by Zac Atie
”Ah, good, good.” Vander beams, his mood lightened slightly at the news. “You told anyone about it? I’d rather it’s kept secret, unless you want to bring somebody along.”
”No, I’d rather it be just me and you, let Talia cool off and get away from all this. I’ll surprise her with dinner when I get back or something.” Bastion laughs.
”Alright then.” Vander said, “Let me get you something to eat.” He says, and he gets up to order Bastion some food while they talk about what’s going to go down at the set. And, for the rest of the day, Bastion relaxes with Vander.
Friday. Last day of exams. The day before, he had no afternoon exams, so he spent his time playing around with his ‘Aura’, which according to Veronica is the name for the ‘presences’ he was sensing through ‘hollow sight’. However, he didn’t actually get anything new from it, so he ended up giving up and heading to the library to pester Veronica about it with Veronica. He asked her how she could manipulate her magic so easy, she kept responding with, “If you want help with your magic, come with me on Monday. There’s no other way.” After about 10 minutes, she grew sick of his pestering, and she ended up levitating water from her cup, and throwing it in his crotch area, making it look as if he wet himself. However, today, for his first exam, he had Biology. He and her were in the same class, so they are also in the same exam, and this time he brought the medallion with him. He vowed revenge, a good parting gift, something to remember him by. He had wondered what to do constantly since it happened. Would he hit her with even colder water in front of everyone? Perhaps that’s a little too far. But it had to be something embarrassing. Would he pull away her seat as she sat down? The only way to do that is with magic, and he wasn’t that skilled, but it had to be something equally funny. A brief moment of embarrassment then it’s forgotten to all but her. Then, he had an idea. After being given equipment, and taking his place at the exam hall, Bastion waited for at least half an hour into the exam before taking his mind off the work, and drawing magic from the amulet. He tried to telepathically blow up the pen by heating the ink up so high that the tube burst, destroying the pen. The pen would then leak all over the place, and the burn would make Veronica yelp or something. She was a girl, after all, right? However, it was far harder than he imagined. He stared at the pen, and pointed a subtle, concealed, finger toward it, but nothing was happening. He concentrated as hard as he could, and eventually, he felt that the magic was becoming a success, as he could sense the heat in the pen rising. Veronica could also sense this, as she dropped it on the floor before it could explode and shot a sharp glare at Bastion, though not for too long, because an inspector was looking. Bastion hissed frustration at his failed plan, but he’d get her back some other way. However, this was not to be. One of the supervisors walked by Veronica, picking up her pen and smiling as she offered it back. This startled Bastion, as Veronica wasn’t taking it back, just shifting her look from the pen, to the woman, to the pen in a worried fashion. Bastion tried to stop the pen from exploding, but it was too late, the pen practically melted in her hand, the ink seeping onto the woman’s hand. It was hot, but not hot enough to scar. She shrieked, doubling back and falling over. Eventually, more and more people screamed, and for a few seconds Bastion figured they were screaming in shock from the lady, thinking she had been seriously hurt in some way, but when he saw some of the students leap from their seats, he realized that he had burst far more pens than Veronica’s! He sat there, bewildered, eyes wide at the herd of panicked teenagers. Supervisors began to try and calm the room down, fetching new pens and wiping the ink off the hands of the students. Vander didn’t have his pen in his hand at the time, so he wasn’t burned. Bastion expected him to be laughing, but he wasn’t, he was just staring at Bastion. Eventually, a supervisor came along, and handed him a cloth, asking if he needed any help with ‘that’. He didn’t realize what she meant, until he looked at his hand. The pen was melted, completely, plastic and all. The ink was sizzling on his hands, far hotter than everyone else’s. He didn’t feel it, but the look on the supervisor’s face said it all. The test paper and table was practically ruined.
Although the test went on for a lot longer than it should have, given the mess and the disturbance, the one thing that was good about the mini-riot was that Veronica took notice of him after that. Although Veronica had not succumbed to a nasty case of hot ink on her hand, she was definitely bothered by it, which was evident to the way she practically dragged him out of the school toward the library after the Exam. The two of them were completely silent on their little journey, Bastion actually beginning to feel a little uncomfortable. He was also looking around for Talia or any of her girlfriends, because a second witness to another of Bastion’s scenarios with Veronica would be almost impossible to explain. Veronica’s face was cold, and expressionless, and although Bastion was a little happy to see that he had gotten to her, the depth of her anger took him back a little. What made him even more bothered by her is that once she had entered the library, she didn’t even hand in her ID, and she left the receptionist startled, as if she could feel the devil passing her. Once they were in her little study area, she let go of his arm and poured a plastic cup of water. “Think playing pranks are funny?”She asked, filling the cup and turning toward him.
”Don’t even-“ Bastion warned, but too late. She soaked him with the water, though it was aimed at his face rather than his crotch area. “Goddamn…” He groaned, wiping water out of his eyes.
”What, you think that was clever, exploding a bunch of pens? You think that was tough, some way to get back at me for your own actions?” Veronica hissed. “I invited you to come back with me, to Korreal to learn about magic, is that not good enough for you? You have to go pulling off crazy stunts? I don’t have to bother with you, I could just kill you and leave you behind.”
”Hey, look, calm down-“
”Don’t tell me what to do!” Veronica shouted.
”Alright! I'm sorry, ok? I didn’t mean to blow everything up, I just wanted to blow yours up is all.” Bastion shouted back, and Veronica huffed and pulled out a chair to sit in. “Sit.” She commanded, and Bastion followed her order. “If you’re going to do extreme stuff like that to get my attention, then…” She began, her temper still foul. “Then I’ll answer your questions, but none about the Magi until Monday.”
”Alright.” He said, sitting up straight, wondering what to ask first “Firstly, why was that guy trying to kill you? What did he want?”
”I don’t know… I remember he was asking me questions about the portal, about a baby coming through years ago, where the paladin and the young heir was. But I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, apart from the portal. I told him I didn’t know where that thing was, even though I’ve tried looking in history books in this library for areas of importance in southern England, some sort of code.”
”Code?” Bastion asked
”Although I said I wouldn’t talk about the Mages, I’ll tell you this.” Veronica said, leaning forward, knowing she was about to blow Bastion’s mind. “We wiped and recreated parts of history, to hide our existence.” Bastion raised an eyebrow, cynical at first, but eventually, he saw that Veronica wasn’t kidding. “How? Wouldn’t that be insanely hard?”
”No. There are Magi all other the word, use magic on a man’s mind and divide our existence into different myths… Such as witches and vampires.” Veronica said
”Wow… That’s…” Bastion stuttered
”Easy. Much easier than you’d think when you’re dealing with primitive minds.” Veronica concluded, leaning back.
“How come you guys haven’t taken over the world?” Bastion asked. “Surely, it would be within your power.”
“You overestimate us.” Veronica said. “Any Magi with a little knowledge of magic would easily destroy one or two humans, but we’re not all from Hogwarts. Magic is extremely hard to master, and an unexpected bullet to the stomach could easily kill the average Magi. It
’s only when the Magi unite that they are a force to be reckoned with. In fact, most Magi prefer human life. You need only take a look at the Magi in America for an example of that. But enough about that, for now. Next.”
”Who was that woman, the dead woman, in the parking lot?” Bastion asked
”An enemy.” Veronica said
”Care to elaborate?” Bastion sighed
”She belonged to a different faction than I did, when she picked up my Aura, she came up to gloat and challenge me to a fight, to antagonize me. I ignored her, and she ended up dead.” Veronica moaned.
“If that’s so, why did you come and take the Medallion from me?” Bastion snarled.
”There was still mana in that thing. Sometimes, it’s the mana that gives away a Mage’s location, if they’re careless, not the Aura. He could have mistaken you for a Mage and you’d have ended up dead for nothing.” Veronica said, fidgeting in her chair, trying not to make it sound the wrong way. ”So you did it to protect me?” Bastion giggled. “So you DO like me!”
“Anything else?” Veronica asked, ignoring his statement, playing with her hair, crossing her legs on her chair.
”Yeah, the thing about suppression…” Bastion said
”I can show you how to suppress your magic, so you’d feel normal… but you can’t simply ignore it. It... Can think for itself. Every time you close your eyes, you’ll see through hollow sight. Every time you’re in danger, the magic will surge up and protect you. It cares only for itself, it doesn’t want to die, so in panic, you’ll end up doing things that will hurt other people. Only training can stop that.” Veronica said. “Proper training, not something you can do in a day. And you more you play around with the magic, the harder it will be to NOT want to use it. It’s tricky.”
“I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to ask, but, what the hell is this magic anyway? Where does it come from?” Bastion asked. ”It’s practically a soul, your soul, but it has its own consciousness. It cannot think, but it’s always there with you. It affects you, controls your emotions. If it wanted to, it could make you laugh hysterically instead of crying. People who are not found by us Magi and are the lost children of Magi, or rare humans with magic potential usually end up going crazy because of the magic. Why this is, we don’t know... It’s probably to do with how we got the magic, since it wasn’t a perfect transfusion.” Veronica explained. “But, I told you, I’m not going to talk about that. You have to join us, first.”
”Yeah, I know…” Bastion sighed “Alright, when will you teach me?”
”After school. Nothing better to do.” Veronica said.
”I'm not sure I'm going to actually come with you, honestly…” Bastion said.
”Your choice.” Veronica answered. “Next.”
”Where the hell did that demon come from?” Bastion asked. “That wasn’t a mask, that was a real damned person.”
”It wasn’t a human.” Veronica said, the confirmation of his suspicions disturbing Bastion greatly. “Nor was it a demon, but it was a humanoid mammal. They are called the ‘Cazrians’ named after their planet ‘Cazria’.”
”Planet? You mean that thing is an alien?” Bastion asked, bewildered.
”Yes. The portal leads to Cazria, but do not judge them all the same, that one belongs to a group of Pureblood supremacists called ‘Sanctum’. But, the topic of Cazrian’s is rather complicated, another time.” Veronica groaned.
“I never believed that aliens would be so humanoid...” Bastion said. “I thought all the movie writers were stupid.”
“Well, there is a good reason for that.” Veronica said. “But alas, it’s complicated.”
”One last question. How did you heal me without using any magic?” Bastion asked.
”I did use Magic. My own. You see, your Aura is basically the magic radiating from your Magic Pool. Within the Magic Pool is raw magic, and that raw magic has the power to heal your wounds. To cast spells, such as in a fight like the one we were in not so long ago, you must mix that magic with Mana. You see, Mana comes from one of two places. Either objects created by magic or created to emit Mana, or from the atmosphere of a very Mana intensive planet. You used magic and filled that medallion by charging it at the portal site, which leads to Cazria. There’s still Mana seeping through there, since it’s been closed, but not fully sealed.” Veronica explains “The stone you see here was constructed by the Magi, who can create their own places of Mana, by creating pillars of Mana. The stone stores Mana, and you draw from it, fusing it with magic from your Magic Pool to create a spell, such as Odin, the lightning you used in the assembly hall.” Veronica explains.
”I see… well, thank you.” Bastion said “Sorry for the commotion.” Veronica forces a small half-smile. Something told Bastion that she was rather socially awkward, probably through trauma of some sort. He read that in a book somewhere. It would explain why she goes to lengths not to talk to anyone. “Err, Bastion…” Veronica said, as Bastion turned to leave. “I’m only bringing you to Korreal because it’s what was asked of me, and you... helped me. It would be a shame if you didn’t come to Korreal. I… I mean, you have potential… It would be a waste…” Bastion smiled, apologetically.
”Sorry.” He said. Veronica huffed, and waved him away with her hand.
”I’ll be waiting for the train at the train station, at 2PM on Monday. That will be your last chance to ever contact me.” Veronica said, and with that, Bastion left.
Afternoon exams. No heroics, this was the last exam of the week. After it’s done, Bastion will leave school and be free to follow whichever path he desires, though, for him, there will only be one. The one where he walks off to Germany, to spend quality time with his womanizing best friend, Vander, away from the shrieks of Talia and the nagging of Veronica. Too much had gone on, and he would be happy to just take a week off. However, this school in particular never ended a year on a high note, there was always some drama before those bells rang for the last time. He exited the exam hall last, after packing all his stuff, and headed outside. Straight away, he knew there was a fight starting, with the cheers of encouragement and glee going on. The fights never really interested him anymore. There was a time where he’d be a glutton to see kids swing at each other wildly, but he really didn’t give a damn anymore. After the murders, and seeing a man have his head hacked off at such an early age, his head was cleared of violence. He should be traumatised, but he remembered that Veronica said that his Magic Pool had a hand in his emotions. He came within range of the crowd, when his heart sank. Through the cracks of giddy, excited students, he could see Veronica in the middle of the crowd wiping blood from her lip. Someone had hit her, and he had a good idea who. He ran to the crowd, and pushed his way through, and once people had seen and realized that it was Talia’s boyfriend coming to the rescue of one of the girls, they all started cheering at the drama that was likely to ensue. “Talia!” Bastion shouted, as the students let him into the middle. Talia was boasting and screaming at Veronica, knowing that she could easily overpower and pummel her. Usually, a scene like this would render Bastion embarrassed, but on this occasion, he didn’t exactly care. He couldn’t let this fight happen, mainly because Veronica was not only small and fragile looking, but also a magician. There was no reason for this fight, and if anybody got hurt, it would be his fault. It was wrong, and he was disgusted that everyone would just stand and watch such a thing happen. Talia went in for another shot, as she realized that Bastion would soon stop her revenge, but Bastion shielded Veronica from the blow. She hit Bastion in the chest, hard, harder than Bastion actually knew she could punch. “Bastard!” Talia shrieks with pure fury, angry at Bastion for protecting Veronica. “You want to carry her off to the library, do you? Drag her into dark corners!?”
”I don’t think you know what you’re dealing with, here.” Veronica growls at Talia, almost unwavered by her aggression. “Call the fool off, because if she hits me again, I’ll rip her apart.”
�
�The hell did you say!?” Talia roars, trying to get around Bastion, but Bastion picks her up and moves her away. “GET OFF!” She screams, shaking herself free from his grip. Once she gets to the ground, Bastion tries to say something, but is interrupted by a thunderous slap. The crowd goes wild at the action, but the two ignore them. Bastion could clearly see Talia was hurt, and she was trying to hold back her tears, but she ended up failing covering her face. Bastion hugged Talia, and she gave in, and he held her for a while before carrying her away from the vile crowd.
”Nothing happened. That was it.” Bastion said, holding Talia’s hand in the Café.
”You could have told me.” Talia huffed, still a little upset, but she had calmed down.
”You were avoiding me…” Bastion said “Besides, I… Oh god, I'm sorry.” He apologized again, kissing her hand.
“It’s alright.” Talia whispers, smiling softly. Then she covered her face with the palm of her hand, embarrassed. “God, I made a scene… didn’t I? I must’ve looked like some primitive cave woman.”
”You did more than that.” Bastion said, trying to hold back his disappointment. “You busted her lip. She’s half the size of you, Talia.”
”She seemed confident enough.” Talia huffed.
”That’s not the point, and you know it.” Bastion scolded her. “Even though it’s justifiable, what you did was still wrong.”
”I know, I know, I'm sorry.” Talia whimpered, “I just… lost it when I saw her. I saw her and said ‘That’s the girl that’s trying to take my man away from me’. I couldn’t help it. It started out friendly enough… I just told her to back off, then she replied with ‘Don’t you dare tell me what to do’”