A Mage's Power (Journey to Chaos)

by Wilkerson, Brian

  “Correct,” The teacher said. “If a sapient's mind is full of mana when it transforms, then why did Mr. Oito say the mind of a monster is full of chaos?“

  Aio pushed Eric out of his seat. The Otherworlder stumbled and fell over the person in front of him. All eyes turned to him and he turned red.

  “Otherworlder? You think you know this?”

  I do. “The source of all mana is Lady Chaos. Noitaerc dilutes chaos into mana. While chaos is more potent, for the purpose of mana mutation they are synonymous.”

  “Correct, but what do they look afterward?” First there was that wolf thing that attacked him and then the Venus Fly Trap that bewitched him and more in the books . . .Reason through it.

  “ . . .Well . . .since monsters are born through sapients in mana mutation . . .then . . .a . . .monster can look like anything?”

  “Yes, though not all monsters were once sapient. Now someone else, what kinds of species fall into the sapient category?” Eric sat down with relief and Aio handed him a note under his desk. “Was that so hard?” a smiley face asked.

  “Humans are the only true sapients,” said a human boy with silver hair. He didn't bother to stand up. He sat with a bored expression. “The others are just beasts.”

  “Who are you calling a beast!?” growled the person next to Eric. It was a cat-like human: cat ears and tail, but naked skin everywhere not covered by cloth.

  “You, of course,” the speaker replied. “Didn't you hear me with those freakish ears?” The cat-boy lunged, but was held back by the lizard from earlier.

  “Enough!” The teacher pounded on his desk. “Mr. Norej, I will you see you in detention this afternoon for improper conduct to a fellow student. Now apologize to Mr. Revas.”

  Norej stared at Revas, “I'm sorry . . . that you're a jumped-up dumb animal.”

  “Double detention!” the teacher roared, “Do I have to make it three?”

  Norej leaned back and crossed his arms, “No, two is fine.”

  “Technically . . .” said a female voice that belonged to a face crowned by long gold-brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, revealing pointed ears. Is she a trickster?

  “The designation 'sapient' includes all forms of life and unlife that are not monsters, including gods and other extra-dimensional beings such as tricksters and enforcers. However, the more common use of the word is anything that is mortal and not a monster with other beings being designated as 'Divine' or 'Immortal' to avoid lumping the vastly different functions and physical rules governing the latter with strictly mortal beings. Thus 'sapient' includes: fish, birds, lizards, amphibians, and mammals.” She said all this in one breath. Taking another, she added, “Plants and insects are a little more complicated. Shall I go into that?”

  “No need, Ms. Annala,” the teacher deadpanned. “We get the point.”

  Following the review was a lecture about Horlfs and how their behavior differed from their sapient counterparts. Eric took notes, but couldn't keep up. Cat-human Revas and lizard-humanoid Oito had similar difficulties from their slouches and groans. The girl with the pointed ears, Annala, didn't have any trouble at all. When the bell rang, some couldn't get out fast enough while others showed restraint. Eric was a third group that waited until everyone was gone so he wasn't jostled.

  “Mr. Eric,” the teacher called. “Feel free to ask any questions regarding the lecture. You are new to our world, not just to our school. I want to make sure you understand everything or there would be no point in teaching you. Understand?” Eric nodded. “Good. Ms. Annala?”

  The girl was in the doorway. At the sound of her name, she stopped. “Yes?”

  “Would you show Mr. Eric around?”

  “Of course.” She stood before Eric and smiled. “I'm Annala Enaz, pleased to meet you.” She extended her hand, which she did not spit on. I guess that isn’t a common thing . . .

  “I-I'm Eric Watley.” Eric shook her hand and his ears burned. The feeling made him glance at hers. Annala withdrew.

  “Please don't stare,” she said softly. Eric blushed and stammered apologies. Someone shoved him from behind.

  “Blushing at a nonhuman; disgusting,” Noreji muttered on his way out. Eric was positive it was his imagination, but the room felt brighter with him gone.

  “What's up with him?” Eric thought aloud.

  “Noreji?” The bipedal lizard was at his side. “He'sss jussst a basstard withhh a sssstick up hisss asss.” He spat as if his opinion of Noreji wasn't clear enough.

  “Actually,” Annala interrupted, scholarly toned. “It's more than that.”

  Revas rolled his eyes. “Well, Miss Know-it-all, enlighten us.”

  “Norej is from a very old noble family, the Darwoss; a family that holds firmly to its beliefs in human superiority. They were the premier noble force in the founding days of Ataidar's history of 00AA and retained enough power to start the Two Fires War of 1000 AA, the climax of which almost destroyed Ataidar entirely. The Treaty of Talves held them responsible and made them pay greatly in post-war retributions. They lost respect in the eyes of the people and influence at court. Furthermore, they refused to mend their ways and acknowledge their fall from grace and so continued to cause trouble over the centuries and so earned a second demotion. Most recently, they stood in the way of the Demonic Civil Rights Movement of 1955, 56, 57, and so on until the 'Mercy of Chaos' bill was signed into law by Her Majesty Elizabeth Landros Ataidar IX with tripartisan support from the Common Council, bipartisan support from the Noble Council, and a petition signed by eleven companies and guilds, the most prominent of which was the Dragon's Lair Mercenary Company.”

  Revas and Oito blinked.

  “So he has a superiority complex because of his family's heritage?” Eric said. Oito’s and Revas' jaws dropped. Annala's eyebrows rose.

  “You understood all that?” Revas asked.

  “ . . .Well I . . .um . . .ah . . .” Eric looked down and scratched the back of his burning neck. Stupid! This is exactly why I was bullied last time!

  “Finally!” Annala cried. “Someone understands! Usually my friends tune me out.” She playfully punched their arms. “I tutor them all afternoon about the impact of this law or the behavior of that monster and all I get are blank stares.”

  “But you're alwayss ssso wordy,” Oito grumbled. “Eric sssaid it better.” Revas nodded and Annala scowled, and suddenly, Eric didn't feel so awkward. They all seemed so close; a circle that excluded him. Now that circle was opening up.

  “I'd love to be friends with someone who could have an intelligent conversation with me.”

  “Hey, we resent that!” Revas said.

  “Yeah! We'vvve had plenty of intelligent converssssationsss,” Oito agreed.

  “ 'How to score hot babes,'” Annala drawled, “is not an intelligent conversation.”

  “Yeah it is!” Revas countered.

  “Eric, save me!” Annala begged. “Hang with us! Please!”

  Eric opened his mouth to decline but Aio spoke up instead. “We'd LOVE to hang with you, right, Eric?” Eric shrugged.

  The three stared at the boy who appeared out of nowhere. “Who are you?”

  “I'm Aio Ricse.” He hugged Eric. “Better known as Eric's bestest friend in the world!”

  Eric pried him off and said, “He's my roommate.”

  A second bell rang.

  “We'd better move or we'll be late for Biology,” Annala said, “What do you have?”

  Eric checked, smiled, and said, “Biology.”

  Annala smiled in return. “Wonderful.” She has a wonderful smile . . .

  As the day passed, Eric noticed a pattern: all his classes were with his new friends. A part of him shouted TASIO! but he wrote it off as coincidence. He met them by chance and surely Tasio couldn't have foreseen that. Even if Tasio had interfered somehow, he wasn't going to question his good fortune. My friends are a bipedal lizard, a humanoid cat, and a . . .?

  Biology was where he learned how so
mething like his friends could exist on this world. Oito was a “lizard demon” and Revas a “cat demon”; their ancestors used to be ordinary animals until a colony was simultaneously mana mutated into monsters. Somehow, they regained sentience and found the mutation made changes in their spine and hind legs that allowed for upright walking and changes in their throat to produce vowels and consonants. However, the teacher didn't say anything about Annala. Eric yearned to ask her, but he didn't want to say anything for fear of offending her.

  After Biography was Geography. Tariatla may be a world with magic and talking animals, but geographically it was just like Threa: a chunk of water-covered rock orbiting a star. The difference was the number of major landmasses and their locations in the world's oceans. Eric drew a map of Threa and compared it with one of Tariatla in his textbook. Annala noticed and asked about the former.

  “Well, we don't have any monsters.” Annala gasped. “That's bad, right?”

  “If there are no monsters, then there must not be any mana either,” Annala explained. “Mana powers our lights and our indoor heating and air conditioning; our Crystalvisions and airships and scrys! How do you live without mana?”

  “We use other sources of energy, like electricity.”

  Annala tilted her head to one side. “E-lec-tri-cty?”

  “It's like lightning, but not as powerful.”

  “How do you get this . . .electricity?”

  Eric's confidence surged. Rarely was he needed to explain anything to anyone; mechanics of commercial electricity flew from his mouth. My job . . .. Memories flashed: losing his car, getting fired, Emily going out with someone else. The warm feeling vanished and it was replaced by chill.

  “Eric!” Annala looked at him with concern. “Are you okay?”

  “ . . .Yeah . . .I'm fine.” He wasn't, but he would never admit it because no one would want to hear the troubles of a loser. Annala smiled and the warmth returned.

  “When you're ready to tell me, I'll listen.”

  “Really! I'm—”

  “Ssso thisss isss how nerdsss flirt,” Oito said with a mock scholarly tone. “What a fasssscinating dissscovery.” Eric blushed and Annala's ears turned pink. “Don't you agree, Dr. Revasss?”

  The cat-boy pulled out a notebook and scribbled. “I do indeed. It's so hard to find a pair in their natural habitat. They scare easily, you know.”

  “Oh, come now, stop teasing them.” Aio made shooing gestures. “There's nothing wrong with aspiring scholars discussing physics.” Eric and Annala returned to their normal color. “If they talk about chemistry, you can tease all you want.” The blushes returned and the other three laughed.

  “Revas, Oito, and . . .Aio . . . do you find the Siduban Chaos Explosion funny?” their teacher asked, “The Otherworlder is excused, but I thought you would know better.” Revas and Oito immediately looked guilty; not “spilled milk” guilty but “defiled a grave” guilty.

  “No, of course not,” Aio said, his voice thick with sorrow. “The Siduban Chaos Explosion was the greatest tragedy of the modern era. Hundreds died in the initial explosion and thousands more by the chaotic fallout and mana mutation. The increase in the monster population pushed the death toll even higher, all on top on a famine and civil war. By the time . . . “ He swallowed. “Stability was restored, the death toll reached the millions.”

  “I'm so sorry, Aio . . .” Eric said, “Is that why you left?”

  Aio smiled crookedly. “Yeah.”

  In Social Studies, Eric learned that Ataidar was a theocratic limited-monarchy that stood between the Latlis Sea and the Yacian Mountains. It shared a border with the Absolute Monarchy of Latrot and Theocratic Democracy of Mithra to the south, Theocratic Federation of Rlawader to the north, Principality of Liclis to the west and the Chiefdom of Kyraa to the east beyond the mountains. Ataidar's relationship with them had been friendly for decades, but five years ago, it became estranged with Latrot.

  Five years ago, the capital of the Dukedom of Stratos vanished overnight. In its place was a ruin full of monsters and the vapor form of mana known as “Fog.” The potent mist spread across the countryside until it encompassed the majority of the dukedom. National rescue teams combed the area but could only find a handful of survivors. None of them knew what happened. They could only say a horde of monsters overwhelmed their defenses. Stratos was the southernmost district between Ataidar and Latrot; King Ataidar sent an envoy demanding an explanation from the new king.

  Three years earlier, Latrot had been a republic with a ceremonial monarch, but a civil war triggered by famine elevated the monarchy to absolute power. During the war, a research facility at Siduban blew up and created a Chaotic Zone of monsters and Fog that was suspiciously similar to Stratos. With the country still viewed as unstable by the international community there were fears that this power had been weaponized. The envoy returned singing King Latrot's praises. but this only made Ataidar more suspicious; King Latrot studied ordercraft, the Art of Control.

  In the following years, King Ataidar, not wanting bloodshed over a misunderstanding, stood with the dove faction. Latrot assured Ataidar that its military had nothing to do with the Stratos Tragedy and offered to send a regiment into Ataidar to help clean up the mess. He was graciously turned down.

  Eric read over his notes in the hall to make sure he understood everything . . .Famine, monster outbreaks, civil war . . .No wonder Aio left . . .The bell rang and he dumped all his things into a bag and rushed inside. His friends were already there and a second question drilled in Eric's mind.

  “Annala . . .uh . . . I was curious . . .um . . .curious . . .” He avoided looking directly at Annala and scratched the back of his neck. “About—”

  She stopped at her desk. “It's my ears, right? And my hair color.” Eric nodded meekly. “I'm an elf, not a trickster. I am not a manifestation of Lady Chaos' will, like the tricksters, nor like them am I made of chaos. I just have dominant genes.”

  “Was it . . .mana mutation?”

  “Not necessarily . . .” Annala said evasively. “The first elves descended from the Celestial Realms to bring magecraft to the mortal world.”

  “That's the legend, anyway,” Aio added. This statement made Annala tug her ear so Eric dropped the subject, but curiosity was his best trait.

  The elves were a secretive race. There was little in the school's library, the public library, and even the internet; only records of wars and one-sided diplomatic missions. Only a handful of humans in history had ever been to an elfin village and the elves always took precautions to make sure their guests never learned too much. Eric grimaced at the horrors humans were put through by elves and elves in turn by humans. Annala was so friendly. I never would have guessed there was so much history between our races . . .

  A sunny weekend day saw Eric with his friends on a blanket under a tree in the city's park. Textbooks sat in one spot and a picnic basket in another. Annala said the sights and sounds of nature helped her relax, but it didn't work for all of them.

  “Why would you not want to get bitten by a patigo?” Annala asked Revas.

  “Um . . .uh . . .” The cat's claws jumped in and out anxiously. “ . . .You'd bleed to death?”

  “No, because its granulators possess lubrication that rates a 10 on the Gradon Scale and the hinges heat its platinum-iron alloy jaws to 15 degrees Qualis.”

  Picking up on Revas' blank and slightly afraid stare, Eric added, “Think of it this way . . .” He felt warm inside as Revas paid him full attention. “Your arm's gonna melt if a patigo bites it.”

  “That's oversimplified,” Annala said.

  “Maybe, but it gets the point across . . .. right?” Eric asked.

  “I guess,” The elf relented. “Oito, what are you supposed to do if you find a xethras?”

  “Run.” Oito said simply. Annala stared at Eric in scholarly annoyance.

  “What?” the human protested. “That is what you're supposed to do!”

  “Now that
's an oversimplification.”

  “Are you Eric Watley? The Otherworlder?” A deep voice asked.

  The four friends turned to see a tall, cloaked figure. This alone was normal; lots of people wore capes. They were fashion statements. Eric stood up and said, “Yes, can I help you?”

  The figure threw off their cloak to reveal himself as a blue-skinned orc. He was a towering ten feet tall with arms and legs as thick as tree trunks. His head and chest looked like boulders. He pulled a large battle-ax off his back and pointed it at Eric. Its keen edge gleamed in the sunlight.

  “Die!”

  He lunged and Eric crouched. Oito grabbed him and they all jumped away. “What do you have againssst our friend?” Oito shouted. Friend? . . .I'm his friend?

  The orc swung horizontally and a beam dashed towards the teens. Annala stepped forward, held her palms out and it smashed into a screen of light. Annala grunted as the beam pushed onwards and shattered her barrier. It slammed into her and she landed with a thud on the ground.

  “Annala!” Revas cried and shook with rage. He turned towards the orc and his eyes became slits. “Tisotos Blogat!” Claws appeared at his fingers.

  “Revassss no!” Oito called, but Revas was deaf to him. The mad cat pounced. The orc hammerfisted his chest and he crashed into the ground.

  “And then there was one.” Oito took a battle stance. The orc scoffed and raised his open palm. The lizard demon went flying into a tree. Eric was still frozen.

  “You're almost too pitiful to kill . . .oh well.”

  Panicked eyes. I'm gonna die . . . Heart beat out thoughts. He's gonna kill me! Ax raised high . . .But . . .Blade slashed down . . .I DON'T WANNA TO DIE! Eric raised his hands.

  “STAY AWAY!”

  Suddenly a blue aura appeared around Eric and surged out of his hands. Like a missile, it smashed into the orc's ax and stopped him in his tracks. It vanished just as quickly and Eric collapsed. The orc checked his weapon for nicks then looked at the unconscious human. He chuckled. He chuckled louder and louder until he was outright laughing. Returning his ax to his back, he said, “I'm done here.” The three looked at each other in confusion. Then he was gone.