The Prism Master exhaled heavily. “It went on like that for years. I dropped all of my projects and turned my entire focus to finding a cure for his madness, a spell that would make him sane long enough for me to convince him to turn himself in and seek help. The magical world began turning rapidly against those who had ever claimed an association with him, Kirius and myself included, but the Prism Master pitied me and fought against having me exiled from Mizzenwald or brought up on charges.”
Hayden had never heard such a depressing story in his life, and was torn between wanting to know everything and wanting to stop before the inevitable bad ending.
“Sark—and many others—have always hated and blamed me for the way Aleric turned out. They thought I must have been colluding with him from the beginning and gotten cold feet when I saw what he was prepared to do. They also remembered that I had once beaten Aleric with prisms, and entertained the thought that I might do so again.”
“They wanted you to fight him?”
“They wanted me to kill him,” Asher explained in a detached way. “Mages were being deployed from all over the Nine Lands to hunt him down and end him, and they were all dying in the attempt. Rumors emerged that Aleric had created a prism so monstrous and unnatural that it could defeat any other, that it was never consumed no matter what was cast through it.”
“The Black Prism.”
“Yes.” Asher nodded. “I didn’t want to meet my old friend in battle, but it was beginning to look inevitable. The magical community was screaming for me to go to his mansion and bring back his head, or else acknowledge that I was supporting his dark schemes from the start.”
“Wait, he was just sitting at home in his mansion?” Hayden interrupted, thinking that was an awfully gutsy move for someone who knew he had the entire continent screaming for his head.
“He had enough spells cast around his property that no one could catch him unaware, and he was confident that he could defeat anyone who came to oppose him. His confidence was apparently not misplaced, as he had amassed such an extensive knowledge of corrupted magic that he was never even injured in battle.”
A pained look crossed Master Asher’s face when he said, “Our old Prism Master went to challenge him. Aleric sent his head back to Mizzenwald with the circlet still attached. I knew that I couldn’t wait much longer, that even though I would lose my life, I had to try to stop him. The Council raised me to the position I now hold, hating to arm me with an honor they thought I didn’t deserve, but acknowledging that I needed a Mastery Charm if I were to have any hope of fighting Aleric. It took me some time to become skillful with it and research more advanced combat spells. Finally there could be no more delay. I wrote him one last letter, begging him to stop his reign of terror, but you can imagine how that went over.”
Even though Hayden knew that Asher obviously survived the battle against his father, he couldn’t help but feel sick with worry when the Prism Master told him about it.
“I went to his mansion, the place I had spent so many summers when his family was still living and in residence, and he met me just inside the front gates. He looked the same as ever—ten years older, obviously—and for a minute it was like nothing had ever changed between us. He asked after my health and my father, congratulated me on my promotion, asked if I wanted anything to drink and if I’d reconsidered the stupidity of fighting him.”
“I take it you said no?”
The Prism Master smirked humorlessly. “Of course. We fought, and he held nothing back. I knew as soon as it began that he was vastly more powerful than me, that I would die there and my head would be returned to my father with my circlet. He hit me with such a powerful spell that it warped my left Focus and I collapsed in a fit of light-sickness.” He held up his left wrist for emphasis, and though Hayden had always known he had a Focus-corrector there, he had never known how it was acquired until now.
“How did you get out alive?” He was practically whispering.
“I didn’t, or at least, not under my own power.” Now Asher looked pensive. “When I regained consciousness I was at the headquarters of the Council of Mages, being treating in their infirmary. Apparently my body had been dumped in their front lawns, and they took me in and fixed me up.”
Hayden’s lips parted in surprise. “You think my father spared you?”
Master Asher shook his head, but not as though he was denying what Hayden said. “I can’t see how else I would have come to be there, alive, but I don’t know why he would have spared me when he’d killed so many others.”
“Maybe because you were his best friend and he remembered that?”
The Prism Master frowned. “It is hard to fathom that any trace of the boy I used to know was left in him at that point.” He shook his head again to clear it. “Anyway, guessing at his motives is unproductive; he’s gone.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes while Hayden digested the things he’d just learned and Master Asher stared off into space. Finally, Hayden spoke again. “If you knew my father, does that mean you knew my mother too?”
Asher pursed his lips thoughtfully. “No, I didn’t. It gives me no pleasure to say this, but I doubt Aleric knew her all that well either. As I said, he was very popular in school, and he would have been quite young when you were conceived. Your mother would have been no more than a passing whim to him.”
That was hard to hear about the woman who had raised him single-handedly until he was ten years old, but in a strange way Hayden felt relieved. If she had been close to the Dark Prism during all those years when he was terrorizing the world, he would have thought less of her.
“Your mother was very smart about hiding you and keeping her mouth shut about your father,” Asher conceded. “He would have been just getting started with his corrupted magic by the time you were born, and if anyone knew you were his son you would have been murdered as a baby by some misguided local. Aleric himself can’t have known until the day your house exploded, or else he would have gone to take you from your mother at a much younger age.”
“What for?” Hayden asked softly.
“He would be curious, I think, to see if you had anything of his powers, to see if you would be an ally or a threat.” The Prism Master frowned.
“But you don’t know what happened to me that day at my mom’s house. You’ve been trying to figure out why he was forcing magic through my Foci but…wait a minute.” Hayden changed tracks immediately. “You knew who I was as soon as I got to Mizzenwald. All this time you’ve been nice to me, was it only because I’m his son?”
Master Asher looked genuinely surprised by the question, which was mildly comforting.
“It’s true that I would have tried to help you whether you were a Prism major or not, for the friend I used to have, if nothing else. I certainly hope you don’t believe that I’m only talking to you because of your father, though.”
Hayden exhaled in relief. He just felt like he’d endured a major loss of some sort, hearing about how his father used to be before he had become the Dark Prism. It was almost like losing him all over again. He didn’t think he could bear losing his mentor in the same day.
“I owe you an apology as well,” Master Asher spoke again, breaking Hayden’s train of thought. “You once asked me if I would ever consider sponsoring you as an apprentice in your mastery years.”
Hayden felt his heart-rate quicken even though he didn’t think he could be any more overwhelmed today no matter what happened. He had been wondering and worrying about the Prism Master’s bad reaction to the idea for the better part of a year.
“Several of the other Masters have brought it to my attention that you seem firmly against doing research for me in the future, though I think you’ve wanted to ask me about it several times now.”
He was waiting for Hayden to respond. Cinder cuffed Hayden gently with one purple wing, still perched on his shoulder.
“I did wonder…because you seemed so disgusted with the thought of working
with me,” Hayden mumbled, staring at the floor.
“That’s what you’ve been thinking all this time?” Master Asher asked in disbelief. “You’re even less like Aleric than I thought,” he sighed. “I’m sorry for hurting your feelings, but you sprang the suggestion on me when I wasn’t expecting it. The thought of working with you as I once worked with your father…it recalled some unpleasant memories, to say the least. I’ve often thought that if I hadn’t been there to challenge him, he might not have pushed himself so hard and may have avoided his foray into dark magic entirely. The thought of the same thing happening to you, never mind what the Council of Mages would think if I even suggested the idea…”
“Then it wasn’t because you don’t want to work with me?” Hayden couldn’t help but feel immensely relieved. He almost laughed out loud.
“What? Why would I have a problem working with you? You’re a bit hot-tempered at times, but you’re young and you’ll grow out of that. Otherwise you’re capable and level-headed, and not overly full of yourself. In fact, I was going to ask you about the spell you performed in the Prism trial today.”
“Oh.” Hayden had forgotten about the Inter-School Championship until just now. It felt like it had happened a long time ago, but it was just this morning. “I was actually going to ask you about it….I’m not sure what I did.”
The Prism Master switched into academic-mode so abruptly that for a moment it felt like any normal day at school.
“What were you trying to cast?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t have a particular spell in mind,” he answered truthfully. “I was just trying to find something to stop those stupid violet lights from killing me.”
Asher frowned. “What light arrays did you focus on?”
“I don’t know,” Hayden admitted, feeling useless. “I must have just grabbed something at random without even realizing it, since I was getting burned so badly.” He shuddered at the memory of his skin boiling. “Why? Haven’t you seen that spell somewhere before?”
“No,” Master Asher answered gently, “I haven’t. In fact, I don’t know anyone who has ever seen that spell before, including the other Masters who were present during the trial.”
Hayden’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
“You think I discovered a new spell when I compounded my clear and rose prisms?”
“Yes, I do. Or, if it has been previously discovered, someone has kept it a very closely-held secret,” he amended.
“It felt almost like Repel, except it worked better.”
“I’d say so, since Repel doesn’t work against all spells and certainly not as well as what you experienced. My colleagues and I got quite excited about the use of your mystery spell, because as far as I know, there is nothing yet in common use that is capable of repelling light. You were almost like a prism personified, bending light and enemy spells away from you at will.”
“I don’t know that it was at will…” Hayden bit down on his lower lip. “I couldn’t exactly control it once I used it, or I would have cut it out before it could drain the life out of me. I could feel it pulling right from my Source.”
Master Asher’s eyes gleamed with academic interest.
“Directly from the Source? Hmm, that’s interesting.” He drummed his fingers rhythmically against the table in front of him. “It would be ideal if you could remember the light arrays that you used to cast the spell; then we could study it more fully in the hopes of understanding it.”
“Couldn’t we just look for it in the rose and clear prisms again? We’d have to find it eventually…”
The Prism Master looked at him like he was being deliberately obtuse. “Are you kidding me? There are hundreds of possible arrays in each prism alone—thousands more when they’re compounded. It would help if you knew whether you were using a complex, stacked array, or a simple one, but of course we haven’t even delved into that in your classes yet and you don’t remember what your mind latched onto in its moment of panic anyway.”
Hayden frowned down at his hands.
“Sorry, sir.”
Master Asher waved a dismissive hand. “You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just disappointing that we can’t replicate it.” He sighed, and Cinder took flight from Hayden’s shoulder and went to perch on the Prism Master’s instead. Asher reached up and patted the dragon almost absent-mindedly.
Hayden stood up, desperate for some time alone to reconcile his thoughts from all the things that had happened today. He could feel the beginning of a headache coming on.
“Yes, get some rest, you must be exhausted.” Asher interpreted the look on his face. “You’ve got a test to prepare for in class tomorrow, and a challenge arena in a few days if I’m not mistaken.”
Hayden nodded and walked back to the door, pulling it open much slower than he had upon entering.
“One more thing, before you go,” Master Asher called out to him before he could exit the office, and Hayden turned around curiously, wondering what was coming next.
“Yes, sir?”
For the first time since he’d entered the room, the Prism Master smiled.
“Good job during the Prism trial today. You did Mizzenwald proud.”
Hayden was too relieved to respond.
13
Homeward Bound
By the time he returned to the dormitory to be questioned by Zane, Hayden had completely forgotten about the second trial of the I.S.C. today. It wasn’t until his friend said, “You should have seen the look on that Davis guy’s face when they woke him up and told him you’d tied for first on this round!” that he remembered.
“I hope he burst into tears,” Hayden remarked without inflection, still trying to absorb everything Master Asher had explained to him tonight. Conner, who was attempting to smooth out some ruffled feathers on his owl, looked up and said, “He looked like he was about to.”
Hayden smirked, trying to feel properly thankful for the victory. It was a little difficult right now to care about something as menial as who won the I.S.C., but he expected he’d be happier about it in a day or two when the shock wore off.
“Hey, are you alright?” Zane narrowed his gaze shrewdly. “You’re being awfully quiet.”
“Sorry, I’m tired…and I just found out something rather disturbing.”
“What’s that?” his friend asked curiously, flipping his chair around and sitting backwards on it so that he faced Hayden.
“It was…I found out…” he trailed off helplessly, before starting again. “Did you know that Master Asher used to be friends with my father?”
Zane looked like he’d just been struck dumb, which was mildly reassuring. Conner raised his eyebrows, though he didn’t look surprised by the information.
“WHAT?! No way! How is that possible?” the former exploded.
Hayden opened his mouth to attempt to explain, but Conner interrupted him and asked, “You really didn’t know?” in a strange voice.
Both Hayden and Zane turned to look at him. Bonk glided down from Hayden’s bed to rest on his shoulder.
“Wait, you mean you did?” Zane’s tone was mildly accusing, and Conner looked embarrassed.
“Well sure, I mean…it’s not really a secret, not in Junir at least.” He shrugged apologetically. “It’s just that people aren’t really supposed to talk about it since Asher is a Master now and he was never convicted of any crimes…”
Hayden frowned thoughtfully and asked, “How did you find out about it?”
“My mom mentioned it to me before I got into Mizzenwald, warning me to be careful and all of that.” Conner rolled his eyes at what he considered needless maternal interference. “Most people in the magical community know about it, especially around here, since it was such big news.”
Hayden frowned and said, “But then why wouldn’t Zane know about it before now either?”
“Well, like I said, it’s not something we’re really supposed to talk about at school…probably the kind of thing they
expel you for, actually.” He glanced around the room as though expecting Master Willow to pop up and send them all packing. “Besides, Zane, no one in your family has magic except for your oldest sister, so it’s not like your parents are really involved in the magical community…”
Zane waved this aside and turned back to Hayden. “So it’s true then? They really were friends?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” He shrugged. “Asher said they were the only two natural prisms in the school at the time, so they were bound to be best friends or mortal enemies. I guess they were both by the time it was all said and done.”
A heavy silence fell over the three of them, eventually broken by Bonk, who flapped his wings loudly and stretched his neck.
“Um, anyway, there was something else I wanted to ask you,” Conner changed the subject abruptly. “What was that spell you used during the trials today? I’ve never seen it before, and neither had Tamon or Tess.”
Hayden blinked hard several times, suddenly exhausted all over again.
“I don’t know—I cast it without meaning to and I can’t remember what arrays I used. Master Asher didn’t know either.”
The others looked momentarily stunned by this announcement, but then Zane simply shrugged and said, “That’s annoying. Maybe it’ll come to you after you’ve had a few days to relax.”
Hayden thought this was being overly optimistic, but all he said was, “Yeah, maybe,” in response, changing into his nightclothes and preparing for bed.
He climbed into bed and rolled over so that he was facing the wall, eager for some time alone with his thoughts. He felt Bonk’s clawed feet scrabbling over him on top of the covers, and soon the dragon plopped down between him and the wall, eyeing him carefully as though trying to make sure he was alright.
Hayden reached out a hand and patted his familiar on the head, which must have been reassuring, because Bonk flopped onto his back and immediately went to sleep. Hayden snorted in amusement, closing his eyes without any real hope of being able to rest that night.
The Other Prism (The Broken Prism) Page 19