For the second time that day, Tiberius experienced his body go weightless as the blinding white light forced him to close his eyes. He flailed his arms about, trying in vain to grab anything to center himself. Luckily, the light disappeared just as quickly as it came and Tiberius was once again caught in gravity's strong pull.
His body slammed into the ground, causing an alarming crackling noise from his back. The air left his lungs violently, and Tiberius could do nothing but groan in pain for a few moments. He opened his mouth and tried to breathe in, but could not. From a bystanders point of view, he looked like a fish desperately trying to breathe air.
Finally, after what seemed like a few minutes, but was probably only a few seconds, Tiberius gasped for air and felt the sweet relief of breathing again. He simply lay there, breathing with his eyes closed. Tiberius rolled over onto his side and pushed himself up off the floor. After a bit of struggle, he got himself to his feet somehow. He put a hand to his back and let out another groan of pain.
Son of a bitch that hurt, I haven’t had the wind knocked out of me like that since fifth grade. I forgot how much this sucks.
While Tiberius was in his own world of pain, that strange feminine being whom Tiberius had been abused by spoke.
“Godric, make room for one more student at Sapientia University.”
Next to the door, a man dressed in purple robes bowed before speaking.
“As you wish, Goddess Wisdom.”
Godric, the man in purple robes, then raised his head and gave a quick glance at Tiberius before taking his leave. Tiberius, who was leaning against the wall trying to recover from his fall, caught sight of Godric’s glance. Before Tiberius could speak, Godric had already left.
Tiberius looked at his surroundings with confusion, as they were now in an entirely different location. Just a few moments ago he had been in an endless ocean of grass and sunshine, but now he was in a candlelit room with a ceiling miles above him. The west and east walls to his right and left were lined with bookshelves that travelled all the way to the ceiling of a seemingly endless room. Piled up in the corners of the room were more books, trinkets, and other curiosities. Seated in the middle of the room was a desk. On top of this desk, multiple scrolls, stone tablets, and books were strewn about half-hazardly. The back wall of the room was vacant of any bookshelves, but it did have a stained glass window that depicted a humanoid figure with pure white hair holding a scroll extended out to people below it. The people who were receiving the scroll were on their hands and knees, almost as if they were worshipping.
To Tiberius, it looked like something that belonged in a church or museum. Tiberius gazed at that person and thought to himself.
White hair . . . Godric called her ‘Goddess Wisdom’ . . . the scroll . . .
Slowly, Tiberius pierced it together and shook his head.
Wisdom? That’s her name? And ‘goddess’? That seems a little presumptuous.
Tiberius jumped in surprise as a voice suddenly spoke right next to his ear.
“It is natural for me to be called a goddess. I have enlightened intelligent species for thousands of years and lived for thousands more. It is logical, not presumptuous.”
Tiberius turned around and looked at ‘Wisdom’. She had a blank expression on her face as she gazed up at the stained glass. Despite her expression that displayed the same amount of emotion as a rock, her looks still made Tiberius stare unconsciously. It was a natural reaction for the eighteen-year-old Tiberius. When Wisdom suddenly switched her gaze to meet Tiberius’s, he snapped out of his trance and gathered himself before responding to her.
“I think having a painting of yourself in your own office is always a little presumptuous. Also, don’t lie to me. No one can live for thousands of years.”
Tiberius scowled at the one who called herself Wisdom and crossed his arms. Wisdom nodded to herself and continued.
“That is a logical conclusion to come to with the current information you have. Unfortunately for you, there is a lot of information about this world you currently lack.”
“And just what information do I lack?”
“You lack a basic understanding of magic and everything linked to it.”
“I don’t care whether or not these guys worship you. Lady, ‘magic’ doesn’t exist.”
“Then explain how you came here, to this room. Were you not just somewhere else?”
“ . . .”
Tiberius was silent.
“Explain to me how you destroyed that structure out in the plains.”
“ . . .”
Tiberius was silent.
“Explain to me how this is possible.”
Wisdom held up her hand, and from it, sprang a white light. The light danced in the air like a flame, before curving in on itself, making the shape of a circle. Then, Wisdom closed her hand into a fist. The white light instantly vanished.
Tiberius put both of his hands on his head and was silent. Minutes passed by in such a silence as Tiberius stared at nothing. His eyes held a vacant look to them. When he spoke again, his voice broke as he spoke, like a middle school boy going through puberty.
“I don’t understand. How did this . . .”
Tiberius looked lost. His eyes began to get a bit teary as the full weight of the situation came crashing down on him. Wisdom stared blankly at Tiberius.
“It is unwise to wallow in despair.”
Tiberius raised his head up to meet Wisdom’s gaze. Then, he sneered at her and spoke in a voice dripping with menace.
“You can go stuff it, ok? I don’t need your divine guidance, Wisdom, or whatever the hell that guy called you.”
Wisdom stared at Tiberius with knowing eyes and responded.
“If you want to get home, I suggest you first center yourself. A calm mind makes rational decisions.”
Tiberius suddenly stood up with eyes full of fire and threw his arms up to his sides as he raised his voice.
“If I want to get home? First of all, where the fuck even am I? Second, you’re not making it any easier by teleporting me to your damn library, lady!”
Wisdom raised her hand and tried to calm Tiberius down.
“Please calm yourself.”
“Oh I’m sorry, Am I supposed to stay calm when I suddenly get teleported twice? Am I supposed to stay calm when I missed my opportunity to go pro?”
“Tiberius Watson, calm down before you break someth-”
A vein bulged on Tiberius’s forehead as he got even angrier.
“You know what I was going to do before I was forced here? I was going to scrim against cloud nine. CLOUD NINE! One of the greatest esports organizations since esports became popularized! I was going to have a chance to show them what I can do, but no! The universe decided differently, and now I’m here in fuck knows where! So I'm sorry if I seem A LITTLE PISSED OFF.”
Red lightning coursed around Tiberius. Tiberius’s eyes shifted from a green amber to crimson red. His whole body became infused with magic, just like before. In his right hand, Wisdom felt him unknowingly summon that crimson weapon. Despite his raised voice and aggressive body language, Wisdom was filled with nothing but pity. She pointed her palm at Tiberius and apologized.
“I’m sorry, but at the moment you are a danger to everyone and everything around you. Please forgive me.”
Tiberius didn’t get the chance to respond. He fell to the ground, fast asleep. His lightning was extinguished easily like a small match in the rain. For Wisdom, it was as easy as breathing. To her, he was nothing but an upset child throwing a tantrum.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
As Tiberius hit the ground, his unconscious body relaxed, releasing that crimson handgun. It clattered onto the floor a few feet away. Wisdom stared at it, and waved her hand at it. It levitated off the ground, and at Wisdom’s beckoning hand, it slowly came closer to her. Wisdom studied it, and thought to herself.
Coccino Dominae mors . . . I see. I’ll have to ask Charity for help then.
----------------------------------------
When Tiberius awoke, it was already the next day. In his morning grogginess, he forgot about what had happened. He laid there, enjoying himself for a moment, when he realized something.
Wait . . . my ceiling isn't black.
Tiberius rolled to the side because he realized he wasn’t in his house. Instead, he seemed to be in a rather spacious room. The bed he was sleeping on was in the corner of the room, while the door was located at the opposite corner. Next to him was a black and gold colored night stand, which had a small potted plant on top of it. The plant was similar to a small tree, only instead of green leaves, it had purple ones.
Taking his sights off that strange purple plant, his eyes drifted to a dresser located on the wall adjacent to the nightstand and his bed. It was rather large, about a meter long and two meters tall. It was similarly colored black and gold.
Where am I?
Tiberius thought to himself such a question. Unfortunately for him, he remembered exactly where he was. In that instant of remembrance, Tiberius threw off his bed sheets and bolted to his feet. He rubbed the tired feeling out of his eyes and rushed to the door, and threw it open. Standing in front of it was a very startled maid. Her eyes widened and she took a step backwards in surprise. Tiberius grabbed her by the shoulders and spoke frantically.
“Where is the nearest exit?”
“What? I don’t know what-!”
Tiberius released her as soon as he realized he couldn’t speak her language and raced down the hall. He didn’t care where it took him, as long as it was away from that crazy lady who called herself a goddess. Luckily for him, it was a straight shot to the stairs. He basically sprinted down the stairs, before barreling out of the first door he saw. Then, the whole world opened up to him. In front of him, three buildings could be seen, and one dome-like structure. Between these buildings were small miniature parks, with a path weaving through foliage, numerous huge trees, and marble benches. It looked like a college had been put directly into a fairy tale forest. It was breathtaking, to the point where Tiberius stopped sprinting for a second out of pure astonishment.
Only for a second, though. He quickly took his eyes off the campus and scanned the area for an exit. Although the whole thing was walled off, he spotted a pearly white gate off in the distance, and began to sprint for it. Nearby were some very confused people in robes, each of them staring at him as he zipped by. Tiberius didn’t care. He wasn’t someone who was just going to willingly get kidnapped. That crazy ladies' words reverberated inside his head.
‘Your mine now. Do not resist’ Like hell I won't resist!
As Tiberius thought such things, he increased his speed. His muscles began to burn, but he didn’t care.
Come on! Faster!
The pearly white gates of freedom were no more than a hundred meters away. As he frantically tried to go faster, the burning in his muscles started to fade. Before he knew it, his speed had increased drastically. He ran just as fast as Usain Bolt, flying across the field, his legs clad in red energy.
Unfortunately, standing at the gate were three men in robes. They all three turned to look at him, but it was too late. Before they had time to react, Tiberius had already reached the speed of a cheetah at max speed. When Tiberius actually reached the gate, he slammed into it with his right foot, and pushed upwards. His forward momentum was transferred into upwards momentum, and in an instant he had cleared the gate. He soared high above the gate, giving him a few seconds to observe the area around him. As Tbierius hit the apex of his jump, he saw the huge crowd of people below him. He was so intent on escaping that he didn’t even recognize most of these people weren’t even human. Tiberius didn’t care. He was only thinking about escape. That's it. While he was falling back towards the gate, he heard a brief conversation behind him.
“Who the hell is that?”
“Oh dear, how did he get out? Ben, Heco, hold down the fort. I'll be back in a minute.”
YOU’LL NEVER CATCH ME!
It had just been a glow before, but now full blown scarlet lightning arced and contorted around his feet, eventually cladding his legs in a thunderous electricity. The sound of it zapping and crackling filled the air, eventually making everyone look at him with stunned silence. Tiberius’s pupils dilated, his eyes burning with determination and fury. Everyone here could feel his intense magical power, but before they could react, Tiberius slammed the gates with his feet and launched himself forwards like a bullet. He was nothing but a red blur to everyone but Jacile, who just sighed deeply before yelling over his shoulder.
“Scratch that, might take me longer than a minute!”
Jacile muttered to himself a quick incantation while walking forward. His eyes glowed a golden radiance, like little suns.
The world bends before the might of knowledge,
The space around Jacile began to distort and collapse in on itself. Then, Jacile was engulfed in a golden light and disappeared. No one even noticed, as all eyes were on Tiberius as he zipped away like a red thunderbolt.
Tiberius completely launched himself over the whole crowd, and crashed onto the roof of a house. The wood and tiled roof groaned under the force of impact, but impressively still held. Tiberius would have kept running, but with a bright flash of sunshine, a man in purple robes had appeared a few feet from Tiberius. He flashed a smile and held out his hand.
“Hello, my name is-”
Unfortunately, Tiberius didn’t let him finish. Like a wild animal, Tiberius launched himself forwards and reeled his right arm back for a devastating right hook, but it never landed. Tiberius’s punch met only air, because that man in purple robes had side stepped his punch with inhuman speed.
The force generated from his fist caused shockwaves to be generated, blowing the man's hair out of his face, giving Tiberius his first good look at Jaciles face. He looked to be in his forties, with tanned, slinky wrinkled skin. A pair of dinky glasses sat snuggly on his nose, just below his eyes. His eyebrows were sharp, and his ears reached all the way to the top of his head. On that head, blackish-grey hair was tied up in a ponytail that reached down to his back. His hair was parted in the middle, with messy bangs that fell down on the sides of his face. All in all, he looked like a well mannered scholar who had forgotten to take a shower and still looked great.
When Tiberius met his eyes, there was not an ounce of fear.
Under normal circumstances, Tiberius would have been afraid, but in this state of hyper focus, he one mindedly pushed forwards towards his goal of escaping. In such a mental state, Tiberius didn’t even think twice about drawing his most powerful weapon. It could be that Tiberius, in this moment of time, didn’t even regard Jacile as another person. That is to say, Jacile was nothing but an obstacle to be removed.
Tiberius pointed his crimson handgun, which had become covered in scarlet light, and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Jacile smiled apologetically and finally spoke his first sentence.
“Sorry, but I can’t allow you to use that. Wisdom already told me about you, and had some counter measures in place in the event that you got a little rowdy.”
Jacile held up his left hand, where a small rose colored diamond could be seen. It glimmered like a star, radiating nothing but an intoxicating feeling of kindness and love. Unbeknownst to Tiberius, this was a stone that Wisdom herself requested from the Ascended one of love, and great friend of Wisdom, Charity.To humans, the only emotion stronger than hate was love. Thus, the only way to calm Tiberius down was through the use of Charity magic. Tiberius fell to one knee as a wave of exhaustion fell over him. Tiberius’s pupils contracted back to normal size. The lightning that previously roared and crackled like a whip was now dying down to a small sputter.
With a clear mind to think about all he had done, Tiberius mumbled an apology to Jacile. He couldn’t bear to look the man in his eyes now.
“Sorry for trying to kill you, I don’t know what came over me.”
Tiberius closed his eyes and for a second was alone with his thoughts while he waited for Jacile to respond.
Oh god, what have I done . . . I just want to go home, why did I almost murder someone? What the actual fuck is wrong with me?! I don’t understand-
“Heh, please forgive me for laughing but you really remind me of myself when I was younger.”
Tiberius opened his eyes wide in surprise. There was no scolding, or humiliation, he just laughed as Tiberius confessed to trying to kill him. Tiberius stared at this man who had just laughed at such a serious situation. Upon seeing his gaze, Jacile smiled and took a knee next to Tiberius.
“Don’t worry, I was the same way at first. Wisdom saw that I had potential, and took me into the academy when I was nine. Unfortunately, I had my family that needed me . .. and well, it's a long story, but I also tried to escape like you. Although, I didn’t even make it to the gates. You’re one fast fella, yaknow?”
Tiberius couldn’t help but get caught up in his friendly atmosphere. Not only was that charity magic affecting his mood, but Jacile’s positivity was infectious. Tiberius let out a quiet laugh. Jacile discretely picked up that crimson handgun with two fingers and spoke to Tiberius once more.
“Unfortunately, I can’t allow you to have this anymore, as I'm sure you can understand.”
Tiberius looked at Jacile with confusion.
“Of course I understand, but . . . how can you be so carefree? I just tried to murder you and your acting like nothing happened!”
Jacile looked at him and shook his head from side to side.
“I was told by Wisdom that you're a smart young man, but you lack knowledge of magic in its entirety. I see that as true now. Its obvious that this thing, whether you realize it or not, is someone effecting your emotions in a negative way. That’s why I’ll be taking it, until you can discipline your emotions and control yourself.”
Normally, Tiberius would be above making such excuses for himself. Tiberius beleived that he was at responsible for the actions he had committed, but with everything that had happened today, he could no longer reassure himself. The more he remembered, the more he became convinced that what Jacile was saying was true. It made sense, but it was so completely different from what Tibierus thought possible that even with all the evidence out in front of him, it was still hard to digest. Jacile offered Tiberius a hand and spoke in a serious manner.
“I’ll make you a deal, Tiberius. If you attend this academy until you learn how to control yourself so that you're not a danger to those around you, I’ll do everything in my power to get you home.”
Tiberius looked up at Jacile, and hesitated. He stared at that man's extended hand for a moment, and thought to himself.
Just what the hell has my life become.
Tiberius accepted Jaciles hand and stood up. Jacile patted Tiberius on the back.
“Good lad. Now, let me show you around the famed Sapientia Campus! As the world's center of learning, I can guarantee that we’ll have something that you're interested in!”
Jacile quickly made his way down from the building in a jolly manner while talking over his shoulder. Tiberius sighed to himself, as he was exhausted from the chase. Sticking his hands in his pocket, Tiberius continued after Jacile.