The Inferno Slayer: Book Two- Charm

THREE: Visions

"SOOTHSAYERS WERE THE MOST POWERFUL ORACLES AND SEERS IN ANCIENT TIMES. THEY TOLD OF THE FUTURE THROUGH VISIONS AND OMENS, WISE BEYOND NATURAL MINDS. PROPHECIES AND OCULUS READINGS WERE THEIR SPECIALTIES."
The extremely loud voice of Professor Potts echoed through Sam's ears, disturbing his sense of who and where he was.
The professor was a large lunged woman, stocky in even her squarish head, with a large oral cavity and an apparently terrible sense of hearing.
A boy from Fletch, but still in First Year, was holding a small device under his desk, which was showing the forecast in Riptide. Sam could barely hear it, but, luckily (or maybe smartly), the boy was using it in the class of the deafest professor in the school.
"Two larger-than-normal storms hit the northern coast, one Gargantuan and one Classical, luckily in an uninhabited area of beaches and cliffs. Since it is the middle of August, it is still Earthquake Season, and soon in September the waves of Wave Season will hit in consequence. The last quake was felt last week, and the engineers have been measuring, and the outcome says that the quakes will come harder and stronger than ever before for this week. Take care, and stay in your homes. Maybe head discreetly for another kingdom- Tzogras for Avalanche, Hyperion for Volcanic, and Origin for Blizzard. Watch for Ray Stallion if you are there, as a dutiful soy for your Queen. Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best." The forecaster finished speaking.
The professor had been standing right above the boy, and when her shadow fell over him, she caught him by the ear, and wrenched the device from his hands.
She may be deaf, but she has perfect sight, Sam thought.
"Class, stay here and try to stay quiet while I take Mr. Cox here to the Headmaster."
Naturally, as the door swung shut, the class erupted into conversation. Sam could not withhold his grinning.
"Did ya see how she grabbed Jace? She's got trunks for arms, if you ask me."
"Soothsaying nonsense. Rips me brains out."
Sam could tell there were many accents, from Hyperion (especially Hyperion City, where the accent was very strained), Tzogras, and Riptide. None were from Origin. From the upcoming war, probably. Stallion wants the boys and girl to train for the army. Either soldiers or nurses, but not wizard schools in Riptide.
Sam looked at the students next to him. They were the ones from his Branch. They had all divided automatically, and not surprisingly, the Hydes and the Romulans were at the extreme opposites.
"Sam."
He heard the whisper coming from his right side.
One of the boys in his Branch and Year was whispering to him.
"Sorry we never really got to introduce ourselves in the meeting hall. All eleven of us were starving, and none of us talked to anyone. We just kinda, sat there. Then we crashed on the cots, dead till morning. The name's Cormac. Cormac Strait."
He had wild golden hair and a lopsided smile, with blue eyes and the slightest hint of trouble behind his eyes.
"Sam Argon."
Sam shook his hand.
"I know."
Sam snorted. "I think everyone knows now."
Cormac shook his head.
"You're a celebrity. Don't worry. You'll be fine."

Professor Potts opened the door, and instantly the room quieted, and Cormac pretended he was writing in a notebook. Sam muffled a laugh, turning it into a cough.
"Sick, Argon?"
Sam froze. He turned his head slightly, and looked at a boy with perfectly cut red hair and dark eyes. He was tall and fit, but not extremely muscled. He was a Hyde.
Sam could see the professor was writing something on the chalkboard in the front of the classroom.
"Nah, just choked on a bone I swallowed last night."
"You ever laugh at me again, and I'll own you."
Sam frowned.
"I wasn't laughing at-"
"COFFIN, WHAT IS THE OPTICAL LENS OF THE MIND?" Professor Potts called.
The red haired boy squirmed and tried to look at the board, but the professor intelligently blocked it.
"Sorry ma'am, could you repeat the question?"
Potts scowled.
"NORBERT COFFIN, NEXT TIME I CATCH YOU NOT PAYING ATTENTION, DETENTION FOR A WEEK."
Norbert nodded quickly, then turned to Sam as soon as the professor turned around and scowled.
"You'll pay for your spoiled arse as soon as free period comes around."
"Actually, I was going to go looking around the sports field instead of hanging with a bastardly ginger."
Norbert's eyes popped out of his head but he said nothing.
Sam realized he was an accustomed bully, one of those rare ones who think the world revolves around them and only them.

The class ended, and they sped through the day. It was the same class every time, though he knew they would get to choose when they were older. Potions, Spells, Shape-Shifting, and even a Defense and Protection courses were simple and easy for Sam. Second period with Galen had been a little interesting, but Sam really did not enjoy watching and petting magical animals.
The one he could not understand was Charms.
Professor Trench, a pale man with long features, was explaining Charms to the class when Sam got lost.
"A Charm is an energy source for magic. It can reside in many objects, but usually, rounded or spherical places are the best, such as a ball.
"A Charm spawns from an emotion. Usually love, or joy will give you a Charm that will help you perform better magic. Sometimes fear, or maybe anger are transferred into Charms. Those Charms give you energy for curses and poisonous potions. They are the darkest sources of magic. I have never heard of a jealousy or envy Charm, such as one would create when he knows and dislikes that someone else is better than them or own something the other does not. There might be some, but very hidden."
I heard a cough behind me. I caught a strange look in Norbert's eye. He's jealous of me.
Then Sam faded away, and a vision emerged.
A daymare.
-----

The trees swayed eerily in the wind, the darkness overwhelming.
Sam walked under the branches, approaching a large tree. The ground shook underneath, an earthquake, and with every step, he could hear singing. He could see there were large holes in the tree, almost windows, and he tried to see the dark inside. He only caught sight of face, gnarled with age, which showed resemblance to the tree. The person was the tree. A druid.
Then the face faded to black, and a root snapped up and wrapped around his leg.
Then another root, and another, and soon he was being dragged down into the forest, his screaming unheard, and the druid's curse growing inside him.
And then he woke up.
-----

Sam was being dragged somewhere. He could feel it.
He opened his eyes, and could see Cormac's face, along with Ambrose and Professor Trench. The others, mainly from Romulan, were standing in a circle around him. Sam realized he was lying on the ground.
"Wha...happened?" Sam managed.
Trench frowned, clearly disturbed.
"You, passed out and toppled out of your seat, where you starting rolling around on the ground, with smoke coming out of your mouth as you spoke in a very strange tongue."
Ambrose nodded.
"The language of the druids. It originated in the forests of the west, even farther than Tzogras. I cannot speak it fluently, but I did manage to translate a few. You said something about a prophecy, and then you said 'ground trembles' and 'heir to magic', and well, obviously the rest I did not understand."
Sam rubbed his head, and he tried to stand. It only brought weak knees, and his head swam. His vision blackened futrther, until they lowered him to a sitting position again.
Cormac helped lift him to the Medicine Hall, where a few nurses were mumbling spells over students who had either skimmed their knees or twisted ankles, but nothing grave.
One of the nurses came to Sam.
"What's wrong, my boy?" she said kindly.
Sam held his head and groaned, unable to speak.
"Headache. Ran into a column on his way to class," Ambrose covered. Sam realized he only wanted those who bad been there to know.
Sam could see Galen whispering to Trench and the class, telling them to keep the incident quiet, or he would have to remove their memories. All of them.
Sam only sat there, the nurse washing his head with a cold, wet cloth. He remembered the tree, and the gnarled face. The darkness, and the hint of envious anger. That sparked something in his mind, something from before, but he could not place it.
He dimmed and tapped back into his subconscious, giving in to sleep.