Oscar was stunned, running into and out of every room astonished at everything he saw. Of course, this was expected from someone who had never heard of the magical world. Michael and Opal knew this and laughed at the goofiness of their friend.
"Okay, Oscar. You've seen all the rooms here. I think it's time to discuss your training." Opal claimed, still chuckling at her friend, "Follow me into the training room over here."
Oscar followed, thinking about all the magic he might be taught on his first day. The room was large with dark brown wood lining the walls and blue protective pads covering the marble stone floor.
"Right. This is the training chamber. This whole room will be used to train students, but for now, it will be used for us to train. Including your first few months of meditation."
Oscar's face slipped into a frown, "Meditation? I thought I'd start with some magic like floating or something! Maybe riding a broom!"Opal looked at Michael and chuckled.
"Michael why don't you do me a favour and go grab the stuff from the old hideout while I bring Oscar up to speed with what magic is and isn't."
Michael nodded, "Of course. Let me just grab my broom and my black cat." Michael jokingly called, walking away from the two.Michael walked slowly, thinking about his future, imagining the now empty hallways flooding with the hustle and bustle, every room filled with students of his school of magic! The bright colours of spells and the loud voices of lecturers spread into every crack of the broken stone walls made Michael giggle with excitement.
Those thoughts, however, were cut short as Michael finally reached the hideout, as in his scanning eyes, he could see movement; arms flailing and running around the building frantically with no logical explanation.
Unprepared, he entered with caution. Sticking close to the wall, using every shadow as cover, he shimmied his way closer to the archway to the 'living room' as Opal once called it. Peering around from the corner, taking care not to be seen, he watched a young girl, maybe 17, with wavy light brown hair, wearing a dark blue coat, a brown scarf with black jeans and boots to match, frantically run around the room, searching for something. She never said a word nor showed her face.
As he moved closer, he stepped on a small piece of wood, moving it slightly, causing a small but noticeable noise. The girl stopped dead in her tracks. Michael knew she was listening and hoped she would ignore it and carry on. But she didn't.
She ran out for the nearest exit, with Michael close on her tail, giving everything he had into running faster but still falling behind her.The chase followed into town, with both the girl and Michael pushing people out of the way.
Turning into a dead alleyway, the girl stopped, assessing every advantage she could use. As Michael walked closer to her. Realising she had no way out, she turned around. Her eyes were dark green, and her skin was smooth and white, pale as if she had been in a mortuary.
"Look," Michael began, "I just want to talk to you. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to know why you were there? My name is Michael. What's yours?"She didn't reply to him. Looking up at the sky, she began to unbutton the first two of her jacket. Seeing this, Michael started to form shape magic from his hands, as if to threaten her.The girl opened her jacket to reveal a necklace, holding a stone shaped like a teardrop. A mixture of blacks and oranges fused into the stone-like tie-dye, making the object difficult to identify. She held the stone in her hand, covering the intense light that began to emit. Michael was blinded, shielding his eyes and turning away. Fighting the light as if a great battle was occurring, Michael turned back to the girl to see a hawk where she once was, flying up into the sky.Michael looked for any trace of the girl but found nothing. Defeated, he gathered as much as he could from the old hideout and returned to Mergsi to explain to Opal what had happened and hoped for some answers.
"So you're telling me, a girl was in our hideout, ran away from you into an alleyway, then turned into a hawk and flew away?" Opal questioned.
"She had this rock, orange and black, around her neck. Ring any bells?" Michael explained."Not really. I've never heard of a stone that can allow shapeshifting but shapeshifting is impossible in this plane of existence." Opal started to pace back and forth."What do you mean this plane?" Oscar asked curiously."Well, Shaman use a stone to enable the ability to shapeshift in the astral plane. It's another plane of existence that our souls inhabit. Shamans can enter this world using hallucinogenic herbs to hold meetings or travel as it's extremely difficult to track someone's soul. Maybe it's something like that?""I guess I'll hit the books in the library and see if I can find any explanation. I know what I saw. That wasn't normal monster stuff"
With his, he made his way to the library, scouting through any book that sounded like it might have any correlation.
Spending the rest of the night, Michael looked at books from Shamans to the occult but to no avail. Not one of the books showed any answer to the questions he wanted to know, but he didn't give up. Michael decided to widen his search; if this girl was using the astral plane, maybe he could use it to find her. Or maybe, someone with more experience can."No way Michael. Neither you nor I am going into the astral plane. It's too dangerous. If I go in, you won't know how to bring me out if there's trouble. If you go in, you won't know how to transport yourself into the area, and I can't teach you. Not to mention you have no way of tracking her if we did. Remember, you can't track a soul. If you want to find this girl, I'll put you in touch with a Shaman. An old friend of mine. Helped me find you." Opal explained."You said we were the last magicians in existence?" Michael asked."Shamans aren't magicians. They practice the magic that is outside of our interests like voodoo and astral planes." Opal handed Michael a piece of paper with an address scribbled on it, "This is the address, Michael. They'll be expecting you. Ask for Master Arkhold. That's the Shaman who will help you."Michael made his way to the address, discovering a charity shop. He found an old lady operating the tills upon entering the traditional establishment."Hi, I'm looking for Master Arkhold? Opal sent me." Michael explained."Ahh, yes," the lady replied, "Master Arkhold has been expecting you. He's in the back."Michael thanked her and went into the back, pushing past beaded leads, hanging from the door frame, exposing a bald middle-aged man, wearing a white robe, praying in front of a shrine to a goddess Michael had never seen before."Master Arkhold, I assume?" Michael asked."Indeed, young Magician. I've heard a lot about you, but might I ask, what are you looking for my son?""A young girl, 17. Dark blue coat, a brown scarf, black jeans and boots. She was hunting for something in the old hideout, but I don't know what nor why.""Interesting choice of word 'hunting'. Tell me, have you heard of the Great War?""I have memories of it. From when I learned about my heritage.""Yes, I told Opal how to concoct the potion. But do you know what it was? How it began all that time ago? Who was at war and why?""No. I don't believe I've had the delight, sir. I skipped past it when I was reading in the library.""Once, long ago, Magicians weren't the only 'good' magical beings to walk the earth. Hunters, and Dark Magicians, walked the earth alongside us. We lived in harmony. Learned and practised together. The hunters taught combat like you're learning now, and Dark Magicians taught the mystics of voodoo and walked the astral plane. The dark magicians fed off of power, mastering necromancy and satanism. It wasn't until they began to sacrifice innocent people from nearby towns that people got angry. Thrown out of the Magician ranks, the Dark Magicians came back, hard, and summoned the Horsemen. War broke out, and Pestilence was killed. Here take this book." The Shaman handed Michael a book named 'The Dark War - Written by Master Dennis Knight"."That book will explain the Great War. That book is the answer to your questions. It doesn't make sense right now, but it will." The Shaman explained."Why can't you just tell me who she is?" Michael asked. The Shaman turned away and began to pray again, ignoring Michael's questions. Knowing he wasn't going to get another answer from the Shaman, he took the book and left, making his way back to the library of Mergui.
YOU ARE READING
Devil's Coming
Action*This book is unfinished and will likely stay unfinished so things might not add up or make sense, i have had many DMs about when I am finishing it but it is not happening in the near future currently* After his life was saved by a mysterious girl...
