"Mage: The Awakening; chapter 5"

"Mage: The Awakening; chapter 5" 

By;fernand jiro

The Four are Gathering
It was truly fortunate that Quinn had come back when she had: the whole morning had been set aside for the Fighting Arts. She had only missed about an hour and a half, and FA was her best and favorite subject. Not to mention all of the practice she had gotten in the mountains.
“Right, that’s enough stretching,” Ken was saying very cheerfully as Quinn walked in. The students groaned and collapsed out of their push-ups. Many of them were rubbing sore arms and legs. They had been stretching for an hour and a half. “Now the real work begins.”
The students cried out, complaining that he was working them too hard, that they had only just gotten back from the holidays.
“Your pleas are falling on deaf ears,” Ken called over their whining. “The more you complain, the harder I’ll work you.” Grumbling, the students fell silent. Quinn dropped her bag in a corner and hung back, watching.
“Grab a partner and grab a weapon,” Ken ordered, his eyes on Quinn. “We’ll go through the offensive/defensive drills.”
Still bemoaning their sore muscles, the students obeyed. Everyone was paired up except Quinn. She still stood apart from the others, twirling a wooden staff in her hands.
“Come on, Quinn,” Ken said with satisfaction. “You’ll work with me.”
Immediately, Quinn heard the usual clamor of insults in the students’ minds. She took a deep breath, and the voices stopped. She thanked the Goddess for the monks. She nodded absently at Ken and went to the end of the line.
For an hour and a half, they repeated the same movements over and over again: high strike, high block, middle strike, middle block, low strike, low block. The drills were so boring, and most students slacked off. Ken had glared at Quinn the whole time, giving her a furious mental lecture. Quinn, who had already heard it from Zephyr, ignored him.
Suddenly, one of the girls fell to her knees with a scream, crying. Her partner dropped her staff and knelt beside her, crying and apologizing frantically.
“I’m sorry! Gods, I’m so sorry! It was an accident, Mr. Hariken. She wasn’t paying attention, and I hit her, and I think I broke her hand!”
“It’s all right,” Ken assured her. “I’ll just take her to the hospital wing. Pair up with Quinn for a bit, will you? The rest of you, keep going! I expect to hear those staffs strike!”
But the minute he closed the door, the students all collapsed. They were stiff and exhausted. They hoped there was never another morning set aside for FA ever again!
Quinn went off to one side, doing the stretching she had missed before. She settled into a place deep in her mind where she could meditate while she worked.
The girl who had hurt her friend stepped up to her.
“Get up,” she demanded, staring down at Quinn. Quinn looked at her for a moment, considering with a calm she could only achieve in her meditation whether or not she should answer, and chose to ignore her. “Get up!” the girl yelled again, swinging her staff at Quinn’s head with surprising violence.
Quinn’s hand shot up and grabbed the staff. The world seemed to move a lot slower while she was meditating; the staff had been easy to intercept. She glared coldly at the girl. Her hand tightened around the staff and she yanked it sharply out of the girl’s hand, tossing it away.
“You think you’re all that,” the girl said spitefully, pretending as though nothing had happened. “You keep flashing your fancy powers, seducing all the cute teachers. You’re such a whore! Well you know what? I bet you can’t do anything without your powers. You couldn’t beat me in a fair fight without using magic.”
“I suppose there’s a point to all this?” Quinn said absently, stretching her legs out in front of her and lying fully against them. “Unlike some people, I don’t feel the need to show off.”
The girl attacked violently. Quinn flipped gracefully away, landing on her feet.
“All right, fine,” Quinn said icily. “You want to fight me? I’ll fight. I won’t use any magic. But you’re right; I could never win a fair fight against you without magic, because you can’t fight fair—” She dodged the girl’s furiousswipe. The girl grabbed a wooden practice sword from someone and charged.
By keeping her mind blank, Quinn truly fought fairly: she read her opponent’s intentions with her eyes alone, without using her telepathic powers. She dodged left and right,her meditation allowing her to move much faster than usual. She really was a credit to the monks: her strength of mind and her strength of body, as well as her stamina, were incredible, intensified by her perpetual meditation. She wasn’t even remotely tired after near-constant dodging for several minutes straight. It was nothing compared to her trip back to school.
“Stop moving!” the girl yelled in frustration, panting hard. She sent a surge of magic into the wooden sword, turning it to polished steel, and into the ground, turning it to quicksand under Quinn’s feet.
Quinn tried to jump, but her feet had already begun to sink in. Once she was in up to her knees, the sand solidified, trapping her in the packed dirt. “What did I tellyou?” Quinn said scathingly. “You can’t beat me in a fair fight, because you won’t fight fair.”
“I never said I would!” she cried as she lunged, slashing harshly with her sword.
Many of the students gasped. Was she trying to kill Quinn? But it was her turn to gasp as the sword was caught by the blade by the trapped mage. Quinn glared so coldly at her that she stepped back, as though she had been physically pushed. Quinn used the sword to dig herself out. Once she was free, she tossed the sword back to the stunned girl.
“Have you had enough yet?” Quinn asked, extremely contemptuously.
The girl roared and attacked again. This time, Quinn didn’t dodge. She blocked every strike expertly, using the wooden sword someone had dropped. It was very easy: the girl was doing the exact practice drills that Quinn knew like the back of her hand.
“I’m the best student in FA,” the girl boasted. “You can’t beat me with a sword.”
“You think that a fight is a methodical exchange of calculated movements.” It was not a question. It was a fact. “Let me show you what a duel is really like.” She faked a strike to the left. The girl lifted her sword, knowing the block as well as Quinn did. But Quinn spun to the other side, slamming the flat of her sword into the girl’s ribs. The girl doubled over with pain, and swiped at Quinn. But the mage had already backed up and out of reach. For several more minutes they fought like this: Quinn would fake a strike, and hit on the opposite side of where the girl had raised her sword to block. One final time, Quinn faked a high strike, only to drop to the ground, sweeping her leg across the girl’s knees and swiping her feet out from under her. The girl cried out, dropping her sword as she fell head over heels, striking the ground with a dull thump. Instantly, Quinn picked up the sword and pressed it against the fallen girl’s throat.
“Reality isn’t an organized drill,” she said pointedly. “It’s a complex and chaotic pattern that is unstable and unpredictable. When you face someone in a duel, they’re not going to smile and tell you which drill they’re going to use. They’re going strike where you cannot strike back. And just because someone has pulled a sword on you, doesn’t mean they’ll use it.” She tossed the sword away just as Ken came back.
“Quinn, what the hell are you doing?” he demanded.
She went back to her corner without a word, picked up her bag, and left.
“We still have two hours left!” Ken called after her.
“Mr. Hariken!” the girl wailed, crocodile tears in her eyes. “Quinn attacked me! I was just minding my own business and she came at me with a sword that she had turned to steel! I thought she was going to kill me!”
Ken raised an eyebrow. “Really? Is that what happened? Would you be willing to swear that under a truth spell?”
The girl turned red and fell silent.
Ken put his hand on his hips and stared around at the lazy teenagers. “All right, well, I guess we can stop for today. Put your weapons away properly, please, and I’ll see you all next week.”
He didn’t wait for them to answer, or to lock up after they had finished like he was supposed to. He chased after Quinn. He found her sitting in the gardens, cross-legged in the tall grass. Her jaw was clenched and her eyes glared blankly at the tree infront of her.
“I’m sick of it,” she said before he could speak. “I’m sick and tired of people judging me. I’m sick of them being such bastards to me when I haven’t done anything to deserve it.” A strong wind picked up, stirring her hair and the grass around her like a small cyclone.
“What are you doing out here?” Ken asked, trying to get her mind off the other students.
“Meditating,” she replied shortly through clenched teeth. “Trying to keep their thoughts out of my head.”
Ken noticed the silvery glow in her hands. “You’re using that creature again, aren’t you?”
“We’re just talking,” she protested.
“Quinn, you’re feeding it power! If you keep this up, he’ll break free.”
“Save it, Ken. I’ve already gotten this speech from Zephyr. I don’t need it from you too.”
“Then listen to him, Quinn! Zephyr knows better than anyone when something magical is dangerous. He’s knowledge, remember? Listen to him!”
Quinn, with her eyes closed, ignored him.
She had fallen so deeply into her meditation so quickly that she didn’t catch Ken’s thoughts as he surged forward angrily. She cried out as he shoved her down and into the grass. It rose high above her as he pinned her with a furious glare, his head framed by the blue sky and high green grass. His hands were tight on her shoulders.
“Don’t ignore me, Quinn,” he hissed angrily. “Never ignore me!”
Quinn hardly dared to breathe. Something was tightly squeezing her lungs. Ken leaned forward and kissed her with a surprising amount of tenderness for a being that was almost entirely the embodiment of passion. Quinn felt the crystal flare angrily, but she squashed its power. She closed her eyes and finally gave herself over to Ken.
“Hariken!” yelled a vaguely familiar, indignant voice. A man with Zephyr and Hariken’s face was running toward them. He had crystal blue eyes and golden blond hair. “Hariken Kaze, what do you think you’re doing?” he demanded. His voice was slightly more effeminate than Zephyr’s.
“Mikaze,” Ken said irritably, “you have the worst possible timing!” He climbed off Quinn’s waist, sitting back on his heels beside her.
“Let me guess,” Quinn said, propping herself up on her elbows. “Love and gentleness?”
“And too damned much propriety for his own good,” Ken added peevishly. “It’s gonna get him killed one of these days. And it ruins my fun.” He pouted, making Quinn laugh.
“So did Zephyr call you too? Do I have another babysitter to contend with?” Quinn asked the newcomer.
“Actually,” Mikaze replied, his eyes glittering, “I’m here to look after Hariken. He can’t be trusted on his own with so many women around.”
“There’s only one woman for me,” Ken said softly. This clearly surprised Mikaze. “You’ll understand once you know her,” Ken insisted.
Quinn felt a blush coming on. To give herself time to get control of herself, she stood and brushed herself off. “So what are you here to teach? Or do you have another excuse for being here?”
“Latin,” Mikaze replied. “We figured it would be easier if we all had similar duties here.”
“The missing pieces are gathering,” Quinn said very distractedly. She sounded like she was quoting from a poem or a prophecy. “The storm is rising. What will the world have to face, for what reasons do the four gather?”
Mikaze stared with open shock. “She knows?” he hissed at Ken, grabbing his sleeve.
“Don’t look at me,” he said defensively. “She figured it out on her own. I was just as surprised as you are.”
“Does Zephyr know she knows?”
“No. And we’re not going to tell him. Quinn can tell him when she feels ready.”
“And have you heard anything from Arashi lately?”
“No, and I hope I don’t until we reunite.” A hint of fear had crept into Ken’s voice. Quinn glanced at him from the corner of her eye. What kind of man could possibly frighten the spirit of adventure?
“Anyway,” Ken said loudly. “I’ve got to get back. Zeph said he wanted a word. So long, kid,” he said cheekily, throwing an arm around Quinn’s waist and giving her a long, loud kiss.
Mikaze fumed silently as he watched Ken saunter arrogantly away. “I’m sorry for his uncouth behavior, Harlequinn,” he told her politely.
“Please, just call me Quinn. Harlequinn is what my family calls me, and the last thing I need is to be reminded of them while I’m here.”
“I apologize. Please, let me introduce myself. I am Mikaze, the spirit of love and gentleness that was split from a single being. But you already know that, don’t you?”
“You would never have told me if I didn’t,” she said slyly. She was interested to see that Mikaze blushed. “You’re very different from the other two, aren’t you?”
“I am. And so are they. And so, sadly, is the last of us.”
“Violence and hatred,” Quinn said with a knowing nod.
“Yes. Arashi is the worst of us, I’m afraid, our dark side. He’s my polar opposite. But he is apart of us, and we will accept him as such when he returns.”
“Can you tell me why you were separated in the first place?” Quinn asked curiously, though she wasn’t really expecting him to say yes.
“I’m afraid not. At least, not yet. The time will come when we may share that information, but it is still too soon. Oh, dear! There’s the bell! We’ll be late for my first class!”
*****
“Avete, students. My name is Mikaze, and I will be teaching Latin for the next few months.”
“Ave,” Quinn muttered very softly from the front corner so that no one but Mikaze heard her. When he glanced at her, she told him with a tiny shake of her head not to mention any of her triumphs in front of the other students. He frowned but remained quiet. Quinn sighed gratefully.
“Whore!” Quinn heard someone shout in their mind. She recognized the presence of the girl who had attacked her earlier that morning. “The new teacher isn’t ever here two minutes and you’re already trying to sink you claws into him!”
Quinn breathed calmly and emptied her mind, filling it with Mikaze’s teaching.
Latin was an easy subject for Quinn. Witches and less powerful sorcerers had to use Latin in their spells or they would be ineffective. Quinn had no need for any words or spells to cast magic, but she liked Latin anyway. Since she had put all of her focus and energy on the subjects that didn’t require any magic when she had believed that she didn’t have magic, she excelled in all of them. Now that she acknowledged that she had magic — Free magic — she excelled in everything else as well, which only intensified her classmates’ jealousy and hatred.
The study of runes came after Latin. Most students were surprised that Mikaze was teaching that as well. Quinn was not. “Your regular teacher has very recently resigned,” he told them grimly.
Quinn shook her head. Something weird was going on. Why were all the teachers leaving all of a sudden? And the principal was still on an extended leave of absence. Something was wrong.
The four are gathering.
*****
Over the course of the next three days, all of the remaining teachers left the school, until only Zephyr, Hariken and Mikaze were left. They called an assembly for the entire school.
“As I’m sure you’ve all noticed by now,” Zephyr said to them, his voice amplified magically, “most of the teachers have left the school.” He was forced to pause as the students cheered loudly. “Until more teachers can be hired, however, you will doubtlessly be thrilled to hear that we will have to close the school.” The students broke into raucous cries, cheering with all their might. Zephyr had to shout to be heard over them. “I would ask all of you to pack your things quickly. Buses will be waiting outside for you. Please find the bus that will take you back to your district, or you will have a hard time getting home. A message will be sent to you once we are equipped to teach you once more.”
Quinn sat rigid in her seat. She felt fear rolling off the three teachers. It was happening, then. Their last quarter, the final piece of their being, was coming. Why else would they send everyone away? She pushed herself out of her seat and made her way passed the students rushing out of the hall, and stepped up onto the stage.
“Let me help you,” she said quietly.
All three of them turned to look at her.
“I want to help. And don’t try to send me away because I’m too young, or I’m too inexperienced, or I’m a girl, or whatever other stupid excuse you might try to use. I’m a Free Mage. I have power to defend myself if I need to. And I’m a friend; I have the heart. Don’t send me away.”
Each of them watched her with a different emotion: Zephyr with exasperation, Ken with admiration and pride, Mikaze with worry. None of them wanted to put her in danger, but none of them wanted her to leave, either. And they knew she could be of great help to them.
“You have no idea what you’re up against,” Zephyr sighed, resigned, but still determined to try and get her to change her mind.
“You’re waiting for Arashi, the part of you that embodies violence and hatred, and who has the highest level of power of the four of you.”
They stared, aghast. Even Ken, who knew all about her mind-reading ability, was impressed. But she didn’t know the half of it. And that half was the most dangerous part.
“Quite frankly, I don’t care what you say. Either way, I’m staying.”
*****
Naturally, the other students jumped to all kinds of conclusions when they saw that Quinn was staying. But for the first time, Quinn really didn’t give a damn what they thought. She was staying to help her friends, and that was that.
The school was very quiet with only the four of them there. They sat together for hours, sometimes in complete silence. Often, Quinn and Ken sparred in the practice room, or she practiced spells and summoning with Zephyr, or learned new, more complicated spells in the library with Mikaze. It was rather handy to have three private teachers: they could teach at her level, not having to help those with only a tiny fraction of her abilities, which helped her improve immensely. She hadn’t called on Silk in a long time.
For several days, nothing happened. They waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.
Ken tried to spend as much time with Quinn as he possibly could, but Mikaze was always nearby. Ken never got a moment alone with her. It was very frustrating. But he finally got his chance when Mikaze set about to completely reorganize the library, and Zephyr volunteered to help him. Ken eagerly tracked Quinn down in the forest.
She stood in a clearing deep within the trees, playing her flute. The sweet sound reached Ken long before he entered the woods. He followed the sound unconsciously until, finally, he saw her. She was surrounded by images. Images of herself grappling with a man with a hidden face; of the three men becoming one with the stranger; of an enormous darkness surrounding the new man; of Silk breaking free from his seal and reverting back to his hunched, wild, animalistic form; of Silk leaping at the man.
Quinn suddenly stopped playing. The images vanished. She had her back to Ken, but he could tell she was crying. Her shoulders shook, and the flute slipped from her numb fingers. It thumped softly on the grass and vanished in a wisp of smoke. It had been conjured, a good measure of how much Quinn’s control over her powers had improved — it took a lot of focus to created a solid object from nothing and keep its form; it was even more difficult to use the object.
“I was trying to See,” Quinn said softly, knowing that Ken was there. “I hope to all the Gods that what I Saw was wrong.”
“No one knows what the future will hold,” Ken told her gently. “The simplest action could change it. Seeing is the most inexact and inconsistent branch of magic.” He had reached her now, and he put his arms around her.
“I know,” she said, brushing a hand across her eyes. “But I can’t help worrying.”
Ken’s arms tightened, and he kissed her temple. Much to his surprise and delight, she leaned into his embrace, lacing her hands with his.
“Hariken,” Mikaze chided, stepping suddenly into the clearing. He had figured the thief would try something behind his back.
Ken growled, annoyed. “Go away, Mikaze, I’m not gonna do anything. I have more respect for her than that.” He flicked his finger at Mikaze, and the man disappeared, spirited back to the library.
“I don’t want to fall in love,” Quinn whispered to no one in particular. “Nothing good can ever come of it.”
“What do you mean?” Ken asked, thrilled beyond words when she mentioned love.
“Aww, well, isn’t this cute?” said a nasty, disembodied voice. A man with flaming red hair stepped into the clearing. He had a very cruel smile on his face, his acid green eyes glaring hatefully at them.
“Arashi,” Ken said calmly, not releasing Quinn.
The girl watched the newcomer. He was strong, but not that strong. She didn’t feel any fear coming from Ken like she had at the assembly. Something else was going to happen, then. That’s why the four were gathering. Something stronger than anything she could imagine was coming.
“Get the others, will you, Ken?” Arashi said lightly. “I want to talk to Quinn alone.”
“If you think I’m going to leave her alone with you—” Ken started, stepping between them. But he vanished just as suddenly as he had made Mikaze disappear.
“Now then,” Arashi said evilly, advancing on Quinn.
She tried to hold her ground, but she was afraid. She knew that each of the four magical divisions of one man loved her in his own way — Zephyr was fiercely and obviously protective of her, Mikaze was too shy and constantly tried to preserve her virtue, Ken had displayed his feelings openly but would never take it further unless Quinn asked him to, and Arashi — Arashi simply lusted forher. His violent nature meant that he had no qualms, and he wouldn’t hesitateto hurt her. Her nerve broke. She backed away from him, gathering power in case she needed it.
Arashi lashed forward with inhuman speed, grabbing her arm and slamming her against a tree. Instinctively, Quinn released a blast of power, knocking him off his feet.
“You’re a Free Mage?” Arashi exclaimed, surprised.
Right at that moment, Zephyr, Mikaze and Hariken ran into the clearing. All four of them blazed with power and fury. “Back off, Arashi,” Zephyr all but snarled. “You’re strong, but you can’t fight all of us.”
Wisely, Arashi obeyed. “I guess it’s time then,” he said simply, standing.
“It is,” Mikaze replied. “We have to complete the ritual before he awakens.”
“Is anyone ever planning on telling me what’s going on?” Quinn asked.
“All you need to know is that the most ancient Free Magic creature in existence has been sealed under the school for several millennia, and now it is breaking free. The four of us are the only ones even remotely strong enough to defeat it. We split up to tone our powers, to focus on our different abilities and enhance them.”
“Your joined form is a Free Mage, isn’t it?” Quinn stated in wonder. “That’s how you know so much about Free Magic. And it would explain why you’re so powerful, even split into four.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Arashi raged “Let’s just get this stupid ritual over with.”
*****
Just a bit of Latin in here: Avete = greetings (to many people); Ave = greetings (to one person). Just think of what the Romans said to Julius Cesar in Asterix or movies and whatever. =P