Chapter 8 – A Big Bang For Breakfast

Dorin got up early the next morning. It was still summer, though the morning air was already chilly in the city. He went to the small washroom, did his morning rituals, and put on his new clothes. His aunt told him that students were required to wear proper attire when inside the campus. His light brown eyes stared at the small mirror as he combed his unruly brown hair that fell to his shoulders in waves. After dressing up in his uniform, he climbed the small ladder going up to Sebastian’s bunk and threw the bed curtains open.

“Good morning Sebastian!” he called energetically. “Did you have a good night’s sleep?”

“...”

He looked at his roommate. The other had a pillow over his head, his back to him. He raised his right hand and waved angrily at Dorin.

“Oh, not a morning person, huh?” asked Dorin, undaunted by the other’s action, “It’s already 5 in the morning! The sun will be out soon!” he jumped down and started putting on his boots. He was still lacing it up when he heard the closet open and close. Thinking Sebastian was already up, he turned around, ready to greet him once more, but there was nobody there.

“Damn, these laces are really a handful...” he grumbled.

He frowned, whistled to call the wind, and with the flip of his finger, directed the laces of his boots to tie themselves.

He ended up with a big knot in the end.

“Drat!” he cursed under his breath, “The magic in here really has gone thin...”

Just as he was redoing his laces, he heard the closet open again. Upon turning around, he saw Sebastian with his head inside the closet.

“Finally up?” he asked merrily, “I was thinking of having a stroll around campus before the Photography Class starts...”

[SUNRISE AT 7 AM!!!!!] was suddenly shoved in front of Dorin’s face. Sebastian’s homely face, as usual, carried no emotion, but the slate was slightly shaking as he held it.

“Oh, is that so? Where I came from, the sun rises before 6 during the summer...”

[THIS ISN’T WHERE YOU CAME FROM. Sun rises earlier in the East!!!!]

“Oh, sorry, well, since you’re up already, we might as well have an early breakfast, right?” Dorin said with a grin. Sebastian stood staring at him. He finally turned around, climbed back up his bunk bed, and closed the curtains. Later the slate was thrown out the curtain, narrowly hitting Dorin on the head.

[I WAKE UP AT 7!!!] It said.

Dorin decided to leave him alone. He was about to open the door when he remembered the locking spell. Thinking that Sebastian would rather not be disturbed again, he decided to open it himself.

‘A triple lock spell...’ he said, his eyes closed, sensing the tendrils of magic or mana like a silky thread of a spider’s web. ‘...with a fail-safe to alarm the caster...’

Carefully, with eyes still shut, he raised a hand to touch one tendril at a time.

These tendrils or ‘thaums’¹ is the universal measure used for magic. It is only visible to a trained magus’ eyes. Dorin chose one thaum or thread unit of mana from hundreds of tendrils, and pulled it aside and swiped a finger to cut it.

‘Good, the alarm didn’t go off...’ he thought proudly to himself.

There was a sudden gasp from the bunk beds. He turned around and saw Sebastian’s head stuck outside the curtain, his lilac eyes, wide with disbelief! When he saw Dorin staring, he quickly pulled back inside.

“Um...” said Dorin, “I’m going out now...”

The other made no reply.

“I’ll come back at 7 to pick you up.”

After waiting for a reply that never came, he finally opened the door and stepped outside.

The hall in the dormitory was still dark. Only a couple of lights on the wall illuminated the way to the staircase.

“Electric lights.” Dorin mumbled to himself, remembering what his aunt told him when she brought him to the dorms. “I should study more on electricity, maybe I could use it back home...”

Since the room was on the 3rd floor, Dorin had to take 2 flights down to get to the ground floor. He didn’t meet a single soul in the hallway as he went on his way. He remembered Peter the dorm president said the kitchens were at the back, way east, while the shared baths were at the west.

“I guess they are all still sleeping...” he thought aloud as he went to the kitchens. It was still dark and empty, like the rest of the dorm.

It took Dorin a while to look for a light switch. He then proceeded to look for something to eat, or at least, prepare for breakfast. He found some bacon and eggs in a closet that automatically lit up when he opened it. It must have been a kind of icebox since it was very chilly inside. After finding enough ingredients, he faced the shiny new stove and raised his hand to start a fire with a snap.

BOOM!!!

A loud bang shook the whole dormitory!

One by one, the doors opened, sleepy students peeked out with questioning looks on their faces.

One particular door flung open on the third floor. Out ran Sebastian, hurrying to the kitchens where he found a blackened Dorin standing in front of a gas stove.

“Wow, that was some spark...” Dorin faced Sebastian, eyes wide open, hardly looking a bit shaken.

There were footsteps approaching. Without thinking, Sebastian took hold of Dorin’s arm and ran out the back door. When they were a good distance away, he took out a glass orb from his pajama pocket and threw it at their feet.

When the smoke was gone, Dorin found himself face to face with an alarmed-looking Agate.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” She yelled at the two boys who suddenly fell on her bed. “You!” she pointed at Sebastian, “I told you not to place an anchor point in my room!”

She looked closely at them and noticed her nephew’s appearance.

Her jaw dropped, speechless.

“Good morning au- Professor.” Dorin tried to grin.

“What happened to you?!”

“I was just trying to cook some breakfast...”

[He blew up the dorm kitchen!] Sebastian wrote on his hand with a pen he found on the desk.

“My Lord!” was all Agate could reply.

“I just tried to turn on the stove, but when I called on fire to light it up, it suddenly blew up!” Dorin tried to explain. “It was just a small spell! Nothing fancy, just a snap – “

At this he snapped his finger once more, causing a small fireball to hit the ceiling.

“What the hell!” screamed Agate.

She quickly said a counter spell that stopped the fire from burning a hole in the wooden ceiling.

“This never happened before...” Dorin scratched his head, “Maybe because the magic here in the city is too thin and muddled?”

[In what way does that look thin and muddled?!?!?!??!] wrote Sebastian on a piece of paper he found on Agate’s desk.

“Must be the charms,” Agate said thoughtfully. “His powers are out of control since we took all the debasers off...”

“Hmm... No wonder I feel so light...”

“You idiot! Who told you to use magic in the first place?” She slapped her nephew on the back then went to her desk and opened a drawer. She pulled a woven charm bracelet out. “You’re lucky the stoves here have fire preventing spells that send most of the damage upward and out a fire chimney!” She threw the charm at Dorin. “But it’s a wonder you’re still standing after that! I actually heard the explosion from here!”

“What’s this?”

Sebastian was immediately at Dorin’s side, eyeing the charm.

“It’s an elemental suppressor I’ve been making since last night,” Agate explained. “There are supposed to be 2 of them but I’m still working on the other one. Put it around your ankle and keep it hidden.”

“Whoa... This is pure magic!” Dorin whispered, scrutinizing the charm. Beside him, Sebastian nods vigorously. The threads of mana were alive, flowing, the color ever-changing.

“That will last a month at most, as long as you don’t use your powers frequently. By then you should be long gone and back home to mommy.”

[MASTER! Please teach me!] Sebastian wrote on his outstretched arm as he knelt before the professor.

“NO.” Agate wrote on his forehead.

“Thank you, aunt Agate!” Dorin said as he took off his boot.

“Now, both of you go back to your room!”

She pointed at Dorin, said a cleansing spell, and gave a harrumph upon seeing his uniform look good as new again, albeit a bit wrinkled. “I’ll talk to the dorm head later to sort out the mess. At the meantime, act as if you know nothing of the incident.” She raised her hand again, this time mumbling a longer spell, and pointed at the 2 students who suddenly vanished without a trace.

Agate sat back on her bed with a heavy sigh. She reached under her pillow and took out a faded old picture. There were 5 people in it. One, surprisingly, looked exactly like her. On her right was a sharp-looking young woman wearing a military uniform, a captain’s pin was on her high collar, half-hidden in torrents of jet black hair. Her eyes were as green as sprigs sprouting on a snow-covered field. On her chest is a pin with a single rose surrounded by a crown of thorns.

“I’m doing my best to protect him, Hermione,” she whispered, “I have never been keen about your plan to hide all these years, but if it is your will, then so be it.” She frowned as she placed the picture back under the pillow. “He doesn’t look like you though, more like great grandfather Philip,” she thought, and with that thought, Agate Althea went back to sleep.