My mind was fully focused on the intricately dangerous task at hand, transplanting my clone’s consciousness into mine. I started the spell, slowly, delicately, taking my sweet time, and in the middle of it a loud bang ripped my eyes and attention away from my current proceedings.
“Are you insane, young man?!” Aldis, the old councilman busted open the door to the spell experiments room in the library, despite its very clear ‘do not disturb’ sign hanging in full glory.
“You old piece of shit!” I lashed out, “Do you want me to die?! Do you?!” I breathed heavily, honestly scared for my life. What bad timing!
“Don’t take that tone with me, tadpole! Because of your parade through the streets with that damned witch, the government is smothering us in questions and accusations!”
I could’ve guessed that’s what he came to argue, but my only reply was a tiring sigh. “Was anyone attacked? Is anyone dead? Did Aquan come crumbling down? Why are you sweating me, man? If anything, she spent a stupid amount of coins so those old politicking geezers should be grateful she supported our economy.”
“You’re sure?”
“Well, I was with her most of the day and no one heard any reports of criminal activity concerning her, so what’s the problem? Anyway, I’m not speaking to those fools again, so you tell them to relax.”
He exhaled, wearily and rubbed his beard, “I don’t know how your father deals with you, boy,” then joined his hands behind his back, “by the way, is what the witch said about you true?”
“Huh?” I slouched back and leaned on the wall.
“About you being the strongest mage in Aquan.”
“Oh, that. Yeah, apparently.”
“You, don’t seem cocky like usual.”
“It’s hard to be like that when you know the Apostles, dragons and a witch exists.”
He didn’t say anything afterward, instead he left in silence. I can’t imagine how devastating it must be to one who bet their everything on magic and got trumped by a boy, but it’s not like we were competing for anything.
I pounced on the opportune moment of tranquillity and finally completed the transplant of consciousness. It went off without a hitch, but wasn’t like how I imagined it would be. I figured the clone would basically be another talking person in my head, but it was nothing like that. It felt like I had an extra bedroom in the mansion that is the brain, it was like more space to think. To put it simply, it was an extension of my consciousness, and although they were separate, they could still communicate properly.
I used Discharge and felt no decrease in stamina. I casted Levitate and even whilst using that, there still wasn’t any reduction, my body felt the same throughout, but those were small spells that didn’t tax you much. The real bastard was definitely Clone, but Hand of God and the second level of Divergence were more practical to pull off in the heat of a battle.
I casted a few times, which would’ve usually had my breath ragged, but I was completely fine. This, this is amazing! I chuckled, after all these years, “all these years,” I muttered to myself, I finally learned Division! To say I was overjoyed was an understatement. Of course, knowing all I needed was mana now, I decided to test just how far I could go. Before, I could manage about ten Hand of God before collapsing from exhaustion, but that night I managed over fifty of them until I simply couldn’t cast anymore. There was no backlash, only a simple poof. Mana was much more efficient. In the first place, it was severely bottlenecked by physical stamina, since it had a much larger pool–in my case, about five times larger than what my body allowed–plus it regenerated extremely fast. I was back to full capacity in about three to five minutes.
The world of magic at the Order was so formulaic that the notion of Division was becoming more and more of a fairy tale as it became the norm for mages to exercise. There were even books written by experts on what type of food to eat, what type of exercise to do, down to the time of day that the exercise should be done. I wasn’t one to gloat, but this was something I was unhealthily proud of. Not even the councilmen of the Order were exempt from their body’s involvement in spellcasting, despite how conditioned their bodies were.
I was content, exceedingly so, giddy with that intoxicating feeling of accomplishment. Sometime in the dead of midnight, I went home. Before my parents could leave for their jobs the next morning, I stopped them.
“On your knees, peasants,” I said, in a cheekily heavy voice, “worship me, for I have achieved a godly new power!” I boasted in my underwear, having my arms out in triumph.
“What’s this?” mom asked, “You sure seem happy. What happened?”
Dad shrugged, “He probably just realised he could masturba–” mom stepped on his feet with her boots, sending a shock of pain through him.
“Honestly, dad, sometimes I wonder where you’d be without mom. Anyway, I finally mastered Division!” I said, lifting my head to the skies in pride. They looked on in a horrific way, like I lost my mind.
“You’re joking…” mom said, her arms weak and dangling, “Then, it doesn’t cost you anything to cast spells?!”
“Nope! Wait, no, it still costs mana, but spells don’t tax my stamina anymore. I tested it out last night and could cast about five times more spells than usual. When I ran out of mana the spells were just poofs though, no aching and tired body. To top it off, mana regenerates really damn fast! I was back to full power in under five minutes!”
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“How?!” Flynn inquired, eyeing me up and down as he circled me. “You probably shouldn’t tell them how,” Donna advised.
“Sorry, kind of took an oath of secrecy. I just wanted to tell you that I achieved it.”
“Ah, well that’s fine. Must’ve done some reckless shit again he’s afraid to tell you about,” he commented, looking at Mary. She sighed, and simply congratulated me.
I got dressed and Levitated over to August’s. I caught him tying his hair, having breakfast outside, “Yo,” I sat on the bench next to him, “so, I mastered Division.”
“No way!”
“Way!” I reinforced with a sly grin.
“And you actually aren’t limping or lost a limb or something! That’s pretty cool, man! So, do you cast spells infinitely now?”
“Psh, I wish. But I can cast a whole lot more than I used to.”
He didn’t answer, just kind of gave me a strange smile, like an old lady. “That Order really changed you huh? You’re actually up before noon. You mastered Division. You made friends, I uh, I think. And you went out drinking with the witch! What, you thought something like that wouldn’t make it back to me?” He chortled.
“Well, when you put it like that…” I guess it did change me, a little. I stayed there for a couple hours, talking with him, until I found the market outside becoming a little rowdy. I dipped in his pocket and pulled out his watch, “Shit, dude,” I stuffed it back inside, “I’m out, later!”
I arrived at the nick of time, when I opened the class’ door, Dawn was just stepping out. “Looking for me?” I smirked and released Levitate, going down to her height. Class was just about to start, but a familiar face opened the door and encroached me.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Volt. You found your answer?”
“Yup. Good to see you again, teach,” he tapped me on the shoulder, his wyrm still hanging around the neck.
“What of Kira?”
“Well, funny story,” he chuckled, “I left her with Violet. They’re talking things over.”
“Violet?” I tilted my head in confusion, “And she is?”
“My fiancé, silly. Did you not know her name?”
I felt my heart drop, “Buddy, you’ve got some big balls. You better thank God if you still have them this time tomorrow.”
He just laughed and walked off to find his seat, but Pyro was in his way. He hugged Volt, with quite the expressionless face, then slid behind and executed a move straight out of grappling, dropping his brother on his neck. Was that how they showed love?
“Missed you too, Peter,” Volt said to Pyro in a strained voice.
So that’s his name.
The trio were reunited again, and with Volt’s return, signalled another rise of popularity for them, especially within the younger demographic of the Order.
Just when my class was about to end, Flynn barged in, “Eric, I need to speak with you!” he said quietly, but in quite a hurry. “Alright, guys, get outta here,” I dismissed class. “So, what’s up with you?”
“Listen, Eric, you’re strong, and we’re close. You’re really the only person I could depend on or even trust here. I don’t like putting my son in such a position, so if you refuse it’s okay,” he said, pacing about a little.
“Slow down, man, what’s up?”
“Eric, I need your help, to shut someone up.”
“You want me to kill someone?”
“No, no, no–well, yes–I don’t know! Of course, I don’t want it to reach anywhere that far, but knowing this person, I don’t know if I’ll have much of a choice! I’m sure you know that I didn’t exactly come from a rosy background. I was a thief, pickpocket, kidnapper, smuggler, all the nasty underbelly jobs you could think about, I had my hand in it.”
“So, a past acquaintance from those times threatened you with something you can’t ignore,” I extrapolated.
“Yeah,” his arms freefell, swaying in disappointment, “I stopped doing those things when I met your mom, but not he. I’m old and rusted now, I can’t do this on my own, but I can’t rely on the authorities either.”
“Okay, I’m not sure if I’m the best person to ask. You and your old, ‘co-workers’, are versed in stealth and illusion magic, right? I’m not. To be frank, I’m strong and can probably handle them on my own, but I doubt I can do it quietly.”
“I know that. That’s part of why I asked you. You see, he wants to meet at Gassity, but to get there I need to go through the woods, and in those woods, there’s a valley, and after the valley there’s more woods. I can’t begin to tell you how many traps can be set there. I’ve done some myself back in the day. To pass through there takes about a day on foot.”
“So, you want me as a bodyguard. That’s fine. What was the threat that made you take him seriously anyway?”
Flynn exhaled, “Mary’s parents, are rich, like filthy rich. I was the one sent to scope out and gather information for the job. I made good with Mary to get her guard down, but my colleagues thought I was taking too long and kidnapped her. When she realised I worked with them she hated my guts of course, but I still freed her when no one was looking. That was around the time I left them, but I also took all the information I’d ever gathered, even for other jobs. I was like their spy, so to speak, so they hit a really rough patch when I left. This morning I got a letter saying that old job was reopened, and unless I go to Gassity, they’ll carry it out and they will reveal my past to the Order.”
“My gut says they’ll carry it out regardless,” I figured.
“I, know, but, I can’t risk that information coming back to Aquan. The Order will throw me out. I can’t have that happen after Mary pulled all those strings for me.”
All this for a job, I sighed. Of course, I’d help him but it all just seemed a little petty to me.
“Maybe it’s more than just a job, maybe it represents his ascension from his past sins and his love for his new family. Did you think of that? No, you only think about yourself,” Donna jested.
Shut up. I’m the guy attempting to resurrect you, remember?
“You’re also the guy leeching off my knowledge.”
True... About that, do you mind?
“If you risk your life helping your father before you bring me back? Of course I mind. But, eh, I've been dead all these years, what’s a few more days?”
I gave dad my word and prepared myself to travel the next day. Luckily it was the weekend, so we were both off from work.
“Nervous?” I inquired as Flynn laced his boots. He looked up at me.
“The witch said you were stronger than I thought, the most powerful mage in Aquan. I’m actually really proud of you even if I don’t show it. So, allow me to ask, are you totally sure about this? I won’t mind at all if you don’t want to do it.”
“It’s all good. Only thing I care about is getting back before the weekend is up. Actually, I wanted to ask you to stay here. No offence but you’ll only literally slow me down and I won’t be able to fight at my full potential with you close by.”
He laughed out, an almost hysterical one after one I said. “I don’t know if to take that as an insult or not. Funny,” he tilted his head, “I was thinking the same thing. I’m your father and this is my problem, Eric, I can’t just let you–”
“Yes, you can, and you should! If you’re worried about me, remember that I literally got three spirit lords ready to fight my battles. I’ll be more than safe.”
“I’m gonna owe you, aren’t I?”
I wanted to say, ‘Goddamn right’ at this point, how it tempted me so. “Nah,” I glanced to the sky, “this is a ‘thank you’ for the times you wiped my ass as a baby, a ‘thank you’ for the times you told me to get the hell up when I fell and bruised my knee.”
“Wow, wow! I, I really need to give Dawn my gratitude.”
With an old photograph and a name, I left for Gassity. Richard Munroe.