Spellcrafter-Delta

by Christopher Kirkland

  Chris began breathing normally again as the teacher looked away. It was as if his gaze was death’s cold stare. Not necessarily scary, but he forgot how to breathe. Penny placed her hand over his, she noticed his uneasiness and was trying to help. She seemed calm, maybe even a little at home.

  “Now not to worry. We will not be killing any animals or anything of the sort in here. You will learn how to achieve the path that you commit to. I expect hard work. I expect questions. Some of you are farther ahead than others,” he said referring to Penny. “But you all have something to learn.”

  Chapter 9

  Scars

  The class dismissed, and everyone left. Penny asked Chris if he wanted to do more training and he hastily agreed. They stopped to get something to eat, and then headed on their way to the city outskirts. Along the way, he wondered what the Headmaster was up to, and who had seen them in the outskirts practicing, and most of all Penny was wondering if they could actually be partners. Chris was still trying to understand what a partner was, and Penny just explained that it was exactly what the word’s definition said it was. She told him it occurred when two people had souls that fit together so perfectly that they became linked, they fight better together, and usually if one dies the other is less effective. She also told him that the headmaster may have just been trying to see if they could be partners, it did not mean that they were because they had not gone through any tests, and they had not even done the competition.

  Chris did not think Penny would be his partner, he thought maybe someone like Ian would be, or maybe Emily, but she had a partner already. Victoria had been her partner for over a year now. When they became partners, they quickly became stronger. Emily became the Headmaster’s right hand and because of this, Victoria rose with her. Emily was not as strong as the Headmaster or Autumn according to Penny, but she was near their level.

  When they arrived at their spot from yesterday, they found Victoria there. She wore a black tank top, a purple jacket, a black choker, a purple and white skirt, purple stockings, and maroon shoes. Her hand was on her hip and her orb was casually orbiting her like a planet. She turned and looked at them, the orb flew under her arm. She smiled.

  “Sister?” Penny asked. “What are you doing here?” she questioned.

  Victoria smiled and stepped forward, “So I can’t see the new kid and my only little sister? Wow that’s harsh.”

  “You know that’s not what I meant.” Penny laughed a little and rolled her eyes.

  “I figured I would help. I mean I don’t have anything to do, I’m bored, and he has a lot to learn.”

  “You could pick up a book.”

  “Haha...No.”

  “Okay.” Penny shook her head and looked at Chris. “Are you okay with this?”

  “Yeah of course.” Chris answered. “Does that mean you were the one who saw us practicing?”

  “No.”

  “What?” Penny questioned.

  “It wasn’t me, I was only told. Emily did, she was checking up on you.” Chris made a face. “Come on...You gotta let it go...She means the best.”

  “Anyway?” Chris interjected.

  Victoria sighed softly and nodded. “You’ll talk to her eventually. You love her too much and she’s all torn up over the whole thing, but I’ll leave that alone. What were you gonna teach him today?”

  “Disarming, dodging, and maybe have him find his own style.” Penny replied.

  “Oh that? That’s easy. Okay Chris I want you to try and attack me.” Victoria told Chris confidently.

  “Just like that?” he asked, astounded.

  “Just like that. Don’t hold back. Use everything you know so far to try to beat me.”

  Chris summoned his sword with the flick of his hand. He took a moment to decide on how he would attack her. She was very experienced, and that orb would also be attacking him. He lunged forward, attempting to slash upwards. She stepped back with her right foot to avoid it, he tried to come down. She dodged again and ended up behind him. The orb came quickly, he blocked with his sword and redirected it away; then, he took his opportunity to go in for a slash. Victoria caught the blade, pulled it from his hands, and took the hilt and quickly jabbed it into his stomach. He fell to his knees and held his stomach trying to regain himself. Victoria spun the sword around and pointed the hilt toward him so he could take it.

  “You don’t always have to kill someone, in fact if possible you should try to incapacitate. Killing should be a last resort, or if there are too many. Never the first choice. You should always practice some self-restraint,” she helped him up and placed her hand on her hip. “You saw how I calmly waited for my chance. You can’t disarm me obviously unless…” she thought for a moment. “Okay don’t laugh at me; my sword skills are rusty, when I became a mage I never touched it again.” She summoned a sword with a silver hilt and a grey blade.

  She ran at Chris before he could react, he raised his sword. She flipped over his head, attacking in the air, he blocked a few blows, turned to face her and collided swords with her. For a moment they stayed like that. She pushed back against him, he was the one to pull away and immediately began attacking, but pacing himself so she had no opening. She made a mistake, he got his blade locked with hers, and sent his hand to the right. Her sword flew away and impaled into the ground a few feet away.

  “Are you done?” Chris asked with a smile. “You don’t have a weapo--” she tried to punch him and so he used his hand to push her back and stagger her, and when she got her balance back a few seconds later his weapon was to her neck.

  “Well, well…” She sounded impressed, nodding and rubbing her neck. “Ow. Very good...You certainly learned quickly.”

  “I just did what you did.”

  “No, you did more than that. You didn’t just stun me, you disarmed me, stunned me, and if I wasn’t a mage that would have been the end of that...I’m rusty with my sword fighting though so…”

  “I’m rusty with my sword fighting though so…” Penny mocked her. “I never lose because I’m Tori.” she folded her arms and began laughing.

  “Sis, don’t make me knock you on your butt.” Victoria warned, placing her hand on her hip. She stuck her tongue out, and so did Penny.

  Chris watched them go back and forth. They weren’t arguing, they were simply being siblings. Victoria had now gone over to Penny and engaged in their conversation. He felt that he was missing something. Although he was mad at Emily, he did miss her, and wanted to be with her again like they were before. He wasn’t sure how things could be normal if none of this was normal to him yet. He had already gone off on her, and things were very weird between them.

  “Chris?” Victoria called to him. “We’re gonna head back to the city. I haven’t really spent much time with Penny lately since I got back, is that okay?”

  “That’s fine I know my way back. Go on.” He waved, after they had gone he lowered his hand and went into a deep thought.

  He felt empty, not necessarily lonely, but more so as if he was a jerk. Emily had been so excited to see him, and he was upset that she was gone, but he shouldn’t have been so hard on her. Did he go too far? He closed his eyes.

  When he was younger he would always sit in her lap and watch tv with her. He didn’t think about their long-gone parents, or what the future would hold, only the fact that she was there with him. One night they had been watching TV after they had dinner. She had taken him up to sleep in his room, only tonight she did not read him a story like usual and left in a hurry. This could only mean one thing: a date.

  He would get out of bed and quickly steal her favorite red shoes and hide them under his bed, take her cream purse and hide it under the bathroom sink, and then climb back in bed pretending to sleep. She would come in and fold her arms and question him, but he maintained his story of innocence. She would usually just go anyways without any of that stuff, put on one of her other pairs of shoes and just leave; however, tonight she stayed. She had not left to go on a
date she talked to someone, and then after they had gone, she returned to his room and sat on his bed and looked at him. She assumed he was asleep, and although it was two years ago he remembered it vividly.

  He did not have his eyes fully closed, they were closed just enough to give the illusion of sleep and he slowed his breathing. She ran her fingers through his hair, and apologized for not being there for him enough, for letting them lose their parents, and for ‘not being a better sister.’ She rubbed his arm lightly since he was laying on his side, and then stayed there a long while - as if she had all of the time in the world. After about an hour she finally got up, she left a picture of them on his black dresser and got up to leave. She turned one more time, looking at him and taking a deep breath before shutting the door and leaving. He never saw Emily again after that. Not until he came to Terminus.

  When he woke up he was frantic, she was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t sure what to do, and so he went to the neighbors even though he was always told not to go to stranger’s houses. Not every neighbor was a stranger, but some were. No one knew where she went, and Ms. Wayne called the police for him and let him stay at her place, fed him, and did her best to comfort him. Mr. Wayne had gone out to work further in the city and was working on construction of a new building.

  When the police arrived they searched the house, but never found trace of Emily, not even a note. They received a call saying Chris had a legal guardian who would come down and live with him for the time being, and because of this they took him home in their squad car and left him there to wait. This person never came, but Chris would receive food, money, clothes, and everything he needed from someone he never saw. He came to accept these things simply showing up. He did not have any family to turn to, he was alone and miserable - until he met Jackie and Ty, he was the most quiet and depressed person he knew.

  He stopped reminiscing to find himself just taking deep breaths. He reopened his eyes drew his sword. He found the nearest tree and approached it, gripping the hilt tightly in his hand until his knuckles were white.

  “Dammit!” he cried as he began hacking at the bark.

  He left scars all across the tree. He wasn’t even sure what he was doing he just kept swinging, each swing was harder than the last one. Random blows in every direction. He yelled out. He stopped for a moment panting and staring at the tree. He wasn’t sure why he was doing it, but he could no longer stop himself, he felt so much anger and pain. It was an old memory, but it was fresh in his mind. Seeing Victoria and Penny so happy only made that worse for some reason. Once again, he began attacking the tree, harder this time, switching to a reverse grip and cutting diagonally. He began to move faster, this time attacking the rear of the tree, now every side had scars. He screamed out, one last vicious slash onto the poor victim tree. It fell to the ground and rolled before coming to a stop. He panted, he did not feel any better.

  It was getting late, he had been at this for a long time now, all of the emotions he had felt from all that had been happening swirling in his mind. He dropped his sword and sank to his knees. His eyes began to sting, his heart heavy, and then he began to weep. The tears burned his eyes, descending from his face and falling into his lap.

  ◆◆◆

  On the way back to town he wondered what he would do. He was here learning to be a Wizard. He got here because he wanted to see his sister; he found her and then met Penny. He only really knew a handful of people here, and he wasn’t sure what would happen to him. He looked up at the darkening sky and imagined Earth’s sky. He could not tell a difference. Maybe their sun is different, or there are more stars, he thought. There’s no pollution, the people here are so different, it feels nicer, my sister is alive-- and yet I feel so strange. I don’t think I have the same reason for being here as everyone else. I found what I came for - Emily.

  The lights were on in town now, it was much darker than before and the streets were much less crowded. He was half expecting Penny to appear out of nowhere and start asking where he was, but she didn’t. It was a clear night, some of the city folk were out looking at the sky, going to late night shops, heading to one of the outdoor restaurants, or heading home. He decided to take a different route back to the dorm. He walked passed many of the other dorms, passed the guard station, and was coming up on the school grounds. Alleyne was still in the area, he was checking to make sure each school door was locked. He turned in time to see Chris.

  “Spellcrafter, you’re wandering around late for a new student. Seeing the sights?” he wondered.

  “What? Oh, you could say that.” Chris shrugged.

  “It is a nice night for it, one of the clearer nights recently.” The school lights came on with a different set of lights by each school. A ghostly white for Death, a bright green for Life, an orange and dark blue for Imagination, a cold blue for Ice, a purple and yellow for Storm, a passionate red for Fire, and finally in the very center inside of the fountain all of their lights created rainbows, altering the color of the water.

  “What’s with the downcast expression?” Alleyne asked him.

  “Mr. Atalanta?” Chris asked, unsure of how to phrase his query.

  “Alleyne.”

  “Mr. Alleyne? Why does the headmaster think Penny and I could be partners?” he questioned.

  “Because you are so in sync from what he explained. You seem to work well together, and he isn’t sure yet, but we’ll find out in just a few days. Should you choose to enter the partner contest you’ll find out sooner. You may want to talk to Penny about it.”

  “That’s not what I meant” Chris said as he held his arm, shifting his feet, and slightly furrowing his brow. “I mean...Why not put Penny with someone who has been here with her longer?” He asked. “I really want to know. Is it because he has plans?”

  “The man always has plans. But not only that...Penny isn’t really like you and I or even Headmaster Brood,” he admitted. “I assume she hasn’t told you out of fear you’d turn on her or leave.” Alleyne stopped to let Chris think on this.

  Things were silent for a moment. Chris realized how she had been treated this whole time by the other students. Even when she introduced herself people reacted horribly. He wondered what she could have done, and why she deserved it, she couldn’t have. He thought she was nice, sweet, maybe even cute.

  “You are probably one of the only if not the only one here who makes sense to be her partner, in fact I am convinced you are the only one who would be willing to try. You only get one partner, and if you choose not to work together then you both suffer.”

  “Then...what did she do?”

  “She’s...done a lot in her past, but she does her best to make amends and help people now. It wasn’t her fault it was how she was raised. Victoria saved her. She brought her here, and since then she’s changed. It’s not really so much about what she did even though that is a huge part of it. Penny and Victoria are Sorcerers.”

  “Sorcerers? But you said--” Chris interrupted, trying to make sense of all of it.

  “They are Wizards by allegiance, pure-blood Sorcerers by birth. We’ve never really allowed Sorcerers to become Wizards and fight alongside Wizards. The belief that they could get along has always been taboo since magic began. There has never been a partnership of a Wizard and a Sorcerer. People think it’s absurd. Many people here truly believe Penny should not get a partner. They believe she should have been partnered with her sister.”

  “But Emily and Victoria--” He interrupted. “They're partners.”

  “It is not official. The only ones that know are myself, a select few of their friends, and the Headmaster. They were never paired. They discovered they were partners during a mission when they were alone. They nearly died, but during those few days they became closer and stronger and survived. Apparently during that time, they fell in love,” he explained as he gathered his things into his briefcase.

  “What…”

  “You would be the first. I will not tell you much more, as a te
acher I shouldn’t go into the personal lives of my students, but it's worth talking to her about.”

  “Why did you insist that...I’m probably the only one who could be her partner if she has her friends?” he interviewed.

  “Because you accept her, right? If you accept her and you match, that means you are partners. No one here so far meets both of those requirements.”

  “I feel bad for her…” he admitted.

  “Look out for her. You may not be partners yet, but somehow I can tell she’s looking out for you.”

  “Yeah...She has a lot. That’s why I could do what I did in class...I probably would have shot someone by accident or not been able to summon my sword.”

  Alleyne smiled and placed his hand on Chris’ head and ruffled it, “Goodnight, Christopher,” he said kindly as he collected his things and headed the way Chris had come from.

  Chris continued on his way. He had learned the town in his spare time, and so he mostly knew where things were. He was remembering the things Penny had said to him when they had first met. She didn’t trust him, and was rather weary. It was because of them.

  “Why did you ask me? Why not anyone else? ”’He still remembered what she had said plain as day. She had even thought he was trying to break into their room to hurt her, she was never given a roommate. No one had ever approached her like that.