"That was some deal you snagged, man. That book will keep you for ages." Payne rejoiced
"I get the point, Payne. Its in a language I don't understand. It'll take me a long time to decipher. Now stop rubbing it in." I said
"what is that rock?" Seerate asked
"don't know, we just found it at the shop." Payne answered
"if u don't know, why the heck did you buy it!?" Dirk said
"don't know. Spur of the moment thing, I guess." Payne answered
We went to the town's library to do some research. This library was built by the social workers who actually remembered this town. However, not many teenagers want to come to an unknown town to give out free stuff and build.
We looked the stone up at the computers and found that the stone was granite. Meanwhile, I checked if the guy who returned my books did what he was asked and It seems he actually did it. I wondered what the thief actually stole?
We printed out all the information and got to putting the it all together. When we finally finished the project, it was sunset.
"Lets go to the clock tower to watch the sunset." Seerate decided
"could do with a stretch."Payne stretched and gave a yawn
The sun set beautifully as we licked on our strawberry lollipops. Seerate then asked "do you think we'll still be living here forever?"
"Of course not. Don't tell me you forgot the curse of the orphan's town?" Payne reminded
"i didn't. That's why I asked." Seerate said
"I think she's asking if we'll die here." Dirk explained
"nah, when we're 21 we'll get jobs and work until we get the money to leave this town." Payne said
"and then what?" I said
A terrible silence followed and ended the conversation as the sky turned dark.
That night, I tried to decipher the book I bought. After 30 minutes I totally gave up. I lay down on my bed to rest and when I stood up, the book changed in an impossible way.
It had a title.
"Spell springer's beginner's guide to spells" was the book's title. I turned a page and there it was. The page I was trying to decipher for 30 minutes was now in plain old english.
"impossible. Then again, getting a book for free is also impossible." I remarked
I read the page and it seems its a way to launch a fire bolt. The page, though translated, still confuses me and I have no idea how to launch a firebolt.
Next morning, I left for the library to check out how the spell works. It says to concentrate the 'fire energy' to your palms and let it out. The search came out as nothing. I was disappointed.
On the way home, I went past the shop beside the station. The man, coincidentally, arrived to open the store. He saw me and asked " how are you getting on with that book? Is it exciting?" He then chuckled.
"Its not a novel, is it?" I asked
"It depends on how you look at it. If you find it exciting, its a novel. If it teaches you things, its a textbook," the old man replied ",By the way, call me Tom."
"How do I...," I came closer and whispered ",launch a fire bolt?"
"concentrate fire energy into your palms." Tom said
"How?"
"I'll give you a clue. Heat emits from the body." Tom answered
"Heat from the body..." I said to myself as I looked at the unlit fireplace. The others were out shopping for dinner and I decided to stay home. I stared at me palm and thought of how I can control heat from my body to only my palms. I concentrated on my palm and thought Heat, surge through my palms.
Immediately, a blazing heat came from my palms and a golden ball of fire hovered above my arms. I could create a fireball my just my mind and arms.
"Impossible." I said
I launched the ball at the fireplace. A blazing fire appeared with a pop.
"So, where were you?" Payne asked
"library. Getting some books" I replied
"For the whole day?" Seerate pointed out
"I was looking for a book to read. Is that a crime the mayor would fine me for?" I replied a bit hotly
"Cool down, man. What's wrong with you. Its just a question. No need to get all fired up."Payne said
I jolted when he said 'fire' and thought about this afternoon. Seerate then served dinner. We ate in silence.
Dirk broke the silence "So,what are we going to do in the last day of vacation?"
Next morning, I woke up while the others were snoozing away. I went to the kitchen area and grabbed a bit of breakfast. I then left to find Tom.
Tom was outside his shop, opening it. I went up to him and he turned around to speak to me
"so, have you sprung your first spell?" Tom asked
"What?" I was confused from the word he used
"oh, 'spring' is a spell springer's terms of cast. So did you do it?" He asked in a hearty voice
"let me do a demo" I did the same thing and launched a bolt at a trash can at the side. It burst into little scrappy pieces.
"very good. But can you do this?" His face concentrated on the pieces and the pieces turned back into a trashcan.
"wow" I said in amazement
"too bad its temporary." He added. The trashcan fell back into pieces again.
"come in, would you?" He offered. I accepted it.
When we entered the shop, the mayor walked past and saw the pieces. In fury, he shouted "Do you kids know how much a trashcan costs!!!!!?"
In the shop, Tom boiled tea for the both of us.
He then said "Don't worry about the time. This kettle is special." As soon as he stop speaking, the kettle whistled loudly. He poured me and him a cup of tea.
"now, I would like to answer a few questions of yours." Tom said
"I haven't asked yet." I pointed out.
"I'm a spell springer. I can spring a spell to read your mind." Tom explained to me.
" can they shape shift too?" I asked
"40 years ago, Our land was a war-zone. It was a battle that had included the people of Regenald, Aquarius, Cybert, Adamint and finally, Fiona Woods. These cities battled each other almost every minute. The cities sometimes took sides with one another and defeated armies. Mercenaries came to pitch in. Towns, other cities, villages, tribes, even civilizations were part of the battlefield,"Tom took a sip of tea.
"and?"I asked, listening to every word as if I was reading a story
"We spell springers lived in a world behind a gate filled with peace and tranquility. When we heard of Cybert and Adamint approaching the mystical gates which connects both worlds together, some villages were afraid they might enter and destroy and conquer us. Those villagers thought of unleashing the Darkness." He shuddered and took another sip of tea
"What is Darkness?" I asked, feeling cold all of a sudden. A draught must've entered.
"Darkness is a very, very dangerous thing. Its shape is unknown. No one knows if its dead or alive. If unleashed, it could cause serious damage. I still don't know why they suggested it in the first place. Anyway, the rest of us didn't approve of it. So that fateful night, those villagers stole the summon stone, which is used to bring darkness to our world. When it's unleashed, the villagers fought and ran. But still, the spell springers lost that battle. There were many survivors and some of the ones who summoned Darkness were guilty. They rested on a mountain that will keep them safe. The rest of the ones who summoned Darkness, we now call them Dark ones, opened the gates, bringing along Darkness. It spread across city from city, village to village, town to town. When its wrath rested on an unknown mountain, only ruins stood on the cities of Regenald, Aquarius, Cybert, Adamint and Fiona Woods." Tom sighed and took another long sip.
I sat there thinking of the story and how I was connected to it. Tom must've either read my mind or sensed it. "patience is a virtue, boy. You have to wait for the story to continue." I nodded
"then, the Crusades came to defend the lands from darkness. This is when we, spell springers came to this world to seal darkness."
"how did the gates become unlocked in the first place?" I interrupted
"i was getting to that,"Tom took a final sip and placed the cup on the table. ",a key is needed. That key was split into 7 pieces when the door was opened. Most spell springers now predict the pieces are kept inside hearts of 7 princesses. They don't even know they are princesses." Tom stood up
"what do the others say?" I asked
"they said the pieces are spread across 7 specific ruins. Ruins of towns, villages and so on. This has been proven wrong as the crusades went searching for them. That caused the fall of the crusades," Tom replied. "look at the time, I think your friends are worried for you."
I looked at the clock and saw that its 1pm
"where did you go? Do you know how worried we were?" Seerate chided
"out talking about the project. To see what the other guys got." I lied.
That afternoon, we took a trip to the playground to reminiscence the good old days when we were 8, When Dirk just joined us.
"remember that?" Payne said while pointing at the slide
"yeah, its the first slide we went on together." Seerate said
We went to the playground with the worker on the playground. We sat on the slide and went down fast together. We even tumbled on the floor and ... never mind
Night came faster than we had expected. When the rest slept, I took the book out and read the next spell .in the book.
Next day, we all got ready for first day back to school. Payne, Dirk, Seerate and me got crowded by our friends and were split up. I chatted with all of the friends with haste and looked for the others. Before I actually found them, the bell rang.
Payne and I are in class 3A, Seerate and Dirk are in 2C so its sometimes hard to find each other. Our class are filled with male perverts and female strippers who strip for the guys. Only some of us,fortunately for newcomers, are not in those classifications.
"Hey guys, Beatrice and Betty are taking off their uniforms. Lets go see!" One of my friends shouted.
"All right!" The rest of the gang left us alone.
"ever get the feeling our class is different from the rest?" I asked Payne
Break time came early as its the first day of school. We met Seerate and Dirk at the table we sat everyday.
"Our class is SERIOUSLY filled with perverts." Payne complained
"you told us last term." Dirk sighed and worked on his food
"the summer festival is coming next week. Are you guys coming?" Seerate asked us while eating her salad
"Sure, why not" I answered and finished the chicken pie
Classes finished at the afternoon and we usually went to the library to get our homework done and then leave for home. Homework usually took up 3 hours so we pretty much have no time for other stuff.
"what's the .answer to this question?" Seerate asked Payne
"CA is not perpendicular to AB." Payne answered
"I need a maths book so I'll be right back." I left for the shelf about angles.
I suddenly thought of the book and wondered how to make a weapon materialize in my hands. I didn't notice her coming and bumped into a girl from my class. She one of those who aren't strippers and every boy in the 3rd, 4th,5th level are trying to date her, unfortunately rejected. Most of the guys are known to rape their girlfriends during dates and I guess she knows. Her name is Robin and she's a popular tennis pro, gets good grades every year and is the richest kid in the school. She can sing too but refuses to be in any band.
She was going to fall flat on her face before I caught her and held out my hand. All the books she was carrying fell and stacked on my hand in a pile.
"Hi." I sheepishly said to her.
"Nice catch, Wesley" She commented
"Thanks. I didn't think you'd remember my name from all the guys you've met." I replied
"I feel insulted," she smiled when she said that ", so, are you going to the summer festival?" She asked, suddenly blushing
I felt like I was blushing too. She sounded like asking me out and I wasn't even good looking
"so, are you?" She asked cheerfully.
"sure. Are you?" I replied
"Yes, you wanna," She took a long pause and a deep breath and said "Go together?"
I felt like I was sweating when the air conditioning was supposed to be 25'C
"YES, DEFINETELY!." I answered, a little bit loudly. Everyone looked at me. My face turned red instantly. Robin gave a giggle.
"Why did you yell?"Seerate whispered to me
"sorry, forgot that its a library." I said sarcastically
"I'm done, how about you?" Payne asked Seerate.
"I'm finishing up. " Dirk and I stayed at the library while Payne and Seerate went home.
30 minutes later, we reached home but Payne and Seerate were not there.
"Probably out on a date."Dirk joked.
We laughed and got to bed early.
While Dirk slept, I concentrated my mind on the iron and got a metal butter knife. I now mastered the weapon spell.
Now I just need to handle next week's Summer festivals. I thought before sleeping.
Next morning, Payne and Seerate were not at their beds.
"probably had to go to school early." Dirk said as he took out toast from the toaster. He flung me one after brushing.
Payne wasn't at his seat today and that got me worried. He only rushed in when it was the 2nd period of school.
"where were you last night?" I asked
He ignored me and concentrated on the board
Payne and Seerate were not at our usual seat. Dirk told me she ignored him too. This was getting weird. What happened last night?
"So, not with your usual crowd?" Robin came to our seats.
"No, they probably went to The Woods." Dirk replied. Patrick Woods was our principle. Many workers all say he is a bad boss and a cheapskate.
"for being late?" Robin asked. Dirk and I shrugged
We met at the library but only Seerate was there. We said hi but she didn't seem to hear us. As if she didn't notice. I also heard a small sniffling from her.
"What's wrong?" I asked
"Nothing, just dust." Seerate stopped
"this is a library, you know?" Dirk pointed out. He took another photo
"Don't take a photo of ME!" She snatched the camera and threw it at the door. It crumbled into scrap.
"What was That FOR!?" Dirk shouted
"This is a ..." Librarian was interrupted by a hard stare from Dirk and Seerate
Dirk suddenly left the building and Seerate left too. I sat there and thought about what could happen overnight while doing my homework. I probably got all of them wrong.
The week past quite slowly. Tom hasn't been at the store for a long time. Seerate, Dirk and Payne are no where seen. If I met them, they would try to leave, ignoring me. As a result, I have been to reduced to watching the strippers with the guys but still it didn't help.
I met Robin at the stage where the festival starts. She was wearing a kimono with a pretty pink cherry blossom at the waist and the breast area.
"Are you ready for this festival?" She asked
"I'm not even in attire." I commented.
"that's ok, I don't think guys actually wear anything in this festivals." Robin said
