Blaze woke up to the clopping of horses. He shook his head, groaned and sat up. At first, he couldn’t see clearly, everything was blurry. Then, his eyes sharpened. Blaze blinked, grubbed his eyes and stared. He was in a cage, quite small too, and it was moving. Blaze was twelve and was around the average height, but had only little muscle. He had brown hair and green eyes. Blaze peered out of the cage. There was a carriage ahead, with ornate textures. He was getting transported on a small cart. Blaze started to panic. What was going on? He couldn’t remember. He was just chopping wood, when… the man had shown up. He had blasted him with some kind of spell.
“Hellooo?” He called out. Nothing, absolute nothing. Sighing, he sat down. He felt miserable. Who was that man, anyway. He must have known his father or something. What had happened with his father, anyway? He didn’t see another cage. Maybe it was on another carriage. Blaze calmed himself.
“This is probably just a misunderstanding, Dad will fix it.”
He told himself. Then, he sat back and closed his eyes, thinking.
“Ok, first, I need information.” Blaze lifted his hand and chanted an incantation.
“Magic is mine to wield.” Runes started appearing around his hand and formed a circle. Then, Blaze pulled out some mana crystals from his pocket and fed them to the circle. Mana was the primal energy of magic. Without mana, magic was unreachable. Every person could unlock mana, but sadly, common powers weren't magical enough to grant this privilege. Every human was born with a magic power, the spark power, always common rank but unique. Blaze’s power was useful. It allowed him to do simple ritual spells without an actual ritual.
Pride of Warnell
Common Spell
Human
This ability grants the user the ability to harness the power of rituals. Users can use simple common rituals. Rituals which require additional materials can only be cast with additional materials. This star power increases rank with the highest rank star power in the user's arsenal. This star power uses moderate mana. This star power doesn’t unlock mana.
The runes around Blaze’s hand lit up, glowing with light gray light.
Blaze incanted another incantation. “Bestow me knowledge.”
The circle started flashing and after a few seconds, it turned into a map. Blaze was in a forest, riding down a dirt path. A green arrow was in the middle of the map, the landscape shifting to adjust to Blaze’s location.
“Now, that’s useful.” A deep, gravely voice said behind Blaze. Blaze froze and whirled around but before he could act, he was flung back and went unconscious.
****
He woke when the carriage jolted to a halt. Blaze yawned and stood up, only to be knocked down again by a stinging pain in his leg. Crying out in pain, he fell down. He heard laughter from outside the cage. Blaze rubbed his eyes and stared out of the cage. He saw two men, clad in official looking uniforms, laughing. One of them was holding a sword, still cracking with lightning. They had shocked him.
“What was that for?” He groaned.
In reply, the guard shocked him again, this time on the back. Blaze winced and let out a muffled cry. The guards laughed again and together, they picked his cage up. None of them spoke. They carried his cage through two massive doors, so big a small giant could fit in. They carried him up some grand stairs and brought him to a door with strange symbols on them. They opened the door, then opened his cage.
“Get in there, now!”
The guard with the lightning sword barked, then shocked him when he didn’t move right away. Hurrying, Blaze stepped out of the cage and rushed into the chamber. There were no decorations or any furniture at all, except for lots and lots of bunk beds. And he wasn’t alone. Tons of children, all in servant uniforms, were in the room, chatting or playing hand games. There were no board games.
“Oh wow, a new servant. How wonderful!” A voice called out, dripping with sarcasm. Blaze turned his head to stare at a boy, around his age, with blond hair and clear blue eyes and a quite clean uniform, which was surprising, since everyone else was dirty. He was about the height Blaze was, only slightly taller.
“Uhm, who are yo…”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Blaze was asking, when the doors slammed shut, which made him jump. The boy laughed, but not harsh.
“Sorry, new guys always have it the worst.” He walked up to Blaze and raised his head in a handshake. “I’m Tom.”
“Blaze.” Blaze answered and took the hand. Tom squinted at him.
“You should probably get a uniform.”
He waved his hand at a pile of clothes and to Blaze’s shock, a stack of clothes flew over to them.
“You have a levitation spell?” Blaze asked, amazed.
“Nah, Telekinesis. Much better than some boring levitation.” Tom answered, he was half grinning, half grimacing. Blaze then looked down at the uniform.
“Uh, I think this is a misunderstanding. My father is somewhere out there, probably taking care of this.”
Tom glanced at him, pity in his eyes.
“I don’t know how to tell you this, but, if you’re here, then your father’s probably dead.” Blaze felt numb.
“No, no, that can’t be. My father has a rare power. He’s too healthy to die now.” Tom pursed his lips,
“I didn’t mean, died of sickness. I meant…” Tom paused.
“Murder.”
Blaze went silent.
“Are you sure?” Tom only nodded.
“How can I believe you?” Blaze asked.
Tom snorted. “Dude, if you’re here, then your father is dead. Everyone’s family is dead here.”
Blaze blinked, then started shaking.
“By who?” He asked, so quiet he wasn’t sure Tom heard until he answered.
“By Blackthorn, of course.”
****
Next morning, Blaze had his uniform on. He had been reluctant, but Tom reassured him that if he didn’t, he would regret it horribly.
“If you’re a servant, why do you have a power? Are they allowed? Is that a spark power?” Blaze had asked. After he had calmed down a bit, which had taken a long, long time.
“No, but, once a power is in your heart, it’s pretty hard to get it out. And plus, the duke knows that telekinesis is quite useful for getting chores done. But to be honest, I didn’t even tell him the real rank.” Blaze had just nodded at that. So, in the morning, he stood in a line, since everyone else seemed to be doing the same. Suddenly, the door flew open and a bulky man with a whip came in.
“SILENCE!”
The man roared. At once, everyone went dead silent. Even Blaze, since he was intimidated by this man.
“You will do your usual work, you only get a break if the Duke approves, understand that?” The man growled, in a dangerous voice.
At once everyone chanted “Yes, Sir!” and Blaze quickly followed. Apparently, the man was skilled at noticing slowness since he whipped around to stare Blaze.
“You’re the new one, aren’t you?” The man asked, menacingly. Blaze nodded. Then, out of nowhere, the whip slapped him across the chest. Crying out in pain, Blaze stumbled backwards .
“You answer me with Yes Sir, you got that?”
“Y-Yes S-Sir!” Blaze stammered. The man just huffed. He turned and stepped away.
“Get to work!” He barked. Every child stepped towards the door and left. Blaze stared pleadingly at Tom.
“What am I supposed to do?”
Tom just shrugged.
“I don’t know. If you’re new, then you should probably just find something. You should do something simple like cleaning. Doesn’t require any special skill or power.” Blaze blinked, then sighed and nodded. Usually, he would have complained but he was still in shock. What was he supposed to do? If he complained, he would just get whipped again. It still hurt. Blaze breathed a deep breath, then stepped out the door to his new life, feeling as miserable as if he was in hell.
****
Weeks slipped by quickly as Blaze worked. He had cleaned the house many times and he knew the entire house by heart. Then, the weeks became months and soon, it was winter.
“Get up. You have a night shift.” Tom shook Blaze awake. Blaze groaned and stood up, groggily. Snow fell outside.
“I hate night shifts.” Blaze grumbled. He had gotten used to life as a servant by then but he still wasn’t getting happier by a bit. Tom rolled his eyes. He seemed to do that alot.
“That’s original. Get out of bed.” Blaze groaned and stuffed his head in his pillow, which was as soft as a rock. And as always, Tom yanked him out of bed with his power.
“Fine! I’m up, I’m up!” Blaze groaned. Standing up, he stepped over to the tool chest. Opening it, he grabbed the traditional mop and a bucket. As always, the bucket was empty. He had to go all the way down to the well and get some more water, if it hasn’t all frozen yet. Blaze sighed. He always hated it in the winter. Getting a cleaning wagon, he glared one last time at Tom, who just grinned in return and left the resting quarters.
It was a cold night and he didn’t get a coat or any warm clothing. He even had to wash his clothing himself. Growling in dissatisfaction, he stomped down the cold path to the well. And of course, with Blaze’s luck, the water was frozen. Blaze summoned his runes, said the incantations and a warm breeze covered the area. The ice melted away but since his spell was only common rank, it took a good 15 minutes. He scooped up some freezing water using the buckets, put them on his wagon and pulled it as fast as possible back to the mansion. Inside, he sat down for a moment and shivered. Then, with all his bones aching, he stood up and dragged the wagon on to the corridor, where he started cleaning.
****
Three hours later, Blaze had a horrible ache in all of his bones. He couldn’t wait until he was done so that he could get back to his bed. Finally, he reached the final room. The Duke's office. Taking a deep breath, Blaze stepped into Duke Blackthorn’s chambers. He hated this man with all he had in him but what could he do? He stepped into the room and started polishing the floor. He used this to look around.
The duke’s office was full of paperwork and some folders. It smelled like old paper and some kind of flower. Sighing, Blaze walked over to a bookshelf and started scrubbing the sides. He tried to think of some trolls. The servants all hated the duke. They always did some kind of troll or prank and the duke couldn’t punish them because he couldn’t know who it was. Blaze smiled, only a tiny bit. Then, he dropped the sponge. Swearing, he bent down to get it. Then, he froze, staring. On the ground, there were little marks. Crouching down, he stared at them, the sponge forgotten. They were in a sort of crescent moon shape, starting from the edge of the shelf to the wall. It almost looked like… like scratch marks. Blaze stood and slid his fingers on the side of the bookshelf. Then, he found a little dent where he could hook his fingers into. Slowly, he pulled the shelf, and it moved. He pulled it all the way so he could fit through the gap. And, behind the shelf, was a door. A door with golden trimming.