The next day Cassio woke up earlier than usual, staring at the sleeping Chase. He then muttered silently, "We'll go back home soon."
He hurriedly took his bath and dressed in a white T-shirt and blue jeans. Cladded around his feet were white sneakers which matched perfectly with his dressing. Surprisingly just like Cassio, the owner of this body had also loved white colour—Cassio could remember vividly. He made way to his wardrobe, took out his white backpack which sat propped against the wall and slung it across his back. As this was the first time the current Cassio was going to the School of Alchemy, he was filled with high expectations about this Magic School.
He hurriedly made his way to the dining where he met Mrs. Damien readying the table for breakfast. For a baffling reason, he felt this woman was actually his real mother.
"Good morning, Mum," he said, forcing a smile across his face. The smile was so wide that he couldn't help but feel awkward. To become the former Cassio who was now dead, he needed to behave like him. And to do this he had to put away his indifferent behaviour!
"Morning," Mrs. Damien beamed a warm smile at him. "How was your night? Had any nightmares?"
"..."
Cassio was momentarily speechless hearing that. But then he remembered that the former owner of the body he was reincarnated in always had nightmares like him.
Too much similarities, Cassio resisted the urge to frown. Then his mind stirred back to the question Mrs. Damien asked him. Surprisingly, he had no dreams of the boundless and mysterious place. Strange.
"I slept perfectly, Mum," Cassio replied. "I had no strange dreams lately."
Mrs. Damien smiled, "I'm happy to hear that. Many people were already advising me to send you to a hospital for mental check-up because you were queer with wild imaginations. If your dreams stops, I'd be glad that you don't need the damn asylum."
"Huh?" Cassio didn't know when the word slipped his mouth. The former owner of this body was queer as well! Things were getting more mysterious with every coincidence.
"Don't think about it too much," Mrs. Damien placed her right hand on Cassio's head in a motherly way. The touch was gentle and calm, feeling Cassio's heart with love. For the first time, he actually felt being loved. It took him all his will to prevent himself from crying or he would have erupted into tears.
"Yes, Mum," Cassio agreed. "Right now I need to think about making high marks in class and graduate soon."
"Graduate to Grade 11?" Mrs. Damien raised her left eyebrow. Then she added, "Never mind, never mind."
Without saying another word, she dashed to the kitchen to ready the breakfast for the morning.
Cassio used this moment to observe his environment and then made a remark, "My current family seem to be very rich and also loving."
After some moments, Mrs. Damien returned with a tray of cookies and mugs of milk. She placed the tray on the dining table and sat down opposite Cassio.
A sweet aroma wafted the atmosphere, penetrating Cassio's olfactory receptors. He gulped a mouthful of saliva as he guessed the flavours in the cookies. Vanilla, sugar, and milk—a delicious and sweet combination. He quickly took his spoon and scooped into one of the cookies. It was soft and soggy, falling right into the spoon. He ate the cookie, closing his eyes. The taste made his mouth to water as it was too sweet with a high proportion of vanilla and sugar. He chewed on it, the flavour spreading to his throat.
"Just like you like it," Mrs. Damien said as she watched Cassio eat. Then she began eating too.
Just like I like it? Heh, finally we don't have something in common, Cassio couldn't help but sneer inwardly at the former owner of his body. He had never eaten such cookies before, so it couldn't be considered his favorite food.
"Mum, you always make delicious food and I end up having running stomach," Cassio made a humorous remark. Of course, Mrs. Damien laughed and said, "You're always so funny with your remarks."
He was funny while I'm stygian, Cassio remarked inwardly. But I'm not actually gloomy.
"You have a lot of time to finish the food," he heard her say. "So you better eat gently or you'd choke."
Cassio's face turned pale in embarrassment. He had been eating quickly all this while because he had not eaten something this delicious in his entire life. In order to hide his embarrassment, he grabbed one of the mugs and drank the milk in it. In no time he had gulped down the whole liquid.
"You have such an appetite today," Mrs. Damien was surprised. Although Cassio loved milk cookies, he never ate as much as he did today—he always ate a little.
Cassio's lips twitched as he realized that he didn't remember that the former Cassio didn't have such an appetite. In fact, he didn't recover some of the former Cassio's memories.
Damn it, he refuted himself. I'm Cassio and there's nothing like the former or present Cassio.
"The Principal of your school personally congratulated me yesterday. He said that you are very brilliant, among the top ten most intelligent student in you grade."
"But I'm at the bottom of the top ten and I'm not even among the top fifty of the whole school," Cassio said.
"Eh? But you're brilliant," Mrs. Damien said. "And the Principal personally congratulated me."
"He's just being polite," Cassio said as he stood up. "Thank you Mum."
"Huh? You're going to school this early?" Mrs. Damien inquired. "What are you going to do at school this early?"
"Quiet and early mornings are good for thinking," Cassio said. Without bothering the explain what he meant, he dashed out of the house.
"Won't you wait for me to drive you to school?" Mrs. Damien asked but Cassio was already gone. Her eyes narrowed as she said, "Strange."
Just then, Cassio rushed back into the house and said, "Remember to feed Chase."
"Chase?"
"My golden retriever, you know. He's my companion," Cassio explained to his mother.
"Uh-kay," she replied with a puzzled look. "I'll feed him."
Cassio smiled and then walked out of the house. When he stepped outside, what he saw was a large expanse of land covered with green lawn, orchards and gardens. A path made of red bricks ran from the house, through the vegetations. It was at this moment that Cassio recalled that this was actually a manor—a large manor!
He stared back at the large and beautiful manor building which was painted in white and then at the garage beside it. In the garage were two cars. One was a blue sedan and the other was a grey SUV. Seeing this, he couldn't help but smile at the thought of him being from a rich family.
I think I should learn how to drive, Cassio couldn't help but conceive the thought. He then walked away from the manor building, going outside the manor. He stepped into the pedestrian lane of the busy highway and began walking to the School of Alchemy.
His house and school were located in Greenville Street and were only kilometers apart. It would take him about 30 minutes to reach his school.
He walked along the concrete pavement, his hands tucked in his pockets. He couldn't help but marvel about how similar this world was to his previous world in terms of technological development. In most transmigration novels he read, the protagonists were usually reincarnated in a medieval era and not in the modern era. This made him wonder what kind of world he was in.
Cars zoomed past him, horning and honking as their engines revved in a manner which was fascinating to the ears. Several pedestrians strolled to and fro on the pedestrian lanes on both sides of the highway, all of them in a hurry. A few greeted him but he didn't recognize them as he had not recollected some of his memories. He could only nod and reply, "Morning."
An environment which was different from the others came to his view. It was covered in lawns and orchards, a large path running between them. On both sides of the path were two statures of opened palms.
"Hands of Arcane," Cassio said to himself, remembering the symbol of the most powerful orthodox organization in the whole of the Southern Continent. The moment he stepped into the environment, he couldn't help but have a feeling of serenity and calmness. And at that moment, he felt himself being gazed upon but couldn't discern who or what was gazing at him.
After walking along the path for some minutes, he arrived at a land covered with only green grasses which seemed like carpets. On this land were six buildings, five of them surrounded by walls. The middle building had a large stature of an opened palm atop it with the inscriptions: Hands of Arcane.This building had six floors and was very large.
Cassio couldn't help but show his surprise as he stared at the organization's headquarter. He could see several sorcerers walking in and out, all of them cladded in white robes and dispelling powerful auras.
The other five buildings were the Magic Schools buildings. Trusting his memory, he walked towards one of them and approached its gates which were wide open. Cassio couldn't help but frown at how the sorcerers were confident enough to leave the gates open, as if their security wasn't their concern. What if someone with malicious intentions infiltrated the school?
He scoffed and made his way into the large, three floored building. He soon found Grade 10 and walked into the large classrooms. He was the only one around and that gave him a sense of relief.
"School of Alchemy," he said silently as he closed his eyes and inhaled the cold air in the classroom.
In the following hours, students began trooping into the class and soon, the lesson hours began.
A tall and lanky man walked into the classroom. He was dressed in a black tuxedo with a pair of black, glittering shoes to match. His eyes were grey and his hair as black as coal. He was calm and serene, dispelling a scholarly aura. He was none other than Mr. Garrick, the Grade 10 Teacher.
Cassio couldn't help but become mildly surprised that in this world, each grade had only one teacher. And Cassio was more thrilled when he discovered that the only subjects he would be learning was Particles and Matter! He didn't count the Ancient Tongue as a subject as it was compulsory for everyone who wanted to become a sorcerer.
"Good morning, Mr. Garrick," the whole class stood up as they greeted.
"Good morning," Mr. Garrick said, sizing the 70 students up. "Sit down."
After seeing that they were all seated, Mr. Garrick said, "Today we'll be talking about Magical Bodies."
The whole class became serene as the students paid close attention to what the teacher was saying. Some wore excited faces, some were calm and others were puzzled. Of course, there were some students who didn't pay attention.
"A Magical Body is the nascent soul of a sorcerer," Mr. Garrick begun teaching. "It is the fusion of the soul, spirit and mana to become a single entity. For Low Array sorcerers, it is just made up of magical and spiritual energies brimming with life. In one word, a Magical Body is the Life Force of a sorcerer."
Huh? Cassio was puzzled hearing that. The fusion of the soul, spirit and mana results in the creation of Magical Bodies? Does that mean the sorcerers do not have souls and spirits but Magical Bodies?
"No person can perform magic without the Magical Body as he or she possesses energies which are not in harmony. When the energies inherent in a person becomes harmonious, a Magical Body is created," Mr. Garrick continued, shocking all the students as he said that. Although they had heard of Magical Bodies before, they didn't expect that they would be as complicated as this. They had thought that once spells are mastered by ordinary humans, they would be able to perform magic.
"Thus, by knowing spells without having a Magical Body, a person will never be a sorcerer," Mr. Garrick said. He stopped as he saw one of the students raise up his right hand. It was Cassio. This was the same kid who never participated in class activities. He was surprised because of this but his expression remained normal.
"If a sorcerer dies, it's his Magical Body that will ascend to Paradise?" Cassio stood up and asked. Of course he received the stares of all the students. Some were filled with puzzle, others with indifference and a very few with hatred. This very few were a gang of notorious bullies who always had problems with him.
"Exactly," Mr. Garrick said, impressed with Cassio's intelligent question. Then he continued, "For people with the uncanny abilities to affect the spirit and soul, it won't work for sorcerers. To affect a sorcerer, the attacker must have mastered abilities to affect the Magical Body."
Hmm, Cassio said. He scribbled what the teacher was saying into his notebook and listened intently. For the first time in his life, he was not lost in himself.
"From Grade one to twelve, students will learn about spells but cannot use them if they have not created their Magical Bodies within them," Mr. Garrick said. "Magical Bodies exist in Magical Worlds which are individual planes of existence in the Astral Plane."
Individual planes of existence in the Astral Plane, Cassio pondered on this. Magical Worlds.
"In the next class I'm going to further emphasize on this," Mr. Garrick said, drawing the class to an end.
A smile nearly lit up on Cassio's face as he watched the teacher leave. He was filled with excitement about Magical Bodies. He wanted to try creating his Magical Body when he got home! He wanted to try his luck!