"Are we there yet?" Kami complained from behind me. It was the 5th time she had asked me in the past ten minutes and it was really starting to tick me off. I thought I'd get used to her whining by now, but then again, I also thought that she would grow out of her whining habits years ago. I stopped in my tracks suddenly, causing Kami to run into me. "Hey, at least give a heads up before you do something like that-"
"Kami, I already told you that were traveling through the 'Magic Forest'. As soon as you heard that you should've known that this was going to be a long journey. Not to mention it's only been five minutes since you last asked me that, did you really expect a different answer?" I scolded her like I had many times before. Just like always she turned her head away from me, crossing her arms together.
"Yeah, well it's not exactly my fault that were going through the magic forest in the first place. You do know that Theta Magic Academy has a front door, right?" She kicked a rock away, so hard that it lodged itself in the tree. "They do have a culture for being very receptive, besides we're literally students attending the school. What did you think they were going to do to us, shoot us on sight?"
I sighed, already tired of this conversation. "Kami, you of all people should know that we're not the type of people that go through front doors." With that, I picked up my pace, hoping to escape this pointless conversation and my sisters nagging. However, to my disappointment my sister kept up with me, stride for stride, bickering along the way.
"Do you know how much of a commotion it's going to cause to be seen going through the back way? You do know why Theta magic academy is surrounded by this forest don't you. We'll be lucky if they don't, shoot us on sight." I ignored my sister, quickening my pace even more until I was way ahead of her. The terrain I ran across was covered in red and orange leaves that crunched under my feet at every step. The massive redwood trees around me blocked out the sun completely. Unlike average redwood trees that rise to around 200-300 feet, these trees rose to nearly 500 meters. The trees were so tall that barley any sunlight was able to pass through, making it extremely dark, even during the day. During the night hours it was pitch black, so dark you couldn't even see your own hand directly in front of your face. I vaulted over a massive piece of fallen wood, easily almost six feet tall. Probably just a branch. I thought to myself as I continued to run. "Hey bro! Wait up!" I heard Kami shout as she clambered over the trunk sized stick. I ignored her.
Dodging past another tree, I closed my eyes, homing in my magic sense. Everything that has life has magic, making it so that they can be sensed. the more powerful the being, the larger their magical aura will be. As soon as I closed my eyes, the magical Aura of the trees was so large and overwhelming I was able to paint a near perfect picture of the scene in front of me, allowing me to dodge and weave trunks and sticks even with my eyes closed. One thing I had noticed about the Magical Aura and energy of the forest was that every single tree, leaf, stick and piece of bark seemed to have the same amount of magical energy. Almost like someone had gone to every single object and distributed an equal amount of magical energy to them. This fact gave the forests magical aura a very monotone, but at the same time, peaceful feel.
That's what made it so easy to notice what happened next. To my left, a massive amount of Magical energy had been displaced. It seemed that all the magical energy in a 140-meter radius was being funneled into one point. Through my magic sense, Objects started to wink out, their magical energy being sucked out. "Kami! On your guard!" I shouted to my sister. Not needing me to explain any more, Kami Froze, closing her eyes as well. "You feel that." I asked.
Kami nodded. "Someones charging up a magic spell, and a pretty powerful one at that, seeing as how their drawing magical energy from the forest and the air." I nodded.
"Can you discern what type of magic spell it is."
Kami glared at me. "Really, a test, out her, in the middle of the forest." I didn't respond. With a sigh, Kami answered the question, "It's hard to discern from over her, but from what I can glean from the magical aura concentration and shape, its probably a grade B, no A, wind type spell." She opened her eyes and gave me a annoyed glance. "Proud of yourself, brother?"
"Of course, what kind of brother would I be if I didn't take every opportunity to train and quiz his little sister." I replied in an arrogant tone. Then, I turned my attention to the Wind spell forming to my left. Grade a, that's no joke of a spell. The wind pressure in the area had lowered, and the wind had calmed down. That was a telltale sign that a high level wind spelled was about to be launched. As soon as the fores had reached its quietest moment, I held out my hand and Kami took a step behind me. In front of me, a bright blinding light flashed vaporizing everything in front of me, trees, leaves, sticks, and branches. The spell made direct contact with my hand and pushed against it in a warring clash. I closed my hand, completely canceling out the spell, all the wind that was blowing a second ago, vanishing. My Sister long Jet-black hair fell downwards, her dress straightening out as well. In front of me. Every single living and nonliving thing had been completely vaporized out of existence. The spell has left a large trail of destroyed ground and unearth dirt. All leading towards one point.
A massive beast, nearly 20 feet tall and almost as wide as the trunk of the trees faced us from the other side of the vaporized portion of forest. It was covered in scratches and wounds that twitched and glowed a bright green every time it took a breath. Its eyes glowed bright red and saliva dripped from the monsters Jaws. It was like a massive bear. "A magical beast." Both me and my sister said at the same time. I glanced at her.
"Jinx. You owe me a Soda." Was all she said.
I held my right hand in front of me, opening my palm to analyze it. An orb of green magic revolved in my hand. Kami peaked over my shoulder. "So, you didn't cancel out the magic spell, you absorbed it instead? How is that possible, when you closed your hands, the wind was dispelled, like you had canceled it out. " She asked in confusion.
"Not exactly." I replied, Begin to take steps toward the magical beasts. "Magic spells have a total output power, on a scale from 0-100%. 1% being the weakest output a spell could have, and 100% being the highest. The wind spell that beast used was around a 90 percent spell. So I canceled out forty percent of the spell, and absorbed the other fifty percent of the spell."
Kami gave me another annoyed glance. "Your turning this into another learning session? While we're on the topic then, that must have meant you were able to analyze the beasts magic sequence?"
"Activating a magic spell works like programming a robot. To initiate the spell, or start the robot, you need to have lines of code telling it what to do. Same thing with a Magic Sequence. A line of code that passes through the brain, detailing exactly what is needed to activate the spell. Every time you learn a new spell, that spell's Magic sequence is stored in your hippocampus permanently, to be drawn from and used at any time. The more times you use a spell, the faster you can process its magic sequence. Depending on the strength of the spell and a magician's mastery of said spell, some of the most skilled magicians can release spells in-"
"Less than a second." Kami finished for me. "So, what you're saying is that this magic sequence is one that you're unfamiliar with?"
"No, I have this spell's magic sequence memorized already." I noticed my sister, confused expression and began to explain further. "Magic sequences can be layered onto of each other. Only advanced magicians can do so it, but it allows you to combine multiple different spells. For example,", I pointed towards the magical beast that had slowly began to approach. "The spell that beast used was a wind spell, combined with an acceleration spell for speed, and an incineration spell to burn up everything the wind touched. That's what I picked up when I analyzed the spell a few seconds ago."
Kami nodded. "I get that, and now I finally understood why you felt the need to absorb the monsters spell. You wanted to analyze the spell so you could figure out its exact activation sequence, so you could use the exact same spell against the beast. I also understand that the reason why you absorbed only fifty percent was so you could combine it with 50% of your own magic to create a spell with a 100% mixed output, although you could have chosen any combination amount."
"Spot on." I replied, impressed by her analyzation skills.
"However, brother I do see one problem with your idea." I raised an eyebrow. "Your spell wouldn't come in at 100 percent, as your portion of energy output wouldn't be at its strongest, seeing as you don't have a wand to maximize your potential."
I came to a stop, smiling outwardly. The magical beast let out a low growl beginning to circle around us. "Congratulations, you passed sister." I pointed a finger gun towards the magical beast, starting to activate the spell. "However, seeing as this is a new spell, I'm going to need time to process the magic sequence. Could I request your help?"
Kami moved to stand next to me, a blue aura of magic forming around her, chilling the air, and freezing the ground beneath her. "Tsk, Tsk. You really are hopeless without me brother." She extended her hand, and with a flick of her fingers, to columns of ice shaped like dragon heads shot up from the ground, flying towards the beast. The beast dodged out of the way, but with another flick of her hand, Kami changed the direction of the dragon, catching the best by its legs and neck. Dragging it across the ground, Kami flicked her hand once more and raised the beasts thrashing body into the air.
I raised my finger at the best, a green magical aura flowing around my hand. "Hallow Wind Scythe." I launched the spell, a blinding flash a bright light the only thing in front of me. When the spell reached the end of its duration, all that was left was the burned ground and shards of icicles. There was no sign of the beast.
"Well then, I'd say that that was a successful lesson."
Theta Magic Academy was as large as a castle and just as grand as one as well. Spiraling peaks and staircases that seemed to touch the sky. Large battlements surround the Academy. Diamonds and rubies were placed all around the castle rising peaks and battlements. The Academy was a mixture of white, striped with gold, sparkling with Jewels, and the peaks of the building colored red. Even from the hill me and my sister stood on, Theta Magic Academy towers above us, nearly blocking out the sun. There was a long winding gravel path that winded up the hill the magic academy stood upon. From where I stood, I could feel the magical energy being emitted from the barrier that surrounded the school. As we walked up the path, I picked up the stone, chucking it towards the barrier, using a wind spell to propel it. As soon as the stone made contact with the barrier, it was deleted from existence, burning away so quickly that I couldn't even see the ashes. "Do you have any plan on how we're actually going to get into the school." My sister asked.
I stretched my arms wide yawning, my legs burning from the long journey. Even through the night, we never stopped moving, using flame spells to illuminate our way. "Have I ever not had a plan before?" I replied scanning around the hill. To my left, I picked up the nearly imperceptible sound of a foot crunching on grass. I followed with my eyes, and noticed a bush shake slightly. I sighed, letting out a breath I had been holding in for the past few seconds, Turning back to face the path, I had looked back just in time to see the path open into a large meadow, sprinkled with Tsubaki, and Camellia flowers. Just pass the meadow, the golden gates and golden arches of the schools back entranced loomed ahead, shining in the sunlight. Along the arch that hung above the gate, were words made up of gemstones that read, "Magical Academy for the Gifted." "If this is the back, imagine the front." I muttered to myself.
Just a few meters before you reached the gate to enter through the back, the Barrier began. From how close we were standing, we could feel the power of the magical barrier. It was so strong, even walking took more of an effort than it should. The barrier emitted so much magical power, I could visibly see it, a bright white wall crackling and fizzling with energy. I reached out my hand, and upon contact with the barrier, the palm of my hand burning upon contacting, causing a fizzling sound to be made as the barrier cracked and pooped with energy. Trails of smoke rose form my fingers into the air If I hadn't used a defense spell to protect my hand it would have been vaporized out of existence. As I began to step back from the barrier, five guards surrounded me holding daggers to my neck, throat, stomach, back, and one stood in front of the barrier, pointing a gun to my head. Instantly I looked around an noticed multiple other people hiding in the meadow.
"Hands up, and do not move!" I complied without any problems, knowing I was outnumbered. "Don't move, explain what your doing here."
Keeping my hands up, and making sure not to make any sudden moves, I pulled out the student Id that hung from my neck. "Me and my sister are students official recognized by the school. We have identification and everything." I stood completely still as the officer with the gun moved up to grab my Id. He seemed to be the highest in command, he was just as tall as me, and dressed in a black version of the uniform I wore. Pants, a dress shirt, and a long black cloak. Ginger hair covered his black shades, but I could feel his gaze burning a hole through my head.
"Raiden Chisaki." The officer said, pulling out a device from his pocket that he used to scan my ID. After a few seconds, he looked back up, instantly drawing his pistol and pressing it right against my forehead. I heard Kami gasp in fear behind me, as officers closed in on her as well. "The database does recognize you, however," He pressed the pistol deeper into my forehead. "I have a hard time believing any competent student accepted into one of the 7 grand magic academies would do something this idiotic. What is your motive, non-magician!" He spat those last words out like venom.
"Hey! Step away from him!" I heard Kami shout. I felt a chill in the air, and a rise of magic power coming from behind me. Slowly, I stretched my hand out completely, barring Kami from trying to move forward. I looked at her from the corner of my eyes.
"Stand down Kami, no need to get yourself shot." I looked back towards the man holding a gun to my head. "I assume that your the captain of the defense force here?" I ventured, maintaining eye contact with him. I heard the flick of the safety being switched off, his hand hovering over the trigger.
"I'm the one asking the questions here, if you know what's good for you, you'll answer." The air behind me had become below freezing, the magical energy building up to its climax. I sighed, knowing it was only a second before Kami reached her climax and froze everything in the area. She always had a bad habit of getting mad on my behalf.
"Seeing as how you are the defense force captain, I'm sure you can get in direct contact with a member of administration or the student council, than I'm sure we can squash this once and for all." The captain made no move to remove the gun that was pointed at my forehead, but instead, used his other hand to reach for something in his pocket when a soft but stern voice from behind stopped him.
"Yuri Hanami, put that gun down immediately." Behind him, a girl of nearly the same height stood in front o the back gate of the school. The sun shone brightly on her golden skin, and her hair flowed in the wind, a jet black color. She walked down hill towards us. The defense force captain, or Yuri, instantly holstered his pistol and bowed.
"Hello madam president." I looked over in shock. So, this was the student council president? She was undeniably beautiful and carried an aura of friendliness and power. I could tell Kami was just as shocked as me due to the fluctuation of her magical energy, and the fact that the temperature slowly began to lower. The security guards that had previously surrounded me with their weapons drawn moved away, lowering themselves into a bow. Kami and I followed suit.
"No, no. That isn't necessary whatsoever." The student council president said quickly, motioning for all of us to rise. "Here, in this school, we are all equal, there is no need to bow to anyone no matter the status." Interesting. I thought to myself before straightening up and giving the student council president a smile. "My name is Raiden Chisaki, and this is my sister, Kami Chisaki. I do apologize dearly for what had happened here, we're foreign exchange students and we were told that the only way to get to Theta Magic Academy was through the magical forest." That was a half-truth half-lie.
The president waved it off. "You took a journey through the magic forest and came through relatively unscathed. It would be ridiculous for me to assume that you aren't someone qualified enough to attend this magic academy. And once again, I do apologize for Hamani's actions." She turned and motion for us to head inside with her. "Come, I only think it's fair that I myself give you a personal tour myself."