Secrets Untold

Ch. 18 The Invitation

~Evan~

The black journal has been on my mind for the past few days now, even as the streamers signaling the festival is nearing, it's still bothering me even as I try to listen to Mrs. Jill's lecture for today

Who is he? Why would he leave such a cryptic message behind?

A few days have passed since the incident and anything cruel has yet to happen. I sit down at my desk staring at Mrs. Jill as she explains "Now there are two types of magic, Forbidden and General magic" She writes down the whiteboard "General Magic is the magic we all use right now, from Healing to Meteor, it's all General Magic" She scans the bored faces on everybody's faces for a moment before resuming the lecture

For once I wasn't one of them; I was genuinely interested in the topic for today. It felt like I was magnetized to whatever she was talking about "Forbidden Magic however" She chuckles "Is Dark Magic, magic that has been outlawed; never to be used and anyone dumb enough to learn a spell is sent to the guillotine"

I don't know what came over me as I raised my hand for everyone to see, Mrs. Jill raises a brow but calls me nonetheless "What makes Forbidden Magic so special? And could you give a few examples for us?"

She stood there for a moment, I could tell just by looking at her that the gears in her mind started shifting, debating whether it's alright to do so

She claps her hands and resumes "Forbidden Magic is terrible, magic that can torture, curses that deny you the ability to do anything, reanimation of the dead and lots more. Because of its dark nature the Ministry of Thaumaturgy or 'MoT' for short has strictly banned any kind of use of Forbidden Magic"

Mrs. Jill clears her throat and hesitantly opens her mouth "As for the next question... Well there's the Curse of Senses, a curse to numb all of the five senses. Although powerful its requirements are severely risky and needs a handful of ingredients" She scribbles the information on the board encircling 'Severely Risky!'

"Then there's also the Reanimation spell... By the name itself you can probably tell what it does. It can be used to reanimate corpses to make an army or servants..." I glance around and notice only a few are still listening

"But probably the worst of them all is the S-Soul Manipulation spell... With this spell you can crush anyone who doesn't have a barrier around their soul; you could also implant a soul inside a husk of a body"

I find myself leaning closer, ears intently listening to every word "If used correctly, this spell can be one of the worst kinds of magic to be forged..."

"But!" She exclaims "To use this spell you must throw away your own soul to make way for an artifact that holds the spell, you see the only person who knew of this spell was executed and to preserve the spell in case of emergency the Grandmasters sealed it into a Gem" She starts pacing around the room

"But to throw away your soul is completely mad! You'd lose your humanity and become insane without any restraints!"

She looks over at us and reluctantly asks with weary eyes "Anymore questions?"

I raise my hand hopefully for the last time "How can it be one of the worst? Isn't a spell that's purely meant for destruction supposed to be more dangerous?"

Mrs. Jill stands there as if waiting for something to intervene before she finally claps her hand and answers "I'm sorry Evan, but I'm afraid that's confidential... N-Now let's change the topic because we've seemed to have covered the lesson" She puts on a smile and starts pacing around the room as a floating eraser removes the ink from the whiteboard "Now do keep in mind there's going to be a practical quiz soon, it's time to start polishing your skills to earn a grade that won't disappoint any of us"