The Lonely Thoughts of a Snail in Soil

The Day of Truth

Chapter 10: the Day of Truth

The Hidden communities are odd. Well, not odd, just odd to humans. They do things that make sense. There are no homeless, no hungry, no non-educated. If word gets out of this, the humans might become jealous.

--Excerpt from 'The Guide to the Realm of the Hidden.'

Hannah

Summer had gone by in a blur. Well, she wouldn't have called it a blur. More like a weird mixture of sweat, doing her best to follow the training regiment, and trying to figure out what weapon she preferred.

Hannah was standing in a park once again, holding the clay ball in her hands. Right now it was still spherical, but Hannah could tell it was itching to change shape. Into something exciting and wonderful. To be used to hurt someone, not real bad, but bad enough that it'd get the point across.

Breathing in deep, Hannah turned the ball into a large mace, the end wrapped in three large, flat blades that, under different circumstances, could have ripped apart flesh with nothing more than a swing. The magi moved it around, feeling out her own strength.

Is this really me? she thought. Hannah swung and swung, yet it only felt like motions to her. Exhaling a shimmering cold breath, Hannah let ice pour out of her hands and coated the mace in a frothy frost. For the magi, extending one's magic into an inanimate object takes a great deal of will and strength. While calling out for magic was easy, gathering power was actually very challenging. It took a lot of practice, strength, and skill to take in enough magic from the leylines to become a true force of nature. Hannah was pretty average right now, even after the past few months of training. The most famous magi, those whose magic abilities rivaled even the Lords and Ladies, could do things that Hannah could only ever dream of.

For instance, the legendary ice magi Vince the Glacier, earned his name from literally being able to summon glaciers which he had used to crush armies and enemies alike. The most ice Hannah could summon would barely make a pond freeze.

She sighed, then sat down on her butt. Hannah didn't ask for much. Though the idea of getting enough power to be able to match the greats would be amazing. The heroes whose names go down in history as the best were known for rivaling armies. How could she possibly rival an army?

'The world is a big place.' her mother used to tell her. 'Anything can happen.'

Mother, you were once known as a great. Now I must live up to your name, in any way I can. It will be challenging, the mountain high. What advice would you give me if you could? Fight until you can no longer stand? Move until there is no breath left?

Hannah cried out, causing some heads to turn. Laying on her back, she watched the blue sky move by, not caring about anything or anyone. She despised that about the sky. Why did it not get to care? The rest of the world had to! But not the one who oversees it all?

"Hannah, what are you doing?" Bill found her still staring up, not moving, giving breath, or fighting. Maybe Hannah was already at the bottom. She felt like it at least. "Tomorrow Coach comes to pick us up to go to the academy. We need to figure out a way to tell our parents he's a necromancer."

Ah. Yeah. That was tomorrow wasn't it? Hannah was starting to feel the butterflies in her stomach. What was their next move? What would they say? The magi felt herself sweating.

"I think we just need to get them all together and ease them into it." When they had returned from the necromancer's home, the three had told their families of their accomplishment. However, during all this time they managed to avoid giving a lot of details. Hannah had felt proud she'd been able to do that. But now there was the sinking feeling in her gut that her father wouldn't be happy that she lied.