Another point of view

by The known author

We have seen the past of djinn from magicians. What if we saw it from another point of view, a djinni view? Nero, an odd but powerful djinni, tells his story. As he goes past major events in history, he sees a new thing in his purpose in the world.

7. Fall of Rome Part 3

Another Point of View

Disclaimer: I do not own the Bartimaeus Trilogy

Sorry but this is not the final chapter in the "Fall of Rome" Part. I need introduce another important character. The next will be the final part.

Sorry if it seems a bit confusing, I couldn't edit it very well

August 21st, 476, Rome

Alex

Two days before the incident at the cells, there was going to be a festival in the streets. Everyone was welcome to join with no looks of disgust put at you; all high-class people were unwelcome to join and the people of the high society didn't want to come. If you were a peasant or even a middle class man or women or child, you were among friends.

This festival was twice a year, once in early June to celebrate the beginning of the most pleasant and most rich time of the year, and in late August to see the real day of summer and for the politicians, to keep the commoners happy. The celebration was split into three parts; the first lasted about 90 minutes. It was a time to meet up with friends and family from outside Rome or busy friends. There was light ale put on many tables to first quench the thirst of the peasants. Then, four, maybe five if a lot of people came, large tables with places filled with food and mugs full of beer, was set up on the streets. The time before the tables were put away and the food left on the streets to rot, was approximately four hours. The last five hours was for entertainment. Shows and games would be situated and ready to face the large crowd, bored now that the feast was over. Stalls with sweetmeats and fun toys were on sale for an inexpensive cost. The entire festival was ten and a half hours long, starting from 2:30 am and ended close to midnight.

In the house of Dunn, everyone was excited. Little Agrippa, who barley knew any words, said only words of the carnival. The twins Alair and Aeolius, who were shunted by most Romans because of tales of evil twins, couldn't wait to meet their friends. Even tall Eloy, who was as strong as an ox and smart as the local rabbi, couldn't hide the fact that he never thought the fair was boring, despite seeing nineteen summers.

But Alex was the most excited of the five. Only two week ago, he felt nearly like killing himself. But now, he saw life in a different way; he seemed to enjoy everything and acted as if he had no worries. And this enormous emotion of happiness all came at one time.

It all started three weeks ago. Alex was simply with his mother, Vibia at the market, when he saw something very odd. At the door of a carpenter, was a thing with tentacles and thousands of thousands of eyes everywhere, even a couple in-between its leg…

Alex was at first fascinated, but then scared. And at the last minute, felt like laughing. And he did, quietly. But even though it was a light chuckle, his mother heard Alex and scowled him.

"But that thing…"

"What thing?"

"Weird…thing with eyes and arms like an octopus…"

His mother peered to where Alex pointed to the supposed octopus spider thing was.

"That's just some carpenter's assistant,"

"No it isn't…well it is on this window,"

"What are you talking about Alex?"

Alex had no idea either. If he sort of let his eyes unfocused, there would be seven windows, each overlapping each other. On the first six, there was just a carpenter's boy. But there were weird colours on each window except for the first one. And on the seventh window, the weird thing was in the place of the carpenter's assistant and the colours were even more vivid and bright, even the dark colours were almost unbearable to see.

Their argument continued until finally, Alex was impatient.

"I SAW IT! OKAY?"

Everyone who were shopping or walking, stopped what he or she were doing to see where the source of the outburst was, especially the weird creature. Alex felt embarrassed at his rage.

Alex was then kept in, not allowed to go outside or anything else to occupy himself. He stayed in bed, the local general practitioner saw no problem, and only that he could have been dehydrated. Despite Alex's protests, for the rest of the day, he was to stay in. A couple of days after that incident, when Alex was finally allowed outside, he was not welcome back. All the neighbors avoided them, not wanting to be rude, for his parents were important bakers to the local community. When Alex reluctantly stepped into the market to buy some sugar, all those that heard of the incident gave him strange looks. Most, when they heard of the thing, were simply shocked. Most had though of he as a boy that would exceed the grim of the Roman streets to be an important senator or a feared general, not some psychopath wanting attention.

The only reason the spice traders gave him the sugar was because them and Alex's family had an unwritten contract and also because Alex's family were important patrons. But the ones at the counter didn't look at him in the eye and barley talked, only to when necessary.

Alex, on the way back home, bumped literally into his friends, almost spilling the sugar. Brightening up at the sight of them, he expressed his relief.

"Oh, thank goodness there's someone I can trust, look…"

But his "friends" didn't show the same relief as Alex. Some went past him; some shoved him on the way behind Alex, and some talked to him. Some talked to him like they didn't know him (they were the kind ones) and others talked to him straight.

"Don't talk to us freak,"

"Yeah, 'BUT I REALLY DID SEE IT!'"

They laughed and pushed him aside. It was rather a miracle that the bag of sugar didn't spill.

One girl stayed behind the group. She tried to walk past Alex quickly, but he stopped her.

"Not you too,"

She responded without looking at Alex.

"Sorry Alex, most of us were…forced by our parents not to…talk to you,"

She ran away, and blended into the crowd.

After trudging home with a low spirit, Alex entered through the back door that was only an entrance to the Dunns.

---

His house was a villa that was in the midst of a group of other villas. However, the Dunns' was the biggest out of all the villas. At the ground floor, in the front bit of the house, were the store and the bakery kitchen. This was the profit area, were the Dunns got their source of money and goods. It was open from sunrise, to sundown. And since the sun followed the seasons, so did the bakers. In the winter, it was only open from ten to five. However, the villa was so huge, it could also act as an inn; not including the store floor, there were three levels. The back of the store floor was the family dinning room. The next level, after walking up the shinny oak stairs, were the rooms of entertainment and the toilets located. The third floor had all eight bedrooms, all about the same size; ten meters by seven. And finally, the attic, posed as storage for all the flour and wheat. And many friends who were just passing through Rome would stay in the Dunn's house. Some were sisters of the father of the Dunn house. Others were brothers of the head mother. The children's grandparents came a few times, and cousins arrived during the Roman holidays.

When Alex came into the storefront, it was busy as usual. In the front, Alex's father was handling the front counter, giving our bread that was wrapped in a fine brown paper, carefully wrapped by the twins. As Alex went to the back, his father called out, "Jorge is here to see you!"

Jorge was the teacher of Emperor's family. He was originally a slave captured in a war, but after his superior mind skills were uncovered, he quickly became famous throughout the known world. Every barbarian tribe heard of him, especially those who were defeated by his personal legion. Those in Asia whispered tales of how he transported the finest silk from China to Rome in a matter of days. These unknown tribes in Africa and South America said of an old sage who could control the evil of the world. But behind the tales of unbelievable marvels, he was a middle-aged man who could explain the hardest questions, and a person who looked like a kind, but hardened man. Despite his fame, he always was in the middle class area, and seemed pleased to be there.

Now that he looked about fifty, he settled down in the cul-de-sac of Alex's family's. Jorge was a frequent customer of the bakers, but most of his visits were not to buy bread, but because of Alex; the first time Jorge came in to the shop, it was a lazy day. Barley any customers came because of the heat wave, but Jorge didn't seem to mind. He walked into the warm shop, without any sweat appearing on any surface of his face. He was there to simply buy a loaf of bread, when he saw Alex. Alex was there that day to watch the counter, though really it was a boring job that day. The only good duty to do on a hot day is baking. The oven didn't need to be heated to bake bread. All one had to do is go up to the attic, wait a few hours, and retrieve it back down. So while his siblings were laughing at each other's floury face, Alex was out front in the heat.

Jorge was simply interested in him because he was pretending to read a book. Jorge had entered the glass door, which was rare in the neighborhood despite it being middle class, in when Alex was desperately trying to read the Bible, which everyone in the family had. But only Alex's father and brother, Elroy, knew how to read. Jorge had noticed his failed attempts to read by his scrutinized face. Alex quickly put away the book, but the frustrated look hadn't gone away.

"How may I help you sir?"

"A loaf of bread please,"

As Alex bent down to get one, Jorge mildly observed the plain room.

"You know if you want to know to read…"

Alex bumped his head as he stood up suddenly.

"How did you know?"

Jorge smiled.

"It doesn't matter; do you want to read?"

"Like you can teach me," Alex slated his eyes as he studied Jorge more.

"Oh, you don't know who I am. Rule one, never assume nor presume without knowledge."

And from that day, that conversation, Alex and his family became friends with Jorge. He taught Alex how to read, write and other skills such survival and small inference. He showed Alex how to speak properly in the presence of royalty and to talk your way out of places, not like a thief, but like a common man in the wrong place in the wrong time.

Now, Alex felt like it was all over; his tutor wouldn't teach him any wonderful things. Alex hoped that he could lean on Jorge to explain things out, but it seemed that he was alone.

"Where is he?"

His father replied, "With your mother, just look for her on the second floor."

Alex passed through the kitchen behind the front room, nodded at his brothers and sister, and crossed the kitchen, into the dinning room, up the stairs and to the communications room.

The communications room was similar to a family room. There were seats that were comfortable enough to sit on for several hours, something the Dunns had to do if one of the rich came. And when that happened, fruits would be put on tables, the room would be spotless, and the fire would be cracking, not matter what the temperature was. And when things needed to be smoothed out, this was the room to do it.

Now the room was extremely cold and seemed to be like their humongous icebox downstairs. With the abnormal aloofness outside, it was like winter in the room.

Both Alex's mother and Jorge were sitting at the card table. It was a rare ash table that could hold just half a ton. The seats at it matched its tone and style.

The room seemed colder it did by the threshold of the door. It felt as if numerous ghosts had inhabited the room and were sweeping down everywhere and were choosing a soul to inhabit. Though Alex's mother shivered slightly, Jorge didn't seem to mind.

"Ah, Alex, you have arrived. Your mother tells me of your horrible situation. Please, sit down,"

Jorge gestured Alex to a seat. After Alex had suspiciously sat down, he stared at his mother in both slight anger and wild confusion. She had an equally confused look in her eyes. Some laughter came from downstairs to get a strange feeling in the air. Though Jorge was examining a piece of parchment he brought with him and both Dunns were silent, it was rather clear on how tense the atmosphere was.

"Well first off, I would like to make my support for you clear; I highly doubt a intelligent child like you would be insane. You are just as sane as I am."

And most people would think that I am crazier then they thought I was, thought Alex. Indeed, Jorge had been doing wild things lately. For example, he bought lots of silver items in bulk without wearing them or giving to anyone as a present. And when Alex tried to explore his house once when he was invited for tea, Alex could find a single piece of jewelry that was seen on the day of delivery. Only a few silver items were found: two crucifixes, a candleholder, and coins.

"Now to the hard stuff. We got to get the locals to know you're not insane. It is essential to your future."

"That's going to be hard Jorge…"

"Naturally. But…oh, my back… I am old after all. Vibia, could you get my ointment please. It's at my home, second floor, drawer. Thank you dear…"

"I could get it,"

"Oh no, Alex," said Jorge as Vibia, Alex's mother, left the room.

"We have some important things now…"

Jorge, with amazing speed, walked quickly to the door and closed it. He then he walked toward Alex.

"Listen, we don't have much time before your mother comes back and there are lots of things to explain."

"What…"

"Hush and let me do the talking. I am not what everyone thinks I am. I am more then the slave captive. I am more then the royal family's former personal tutor. I am…"

Then all of a sudden, a whirl of dust wrapped around Jorge. I could barley see him through the tears in my eyes and the heavy sneezes and coughs. Shadows flew around the figure of Jorge, who had his arms up high as if asking God for forgiveness. After what felt like days, the dust settled, and there, stood a man. A very old man with an eye patch on, a yellow toga, and dirty sandals stood where Jorge should be. He had dark large eyes, even darker black hair, and had a very tanned skin. He was very thin and lean, but his wrinkles on his face were very noticeable.

"Whoa! Are you…"

"Yes, now hush and like I said, let me do the talking. I am a veneficus immortalis, a wizard who is immortal to time. I go time to time to places to help the situation wherever I am. I always have an apprentice with me to pass my talents and my job to. However, my former one…died. So I have seen that you are suitable for the job, and I shall offer you the duty. But no one must know, not even your parents. So, I shall tell them that you are a whacko who can be brought back to health. I will say that I will doctor you back to sanity. That is all that I can say now. Is this all clear?"

Of course this wouldn't be clear. Suddenly discovering that mythical things exist and that he is looking at one always shocks the hell out of an apprentice magician. Alex was staring unblinkingly at what seemed to be Jorge. After a long time in which Alex's mother just might be coming up the stairs, Alex finally spoke.

"So let me get this clear; I am capable, me, the insane baker guy, of becoming a magician, like the ones the emperor has?"

"No. Those do not have true power. They can summon demons that can do almost anything to their will. They themselves can do nothing."

"And you can?"

"Why yes; I can stop time temporarily. Or else your mother would have came up by now,"

Not believing such nonsense, Alex ran from the room downstairs to escape this craziness. But as he came down the stairs, he ran into his mother.

"Oh, sorry mother…"

She was still as a statue and was staring right into his eyes. Alex backed away, wide eyed; dropping the tray he took from his mother's hands. Then the boy scrambled into the kitchen. There was quite a scene there. The twins were throwing flour at each other but the bits of dough frozen in mid-air caused Alex's jaw to probably go by an extra few centimeters past the limits. Alex went up to pick a piece of dough out of the air, only to knock loaf of bread from his father's hands. Scrambling to pick it up, as he looked up, he saw his father too frozen. It appeared that he was yelling at the twins to stop fooling around.

After ten minutes, during the time where Alex gapingly examined every stationary figure in the shop, he returned to the communications room, stooping as if he had ran a thousand miles. Jorge smiled pleasantly. Alex took his seat with an air of unconsciousness.

"And that's just for thirty minutes. I froze time once for over half a day. There's also the Calming stare I can do, and the…"

"Okay, okay, I'll take the job. But I have questions."

"Excellent! I knew you would with a little persuasion. Now what were those questions?"

Alex took a while to get his breath back, and when he did, many moments passed with nerving silence. As soon as Alex found what his questions were, he began.

"So…you're a magician, like the ones the emperor has?"

"Oh no, no. I can summon demons too, but I can do more. Magicians can only summon demons and no more. They know something that everyone can learn. Every person there is in the world can learn the magicians' so-called magic with hard work, a good mind and lots of energy. Without their demons, they would be as powerless as us. They cannot do Detonations or any other magical spell to defend themselves without demons. I however have something that no body can learn, to be born with it only. And you, have the gift, Alexander Dunn."

Alex felt dwarfed by this powerful ending. No one had called him his full name before, never. And hearing he had some kind of gift gave Alex's soul a bit of a lift.

"But I've never done anything out of the ordinary, never—"

"Oh but you have. This change of events has made you forget about your little insane incident."

This dawned on Alex. This was rather, new to hear, he, Alex Dunn to have some kind of gift, a "talent". Who would ever have knew.

"So…that was a skill?"

"Yes it was. It was a skill to see through demon disguises."

"Disguises?"

Jorge extended the time hold to explain the concepts of demons and their skills, and his skills, which Alex also had. He explained the planes and how he and Alex could also see on the planes. Jorge showed how to do the basic things: a light demon repelling shock wave, the way to flip through the planes and how it is possible to freeze certain demons and magical objects for a short time.

"Now, the time should now unfreeze. I shall go downstairs, talk to your mother about the therapy, and we will meet again in a week for the "therapy". Try practicing those skills I showed you. Oh! I almost forgot. This is the most important thing. This,"

Jorge took out from his pocket, a silver pendant in the shape of a teardrop. He gave it by the green string to Alex. He stared at it in a bit of confusion.

"Not only does it protect you from demons (I'll explain why in a week) but it shows you are a one of us; veneficus immortalis. Every one of us will have one. Now I must go now,"

"Wait, there are other veneficus immortalis?"

But Jorge had already gone downstairs in his usual form and time had started again.

---

Alex had managed to survive the frustration of being kept in by only going to for a walk in the evening and working in the kitchen. Alex presumed that he was allowed to only work in the kitchen because Jorge told Alex's mother that Alex had problems.

In his breaks and at dusk and dawn, Alex practiced freezing a pot so that it didn't smash. He played around with the planes, and on his walks, he hid himself as he checked the sentries in the area and saw either small demon like figures with tails and strange hands, or large crazy monsters, some larger then others. Jorge had come over half through the week to give him a book on the types of demons, the sub-classes and the spells that they and Alex could do. In the book, it showed how to summon minor spirits such as imps using certain herbs and a pentacle. But Alex never got the chalk or any other supplies. He never wanted to buy any.

His family noticed something was going on. While some thought he actually was crazy, like going outside at night after curfew. But one figured out that something planned was going on.

Eloy decided to talk to Alex while they both were in the kitchen. As both kneaded the dough, Eloy asked then.

"What's going on? I mean, you're locking yourself up in your room, bangs are going off in there, you found out how to read and you're not reading the Bible,"

"Maybe because I'm crazy."

"Crazy people don't think their crazy."

For a moment, Alex didn't have a comeback.

"Jorge showed me how to read,"

"Why would he, he thinks you're psycho,"

From the moment he said it Eloy regretted it. But Alex didn't seem to mind. They just kept kneading the dough.

Eloy attempted to get more information, even once going out behind Alex at night. Alex had to save him from the guards.

As they both trudged in, cheeks rosy from the unusually cold night, they started to talk.

"You come out during curfew and nearly get caught, all because you wanted to talk to me. Gee, what did you want to tell me?"

"Oh ha, ha. Like I said earlier today, something is up. How come you go out on curfew just to take a walk?"

Alex scowled and thought about just suddenly ditching this conversation, but he knew that wouldn't help. Eloy would keep nagging at him until something bad happened. The matter would never get settled by time. There were a few ways to handle this, and most were irrational.

Still, he had to keep it secret. So Alex left the room reluctantly without a warning.

---

Finally, when Alex perfected everything needed, such as memorizing the text about demons and their weaknesses and managed to do a minor Inferno, the week was over.

The morning after the unspoken curfew incident signaled the end of a week since Jorge came. Alex's family had the luxury to each have a bedroom to themselves. Alex had sat up, leaned against the wall on his bed, and waited for the door to open downstairs.

Since it was a Tuesday, the store was open from whenever dawn was, to dusk. Dawn had came early, so all the members of the family had to go downstairs. Alex took his time. He went to the bathroom he and his siblings shared, rubbed his face with the cold water in the bowl, and slowly descended the stairs.

He ate a sugarless pastry and some very diluted ale for breakfast. Feeling a bit sick after the small meal, he slumped into a chair at the front counter. No one would come on such a cold summer day.

After a few minutes, the glass door (which looked very strange with the wooden walls around) opened and Jorge came in. He smiled at Alex then went behind the counter to talk to Alex's parents.

"Where are you taking me?"

"You'll find out,"

Jorge and Alex were walking the empty streets of Rome. They were in a rundown area with several dogs barking and the stench of human waste was heavy. With the scent of rotten meat, the air was almost unbearable to breath. Yet Jorge didn't seem that disturbed by it.

"One of the main skills we have is the ability to not feel hot or cold, or smell unpleasant smells. This talent filters out the bad smells or uncomfortable temperatures and if it is done correctly, it can even put in comfortable smells."

"How can I do it?" No wonder why he doesn't sweat in the summer, thought Alex.

For the next few minutes, Jorge told Alex the words and how to clear his mind of things that would get in the way of spell casting.

"Are you sure magicians can't do this?"

"Well…they can do some things, but much of their power comes from demons. I presume you read that book I gave you?"

"Yes,"

"Good. Hmmm. It seems we are getting closer to our destination." The air did become more bearable (Alex couldn't perform the "Smell Spell") and the neighborhood was in a better shape in this area. No more loose dogs or blind thin beggars.

"I need to tell you the purpose of veneficus immortalis. There are about a thousand in this world who have the official pendant, though there are thousands more who do not realize they are veneficus immortalis. And more are being born. So we are not in desperate need.

"Now, you see, there's a magic cycle that we, veneficus immortalis, have found out. It all starts out, with magicians. Most of the time, magicians, they summon demons to make their enormous power. With demons, they either create a government, or they seize control. Now they govern over the commoners and try to keep the knowledge of magic by harsh meanings.

"However, magic seeps through the empire, creating resilience in the population (on a side note, not all veneficus immortalis have magical resilience, though the best and most influential ones have resilience) and other new abilities. As time passes, more and more people get magical talents, and soon, they rebel. Though there have been times where the rebellions are crushed, the government does get overthrown, and the demons go back to the Other Place, which is where they go when not summoned, until another magical power rises."

Jorge took a few moments to take a breather, but it was not enough time for Alex to digest this new information.

"Now, before, I said that rebellions have been calmed. Most of the time, we, veneficus immortalis, have did that. But mostly what we do is stop the torture of commoners and demons, and other helping things. But we have got together and helped the commoners take over. It does seem better at many times."

They walked a bit further in silence. Some people started to come out of their houses. They mostly walked to the general direction of the Roman Forums. The sun was much more brighter at this time.

"So, you said you help demons too?"
"Yes. You see, they only reason magicians call demons demons, is that they would backstab them at any chance. And you can't blame demons for that; they are basically like slaves. They must do what their master says, or else they can be severely punished. But some demons, for get that they aren't truly demons and so I know that they have eaten magicians who want to not use them as slaves. Ah, here we are!"

It was a villa in a quiet neighborhood. The walls were white and felt very plain. It seemed to be cared for, and yet was in a bad condition. Grass was at an extremely large height. The windows were grimy and had rust on the shutters. But it seemed someone rich lived here. The planes seemed to tell Alex just that. Plus, the windows had glass. Strangely, more then sixty five percent of the Roman population was dead poor, and a house right here had glass.

Jorge went in with Alex right behind him. Jorge lit a light on his index finger and went down a long hall. It was unadorned; just wood floors and wood walls. As they came to the kitchen, it was a lot more cheerful. At least the walls had colour. They sat down at the table on wobbly chairs, and they waited. After a few minutes which in that time interval Jorge lit a fire in the hearth, the door had opened. And it did numerous more times. Many foot steps sounded in the dark hall. As the figures came in, it was a strange sight.

The first one was a tall black man who had rather decent clothes compared to most of the blacks in Rome; most were slaves captured in wars. He however, had no footwear and didn't seem to mind the odd look of good clothing and no shoes. He had something around his neck. Alex presumed it was also the teardrop pendant. With him, was a man from the East. He was rather short, but Alex knew he was around twenty. He had a bandana on and had nothing else but some pants. He seemed well muscled and in good shape. The teardrop pendant was also on his neck.

The next two to come were women. The first was around forty and seemed to be from Greece. She had lots of clothing on, mostly bright colours. Because of that, a string that showed a sign of a pendant was not in sight. The second apparently just reached the age of a woman. From the Roman Empire, she was mostly an ordinary woman, except for her eyes. They shone brightly with a hard hazel. This made her beautiful.

Another four came in to sit at the spacious table. One was only a boy though he seemed to be an orphan; his face was hard and showed no baby fat like most boys his age (which Alex couldn't tell because of the adultness in his features). His hair was bright ginger and with his red and thin eyebrows showed defiance. His toga was very thin and his chest was shown. The pendant was an excellent thing to make the boy a very short and immature man.

With him was a teenager boy close to of Alex's age. He was weedy and had no pendant with him. But as his tanned, thin had reached into his pocket, a tear shaped thing peaked out. His eyes were a bright, clouded blue and with the right moment of his features, could easily make a very innocent face.

The last two looked to be twins. They were brother and sister, were two years younger then Alex, had the same emerald eyes and the same frown on their face. They had blue robes on and showed their pendant proudly. They were very tall for their age, taller then Alex, who were sixteen.

All ten fit rather comfortably in the small table. Alex felt rather embarrassed to be the only one to not wear the pendant. He hoped they would not notice. He could not put it on now; they would notice and would not approve of that.

"Well I think we should introduce ourselves first. Well, Ali, welcome back from the government. I do hope you have a lot from spying on the emperor," the black one nodded. "Good! Do tell us later. Lewis, Mabel," said Jorge to the twins. "I see the wars with the barbarians aren't going well."

"Yes,"

"We barely came back to Rome with our lives," said Lewis, then Mabel.

"Ah, we will hear all stories. And Celia! What a surprise! I thought you would not be back for another two years,"

"Well Tang didn't do so well, as you heard, so here I am," said the Greece lady with a touch of mock rudeness,

"I didn't like him too much either." Then they both laughed heartily, Mabel, Lewis, Ali, the Asian man and the kid laughing with less enthusiasm.

"Hello Sorty! I see you are in good shape. Your hair is very bright now,"

"Thank you Jorge. And you look young for being so old,"

"And last but not least, Nick! You are extremely well after that terrible accident. And I and sorry about the tongue,"

Nick nodded sadly. At this point, the other two were a bit frightened.

"And now onto the new veneficus immortalis! Here is my boy, Alex! Can you, Nick and Celia, tell us about your apprentices?"

Alex had never seen Jorge so giddy before. He was always serious, and he never laughed. He does enjoy their company, so that should be good of a reason to be so happy. But it seemed like something else was on.

Nick introduced his first. "My boy is sixteen, he is one of the most potential apprentices I have seen. He's not a risk taker (that'll change within the week) but has the best memory and can almost perform an Illusion,"

The older veneficus immortalizes looked impressed. It seemed that the Illusion was extremely hard. Jorge had lightly passed over it with Alex and he had looked into the book. It was a fake image that demons could do at will with barely any effort. But the veneficus immortalizes had to really concentrate; only the ones with the strongest minds could do such a thing in the midst of a battle in barely a blink of the eye.

"He may not look like it, but he is a very professional swordsmen. He is very talented in such skills, but he can easily make simple mistakes in pressured situations and that is Crispian's only true flaw," finished Nick, patting the boy on the head.

Then Celia told them about the girl. "She is just eighteen and seems to be the exact opposite of Crispian. She has an average memory; she can only just do the basics, but is an experienced risk taker. She can handle tough and tight situations very well. So as you see, Lore is the exact reverse of Crispian."

The table nodded. Both Lore and Crispian looked more relaxed as they were praised.

Alex felt nervous. He was neither a risk taker or experienced, nor was he smart. He wondered what Jorge was thinking of him. Alex was extremely thrilled to be here, but then, he felt disgraced.

"You know, Alex here is neither physically strong, he does not have a superb mind, nor is he an often risk taker. But yet, he can be all three. If he needs to, he will push his strength, think past the human mind, and do things you will never imagine. Despite Alex not taken any tests, I know he is this. You could say he's…normal."

Alex didn't think he was this. He didn't think he could do a risk no one could do, nor did he think he could have a great mind. The only part of this miniature speech that he agree with Jorge was that he was normal.

"Nick, Celia, I am sure you told Lore and Crispian about veneficus immortalis' purpose yes? Good. Now, there are about a thousand of us in this world, spread all over the world. We do have many weapons that no one else can use, wield. We can do some djinni magic, but there are many we can only do. We can all come together for one major purpose, but that has only happened three times in mankind's history. I'll go into that later. I may sound a bit rushed, but we don't have much time.

"In Rome right now, there are only us veneficus immortalis. Right now, the government is going to collapse this year. The emperor knows this, and wants to get veneficus immortalis on his side to calm the commoners. But our council (yes we do have consuls) says that it would be a waste of time to try to stop the riots. Besides, Rome has been the power for too long. So, do not go with Roman officials or any other demons; if needed, fight them off. In-between our lives and this life, we need to get the commoners excited, angry. It's best if this overthrow is over and done with as soon as possible. We cannot actually assist in the overthrow. We need to organize the plans and supply the commoners with weapons. But that is the most we can do.

"But that subject is for next meeting! This is to show the apprentices a little light in this confusing matter. Next meeting will be much longer then this short one-hour catch-up. You see, veneficus immortalis wonder the Earth, looking to help as many people, whether it's simply helping with farming, or constructing an overthrow. When something like this happens, we send out birds to the headquarter council. They send what they can to help with the situation. Unfortunately, we are all the council can spare."

The rest of the hour was spent explaining the apprentices' questions. Though most of these were based on history, like, has there been a strike in the council, etc.; a couple was on other subjects.

"Are we going to learn how to summon demons?" asked Lore.

"Yes, but that will not be for quite a time. For now, its just skills for spying, avoiding trouble, and fighting your way out." Replied Ali in a low voice; as if afraid someone might over hear

The other interesting question was from Crispian.

"Are we going to understand the way the veneficus immortalis system works?"

"Why, that is one of the main things you are going to learn now,"

That, Lore, Crispian and Alex did learn. Elections were held ever ten years, councilors had to be over fifty; the bird system was a communication…finally when the surprisingly boring subject was about to conclude, Nick had one last input.

"Oh, and we are not as young as we look; I'm over ninety, Ali is only a five hundred and fifteen, the twins are barley three hundred seven, Jorge is the oldest at over nine hundred, Celia at seven and a half of a hundred, and San (that was Sorty's real name; Sorty was just a nickname) is the youngest at only one hundred."

All three apprentices' mouths had dropped gapingly and stupidly. It wasn't their fault for being unprepared for such information. And what was scarcer was that the other seven found such a concept mildly boring.

"But…how—"

"You see, once you take a vow for veneficus immortalis, you actually stick to the vow; you become immortal to time. It will make your energy a bit lower, but it will be eons before you really succumbed to time. But you cannot truly evade time."

Sorty's high-pitched words cut through them. They…couldn't die from natural causes? This caused many reactions for all three. For Crispian, it was a brilliant happiness. He could see the new developments in technology, and never have fear again. For Lore, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Celia comes storming into her rundown house, tells her she's some veneficus immortalis, leaves a notebook on skills and information, and leaves her, and comes back in a week for this crap. Even though she won't believe it, she wanted to deem it. For Alex, this information cut him. All his friends and family would perish in a blink of the eye. He would meet new friends, loves, only to have them vanquished. And Alex would be left with this stupid burden of overthrowing governments.

But other things he heard washed this anger and disappointment away. He knew abilities that only a small percent could do. To be better then everyone, even the despicable magicians would be lower. And demons, he would learn how to have help and company. And he had the excitement that he enjoyed, and the things he could learn! Quite the contrary of most in his neighborhood, he wanted to learn things. After being harassed by the magical government at a young age, he wanted to do anything better then the magicians. People who heard this from Alex dismissed him as being too ambitious; sure, maybe he could be a respected general or councilor, but they thought that magicians would always control lives. But now, he was the best in the world!

These ideas thrilled Alex. He only barely managed to hear the others words.

After a long talk about the things that would be learned, and a new book to practice from, they were put into the room beside the kitchen, which was always going to be full. As the other seven talked of current issues, the three were to get along; they would be as a team for quite a bit of time.

At first, they were silent. Alex just read his book, Crispian practiced little spells, and Lore observed both of them. For a few minutes, they were silent, secretly trying to listen in on the elder veneficus immortalis' conversation.

"Seriously, since we're going to be veneficus immortalis, shouldn't we at least hear what's up in the world?"

Crispian stopped doing Infernos and Alex put his book down to frown at Lore. She was by the closed door, trying to hear what the words were, putting her right ear on every corner.

"Yeah, but what are we going to do?" asked Crispian. "We can't barge in obviously, and the door is too thick to hear anything, so, what do we do?"

Alex pondered on this for a while, hardly hearing the other two squabble.

"Look, why don't you go back to practicing your Illusion? You're no use being negative,"

There was a section in the notebook Jorge gave Alex about an extending hearing spell…

"But you can't deny that it's impossible to hear anything…"

Actually there were two sections, one about far distance, one on thickness.

"Well I don't care, I never give up. Losers give up,"

How true, thought Alex, but he brushed that thought aside. The one on hearing through walls…

"Hey, hey, no need to get insulting here. What are you going to do, eh?"

Dang, if those two weren't arguing so much, I could remember how to do it. Or Crispian could do it…

"Shush, you're making my ideas going away—"

Alex cut Lore off. "Crispian, can you do an amplified Sound Barrier Descyer?"

Crispian made a face. "Don't go on her side now—"

"I don't care about you're stupid argument. I want to hear what's up in that room!"

Both faces brightened. "Yeah…you're right Alex…Crispian, can you do one?"

He brightened at the other two's indirect praise of him. "I certainly can," Lore rolled her eyes at his boaster and shook her head. Alex smiled at this and carried on.

"Good, cast one on each of us and will listen in."

Crispian did this in short time. All three put themselves to the door, and utilized the temporary power.

"…And the man said, Mr. Powers, can you tell me which direction I'm in? And Mr. Powers replied, "I do think you're in the right direction!"

Everyone in the room laughed. Either they missed something that, one, didn't make the joke too funny and two, were telling jokes instead of relaying news.

"Wait a minute, something isn't right…"

"Gee, you think, using a great magician for a crude joke!"

"Shut up Crispian. Wonder how they praised you so much for your cleverness; I'm talking about the joke; why would they joke if…"

Lore frowned, then her eyes widened in surprise. Alex interpreted this.

"You mean…"

"We need to barge in,"

"No, we need someone to take a peek without being sighted,"

"What are you two talking about? Why do we have do get in there?"

"You really are stupid," said Lore. "Don't you see they know we're listening in?"

Finally, Crispian got it. There was silence then.

"How about a See-Through Inversion? That would work and we could listen in too."

Both Lore and Crispian looked at him strangely. Alex ignored this and instead, noticed how similar both looked. Both had blond hair, both were about the same height, etc. They could have been siblings if they didn't have their frequent arguments and totally different eye colour. Oddly, Alex could see as a good pair. He quickly brushed this thought aside.

"That would work,"

"Nice idea,"

Silently cheering up at their eulogizing, Alex, now with the Inversion and the Sound Barrier spell, looked into the door. All seven had cups in their hands. They were loudly talking and laughing quite joyously. But also Alex noticed that they were waiting for something.

Suddenly, Lore got up, opened the door loudly to see what was going on in this odd scene. Crispian had tried to stop her, but Alex made no move; he would have done the same thing himself.

Lore started having a mini fit. It was so loud, that Alex could only the general meaning her strident blabber. About how they were lied to and coped up in a small room while the other veneficus immortalis were having fun and the rest was confusing.

After her spasm was over, and Crispian had let down his ears. The first thing anyone said was by Jorge, "First, nice Voice Enrichment Miss Par and—"

"I DON'T CARE I 'NICE' IT WAS, YOU LIED—"

"Calm down Lore!" said Ali in his slow voice. Lore stopped, and sat down at one of the chairs sourly. Alex and Crispian also sat in their seats, a bit afraid of sitting beside Lore.

"Yes, I will not deny we lied, but it was for a purpose; to test you. Any good veneficus would have noticed why we would keep our own apprentices out of the news. And of course, you noticed,"

All three of the tyros looked at each other. Instead of the expected lecture, a pat on the back was given.

"Who found out our hoax meeting? Or at least deduced about it?" asked Sorty?

Lore raised her hand immediately. Crispian seemed envy about it.

All seven elder veneficus nodded.

"And who choose to do the See Through Inversion and the Sound Barrier Descyer?" asked Nick, who was by the door Alex, Lore and Crispian just barged through.

Alex this time raised his hand, a bit reluctantly. Crispian looked even more jealous of both Lore and Alex.

"And I believe my apprentice, Crispian, did those spells," said Sorty, a bit proud of it.

"Yes sir," said all three-novice veneficus. They were a slightly confused at their union statement.

Jorge smiled at this. Slowly, everyone did. Sorty with his red hair showing his happiness, and the twins, looking hopeful, Nick, at the door with his muscles bulging, and Ali, his pearl white teeth showing in the dusk room. But the ones that grinned the most were Alex, Lore and Crispian. Silently rejoicing, they were startled and pleased at when the veneficus immortalizes clapped loudly at the three's achievement.

In the midst of the applause, Jorge announced, "You are now officially, veneficus immortalizes trainees."

Emerging from the hideout jovial, the three soon realized how close they lived together. As tradition after the first meeting, the masters accompanied their trainees back home. As Alex, Crispian and Lore with their new masters, waved goodbye to the other four, they walked down the same path. The three novices talked rather animatedly and the older three murmured small conversations. As the sun rose high at noon and the three finished talking about the festival, Alex had an idea.

"Hey, how about you two come to my house for lunch?"

The other two were to some extent taken back. They barely knew each other and he was inviting them. But, all three already liked each other, despite the many arguments Lore and Crispian had (they had several on the walk back). Except their life at home made things difficult.

They muttered excuses and didn't continue. This silence continued where all three parted at a three-way crossroad, each going a different way; Alex up the north one, Lore to the east, on the left street, and Crispian to the west. They parted and went they're different ways.

Alex passed a small cul-de-sac and into the outskirts of his middle-class neighborhood. Several kids ran by, nearly hitting Jorge, who was following Alex behind him, only to run into Alex.

He realized that they were some of his old friends. By now, Alex had classified his old friends into three classes. The first were the best, they wanted to talk to him, but couldn't, thanks to their elders. And most of these were his closest friends. The second class was people who ignored him, to a harsher degree. They considered their parents a lot more important then friends, but the only reason they weren't meaner, was they couldn't stand to be like that. The third class was the meanest. They were the ones who harassed Alex and verbally abused him with a hesitation. Not surprisingly, their parents were rich; because of that, the parents didn't want to be known for being friends with an insane family, so they told their kids to show how much they thought Alex was scum. And a couple did the abuse on their own account. And unfortunately, the kids then were in Alex's third class.

"Hey, dummy,"

"How was your, 'therapy'?"

"Yeah, what did you do, scribble?"

"Release your anger?"

"That's what Jorge's therapy is,"

They were laughing so hard, that their togas fell up and their features were a blur. Alex would have loved to put an Inferno to them and would have, had Jorge not interfered.

"Hello boys, bet your elders are worried."

All seven boys stopped laughing almost immediately and sobered up. They stood up straighter, their features became stone, and they made their togas more presentable. Some had fear in their eyes.

"I think you should be more better; you are in high class; show the people respect of yourself. Now scram before I snitch on you,"

They didn't need more then that to flee, running so fast they were kicking the behinds.

After the dust settled, Alex turned to Jorge, who was looking after seven figures on the horizon.

"Why didn't you let me unleash hell on them?"

"Didn't I tell you to keep your power secret?" scolded Jorge. "And it doesn't matter what they did, you are better then them!"

Looking very small, Alex continued walking on home. Revenge would be sweet.

---

In the middle of the week before the meeting, Alex was taking a walk in the three-way crossway. He had just slipped out of the way of what seemed to be a minor djinni. He his notebook had told him how to vaguely tell the levels of demons using the planes. After the dog demon ran into the next street, Alex got up from the shadows, and went past the three-way crossway and into the high-class road.

No stray dogs here. No rust, litter, or disrespectable smells. But lots of high djinn. Alex had to hop a fence to get out of the way of a particularly putrid demon in the form of hunched soldier. As it sniffed and continued its way, Alex peeked out and saw dozens of djinn walking the stone road. Upon seeing this, he bent down immediately and sat in a lawn. The waxing Gibbous moon shown brightly and nearly showed Alex's hideout. Seeing this, Alex hoped out of the light and into the next house's front lawn, which was completely dark. Alex decided to wait it out here until he found an opening to leave through.

But there wouldn't be any. A few days ago, a massive attack on this area created quite a few magical items to disappear. No one knew what happened. The mysterious thief (or thieves) did this very quietly; everyone was asleep and all the police and spirits were dead. Now, this bunch had come to make sure none of the magicians die.

Alex decided to just wait until dawn; his family wouldn't notice.

But of course, that wouldn't happen.

One magician stepped out of his house to watch the demons carefully guard his house. He was thankful that they were regular djinn; any other subclass djinn would have eaten him by now.

As he gazed at the moon, he wondered how his two slaves were doing down there…

While he was turning around, he saw a figure in his front yard. Peering at it, he saw it was a boy. He called up a foliot to take care of the boy. But then the magician bent down to see the show unravel.

Alex was about to get forty winks when he heard a flying noise. He opened his eyes a bit reluctantly, and dived out of the way of a huge energy spark.

The foliot was a bit disappointed at first but kept doing attacks at the boy. Finally, he hit him, but it barley did any damage. The boy then took advantage of its shock, smashed the spirit into the fence and turned to pulp in Alex's hand. He wiped it on the grass and then hopped into the next house's lawn.

The magician was impressed for a bit. Then he was confused. After recuperating from his surprise, the magician quickly ran into a room inside his house, and summoned one of his demons.

Bartimaeus was rather irritable when his master called him into a pentacle instead of just walking a few feet to him. As he materialized, he began his complaints.

"For a ex-army person, I didn't realize you would become this lazy. But that is what fame and fortune do to people; that is why I resist such privileges…"

"Hush. I need you to round out the other demons. There's an intruder and he can resist magic. Go now,"

"Can he now? Well, that is expected…how powerful is it?"

"GO!"

Bartimaeus' bowels began to tear to shreds. He went outside in a puff of smoke.

Sighing, the magician walked out to his door to see chaos.

Alex knew that the man who sent the foliot was a powerful one. Djinn were throwing Detonations all over him. A whistle blew out. The soldiers were coming.

Alex couldn't make a run for it; he couldn't put his family in danger. So he dove into an open window into a well-done house. The sound of boots came into the road. The magician, the spirits and the army men got together and made some sort of plan. Four groups began combing the area, checking every nook and cranny. But they apparently didn't think one would go into a house.

Relieved, Alex moved away from the window and sat in a chair at a dinning table. He would just sleep for a few hours, wait till curfew was off, and then run back home before the sun rose and before his family rose with the sun.

So Alex would have slept there if a boy hadn't walked in.

He was one of Alex's third class friends. All of the third classes were there that night. They were at a sleepover, something not very common in Rome and especially in the high-class society. Many were awake and causing havoc in the room they were sleeping in. One had just gone to get a pitcher of water.

Alex tried to get hidden, but already the boy had seen him. It was one of the ringleaders, though not very big; he was tall for his age. He was rather clever and sort of a lady's man. Though there was no such term in 476. His rare blue eyes and black hair made him stand out, as these two characteristics were strange. The last time Alex had seen the boy, he looked weak. Now the boy (age 18 really; not a boy but shorter then a average man made him seem like a boy) was tanned a bit, his chest bulky, all those other traits.

Alex and he stood staring at each other. Then the boy glanced at the open window. He muttered a name followed by a curse.

"I see you are definitely insane Alex; you go walking during curfew, you go into a rich, heavily guarded area, and you go jump through an open window. And now, you're about to get killed. Any last words?"

Alex smiled at his old friend's sarcastic like voice, though his words were not at all a joke.

"Actually I have quite a few. One, I'm not insane; everything has a reason or two, two: I think you suck because you have to do what ever your parents say," Alex paused only to catch his breath and see the boy's expression. He was a bit annoyed about the parent part.

"And why am I about to get killed? From your girlfriends?"

The boy's ears turn red. He wasn't very proud of the large amount of them, or maybe he wasn't proud because his parents didn't approve.

The boy tusked.

"My, my Alex, I thought you had a bit of intelligence to not mess with magicians, if you get my drift."

Alex's defying eyes flickered for a moment of shocking comprehension. But the boy was too proud and triumphant to notice the temporary vulnerability.

"You see, the magicians from court saw my potential—"

"Wow, then standards drop pretty fast and deep, huh?"

"And took me in. I can now summon a djinni with a clap of the hands. It's only a level two, but it will definitely kill you."

"Really, you think?"

A shadow came from the hall behind them. The boy grinned in anticipation. Alex was calm, which scared the hell out of the boy. Panicking, he got two more imps to assist the djinni.

As all five started at each other, one in defiance, one in fear, and the other three blankly, the other rich boys walked into the kitchen, shouting loudly. All had an imp beside their shoulder. Alex noticed this without a surprise. All seven boys were not dazed to see Alex in their house. Instead, more demons appeared in large numbers.

"I see not only that you betray me, and not that you seek to kill me, but that you joined the selfish magicians; then again, you are rather cruel."

All seven's apparent pride was quickly dashed out by this new insult. They growled curses and other unspeakables at him. Alex's confidence increased from this, quite the contrary of what the new mages expected to happen.

"Without us, there would be no you,"

"Without you, there would be no curfew or any other stupid orders."

"Without we magicians, the government would be hanging on a thread,"

"Without magicians, there would be peace,"

Such talk was between Alex and the seven boys. Suddenly, after five minutes of straight affronts, commands in a different language were said, and the djinni and the other imps and foliots ran at Alex.

He smiled, and then held out a hand. A huge wave of energy made the air around them dead and causing the spirits to stop frozen. Smiling smugly, Alex dashed out the door and setting of the nexus alarm. Alex saw this but didn't care; he was out of here.

Nero saw immediately the boy sprint out of a house and into the street. With something in his hand, he fended off two djinn and ran off to the crossroads.

Nero, whistling as hard as he could, ran down the street in pursuit of the boy. Bartimaeus was loitering on a fence. He stuck out a food, and did a job with considerably less energy then his fellow spirits.

Alex only recovered by rolling on the hard stone road and continuing his way. A bit surprised by his comeback, the djinni sent off a Detonation, only to have it absorbed by the boy. Slightly shouting, Alex finally came down to the path, and stayed there for a bit of time.

Bartimaeus shoved a level two djinni out of the way and got the teen by the neck. He only got a quick peek at Alex before something silver stabbed into his abdomen.

While he was distracted, Alex crawled away rapidly, trying to make as little sound as possible.

But of course, that wouldn't happen.

When barley a minute passed, Alex was pinned by two djinn on a fence. A magician came to Alex, followed by the boy, who looked very smug right now.

Alex looked sourly at the boy, who blew a raspberry at him. The tall-scarred magician smiled at this.

"You know boy, I am rather impressed,"

"I'm not a boy,"

"SILENCE!"

The word echoed into the darkness. No one winced except for the boy, and that ruined the effect the man was looking for.

"I am impressed that you manage to avoid 12 djinn, a bunch of imps, kill a foliot and nearly get away with it. But the government does not make deals with common thieves, no matter how impressive his thievery was,"

"I didn't steal those things last night,"

"But my demon here saw you," The magician gestured to the slave that tripped Alex, and who winced at the word, "Demon".

"May I say—"

"No you may not Bartimaeus. I credit you and you don't want it,"

"Of course I don't, since—"

"Shush Bartimaeus,"

"Oh don't get in this Nero…"

While the two demons and their master were arguing, Alex was muttering a spell that involved the silver pendant on his neck.

Finally, Alex finished, and waited for the effect.

It didn't take long to show. An invisible wave of silver and loud sounds ran through out the street. All the spirits were rolling on the floor in pain. The boy and the mage were cupping their ears to block out the cries of a banshee. This spell had no effect on Alex or anyone else in the neighborhood, as Alex commanded.

As Alex ran past the crossroads and into his home, he had vengeance on his mind.

Part 2

(A.N if the chapter is very long, there will be two parts)

The next few days were spent in the run down hideout. Lore, Crispian and Alex learned quite a lot in only a few days. A schedule was set up for the veneficus immortalizes. The first half an hour was spent on the latest news and rumors. Some were of great importance; others were just a bit amusing.

The next hour was spent on making the mind at serenity. This was extremely important if spells were to be cast. Then a review of those spells was done, followed by the practice of the spells.

The next hour was physical, mostly endurance and swiftness. Strength was a bonus, not a request. Swiftness would be needed when doing intelligence work, and endurance to last long to escape tight situation during intelligence work. Making one hidden was part of physical.

Intelligence was followed immediately. Quick thinking and the ability to see through lies and disguises and puzzles. A good memory was good to have when in a hitch or danger.

Later, magical knowledge would be the last thing. Master taught pupil the basics: the spirit essence, the pentacle like how to drawn one properly, the ancient languages and basic non-magical protection.

"When will we summon demons?" always asked Alex when he and his other two friends took out their magic books.

"In time," Jorge would say to Alex's ambition.

Meanwhile, the other veneficus, though without a student, were busy themselves.

They were spying on the government and ratifying the commoner resistance. Dozens of thefts were carried out each day without a trace, despite many demons on duty. Magicians were found dead or very wounded each day. Strain was put on the emperor, especially since the other veneficus had the army silently cause interruptions and sabotage equipment. Though some of the army rebels were caught, the administration was completely baffled on who the mutineers were and how they bypassed demon protection. This made the commoners considerably happy. But it was rather a marvel that the festival was still on; the armed police were not kind with their captured criminals lately and taxes were raised. But keeping the festival would be better for the magicians and tightening the commoners would only aggravate their situation.

Finally, over a time interval of two weeks, all the necessary skills were learned. The apprentices were no more novices. They could be put in the wild with only the clothes on their back, and still survive. They could nearly summon a demon without exhausting themselves or putting them selves to danger. To put all the achievements at short, they were true veneficus immortalizes.

Well, almost. They didn't get the immortalis part yet; before they got the spell put on them, they were to have a hard test that never proves to fail one's true accomplishment.

One morning that was much hotter then the abnormal cold summer days, everyone gathered around the kitchen table as usual. Jorge would be at the head of the table, and Ali, the second, at the other side. The other eight would randomly sit in any chair, though Alex had to sit in between Lore and Crispian since, despite them being friends, would always rabble about something.

That morning, two things happened.

"I have reports that there is a traitor among us," said Jorge as if it was a minor subject that was of no importance.

Nothing would prepare the others for such sudden news. No one made a sound, but all had faces of shock that were expressed in different ways with different features and in different degrees of distress.

But Jorge just moved on. He rambled on about the death of the war minister and the emperor's personal magician. He also said mildly about a plan to start bringing the outbursts of rebellion to a higher degree of crime.

As news were heard and spoken, the first information was stuck in everyone's mind. A traitor? It could have been anyone's guess for who it was. Strange Nick? Frightening Ali? Or even distant Celia? No one was a close candidate for a turncoat.

After the many reports were sent and received, Alex noticed that an hour had passed already and that the usual schedule had not started. But like a good apprentice, Alex was patient and waited.

But Alex's serene didn't have to wait. He would discover that he wasn't an apprentice any more.

Jorge soon ran out of reports, and thus began a new topic.

"As Alex here seem to note, we have not started mediating, for there is something more important. First off, we have come together early, because there is something we need to cover that entirely change today's plans. It is about out novices."

Lore and Crispian were a bit nervous about this, but Alex stayed calm like he should. Crispian was the jumpy one and Lore had something that had her on alert everywhere. She once caught an imp following her, and she crushed it with a book in her bag.

"You see, an apprentice's training takes a month to fully complete it. But this bunch is extremely talented. I think it's time to test them," said Jorge, mostly to the other veneficus immortalis. They nodded and showed signs of agreement. Lore and Crispian's expression changed dramatically from alertness, to serenity and happiness. Alex's expression was still stony, but inside, he was crowing with extreme content.

As the next hour unfolded, plans were laid out. The test would be a hard one, for there was only time to have one test, and it had to be successful. Alex, Lore and Crispian would rob a magician's house, a magician of high level and controls quite a few demons easily. They would have three hours to observe the area where the house was and plan a way into the magician's house, and out of there with a certain amount of goods and deal a lot of damage, and try not to alert anything.

"So, which house do we rob?" asked Alex.

---

"That house?" said Alex with a bit of disbelief.

"Yup, that's what Jorge gave us," said Crispian, with awe in his voice.

It was the great mansion that Alex had stayed in three weeks ago. Well, in the yard of it. High-level djinn guarded the front and back yard. The other demons in the neighboring houses also looked out for each other, just to make thieves work harder only to get caught. Nexuses and Hexes lined the grounds and even had a few human sentries.

"Great, how do we get into that?" asked Lore in disbelief.

All three stood a few feet away from the yard door, trying to observe the house without causing too much attention to themselves. They stood there for a bit longer, until Alex moved out of the burning sun.

"Lets get out of the crowd to my house,"

Lore and Crispian looked at each other (which was one of the few times they did that without arguing) with a blank expression. Alex had already several times to try to get Lore and Crispian to his house. But all times they rejected each time with as much courtesy. Now, they couldn't reject it.

So they walked past several slaves who were delivering things for their lazy masters, to the crossroads. All three took one route for the first time.

After five minutes of walking, they came to his court area. The shop in front was as busy as ever. People were coming in and out of the door faster then water poured in a glass and dumped out. Seeing this, Alex and his friends took the back door.

Alex introduced Lore and Crispian to his parents, and after a few greetings, mother and father ran off to keep up with the demands. Alex had a sudden urge to help his family, as he had neglected that duty for two weeks. But he had something more important to do.

As all three walked up the sturdy stairs, Crispian and Lore looked around the house like the way they admired the magician's house; they were wide eyed and examined the shinny floors, the open windows letting in fresh air, and how the only chaos was down in the busy shop. It was rather quiet and comfortable up on the second level.

"You're lucky,"

"Am I?"

Both Crispian and Lore nodded.

"How?" asked Alex with extreme confusion.

They were in the same room Alex had been in when Jorge turned into his real person. The room was much warmer then that time and was a bit dustier. The hearth had ashes smoked everywhere, on the brinks, on the wood remains and some flew onto the floor.

They laid out a large piece of parchment. On it were: the magician's address, what were to be stolen, the degree of damage and the advised time to work things out. Other then that, everything else had to be done through hard work.

"Where in the world do we start?"

Where did they start…Alex didn't know the answer. The other two seemed to think Alex was sort of the head leader. He knew where to begin, where to end, how to do those and what were the cautions. It made Alex feel in place. Though, the massive dependence was a bit frightening.

Indeed, both Crispian and Lore stared at him in question. Alex felt odd with their pupils imprinting into him. But he relaxed seeing they weren't arguing.

Alex tried thinking, but found he was too dehydrated to think of what to do.

"I'll get us some light ale, you try to think of a plan we can execute."

Alex ran down the stairs, though as quiet as a mouse, thanks to his training. He was about to go into the kitchen, when he heard his parent's voice. Their tone was the same to any other person outside of his family, but those who have been with the Dunns for more then five years will know the certain tone. It meant that no one was suppose to know what was said and was serious. So, Alex listened in.

"—So now that he has friends, Alex shouldn't need to be with Jorge. Now he can help us—"

"But that's not the problem is it?" interrupted Alex's father.

"No. I think something is going on."

"What makes you think that?"

"Well…first, Alex comes home later then his therapy should be and on some days he doesn't come out of his room. Now, he brings home two strangers who are complete strangers. I think we should keep him from Jorge."

Alex's two parents had a moment of silence. It seemed Eloy managed the business up front with the twins helping as much as possible. Agrippa was taking her nap on a padded bench by the open window.

"You're right…something is on and about. I know a magician who can tail Alex. He has a lot of influence in the government,"

But Alex's mother was skeptical.

"But he's a magician. How can we trust him?"

Alex winced as he could almost hear his father smiling. "We will lie and say Alex is a minor suspect in the recent incidents."

But Vibia just couldn't stand that thought.

"No, no, no. We can't do that."

"But we must."

A few minutes passed in absolute silence. Then Vibia said, "Okay. But I need to—"

Alex's mother's next words were drowned out by the sudden shouts in the front. Alex could hear his parents rushing to the shop counter.

After he recovered from his shock, Alex went into the kitchen; absentmindedly got two small drinking bowls, poured out ale and then stopped in front of the stairs. He tried to shake out, "They betrayed me" in his head. But that was the only thought now. "They used me so they could stay alive in their stupid lives. Well they'll die soon, so why was the point of sacrificing their insane son?"

With a sob, Alex ran up the stairs, almost tripping over a couple of steps into the room.

After Alex regained his composure, he entered the room with the tray of bowls. What he saw didn't surprise him; Lore and Crispian arguing.

Usually, Alex would be entertained to see their pointless bickering. He would easily see weak points to end the conversation, but would watch on with amusement. But now he was in no mood for laughs. He slammed the tray onto the table and sat in his seat. Lore and Crispian immediately quitted their conversation.

After Alex had raised his head, he said softly, "So that's why you hate your parents,"

Lore and Crispian couldn't call where they lived home. Lore lived in a trashed house with an estranged mother and a neglecting father. They couldn't scrape that much money, so Lore had to do odd jobs and steal from stores, which was how she managed to look like a well being lady. But the house couldn't withstand powerful storms or heat waves or cold waves. Because of this, she often was sick or had to stay over at a friend's house. Her parents didn't care if she died because: one, they wouldn't notice a dead body because they took the rest of their time working, eating, arguing or sleeping. The other reason: Lore's family used to be a middle class family, not well known, but respected. Lore had many brothers and sisters, each one with a special talent that could earn them a living. But a few months after Lore had been born, a disease wiped out the family business, and all the children, except for Lore. Because of that, her parents thought she was a bad omen.

Crispian was in a high-class family. He was an only child and had everything ready for him in his future. He was well educated by a personal tutor, which was partially why Crispian could memorize and learn so much. But one day, something happened which was similar to Alex's incident. Crispian was thirteen and he was to be introduced to the Roman council. Crispian's father was proud of his intelligent son, despite Crispian being a bit thin.

So there they were, exactly where Bartimaeus and Nero would be three years later. His father had been explaining the many things Crispian could do, when suddenly; Crispian's eye focus became loose. He managed to balance, but his view now consisted of seven windows. As he looked around, several strange beings took the place of tall big men. Antlers and many bug arms flew all over the place, making Crispian shudder and give a yelp of panic. His father paused suddenly.

"Are you okay son?"

"Those…things…"

"What things?"

"The…the things with the eyes and the…oh my…"

One of the demons came over with a loud air. It had over thousands of tentacles, and they flew all over Crispian.

He screamed and kicked at it. The demon was a bit taken aback at this defense, but it grabbed Crispian's leg, then it's tentacle shot back as Crispian's resilience burned him; it was extremely high, the resilience. Then Crispian fainted…

Crispian woke up in his bed, in a silk gown. He groaned a bit, and then realized he was at home. Then he recalled with shock what happened at the council table. The only thing in his head: my life is ruined… my life is ruined…

Then he heard voices in the neighboring room. He quietly went to the door and listened in.

"…I punished Faquarl for his greediness, but this is for sure; your son cannot get a position in the council after this. They will not accept someone who can't ignore a demon's true form. But what I don't get is how the boy saw Faquarl's true form. It was on the seventh plane…"

Crispian had ignored the last sentence. His father was disgraced, and so he would be pushed aside as a useless pawn.

At this, Crispian did indeed get ignored and because, he isolated himself into the library and became conscious about secrets even the emperor had not heard rumors about. Until three years later, he only read and read, since the only thing now Crispian could do was to be a scholar. And his mother didn't help; she was powerless compared to her husband…

---

The room was silent again. Crispian was shaking quietly and sipping from his bowl of ale. A crash sounded downstairs, and the door to the communications room creaked. Alex got up and put some logs to the blackened heath. Then he created a fire in the hearth with an Inferno.

"So that's why you don't care if your parents die huh?"

Lore and Crispian nodded sadly.

"And now I'm where you guys are at too,"

And Alex told what he heard downstairs. After the end of his narrative, Lore and Crispian stared blandly at him.

"Welcome, to our world," said Lore.

---

Despite the shake up, Alex managed to come up a plan they could use. First, they needed to know the entire blueprint of the house and the daily patrols. To find the blueprints, they would have to do a complicated spell that had the castor's eyes to see through walls and transfer it to a sheet a parchment. After all three practiced on a box filled with all sorts of stuff, to Lore's fury, only Crispian could successfully do the spell.

They set up a large bread stall in the lazy afternoon. In order to get more goods or money, Alex used that excuse to make a stand and get the plans. Alex and Crispian would make the bread in the small fire pit in the back of the small stall with Lore ("If one of us men sold it, they would be suspicious," said Crispian, only to get a fist in the cheek. "I meant it as a compliment!"). Crispian would look like he was kneading the dough ("You need to actually make it since it's going to be quite a time to transfer it" explained Alex) but would mostly be copying the plans down.

Asthey set up the large stand, Crispian had already started to do the spell. The yard was already down by the time they were burning and the customers started to arrive. Most were slaves, since the stand was in a magician neighborhood and human slaves did most of rich people's work. Lore called out in a high, attractive voice that even had some of the magicians come out. Soon, Alex was so occupied with making more and more bread that he almost didn't notice a certain djinni coming to haggle the price of five loaves of bread.

Alex was putting uncooked bread into the five pit, and calling Crispian over. Then he noticed a demon. Alex dived onto the ground.

"What is wrong with you?"

"Shush! That demon is from a powerful magician and he has seen me before."

"How?"

"Don't let him see me!"

That demon was now talking to Lore rather nicely. Lore seemed to be a bit shaken that a demon was buying from her, but she barley showed it, only releasing it by tapping her foot.

Now Lore was taking his money, gave the bread, and he walked off at a slow pace.

"Uh, you saw that demon before, where?"

Alex got up, brushed himself and told his midnight demon run in four weeks ago.

The customer line had lessened since many magicians had cooks for them. The smell of freshly cooked bread had risen to the rich but non-magical area, and many people were walking over to the stall.

Lore was a bit entertained and amazed by the incident, but Crispian just shook his head.

"Why would you go walking at midnight into this neighborhood. I mean, look at that afrit!" Crispian gestured to a massive afrit walking through a yard at the end of the road.

"I felt trapped in that house, so I had to get out somehow."

"Hey, we got customers," said Lore, who had now been making some dough and had left the incident alone.

"And you have to copy the house, eh,"

Crispian set down to do that, covering his purpose up by attending to the fire with caution. He would look at the house with concentration, then stared at his large cut of parchment. A bunch of rooms would come up in black ink with traps, objects and demons.

"About twenty more minutes then it'll all be down,"

At this, Alex flushed in happiness. Then he saw his unfinished dough. He considered the large about of loaves cooking at the fire, then walked over to where Lore sat idle, waiting for the upcoming crowd.

The warm wind blew Lore's black hair into her face. She ignored the crazy strands, as she saw a demon fly above the stall. It then flew into a home and most likely to its master. Then she started to count the amount of coins they achieved.

"You know, you can keep some,"

Lore looked up in revelation. She shook her head in disagreement.

"For what's going to happen to you, you're going to need as much," she smiled

Alex had no idea what she meant even when the desperate crowd was upon them. Lore didn't need to speak to get their attention; the aromas did that for her. Lore was trying to get the coins and hand the bread as fast as possible. Alex was rapidly piling loaves into a basket and handed a couple to Lore. Crispian was disregarding this huge rush and was regarding the house and his parchment. It was nearly complete.

By the time the mob had been satisfied and gone home, the front counter was a mess. A basket was on the brick road ahead of the stall. The bread that had not been bought now was in a disastrous mess. The extra parchment Crispian had brought now flew idle about the stall. The street was now deserted.

Just as all three carefully examined the parchment with the detailed plans of the house, the fire got a little out of control from the sudden blows of wind by lighting the stall on fire. Seeing this, Alex went to put it out. Lore had gone up front to get the loaves of bread that they were going to eat for a light snack, when a boy came a walking over to the stand. He seemed carefree, and stood out, as the sun was behind him.

Alex's eyes bulged when the boy came to the stall, and now the fire was out, he dived to one side, knocking Crispian in the process."

"Hey!"

"Don't make me visible. You know that boy I said that night three weeks ago? Well, that's him, so don't let him see me,"

"Him? He's no boy. He's a grown man, older then all three of us,"

"Yeah, yeah, when he was my friend, he was shorter then he should be, so we always called him boy."

"But what about Lore? You said he attracted women like bees to nectar?"

"Oh…you better help here then,"

"Why? She can defend against his magic,"

"Not his 'charms',"

When Lore first saw the man, she scolded. They did not need another customer.

"Sorry, we've run out of bread,"

"Well here's one," said he, as the man picked up the loaf and examined it,"

"How much?"

The man's voice was calm and smooth. He was gentle, but something about him alarmed her. Yet she couldn't it was not for sale.

"A gold piece,"

She immediately regretted saying this, yet the rich man didn't seem to care.

"I should think that is cheap; did you make it? Aye, it's worth more then that…"

Despite the lame come on, Lore couldn't help but flush.

Where was Alex? Or Crispian? Alex was probably still putting out the fire, and Crispian most likely looking on with amusement.

"You want to see a trick? Watch"

The man suddenly raised a hand, and shot up lights of brightness. Despite it being a spell Lore knew, the strange, beautiful colours awed her.

"You want to see more?"

Lore suddenly had the view of two blue pupils, which transfixed her.

"Would you like to see more?" asked the man carefully. Lore could not answer, though the word, "yes" almost came off her tongue.

Alex and Crispian was watching the entire conversation go on. The fireworks did make Alex look on for a bit of time, but Crispian muttered something about a lame spell.

"Go help her!"

"Why? She's got it good. Besides, this is fun…"

Crispian got a sharp pain in his gut.

"You idiot. This…"

"Okay, okay…"

Lore stared into the eyes without a hint of embarrassment. She would have kept looking, and maybe accept his invitation, until a hand grabbed her.

"Hey there, sorry, we're closed,"

Lore looked to her right, and saw a tall man with a military crop hairstyle. Not too short, but at his ears His eyes were dark brown and had no noticeable features like scars or birthmarks. The stranger was well built.

"Where did you come from, I never saw you?" said the magician with apparent confusion.

"That does not matter,"

Lore looked on with wide eyes. She recognized the voice; it was Crispian. She looked at his arm around her with disgust. Lore turned her head to see Alex seeing the view with bit laughter in his eyes, but seriousness on his features. He winked at her, telling her through that to just go along.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Lore's brother. But you know what annoys me the most? When my sister lets people walk all over her, whether she sees they are or not. Especially, if it's people who tempt her " Crispian put an emphasis on "tempt". He slightly pulsed his muscles.

The magician boy looked ready to call up a demon, but he left it. He smiled at Lore and walked back to his house rather quickly. The door slammed shut with an echo sounding repeatedly.

Crispian's spell now resolved and was now at his thin self. He flashed a grin at Lore, who pulled his arm off her, and turned her back.

---

With the stall packed up, the currency given to Alex's parents, they now had everything ready with four hours to get into the house. Each carried a small fur poach. In everyone's poach had a small vial of Detonation liquid, which no longer existed to modern days. There was some Illusion sparkles, a small silver sword and a bunch of vials of Greek fire. Alex's poach also had the plans. Each apprentice had their pendant around their neck; had on a robe good for running, and hard skin sandals.

They arrived approximately when sunset was close. Lore pointed out a rare flaw in the human patrol, and they snuck through it into the cellar. It was cool, as it was underground, and was in rather good condition as no cobwebs or creepy crawlies. Crispian started by smashing the wine bottles.

"Don't do that, they'll hear!"

"We're underground. Need I say more?"

Ever since Crispian's "drastic move", both Lore and Crispian were irritated at each other's reaction. Crispian had expected some kind of gratification and Lore wanted a full apology. And typically, Alex could do nothing but stand by and watch.

Crispian continued to smash wine bottles, while Alex put a vial of Detonation controlled by a simple word command on the master pole. Lore dumped the food preserved in barrels and put a sick looking liquid in a few apple bins.

They slowly walked up the cellar stairs, a silver blade at the ready. After ascending the steps they saw no demon on the landing or on next set of steps. But as they opened the cellar door, a foliot came flying past the door.

After this close call, the three consulted the map. When they more carefully navigated their way to the attic (along the way they trashed dozens of artifacts and other goods and rares, plus accidentally squishing an imp lying on the floor for no apparent reason).

Subsequent to placing the last Detonation glass on the master block in the attic, they were to rob the safe's magic items, then climb out of the magician's study window.

As a demon walked out of view, Alex was about to knock down the door, when he heard a voice apparently talking through a crystal.

"…Got the demons ready? Good, good, good. I shall send Nero and Bartimaeus with the group. They will be essential to the force; Nero is much more powerful then a distinctive djinni and Bartimaeus is a tricky fellow…sorry sir, I just thought I heard someone outside…"

Alex turned to see Lore and Crispian squabbling again. Connecting what he heard inside and their talking, he banged their head against the wall, and put his index finger to his lips.

But it was too late; the magician walked out of his study (Crispian had no idea that he the magician would still be inside; the mage's schedule was not followed today) and saw Alex, Crispian and Lore, huddled in the next corridor to the left of the study. Alex gave the magician a sly smile, and then punched him good.

They ran off in the direction of the hallway window. But since the magician used to be in a legion was able to respond. While clutching his face, sounded the alarm. A strange noise was heard, and was instantly reveled to be the alarm.

A djinni popped through the window Alex was aiming for. Slamming his feet on the floor to steady himself, he thrust his pendant forward. The demon flinched wildly, and fell two stories to the stone walkway that led to a garden.

Lore took out some Greek fire, and threw it at a bunch of foliots coming to intercept them.

"How does he control seven foliots, three djinn and an imp?"

"Who cares, lets get out of here before the human guards hear us!"

As the foliots got scorched and the flames started to spread, the same demon that went to buy Lore's bread appeared in the other end of the hall.

They stared at each other, and then Alex dived to the left hall, bringing down Crispian and Lore with him. The Spasm hit the wall where Alex had been and left a gray stain.

Scrambling to get up, Alex turned and dealt an Inferno. It just missed the djinni.

Bartimaeus had enough of this boy. He had seen him three weeks ago, five hours ago, and now. Three times and failed assassination. The master would not be satisfied. The Essence Rack was heavy on his mind.

So, he tried to contain the boy's damage with more zeal.

But Alex was more committed then Bartimaeus in goals and success. But only by a little.

Basically dragging Lore and Crispian, he ran down a set of stairs with the djinni hard on his heels throwing heavy objects, only to smack into another djinni, who (unknown to Alex) was called Nero.

He, Nero, with a yell, slammed onto the wall landing as a result of the much silver on the veneficus immortalizes body, giving Alex a path to heave Lore and Crispian with him, who were knocked out (Lore from two boys lying on top of her with the top one jumping on the pile) and bleeding from the head (Crispian from a vase to the skull). But fortunately, after the stairs were behind and all three were on the ground floor, Crispian now helped lug Lore out the door.

Barley getting out the door, Nero jumped out with the three teens, only to hit a step right on the noggin. Bartimaeus gracefully leaped over him, and almost caught Alex, who had a dickey leg from the sudden running, if he hadn't taken a risk.

The last time Alex tried to do a Spasm, the run down house, which was now veneficus headquarters, almost malformed. But Alex successfully dealt a Spasm, and the gray-blue ball hit the djinni Bartimaeus right on his chest. This gave time for Alex to give a command, and the explosives planted in crucial poles within the house exploded. The roof caved right in with smoke rising. The cellar just barley held, since the Detonation set there was weak. But windows crashed, and the djinni that fell two stories crashed out a wall with its master in its arms, as it was to follow its charge; protect the magician.

Alex and Crispian looked at each other, then at Lore. With a groan, both lifted their female companion by the armpits, and left Nero (unconscious), the collapsed house, Bartimaeus lying prone and the magician still recovering from the shock.

---

All three only just escaped, as the human guards left as they saw explosions inside the house. Alex and Crispian with their sleeping friend hid in an abandoned backyard, as demons might have been sent out to find them. After Lore woke up, and explained everything, they lay there with the bulging bag of magical weapons found elsewhere. Even without the safe's contents, the bag was to standards.

Knowing this, all three realized they would now be official veneficus immortalis. But they did not rejoice immediately. One, they were too exhausted to show signs of relief, if not smiles on their face. Two, imps flew past them constantly.

Evening had settled in, and they had to report soon. With much energy, all three walked painfully to the rundown house, where lights were lit with much degree. They had got past the long corridor, when they saw everyone waiting with zeal. Jorge was staring out the small window, Ali was tapping is fingers on the table; the twins kept walking akimbo to each other. Nick was laying his head on the table in stress, and Sorty was sitting with a look of impatience.

All looked up as one to see a bruised up Lore, a bloodied Crispian, and a tired Alex, complete with half ripped poaches, a chipped tooth in Crispian's case, and a plump ripped sac. Which caught most of the attention, not the injuries.

---

Alex, his injuries now healed completely, courtesy of Ali, waved goodbye to Crispian and Lore, and continued his way down the road. The sun had long set, and the stars shone brightly. To keep himself occupied, he named the constellations and the most prominent stars.

The past hour had been spent examining the magical objects, labeling them, and putting them into a huge wooden crate with many other weapons neatly pilled. These were not to be used by them, but by the commoners. Each week, a crate of these was sent to commoners with resilience and other powers.

In this hour, their immortalis part was added.

Yes, they had become veneficus immortalis! The spell was applied with good grace, and had well after affects. All three had much more energy, and looked much better. Lore's tired eyes suddenly snapped wider and her pupils showed with much more intensity. Alex was still rather lean, but yet, he looked much more broader and his black hair shone in the darkness. Really, a lot of other things were improved, but they were minor. This was because the spell's effect took a while to show.

"But you will become everlasting to time, only when your family dies. I'm sorry to say that. But there are those who do not care about their family, and so proceed to knock them off. But the spell recognizes a murder by the spell receiver's hands, and when it does, the spell fades away, and leaves you with barley any energy to live. So, live to the fullest with your family,"

Both Lore and Crispian had no intention of doing that. Alex knew that soon, he would be in their situation.

With this, Alex had to repair the connection with his family. But that would be hard. What he was doing right now was steadily snapping him and his relatives apart. He would come home, and his parents would be waiting impatiently, and an argument would rage about his curfew evasion.

Did Jorge have to have this? Ali? Sorty? Nick? The twins? Celia? Thought Alex with a horrible gut feeling in the depths of his bowels.

The stars created a creative puzzle in the black sky. The brightest one, Sirius, burned the most evident among the countless number of stars. Alex stopped in his tracks, and sighed. Far away, two demons had just been summoned by their master, and were now walking with a crowd of other djinn. They looked at the star Sirius in hope. Sirius would always shine for those who looked.

Next week:

History of the veneficus immortalis, and other information requested.

Nero's change of thought about his master

The end of "Fall of Rome" arc

Alex, Lore and Crispian's continued training and participation in rebellion

And a bunch of other things that will make the chapter into three parts

New: Next chapter will have a except of the next, next chapter