Chapter 102.

PART 1.

Hatori is happy with the increase in his power. the magic suddenly overloading his reserves was unexpected, but his body seems to be adapting well to the additional power. but next time, he resolves to check his runes carefully and research the rituals better, he can’t ignore unpredictable things like that, if he wants to continue his life without the pain or a crippling injury.

He, however, does not get to test the new limits of his power, because he finds himself running a fever the next day. “Yikes!” said Shin, after taking his hands off his forehead. “You can cook eggs on his forehead.”

“Is he that hot?” asked Raven.

Shin grinned. “No, please not another bad joke.” Said Raven, realizing what that grin meant.

“Yeah, he is that hot.” Said Shin, still sporting the same grin.

The grin quickly disappears, however. “I think we should take him to the healer Slaughter.”

“Good idea.” Said Raven.

“I can’t go there yet,” said Hatori, “I need to help Josh.”

“Less talking, more resting.” Said Raven, while he levitated Hatori, and Shin kept guard.

After his rampage last day, they are sure that someone will try to take advantage of this weakness. But they are foolish if they think they will find a weakened Hatori.

“You should come with us; we can use more protection.” Said Raven to James.

“I don’t want to go outside,” he said with a quiet voice.

“Will you be fine here alone?” asked Shin.

“Don’t worry about me. take him to Slaughter.” Said James, looking at a wall, as if it holds the answers to all of his problems.

They both leave with a sigh.

Arriving at the hospital, healer Slaughter checks the temperature. “It is a good thing you brought him to me. this kind of temperature can be fatal if left unchecked.” Said Slaughter.

“What is wrong with him?” asked Raven.

Slaughter looks at the result of his diagnostic spells, as well as the carved symbols around Hatori’s ears. He opens his shirt, checks his shoulder, and finds more symbols. “Only your friend can tell me that. you boys should leave for now, I won’t be able to talk with him until he is rested.”

“Just call us if you need us for anything.” Said Raven.

Slaughter smiled. “Of course.” He dismisses them. ‘The only reason why I may need you is to give you, his body.’ He thinks, but refrains from saying this out loud.

Two hours later, Hatori wakes up, and after drinking some water, Slaughter starts to question him. “So, mind telling me what happened to you?”

“The story is long; I think you know most of it,” said Hatori with a croak. Slaughter gives him more water to drink.

“True. But were you really that desperate? Using modification ritual like that?” he asked.

“I didn’t have any other choice.” Said Hatori softly, unable to speak any louder.

“That is fine. But when did you rest last time?” asked Slaughter, “Did you decide to test the limits of your power, after just a good night’s sleep?”

Hatori nodded. “I can’t remember. Probably the last time I was in my home. Ever since I was brought into this world, I’ve been playing catch-up, and now every year, a war-like situation. I don’t think I have rested much.”

Slaughter sighed. “Damn you Zeko, you infected another one,” he muttered. “Damn you Porus, for bending to their demands.” After a few more choice words about the king and his apprentice, Slaughter decides to give Hatori his orders.

“Your body is strained, along with your magic. due to the sudden increase in power, you have experienced, the balance has been disrupted. Your body and magic are fighting each other, and this fever is the result of it.” explained Slaughter.

“You are to rest, do not strain your mind, body, or your magic. do you understand? This can take a long time to heal. Follow my instructions, or else suffer.” Said Slaughter.

“How long?” asked Hatori.

“I can’t say. For all I know, this can fix itself in a few days, or it can take weeks or months.” Said Slaughter.

“I don’t have weeks or months.” Protested Hatori.

“Tough luck. Your magic and body demand it.” he gets up from his chair near the bedside. “Now, one of the students who is learning healing will take care of you. do not worry, they won’t attack you.”

This did not assure Hatori in the slightest. “And if you need me, I’m always nearby.” With that cryptic statement, Slaughter walks away.

PART 2.

Despite the orders of the doctor, Hatori created the runes which he thinks can help in transferring Josh’s soul/consciousness back to his body. Raven came there to take those runes from him. “Be sure to check this with Professor Krodhatma, he will easily find any mistakes.”

“Why not ask for his help directly?” asked Raven.

“Because I don’t think professors would help us. it is one thing to help out from dangers from outside, but I don’t think they will help us with our internal problems. And I do think this will be classified as an internal problem.” Said Hatori.

“I don’t like to use these words, but that is fucked up,” said Raven.

“I know.” Said Hatori, falling to his pillows, unable to sit any longer.

Not wanting to keep Hatori up any more than necessary, not to mention what Slaughter may decide to do to him for bothering his patient, Raven leaves the hospital and goes to Professor Krodhatma. “What is up boy? I don’t remember you from my classes.”

“I do not take runes sir, but I’m a friend of Hatori.” Said Raven. “During his experiment, one boy lost his soul, and possessed an animal, and we want to bring him back to his original body.”

“Hmm. that could be a tricky operation. Do you have the runes with you?” he asked.

“Yes, here they are.” Said Raven, handing over the notes.

“These are correct, though I do see some sloppy mistakes.” Mutters the professor, correcting some runes. “Looks like someone wrote these runes feverishly overnight. That is a dangerous thing to do. It is a good thing you brought these runes to me.”

taking the now corrected runes, Raven thanks the angry professor. “Thank you, sir.”

“Don’t mention it,” said Krodhatma, dismissing Raven from his empty classroom.

‘Nothing can be hidden from him. Just by looking at the runes, he judged the condition of Hatori when he wrote those runes.’ Said Raven, marveling at the knowledge of the professor.

‘He also seems to be very calm. Why do people call him angry?’ thinks Raven.

“I’m not mad, I’m angry! Angry is what I am, you hear me?” raged the professor in the empty classroom.

Raven starts running. ‘Can he hear thoughts?’ he thinks.

PART 3.

After Hatori, James is the one who is most knowledgeable about runes and rituals. But he is not in a good state of mind. Though they understand why is he like that, Shin and Raven have no other option but to ask for his help.

Luckily for them, he seems to not mind helping them. “Sure, let’s leave already.” He said, taking the notes with him, and going inside of the forest, while Shin brings the body of Josh.

‘At least that’ll give me something to do to distract myself, and the memories.’ he shivered. Why can’t he forget the last few months?

James creates an impromptu circle because the one created by Hatori is for the modifications, not for transferring souls or consciousness. Shin puts Josh’s body inside and checks his pulse. “His pulse is dropping. Let’s begin.”

Ignoring the hurrying around him, James checks the notes and confirms whether the circle is drawn correctly, and whether all the runes are correctly drawn or not, and only after confirming all these checks, he nods. “Channel the magic.”

They focus and start to channel their magic through the circle, while the puppy with Josh’s consciousness inside is sitting nearby in a circle of his own. After minutes which felt like hours due to the drain on their magic, the circle glows softly, and the drain on their magic stops. They look at Josh’s body to see any sign of their success.

It starts to twitch slowly, and then with an explosive movement, Josh sits up. “I think it’ll take time to get used to being a human again.” He croaked.

They all celebrated, throwing their hands on his shoulder, and taking turns to hug him. The puppy nearby watches this, and walks away, vowing to be like this human, and become an alpha of his group. Josh wanted to call out to him, but he refrained from doing so. Let the dog have some peace, for now, he will come to meet him later.

Josh is unable to walk, so Raven levitates him to the hospital since James and Shin are too tired to do that. “Looks like you are better than all of us in stamina.” Said Shin.

“Don’t remind me,” said Josh. “I’ve fallen behind horribly, I will have to catch up with you guys.”

“But first, some rest and recovery. Your muscles are weak. If you strain yourself badly, you can end up in a worse shape than Hatori.” Said James.

“Yeah, not interested in that,” said Josh.

“We should be glad though, without magic, instead of weeks, it would have taken months.” Said Raven.

“All hail mighty magic.” they all intone.

PART 4.

Krishna Menon is in shock. They experienced a dark day two days ago when Hatori went on a rampage. Whereas he ran from them for two months, he returned two days ago and demolished the council. not only did they lose a lot of council members and their supporters, but they also lost their leader, and their enemy has established a fear in the younger student population’s heart. Though fear is usually not desirable, it certainly has its uses.

He is with the remainder of the council, trying to support them. These kids have left him disappointed, but considering what happened just two days ago, they deserve an adult’s caring presence. It also helps that they seem to have one final plan. If it continues like this, he will kill Hatori himself, and spend the rest of his days running, sure that he has saved his society from the scourge of Porus. How exactly the throne has tolerated him for so long is beyond him. The man is destroying the country with his every decision.

“So, what have you planned next?” he asked.

There is no leader among them. but a girl is chosen as a spokesperson, who explains their plan to him. “We just need him to be sick, something which he is right now.”

“Once we get access to his room, we can execute this plan.” She finished her explanation.

“Hmm. I look forward to this.” Chuckled Krishna Menon.

Hatori is having a miserable time in the hospital.

Not only his fever is not going away, but it seems that the trainee healer has it out for him. he shutters remembering the last three days or so.

He was asleep, after giving the runes to Raven, and once he woke up, he sensed someone was there in the room. “Oh, you are awake.” Said a bright voice. “I’m Nirmala, the trainee healer assigned to you.”

“Thanks.” He mumbled.

“Don’t mention it. since you are a long-term patient, I have to move your bed. But first, here, drink this.” She gives him a disgusting concoction to drink. “This should bring your strength back.” She then gives him water, but instead of letting him drink by himself, she holds the glass to Hatori’s lips, where Hatori has to drink quickly because she just keeps turning the glass quickly.

Laying down and choking on the water, Hatori is thinking about what is going to happen to him next. The bed starts to levitate. “You will enjoy the long-term ward. There is silence, the magical wards are designed to keep you relaxed, and the temperature is optimum.” She bangs the bed to the walls here and there.

“Of course, I will do the daily check-ups to monitor your health.” She smiled, judging by her tone. But Hatori doesn’t care. This girl is dangerous. He must leave this place, now.

“Oooooohhhhhh. Someone dropped a coin.” She forgets to levitate the bed right above the stairs, and Hatori goes down screaming and bouncing.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Lucky that the beds are equipped with bouncing features on the stairs, they do not overturn.” She said, once more levitating his bed.

After that, more terrible concoctions followed, and the food was so tasteless and bland that he thought it should be a crime to serve it. Thankfully, the girl can’t threaten his life, since there is no more movement of bed.

He is missing everything. His experiments, his physical training, the dueling, the arguments with Josh, the chess matches with Raven, and the freedom to walk whenever he wants. “Oh, you can’t walk yet. You must rest. Come here.”

‘Please, someone take this girl away from here!’ he thinks but keeps his thoughts to himself.

No point in angering her. She might decide that she could inflict worse things on him than the things she has already done. ‘Who says women medics are gentle?’ Whoever thinks like that deserves to be strangled in Hatori’s opinion.

At least he can sleep peacefully. Truly, Nirmala wasn’t lying. The long-term ward is a good place, with silence and wards that help you relax. Due to his paranoid nature, when this outside force started to affect him, he panicked a little, but after some time, he got used to them.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Though the assistant seems dangerous, Hatori is not affected by the threat to his life. If anything, she is more dangerous with her words. Someone should teach her the art of quietness. After years of being threatened in Zeko’s house, this is nothing, since he is sure that Nirmala won’t kill him… probably.

He is concerned with his dreams though. whenever he is asleep, he feels like two people are arguing, and they are trying to pull him in their direction. ‘Let’s hope I won’t have that same dream today.’ He thinks before falling asleep.

As Hatori falls asleep, and Nirmala leaves, someone sneaks inside. But due to the relaxing nature of the wards, as well as his exhaustion, Hatori does not wake up, or react in any way to the unfamiliar magical presence in his room.

PART 6.

Hatori finds himself in the garden of Zeko. He remembers falling asleep in the hospital of the Academy, so his sudden appearance here is puzzling to him until he recognizes that he is dreaming. the details clued him in. First, the door to the main hall of the house is missing, second, though the trees do rustle with the air, no birds are chirping nearby, which is always the case, even if there are some explosions when Hatori miscasts a spell. there aren’t any crows here either, who seem to have made a nest on the large coconut tree in the garden, after Hatori befriended them.

The third and final clue is that two people who sound like him from their voices, and feel like they have his magical signature are having a loud argument. “Why can’t you remember what to say?” said one of them. “I coached you for hours. I spent hours writing that speech!”

“Come now.” Said the second one, “You know that when you need to inspire people, you do not speak with written words. Besides, I succeeded in the task, didn’t I?”

“Yes, after making a fool out of yourself. The media is going to have a field day with your speech, they will find all the mistakes you made.” Said the first one.

Hatori the original thinks about it. when did he give a speech? When did he try to inspire people? When did the media hear his speech, and run it on the television and internet? this does not make any sense.

“Why can’t you learn to live with the control?” asked the first Hatori.

“Why can’t you just go with the flow?” asked the second Hatori in return.

“We have a chance of breaking this stalemate.” Said the first Hatori, after growling and glaring at the second Hatori for several seconds, who returned the favor by doing the same.

“Yes, we do have the chance to get a third opinion.” He said with a smile.

Hatori the original shivers. ‘Maybe I should start running?’ he thinks.

But both of the Hatoris appear at each side of him, the controlling one at his right, and the free-flowing one at his left. “So, what do you think is better? control, right? An absolute control over everything. You know how things are gonna turn out in every situation, and you know the exact right thing to say to people when you enter a room. The absolute control is the best, right?”

“Bullshit! What is the point of living a life like that? you’re playing a game on a god mode. It is no fun, no challenge in it. no one will ever challenge your thoughts; you will never consider the new angles as a result. I refuse to live in a boring world like that.” said the Hatori to his left.

“You’re thinking will doom us to a life of chaos!” crackled the voice of Hatori at his right.

“I rather live the life of that chaos then. A universe at its maximum entropy. Observing the chaos, to see whether some brains do appear in that chaos or not, that would be wonderful.” Said the Hatori to his left in a dreamy tone.

“You even lost your point.” said the right Hatori, sounding disappointed in his counterpart.

“Why don’t you two fight?” asked Hatori the original. “If both of you are as same as me, then you should like that. besides, I like to see myself duel the other me.”

“That is an intriguing idea.” Said the Hatori to his right. “I will crush this unruly beast, and bring him to heel, and show him the power of control.”

“I will destroy your order, and show you the beauty of chaos.” Said the Hatori to his left, sounding like a roiling storm.

A large throne appears in the garden, where the original Hatori sits, and prepares to watch this battle. “Hmm. Something is not right here.” He said out loud.

“What is it?” asked both Hatoris together.

Hatori clambers down from his throne and sits on the floor of the garden. “Now, that is the best spot to watch this battle.” Hatori summons a leaf in his hand. “Now, I will toss this in the air. once it hits the ground, begin the duel. Okay?”

“Okay.” said both of the Hatoris, looking at their counterpart with smiles on their faces.

The leaf is tossed in the air, and it touches the ground right in the middle of these two Hatoris. The fight begins, with the controlling Hatori launching some probing attacks with fireballs, while the free-flowing Hatori bends his body backward, and lets those fireballs sail over his body.

But the controlling Hatori is not frustrated by this response. “I knew you would do this.” He said and slammed his foot on the ground.

The ground shakes, and the free-flowing Hatori starts to sink. “You think you’re the only one with earth magic?” he asked.

The original Hatori senses the flow of magic, and it reminds him of something. But what, he cannot remember. The free-flowing Hatori spreads his arms wide as if offering a hug to the controlling Hatori. The ground splits with an explosion, and he gets free from the earth which was trying to swallow him. he then retaliates with transmutation, turning the rocks flying from that explosion into large crows, which went to fight the controlling Hatori. He thought he could easily deal with them, but they used spells. and whether he destroyed them by himself, or they ran out of magic, they exploded with a loud blast near him. Several of them come together, and explode right above his head, rattling him badly, and showering him with the rocks that returned to their original state once these crows died.

The original Hatori observes how easily the free-flowing Hatori turned the rock into living matter, a feat that he thought would take years for him to perform.

The controlling Hatori responds by lighting the garden on fire and directing that fire at the free-flowing Hatori. “Witness the triumph of humanity, control over the flames itself which have shaped the civilization itself!”

The free-flowing Hatori is seemingly consumed in this blaze, but this fire is drowned by a waterfall. The original Hatori’s place remained dry, but everything else drowned in several feet of water. for a moment, the original Hatori thinks about the impossibility of this event, since his place is below the water, and it should have been drowned, but he does not get to contemplate this for too long, as the controlling Hatori responds by damming the water, and trying to drown the free-flowing Hatori in the magic made dam.

“Observe, the control over the water, giving foundation to the civilization itself!”

“Observe,” said the free-flowing Hatori from his watery prison, “How the water cannot be contained in a measly dam.” He produces more water, and the original Hatori realizes that he is not creating this from air. instead, he is conjuring it.

The magical boundaries created by the controlling Hatori are overwhelmed, and collapse, and the control freak is swept away in the resulting wave. He slams his head on the garden wall, and the free-flowing Hatori takes advantage of this moment to conjure a knife and launch it at the controlling Hatori. But he is not worried. Instead, he conjures something which gives him protection and the means of attack at the same time.

“Do you see these?” he jingles the chains which he just conjured to block the knife. “This becomes an ultimate sign of control when I pair it with something else.” His hands spark, as he made this statement.

The chains were sneaking deep beneath the ground, and they suddenly appeared from right behind the free-flowing Hatori, entangling him completely. The controlling Hatori channels lightning through them, shocking the imprisoned enemy, and making him writhe in pain from those shocks. He looked like a puppet dancing with the use of strings, and controlling Hatori who had the strings in his hands.

“No chain is strong enough to bind the will of a human.” He gets up, and staggers with another shock. But he avoids falling to the ground once more.

Proving his words true, he breaks those chains and goes up in the sky. The controlling Hatori is carried within the air, as the free-flowing Hatori rises higher and higher, while the original Hatori watches this in awe. Ever since he fell from a mountain last year, and levitated himself to the ground, he has been trying to find a way to repeat the same feet, thinking it will allow him the chance to fly.

And now, his counterpart is displaying the same capability. True, it is just a dream, but everything must start in a dream somewhere, right?

“You think you can control lightning? Boy, how wrong you are.” His voice crackles, as he gathers lightning around him in the sky, looking like a god glaring down upon the mortals.

‘But his lightning is not the same as I or that other counterpart of mine use.’ It seems to be a more dangerous and powerful version of the lightning element. ‘This can’t be. Have I missed something? I will have to read the lightning manuals once more when I’m awake.’

“You like to show off the power of control and civilization, don’t you? Then witness the power, which the civilization has not managed to tame yet, and the mere sound of it is enough to make people hide under their beds!” With the sound of thunder, the controlling Hatori is stricken with lightning.

Despite taking an attack like that directly, he lands on the ground alive, though in no condition to battle. “I have won, didn’t I?” he asked the original Hatori.

“No.” he shook his head. “I have won.”

“What?” they both said/groaned.

“I see that control is important, but sometimes, just letting go of that control, and going with the flow is also necessary. I can never have all the answers, therefore I cannot remain in control all the time. I have to accept that.” he said, and both Hatoris disappeared, and Hatori found himself floating in the ocean of his magic, feeling at peace with himself.

He is not sure how long this feeling will last, so he decides to bask in it as much as he can.

PART 8.

While Hatori snores peacefully, the intruder disappears quietly, their job done.

PART 9: HISTORY OF MAGIC, THE RISE OF PORUS.

Taken from the history textbook.

Porus is the current king of the Subcontinent. He was initially born into a middling family, which was delighted to have a powerful child like him since they saw him as their ticket to the top of the social ladder. Other powerful mages have served this purpose in the past, so this was nothing new.

During the fifth year of his Academy, he ends up the apprentice of one Corvus Black, the apprenticeship lasted for a long time. during this apprenticeship, Porus learned combat magic and alchemy from Corvus.

He challenged for the throne at the age of fifty, defeating King Saransh, and acquiring the throne. However, the family had a tense relationship with their golden child, who chafed under their control. But now he was the king, so their attempts to control him got desperate. When he finally had enough of this, he denounced his last name and broke all ties from them.

The other noble families didn’t like someone of Porus’s status holding the most powerful position in the Subcontinent. So, they ran various political and military campaigns, which all met with failures, due to his newly appointed general Sundar, and prime minister Amarnath Varma. Both of them got their positions after Porus culled the previous administration, which was slowly rotting the very foundation of the nation with nepotism. When this culling was protested, Porus put the whole matter in open in front of the nation, showing them how the previous general put his own family in charge, how they were incompetent at their jobs, and how they were slowly hollowing out the military by mothballing its equipment, and poor standard of training.

When all of this was revealed, this caused a huge backlash from the families of these former administrators, not just the common public, but the noble families themselves.

However, this did not endear Porus to them. the majority of the noble families still hated Porus, because, unlike the previous king, he wasn’t plied or bought so easily. It also doesn’t help that he pays attention to domestic affairs, which the last four kings did not do. Unless there was a threat from outside, these kings did not take an interest in anything else and left the government on autopilot.

this comes to a head in a conspiracy thirty years ago, when mercenaries were hired to kill Porus when he was just meeting his newborn son. The king survives, but his wife died in the attack, and that resulted in the terrifying ten years, where Porus ran roughshod over the families, beheadings were a common thing, and many people were annihilated or left the country entirely.

Despite this, the king has ruled for over fifty years, longer than any king of the past 500 years, and he has remained popular with the public, even though the majority of the noble families still hate him or oppose him.

(End.)