A Mage's Power (Journey to Chaos) (9 page)

The penultimate page contained three words:
“Happily Ever
After?”
The last page told the moral about how mortal families need to “maintain
the balance” of their homes and such.

The other “Grisly Brothers” tales he was more used to:
gruesome encounters of humans with the supernatural. They covered a range of
subjects from philosophy to history to math.
If I heard a story about Tasio
tricking a pair of humans out of their food, I might've been more interested in
math as well
.

When those nine days ended, Aio shoved his head into a book
and closed it on him. While he laughed, Eric spun around and whacked him on the
head with it. This only made him laugh more. Eventually, they were kicked out
of the library.

“What are you doing here, Aio?”

“We need back-to-school supplies,” Aio cheered, “Our first
day is tomorrow!”

To Eric, school had been a string of bad experiences. Vivid
flashbacks haunted him all day: friend to no one, punchline to everyone, the
only student with
Legal-Guardian/
Teacher conferences.

Aio put an arm around his shoulder. “It'll be great! We'll
make friends and pass notes in class and sit together at lunch!” Eric couldn't
decide whether to burrow his enthusiasm or be sickened by it.

The Otherworlder was in for a surprise when he arrived. The
school building looked like a Threan one: several stories tall, made of brick
with a lot of windows. There was even a
basketball court
in the
playground. Waiting in his classroom was another shock. Of the ten human heads
present, each was a different color. There were kids with black, brown, and
blond hair, but also orange, blue, and purple. One boy even had bright pink
hair.
Poor guy.

“Tariatla is home to countless varieties of creatures . . .”

 Eric took his seat just in time for the Mana Studies lecture.
He'd come on a good day; the class would be spent on a review for a test he
wouldn't have to take. Some students zoned out, others paid rapt attention, and
the rest were somewhere in between; just like his own school. In fact, he saw
so many similarities between Threan and Tariatlan schools that he stopped
trying to find differences. Then, a mermaid in a glass tank floated into the
room.

“ . . .But they can be divided into one of two categories:
Sapient or Monster,” the teacher continued. “Who can tell me the difference
between the two?”

A blue-scaled lizard answered. He looked just like any
normal Threan lizard, except he was as tall as Eric and stood on his hind legs.
His clothing looked just like Eric's own except the pants had a hole for his
tail. “The diffffferensssse isss that Sssapients are sssentient and
Monssstersss are feral.” His tongue slithered out with each word.
Huh . . .They
really do talk like that.
“Could you elaborate on that, Mr. Oito?” the teacher asked and the lizard boy
nodded.

“A monster'sss mind isss full of chaosss becaussse of mana
mutassshion. No one could sssshink clearly wisssss a mind full of chaosss.”

“Correct,” the teacher said. “How does the mutation occur?”

 A human girl answered. Her hair was blonde, her right hand
was a cat paw, and a Pez dispenser poked through a hole on her shoulder. “Mana
mutation occurs when a sapient is exposed to a large amount of highly
concentrated mana in a short period of time.”
Does she know from experience?

“Correct,” The teacher said. “If a sapient's mind is full of
mana when it transforms, then why did Mr. Oito say the mind of a monster is
full of chaos?“

Aio pushed Eric out of his seat. The Otherworlder stumbled
and fell over the person in front of him. All eyes turned to him and he turned
red.

“Otherworlder? You think you know this?”

I do.
“The source of all mana is Lady Chaos. Noitaerc
dilutes chaos into mana. While chaos is more potent, for the purpose of mana
mutation they are synonymous.”

“Correct, but what do they look afterward?” First there was
that wolf thing that attacked him and then the Venus Fly Trap that bewitched
him and more in the books
. . .Reason through it.

“ . . .Well . . .since monsters are born through sapients in
mana mutation . . .then . . .a  . . .monster can look like anything?”

“Yes, though not all monsters were once sapient. Now someone
else, what kinds of species fall into the sapient category?” Eric sat down with
relief and Aio handed him a note under his desk. “
Was that so hard?
”  a smiley
face asked.

“Humans are the only true sapients,” said a human boy with
silver hair. He didn't bother to stand up. He sat with a bored expression. “The
others are just beasts.”

“Who are you calling a beast!?” growled the person next to
Eric. It was a cat-like human: cat ears and tail, but naked skin everywhere not
covered by cloth.

“You, of course,” the speaker replied. “Didn't you hear me
with those freakish ears?” The cat-boy lunged, but was held back by the lizard
from earlier.

“Enough!” The teacher pounded on his desk. “Mr. Norej, I
will you see you in detention this afternoon for improper conduct to a fellow
student. Now apologize to Mr. Revas.”

Norej stared at Revas, “I'm sorry . . . that you're a
jumped-up dumb animal.”

“Double detention!” the teacher roared, “Do I have to make
it three?”

 Norej leaned back and crossed his arms, “No, two is fine.”

“Technically . . .” said a female voice that belonged to a
face crowned by long gold-brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, revealing
pointed ears.
Is she a trickster?

“The designation 'sapient' includes all forms of life and
unlife that are not monsters, including gods and other extra-dimensional beings
such as tricksters and enforcers. However, the more common use of the word is
anything that is mortal and not a monster with other beings being designated as
'Divine' or 'Immortal' to avoid lumping the vastly different functions and
physical rules governing the latter with strictly mortal beings. Thus 'sapient'
includes: fish, birds, lizards, amphibians, and mammals.” She said all this in
one breath. Taking another, she added, “Plants and insects are a little more
complicated. Shall I go into that?”

“No need, Ms. Annala,” the teacher deadpanned. “We get the
point.”

Following the review was a lecture about Horlfs and how their
behavior differed from their sapient counterparts. Eric took notes, but
couldn't keep up. Cat-human Revas and lizard-humanoid Oito had similar
difficulties from their slouches and groans. The girl with the pointed ears,
Annala, didn't have any trouble at all. When the bell rang, some couldn't get
out fast enough while others showed restraint. Eric was a third group that
waited until everyone was gone so he wasn't jostled.

“Mr. Eric,” the teacher called. “Feel free to ask any
questions regarding the lecture. You are new to our world, not just to our
school. I want to make sure you understand everything or there would be no
point in teaching you. Understand?” Eric nodded. “Good. Ms. Annala?”

The girl was in the doorway. At the sound of her name, she
stopped. “Yes?”

“Would you show Mr. Eric around?”

“Of course.” She stood before Eric and smiled. “I'm Annala
Enaz, pleased to meet you.” She extended her hand, which she did not spit on. I
guess that isn’t a common thing . . .

“I-I'm Eric Watley.” Eric shook her hand and his ears
burned. The feeling made him glance at hers. Annala withdrew.

“Please don't stare,” she said softly. Eric blushed and
stammered apologies. Someone shoved him from behind.

“Blushing at a nonhuman; disgusting,” Noreji muttered on his
way out. Eric was positive it was his imagination, but the room felt brighter
with him gone.  

“What's up with him?” Eric thought aloud.

“Noreji?” The bipedal lizard was at his side. “He'sss jussst
a basstard withhh a sssstick up hisss asss.” He spat as if his opinion of
Noreji wasn't clear enough.

“Actually,” Annala interrupted, scholarly toned. “It's more
than that.”

Revas rolled his eyes. “Well, Miss Know-it-all, enlighten
us.”

“Norej is from a very old noble family, the Darwoss; a
family that holds firmly to its beliefs in human superiority. They were the
premier noble force in the founding days of Ataidar's history of 00AA and
retained enough power to start the Two Fires War of 1000 AA, the climax of
which almost destroyed Ataidar entirely. The Treaty of Talves held them
responsible and made them pay greatly in post-war retributions. They lost
respect in the eyes of the people and influence at court. Furthermore, they
refused to mend their ways and acknowledge their fall from grace and so
continued to cause trouble over the centuries and so earned a second demotion.
Most recently, they stood in the way of the Demonic Civil Rights Movement of
1955, 56, 57, and so on until the 'Mercy of Chaos' bill was signed into law by
Her Majesty Elizabeth Landros Ataidar IX with tripartisan support from the
Common Council, bipartisan support from the Noble Council, and a petition
signed by eleven companies and guilds, the most prominent of which was the
Dragon's Lair Mercenary Company.”

Revas and Oito blinked.

“So he has a superiority complex because of his family's
heritage?” Eric said. Oito’s and Revas' jaws dropped. Annala's eyebrows rose.

“You understood all that?” Revas asked.

“ . . .Well I . . .um . . .ah . . .” Eric looked down and
scratched the back of his burning neck.
Stupid! This is exactly why I was
bullied last time!

“Finally!” Annala cried. “
Someone
understands!
Usually my friends tune me out.” She playfully punched their arms. “I tutor
them all afternoon about the impact of this law or the behavior of that monster
and all I get are blank stares.”

“But you're alwayss ssso wordy,” Oito grumbled. “Eric sssaid
it better.” Revas nodded and Annala scowled, and suddenly, Eric didn't feel so
awkward. They all seemed so close; a circle that excluded him. Now that circle
was opening up.

“I'd love to be friends with someone who could have an
intelligent conversation with me.”

“Hey, we resent that!” Revas said.

“Yeah! We'vvve had plenty of intelligent converssssationsss,”
Oito agreed.

“ 'How to score hot babes,'” Annala drawled, “is not an
intelligent conversation.”

“Yeah it is!” Revas countered.

“Eric, save me!” Annala begged. “Hang with us! Please!”

Eric opened his mouth to decline but Aio spoke up instead. “We'd
LOVE to hang with you, right, Eric?” Eric shrugged.

The three stared at the boy who appeared out of nowhere. “Who
are you?”

“I'm Aio Ricse.” He hugged Eric. “Better known as Eric's
bestest friend in the world!”

Eric pried him off and said, “He's my roommate.”

A second bell rang.

“We'd better move or we'll be late for Biology,” Annala
said, “What do you have?”

Eric checked, smiled, and said, “Biology.”

Annala smiled in return. “Wonderful.”
She has a wonderful
smile . . .

As the day passed, Eric noticed a pattern: all his classes
were with his new friends. A part of him shouted TASIO! but he wrote it off as
coincidence. He met them by chance and
surely
Tasio
couldn't have
foreseen
that
. Even if Tasio
had
interfered somehow, he wasn't
going to question his good fortune.
My friends are a bipedal lizard, a humanoid
cat, and a . . .?

Biology was where he learned how something like his friends
could exist on this world. Oito was a “lizard demon” and Revas a “cat demon”;
their ancestors used to be ordinary animals until a colony was simultaneously
mana mutated into monsters. Somehow, they regained sentience and found the
mutation made changes in their spine and hind legs that allowed for upright
walking and changes in their throat to produce vowels and consonants. However,
the teacher didn't say anything about Annala. Eric yearned to ask her, but he
didn't want to say anything for fear of offending her.

After Biography was Geography. Tariatla may be a world with
magic and talking animals, but geographically it was just like Threa: a chunk
of water-covered rock orbiting a star. The difference was the number of major
landmasses and their locations in the world's oceans. Eric drew a map of Threa
and compared it with one of Tariatla in his textbook. Annala noticed and asked
about the former.

“Well, we don't have any monsters.” Annala gasped. “That's
bad, right?”

“If there are no monsters, then there must not be any mana
either,” Annala explained. “Mana powers our lights and our indoor heating and
air conditioning; our Crystalvisions and airships and scrys! How
do
you
live without mana?”

“We use other sources of energy, like electricity.”

Annala tilted her head to one side. “E-lec-tri-cty?”

“It's like lightning, but not as powerful.”

“How do you get this . . .electricity?”

Eric's confidence surged. Rarely was he needed to explain
anything to anyone; mechanics of commercial electricity flew from his mouth.
My
job
. . .. Memories flashed: losing his car, getting fired, Emily going out
with someone else. The warm feeling vanished and it was replaced by chill.

“Eric!” Annala looked at him with concern. “Are you okay?”

“ . . .Yeah . . .I'm fine.” He wasn't, but he would never
admit it because no one would want to hear the troubles of a loser. Annala
smiled and the warmth returned.

“When you're ready to tell me, I'll listen.”

“Really! I'm—”

“Ssso thisss isss how nerdsss flirt,” Oito said with a mock
scholarly tone. “What a fasssscinating dissscovery.” Eric blushed and Annala's
ears turned pink. “Don't you agree, Dr. Revasss?”

The cat-boy pulled out a notebook and scribbled. “I do
indeed. It's so hard to find a pair in their natural habitat. They scare
easily, you know.”