The Brightest Dark Magician

Chapter 11:Conspiracy theories over lunch

I personally saw to Macias' shipments and made sure that his reached him. The rest of the night was a hurricane of speeches to quiet the uproar Chases death caused. When I finally got back to my dorm it was three in the morning and Willow was fast asleep. As much as I wanted to go to sleep to I still had to go through the files over the war Joe had given me. Excuses started to cloud my mind though, it was too dark and too late. As if that wasn't enough I also had school tomorrow and would more than likely have to pull another all nighter. I sighed heavily not bothering to change out of my cloths, I probably reeked but the shower would still bright where it was in the morning. Sleep would be harder to get. I thought about the files one last time and decided later was a better time to look through them.
The room was cold and my thick blankets were so warm that once I put my head on the pillow the urge to fall asleep couldn't be fought anymore as I fell into a welcoming dark abyss.

The alarm was sharp in my ears as was the cold. "Daaaar wake up! We have an hour before our classes start and today is a full day!" The only reason why I bothered to listen to him was because if I didn't I knew he would never leave me alone. "I call the shower." I sent Willow a cold stare and he backed away from the restroom.

"Your still dressed in your cloths from yesterday, and you didn't get back till after two in the morning because I stayed up waiting for you before I fell asleep. Where you with someone?" Willow's voice went higher and his raised eyebrows told me what he was trying to indicate. The mere thought of doing something like that was mortifying. "No Willow I was not sleeping with someone if the opposite gender if that is what you mean. I am sixteen why would anyone do something as revolting as that!" I said expecting to see relief on Willow's face. Instead he just shrugged like it was normal. Did teenagers do things like that all the time, if they do it's no wonder I wasn't allowed to go to school with other kids.

"It depends on who you hang out with. Most of the pure kids needless to say are not as pure as they seem. Kyra almost went down the same route with her ex-boyfriend but in the end she realized he was a douche so she left him. That's how all the cat calling began, up until now no one has ever said anything about it. You're different from the rest of those kids, you seem," Willow shrugged looking skyward "better."

As it turned out I had three hours till I had to attend school. The first two classes before lunch were math and science which after taking a short test the teachers said I could do what I wanted until lunch. After lunch my courses in magic would begin starting with miss Courtman's class. my second class focused on potions, enchantments (and my personal favorite) talismans. The day would be finished off with some sort of assignment based on our magic.

I hadn't planned to have lunch with Willow, Rupert, and Kyra but with nothing else to eat and a strict time schedule, I found myself making my way towards their table for lunch. "Dar, we missed you in math and science, the four of us have science and math before being split up, Willow said that you decided to sleep in." Rupert was smiling brightly and it came as a surprise that he called me Dar. Joe was the only one who ever called me that and even then it had taken him a year or two to get used to addressing me so casually. It was different now though, I didn't hold any important position, to them I was just a fellow ordinary highschooler. I smiled back as best as possible. "I have already studied past college level material so I was given a pass on those two classes."

Willow was the only one who had trouble believing me. "You're sixteen, and have never practiced magic before so how could you have passed a college course when magic is part of that education?" I had screwed up in my lie, I knew it and so did Willow. "I was home schooled, not by my uncle but by a regular non-magical family. I was raised apart from my uncle so that I could hone important skills of mine." The best lies were always weaved from truth, I had been raised by someone who possessed no magic except for talismans, potions, and already magic made items. "My adoptive father raised me and made sure I would be able survive anything that came my way. If I had now then what he had been preparing me for I would have been more grateful for all the gifts he gave me and not just one."

Willow opened and closed his mouth a few times. Our table was silent with a question everyone wanted to know the answer to but couldn't ask . "He died when I was thirteen. It was a long time ago and I have been able to keep my hands filled with enough work to help me get over it." I smiled at all of them for extra emphasis, Willow and Rupert gave me a sympathetic look. Kyra got out of her chair and came to stand right in front of me. "Get out of your char and stand up." He tone was commanding so I did as she said to avoid any damage to my body.

"Why-" Kyra cut me off with a hug. I had never been hugged before oddly enough, people tended to shy away from me which wasn't a surprise, but the feeling was surprisingly nice. Kyra pulled away and went back to her seat, I followed suit only a little slower. "I figured that you needed a hug. It's not easy dealing with a dead loved one, even when they are not related to you." Kyra said boldly enough that Willow and Rupert just shrugged it off. I bowed my head in thanks, the sentiment had been received, usually it was Joe who got all the sentiment. He had huge muscles, tanned skin, was of average height, brown hair and hazel. Most girls preferred that to me and since we were always together, that was always the case.

"Not that I don't like hugs and cuddles but um, did anyone find anything out about the murders? I tried and failed so please tell me one of you succeeded." Willow looked at all of us, and as much as I wanted to keep my information to myself, I couldn't. I sighed looking up from my now cold lunch.
"The people who have been murdered are all connected by the King. Even though their jobs are different, and each hold different statuses, the fact that they all work for the king in some manner is what made them targets. Do you know who or rather what are black magicians are." Apparently they did because their eyes popped out of their sockets so much it looked like they might fall out.

"The black magicians used to be the most fearsome type of magician. Legend has it that some of them are still alive but that after a curse was placed on them they could only use their magic in the dark." Willow offered the information rapidly. Kyra was the first that put the pieces together. "You think the black magicians are behind the murders. It's a good idea but also like a conspiracy." Kyra leaned over toward her brother and nudged him with her shoulder. "Tell Him!"

Rupert rung his hands together but did as his sister told him. "I love conspiracy theories and there are a lot of conspiracy theories surrounding the war and even the Emperor. Some people say that the black magicians escaped, my personal favorite is the lost prince!" Kyra waved her brother on guessing that I didn't know the story. Rupert smiled happy at the chance to talk more about his favorite subject.

"The legend goes that the crown prince survived the night his mother and half the palace staff were murdered, and that when the time came he would come back to reclaim his title." Willow rolled his eyes and Kyra quietly scoffed. Not quietly enough that Rupert didn't notice, and looked offended. "My sister doesn't believe in the story, I however do, and if the blank magicians are back that means that maybe he will come back too. No one knows what his magic it but it is said to be the purest kind. Every kid dreams about being the lost prince, but I got my magic when I was six and it was undecidable." Rupert smiled as if it didn't matter. I wasn't good at making faces but I was good at reading them, and not being the lost prince wasn't what bothered Rupert, but the fact that he was an outsider.

"The legend isn't real, and if he was alive why hasn't he returned yet?" Kyra pointed out the obvious, and Rupert deflected it. "He hasn't returned yet because the time isn't right, now stop trying to crush my favorite conspiracy theory." That earned a laugh from our entire table, which made other groups give us a weird look. I couldn't say I blamed them, we did make a strange group. Kyra was an outcast, Rupert was her brother and an undesirable, Willow was a pure magician and yet he was friends with an undecidable, and I was the mysterious new kid.