Code Of Magic
Chapter One: The Past Returns
I gave up a lot of things to be at this school. Like seeing the beauty of the school of magecraft. No one here has a connection to magic as I'd be able to sense it. Mages are like that. If you ask me, it's an evolutionary trait to prevent… unnecessary casualties. Both sides of the coin exploit this in their own way.
I am a dark mage. That doesn't mean that I am evil or anything. Any type of magic can be good or evil, despite such terms having a very thin differential line. Not that it really matters much to those that don't have a connection to magic. Though I'll be the first to admit that we mages brought it on ourselves by countless wars against those who don't use magic. Dark mages hold a deal of the blame due to the corrupting nature of dark magic. It's like a poison. Spreading throughout the body and tearing at you.
I digress. Magic is useful in that it can make life substantially easier for anyone with it. But using magic for everything gets boring and repetitive. I carry a bag full of crystals of varying color and uses. They can be used for anything from attack to defence and even meditation. A mage meditates for many reasons that I will not explain for the sake of time.
Crystals are very useful but rarely necessarily for mages. I am a formidable mage but not on the level of a master so the crystals provide assistance when needed. This school was a place where I could be allowed to practice my magic as few other schools allow it so this is more of necessity than anything else. I wanted an education aside from having attended Kadic.
I sit near a group of students during breakfast time. This group consists of people that I view as friends. They also came here for education, obviously. This is a college called Schaeffer University. Odd name but I suppose it works. Quite a few students are here from Kadic, a school that I was forbidden from practicing magecraft.
"Trevor? That you?" asks Ulrich. I simply nod and look at my bag of crystals.
"Does uhhh… he know?" asks Odd. Ulrich audibly groans.
"Might as well tell 'em now. No way to hide it because of your big mouth." Ulrich responds.
"Jesus, okay. We gotta wait for Yumi since you miss her so much." Odd says, returning fire.
"I don't-! Ugh…" is the only response the German gives.
"In college and still utterly hopeless when it comes to romance?" I ask.
"I… uh… damn it. Yeah, I guess." he answers.
"Understatement." Jeremie finally states. Everyone shares a laugh at the expense of Ulrich except me as Yumi walks in and sits with everyone.
"Okay, so we recently all moved into a place together with the intention of being close for a reason. One from our past." Jeremie says. I know exactly what he is referring to. XANA. The rogue artificial intelligence.
"We would like you to join us." states Aelita.
"Alright." I say, stunning them at how easy that was.
"That easy? No argument or anything?" asks Odd. I simply nod in response. Looks like I can move out of my dorm.
"You can move in anytime." adds Ulrich.
Lectures and classes begin soon after and I use my magic to keep notes on the words of the professor. All the while having my mind elsewhere. Focused on my past in Kadic and all the times I needed to use my magic to protect the other students. It almost seems trivial how adept I was back then. Things I can do easily now required much concentration and/or me using all of my strength back then. Crystals assisted me more than a handful of times.
The end of the day comes and I move into the house that they told me of. I used an ability called Mage Step. It increases speed so much that it causes the ones viewing to see afterimages extending for meters. For the most powerful mages, these afterimages can be seen much further behind the mage. It becomes largely redundant once a mage learns how to teleport.
I step inside and look around at the decidedly nice living room. The couches are leather and the television is rather large with a sound system blaring rock music. The smell of alcohol and the sound of laughter fills the air. It is… amusing. I never drink but I suppose I can make an exception. This thought makes me move to the kitchen.
"Always said we'd celebrate like nutcases." says Odd, snickering in a drunken daze. The volume of the music increases because of my magic influence. This makes everyone look at me. Break is tomorrow so we don't need to hold back.
"Ayyyyyy Trevor!" shouts Odd as a smirk spreads on my face.
"For beating XANA into the ground?" I ask.
"Yep." says Yumi. Then 'Welcome to The Jungle' from Guns N' Roses kicks on and I grab a glass.
"Damn I love this song." says Ulrich, a tiny bit drunk. Not as utterly blitzed as Odd.
Odd then gets up and goes to the freezer to show us something. A ton of alcohol and in the fridge is a lot of food. I think that after fighting XANA for so long, we deserve a night or two to just let go of our worries and live a little. I can finally forget about my magic training and my worries.
"Odd you're drunk." Ulrich says.
"Ahhh so are you." retorts Odd.
I chuckle slightly and grab a bottle of whiskey. Good old fashioned whiskey from my homeland of America. Sweet. Yumi cracks out the sakè and the others grab various drinks before heading into the living room, 'Paint it Black' by The Rolling Stones playing now. Suffice to say, we continue drinking and telling stories. We also talk a bit of shit. All in good fun but it definitely happens.
"So that… barrier ya used when those zombie things attacked the school. Guh. Where'd ya learn it?" inquires Odd.
"My mother taught me." I say, a little tipsy but definitely wanting to keep going as I throw another shot of whiskey into my throat. 'Drink with the Living Dead' from Ghoultown starts playing. Convenient.
"Must've sucked keeping that barrier going that long." Ulrich states before drinking some of the beer.
"Hoo yeah. It failed after a while and we were surrounded. Just before Jeremie reversed time." I inform them. Another shot. Vodka this time.
"Oh! Who remembers that alien robot thing?" Yumi asks.
"That damned thing? With the sticky green slime?" asks Ulrich.
"That's the one." Yumi confirms, taking a big gulp of sakè. Pretty soon this will be a competition for the most drinks handled.
"I was stuck in that for so long." Ulrich says with a noticeable groan. Noticeable if we weren't drunk.
"My fuckin' magic wasn't workin' at the time. Dunno why." I say before taking a giant gulp of vodka. Ulrich downs some tequila.
"An' what 'bout that almost nuclear explosion?" Yumi asks, her sentences making less sense.
"Fuuuuuck. I don't think I've… ever been… yugh… oh balls." Ulrich speaks, causing me to laugh.
"Need some food." we three say in unison.
"Need some Iron Maiden." I state.
"Odd! Get your ass up!" shouts Yumi, scaring Odd awake as he coughs.
"Whaaaat?" Odd whines.
"Got anything from Iron Maiden?" I ask with a bit of hope.
"Yeah man. Drawer between the speakers." he responds before going to make food.
"You ever find a girlfriend?" asks Ulrich as he eyes me.
"Nahhh. Magic this magic that. Blah blah blah," I start. "Mages ain't popular."
"That's shitty." says Ulrich.
"Remember that time the three of us were trapped under rubble? I had to keep the barrier goin'." I say in an effort to change the subject.
"Yeah. When Kadic collapsed. You were looking for us. We'd been in there trying to find the crystals. XANA took them." Yumi says, remembering the situation.
"Hot damn. That whole situation was a nightmare." Odd adds with a slur.
I rub my head and look at the others before grabbing a bottle of whiskey. My eyes tell the whole story. They also grab the same kind of whiskey I just grabbed and slowly unscrew the caps with the same look in their eyes that I have. Drinking contest. We start chugging and Yumi finishes first. A humbling experience for Ulrich and I, to be sure. But as soon as the fifth hits us, we want to go again. So we take shots of vodka until we realize that this wasn't a good idea at all. We bolt outside and vomit.
"Oh God!" shouts Yumi.
"Baaaaad idea. It hit us all at once." Ulrich says. He ain't wrong.
"Hangover is gonna kill us." I mention.
"Fuck!" we all shout.
"I'm just glad I didn't get some dumb tattoo on my face." I say.
"You'd have to go a few miles." Ulrich tells me before we all go back inside. Then we eat and drink again.
We get more drunk very quickly and I light a cigarette outside with a chuckle as Yumi rants about nothing in particular and uses Ulrich for balance while he simply holds her. So I'm gathering that she's loud and he's clingy when drunk. Odd's apparently the tired drunk. Seems like I just chuckle a lot. It doesn't help that Ulrich and Yumi just fell over.
"Fuck my back!" Yumi shouts.
"At least you had a cushion instead of the hardwood floor." Ulrich says with a bit of a growl. It gets worse when Yumi looks at him and asks "You come here often, handsome?". This causes his face to run red. I chuckle slightly before laughing my ass off. The rest of the night is a blur.
I wake up the next morning. Well everyone comes out at about the same time as I do and they all are in full hangover mode. Headaches, dizziness. You name the symptom and we have it. This makes everyone a little bit cranky but nothing really new since we suffered something similar after being defeated in Lyoko.
"Do you have some sort of magical hangover cure?" asks Aelita.
"I wish." I respond as I look at Ulrich and Yumi. Ulrich is holding his head and Yumi is groaning.
"Did they finally come out of the same room?" Odd asks, implying that the two in question slept together.
"No." I simply reply.
"Damn it." Odd says before passing out. That signals everyone to just get something random for breakfast and go to bed again. Although we discover that none of us can even sleep. Even Odd was jarred from rest. So we all head into the living room.
"Something feels wrong." I say when we all sit down.
"Yeah." agrees Odd. A lingering feeling of dread that surrounds us all. I then cast something called Mage Eye. It allows mages to see what cannot be seen with the naked eye. Even through disguises like the ones the specters that XANA threw at us used. When you get to a certain level of magecraft ability, you no longer have to announce the chosen spell. I reached that and have since surpassed it.
I scan the room with my eyes and look around the rest of the house in some effort to find what is causing the disturbance. I sometimes contemplate making the others mages to make my job easier because this is almost ridiculous at times. Like when I had to search Kadic for specters that XANA used for spying on us. But I won't make them into mages now for two reasons. Unnecessary and I would have to consult my mother for such an action that I can't perform. She can.
"All clear. Everyone to my room." I say with a hint of suspension in my voice. Everyone follows me to the room. It is decorated with artifacts of grand mages and an ornate dagger used by my grandmother.
"Why did you bring us in here?" asks Jeremie. I can feel the curiosity and paranoia of the group.
"I didn't find anything. But that doesn't mean that my feeling is incorrect. I think we should check the factory." I reply.
"You can't be serious!" exclaims Odd. I can certainly understand his reaction. We have escaped that hell already. Reentering it is obviously against everyone's best interest.
"I am, unfortunately. You can either join me or remain here." I simply say. There's definitely something wrong and my gut tells me that it has something to do with that factory.
"I'll go." Yumi says first. Ulrich follows quickly after and the rest soon join.
We all go to the factory and look around. Something is definitely off about this place. I thought no one used it anymore but there are chip bags and soda cans here. Doesn't look lived in, only used. Frequently used. The realization hits all of us like a cement truck made of lead. Someone goes to this factory and probably knows of the Super Computer.
"Oh shit." we all say in unison before rushing to the elevator. Odd hits the button just as we see another group on the bridge.
"Someone knows we're here." I say, stating the obvious.
"Do these people have any idea of what they are dealing with?" asks Aelita with both fear and aggression in her voice.
"I doubt it. At least not the full extent." Ulrich says while panting. Adrenaline is flowing through all of our bodies at dangerous levels. Our hearts are pounding and our minds are racing. This is gonna be a problem if we don't figure this out now.