The Masters of Magic

by Destiny Hawkins

  “But,” the Coven Red master started. “You have to be able to survive in the forest, find The Mystic Tree, and defeat the Ancient Master protecting the pond.” When my mouth dropped back open, she smiled. “You didn’t think it would be easy, did you?”

  Chapter Five: Beatrice Vs. Raven

  I sighed and raised my fists, sweat beads forming at the base of my forehead. Of all people, why did they have to put me up against Beatrice? I could barely use any magic and could only teleport at the last minute when I was most afraid to be hit. My only advantage was that I was good at staying out of the way, but I was horrible when it came to offense.

  Although I had been training my physical abilities, which included close combat, I couldn’t match someone who had been doing this her entire life. Beatrice’s specialty was ice, which I figured she didn’t use because it would kill me, and she could teleport while summoning whatever weapons she pleased. Not to mention that she could also teleport with more ease than I could.

  I was practically helpless against her.

  Luckily, I wasn’t much of a quitter. Especially with my little sister watching me. I also had the weight of being worthy to enter The Magical Realm on my shoulders, but I wasn’t going to let that get to me. Nope. I was just going to have to keep trying. No matter how much I wanted this to end.

  Beatrice stood across from me, barely even breaking a sweat, as a long wooden staff appeared in her hands. In only a blink, she had teleported in front of me and quickly aimed to strike me in the face with the hard wood, but as I saw it coming for me, I closed my eyes and found myself standing directly on the other side of her with my back pressed against her own.

  When Beatrice spun around, I teleported again, this time standing a couple feet away from her.

  She snarled. “When the hell are you going to fight back?”

  I heaved, trying to control my breathing. I had never teleported so many times in one day, and the use of so much magic was depleting me of energy. “When I’m done…warming up?”

  “You should be taking this seriously!” Beatrice reappeared in front of me and moved to knock me across my chin with the staff, but I dodged back, stumbling a little. My reflexes have gotten sharper since my training began with my uncle. He wasn’t easy of me or Triana, always telling us that we had to be ready for what’s to come.

  I wondered if, after all this time, this moment was what was to come. Had our uncle been preparing us to become masters?

  When Beatrice swung again, I blinked and had teleported on the other side of her. In a silent rage, she teleported right back in front of me, only I disappeared from her sight again.

  For the next five minutes, Beatrice and I had been teleporting in milliseconds. I wondered what other abilities she had besides manipulating ice, but she didn’t use any of them. I figured that she either didn’t know how or didn’t want to seriously injure me.

  I wasn’t sure of how I felt about Beatrice going somewhat easy on me. I mean, I wasn’t weak, just inexperienced. On top of that, the day I stunned her with my touch ― I believed ― could’ve killed her, so she wasn’t the only one here with dangerous abilities. Still, a part of me wished that I could use them as easily as her. It made me wonder who was truly stronger.

  “You’re pitiful,” Beatrice said as she pushed her staff towards me.

  I stopped her staff with my palms before curling my fingers around it, but I wasn’t able to do much from my position.

  Beatrice ended up slipping a leg behind mine and knocking me to the ground, only she had fallen on top of me while still pressing the staff towards my neck. “Just think of what it’ll feel like when I press this against your throat and you can’t breathe. That’s what you made me feel like,” she said through clenched teeth. “Time to return the ―”

  “You two may stop now,” the Coven Orange master said. “That is enough.”

  Beatrice held the staff against me for a moment longer before she yanked away. The staff disappeared into black smoke.

  I released a breath before getting back to my feet, then awkwardly glanced at the others before facing the masters.

  The Coven Red master steadily raised a brow. “Well, I wouldn’t really call that fighting, but it’s easy to see what level you both are on.” She turned her attention to Beatrice. “It’s Beatrice, right?”

  Beatrice nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”

  I frowned, never really thinking of Beatrice as well mannered.

  “I could tell that you were going easy on her. Why did you? It’s clear that neither of you like each other, so why hold back?”

  I cringed. I knew that she was going easy, but I didn’t want to hear it out loud.

  Beatrice frowned before taking in a deep breath. “It’s not that I was going easy on her. It’s that I’m not experienced enough to use my magic against Raven. Especially, since she could barely use hers. As far as my hunter abilities, those are meant to kill, and I wasn’t confident enough to use them against someone with so little training. I simply didn’t want to do any serious damage to her during a training session.”

  The woman from Coven White chuckled. “Did they teach you this kind of softness back in The Hunter Dimension?”

  Beatrice turned to the woman stone faced. “No, they didn’t actually. This is the first time that I’m practicing it. It seems that the witches here aren’t very prepared when it comes to fighting. Especially, the ones my age.”

  “Ah,” the woman gave a slow nod. “So that is what you think?”

  “It’s not what I think. It’s what I know.”

  The man from Coven Orange cleared his throat. “From attacking our kind, right? That is how you came to this conclusion?”

  Beatrice grew rigid and opened her mouth to speak, but no words sounded. Guilt reflected in her eyes for only a second before she dropped them to the grass.

  “Well, your conclusion would be right,” he continued. “Our teens aren’t prepared to fight, but only because they take a much longer process than hunters to master their abilities. Much, much longer.” He instantly appeared in front of her. It wasn’t so much that he teleported, but quickly glided over in a blur. “But once they get it, after so much time, they become one of us.”

  Beatrice stared up at the master with wide, fearful eyes before nodding.

  Coven Green cleared his throat. “Well, we see that you do have self-control and can move you onto the next step.”

  “Wait, so all this was to make sure that I had self-control?” Beatrice asked.

  “We have never encountered a half breed witch before. We weren’t sure if you had a temper, a need to kill, or if you just enjoyed hurting others. You must understand that hunters are not seen as good to us. Your sole reason for existing is to eradicate our kind.”

  “Oh…” Beatrice nervously licked her lips.

  The Coven Green master then turned to me. “And you, Raven. It seems that you are only able to teleport. Why haven’t you tried that other ability inside of you?”

  I glanced at Beatrice before turning back to him. “I…I don’t know. I’m not sure what it is, and I didn’t want to hurt her that badly. Not like before.”

  The masters nodded and glanced at one another.

  “Looks like the both of you passed,” the Coven Orange master smiled.

  “But,” I started. “I barely did anything.”

  He turned and smiled at me. “We were counting on that. We don’t send witches and wizards to The Magical Realm if we think they held an ounce of hate in their hearts. We need worthy masters with inner strength, compassion, and wisdom. Those three key qualities are the reason we are as strong as we are now.”

  I nodded. “Well, you just told the rest of our group your plan. How will you judge them now?”

  The woman from Coven Red chuckled. “Haven’t you noticed how quiet they’ve been?”

  When I turned, I noticed that my friends were facing us, but they weren’t moving. Not one of them even blinked. As a matter of face, t
he sight of them seemed to remind me of statues.

  “Wha…”

  “Time for them is a little frozen right now.”

  Chapter Six: The Magic Realm 101

  I sighed as I walked towards my uncle’s tent that was nearly in the center of the large camp. After the meeting with the masters, questions had begun to simmer and were just about boiling. Too hesitant to ask the masters much, I kept my mouth clamped shut and watched the rest of the fights.

  Cristania faced Felix and won. It would’ve almost been an even fight if Felix knew more spells. The pink haired girl had many tricks up her sleeves, and he just kept falling for them.

  As far as Triana and Bradly, that fight had ended quickly. Triana wasn’t really one to hurt others unless she absolutely had to, so when the fight began, she repeatedly used her telekinesis to keep him away. He tried teleporting, but every time he made it into her line of sight, she’d make him freeze. Unable to hold him in one spot for too long, she had to repeat the action until the two of them were completely exhausted.

  All of us had passed their test and were informed to be at the same spot early the next morning. We were supposed to pack tonight because there was no telling how long it would take to find the pond, but I was sure that it would take us longer than one day. We were about to have the adventures of our lives, which I hoped was completed before the war broke loose. There was only a matter of time.

  Finally making over to uncle’s tent, I spotted him standing outside of it with Ms. Jones. The two of them were smiling at each other, and I think I noticed a hint of a blush on my uncle’s cheeks.

  The hell is going on here?

  “Uncle Sam!” I called, interrupting the two in the middle of their laughs.

  My uncle and Ms. Jones turned to me, causing me to slightly grin. What were the two talking about that could bring such giddy smiles to their faces? They looked like teenagers about to have their first kiss together.

  I stopped a few feet away from my uncle.

  “Oh, Raven. Hey, shouldn’t you be getting some sleep tonight?” he asked.

  “Yeah, but I wanted to talk to you about some things first.” Looking from Ms. Jones to my uncle, I noticed that they were both staring. I didn’t want to seem secretive, but I didn’t know how many others knew about the masters and our new form of training. I didn’t think the masters wanted us telling everyone, or else there would be a huge fuss from others that also thought they were worthy. “I have a lot of questions about today.”

  Ms. Jones smiled softly, then did something odd. She placed her hand on my uncle’s bicep. “I’m going to head in for the night.”

  Uncle Sam seemed to be lost in some sort of trance with reddening cheeks at her touch. “Alright. Have a good rest.”

  Ms. Jones nodded before giving me a wink and walking off.

  Uncle Sam took in a deep breath before turning to me with furrowed brows. “Alright, what’s going on, Hun?”

  When the two of us went into his tent and in the section that was supposed to be his dining room, I sat down and explained everything to him. For the most part, he was aware that the masters wanted to send us to The Magical Realm, and when he opposed the idea, they ignored him and made their final say. Although not very excited about our trip, he mentioned that he was confident we’d make it back.

  That’s when I started to get worried.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  Uncle Sam sighed from the chair across from me and briefly looked away. “When someone is sent to The Magical Realm, there’s a fifty-fifty percent chance that they’ll make it back. Their objective is always to drink from the pond, but many never survive. They either die in the forest, The Mystic Tree, or are turned into stone or something by The Ancient Master.”

  “S ― stone?” I gulped. This was starting to sound a little more dangerous than explained.

  Uncle Sam didn’t look all too excited to continue, but he did. “The Ancient Master protects the Pond of Strength from those who seek its power. Through battle, he or…she can judge if someone is worthy or not to become a master. There are two ways to become one and one way is through intense training for most of your lives. The second way is the journey through The Magical Realm, which is life threatening and dangerous. If one succeeds to drink from the pond, they become high masters, like the ones you met today. Masters that gain the title through sheer training and experience always seem to have something inside of them that needs to be unlocked, no matter how hard they train and practice. It’s actually the more honorable way to become a master, but in times like this, when we need more worthy fighters, we select witches and wizards to enter The Magical Realm. Your group is the first to be sent in years. There hasn’t been a need for selection until a year ago.”

  I gave a slow nod, taking in every bit of information piece by piece. I understood what he was saying, but something was nagging at me that I couldn’t seem to get off my mind. “Wouldn’t we be cheaters though? Like, once I’m a master, that’s just it. There’s nor more challenges, no more hard work…I don’t like doing any of it, but like you said, the more honorable way is through training and experience. Instead, I’m about to drink from a pond that’ll just unlock my powers all at once.”

  For the first time since we started talking, Uncle Sam smiled. “I wouldn’t think of it as cheating. There’s still the part…” His smile slightly faded. “You have to survive your travel through the forest, then you have to make it inside The Mystic Tree. After that, you and your friends have to fight an Ancient Master. I would say that drinking from the pond and instantly getting your powers would be well earned. This is no easy task, Raven. People die on this quest.”

  I licked my lower lips. “Why haven’t I ever heard of the selection before?”

  Uncle Sam leaned back in his chair. “I suppose, only a few select can know about it. If everyone does, many are bound to try and find a way to force a master to open the portal to the realm. They would never succeed, but the masters don’t want that kind of attention. It would be hard to rule over a coven if everyone was trying to capture them for their own selfish reasons.”

  I tilted my head to the side. “So, why do you know about it then?”

  My uncle chuckled. “Well, I was almost sent there when I was a teenager. They needed more masters to help defend outside the covens and thought that I would be a good choice, but I declined them. Instead, I wanted to help recruit. I wasn’t violent or much of a fighter then, so I found no interest in becoming a master. Instead, I helped with recruiting until one day I decided that I wanted to live a normal life, so I left.” He shrugged.

  “Is that really the reason you left, Uncle Sam?” I asked.

  Uncle Sam ran his fingers through his hair. “There’s always more to a story, Raven.”

  “Will you ever tell me why you left the coven?” I asked.

  “Maybe one day. I’m afraid it’s still a little too painful for me to talk about.”

  I gave a slow nod, then decided to stick to the main subject. “So, The Magical Realm. What can you tell me about it?”

  Uncle Sam squinted his eyes in thought before speaking. “It’s dangerous. Very dangerous. Everything from the forest trees, to the bugs, and to the air is made of magic. You’ll probably notice that the air feels different as well. I’ve been told that it’s thicker. Everything there also thinks of humans as unwelcome, so I wouldn’t let Triana go off and pet anything because it looks fuzzy.”

  We both chuckled before quieting.

  “I also know that there are some very dark creatures there. Creatures that use black magic. You and your group want to avoid those creatures at all times. You barely have a hold on your powers now, and to go against something like that could be…” He took in a deep breath. “Dammit, I wish you didn’t have to go.”

  My eyebrows furrowed. “Way to make me feel better.”

  He shook his head. “Sorry. I’ve just recruited a lot before and―Just know that this quest will be more cha
llenging than any war you have to fight in.”

  “Do you think we’ll make it?” I asked, more frightened than before.

  Uncle Sam gazed into my eyes before placing his hand over my shoulder. “Of course, I do. You and Triana together are a powerful combination. I know that you two will protect each other until the end.”

  “The end where we make it back in one piece,” I confirmed.

  Uncle Sam nodded with a chuckle. “Exactly.”

  Chapter Seven: Fear

  Me, Triana, Felix, Cristania, Beatrice, and Bradly stood in that order as we faced the glowing ocean-like portal.

  I wondered what exactly was on the other side of it as we waited to step through. Would we be falling from the sky or walking straight into a sea of monsters? How far would we be from the Pond of Strength, and what dark creatures would we encounter? Was the forest green or was the land there the color of a rainbow? Maybe cyan blue, like my hair.

  The Coven Orange master stood beside Mr. Coven Green in front of the portal while the other two stood at its sides and held it open with their staffs. He spoke. “There are a few things that I would like to cover before you head off on your journeys.” He looked us over. “First, the use of your familiars will be limited. The Magical Realm works against you upon entering, so be prepared to feel drained. That means that long term spells will only last a short while and powerful magic will seem weak.”

  “How do you expect us to get to the pond then?” Beatrice asked with a frown. “I’ve learned about the Magical Realm and it practically works against you. It’ll be like a game of tug-a-war trying to get our powers to work. How are we supposed to survive like that?”

  The Coven Green master chuckled. “That is for all of you to figure out. We did. We cannot tell you how to survive, because you are all different with your own set of skills. We chose you because we thought you worthy, but also because we thought you to be survivors. Not too many witches or wizards here arrived without our help like the group of you.”