Zadia’s voice was strong, and her eyes looked like compelling gray fire. “No one has even touched the voracious power of magic. Their spirit and soul must be full of good, desire, and hope. They must be willing to emancipate their body’s inner defenses to the calming sensation that scares so many of us.” Zadia walked to the right, her hands clenched together behind her back. For a moment, I thought she looked like some sort of unknown goddess, sending her soldiers into war. She looked so defiant and so proud, her eyes swimming with the vast expanses of her knowledge. I wanted to look the way she did, full of power and strength. Zadia turned to us, the fire in her eyes dying down. “In time, we will learn who have the privilege to speak the language of the spirit.
“Hold your right hand out.” Zadia instructed.
“She expects a lot,” Emilie muttered, quickly warning me. I pulled up my sleeve a few inches, exposing my arm to the cold, and then put my hand out in front of me.
“Fragror is the word for fire in Jakost. Say the word aloud. Feel the power of the single word, the unsettling power deep inside of your soul.”
“Fragror.” I tried to pronounce the word, but it came out all wrong. I listened to Emilie say it besides me. When she said the word, it was much clearer than my piteous attempt, but still not perfect. I said the word again, improving a little, and again. I could feel concentration lines begin to etch onto my face.
“You are doing pretty well at the pronunciation,” Emilie murmured, “But try to say it slower and clearer instead of trying to say it as fast as Zadia did.” I took her suggestion, and the word rolled off my tongue a bit clearer.
“Enough!” Zadia’s commanding word made everyone quiet down.
“Now, I want you to relax your mind. Just close your eyes and think of fire. Fill your mind with an image of fire and let the sound of wind rushing around you settle your heart and mind into a state of relaxation.” Apparently, people who were proficient at magic needed good imaginations. I let my eyes closed and listened to the sound of the wind whispering against the grass. I felt myself relax in my limbs, but my mind would not be silenced. I tried to focus on the image of fire yet I found my thoughts racing.
“Now, I want you to say Fragror while willing fire to come out of your hand with your mind.” I was still mentally strugglling to gain the picture of fire but decided to give it a shot anyway.
“Fragror,” I murmured.
I didn’t feel different at all. Perhaps magic just felt normal. I peeked at my hand with my left eye. There was nothing in my palm. Gasps of excitement could be heard around me. I opened my eyes, refusing to show how crestfallen I was. Emilie and Adam had easily gotten it to work, but Adam’s flame was smaller. Dominic and Austin hadn’t produced anything either, but Austin had this odd smile on his face anyways. On Kat’s palm, was a very small flame, but it was a deep purple. Emilie bent over to whisper something to me.
“Looks like someone has got talent in magic. It’s only her second day. Even though Zadia didn’t ask for a purple flame, she should be extra impressed.”
I was happy for Kat, but couldn’t help wishing that I had been the person who had produced the flame. Hadn’t I had enough struggles with lessons today?
“Beautiful job, Kat,” Zadia dipped her head to Kat, before turning back to us. “Try again!”
Chapter Ten
Time flew by until finally, the last classes of the day were finished. I didn’t manage to make a single flame of magic over class, despite my efforts. After magic, we went to agility training and worked on a lot of different things that made my legs and arms burn more than they did already from sword fighting. The last class of the day was endurance where we ran for almost the whole class period. Before endurance, I came in thinking I was in pretty decent shape, but fifteen minutes into running, and I was done. My limbs barely wanted to move, and my stomach cramped to the point where I bowled over for a few minutes, but alas, we got through t. Finally, we had time to ourselves, which was a relief to the exertions from the long day.
“Let's get something to drink,” Emilie insisted. She was so excited to give me a tour of Sybra for real, and a nice cold drink would be miraculous cure to my exhaustion.
“Sounds good with me.” Adam pulled out a little drawstring pouch from his backpack that jingled. I guessed that it was money. I felt awkward, having someone pay for me.
“I’ll pay you back when I get money.”
“No need, honestly. Just enjoy Sybra.” I took his recommendation. The moment we started passing the houses, people started appearing. There were carts with bright fluorescent signs selling foods, drinks, objects, and all sorts of other things. The loud buzzing of noise and laughter was welcoming and friendly. A child wearing a small red hat was drawing something on the ground with a stick in his hand. He had some dirt upon his cheeks as though he had been playing in it. His drawing upon the ground was a sun with swirling rays.
A boy ran in front of us, stopping us in our tracks. “Are you a Ones of Within member?” He asked me, his blue eyes wide with curiosity and innocence.
“Yes, I am a Ones of Within member.”
“What’s it like?” He breathed, admiration thick in his voice. I struggled to find the right words, especially since today was my first day.
“It’s hard to explain.” I smiled as he walked away, shouting someone’s name. I watched him go for a moment, before turning my head back to the street. The people stared at us a little, dipping their heads. Their lives revolved around our protection and our presence. I felt so proud to be apart of the Ones of Within as I walked through the streets and realized that.
“You’re starting to like this.” Austin elbowed me.
“Who wouldn’t? ” I grinned at him wickedly.
There were many varieties of clothes being worn around Sybra. Many of the people wore leather and cloth in plain colors. Dyes were expensive here, and the people gave any spare money they had to the Ones of Within. Each person in Sybra had their own task to complete, and their endless energy made me feel a little selfish until I remembered the arduous training I had performed today. As I watched the people working and gathering, I felt a sense of belonging I hadn’t experienced in a long time. I felt committed to every breath that left the bodies of people around me. This was a community where everyone united together as one. I wished that Earth could be like this too. That the people on Earth could understand how wonderful the ways of these people were, but I doubted they would ever. They didn’t even know that Aughmortor existed.
There were so many shops on the streets and so many different jobs. There were fortunetellers, bakers, grocers, and many other types of workers in the buildings and upon the streets. The shops and businesses were very similar to Earth to my surprise. There were restaurants with simple names and designs sprinkled around the streets as well.
Finally, we came upon a large restaurant to the right. From the outside, it looked like a normal shop on the street, but inside it was different — the wooden tables and chairs filled with people. The faint scent of smoke wafted through the room, coming from farther inside the restaurant. On all of the tables in front of the chairs were plates of painted glass in beautiful colors. The silverware was a bright turquoise color. The tables were made of light brown aged wood and covered in an intricate pattern of flowers and shapes. The clang of dishes in a kitchen could be heard softly in the distance.
“We’re here!” Emilie announced, walking over to a booth and sitting down. “We can pick our table.”
I sat down between Emilie and Dominic and got comfortable, inspecting the menu and finding that the majority of the options were unfamiliar to me. “I guess its time I tell you what you’ve been waiting to hear.” Emilie laughed her face in the light golden glow of the candlelight.
“About time,” I replied, pressing my head against the back of the seat.
“So, you want to know why Earth is close to destruction, right?”
“Yeah, that would be nice.” I rolled my eye
s at her. Our conversation was interrupted briefly when a waiter came over to serve us our drinks. Our waiter was a good-looking man, about twenty years old. He had curly brown hair with light tones of red and deep brown eyes. His clothes were simple cloth garments similar to the people around Sybra I noticed. The only thing that would have told me that he was a waiter was the pad of paper in his hands.
“My name is Erik, and I will be your server tonight. What can I get you?” It surprised me how similar the server greeted us to waiters on Earth. I wondered if he, too, was from Earth.
“We would like Triora juice.” Emilie pointed between the both of us. I would have had no clue what to get here.
“Trust me, it's good.” Emilie whispered the words in my ear while the others ordered their drinks. The pale light produced from the torches filtered through the room, covering it in a blanket of gold. A small fireplace full of logs was filled with beautiful orange and yellow flames, heating the room well enough to chase away any cold air coming in from the outside. I tapped Emilie pointedly on the shoulder as our waiter left before dropping my hands on the smooth brown tabletop.
Emilie’s hands fumbled in her pockets before she pulled out a large folded piece of tan paper. It had a few rips on its sides, and dark stains covered the edges that looked similar to the marks found from the bottom of a cup of coffee. Emilie opened it up on the table, showing me a huge map of Aughmortor. The map was marked with many cities and landmarks. It was drawn in black ink. “If you want to hear everything, we might as well start with the basics.”
“To the far east of Sybra, past the Hèdrîan Plains and the Mosaique River, lies the Subdina Volcano.” Emilie pointed at the landmark before showing me the large, towering Subdina volcano to the far right of the map. I noticed Sybra was halfway across the map from it.
“What’s so important about the Subdina Volcano? You were talking about it with Kat earlier.”
“As you have been informed, Natalie, the Ones of Within’s job is to prevent harm on Earth from technology. The Subdina Volcano controls all of the technology on Earth,” Emilie said calmly.
“What do you mean by that? How could it be possible for a volcano to hold control of the flow of technology upon Earth?”
“Hundreds of years ago, the Ones of Within linked the action of the volcano to the destruction brought to Earth from technology. This was around the time of the Ones of Within’s creation. Ancient forms of Jakost that were only written in text, never used, bond the volcano to Earth. When the volcano bleeds, so does Earth.”
“Why would they do that? If the volcano remains active for years, then the destruction of Earth will continue!”
“I’m not done. Within the very core of the Subdina Volcano is a supernatural orb, the size of a basketball, perhaps even bigger. You might hear it referred to as the sphere. The Ones of Within placed it inside the volcano many years ago before binding the volcano to Earth. The orb controls the whole volcano itself. When the orb is tampered with, the destruction of Earth continues. When we control it and keep it calm, nothing happens. If the orb is never hampered with, then nothing happens to Earth, and the volcano doesn’t erupt. There is one problem with that, however.”
“What’s the problem?”
“You cannot enter the mountain. Its incredible heat would kill you in seconds. No magic can get into that volcano or control the orb. Only certain forms of Vatra can get to the core of the volcano alive. Only ones with the Vatra that allow them to get inside of the volcano can control the flow of technology.”
“What Vatra?”
“The Vatra must allow them to live even with the incredible heat displaced upon them. Magic forces the orb to only work under the hands of a person whose Vatra can get through the volcano.”
“Who has the Vatra that is able to do that?”
“Now we are getting somewhere,” Emilie replied dryly, “About four years ago, the Ones of Within member that had the desired Vatra died in battle against the Larta- a devastating battle for both sides. Since then, we have not been able to control the volcano, and it’s been spewing lava and fumes ever since. The Larta have their hands on a Shadow Bringer who can control the orb for them. We have guards protecting the volcano, but they can only get so close to the volcano before they risk their lives, and since the orb has already been tampered with the Larta doesn’t need to get into the volcano. The Larta still can access the core of the volcano while we have no reliable way to stop them.”
“How are you going to find a Vatra that is specifically meant for this task?”
“It’s obvious, Natalie. In the prophecy, it states one of our new recruits will have the power to control the orb and all of Earth’s destruction.”
“Why can’t the Ones of Within members just get rid of the magic?”
“It has been attempted before, many times in fact, but it has never worked, no matter how clever the spell planned has been. All the attempts just made the volcano spew more lava and smoke. The ancient texts with the old Jakost conjugation were burned. For years, Ones of Within members have wracked their brains to end the magic. But nothing’s worked.”
The waitress came over with our drinks. He gave each of us our drinks while I thoughtfully tapped my fingernails on the table. There was so much power in a person’s hands if they could control the orb. They could prevent so many innocent people from dying. A person with such a Vatra would be considered a hero to Aughmortor and be irreplaceable. The Earth’s destruction would continue unless one of the newer members of the Ones of Within had the desirable Vatra.
“How many recruits here haven’t shown their Vatra’s yet?” I asked.
“Only about ten, including all four of you here.”
I rubbed my forehead with my cold fingertips, frowning deeply.
“Why do you look so worried? It states in the prophecy that one of the new recruits would be the Chosen One, the one meant to bring peace to our country. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.” Adam said, taking a sip of his drink. The member that had the Vatra that could control the orb would be beyond dangerous. They would be the most important member in the whole Ones of Within and possibly the most important member in Aughmortor also and Earth. What if they died? What if they were maimed? What if they weren’t strong enough to kill the Shadow Bringer that could control the orb? What if the ‘Chosen One’ was foolish and rash?
“Think about it. The Secret of Words.” I said, my voice low, “What if the recruit is killed or isn’t strong enough to kill the Shadow Bringer that can also get into the volcano? What if the only person able to get into the volcano is the Shadow Bringer? After all, the prophecy it titled the Secret of Words.”
Dominic stared at my face, unsmiling. I think he was thinking the same thing I was. I’d always been a little on the pessimistic side and always tried to challenge the dominant narrative. Who cares if some prophecy says the Chosen One will be able to get inside the volcano if they are weak.
“You worry too much.” Austin laughed; his voice seemed weird in the mood of the table.
“Austin is right,” Emilie nodded to him approvingly. “The Ones of Within will take care of everything. If we ask ourselves these ‘what ifs’ then we will lose the confidence and support needed to bring down the Larta.“
“You’re wrong,” Dominic said quietly, looking around him and creating a stony silence in the air. “Natalie's right. If the new recruit isn’t strong enough, then the whole goal will fail. The Earth will be destroyed.” He said the words bluntly. I could not help but feel pleased that someone agreed with me because the growing amount of dissent was making me feel like a small child.
Why would you think the new recruit would not be strong enough? Who could not become strong under our training?” Emilie frowned, looking for an explanation.
I had to step carefully. “It’s not that I don’t trust the Ones of Within,” I said evenly, “It’s that I think the Larta would have boosted their Shadow Bringer up too and has trained them longer. Do you n
ot think they would have made their Shadow Bringer unbelievably strong while ours hadn’t even been brought to Aughmortor yet?” I fiddled with my necklace out of habit.
“I’m sure they have. You just have to learn faith. There are other ways to get rid of the Shadow Bringer than just a fight to the death in the volcano pit. We will prevail in this war. Do you want to hear the rest?” Even though Emilie seemed to dismiss my doubts, I could tell that even her faith ended somewhere. Was she turning her back upon the possibilities or unwilling to give her true opinion?
“Tell me the rest.” I sighed.
“The Ones of Within control all objects such as guns and bombs from working here. If you ever see a gun, in Aughmortor, you don’t need to feel threatened, because it won’t work. Most technology wouldn't work in Aughmortor, as I think I mentioned.”
I should have known. It looked like magic controlled a lot of things in Aughmortor. By using it, chaos could be prevented on Aughmortor. The Ones of Within knew exactly what they wanted for the people.
“I wonder if it is one of us that has the Vatra that controls the volcano.” Kat’s luminous copper eyes caught in the torchlight. What if I had the Vatra? Did I want it? I knew that I probably would like the fame of being one of the most important members in the Ones of Within. I doubted that the job would be easy, though. You would have to control so much. If you succeeded, you would be Earth’s savior. If you failed, you would possibly bring death to billions of people.
“Would you want that power in your hands?” Dominic asked. “Would you want to be the one in charge of so many lives? Would you want to feel the weight upon your shoulders? I don’t think I would want it. The Chosen One would have to be willing to sacrifice their lives fully for the Ones of Within. It sounds like a curse.”
Kat’s face fell a bit. “When you put it that way, I think I wouldn’t like it.”
“You just think that we wouldn’t be strong enough to take it,” Austin said angrily, for no reason. It confused me that Austin was angry, and I still wasn’t entirely sure why they didn’t like each other, but I didn’t comment on it.
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