“Hello there. Please let me see your Magus Token.”
The Guard was a hunk of a man. Even without any Magic that guy would pour fear into people's souls. But his size was not the only thing, that made him impressive. He radiated pure energy. Enough to know, that this was not someone, who would take kindly to people that broke the rules. Kayto pulled a metal token out of his pocket. Ki was able to get a quick glance on it. It was a circular piece of metal. A Silver gem was fit into the middle and carvings surrounded the gem. That thing looked ancient. Ki wondered how a token could be this old, if everyone gets one. How old was Kayto even? She had never bothered asking. She just assumed that he was her age, as he looked like it.As soon as the Guard saw the token, his face became pale.
“S.. S.. Sir. how.. how great you have finally come back here after a century.” The Guard stuttered.
“A century?” Ki asked, looking bewildered at Kayto.
“Yea a century. I have been on the hunt for quite a while.” His words sounded final. Ki felt that any additional question would not be answered.
“I will go and tell the council that you are back.” The guard continued.
“Sure go ahead. We will go to the Silver King now.” With these words, Kayto entered the Gate that the guard had opened for them. When Kayto said that Magi lived in a secret Hogwarts, he could not have been nearer to the truth, Ki thought. This looked exactly what she imagined it to be. Everything was old, yet looked expensive. Timeless. Huge portraits hanging on the walls, showing people and sceneries of presumably ancient times. And this was only the Entrance Hall. Who knew what else was hiding in this humongous building. Ki followed Kayto up a staircase. Then turning left into a corridor, which a big door at the end of it. After that uncountable staircases and corridors followed. Ki was not sure how long it had taken, until Kayto finally stopped.
They stood in front of a ginormous door, that had a circular hole carved into its front. Kayto took his token from his pocket and placed it into the hole. Something started buzzing. Clicking. The whole door seemed to become alive. Then turning silent again. Kayto opened the door and they stepped in. While Kayto was closing the door behind them, Ki was stunned by the room they were in. This was totally different from the rest of the rooms she had seen in the academy. Most of the items and walls were colored in a silver color, that looked everchanging, never staying still. It has a High room, probably 10 meters of space upwards. It had enough space to hold a speak for an audience up to probably over a hundred people. But the room was empty.
“Where is everyone?” Ki asked.
“Surely you are not the only one here right?” She wanted to tease him, not knowing how deep this joke cut.
“Nearly. There is the king and me. And soon you.”
“Wait what? I thought all Kings would grant other people powers to increase their followers? How come the Silver King does not?” Ki was visibly confused.
“The Silver King does not want to have just any follower. For a long time, he did not want any at all. I guess things might change.” Before Ki could answer anything to that, Kayto shouted.
“Oi, Silver King you ol’ Sack of Bones. You have visitors.”
Ki could not believe her ears. Was this a way to address royalty? Another romantic dream went down the gutter.
“How dare you Tempest,” A voice came from one of the rooms. Followed by some noise. Then finally the door opened and a man appeared. He was pretty old, judging by his appearance. At least sixty. But as Ki had learned, Appearance did not mean anything in this world. Ki was not so sure about that man. This was a magic King? He looked average by every single category you could come up with. Not strong, not smart, not anything special. Even the guard radiated more authority than this guy.
“pay respect to your King!” the man told Kayto.
“Honor whom honor is due.” Kayto sneered. Completely ignoring this insult,
“Why is he calling you tempest?” Ki asked. The man finally seemed to notice Ki.
“Who is this? Why have you brought a foreigner into our domain? What…” He suddenly stopped in his stream of questions, his eyes widening, his mouth open. As fast as the shock hit him, he recovered.
“A Human. Are you out of your mind? Why is she here? Surely you don’t intend to marry at your age right? Although if i think about it, that might not be the worst idea, you gloomy pot.”
Ki blushed, but Kayto was not faced by it.
“Pff whatever you are dreaming about. She has come to become a Magus. Of your Domain.” The King's eyes got smaller. Then a smile hushed over his face. Just faintly. Invisible to the unobserving eye.
“So it is time to increase our Domain.”
This sounded more like a question than a statement. Ki wondered if all Kings were goofy like that, and endured being treated like that. Or if this was a special relationship. For “Royalty” they were fooling around a lot. Nothing like the stoic people, Ki had imagined.
“But a human.. hmm. This will be hard you know. People change their way of thinking, their way of speaking. But their hearts are still the same. You have to prepare her, for what is about to happen. Anyway let us start making you a Magus” he grinned towards Ki. “What is your name?”
“Kimberly Shaw.” Ki answered, not sure how polite she had to be.
“That is way too long to say every time. I will call you Ki.”
Kayto couldn’t help himself but grin. Ki looked at him.
“I guess the apple ain’t falling down to far from the tree.” she said sarcastically.
“Ok Ki,” The Silver King said. “Stand exactly right there where you are and close your eyes. It won’t hurt.”
Ki felt a hand on her back. From the hand, warmth seemed to emerge, a feeling, that went through her whole body. It felt like she was melting inside, yet there was no pain. Time went by and then the feeling stopped. She felt different. Energized. Strong.
“You can open your eyes again,” she heard the King say.
“So that was it? I am a Magus now?”
“Yes you are. Kinda. Even though you are now able to do magic spells, people will still recognize, that you are from the human world. But before bombarding us with questions about your newfound abilities, go with Kayto to register you in the academy. Many questions will be answered in your training, so i don’t have to.”
With those words, the King went back into the room he first came from.
“Ok we are off then Bones. Don’t expect us to be back to early.” Kayto said, opening the door.
“May you bite your tongue while eating.” Came a mumbled reply from the door. laughing, Kayto stepped outside, followed by Ki.
“To answer your question from earlier. I am called Tempest as my Magus name. Every Magus has one. When you get into year two of the studying. You will have to find an ability, that shows your true inner self. It is a unique ability, no one can recreate, because it is your very being. And you will be named after that.”
Ki thought for a moment.
“What does Tempest stand for?”
“Storm.” Kayto seemed very uneasy about this topic, so Ki started to shift to another one.
“Are all Kings that…”
“Unimpressive?” Kaito continued her question.
“No. He is a special case. Unlike the other kings, the silver king does not show up to any events that are happening from time to time. Not even official meetings. He always writes his opinions in letters and does not care what the others decide.”
They walked down the corridors and staircases they had came from. As they arrived in the entrance hall, the went into a new corridor. at the end of it another hall. A Library of some sort.
“This is the document hall. Everyone studying in the academy has his papers in here. You wait here while i go to register you.”
With that Kayto was already gone. In the hall were several people on tables, studying papers. They all wore the same uniforms. But the they had different colored shoulder parts. While she was still watching all the new things, that would be her life from now, A group of men came through one of the corridors. They were joking with each other. Their leader, a tall guy, with yellow hair, suddenly took notice of Ki. He said something to the group and their laughs immediately stopped. They were now coming towards Ki. The Situation felt problematic, but Ki was determined to not run. What was the worst that could happen. Getting into an argument?
“What is a human doing here?” The leader hissed.
“You do not belong here. Your kind was only good for slaves not to long ago.” he spit as he said that.
“What are you talking about?” Ki would not just take whatever he said.
“Shut up. You lowlife do not deserve to talk to royalty. Go back where you belong, or you might regret it.” The guy was now awfully close.
“But i do belong here. I belong to the domain of the Silver King.” As those words left her mouth, she noticed the other guys, that were standing behind their leader, shook in terror.
“Hey Ren.” One of the guys said. “Let’s get out of here.” The guy visibly irritated answered.
“She must be lying. The Silver king has not had any new followers for longer than we all are alive. It cannot be true.”
“But what if it is true?” another one of the group added.
“Mess with the wind and the storm will be coming.”
“That saying is older than any of us here. Who knows what that really meant. Grab her. Since she dared to talk to a royal, like that, some lecturing is due. I will give you the mark, that a human like you is supposed to have.”
Hesitant, the others followed order. Ki could not run anywhere. One of the guys also hindered her from shouting. Just one girl with blue hair had witnessed the whole thing. She ran down a corridor, as fast as she could. At the end of it was an office. On the door were Letters carved in.
Professor A. Kane
“Professor! Please come fast. Some of the royal students are harassing a new person.”
The Professor, a smart looking guy with glasses, did not seem to worry about that. He had grey hair and wore glasses as he was holding a book in his hand and a cup of tea before him.
“Well the usual welcome ritual i assume.” The professor did not seem bothered the slightest.
“But she is human!” the girl shouted.
“Human? are you sure? But even if that is true, royals are royals, as long as they are not going to far with it.”
“But.. she belongs to the silver domain.” the girl stuttered.
The professor was now spitting his tea, coughing as he tried to get some air into his lungs. “Are you ..” cough “are you absolutely sure?” Professor Kane finally got rid of the water in his lungs.
“Yes and they said they were going to mark her.”
Now the professor started running. Leaving behind the confused student, who tried to follow his steps.
“What is that mark thing professor? and why is it important that she belongs to the silver domain?”
The Professor did not turn, but focused on running as he answered.
“I cannot tell you about the mark. Only that it is for slaves. I have no idea how they gained knowledge of it. and now think of it as a usable prank. Unforgivable.”
“And what is the deal with the silver domain? I thought there are no people in it?” The girl asked, still not understanding the situation.
“In the Silver domain is only the King and a student. Who is older than i am. But he is still a signed student here nonetheless. His Magus name is Tempest. Way back in time. He made it as a sport, to teach royals respect of those mightier than them. He was like a raging beast. completely uncontainable. If someone dared to mess with him, he surely would regret it. That went on for weeks, until finally everyone started behaving, while he was in the room. Later a saying came to be known, that you surely must have heard of. ‘Mess with the wind and the storm will come’ Oh and how the storm came.”
With these words they arrived at the scenery just to see, that it was to late already. Ki was laying on the ground, held down by three guys. While the fourth was just done drawing a mark on her neck, with his red blazing finger. It smelled like burned skin. Tears of pain running down Ki’s face. And on the other side of the room, stood Kayto. His hands sank down as he witnessed what had just happened. The paper he brought sliding out of his hands and falling to the ground. His in his face, not a single muscle moved. His hands trembling.
“What are you looking at?” The yellow haired guy shouted
“You want some trouble to mate?” The professor slapped his forehead.
“You moron. Do you want to die?”
The guy turned towards the professor. “Die? Me ? No why would i? I'm just teaching those low lifes a less..”
Kayto’s arm moved forward as if to grasp the guy who stood more than 20 meters away from him. The yellow haired guy, suddenly flew towards him, face first. As soon as the fingers made contact with the face, Kayto slammed his whole body downwards. Concrete was breaking. Parts of stone flying in every direction, the floor cracking. The sound that emerged, could very well have been from a bomb. Dust was in the air. No one could see what had happened. As the Dust turned away, the surrounding people could see Kayto. Still standing at the same position, where he was before. The arrogant royal was lying in front of Kayto. Embedded into the ground. Cracks went into a circle around him. Unconscious, dead? Kayto’s face was still not moving at all. But his eyes were glowing. He looked like one of those ancient statues, where old civilisations had carved in the figure, of how they imagined, the Grim Reaper. No one dared to move. No one wanted to fall victim, to the person, who might attack indiscriminately. Had they heard rumors and stories of the Storm. Older than themself. Now Kayto’s rage was directing towards the other 3 guys, that were still holding Ki down. But before anyone could react, a pained shout came from Ki’s lips. Completely immersed in anguish, she got on her feet. pushing the guys aside. Then it happened.
Nothing to be exact. No one could move. No one could breath. Every single element in the whole hall was kept frozen in the spot. To anyone watching the scenery, it seemed like time had stopped. Except for Ki. She was stumbling forward, towards Kayto. Tears still in her eyes. Her face filled with fear and pain. Step by step. While everything was silent. Nothing could make a sound. Then with the final step her arms lept around Kayto, and she fell down, unconscious. As soon as she fell, everyone could move again, but most didn’t. They fell. Passed out from the lack of air.
“Awakening,” the professor whispered to the girl behind him. “Normally people have to find their deepest self through complicated tests. But it can also happen when someone is put in a most stressful situation. As we just witnessed. Her ability, to silence everything.”
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