The Guest(Kagekao love story)

A Painful Reminder

Alicia POV

I wove my way through each of the shelves, each one stocked full of hardcover books, until one caught my eye. Plucking it from the shelf, I read the golden letters and froze. 'The Spellcaster's Art'-quickly returning it to the shelf I couldn't help but wrap my arms around myself in fear.

'Alicia, snap out of it! You haven't seen them in years, it doesn't matter anymore.' I thought. Standing up, I decided not to let the title faze me as I reached for the green, leather-bound, book to the left: 'The Origin of Witchcraft.'

'Not much better, but I'll have to get over the past sometime.' Sitting down in a plush chair in the corner, I opened the book.

"So I see you're into magic. Funny, I'm more of a science lover myself. Well, to each their own I guess." Looking up, I saw Jeff taking a seat at the nearby table.

"You don't seem like the type to read for fun." I told him

"Yeah, I don't really want anyone finding out about it either."

"Okay," I muttered as I began to skim through the introduction.

While much of the terminology having to do with witch classification is based on Gaelic, witches have been found throughout the world and is the term used for both males and females with magic...

'Skip' I thought, moving on to the body of the book

Levels of Power, one of the headings read.

'I remember this.' I frowned inwardly as I began reading.

While witches are found throughout the world, not all witches are the same. Within the world of witchcraft there are three main classifications: The draicha lag, the sean draicha, and the draicht mor. Ordinarily, a witch will experience a phenomenon known as the 'dusigh' (from the word meaning 'awakening') when their power makes itself known. The timing of a witch's awakening is a large factor in determining the class of a witch for it has been found that the later the awakening occurs, the more powerful the witch is said to become.

The words draicha lag comes from a Gaelic term meaning 'weak magic'. This class usually consists of undertrained witches those with an extremely early dusigh (< age 3). Witches under this classification are relatively weak with only a few abilities such as the ability to heal more quickly and a heightened sense of intuition. The draicha lag do not undergo any form of training as their magic is not strong enough and usually live as humans

The sean draicha ('magical ones') are more powerful than the draicha lag. This class is made up of those who use recreational magic daily. Many sean draicha experiences their awakening from the ages 3 to 6. These witches undergo discipline training to become casters (spells), brewers (potions), seers (see into the future), or the reachers (mind readers). While uncommon, a powerful sean draicha can train under more than one discipline to become a trained draicht mor.

The draicha mor ('great magic') can be broken into yet another two classes: 'trained' and 'born'. Those born as draicha mor experience an awakening after the age of 6 and naturally have the ability to learn more than one discipline. Many are unrealized, preferring to learn only the elemental discipline which is unique only to the draicha mor. The most powerful draicha mor are born into the royal family but even then, the untrained can be easily defeated by a powerful sean draicha.

The draicha mor are often confused with thrig or 'forsaken ones'. Thrig are children of witches who never experience an awakening. After age fourteen, most witches experience an awakening and are learning their discipline; the only ones who remain are the thrig.

I closed the accursed book and let it fall to the floor.

"Alicia, what happened? Are you crying?" Jeff asked. Obviously I had disturbed his reading time.

"No. I'm sorry." I replied quickly as I wiped the tears that I hadn't noticed.

"Obviously it's not nothing, you can talk to me if you want." His voice was soft as he pulled his chair next to me and picked up the fallen book.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I chuckled ruefully

"You're talking to a guy who burned off his eyelids and carved a smile into his own face before murdering my parents and brother. Try me."

"Well..."

I talked into the night, telling him my story.

"Well, your story is definitely unique, can't say it's the worst though."

"I know it's just...Kage...I'm me and he's him and..." I couldn't find the words

"It's okay, you'll figure it out." He said comforting me. "For now though, I think it's time you hit the hay."

"I think Kage's still brooding. He doesn't seem like the type to get over stuff easily."

"We have guest rooms, or you can sleep with me." He winked

"I'll take the guest room thanks." I laughed

"Follow me then," Jeff led the way through the hall and up the stairs to an unmarked door.

"Here we are."

"You know, I would never have guessed it but you really are a gentleman."

"When I want to be." His grin widened "Just don't tell anyone."

"So to recap, don't tell anyone about the reading and gentleman behavior. Anything else?"

"I keep a collection of stuffed bunnies in a secret compartment behind my knife display." He said, opening the door to the room.

"Alright, I promise." I laughed

"You know, you have a great laugh. I can see why he likes you." Jeff chuckled

"Who?" I entered the room

"No one. Goodnight."

I climbed into the comfortable, white bed and let sleep quickly overtake me.

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Sorry about not telling you guys straight out about who she was and what the book has to do with anything but that's for a later chapter.

I finally have all of the chapters mapped out so I know where I'm going with this. The next chapter is about KageKao and since he has no official backstory, I'm making one up.

Cheers!