Guardians Of The Arcane Chronicles

Chapter 6: Crystal Night

"Fold. I'm out."

"Me too. You win again, Orpheus." Felix flipped over his cards, revealing his dismal hand.

"Really? I can't believe you two fell for my bluff." A blue haired boy showed his cards, revealing that he only had a two of a kind. "How am I even beating two telepaths at a Poker game? Are you guys letting me win just because it's my birthday?"

"Aww come on, Orpheus. You know that's not true," Marcia whined. "I can only speak to animals and Felix needs to make physical contact to read minds. There's no way we're reading your mind even if we wanted to."

"Ah, that's right," Orpheus said, packing up the cards. "They're still both pretty cool abilities, though. My family would love yours for sure, Marcia."

"You can command the dead." Felix chuckled. "That's way cooler."

"Eh, my family doesn't think so." Orpheus stretched, lying on the floor. "Sucks being the only Necromancer in a huge family of Druids."

"Well, you have us. Thanks for coming over on such short notice to cheer Marcia up."

"Say, why don't you ever invite Gaius over? He's in the Guardian Council as well, right?"

"Oh, that guy?" A sceptical look hung on Felix's face. "I don't know, he seems pretty stuck up to me. He doesn't talk much either. Ack, he probably thinks he's better than all of us just because he's some 'prestigious' Sorcerer."

"He doesn't seem that way to me, though. If anything, he strikes me as the kind of guy who's constantly bearing a heavy weight on his mind." Orpheus munched on a bag of crisps. "Necromancers share some classes with Sorcerers, but I've only seen him occasionally in 'Afterlife Studies' class. I heard he skips most of his lessons but still passes his exams because he chooses to spend time learning in the library instead."

"Afterlife Studies sounds so cool!" Marcia piped. "What do you learn?"

"I've only attended two lectures so far, so pardon me if I can't exactly tell you much. Hmm, let's see..." Orpheus rested his chin on his thumb. "Our souls cannot enter the Afterlife while we're alive, though they can still enter Purgatory. That's where departed souls stay before their final judgement. It's a lawless and dangerous place though, so we're highly discouraged from staying there. Dark magis such as Necromancers, Sorcerers, and Warlocks can learn the ritual to cast our souls there temporarily, but we must leave before we soak in too much nascent corruption."

"Man, I wish I learnt that much in my classes. We metas only learnt that Purgatory exists." Felix threw up his hands in exasperation. "So I could've ventured further when I astrally projected my soul into Purgatory that time. Well, at least now I know I wouldn't immediately die from setting foot in that place."

"Feel free to ask me anything if you're curious," Orpheus said. "I'll try my best to answer them. I'm not an honour student, after all."

"Oh before I forget," Felix said as an ornate box flew into his hand from his coat pocket. "Happy birthday, Orpheus."

Orpheus received the box and took out the wand, staring curiously at the very faint magenta essence swirling around it.

"A wand? What does it do?" he asked.

"Test it out on the chair over there." Felix smiled warmly, gesturing to the living room. It was a simple space, furnished with a dining table and two chairs, as well as an old television that hung off the pastel walls. Orpheus pointed at a dining chair and flicked his wrist.

"Woah!" He laughed as the chair floated upwards. He waved his wand around slightly, and the chair followed its movement. Marcia clapped her hands in glee, cheering him on excitedly.