Angels and Elves- Act I

by William Collins

  Fear jolted into the consciousness inside the bird as he found himself over the city, thrust into the airspace of other creatures.

  A colossal silver-scaled dragon whipped past him just as he flew over the city outer walls. The dragon came so close, that the air from its great wings buffeted the eagle sideways. Evan regained control of the eagle and made sure to steer clear of the other creatures, especially the fearsome looking cockatrice roosting on one building’s roof.

  He began to circle the sparkling city, gazing into its depths with awe. Veneseron city was like a living, undulating being. It breathed magic, flowed with mischief and soared with spectacle.

  He dipped lower, far beneath the bigger flying creatures so they didn’t crash into him. The streets were as busy as ever, teeming with a myriad of races. The city square he hovered above was alive with the music of a satyr troupe, who danced wildly as they played their pipes.

  After several long minutes of gazing in wonder, Evan decided it was time to head back. The training session could be almost over by now. On the way back, he was careful not to get in the way of a winged stallion, mounted by a Paladin who was no doubt guarding the air above the city.

  Evan almost didn’t want to relinquish his embodiment of the eagle as he fluttered slowly back into the forest clearing, but as he’d been taught he let his mind drift away from the temporary vessel, picturing his human body once again. Suddenly he was back in his own body, blinking rapidly and looking around with his familiar eyes. He stood in a vast forest clearing, alongside the three-dozen other Venators.

  A blue horse with an indigo mane trotted around the outskirts of the glade. Astride the rare horse was their instructor, Mistress Fyrel. Her long braided hair matched the colour of her steed’s, whilst her skin was the shade of lavender. She was a dark elf, tall, athletic and a little unsettling. Her horse took Fyrel around the glade repeatedly, so the Mistress could keep an eye on every Realmer whilst they left their bodies behind.

  Projecting your astral self was purely a mind-spell, which left your body temporarily inactive and helpless. Fyrel had explained to them how astral projecting didn’t hurt the magic-user or the animal, unless in the event of the animal’s death.

  Evan’s classmates stood around him, but their statures were limp and their expressions slack. It was part comical, and part creepy.

  Brooke was still as a statue, her eyes glazed, but Elijah and Xavier were beside Mistress Fyrel, both grinning stupidly from their own experiences.

  “I went really far into the forest,” Xavier said. “I saw a group of gnomes playing charades.”

  “They probably were,” said Elijah. “I’ve seen the city hundreds of times before, but never from such a height. I had to be careful not to get in the way of dragons though.”

  Once all of the Mid-Realmers were back in their own bodies, Fyrel called the training session to an end. “Well done everyone, we’ll meet again this time on Thursday. Good day to you all.” Fyrel then jumped from her horse and retrieved the bow slung across her back, beginning to nock an arrow.

  “Going hunting, Mistress?” Evan’s fellow Mid-Realmer Blake asked.

  Fyrel shook her head. “Urkzal has asked me to test out the newest batch of enchanted arrows from the city, to make sure the weaponry isn’t faulty. The last time no one checked, Master Arnvar had an arrow singe his beard completely off.”

  Evan and those around him laughed as they left the training glade and set off through the forest path. Veneseron forest was as glorious as ever, a giant emerald playground for its many minuscule and magical inhabitants. But now that Veneseron was firmly in the throes of autumn, the trees weren’t just emerald but more colourful than Evan had ever seen it. Year-round, the forest always had patches of silver or turquoise leafed trees, but now the foliage of every single tree was practically a rainbow.

  Pixies played around in mounds of the fallen leaves that now resembled patchwork hills, whilst glowing fairies buzzed in the air, launching tiny twigs at one another playfully.

  Amongst the masses of pink and turquoise leaves, Evan saw a cluster of trees whose leaves resembled cheese. “Uh, what are they?”

  “Oh, Veneseron’s cheese trees bloom in the autumn,” said Elijah. “Before freezing into chocolate leaves in the winter and thawing out into normal trees in the spring.”

  “Wow.” Evan would’ve liked to taste some of the cheese, but a pair of tiny brownies stood guard, warning everyone away from the cheese with their armfuls of mushrooms.

  He noticed Brooke looking around anxiously as they walked the path. He guessed she was worried about running into Arantay in the woods. As far as Evan knew, the elfpire lived here somewhere.

  Several of the male Venators attention fell to the side of the path, where a nymph and a pair of naiads bathed in a hot spring. The seductresses giggled coquettishly at the sight of the boys, but as Elijah wandered toward them, grinning stupidly, an arrow whooshed through the branches before embedding in a tree, centimetres from Elijah’s petrified face.

  “Don’t stray from the path,” Fyrel called over, lowering her bow with a smile.

  “Hey, I, uh, wasn’t doing anything,” Elijah tried to explain as the rest of them sniggered.

  “Don’t worry about it,” said Evan. “Jed would’ve dived into the hot spring as soon as a nymph batted her eyelashes at him.”

  The Mid-Realmers streamed back onto the vast fields beyond the forest, laughing at the antics of the fairies that fluttered over them as they went.

  The five castles of the Fortress loomed over them as they traversed through the long grass and drew their cloaks up against the strong winds the forest had sheltered them from.

  A light drizzle was starting to turn into a downpour by the time they reached Castle Coterie, so Evan was relieved to enter the warmth and cosiness inside.

  The corridors were overflowing with Venators as they made their way to the Summoning chamber, a class which had quickly become one of Evan’s favourites.

  A rack full of krism sticks usually decorated the chamber, but today the rack was filled with what looked like marbles the size of baseballs, all a crystalline blue colour, but their insides translucent somehow.

  “Whoa,” he said aloud, “what are they?”

  “These,” Mistress Ishimara said, walking out from behind a pillar, “are battle spheres.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard of them,” said Elijah excitedly. “They’re made from gaius glass, which is magic proof. The spheres are used to store magical spells.”

  Ishimara inclined her head. “Indeed, but do you know what else they can be used for.”

  Elijah hesitated, and then frowned, stumped.

  “I know,” Xavier ventured. “We can use them like grenades to throw at our enemies?”

  “True,” Ishimara said slowly. “In essence, you could shoot a fire spell inside the sphere and use it later as a fire grenade. Of course, you’ll learn more about the uses of battle spheres in your Extended Sorcery training. I asked about another way the spheres can be used for?”

  “Fat chance Magoris would teach us anything,’ Brooke whispered in his ear.

  “Ask me mistress, ask me,” Sabine said eagerly. “Are you saying we can use these spheres to summon creatures.”

  “In a fashion,” Ishimara replied. “In addition to storing sorcery, the gaius glass can also temporarily house monsters.”

  A ripple of disbelief and excitement ran through the class.

  “No way,” Evan said himself, exchanging astonished looks with his friends.

  “It is a complex process,” the Mistress continued. “In order to store a magical being inside the battle sphere, you must first use the spiriswitch spell you would’ve learned in energy control training.”

  Evan quickly thought back to what the spiriswitch spell did and remembered how it was used to turn a creature temporarily into a pure form of energy. He’d practised it in training only a couple of months ago, converting a snail into a blob of bouncing blue mo
lecules for a few seconds before it reverted back, unharmed.

  “Venators can first use their krism sticks to summon a being, then after enchanting the monster into energy, the battle sphere will suck it up like a magnet,” Ishimara explained. “When the sphere is thrown to the ground and smashes, the creature is released, converting back into its natural form as it does so.”

  “Epic.” Xavier muttered, grinning stupidly.

  “Only mindless beasts can be kept imprisoned, it puts them into a hibernation and doesn’t hurt, but it’s deemed unethical to trap beings that can think.”

  “So are you saying it’s possible to trap humans inside a sphere?” Evan asked, regretting his question as soon as Ishimara and a dozen other Venators turned to look at him.

  “If one was especially immoral,” Ishimara said, “and skilled enough in energy magic.”

  “And the Rakarn,” Emi whispered, her voice full of revulsion, “I read they use battle spheres for their demons. They often carry the spheres to a realm like Earth, then break them to unleash the demons on crowds of innocent people.”

  “That’s horrible,” Evan rasped, his mind imagining the horrendous scenes that would occur when demons suddenly appeared.

  Ishimara nodded gravely.

  “I’m afraid so. Exceptionally skilled Venators can store multiple monsters in one sphere. It was the Rakarn who invented the spheres. Loathe as I am to use such things they created, I must admit using their own spheres against them has worked out well for us. For example, instead of a minotaur mauling anyone he sees, we can catch him and turn him against the Dark-Venators we’re battling. I will now show you how to do it,” said Ishimara, bending down and retrieving a krism stick. “Stand back.”

  Everyone did as she asked as Ishimara scrawled the beast sign on the floor.

  The sign glowed as Ishimara completed it and slowly a cyclops materialised before her. Ishimara abruptly weaved the spiriswitch spell, and the cyclops became a mass of blue energy before it could even roar. The vapoury blob then siphoned into the battle sphere Ishimara held aloft.

  The class broke into cheers and clapping

  “Now,” Ishimara turned back to them, “if I threw this sphere to the ground, the cyclops would re-appear, furious. So, who wants to face him?”

  Everyone fell silent at once and no one dared raised their hand.

  “Just kidding,” Ishimara said after a pause, her lips quirked at the corners. “Today’s session will be you capturing your own beings instead. But the larger the monster is, the harder it is to convert, so we’ll start small, with ants I think. Perhaps in the coming weeks you’ll be able to ensnare your own monsters.”

  Evan breathed a sigh of relief.

  *

  His stomach rumbled as they made their way to the banquet chamber, where his senses were assaulted by the delicious aromas of meat, coffee, freshly baked fruit pies and even the orc orange and chicken pizza Evan had come to love.

  After getting himself four slices of pizza and a can of Ruresin, Evan settled down at one of the stone benches beside Jed, who was currently explaining which mission he hoped to go on next. “…I can’t wait to be put on a remote island where I have to save a load of beautiful women from a demon. I imagine the tribe of gorgeous women would be ever so grateful.”

  “Yep, that’ll totally happen.” Emi shot him down.

  Evan popped the can and took a swig of his Ruresin, the taste of blueberry and lime was delicious. He’d discovered the fizzy drink, made from the resin of the blue-barked trees native to dark elf realms, only weeks ago, but he loved it.

  “How was Earth element training?” he asked Jed and Zeke as he tucked into his pizza.

  “Same old, same old,” Jed said. “I’m so annoyed my Astral training sessions are taught by that werebear dude. I saw Mistress Fyrell yesterday and she’s a total babe.”

  “His name is Master Grykin,” Zeke said, “he just happens to be a werebear.”

  “And Fyrell’s a sexy dark elf,” Jed countered. “Who can I ask about switching instructors?”

  “No one.” Emillia laughed.

  “If we could choose our Instructors,” said Brooke, “I’m sure we’d all be asking to switch Master Magoris back to Master Balzabar.”

  “Definitely,” Evan agreed, the elderly orc had been a much better Extended Sorcery teacher than the loathsome Magoris. The Fortress held so many Venators, however, that multiple Masters trained each disciple of magic, and they had no choice in who taught them and when.

  “Speaking of Masters, it’s time for Dreamwielding,” Evan groaned. He actually found the idea of Dreamwielding fascinating, but the instructor who trained them was more than a little creepy.

  “Ha, do you reckon Li-Azar will actually let us do anything this lesson?” Jed asked.

  “Well, he hasn’t in the couple months of lessons we’ve had so far,” Evan replied as he and his friends finished lunch and headed for the next training lesson.

  They’d had dreamwieding since they became Mid-realmers, thier other new training sessions along with astral projection. Whilst Fyrel had thrown them into her training, Master Li’azar was taking an unsual approach, saying none of them were ready yet and spending their whole lessons explaining why.

  Evan and his friends travelled to the lowest floor of Castle-Coterie, where the passageways were barely lit and the walls made thier voices echo louder. Evan wondered if thier dreamwielding master purposefully made the entrance to his chamber as creepy as possible.

  A crowd of Mid-Realmers were already gathered at the end of the passage, Sabine Silcorn’s excited voice drowning out the others. “Oooh, I can’t wait for today’s training,” she yammered to her cousins, Blake and Seth.

  “Uhh,” Jed sighed. “I almost forgot we have to put up with miss mouth-almighty.”

  “Are you kidding?” Evan asked. “Sabine’s nothing compared to Firk and Fenik.” He referred to the two petty bullies who they had the misfortune of training with.

  “Good point,” Jed conceded.

  “Yeah, but our class isn’t that bad,” said Brooke. “At least Evan’s got Nova to ogle at.”

  Evan felt his cheeks heat up, even as he stammered. “Hey, I do not ogle. And what makes you think I even like Nova at all?”

  In truth, he barely knew Nova. She was a High-Realmer and Dreamwielding was the only training he shared with her. Venators usually only had sessions with their own rank, but Nova had fallen so far behind in Dreamwiedling she’d been placed in the Mid-Realmer class.

  All Evan knew about her was that she was captain of an Arengi team, one of the three Venator sports, and he’d only talked to her a couple of times. Although he couldn’t deny he’d developed a bit of a crush.

  “Oh please,” Brooke rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen the way you look at her.”

  “Me too,” Emi chipped in.

  “Yeah…well…get your eyes tested,” he finished lamely as both girls broke out in laughter and they joined the crowd of Realmers outside the classroom.

  “Cutting it fine, aren’t we?” Sabine raised her eyebrows, the same ginger as her wavy hair. “The Masters don’t appreciate lateness you know.”

  “And we don’t appreciate you being so condescending,” Jed replied.

  “I’m merely stating a fact,” said Sabine airily. “You’re bad enough at the actual training, Jed, being late on top of that could see all your friends move up a rank whilst you stay a Mid-Realmer for years.”

  “Rueda give me strength.” Jed shook his head.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Evan said, despite chuckling himself.

  “What’s Umbra got to be happy about, eh?”

  Evan turned as he heard the voice, seeing Firk and Fenik off to the side of the crowd. They talked to each other purposely loud so people would hear.

  “I dunno’ Firk,” Fenik replied. “If I was him I’d probably never laugh again.”

  “And what’s that supposed to mean?” Brooke called over to them, her fac
e a steely mask.

  “Brooke, just ignore them,” he urged. “They’re not worth the attention.”

  “Excuse me,” Fenik snarled, “my cousin and I were having a private conversation. It’s rude to butt in.”

  “Try not speaking so loudly then,” Jed said. “In fact, don’t talk about Evan at all, creeps.”

  “Name calling, are we?” Firk smirked malignantly. “We’ve come up with a name of our own for Umbra.”

  Evan felt dread pool in his stomach, but he was determined not to give the cretins the satisfaction.

  Both Jed and Brooke looked ready to advance toward Firk and Fenik, but at that moment the door to the chamber opened by itself. Their cue to enter.

  Evan ushered his friends inside, keen to get on with the lesson and forget about people trying to wind him up.

  His stomach clenched, however, when a new voice muttered in his ear. “You did the right thing, dude.”

  He turned to find Nova beside him, smiling brilliantly. Though she was a Yurod alien, she practically appeared human, except her golden skin was a shade unnatural and more like hide than soft human skin. But aside from that, and the silver nodules above each of her brows, Nova looked like a regular teenage girl, just one who worked out a lot. Evan knew she’d probably wipe the floor with him in a fitness test.

  “Ignoring bullies takes away the power they think they have,” she continued, brushing the coppery hair out of her eyes as she looked up at him.

  He opened his mouth, but no words came, so instead he just nodded to her briskly, regretting his very existence for several moments after she walked away.

  The training room was vast and dark. Black stone walls and obsidian pillars stretched high, whilst sconces of blue and purple flames threw sparse, flickering light in all directions. Aside from the velvet bedrolls and the dreamcatchers hanging from the ceiling, the chamber held no furnishings, and only one occupant who sat on the centre bedroll, meditating.