Chapter 18

Help me out, Rose! I’m dying out here! I panicked, considering how that could be the literal case if I couldn’t perform magic. “Hold on, I got this!” I pleaded with Captain Hector, simply stalling as I grappled with what I was doing. If I can’t do manipulation magic, then creation magic; make a light construct. A clone! I can make a clone! I focused, closing my eyes to imagine myself from the outside, something I was a bit too uncomfortably familiar with from a couple nights ago. It took shape in my mind’s eye, glowing golden light melding into my form before the colours dripped in as if from a painter’s brush. I excitedly opened my eyes only to see no copy of myself.

“Captain, I think he’s rather incapable of any magic,” Bradey said as he cast a disappointed side eye at me.

“No, please!” I begged. I pivoted to the closest tree. My hand shot out as I imagined the tree bending to my will like I had seen Tobian do over and over. Or for one of the rocks to levitate. Or the ground to open up and swallow me before whatever fate actually awaited me came instead.

“Disappointing,” Hector grumbled as he appeared to have made up his mind. “I did have hopes for your future, but even I can’t always be right.”

I blinked tears out of my eyes as I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t do magic. For all I had done to channel my mana, it was utterly useless now. I shouldn’t be here! I thought. I shouldn’t be in the military. I should be at home. How things were before. How they should be! I clenched my mana-infused hand into a fist and pounded it into my chest in utter despair as I remembered how I was only a week ago. I just wish I was home again.

“Well… that’s certainly something,” Captain Hector remarked, sounding impressed. Bradey let out a low whistle while Amalay fortunately said nothing.

I looked at them in slow confusion as the looks of disappointment were replaced by surprise. But they weren’t looking me in the face. I followed their gaze to my chest, where my fist still rested.

My clothes had changed.

It certainly wasn’t significant; I wasn’t draped in royal garb or even showing a difference in their shape. But the sky blue shirt had taken on a tan colour, and the pants that originally were closer to tan now were a light grey. It was an exact replication of my regular clothing that I had worn for years.

“Didn’t know you could do that; it’s quite impressive,” Hector praised. “Of course, you will really need to work on that time to activate it. But with practice, you can still master magic.” He gave two stiff nods as he spoke and it unnerved me how quickly he flipped from being about to sentence me to likely death to praising my secret ability. “It should go without saying but Lieutenant Bradey, Recruit Ren here has passed his magic assessment.”

Bradey shrugged and nodded. “Sounds good to me, Captain.”

“Now,” Hector continued, “I believe it should be time for the recruits’ daily magic train—”

“ATTACK!” screamed a blue cloaked mage as he swung open the door to the courtyard. “We’re under attack, Captain!”

I tensed up, no idea what to do. I was the only one as the other three all charged for the messenger. “Bradey, Amalay, to me!” Hector ordered. “What’s happening!?”

“He infiltrated our return, and is wearing maigoid armour!” The messenger couldn’t have been even twenty yet, and the panic on his face only further betrayed his youth.

Hector nodded as he ran in. “Ren, stay here!” he made sure to tell me before disappearing inside with the other two.

And give up a chance to escape in the chaos!? I thought as I followed a few metres behind them, letting the courtyard door close before waiting a few seconds and opening it again.

A siren blared, deafening any noise around. The hallway inside was empty as I had been sure to give them enough time to run either way, but I thought I would hear yelling and shouting and other noises I couldn’t guess at. I stared directly at the window before me, wondering if I could break it, but it was thick and I had no tools. “Gotta find a way out!” I told myself as I turned left and ran, unsure where I was going but certain that I would be able to find a door soon enough.

As soon as I rounded the corner, I was met with utter chaos. “Take him alive!” I could barely hear Hector shout. Three mages crowded the wide hallway while two floated in the air. One of them, Bradey, hurled fire from above, while the other shot lightning. Amalay had her back to me, mask in hand, and I wasn’t sure why she stood so stiff. Hector tried to direct his soldiers as more appeared from the other side, running to their comrades’ aid.

In the centre of it all was a single man, adorned in silver toned gauntlets, breastplate, and the same helmet that nodded to me earlier. His cloak, which had hidden his body earlier, was just a smoldering scarf, leaving the gleaming metal aglow for just a second with each magical strike that hit it. A massive battle axe swung in his hands as he batted the counter-attacks like it was a sport. It blocked bursts of fire and air and lightning. One of the mages barely dodged his downward swing but wasn’t so lucky with the return blow, plowing the blunt head of the axe into his gut, downing him.

I turned to run, knowing there was no way I was getting through this chaos.

The man saw me though. I don’t know how but he did, as his helmet faced me head on. The largely defensive nature of his combat shifted, something I only noticed as he put the axe to proper use. Some mages were cut, gashed running down limbs, but few were seriously injured, instead pummeled with either blunt end of the weapon. He marched, each heavy step getting closer to me as he left groaning or semi-conscious bodies in his wake.

I ran. I didn’t plan where, I was still not really sure of my way around the maze of hallways. But I ran. Looking back, the man only got faster, chasing after me. Mages flew over him, attacking him as best they could. He batted away fire and frost, only slowing for a moment as a piece of the wall collapsed around him. I couldn’t look away, running in terror until I hit a wall. The attacker shouted something but it was horribly muffled by the helmet and noise.

He came closer, and one of the flying mages scattered lightning in a desperate bid to hit him. Only just as I turned back to running did a stray bolt of lightning fly high over my head, striking the ceiling. I hesitated before backing up as debris rained down, my path quickly blocked by flaming timber I couldn’t hope to get past.

I looked back, praying that the assailant would be taken down fast as I was trapped. He kept coming toward me as one of the mages behind him leapt for his back, grabbing and wrapping his arms around his shoulders as he tried to weigh the warrior down. The armoured man tried to swing his axe back but another mage deflected the blow with a bolt of ice that didn’t entirely disappear upon hitting him. Bradey swooped in and wrapped an arm and a leg around the weapon, making it unwieldy for the man to continue using. “Get his helmet off!” he yelled at the rapidly encroaching mages, who obliged as they slowly accumulated on their target, burying him in bodies. The man got a hand free and grabbed at his helmet, returning it to its place, but the final free arm was soon held behind him. Someone must have gotten to the alarm as the siren stopped its blaring racket.

Hector stepped forward, glowing with golden power that seemed to darken the room. I watched with mixed emotion as the man who was just going head to head with a small troop of mages was brought to his knees, his helmet twisted and pulled until it came free. “Well well, after all these years, I wonder what could have triggered this,” Hector said mockingly as he kicked the man in the chest. As his head swung from the motion, I finally got a good look. “Anything to say, Michael?”

It was my father.