Fifth of May, Hogwarts Castle, Castle Corridors.
Familiar path, familiar design. This is the number of times I've walked along this corridor, and how many more times I'll have to walk along it. Yes, during all this time I remembered every turn, every statue. What can I say, I can retell the whole path, from beginning to end, right down to the number of steps. This is mainly due to my memory, training since childhood, and also mentalism.
Mentalistics. Over the entire academic year that I spent at Hoga, somehow, imperceptibly, my success at this school of magic came close to the level of an apprentice. I passed the magician somehow casually, without noticing. Even the exam was nothing, however, like all exams for the title of magician in one school or another. In the mentalistics exam, all you had to do was "create" standard options for protecting consciousness, and there weren't that many of them, just a few. Full protection, mixed protection and "camouflage". Each of them has both pros and cons.
Complete defense is a blind defense of the mind. Mainly used for direct attacks on the mind. Incredibly strong, but does not give room for maneuver. And besides, it is incredibly gluttonous in terms of Psi.
Masking - as the name suggests, this method allows you to hide your mind from the sight of mentalists. The disadvantage is complete helplessness when detected. At least at my level.
Mixed defense is a mixture of previous defense options. It has both blind defense against the first and camouflage against the second. The advantages are obvious. Disadvantages - high requirements for the amount of energy, as well as control. Control, in this case, is the most important. My own version of protection falls into this group.
As I said earlier, my level at this school came very close to the level of an apprentice. Therefore, in order not to put it aside, I decided to take another, for myself, exam for promotion in "rank". This will allow me to plunge into a new sea of knowledge, and will also give me "material" for the coming summer, so that I don't get bored and have something to do.
With all this reasoning, I quickly got to the right place. Wishing to be in the memorable "arena," large double doors, painted in dark tones of brown, appeared in front of me in an instant. Just one look at them caused awe, and if others knew what was hidden behind it... but alas.
Having forcefully pushed the door and thereby opening the door, I walked into the room. The Colosseum was still the same. The same invisible ceiling, columns, strange material underfoot, as well as an altar in the center of the room, covered with runes. Nothing changed. Although, what will happen to her in just a couple of months? She has been like this for several hundred years and nothing. The spell holds, and she works as before.
Approaching the altar, I concentrated and uttered the necessary, but so familiar words:
"I, Calder Wilson, mage of the School of Mind, ask the Spirit of the room to conduct an exam for increasing rank," as always, "seasoning" my voice with mana, I fell silent. After a couple of seconds, the echo of my voice died down, and at the same time, the "ritual" itself began to work.
A familiar old man appeared above the altar, as before. Only if earlier he was dressed in the clothes of a kind of War Mage, comfortable leather pants along with a leather jacket, created for convenience when changing appearance, now he was dressed in a traditional robe, which was the "symbol" of magicians. Only the pattern on the mantle was special, somewhat reminiscent of the interweaving of many threads, and attracting both Psi and Manu.
Opening his eyes, the elder stared at me with his "icy" eyes. Stroking his beard with his hand, he finally said, after a good twenty seconds:
"I'm glad to see you again, Calder Wilson," I already noticed that with each new visit his voice became more and more alive. And the feeling from him himself somehow imperceptibly changed. As if he was becoming more perfect or what? Who knows if this statement is true, but it's worth noting. - Less than half a year has passed, and you are already here again. I haven't met such interesting magicians for a long time," under his thick mustache his lips stretched into a small smile. Yes, he is definitely much more "alive," so to speak in relation to him, than before, especially if we compare the moment of our first meeting.
"And I'm glad to see you, Spirit," I bowed slightly in response to his words. That's why his name is not listed anywhere? It's somehow not very convenient to call him just a spirit or an old man, but he himself won't answer, he's already tried.
"Well," his eyes flashed with a "purple" light that was visible even through the "ice" that was jumping them. "You don't stand still, but diligently develop what you take on." Commendable, commendable," once again his hand began to stroke his beard.
"Just effort and nothing more," I answered him. Here, in my opinion, I told the absolute truth. I owe a lot to my efforts and perseverance. Without them, I would not be who I am at this moment.
- Perhaps, perhaps. But you know, not many are ready to rely on effort, even though it is the basis for you as a magician. After all, a great magician differs from an ordinary one in that he does not stop there, but continues to move on, despite everything else. Their path has no end, it is endless, like endless clusters of worlds.
I had nothing to answer to this. I agree with absolutely everything in this statement. I hope I will be great and not stop there.
"Well, enough idle talk with this old man," he pulled up in an instant. This was no longer a kind and understanding grandfather, but a collected, somewhat cruel teacher-examiner. "You didn't come here to talk, but for access to new knowledge that excites your mind." So prove to me that you are worthy of them. The test will begin in a few seconds. Good luck to you, young magician.
As soon as his words died down, my world rocked. In an instant I was pulled somewhere. My consciousness began to rotate and twist, "bend" at different angles. The sky and earth changed places, everything around lost its color, merging into one continuous, colorless stream, and then, suddenly, I was plunged into the abyss of "darkness," like into an ice hole in winter. However, this did not cause bad emotions, no. My mind was clear and calm.
These sensations were strangely familiar, but I couldn't figure out what they were like until I opened my eyes. The cave is familiar, the crystals are familiar. Having looked around the space once again, I became convinced that I was in my subconscious.
However, after just a moment, I realized that this was not my "world". It was an incredibly high-quality replica, but she still couldn't repeat one detail. My anomaly was absent here, although just this morning, during meditation, I once again drew attention to it.
Hmm, perhaps this test is a banal reflection of attacks? It's not just that they showed me "my" world, because it's much easier for me to work in it.
Before I had time to think through all my options, I spun around one hundred and eighty degrees and opened my eyes in shock. At that moment, red eyes filled with an incredible thirst for blood looked right at me, from beyond the boundaries of the world. A moment later, next to the first pair of eyes, a second one appeared, followed by a third. With every second the number increased. Not even a minute passed before more than a hundred pairs of eyes were already looking at me, with not at all good intentions.
I looked at them, and they looked at me. This confrontation of views seemed to last forever. My calmness and their boundless hunger, my determination and their madness. You can see a lot of things in the eyes, and how many things can be realized thanks to them. However, this could not last forever.
The very first of the phantoms took a step forward, followed by the second, and then the third. With every second he was getting closer to the border. Only now did I realize that the walls of the cave had become semi-transparent, allowing me to look around. It was as if you were looking through a slightly cloudy glass, but this did not in the least prevent you from seeing what was going on behind it.
Without waiting for the next step from them, I began to act first, proactively. An avalanche of violet energy exploded from my entire world. She rushed from the center to the border. Right as we walked, it changed, became thicker and denser, acquiring a more and more saturated color. In my world I am king and god, so why not change it? All dreams can come true.
Approaching the border, the psi stopped for a while, like a faithful dog waiting for a command from its owner. Closing my eyes, I focused on just one thought - Destroy.
Having received the "command", Psi, who never stopped coming, rushed straight through the walls, like a hot knife through butter. As soon as she left the borders, everything started to spin.
In an instant, many silhouettes were engulfed by the purple vines with such force that they were scattered by the wind. Somewhere a fire lit up and began to "devour" everything around. So much happened in an instant that it was impossible to keep track of it. Flashes, noise - all this merged into a cacophony of sounds and colors.
A thundercloud appeared in the center of the "formation" of phantoms. It grew, capturing more and more phantoms, until it finally burst out with purple lightning in all directions.
- R-r-A-ah! — the frantic growl of the phantoms suddenly gave way to a howl of pain and fear. They burned, crumbled into dust, and also turned into statues, both stone and ice.
Freezing in place, all Psi rushed back to the border, leaving the enemies and began to gather there. After a couple of seconds, while the phantoms looked at this in bewilderment, a noise was heard from the resulting cloud. Every moment it grew, until those who issued it were born.
It was an army. Creepy, wrong, kind of crazy, but no less effective. Knights, werewolves, trolls, dragons, birds, lions, manticores, centaurs, chimeras - whoever was here. There were hundreds of them. They all roared, screamed, banged their paws, shields, clubs - whoever could, but no one ran towards the enemy.
Looking at my "brave" army, I grinned. Raising my hand up, thereby giving a signal, I sharply lowered it, at the same time shouting:
- Destroy!
- RA! - they roared and rushed towards the enemy. A moment of delay, during which the troops approached each other, followed by a collision.
The dragons tore, beat with their tails, burned with their breath. The knights chopped, the trolls threw stones and beat with clubs. Lions, lynxes and other living creatures entered the enemies' throats, tearing them apart.
Looking at this massacre, a desire arose in me to take part in it myself. However, go beyond the boundaries of the world. So why not try something different?
*****
The battle was gaining momentum, there was no place for pity in it. Each of those who participated in it was filled with rage and thirst for battle.
Here is one knight who entered too deeply into the enemy system, for which he paid. Five phantoms attacked him at once. It took them a matter of seconds to tear the poor fellow apart. However, the joy of victory did not last long, a dragon dived right at them from the sky, crushing the phantoms with its carcass.
In every corner of the field the battle went on with varying degrees of success. Here the crowd of phantoms was thrown with stones by the trolls, but the lion was torn apart by a particularly fast phantom.
Somewhere phantoms won, and somewhere a motley army won. This could go on for a long time until one "step" changed everything.
One guy was watching the battlefield from behind his army. His eyes were focused on this riot, sparks danced in them. It was clear from Calder that he himself wanted to take part in this, but the border did not allow him. For long minutes he watched the battle until in an instant he closed his eyes.
Nothing distracted him, not a single sound reached him. The battle was going on somewhere in the distance. So why not take a step towards him?
Slowly, as if in slow motion, his right leg rose up and then suddenly sank down.
"Top," came a dull sound. In response, the earth opened up. Numerous stakes jumped out of the ground, piercing the phantoms. Gorges formed into which enemies fell. Mountains rose and then, overnight, collapsed, burying enemies underneath them.
Pointing his hand at them, Kol turned them into a raging stream of water that captured all the phantoms.
Obeying Calder, all the water rose to the top, taking the form of a huge ball. In the center of this ball were all the phantoms; not a single one remained to escape this fate. Their barely visible faces were filled with fear, anger and horror.
Smirking at the helpless appearance of his enemies, Calder said:
- Burn.
In an instant, all the water turned into flame. It devoured enemies, engulfing their bodies, seeping inside and leaving nothing behind, not even ashes. They screamed, tried to escape, fought against the inevitable, but alas... Only purple sparks that scattered in the wind were left behind...
A beautiful and terrible picture.
*****
The destruction of the phantoms did not last long. After some twenty minutes it was all over. The army disappeared without leaving a trace, just like the fire that was high in the sky.
All the unspent Psi came back, and at that very moment I fell to my knees and began to breathe rapidly. Using so much mental energy was not in vain for me. My body felt hot and cold. It was as if several steel stakes had been driven into her brain, she was in so much pain. My hands were shaking like a drug addict's, waiting for a new dose during withdrawal.
After sitting on my knees for about twenty minutes and catching my breath, I somehow got to my feet; metamorphism, alas, is not a help here. Opening my eyes, I realized that I again found myself in the memorable Colosseum. There were no signs of battle, only one boundless fatigue that gradually consumed my mind. Thank you, at least my brains stopped melting and just hurt a little.
Approaching the altar, I began to wait. My wait did not last long; in a flash of light, an old man appeared, looking at me thoughtfully, again stroking his beard.
- Did I pass? - He was the first to ask the question.
"Yes, I passed," he answered somewhat distantly. — True, the method of passing the test was very specific.
- What's so special about it?
"The main purpose of the test is to test your abilities in defending against attacks on your mind. You didn't defend yourself, but attacked first, destroying everyone.
"The best defense is an attack," I honestly didn't know what to answer. The spirit's answer was too unexpected for me.
"Ha," he grinned. "Everything is possible," he smiled. — In any case, congratulations on passing the next test and receiving the title of apprentice of the first star of the School of Reason. Congratulations.
"Thank you," I bowed in response.
- Well, it's time for you to go. Good luck, Col.
Having said this, the Spirit dissolved. This time he disappeared very quickly, even somehow strangely. But now I don't have the strength to think about it at all. At the moment, my head was filled with only thoughts about bed and sleep.
Turning towards the door, I headed out. It will be a long journey. The throbbing pain in my head was proof of this.