"I hope you don't mind I was listening in on your conversation. We may not be able to help with your wind affinity, However the Dalifield high school has had experience with dark affinities." Mr. Carter said, trying to diffuse the situation, noticing my facial expressions.
"many might not know this, but darkness is usually the last affinity an emperor class mage would choose to learn. Even then five other emperors would have to be present to make sure all goes well." He continued as he gave out information should already know.
The last dark emperor-class mage in this kingdom fell from grace quickly after it was found that he had some motives that were not liked. He disappeared, and new policies were put in place quickly for those who were to try to reach the emperor class.
"What you were able to do was nigh impossible, I can see a bright future ahead for you." He said, speaking of controlling the rage that the dark affinity brought forth.
Mr.Carter continued on for a while, filling me in on everything. While he did this, I managed to see through him clearly. It was as if he was barely trying to hide it.
'The way he talks seems rehearsed, treating me with such kindness, and speaking of the future. He is playing it up trying to raise my hopes. He looks empty, it is as if I'm listening to a recording that doesn't bother changing up the script once in a while.'
I was right. In the end, Mr. Carter wouldn't end up speaking to me all too often, forgetting my name at every meeting up until my senior year.
'Speaking to this man is tiring, it's the opposite feeling of when your with your friends, it makes it harder to smile and makes me want to just fall asleep.'
After a while, Mr.Carter finished his monologue and handed me a small book.
"This here will help you with your dark affinity, it's not much but it's the best we can do. I hope you can make good use of it. Oh, and make sure to return it in a 3 months the amount that we have are limited."
I took the book and flipped through it. 'Yeah right, it was typed on a computer they more than likely have several copies, and probably a digital copy.' I thought before putting it down at my side.
'Seems like them finding out about my ability is more trouble than it was worth. There is such a strange aversion to dark magic that it shows in just the available tome.'
I had seen some of my peers, who had been known to have their affinities awakened, flipping through their manuals. Even the most simple elements were multiple times larger than this… this, "book" that barely had ten paragraphs.
The day all knowledge is free, true prosperity will come.
"Thank you I'll be sure to learn it all and make good use of it." I said, my mood rising as I realized that he was finally going to leave.
"Good I'll be on my way then, I'll see you around."
He left, and Joseph walked back over.
"If you train just like you did with your wind affinity, you will be just fine. I'll have to go now, if you ever need anything just ask." He said while looking down at a device.
'It seems he has somewhere to be.' I thought before turning to the window, the setting sun visible. 'A busy man.'
With that, I was alone again. With a sigh, I lay down, and wait for the doctor to return and release me. The sun would still be up for a few hours. I read through the book a few times.
After leaving the hospital, I headed home and carefully got closer. Everyone inside was living normally.
'Huh, he really didn't tell them?'
My mother and her boyfriend were just watching TV, nobody had a look of concern on their face.
I went straight to my room as normal whenever no one was looking. Time to see how this will work, I thought.
'Meditate in the darkness, hearing nothing at first but slowly listening to its whispering.' I recited what the book had said. There seemed to be very little sense to be made from the book, but from what I experienced, I was able to see a little truth peaking through the words it did have in it.
After turning off the light, I sat down on the floor, eyes closed, and let my mind drift freely for the first time in a while. At first, there was nothing, just thoughts. I sat watching what my mind was creating. Faces of people I know would show up, then places I had been. When my mind finally got tired of roaming after A unknown amount of time, I felt a change.
I could feel a voice calling out to me, ready to tell its story. I felt my mind getting pulled deeper into some other place as I started to see A new world.
It was an empty clearing. Whoever's eyes I was watching through, started moving. I felt things that this person felt, although dulled and almost echoing. I felt his passion as he chopped into a tree with an axe. With every swing, I felt myself understanding it more and more.
Time sped up as I started to question what I was watching this for, and a cabin appeared. He looked over and took a woman's hand, and led her to the cabin. I could feel the joy he felt when he saw her and the pride he felt when she smiled at the house he had built for them. Together they built a garden, furnished the house, and created a home. I saw a portrait of the two on the wall, a built man with black hair and brown eyes stared back, the man had black hair. In the portrait, the man had a smile adorned with dimples on each side and was joyful. Next to him, the woman was staring at him. She had brown hair and brown eyes and was just as full of joy.
It was peaceful and perfect, but somehow I felt grief, as I sensed the future. Their future.
Time sped up again, they were much older and nearing the end of their lifespan. The woman had died, he felt grief, and I felt it too; he wanted nothing but to join her, and I understood him. He sat in the chair, for a long time. His soul felt like it was split in two; he felt empty.
This feeling was so familiar, and a memory came to my mind as I felt a wave wash over me.
He spoke often wondering why… why death had taken her from him. As his story ended, the dream faded, and another one came, not stopping as I was pulled along for the ride.
This time some familiarity was seen as I saw through the eyes of someone else. This person was a man who was idle and looking into his reflection in a puddle on a stone brick road. There was a bit of shock as I saw that he was very similar to the previous man, with black hair and brown eyes. even the dimples that appeared when he gave himself a reassuring smile were similar.
They seemed to be from different times but could be argued to be related in some way. Perhaps they were.
He patted down his dirty suit and called for a carriage. The man was well-built. His hands were calloused and strong despite their more rugged look. When he finally left the carriage, he was in front of a large house. The man calmed himself for a moment, he was incredibly nervous despite the appearance he was outwardly giving. He walked to the door and knocked. After a few minutes, a man answered the door. 'Hello Mr.???? I have come to ask for your daughters hand in marriage.'
I felt his words echo clearly for the first time. Somehow, every other moment of words seemed to be transferred through understanding rather than actual sound, but these were heard as if they were more important by some standard.
The man smiled brightly when he saw a woman coming towards them. She smiled as well. She had heard what he had said. She was the same as the other woman brown hair and eyes, and just as beautiful.
'History seems to repeat itself,' I thought as I watched on.
The woman's father, however, denied his request.
'Maybe not,' I corrected myself as I focused a bit more.
'The city lord's son is already looking for her hand in marriage, I wouldn't give it to you.'
'I love her, doesn't she have a say in this? please sir give me a chance.'
'I wasn't asking.'
The father closed the door.
He turned and walked away. I felt sadness just as strong as the other man who had lost his wife, but there was another feeling which could be described as bitterness. He walked down the road for a while before he reached a house that looked like it had gone through a bad fire.
'It's been a long time. I didn't think I would ever come back, I hated this place.' The man said to himself. He was just speaking to himself, but I could tell that he was also as if he was speaking as if there was someone listening. He could've just muttered it under his breath, but he spoke as if another was present.
He kicked a plank of wood that was lying on the ground and kept on walking.
He walked up to a church. 'We used to meet here everyday.' He said, his eyes blurring. He had prayed a lot, asking for the strength to carry through, but now he knew that he was being laughed at.
Years of his life were gone, and in ten more years, he wouldn't be able to carry on. He would be well past his prime. He had given it all of his life force. He gave a soft sigh while saying that he had even suspected that this would happen, but even knowing it was a possibility didn't soften the blow.
'Goodbye.' He said while wiping away the moisture from his eyes. I felt it again, that wave. It was a change. A change in mindset.
I myself had felt it many times before. Every time something painful happened, rather than look for ways to change it, I would just let the pain fall. I always felt so helpless and would think that there was no way to change what had happened, and so, I don't know, it stopped hurting when I didn't focus on it. I instead felt empty, as if I lost part of myself when this happened, as if something should've happened or should've been felt.
The man walked down the road for a while, not knowing where he was going. The last thing holding him here was torn from him. He would probably go to a small town and live a quiet life.
I paid attention as he began narrating his story, outlining what had happened.
He told me of how he fell in love, and how he spent the last fifteen years working nonstop for this one moment. And yet, here he was wearing a suit he never dreamed he could afford, wanting nothing more than to tear it off. At this moment, the suit symbolized the futility of all his hard work. Years were spent, knowing that he would return and that they would hold hands once again, but before he had the chance, the door was shut in front of his face.
A passing carriage was coming up behind him, so he moved over, but it stopped next to him. He looked up and saw who it was. There she was, at the front, with a hood over her head, but he knew it was her.
New emotions flooded him as he had already understood the situation before she even spoke up.
'I don't want to live a life married to a man I don't love, I don't care what my father says.'
She had tears in her eyes. He climbed up next to her, and she hugged him. 'I'm going far away. Will you come with me?'
'Of course I will. Why would I not?' He said, clearing the somber tone from his face and a bright smile replacing it. He still felt terrible, but he wouldn't show her that because he could tell that them being torn apart hurt her just as much as him.
The two traveled far away, ready to settle down. A few weeks later, a small group could be seen approaching the carriage.
The man smiled at the group. He recognized them as his close friends. He was ready to throw his old life behind him, and yet here they were.
He could tell something was up, though, as they all had a serious look on their faces. The three of them had known him for a long time. Both ????? And ?????? Had grown up with him and ???? Was ??????'s wife.
Names were there, yet I could not hear them. Maybe it was that the dead were long forgotten, or were doomed to be left to the void. I could only shake off those thoughts before continuing on.
'Im afraid we've come bearing bad news. He then pulled out a sheet of paper. ?????? Sighed, 'There is a bounty on my head.'
'We're afraid so, but we know you two as soon as we heard what was being spread around we came. You've done a lot for us ?????? Let us help you. I think I can speak for myself and the rest of use when I say, we wouldn't be able to live with ourselves knowing an innocent man had died.'
I watched as the two climbed into the carriage, the horses pulling it along until they would find a place safe enough to settle down.
Chapter 10.5
'He is always so serious. Trying to get magic when he isn't with his friends.' Kate thought before pushing my locked door open.
It never truly locked. The knob just wouldn't turn while the door would open with a little force.
'Even now, he is still doing it. He doesn't even hear me coming in and tell me to get out and knock next time.' She thought with a frown.
"Alex." whispered as she got closer.
There was no reaction from myself as things were going on elsewhere at the moment.
"Dad and me are going to visit our grandpa and grandma, he told me to ask you if you wanted to go." She asked and got no response.
"Okay, I will tell him you said you don't want to go." She said while turning back and leaving, not bothering to shut the door.