Inner Discord

Chapter 16

I was utterly confused. Why was Aphron laughing like that? Did we not defeat him?! Maybe he was more stupid than we thought after all. I could not even get a word between his outings of great joy. Ultimately his laughing calmed down, and I yelled at him: 'Why are you so happy? We defeated you completely, didn't we?! You have no reason to be happy we defeated you, do you?!! If I were you, I would be so mad I was defeated by a little kids. Why aren't you mad?!! Tell me, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!!!'

The only thing Aphron did that probably had to resemble a reaction, was grimacing stupidly. I wanted to wipe that stupid smile of his face, of which I unfortunately cannot say it was ugly. But it was stupid. Yeah, it was. Okay, I give in, it wasn't. In fact, his face was one of the most perfect I had ever seen. Because of that face, I initially would not hit him to make him say something, but after having waited for over five minutes, I changed my mind and hit his cheek with all my might.  Aphron did not seem to spend much attention to it. The only thing my action had caused was for him to smile even brighter. I decided to let him be. 'Let's go, Boeithe. It seems we greatly overestimated this fella. He isn't even worth staying with till he tells us what he knows. We already spent to much time to him.'

Boeithe seemed to agree with me, because she stood up and already wanted to walk to the door, but suddenly she turned toward Aphron and looked firmly in his eyes. When I asked her what she was doing, she looked back at me and said she had become a little scared. This was the first time ever she had seen as emotionless eyes as his. She had tried to invade his mind too, but she found it too hard. She did remark that I might make him talk using my soul magic. I told her it would be lost effort, because I could hardly invade my own mind, and if she could not do it, I certainly would not be able too. We finally were ready to leave, and wanted to step through the door, when it shut closed right before our eyes. 'Thou shalt not leave, ma fella,' Aphron spoke up, who had apparently freed himself too.

I did not know what to say. All I did was mumble something that was unintelligible. Luckily, Boeithe phrased exactly what I was thinking that moment. 'How is that possible, Aphron? That rope was rubbed in with Kallistos blood, which should prevent you from doing any magic at all,' she said calmly, yet confused.

This time, Aphron did in fact answer. 'You see, my magic is absolute, plus that blood was mine. Two things you apparently didn't think of. Well done, by the way. Didn't think you'd figure that much out.'

We were only even more confused by his words. This time, I spoke up: 'What does that mean? Does it matter whose blood it is? And what do you mean when you say your magic is absolute?'

Aphron acted like he was thinking for a while and finally answered my question: 'I'll explain a little about it now. You probably know of the existence of anti magic.'

I nodded. 'Well, when a magic is absolute, it means it isn't affected by that anti magic. The normal rules are this way: when a magic and the corresponding anti magic crush, both magics are assigned a worth, as a number, depending on how strong they are. The anti magic will get a negative one, the magic a positive one. If the sum of those two is positive, the anti magic is broken and cannot be used ever again against the fella you're fighting with, which can be an object too. If it's less than zero, the opposite happens: then the magic breaks. If it's zero, they both break,' Aphron continued.

I gesticulated he should go further. 'But if you make a magic absolute, which is very difficult, it isn't affected by anti magic any more and all done effects from anti magic break, too. I managed to make all of my six magics absolute. And then, the blood. That is pretty advanced biology, but it comes down to that Kallistoi are not affected by the anti magic particles in their own blood, which are unique, too. You'll eventually learn the details of that if you decide to study here,' Aphron said.

I understood. Now I wanted to make clear to him we wanted to do the task I had to do as soon as possible. 'Aphron, as we won to you anyway, why wouldn't we be allowed to continue without training?'

Aphron looked as if I were telling something funny. 'If you want to go, I demand that you not be emotional anymore and let go of what's important for you. If, and only if, you are able to do that, I shall let you go. Be aware that these are only now demands I make and they shall not be necessary if you just continue our training,' he said.

I became impatient. 'Just tell me what to do already, Aphron.'

Aphron smiled and said with a voice that sounded far too official: 'I demand of thee that thou killest the one thou holdest most dear, present in this room: the girl named Boeithe. If thou art able to do that, thou wilt be granted thy quest. If thou failest to accomplish my demand, thou shalt finish thy training and do everything I tell thee to do. Is that clear?'

I was astonished. I looked at Boeithe. She nodded quietly. It was okay for me to kill her. It was not as if I cared that much for her anyway, it was just that we had been through so much together already. We looked at each other and ultimately, I said to Aphron: 'Clear enough. I'll do what you ask, and kill the one in this room I hold most dear. Boeithe, I'll kill you.'

As I prepared to act, something in my head told me that what I was going to do was not quite right. I negated it and lifted my sword, whilst Boeithe had sat down on her knees and shown me her neck: her sign that she was fully prepared to die for me.