It was no surprise that I was still bordering near the edge of Nazarick. Sitting on sky's edge was a moment that was too rare to pass! So when some random upstart, who I have barely begun to know, decided to interpose himself between me and my wonderful day; I felt greatly disturbed! Poor fella …
The bright blue sky radiated a young yellow glow down upon my earthly figure. I closed my eyes, taking in the feeling of the warm basking sunlight, the invigorating rushing air, and the inevitable jolt in my heart as one dense motherfucker decided to send me plummeting to my doom!
I did not react, or at least I did not react the way a normal person would, but it would be a lie for me to say that I was not taken by surprise! When I felt the shove, my entire body tensed up, and the whirring cogs in my mind had momentarily faltered. Even the most rational human beings tend to break down in unexpected situations! Of course, even in that state, I tried to remain as calm as I possibly could to pull myself out of this predicament.
A second went by, enough to conceal the identity of the culprit behind the act; my vision blocked by and overarch of dirt and stone. With nothing to grab onto, I plummeted to my doom!
The rushing air forced me to keep my eyes shut, the swish of my falling body having obscured my hearing. Pretty normal for a person who was already twenty seconds into free fall. Measuring at around 190 km/h I had already covered a third of the distance down. In my mind, I had only one thought running on playback.
'Deliberation, determination and destination … Come on! Why isn't this working?' I thought desperately. The sea was coming up much faster than I anticipated, adding on to my, already, fearful state of mind. The blaring of the wind in my ears and the fear flowing in my heart had interrupted my thoughts. I could not apparate! 'Don't do this now!' I thought dejectedly. Since when does the main character die, and that too on the first day! I continued my attempts, but the upcoming sea proved to be too great a distraction. I closed my eyes, well aware that it was a do or die situation. Use too much time to think and I go splat on the ocean surface. Too little time and you have a failed apparition, which I figured may as well be as bad as the former. With my eyes closed, I was saved from the impeding distraction, only to handicapped in the sense of not knowing how much time I had left! 'Just need to focus … Come on …' I felt a few sparks of magic. 'Just a little more … Why can't I … Ha Ha!' I felt a stream of magic power run up and around my body. I tried guessing to the best of my ability and I figured that I travelled another third of the way down! It was now or never! A place came in my mind and the same thoughts played in my head once more; 'Deliberation, determination and destination …' I felt a swirl originate in my abdomen but ignored it. With only a few seconds left to spare I unleashed all the magic power that was swelling in my body. The flowing touch of rushing air had immediately stopped only to be replaced with something peculiar and of a different nature. Instead of the compressing and suffocating nature of my previous apparition, this time it was less unbearable. Instead of the intolerable swirling vertigo, it now felt as if my entire body was being tickled by some sort of soft flowery feather. Waiting for a few seconds it showed no signs of going away, but I was not complaining. Compared to any of my other options, this one was miles better to say the least! When I waited for another few seconds to find the feeling persist, I figured I may as well open my eyes; the thoughts of having them remain closed carried on from my previous endeavor. Although, what I was about to find came out as mildly surprising!
I had not moved at all! I mean it in the most literal sense that I can possibly say. I was completely suspended in midair, not having moved an inch from where I was. Did I cast it wrong? Regardless, I was happy with the result! Suspended a hundred meters above the ocean I tried orienting myself around, only to learn that my efforts were useless! Before I could try anything else, I felt a tugging sensation in my gut and I was slowly and gradually hoisted back up into the air. It took me around thirty seconds to go down. It only took one on the way up!
Note to all: Instantaneous acceleration and deceleration is not pleasant! Thrown callously onto the ground it took all my efforts to keep myself from fainting. In fact I might have actually done so if that shit-for-brains had not been laughing.
"What … the … FUCK!" I shouted out in anger! I looked up to see Drake howling in laughter, his entire body just rolling on the ground. Despite shooting daggers at his fallen figure, it did nothing to stop the teen from going about on his hysterical outrage.
A moment later we each begun to get up. As I did, however, there was still a strong sense of dizziness as I almost fell back of the ledge! My legs buckled and I dropped forward. On cue, Drake grabbed me and hoisted me up by the arm, all the while trying whatever he could to suppress his violent fit of laughter.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" I said, this time I shouted right into his ear. The guy did not seem to mind and instead brushed it off like nothing. In a soon moment I was finally able to stand on my own. Pushing him off I looked to see him smiling at me, almost as if this entire ordeal was nothing more than a friendly joke!
"Okay, now you're either really brave or really stupid, but I'd me god dammed if I said you don't have a good sense of control! No shouting or screaming like any of those other prissy pants back at …"
"I'm gonna ask one last time motherfucker!" I said, my anger having reached its limit, "but, WHAT … THE FUCK … DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" I said, laying it out on him.
"For fun! Duh … Like why else would I kick you off" he said, undisturbed over the fact that he nearly killed me! I gave him an incredulous look, unable to comprehend the sheer callousness or stupidity of the guy in front of me. "Relax man! If I didn't have faith in my abilities I wouldn't have done it, alright!"
"Yeah but still …" I tried to protest.
"Wait! Let me finish! Now I know you feel like tearing out my guts and hanging me off the edge with ravens pecking my eyes out but first hear me out first … Kay?" I have to admit, the guy was a natural diplomat. Whatever strong feeling of resent and murder I had towards him had suddenly been remitted, leaving me with only slight sense of annoyance at his deplorable act. The feeling felt strange and unnatural, almost like it was forced! Regardless, I gave in and huffed out a sigh, temporarily accepting defeat!
"All right … Fine, but your reason better be good!" I said in an unpleasant tone. His face beamed with happiness!
"It's good to see someone around here who likes to listen before they act! Now take me throwing you off a cliff to a trained skydiver throwing a paying customer off a plane. To any newbie who hasn't ever done it before it seems dangerous and reckless to just throw someone off. To the trained professional who has done it many times before, both to himself and others, he has utmost confidence in his ability to return everyone safely. In your case, I am that trained professional. I've done this many times before! It may look like I was going to let you go splat, but I was observing you the entire time! I would never have done if I had even the faintest idea that I could fail!" I looked at Drake skeptically. "Oh come on! It wasn't that bad!" I really wanted to beat the guy down with a bat. Sure, his reasoning was not too bad, but bad nonetheless!
"You know what, just let the past be in the past and get me out of here. I think that's enough sightseeing for today!" Drake looked at me and clapped his hands together.
"That's the spirit! Here, grab on" he said while outstretching his hand. I unhesitatingly grabbed it and for a second nothing happened. Then came the reminiscent feeling of being swirled up and constrained!
I do not need to tell you it was uncomfortable, but I am going to say it either way. It was uncomfortable! The world around me twisted and morphed until it was no longer recognizable. By the time it was over and my eyes had opened I found myself at the center of a well-lit open dining area with sport benches being pressed up to the side. My mind instantly told me that it was the dining hall of Hogwarts, but with the four table removed and the benches installed to the side it seemed more like an unused basketball court. There was a distinct sound of chattering ringing in my ear as it took me a minute in my dizziness to realize that some of the seat were occupied! Fitting in the same age group as Drake and I were teenagers seated across the hall. A quick glance around told me there were around twenty to thirty of them.
None of them was disturbed by the sudden apparition of both Drake and I. They were either too busy talking amongst themselves, or like others, were just resting with their backs against the seats, earphones having been plugged into their IPod as they listed to their favorite tunes on playback. Typical teens!
It took a moment to realize that Drake had already crossed the length of the hall, now standing at the exact spot where Dumbledore would often give his beginning year speech. Behind him, now replacing the staff's table, was a large, circular, black, granite tome that could reach up to the bottom of my chin. Walking up and standing right before it I was able to get a good look at its features; something which would not have been visible from even a meter away!
Carved out onto its front was the outline of a generic hand. One look towards Drake told me all that I needed to do. Placing my hand within the carving I felt the cold black surface seemingly suck the heat out of my body.
A distant rumble of thunder; a dark cloud swept the roof of the hall, as flashes of lightning burst forth from their thunderous black sheets. No one bats an eye! One second and a flash bang of white erupts from the black tome. Drake must have known because he had turned away last second! Jeez, a warning would have been nice!
By the time that some color was able to return to my eyes I looked forward to see a black suit of armor standing right in front of me. Blinking my eyes in surprise I took a careful step back, the intimidating height of the knight having put me on edge!
For a moment I looked at the, seemingly, empty suit of armor, not understanding what I was supposed to do. I veered to the side of the black knight to see Drake looking at me with a bored solemn expression.
'For fuck's sake, why can't anyone just tell me what the fuck is going on?' After a minute of staring back and forth, Drake finally decided to pitch in.
"You know how you can see this knight here?" he says while pointing at the iron clad suit of armor.
"Knight? What knight? I'm just a fucking blind ass who can't see for shi … OF COURSE I CAN FUCKING SEE IT YOU THUNDER-CUNT, SHIT-FOR-BRAINS!" I said, shouting at the top of my lungs! I heard the sounds of a 'shush' come from all corners of the hall as everyone present was vexed at my sudden outburst. I looked back at Drake who was now wide eyed in surprise. "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD … STOP STALLING AND GET … TO THE FUCKING … … POIN" I did not expect it to be that hard! Now that I think about it, it was never designed liked that in the first place. He probably put in a bit more pack of a punch just to annoy the hell out of me! Asshole!
Hitting the dead center of my back, I fell forward, only to be caught in the unyielding arms of the black clad iron knight. Pushing myself off I turned around to try and face the person who did it. Seated at the far end of the hall was a kid around sixteen years of age. He wore nothing but a white shirt and a black khaki, with headphones dangling out the side of his ear. From where I was standing I could see his equally annoyed and stern face. I tried opening my mouth to shout at him, only take a second to realize that nothing came out. Oh right! Silencing spell!
There was a small collective laugh that rang out through the hall. What else could be funnier than shutting up the comically enraged loudmouth? Well, truthfully speaking, Trump running for president is a close contender, but you get the gist of what I'm saying!
His ring hand, closed in a fist, was pointed to the dead center of my chest. My ring enclosed around my middle digit felt like it was about to melt off. The unvented anger that was in my chest was being translated to magic power, and as time progressed more and more was being poured into my ring. This bastard was threatening me! Me of all people! Did he have a death wish? Whatever the case, I can deal with him later! Right now I have other things to worry about. No need to prove my worth to pathetic trash like him! I took one last look at his face, before slowly opening my fist and giving him my back. I heard a small snicker from my back, and it took all my utmost effort to stop myself from retaliating with a killing curse!
Looking back at Drake, he seemed to have enjoyed the little spectacle before him. I grunted and motioned to my mouth, asking him to undo it. In a flick of his hand that was too fast for me to see I felt my voice return.
"That … was not comfortable" I said, slowly rubbing my neck.
"Yeah just be careful around some of the guys here. They can be a bit more trigger happy than they let on!" said Drake, now patting me on the back.
"So about the knight" I said while staring at the giant hunk of metal now standing before me.
"I'll tell you about the knight later! Right now what you need to do is read this!" Drake outstretched one of his hands to his sides. The air shimmered for a moment before a brown leather-cased book materialized in his hand. The front of the book was unblemished and blank with no title to indicate what it was for. Throwing the book towards me I caught it in my open hands.
Okay, I think I should come down with my confessions! I was sort of a scrawny teen! The brown heavy book nearly toppled me over as I struggled to keep myself straight. Drake shook his head to the side in clear disappointment, probably wondering how the hell I was even selected in the first place!
"All right so everything seems to be in order here." He said while drawing my attention. He looked down at his wristwatch, his face crumpling in response. "So I have something important to check up on! I'll be gone for a bit, so in the meanwhile just sit down and read through the first few chapters of the book. It has everything to do with the know-how of the place!"
The hell was he talking about? Leave me! Does he really think he can just uppity up and skedaddle the fuck out of here! Does he not know how special I … *crack* … and he was gone! Fuck!
I looked down at the book he handed to me. It looked ordinary enough, but even a few hours in this place tells you to expect the unexpected. Viewing the benches to the side, I saw several of the other teens give off a cold shoulder, indicative of their lingering annoyance. I sighed in frustration! I may as well get this over with now. Finding the nearest empty seat, I sat down, and like the good little kid that I was, I began to read.
What the hell have I been dragged into?