A loud bang resounded through the room causing everyone to flinch and rub their ringing ears.
“Ah. Too bad, you’ll just have to try harder next time.” Master Germinum’s old, croaking voice filled the silence that the failed device left. Newt scowled at the ugly looking puke green crystal while clutching his stinging hand.
“I told you it wouldn’t work idiot!” Karissa hissed at him while shaking her fingers, “You even made princess cry.” She added maliciously. The older girl Principia, who despite every advantage, failed to live up to her scholarly name was crouched on the ground on the other side of the stand that held the ugly crystal. She looked up angrily, but her attempt to look menacing was undercut by the tear tracks falling from her pretty eyes.
“Shut up pillbug!” Principia retorted in a harsh whisper. Master Germinum cleared his throat a distance away getting their attention again.
“Would you please return your project to the storage room while I finish the lecture,” he croaked sounding not at all like he was asking, “I’m sure one of your classmates can fill you in later.” Master Germinum returned his attention to the lectern he was standing behind mumbling to himself.
“Not likely.” Newt muttered as he began folding the edges of the weave neutralizing cloth the nasty thing came wrapped in.
“Quit crying and help clean up” Karissa said frowning at Principia.
“Stop telling me what to do pillbug.” Said still nursing her hand.
“Can you really not think of anything more original than pillbug-” Karissa replied. Before either could continue their argument, Newt interjected.
“You’re not helping either.” He said already holding the cloth wrapped crystal. Karissa huffed and began moving the table they had set the thing on. Newt walked over to the crouched Principia and nudged her with his foot.
“Come on, get up.” He said slightly softer than normal.
“I am getting up.” She said a touch indignant before another voice cut in.
“Stop talking,” a blond haired beauty said evenly towards the duo, “Master Germinum is waiting for you to be quiet.” Principia frowned as she looked toward their lecturer who was digging through a large pile of notes still muttering to himself.
“He’s obviously no-” Principia began before being stealthily kneed by Newt who was now looking away from the blond.
“Sorry.” He mumbled as he pulled the still frowning Principia by the arm and began making his way toward the door. Karissa followed closely behind with a quietly muttered ‘dork.’ Once in the hallway Principia jerked her arm away from Newt.
“Don’t manhandle me weasel!” Principia growled as Newt ignored her and kept walking. Despite being several years younger than her, there was little that the whiny girl could say that would get to him.
“Maybe it would have worked if we had got a competent partner.” Karissa said condescendingly while passing Principia.
“Don’t start pillbug,” she retorted, “we both know everyone hates you as much as me.” She continued without thinking.
“Do I have to even say anything to that?” She asked the empty hallway. She shook her head and quickened her pace to catch up to Newt who was a few meters ahead of them. Letting out a frustrated groan, Principia stormed her way behind them. The trio made it through one hallway before Principia started again.
“Why did you even pick that stupid thing?” Her voice grating through the hallway like hard cheese. Not even her pixie like appearance could make up for her annoying voice.
“I didn’t.” Newt replied evenly, already used to her aggressive nature. He and Karissa joined her in the undesirable category among the various lectures they attended. He was maligned for being young and generally failing to relate to the other boys not to mention his and Karissa’s Gaoth heritage. The red hair made them hard to miss.
“Were you even paying attention when we picked them up?” Karissa said with a biting tone. Karissa still hadn’t managed to come to terms with their grouping and still had a short fuse when it came to Principia.
‘Perhaps that’s why Karissa isn’t well liked’ Newt though to himself as he continued down the hall. Principia’s frown morphed into a haughty look of indifference as she turned away from Karissa.
“I had other more important things to do that day.” She said as if it were the most obvious thing ever said.
“Sure,” Karissa began, “because drooling all over-”
“You weren’t there either.” Newt cut in.
“See?” Principia added. Karissa walked up to Newt and jabbed him in the back with her thumb.
“Ow!” Newt cried turning around and glaring at Karissa. “What was that for?” He asked harshly.
“That! Was for acting all indifferent and smug,” She looking slightly down at him, “like it will make you seem older than you actually are.”
“You’re barely two years older than me.” Newt replied, frown deepening.
“And I’m still taller than you.” She said, grinning smugly at him. Newt stood there for a moment glaring daggers into Karissa’s throat, hoping it might burst a leak before turning on his heel and stomping away.
“Bullying him won’t make him like you.” Principia said quietly in a sing song voice to which Karissa laughed and shook her head following Newt.
“You sure you aren’t projecting?” Karissa sent a mocking grin back at Principia whose brow furrowed as she was left behind. Karissa eventually caught up to Newt who was waiting in front of the door to the storage room. The room mostly held non-weave school materials, but none of their projects were supposed to be dangerous.
Newt continued to glare at the door until Karissa opened it for him. There was a thick layer of dust on most of the equipment in the room causing Newt’s nose to itch as he made his way to the back of the room and placed the ugly vomit crystal in it’s rightful place. His business done, Newt made his way back through the room itching his nose the whole way. The worst part about training to be a magician for him was all the dusty rooms and towers he had to stay in. He managed to make it through the rest of the room without sneezing when he noticed Karissa and Principia stepping out of the way of the door. He stepped up to the doorway at the same time as a large disgruntled man did.
“What are you doing in here Tulach?” Master Blackthorne growled at him causing him to freeze momentarily wanting to get out of the man’s way, but at the same time not wanting to be backed into a dark room with him.
“Ah. Um, sorry Master.” He stuttered, “I was just putting my project away.”
“Fine, get out of my way.” Blackthorne said with a deep frown, pushing Newt roughly out of the room before slamming it in a cloud of dust. Before he could think, Karissa had both him and Principia by the arms and was marching them toward the dining hall.
“What do you think he was carrying?” Principia asked loudly causing Karissa to walk even faster.
“Shut up princess!” Karissa hissed back at her, looking over her shoulder as they walked away.
“Hey, stop calling me that pillbug.” Principia snapped easily falling into Karissa’s trap.
“Will you ever come up with anything different.” Karissa replied almost sounding mechanical due to the frequency of the argument.
“It doesn’t matter if it fits you pillbug.” Principia said back victoriously. Before they could continue their old dialogue Newt cut in.
“I think we’ve gone far enough.” He said while laying a hand on Karissa’s shoulder. He and Karissa had been caught by Blackthorne their first year at the academy trying to steal some pastry from the kitchens. After a night long session of what could very nearly be considered torture with the man, Karissa and to a lesser degree he felt a gut twisting nausea whenever they were in the presence of the man. His presence made their history lecture an absolute nightmare.
“Yeah,” Karissa said, dropping their arms, “you’re right.” She slowed down and Principia started rubbing her arm, although she strangely didn’t complain about being dragged from the large, scary man.
“Even if you aren’t hungry you should eat.” He said, giving Karissa a know look which she scowled at despite remaining quiet as they made their way to the dining hall.
____________________________________________________________________________
Newt awoke the following morning to the distant sound of the Chandelier’s roosters. The academy was located on an island near one of the larger port cities in the west. While the official name for the academy was The Institute for Advanced Weaving, everyone called the it the Chandelier due to its numerous towers that remained lit even during the night. Most of the teachers had offices at the tops of them and left the lights on for sake of tradition. Even the curmudgeons among the staff like Blackthorne left them lit.
After stretching and putting his uniform on, he quietly made his way out of the boy’s dorm. He was usually one of the only apprentices to enjoy waking up this early so he made his way to the amphitheater where their morning weaving classes took place without much fuss. By the time he arrived, there were only two others there. One dark haired older boy who was concentrating on a complicated weave and sitting in the very front working on quick weaves was Sapphira, the blond beauty he so often found himself fixated on.
Sighing internally, he reached in and pulled out his weaving kit and sat near the back. The kit was comprised of long lengths of thin yarn held on spools designed to let him draw more of the yarn between his fingers, though most apprentices including Newt didn’t bother with the spools due to how long it took to wrap them. The yarn was designed to mimic the pull of real fate strings that magicians felt while weaving, but his kit was fairly cheap and the yarn mostly burned his fingers when he tried quick weaves. He looked down at Sapphira as she practiced an anchorless string pass with her expensive looking weighted weaving kit. One of her fingers tossed the thin string to her other hand in a way Newt could barely imagine accomplishing.
Newt took his two longest cords and after untangling them for several minutes went about trying to imitate the twisted crescent weave Master O'Meadhra had brought up in her lecture last week. Halfway through his second attempt he was interrupted by Karissa’s arrival.
“You forgot the double twist didn’t you.” She said groggily sitting down next to him.
“Shit!” He hissed between clenched teeth wanting to smack his own forehead despite the failed weave tying his hands up.
“You should probably work on the simpler weaves.” Karissa said digging out her own cheap weaving kit which was somehow not tangled up despite her lack of organization.
“My fingers aren’t quick enough for quick weaves.” Newt replied angrily, extricating his fingers from the mess and slowly untangling it again.
“I wasn’t talking about quick weaves.” Karissa said before practicing a quick weave string toss herself.
Newt didn’t say anything in response, choosing to concentrate on untangling. Of course he knew she wasn’t talking about quick weaves. Weaves would be generally split up into two categories, quick weaves and everything else. Quick weaves were flashy magic. They were the combat spells that Newt had always dreamed about weaving. Unfortunately for him, they required the most natural finger dexterity as well as small hands which meant that girls had a great advantage with them usually leaving the longer and more ‘tangly’ weaves to their male counterparts, though proper masters had to be good at both.
Newt had hoped that his hands would match his height, but to his great displeasure, they were the only thing about him that seemed to grow. To make matters worse he had cold fingers, a weaver’s worst nightmare. The only thing that got him into the Chandelier was his young age. He sometimes thought the Masters only took him on the off chance he would keep growing his weaving ability exponentially, but so far his average ability only marked him as a lost gamble.
Reaching the end of the anchoring phase, where the weaver would create the latticework for the weave between their arms by hooking strings on their forearms and around their elbows, he paused and checked his work.
“Do I use a doubling loop or two strings?” He asked while testing how loose the string he needed to complete the weave was, finding it to be as stuck as always.
“Doubling loop, but you pull the second string through at the end of the crescent’s arc and work back with two.” Karissa replied without looking away from her quick finger work.
“Could you-” He began.
“Fish out an untangled string from that mess? Not in a thousand years.” She replied still in deep concentration.
“Fine.” Newt said mostly to himself as he bent down and pulled the least tangled looking string which pulled most of the rest of the pile out. Sighing loudly he slowly undid his progress and began untangling two more strings of yarn. Part way through redoing the anchoring, he heard Principia’s shrill voice.
“You’ll never be as good as Sapphira pillbug.” She said vindictively standing just behind Karissa.
“I don’t need to beat her to be better now that you will ever be Princess.” Karissa said as her calm disposition soured.
“Don’t call me that pillbug.” Principia retorted with a deepening frown as she tried to walk away with dignity, adding, “Try not to bring the rest of us down.”
“I’ll need to if we’re all supposed to keep you afloat.” Karissa chided with a slight sneer.
“Shut up pillbug!” Principia turned around to shout before heading to her group of friends.
“Do you always have to respond?” Newt asked quietly before Karissa could shout back.
“She’s just…” Her freckled face scrunching up slightly, “She needs to be put in her place sometimes.” She finished with an agreeing nod to herself.
“Sure, but not everyday.” Newt responded, but before he could elaborate their weaving lecturer Master O'Meadhra waltzed in with her usual flowing gate. While never seeing direct battle, Master O'Meadhra had indirectly shown her prowess for warfare when a group of her apprentices had demonstrated terrifying effectiveness in the Oak War making her one of the few Gaoth to garner respect at the Chandelier, though her lack of the obvious Gaothic red hair or freckles certainly helped. Everyone began to undo their weaves and pay attention as Master O'Meadhra pulled her stool to the front of the speaking area and began pulling out a standard, but well kept weaving kit. She refused to teach with tools one of her apprentices might not have access to which no one dared to question, not even the rich pricks. Newt was hardly about to complain. After everyone seemed to have their work undone, Master O'Meadhra cleared her throat,
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Good morning apprentices, today I would like you to all review your netting technique.” She stated simply ignoring the numerous groans passing through the amphitheater. Netting was essentially balancing the tension on the strings anchoring to the weaver’s forearms and fingers to keep the weave from becoming lopsided and failing. Even Newt couldn’t resist groaning a little despite the condescending smile that Karissa wore beside him. Netting exercises were one of his least favorite exercises, not just because they were repetitive and tedious, but because he was a natural with them.
“We’ll be adding a bit of a twist this time though.” Master O'Meadhra was wearing a subtle smirk, “You’ll be pulling twenty three anchor point weaves,” she paused to the sound of more groans. Her smirk became a full blown smile as she added, “with a group weave.” Newt raised his eyebrows as several apprentices looked at each other in confusion. Master O'Meadhra put on a more serious face,
“I know we haven’t covered group weaves in practice, but netting gives you the same fundamental understanding of pull for a group weave as it does for solo weaves.” She looked over at one of the older apprentices who had almost his whole set of standard strings in his lap, seemingly prepared for a demonstration. “Apprentice Kiln, would you be so kind as to assist me in a demonstration?” She asked. Kiln stood up and pulled another stool beside Master O'Meadhra and began to weave the strings between the two of them as Master O'Meadhra talked them through the weave. Twenty minutes later, Newt and Karissa were trying desperately to pull a tiny star weave back between their arms and away from Karissa’s right hand.
“You’re being too loose.” Karissa complained as she tried to keep the weave from drifting with her left hand by tugging the anchors.
“And you’re being too tense,” Newt replied curtly, “relax a little.” Newt relaxed his right hand in an attempt to bring the star back to the middle, but instead of slowly readjusting, it flew through the middle and broke apart on Karissa’s left hand in a tangle of strings and fingers.
“Damnit Newt!” Karissa yelled, sending him a hateful stare. Newt returned with his own glare, but before he could retort, he noticed Master O'Meadhra walking up to the two of them.
“Having issues Apprentice Tulach? I recall you having a knack for netting.” She said with
a knowing smile that was a comforting as it was infuriating. Newt let out a huff and looked at the disaster of yarn in between the two of them.
“I’m not the one causing the problem.” Newt said indignantly. Karissa raised her eyebrows as him.
“Excuse me?” She raised her voice, tugging harshly on the weave causing Newt to jerk forward. “This is your fau-”
“Enough” Master O'Meadhra interrupted them sharply. She looked back at Newt. “How can you be so sure Apprentice?” Her voice returning to its normal soft tone she used when teaching. Newt scowled at his hands for a moment before looking up at Master O'Meadhra.
“I’m doing it the way I always do…” he said tapering off while a realization dawned on him.
“And that Apprentice Tulach, is precisely why you are failing.” She motioned with her hand to Karissa, “You are not alone in this exercise. You are too used to your own anchor points for your usual methods to work properly.” She then grabbed Karissa’s hand and began to pull the tangle apart until the star was once again suspended between the two of them.
“Now, before you start, simply pull against one another.” Doing so, it took only moments for the star to drift as Karissa’s hands won out pulling Newt to the edge of his seat.
“That’s enough.” Master O'Meadhra interrupted them. “Can you see the issue?” She asked.
“He’s being too weak.” Karissa said.
“No, you’re being too strong.” Newt shot back.
“Must you two always butt heads?” Master O'Meadhra asked with a sigh, but held up her hands before they could respond. “You need to compromise and adjust your styles to work with the other. Karissa is a bull, she stretches and pulls her weave without abandon. Newt is a spider, carefully balancing his weave to slide around easily.” She took a breath before squeezing both their hands, “Both are strong methods, but all magicians must learn to work both sides of the weave.” She let their hands go and stood back.
“For the rest of this lecture; Newt, you are not allowed to take your butt of that sea, and Karissa, you are to stand and balance on the balls of your feet for the duration of the weave.”
“What?” Shouted Karissa.
“Don’t shout.” Chided Master O'Meadhra.
“Sorry, what? How am I supposed to do that?” Karissa asked bewildered. Master O'Meadhra cocked a smile.
“Why don’t you figure it out then?” She said before walking away leaving the two incredulous apprentices behind.
“How do I? Uh, what am I even supposed to do that for?” Karissa said with a frustrated groan. “You’d better not laugh.” She said turning to look Newt who was trying to keep the grin off his face.
“We’ll never know till we try.” Newt replied, keeping his mind focused on the weave between them as Karissa awkwardly began to stand up without ruining it.
The two spent the rest of the lecture struggling to keep the star from bursting into tangles on their fingers and by the end Newt felt that progress was made, if he was being overly generous with himself.
“I can’t believe she made me do that. I’m gonna be sore all day” Karissa complained while rubbing her aching calfs. Newt began to ball up his strings in a futile attempt to avoid the tangles he knew were inevitable.
“At least it beat the monotony of netting.” Newt was mostly glad he wasn’t the one who had to stand for the whole lecture.
“Apprentice Tulach,” Master O'Meadhra called from the center of the amphitheater, “please come down to speak with me.”
“Uh oh.” Karissa teased, “Sounds like someone’s in trouble.” Newt looked worried and confused in equal amounts.
“Was I that bad?” He asked Karissa quietly, who merely chuckled at him.
“That’s probably not what she wants to talk to you about.”
Newt took a moment to gather himself before walking past the other apprentices as they began to leave the amphitheater. When he reached the bottom, Master O'Meadhra was already sitting on one of the stools with her hands in her lap and motioned to the other which he took quietly.
“Apprentice Tulach,” She took a breath and looked off in the distance for a moment before returning to Newt, “how should I put this?” She asked to no one in particular.
“Put what?” Newt asked with trepidation.
“You have talent Newt, but…” she looked at the mostly empty amphitheater for a moment, “but, not in what you want to pursue.” Newt’s hands balled into fists in his lap, but otherwise remained quiet. “I hate to discourage you, but you are at a critical point in your development when it comes to weaving. The next few years will define the rest of you life and I can’t stand by and watch a bright pupil squander his talents to pursue an unrealistic fantasy.” She scooted her stool forward and grabbed Newt’s right hand.
“You must realize your limitations.” She said holding his large, cold hand in her small, warm palms. Her expression softened as she gazed at her youngest pupil which went unnoticed by Newt who could only look down and try to keep himself from crying. Newt never felt, nor looked as young as he was, but Master O'Meadhra could always make him feel like a child without even trying.
“I must insist that you cease practicing quick weaves and begin the basics of static weaving. It’s not flashy, but every warrior needs their armor. We’re a long way from home, but…” Master O’Meadhra trailed off. They both sat still for a few seconds before Master O’Meadhra pulled her hands back and stood. She finished putting her things away before Newt stood as well, once he stopped feeling the prickling in his eyes and stopped biting his tongue. He put away the stools and gathered his things to leave without looking back at the center of the amphitheater. As he reached the top of the stairs he heard someone begin to walk with him.
“What did she want?” Karissa asked sounding unusually concerned.
“Nothing, drop it.” Newt responded petulantly. They walked in silence to the meal hall for breakfast.
____________________________________________________________________________
The chill set in and the sky faded to twilight far above Newt and Karissa. The two of them sat in a crevice on the cliff face to the north of the Chandelier. They had found the spot during their first month of lectures and frequented it whenever they could. The other apprentices didn’t hate or bully them so much as ignore them completely which Newt and Karissa turned into a mutual ambivalence. Newt finished sharpening his whittling knife and began to resume work on the small eagle carving which he planned to use as a knight once he finished is chess set. He was nearly halfway done with one side. Karissa sat beside him for warmth as she played with her weaving kit.
“Why didn’t Blackthorn mention Pentaclos earlier?” Karissa offhandedly asked. “He led the flanking maneuver that bought time for General Lirum to organize the retreat.” The two had just left another uncomfortable history lecture.
“I’d bet my left foot it’s because his mother was Gaoth or something like that.” Newt said stripping a bit too much wood of with the stroke of his knife.
“Didn’t he massacre a Gaoth village earlier in his career?” Karissa said as she stopped weaving and looked a Newt who was still aggressively whittling.
“Not all Gaoth honor their heritage.” He said frowning. Karissa sighed and began weaving again.
“Are you still upset about what O’Meadhra s-”
“I’m not upset.” Newt said interrupting Karissa.
“Oh, I’m sorry I took your bacon earlier. I didn’t realize how important it was to you.” Karissa joked bumping Newt. Newt sighed dramatically as he felt his anger deflate.
“No, not that. Oh, I know. Blackthorne asked to talk to Sapphira after lecture didn’t he?” Karissa crossed her legs and focussed on her weave.
“I don’t have a thing for her. She’s just…” Newt trailed off.
“Pretty?” Karissa offered.
“No, I mean she is, but not…” Newt let out a sigh of frustration.
“You like her butt?” Karissa teased.
“What no, stop!” He shouted.
“Hair?”
“No!”
“Hands?”
“I’m not, no!” Newt threw his hands down and turned sharply to face Karissa who turned slowly with a worried expression.
“Feet?” Karissa asked hesitantly.
“That’s it!” Newt knocked her over and began to mercilessly tickle her until her flailing knee caught him between the legs and bent him over in pain. Seizing the opportunity, Karissa leapt and caught him in a headlock until his squirming slowed down and she let him catch his breath. Newt was on his back looking up at the few stars that had begun to start shining. He let out yet another sigh, though in this case his sigh was filled with resignation rather than indignation.
“She just better than me.” He said as he turned his head to look at Karissa who was laying against a rock.
“Well, yeah. She is.” Her face began to lighten up, “But even I’m better than you.” She bragged with a cheery smile.
“Yeah, but you’re stupid enough to balance that.” Newt joked back. Receiving a small rock to the head in reply.
“Let’s get diner.” Karissa said as she helped Newt up.
“Alright.” He replied, his gloomy mood thoroughly mollified.
____________________________________________________________________________
As Newt passed the threshold of the dining hall’s large oak doors he immediately felt something was wrong. All the pleasantness with Karissa evaporated as numerous eyes kept glancing at him and Karissa as he made his way to the buffet table. The building was a large room that had been converted from an old armory and now only served to hold tables and chairs.
“Are you noticing the stares too?” Karissa asked quietly beside him, leading the way to the diningware.
“Yeah, a few” He responded. He couldn’t figure out why, but it seemed that some of the older apprentices who he guessed were about to become journeymen were sending infrequent glances their way. By the time he got his plate and silverware he was trying to block out the ominous feeling.
“Anyway, like I was saying, you need to go see the pictograms on the fourteenth tower.” He tried bringing up their previous topic as he served himself sweet yam from a steaming heap, “They actually depict Mac Domhnaill in the battle of…” he trailed off as he saw Karissa making her way to one of the apprentices he saw staring at them earlier. Cursing silently, he put his plate down and tried to catch up with her, but he only managed to make it in time to hear her ask,
“Why are you staring at us?” Karissa said in a demanding tone to an older girl that was staring at her cooked lamb intently. The girl didn’t respond when Newt caught up and put a hand on Karissa’s shoulder and shot her an incredulous expression.
“It’s rude to stare.” she said meeting Newts exasperated gaze with a frown. Karissa looked up and around at the relative silence that filled their half of the hall. After the girl took the momentary distraction to escape, Karissa made her way back to the buffet and grabbed a loaf of bread from a diminishing pile.
“Let’s go eat somewhere else” She said as she began filling her shirt with dry foods. Newt silently relented and grabbed some food and made their way out of the dining hall only to be ambushed by a grinning Principia who was now sitting at a table near the doors.
“I guess a pillbug can’t learn table manners after… Hey!” Principia shouted as Karissa walked past her, ignoring her completely. The two of them walked out of the dining hall without further interruption. Newt wasn’t quite sure what to say so he just continued to follow Karissa to the western side of the Chandelier. He snacked along the way slowly figuring out where they were headed. They made it to the base of the western clock tower and began climbing. It was a simple practiced exercise for them to circumvent the security by climbing an adjacent window on the second story. Though the flimsy lock on the main entrance was hardly securing anything worthwhile in the first place.
The fresh sea air was always a pleasant escape from the warm smell of bird droppings and the two apprentices dangled their feet off the two hundred foot drop with little concern.
“Am I acting weird?” Karissa asked while gazing at the star speckled horizon. Newt took a few moments to respond as he evaluated his friend.
“Do you mean today?” He probed.
“No,” she let out a long sigh, “I just… I can’t really complain about, you know, how they treat us, but I just wish that they would you know…” she said indecisively. Newt didn’t respond, instead looking out toward the sea as well and they continued eat in silence. After they were done Karissa reached up and stretched.
“Let’s get back to-” A massive bang interrupted Karissa and only a second later the shockwave reach the tower causing it to lurch violently. Newt grabbed the side of the arch they were sitting in to keep himself steady. He drew his feet in and held tight until the shaking stopped.
“What was th-” Newt stopped mid question. She was gone. Karissa was gone. Newt was about to call out to her when he hear a distant smack and his stomach inverted. A horrible chill went up his spine and he drew in a shuddered breath.
He scrambled away from the ledge as fast as he could and fell backwards through the windowsill landing on his ass hard. His whole body began to shake and he turned to the pile of bird dropping beside him and vomited the entire meal he had just eaten. He shakily made his way to the staircase and headed down. She couldn’t have fallen right? No, she was just playing a prank on him right? Another wave of nausea overcame him and he dry heaved painfully. He was shivering violently by the time he made his way down to the second story and twisted his ankle when he landed wrong from off the windowsill. He began limping around to the other side of the tower when more explosions and terrible sounds began to emanate from the rest of the Chandelier. Newt ignored them and finally made his way around the edge of the building to see an uneven shape in the dark that could just as easily been a rock, but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t recall how long he stood there for, but the sounds only became louder until another massive explosion shook the clock tower and he instinctively ran away from it. After a few seconds his run turned into a full on sprint from the tower toward the sounds. His eyes burned and his lungs ached but he couldn’t stop running.
He didn’t get far before he ran into a group of people he couldn’t identify in the dark, though it hardly mattered for as soon as he entered their sight they began firing quick weaves at him. Most of them missed and he barely registered it until a wave of force finally caught him and slammed him into a nearby tree. The blow stole his breath and disoriented him. He was almost ready to pass out when he was roughly dragged toward light.
“What should we do with him?” Someone asked as Newt gasped like a fish feeling his vision go dark at the edges.
“He’s that slimy Gat twerk isn’t he.” Another voice responded. The sounded like the appropriate age for apprentices, but whatever was going on he couldn’t divine.
“We use canes to beat dogs.” A third voice, this time a girl’s, said. Newt finally managed to catch his breath just as his vision when dark, only showing fuzzy white outlines of shapes. An older sounding apprentice walked toward him.
“I don’t have a cane, but I found a stick.” He said handing the stick to another. Newt’s vision recovered just in time to see a large branch strike him in the thigh sending a wave of hot pain with it. He screamed as the branch started striking his back as he curled into a ball. Strikes kept coming for long after he could keep count until he heard a scream and the blows stopped. Newt could only hope that a Master had finally come to save him considering he felt ready to die at any moment. More screams accompanied the first and he heard the apprentices surrounding him flee. Groaning, he rolled onto all fours and looked up hopefully, only to stare at a more horrifying sight than he could possibly imagine. Standing the height of two men was something whose outline was the only thing he could make out. White patches of something unidentifiable were splayed all around the clearing that they had dragged him to.
Newt pushed himself backwards landing on his sore tailbone then the creature shifted and then without warning, a huge white mass flew toward him. It branched out like lightning in the air and almost seemed to travel as fast, filling up the majority of his vision. It didn’t immediately reach him, but its momentum carried it far enough to reach Newt’s legs and stuck to him with a cold wet stickiness. Then the pain started with a few pricks where his ankles came in direct contact with his skin, then blossomed into a raging fire. The white mass was spreading into him.
He flailed in an attempt to get away, but the mass moved fast up his legs reaching his groin first. His scream turned into a horrible wail as the mass seeped into his guts. He could feel each and every splitting branch of the mass as it reached his lungs and he was silenced. The pain finally became too much and he was granted the mercy of blackness, only to be brought back from unconsciousness when the mass reached his brain. The pain was lessened now, but he could feel the foreign mass pulsating in his body and reaching out of his skin. He felt his lower body being disassembled as numbness finally took over and he stopped feeling for the last time. Death, seemed to have finally taken him.
The black void then gave way to light as he was thrust towards sensation again. The light increased as well as the rest of his sensations. He began to hear the sound of his wailing scream again when he finally realized that the mass was gone. He continued to writhe in remember agony until he felt someone grab him.
“What’s going on!?” Karissa screamed at him. Karissa was alive. Her presence snapped him back to the present and looked around at the small lecture room. Standing several feet from him was a worried looking Master Germinum.
“What manner of wickedness has befallen you boy?” The Master called, readying his hands to weave. Newt glanced back at Karissa who looked like she was in shock. Despite how much he desired to figure out what happened he felt his dizziness catching up to him.
“You’re alive?” Newt asked trying to look at her but rapidly losing control of his body.
“Newt!” She screamed, though he could barely hear her. “Stay with me!” Finally Newt’s conscious faded fully and take his mind from the unbearable trauma.