by Casey Herzog
“We all make our own decisions and we live with the mistakes we make. It defines us and molds our character into the strength of steel. He has a strong will to survive. He has you standing by him every step of the way, but I’m afraid your attention is needed elsewhere. Some of the students have graduated past the novice stage, but there are still a couple of holdouts. Damien is one of them. You can imagine what he has been through has shaken his resolve. He needs somebody to talk to in his own language.”
I didn’t know what he expected me to do; Damien had always been a boy with his own opinions.
“I don’t really want to leave him, but there’s not much I can do. He’ll either survive or he won’t. The amulet can only do so much, and the rest has to come from him. I could hold his hand and hope that my strength is enough, but it’s wishful thinking. I’ll come with you, but you need to make sure somebody is with him all the time.” One of the other professors came through the door and she looked quite displeased. I could imagine her opinion of William was low. She probably thought it was a punishment of some sort to be saddled with the responsibility of watching over him like his guardian angel.
“Eve has begrudgingly agreed to step in your place. She will inform us if there are any changes. It would be nice to have her on the battlefield, but her magic is not as strong as the others. You and I both know Damian is a key component in victory. You and Damien are the strongest of them all, and we will follow you.”
Professor Bethesda didn’t know, but the magic eyes had become something of an addiction. I was intoxicated by the power moving through my limbs and it was corrupting my mind with thoughts of going a different path.
There was a part of me that believed the rhetoric spewing out of the mouth of the Elders. A bigger part wanted to smite them and step on them like the cockroaches they were. I stood up with a sense of lightheadedness. It was hard not to show the crack in the cement of my foundation.
“Damien is sequestered in his room. We didn’t ask him to step out of the way. He did it voluntarily. Some of the other students are not comfortable doing this without him. He has a beautiful mind with a real strength underneath. He feels violated and needs time to get back to fighting form. We don’t have the time to hold his hand.”
The professor’s words struck a chord. I could only hope Damien would be open to my intervention. I had no idea where my soul was, but it felt blackened and desolate like I was looking into a black hole.
“Even after all this time, my father still keeps me guessing. I didn’t know him in the way all of you have, but I think I would have enjoyed working alongside him.”
“I will go and talk to the students and see if I can’t make any headway. We need more time, but I see the look in your eyes. I know time is slipping by quickly and we need to act before they find us. They already know where we’re at, but they can’t get in…yet. I doubt they have been sitting on their hands, and the hunter will be a major roadblock in our path. He has no morals and cares nothing for the life of another.”
He wasn’t lying. The hunter felt no remorse when I faced him in his world.
I was living on emotion, strangled by the notion William was going to die and my plan was going to fail. I had to hold onto the hope William would wake up soon with information to give us a fighting chance.
“Make sure to tell them we can’t do this without them. They need to know how dire the situation really is. I don’t want to scare them, but they have to be willing to reach down deep to find what is necessary to stand on their own. I care about each and every one of them, but we are going to have casualties. I don’t know how many, but some are not going to make it out alive. I will do whatever I can to prevent that, but this is war.” I didn’t want to use the term, but it was the only one that made sense in the grand scheme of things.
“You have what it takes inside and you must hear the little voice screaming inside your head. It would be detrimental not to listen to it.” I found myself struggling to remain in control and not unravel.
“I’ll go and see Damien. He’s not going to like what I have to say.” I suspected it was going to take some tough love to reach him.
“I want you to be careful with Damien. His confidence has been shattered. I’ve never seen a case like his. Jasper really did a number on him.” I had seen that for myself and the professor wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. “He needs you to bolster his spirits and to give him that fire in the belly to do what’s right. This kid has the raw potential to be a great warlock. I don’t want him to think there is a dismal hope of survival. You need to be convincing and show those leadership qualities I know you have.” His trust in me was appreciated, but I wasn’t sure if I could live up to it.
“The only thing I can do is my best. I need him to listen to me very carefully. There can be no misunderstanding about the importance of the both of us taking a leadership role. I might just have a way to give him that fighting spirit. It’s a little unorthodox, but it just might work. I don’t want to go into details because I would hate to jinx the only possibility of getting him to stand up to the Elders.” The time was passing very quickly and anything short of swift justice was going to be met harshly with overwhelming force.
“You’re the only one who’s going to be able to set him free from his doubts. Don’t take that responsibility lightly. He has to see your strength shining through most of all. Pretend if you have to. Wake him from his nightmare.”
The professor walked away dejected as if what I had proposed was never going to work. I could only hope for a miracle and that miracle was Damien.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I knocked on his door lightly and heard no response from within. I didn’t want to be overbearing, but this was no time to put on the kid gloves. I took a deep breath and resolved myself to the possibility of having the door slammed in my face.
“Damien, you have to come out here right now where we can speak openly and candidly. They say you are broken, but I sure as hell don’t care. You are the strongest kid I’ve ever met in my life. Have you forgotten how easily you were able to leave this world for the one phased out of existence? Where is the man inside the boy’s body?” I was doing my best to shovel it on thick, but feared it wasn’t going to be enough.
“I want nothing to do with this plan of yours. The hunter will be there. What you don’t need is for me to freeze up in a moment of indecision. I won’t be responsible for failure. You’re better off without me.” He hadn’t opened up the door, but he had opened up the pathway of communication. It was a small step, but a crucial one in the face of something no kid should have to deal with.
“Damien, you’re being foolish; the hunter found you when you were vulnerable. This time, you’ll see him coming and you’ll know exactly what to do. I can help, but only if you allow me in. We have the power together. Don’t forget you’re not alone. All those with potential are going through a crash course. You don’t need to join them because you’ve already surpassed anything they can learn.” I never would forget how he had disappeared without a trace. He showed up in a voice and then in a world of the hunter’s making.
“I got lucky and I doubt it will happen again. I’m only going to slow you down, Gillian. I can’t live with somebody’s death on my conscience. Your father was wrong about me; I’m nothing but a disappointment. He said I was strong, but I know I’m weak. I’m scared to death of dying, but mostly of letting you down.”
Damien was the one shining beacon. I was willing to take him underneath my wing. “We were wrong about everything. Letting this Elder government reign supreme was our way of sticking our heads in the sand. The one person who gravitated to doing evil condemned all of us to a purgatory of our own making. We have ourselves to blame for letting the Elders walk all over us like a doormat. It’s a good thing we didn’t let magic be forgotten, and it’s up to us to lead the others. We need to give the Elders a revolution on a scale they can never imagine.” My hope was to rally him and
then bring forth the others hiding in the darkness waiting to hear a voice ring out with pride for what they believed in.
“How is it that you can be so naïve about matters of magic? Do you really think it’s going to be easy to make the Elders back down? To abdicate their power will be like slicing their own throats. They will see us as nothing more than a nuisance. The hunter will bring a swift and decisive end to any revolution.”
I had one last ditch effort and it was something I didn’t want to mention until it was absolutely necessary. “You make some valid points, but you’re also a scared little bitch. You can’t possibly tell me bowing down to them is an idea you can live with. I thought I knew you, but maybe what I have seen was nothing more than a fake. I swear I don’t know who you are anymore. You need to stop acting like a little boy. It’s time to be a man. You might be young, but you have the intellect of an old soul burning through your veins.”
I heard nothing in response, and then there were footsteps approaching the door. He opened it, but I could tell there was still a lot of work to do to convince him to stand against something bigger than he was.
“What gives you the idea we’re going to be any more successful than Jasper. He was going to be the one to stand for all of us. It didn’t last very long and nobody came to his rescue when they took him away to the rehabilitation center.” Jasper had the right idea, but he had decided to go it alone, which was a colossal mistake.
“We have one thing Jasper didn’t…each other. We have an army ready to go to war, but they need generals like us to hold them to a higher standard. They are kids, but they are strong and resilient, which will help them overcome any obstacle. I’m not asking for myself. The fate of magic is in our hands. Do we have any right to back down from the challenge? I don’t think so, but I can’t answer that question for you. I’m depending on your strength so we can rise up in my father’s name. I am on my knees begging you to reconsider; this will only work with a consensus. The more people ready to fight the better chance others will see this as their own independence day.” I recognized the struggle going on inside him and I was determined to break him of any misconceived notions about failure.
“I need to do something and I have been foolish to think I can hide from this. I’m ready to stand up. If the hunter makes me into his puppet, I’m going to have to ask you to make the hard decision. You know what I’m talking about, and this is non-negotiable. I won’t be responsible for killing anybody. I don’t think I could live with myself. I don’t want blood on my hands.” He was asking for the impossible, but I was willing to concede on this point.
“I don’t think it will come to that, but I promise you not to allow the hunter to use you against us. However, there must be a better way than killing you, but we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.” I had given him his concession, but I wasn’t sure I could live up to his expectations.
“Your word means more to me than you know. You have the same conviction your father had. I’m counting on you to do the right thing. There’s no reason for us to beat this to death. I still feel hesitant, but what great warrior has never felt fear on the battlefield? I’ve been very interested in the history of our people. I’ve done my research, and there have been leaders speaking from the heart about shaking in their boots.” I was glad he was finding inspiration from past leaders facing terrible odds.
“I don’t want you to ever sell yourself short. You’re the only girl with magic. You are breaking the glass ceiling. It’s possible what we do here today will give magic to all genders equally. This isn’t going to be easy, but our belief is strong. We have a warrior’s fierce determination. I know victory is at hand. Freezing in the throes of battle is not an option.”
The only thing missing was having William in the trenches with us. I would reluctantly trust him, but others may find his presence to be a distraction. “Damien, you have said the words to make me believe we are the answer to everyone’s prayers. We need to remember the hunter is a man used to using smoke and mirrors to intimidate. It’s been a hell of a ride and I’m honored to be with you until the end. I look forward to seeing you grow up and turn into a confident man with abilities that will bring new order to magic in the community.” I had this need to see my father’s vision become more than hiding in a phased existence. It was a good start, but the end was to go back to the beginning.
“I promise I will not give up until my very last breath. I want the same thing, to grow up and become something extraordinary. Some may consider me the devil’s spawn, but your father labeled me as misunderstood. I knew coming here I was made for great things. What they were teaching was control, but I already had that. I felt like they didn’t know who I was. They couldn’t understand why I was lashing out. I admit to having a stubborn attitude.” Damien was showing that magic wasn’t lost. Our passion was seen in our eyes and in how we acted.
“I am very proud of you. You’ve had a bad few days, but it hasn’t broken you like some people believed. You were shaken, but you managed to realize where your loyalties lie. The time to act is now. I want more information, but getting it from William doesn’t seem likely. I would’ve liked to have a lay of the land and maybe a way to catch them when they didn’t know what was coming.” I took his hand in mine and there was something in his eyes that translated into a man ready to do the right thing.
“You mentioned we have an army to lead. I need to see where they are. This only works with them understanding the true purpose of this exercise. They need to have the courage to ask why. We need to prepare them for the eventuality that they aren’t coming back from this. I’ve accepted that possibility and will protect them with my life if need be.” I’ve found the ember of a leader underneath his fear and somehow fanned it into a flame of resolution.
“I was just getting by; my rejection of my father was born from his absence. I didn’t understand there were more things going on. Important steps were being taken for the sake of magic. It was my fault for being blind to what was really going on. All of us need to stand up and try to make things better.” I found myself regretful of not giving my father the benefit of the doubt. He had relied on me being self-sufficient and able to fend for myself.
"The Elders deceit against the public is going to be hard to disprove. They will need to see what we do has a purpose. We are not the only leaders. We are but a ripple in the pond, but we will be the ones to give those standing on the side a reason to do something.” I felt a kinship with him like he was truly my little brother. We had many things in common, which included a contradiction when it came to my father. We both hated him, but we both loved him in our own way.
“The children may be our future, but they won’t have one without us. Your words are wise, Damien, and I am listening with both ears. You’re going to be well received by the children. You speak their language and they won’t feel like adults are talking down to them. You will be the loudest voice; the one they hear with vivid clarity. We can’t hope to win unless we have everybody on the same page. If it helps, I have something up my sleeve which might turn the tide in our favor.” I’d thought about this, and it was becoming clearer. It was the only way to make a true difference.
I’d talked to professor Bethesda about this and he thought I was crazy for even considering it. I reminded him I didn’t need his permission. I just wanted him to know what I had in mind and to find a way to make it possible. He’d managed to dig into an old text and come up with a fragment of information. The wording was the most important part. There was no room for error.
“There will always be indecision Gillian, but there’s nothing we can do about that. We push through it and give it no more thought. This world is counting on us. We’re not the only ones willing to do what we believe in. I sense others waiting for the right time to strike. They won’t do it alone, but seeing us fight will make them see it’s time.” These were words from his mouth to God’s ears.
“Letting the Elders have power was what got us into
this trouble in the first place. We’d come this far and it seemed useless not to go all the way. The battle was heading our way.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The next couple of hours, I witnessed transformation in the children. Some could conjure things out of midair, and others were masters of natural elements like fire and ice. They looked dead on their feet. They had aged 20 years in the span of a few hours after being drilled incessantly. They needed time to be kids and that was precisely the reason why I brought them into a game I devised. It was actually a version of something my father had told me about from his youth.
They were split evenly down the middle, with each one taking a stance around the ring of fire. The intention was to get that ring of fire into the floating ring of energy. It didn’t matter how they did it, and this was where their magic was going to come into play.
Some took the advantage of flight, and others drove them back with fire, water and ice.
“I’m glad you thought of this; I was at my wit’s end. This gives them a reason to use their power for something fun, but you do know this is only a breather before they stand and deliver a performance of a lifetime. They have come close and some have managed to break free of all the bonds holding them securely. Everyone else needs to emulate them. They are forced to look inside themselves where they have never been before. You and Damien are good for them, and I hope you will continue in a teaching role when all of this is said and done. If there are no complications, I imagine you’re going to have a lot more students in the real world looking for guidance.” Professor Bethesda and I watched as they put themselves through their paces.
The competitive spirit came out to play in a big way. Damien was taking a leadership role for his group, and I had done the same for the other side. Working together, we were at a stalemate, but there were small victories that we could grow from.