A Spark of Friendship
Chapter 6
“God damn things!” the shopkeeper held the broom over his head as he ran around chasing the critters. “I’ve brought the exterminator in three times, but they keep coming back. I don’t know how they are getting in!” He looked absolutely defeated. Jack and Sable felt bad for the old man and helped him wrangle up the remaining critters.
They each grabbed a broom and started smashing. Once struck, the little creatures would break into a pile of springs, gears, and screws. They ran around smashing the mechanical varmints. It didn’t take too long to dispatch the remaining machines.
Soon the floor was covered in loose mechanical parts. The shop was silent, and the owner walked over to the boys. Once they were done Jack looked around with guilt creeping in. He thought to himself. It looked like a robot, but it acted so lifelike. I hope they couldn’t feel pain.
“Thank you, very much young gentlemen, I see it’s a new year at the academy. It is always nice to meet young academics!” The shopkeeper said enthusiastically.
“What were those things?” Jack asked curiously.
“Ticking rodent infestation. They seem to be attracted to magical items and can self-replicate at incredible speed if they have access to the right magical resources. I don’t know where they keep coming from.” A small rustling sound made them look down. There was one that had survived. It looked like a rat. The shop owner went to stomp on it, but Jack stopped him.
“Wait.” He leaned down and picked it up. The rat looked at him. its eyes were tiny red gems that somehow seemed to have intelligence behind them. The rat looked at him, and Jack looked at it. “it’s kinda cute, can I keep it?” he asked hopefully.
“Keep it? Those damn things are useless! They are dirty pests that make a mess wherever they appear.”
“Aww look at him, he looks harmless.”
“Fine just please take it away from here! Take that damn thing outta hear now. Take it far from here.” Jack convinced the owner to give him a small box to carry the rat. He closed the box tightly and put it in his bag.
Soon after they left that shop, continuing on their way to the academy. It wasn’t long before another feature of the city grabbed their attention. It was a small city center where people could relax. A huge waterfall was in the center, the water seemed to form out of nowhere and fall through the plateau into a large lake below.
It left a nice mist in the air that rejuvenated both the boys as they passed the area. They spent a minute enjoying the mist, pointing out amazing magical features and buildings they could see from the vantage point. After a small break, they continued on.
One section of the city was made up mostly of fashion shops. Jack had never seen anything like it. They had shops for clothing, and shops for bags. One shop advertised they could change hair color permanently. One woman he saw was getting her nails done. The woman was looking at her nails and Jack watched them change color and shape while she looked at them.
A bakery made the boys take a detour from the main path to the academy, it was a small detour, but once they smelled it, they had to go see what it was. It was a baked goods shop that had a big line. Eventually, they got into the shop, once inside they could hardly stop their mouths from watering as they looked over all the glazed goods. This was something Sable was able to teach Jack about.
Sable probably helped grow the wheat used in many of the city’s bakeries and he knew all about the delectables that could be made. Sable pointed out some of his favorites. One was these large circles that had a hole in the middle for some reason, they were called doughnuts. They usually didn’t have nuts in them, so Jack didn’t understand their name. But it was the tasty-looking item beside them that confused Jack even more.
They looked like they were the middle of the doughnuts that had been cut out and they were called tidbits. In the end, they bought a big box of pastries splitting the cost. Neither of them had experienced such delights in their life. The pastries were soft and warm, and some were filled with all sorts of flavorful jams, and jellies and one even had chocolate.
As they were engorging themselves on the treats, they passed by a shop with element cores. Jack couldn’t believe his eyes; they looked just like the one he had found in the alley that fateful night. They both silently stood staring at the magical cubes for a moment, equally in awe of their beauty and promise.
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The shop looked extremely expensive and even had a security guard at the door. Only a few cores were on display, each one was in a silk-lined case and had their price tags clearly visible in front. Jack had never seen numbers go so high. He couldn’t fathom how people could have so much money. Sable knew which elements each cube was. First on the left was water. The cube looked like it contained an entire ocean.
The ocean broiled around with choppy seas and almost seemed to splash outside of the cube. In the middle was an absolutely beautiful stone that looked pure white and seemed to emit a light that penetrated all the shadows near it. That stone was light.
On the right of the display was a box that interestingly enough was chained down as it seemed to vibrate. That Sable said, is motion. The motion cube is one of the few elemental cores that can move on its own. They stared at the cubes for a while, eventually, they stopped dragging their feet and continued toward the academy.
As they got closer to the academy Jack noticed more and more guards in the streets. He was used to city guards not liking his presence and they would usually chase him away. Now the guards didn’t even notice him as he was just another student heading towards the academy.
Ultimately, they made it to the academy gates, the gates were incredibly thick and looked like they weren’t just for decoration. While Jack was inspecting the gates Sable started talking to some other students that also looked like first years.
They were all wearing the same student uniform. Black pants, black shirt, with blue trim accents. The uniforms were very basic, but they were crafted with incredible care, each stitch was perfect, and the fabric was the smoothest he had ever felt.
There were instructors at the front gate guiding students and one of them approached Jack. “Welcome student, are you a first-year?”
Jack was slightly surprised by the woman as he had been intently investigating the runes that covered the gate. “Yes ma’am,” he stood up straight and faced the lady.
“What’s your name?” She looked down at her clipboard.
“Jack.”
“Last name Jack?”
Jack had forgotten that he was forced to choose a last name by the government. All element users were citizens, and all citizens had first and last names. He was given a list to choose from and he had chosen. “Warrick.”
“Ok, Jack Warrick. It says here you’re in the Emerald tower dormitory. The instructor pointed behind her towards a group of towers while she was still looking down at her clipboard. “All important information you will find in your room. Opening ceremonies will be starting tomorrow at 0900. You definitely don’t want to be late.”
Sable got his assigned room right after. He happened to be in a different tower, but they were both heading in the same direction, so they continued to walk together. The grounds were amazingly lush and vibrant with giant fountains and statues littering the property.
After walking a bit in silence Sable started to talk. “So, what element did you absorb? I got the earth element. I didn’t really get to choose. My family operates a large farm in Frost. They have been saving since I was born to be able to get me a refined earth element. They are hoping I’m able to learn some advanced techniques to bring back to the farm. There hasn’t been an element in my family since my great grandfather.”
“I didn’t really get to choose either,” Jack said quietly.
“Oh really? Yeah, I guess a lot of us commoners have to get whatever our parents can afford for us.”
Jack was quiet when Sable mentioned his parents. Sable noticed Jack went quiet and didn’t mention his element. Sable thought Jack wasn’t happy with his element, so he tried to ease his mind. “Hey man, no matter what element you have, they are all incredible.”
Jack wasn’t embarrassed in his element at all, although Fineus told him he would probably be looked down upon. What Fineus couldn’t understand was that he had been homeless for two years. Jack had been spat on, kicked, and treated like garbage.
He decided to entrust in Sable, they had bonded on their trip through the city, and they both seemed to enjoy the same things and had quickly become friends. “I’m not embarrassed with my element.” He was quiet for a second. “I don’t have any family,” Jack said softly. Sable bringing up his family had made him very envious.
Sable seemed to feel horrible. “Oh man, I’m sorry.” Jack was thankful Sable didn’t ask any more questions after that. They just walked in silence for a bit, both extremely nervous for school and meeting their classmates. As they walked Jack couldn’t help but marvel at the craftsmanship of just the path they were walking along. Eventually, they reached a split in the path, Sable’s dorm was in a different direction from Jack’s. Sable didn’t want to split with it still being awkward, so he decided to confide in Jack. “Hey uh, I really wanted to thank you for helping me find my way through the city. I was so anxious for this day; I haven’t eaten a full meal in weeks.”
Jack looked at Sable. The boy looked more like a young man than Jack, but in that moment, he seemed to show a vulnerable side of himself that didn’t look like he was used to talking about. Obviously, it was nothing compared to his own experience, but he really appreciated someone trying to empathize and connect with him.
It was a very emotional moment until Jack saw something that he couldn’t believe. It was a statue, made of fine marble. It was one of the thousands throughout the academy that Jack had already seen, but this one was a statue of Gant. He couldn’t believe it. The statue looked just like him. He slowly walked up to the statue. The statue looked so lifelike that he started to wonder if it was actually Gant. He did have the earth element. Maybe he had come to spy on Jack. After a second look, it was clear that it wasn’t actually Gant in disguise. But the statue was still incredibly lifelike. After a moment he looked down at the plaque.
Gant the Grand. Top student honor award. Became a royal whisper.
“Do you know him?” Sable asked.
“Uh. Yea. Sorta.”
“He must be someone impressive to have a statue.”
“Yeah, I mean, he did tell me stories. But I always thought they were exaggerated…”
“Hmm maybe not,” Sable said, as they both looked at the impressive statue.