Chapter 4: House of Light

I walked into the cafeteria and ordered lunch. I knew how to do it since it was my sixth meal in here. The old women who cooked for us talked to me quite frequently when they prepared a meal and once let me cook my own meal. I ordered a sausage, some scrambled eggs and salad. I sat at an empty table and wanted to begin eating when Eric came and slid my tablet with food of the table. He laughed at me and everybody looked at us because the plates had shattered. “Ups, I ‘accidently’ hit your tablet,” Eric said. I glared at him angrily and said: “What’s your problem? I beat you fair and square in basketball and now you are pulling some kind of joke?” “Fair and square? You cheated; everyone knows that normal people can’t reach those speeds,” he replied. I was disgusted at him. I heard coins clicking, most probably other students betting for the one who wins. I waited for him to apologize but he didn’t but just kept on laughing with some other boys who seemed to be his ‘friends’. I got really angry and walked towards him. I said: “Hey man, I don’t know where in the world you come from but I don’t give a damn, I know that people have to apologize when they do something out of place.” “Ha, country boy, I’ll tell you something, you don’t have human rights. You’re a goddamn monster!” He laughed and all I thought was: Ah, such a Pain. I hit him with a fast jab and then stepped back. Eric looked at me with anger filled eyes and I just thought it was worth it. He stepped towards me and performed a right hook; I dodged it and countered with a hit which dislocated his wrist. I somersaulted and kicked him in the chin and he fell down. Then I heard a hasty footstep which came from a woman most likely and turned around to see Alice. I looked at her then turned away and walked to the counter to get stuff to clean up the floor. The old women shooed me away and gave me a new tablet. I ate my food in silence and heard a different tablet clatter onto the table in front of me; I didn’t have to look up to know who it was. “Why are you here? Your image will get ruined once again and it seems like you have quite the reputation miss student council vice president.” “Haven’t I told you once before? I don’t care about my image and I know that you hit Eric with a reason. Why else would the old ladies who cook give you a new meal?” “Why indeed.” “So, do you have lessons after lunch?” “Yes, I have music.” “Can you play an instrument?” “Yes, the piano and the guitar.” “Then you can score an A by each music teacher. Half of the students at this school don’t know the difference between flat and sharp.” “Ok, that’s weird. So, why did you ask?” “Because, I wanted to train with you, training with a King is an honor.” “You’ll most probably spend the rest of your life with me anyway.” I mumbled but apparently Alice had heard me: “Why do you think that?” “Because, I know who my Queen is. Guess who.” “I’d rather not, just tell me.” “No can do, just find out.” I ate the rest of my food and went out of the cafeteria leaving Alice behind who kept on mumbling. I met the teacher and was surprised to hear that he was a descendant of Mozart the genius of the ages. Mister Kinter, who was the descendant of Mozart, told me that he had stopped having any expectations of talented musicians coming out of this school. I looked at the instruments which seemed to be high quality instruments but the students just couldn’t use it. It seemed like what Alice had said was on the spot… no one could play music and I had to use all my self control to stop laughing. After some minutes of torture, we got break and I took a violin and looked at its strings which were out of tune. I put it back and took out a guitar and tuned it. I then played it and listened to the tunes, any wrong strings; I retuned and then played a song. All the students looked at me and Mr. Kinter seemed to be astonished. I stopped playing at once and looked around. “Umm, I’m sorry for touching the guitar without permission.” “Nova, why are you sorry? Geniuses have the privilege to do anything they want and you, you are a genius! I would wish to just give you music lessons but, sadly I am not authorized to do so. But, I finally see a ray of light in this dusty school,” he said. The others looked really offended and I heard Ray say: [Wow, that teacher is mean.] I looked at the teacher and thought; I will have a tough time with him… well dang, a mean teacher and two almost sadistic like teachers… I’m going to die. Well I thought that but it turns out, I was wrong…

After one week of hell, I was in my dorm sleeping. It was a wonderful Saturday morning and I just kept on sleeping… rather dumb right? But I have an excuse, yesterday Jake had kept me awake until four in the morning. I was so tired but do the tired get to sleep? No, they do not. Alice came into my room and woke me up, but not the way people normally do, she hit me. Well actually she just flipped my bed and I fell on my face with my bed on top of me. It hurt a lot but I withstood it and it seemed like Alice was mad so I pretended as if I was still sleeping. In the end, it didn’t help. She noticed that I was pretending to sleep and she just flung me against the wall. I could see why she was an A rank, she was fast and powerful. Her attacks never used excessive energy but, she was full of openings and when I noticed that she was charging at me with such an obvious opening so that I couldn’t help but counter her strike. She noticed my thoughts and wanted to stop her charge but, because she was running at me with full speed, it was too late. She couldn’t stop it and I held out my arm which struck her abdomen. She cringed but recovered quickly. Suddenly she swung her arm at me but I dodged and grabbed her at the wrist and pressed her body against the closest wall to stop her from doing any actions. “Will you stop trying to hit me and tell me what in god’s name is wrong?” Alice looked at me and said: “I’m sorry; it’s not your fault. It has something to do with my familiar and I just let my anger out on you.” “Well I don’t mind you talking to me like this but…wait, familiar?” “Oh, I didn’t tell you? Every student receives a familiar, well the familiar chooses you and you get bonded to it until either of you dies.” “Okay, so what happened?” “Well, Eric decided that he can pull a prank on my familiar and gave her something that she isn’t supposed to eat.” “Wait, what is your familiar and what isn’t it supposed to eat?” “My familiar is a Norwegian Kamer, a creature which lives on land and resembles a cat in looks but a tiger in size and ferocity. She’s young though. And they aren’t supposed to eat or drink…” [… Daisies and hot foods, well your Queen can give you a list but no one except for Fate and I can actually say all the things an animal can or cannot eat.] “…, hey are you even listening?” “I am, to prove it, I’ll sum up everything you said: Daisies and hot foods correct?” “So you were listening. But don’t space out again.” “I didn’t space out. Did you say that Eric did that?” “Yes, I did. Why?” “Well, you’re better than him so why don’t you beat him up?” “It’s not that simple. You see, Eric is the son of a minister from the council of magic. You might be stronger, I don’t know.” “Ok, I accept that. By the way, should I also get a familiar?” “Oh no, I forgot. I was supposed to make sure that you get one! I’m sorry, we should get you one right away c’mon.” “Uh, sure” Alice grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the dorm. We walked to some kind of a cabin away from the school building and I noticed that there were more students the further we got away from the school and to a huge building mainly built out of some weird black stone. What is that? I asked myself. [That stone is Soul Brick. I never thought that I’d see that stuff in a magic school.] Why? [Because that stuff is ´evil´ after what the council of magic says.]  Why do they say that? [Because, it was made by the Death five generations before yours with souls from the creatures he brought to the world of the dead. The reason for that was because he wanted to experiment and so he created a stone which was magic and sound proof as well as very resistant. But something went wrong and somehow it spreads.]

Alice and I entered the building made out of Soul Brick and my eyes suddenly throbbed. I looked around in Dragon vision and saw auras like no others. Creatures everywhere with auras of different color and shape but my eyes looked at something else, a creature which looked like a snake with wings and legs. What is that? I asked Ray and he replied: [A Flagres, it’s a creature which has the strength to storm a small castle alone, without getting injured.] Sounds overpowered. [I know, but it’s incredibly weak in comparison to a fully grown Dragon and creatures of that kind.] Alice stopped in front of the Flagres and said: “Hello Mater, nice to see you again today.” “Hello Alice, I think the same thing, but tell me, who is that behind you? His aura is intriguing; it has 5 colors which no other human has,” Mater the Flagres asked. “He is a King, his name is Kaizer Nova.” “Hello, nice to meet you,” I said. Mater looked at me and asked: “Do you know; what I am?” “You are a Flagres, which is a creature with the power to storm a small castle and to come out uninjured.” “Indeed, good job telling him Raztrafero, I almost didn’t notice your aura.” [Ah, so she noticed. Good job Mater. Kaizer, would you mind telling her the good job part and patting her head?] Is it safe? [Yes, Mater was the familiar of a friend of mine she is very old, one of the first Flagres.] So I went towards Mater and patted her head while saying: “Good job Mater.” I heard a slight growling which came from Mater and it sounded like she was enjoying it. I also noticed Alice breathing out a sigh of relief. “So Ray has been sealed inside you, ironic isn’t it? You used to be the one who sealed people into others.” [Heh, it was Fate, I can’t fight against the old man.] “He says that it was Fate and that he can’t fight against the `old man´,” I told Mater. Alice was still confused and looked as if she wanted to say something but didn’t. “So why are you here Kaizer Nova, King of Fire, Wind, Blade and half of the Dragonic powers?” “Well, I’m searching for a familiar. And, how did you even see my aura(s)?” “A Flagres can see the aura of a king because we are of higher status then the other creatures. As to the familiar, search with Alice for your familiar in this building,” Mater replied and Alice walked with me through the room we were standing in and I noticed that it actually went deeper into the earth. “This building is called the House of Light. No student knows why it is called like that, so don’t even ask,” Alice explained while we were walking down stairs. I could tell that she was bursting to ask questions so I said: “Okay, fire away.” “Who is Raztrafero and who is sealed in you and why did Mater not object to you patting her although she hates men usually?” “Okay, first of all, Raztrafero is the man whose power we Kings get from Fate which is a twelfth of his real power and we get a twelfth of his conscience in ourselves to help us I think. Second, Raztrafero or Ray as I call him is the one sealed in me and third, Mater was apparently the familiar of a friend of Ray so she seems to accept me as a friend.” “Ah, that does explain everything, well my questions at least.” At the end of the staircase there was a door and Alice opened it and walked through. I followed her and started gaping at the `room´ in front of me. It was a humongous… well cavern? No, bigger… I know, imagine a mountain hollowed out, now stretch that out but the height stays the same, yeah, pretty big huh? I also saw some creatures walking between trees, sand dunes and swimming in water. Yep, there was a desert, a forest/jungle and some water in the `room´. I looked around in Dragons sight as well and didn’t see an aura which specially caught my attention in the room. “Amazing right? It’s full of creatures which are usually hostile or docile. The one who made this possible was a King like you. He wrote books about each and every one of the creatures. His name is unknown though, he only wrote in his books that he was a King and that was it, no name.” [Ah, that was Evan, he is no King though. He’s sort of like me, only weaker but just as smart.] Wow, so you could’ve written those books too? I asked Ray. [Yeah, but I don’t have the patience to do so.] I just looked at the auras around me and suddenly stopped. I saw something, no, I felt something creeping up on me and I looked around. But I just saw the same things as before. I created my two blades in my hands and Alice started looking serious as well. She drew a knife from her shoe and stood back to back with me. I suddenly heard Ray chuckle and thought: So Ray set this up? No, it can’t be. I think he just knows the creature creeping up on us. [I do indeed know which creature it is, but I won’t tell you because I want you to find out yourself.] I didn’t know what to say so I just kept on looking around to finally see the creature which was trying to creep up on Alice and me. I charged at it sword raised and felt the creature inhaling deeply. I quickly created a vacuum around me leaving some oxygen for me to breathe and ran forward. The creature noticed the depletion of burnable material so it lunged at me with surprising velocity. I quickly raised my blue blade and supported it with the black blade which made the swords look like they were crossing each other. A second after I completed the action a claw hit the blade with such force, that I would’ve been cut into neat ribbons if I hadn’t brought up the blades. Suddenly I felt something cut through the air like a whip would and quickly rolled back just in time to dodge a tail swipe. I looked up at the creature which was attacking me and stopped dead in my tracks.