The Dark Path

by James M. Bowers

  “Easier for them that way.”

  “For them or for you?”

  “Both I would guess.”

  “Fair enough.” Gen broke off a piece of bread and dipped it into the noodles. Before he knew it, the bowl was empty and he reached to refill it.

  “You sure eat a lot for your size.”

  “My ring of sustenance stopped working this morning.”

  “I've read about those, but they haven't shown us anything that handy in class yet. Usually they just show us mostly useless stuff.”

  “What rank are you then? They don't use that shade of red for a rank anymore.”

  “Gray. I hate that color though and refuse to wear it. I changed mine to red. The masters were pissed but they don't complain as long as I do my assignments”

  “It seems a lifetime ago that I wore gray robes.” Gen's eyes were distant.

  “I've been wondering. What do those solid black robes stand for mastery of? None of the teachers here talk about solid black robes.”

  “Necromancy.” Gen's response was quiet and his face turned grim. Beth's eyes grew a bit wider.

  “Necromancy? They haven't taught us much about that. Just that no one seems to study it anymore.”

  “It was something I had to learn.”

  “Could you teach me something?”

  “Like what?”

  “Oh I don't care. Just something with necromancy. The other spells they have us learn here are boring.”

  “What makes you think I would teach you anything?”

  “Well, I asked and even though you have this cold exterior I know that you are too kind for your own good deep within.” She smirked at that.

  “Tell you what. You help me with some spells to find out what's so different about you and I'll teach you some necromancy.” Gen smiled back at her coldly.

  “Deal.”

  “Good. Now be quiet and eat.”

  "Fair enough.” Beth went to eating slowly and methodically, her eyes distant. Gen shook his head and went back to eating his second bowl of noodles. When he had finished his second bowl of noodles and another small loaf of bread, he stood up. Beth looked up at him as he stood. “Meet me at the main ritual area after your morning classes. Bring your spellbook.” Gen walked out of the hall and down to the training area. He had a bit of pent up aggression he wanted to work off.

  XV

  The Devil Inside

  Sweat glistened across Gen's chest as it rose and fell rapidly with labored breath. He walked over and took a water-skin from a nearby post and took a long drink. He had forgotten how nice water could taste. He hung the water-skin back up and walked back into the center of the circular arena. He once more took a small white cube from a pouch at his belt and tossed it in the air. Instantly, it divided and became two cubes. Those two divided again and again until there were twelve cubes floating all around him. A sharp metallic sound rang through the air as each cube seemed to grow spikes all over its surface. Gen closed his eyes and took control of his breathing again. He spoke a quick word and the cubes flew at him all at once, each from a different direction. Where Gen had stood, there was a black blur as the cubes began falling to the ground cut into halves. When the last cube fell, he came to a stop. Sweat poured from all over him. He stood still, his eyes closed and panted into the mid-morning air. His eyes shot open at the sound of applause and he looked over to see Beth standing outside the ring watching him. He smirked at her and snapped his fingers. All the broken cubes turned instantly into sand. He walked over and took his water-skin back from the post, then walked back to stand before Beth. She looked him up and down, no sign of embarrassment. She reached up and touched a long scar that ran from his navel to his neck.

  "Where did you get that?"

  "Eire."

  "What happened?"

  "A sword and I came together. I found that the sword was stronger than my skin."

  "Hmm." Beth removed her finger. "Why don't you flinch when I touch you?"

  "Is there a reason I should?"

  "Everyone else says my touch is painful."

  "Hmm." Gen placed an index finger to his lips and cocked his head to the side. "Let me look at you again and have you touch me." She nodded and he shifted his view once more to see the fabric of magic in all things. He saw her black aura as a web with streaks of dark red that flashed randomly throughout the core. He looked down and saw his own aura. He resisted an urge to look away. His own aura was a tight pattern of silver and black cord. The weave was broken in hundreds of places and he could see where he or others had repaired it over and over again. He watched her finger of black reach up and make contact with the silver corded structure of his arm. As she touched him, the black of her finger flashed with the red. The red reached out into his silver and started to latch onto and draw energy from it. It drew a bit, then suddenly the red grew black as all the energy was sucked back into the silver web of Gen's being. The red didn't make another attempt and Gen took her hand from his arm and shifted his vision back to normal.

  "I can see why others may be hurt from your touch."

  "What? Why? What did you see?" Beth grew both excited and angered at the same time. She had asked everyone here that she felt she could trust about what was going on with her, but not even the Headmaster could tell her what was wrong. Then out of nowhere, this man with his cold blue eyes, black robes, and road map of scars tells her he knows whats going on!

  "Hmm." Once more Gen put his finger to his lips and cocked his head to the side. He watched her grow more and more angry as he stood there silently. Just as she opened her mouth to say something else, he spoke. "Do you like fire?" he asked with what he hoped was a friendly smile.

  "What? What kind of question is that?" She was furious! This man knew what was going on with her but he was asking her these stupid questions! And what was going on with that smile? It gave her goosebumps. She fought against the shiver.

  "Just answer the question. Do you like fire?"

  "Of course I like fire! Look at my robes! I love fire! There! Are you happy now?"

  "Come with me." He reached out and took her hand and walked quickly toward the main ritual area. She stumbled to keep up with him. She tried several times to ask what was going on but he didn't answer her. They arrived at the main circle and he dropped her hand.

  "Well we're here! Now what?" Beth crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently.

  "What do you know about fire elementals?"

  She rolled her eyes. Was this going to be another lesson? She glared at Gen and tried to put on her best pissed off look. "Elementals are semi-sentient beings called into our plane by magic and made up of a basic element."

  "Very good, Beth. Have you created one yet?"

  "We covered elementals a year ago. So what? What does that have to do with what you saw in me?"

  "Can anyone at all command an elemental?"

  "You know the answer to that." She continued to glare at him.

  "Just answer."

  "The only one that an elemental will answer to is the mage that created it. In some cases, a mage of greater knowledge and strength can take over someone else's elemental, but that is the only way I know it can be done." She began to grit her teeth. Why wasn't her anger affecting this man like it affected all the others? Usually when she got this mad everyone around her grew angry right back at her. This man just felt like ice. It just made her all the more angry.

  "I'm going to create a fire elemental and I want you to try and command it."

  "What will that prove? You already know it won't listen to me!"

  "We'll see." He winked at her and smiled inside to see how it angered her further. He snapped his fingers and a ball of fire appeared out of the air. He incanted a few words and the ball took on a human shape and stood quietly in his palm. He set it on the ground. It looked up at him expectantly. Gen looked over to Beth and nodded.

  "What do you want me to command it to do?" Her anger poured out of her so thick it wa
s all she could do not to scream at Gen.

  "Just a simple command like walk to the right or jump. It doesn't matter."

  "Walk to me," Beth commanded the elemental. It looked from Gen to Beth then back to Gen. Finally it looked back to Beth and started walking toward her.

  "Stop!" Gen commanded the elemental. It slowed down but kept walking toward Beth.

  "Stop!" Beth commanded. The elemental stopped dead in its tracks. What was going on here? How was she able to command his elemental?

  "Hmm. Interesting. Let's try something else, shall we?" He snapped his fingers and the elemental screamed as it suddenly went out. He could tell Beth was confused. He hoped her anger held out a bit longer. She might need it. Sometimes anger was more useful than courage. He threw his head back and incanted a single word at the top of his lungs. The ground in front of his feet ripped open to form a gap as long as Gen and as wide as half his height. Magma poured up out of the gap and pooled in front of Gen. It continued to flow up until a human form the same height as Gen stood in front of him. The gap in the ground closed to leave the form standing there calmly. "Do you know what this is?" Gen asked Beth.

  "M-m-m-Magma elemental?" Her eyes were wide and she could feel her legs shaking. Who the hell was this guy? She had read about these kinds of things in books, but the spells she had read called for the use of several mages at once and working for days to summon an elemental made of more than one element, at least one that big. He had spoken one word and one was here now. Her anger was leaving her quickly and she could feel the fear growing.

  "Good, Beth. This is a magma elemental. Half fire and half earth. A powerful ally in battle. I want you to try and command this one. "

  She tried to make her voice work. It took her several tries to finally fight the fear and speak the command to step backward. As it started to move Gen shouted a command to stop. The Elemental slowed down once more and Gen repeated the command. It stopped but shook in place. Suddenly it threw its head back and screamed as it ripped into half. Where a magma elemental had stood now there stood one of fire and one of steaming hot earth.

  "Interesting. Try to command the earth elemental Beth."

  "Step forward" she commanded the earth elemental. It didn't move. It didn't even look her direction. "Step to the left!" she commanded the elemental of fire. It quickly stepped to the left.

  "Do you know what is going on here?" Gen asked as he clapped his hands and the two elementals screamed in seeming agony as they vanished.

  "I've never heard of anything like this happening."

  "Can you think of any reason a fire elemental would obey you over the mage that created it?"

  "That only happens if a more powerful mage were to command it. We both know that is not the case here." She bit her tongue a bit at that last part. She was still angry with Gen but now she feared him a bit as well. What was this aura of cold she felt pouring off of him?

  "The cold you feel is my anger," Gen stated calmly.

  "What? I didn't even say anything!" Could he read her thoughts even? She was starting to feel trapped. Maybe she read this man wrong. Maybe he wasn't kind after all.

  "You feel the emotions of others. Sometimes, when you are feeling an emotion very strongly, you project it into others. I also think you can sometimes manipulate other's emotions either adding to or lessening the emotion they are feeling at the time. I kept letting your anger grow because I thought it would help you control your fear. Plus, I was testing to see if your effects worked on me when I was prepared for them. Sadly it seems that they do still affect me, but I don't think any of that is what you are confused about. I think you are wondering why you feel cold back from me instead of the heat of anger. Also I'm sure you are still wondering what I see in you and why I think you can control others' elementals of fire."

  "You were manipulating me!" Her anger flooded back full force. Driving the fear away to nothing. Anger at being used and controlled poured through her veins. She gritted her teeth and felt her face go flush. Her fingernails dug painfully into her palms. She was about to scream or attack him when suddenly a wave of cold hit her like a smack in the face. It knocked the strength from her and she sat upon the ground feeling drained. Gen walked calmly over to her and sat down in front of her.

  "Look into my eyes and tell me what you see there."

  She didn't want to look into those blue eyes of his, but she wouldn't be intimidated. She met his gaze and couldn't stop herself from gasping. "I see anger, but it burns like ice not like fire. It's contained somehow, focused. I don't understand this." She looked back down at the ground. She didn't understand this guy at all! When she had first met him, she had opened him up and made him cry for two reasons. One, because a part of her wanted to help him and two, a part of her wanted to knock down a potential threat. She thought that this man was broken from all the pain he carried around inside. She didn't understand anything about him now.

  "Repeat these words after me. You need to see something." He incanted slowly a single short sentence. It made her ears itch. She listened closely then repeated it back perfectly. Her eyes went suddenly wide.

  "What have you made me cast?" Her head screamed in pain and protest from the flood of new information. She could see the magic weave in everything! She had never heard of a spell that did this. Everything she had been taught so far was based on rote and visualization. No one had told her that she could do this. She had never even read about anything like this, not even in the old texts she sneaked out of the library at night.

  "What do you see in me?"

  She gritted her teeth against the pain in her head and focused upon Gen with new eyes and saw his tightly ordered structure. She looked closer and saw so much damage it made a part of her hurt. Almost all of his weave had been ripped to pieces and rewoven. There were repairs everywhere. She couldn't feel a weakness in any of them though. Most of the repairs carried a hematite sheen covering the silver. "I see pain."

  "Now look at yourself." She looked down and for the first time saw her web of black interlaced with the flashes of red. Some parts of her weave were damaged and not repaired. The web looked to have been burnt there. She had a feeling she knew what that represented. She blocked out those memories and focused again on her core self. She looked back to Gen's eyes. She flinched as she saw the energy of the anger he held there still.

  "What are those flashes of red? Is that common? What did you find out about me?"

  "I don't know for certain but I have a good guess. Do you remember when you said you didn't feel human? She nodded. "Well I believe you may be half right."

  "What do you mean? Are you saying I'm half human and half something else? What half elf? Half dwarf?"

  "Nothing that simple I'm afraid."

  “Well you can't tell me all of this and then just shut up about it! What are you saying that I am?"

  Gen sighed and leaned back, placing his hands on the ground and looking up to the sky. "I may be wrong.”

  “To the hells with that! Just tell me!”

  “Hells... Appropriate I suppose.” Gen looked back down at her meeting her gaze with those damned cold eyes. His voice was quiet. “Demon, Beth. I think you are a Hanyou."

  "D-Demon? Are you serious?" She started to laugh then realized the energies of his aura had not changed. She felt that he spoke the truth. "How is that even possible?"

  "It's possible. Though it doesn't happen often. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you but maybe it will help you understand yourself better."

  "I don't know what to say." She hung her head. "How do I turn this vision back off?" Her headache was beginning to be unbearable.

  He spoke one word and she repeated it. Her vision went back to normal. She put her head in her hands and fought back tears. How could she be half-demon? Did that mean she had to kill humans now and do only evil? Isn't that how it worked?

  "The spell I just taught you." His tone made her look up. "Don't ever teach it to anyone else. At least not until you are ou
t of this Schola. It gives an unfair advantage, as I found out long ago.”

  "What is that spell? I've never heard of any like it." She was happy to be talking about anything but what she had just learned. She just wanted to forget the demon stuff.

  "It's a spell taught to me when I was very young. I didn't tell anyone about it. Though I think the Headmaster suspected that I could do something like it. If you can see the web of magic, then it becomes easier to construct it. Also it makes it easier to take spells apart. Though that can be very dangerous! So be careful with it. I do have a question though. How could you tell I was using it on you this morning at breakfast?"

  "I couldn't. I just felt like your eyes were staring into my soul. I guess in a way you were." She laughed a bit before the sadness took her again.

  "We need to stop that sadness of yours right now. I don't need any more grief and we both know that yours will bleed into me." He reached out and placed his hand under her chin. He tilted her face up to meet his. "Do you want me to teach you a bit of my art now? Would that cheer you up a bit?" His eyes held kindness and she smiled a bit.

  "I would like that very much." She wiped the tear from her blue eye and stood up. He stood up as well and took her hand. He led her off toward the greenhouse. When they arrived at the greenhouse, he opened the large glass door at the left and walked in after her. Marcus was transplanting seedlings of basil into bigger pots and turned to face them as they entered. He smiled when he saw Beth then frowned a bit when he saw Gen following close behind.

  "Marcus. It's good to see you again. How is Thomas feeling?"

  "Thomas is doing much better, though I believe it will be a few days till he is out of bed. What brings you and little Beth to the greenhouse?"

  "I need a small mint plant. Do you happen to have an extra one I could use?"

  "Wait here. I'll go get you one." Marcus walked off deeper into the greenhouse and came back shortly carrying a red clay pot with a small mint plant about the size of his hand sprouting from the top of it. Gen took the pot when he offered it and thanked him. He turned after a nod and walked back out the greenhouse holding the door for Beth behind him. She followed him out and back to the main ritual area. He walked to the middle of the circle and dug a small hole with his hand and planted the mint into the well trodden dirt there. He asked Beth to stand outside the circle and slowly began to sing a spell. The words sounded elven to Beth's ears and the mint plant started growing and spreading. After a short time, the main circle was covered in mint up to Gen's hip.