Chapter 2! Woot!
Hmm….. I'm kinda sad… so far I don't plan to have any goblins in this chapter… but they are my favorite race of characters to write so far! They are so stupid. Hehe :)
Also I am sorry about how long it's taking me to write ALL my works. I'm afraid that I have horrible writers block AND my head won't stop coming up with new ideas. Thank god I don't act on most of them… other wise I would never get anything done! ;_;
A Fairy Tale
There's No Such Thing as Magic
A young man looked out the window, quite bored. He was bored everyday in fact. School was to easy for him. The boy was considered a genius among his classmates and the teachers, but really, he just had a lot of free time to study and read. He didn't have a job, and his parents didn't expect anything of him except for good grades.
His blood-red eyes drifted over to the large, analog, clock above the white board. He sighed quietly. Ten more minutes of educational hell.
Yami drummed his fingers on the desk, hoping to pass the time. But it only caused the teacher to give him a dirty look for disrupting. Yami glared right back. He was unafraid of authority.
The teacher seemed to give up on their glaring contest when she noticed the time and asked the students to pass up the assignment they were supposed to be working on. Yami had finished in the first five of the thirty minutes allowed.
The bell finally rang, signaling the end of the school day. Yami quickly gathered his stuff and rushed out of the room and soon, out the building. He was in no mood to get caught in the 'after school rush', but as soon as he was safely outside the school grounds he slowed to a leisurely stroll. He was in no hurry, it wasn't like anyone terribly important waited for him at home.
The boys parents were off on a three-month vacation in Europe. Yami snorted. His parents were always gone. The boys father was a self-made billionaire and his mother an actress. He was used to them not being home.
Normally he wasn't allowed to walk home. When his parents were in town they would insist that he take the family's private limo. It wasn't always that way though.
It started when he was in elementary school. A couple of bullies had cornered him and tried to steal his cell phone, Yami was the only kid in the fourth grade with a phone and they were jealous, but he had won the fight with little more then a few scratches. To bad Serena, Yamis mother, had been very protective of him at that time and had freaked out about the incident. She had transferred him to a different school and from then on had forced him to take a limo to and from school. Luckily for Yami that the servants were on his side when it came to this matter and kept their lips tightly shut about his walks home.
Besides, he enjoyed his daily walk home from school. It probably helped that he lived in the 'nice' part of town that had large parks, tall trees, and fancy flora. Yami stopped when he noticed a baby bird on the sidewalk. It had obviously fallen from its nest. He smiled softly at the baby and scooped it into his hands. It could die if left on the sidewalk. Yami lifted it to a safe place on a low-hanging branch.
"There. Your safe now." He whispered and continued on his way. The walk was uneventful as usual, but Yami had always felt calmed and at ease in nature. Being in the big concrete city didn't go well with him. If Yami had his way, he would tear down the tall buildings, and smash all the cars to nothing but useless hunks of metal. They made to much noise.
The crimson-eyed youth stopped in front of a pair of overly large gates. The black metal twisted and curled to form intricate patterns. Large brick walls surrounded the European style house past the gates. Next to the gate was an electronic key-pad. Yami typed in the code and pressed his thumb into the scanner.
Ahknemkhanen, Yamis' father, had spared no expense on security for the house and surrounding grounds, nor anything else for that matter.
The gates silently swung inward, allowing him in. Yami walked casually up the long walk to the front of the house, if it could be called a house!
The better described mansion stood in the middle of the extensive property. With large trees decorating the lawn haphazardly and a small lake off to the side of the house where white and black swans swam peacefully and old willows hung over the water. The house itself was magnificent. It was made in an old European style and was built when Yamis' family had first settled in Japan. It rose three stories above the ground.
Yami waved to one of the many window washers. He liked all their hired help. Many of they had served his family for a long time.
He unlocked the large, wooden, front doors and slipped inside. The front hall was massive with white marble flooring and various doors leading to various places. A long red carpet met the feet of all who entered. It spread the length of the hall and continued up the grand staircase at the end of the room. The ceilings were high with many paintings of long dead relatives or 'contributors' to the Sennen family wealth
Yami made his way up the ornate staircase, toward his room which was located on the second story.
He made his way toward the back of the house. Yamis' room overlooked the back yard and the forest beyond that. An elderly lady came bustling in his direction.
"Good afternoon, Martha." He said. She was his all around caretaker. When Yami was a kid she had been his nanny. The plump woman had always been more of a mother to him than his birth mother. She smiled at the youth. "And a good afternoon to you to! How was school? No bullies I presume?" She gave him a wink and Yami grinned. "School was fine. And you know that I can hold my own. I'm not an eighth degree black belt for nothing!" They both laughed a little.
"Well dinner should be ready in a few hours. I'll call you when it's time to eat. Where should I look for you?" It was common knowledge that it could take hours to find anyone in this gigantic house. "The library, I think. I have an essay in Literature History due at the end of the week and I would like to get a start on it." The old woman nodded with approval and left down the hall Yami had just came from. Yami continued on his way to his bedroom. He needed to drop off his stuff before he went to the library, and yes, the Sennen family had their own library. Yamis' father was a very studious man. They had original copies of almost all the famous literary works and many obscure research journals. In fact Yami had at one time looked up to see how the Domino Public Library compared to his. Lets just say, there WAS no comparison. He had always known that there were perks for being fabulously wealthy.
Yamis' room was located at the end of a short hall. Yamis' childhood pictures adorned the walls. The doors were made of dark cherry oak with golden handles and hinges. Yami stepped inside, shutting the doors behind himself.
The room was large and dark, even when the lights were on. Black carpet with dark purple swirling clouds adorned the floor (think shadow realm). The walls were the same dark purple from the carpet with a black ceiling. The room looked more like a study with a bed then a bedroom. Comfortable couches and chairs were arranged around the room. The dark color scheme present on the furniture. A few chairs and a couch were in a semicircle around the large fireplace. All the wood, from Yamis' desk down to the bed legs, were made of the same dark cherry on the doors. Yamis' desk, which sat between two large bookcases, was neat and tidy. The overly expensive computer was in sleep mode, it whirled quietly. A flat screen TV hung from the wall in front of a magnificent king-size bed. The bed was adorned in red silk sheets and comforter. Multiple black pillows leaned against the headboard.
Yami kicked off his shoes and threw his bag on the bed. He hated his school uniform and wanted out of it as soon as possible. Yami pulled the shirt and jacket off as he walked, tossing them to the ground. He quickly looked through his closet for something more comfortable to wear. Yami pulled out a tight red tank top that would show off his muscles, black leather pants, and multiple belts that hung loosely from his hips.
After changing, Yami grabbed his flash-drive and the instructions for the essay and headed to the library.
The library was just as massive and grand as the rest of the mansion. This was where Yamis' father held meetings, entertained guests, and did his research. The library was two stories tall, winding staircases connected the two floors. Marble covered the floors and walls, and large windows gave the place an open feel.
Yami slipped casually through the rows upon rows of bookcases, all of them needing ladders to reach the upper-most shelves. The library was cleaned daily, to keep the thousands of works clean and in good condition.
Yami mostly just browsed around. He still wasn't sure what he wanted to write his essay on. Yami glanced at the winding staircase, normally he wasn't allowed up there if his father wasn't home, but who would know? Besides, he father kept all the best research material in his study, on the second floor.
He slowly climbed the stairs, keeping an eye our for any maids or house personal, Yami knew that if they told his father then he would be in huge trouble.
The upstairs was quite a bit smaller the lower floor. It only held his fathers personal works and all his research. His study was also up here.
Yami walked to the back of the room. Running his fingers along the spines of the books. Reading was one of his secret pastimes. Even his parents didn't know, not that they paid much attention most of the time anyway.
Yami stopped in his tracks as he rounded a corner and came face to face with the door to his fathers study. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, but the real surprise was that the door was slightly ajar. This was extremely strange. He father never left his study unlocked, let alone open! Yami had never been in there but according to his mother, and a few loose-lipped servants, his father had priceless books, journals, and even a few ancient artifacts in his study.
Yami looked around and made sure the coast was clear before he silently slipped into the open door.
The room was surprisingly bland. It reminded Yami of a lawyers office. A large oak desk sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by shelves of books. The desk was covered in stacks of papers and tattered books.
He walked around the desk examining the contents of the shelves. Most of the books were in foreign languages, the origins of which eluded Yami. One book in particular caught his eye. It was large and bound in leather. It was also perhaps the most intact book in his fathers study. Small jewels adorned the surface and the gold designs were flawless! In fact, if Yami didn't know any better he would think the book was brand new!
Yami pulled the book from it's place and laid it in the desk. A small lock kept the book closed, but there was no obvious way to open it. Only an engraved design that Yami had never seen before. No buttons, or key-holes, though.
Yami reached down and just lightly brushed the engraving with his fingertips. He yelped and jumped back when the latch simply popped open. He reached out cautiously and tried to lock the book once more, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a way to keep the book locked. It just kept popping open on it's own!
Yami panicked, grabbing the book, and rushed from his fathers study. Firmly shutting the door behind himself. He rushed down the stairs, eager to get as far from his fathers study as possible, but froze in his tracks at the bottom when he spotted their most senior butler.
The old man was stern and very devoted to Ahknemkhanen. He gave Yami a fierce glare. "Now why would you be on the libraries second floor? You know your father doesn't like it when you snoop around in his stuff."
Yami glared right back. Who was this old coot to patronize him? "I was doing research for a school paper, on ancient literature. I figure I will have a better chance at a good grade if I use some of our oldest resources."
The old man humped. "Well when Master Sennen comes home and he finds something out of place, we know who to blame now don't we?"
Yami chose not to answer this and left for a more secluded place of the library, checking to make sure the butler wasn't following him first.
He plopped down in a comfy chair and proceeded to examine his new interest. Secretly wondering if he would even be able to read it. At first the text on the front made no sense. "Odi̱gós Oi mágoi" (1) He murmured. Yami gasped as the words on the cover began to morph into legible text. Yami closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened them the words were in Japanese
"The Magicians Guide?" Why would his father have something like this? The man didn't even like sci-fi movies, let alone books about magic.
Yami was not raised on fairy tails or any kind of belief in the supernatural. His father considered it nonsense and a waste of time. He didn't even have religion.
Although Yami himself was a very logical person and had no qualms with his upbringing, he had always enjoyed myths, legends, and fairy tails.
Yami flipped through the book, finding all sorts of diagrams of creatures and plants he had never seen. Also finding detailed descriptions of spells and their uses. He soon realized the book was organized in degrees of difficulty. He decided to begin in the front, which seemed to be the most logical place.
'The Binding Charm, as its name suggests, this is a charm to bind, or stop, a person or creature. 'Kante tous Desmostis' (2) is the verbal incantation, and also the weakest form of the spell.'
Yami stopped reading. Was this book for real? He wasn't sure if he should actually try this. After all, magic wasn't real… Was it?
-oOOo-
Geez! Took me long enough! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
The title of the book is what I got when I typed 'The magicians' Guide' into Google translator. It's supposed to be Greek, but you never know with the internet…. So verbal versions of the spells are going to be in Greek. I will give English translations at the end of chapters.
Make them bound