected before her friend could introduce her. “We tried asking the teachers. They told us to wait outside.”

  “Right. I’m Theo; this is Rachel,” I responded quickly, memorising their names. “I’ll try the door again. Have you seen anyone else go in?”

  “Not a soul,” Lucy said. “We’ll wait here. You two can take as many attempts at it you want.”

  Wondering what the door was actually made of, I grabbed the handle with little thought of the actual difficulty of opening it. Leaning away from the handle, I pulled with all my might. Rachel frowned as I kept tugging at the door.

  “Did any teachers even try opening it?” I asked as I looked at Lucy and Norah. “I mean, this feels like it’s locked.”

  “One teacher laughed and said that it’s a rite of passage.” Norah sighed. “Is however much you weigh not enough to open the door?”

  “I’m not that heavy!” I replied, slightly self-conscious about my weight. “I’ll try again. With a little bit of assistance.” I laughed as I drew an assortment of runes on my arm; the rough meaning of the runes was “extreme strength.” However, runes had a reputation for dual meaning. Grabbing the handle of the door for the second time, I pulled on it with about four times the previous amount of force. The door edged open, just enough for a person to slide through. I wasn’t going to get it to move any further, so I stepped aside and let Lucy, Norah, and Rachel pass. I walked in after them, feeling soreness in my arms.

  “Finally, some students that opened the door themselves!” A sigh echoed through the classroom. “Well, it looks like Theo was doing the heavy lifting,” Mrs Indallias continued casually as she motioned for us to take a seat.

  “Sorry for our lateness,�
�� Lucy and Norah apologised as they rushed forward, bowing slightly before sitting in a vacant row.

  “Rachel, could you close the door?” Mrs Indallias asked.

  Rachel took a step toward the door, pulling on it slightly before pushing with all of her strength. She turned away from the door, dusting off her hands as the momentum finished her job.

  “How did you guys struggle?” Mrs Indallias groaned. “I’m too used to teaching the third-years... Take a seat. Rachel…Theo.”

  “Ms Indallias, what time does the lesson start?” Oliver exclaimed impatiently. “We’ve been waiting for fifteen minutes now!”

  “Did you open the door?” Mrs Indallias stood at the lectern, holding the sides tightly. “I mean, if you had, then the class would have started five minutes earlier! I waited for someone to open the door, and then when I let you in the late students rock up and are able to just open the door and enter!” she replied, seemingly annoyed at his weak-willed nature. “The lesson starts now!” She looked over the classroom. “And since you’re so willing to learn, Oliver, what is spatial magic?”

  “I’m here to learn that…” Oliver replied quietly. “But…I’m willing to answer the question!”

  “Stop buying time. Just answer!” she barked, frowning as though she were genuinely reconsidering her choice of choosing to teach a first-year class.

  “The ability to manipulate and control space and time to move freely to your will,” he replied eloquently.

  “Wrong.” She turned her attention to Rachel’s reluctantly raised arm. “Rachel, I’m sure I’ve given you a definition of spatial magic before.”

  Sighing, Rachel opened her mouth and slowly recited a textbook definition: “The art of rewiring the fabric of space to either bend or tear.”

  “Well, spatial magic completely redefined magic when it was discovered…” Mrs Indallias said, reading her prewritten notes, “I mean, it defied the laws of magic itself. In a simple demonstration, an object in motion shouldn’t be able to change direction midway… However, with spatial magic, you can change even the movement of the dust in the wind!”

  Vin stared absently out the tinted windows of the room, observing the outside of the school. Mrs Indallias noticed the several stares that had shifted from her to the absentminded student blatantly ignoring the teacher.

  “Let’s have a demonstration…” She chuckled deviously.

  Vin, sitting in the rightmost seat at the front of the class, remained ignorant of the developments around him. Mrs Indallias broke a small piece of chalk and tossed it in her hand.

  Mrs Indallias’s body pulled back and swung forward like a tightened piece of elastic. Her throw was aimed far toward the left of the room. Coming to a sudden halt in the air, the chalk turned a perfect ninety degrees and lightly tapped Vin on the head before landing on his desk.

  Reaching for his head, Vin rubbed the spot where the chalk had hit him, dumbfounded. He turned to face Mrs Indallias, his expression indecipherable behind the curtain of hair. “S-sorry. Please continue with your lesson.”

  “Did you notice how the chalk changed direction mid-air?” Mrs Indallias exclaimed, hopping with childlike glee. “I honestly didn’t think it would work that well!” She giggled as she held her folder full of necessary teaching materials in her arms.

  “What are we going to learn in spatial fundamentals?” Vin asked for the class, his attention having returned to the subject at hand.

  “O-oh… Sorry about that…” Mrs Indallias gulped as she placed her folder on the lectern. “We’ll be studying the Seraph’s Mage.”

  “Miss! We need to get to our alchemy lesson!” Alicia shouted, standing with her books already in her arms.

  “You’re right…” Pausing, Mrs Indallias smiled. “You’re free to go. Please apologise to Piper for me.”

  “P-Piper?” I murmured under my breath as I exited the room, clutching my books and Rachel’s quill.

  Chapter 10: Alchemy Taught by a Genius

  “You’re all late by five minutes!” A person only a generation older than us stood in front of me: Piper Merases. “Ah, Theo, they weren’t lying when they said I could teach your class.”

  “What are you doing here, Piper?”

  “Ms Merases. Apparently, students around here use honourifics, Theo,” she said as she went to the lecturer’s podium.

  “Well, you’ll have to work in pairs today; we only have eight brewing stands.” She paced down the pathway created by the tables. “Well, get going.” She paused as though remembering something. “Ah, place your books in the box at the back; it was made to keep them safe.” I hesitated for several seconds as I digested the happenings around me… for some reason unbeknownst to me, Piper, my teacher back in the village had been brought here… to teach me.

  She muttered something quietly under her breath that I couldn’t hear and then waved for us to go to the alchemy stands. “Well, it’s been a while since I attended school here; I remember the arduous hours on hours of study. So, don’t worry. I won’t set homework unless you’re completely failing the subject; if you want extra work, you can ask.”

  A collective sigh of relief echoed off the dungeon-like stone walls of the alchemy room. Piper grabbed her own alchemy stand, albeit a slightly customised version. She said, “The ingredients for our introductory lesson have been prepared. However, normally, you’d cut up your own herbs and use your judgment to adjust the quantities. Questions?”

  “What’s the extra stuff sticking to your stand?” Hajlia asked quietly.

  Piper heard and responded with unusual energy. “Well, it’s a distillery, and there’s a refinery there, too.” She paused, fully showing off the entire brewing stand, she flourished her arms as showed off the contraption that was almost half her height.

  “Isn’t that a little excessive?” Oliver piped up from the back, with Vin beside him.

  “Normally you wouldn’t use these unless you were studying advanced alchemy… We won’t even show you how a distillery works.”

  “So, it is?” Oliver pressed on. “Excessive?”

  “Yes,” she admitted unwillingly. “I can teach you how the distillery and refinery work; however, I’m on a tight schedule, so we have to finish the first practicum and then do a write-up.”

  “Sorry for the questions.”

  “Don’t apologise for asking questions,” she replied quickly. “You learn when you ask more questions.”

  “I’m sorry for apologising?” Oliver replied, confused.

  “Okay. We’ll just end that there,” Piper said in an annoyed tone. “Put on the aprons on the tables and get your partner…friend to tie up the back. I’m sure you can read, but for my own safety, I’ll guide you all.”

  “Are you doubting us?” Hajlia inquired sheepishly. His body language strongly suggested he wasn’t confident about what was to follow.

  “It isn’t doubt; it’s the fact I don’t want an explosion within my sacred area,” she said. “Let’s continue. To the side of the brewing set, there should be a bottle of liquid ash. Pour one ladle-full into a beaker and place it on the burner.”

  “Miss!” The desperate shout echoed from the back of the room as fire bellowed out of a beaker’s mouth. “I think my burner’s broken!”

  “You didn’t even use the liquid ash! How did you get compressed gunpowder?” Piper shouted as she searched for the source. “Did they prepare a dish for the senior class?” she murmured, considering the possibility of her own failure.

  “I found it by the sink,” the student admitted quickly.

  “Oh! I left that there!” Piper exclaimed as she looked at the sink, where there was a similar container labelled “gunpowder.” “Thanks, Pascal.”

  “You’re welcome?” he replied quietly.

  “Anyway, place three of the fluorescent leaves in the beaker and leave them on the burner until they turn purple,” she instructed. “That’s when the leaves release the poison we desire.”

  “Poison!” anot
her unknown student shouted. “Is this dangerous?”

  “Calm down, Andrea. We nullify the poison later and only get the benefits we want. Could everyone place a little bit of condensed mana, the bright blue liquid in the bowl, into the beaker, please.” She watched us follow her orders with care.

  “Miss, I poured too much,” a student said calmly, backing away from the frothing beaker.

  Piper rushed over and grabbed it off the burner. Working quickly, she pacified the reaction with a combination of dust and magic.

  “Can at least one of you manage without someone looking over your shoulders?” she exclaimed, her annoyance reaching its peak. Realising her outburst wouldn’t be tolerated, she calmed herself. “Sorry, let’s continue.” She placed the beaker back on the burner. “Everyone grab a small amount of grass and drop it into the beaker,” she instructed as she sat on the chair provided for the teaching staff.

  “Miss, nothing important, but would it be possible for me to skip a few steps ahead?” Hajlia asked politely as Piper examined his and his partner’s work.

  “Huh?” Piper exhaled, a confused expression on her face. “You’ve already done the next three steps. Anyway…if you’ve already gone that far, then you might as well rush to the end.” She sighed as she turned to the rest of the class. “Add one beaker of water to your solution.”

  Rachel raised her arm. “What’s next?”

  “Add a tablespoon of magical beast dandruff,” Piper replied, piling on the ridiculous ingredients to the supposedly safe potion.

  “Is this even drinkable?” a female figure behind Pascal inquired.

  “It will be soon, Alicia,” Piper replied with a slight grin. “Add a dash of salt and wait until the liquid starts releasing pink smoke. When that happens, stir aggressively with the stirring stick.”

  “Miss…” Alicia groaned. “The smoke turned red!”

  “Well, you made a mistake,” Piper stated quickly. “That isn’t going to work.” She took the beaker and poured its contents into the wastebasket. “I’ll give you new ingredients.” She sighed. “So, go ahead and try again.”

  Bits of ashy liquid flew around the room. Piper grabbed the beaker and mercilessly tossed out the pair’s second attempt. “Again,” she said, placing another bottle of the grey liquid on their table.