It was a new day, a day filled with excitement and wonder. Many of the new students were very shy coming down to their first breakfast. Derek glanced around the hall, looking for a familiar face. As he scanned the sea of faces he recognized a pair of striking blue eyes. He smiled and walked over to Ana.
"Good morning." she said cheerily "wanna grab some breakfast?"
"Sure, I'm starving." Derek replied. At that moment he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned to see Jason behind him.
"Hey mind if I sit with you?" Jason asked.
"Of course not you're always welcome." Was Derek's answer. The trio set off to find a place to sit down so they could help themselves to a hearty breakfast.
After heaping his plate with all the good things he could fine, Derek dug in.
So do you guys know what your classes are?" Derek asked them.
"No do you?" Said Jason with a puzzled look on his face.
"Yeah I checked it on that gem thing that was floating above my bed."
"How do you do that? I don't even know what that thing is." Jason said
"Here let me see." Jason rummaged around in his pockets and pulled out a blue stone the same size as Derek's. He handed it to Derek. Derek concentrated on a list of words that he knew would take him to Jason's schedule. Welcome, mountain, school, schedule.
"Here you go." Derek handed the sapphire back to Jason.
"Oh that's cool, how did you do that?"
"You have to focus on the things that you want it to do in your mind. So for that I focused on welcome, mountain, school, schedule. Welcome kind of activates it, mountain is the default password, school lets the stone know that you want something to do with school, and then schedule lets you know that you want to see your schedule."
"Hey cool we have the same schedules, all the same classes together." Jason said
"Excellent!" Derek saw Ana take out her stone and try to bring up her schedule. She had deep lines across her forehead from concentrating on the purple amethyst so hard. Derek reached out his hand and placed it on the stone. Instantly her schedule sprang up in front of Derek's eyes. He looked over to her and saw that she wasn't staring off into space like Jason was, looking at his schedule, but she was looking at his hand, resting on top of hers. Ana looked up at him and blushed. Derek looked away and pulled his hand back to rest in his lap. He dug into his pockets for his own stone so that he would have something to do with his hands. He focused on the unlock command, and then the password mountain. He went into the school menu but he didn't go to his schedule, instead he waited to see what would come up.
Schedule
Professors
Homework
Class lists
Class lists.
Derek glanced through all his class lists and then saw Tom and Eva's names more than once. "Oh no we have Forge, Language and Fighting with Tom and Eva." Derek exclaimed.
"Aw man, I was hoping to only have to sit through one class with those two." Jason said.
"Oh really you two, I don't see what so bad about them." Ana said.
"You'll see, you'll see." Derek said. As the words came out of Derek's mouth, there was a loud chime that echoed through the dinning hall. More words appeared in front of Derek's eyes.
It's time for your first class, Sorcere with Professor Moonshadow.
The class is on the second floor and in room 219.
An arrow appeared after the words went away, pointing Derek in the right way.
"Let's go guys." Derek said. They all got up and started to walk to one of the flights of stairs on either side of the teachers tables.
As the trio walks down the hallway where their first class is, the chime sounds again and the arrow in front of Derek's face begins to flash red. Without discussion, all three start to run. They came to the door just as the professor was closing it. All three of them took their eyes off their feet and looked into Professor Moonshadow's piercing blue eyes.
"Sorry Professor…we, um got lost." Ana muttered breathlessly.
"Quite all right Miss Soli, now if you and Master Vale and Master Khol would be so kind as to find your seats, we can begin." Derek, Ana and Jason filed into the room and sat sown at a table in the back.
"All right now, as you all know, this is Sorcere class, if this isn't where you are supposed to be, you should leave now." Nobody moved, "Good, now that that is out of the way, I must warn you that this is a full content class. Anything not covered in notes or homework will be covered on the tests." There was a murmur of laughter as Moonshadow paused. "Now that we have that covered, down to business. This being a sorcere course, I see it only fitting that we address a sorcerous object that you should have all come across sometime last night. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should go have your eyes checked sometime soon." Moonshadow reached up to the back of his neck and undid a clasp. He came away with a clear crystal on a chain. "You should have all found one of these floating above your beds last night, take them out please." Derek shoved his hands into his pockets and felt around for the cool, smooth stone. "This is a Power Stone or, Esai Tones, in the Lost Language. These stones will become your closest companions throughout your years. They will be your manuals for sorcere, if you will. As you may or may not have noticed, they are activated by touch. Now these stones are very special. They're found only in special caves high up in the mountains that surround us. The only way to get one is to come to this school or to risk the dangers of the mountains. It is your most powerful tool, more powerful than your swords or daggers or bows. In fact, the only thing that would be a more powerful tool than this would be if one of the dragon eggs were to hatch for you. Now that you know the basics of what they are, it's time you learned the basics of how to use them." Derek and a few of the other students rolled their eyes as Moonshadow said this. He had learned all that last night. He listened to the first minute of the forebodingly long lecture Moonshadow was about to give to see if he would be missing anything. Once he was sure than he was not, he decided to explore. He fixed the unlock command in his mind and the stone flashed red, he fixed mountain in his mind and unlocked the stone. I wonder what will happen if I don't say school what else is there to do.
School
Notepad
Messenger
Maps
News
Games
Hm… games looks interesting, but that can be explored later. What interests me most is the Messenger.
Messenger Derek commanded
Please select a student or professor to message
A whole list of every in the school appeared in front of Derek.
O.K. Filters, First Years.
The list shrank to about a fifth of its previous size. From there it was easy for Derek to pick out Jason's name from the bottom of the list.
Message Recipient: Jason Vale
Message:
I wonder how this works, do I just think the words the same way I think the commands? Well only one way to find out. "Hey Jason, What's up?"
The words began to appear in front of Derek, just as he had hopped.
Send
Message sent
Add Recipient to Friends list?
Yes
Jason Vale Added to Friends
Derek Stopped focusing on his emerald. He looked over to Jason who was sitting next to Ana. He saw the sapphire on the table flash yellow. Derek assumed that was what happened when you received a message. Jason focused on the stone for a moment and then looked at Derek and smiled. Then Derek's stone flashed yellow. Derek unlocked his stone and went in the Messenger
Message from Jason Vale
Message: Hey this is really cool.
Derek formed another message to Jason.
"Yeah, do you think we should try and message Ana?"
Jason looked over at Ana. She was listening intently to Moonshadow.
"Nah I don't think we should, she looks too focused." Jason said.
Derek looked at Ana, and then at Moonshadow.
"Do you think maybe we should start paying attention now, he might say something useful." Jason said.
"Yeah maybe we should" Derek replied.
Derek and Jason had been talking for almost a half hour. This left them with an hour of Moonshadow's lecture to sit through. He droned on and on about how to use the stones. Derek managed to pick up a few pieces of useful information that he didn't know, but he found most of the lecture to be boring. At the end of the hour, Moonshadow announced there would be no homework as it was the first day.
"Now I realize that some of you may have found this first class to be incredibly dull. But keep in mind that it was absolutely necessary that you know exactly what kind of power you are dealing with." As Moonshadow finished this thought, the chime with signified the end of class echoed throughout the building. "See you tomorrow." He added brightly.
"Well I thought that lecture was very interesting, don't you two?" Ana asked.
"Yeah maybe if I had nothing better to do with my life." Derek said.
"Yean really, Derek and I were exploring our gems half the time anyways." Jason added.
"Were you really? What did u find out?" Ana asked.
"Well, while you were learning the basics of control, most of which I showed you already, we found a bunch of useful tools." Derek said.
"Yeah, like the Messenger." Jason added.
"Oh, that sounds interesting, how do you get to it?"
"Well, if you don't give a command after you unlock the stone, a list of options shows up. It's under there." Derek explained.
Derek, Jason and Ana were walking down the hall, going to their Forge classroom. The classroom was in the basement of the school. Jason was busy explaining to Ana how the Messenger worked. Derek was staring off into space, emerald in hand. The older students in the hallway knew the look on Derek's face well enough and got out of his way. They knew he was not paying attention to his surroundings. Derek turned a corner and started down a flight of stairs. Jason and Ana followed him, assuming he knew were he was going. At the bottom of the stairs there was only one doorway. A set of double doors flung wide open showed them a simple forge room. Above the doorway was an intricate scene all worked in metal. The work depicted Hephaestus working in his forge in the heavens. Professor Harte was standing under the scene, wearing a leather apron riddled with pockmarks and burn marks. His long black beard mad him look not unlike Hephaestus depicted above him.
Professor Harte caught Derek on the arm as he wandered in the door.
"You'll most likely not be needing that today lad." He said in a thick Irish brogue. Derek's eyes came back into focus. He stowed the stone away in his pocket and walked into the room. The forge had a solid stone floor. Arranged in rows spaced evenly throughout the room, were a tables with all the tools of the forge laid out on them, and next to each table was a furnace, though they were not quite as large as the furnace at the front of the room. Derek, Jason and Ana sat down at a table near the middle of the room. The rest of the class entered in twos and threes sitting down at tables in their respective groups. As the last of the class trickled in, Professor Harte strode to the front of the room.
"Welcome to the Forge everyone. It is here ya will be learnin to manipulate metals in the most creative of ways. Now, I see no reason to be lecturing you as many of your other professors no doubt will. I figured instead it woulda be a good idea to jump right on inta the forge work. The most practical of the work bein a way in which to hold those gem-stones of yours. Now, for this project, we have a few different variations to choose from. The firs' un is a necklace, very popular with the ladies but I've known quite a few gentlemen to wear a stone this way. The necklace is a normal strand of metal of yer choice, with a wire cage to hold the stone in. the advantage a this one is that the stone can be taken outa the cage to look at. The second variation is a tad bit harder. This un' is a bracelet that is bonded sorcerously to the stone. Thas all, instructions are on the tables. Go." Professor Harte touched the stone at his wrist. With a flash of the stone, amber words began to appear about the tables. As Professor Harte finished explaining the day's assignment, friends at each table turned to each other and began to discuss which of the projects they would do.
"So what are you thinking Ana?" Derek asked.
"I like the idea of the necklace, it seems nice and easy. But maybe I could ask the Professor if I could make it shorter into a bracelet and not a necklace. I wouldn't want to mess up on my first try. What are you two thinking?"
"I wanted to do that first necklace he was talking about. What about you Derek?"
"I want to do that bracelet he was talking about. Maybe I could make it thick like his."
"Oh, that one looks tough. Do you think you can do it?" Ana asked.
"Yeah I think so, I hope so." Derek reached out to the floating amber words that had the words BRACELET on top. He grabbed the top and pulled the words towards him. He looked down at the directions. He saw a few things that look complicated, but nothing he couldn't handle. The directions read like this.
BRACELET
Make out of silver.
Get one bars of silver out of the store cabinet.
Heat the bar over the fire until bright orange.
Put the bar on table and hammer out into a long two inch wide slab.
At this point, Professor Harte walked over to Derek's table.
"Can I help you with this lad? You seem to be the only one that has picked to do this particular project."
"Uh, yeah sure Professor."
"Alright then lad what does the firs' step say to do?"
"Um, it says to get a bar of silver from the store cabinet."
"Well then you go on an do that while I stoke up the fire." Derek stood up and walked to the back of the room as Professor Harte picked up a bellows and began to pump it into the fire. Derek opened the big cabinet and searched around for a bar of silver. He found it sitting near the bottom of the cabinet. He picked it up and walked slowly back to the stone table. As he walked, he tried to get a feel for the metal, what it would feel like sitting on his wrist. He reached the table and plunked the silver on it.
"Now, I want this project to be all yours, so if ya don' mind, I'll just sit back and supervise."
"Er…O.K." Derek picked up the bar of silver with a pair of tongs. He held it in the very center of the flames in the furnace. It began to glow cherry red and eventually bright orange.
"Thas good lad, now hammer it out on the anvil." Derek took the bar out of the fira and placed it on the anvil. He picked up a hammer and began to pound on the hot metal. The bar began to spread out until it was around a foot long. At this point the silver had returned to its natural color.
"Professor, this looks like it'll be to long to fit around my wrist." Derek said.
"Aye lad, it's to be folded over, but first you hafta heat it again." Derek picked up the silver in the tongs again and held it in the fire. Once he had achieved the same fierce orange glow, he set it down on the anvil. He took an iron rod and placed it in the center of the glowing metal. He moved half the bar of silver off the anvil and began to hammer it up and around the rod, folding the metal in half. Once he ahd successfully folded the metal in half, Professor Harte spoke up again.
"Now lad, this is where the tricky bit comes into play. You have to use sorcere to bend the silver to your will and make it into the shape you want. It's pretty straight-forward sorcere, but since this is your first time, why don't ya tell me what it is ya want to say, and I'll write it down for ya." Derek was confused as to what Professor Harte would write it down on, but went on and told him anyways.
"Well, I guess I want it to be like six or so inches long, rounded into a circle that will fit around my wrist. And then I want an impression that will hold my emerald, so about two inches in diameter. How exactly does this thing open?" He asked.
"Well there is a hinge here on the bottom, opposite from the stone." Professor Harte gestured to his own bracelet. "And then to open it, a special command has to be given and it sorta just 'breaks' down the center under the stone and then you can take it off. Ya think you can handle that lad?"
"Yeah I think so, I hope so." Derek gulped a little. "How exactly do I do this? Do I just hold the stone and give instructions?"
"Yes, and it may help a little if you close your eyes to visualize what you want the metal to do."
Derek took a last glance at the floating amber words, trying to memorize them. He looked down at the glowing piece of metal, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. Derek wasn't totally aware of what was going on around him, but he could see it happening in his mind's eye. Everyone else in the class saw it though. They all stopped what they were doing to watch Derek. AS he sat there holding his stone, the glowing silver rose off the table. Derek reached his free arm out and the metal floated over the rest just above his wrist. It began to glow brighter and fiercer than the fires burning in the furnaces. Sparks began to run up and down the length of the slab of silver. The ends began to curl downward until they met with a flash of light. The band began to swirl around Derek's wrist. Without warning, the emerald rose out of Derek's hand. It floated towards the still spinning band of silver. It began to spin around Derek's wrist until it was indistinguishable from the silver. Then with a flash of green light. That filled the whole room, the spinning stopped. Sitting on Derek's wrist was an elegant silver bracelet with a large emerald set in it. All around the band there were swirls etched into the silver. Derek stared down at his wrist in disbelief. He had not meant for the etching to be there, he didn't even know what he done.
"Lad, if you would step outside with me, everyone else, return to your work." Professor Harte said quietly. There was no need for him to speak any louder, for the whole room was dead silent. Derek followed Professor Harte out of the room and up the stairs.
"Sir, where are we going?" Derek asked
"We're going to see Professor Moonshadow. You have a gift for sorcere and I think we should let him know." The continued walking down the hall and stopped outside the door that opened into Professor Moonshadow's classroom. Professor Harte opend the door and stuck his head in. "excuse me Professor, but can I see you outside? Excellent." Professor Moonshadow stepped out of the classroom and closed the door.
"Very well Professor, what is it you would like to speak with me about?"
"Well you see sir, we were making bracelets and necklaces in class, I'm sure you know. Well Khol here was the only one to pick the bonded bracelet."
"If you don't mind my saying so Sean, but that is of no surprise to me, Mr. Khol sees like a student who is up to the challenge."
"Well, I understand that sir, but look at the job he's done. Professor Harte picked up Derek's are and held it out for Moonshadow to see.
"A very admirable job Master Khol. I find the etching around the bracelet to be exquisite."
"Well yes but you see sir," Derek addressed him "I don't really know how that happened. I wasn't planning on it or anything like that."
"Yes yes, I understand that, but sometimes in sorcere, things happen that are not planned. Now if this is all that you wanted to tell me, I think that you may go Derek. I believe you and your classmates will be leaving their classes in a few minutes. You might be able to catch them if you hurry." Professor Moonshadow told him.
Derek turned and began to walk back down the hall. As he rounded the corner, he paused trying to catch what the two professors were talking about.
"Did you see the markings Charles? Did you not see what they were? And you should have seen the way the sorcere took control. It was as if the boy had been doing sorcere for years! I tell you I think he's the one, the one from the prophesy!"
"Regardless of his performance today, I think it would be premature to assume the boy is indeed the chosen one. But I will e watching him very closely from now on." Derek began to walk again as he heard Professor Moonshadow's Door open and close.
He entered the forge and quietly sat down hoping no one would notice him. A few of the other students looked up from their work, but nobody said a thing. The chime sounded and everyone packed up their things.
"That was some show you put on today man." Jason said as they walked out of the room.
"Yeah really, how did you do that?" Ana asked.
"I don't know. The sorcere sorta just, took control of what was going on. I was just along for the ride. But boy do I have something to tell you, come on we can go to the commons of the boy's dorms." Derek answered. The trio walked up the stairs and went to where the boys and girls had parted the night before. As they turned to the right to go to the boy's commons, Derek took a look over his shoulder at the six round eggs sitting on their pedestals. Then he walked off down the hall. They reached the boys commons and sat down in the multicolored armchairs that surrounded small coffee tables scattered about the room.
"So what is it that you wanted to tell us Derek?" Ana asked.
"Well, when Harte took me out of the room we went to see Moonshadow. He wanted to show Moonshadow what I had made and all that. He passed it off as nothing more than a good job while I was there, but as soon as I turned the corner they started to talk to me. Professor Harte thinks that because of how I did this today," He said pointing to his bracelet. "And how it's got all these weird markings and everything on it, that I'm the person from the prophesy that was written on the floor of the rotunda."
"That's pretty crazy, what do you think of it?" Jason asked
"I don't really know, but I doubt it's me, I mean I'm just your average guy."
"Well, whoever it is we're not going to find out now, so let's go explore the academy. I heard there is some pretty neat stuff." Jason said.
"'Course there's neat stuff, we're in a magic school." Derek replied.
"Yeah I don't really know, I mean let's just hang out here for a few minutes, our next class is already in 15 minutes." Ana said.
"What class is it?" Jason asked trying to act interested enough but, still sounded a little put out about not going exploring.
"Voyaging, what do you suppose that is?" Derek said.
"Well it's outside, so I guess it must be something that requires a lot of space." Ana said.