Kill the civilian immediately, then burn the body leaving no trace of your murder.
Attempt to convince the civilian that he’s on drugs, that you’re a stage magician, or that it was just a prank.
Perform a spell on the civilian, erasing his short-term memory to before he saw anything peculiar.
Laugh maniacally and twirl your moustache, or pretend to twirl if you’re female or otherwise unable to grow one.
The first question was easy, it had to be C. Jed still peeked over at Evan’s sheet to make sure.
Question 2.
What should a Venator do if he/she loses all contact with Veneseron?
Run around in circles, screaming for help.
If it’s an emergency, use your Rambrace to portal back to Veneseron. If not an emergency, merely wait until the mission controllers track you down.
Stop, drop and roll.
Hook up with the next orc you see.
Brooke leaned over his shoulder next, whispering, “the answer is definitely B, right?”
“Of course.” Evan chuckled.
The first two questions appeared to be the easiest, but it looked like the test was going to get steadily more difficult.
Question 3.
What happens if you ingest too many healing or sorcery potions?
A. You become catatonic until the excess magic has left your system.
B. You become fluent in French.
C. You’ve worked your body so hard, you’re prone to falling into a coma, or even death.
D. Your urine will be blue for several weeks.
Evan wasn’t sure, but he remembered learning something similar to answer C.
“How do I know which country on Earth is most prone to demonic attacks?” Jed asked aloud several minutes later.
“It’s England” Brooke whispered, “…or America. I can’t remember.”
“That helps,” Jed murmured back.
There were twenty-five questions in total, and Evan felt confident he got the majority of them right. But when Master Gettelung gathered up their papers for marking, Evan got only eighteen correct. Xavier and Elijah had done a lot better with twenty-three, but only Sabine Silcorn, a rather annoying girl, got full marks.
Jed only managed twelve correct answers. “Oh, glarqing hell,” he swore, “how is that possible? I copied you on most of them.”
“What was that Mr Jagger?” Gettelung called from his desk.
“Oh, nothing sir,” Jed replied. “I just sneezed, that’s all.”
Evan looked over at Brooke before they both burst into laughter.
As they left the chamber, he saw the same droge from earlier, panting excitedly when he saw Evan. He gave the animal another scratch between the ears before hurrying after his friends. Their next lesson was Alchemy and Enchantment, which took place inside a Tudor-esque room that was also full of hi-tech laboratory equipment, and the bubbling and hissing of multicolored liquids inside a variety of containers.
Today, Mistress Kiyoko set them the task of turning moon rock into amulets that would be enchanted with anti-gravity. As Evan took a pinch of powdered fire elemental and added it to the boiling mixture of fish eye and troll fat, making a liquid strong enough to melt down moon rock, he saw the droge again. This time the dog-dragon sat outside the window, his tail wagging happily once again.
“Very good everyone,” said Mistress Kiyoko at the end of the session. “Next time we will work on vanquishing bombs.”
“Wait, we make bombs in Alchemy too? Awesome,” Jed exclaimed.
“Well, they’re more like contained powder that you throw at demons like a grenade,” said Kiyoko. “But a supply of vanquishing bombs is just the thing a Venator needs when facing large crowds of demons.”
The droge wouldn’t stop following him. After his third lesson, illusion training, the droge was there waiting for him as he left.
Brooke frowned. “Wasn’t that little guy hanging around earlier?”
“Yeah,” said Evan, leaning down to stroke the dog-dragon again as he bounded around his legs. “He hasn’t left me alone since I met him this morning. You are cute though, aren’t you?” He bent down to rub the droge’s tummy.
He decided to let the droge follow him to the Banquet chamber and sit underneath the table, where Evan fed him scraps from his lunch.
“I think you’ve got yourself a new pet.” Emi grinned.
“What, I can keep him, just like that?” he asked.
“Probably,” said Joelle, “most droges around the castle are strays. The kitchen staff leave them dinner and they roam the Fortress chasing rats and sleeping beside the fireplaces. I know a few Venators who’ve practically adopted droges as a pets.”
“Yeah, but you’ll have to name him too,” Elijah added.
“Well, I don’t know about keeping him, he might already have an owner, or want to go back to the forest. But for now, I’ll name him Danx.”
“Danx?” Emillia asked.
“It was the name of a dragon in one of my stories,” he said, remembering the stories he used to write about a warrior named Alwar. In his writings, which he had used to distract himself from reality, he hadn’t even imagined half of the things he’d seen in Veneseron. He had imagined himself in Alwar’s place as the hero then. Now however, he didn’t want the spotlight, certainly not this way. Being a half-demon would make him the villain in a lot of people’s eyes, not the hero.
Thinking of demon-spawn made him look around the Banquet hall for Taija. He’d searched for her at breakfast, and then in several rec rooms between his training sessions, but he’d seen no sign of her, and neither had his friends.
“Guys, I’m going to check the Archives for Taija. Could a couple of you check some more rec rooms and another couple search the fields? She has to be here somewhere.”
“No problem.” Xavier nodded. “Zeke, Emi and I can scope out the entertainment rooms.”
“Yeah,” said Joelle, “and I can check the fields before my Mount-Control training.”
“I’ll come to the Archives with you,” said Brooke.
“Me too.” Elijah stood up. “I have to summarise one of the bestiary books for my Creature-Study homework.”
“I’ll also come then,” Jed added. “I need to copy off Elijah.”
“You most certainly will not,” Elijah exclaimed as the rest of them laughed and headed their separate ways.
Evan shook his head, hoping to find his newfound sister here.
*
Memories.
Memories of her old life flooded through Taija’s head as she lay on her bed; her old home, the fellow slaves in her pen, her former masters. They flooded and merged with those of her new life, her new friends, her new home.
Every morning since coming to Veneseron, memories of her old life haunted her as soon as she woke up. Fortunately, Taija was able to drive most of the memories away once she’d left her room and headed to training for the day.
For so long, her mind had been a mess of jumbled feelings and forgotten memories, masked by the drugs they’d given her in the asylum on Sarume. Vanderain had repaired her broken mind when he saved her from being destroyed by her own magic.
The worst memory that kept flashing within Taija’s mind was also the freshest, and it had almost been her last. She remembered her body burning up, as if she was on fire. So much power had roared through her she thought she was going to explode into a million pieces. But it was over now.
The drugs the doctors gave her had muddled many of her memories, and all but erased others. Vanderain had spent several minutes performing a spell Taija didn’t understand, but it composed of him placing a hand on either side of her head and closing his eyes.
And Kachina. All her memories of Kachina were as clear as ever, which meant Kachina’s death still felt as raw as ever. Nothing compared to the grief she’d felt when it first happened, and the ensuing rage which caused Taija to slaughter several slave owners with her magic, but the pain was sti
ll as potent. It had to have been over a year since the only person she’d ever loved had left her. Taija thought about her every day since her memories had returned.
Two months since she’d been rescued from the mental institution, two months since she had come to Veneseron.
Vanderain had told her about the Fortress that was to be her home, about her magical abilities, and how she was to become a Venator. All of that paled when he informed her she also happened to be a half demon.
In the days after these revelations, she’d been convinced she was still in the asylum and had gone completely insane at last.
Vanderain had also used a powerful spell to remove her slave brand. The tattoo on her cheek was but another memory now. She’d had her mark taken away, whilst Evan received one forever.
As a slave, she’d never known any family. Taija had believed she’d been taken from her real family when she was a child, to spend the rest of her life in servitude. She’d dreamed about one day being reunited with her real family, that an older brother or sister would come to rescue her from her wretched life, but not like this. Years ago, Taija had come to the realisation that any siblings she had would’ve been slaves like her and her parents would be dead. There were no old slaves in Sarume. But the day she realised she had family put there, a brother, was the same day she saw that monsters were real, that she was one too. Taija supposed her dream did come true, sort of. Her newfound brother had come to save her afterall. But was I worth saving?
The first month at Veneseron had been overwhelming. Hell, it still is. The magic, the creatures, and then all the other people here had been a lot to take in. But even with all that, Taija felt safer than she had in a long time. Life in the mental institute and as a slave had been constant fear and danger. She remembered vividly how her magic had lashed out of its own against the slavers who’d killed Kachina. The memory was too painful to think about.
The only two times she’d used sorcery it had been disastrous. Taija was terrified of it happening again.
Evan’s friends, she still called them that in her head, had been kind to her. But they weren’t her friends. They’d probably been told to be nice to her because Evan said so. Evan seemed nice enough at least, but it was too weird to think of him as a brother, as family. The only family she’d ever had was Kachina. And she guessed the fellow slaves in her pen had been family too, they’d grown up together after all.
She felt closest to Jed and Emillia. She and Emi had already spent several hours talking about Sarume and their similar upbringings there. Taija remembered Lyella, but she hadn’t seen her in Veneseron yet. Elijah seemed nice, and had tried telling her all about Veneseron, although he did waffle on a bit. Brooke had been teaching her how to apply makeup. Taija had never been allowed any before, and had to confess she didn’t like it much, but she did like Brooke helping her. Evan seemed very kind, but also awkward. Whenever they interacted there was an uncomfortable air, likely because of the way they’d first met. Meeting a long lost sibling whilst being attacked by demons, where they both almost died, wasn’t anything she’d ever imagine happening. Taija also hadn’t even mentioned the fact they were both half demon to either Evan or Brooke. She had no idea what to say.
That was the reason she got on most with Jed, he treated her like a normal person. No one special. She was accustomed to being treated lower than dirt, so being viewed as an equal was a pleasant shock. Hanging out with Jed also distracted her from the trauma she was still going through, and felt safer than throwing herself into training with magic she didn’t want to use.
A good thing was that the Masters weren’t rushing her to do magic. For now, she was only doing physical training, as well as learning to read and write. She’d never been taught such basic things on Sarume.
After putting on her Novice Venator clothes, Taija headed straight to the Archives chamber, as she often did. She found the giant library peaceful and she felt safer with so many tall book shelves to hide behind.
As a slave, she’d never been allowed to read a book, she’d never even learned to read. She had grasped the basics after a few weeks of learning, Evan and Elijah had helped teach her, so picked up one of the story books for children now. Taija still struggled with more complex books.
She sat down at one of the many round wooden tables, beginning to read. This book, entitled: The very hungry Sasquatch was one she’d attempted before. The words had been too difficult for her then, but Taija was overjoyed to find it easier this time.
As she neared the end of the story, however, Taija looked up as she overheard voices she recognised nearby. Evan and his friends were somewhere in the labyrinth of shelves, Taija thought she even heard her name mentioned. She was pleasantly surprised by the flicker of joy she felt at hearing them. Maybe they weren’t all pretending to be nice to her because she was Evan’s sister. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad here after all.
*
Evan chuckled as Jed and Elijah continued to bicker.
“I’ll tell the Masters about your cheating,” Elijah vowed.
“Why would you?” Jed said. “I’ll only be copying your notes Eli, that’s not cheating. It’s going to happen, don’t fight it.”
Evan looked down the aisles of the library as Elijah pulled a book entitled Roaring up the wrong Dragon off the shelves.
“Are you sure about that?” Jed asked, his eyes up high, before jumping and grabbing a book flapping through the air. It was entitled, Brewing a Brewery. “This is the book we’re supposed to copy from, right?”
“No, you idiot.” Elijah sat at a nearby table. “That book is for our Alchemy and Enchanting assignment, you’re getting your magical areas mixed up again.”
Jed sighed, taking a seat beside Elijah before snatching up his book and inspecting it. “Oh, yep, you have got the right tome. Okay, get to work then, and I’ll copy once you’re done.”
“I’m not letting you anywhere near my work,” Elijah cried.
“Oh okay. I’ll just look over it once you’re done, check you did it right.”
“Nice try, Jed,” said a new voice.
Evan looked round as Taija emerged from behind a bookcase, grinning at Jed.
She looked at all of them, her eyebrows raised. “Looking for me, I take it?”
Awkwardness filled Evan as he stared back at the sister he’d only recently met. Her auburn hair was still messy and tangled, but nowhere near the state it’d been the first time he’d seen her. Her face was also no longer covered in cuts from her own fingernails. Taija’s complexion was far more tanned than his and she was shorter and stockier, but they really did look like siblings. Their jaw lines were almost identical and they shared the same thin lips.
The first time he’d seen Taija she’d wielded more demon magic than he or Brooke ever had. But it had been too much and she’d nearly killed herself in the process.
Evan was terrified that it would one day happen to him too. What if he completely lost control and the demon magic inside of him lashed out at everyone close to him, if it summoned monsters out of some horrible abyss and let them run riot right here in the Fortress?
“Yep,” Jed said, “we were looking for you. Where’ve you been hiding all day?”
“I haven’t been hiding.” Taija shrugged. “I’ve been in training, just like the rest of you. That Master Magoris is a right rat, ain’t he?”
“The rattiest,” Evan replied, smiling at her warmly. Taija just looked back at him, her expression blank.
Even though Vanderain had told him he might have siblings a few months back, meeting his sister had still been a shock. Evan had no clue how to react. Did he act like they were automatically best friends? Or should he treat her like just another fellow Venator?
To be honest, he hadn’t seen much of Taija since she’d arrived. He wasn’t a particularly outgoing person, probably due to years of bullying from a variety of schools, and Taija wasn’t very talkative either, and he didn’t know how to coax her out of her shell.
<
br /> She’d been in a mental institution when Master Tarensen had located her and the medicine the doctors had force fed her had erased her memories. Vanderain had managed to heal her mind and bring the memories back, but Taija still didn’t seem happy.
Jed actually knew Evan’s new-found sister better than Evan. He’d taken to showing her around Veneseron once she’d been released from the infirmary.
“But you uh…” Evan hesitated as he thought of the right words. “But you like the rest of your instructors, right?”
Taija shrugged again. “They’re alright. Most of ‘em look freaky though. Just like the rest of this place.”
“Freaky cool though, right?” Brooke smiled over to her.
“It’s alright, I suppose,” said Taija, apparently bored. “Compared to life on my own world, this Fortress is a frickin’ utopia. I never thought demons were real, let alone that I’d be recruited to hunt and kill them. All the spells going on is pretty horrifying though.”
“Oh, come on,” said Jed, “the magic is unbelievably awesome and you know it.”
The barest trace of a smile flcikered on Taija’s lips, but it didn’t last. “I would think magic is awesome, but so far my experience with it has been overwhelmingly negative.”
“Haven’t you looked around you?” Elijah asked, pointing at the books roosting on shelves high above them, their behaviour eerily similar to birds. “Haven’t you seen how great magic is during your training?”
Taija shrugged yet again. “I haven’t done any magic yet.”
“Seriously?” Evan asked. “but you were so strong with it. You’ve started training a month ago now. Are you saying you haven’t performed a single spell?”
“I refuse too,” Taija replied, a cold edge to her voice. “I just pretend to the Masters that I don’t know how.”
“But…why? Why would you do that?” he asked.
“People die when I use my magic, so I’m in no rush to start doing it again.”
Angels and Elves- Act I Page 6