by D. Levesque
“And?” I ask him.
“All humans are part of the Mages Society if they can do Magic. Even if you don’t wear the robe, they require you to wear an armband at least,” Leo says, and his expression shows he is baffled.
“Why?” I ask him as I sit down on the carpet next to Sara, who is watching the interaction, her head going back and forth between the two boys and me.
“What?” Leo asks me, his eyes going wide.
“Why do you need to join the Mages Society?” I ask him.
“They are the ones who teach Magic!” blurts out Tommy.
“Oh,” I say, nodding. “So Leeha, how long were you in the Mages Society?” I ask, turning to her. She knows I know that she has never been in it since they don’t accept humans, but she plays along.
“Oh, I never have been,” she says innocently.
“But that makes no sense. Tommy here said that they are the ones that teach Magic,” I say.
“No, they only teach it to humans,” Leeha says with a shrug. “We learn it from teachers for free.”
“What!” screams Tommy in astonishment. He is so flustered that he directs that question at Leeha, a so-called animal.
Leeha smiles at him sweetly. “We never had to pay to learn Magic. We learn it from those who are willing to teach it. Hell, if you humans didn’t look at us as animals, I am sure we would have been happy to teach it to you for free,” Leeha says with a shrug, but I see a gleam in her eye. What is she playing at?
“Wait, you would teach Magic for free?” Leo says incredulously, also speaking to Leeha directly.
Hmm, maybe they haven’t been totally brainwashed into hating Elves and other races? Maybe it’s the adults who are the ones who hate? Interesting. I wonder if I can start the changes I want to implement with these two? I mean, Bryan said he was in his 20s when he first started learning the truth as part of his Order. And now he’s married to a damn Rabinis!
“So, do you want to learn from me?” Leeha asks them.
“How?” Leo asks her. “You’re a Water Mage, and Tommy and I are Fire and Air Mages,” he says, sounding bewildered, but I notice that he didn’t say no to learning from her, even though she’s an animal according to most humans.
“Oh, by the Gods,” Leeha suddenly busts out in laughter. “Are you saying that you can only learn from a Mage of your respective Elementals?”
“Yes?” Leo says, but he sounds unsure now.
“Wow, Alex. They truly have these humans brainwashed,” Leeha says, turning to me and shaking her head, but she is still laughing.
“How much Magic do you know?” I ask the two boys.
“Hmm, I can sort of bring up my Fire Elemental,” Leo says, blushing.
“I can bring up an Air Arrow, but it disappears before I can send it to a target,” Tommy says, blushing just as much.
“How long have you been students?” Leeha asks them.
“I am in my second year,” Leo says proudly.
“I am only in my first year,” Tommy tells her.
Leeha doesn’t say anything at first, but simply stares at them for a good ten seconds before blurting out, “You have got to be kidding me?”
“What? Why?” Leo asks her with some heat in his tone.
“Leo, was it?” Leeha asks him. At his hesitant nod, she says, “Within a month of my Elemental coming out of my hand and starting lessons from my teacher, I was able to bring up my Elemental on command. A week after that I was able to send off Water Arrows. That is the standard timeframe to learn spells for all Elves who can do Magic.”
At that statement, both of their mouths hit the ground in astonishment.
“So boys,” I say to them, and they both look at me slowly. “How much teaching do you get?”
Tommy is the one to answer. “Well, we have to pay for lodging, so normally we do menial tasks until we get in the good graces of our master. We usually get a lesson about the boring history of Magic about once a month.”
Now it’s my turn to have my jaw hit the ground, and when I look at Leeha, she is just picking hers up as well.
“Are you pulling my leg?” I ask them both, looking between the two of them.
“No, sir,” they both say with embarrassment.
“Oh my God, are all humans in this fucking world stupid!” I scream suddenly at the top of my lungs as I look up at the sky, causing both boys to flinch as if they’re about to be hit.
Fucking Hell, have they been abused as well? You know what? In this world, it would not surprise me. I walk up to the two boys and slowly place a hand on each of their shoulders to make them understand I’m not about to hit them.
“You have both been abused by your master, haven’t you?” I ask softly.
They don’t say anything, but they both look at the ground and nod their heads. I squeeze their shoulders and say, “Fuck it. I’m your master now. There will be one huge rule though, and you will need to follow it. If you can’t follow it, you will both be gone.”
They both look up at me quickly in surprise.
“You would teach us?” Leo exclaims in astonishment.
“Oh, don’t get too excited,” I tell them with a scowl. “Trust me when I say that if you say yes, you will both end up being powerful Mages, but there is a condition that I think you might say no to.”
“I will do anything, sir, to learn from someone as powerful as you!” blurts out Leo, looking at me like a starving child, which isn’t too far from the truth judging by how they look.
“I’m back!” Bridget interrupts before I can answer him.
I look over and she is carrying what looks like a 300-pound wild pig on her shoulders as if it is a shawl. I can’t help but chuckle at the looks of shock and hunger in Tommy’s and Leo’s eyes.
“Oh, nice,” Leeha exclaims with a laugh. “Bring that here, and I will clean it. Do you want to get sticks ready for it, Sara?”
“Oh Hell yeah,” Sara says, smacking her lips and heading to the small wooded area behind us to find some decent sticks.
I look over and the boys are both staring at Bridget in amazement. Well, at least it’s not disgust. Now to test something out.
“Bridget, can you come here for a second?” I ask her.
She looks over, nods, and looks at Leeha. “Ready?”
“Yep,” Leeha says with a smile. She lifts her palm up and there is a Water Elemental in her hand.
Bridget gets a better grip on the pig and with amazing strength, throws it up into the air in front of Leeha. But the pig never lands on the ground, as it’s suddenly encased in a water bubble, and is floating in the air. Once Bridget sees that Leeha has it in hand, she turns and walks towards me.
“Damn, that one almost got away,” Bridget says with a grin directed at me. “Even though I knew it was there, it almost got past me.”
“Nice job,” I tell her, hugging her as she walks up to me.
I bend down and kiss her on the lips and then I look over to see the reaction of the two young boys. They are not looking at me in disgust, but in confusion.
With my arm around Bridget, both of us facing Tommy and Leo, I say to them, “Now, are you ready to hear my condition for teaching you?”
“Yes, sir!” they both exclaim excitedly.
“Well, let’s start by seeing how bad your upbringing has been,” I say to them, and their excitement turns to confusion.
“I have questions to ask you, and I want honest answers,” I tell them both, looking between the two of them. They both nod their heads.
“When you saw me kissing Bridget. What did you think?” I ask them.
Leo is the first one to answer. “I don’t get that, sir. We have always been told that Elves are nothing but animals and are to be treated as slaves. But why? I mean, they seem just like us.”
“Good question, Leo. Now, where did you learn that?”
“From my parents, before I was taken away. They had slaves, but they treated them fairly,” he says.
“And
was that when others were around, or in private?” I ask him, directing them to sit on the carpet, as I sit down with Bridget beside me.
Leeha is still cleaning the pig, and Tommy is staring at her in open amazement. In the meantime, Sara comes back with a good stack of sticks for the pig, and she begins to fix the fire by adding wood from the small pile we have next to the pit.
I chuckle as Leo grabs Tommy’s arm and pulls it, directing him to sit on the carpet, as he had been so engrossed in what Leeha was doing that he had stopped paying attention to us. With him being an Air Mage, he might be able to do what Leeha is doing, but with an air bubble.
“In private, sir. My dad said that others would frown upon it,” Leo finishes.
“And you Tommy? What are your thoughts?” I ask him.
“We didn’t have slaves,” he says, blushing as if that is a bad thing. “But my mam used to always tell us to judge people, even those of other races, with the respect they give you. She said that the Gods did not give power to just humans but to everyone. Of course, she only ever said it in private.”
“Hmm,” I say, thinking about that. So this world might not be as bad as I thought. It looks like privately, at least some of them think and feel differently about the other races than they express out in the open.
“Can you tell me who is the biggest proponent of treating the other races as animals?” I ask them.
“Proponent, sir?” Leo asks, confused by the word.
“Sorry, advocate, or supporter.”
“Ah,” Leo says, nodding with understanding. “That would be the Mages Society, sir. They hammered it into us all the time. And I know that when they are around clients or the non-magical users, they talk about it all the time.”
Interesting. So, the Mages Society is pushing that agenda. How much do you want to bet it was created that way by the last Elemental Summoner? That he created the Mages Society to ram his own feelings about the other races down everyone’s throats, and those ideas have continued to be taught that way over the ages?
“All right, you two. The condition I have in order to agree to teach you is this. You cannot disrespect any races. Period.”
“You want us to treat all the races the same?” Leo says with some unease on his face. Shit, I guess that will not work. I had really hoped they would not be that brainwashed.
“Yes, if you want to be taught by me, that’s what you’ll have to do.”
“Why do we need to promise that to you? Why do you care?” asks Leo.
“Easy, I need to know that you can be taught not to hate the other races, because if you are with me,” I tell him in a soft voice, deciding to not take the stern path, “not only will you see me kissing all these women, since one is my wife, and one is soon to be my wife,” I say pointing to Bridget, who looks at me in surprise, “but you will be living with all of us as well.”
“And Sara, the Felinis, is with me until she decides she is tired of me, and she is my lover as well.” At that, Sara turns to me so quickly she almost falls over sideways, a look of shock on her face.
Tommy and Leo look at each other and then nods as if confirming something. What, I have no clue, but I hope it was something good. They look back at me and Leo says, seeming to speak for both of them, “we would like to learn from you, sir. We have never been comfortable with how the other races were treated. Please let us stay.”
“Thank you, Leo, Tommy,” I tell them softly. “This might have been the most important decision in your life.”
Suddenly, I smell meat cooking. I look over and see Leeha and Sara placing the pig meat on sticks, and cooking it over the fire. Tommy and Leo both look over at the fire hungrily.
“Here, boys,” I tell them, pulling four apples out of my bag. “This should tide you over until the meal is ready.”
They take the apples hungrily with thanks and begin to devour them. I watch them both and I hope this is the start to changing the hatred and ignorance that the humans in this world have been displaying. I’m not naïve, I know it won’t be easy. It seems from what Tommy and Leo said, the older you are, the more set in your ways you are. But more importantly, now I know who has been pushing that agenda—the Mages Society. I need powerful people around me in order to fight them, and if it means starting with young men and women, then so be it. I can teach them to be powerful and to co-exist. The idea of a school of all races, learning Magic together, has some appeal. But I know that is something to think about in the future. Right now, I’ll start with these two. Bryan is proof that people can change. Taking another apple out of my bag, I bite into it, savoring the sweetness of it, even if it’s slightly shriveled.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The two boys ate so much that a good half of the pig was gone by the time they were done. Admittedly, I ate a good amount myself, I think with a chuckle. Sara cooked the rest, as she knows about my bag now and had whispered that I could put it in my bag once the boys were asleep.
The girls had their fill as well. Sara is already napping, curled up against me. Leeha is lying in my lap, half dozing from a food coma, and Bridget is leaning on my other side. I can tell she is still tired from that power drain, but I don’t want to send her away, with the boys not knowing what she is. Yet.
“Sir?” Leo says.
“Alex,” I tell him. “You can both call me Alex.”
Leo nods and smiles. “Alex. Can I ask you questions?”
“Of course,” I tell him. “Just understand if there are questions I am not willing or ready to answer, I will let you know.”
“Thank you, sir. I mean Alex!” he says, as I glare at him. “What is Bridget?”
Oops, he might be more observant than I thought. “What do you mean?” I ask him. I see that Tommy is looking at Leo in confusion. So, he didn’t notice anything odd about Bridget.
“Well,” Leo starts slowly. “She lifted that enormous pig, which I would assume weighed over 350 pounds, without effort. And earlier, it looked like you two were talking to each other without moving your lips.”
Damn, he is observant. I might have a smart one on my hands, although that might prove useful. Let’s hope I don’t have to kill him. I know that I would never have had thoughts like that before, but now it’s not about him or me. It’s about this world. If anything or anyone stands in my way of reuniting the races in this world, I will stop them. I would rather Leo and Tommy be on team ‘Alex’. But if they can’t be, I will take them down, so I don’t need to worry about fighting them in the future.
Shrugging my shoulders and deciding to take a chance with these two, I say, “Bridget isn’t human, or Elven, or any race, really. She is my Elemental.”
Leo laughs at that, but then stops when he sees that Bridget and I aren’t laughing. He frowns, looks at Bridget, and then looks back at me.
“Alex. That makes no sense,” he says.
“Sure it does,” I tell him and throw in the big kicker to see their reaction. “I’m the Elemental Summoner.”
“What?” Leo says blankly as if his mind has just shut down. I look over at Tommy, and he is pointing at me excitedly.
“I knew it!” Tommy shouts. “I knew you were powerful! Holy Gods! You’re the Elemental Summoner!”
“How is that possible?” Leo says, still stunned.
I shrug and smile at him. “Woke up one morning and I had the power of all five Elementals.” I don’t tell him that I woke up in this world after being shot in the head, dying, and having a conversation with my God in which I agreed to something and got thrown through a Portal. “Because of that, Bridget is different. I can call up all five Elements, and she embodies all of them. Here, let me show you.”
I turn to Bridget and think Water, and sitting next to me is a full-size Bridget made of water. The two boys suddenly scramble off the carpet, stepping back from us. I had done Water since I wasn’t sure if Bridget in Fire mode would burn the carpet, but I don’t see the carpet getting wet at all.
“How!” Leo exclaims in
wonder.
“As I said, I am the Elemental Summoner. Though, I doubt even your Elemental Summoner from a thousand years ago could do what I do.”
“Why’s that?” Tommy asks the obvious question.
“Because I am not from Boromour.” I tell him.
The two of them look at me as if I am telling them I have two heads. “Trust me, Leo, Tommy. I am not from here. Let’s just say that my God put me here to fix things.” At least I assume he did. “That’s why I don’t have these feelings you all seem to have against the other races. These three are my partners. I have been in a City once and I wanted to smash it and the people in it off the face of the, well, off Boromour because of how the other races were treated. I intend to change that. But I will need allies with me to do it. Powerful people. Will you two be part of that, or will you be against change?” I ask them both. During my little speech, they had both been looking at me intently.
“I’m in,” Leo says. “I hated having slaves, and I hated it even more when people treated them the way they did. The family my parents had as slaves had a little girl. I used to play with her all the time until I got older, and I was told it was inappropriate. I hated that. I hated seeing her cry.”
“So, you want to change the world so that all races are equal?” Tommy asks me slowly.
“I do,” I say, not adding anything to that comment.
“And you will teach me to be a powerful Mage?” he asks.
“Yes. But know this, if you or anyone stands in my way or blocks me, I will kill you. I have no qualms about that. And in case you think I can’t,” I say with some passion, as I show them some of my power. Fire. Fire Arrow, I think six times.
Suddenly, 36 Fire Arrows are facing the boys.
You have used the spell Fire Arrow. You have used 10 points of power.
You have used the spell Fire Arrow. You have used 10 points of power.
You have used the spell Fire Arrow. You have used 10 points of power.
You have used the spell Fire Arrow. You have used 10 points of power.
You have used the spell Fire Arrow. You have used 10 points of power.
