Mage Academy For The Gifted

Run

"Mum, stay back!"

Taking his mum's arm, Kaleb yanked her backwards before sliding a dagger out of his pocket.

Beads of sweat flushed down his face as he approached the tent, pointing the dagger outwards with each step he took. His whole body trembled while trying to maintain a solid grip on his dagger.

Gradually approaching him from behind, his mum whispered, "Kaleb, don't go."

Whoosh!

They both flinched backwards, quivering when their eyes fell upon a mysterious figure clad in a Ninja's outfit. Frozen, they could only watch as the figure approached them, dried leaves rustling from behind him.

Soon enough, the air became filled by their loud shrieks when the corpses of Kayla and her dad appeared beside the stranger in the poof of a dark smoke.

Kaleb averted to his gaze to his mum as she fell on her knees, tears pouring from her eyes while she continued sobbing.

"Who are you?", he cried.

"Why did you kill them?"

"What do you want from us?!"

Goosebumps carpeted his whole skin when the figure's distorted voice banged into his ears;

"Your lives"

Schwing!

Kaleb and his mum both gulped when their eyes became fixed upon the figure's long, glistening sword whose blade reflected the moon's silver rays like a mirror.

As the figure motioned towards them, Kaleb's mum sprang on her feet, plunging Kaleb sideways until his back met with the ground.

"Mum!"

His screams reverberated throughout the whole place as he watched the razor-sharp blade slide through her chest like butter. She shot her weak gaze at Kaleb, blood spurting from her mouth as the figure's blade was forcefully ejected from her body.

"Run", she whispered.

His futile attempt to prance up and run became thwarted when whisps of black smoke encircled him, threatening to burn through his clothes as they hoisted him upward.

"Let go of me, please", he pleaded.

Tears poured down his face as he thrashed his feet in the air, aiming to escape from the scorching grasp of his frightening enemy. His eyes came shut, his whole body violently quivering in anticipation of impalement, when suddenly...

Thud! 

He was plunged onto the ground with brute force, a massive gust of hot wind brushing past his face the instant another strange figure emerged from the blue, casting a glinting glow which emanated from his broad fiery wings.

With his eyes shot wide open in awe, he screamed in his mind:

'It's fire!'

He pranced up on his feet without wasting any second, attempting to dart into the bushes when it came to his realization that his feet were etched in the ground. Pearls of sweat raced down his face while struggling to escape from such firm and unseen clutch; his gaze remained fixated upon the blinding gusts of fire lunged at the dark assassin by his fire winged savior, plummeting the assassin onto a tree.

Huge streams of fire burst forth from the fire winged savior, enveloping the dark assassin as they materialized into a gigantic fire tornado that spun with great intensity and engulfed the dried leaves and trees that stood in its path. 

While ascending from the ground, unscathed by the fire tornado he was bathed in, the dark assassin's eyes came shut as his glistening sword escaped his grip, releasing a blast of darkness which fused spun within the fire to extinguish it.

With lightning speed, the assassin snatched the hilt of his sword again, his gaze gleaming with deadly intent as he twisted and darted past every fiery attack lunged at him until he neared his fiery opponent. 

Slash! 

The blade almost collided with his opponent, leaving a slight cut on his opponent's arm through which a mixture of glowing fiery blood and visible dark mass of energy gradually seeped. 

With an outstretched arm, the dark assassin commanded the sword into his hand, lifting it with merciless intent as he sped towards his already injured opponent in a bid to take a slice off him. Just then, a bright burst of flames appeared from behind Kaleb, threatening to consume him when a hand grabbed and yanked him in an instant.

Wearing a frown of disappointment on his face, the dark assassin groaned when his fire winged opponent seemed to vanish with Kableb. His infuriated gaze spun around the whole place before it finally fell upon the strange dim glow which emanated from a small object.

The frustration lingering within him soon melted away when he picked up the object which revealed itself as a coin-sized crest with a few archaic words engraved upon it.

"I know where to begin my search", his distorted voice spoke.

Encasing himself in a cloak of darkness bursting forth from his sword, he  into faded into the shadows.

***************

Kaleb's eyes popped open when the man beside him flicked a few fingers, allowing his perplexed gaze to swept around the strange room from where he was seated.

Shifting his gaze from the brown wooden table in front of him, to the eye shaped clock whose pupils seemed to be fixed upon him, he wondered;

'Where am I?'

Silence existed between him and the man who stood beside him; therefore, in a bid to satisfy the curiosity that spurned itself within his mind, he picked up a book from the stack of books which sat upon the wooden table, whispering the words etched upon its leather back:

"Mage Academy For The Gifted"

Suddenly, a young girl who was donned in a fine white robe materialized from nothingness, causing him to startle when his eyes caught her image. She glared at him with a slightly raised eyebrow, before shooting at the man beside him almost in an instant. 

Her rather matured voice echoed with a hint of worry which also reflected itself through the look on her face.

"Elijah, what happened to your shoulder?"

Elijah ruffled his short brunette hair, shooting a brief glance at the bleeding cut before letting a deep sigh escape his mouth.

"I earned this from the ninja whose sword nearly sliced me into a dozen pieces tonight", he answered.

A cloud of confusion swallowed Kaleb's mind while staring at the girl whose matured voice sounded weird to him. It felt like a dream to him when the memories of what he had just experience flushed down his mind; a lot of questions buzzed around in his mind, but the most prominent one remained:

'Where was this strange place?'

His attention became drawn towards the strange girl when she spoke again;

"I am Headmistress Lyra...you must be one of the special ones Sage mentioned earlier"

Deepening his face into a stiffer frown, he responded,

"I'm sorry but I don't know what you're talking about...I just lost my whole family tonight and a lot of strange things have been happening to me since then, so I wouldn't mind if someone could explain what's really happening!"

His pinched his eyes close, fighting back the streams of tears that threatened to break out.  The headmistress let out an empathetic sigh as she could perceive the distinct aura of pain mixed with sadness and rage.

'He's definitely one of the special ones', she pondered.

"Look, Kaleb...I'm really sorry for what happened to your family last night, and that's why you're here. I know Elijah appeared late, but thankfully, you're safe and here's your new home"

She paused.

"This is...this is a magical safe haven from the assassin who might probably still be on the hunt for you. You relax yourself while we hunt him down and get justice for your family"

"So, what's it gonna be?"