I shouldn’t be surprised detention was something these people do, then again, everything else they do is old. I guess punishment is universal no matter where you are. I didn’t even do anything except get beat up, again. That Denny kid is becoming a real problem for me. I need to find a way to deal with him. He’s been going out of his way just to mess with me. We’re not in any of the same classes or anything, but he keeps showing up. It’s like he’s sneaking around trying to get me. I just can’t figure out how he keeps finding me. I’ve tried to take different routes back and forth between classes. I tried skipping class, but that only got me here. Now I’m supposed to clean some statues.

“Hold still,” A tall guy in robes shouts at me while trying to aim a finger at me.

I feel a slight shock and he starts walking around me like some kind of psycho. I try to step away and he pushes me back in place like I’m some kind of science project. Finally, he stops and smiles like he’s admiring his work.

“What was that,” I can’t help but ask.

“You had a tracking spell on you. Really easy to learn, any idiot can do it. Just need to sacrifice a portion of your magic energy. The more magic you use, the longer it’ll last. There’s simplicity in that one. Follow me, we have work to do,” the man starts walking.

“So, who are you?”

“You may call me Brother Elser.”

“Can you tell who put that spell on me?”

“With a bit of work, yes. But I have a feeling you may already know.”

“Yeah, I have an idea.”

“The bruises you’re attempting to hide may have been caused by the same person.

“They aren’t that bad,” I suddenly see the usefulness of long sleeve T-shirts.

“I disagree, they show that you’ve been in some battles recently. Different colors and locations, mean it has been a consntant,” Mr. Elser says without looking back at me.

“They weren’t really battles, more like one sided beatings.”

“Well, you survived.”

“But I didn’t win, and I got detention.”

“Firstly, surviving is always more important than winning. If you survive, you can win later but winning means nothing if you are dead. You did not win against the vampire or vampires that held you captive, you survived,” I guess he has a point. I don’t even remember seeing the fight. “Secondly, this is not detention; you are not being detained, nor are you being punished. This is a simple reprimand. I aim to teach you new ways of thinking, not punish you for the old,” he speaks like he had that prepared. Stupid, readymade speech.

We make our way to a giant statue in a plaza where a few walking paths meet. It looks like an Elf from everything I’ve learned so far here. This guy kind of looks like an elf, I wonder if they’re related. Wait, is that racist? Is this dude even an elf? I’m an elf racist, this is terrible. He points to the ladder and cleaning supplies placed off to the side. I guess I’ll be spending my detention cleaning this statue. This is going to take me forever. Doesn’t make sense to clean from the bottom up; all the soap just drips back down to where you already cleaned, so you have to clean it again.

“I’m sorry for your people,” I offer Mr. Elser an apology before I climb the ladder and start with the head. He seems somewhat confused.

“Why have you been checking out books about magic in the library,” Mr. Elser asks me. He doesn’t yell, but I can still hear him up here.

“How do you know that?”

“I just do. Please answer the question.”

“I just want to know about magic. My turn, how do you know I check out books.”

“I am the coordinator for our libraries. The librarians talk about a child trying to read books on magic that are beyond his years.”

“I’m not a child.”

“Seventeen, not fourteen. Yes,yes, they mentioned that as well,” he waves his hand dismissively. “You have certainly left an impression on members of my circle in a short time.”

“So, you want me to stop reading books? That’s stupid. Don’t you know reading is fundamental,” I pause my scrubbing to look down at him.

“I want you to continue reading books, not many youth take advantage of the knowledge that is free to them. I want you to understand you don’t need to do everything on your own. I had a son, no pupil, who had a similar issue. He wanted to do everything on his own and at his own pace. You are part of a community now. We help each other, as we all share a common purpose. You may be forced to slow down, or speed up to keep together, but it may benefit you.”

“Doesn’t feel like a community to me. I’ve been getting beat up for like a month straight at this point. The first time anyone did something about it and I got stuck cleaning statues. How is that a community? How is that fair? Why should I slow down when I’m trying to get away,” he’s not saying anything wrong, but it still makes me angry to hear the words. Do my feelings not matter in a community?

“I once made the mistake of not hearing out that other pupil when he complained this was not a community. I will not make the same mistake again. Hate me if you wish, but I will not allow you to self-destruct as he did.

I don’t know who he’s talking about but if they made the same complaints, maybe there’s a problem with this community that they aren’t looking at. Maybe this place needs to be fixed but they’re stuck trying to live like ancient times.

“You like magic, correct,” Elser asks me breaking the silence.

“Yes.”

“May I offer to answer any questions you may have? I believe myself to be one of the most well studied mages on this side of the world,” Elser makes a serious offer to me.

“Okay, fine. Before I came here, I was able to use magic. I learned from an old man who took care of me for a while. I couldn’t do a lot, but I could do things like make a light, and I could shoot off some electric blasts from my hand. Now I can’t do any of that. My arm just cramps up and puts off some sparks whenever I try.”

He begins to circle the statue and waves his hand for me to keep cleaning. He keeps pacing, and I keep scrubbing. Most well-read mage my butt. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I’ve finished half the statue before he stops pacing and calls me back down to the ground. Probably just going to tell me he doesn’t have any clue, and he’ll just search for answers later.

“Where you able to cast spells from both hands,” he speaks quickly.

“No, just my right hand.”

“Give me you arm.”

I hold my arm out and his hand starts to glow a pale but warm yellow color, the white parts of his eyes slowly begin to match. He traces my arm a few times. He makes a few noises like he’s thinking and releases my arm.

“Magical energy has been blocked from entering your right hand. Meaning more magic energy is trying to escape than is able to. Essentially, there is a buildup. I can’t completely remove a block this severe, but I did loosen it. However, you may never be able to cast spells reliably with your right hand again. Any spells you cast may be weak, or all of the energy may force through at once. If you were indeed seventeen and you were my student, I would look into learning spells with your left hand. Alternatively, getting a tool to channel your magic energy through. Wands and rings are common, but don’t be afraid to use a bow or sword. If you weren’t verbalizing your spells before, you may need to now. A blockage can be as much mental as physical.”

“Wait, is that it? You fixed it like that?”

“I did what I could, it’ll never be perfect again.”

“You mean I can use magic again? That’s great, everything is better, now,” I jump up and throw my fist in the air. It’s silly but that’s really how I feel.

“Stop,” his demeanor changes from one of no emotion to rage.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Yes. Your emotions, they are wild, and out of control. If you ever wish to be a great mage you will need to calm your spirits. You need two things to be a great mage. Do you know what they are?”

“No,” I try to contain myself.

“The first is knowledge, you took the initiative to read through texts and learn on your own. So, with time you will be knowledgeable. The second is serenity. You need to keep your head clear, if you wish to be and effective spellcaster.”

“What about passion? Shouldn’t you like to do it?”

“Passion only brings more emotion. Emotion clouds your mind. The opposite of serenity. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good, I hope to see you in one of my advanced magic classes one day. Just keep those two principles in mind. We’re done here for today. Cleaning statues won’t make you a better mage.”

“Thank you.”

“You are welcome,” Elser’s walk is much lighter than when we made our way here. Is he, happy?

Either way, I have no clue what just happened. One minute he was all calm, then he was yelling at me about needing to calm down. Now he looks like he’s trying not to skip. That dude is strange. But I guess he might have fixed my arm. Not sure I can do magic with my left hand. I’ve tried to write with my left hand a few times before. I wanted to be ambidextrous, but my left hand is so bad. This is the first good thing to happen to me in months. I’m going to be able to use magic again.