Hidden Magic

Chapter Eleven

I am standing in a dark forest, I try to move only to stop short as my hands are tied together above my head. My heart races as I recognize this, this was the same dream I had before, where I am tied to the wooden post, but this time the details feel clearer, less fuzzy, what was blurred in darkness before, is partially revealed, there were some sort of twigs lining the ground, they circled me in what seemed to be a pentagon shape, but it had lines trailing off of it, making me believe it was a part of a bigger shape

I hear that same twig snap, and my head whips up, seeing that beautiful women walking towards me, that dreaded knife glimmering in her hand, even in this dark forest. I struggle against my bonds, trying to get free, even if I know I won't manage to, she gets closer and closer to me, smirking at me cruelly. "Please don't do this!" I scream the words out as she gets close enough for me to feel her warm breath on my chilled skin, her head tilts and she frowns down at me, as if confused by my words.

"I am so sorry, but I have to. Your sacrifice will save us all." She raises her knife and swings the blade down at me, no mercy in her eyes at all, resolute in having to this for some stupid reason that I don't know. But unlike before this dream doesn't end before her knife meets my skin, I scream as I feel the burning in my wrists that were bound above my head, feel the warm blood dripping down my arms and onto my head after she savagely slashed through my wrists.

I whimper, the pain overwhelming me, tears trail down my cheeks along with my own blood, and still she stares down at me, raising her knife again, my blood looking black against the moonlight, she lifts up her other hand and in it is a silver goblet, she lets my blood drip inside of it, and I must black out for a moment or something because next thing I know is she is shoving the goblet against my lips and forcing me to drink it, I struggle against her but it is no point, that same liquid still goes down my throat, and it burns like acid, there was no way my blood was the only thing in there. She finally lowers the goblet and laughs, this crazed maniac laugh that makes my ears ring and then bright light is hitting my eyes, blinding me.

I groan and blink against the bright light shining in my face, I can feel the soft sheets under my hands, the weight of the blanket on me again, I was out of that horrible dream now, except the bright light didn't stop hitting me in the face, well I guess I know how the pixies wake us up in the morning now, the bright light shining in my face made that more than obvious even though I was facing away from the open archways that led onto the balcony. Screw you and your light manipulation pixies, but I suppose it worked, because I felt more than wide awake now, if only a little blinded.

Time for another day full of stares and rude whispers about me, yay, really, I was excited. I liked the classes I had yesterday, and knew I would experience different ones today, I just hoped the general experience changed as well instead of remaining the same where I was an outcast. To be fair though I didn't imagine my first class of the day which was Deity Theology would be all that exciting. I rushed through getting ready, not quite knowing what time my pixie woke me up at, a clock would be so helpful right now.

It turns out that even rushing, when I stopped to grab some breakfast, Astra tapped her wrist with her index finger, letting me know that I was running out of time, a full on sprint through the halls and only getting lost once, resulted in me getting to the class just on time, I would need to be having words with my pixies about my preferred time to get up, and also ask someone if that could even be communicated, there really was so much I didn't know.

But I was learning, as fast as I could, I was learning, unfortunately it would take time until I had figured everything out here, I suppose it was a good thing that I had five years. I'll be the first to admit that Deity Theology while packed full of information, would definitely not be one of my favorite classes. It was all about how to pray to the gods, miracles they had caused in the past, but it was all theoretical, nothing could be confirmed. Professor Nemet believed everything she said with such zealous, it was hard not to be drawn in, and yet I preferred proven facts over conjecture.