Chapter 12 – He Knows?

Blake looked down as he considered the possibilities. On one hand he could imagine that he could learn ice magic if he went with water, the thought absolutely thrilled him. Another hand he couldn’t deny that being able to learn stealthy magic would be really nice to have. For that reason alone he really wanted to go with darkness. He just had too many choices to pick from.

Aaron cleared his throat which snapped Blake out of his concentration. He lifted his face to face Aaron. “If I can suggest one, I would say to pick darkness since those people saw your affinity with it. It might be bad if they see you using two other ones besides darkness.” Blake briefly considered Aaron’s suggestion but dismissed it.

“I don’t think that really matters much. All it would do is prolong the inevitable. There might come a time in the future where I’m forced to reveal that I have all the different affinities, especially when the demons attack.” Blake responded.

“You make a good point. I still worry but as you said, we can’t keep it a secret forever. That being said, I’d still recommend darkness, along with life and light.” Blake raised an eyebrow.

“Why those three in particular?” Blake asked.

“The three I mentioned are mainly used for support type magic. It only makes sense that you pick one of them since you started with fire which is powerful enough by itself.” Blake was convinced.

“So can you give a brief explanation of what I can learn with each one?” He asked.

“Sure, life is pretty simple, you can use healing magic. Darkness is for stealth, curses, and deceit. Light is for lifting curses, seeing through deception/lies, and can be used to fight undead monsters. Well that’s just a basic explanation, but it should help.” With this new knowledge, Blake tried to pick from one of those three but it was impossible for him. He could see himself needing all three in the future. Frustrated, he swung himself back and laid on the ground.

As he kept lying there he started to hear a voice. It sounded familiar but it wasn’t Aaron who he could see next to him. He closed his eyes to blink but found everything to be dark upon opening them. He struggled to get up as his eyes adjusted. Once his eyes had adjusted he looked around and realized he was in the wagon. Everyone, Jack, his companions, Norman and Esmerelda were chatting away.

“Where did Aaron go?” Blake thought.

“You woke up and from the looks of it, a lot of time has passed.” Aaron said. “Have you decided yet?”

“If I keep trying to think about it, I won’t decide anytime soon. So I guess I’ll just go with darkness since I can potentially master all of them.” Blake responded.

“Alright, I’ll tell you more later since you can’t even practice it now in front of other people.” Blake immediately goes back to observing his surroundings. He looks outside but only sees dark blurs going by so he assumes they’re passing through the forest and are going back home. He noticed that Anna wasn’t around but he noticed her sleeping next to him.

Blake decided that he needed more information, any that he could get. He resolved himself to move closer to try and eavesdrop on the conversations everyone up front was having. Just as he was about to get to it, the wagon went over a bump on the road. The impact caused Blake to get jerked forward. He fell and made hard contact with the wooden floor. He pushed himself back up but his head was throbbing in pain.

Nobody had noticed him fall but the wagon shaking had caused Anna to wake up. She had gotten up and was looking around drowsily. After a minute, she finally noticed Blake. “You woke up!” she yelled. Everyone in the front besides Norman turned to them. Blake and Anna were called to go join them. They crawled their way over to them. They settled down next to Esmerelda who was sitting next to Jess and Ivy. Blake in particular seemed to have the attention of everyone on the wagon.

“You were starting to worry your parents, boy.” Ralph announced. He patted Blake on the head.

“Really?” Blake asked.

“Indeed, you suddenly passed out but you didn’t wake up. A lot of hours have passed by this point.” Ivy confirmed with them.

“Oh.” Blake responded. He didn’t think so much time would have passed in the short time he was with Aaron. Jess suddenly clapped her hands. She turned to Norman but he continued to look forward at the road.

“Back to the topic at hand. Norman, I must ask again, would you be interested in allowing Blake to go to the Royal academy.” Norman remained unchanging, silently facing forward at the path. Everyone was silent as they awaited a response but not even a word escaped Norman’s mouth. Then they heard it. The smallest snoring was coming from him. Norman had fallen asleep. Esmerelda was getting up and reaching for the reins but Jack beat her to it.

“Thanks Jack. I apologize, the stress along with the lack of asleep must have gotten to him. Would one of you be kind enough to help me to lay him down in the back?” Ralph stood up and pulled the sleeping man over to the back where he couldn’t abruptly fall off. Jack proceeded to step onto the front.

“I’ll take the charge of the reins. It’s getting late now all of you guys should get some shut eye.” Esmerelda took up the offer without a second thought. She laid down next to Norman, pulling Anna and Blake with her. The group of adventurers continued to chat a while longer but they also lost to sleep. Before long only Blake and Jack were still awake.

Blake closed his eyes shut in an attempt to sleep but it was to no avail. He had too much energy to spare since he had been sleeping for however many hours on end. He found himself with nothing to do so he turned his face to look up at the sky. Blake found himself mesmerized by the sight. Thousands of dots, brightly shining, filled the darkness that encompassed them. In his boredom he had started looking for constellations. After not finding a single one, the realization that he wouldn’t find the constellations in this world came to him. While slightly disappointed, he wasn’t too bothered.

Out of nowhere the wagon came to a sudden halt. Blake looked around for any sign of what may have caused it but nothing came to view. Instead he heard the sound of running water which greatly confused him. He stood up and moved over to peer over the edge of the wagon. To his dismay he was greeted with a pair of arms. With incredible speed they wrapped around Blake’s head.

They started to pull him and he started to lose balance. He tried to push himself backward but it didn’t work. The arms kept constricting around his head. Almost like a snake with its prey. They kept moving until his mouth and nose were covered. He couldn’t breathe. In his desperation he tried forcing the arms off. He mustered every bit of strength he could but his struggles were in vain. His hands just phased through the arms. He couldn’t touch them, they were like water. They continued to pull Blake further and further. In one final attempt he said, “Augue.” Light appeared in Blake’s hand. It continued to gather until Blake could feel the heat radiating off of it. Instead of launching the ball of fire, he brought it directly up to the arms. Blake felt the fireball make contact but there was no scream, no screech, no noise whatsoever; his fireball seemed to have been absorbed by whatever had latched onto him.

At the same time, Blake felt his strength run out. He felt himself fall out of the wagon, but he didn’t hit the ground. He felt like he was being carried somewhere. The forest he assumed. With his consciousness waning he wondered what would happen to him. Suddenly he felt being set down on something before being released of his kidnapper’s clutches. He gasped for air, one deep breath after another. He struggled to force his eyes open. When he did, terror filled him inside as he realized he hadn’t been taken one foot away from the wagon. He found himself right next to Jack who looked down at him with a menacing look.

“Aaron was right. This man isn’t normal. He seemed fine but then he does this.” Blake thought. Blake was about yelling but it seemed like Jack could read his mind.

“If you try yelling or running away, it won’t end well for you.” He whispered. It was more than enough to keep Blake quiet. Before long Jack had started back on the road. It was quiet for a while, Blake was too scared to speak and Jack didn’t say a thing.

“Aaron are you there?” Blake thought.

“I am.”

“Any ideas?” Blake asked.

“None at all, just comply for now and inform father and mother when you can. It’s so frustrating that I can’t do anything. If only I had my own body.” Aaron said.

After a few minutes of absolute silence Jack cleared his throat. “It would be in your best interest to answer all of my questions Blake, or should I say Aaron.”