by Weiqi Wang
‘I’m okay, but Halg’s leg was hurt.’ Soarame was breathing heavily. ‘Let’s check it out now!’
‘I’m fine, don’t worry.’ Halgon was laughing, lying on the grass. ‘This is my best tour so far, ha-ha-ha!’
‘You are crazy, man!’ Kardiac was relieved to see this. ‘I thought we were dead in there!’
‘Seriously, what a day!’ Catheray was thumping her chest as if she was checking that her heart was still there. ‘If not for Soar and Halg, we would just…’
‘You kids, don’t you think you owe me an explanation?’ Chelonad’s voice sounded out. ‘Why on earth were you ever in there?’
‘It’s…’ The friends looked around at each other, not sure what to say.
‘We don’t know either, but it must be the black feather.’ Halgon sat up for this. ‘And we were sucked in; we didn’t want to go.’
‘Show me the feather.’ Chelonad commanded. His voice sounded astonished when he saw the feather. ‘Where did you get it?’
Soarame was hesitating about what to say, but Chelonad’s voice came again. ‘It doesn’t make sense. How did you break the magic seal with a feather?’
‘We broke a magic seal? How are we able to do that?’ Halgon instantly asked. ‘We were just walking around and we didn’t do anything. What is that horrible scary place anyway?’
‘It’s a trial site, for the teachers in school. It is not part of the campus and you were not allowed to be in there!’ Chelonad answered. ‘You do know the teachers are at least of Expert level, right? You could very well have died!’
The crew subconsciously peeked at Soarame in silence; inside his gown the little wrecker was still hiding.
‘This whole thing is strange, I’ll check it through.’ Chelonad sounded serious. ‘Now, you are dismissed, but keep all this to yourselves and stay away from this area.’
‘Sure, we will.’ Soarame stood up and patted the dirt off his clothes. ‘Guys, let’s go.’
‘Volsta’s feather, Scankeen’s token… interesting.’ Inside the cave, Chelonad’s voice sounded low, as if he was muttering. ‘Another trouble-maker apprentice? Let’s hope Scankeen set this one on the right track…’
‘Snower, thanks so much for the “present”! You are just unbelievable.’ Back into Soarame’s dorm, Soarame managed to make a joke of it all. ‘How did you do that, anyway? You actually broke the seal of an Expert trial site?’
‘Meow.’ Snower looked embarrassed for all the trouble that she had caused, and it seemed that she wanted to cry.
‘Don’t say that! She didn’t mean to.’ Jemario elbowed Soarame aside and took over the little white kitten. Snower bowed her head like she was feeling guilty.
‘Yes, we are all good, aren’t we? Let it go.’ Catheray couldn’t bear to watch Snower about to cry. ‘Plus, if not for her, I wouldn’t have the chance to hear someone cry “Holy mama”.’
Kardiac blushed on hearing this; that was definitely not something he felt proud of.
‘Hey guys, guess what we found?’ While the friends were chuckling, Rodka, Dileys and Vivarin returned from the library. Seeing everyone covered in dust and ash, they asked. ‘Oh god… what did we miss?’
Kardiac was again the first one to bounce up and do the talking. Soon enough, the three were fed the adventure; screams sounded up and down as it went.
‘You guys are creeping us out, but it kind of matches up!’ Rodka’s eyes brightened up after hearing everything. ‘Snower runs fast, same as the story!’
‘What story?’ The adventure team was confused.
‘We might have found a clue about Snower’s origins!’ Rodka took out a book and handed it over to Soarame. ‘It’s a wizards’ autobiography. Check it out for yourselves!’
A BIG ROACH?
One day, an Expert wizard was on his trial around the Magimal Forest, a famous Magimal gathering place as well-known as Dare Valley, in the middle of Arkward Empire. During his trial, he heard a torrent of frightening fighting noises coming from the inner area of the forest. Being confident in his magic power, he sneaked into the forest and saw a snow-white, tiny magimal fighting against three adult Blood-eyed Bristled Lions.
This discovery astonished the wizard because it was way out of the ordinary. After all, Blood-eyed Bristled Lions were Baron-level magimals, which was equivalent to Master-level for wizards. What kind of magimal could fight against three of them alone? The old wizard held his breath and observed attentively; it was clear this mysterious magimal was at least a Baron too, and the battle was so fierce that he dared not get closer. The speed of the two parties was ridiculously fast, and the wizard couldn’t even see the snow-white magimal clearly, but only could make out that it was cat-like. This discovery surprised him greatly; he had never heard of the existence of a cat-like magimal as powerful as this. Taking another look, the wizard found the mysterious cat-like magimal seemed to be hurt, with blood covering its rear legs.
Driven by strong curiosity, the wizard bravely inched closer to the fight and surprisingly found an ivory-white egg. The egg was covered in fresh spots of blood. The intense vitality aura emitted from the egg convinced the old wizard that the egg was newly laid, presumably by the cat-like magimal.
Although wondering how a cat could lay an egg, his years of magic experiences made him quite sure that the two had the same vitality aura — they must be mother and child. The magimal was in a weak state after giving birth and had then encountered three Blood-eyed Bristled Lions that she had to fight against. These Baron-level lions were known to live alone, so it was unusual that they would form a team. It could be no coincidence that, right after the cat-like magimal laid an egg, three lions assembled together and attempted to fight her! Something was wrong.
Thinking quickly, the wizard started to get the whole picture: the lions had plotted to kill the cat-like magimal right after her delivery because that was when she was weakest. Yet they still needed to attack together. The reward for this gamble was of course that they could eat the magimal and her egg — most magimals boosted their power this way, especially when they got to eat high-level magimals. So, this planned attack was most likely aimed at eating the mother and child to allow these gangsters to level up!
Coming to this conclusion, the wizard was enraged. He could not just stand aside and watch a mother give up her life to protect her child. Hence, he burst out with his most powerful magic and attacked the lions, risking his own life. One lion was dead after the battle, while the other two ran away, wounded. The wizard was also badly injured, and the cat-like magimal was completely exhausted and collapsed. Before her death, she asked the wizard to take her body and the egg with him, and so he did. Fortunately enough, the wizard managed to find his way out and barely survived. However, he realized that he still didn’t know anything about the cat-like magimal, whose body he carried with him.
Days passed after that scary battle, and the body began to decay before the wizard was able to figure anything out about the magimal’s breed. He decided to name her Giantail Cat, because the most remarkable thing about the magimal was how huge the tail was compared to her body. The wizard chose not to publish his experience and the existence of the Giantail Cat anywhere else than this biography; he knew he would die soon too due to the injuries and would not be able to protect this treasure against a whole bunch of ambitious and powerful people out there. As an experienced wizard, he knew those people would try every possible way to seize the body and the egg.
Strangely, the tail of Giantail Cat didn’t decay like other parts of the body. The wizard also knew that a high-ranking magimal always develops a soulcore inside its skull, which wouldn’t decay either. The wizard took out the soulcore of the Giantail Cat before he buried the body, and gave the soulcore and the tail to his two disciples; but separately. As for the most precious one, the magimal egg, he decided to give it to a righteous young warrior who had risked his life to assassinate a vicious wizard.
The story about the Giantail Cat ended t
here, and the rest of the autobiography was irrelevant. Holding this thin book, a tearful Soarame felt it was as heavy as mountain. What the biography embodied was two kinds of great emotions that were worthy of being valued and worshipped — motherly-love and righteousness.
Wiping their tears away silently, the group finally realised that if that Giantail Cat was really Snower’s mother, Snower’s origins was much more heart-rending than they had expected. What’s surprising was that every feature of the Giantail Cat the wizard described sounded like Snower, and perhaps the egg was the very one Snower had hatched from. However, the only difference was Snower’s tail.
Everyone looked over at the little fluffy kitten, passing her watchful blue eyes to her round little tail.
‘Giantail Cat? Snower is clearly a bunny-tail cat!’ Kardiac grinned.
‘Yeah, it’s very different.’ Catheray agreed. ‘Maybe that wasn’t Snower’s mother?’
‘I vote that it was.’ Rodka disagreed. ‘High-ranking cat-like magimals are very rare, especially the egg-born. If Snower wasn’t right here in front of us, I won’t even believe this story. Now you tell me they are not mother and baby? No, they must be connected.’
‘That makes sense.’ Halgon agreed with Rodka. ‘Except for the tail part, they totally match up. As for the tail, it can grow — all kittens have bunny tails, we know that.’
Everyone nodded, although there was no solid evidence.
‘Who’s the author, anyway?’ Jemario’s eyes were red with tears. ‘He was a great man.’
‘I’ve looked that up, but the author didn’t mention his name at all. He was probably a hermit.’ Rodka said heavily. ‘And I think he did this so that no one knows where the egg, tail and soulcore are, so that he can protect them.’
What a great man! He certainly knew that he gave up the opportunity for his name to be carved in the history! Everyone choked with sobs. Snower widened her eyes, looked at everyone in mild confusion, and meowed now and then. Looking at Snower, Soarame’s heart was full of tenderness. This poor baby certainly had no idea about how hard it was for her to get this far — if the egg in the story was really hers.
‘If Snower really is the baby Giantail Cat, Sachastain actually sent me a miracle!’ Soarame muttered to himself. Wait a minute… how did Sachastain get this egg? Raising his head, Soarame found everyone looking at him in a strange way; they must have all come to the same conclusion.
‘Are you guys thinking that Sachastain is the young warrior in the book?’ Soarame asked and nodded. ‘Sachastain is indeed a warrior, but if that was really him, he must have assassinated a vicious wizard before… I will go and ask him tomorrow.’
‘Yay! If Sachastain really is the one, he must know the author and everything. Then we have all the answers!’ Omifo’s words cheered everyone up.
‘That’s a good idea. But whatever we do, we need to keep it secret from now on.’ Rodka looked around at the others and said seriously. ‘This whole story about the biography and Snower should go no further than Sachastain.’
‘But… I’ve already told all my friends about Snower, and they have visited us for Snower before!’ Catheray was worried. ‘God… what shall we do now?’
‘Why did you do that?’ Kardiac barked. ‘Can you keep any secret at all?’
‘Shut up! You told even more people!’ Catheray stepped on Kardiac’s feet, making him cry. ‘You even bluffed that Snower is a Baron-level magimal! Thanks to you, now it became true!’
‘Did you really… Kardy?’ The friends stared at Kardiac. ‘How did you even think of a Baron?’
‘Enough. Everyone knows Kardy bluffs, so we should be fine.’ Rodka propped his forehead for the “Kardy headache”, ignoring the complaint from the chubby boy. ‘The good thing is that they didn’t know about the biography. So from now on, we all need to keep our mouth shut. If we spread the word, we are actually risking the safety of Snower and even Soarame. Think about it, why would the author of the biography protect the egg in that way?’
‘Is it that bad?’ Vivarin couldn’t help asking. ‘This is the Institute of Libral!’
‘Of course it’s bad. Girls talk and crap happens.’ Omifo answered. ‘Err… I mean people talk and… Ahh!’
‘How about the teachers and professors, then? Can we tell them?’ Seeing Vivarin pinch Omifo’s hip, Dileys asked in amusement. ‘Our friends already knew about Snower anyway.’
‘From now on, tell everyone that Snower is just a kitten. But I suppose we can tell the professors; maybe they can help us.’ Rodka pondered a bit and came up with this. ‘They may even know about Snower’s magimal kind already — I’ll go and check with Mr. Dean tomorrow.’
Just like that, the plan was set up and the crew was dismissed. Strangely, Halgon was against the check-with-professors idea, but he didn’t insist; so Rodka would still talk to Dean Romboton the next day. Soarame tried to sleep, but tossed and turned all night, watching little Snower sleep with her cute, tiny snore.
I’ll protect you, Snower. Soarame looked at the sleeping baby and swore in his heart. Snower’s birth story sounded similar to his own; both had a vague clue about their parents but nothing more. Soarame had thought so much about what had happened to his family and how to trace it, but he had no useful ideas as yet. So this time, he began to think about Snower’s family instead. Just a few hours ago, Snower was able to discover the beetalbulls’ nest from miles away and somehow threw everyone into it — how did she do that? What magic was she capable of?
Soarame couldn’t get an answer just by thinking and guessing, of course. So once the sun rose, Soarame jumped right off the bed and went to see Sachastain.
Thanks to Chelonad’s guidance, Soarame arrived at Sachastain’s quickly. Walking towards the door, Soarame was hesitant about how to start the conversation, but the next second, the door suddenly opened, before he even knocked.
‘Ahh, Soarame! It’s you.’ Sachastain stepped out from his house. ‘Is this about the magimal egg?’
‘How did you know I was coming?’ Soarame was surprised.
‘Well, when you grow up you will also learn these tricks.’ Sachastain smiled. As a high-level warrior, he was certainly able to sense people approaching. ‘The hatching is difficult, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah, it was pretty hard, but I made it.’
‘No kidding? That was quick.’ Sachastain let Soarame step into his room and locked the door. ‘I thought it was going to take a few more weeks.’
‘Because it’s a Giantail Cat?’ Soarame looked Sachastain directly in the eyes. ‘I really adore what you did, by the way!’
‘What Giantail Cat? What are you talking about?’ Sachastain looked confused. After Soarame spent time telling the story, Sachastain frowned. ‘There’s such a biography in the library?’
‘So, that mysterious warrior is you, right?’ Although Soarame was disappointed to see that Sachastain seemed to know nothing about this story, he still gave it a last try.
‘No, your story sounds like a tale!’ Sachastain laughed. ‘I got this magimal egg from an auction. It was sold as the egg of a piebald python, and it should have given birth to a baby python! Now, you tell me it’s a cat? You ever heard of a cat being born out of an egg?’
‘But it’s really a cat… although born out of an egg! Why don’t you go and see it if you don’t believe me?’
‘No, no, that’s not what I mean.’ Sachastain patted Soarame’s shoulder. ‘I trust you, but how could a cat be born from a python’s egg?’
‘I don’t know!’ Soarame was so frustrated that Sachastain was asking exactly the same question he was. Not willing to give up like this, Soarame kept asking Sachastain questions and they talked for quite a while. But in the end, the boy was left very disappointed; Sachastain knew nothing more than what they had already concluded.
‘Why did you buy a magimal egg anyway? You are not a wizard, are you?’ Soarame suddenly asked.
‘No, but I wish I was, so I bought one for myself to hatch
.’ Sachastain laughed. ‘Gotcha. It was meant to be a gift for a friend’s son, who was supposed to be a wizard just like you, but he failed the test.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘No, no, as long as you don’t mind that this egg was meant for someone else.’ Sachastain smiled. ‘By the way, you are not trying to skip class, are you? As a staff member of the school, I’m obliged to report this kind of matter.’
‘Oh, crap!’ Hearing that, Soarame had to rush away. He had almost forgotten about his class today. As the only boy in the class, it would be a dream to count on that the teacher wouldn’t notice his absence. Soarame called Chelonad while he was rushing. ‘Chelonad, highlight the shortcut to the Water Department on my emblem, please!’
‘There's no shortcut, Soarame. Just the ordinary way that you go every day.’ Chelonad replied. ‘And don’t worry, you are already late and they have already realised your absence.’
‘Thanks Chelonad, that’s really helpful.’ Soarame said bitterly.
‘Sure, any time.’ Chelonad’s voice sounded suspiciously like a snicker.
‘Smart boy… you really gave me a hard time.’ Watching Soarame run away, Sachastain’s expression became thoughtful. ‘Alas, kids are a lot harder to deal with nowadays…’
Meanwhile, in Dean Romboton’s office, Rodka tried his best to describe what he knew. The Dean was patient enough to wait until Rodka finished, then raised his head. ‘Did you see it yourself?’
‘I did see Snower, professor.’ Rodka answered. ‘It’s right in Soarame’s dorm.’
‘No, I’m talking about the process of the kitten being born.’ Dean Romboton waved his hands.
‘That… I did not.’ Rodka instantly understood what the Dean meant. ‘But they are not lying, I can tell.’
‘Well, I’m not saying they are lying, but you need to be more prepared before you come to me.’ Dean Romboton sat back into his chair. ‘At least you need to see with your own eyes what you have told me, or I prefer to spend time dealing with my other duties, you see?’