The Orphan Wars (Book One)

by Rowling, Shane

  "Don't underestimate our capabilities," whispered Nemeth. "If we manage to escape, that means we'll break the record for the youngest people to escape from Lord Dragomir's Academy."

  Professor Nomiki approached Nemeth and Bastilone. She placed her cold, clammy hands on their shoulders.

  "Boys, take your seats right now!" exclaimed Professor Nomiki. "I'm sure whatever it is you are talking about you can finish talking about later."

  "Sure thing Professor Nomiki," said Bastilone. "I was just wishing Nemeth good luck with his speech."

  Bastilone turned around and made his way back to his seat. Nemeth didn't feel like staring at Professor Nomiki's grotesque face again, so he looked down at his feet.

  "I'll just be headed to my seat now," said Nemeth. "Thanks for all of your help Professor Nomiki. What would I do without you?"

  Nemeth promptly made his way to the front row where the most prestigious students were sat. Nemeth sat down in his chair which he found to be surprisingly comfortable and looked out in front towards the stage. In his peripheral vision, he could see that Rorok was sitting in the chair to his right. He hoped that Rorok wouldn't bother him anymore.

  "Don't trip when you go up on stage," whispered Rorok. "You wouldn't want that to happen two years in a row now would you?"

  "I should have kicked your teeth in earlier," whispered Nemeth. "Now shut up otherwise we're both going to get in trouble."

  A purple light began to appear on stage. Its color grew in intensity and suddenly Professor Phantas, magically appeared on the stage. The purple light then vanished. Professor Phantas was wearing a crimson colored uniform similar to Nemeth's but with multiple golden insignias of D'hal Natar on it. His presence on stage was the indication that the ceremony was to begin immediately.

  "Attention everyone!" exclaimed Professor Phantas. "Everyone please be quiet and settle down! Eyes up here everyone!"

  The chatter amongst the students came to a sudden halt. Each student sat facing forward in their seats and looked at Professor Phantas. The remaining guests also became silent and focused on Professor Phantas.

  "Greetings to everyone here today," said Professor Phantas. "It is a great pleasure for me to be here at the graduation ceremony for the third year students. This will be the final graduation ceremony for the year as the previous grades have already had their ceremonies over the past week. I do not want any members of the third year class to think that because their ceremony is last, that they are in any way less important than the other classes. I must remind you all that your graduation date was randomly picked. As chance would have it, you were chosen to graduate on the last date."

  Professor Phantas pointed towards the section of seats reserved for professors, staff and guests.

  "As you can see, we are not alone here today," continued Professor Phantas. "I would like to see the highest level of respect from each and every one of you towards our guests. Now, I would like to announce the final scores for the dormitories to determine which dormitory wins the Victory Chalice. In sixth place, with a total of 4,500 points, represented by the colors indigo and purple, we have the girls of Harmonia Dormitory. In fifth place, with a total of 5,000 points, represented by the colors yellow and pink, we have the girls of Baskara Dormitory. In fourth place, with a total of 6,000 points, represented by the colors orange and green, we have the boys of Govannon Dormitory. In third place, with a total of 6,750 points, represented by the colors brown and black, we have the boys of Terminus Dormitory. In second place, with a total of 8,250 points, represented by the colors silver and white, we have the girls of Zenith Dormitory. In first place, with a total of 9,000 points, represented by the colors blue and grey, we have the boys of Justile Dormitory."

  The color of the large flags on stage changed from black to blue and grey to represent Justile Dormitory coming out victorious. Cheers began to erupt from the Justile Dormitory students.

  "Congratulations to Justile Dormitory for coming in first place!" exclaimed Professor Phantas. "I will have one of the professors deliver the Victory Chalice to Justile Dormitory so it can be proudly displayed there. It is now time for each student to come up on stage and receive their diplomas."

  Each student was called up to receive their diplomas in a most unusual manner. The obsession with ranking people at Lord Dragomir's Academy seemed to be present everywhere. Instead of going alphabetically by name, students were called up by rank starting from lowest to highest. This was written into the code of conduct ever since the academy was constructed over 100 years ago. It was created to teach a harsh lesson to those students who did not work hard enough or did not work smart enough. That meant that Nemeth would be called up last. He would then have to proceed with his speech, which he still had not given much thought about.

  One by one, each student came up to get their diplomas. There was a name for the students who were ranked in the bottom half of the class. They were known as The Underachievers. Professor Phantas enjoyed insulting anyone who was one of The Underachievers or any student he just had a personal distaste for. Professor Phantas had an uncanny ability to remember the painful events that happened in people's lives and would use that against them. There were special guests in attendance who were unaware of the overall corruption going on at the academy. Professor Phantas intended on keeping anything bad that happened at the academy as a secret for as long as he could.

  He wanted to punish certain students for not achieving the level of success he needed them to be at. At the same time, he wanted to hide this from the guests. To accomplish this, he had to use his telepathic abilities. When a student that Professor Phantas disliked would approach the stage, he would gaze into their eyes and cast the Telepathic Connection spell on them. This spell allowed Professor Phantas to trigger the painful memory at any time he wanted to. He avoided setting the time immediately or anytime today so that the guests would not see the torture being inflicted.

  The actions of Professor Phantas greatly amused Nemeth. He could hardly contain his laughter knowing that Professor Phantas was secretly torturing his underachieving classmates. Only Nemeth and a few other students were privy to the information about Professor Phantas' telepathic torture abilities. Since Nemeth was usually on Professor Phantas' good side, he wouldn't have to worry about the spell. Finally, it was time for Nemeth to receive his diploma, just after Rorok had stepped down off stage to receive his. Nemeth had just realized he was still holding the turkey leg he was eating earlier. He slid part of the turkey leg up his right sleeve to try and conceal it. Nemeth stood up and walked over to Rorok and he was walking off stage.

  "Congratulations buddy," said Nemeth. "I think we should shake hands and put the past behind us."

  Nemeth extended his hand to Rorok. Rorok hesitated at first, but then shook Nemeth's hand. Nemeth slid the turkey leg out of his right sleeve into Rorok's hand and then let go. Nemeth winked at Rorok and then made his way up on stage. Nemeth approached Professor Phantas and was ready to accept his diploma from him. Professor Phantas was more than happy to present him with the diploma.

  "Once again, I need everyone to please focus your full attention up here!" Professor Phantas shouted to the crowd. "Please focus your attention up here for a speech by the student that is ranked number one. I doubt this student needs an introduction, but I shall give him one anyway. Everyone please give a round of applause to Justile Dormitory's very own Nemeth!"

  "Well I don't have anything prepared for this speech still," whispered Nemeth to himself. "It's time for some good old improvisation."

  "Thank you Professor Phantas," said Nemeth. "It is truly an honor for each and every one of us to be in the presence of a man as great as Professor Phantas. He is truly a great headmaster and a wonderful mentor. We can only hope that one day we can grow to be as magnificent as him. When I was asked to deliver this speech, I didn't think of it as a burden. I considered it to be an opportunity instead. I was more than happy to once again be given the chance to deliver a speech to the gra
duating class. I was told that the topic I needed to speak to you about was how to achieve the level of success that I have attained. I stand before you ranked number one out of all of the third year students here at Lord Dragomir's Academy. So how can anybody else achieve what I have done? The answer is actually much simpler than you would think. To answer that question, I need you to face the truth. The truth is that nobody can ever achieve the level of success that I have reached. I'm far too advanced compared to the rest of you. Nobody here can ever catch up to my level of skill. There's no need to panic though. It is important to remember that each and every student has a special role here at Lord Dragomir's Academy. With enough effort, maybe twenty years from now you'll be able to fight as well as I can right now. But realistically, you'll all probably just end up failing. And because of that failure, you'll wind up cleaning the dining hall or the dormitories while I continue to get all of the praise. Face the facts! You can never make an impact in this world as great as mine! I am truly the…"

  Before another sentence could be spoken, a loud chorus of boos came from the audience.

  "We don't care what you have to say Nemeth!" yelled one student. "Just because you're at the top now doesn't mean that at least one of us isn't going to surpass you. It's going to happen sooner than you think too. Don't think that we're going to sit here and take your insults either."

  "Yeah that's right!" yelled another student. "Why should we sit here and listen to make fun of us? Just take your diploma, take your prize and get the hell off stage so we can all get out of here. We want to enjoy the parties tonight!"

  "Yeah exactly!" shouted another student. "We also want to go on our vacation. Don't even think about trying to go on vacation with us! If you do, it will be the biggest regret of your life!"

  "Adtonitus Fulgur!" shouted another student.

  A small storm cloud started to form over the edge of the stage. A small lightning bolt emerged from the cloud and headed towards Nemeth. It narrowly missed him and wound up striking and destroying a rather expensive painting of the goddess Dynia instead. Nemeth glanced over at Professor Phantas looking for help.

  "Stop this madness right this instant!" yelled Professor Phantas. "How extremely rude all of you are! As if verbal threats weren't enough, one of you was idiotic enough to cast a spell with the intent to harm one of your fellow classmates! You should know better than to cast offensive spells against other students inside The Great Hall of Athos. That spell could have hit me as well. Whoever cast it obviously doesn't know what he or she is doing and now one of our most precious paintings of the goddess Dynia has been destroyed. You had all better pray that she does not find out about this otherwise we might lose her support! Could you not comprehend that Nemeth was just joking around with you? You are all just jealous because not only is he the best in this class, but he gets a rare reward for being that. In fact, this reward is so rare that there are less than 50 known people on our entire planet of Tyraneus to have one! Now, everyone be silent or you will all be punished severely regardless of your rank! Oh and the first person to come up to me AFTER the graduation ceremony is done and tattle on the fool who cast that spell will receive a special gift from me. But for now, BE SILENT for we have a special guest who will now present Nemeth with his reward."

  A silence fell over the crowd. A tall, dark-skinned woman with long black hair made her way onto the stage. It was the High Priestess Darunda, a master practitioner of healing and defense magic. She occasionally came into the academy to help the professors. Everyone seemed mesmerized by her presence and it was almost as if everyone had already forgotten the disruptive incident that just occurred. The High Priestess Darunda slowly approached Nemeth. It was now time for him to receive his Guardian Spirit. Darunda wielded a large golden scepter with a crescent moon at the top. She raised the scepter high into the air and began to speak in a foreign tongue. Nemeth began to be surrounded by an intense green glow. He began to levitate in the air and slowly rotate horizontally. The higher he levitated, the brighter the glow became. After about 25 seconds, Nemeth was gently lowered to the ground from a height of about 15 feet and the glow faded away.

  "Most excellent!" exclaimed Darunda. "The spell is complete! Nemeth, you now have a Guardian Spirit inside of you now. If you are unfamiliar with Guardian Spirits, I would suggest that you take some time and research them. For now, I will tell you some important things you need to know about them. When you are in great enough danger, the Guardian Spirit will become fully activated and be revealed to you. It is at that time that you should start building a healthy relationship with your Guardian Spirit. Your Guardian Spirit will remain with you until the day that you die. That is all you need to know for now."

  "Thank you Darunda and thank you Professor Phantas!" exclaimed Nemeth. "I have no doubt that this is the best gift I have ever received."

  It was hard to debate that the main purpose of Lord Dragomir's Academy was preparing the orphaned youth for battle. Nemeth could handle himself well in battle and now with a Guardian Spirit he was more confident than ever that he could win a fight if he needed to.

  "Yes, thank you very much Darunda," said Professor Phantas. "Your services to the academy are invaluable."

  "You are quite welcome," replied Darunda. "It was my pleasure."

  "Congratulations once again class!" exclaimed Professor Phantas. "Everyone here is free to go if they wish but please do not feel that you need to leave in a hurry."

  The previously silent crowd had now turned burst into cheers. It looked as though every student hopped up from their seats simultaneously. They were pushing and shoving each other trying to make their way out of the building. A swarm of kids seemed to be jammed in the main entrance.

  "What are you stupid kids doing?" shouted Stelios. "Everyone needs to leave here one at a time!"

  "Are we dealing with three year olds here?" shouted Jaumet. "Form a single file line now!"

  Nemeth laughed at the stupidity of his classmates. He decided that he was going to wait on stage until the rest of the students left. He noticed a fat girl waddling her way over to Professor Phantas. It was Denifar, a not so elite member of the Baskara Dormitory and The Underachievers. She whispered something into Professor Phantas' ear. She was about to turn around and walk around, but Professor Phantas gently held her at the elbow with one hand.

  "I need you to stay here Denifar," said Professor Phantas. "There's no reason to be afraid as long as you told the truth."

  "Olmak, I need to speak with you now!" yelled Professor Phantas. "Don't think about leaving! Come over here right this instant!"

  It would seem that Denifar was the first one to tattle on the person who cast the spell earlier that almost struck Nemeth. Olmak slowly made his way over to Professor Phantas. Professor Phantas gripped one of Olmak's wrists tightly with his spare hand.

  "So you're the guilty one?" asked Professor Phantas angrily. "Denifar was brave enough to tell me that you were the one who cast the spell earlier. What do you have to say in your defense?"

  "I didn't cast the spell," said Olmak in a soft voice. "She's just lying to you to get the gift you promised."

  "I was sitting next to you," said Denifar angrily. "I clearly heard you cast the spell. Everyone knows you're jealous of Nemeth but you're too cowardly to face him and tell him what you think."

  "Shut up you stupid girl!" exclaimed Olmak. "I'm not jealous of Nemeth. But in your case, everyone knows that you have a crush on him! You'd do anything for him and that includes making up lies about me trying to use magic to hurt him!"

  "Nemeth, come over here," said Professor Phantas. "You can help me settle this once and for all."

  Nemeth stuffed his diploma into his pocket and walked over to Professor Phantas, who was still holding both Denifar and Olmak.

  "I'm going to let you play the judge here," said Professor Phantas. "It's only fair considering you were the one who could have been hurt. Do you know who these two classmates of yours are Nemeth?"

&nb
sp; "I think I've met both of them before," replied Nemeth. "But professor, can you please refresh my memory? You know, perhaps give me some more details about the two of them."

  "This girl here is named Denifar," said Professor Phantas. "She claims that this boy here named Olmak was the one who cast the spell at you. Olmak denies having anything to do with it."

  "Ah yes, I remember both of them," replied Nemeth. "Denifar has always been a nice person to me and to others. As for Olmak, he has always been the vengeful type. So since I get to play judge here, I'm going to have to side with Denifar. Olmak is the guilty party in this case. Do I get to choose his punishment as well?"

  "Well normally I wouldn't allow that," laughed Professor Phantas. "But I will make an exception given the circumstances."

  "So it's like a second reward then!" said Nemeth joyfully. "How about we setup a battle between Olmak and me at Orelic Coliseum? I would love to embarrass him in front of a large audience by beating him senseless."

  "I do like that idea," replied Professor Phantas. "Personally, I think it would be too easy for you to defeat him though. Any other ideas on how you would like to punish him?"

  "Actually I do have another idea!" said Nemeth with excitement. "Send him to the Detention Center and don't let him out until our vacation is over with. That will teach him a lesson he'll never forget!"

  "Now you're using the full power of your brain," laughed Professor Phantas. "I will have one of the other professors escort Olmak to the Detention Center right away."

  "But really I didn't do anything!" cried Olmak. "I demand a fair trial!"

  "You just had your trial," said Professor Phantas. "Besides, do you really think that I didn't know all along that it was you that cast that spell? I'm the headmaster here. I used my own magic to read your inner thoughts while you were standing here. I clearly saw a vision of you casting the spell. I just wanted to test your integrity."

  "Alright, I admit it!" cried Olmak. "I cast the spell! How can anyone blame me? Nemeth was supposed to give us an inspirational speech but tried to joke around and insult the entire class. Why isn't Nemeth being punished?"