It was night. The sky was clear. Clear enough to see the one and only, single lighting bolt hit the largest tree. Heads rose to see the spectacle. Many thought they were imagining it, while many knew it was an omen about to befall the beloved school life of Mahora Academy. This impossible event was just a trick to many, but to one person it was all too real.
The teen fell, his eyes shut, ears blasted out by the sound. The rough pain hit him as his body was mangled while falling through a gigantic tree. Eventually his body found an unbreakable limb for him to rest upon.
Cold air swept across his body. Holes in his shredded robe became apparent as the air went through and chilled the man. He sat up and rested against another limb. He began assessing his condition.
Nothing was broken, as far as he could tell. His ear rang in annoyance over the loud boom. He was glad that he was able to hear the ring. He was surprised he'd survived the bolt of electricity, or the free fall. For now he was alive.
He pulled his robe tight as another gust blew over him. The cuts and scraps protest as there pressed down. He was cold and ignored the pain. He waited several minutes as his body's pains numbed. He sighed not knowing any healing magic.
He sat there for several long minutes trying to regain perspective, none came. Slowly, his mind came to him. No memories, he only knew. For some odd reason he did not seem surprised by the fact he could not remember anything.
The wind changed, suddenly. He counted, three powers, no four, four powers were headed his way, all human, as far as he could tell. Thoughts ran through his head. He must not be caught, not yet. More thoughts came to his head, a plan; an escape!
"Come!" he whispered, his voice raspy. He held out a hand and a long pole fell into it. He grasped the wand, tightly. He lowered the head of the wand out near his foot. A leap of faith, he stepped onto the knotted head the wands magic power lowering him slowly.
Looking around, he saw a quiet exit out of the leaves. He slid the wand in between his legs and took off. He dodged branches as he moved towards the best devised rout. He exited. "Don't get caught!"
The night was dark, indeed, but street lambs filled in where needed. A small bell tower stood nearby. A path of a power would have to be crossed. He rode the wand high, in the shadow of the leaves. He hopped into the small bell chamber.
He was in time, three of the powers made it to the tree. The one he'd crossed its path making it too. He sank into a corner. He needed rest, but now was not the time. From his view point he could see the party. Shadows appeared.
He watched for several minutes, the people standing in the lights. He watched as the powers disappeared, and the shadows jump up into the tree. He could not sleep, Shadows were on the prowl.
As he sat there his ringing ears came back, he shut them out. He could not tell the time, of night, but after a few hours, he was sure, the sun rose. The shadows presences left him, and he fell asleep.
Negi Springfield, a ten year old teacher and mage, awoke to the one person's scent he recognized the most. The prodigy taught at the most prestigious school in all of Japan, Mahora Academy. Next to him, a lively young girl, Asuna Kagurazaka, slept peacefully in the morning sun. Again, he'd crawled into the forbidden bed. He was still a child.
Negi slipped out of the bed, trying not to wake Asuna from her peacefully slumber. Today was one of Asuna's days off; she had a paper route. Konoka, his other roommate had already made breakfast and had left for shopping with Setsuna. Today seemed to be a good day.
Last night Negi had awoke, scared. Lighting was cracking around outside and in his childish ways he had ran to Asuna. Asuna was the only person he'd ever ran too when this stuff like that happened, or at least while he was in Japan. Asuna was the only other person who he'd found had the same smell as his sister, who was back in England.
Negi took his portion of the breakfast Konoka had made and took it up to his loft. He sat down as his little desk and sipped at a little milk. It was coming time for Ku Fei, his martial arts teacher, to come back from her visit with her parents. He had the weekend to finish grading a few papers, but now would the best time to grade. With Ku Fei he would only have to suffer through one training session a day.
He started going through the papers. It only took him an hour to grade the papers; it was an easy enough assignment. He had even finished his breakfast by the time he was done with the papers. He stood and got dressed. Asuna was still asleep. It'd be best if he let her sleep.
Negi grabbed his wrapped up staff and headed out the door. He wondered what Kotaru was up to today. They both had the days off so he might as well go spend it with a friend. He checked Kotaru's room. Chizuru said he'd already gone out. He headed out, also.
Out of the dorms he could enjoy the nice sunny day. Cooling wind came from the North. He sighed, happily; the day was going to be a great day. He had nothing to do and getting his training out for the day seemed a good idea, especially since it'd take only an hour.
Negi headed for Evangeline A.K. McDowell's home. The town seemed almost empty on his walk towards Eva's house. Not many people filled through the streets. Every once in a while he would detect a teacher nearby, but it was strange to see no one out, but the teachers. It was apparent that he wasn't needed due to the teachers lack in requesting him to help. It must be nothing.
Negi reached Eva's house shortly. The short log cabin shinned in the late morning sun. Negi curiously knocked on the door and awaited his "master" to open.
A shout came from behind the door, "Get in here Boya!"
"Uh! Um… Yes Ma'am!" he hurried inside. Eva seemed irritated already.
Inside the small house, dolls seemed to align every flat spot of the ground floor. Being that Eva was a doll master it was no surprise to see this many dolls. Negi headed for the kitchen.
To Negi's surprise the head master was there. The old long headed man sat at a table playing checkers with Eva. Eva sat across the table with a particularly annoyed face. Chachamaru stood behind Eva calculating the game.
"Oh! he-hello Head Master." Negi said bowing.
"Ah! Negi…" the Dean turned and smiled at him. "Lovely morning isn't it?"
"Ah… yes sir, it is," Negi replied kindly.
"Sit down, sit down we have some business to discuss."
"Me?" Negi wondered with a blank face.
"No, no, another matter. One you might have noticed last night and this morning." The dean said as Negi took his spot at the table. Chachamaru was soon handing him a cup of tea.
"Move your damn piece old man!" Eva yelled from across the cable.
"Yes, yes, very well…" he moved. In an instant Eva took the piece with a pawn. "Uh!" the dean was caught off guard. "Uh… re-do?"
"No re-do!" Eva shouted.
"Oh fine… well..." he cleared his throat. "Negi-kun, did you notice anything interesting last night?"
"Uh?" Negi looked at the dean confused. "Not really, no… I don't think?" Negi thought of what might have happened.
"You audibly heard the electrical strike last night, the one upon the Great Tree?"
"Oh yeah!" Negi said remembering the sound. He had soon crawled in with Asuna afterwards.
"Ah, well you see… Last night, there were no clouds in sight." The dean said explaining.
"No clouds, how is that possible?" Negi asked.
"Well you…" the dean was cut off.
"Don't bother with him, he's too young to understand," Eva said loudly. "Now make your move!" she again shouted at the dean.
"Fine…" the dean sighed, "you give me no choose," with a swift hand the dean pulled a move Eva had apparently not seen. "Checkmate. Now can I continue?"
Eva stared devastated at the board. She had been beaten, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Anyway, Negi, I believe there to be the culprit, and I believe him to be nearby. The teachers are already out looking. I suggest you lie low, and take care of your class. And once this is resolved you may start your training back up." The dean said explaining.
"What!?" Eva had been brought out of her stunned state. "I can't have my fun?"
"No, because this defeat will be taken out on him, and I need him for other things, not to be beaten up when the time comes." The dean smiled at Eva.
"Gah! Fine then…" Eva pouted. "Chachamaru, go get me more tea!" she demanded.
"As you wish master." Chachamaru bowed and left.
"Now, let us leave young Negi," the dean smiled standing up.
The two quickly left, the dean being quite fast for the man of his age. He bid his Farwell and walked into the nearby woods.
Negi sighed as he started to walk back towards the school. He didn't know what to do, other than to be on the look out. For now, He'd just go and study, if his students allowed him.
"Uh…" the boy groaned as he woke. The chill of the air made him shake. The torn clothes he wore provided little protection from the wind. He stood and started calculating.
"One to the west… And the east." He spoke to himself looking out of the bell tower he had hid in for the night. "Guess I need to reveal myself…" he told himself as he looked at a gnarled hand.
Turning, he grabbed his wand and jumped out the bell chamber. He rode the wand down and gently stepped onto the street pavement. No one was around, the street was near empty. He looked around. The power sources had not detected him, yet.
He smiled and then released a small portion of his own. The sources of power seemed to go mad as they grouped and headed his way. He laughed feeling them scramble towards him. Slowly he made his way down the street, as if he were trying to slowly escape. He hid his energy again.
As he walked he looked for more signs of unseen or unfelt enemies. His right leg gave out. "Agh!" he yelled falling over in pain. His wand helped break the fall, but he landed upon his shoulder, spraining it. "Nn!" he tried not to yell out in pain. It'd been too long since he'd experienced this kind of pain.
"Well… What do we have here?" a man in white asked as he walked towards him. The boy looked at the man. The man's dark face smiled down at him in amusement. "So… what are you doing out here? Causing trouble?" the man chuckled as a few more people appeared around him.
"What trouble might that be sir?" he asked smiling, having not a clue of what the man was talking about.
"The lightning!" A woman said disgustedly.
"Calm down…" the man said. "We'll have a nice chat about that later, alright?"
"What lightning bolt?" the boy asked curious now.
"The one you caused last night, the one that forced us all up, and make me miss my hair appointment!" the woman, who he'd still not seen seemed angry now.
"Really?" he said laughing through the pain, "All I know is I was put to deaf and then in a tree."
"Really now?" the man said, "Lets step into my office and we'll discuss this." The man stood up and started mumbling. He was using an incantation.
"I really don't think that's necessary now is it?" the boy asked trying to move out of the way of the incantation.
"No, but I don't know you," he said smiling before bindings started extending out of the ground.
"No, I can't!" the boy said as he pushed off the ground with his useful arm. The bindings were too quick for him. They grabbed hold of his sprained arm and pull hard against him. The pop of the bone and socket being pulled apart came. His screams were soon suppressed as the bindings covered his mouth. He quickly passed out.