Mage (ON HOLD)

Chapter 5-Journey

I paced in front of my bed, back in my room. It was just past dinnertime, and the sun had recently settled into its western cradle. The Evening Star glowed brilliantly, low over the horizon, and the first moon, Ilayad, had risen from over the Raldin plains in the east, casting a soft glow over the town below. Lights coming from the small windows in the houses of Mokry cast light over the few people hurrying around in the streets, causing large shadows to stretch out behind them like large, silent beasts. Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked, but that was the only sound to break the silence that hung over the land. And, barely visible in the gloom, the dark smudge that was Veznia Woods hung over the southern horizon like a cloud.

I stopped pacing and sighed. I was alone in the room, since Shayna was somewhere in the dining hall, chatting and interacting with the students that usually hung around there in the evening. In the room, where everything was quiet and I was left alone to my own thoughts, I had never felt so separate from everybody else. I had nobody to talk to, nobody to relieve the stress that had slowly been building up ever since Kaline revealed to me that she wanted me to save the world. I was seventeen! What did she expect me to do? Sure, I might have been a skilled Elementalist, but what good did that do when I was terrified of my most powerful element and scared to use my power again, in case I got possessed by that....force that had taken control of me?

I sat down on my bed, my head in my hands. I felt like I was slowly going crazy. A tear leaked out of the corner of my eye and slowly trickled down my cheek, until it dropped off my chin and landed on the quilt, only to be absorbed like it had never existed.

Closing my eyes, I slid sideways until I was lying on my side, facing the wall. I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep within moments as the twin moons rose above the land and the stars began to shine in the cold, distant sky.

...

Blearily, I opened my eyes and blinked a few times, to get used to the faint light filtering in through the window. Shayna was sound asleep in the bed at the other side of the room, snoring lightly with one arm dangling off the mattress and her feet on the wall. Honestly, Shayna was the most active sleeper that I had ever known. I slid my legs off the bed, trying not to disturb the covers too much, and stood up to stealthily pad over to the window. Peeking out between the covers on the window, I could see that the sun was just starting to show itself over the horizon and that the stars had not quite faded away yet. Good. There's time for me to actually eat today. I would need all my energy for the upcoming day, which was, I realized, the beginning of my journey.

Cats. Why do they have to do everything immediately? Would it really kill Kaline if I went the day after tomorrow, or something? I picked my staff up off the wall, and regarded it carefully. Was it somehow the source of the power that had taken possession of me? No. It couldn't be. If it was, it would have done something much sooner.

I tiptoed over to the door, wincing as my bare feet came down on the freezing cold stone floors. I hate getting up early, before the sun has had a chance to heat everything up. Pushing open the heavy wooden door, I took a glance back to make sure that Shayna hadn't woken up and slipped silently out into the quiet hallway. I could hear a few murmurs coming from other dormitory doors that lined the corridor; the other students were starting to wake up. I resumed my quiet quest to the dining hall, hoping for some kind of bready item before everbody else got to them. A door creaked open behind me and I spun around, wondering how the door had opened without anybody pushing on it. Then I relaxed; a Psychokinetic walked out from the room, closing the door behind him with a glance.

"Hey, Taya." He murmured, catching up to me in the hallway. The Psychokinetic's name was Dain, and he was my best friend at the school, other than Shayna.