Salamangka: 12SS 2020

Demon Eater

Jet sat on the chair, guided by his chaperone's hands on his shoulder and arm. He squinted at the room's bright lights as the black hood was pulled off his head. A few blinks and the man behind the stainless-steel table before him came into focus, as his guide's footsteps left the windowless gray concrete room, the ponderous metal door closing after him.

"Good evening, Mr. Lakan," the man at the table smiled. He had middle-aged mestizo aristocratic Spanish features with fair complexion, green eyes, and side-parted silver hair that matched his elegant three-piece gray suit and green tie. "A pleasure to finally meet you."

The suit was a bit much, considering the tropical weather in the Philippines, but the room's air conditioning more than made up for it. The AC, however, made Jet's purple Henley t-shirt a bit chilly.

"Good evening, Grandmaster Martzel," Jet said as he fidgeted with his collar, pulling a bundle of his long half-ponytail hair out from under it.

"Is this really necessary?" Jet tugged at his collar. "I already passed my exams."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Jet – may I call you Jet?"

"Sure."

"You may have passed your exams, Jet, but you still have to pass this interview," Martzel continued. "You aren't yet part of the Order, and therefore aren't allowed to use magic outside of your exams."

"Okay," Jet tried not to roll his eyes.

"Now then," Martzel started looking through the papers before him on the table. "Let's see what we have here."

"I have to say," Martzel's eyebrows shot up, "these are very impressive Elementalist scores, especially for someone your age... How old are you, by the way?"

"Twenty-one."

"Twenty-one years old," Martzel nodded. "And yet your scores could already qualify you as Elemental Adept of the Third Degree, the highest Elementalist rank. You had mid-90s across the board on the theoretical exams on all the Elements – Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and even Akasha, as well as the Electric and Magnetic Fluids. And even more impressive, you had high-90's to perfect 100's on all the practical exams as well, covering perfect accuracy, precision, volume, intensity, velocity, acceleration, and power across all Elements."

"I really shouldn't be surprised, though," Martzel cocked his head, "considering your history of running into and helping the Order's mages against Aswang and other monstrosities on numerous occasions."

"However, I have to ask –," Martzel stared at Jet, "– are you sure you haven't had any formal schooling in Magic?"

"No, sir," Jet said in a flat tone. "I have never needed schooling. I've known Elemental Magic since the day I was born."

"Really?" Martzel raised an eyebrow.

"My parents have this story," Jet said. "When I was born, I was immediately kidnapped by a cult of black magicians secretly working at the hospital where I was born. They tried to sacrifice me to their demon-god, but my crying called down lightning on them and killed them all."

"That's what my parents tell me, anyway," Jet shrugged.

Martzel stared slack-jawed.

"I see," he cleared his throat. "Tell me of your earliest memory where you used magic."

"That was it, actually," Jet said. "My parents only thought the lightning was just a miracle at the time, but I was the one that consciously called the lightning."

"You remember...," Martzel muttered in disbelief, "... when you were born...?"

He shook his head as he regained composure.