" BOOOM!!" The force of the explosion sent Rumius stumbling several feet back and momentarily losing his balance. When He looked up, he was both stunned and suddenly horrified to see shards of glass levitating just mere centimetres away from his face. The shack was shaking, trembling even and a part of Rumius half expected it to crumble in that very instant.
' What…??' Rumius thought, shaken.
" Tch." . With a flick of her wrist, Maman sent the shards of glass flying away, embedding them into the bark of a nearby tree with a thud.
Rumius looked to his mother as she walked up to the door and KICKED it open. A terrible, rotting smell emanated from the inside that made Rumius instinctively gag and avert his gaze. . .Somehow, he felt as if the smell was somewhat familiar, or at least something just as bad.
" ISADORA!!!" His mother roared, so loudly and terribly terrifying that Rumius jumped.
When there was only silence, Maman shouted again.
A moment later, an individual emerged from the darkness of the hut. The realisation struck Rumius of how ill-lit the hut was. There was basically no light inside. Rumius didn't particularly have a problem with that. Only that it was early afternoon! And the deh's windows were busted open!
" Yes, yes, yes, what?"
The voice came from a pissed off looking lady who emerged coughing from the abyssal darkness of the house.
She was wearing a pair of thick, round spectacles that reminded Rumius of an oversized pair of lab safety glasses. Her face was scrunched into a scowl as she looked up at Reverie.
" What do you want?"
His Maman didn't respond, but instead turned out of the way to point at him. Rumius really, really wished that she hadn't done that.
" It's been two years, remember?" She folded her arms over her chest, her face carrying an annoyed expression. " I'm here to deliver on my part of the deal."
' Deal? What deal?' Rumius stared, wide eyed, at his mother.' An uncomfortable feeling was settling in the pit of his stomach.
The woman called Isadora fixed him with a puzzled look for a moment. Then seemingly in an instant, her face lit up. She tore the glasses off her face and heedlessly tossed them to the floor. Rumius's heart jumped to his throat as she charged at him like a wild animal, with madness in her eyes, curly ginger hair billowing like a massive plume of infernal smoke.
The fingernails were the last straw.
Rumius shrieked as he scrambled to his feet. The burning feeling came so naturally that he didn't even feel it.
His aura burst forth like a defiant beast! And in the next instant, it pounced!
" Swooooosh"
The white sea of mana around him commanded air currents to mimic its movement. The mana-infused gale that swirled and compressed in the outstretched palm of Rumius's hand took the form of flowing green clouds that were twisted sharply inwards like a spring, to form a tiny cone on his outstretched palm. The coalescing winds hummed wickedly. The crazy woman got ever closer.
" BLAST! " Rumius roared, releasing the stored tension in a single instance of windy calamity. The strongest spell which he had ever channeled burst out in that very instance with the concentrated power of a jet engine.
Then suddenly, the feeling of two vices clamping down on his arm rooted him in place, nearly tearing his arms off as they instantly halted his movement. The crazy lady held him in an iron grip, lifting his whole body several feet off the ground with clawed hands and deranged written all over her face, eyes and yellowed teeth which were bared in a gruesome caricature of a smile.
Her breath stunk of rot and the same nauseating stench that came from her shack. In the background, Rumius vaguely saw the silhouette of his magic flying wildly off to the right, before crashing into a tree and dispersing.
" BOOOOM!" went the sound, off in the distance.
The lady shook him from side to side, her eyes narrowing occasionally as she examined him thoroughly, all the while muttering to herself.
" Yes…yess…goood haha..this is very good…." Rumius had a sickening feeling that this woman was looking at him as less of a person, but more like a specimen of meat.
Rumius gave his mother a pleading look, looking at her for help, but was taken aback when she shook her head.
' She won't help me? What's that supposed to mean? Why?'
Rumius yelped in pain as the crazy lady dug a fingernail into his skin. The tip punctured through and a blot of red liquid welled up from the inside. Rumius watched as the woman brought a bloodstained fingernail up to her mouth and sucked on it, licking it clean.
' I'm screwed.' Rumius thought as he flashed his mother another begging look. Yet again she shook her head. After what seemed like an eternity, the lady holding him dropped him. He had no doubt that the fall would have caused him at least a fracture or two if not for the cushion of wind that softened his fall.
Rumius winced as he landed on his bottom but the crazy lady was long gone by then, making her way over to where Maman stood.
" When does he start?" She asked eagerly.
" Today." His mother replied icily, already turned away from him.
Hearing this, the woman shook her head, running her hand through her ginger hair. " Today? No, no, no that won't do. I want at least a month more of time. I'm still in the middle of somethin-"
" I don't care, Isadora." His mother glowered ,her eyes becoming dangerously big.
" I've kept my end of the bargain, I expect you to keep yours."
Isadora shook her head.
" There was never any bargain. I offered you a choice. Once that choice no longer benefitted me, I'm free to do away with it as I wish."
" Don't you forget that you are the one in need here. I'm helping yo-"
" You seriously expect me to believe that?" Maman snarled.
" When I walk out of here, I will not come back and do not test me. Don't misunderstand Isadora, you are not my only choice in this matter. I admit that you are the best, but do not think that I have put all my eggs in your basket. She hissed.
The two women glowered at each other, until finally something the crazy lady turned away, grumbling something about getting her pots sorted out before walking back into the hut.
" Baby, come here." Maman called to him.
Rumius got up and dragged his feet over. He was quite upset that his mother had let the Ms Crazy have her way with him, but a strange feeling told him that this wasn't the time. Something was happening that involved him, but he didn't know anything about it.
" Maman…please..don't tell me.."
Her face was grim, but the most imperceptible of nods told him all he needed to know. Rumius could basically hear the blood draining out of his face.
" No..no.no Maman please I don't want to be taught by that woman." Rumius backed away as he pleaded, but his mother's face remained uncompromising. There was a strange hardness in it that Rumius was completely unfamiliar with.
" Please Maman, please! I-I don't know what she'll do to me. Can she even teach magic at all?"
" She can, you'll see soon." She assured him.
" Please Maman, there's..there's other teachers out there right? They don't have to be as good. I can figure most of it out by myself, anyway. I can make up for the lost ground easily!"
"...…".
Rumius stared at his mother, slack jawed at her lack of reply. What was this? He's never seen her like this before! It didn't make sense. She was just normal yesterday! Was this even the same Maman he knew?
Eventually, Rumius decided to stop asking questions. That would be meaningless. Whatever was happening, his Maman was hellbent on making it happen. He had never seen this before, but he knew, both from experience and the little instinct that he had, that words alone wouldn't be enough. This was that important.
But then again, why was she so hellbent on this insane woman? Scratch that, why was he trying to convince her to let him change teachers?
Runius looked at the dark and dank looking wooden shack. The memories of its owner still fresh in his mind through the sting she'd left on his arm. He knew the reason, but the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't identify what exactly was so bad about her.
Other than that she was batshit insane, she was definitely a world class mage. Rumius thought back to several moments earlier. He remembered the force of his spell leaving his palm, the speed and force creating roars louder than any hurricane he's heard and then suddenly, she had him.
No, that wasn't quite right, there must have been something missing.
The spell had left his hand, and then suddenly, she was holding him.
Runius replayed the scene again and again and again in his mind, so many times until he'd lost count, but he just couldn't remember what he'd seen during the time between those two events. They had happened so fast it was almost as if they had happened at the same time.
No wait!
Something did happen during those few milliseconds! He didn't see it. But after it was over, he had heard it.
His spell had gotten deflected. Utterly and completely and with disgusting ease. Even now, Rumius could still see the mark it left on the wood of a large tree some distance off towards the side of the shack. It was as if a giant had punched it, leaving a massive crater.
That had sealed the deal for him. This woman was the real stuff.
When Isadora re-emerged from the shack, she had found Reverie and her little abominable spawn of a son waiting for her. Rumius was it? She thought.
" Bring your kid inside." She said curtly, before turning on her heels and walking back inside.
When she went in, she poured herself a cup of tea from the steaming pot and put down two others for her very noble guests as well. Reverie entered. Rumius following soon after.
Isadora gestured for them to take a seat.
" I'll remain standing. I'll won't be here long, anyway." Reverie said.
Isadora shrugged. "Suit yourself."
Next was the little boy, who had remained standing as well, next to his mother.
" You should lose the clinginess, boy, and no need to look so shocked. Your mother's just going to disturb what we're doing here."
" What are we...going to do?" He asked. It sounded like a rather obvious question, but to Isadora's ears, it was quite clearly different.
She chuckled.
" If you were shaken from what had happened just now, then my apologies, you'll be seeing much worse." She saw the boy's body visibly tense up.
" But don't worry, I won't treat you too badly. I can promise that you'll learn quite well under my tutelage." She raised her cup as if to toast.
" Why do you think your mother has chosen me?"
The kid looked to his mother as Isadora went to refill her cup.
" Now that we've gotten to know each other, how about you scoot along and leave us to our..learning, duchess?"
' The earlier this meddling woman was gone, the better'. Isadora thought.
Reverie seemed hesitant, glancing down at her son. She nodded in compliance after a while.
" Wait! Maman! When will you come to get me?" The boy yelled after her. Isadora could see the pain in the lady's posture as she turned around, her lips trying to draw themselves into a hard line, but her lower lip couldn't stop quivering .
" Maman?" The boy asked, fear in his voice.
" What will it be, Isadora?"
Isadora raised the cup of tea to her lips, hiding a smirk. When she set it down, she crossed her legs and leaned forward.
" Six months."
" You'll get one day to visit every six months. "
Isadora was pleasantly surprised when Reverie didn't protest. She simply looked down and signed. She then kneeled and hugged her son, whispering some words to the boy. Then she got up, opened the door and was gone.
Now there was no one in the shack other than the two of them. The boy shifted uneasily, looking to her, as if for instruction. And she glared straight back at him.
"...…."
" Um..Mistress Isadora?"
" Very good, you have manners. Now what do you want? " She snapped back, making the boy jump.
" What should I do now?" He stammered.
" What to do with you hmmm let's see. I have no intention of teaching you squat yet so don't get your hopes up. In the meantime you need to make yourself useful so…."
" Clean up that mess over there. Don't ogle me, ogle the pile of junk. Yes, and once you're done with that there's another pile there."
The boy stood rooted in place, at an utter loss for words.
" I highly doubt that this is the deal you struck with my mother." He says after while, his tone had greatly changed.
She scoffed.
" The deal your mother struck with me was to make you my apprentice. As my apprentice you may learn a thing or two from me but don't be mistaken, I hold the power here." She took another sip from the glass she held in her hand.
The boy fell silent.
" Perhaps so, but that might simply be your interpretation of the deal you've struck. My mother might have very different ideas. And you literally live in our backyard, it won't be long till my mother finds out."
Isadora signed and put down her cup, standing up and advancing on the boy. Her hand shot out and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him in.
She could see the fear in his pretty green eyes. And she smirked.
' Dropped the grown man act already? So fast?" She wanted to say. But she had something even better.
" And that's where you're wrong darling. I don't live in your backyard, you're living in mine."
" And unless you want to sleep IN a pot tonight, those piles of junk aren't going to clean themselves."