Don't Ever Mess With Magic

Chapter 2: His Departure

I woke up feeling sick. Biglang sumakit ang aking tiyan at ramdam ko na any minute now lalabas na 'tong bodily waste ko. Dumiretso ako sa cr.

Pagkatapos no'n ay pumunta ako sa kusina para uminom ng tubig.

"Zed," someone had said. I turned around and found a man who is in his mid-40s. He was wearing a grey long-sleeved polo and, of course, a pair of pants. It seems he's going somewhere. 'Saan ba 'to pupunta si Tito liam?' I said in my head.

"Po?"

"Don't you know the date today?" he asked. Immediately, I faced the calendar. It's May 5, 2017. Is there supposed to be an important occasion today?

"May 5th," I answered blankly.

"And what's on May 5th?"

My forehead formed a crease. Ano bang mayroon ngayon? I seriously do not know.

"It's your birthday," a woman who's also in her mid-40s appeared. Wait. My b-birthday? 'Ang tanga mo naman, Zed! Sariling birthday hindi maalala,' I said in my mind.

"And you're dad's coming home. So is your mom" sabi ni Tita. Oh, so that's why they're dressed. They're off to fetch mom and dad. Tinanong ko sila kong pupuntahan ba nila sila Dad. Tumango naman sila. They asked me if I wanted anything so they'd be able to buy it later. But I said I did not want anything. After a while, umalis na rin sila. I just saw the car getting smaller and smaller—not literally. Lumiliit lang ito sa paningin ko dahil papalayo na sila.

As you may all know by now, my name's Zed. My full name is Will Zed Alseif but just call me Zed. I live with my uncle and aunt. The main reason is my parents aren't home. Mom's working somewhere. And my dad, too. Believe me, I don't know anything about what they do. It's just like business stuff. There's also another reason why I'm living with my aunt and uncle. Think about it, it'd be all right if I live in my parents' house by myself, right? Here comes the other reason. Narito ako sa bahay nila tita dahil tinuturuan nila ako. Tinuturuan nila akong palabasin ang aking mahika. Oo. Tama ang pagbasa mo. The only problem is I don’t know if I do have magic.

I am a demigod, or so they think. Sabi nila tito at tita, isa raw akong demigod. Ngunit hindi ko nga kayang gawin ang mga kayang gawin nila tita, e. No. They are not demigods if you're asking, by the way.  But they have magic. They were blessed by the gods by giving them the power to control certain elements. So basically, tito and tita are element mages. Tito can control air; Tita can control fire. They are very good with their magic. It's practically the main reason why they are teaching me. I don't really get what they're teaching me. Puro lang pag-meditate at tungkol sa aking mental ability. Ang physical naman daw ay hindi sila ang tuturo. Doon raw ako matututo.

I don't feel anything strange with my body but they keep on insisting that I do have "ichor" within my veins. Ichor is a fancy way of saying "blood of a god". They say that each element mage blessed by one god or another can sense if a certain being has ichor. That way they can identify if one is a god or someone like me, a demigod.

I'll give you a bit of history about the element mages. According to books (Yes. May mga aklat tungkol dito. Ipinabasa ako ni tita ng librong iyon para daw may kaunting kaalaman ako tungkol sa aking pagkatao.) Yeah. So according to the books I've read, element mages were mainly given powers to protect the sons and daughters of the gods who are only half-bloods.

Today is my birthday. Yey! I am so excited! Please be wary of the sarcasm. This is my fifteenth birthday. And tita, tito, and my parents have decided that I'd be sent off to some place to learn about my abilities and such. Yes. Sa lugar na iyon ang tinutukoy kong "doon" sa "Doon raw ako matututo."

I grew up knowing magic exists. But I wasn't excited about it. It's not like I have magic, I think.

Tita, tito, and my parents haven't told me the details yet about that place. All I know is when I reach the age of fifteen, I'll go there. And since I am already 15, maybe I'd be sent there later today or maybe tomorrow.

About me being a demigod, it's quite weird. Want to know why? It's because neither one of my parents know who my parent god is. They said they've never fornicated err—what a word—I mean made love with anybody else except with one another. And I am both my parents' son. I took a blood test (or something. I don’t know what it is called.) and the result says I am my mother and father's son. By blood. They haven't had past affairs. I came from my mother's womb. I stayed there for nine months. I was made by my father's sperm cell and my mother's egg cell. So how come I am a demigod? That's what's weird. But what's weirder is that both Tita and Tito detect the presence of ichor in my blood. I tried too look it up in tita's books but to no avail. These books contain only limited information.

It was around 6 o'clock when they arrived. Mom and Dad hugged me tight, saying that they missed me so much. "When will I be sent there?" I asked them immediately.

"Tomorrow, dear"

"But before that, you should be blowing this," tita said, referring to the candle on the cake. It was a chocolate cake. There was something written on it. It said "Happy birthday, Zed!''

Kumain kami. Ang daming dalang pagkain nila tito. Pagkatapos naming kumain ay napag-usapan namin ang tungkol sa lugar na pupuntahan ko kinabukasan.

"Zed," panimula ni Tita. "Where you're going is a place of magic. You shall learn everything about you there."

"Mamayang 12 midnight ka aalis."

Wait. Did I hear it correctly?

"HA?!" tanong ko.

I turned to face the wall clock. Putcha. 1 minute till midnight?!