DARKLIGHT

- 8 -

I slept fairly well and was awake by sunrise the next morning. From then on, life became monotonous. I'd train in the field until Kaces deemed me tired enough, and then stay in my cell alone until sleep overtook me. I often experimented with nonverbal magic without success, and I eventually started to wonder if the phenomenon existed at all. I didn't try to teleport out of my cell again, either. I had seen that I could easily be caught, and the bed was also consistently shielded now.

My penultimate day in that cell started like any other. I discovered more soup on the table when I awoke, and Kaces arrived a few minutes later. He didn't speak, so neither did I. As soon as I finished eating, Kaces approached me. I dropped the bowl and held my hands up instinctively, trying to fend him off, but he just rolled his eyes and touched one of my hands. "Hareket."

When the field materialized, I got an answer to one of my questions. The white target reappeared, but Kaces had never spoken a spell. After another few seconds, it began to slowly slide around the metal in lazy figure eights. He still had his symbol lit, allowing his magic to taunt me, and he pointed wordlessly to the target.

My stamina by that point was much better. Wanting to build Kaces's trust in my compliance, I didn't resist what he told me to do, but as I practiced, a thought occurred to me. If nonverbal magic did exist, this would be a perfect time to try it. A well-timed shot and Kaces would never know what hit him.

My focus on Atva was already honed in. Again, I tried to imagine the word without saying it directly. I could feel the sounds and their forms, clear as day, but I never allowed the thought to leave my mouth. The sphere formed as normal, to my delight, but in my amazement, I lost control of its direction. Kaces watched the orb glance by him in vague surprise.

Then, I felt a change. My arms grew bigger and more muscular, and my hands suddenly and uncomfortably curved into black talons. The shift reached my shoulders before it subsided and reversed, but as it was retreating, I heard a voice so loud it hurt my ears. Siderion!

I looked up at Kaces in shock. "What was that?" I gasped angrily. I knew right away that he had done something to me.

He hadn't even been watching me and looked back to see my dumbfounded face. "What? You cast a spell nonverbally, that's quite interesting."

"My hands!"

He studied me, then put his hands on his hips skeptically. "Your hands."

"They were claws!" I felt myself reaching insanity at the thought. "And I heard someone!"

Kaces nodded, apparently oblivious to how confused I was. "Cast the spell again," he commanded. "Nonverbally."

"Are you crazy?"

He put his hands on his hips, Dark magic dripping down his cloak. I winced and studied his hardened face. "I said, do it again."

I took a deep breath and stared at the target, bringing the spell back to mind. Then, I lit my symbol and lifted my arm silently. My mind focused on Atva and released the thought, and another orb formed. At the same time, I again began to change form, but the transformation reached my shoulders and hips with no intention of stopping. My Order uniform, browned with dust from the field already, melded into my expanding Dark limbs. Only my griffin symbol stayed visible, and the Dark energy emanating from it was somehow blindingly bright.

Siderion! the voice called again. It's Anahid! Answer me!

I still had no idea where the voice was coming from, nor did I know how to respond to it. My arms were eagle's legs now, and my legs had become lion's haunches. Soon, I didn't have the strength to keep myself upright, so I fell onto my hands and knees and shut my eyes tight. I could feel my back and head changing, and though it didn't hurt at all, it still made me shiver with fright. I was growing wings.

Finally, the transformation abated. Unfortunately, I wasn't becoming human again, but the shifting had become more and more unpleasant and I had no desire to go the other way. I cautiously opened my eyes again and inspected my surroundings with unease. Everything looked shorter now. I had been on the tall side for a teenager, but I was now taller than Kaces by at least two feet, and that was on all fours.

He was looking up at me with an air of boredom. "Get down from there," he said, holding his Dark magic high.

"I'm not sure how," I stammered, shrinking away from his raised hand. My voice was bird-like, and my mouth, which was now a beak, clacked closed after each word. I could see the tip moving between my eyes, and it was unnerving.

I would have used the element of surprise to attack Kaces, but I could only make a weak attempt at moving my legs before they gave out under me. Kaces shook his head in disbelief and strode to my side, which only accentuated how tall I was now. "The spell to reverse an arkaetre call is Merus," he told me.

I recognized the word as the same one my father used to call Hecatus back to his symbol, which made sense. I knew my symbol was still on my right arm, though it was much larger now, so I reached my bird head down to take a look. Surprisingly, it was still glowing strong, but it wasn't tiring me out at all. "You don't need to light your symbol when you're in your arkaetre form," Kaces explained.

"Merus." The transformation flooded out of me, and I found myself lying in the dirt.

"You've just experienced something known as a chance-call. It happens when you draw on energy from your arkaetre instead of yourself." He chuckled coldly. "I'm not surprised you fell back onto him, considering how little practice you have with nonverbal spellwork. You've only had a couple of weeks to work on it, I think."

I gasped a sigh as he said this, suddenly feeling very weak, and shakily got up from the ground to check that my arms and legs were back to normal. Then I warily touched my face. The beak was gone. Kaces eyed me authoritatively. "You'd best learn to control your thoughts."