Chapter 9 Great Balls of Fire

The students in the class looked at Octavius with disbelief. They would have to fight to stay alive and continue training. Marsha was the first to speak up. "We were taken in by your protection, would you really half of us die like this? I thought you needed us?"

Octavius looked at her and laughed. "We don't give a shit about you all. You may think you are special but there are so many recruits that your death would mean nothing. I'll be really honest, for you women if you have any hopes of surviving you may want to consider making an arrangement."

The professor looked at her and the other women suggestively before turning his attention to me. "As for the loser who can't even control their manna if you have any hope of surviving you better pray to Satan for a miracle. The test will be this coming Saturday, in six days. You will be doing an all out battle royale. Once half of you is left the test will be completed."

Marsha had a look of shock on her face. "What if we refuse to fight? How are you any better than the Prophet? I have no desire to kill another human being."

Octavius narrowed his eyes into a slit as he looked at Marsha. "The war against the Prophet is all that matters. If it means sacrificing a few lives then so be it. Hell if it took a city to take down the Prophet then so be it. If you plan to serve our church, you need to be ready to kill in the name of Satan."

Lilly was getting incredibly angry at his words. She did not like the man using her existence as an excuse to force his will on others like this. To Lilly he was no better than the Prophet. Despite saying nothing, I could feel her anger burning. It pissed me off to no end as well. These women would not get the training they needed and would either die or have to pay for the right to live with sexual favors.

Anger flowed through me. I didn't know how I was going to manage it, but I wanted to kill this person. He was not someone who should be left alive. With that determination a felt an energy surge in me. Lilly told me my soul had gone through a slight change and I was now one step closer to evolution. She said I just needed one more push and I should evolve to the third circle.

As Lilly was talking to me, Octavius began going over the offensive spell "fer/faer" or basic conjuration of fire and the spell "Ayr/Ayer" for conjuration over wind. The first word in each series was for the men and the second was for the women and me. We were to spend the rest of the class period practicing.

Practice was just starting and many of the men were able to conjure the fire instantly. The women could conjure some but it was noticeably less potent. Lilly spoke in my mind, "That fool didn't even know the proper spell name for souls like yours. It is not faer or ayer. Those are just modifications made from the men's spells. While a woman could do it if they would not obtain the results the men have. Your next lesson will be worked on right now. Things have changed and we need to get you prepared by the end of the week. You need to learn about spell modification and the proper names of the spells for your soul."

"First you should know the basic names for these spell are "fayer" and "ar." The other spells were modified from the men's version. Even these spells I am giving you now can be made more powerful once you learn to modify them to fit your particular soul."

"With practice you will be able to chain spells together to combine them for a powerful effect. When we were escaping from your apartment I used the air spell combined with just the heat from the fire spell to create a burning blade of air. For the cost of 2 manna points I was able to greatly increase your spell power to something a level 3 soul would have trouble doing. However that was a more complex use. For now you need to know how to use the air to make your fireball bigger for the price of three manna."

"You will want to learn by the end of the week how to summon a 2 manna fire with a 1 manna burst from wind. This will create a fireball with the power of 8 manna for the price of 3. It will easily out do anything these mortals can do."

"However, for now, learning and mastering the basics is the most important. For now practice casting these spells. Remember, to keep suspicion off you it may be wise to cast these in your head while saying the men's version out loud. The choice is yours as I don't think it will affect your survival."

I chose to take Lilly's advice for now. She hadn't taken me down a bad path yet. Before I could begin practicing in earnest a fireball flew right past my head. I snapped my eyes into focus no longer deep in thought to see who the asshole was that through a fireball at me.

His friends called him Scab because of the injuries he had when he first came here. He was burned half to death by an Apostle and then left for dead in the street until someone could pick up his unclean corpse. The cult had managed to get to him first but that didn't stop the blistering and scabbing over of his wounds giving him his nick name. However, his real name was known as Dennis.

I looked him in the eyes and began thinking of the spell. I shouted out fer and expended 3 of my 6 manna and launched a ball of fire his direction while using the spell Lilly taught me. It seared just over his head lighting some of his hair on fire. "I said fire at me again and you will get a repeat of what the apostles did to you."

Everyone in the room was quiet. They hadn't expected quite a large fireball from me. When controlling this spell, unlike the light spell that wanted to release all the manna, this spell required strength of the soul to use more manna to cast it. The control required was great and it was something I had been forced to learn at a quick pace the last week. I got up and walked out of the room. I would train on my own away from these people.

Dennis tried to walk out with me before the man next to him grabbed his shoulder and told him to sit down. They weren't doing it for my sake. My fireball was bigger than Dennis'. Basically If I could control 3 manna Dennis at best could only control 2. It would be a losing battle for Dennis and he didn't want his friend getting hurt.

The professor just laughed and let me walk out. He was partially surprised by my ability as well. As I was walking down the hall I heard footsteps running up next to me. It was Marsha. "Hey wait!" she shouted.

I slowed down and let her catch up. "That was actually some impressive fire power. Compared to when you first started your magic control has drastically increased. I've seen you doing physical training but not much magic training. What is your secret. Can you help me? I don't want to kill anyone but I don't want to die either. Will you help me so I can defend myself well enough to survive until the end without killing?"

I looked at her for a few second and a tinge of jealousy jolted through me. I quickly shook the thought away. She was one of the only people who have ever been nice to me. Even when it looked like I was nothing but a loser. I'd hate to see an actual good person in this world die as well. Not only that but if we teamed up we had a better chance of surviving the culling coming during the weekend test.

"All right" I said. "I will help you but you have to learn exactly as I say. There is a trick to it, but I don't want you teaching it to anyone else. If you do, we are done!" Marsha quickly agreed. Lilly spoke in my head, "hey I can't stop you from teaching her what I have been teaching you but at this point you don't know her soul composition. At best you can teach her more powerful spells that may cause her to get by for a little while longer. I will not guide you on how to train her in a regimen. I will continue to train you but if you wish to give out your secret so quickly already like a fool I cannot stop you. However the more people learn your secrets the more likely you are to get found out and we will have to flee from this place sooner than we may need to prepare. If that is the case I will have to take control over your body to insure survival. Forcing me to do that for a long time could have horrible implications for your soul to the point I would become the new entity owning this body and your soul would disappear."

I knew that Lilly was right but I finally met someone who showed me kindness. Was it worth abandoning her on Lilly's advice? Well screw what Lilly thinks. What is the point of protecting myself only to live alone and miserable. I was going to do things my way. She was right it was my choice and I was tired of listening to people. I didn't want to just live to survive. Finally there was someone who needed me and I was not going to waste this kindness. With that my soul changed even more. I was on the verge of evolution again.

I looked over at Marsha and said to follow me back to my dorm. "What I am going to teach you is something you can speak to no one. It will be enough to keep you alive but if you aren't careful it could also put a target on your back. I can't tell you where I got this information. Are you willing to accept this risk and to not ask any questions"

Marsha looked at me and said, "Yes."

Chapter title "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lewis