ISAAC had to admit it was impressive.
The chapel was in the middle of the courtyard of the castle. Lilies and roses decorated the sides of the chapel and the walkways. The view was peaceful and serene. Just looking at it made Isaac feel at ease.
But the relief wasn't as much as the one he felt once he stepped into the chapel.
He felt an immense amount of warmth as if it was welcoming him.
"Move halfbreed," Audrey's voice came from behind.
The euphoria slipped away from his grasp as soon as he heard those words.
He made way for other students to enter.
The chapel was decorated with beautiful stained glass windows. The one facing the entrance ran the length of the wall. The pattern on the floor Isaac was stepping on was a cross which faced the altar in front.
They were among the last set of people to arrive.
Two hundred people couldn't have fit into the chapel, Isaac had thought when he'd heard the announcement earlier. But the chapel was had a supernatural feature to it like the rest of the school.
One's perception of space was different from inside. The chapel inside was bigger than the chapel outside. Where it got weirder was that you could see the inside from the outside. Trying to figure out how it worked was making Isaac's head spin.
"Good evening students," Blanc's voice rang out. "I hope you've all being doing well this term."
His reply was a resounding yell.
"It's that time of the year again," he announced. "The time to recognize the newcomers into their various charism groups."
For a second there, Isaac was almost screwed but he was in the second year, so this didn't apply to him.
"Can you explain what he's talking about?" he asked Reyna, who was seated beside him.
"Just listen," she replied without looking at him.
"As most of us know, the sorting is only for second-years and newcomers above the second year," Blanc explained. "First-years do not partake in the sorting because a number of them haven't determined what -"
Isaac was beginning to drift away in his thoughts.
A charism (plural: charisms,charismata) was a gift bestowed to humans from the Holy Spirit. It was the basic requirement for exorcists. Without one, you were just a regular human being. Though there were also regular exorcists in the church who used crosses, bibles, and holy water. But exorcists with charismata dealt with deadly entities such as wraiths, nephilim, and demons, though wraiths were their most common enemies, nephilim were almost extinct, and demons were rare to come across.
But Isaac didn't have a charism.
He was what people called a witch, technically warlock/wizard since he was male. He remembered that his cousin preferred the term 'Thaumaturge'.
If anyone found out that he was one, he would probably be dead.
Why?
Exorcists and witches were natural enemies, naturally. Where exorcists had charismata, witches had magic.
The origin of magic was vague. One source explained that magic originated from a contract between power-hungry humans and the Devil. As if that wasn't bad enough, those humans went on killing sprees. So, exorcists had to deal with them. The wars between them never ended amicably. It either ended when both sides had lost more than half their armies, the exorcists won, or when both sides had lost the will to fight.
Whether his powers came from the Devil or his ancestors were mass murderers, he didn't let that define him.
But history was the least of his problems.
How would he get himself out of this pickle?
The sorting was basically simple. You just had to place your hand on the window at the front of the chapel, and it would tell you your house. That was what Leo had told him on the way but Isaac thought it reminded him of a book he'd read about wizards. If only Leo had explained in detail.
Leo didn't tell Isaac that Jesus in the window could move, talk, or had a mind of its own. If Isaac placed his hand on the window, it would announce that he was a witch.
"Adrien Reed," Jesus-in-the-window called.
Adrien got up from his seat and walked to the front of the chapel. He hesitated before he put his hand on the window, which glowed bright red as he made contact.
"He who shall call forth flames from the heavens," the window announced. "Elijah Charism of Passion."
Blanc handed Adrien an orange tie with the school's emblem on it.
The Elijah's cheered Adrien for Adrien as he joined them.
"How many Elijah charisms do we have in this school?," the window sighed. "If I sort another one, I'm going to retire early."
"Unfortunately, you can't," Blanc reminded him.
No one knew how the window came to be. He'd been there for as long as anyone could remember. Some say that he was an angel who was sent to guard the school. Others said that he was an exorcist who committed a grave sin and was trapped in the window for all eternity. When anyone asked him about his past, he always said that he didn't remember. All he remembered was his name.
Iapsus, which was Latin for 'the fallen', but everyone called him Bob.
To Isaac, he seemed more of a slouch than an angel and more cheerful than an exorcist who had been trapped for eternity.
Audrey was next.
"He who shall split the waters of the world," Bob said. "Moses Charism of Flexibility."
Blanc handed her a blue tie.
"Twins with opposing charisms, now that's a sight to see," Bob chuckled. "Now, Noah Jr."
Leo scowled and stood up. "I'm so going to shatter that the window."
"He who will tear down walls with a trumpet's call," he announced. "Joshua Charism of Persistence."
Blanc handed his son a tie, and he went to join his group.
"Reyna Gomez," Bob called.
This was his opportunity to scram. No one would notice right.
As soon as Reyna left, Isaac scrammed out of the chapel while all eyes were still on her. Fortunately for him, there were no teachers at the back. He slipped out the doors and heaved a sigh of relief.
He was almost home free when he bumped into a senior with a pink tie.
"Sorry I didn't see you there," he apologized and walked around the senior.
He looked exhausted. He had spiky brown hair and soft eyes. His school uniform hung loosely on his thin frame.
There was an eerie yet familiar vibe he was giving off that Isaac couldn't quite place.
Isaac heard him taking a deep breath.
"How long has it been since I felt so alive?" the senior said. "I can feel the sun. The air smells great, and I haven't seen such vibrant colors in a long time."
That was weird, Isaac thought and kicked a stone. Well it's not my problem.
A splash came from the same direction of where he'd kicked the stone. He looked at what had caused it and realized that it was the senior's tie.
Isaac turned round and bent down pick the tie. He didn't have time for this. He was going to get caught if he didn't get out of there.
Who would be so careless to lose their tie?
As he picked it, his eyes met the senior's supposed reflection.
Isaac jumped back and looked at the senior.
"Took you long enough," the demon smiled.
* * * * *
The senior's soft brown irises turned purple. Black veins extended from the corners of his face towards his eyes. He smiled wickedly and walked slowly towards Isaac.
"What do you want, demon?" Isaac asked as he stepped back.
The demon chuckled.
"I have a name, kid, and it's Bael," he chuckled and picked up his pace.
Isaac stumbled on a rock and hit the wall behind him. He was cornered.
He couldn't attack the demon because he might risk hurting the human host. Handling demons sure was different from exorcising wraiths.
"What's so special about you?" Bael asked him. "You're wanted by every demon in Hell, kid. Well, you're one of the five on the wanted list."
"Five?" Isaac asked. He was stalling the demon. As he spoke, he slowly moved towards the chapel.
"Not going to work, kid," it said. "Have you forgotten what this body's charism is?"
Right, pink represented the Solomon Charism of Wisdom, which Isaac thought was a weird choice of colour. So the demon was telepathic.
He had to take a gamble.
"Fulm -"
Before he'd finished the spell, the demon grabbed his mouth.
"No spells from you."
"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY FRIEND!!" Reyna's voice came from behind them.
Something pulled the demon's hand backward.
It was an opening.
"Fulmen," Isaac casted and placed his hand on the demon's chest.
Sparks of electricity erupted from Isaac's palm and jolted the senior. Isaac quickly ran towards the direction of Reyna's web.
She was standing at the entrance of the chapel pulling the web with Leo.
"Why do you always have all the fun?" Leo asked.
"How did you guys -"
Before he could finish his sentence, he was swept off his feet and flew backwards. It was telekinesis. He couldn't have two variations of the same charism. The demon had somehow altered his host's charism.
There was a bang and Leo flew past him.
"Leo, no!" Isaac yelled.
Leo kicked the senior into a pillar which collapsed on him.
Isaac dropped to the ground and stood up quickly.
"Why would you do that?" Isaac asked him. "You can hurt the host."
Leo sighed and pointed at the rubble.
Isaac saw that Bael had protected himself from the falling rocks.
"Just because he's in control of Brandon's body doesn't mean he'll be careless," Leo explained, and Isaac understood. "No offense, Brandon."
If it were false, the demon should have possessed Isaac if he wanted to get him.
"Smart kid," he said and launched the rocks at them.
"I trust you'll take care of the rocks?" Isaac asked Leo and struck the floor with his palm. "Captionem vinearum."
The magic circle grew under his palm and vines shot towards Bael in and out of the ground like worms.
"Fuck off," Leo said. The wave that erupted from just those two words shattered a majority of the rocks into tiny pieces and sent them flying back.
Bael was about to move away when the vines grabbed his feet. He stretched his hand out and sent the little rocks flying in different directions. He ripped the vines away from his feet and ran towards them.
"Our best way of dealing with him with minimal damage is hand to hand combat," Leo told them and engaged Bael.
Leo went for his chest first. Bael sidestepped and raked his feet with inhuman speed. Isaac jumped over Leo and aimed a palm strike at the Brandon's head.
He stepped back just out of Isaac's reach.
"Ventus."
The magic circle for wind appeared on his palm and sent out jet of air which knocked Bael off balance.
"Did you forget about me?" Reyna said appearing out of nowhere and shot a web to his head.
She rose her leg up and pulled hard on the web causing Bael's head to collide with her knee.
Bael knocked Isaac and Reyna away with his telekinesis.
Leo came from behind with a kick that Bael grabbed. Leo grinned as a second impact pushed Bael into the chapel.
"You okay?" Isaac asked Leo as he and Reyna finally got up.
They walked into the chapel and saw everyone crowded at the front.
Isaac, Reyna and Leo made their way through the swarm of people. When they got to the cause of the commotion they met Brandon crumpled at the altar.
"Why would you gang up against your senior?" Blanc asked and looked at Isaac, Reyna and Leo.
"We did what?!" Isaac exclaimed.