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The sound of pages shuffling filled the air as soberly dressed Magis murmured under hushed breaths, hastily flipping their documents. The room they were in was equally solemn. Its walls were a boring dark brown, and in its centre stood a single rosewood table long enough to accommodate at least twenty people. In the far corner of the room, a circular clock hung on the wall.
It was not unusual to have a parliament meeting at eleven in the evening, but the cabinet members were beginning to think that the day’s exhaustion had gotten to their president.
“Mister President, if I may.” Wood scraped against the floor as Vice President Alcaeus Vulcan stood up. “What you are proposing will render our Meta population disadvantaged for at least twenty more years. The Meta unemployment rate is already at an all-time high. If we carry on with the current system, our economy will plummet beyond recovery.”
“Warlock Vulcan has the right of it,” another cabinet member added. “We have enough data and experts to confirm that the increase in Meta criminal activity is directly related to their unemployment rate. It is unfortunate that our society has developed in such a way that we do not have much use for their rigid and unique abilities, but we can remedy that by adopting our neighbours’ governance system.”
“So what you’re suggesting is that we forcibly collect monthly Arcani from every single household and distribute them equally to everyone, regardless of their contribution?” A wizened, yet healthy-looking Mage clanged his staff on the floor. “Have you not seen the states of the countries that adopt this system? Have you not seen how their ideological weakness only leads to the rampant laziness of their Meta population? Although their Metas also offer labour to help the Magi in turn, the Magi population are still unhappy about having to work for Metas for free.”
The surrounding air temperature dropped by a hair.
“Members of the parliament, we cannot allow the hostile actions of our minorities to tread on the order we have built over the centuries,” President Cosmo Benedictus continued. “I’m well aware of what the world thinks of us. ‘Rigid’, ‘Discriminatory’. These are sweeping statements that only reflect their lack of understanding of our domestic policies. Integrating this new system adapted from them would only mean upsetting our Magi majority. This bill will not be passed.”
“And what are we to do with the problem of increasing Meta criminals in our society?” Vulcan raised his voice. “Civil unrest grows increasingly problematic every day. This toxic bubble will explode in our faces if we continue to deny them respite from their unfair working conditions!”
“Funny you should ask that, Alcaeus. Isn’t that why you’re in charge of the Elite Guardian Council?” Benedictus said. “To punish and deter future Metas from travelling down the path of crime?”
“The Guardian Council is nothing more than a healing salve to a festering wound; it cannot serve as an elixir to the root of our problems. We have a systemic problem, not a social one.”
“I have a report here that says the contrary.” Grand Mage Benedictus hit the floor with his staff again, conjuring a large image of a green-haired man.
“That is the root of our problems. His name is Titus Angelo.” He turned to Vulcan. “I believe your team has had a run-in with his sister recently. Our constables have uncovered that this man is behind the serial kidnappings of Metas, turning them rabid with some sort of cursed spellcraft. Most Meta criminals are part of organised crime, and the Angelo Syndicate is at the top of it. Take its leader down, and we may very well have dismantled the entire criminal hierarchy. You know what to do, Warlock Vulcan.”
The parliament fell silent, collectively staring at the Guardian Council leader deep in thought.
“Taking down the Angelo syndicate… Will this be enough? It all seems too easy,” Vulcan muttered to himself. He looked at the image again. “Titus Angelo’s ability is… ‘Physical Augmentation’? What does that even mean?”
“I assure you, Alcaeus, this is anything but easy,” Benedictus said. “This man’s ability allows him to match the speed of our quickest airships and shatter our most protected buildings with a single blow. It will take thorough planning and the full might of our most elite Magi to take him down. Titus Angelo has a kill count up into the hundreds, but I believe you are up to the task, Alcaeus.”
“If that’s going to be the proposed solution to our problem, then so be it,” Vulcan said, still lost in thought.
“Thank you for your time, governors. Meeting adjourned.”
~ ~ ~
Sanskrit… sanskrit… Nope, not this language either.
Gaius flicked his hand, pushing aside a group of floating books. They flew upwards and returned to their respective shelves. The stolen tome in his hands was scrawled in some sort of undocumented language.
He glared at it, as though he could frighten it into revealing its secrets. Unfortunately, the book was not intimidated. The magical energy within him was not reacting at the moment as well, even though it was the one that led him to the tome in the first place.
A faint glow emitted from his fingertips as the Sorcerer channelled a hair of magic into them. They brushed the pages of the tome, and an overwhelming sensation overtook him again. His lips moved by themselves as if to utter some kind of spell, but they stopped as the feeling left him abruptly.
Gaius clenched his jaw. There was definitely some kind of connection between the magic within him and the book, but something seemed to be missing. Unfortunately, he did not have time to ponder further.
A blue light caught his attention from the side of his eye.
He turned to the glowing arcane rabbit hopping towards him. It stopped in front of him and stared at him intently. Normally, it would’ve been an adorable sight. But Gaius had been to this library enough times to know that this was the familiar of a cranky old woman no younger than sixty.
His yawn echoed around the empty library as he waved his hands, dispersing the circle of books surrounding him. He glanced at the librarian’s familiar, which was still looking at him.
“I know, I know. Closing hours, right?” Gaius got up to his feet before it started attacking him. “I’ll get going now, happy?”
The arcane bunny bounded to a shelf, waiting patiently for him to leave. He checked his pocket watch; it was almost midnight. Perhaps it was best for him to get home as quickly as possible.
Gaius pulled out a wand from his trousers pocket and muttered an incantation. The teleportation rune carved into the back of the wand glowed slightly, and a circular portal shot out from the other end of the stick. He stepped into it and gave a farewell wave to the rabbit before closing the portal.
The house was small and quaint, but it had everything an eighteen-year-old schoolboy needed to live comfortably. And the best part? It was located just by the outskirts of the city, away from the prying eyes of nosy neighbours who might accidentally find out his secret.
Gaius trudged to his bed, traces of magic peeling off from his fingers as they swept up the pile of robes on it. He waved his hand casually, sending them to the laundry cauldron in his kitchen. He lay on his bed and closed his eyes, feeling the exhaustion of the night reel him into the sea of dreams.
~ ~ ~
A boy cowered beneath the floorboards, trembling in fear as blinding spells flashed through the slits of wood that hid him from the constables. His house shook once more as the sound of a woman screaming pierced his ears. Every fibre of his being wanted to reveal himself and protect his mother from the Magi constables, but she had told him to stay hidden.
“Please, this is all just a misunderstanding,” the woman pleaded. “We were tricked into transporting that spellcraft. We’re Metas; you know we have no use for such tomes.”
“Every criminal says that. Like hell we’re believing a word from your kind,” a rough-sounding voice grunted. “These addictive spells have destroyed the lives of countless Magi families. May the gods have no mercy on your souls.”
The boy peeked out from his hiding place, watching the blonde-haired constable leader clasp a set of power nullifiers onto his parents. He had a scary-looking scar that ran down the right side of his face.
He signalled to his men. “Take them away!”
“No! Surely what we have done doesn’t warrant the death penalty?” the boy’s father cried out. “We’re just innocent civilians dragged into this illegal spellcraft business! We know nothing! Please, you can use the Veritas spell to—”
“Shut up, filthy Meta! Do you have any children here? I know your kind don’t like to report to the authorities when a child is born, especially a weak one.” The constable’s voice dropped to a menacing whisper, barely audible to the boy. “You can tell me if you do; we’ll submit the information to the judge, and you may be granted a life sentence instead.”
“No,” the couple replied simultaneously. “We bore no children.”
“If you say so. Pity, he could’ve saved you.” The clacking of Magi boots slowly sounded further and further away until it was barely audible. The wooden floorboards creaked open slightly as a pair of green eyes spied around the now-empty house.
Gaius crawled out of the hole in the floor, tears staining the wood as he clutched a tome in his hands. He may only be a ten-year-old kid, but he was smart enough to steal back the spellcraft before it reached the hands of their transporters. And that may be the key to saving his parents from the hands of a just authority. The young Meta had no idea who to turn to, but he knew he could not stay in this house for long. His parents were counting on him. Gaius scurried to the door—
And screamed in shock as a huge blast knocked him back into the house.
“Found ya, you little thief.” A man stomped into the house, his fingertips still glowing hot from the explosion they had just created. Gaius scrambled backwards, hiding the tome behind him.
“Hand over the book now.” The look in the man’s eyes was icy cold. “This isn’t an ordinary spellcraft that one simply uses to become euphoric, boy. It concerns the fate of this world. Don’t make me hurt a kid.”
‘Fate of this world’? The only ‘world’ he cared for now was about to be hauled off to the gallows, and nothing was about to stop him from rescuing them. Gaius breathed heavily. He may still be a kid, but one of his Meta abilities gave him enhanced reflexes. It was risky, but he’d be damned if he didn’t give it a try.
Gaius dashed forward without warning—
An excruciating pain shot through his arm as a blood-curdling scream rang in through the night. The boy tumbled to the ground, clutching the profusely bleeding stump that ended at his elbow.
“Foolish boy.” The man sheathed his bloodied rapier and reached for the tome lying face down in a puddle of the boy’s blood beside his dismembered hand. A small trembling hand came into view, grasping one side of the tome.
Gaius focused his energy on his arm, willing his regenerative ability to regrow his limb before he lost consciousness from the profuse blood loss. His face scrunched up in determination, pulling the book back towards him with his other hand.
And then he noticed a faint glow emitting from the book.
There was no time to scream this time. The book exploded into pure energy, ripping through the boy and blasting the man into shreds. The magical energy coursed violently through Gaius’s entire body as light spilt out from his orifices.
Chaos tore through Gaius’s mind as he broke through the wall with enormous force, bolstered by the magic that now powered him. The boy fell back to the ground, cracks appearing all over his skin as the energy threatened to explode from his body. But it never did.
His skin sealed itself up as his healing factor kicked in, seemingly supercharged by the book’s magical energy. Gaius gradually calmed down as well, the chaos in his mind settling down and the orange light fading from his eyes. He turned around frantically, looking for the tome, but it was nowhere to be found.
“No…”
It was gone. Everything was gone.
The boy sank to his knees in realisation, sobbing into his hands.276Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡddyHxWQrjP
