Between Sun and Shadow Part III
I didn’t expect to get part III out so soon, but there were too many ideas brewing in my head.
So, here it is!
(also wrote this on my phone. Appreciate it.)
BETWEEN SUN AND SHADOW; PART III
Fletcher fumbled with the passcode on his locker, the keypad flashing red in protest to his incorrect code.
1234
Red.
1357
Red.
2468
Red again.
9753
The locker clicked open in satisfaction.
He should probably write his code down somewhere besides on the inside of his locker door.
He was counting down the days until Friday came; when the assigned mock-apprentice groups would spend Friday through Sunday with a Master of one of the five main occupations that existed in Elystra and the main surrounding cities and kingdoms: Healer, Alchemist, Guardian, Wanderer, and Botanist.
For five weekends, all the groups rotated through the five Masters until they had spent a weekend with each one. And at the end, they would receive a offer from any Master across Elystra inviting the student to become the Masters apprentice.
Fletcher was hoping he’d get an offer for Botany. He wasn’t crazy about plants at all, but it seemed the safest. Alchemists spent their time brewing up new and highly dangerous concoctions that usually ended up being the end of them eventually. Wanderers weren’t any better; they wandered around uncharted territory alone, which also killed them one way or another. Fletcher had heard of more than one case of a Wanderer going mad.
Healer could be decently safe; they only had to deal with things that have already been created and tested by Alchemists. But Fletcher dint think he could deal with so much illness and death.
Then there were Guardians. So many teens wanted to be a guardians apprentice. They did just exactly what it sounded like: guarded the Imperium Stellaris–the vast land that Elystra was a part of, Latin for something like “star-streaked empires”–slaying dangerous beasts and demons that would love a nice snack of wizard while out and about. Some of the most powerful Guardians had greater responsibilities; like dealing with the Great Demons and their minions whenever they came out to play.
The last thing Fletcher wanted was Guardian.
Fletcher’s fantasies were interrupted by a group of elementary kids parading by; he spotted Cobalt among them. She gave him a cheerful wave before moving on, this time wearing a silk long sleeved top with grass-stained jeans.
Fletcher glanced at the clock. Shoot. Five minutes to class.
He took two steps down the hall–
”WATCH OUT!”
Fletcher scrambled behind a locker, peering around the corner to see what was coming.
The orb.
The damn blue orb.
The volume was turned up to ear-piercing, and it was violently dive-bombing the air and a occasional object in its path.
”I AM A FREE ORB! I REFUSE TO QUELL MY REBELLION UNTIL YOU DECLARE ME FREE TO DO AS I PLEASE!”
Jax came sprinting down the hall next, stopping to catch his breath. “Ok ok, stupid orb. I give in. Your a free orb, free to do as you please.”
The orb stopped at the end of the hallway, and turned around. “Promise? You can’t take it back.”
“Promise.”
”JAX, YOU IDIOT!”
That was definitely Zara.
Fletcher slunk down the hall, in the opposite direction of the orb, Jax, and a soon-to-arrive Zara.
He seen nothing.
He was just going to class.
Just going to class. Like every other normal Monday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fletcher didn’t like that he was sitting in a new class with new peers and a new teacher. The 15 students participating in the program all got put into the same classes, which were optimized to go along with what they were learning with the Masters.
Fletcher was one of the first three kids in class. The runes teacher–Ms. Mogaina–had wrote everyone’s full names on place cards, each one balanced on the edge of each desk. The classroom smelled like old parchment and ink, and Ms. Mogaina looked about as old and wrinkled as the tomes on the shelf.
In short, she was very boring and unenthusiastic.
One by one, the students came in. Fletcher was in the far left corner, in the back of the room.
Which was good.
Except the name assigned to the seat next to him was “Jaxon Phipps.”
Which was not so good.
Maya sat in a seat two rows in front of Fletcher. And then he decided he couldn’t complain too much about his seating–because Maya got Silas next to her.
Fletcher recognized Zara, in the desks on the other side of Jax. The remaining teens were strangers to him.
Ms. Mogania huffed. Fletcher did a head count, realizing they were missing a student.
The door cracked open, slowly, hesitantly.
Fletcher admittedly stared. Either this student had very interesting fashion choices, or very interesting lineages.
His straight short-cut hair was split half and half–one side black, other side white.
Almost similar to Mayas, he had mismatched eyes. But they were somehow even stranger than Mayas. One iris was black, with a white pupil, and the other reflected it with a white iris and a black pupil.
Ms. Mogania narrowed her eyes. “Noxlucis. Your late.”
The boy sat in the last empty seat, in the second to front row. “Mm.”
The girl sitting next to him elbowed him slightly. “Taiji. That was rude.”
Taiji rolled his eyes slightly. “I meant I’m sorry for being late, Ms. Mogania.”
Ms. Mogania sighed, waving her hand and muttering something in Latin. The tomes sitting in each desk snapped open, pages rustling back and forth until they landed on the correct page.
Fire runes. How wonderful.
“Now,” Ms, Mogania announced, “You will all be demonstrating summoning a small, harmless fire sprite using the spell that your book is open to.” She paused, waiting for questions. None came. She nodded curtly. “Hawthorne, you begin.”
Fletcher somehow finished his spell without stumbling over the words. “Ignis spiritus, veni. Ex flamma, orire!”
Typical Latin spell for summoning small element sprites. A very tiny and very sassy fire sprite appeared on the pages of his book. Ms. Mogania nodded, getting rid of it with a wave of her hand–without moving from behind her desk. “Very good. Phipps, you next.”
Jax’s spell sounded… strange.
”eriro, ammalf xe. Inev, sutirips singi!”
There was nothing. Ms. Mogania approached Jax’s desk, looking at the still-open tome. “Phipps, why are all of your spells backwards?”
He didn’t get to answer before there was a loud crash in the middle of the room.
And there stood a donkey.
A donkey.
END PART III
Taiji belongs to @ImnewhereFR
wanna make a character? Check out my second to last blog!
part 4: https://www.chess.com/blog/AvaR1008/between-sun-and-shadow-part-iv
