Chapter 78.

PART 1.

Josh comes to Hatori with food. Suraj has told them that Hatori likes the food from the Academy, likely because he has nothing better to eat in the forest. Of course, they all took this advice and started to bring him food. Suraj is a good boy. They should watch out for him more in the dangerous corridors of the Academy.

“Yo.” Said Josh. “How’re you doing?”

“Just carving.” Said Hatori, reading from a book. “Do I smell something good?”

“Yep.” Josh hands him the food. “Sorry, could only bring you some boiled eggs.”

“Not a problem.” Said Hatori.

Josh knows that while his friend looks calm, he is very angry from the inside. One would think, what does it matter, after all, thousands of birds die every day. But they don’t die under the boot of cruel humans, squashed right in front of you, while you’re unable to help.

That is why they recite in their heads over and over again. As for his friends, when he decides to strike out, they will be by his side. They won’t just sit back, and see him getting kicked around, like they did during his banishment.

“So. Tell me something. Have you cried?” asked Josh.

“What?” Hatori stopped chewing the egg for a moment. He then resumes eating. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t cried since I was first brought here.”

“No, I mean, have you grieved properly?” asked Josh.

Swallowing his egg, Hatori sits unmoving for a moment, and then tears leak from the corner of his eye sockets. “No. I haven’t.”

He then finds himself suddenly enveloped in a hug by Josh, where he cries for a few moments. After a few minutes, though, he resumes his previous calm state. “I won’t cry much yet. The day that professor useless pays the price for this plan, then I’ll cry to my heart’s content.”

“How do you know it was him?” asked Josh.

“Convenient.” Said Hatori. “Five students came and kidnapped Karasu. I kill them, and the very next day, I’m banished for presenting a danger to students, while in reality, they are a danger to themselves. My kill count is very low compared to older students.”

“Yeah, and most of them are no doubt killing students of low birth at any moment.” Said Josh.

“Exactly. So, I think he was behind it. I had this entire month and a half to think about this. And I do think I’m right.”

“Yes, I also think you’re right. Just be careful, you’re about to fight a professor.” Said Josh.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.” Said Hatori.

“I’ll go now,” said Josh, getting up. “Once you get back, I’ll duel you. I’ll prove that I’m stronger than you.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” said Hatori with a chuckle.

PART 2.

In the evening, Hatori is trying to conjure up water. If he can bring fire before using fire-related spells, then he fails to see why he can’t do the same for water. Currently, the process is proving to be very difficult. The water doesn’t last long, and if he succeeds in conjuring permanent water, it exhausts him badly. He thought of actually extracting water from the air, but apparently, it is harder than conjuring… go figure.

Once more he moves his foci to conjure water, but footsteps interrupt him. Judging from the sound, these aren’t spirits coming to attack him. They usually sneak up on him, with only the slight rustling of the leaves to give them away. He senses the magic and finds out it is Avinash.

“Well, look who showed up,” said Hatori, putting his foci next to him.

“Yeah, I thought you'd say that,” said Avinash.

Hatori didn’t expect to hear that. maybe a snide remark, but not quiet acceptance. “Hmm. What is up with you? Usually, you are full of fire.”

“What’s the point of that?” He takes the seat in front of Hatori, sitting cross-legged just like him. “I claim to be the future king. And yet, I sat quietly as a mouse, just watching what happened to you.”

“To be honest, everyone did that.” Said Hatori. “And the reality is, I would have done the same things. We are still kids, believe it or not, just twelve years old, who are stuck playing adult games.”

“But it shook me up badly.” Confessed Avinash.

“Then do something about it.” Said Hatori. “You will face even more difficulties in your life in the future, king, or not. If you crumble like that, then what’s the point of living?”

“How do you live with this humiliation then?” asked Avinash.

“Revenge.” Said Hatori. “Once that is done, I’ll find another reason to live. You don’t need one sole reason in your life; life is long. You should change your goals accordingly.”

Avinash chuckles. “Look at you, advising like a sage.”

“What do you know, I even live in a forest.” Said Hatori. “Listen, just visit me once in a while. I need some human ragdoll to beat every once in a while.”

“As if. You will be the one who will be beaten like a rag doll.” Looks like the fire has returned.

As Avinash leaves, Hatori goes back to his water conjuration. He goes back within himself to examine his magic, wishing for no more interruptions. He sees his magic twisting and contorting, while he tries to conjure the water. The ocean within him also seems angry at the way he is trying to perform this bit of magic, though Hatori thinks it is more of a sign of his frustration.

So far, he has conjured the water with foci; the place around him is wet as a result. ‘Maybe I should try to do it without my staff? Let’s see how hard it is.’

Hatori immediately starts to work on this new idea. He has no fear of getting attacked in his unconscious state. The spirits seems to not want him dead; for they do attack him in his sleep; but they never harm him in his unconscious state.

Unusually, the magic seems to flow naturally, instead of twisting and contorting; and his ocean seems calm, instead of twisting currents of water. He manages to conjure water, lots of water. He soon loses control over it and ends up causing a small flood. He decides to not practice this magic near his camp; only luck has saved his camp from getting waterlogged. After drying himself, he goes to sleep. Conjuring his hard. Maybe he will try transmutation once he is awake; the combat applications of that art are countless.

‘My magic seems to be responding better without my staff. I need to test this further.’ But for now, it is time for sleep.

PART 3.

The snake sneaks up into the camp, an easy task given there is no protection to bar him from entering. Besides, the snakes are hard to stop anyway, once they decide to get in. The sooner stupid humans learn, the better. Now, he must find out whether this human is smart enough to recognize what kind of opportunity he is getting or not.

‘Looks like he’s awake, judging by his breathing patterns.’ The snake doesn’t have to get close to recognizing the breathing pattern of Hatori.

‘Yo! How are you doing?’ greeted the snake mentally.

“Fine.” Mumbled Hatori, not wanting to move more than necessary. That water-conjuring training was more exhausting than he thought. He suddenly loses the fog of sleep and recognizes a big scaly thing in his camp, right below his makeshift bed.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“AAAAAHHHHHHHH!” he screamed, while an isolated part of his brain noted he needs to learn some softening spells to make his bed more comfortable.

Surprised by the sudden noise, the snake shrieked equally loudly, though mentally. Out loud, he hissed, and half of his body suddenly shot up. sensing this sudden action on the snake’s part, Hatori shrieks even more in fear, whereas the snake calms down.

‘So, am I bigger than you? Since you’re so scared of me?’ he asked.

“Probably.” Said Hatori, realizing that the snake is just like those wasps and bees.

‘Also, you can communicate without flapping your lips, you know.’ He spoke.

“I don’t know how to do that yet.” Said Hatori.

‘Don’t worry. You’ll learn soon enough.’ Said the snake. ‘By the way, what a nice place you have there, nice, cozy, warm.’

“Why are you here?” asked Hatori, taking the lotus position on his makeshift bed. Calling it a bed is an insult to proper beds. It is a wonder that it hasn’t fallen apart already.

‘Ah yes, to business.’ The snake assumes a serious pose, complete with a rigid form. ‘I and my associate wish to help you. We’ve heard about your sinister plans regarding that strange place for young and old humans alike. We wish to help you, for we have our grudges against them.’

“Okay?” Hatori doesn’t know what to make of this.

‘Of course, we will also offer ourselves as subjects, should you wish to improve us with magic.’ said the snake.

“Interesting.” Before Hatori could say anything else, he senses a large form coming to his camp, and the said form barrels down on the camp, breaking the front portion entirely.

Hatori recognizes the familiar shriek; he has heard it a lot on Animal Planet back home. Usually, when this shriek is heard by humans, it is a signal for future pain. The snake is yelling at the elephant, however. ‘Things were proceeding nicely before you decided to blunder up here, you inconsiderate brute!’

‘I will test this fucking human.’ Said the elephant. ‘Now, survive against me!’

“Ga!” Hatori moves out of the way. His camp is destroyed entirely. “There goes my entire camp,” he said sadly.

‘You have more important things to worry about, weakling.’ Said the elephant, trying to swat Hatori with his trunk.

Working on his instincts, he shoots up some water at the trunk, causing the elephant to cough, while the snake laughed in amusement. ‘You’re lucky it wasn’t a fire. We would be looking at an elephant with a burned trunk otherwise!’

‘You asshole. You’ll pay for that, you hear me, you fucking—’ The elephant’s cursing is stopped by the awful-smelling potion held under its trunk by Hatori. ‘Oh, my fucking god, what the hell is that, it is just not done, you cunt!’

The snake couldn’t stop laughing. ‘Have you got enough? The human isn’t even using any magic at this point.’

‘Fine.’ Grumbled the elephant. ‘But I’ll remember that smell, mock my words, you’re fucked, you hear me?’

“Whatever.” Said Hatori, too exhausted to care. “Please, let me sleep, and we can discuss this later.”

He then realizes that his camp is destroyed. “Dammit.”

‘Don’t worry, take a nap under those trees. We will guard you.’ said the snake.

‘Sure. Whatever.’ Said the elephant, and goes to graze on the grass nearby.

PART 4.

After taking a nap, Hatori goes to show the elephant and snake the modified wasps and bees. “As you can see,” he casts a Slicer on one soldier. “They have some magic resistance.”

‘Yeah, but that alone won’t do shit.’ Said the elephant.

“True. But remember, their real power is in a group. Imagine, a large group of these, resistant to magic, able to utilize some spells for themselves. They will be a great force.” Hatori explains his vision.

‘That is a powerful force indeed.’ Said snake. ‘We barely survived them previously. We won’t survive the entire hive with such powers.’

‘Yes.’ Said the elephant with a grim tone.

“Yeah, but only these few soldiers have these special properties. Not the entire hive. Not to mention, this is just some basic modification. I could do more with runes and rituals, but they require time to prepare, not to mention, I will have to carve every single one of them.” Hatori explains the difficulties. “Coupled with my training, I don’t have enough time, and have too many things to do.”

‘The challenge of life.’ Commiserated snake.

“I do have some ingredients. I will immediately start brewing these potions, once everything goes well.” Said Hatori. “Until then, you will have to wait for your modifications.”

‘Don’t worry, we can wait.’ Said snake and Hatori left. The soldiers go back to their hive, while the elephant and snake discuss the possibility and the terror.

‘imagine if those aunts got something like that.’ said the snake.

‘Don’t fucking mention it. don’t even think about it. somethings are way too pants-shitting terrifying in this world.’

Sneaking into the Academy, Hatori finds Sultan and Professor Dhiraj in their lab, packing their equipment, while some potions are left to simmer overnight. “I know you’re there, boy. I can sense you.”

Hatori becomes visible. “Corvus has not put up the wards to keep you out,” said Dhiraj.

“How did you know it was me specifically?” asked Hatori.

“Magic.” Sultan snickers at that response. “More specifically, the magic of the lightning element. You are practicing that, aren’t you?”

“Of course.” Said Hatori. “But I’m here to brew these potions.” He hands the list to the professor. “Can I use your lab again?”

“You don’t need to ask.” Said Dhiraj. “Though be warned, these potions are exceptionally difficult to brew. I suggest you talk to your friends to deliver them; you won’t be able to brew them by yourself here.”

“Thought so.” Said Hatori.

“Do be careful.” Said Sultan, after taking a look at the list. “Self-modification and rituals of power can be quite dangerous, especially at your age. There’s a reason why they are not taught at your age.”

“I know.” Said Hatori.

“But we also understand you don’t have a choice.” Added Dhiraj. “Just be careful; it would hurt Krodhatma to lose a student like you.”

PART 5.

Speaking of Krodhatma, he is dreaming about his banishment two months ago. It reminds him of his alienation from academia, due to coming from a low-birth background. His theory of runes is never accepted, and people express doubt about his abilities, calling him a thief for ripping off the works of other, proper mages from proper families.

People often think that he is angry because his runes don’t work on the first try. Far from it. He is furious that someone who could excel in the language of symbols, and who has developed several theories to advance the field further, is constantly mocked. He is even allowed to teach here because Corvus believes in his talent.

These events have turned him into a bitter man, who descents into ranting at the nearest mention of the word of madness related to himself. “I’m not mad. I’m angry!” he mutters in his sleep.

If it weren’t for Dhiraj and his potions, his life would have ended a long time ago. Let’s leave this tormented man to his sleep, shall we?

(End.)