by Adam Bennett
A Test Amongst The Shadows
Todd Sullivan
Jeong Yeong Hyeok gazed down at his English exam. Only twenty minutes left to pass or fail the biggest test of his life. His scantron sheet was half empty. The ticking of the clock echoed in the silent room, and made focusing on English vocabulary and grammar impossible. He had to do something if he intended to get to the top of his class.
Yeong looked around at the other students, their heads low, their shoulders hunched as they picked off ovals in the long marching columns. Adjusting his glasses, he opened his senses in search for the right spell amidst the thin cracks that splinter reality. He released control of his hand and let it draw six stick-figure bandits on horses at the edges of the exam. Leaning close to the page, he whispered, “Thieving shadows, take shape and learn the secrets of my foes.”
The drawings shivered, and the bandits shook themselves awake. They clawed free of the exam, erupting off the page into the third dimension. The cloaked leader saluted, his face hidden in shades of grey. Yeong pointed to the answer key tucked under a notebook on the teacher’s desk. The leader nodded, and motioned to the silent troupe behind him. The bandits yanked on their horses’ reins and leapt off the side of the table. Racing across the tiled floor, the horses skirted around chair legs and hopped over sneakers. Yeong glanced at the exam answer key again. The sides of his mouth spread in a triumphant smile, but a purple boot suddenly crushed the horsemen right before they cleared the library tables. Yeong inhaled in surprised. He followed the boot up to the leg, the skirt, the shirt, to finally meet the steady gaze of Shin Sori, the top student in the school.
And his ex-girlfriend.
The two maintained eye contact for several moments, a silent challenge passing between them. Sori had broken up with him right before their exams, informing him that she wasted too much time with him, and wasn’t focusing enough on the upcoming finals. And now, here she sat, the only other mage in this room of humans, stopping him from reaching his goal.
So that’s how it was going to be.
Yeong slowly took off his glasses in preparation for his next spell. He didn’t know how Sori had managed to see his bandits, but he would need to take care of her sight before he tried for the test answers again.
Yeong narrowed his eyes at the light reflected in the lenses of his glasses. He smiled. He held the glasses to his lips and misted the lenses by blowing on one, then the other. While he did this, he focused on the magic vibrating between the fissures of reality until he heard the words to the next spell.
“Site sighted, two to see, sea bog fog billowing…”
“John?”
Yeong snapped his mouth shut at the teacher speaking his English name. He tried to still his heart now thumping fast in his chest, and met the teacher’s puzzled blue eyes.
“Are you speaking to someone?”
Now the other students’ heads lifted, and before he knew it, dozens of humans were all staring in his direction. With their attention focused on him, he couldn’t produce magic. No mage could. Human disbelief in magic narrowed the fissures running throughout reality, making the words necessary to bring spells to life impossible to hear. Jeong Yeong Hyeok knew that no mage had been able to perform magic in front of a human in hundreds of years.
He glanced at Sori, who was smiling at him as he sweated under the spotlight of mankind. With a weak shrug, Yeong said, “I was just…” He paused as he scrambled for a good excuse. “Reading a problem out loud to myself.” He tapped the exam. “Sometimes that helps.”
The English teacher nodded in understanding. “Everyone must remain silent so that the other students can concentrate. Sorry, John.”
“Won’t happen again,” Yeong assured him. He caught Sori’s smug wink, and tore his eyes away from her pretty face.
These exams determined who would be allowed to apply for the International School in Hong Kong. Only the top two students would be recommended. Yeong felt confident about math and science, but he worried over his English scores. One of his classmates had lived in San Francisco for years. Yeong only managed to edge him out sometimes, while Sori beat them both in every subject, every single time.
She was a studying machine.
Yeong looked at the clock again. Ten minutes to finish the exam. He had to cast another spell, but when he raised his eyes, he saw the teacher looking around the room. Whereas before he hadn’t been paying much attention, now the teacher was watching them closely, all because of Sori. Yeong really wished he had been able to cast his spell and blind her. Not only because he would have been able to get the answers without her trying to counter him, but because it would have stopped her from taking the test, maybe even causing her to fail.
That would have been sweet.
Yeong’s eyes narrowed as a new idea struck him. He looked at the dusty blackboard behind the teacher and slowly raised his hand.
“Yes, John,” the teacher said. “Is something wrong?”
“Can I ask you a question?” Yeong assumed his most perplexed look, and mixed in a little pained exasperation to make himself seem even more pathetic.
The teacher sighed and waved him forward. Yeong stood. Only briefly, a couple of students glanced up at the newest disturbance, but their focus quickly returned to their exams. All, that is, except Sori, who watched Yeong with a penetrating gaze. He wanted to give her the finger, but since the teacher was staring at him, he refrained as he passed her.
He placed his exam on the teacher’s desk. “These directions.” He motioned with his right hand. “I don’t understand them.”
While the teacher followed the motion of his gesture, Yeong quickly traced two eyes in the dust on the chalkboard. He heard Sori take a sharp breath, and Yeong gave her the middle finger a moment before the teacher looked at him again.
“You should be fine,” the teacher said. “We went over similar examples in class earlier this week.”
“Ah.” Yeong bent closer to the exam. “I think you’re right,” he said, and he slid down as he picked up his exam. He’d rested his test on the answer sheet, and now he pulled it a little further down on the teacher’s desk so that it was in plainer view of the board. When he got back to his seat, he waited until the teacher’s attention turned back to the computer screen. Now only Sori watched him like a hawk.
Lowering his head and covering his mouth with this hand, Yeong listened closely to the magic in the cracks of reality.
“Vision born from dust, take note of the world before you.” Yeong touched his left eye. “Blind amongst the shadows, see with other sight the world before you.”
As the drawing on the board took on concrete shape, the pupils swirling up and down, left and right, the sight in Yeong’s left eye dimmed into darkness. Then light appeared again, and he looked down upon the teacher’s desk, his left eye directly connected to the eyes traced on the board. The answer sheet was exposed beautifully before him.
Grinning, Yeong began to fill in the correct ovals on the scantron, his hard work and perseverance finally paying off. With his vision split, he had a view of the entire class, and he paused a moment to swing the eyes towards Sori. He thought about the times they would walk home after school together, hand in hand. He would lead them on the longest path through the city streets so they could spend as much time together as possible. When it rained, he would hold his book bag over her head so that her hair wouldn’t get wet. In the cold, they’d press their bodies together, and he’d wrap his arms around her to stave off the chill.
They would visit the many small parks dotting Seoul, stopping on park benches, playing with each other’s hands, discussing their day and the difficulties that plagued them in low voices. They’d complain about parents burdening them with chores, and teachers who kept giving them homework, assignments, quizzes, reports, and tests without regard to how busy they already were. Shin Sori’s hair smelled of apples, and her lips tasted like strawberries.
Yeong gazed at her now, the smartest per
son in the class, perhaps in the whole world. He noticed with surprise her furiously erasing on her desk. That was totally unlike her. Normally, she completed tests confidently, being the first to finish. There had to be less than ten minutes to the exam, so why did she even still have her paper on her desk?
Yeong shook his head. Maybe it was because she’d been paying so much attention to him. He smiled. He would talk to her after class today. He’d explain that he wasn’t angry with her, especially now that he was getting what he wanted.
Sori scooped the eraser dust into her hand so that it formed a little pile. She glanced around the classroom at the students bowed over their tests, and muttered words Yeong could not hear. Then she breathed deep, and blew on the dust in her palm. It exploded out in a whirlwind that hit the board behind the teacher and erased the eyes he’d drawn there.
Yeong sat back in his seat in surprise, but he managed to keep his shock silent. Enough of this! He thought. She won’t get away with this.
Quickly, he drew a dozen projectiles on his desk, his heartbeat increasing in tempo as his anger grew. The fissures in reality picked up on his vengeance and supplied him with the words as he quietly spoke.
“A horde of tiny pellets, to wound, to draw blood, to annoy like mosquitoes around the heart that I loved.”
With a harsh wave of his arm, he sent the pellets swarming from his desk at Sori. She recoiled in her seat and weaved a series of webbed signs in the air as she spoke. A faintly illuminated net appeared in front of her, caught the pellets, and ricocheted them back at Yeong.
Yeong ducked and raised his exam, but the pellets tore tiny holes through the paper and ripped into his face so that tiny droplets of blood rained down on his desk. Before the pellets could turn to strike him again, he said, “Swarm, swatted, to lie still,” and heard them break apart in the air to disperse as tiny columns of grey mist.
The pellets hadn’t caused much damage, as they were meant to annoy the victim with tiny, continuous bombardments. Still, Yeong seethed as he glared at Sori. He licked at blood that dripped down the tiny cuts on his face onto his lips. Clutching his pencil tight, he said, “A spear, to fling with force to pierce the soul of the one I loved.”
He hurled it at Sori’s chest. A dark light surrounded it, enhancing the pencil into a massive, jagged javelin that raced at his ex-girlfriend with amazing force.
The teacher looked up and announced to the class, “Five minutes left.”
The javelin, under the sudden gaze of a human, immediately lost its magic, and the pencil hit Sori. She caught it before it clattered to the floor.
Yeong gazed down at his half completed exam sheet, and his hope plunged into a pit. He tried to slow his quickened breathing as panic swelled inside of him. He’d never finish the test now. And it was all because of her.
Curses strained against his lips. Human curses, yes, but still words that he knew would hurt her. He inhaled and looked at his ex-girlfriend, ready to hurl them at her in rage. The curses stuck in his throat, and he sputtered at what he saw before him.
She stared down at her exam, a forlorn expression etched across her brow. Tears had formed in Sori’s eyes. They sparkled like diamonds at the edges of her lashes. The venom that had risen in Yeong drained as realization dawned on him. Sori had been so preoccupied with him that she hadn’t had time to finish her exam either. Now neither of them would make it to Hong Kong. Now both of them would remain together at this school.
Yeong sighed. If they were going to be together anyway, if they couldn’t escape this battle raging between them, then why not fight somewhere new and exciting? Somewhere away from the same old problems. Perhaps new issues would arrive, but at least it would be somewhere different.
And perhaps in Hong Kong, they could be different.
Sori suddenly looked at Yeong as if she’d heard his thoughts. They stared at each other. Slowly, a smile spread across his face, and it was perfectly mirrored by the one forming on her lips. Do they still taste of strawberries? He hoped to find out again at their new school in Hong Kong.
Jeong Yeong Hyeok sat up straight in his seat. If they joined their powers, nothing would be able to stop them.
Yeong released himself to the magic lacing reality, and he saw Sori doing the same as the humans around them focused their attention elsewhere.
Let the clock on the wall keep its watch. Time was no match for their magic.
Vengeance Reborn
K.A. Masters
The wizard had tried to mask his power as he travelled towards the duchy of Den, but he could sense dark forces reacting to his presence as he drew near. Alert to the dangers that he would soon face, he could do little more than add a prayer to the protection spells he had woven over himself and his mounts.
As he saw the city’s walls in the distance, he passed by a nondescript mile marker and stopped. This was not a welcome pause; his grey mare, Mercy, had sensed something was amiss and reared back, unwilling to go further. Her master had sensed the same dark presence; he stared off to the distance, trying to decipher the traces of evil that he had stumbled upon.
With an encouraging whisper, he soothed his mount and guided her back to her present task.
“Come now, Gemellus, let us hurry,” he added to his mare’s companion, the aged mule who carried his baggage. “A warm stable and honeyed oats shall be yours as soon as we get into town.”
Before he could proceed, a kobold hopped out of the underbrush in front of him. Taller than most of his kind, his height reached the horse’s shoulders, visible proof that there was a bit of elfin blood in his veins. He appeared to be approaching middle age, but a hard life had added to his haggard looks. A scar ran from the crown of his head through his hairline and across the bridge of his nose; it marred his appearance but did not affect his vision. Various other scars and wounds pocked his flesh, revealing his lifestyle was one of a bandit’s.
“Greetings,” the wizard spoke, dismounting out of courtesy. He offered a bow in introduction. “Admiring my horses, I see. This one’s name is Mercy, and he is Gemellus.”
“And your name?” the kobold prompted.
“Gavin. Uh, Sir Gavin,” the wizard added bashfully.
“A knight? I thought you were a wizard,” the kobold asked, confused.
“I'm both.”
“Is that possible?”
“Apparently, or I would not be here.” He gently scratched behind the mule’s ear. “Are you here to introduce yourself, too?”
“I am Mange,” the bandit replied with hesitation.
"And you are here to admire my horses?" Gavin prompted, "Or have you come for another reason?"
"I have sensed your arrival. It is a rare occurrence that a wizard enters this land uninvited. I wanted to see who you were, and encourage you to leave before you are killed."
"Oh?" Gavin asked, piqued. "Does Den abhor wizards?"
"All but one."
"I was not aware I was trespassing," he shrugged. "What wizard or mage controls this territory?"
"The Archmage Krozer," the kobold spat.
"Does the Archmage of this duchy perceive other wizards to be a threat?"
"They seldom survive long enough to be one."
"So the Archmage is a bit territorial, eh?"
The kobold gave a curt nod. “Since he came to power fifteen years ago, not one wizard has spent the night in Den and lived to tell about it.”
“And is there a plan of attack that he employs in eliminating these so called threats?"
"Aye—Vengeance, pure and simple." The kobold spat.
"I don’t understand," the wizard replied.
Mange merely laughed. "You will."
"Well, thank you for the warning, Master Kobold." With a bow, Gavin mounted his horse and continued forward.
"You are leaving, then?" Mange prodded.
"On the contrary. There’s something I need here in Den, and I cannot leave until I’ve found it. Many thanks, and peaceful journey, fellow travelle
r."
"But you’ll be killed!" the kobold spluttered.
Again Gavin shrugged nonchalantly. "I suppose I should hurry then, to find what I need to finish my quest before this dreaded Archmage declares me his enemy. I could use the aid of a squire—perhaps a kobold who knows the land, who can help me avoid what I need to avoid?"
"You’re offering to hire me?" Mange asked, surprised.
"Is that not why you’re here? To gain something by warning me?"
"How do you know you can trust me?" the kobold inquired.
“Because of this,” Gavin spoke, unsheathing a long silvery object from the folds of his cloak.
"You have a unicorn horn!" the kobold gasped.
"Yes. And it does as promised; it warns me against poisons, both physical and magical. It does not sense that you are a threat.”
“You sacrificed an innocent life to protect yourself from poison?” Mange groused.
"Hardly! Unicorns shed their horns when they are pregnant," Gavin explained, "so that they won’t be detected by humans. A few years ago, I guarded a pregnant mare until she foaled. She rewarded me for helping her. Catch!” He tossed the horn to his companion, and the kobold caught it instinctively.
“No!” the kobold began, but eyed it in wonder as his Fey ichor reacted to its essence. He fell to his knees, overwhelmed.
“Are you well?” the wizard asked, concerned.
"I have never felt such… purity. In all the horns I’ve encountered, there is always so much pain and fear clinging to them.” He paused, then added: “I will be your squire.”
“I must warn you,” Gavin replied, reclaiming the unicorn horn from the kobold’s scarred hands, “I am on a quest to destroy Krozer. I cannot guarantee either of us will survive.”
“I understand.”
“Very well, then,” he said, offering a hand to help the kobold mount his mule.
"Wait," Mange said. "You said you’ll hire me, but we haven’t discussed wages."