"What is it?" Yuri wondered, examing the sketches that had fallen out of David's backpack with excitement.
"Nothing really." David laughed a fairly obvious lie. He really was not ready to show the contents of the notebook to anyone yet. Not even Professor Merlin. Either way, he had no time to look through the notebook and figure out what they were. So, he was not really sure what Yuri had seen just yet.
Besides, David was no longer allowed to do any research into such things.
The school board had found out about David's ventures and extracurricular study sessions in his room. While they would not stop him from learning more, they said that there was going to be a strict limitation to the information he was allowed to access. David imagined that Professor Merlin had failed to mention the enchantment in David's bedroom, but neither of them said anything about the matter.
It had been a week since he woke up in his hospital bed. Every morning, just as he woke, David would grab the notebook on the side of the bed. For nearly 30 minutes, without actually reading or understanding what he was doing, David would write or draw in that notebook. Then, as if he suddenly realized he was awake, he would become aware of his surroundings and the book would be closed. From the little information he had glanced at inside, it was full of seemingly impossible calculations, wonderous ideas, and frightening innovations. He read through as many books as he could, but could not find anything close to what he had been writing in that book.
As a side effect, David seemed to be suffering terrible migraines and memory loss lately. He thought it might have been an aftereffect of his accident, but all examinations insisted that he was perfectly healthy again. The migraines always started whenever he sat down to try and figure out complex spells and runes that he found interesting. After a few minutes, the pain would creap in and force him to stop.
The memory loss was a different issue. He realized it almost instantly. He could remember everything he had learned, but he was no longer able to recall the innate details like he was before. He could no longer see the page in his mind. Also, portions of his childhood were now almost completely blank.
Yuri flipped through the notebook without a care, as if he did not hear David, and examined the page it landed on.
"David, this is exquisite work. The detail and information is extremely complex, yet amazingly easy to grasp and understand." Yuri gasped, entralled by the books contents. It made David uneasy watching Yuri being absorbed in such a way.
"These spells here...you made these by yourself?" Yuri continued, turning the book and pointing at two spell circles in the middle of the page.
"I don't know." David admitted.
"Here, look at this one. What language is that?" Yuri asked, flipping the book around again and pointing at a single sentence near the bottom of the page. It was written at a slant, as if added offhand at the last moment.
Fulgoris Lux Lucis Lancea Carmen "Fulgoris Lancea", it read. David's brow bunched up in confusion as he read it a second time. He did not recognize the language it was in, let alone what it meant, or what it did. Looked like Latin, he realized.
"Have you tried it out?" Yuri asked, looking up hopefully.
"No." David replied, to both the question and the look in Yuri's eyes. David's hand went to his fake wand in his pocket. As soon as he touched it, he drew his hand away. He missed his wand dearly, almost like he lost an important piece of his soul. He could feel it, his wand. It was laying in the clearning where he had met his father, in the forest to the north. If he closed his eyes, he would be there, feeling its surroundings at it did. The cold dew of the grass caressing its ancient wooden skin. The gentle rays of the sun lightly licking its exposed runes whenever the light peaked throught the leafy overhang.
"Really?" Yuri wondered, slightly disappointed, but amazed David had not tried it sooner.
"I'm not even sure if that spell would work anyway." David said. "It was just something I scribbled down in there as soon as I woke up. I wouldn't take it too seriously if I were you."
"What about this?" Yuri wondered, opening it up to a drawing on the next page. It was technical designs for a ring or bracelet of some sorts, but David had no idea what it was for. Before he could reply though, Yuri turned the page and cried out in amazement.
"Wow, would you look at this?" David craned his neck to look at the page properly. It was a hand drawn Spell Circle that covered the entire page. There were several handfuls of smalls notes in pencil in the margins, all the mathematics, and pointing out what were apparently key points and figures of the spell. David did not even remember drawing it in the first place, but it worried him.
His eyes drifted up from the page to the figure of someone standing down the hall. It was Snow, who had been crossing the hall up ahead of them, and seemed to be considering something. Snow had refused to talk or even be near David this past week, so when David called out to him, trying to get him to stay, Snow left the hallway and seemed to ignore him. It was the same way with Evangeline since the match. Both of them seemed to be upset with him about something, and were refusing to talk to him as a result. He felt extremely lonely without them by his side. Yuri was a good friend, but he missed them greatly.
This obviously placed a great deal of strain on everyone during their classes together, as they had always been partners, and even sat together. Evangeline seemed to want to talk to him, but would always falter and loose her courage before she could say anything. Yuri and Vlad had been his only two friends, but it was like wearing someone else's shoes for a day. Nothing felt quite right. Even more so without he two closest friends.
"Still not talking to you, huh?" Yuri asked, returning the notebook to David's bag.
"No. Not at all. Still haven't heard anything?" David wondered, feeling a little lost about the whole situation.
"I told you before, David. You are going to have to figure this all out for yourselves. I'm not going to start pick which friend I choose to side with on this. Why don't you go ask them for yourself?"
"Because they keep ignoring me, that's why!" David exclaimed in frustration, returning his pack over his shoulder and heading off towards Potions ahead of Yuri, who had Adv. Spellogy in the eastern wing down the same hall. He could not help but be mad at Snow and Evangeline for treating him like this. He thought he deserved better, and wanted to run up and demand to know what their problem was with him all of a sudden.
Yuri said his good-byes a few moments later before disappearing into a hidden passageway behind a tapestry, a shortcut to his next class. David felt alone again, without a companion to take his mind off of things. Yuri and Vlad would mask the pain slightly, but they could never help him when he was all alone.
David was shoved roughly from his blindside and thrown face-first into the wall, something slamming into him from behind, grinding his face into the stone. There was more than one of him, he realized, as they pinned his arms behind him and began kneeing and punching his ribs to subdue him. When they finally had him the way they wanted him, they flipped him around, pinned him again, and slid him off his feet up the wall.
On either side was a massive wall of meat with two faces he did not recognize, and a third, smaller man standing farther back, watching it all unfold.
"Just as I thought." The smaller man spoke. He sounded like a snake, David thought.
"Who are you? What do you want?" David demanded before he was cut-off by a massive fist in his jaw. The smaller man sighed and got closer.
"All you people ask the same silly questions." he said, examining David closely. "Who are you. Why are you doing this. Why me. All the same, all pointless and ignorant." He leaned in close, so close that David could feel his hot sticky breath on his face.
"You are Crowley. I am Desmond." he smiled, which was way too big to be natural. He seemed to be going out of his way to get as close as possible without coming into contact with David. "As for your other question...let's just say I find it fun. You think you're untouchable. I exist to tell you. You. Are." He glanced to one of the gorillas holding David, who proceeded to batter David some more. He even went so far as slamming David's head against the wall by his hair a few times. They all chuckled while it happened. When they pinned him against the wall again, David spit blood as far as he could, but only caught Desmond's shoes. He peered at them in mild disgust before ignoring them again.
"No need to get your hands dirty? Gotta have your friends do it for you?" David snarled, trying to catch his breath.
"Nope. I can't." Desmond smiled, raising his hands to show a bracelet on his wrist similar to the one around David's. They put it around his wrist to make sure that he followed the rules and placed four limitations on him to make sure that he stayed "within the bounds".
"Rule 1: Not allowed to leave the castle without a faculty escort. Rule 2: Practice of magic or martial arts outside of class is prohibited unless strictly for homework. Rule 3: Not allowed to fight under any circumstances unless under direction of faculty member." Desmong recited the three rules in which they had been bound. "Now, you should see why I picked you." A fist busted David's nose, making his head bounce off the wall. "You can't fight back."
David tried to pull free, but was rewarded by being lifted into the air and slammed powerfully onto his back on the stone floor by the two muscled behemoths. Never in his life could he have imagined the pain that shook him to the core.
"Going somewhere?" Desmond wondered, tilting his head. There was a small smile on his face.
"To class, obviously." David replied as best he could. He response was rewarded with a swift and violent knee drop deep into his abdomen. As much as he wanted to break free and teach them all a lesson, he was outnumbered and severly limited.
"What do you want, Desmond?" David gasped weakly. David was picked up by his hair and lifted by the throat.
"Oh, I got everything I want and need right here, thank you." Desmond grinned sadistically. "Seriously, Crowley, you make it so easy. Why don't you fight back, hmm?" The two giants to either side chuckled in response. David dangled there weakly, unable to respond, but tried glaring daggers into Desmond, who seemed to grow bored.
"Alright, let's finish up here before someone finds this mess." Desmond sighed with a wave of his hand. David was lifted high into the air and slammed into the ground once again. Before he could recover, blow after blow rained down on him from above, delivered by the heavy boots of his attackers as they kicked and stomped at him with all their fury. David rolled onto his stomach weakly and covered the back of his head to try and defend himself. He was broken and extremely weak. His ribs hurt. His shoulders ached. His stomach heaved as a boot caught it cleanly, emptying his breakfast all over the floor. He couldn't move his legs enough to think about running away. He just laid there and took what felt like an endless beating. They were going to kill him, he though.
"I think he's had enough for now." Desmond's voice echoed distantly throughout David's numb mind. He felt a tight grip on his hair life his face from the ground. There was a lot more blood than he had expected. It was frightening and drove his injuries home, but awoke him from his stupor.
"Next time," Desmond hissed quietly in his ear. "You should watch what you say. I might feel generous and let you keep your face." David snapped. He spun the latch on the ring of his right hand, releasing all of the kinetic energy it had built up since he bought it. All at once. Since he was wearing it, all of the energy passed through him harmlessly. Desmond, however, being right next to David, was not so lucky. Neither was the floor.
The cry of pain and surprise that escaped from Desmond said it all as he was thrown like a ragdoll into the ceiling. David rolled over onto his back and chuckled weakly.
"Fuck you, Desmond." David laughed. After a few moments, he shuffled his way to the wall and used it to sit up. He looked around through the two swollen slots that were his eyes. His arms were shaking violently from the effort of proping himself up.
The damage was pretty severe. The floor and walls had been cratered from the extreme force David had unleashed. Desmond was laying unconcious ten feet away from the crater with some rubble on top of him, unmoving. His two friends were slightly more fortunate, since they were not as close, but they were more than thirty yards away, rolling around and groaning in pain. David spit a massive amount of blood from his blood and wiped his mouth with his wrist. Everything ached and burned as he shuffled his way up the wall onto his feet, his back against the wall the whole way. His backpack had been thrown a fair distance, but lucky it was on the way to his class. He stumbled down the hallway, his shoulder against the wall.
David just got his ass kicked, and he knew it well enough from the swelling and cuts on his face. He did not say anything at all as he made his way through the castle. His mind was not exactly clear as he made the trip, but he did not remember entering his classroom late. He remembered there was a great commotion and a lot of talking, but he just sat at his desk and slumped back.
There was a lot of light in his eyes as a someone, presumeably a Professor, flashed their wand in his eyes to make sure he was alright. He tried to ask some questions, but could no longer get his mouth to work properly. His hearing was not that great at the moment either, as everything was extrememly muffled or drowned by the sharp ringing.
David was not aware of anything for a period of time until a sound pulled him awake. It was a sharp whistle, followed by a loud rush of air as his hearing returned. The swelling on his face had gone down to the point that he could see again. He was in Professor Merlin's cramped office. He recognized some of the things on the walls. Outside the window was the the Elden Crest dormitory tower, which seemed to overlook the rest of the school. He assumed that the Professor's office was in one of the towers as well.
"Having troubles, Mr. Crowley?" Professor Merlin asked nicely. David looked around before finally spotting the Professor. He was nearly hidden behind piles of books and scrolls that covered his large desk, a quill in his hand scratching rapidly across the parchment in from of him. "Do not worry about your earlier activities, David. I have personally spoken with the School Board about it, and they have agreed to ignore this one incident, since you were being attacked."
"Thank you, Professor." David croaked after a few failed attempts to get his mouth to work. "How did I get here, sir?"
"House Elves." the Professor answered without looking up from his paperwork. David looked around as if he ecpected to see them standing around behind him. It was silly, to be honest, but he was hopeful. He could have used the laugh with how horrible he felt.
"So, youre not going to ask what happened, sir?" David wondered uncomfortably.
"No, Mr. Crowely." he replied simply, setting aside his parchment and drawing another paper in fron og him.
"Then, if you don't mind me asking, why am I here, Professor?" David pressed. He was not used to being ignored like this.
"Like I notified you earlier this week. You are here to train." Professor Merlin said, pointing to the ground with his quill. As soon as the Professor spoke, the floor seemed to expand ten fold, making the office the size of a football field. "You are too count the tiles on this floor. There are three different colors, Red, Blue, and Yellow. When you are done, you are to be asked the amount of each color. If you do not answer correctly, you will have to start over. Please begin."
"Is this a punishment, Professor?" David wondered. Professor Merlin did not look or speak to him, just simply dipped his quill in the ink, then continued scratching it across the parchment.
David groaned in pain as he fell to his knees on the hard tile floor. Each tile was as big as his thumb nail. There were thousands of them, he realized. Quietly, he began to count.
The first hout was painfully slow. He was having a hard time memorizing the count, which was something that had never happened to him before. Repeatedly, David had to start over because he had lost count. He was growing increasingly frustrated with the entire task.
Time blurred into a hodge-podge of back pain, aching knees, and multicolored tiles. He felt like he was going numb all over after a period of time, and forgot all about his injuries. The only sounds came from Professor Merlin's quill, which never seemed to stop except to take in more ink.
The sun steadily slid through the sky as David continued to count the tiles, one after another on his hands and knees. He was absorbed with them. Somehow, he had unknowingly fallen into a trance that kept him counting while being completely still. There was nothing else in that world but those tiles.
It was only when Merlin cleared his throat that David realized he had finished. David lurched in surprise and looked around the office, which had returned to its previous size. Professor Merlin was simply sitting there, his hands folded in a very wizardly way, just watching quietly while he waited to have David's full attention.
"David, how many blue tiles were there?" he asked quietly.
"11,973, Professor." David blurted while the numbers were fresh in his mind. Professor Merlin opened a drawer and pulled out a length of parchment, then hovered it into David's hand, along with a quill with a blue feather.
"Color them here." he ordered. The parchment was an exact template of the floor he was just counting. "From memory, of course." he added, before returning to his paperwork. David was completely lost. He could only remember the amount of tiles, not where they had been placed on the florr. Hands shaking, he touched the quill to the first square, where he thought the first blue tile had been. The entire parchment instantly ignited into a pillar of blue flames.
"You will not go to class tomorrow, David. Instead, you will come here and do the exact same thing again until you get it right."
"Why can't I go to class, Professor?" David asked.
"This." was he answer. In the Professor's hand was David's fake wand. "There is nothing for you to do in the classroom if you do not have the proper tools in which to learn and complete your education, Mr. Crowley."
"can we go and get my real wand back from the woods?" David asked hoepfully.
"No. Your broke the rules by going into the northern forest as it was. The Board will not tolerate a second offense, David." he explained calmly, setting the fake wand back down where it had been. "Until tomorrow then."
"See you at dinner, Professor." David acknowledged the dismissal glumly. He had forgotten all about his earlier injuries until he tried to get to his feet. They all flamed in pain and came to life as if they had been asleep. Slowly, David limped his way through the castle to the Mess Hall.
Yuri was the first to see him, and ran over immediately to help him out, and to hold him steady. Snow remained in his seat, but had an expression of concern on his face, which he tried to hide. Evangeline simply refused to look at him a second time, but David knew her well enough that her eyes were probably tearing up with worry.
Thanks guys, David thought bitterly as Yuri lead him to an empty table. You would think seeing your best friend cover in blood would cause you to break your silence and come see if he was alright and ask what happened.
"You still not going to tell me why they are mad?" David wondered, looking to Yuri weakly.
"I am waiting for you to man up and go ask them for yourself." Yuri retorted, grabbing a plate of hamburgers for himself. "Now, tell me what happened to you. The entire school is buzzing with stories and tall tales about what happened today. You really didn't kill anyone, did you?"
David slipped his legs over the chair and began grabbing food as he explained what had happened to him. It hurt him to laugh while he explained the part with his ring, but it felt more than worth it. He just wanted to have his friends back at his side, so they could laugh with him. He could imagine what Snow would do to Desmond once he found out what they did to David.