Magic~

It had been soon enough, that a knight had discovered the secrets of magic. His name was Solomon. He studied the Menders and their regenerative abilities, the Devilites and their many forms of runic ability, but he got the most knowledge from the Konjurijg Kat. She laughed for a minute when he asked her if she can teach him how to use the mythical force, until she looked into his soul and found the purest of minds and clearest of souls. She bestowed him the knowledge of magic, the ability to call upon energies as a tool. She stated that magic is not a weapon, it is only a tool. She talked about the Menders, and their use of magic as a restorative, comparing to the Sprites that are using the most of their ability to restore Almire to it's former glory. As she bestowed upon him the root of all magic, she created a weakness found in all magic users. She said that magic is best used concentrated, and doing this she formed a pure white gem from the knight's emotions. The gem floats above the forehead, and is the mage's only weakness. Although they could bleed to death and die from sickness, the shattering of the gem leads to a quick demise. This gem would be known today as an Eye, a single focal point of a mage's intellect and mind. He thanked the Konjuring Kat, but before he left to share his knowledge she bestowed him one other gift, a prophecy.

This gift, that I have bestowed upon you will ultimately cause a Great War between the mages and another force, one they have brought upon by themselves. This danger will not happen in your lifetime, but the outcome will decide the fate of all living beings on this planet.

The words were embroidered in a book, an enchanted book we know today by the name of The Book of Prophecy. The knight nodded and understood, and went off to share the knowledge of magic into the world. Mages turned abundant, and the power of magic became an overwhelming force in society. Many people used it, and as a result there was criticism about whether or not the power itself should be taboo. There were few incidents, and many times people were saved by the ones who could use it. During an earthquake, a group of mages concentrated their ability to reinvigorate the ground and caused it to become whole again. Another time, during a raging winter, a solar Mage used his ability to create a miniature sun, holding it above Haven and giving everyone warmth as a result. Everyone was well, and magic was viewed as the greatest of gifts. Until that was, until the fifty fifth Unlocking. Unlocking was a term used for Mages that have realized what their magic specialty was, be it fire or ice, or metal or poison. His name was lost to time, but he is known for unlocking the ability to summon and control the darkest and most feared of monsters..

The Swarm.

It took Haven by surprise, and those who were caught off guard were killed almost instantly by it. It had only been driven away by the combined efforts of the original Mage, the population of mages in Haven, and even the military as well. The fight lasted an entire revolution, which in normal years would be three years of fighting. The original Mage had been blamed, not the caster, for spreading the ability of magic. The caster went off free, but the use of magic was looked down on, until the point where they were shunned and excluded. Finally, there was a small fight between a Mage and a Quartermaster that called forth a movement, the Anti-Magic Revolution. This stated that all magic users are to be killed on sight without mercy. The first few months were long and bloody, until the Mages began to escape into the wilderness. Nobody chased them after that, because of stories of the monsters that lurk in the unknown. These Mages hide on their own, usually forming underground alliances and small groups, but sometimes striking off on their own. The Original Mage was captured in time, and as he faced his execution, he let out a cry of fury as he died on the chopping block. The Swarm was still out there, killing knights and Mages alike. The military eventually drove it off, into an unknown part of the Clockworks, where today it is always churning, mixing, breathing. The Mages received another prophecy, one that was seared into the pages of the book, that the savior of Cradle will bring about miracles and tragedies, but in the end he will use Cradle as the key to the answer. The Mages quickly searched throughout for the prophesied one, and to this day they are still searching, looking for the one that will be their savior.

- - - - - - - -

The rest of the group trudged along in the dense woods, which I followed behind. The group had been very quiet as of late, for fear that too much noise would alert nearby predators, or maybe a squadron of the military. Their Eyes gave off a soft light in different colors, however, at the notice of a sound, they immediately dimmed their lights. My Eye still glowed faintly as ever, and I quickly grabbed my Calibur as everyone else huddled in a circle, facing outwards with their weapons and magic. There was a rustling in the bushes, and one of us quickly shot a pillar of flames at it, searing the bushes and quickly lighting the plants around it. Bullets were quickly shot from the surrounding shadows and hit most of the people on my left, and I ducked as a Leviathan Blade swung over my head and decapitated the person behind me, the blood splattered on the left side of my face. I turned around and saw one of them fix his gaze on me, as he grabbed his Ascended Calibur and ran to me. However, before he could a Mage nailed him in the chest with an icicle. He quickly I strapped something from his back, the package we had been carrying this entire time to our destination, and the map that had been tied to it.
"Kilo, behind you!" I yelled, as another one ran behind him and readied his sword. He turned around in time to be stabbed in the lung and fell to the floor. Before his opponent could finish him off he shot a spray of icicles into his chest. He motioned towards me, while a bullet whizzed over my head and struck a Mage in the neck. His blood covered the book and the map, as I knelt down and he pushed it towards me.
"Go now, we may not be able to win this fight," He said, as he coughed out a little blood onto the ground. He pointed in the direction where two trees split into a path. I nodded and held the book close to me as I ran through the fight. I looked back as another knight stabbed Kilo in the chest, his hands crossed in a burial position. A single tear streaked down my face as the cries of Mages and knights alike echoed into the forest's shadows.

I could feel their presence and hear their footsteps as I ran through the woods. I opened the map, and in the light of my Eye I saw that I was about five minutes away from the destination. I made a quick turn and a thrown Striker struck a tree right above my head. I couldn't turn around and fight, because I still had no idea what my ability was or anything. The stupid crystal had been nothing but trouble the day it appeared, and he was the only one he had seen so far with a white Eye. I didn't have any special abilities, and I was terrible at swordfighting. I was pretty good at speed running when someone was trying to kill me, and sadly, I had a lot of practice. I saw this odd greenish blue light glow from further on ahead, and as I was running I suddenly felt something trip me. I stumbled and fell right into a clearing, the world turned upside down as a result. I struggled to get up, tired and beaten after all the running. I looked in the direction of where I came and saw one of the knights running towards me with more Strikers in his hands. I closed my eyes as he threw then straight towards me in quick succession, until I heard an explosion and found myself surrounded in a circle of flames. There was another Mage in front of me, his dark cloak having flame designs on the tail and sleeves. He pointed something in his hand at the knight, and a bulwark of flames erupted in front of us. The Strikers seemed to have been deflected by the flames as if they were a solid wall.
"Brace yourself," He said as he made a circle gesture with his hand, and the wall condensed into a dark red sphere of flame, and smacked it away with the object in his hand, which upon closer inspection I saw was an igniter like the one Gremlin Scorchers had. The shockwave created by the fireball was nowhere near as instense as the explosion it created when it hit the knight, leaving a smoldering crater and some flaming bushes. The other knight, having seen his partner reduced to ashes, was about to turn around and leave when an white object came sailing from behind me and struck him right inside of the chest, which I immediately saw was a sword made out of pure ice. I looked behind me and the Mage with the igniter helped me up, another Mage, the one who I had guessed threw the sword, had a steely look in her eyes that faded when she saw the book in my hand.
"Uh, hello," I said meekly as the other Mages in the group got up from the blue campfire and stared with mixed emotions.
"Kilo, is that you?" Someone said from the back. The group split as an older Mage with a walking stick appeared from a tent. He had a shifty look in his eyes as he stared at the book in my hand. He motioned for me to follow him inside the tent as the book in my hands felt cold as ice.

"Vitellius," I said as he asked me what my name was. He sat on a chair facing the entrance as I sat on the floor. A circle was visible over his head, so he was clearly a Sage class Mage.
"What happened to the escort team?" He said as he thrust his walking stick into the ground. It was bronze but had a golden claw decoration on the end that held a small blue crystal that gleamed like water in the summer.
"W-we were ambushed," I stuttered as flashbacks of the fight ran through my head. I tried to open my mouth to speak again, but I found myself lost in the past. The Sage looked at me with an understanding look in his eyes and sighed deeply. He pulled out something in the back and handed it to me, a fluffy bedroll that had feathers embroidened into the sides.
"The book, please," He said as we exchanged items. I hadn't looked at the book before, but it had a solid wood cover with bronze edges and a round white crystal on it's face, surrounded by symbols and glyphs. He opened up the pages, which at first seemed empty, but he waved his hand over the paper and letters blazed to life in black ink.
"Solomon put a seal on the book so that only Mages can see the writing," he said as he read the pages intently, gingerly lifted each one as if they were made of thin glass. He stopped as he read a single page, and slowly closed the book until a number of white chains erupted from the crystal on it's center, wrapping the book in a number of binds.
"You should go to sleep, we are leaving early tommorow. The Military have been faster as we expected," he said with a grim expression. I stood up and bowed, and walked outside into the starry night. After looking around and asking others if there was any space in their tents, as well as surprising a young couple, I found nowhere to sleep in the end. There had been some space near the dying fire. The bluish embers floated into the sky, however leaving the scent of burning flowers. Spreading out the bedroll, I realized it was made with the same substance that Grey Feather cloaks were made of, the luxurious stuffing that made it feel like a cloud. Crawling inside I instantly felt warm and sleepy, staring at the sky for one last instant before my eyes shut themselves and the world melted apart.

It wasn't even light yet when I was yanked awake by the same Mage that saved me last night. He however, seemed blurry and almost transparent, like he had stepped through an X-Ray machine. I rolled up the bedroll and realized what had been going on when I saw what the Sage I met last night was doing, he had turned everyone invisible! He motioned for us to hurry along and try not to make noise, because from here I could see the smoke from the fires of the Military camp. We hurried deeper into the woods, passing through a brook that someone simply raised a bridge over, making travel easy. After twenty minutes or so of walking, we reached the wall of a cliff. The Sage simply took his staff and drew a sigil into the wall, where the dust turned red and a gate blazed to life on the wall. Beside it, two pillars of flame erupted and left behind two guards in flaming armor.
"Password," One of them said in an emotionless tone, his sword crossed the doorway with the other guard.
"Caelum Est Apertum," The Sage said in a commanding voice. The two guards nodded and uncrossed their swords and disappeared in a flash of flames. Words etched into the stone were filled with light, and as I entered through the doorway I read,

Owlite Academy of Magic

No Freakin' Non-Mages

We passed through the dark doorway for the entire area to flash in an odd light show of white and blue. I fell to my knees while it felt like the world was spinning, like we had stepped into a gyroscope. The world settled but everyone else was standing, like this had been an easy task for them to handle. We walked out into another doorway, but looking back the door behind us had disappeared. I heard what sounded like a dying animal and the knight next to me looked like he was trying to swallow a bomb.
"You ok?" I asked, he turned towards me and he let out a childish smile.
"Yeah, I'm not used to teleportation, it's my first time," he said, laughing a little afterwards.
"I'm Drevin, Type 1 Secutor," He said, where the people around him gave a short chuckle.
"What's a Secutor?" I asked, and he looked at me like I murdered 3 people right in front of him.
"First time?" He asked, where the people around him gave me a weird look.
"Undefined," I heard one of them whisper, and the the rest of them laughed.
"What?"
"I'll explain later, but first we need to have you iniated," Drevin said, and we walked out of the hallway into a large rectangular room. It had stone and wood floors and walls, each one leading to a different room. There were Mages all over the place, some were sitting by the fountain in the middle and chatting, some others were trying to sell crystals for crowns. Another one was playing I got your nose! with a young Mage, but he had actually used magic of some sort to really take the guy's nose.
Drevin quickly noticed.
"Don't worry, once you have your Identification Exam, you'll fit right in," He said, and patted a badge on his chest. It had the symbol of a sword with a single star next to it.
"Actually, we'll talk later. Find Florence in the Infirmary she's the go-to if you're a newbie," He said, and waved me off. He ran with another Mage and they went to what looked like a mess hall. Sighing, I found the sign for the infirmary, and walked through halls until I found some huge white bay doors.
"You, newbie," I suddenly heard a gruff voice behind me say, and I came face to face with a Mage in Vog Cub, with a meat cleaver in his hand. His Eye floated in front of his forehead with red and purple swirls.
"I'm uh, looking for Florence," I managed to sputter, that cleaver didn't look friendly. He managed a weak laugh, then pointed the cleaver at his side and the sheath materialized around it. I hadn't noticed before, but a red chef's hat had been balanced perfectly on the top of his helmet.
"She's in the back, tell her that Renald needs one of her specials," he said in a joking manner.
"Eh, what?" I asked, confused. He looked at me with one of those do-you-really-want-to-know looks. I nodded and walked towards the bay doors as they opened for me.

The place was a battlefield. I'm not even joking, it was either the emergency room or some sort of game with the medical equipment. I heard someone yell Antiseptic!, and ducked when multiple jars of foul looking liquid sailed overhead. I'd have to duck faster in case someone yells for a scalpel. There were lanes of people in medical beds, some were having treatment as a surgeon used telekinesis to use his tools with precision. Another Medic was using a gentle wave of heat to help someone who had his entire arm frozen solid. I focused so much on them that I slammed into a door. I took a step back and rubbed my face, and looked at the tag on the door.

Florence Snipingale
Please Knock, I Would Hate to Jar You!

I shivered and wondered what kind of person she would be. I knocked and heard footsteps from the other side of the door. Could she actually be a Devilite in disguise? She must have some sort of dark and evil Eye, one that made her the fear of everyone here. The footsteps came to a stop as even more thoughts raced through my head. I heard the doorknob turn and prepared for the worst.

I almost did a double take. She was wearing all red with a hood that covered part of her face. She had been wearing a red Valkyrie Cloak that had heart patterns on it. She was gorgeous of course, but she was about two revolutions older than me.
"H-hello," I managed to sputter.
"Hello!" She said enthusiastically.
"I'm new, and Drevin told me I should go to you for help," I said, which she put a finger near her chin and walked back to her desk. She motioned for me to sit on the chair across from her. She picked up her glasses that were pink hearts of glass for lenses. I explained what happened to me before I got there, the ambush, the book, and the sick feeling from entering.
"Oh, that's no entrance," She said with a slight laugh.
"We use teleportation gates to go to places outside of Owlite Academy, in case of an invasion or such," she said as she pointed to a full color diagram which had Mages walking through portals. On the side, there was a cartoonish image of someone hurling into a can.
"Nausea is common, it'll go away eventually, you'll get used to it," she said with cheer, until she glanced at the clock and stood straight up.
"Uh oh, it's almost time for the Identification Exams!" She exclaimed, and hurriedly grabbed a cluster of papers from her desk.
"Oh, wait! Renald needs one of your specials," I said before she got out.
"Cabinet, second to bottom left drawer, and also take one of the books on that shelf!" She said, and then disappeared through the doorway. Grabbing one of the textbooks on the shelf, I had been entranced for a moment by the images on the cover. It was a Mage with light pouring into his left hand and energy pouring out of his right. I shrugged and went for the drawer. The moment that I saw what was inside though, I had nearly fainted.

There was almost no way to hide them, and the worst part was that Renald was nowhere near the entrance of the infirmary. I walked through what seemed to be the main area, scaring the heck out of multiple people and making quite a number of them scream, as I carried multiple jars of assorted body parts. This is what she meant by 'jarring' someone. I shivered and wondered if this was what happened if someone were to get on her bad side. I reached the entrance to the Mess Hall and Renald was standing casually against a wall, looking at my jars like they were some new amazing cuisine that he could try.
"Thank you for the help," He said as multiple eyes in the jar bounced around. There were also bones, tongues, and what looked like part of a liver. Not that I know what a liver looks like. He took every single jar before stopping a moment and turned towards me.
"The Exam's in the main hall, just stay where you are and wait for them to accept Mages," He said, and waved me off. Sighing, I leaned against a wall and looked at the surroundings. People were practicing their abilities, and one was trying so hard to concentrate he made a small explosion and made him crash against a wall. The Mages around him snickered a little bit and decided to keep on sparring. Another one was practicing with his sword, until he flung it up into the air and it came down completely wreathed in flames. He swung it towards a wall and a wave of flame swirled out from the tip, curling upwards and disappearing. I still had one of Florence's textbooks, and opened it to find it filled with the Mage system at Owlite Academy.

There were six distinct class types, Undefined, Wizard, Secutor, Warden, Healer, and Sage. Each one had a specific kind of purpose and role, the Wizard excelling in using magic-only, the Secutor uses his abilities to power his weapons, the Warden has the opposite effect, using magic as a defensive tool. Healers were support types that used their magic for remedial purposes, and the Sage merely concentrated and channels large amounts of magic, commonly used as a support because of their high skill. The Undefined, however, is a class where one has close no to magic ability, or has a stable amount of ability and doesn't fit to any class. I wondered if I can fit for a Secutor or a Sage, the ideas seemed too far-fetched ergo no ability at all. I heard cheering and turned in surprise, a Mage had a glowing circle around his feet and he had a glow around his hand. I guessed he just had his Unlocking, and with a swirl of his hand, a glob of acid appeared in the air, before he dropped it and slightly eroded the floor. The floor grew back in place and the surrounding Mages laughed.

"Derek Medaus," A Mage said as he faced the instructors in the center. There was the head Secutor and Wizard, the head Warden and Florence were there too. Florence studied him carefully, he was trying to be a healer. Someone brought in a sickly potted plant, to which Florence flinched at. The Mage did a practiced hand motion and a green light glew around the plant, and it immediately blossomed. The Mage did a bow, and the director applauded.
"Type 3 Healer," he said to Florence, to which she gave a little smile to him. The next Mage walked up to the center and faced the plant.
"Ferris Stiles," the lead Secutor said. She leaned close as the Mage tapped his fingers on his leg nervously. I recognized her face, she was the one who had thrown a sword of pure ice the night I found them. Ferris raised both hands in front of him, and made a grabbing gesture at the air. An orange circle appeared at his feet, and from it flowed a bright red liquid. The liquid condensed itself into a small ball, to which he grabbed and held in his hand. I immediately knew it was explosive gel, and followed in suit with everyone else and shielded my face. He threw it at the plant, which upon contact it made a small explosion, and rocked the entire place.When the dust and debris settled, a pile of steaming ashes were all that remained. All of the leaders applauded, when suddenly the Mage fell to the floor. Florence immediately called for the medics, and they carried him away on a stretcher.
"Type 4 Secutor," the lead Secutor said, and everyone else nodded in agreement. They shuffled around some papers and the lead Secutor stamped a paper with a blue insignia, passing it to the person behind her who nodded and grinned.
"Anyone else?" The lead Sage said, then I felt his gaze fall upon me.
"Vitellius," he said with a slight smile. I nodded sheepishly and walked towards the center of the area, the blast crater from earlier a yard away to my left.
"Uh, I don't exactly know what I can do," I managed to say. I heard a couple Mages snicker from behind me. The Secutor looked at the Ascended Calibur at my side.
"Can you fight well?" She said as I heard something growl and claw at the ground to my right. I grew wide-eyed as, thirty feet away from me, a frothing Wolver stared at me with his burning red eyes. A harness adorned his back, and on it was a single red crystal.
"Just slice that Crystal and you can make for a Type 2 Secutor," she yawned as the knight holding the Wolver down let it go.

When I said this I had no abilities, I was lying. I noticed that for some time there had been something weird with my hands. Whenever I touched hot things with my left hand, they seemed to cool down. Complete opposite with my right, and when I was mad I noticed that the air around me was physically warmer. Some electrical devices seemed to blackout when I tried using them with my left hand, which made me lose interest in computers completely. The Wolver was unleashed and I couldn't move, I felt like the entire world stopped moving. Those eyes reminded me of the knights that killed my squadron, the same burning eyes with a glare that could melt stone. I immediately noticed that it was getting closer, and I managed to get my senses back to spin and land a sharp hit on it's back. It wasn't enough to make the crystal shatter, but cracks spread across it's face. The Wolver wheeled around and charged at me again, but this time I was ready. I grabbed the sword backhandedly and tried using that move I had been working on, the one where I use the sword as it's own bullet. I concentrated as the Wolver gleamed it's eyes at me with blood red pupils, it's mouth frothing furiously. I felt the air around me turn cold and my hand turn hot as I grabbed my sword by the handle and pointed it towards the gem on the Wolver's back. They better be watching.. I thought to myself as the Wolver leapt into the air towards me. Some people screamed while others laughed and ducked, I closed one eye and let go of my sword as it flew out of my hand at the speed of sound.

I wasn't expecting it to work out that well.
Neither was the Wolver.
Miraculously, I had been able to shoot the crystal clean off it's back, and my sword had embedded itself in a wall, a foot away from the head of a shocked bystander. The dust and air settled as the dust on the floor formed into perfect lines in the direction of the shot. Everyone else was still wide eyed and stared at me, the sword in the wall, and then the instructors, who were just as surprised. I brushed the dust off my cloak and turned towards them, and dug my hands into my pockets.
"Well?" I asked, which seemed a little brash. Many of them shuffled their papers until one of them called out,
"Please see us afterwards," and then I was dismissed. I walked back to the corner I stood in while some others stared at me for a bit until their attention was brought to another one, who used his abilities to turn his skin to solid steel. He easily crushed a reinforced metal crate with his hands. This was before my head jerked upwards when I felt a hand rest on my shoulder.
"Hey Drevin," I managed to say, and he looked at me with a crazed grin.
"Dude, what the heck was