by Peri Akman
Kay rolled up her sleeve and pushed her braid behind her head. From this angle, Quinn realized that Kay was actually slightly taller than Asim. It wasn’t that surprising; Kay was tall. She definitely surpassed Quinn in height. The surprising part was that Asim was shorter than her. He distinctly remembered Asim towering over him before, like he had an extra foot on him. Were they really that close in height?
Not only was she taller, but she was a lot wider than him too. If it wasn’t for the beard and silvery white hair, it almost looked like someone could flip the two—Kay as the warlock, Asim as the ward.
There was a speech given, officiated by Head Vodyk, with a lot of fanciful titles, and the flash happened, just like it happened to Quinn. Only now he was watching it from a third-person point of view. Kay’s tattoo glowed, and it almost seemed to travel onto Asim and sink into his own skin. When the light faded, Kay’s tattoo was still on her own face, and Asim’s face only bore the Sigil of Magic.
Kay staggered back a bit, but Asim held her steady. An even odder sight. Asim might just be freakishly strong.
There was a cheer and applause.
Sordidhe and Lyra stepped up next. Sordidhe had been questioned by both Lyra and Serethen, but Serethen had already said that hadn’t taken on a student here. In fact…
Quinn craned his neck slightly. Serethen was gone, as were a few of the other warlocks. They just weren’t too interested in seeing ceremonies, most likely with business to attend to elsewhere.
When the tattoo transferred, and the light flickered, Lyra’s back stiffened, and he gave a salute. Sordidhe mimicked this pose perfectly, mirroring Lyra’s own movement. It didn’t seem natural though. Lyra was probably controlling Sordidhe’s movements through the tattoo. That made sense, get the muscle memory in through magic. It was actually pretty clever.
Then Han-Yue and Mackie stepped up. And after that, Oleander and Hogarth. Lakinn was sworn in afterwards, with a warlock that Quinn could not remember anything about.
Then his name was called, and he awkwardly shifted in his seat.
“We already went,” Kole snapped. “We skipped your pointless festivities and jumped the metaphorical broom.”
Asim’s eyes flickered, just for a moment, but it was almost audibly angry.
Tellack muttered something to Head Vodyk quietly. Head Vodyk replied. Then Tellack replied. They argued back and forth, in repressed silence, for several minutes. Quinn had no doubt that Teacher Brandie was also participating, just telepathically.
Another warlock muttered something to Kole, who responded by laughing, as if this was all some elaborate ruse. Kole hoisted herself over the table with her walking stick and landed loudly on the ground.
“All right, tell you what, just do it all over again. It’s not like it’s a big deal, yeah?”
A grumbling arose from the teachers. Kole was being difficult, and she knew it, and that was probably the worst part.
Quinn awkwardly stepped up to the heavily bandaged warlock. She gripped his hand, the dried bandages feeling crinkly and awkward against his own.
“You need to remove your bandages,” Asim snapped, uncharacteristically annoyed.
“SKIN DISEASE!” Kole roared. “Also, it already happened. This is just ceremonial. So there is... no point!” Her glee was practically palpable.
“You don’t have a lousy skin disease!” hissed Asim.
“QUIET!” Tellack roared, sound waves ripping through the room.
She nodded to Vodyk.
“Thank you, Teacher Tellack,” Head Vodyk said, nodding back. “This... farce... has gone on long enough. This is an important ceremony. Not the runaround that you seem so keen to make it be. Quinn, are you happy with what just happened?”
The last sentence seemed oddly false, but Tellack was watching closely. She had probably requested Head Vodyk to ask that.
This was awkward. So completely awkward. If he had disappearing powers, he hoped they activated now.
He looked down at his hand. Still visible. Darn.
“I... uhh... yeah, it was fine? I kind of passed out for a moment,” Quinn said quietly. He really just wanted this to be over with. He didn’t understand why everything was going the way it was. Asim of Trell seemed livid, Teacher Tellack was shooting daggers at Kole, and Kole just seemed to be enjoying the whole disaster.
“Then for the love of the Prismatic Gods, go sit down.” Head Vodyk sighed.
Quinn turned back to his chair. Mackie gave him a look of pure shock. Quinn shrugged silently back at him.
The rest of the ceremony went without incident, unless he counted Asim’s soured face. Afterwards, there were a few more speeches and thanks, all of which seemed to conveniently ignore Kole and Quinn, before they were released to pack and prepare their future.
Kole quickly left the mess hall, leaving Quinn alone. Lost, confused and tired, Quinn trudged back to his room to pack.
It wasn’t even noon yet, and he felt like he had just been aged several weeks. By the time he made it back to his room, all of his roommates were gone, undoubtedly now in their own classes and activities.
He probably should have packed earlier. At least gotten everything organized. But it hadn’t seemed real. Like he was just going to stop existing before the test happened. But now it was real, and time was moving far too quickly.
He crouched next to his bed and pulled out a box from underneath it, the contents being anything that actually meant anything to him. It contained a few rocks he found pretty, a shirt that was too fancy to wear but still fit him, a few bits of jewelry he had found, some of his favorite worn and tattered books, and a hat that looked stupid on him, but he liked anyway.
He had other belongings—some clothing, a few pairs of socks—but most people in the Academy always wore the standardized cloak, trousers, and shoes. They were thick, well-made, and unlikely to be worn down. A lot of clothing came from warlocks with thread affinities, and it showed. They were ever so slightly magical. Clothing Quinn had somehow managed to come across that wasn't issued by the Academy would become unwearable within a few years, but his current cloak had lasted him six years, and had yet to so much as fray.
It was at this moment that Quinn realized he had no form of packing. No bag to put anything in. Just his box. It was... odd. He didn’t have many material items at all, did he? Not that he should be surprised, no one at the Academy did, but Kole’s words seemed to still ring in his ears.
He was middle of the road. Nothing special.
What did the stashes of other students look like? Did they have strange artifacts of a past era? Piles of books on complicated theories and important knowledge? Maybe they wrote in diaries, extensively detailing their unique and amazing lives.
He put his pillow and some assorted clothing into his box and awkwardly picked it up. He stopped when he realized he technically did not own that pillow. Did he actually own any of the stuff he was taking? He had received some of it, but some had been given to the students across the board. Would he have to return his school uniform? It was rather convenient, and without it he would freeze if they travelled anywhere cold.
Void, he would probably freeze just in Haldon alone, if they stuck around.
Maybe if he just acted like everything was normal no one would stop him. He hefted the box onto his waist and walked towards his door. When he opened it, he found Kole waiting for him, directly in front of the doorway.
“Wow. That’s a lot of stuff!” Kole said, looking down at the paltry box. “You gonna carry that with you for the rest of your life?”
“The... rest of my life?” Quinn sputtered.
“Ok fine, until you buy a house with your Government Blood Money,” Kole dismissed with a shrug. “Which could come to you in anything from tomorrow to... twenty years.” Kole nodded to herself.
Quinn clutched his box to his chest tightly. “Do you mean I can’t take it with me?” He didn’t think this would hurt as much as it did. It was just a bunch of stupid stuff.
“I mean, you can. It’s just that it's a very flimsy box. The first time our carriage gets set on fire, that thing’s gonna go up in flames,” Kole said.
“Is that... is that a normal occurrence?” Quinn asked.
“Well... only once or twice in the past few years.” Kole idly scratched her head with her walking stick. “Five times tops, if you count non-fire-based explosives.”
Quinn shivered and his eyes widened with horror. Kole seemed to pick up on this, and gave a laugh.
“Come on, Quinn, you didn’t think all warlocks had safe cushy jobs, did you? Last I checked the big popular job was being a hero. Combatting monsters in the dark. Stopping plagues. You think that’s just going to happen?” Kole fiddled with her walking stick more.
“I just…” Quinn trailed off. “Can’t you cut me some slack?”
“This is cutting you slack. I haven’t even yelled at you.” Kole said. “Plus, one year. That’s a promise. Then you never have to talk to me again. And then you can tell all your warlock friends about your crazy teacher who didn’t like your big ol' Government friends.”
Quinn frowned. “It’s just this is all new to me and—”
“And what? You think I’m so ignorant that I don’t know that? Maybe you should be cutting ME some slack, Quinn. You’re not going to suddenly wake up and gain intelligence overnight. You’ve had, what, a decade of casual learnings? And everyone telling you the REAL education will start once you gain a master? Wellp, I’m that person. And the way you get real education is by seeking it out on your own, and not expecting me to hold your hand every step of the way. So answer the damn question, or don’t, I don’t really care, but don’t make excuses. Those are just pathetic,” Kole snapped. She seemed a bit angry now.
“Then... yeah. I guess I didn’t think about the fact that someone might kill me.” Quinn replied bitterly. “So what?”
“Wellp, good news then!” Kole imparted brightly. “You’re thinking about it right now. This whole ‘learning’ thing is fun, isn’t it? I am a great teacher.”
Her mood flickered, like it was some sort of lightning bug. Happy. Sad. Angry. All rapidly flashing through her. Quinn would feel exhausted if he went through that many emotions so quickly.
Kole leaned on her stick more heavily as she slouched. She held out her hand. “Here, give me the box. I’ll do something cool with it, I swear.”
Quinn looked back down at his box, and back up at her. He slowly handed it over. Kole balanced the box with the flat of her palm—and promptly dumped it over, onto her stick.
Quinn gave a yelp of shock, until the items started disappearing, the stick glowing lightly.
“What—?”
“I told you it was cool. Since my leg is lame, I can’t carry anything around too well. So I have a magic walking stick. It can carry around fifty pounds of random stuff before it gets unwieldy,” Kole said brightly.
“Oh. Thanks,” Quinn said, amazed. He had never heard of someone being able to do that before. Was it—was this her affinity? Making things... hold other things?
“Don’t thank me, I just gained a powerful bartering tool over you,” Kole said.
Quinn frowned. “What? Why?”
“Because now I own everything you hold dear. Would you have given your stuff away to a random stranger?” Kole said, now sticking out her walking stick to lightly prod Quinn.
Quinn blinked. “No. Probably not.”
“You’ve known me for a few hours. That’s hardly a friendship based on trust,” Kole said, her proddings getting slightly harsher.
Quinn swatted the stick away. “Yeah well, congratulations. Your plan worked. You’ve swindled a fifteen-year-old ward out of some rocks and bracelets.”
Kole gave an approving laugh of glee and ceased her inane proddings. “Alrighty then, got anyone you need to say goodbye to? Teachers? Friends? Lovers? Lusters?”
Quinn’s heart skipped a beat. “I—what? No!!”
“Oh, right, the Academy forbids any… fraternising. And since you have a standard record, you probably did an excellent job of upholding that rule.” Kole was walking now, speaking casually once again, as if these were the facts of life.
“We uh... we all said our goodbyes yesterday,” Quinn explained. His face felt hot.
“Oh, right.” She said nothing else, and led Quinn out to the courtyard.
Outside, there were other warlocks talking and conversing, some already loading up carriages getting ready to leave. Others seemed to just be taking casual walks with their new students.
Asim and Kay were nowhere in sight.
Kole walked up to a carriage and thumped it. Outside, the driver jerked awake.
“Quinn, have you relieved yourself?” Kole asked suddenly.
“What?!” Quinn yelped.
“We’re going to be in a carriage for about five hours. I’ve got food. I’ve got water. But I do not have a portable toilet.” Kole explained.
Quinn’s stomach rumbled distantly. He hadn’t eaten all morning. How had he forgotten? The stress must have really gotten to him.
“I... uh…” Quinn trailed off, screwing his face up in trying to remember.
“Tell you what, in an hour, this carriage is going to leave. You have an hour to deal with any problems you might have,” Kole said before stepping into the carriage and shutting the door.
Five hours in a carriage.
Wasn’t he the one who was going to pick where they were going? Or was this one of her weird tests where it would only happen if he prodded?
Nevertheless, she was right. Quinn left the courtyard to wash and relieve himself. It was going to be a long trip.
Chapter Five
When Quinn was four he had been taken to Haldon to be trained.
He had some vague memories of elsewhere. Specifically, a purple room. It was vague, hazy and unimportant.
Beyond that, Quinn had lived in the Academy and never left, aside from his late-night romp with the other wards.
He had certainly never left Haldon.
And here he was, in a carriage, being dragged by what was probably a magically amplified horse, outside of Haldon, to regions unknown. To another city.
His face was practically glued to window as he watched in awe. Rivers and trees and passing farmers. Fields held houses and farms and cows and fences. Bridges and cobblestone roads and spires in the distance and just so much stuff. Signs too. “Ducks Passing”, “Don’t Feed the Cats”, “We are all Stardust and Ephemeral”, “Re-elect Chross”, “You are passing Haldon-C town limits”, “GREVELT IS PEACE”. That last one had been defaced, with “DIE OSKLO” and “NOT LARENX” scrawled over it. Some of them seemed official, but others looked like they had just been painted on wood and propped up by a bored farmer.
Was that a thing people did? Just put up signs? You were allowed to do that? Could he do that right now? Would anyone take it down?
It took him a half hour before he realized that Kole was staring at him.
He returned the gaze, slightly red in the face.
“What?” he asked quietly, suddenly mortified by his own movements. He had been rapidly bounding back and forth between the windows, craning his neck to get the best views of the outside. In hindsight, it was easily the most embarrassing thing he had done in a long time.
“Nothing.” Kole chuckled softly. “I just… forgot what it was like to see everything for the first time. It’s a great feeling, isn’t it? Every bend and turn looks new, as opposed to the same as every other bend on the planet.”
Quinn smiled sheepishly. “Is that bad?”
“No, it’s great. It just disappears annoyingly fast. In two days you’ll be bored to death like the rest of us.” Kole said.
“Two days? There’s no way,” Quinn said, almost alarmed. “Two years maybe.”
“Humans adapt amazingly fast, Quinn,” Kole said, almost bitter. “I got used to walking with a limp in two days. The first day, everything is new and strange. The
second day, everything is settled and you've gotten used to what you’ve seen. Third day? Business as usual.”
“I don’t believe you,” Quinn said. He had no proof, and he didn’t even sound that confident, he just… didn’t believe her, as irrational as that was.
“Good. Wait until you confirm it for yourself. Then we’ll talk,” Kole replied, once again inexplicably happy.
Quinn rolled his eyes. This was getting a bit old.
“Hey, don’t let me get you down. Enjoy your freedom. Or your fake freedom. Anyway, I have two plans of action for this trip. And the first involves you talking a lot, so be prepared.” Kole’s dark eyes seemed to dance.
“All right.” Quinn shrugged. His body tensed up ever so slightly.
“I want you to tell me everything you know. Short version, long version, your choice.” Kole idly fiddled with her walking stick.
“All of it?” Quinn blinked in surprise. “All twelve years of it?”
“You’re not telling me you learned new stuff every year, are you? The schools haven’t gotten that good.” Kole slouched over, now concentrating intently on Quinn and his reactions.
“Ok… where do I start?” Quinn asked as his brain fumbled through the centuries’ worth of history he had been taught.
“At the beginning,” Kole commanded simply.
“All right. The world is… uh… really old. Like, trillions of years old,” Quinn started.
Kole made an objectionable noise, but quieted.
“What?” Quinn asked, annoyed.
“Sorry. Not responding. Continue.”
“What?!!” Quinn yelled slightly.
“The world is only a couple billion years old. Not trillions. Okay, not going to interrupt again, I swear.” Kole placed her walking stick over where Quinn assumed her mouth was.
“Okay… the world is a few billion years old. Past that, no time-based warlocks have ever been able to date anything. After that… uh… creatures roamed the planet. The Monsters and Demons. And then the weather changed, they died off. Uh… cataclysms… chaos… all that bad stuff. Then other life showed up. They… changed, some naturally, some because of magic, some because of—oh right! I forgot! Some monsters survived from being underground!”
