“HAHAHAHAHA! YOU?!? Part of the Nexus Coven?!?” Persei looked down in embarrassment as the older female berated him. He grabbed a hold of the tesseract around his neck and hugged the poster tighter; he could feel the tears trying to flow out but he held it in.
“At least I- I- have a tesseract…” is all Persei could whisper in defense against his bully. Hyacinth placed a finger on his chest and said
“You may have a cool unique tesseract but every kroma sorcerer has one! You can’t even project a glyph bigger than your hand! You’d better just give up now before you get hurt. Why do you even want to be a kroma sorcerer anyway?”
“I don’t have to tell you that!” Persei said as he summoned a glyph the size of his hand and pressed it against Hyacinth’s body, causing her to get pushed back a little. “HAHAHAHA You call that a glyph? Please, you won’t even last the first few seconds in the exam...I’ll make sure to crush you, dumbass.” said Hyacinth for the last time before grabbing her tesseract and creating a red glyph underneath Persei. Red glass spikes started to form around him and almost pierced his skin. “See ya. Hehe, don't get too scared.” She said before making the glyph and red glass disappear.
Persei let out a sigh and stared at the poster he held. “I better tell Yoven this…” he thought before running off.
The sky was clear and the day was perfect, the wooden houses lined the streets of Bjorn Village looked like they were newly varnished due to the sun’s reflection. The village was small and few people roamed the streets, guards, a few vendors, and just people going on a stroll. Persei ignored all this and continued running back to the house of Yoven. He eventually reached his house and wandered to the rear end of the building. A tree grew behind the building and was as tall as all the buildings surrounding it.
“YOVEN! Open the window!” shouted Persei. Not too long, a blonde male opened the window in excitement. “Did you get it?” He shouted in joy. “Yup! Wait up!” Persei said before starting to climb the tree up to Yoven’s window. Yoven’s parents never liked Persei due to the fact he has blue eyes, so climbing the tree was the second best option for him. His foot slipped a bit but before he plummeted down, he clasped on to his tesseract.
A blue glyph the size of Persei’s foot appeared underneath his boot and he stepped on it. He balanced himself on the small glyph under his foot while leaning on the cobblestone wall of Yoven’s house.
“Well well well, someone’s been practicing.” Yoven said giggling.
“I need to practice all I can if I wanna get into the Nexus Coven...now help me out! I can’t balance on one foot forever!”
“Ah right”
Yoven grabbed Persei’s hand and pulled him up to the window before shutting it. “Gimme gimme” Yoven said, extending his arms out to grab the poster Persei was holding.
Yoven’s face lit up as he got ahold of the poster. “WOW! It really is true! The Nexus Twins really are going to have a coven exam in Bjorn Village! Proxima Nexus, the legendary red sorceress and Dizonia Nexus, the lustrous blue sorceress!” Persei lowered his head as soon as Yoven mentioned Dizonia. Yoven got hesitant and went down and sat beside Persei on the bed.
“Is there something wrong, Persei? You always get so sad whenever I mention Dizonia…” Persei looked up and met locked gazes with Yoven’s amber eyes before he let out a sigh. “Do you really think I can be as good as Dizonia?”
“Yes!” Yoven said without any hesitation.
“Really?...Well what if I don’t get accepted into the Nexus Coven...” Persei turned his hands to fists and said “I’m sure you’ll be accepted into the Nexus Coven, Yoven. You’re amazing…” Persei said in a fit of jealousy. “You can make big glyphs and you’re strong…”.
“Why do you want to get into the Nexus Coven so bad?” Yoven asked.
“I need to, Yoven.” said Persei while fumbling with his hands. “I have to get revenge...revenge on the husks.”
“I didn’t ask if you need to, Persei. I asked if you wanted to.” Persei choked up and was pushed back by the blonde’s sudden question. He started scratching the back of his black hair and said “I-I’m not sure...I can’t think of anything else I want to do...and- I uh don’t wanna talk about it.
Yoven let out a smile and said “That’s okay! Just make sure becoming a kroma sorcerer is something YOU want, don’t do it for me, to prove Hyacinth wrong, do it for you.” Persei felt relief when Yoven said this and stopped fumbling with his hands.
Yoven’s face lit up once more and he grabbed Persei’s hand. “Let’s have a closer look!” Persei looked back at Yoven excitedly as well and grabbed his tesseract and created a glyph halfway down the window for them to step on. They both hopped down from Persei’s small glyph to the grassy ground before they ran off into the crowd of people.
Persei shoves the bystanders as he reaches the front of the crowd and Yoven pops out of the crowd not long after. They stare in awe as the horses lined with golden chains and beautiful tapestry waltz across the land. Persei immediately recognized the patterns of the tapestry and looked at Yoven. “Yoven, those designs are from The Workshop!” The blonde gasped when he heard this.
“No way! The Nexus Twins are from the capital of kroma sorcerers!”
“Yeah! They say those who get trained under the Nexus Coven become the most powerful kroma sorcerers…I wish I could get in.” The Nexus Twins riding the horses stopped for a moment. One of them wore a cloak of red with triangle patterns and the other had blue ones. The red one lowered their hood, revealing her bright red hair.
“Greetings Bjorn Village!” She said as the crowd erupted in rejoice and awe. “I am Proxima Nexus! And I hope to see some of your faces soon during our coven exam later at 5!” She said while flailing her arms around. “Sister, calm down.” the other twin said as she lowered her own hood and revealed the indigo haired sorceress with her hair tied to a ponytail.
“Nevertheless, I too, Dizonia Nexus, is excited for the young sorcerers who have the valor and determination to enter our coven.” “See y'all later!” Proxima said while doing a peace sign. “Yes. we await you all by the forest outside the wall by 8pm.” said the twins before they popped their hoodies back on their heads and trotted their horses off. Yoven couldn’t control his excitement and was practically a tomato from all of his blushing. Persei on the other hand was a bit more doubtful. “Do it for you” those words echoed in Persei’s mind.
“That’s some pipe dreams for you, Horiz.”
Persei’s introspection was interrupted by a voice he knew all too well. Hyacinth. The black haired boy looked behind him and saw the tall female with her arms crossed against her chest with a smug smile. Ugh. She had a shorter boy beside her who had emerald eyes layered under the glasses he wore as well as a tinge of green hair. “Who’s he?” asked Persei in an annoyed tone.
“Oh hello there, I’m Hyacinth’s younger brother, Myun...I hope we get along!” He said with a big smile on his face.
“Don’t worry Myun, this one won’t even be at the coven exam.”
“O-oh really? That’s too bad…”
Persei stared daggers into Hyacinth’s amber eyes and said “Nope! I WILL be there and get into the Nexus Coven. I don’t think your sister can come though.”
Hyacinth scoffed. “Got something to say?”
Persei and Hyacinth started to head butt each other before Yoven broke them apart. “Hey hey, chill out. The coven exam hasn’t even started yet and you’re already competing.” “Yeah! Let’s all do our best to get into the Nexus Coven!” Myun said all bubbly and blushing.
Yoven grabbed onto Persei’s shoulder and said “Hey I think it’s time we prepare stuff for the coven exam. Don’t wanna be late and unprepared.”
“Yeah.” Persei said in a hushed tone. As they walked away, Persei heard Hyacinth say “Goodluck! You’re gonna need it!”. Persei gritted his teeth and Yoven noticed. “Hey, don’t let her get to you. I’m sure you’ll get into the Nexus Coven.” “Hope so. So I can rub it into her face that I’m just as strong as a red sorcerer…”
“Remember what we talked about Persei, do things only for you, not for anyone, okay?”
“Ngh, okay.” Persei said. “Well, see ya in the forest later!” Yoven said before reaching out his fist. Yoven and Persei did their secret handshake which ended with a bwoosh. They giggled and went their separate ways back to their houses which Persei was not thrilled for. He walked through the cobblestone and grassy ground until he finally reached his house.
A small one floor shack just big enough for two people. Wooden slabs were poking out of the abode. Persei saw a faint light inside and let out a low sigh knowing his mother was still awake. He opened the door which loudly creaked. The house from the outside was small, but the interior was even smaller, cramped. As much as Persei wanted to go up the stairs right in front of him, he went right and into the kitchen where his mother was waiting for him. The ragged old woman was staring daggers, piercing his soul.
“Good evening mothe-”
“PERSEI WHY ARE YOU LATE FOR DINNER?!?” said Margui as she slammed her fists down to the table, causing the plates and utensils to rattle. All the blue-eyed boy can do is look down against the dusty wooden floor in response.
“It won’t happen again, mother.” “THIS WAS THE THIRD TIME! You could’ve been killed by the husks or the kromagoths!” “I didn’t go outside the walls, mother! Me and Yoven greeted the Nexus Twins who just arrived.”
His mother’s eyes shot up when she heard this and for a moment she was in utter shock. Then she started to giggle and press her hands against her temples. Persei was hesitant because he never heard his mother laugh before. He approached the ragged old lady with caution. She immediately stood up from the chair she was sitting on and grabbed Persei’s shoulders. Persei could see the tears forming from her brown bulbous eyes. Margui stuttered at first before she could form her words.
“Persei...you HAVE to get into the Nexus Coven.” She said with a wide grin.The boy looked down and remembered the words of his best friend once more. He opened his mouth and mustered up the courage he so desperately needed to face the woman he called ‘mother’. He felt the words boiling up from his chest and out came his remark so simple yet so crucial.
“Why?...”
For so long, the blue-eyed boy was pressured into becoming a kroma sorcerer. “Maybe mother will understand.” “Maybe my mother will let me decide my future.” “Maybe mother will let me be happy”. These thoughts bubbled in his mind. He felt the grip on his shoulders tighten. He raised his face and stared directly at the eyes of Margui. The eyes that have seen hate and death itself.
“YOU HAVE TO GET RID OF ALL HUSKS PERSEI! YOU MUST AVENGE KIOLO FOR ME!”
“But-” He felt a hand slap him across his face. It took a few seconds to process what happened. He started tearing up once again before Margui started to scream once more.
“YOU UNGRATEFUL CHILD! I SHOULD’VE LEFT YOU THERE TO DIE IN THE RAIN! MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL FOR ONCE IN YOUR SAD STUPID LIFE!”
Persei took these words in and he could feel each line of text pierce his stomach like a sword. His mouth started to taste salty due to the tears that trickled from his eyes. After his mother started to recollect herself, she released him from her grasp. She walked towards the staircase and as she took the first step, she said: “Eat, then leave. Make sure you get accepted into the Nexus Coven or else I’ll throw you out of my sight.” before walking up the rest of the flight of stairs. After a few moments,
Persei heard the slam of a door, indicating he was safe from mother. His knees turned to jelly and he collapsed onto the hard dusty floor, sobbing his eyes out, making sure to cover his mouth to not let a single sound come out.
As Margui slammed the door shut, she too collapsed on the floor. Her head throbbed with pain as she pressed her hands against her temples once more. “I’m a bad mother...Kiolo would be beyond disappointed with me…” She looked down at her palms and gazed upon the wrinkles that lined her once young hands. She closed her hands to fists.
“ The husks must pay...but Persei...is this what you want?” For the first time, the thoughts of someone other than herself came into her mind. For once, she thought about the only person who took care of her for 14 years after Kiolo was mauled to death by the husks.
“Persei…”
Comments (0)
See all