Chapter 8.

PART 1.

One week has passed since Zeko started Hatori’s physical training. He not only has to improve his body, but he has to meditate as well every day with Zeko, which is not exactly easy when his mind is prone to distractions.

Of course, it has been the same time for his friends as well, when he dragged them to the same grueling training the likes of which Zeko subjects him to.

Currently, they were all eating dinner peacefully, not inclined to talk, given their exhaustion, since rather than just let them do the same exercises, Zeko took them to swim, which really took a toll on their stamina.

Their peace did not last long, as someone decided that he must absolutely interrupt their blissful eating.

“Sooo. Don’t tell me that magic is so tiring for you?” said Avinash, plopping himself next to Hatori on their table.

“Mur.” Answered Hatori, not wanting to get in an argument yet.

“Really? Don’t tell me your intelligence is also struggling to keep up?” he mocked.

“Your spine and back will struggle to keep you up, if you kept talking like that.” Hatori finally answered, and put his head in his arms, the sentence proving to be too much effort for his exhausted mind and body.

“Ooooooh. I’m so scared.” Avinash got up, and loomed over Hatori, while Raven and Josh leapt from their chairs in surprise, as they see something glowing on his palm. “Talk to me once you can do something like this.” He puts his palm on Hatori’s forehead, jolting the boy due to the heat.

After that reaction, he walked away laughing, while Hatori growled in anger.

‘I swear, once Zeko starts my training in magic, he’ll be first.’ He promised to himself.

But for now, he trudged up to his room, and fell asleep, to recover his strength for tomorrow’s training.

PART 2.

Zeko evaluated the physical condition of Hatori. While the child is certainly not fit up to his standards, his current level of fitness is sufficient to jump-start his magic with a shock.

‘Too bad that I don’t have years to teach him. If he were to discover it through meditation, then that would have been best.’ He grumbled in his mind.

There have been many people who because of some sort of chance event, ended up in the Mage Dimension. Mages are a vicious bunch, and the mortality rate among the mages is quite high. So, it is generally good for that person who stumbles upon this dimension to quickly pick up the ways of magic.

Apparently, living in an environment where magic is heavily used encourages the magic of an adult user to wake up from the dormant state, which can be sped up with focusing tasks like meditation. However, children are different. No one knows the reason for it, but children who grew up without magic, and were then brought to the Mage Dimension, have a harder time waking up to their magic compared to teenagers and adults.

‘Besides, he’ll need all the advantages I can give him to survive the academy. Good thing that I at least have two years to prepare him for it.’ He thinks.

Later in the afternoon, when Porus was having his tea break, during which he kicked out everyone who bothers him, and generally charges his battery alone, Zeko approached him.

“So, I hear you’ve been sending spies to the other side.” He opens the conversation bluntly.

“Indeed. And it seems that there are some tattletales in my court.” Said the king, displeased.

“You need to fix that problem. But I’m not here to tell you how to do that.” Said Zeko. “You need to make contact with the parents, make Hatori talk with them.”

“Why? Don’t tell me you’ve suddenly developed a soft spot? Usually it takes longer than this; he doesn’t even have access to his magic yet.” Porus sipped his tea, while waiting for Zeko’s incoming explosion.

“Nice try.” Porus is disappointed with the calm answer. “He must talk with them, so he can have some semblance of inner peace. He might act like it, but there is a problem with that boy, and you and I both know about that.”

“Hmm. You have a point. If the awakening process went wrong, it could shock him into madness.” The king concedes the point. “Very well, I will arrange the contact; but first I must give them instructions to make contact with the parents.”

PART 3.

Karan Eagle sat alone in the study of his home, sighing at another day of disappointment.

It has been nearly a month and a half since the disappearance of his son from his own home, and police haven’t found anything. And to top it all off, he has heard rumors about neighbors talking about how he himself might be responsible for the disappearance of the child, since in their eyes, taking care of a blind child was taking a toll on him.

“Bastards!” He slammed his hand to his desk, rattling the empty glass, as well as displacing the paperwork. “What do they know about taking care of a child?” He rested his head on his folded arms.

“My own father told me to toss him out like yesterday’s trash. I never did that,” he clenches his fists in remembrance. “And now they are accusing me of doing the same thing? After my own father literally disowned me for keeping my child…”

After he was done venting, he once more sat erect in his chair. They have stopped going to the police station for the information. They knew that sooner or later, the police would get annoyed with them, so they decided that there’s nothing more they could do.

His wife was not taking it well. Especially since she had a rather strained relationship with Hatori before his disappearance. ‘I should have never sent him to that school. He has never been the same since he returned.’ He gets up, and decides to go check up on Rita.

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But before he could enter their room, where she spends most of her time these days, the doorbell chimed in the house. Karan went to open the door, but before that, he spied people outside of his door for a few seconds. The disappearance of his son has turned him paranoid.

‘They don’t look like police officers, but they certainly carry themselves in rigid postures.’ He opens the door.

“Are you mister Karan?” one of the men asked.

“Yes?” Karan decided that considering how they look, it was best to cooperate with them. ‘Let’s just hope this won’t cost me my life as well…’

“We may have information regarding your son. Can we come in?”

All thoughts of paranoia fled from his mind, and he let them in, while coaxing Rita out of their room.

After seating them in there, one of the men began to talk again. “Your child is with us.” They all see how the parents are just holding themselves from asking so many questions, as well as the anger. “We, unfortunately, cannot return him to you.”

“Why?” They both burst out, unable to contain themselves.

“Because for the next thirty years, he cannot step into this part of the world.” Another picked up on the explanation.

“What do you mean by that?” Karan asked in a frosty voice, which he has used on many a dishonest client.

“You see, we’re mages, users of magic. We manipulate the laws of the universe according to our wishes.”

“I still fail to see what Hatori has to do with any of this, assuming that you’re telling the truth.” Said Rita.

One of the men sighed. “Fine,” he dug into his pocket, and brought out some coins, which he handed to his partner. “You won. You were right, they’ll require a demonstration.”

“Demonstration of what?” asked Karan, not liking where this is going.

“Would you mind if we levitate this table?” the first man asked, tapping the table in question.

“Sure, if you can.” Karan didn’t see how they could do that. there might be some talk of magic, but surely, they won’t have enough time to set up the invisible wires?

Both parents watched the first man in the hope of hearing him mutter some ridiculous sounding spell, but he did nothing of the sort. He just brought out a sharp looking knife, just as big as his hands, and flicked it up.

The table soared upwards with the motion of the knife, and with another flick, it started to circle around them. After a few rounds of circling, during which Karan desperately looked under or above the table for any tricks, the table came back with another flick of the knife, and rested on its former spot, as if nothing had happened.

“Give them another example.” Said the second man.

With a slashing motion, the first man turned the table into a rather large dog. It bounced up to Karan, licked his hand a few times, and sat down on the ground next to him.

“Such loyalty in a table, no less!” They both were impressed. With another slashing motion, the table was returned to its original state, and was levitated to its former spot in the center of the room.

Both parents said nothing in shock, too stunned to say anything.

After a while, Rita went into the kitchen, and brought some tea for all of them. After steadying their nerves with a few sips of tea, Karan asked. “So, is this it? You took our child, and are now here to tell us that we can never see him again?”

“Well, not like that.” said the knife-wielding man.

“Are you here to silence us?” asked Rita.

“No!” They both burst out. Given that they live on an entirely different plane, mages haven’t taken such drastic measures to hide themselves, and that goes double in this case. Porus will have their heads mounted outside of the city as a warning if they do something so stupid.

“Look, we can’t bring him back here. But we can let you talk to him.” Said the other man.

“Through magic?” Rita asked.

“Yes.” They answered.

“Very well,” Karan says. “Contact him. Do we have to wait?”

“Not much.” They assured.

The second man brings out a mirror, which stops showing them their reflection once he tapped it. Instead, they see someone else on the other side, who asks in the most commanding tone which either of the parents have ever heard in their lives: “Well?”

“We made the contact.” Reported one of them.

“Excellent. Now, make sure that they get to see everything on a large screen. I didn’t give you those mirrors for nothing.” Said the commanding mirror guy.

“Of course, your majesty.” They nodded.

PART 4.

Hatori arrives in the room with Raven and Josh to accompany him, and after he heard the voice of his father and mother, he couldn’t stop the tears.

After he calmed himself down, and cursed himself for losing control like that in his mind, he began to tell how he ended up here.

“So, you were also given examples?” his mother asked.

“Yes, and I just kept asking for them. I think some people got really angry at that. but I couldn’t stop myself…” and he was feeling vindictive, went unsaid.

“Did you make any friends?” asked his father.

“Yes.” He pointed to Josh and Raven, standing next to him, who went suddenly shy.

“High,” Josh waved.

“Hello.” Raven gave a composed greeting.

“Well, that one is just like you son, always in control.” Complimented his father, making Raven blush.

“Listen son, these fine people of the king have promised us to leave the mirror here for us. Do talk to us sometimes, will you?” said Rita.

“Of course, mother.” She flinched visibly on the screen, which did not go unobserved by his friends.

“Also, do try to get on top of the world; in other words, take control of the world, just like your emotions. Alright?” said Karan.

“Should I start to worry about my position?” joked Porus.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Karan said coldly.

“Of course, father.” Said Hatori.

“Goodbye son,” they both said.

“Goodbye mother, father.”

The call ended.

(End.)