The Price of Power

The destruction of the ten Oik was still very visible on the way into the heart of the academy, "I have a feeling Uri did more than just kill the attackers on the outside," Headmaster Solven commented, "Whatever he did, he wasn't himself in that aura of magic, I will leave you to care for him, I will have the automatons help clean up," The violence that had stained the cobblestone with a now dried crimson coating of blood. There were still the two bodies of his brother and sister, one with a crushed throat and the other simply destroyed and broken before being stabbed through the stomach, "Where was this violence from?" The headmaster talked to himself as he headed to the automatons were kept after they had done their jobs. There was a lot of cleaning to do and a few areas to restrict student access, Uri may have helped save the academy from having any losses of life but had caused a lot of other issues.

Ms. Rosewood and the angel entered a room that was in the infirmary of the academy. A fifth ice year student who had been sheltered in the building, noticed the large angel and the head of the life branch, "Ms. Rosewood, is it over?" His voice made her jump before holding her chest from the fright, "Sorry, I didn't have time to get to the dorms."

"It is fine," She pointed at a bed and the angel placed Uri's still unmoving body on the bed, "And since you are here, you might as well help me with this one, Yiri, how does that sound?" The student nodded, "Very well," She tossed him a pillow, "Put his head up slightly and make sure he still has a pulse."

"What happened to him?" Yiri asked as he did as the teacher told him. Ms. Rosewood placed a tray with various vials and bottles on the table next to the bed, "Did the attackers do this to him? Is there still fighting?"

"Well, yes and no, Yiri, he killed most if not all the Oik attackers, he ended the fight at least," Ms. Rosewood's comment made him freeze, "This is Uri, a first year life student."

"I thought I recognized him, but how?" Yiri noticed his lifeless eyes as Ms. Rosewood tore off the younger mage's shirt and began applying one of the liquids in the vials, "How exactly can a first year life student do that?"

"I don't know how to explain it but he sacrificed a lot for this," Yiri kept his hand on Uri's neck to check his pulse, "What is his pulse?"

"48, that is low, no?" Yiri asked as his hand didn't leave Uri's neck.

"It is, his body is out of every bit of energy he could muster it seems," She mentioned, "The academy is still locked down as we are ensuring that it is safe so if you want, I can take over from here, thank you."

"I have never heard those bells, it was scary," Yiri commented as he continued to count for Uri's pulse, "50."

"I was slightly worried, but you should've seen my first years, except this guy, he seemed like he knew this was coming," Yiri nodded as he continued to help Ms. Rosewood. The student teacher duo worked on keeping Uri alive as the lockdown was progressively lifted and the students were made aware of what had happened, at least of the minimum they should know to understand what the bells and the lockdown was for.

As the days went by, life at the academy was slowly returning to normal. Uri was still not able to properly communicate or move his body, only being able to move his eyes and indicate what was going on with himself in that manner. Kelly sat next to him for most of her time away from classes, today wasn't any different, "Hey Uri, are you feeling any better? Left good, right bad," He looked left, "That is nice... Um, I haven't done much interesting to be honest," She sighed, "I know you haven't done much either, what do you eat? Probably not a lot," Uri looked up at Kelly and tried to force his lips to move in order to give her a proper answer. It had been a few days in which he hadn't been able to say a thing to anyone and he wanted to talk to Kelly, he needed to.

"Kelly..." He wheezed. The sound of his voice made her have wide eyes and a large, ear to ear smile as she hugged him, "I... feel better..."

"You are speaking!" She exclaimed and made the fifth year life student, Elizabeth, on infirmary duty to notice and walk over, "I am so happy, so so happy, Uri."

"Improvement, your condition is getting better," Elizabeth mentioned, "If you continue like this, maybe you will be able to move more in a day or two, do you want to try and talk more? If so, I will go and get Headmaster Solven, he wishes to talk to you."

"What is wrong?"

"He didn't tell me, Kelly, he simply said that once Uri could talk, he needed to talk with him," Elizabeth shrugged, "And you know the headmaster, emotions and real meanings are so clear and obvious," Kelly rolled her eyes.

"Yeah totally, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth turned to Uri once more, "Keep trying to talk, maybe you will be able to regain more motor capacities that way," Uri smiled and felt his body slowly starting to restart and his senses coming back. His mind had all the time in the world to think about his actions and he expected himself to feel bad and to feel the weight of the deaths he caused. It seemed that the magic of the Dominator had been able to eat away at his remorse or his doubt about the deaths he had caused.

Two weeks after the Oik attack on the Mage Haven Academy, Uri, with a lot of difficulty to walk and move on his own, sat down with Headmaster Solven in his office for the interview that he was finally fit to do, "I am glad to see you walking around again, Uri."

"I am happy to be able to walk and talk," Uri placed his walking stick next to him on the floor and looked at the headmaster, "What do you want to talk about? Which part of that day?"

"I know that you have doubts about what I am going to ask you or what will happen to you," The headmaster began, "I can assure you that expelling you is not an option," Uri nodded, "I need to understand what happened within the wall of the academy and those ten Oik, I assume that you had something to do with that."

"It was my sister and brother and eight others, they tried to kill Kelly," Uri explained, "I have to confess that I was the person who entered the library that evening and I did find what I was looking for."

"You found?" Benjamin Solven looked very concerned.

"The seventh floor."

"Ah, I have heard of that floor, never seen it."

"Well it should be locked away forever, the text I stole but returned last evening were texts with magic that could reshape reality and magic itself, not something that should be let out from that stone prison," Uri explained, "The Dominator's magic is what I used to create my armor and weapon and to kill the Oik despite them using Sham' Bo and Teltovig to try and stop me."

"Can you explain everything that happened, step by step?" He nodded and then leaned back, "Take your time, just don't omit any details, they are important."

"When the bells warned the attack, I had already planned for that event to be coming soon as the dreams got more and more frequent and I had a feeling something was coming," Uri began as he began diving back into the moment he let the Dominator's Magic take over, "I separated from my group to guard the war tunnel entrance that lead into the academy."

"The what?"

"The entire campus is linked with tunnels, some dug by Oik attackers or Hulju attackers and others made to evacuate areas quickly," He explained, "They were lost to time, but this one was a Oik tunnel and so they knew where it was."

"I will have to have those filled in," Uri nodded, "But do go on."

"I hid and saw my brother and sister leave the tunnel with eight other Oiks," He rubbed his temple, "I forget what exactly happened, but Kelly was caught and I stepped out to protect her, letting my magic take over."

"You said take over, as in?"

"The magic creates an armor around me, so I am simply a vessel of its power, I use it to defend myself and others, it uses me to enable its own power."

"Do you remember anything else?"

"I killed all of them, yes, the ten Oik inside of the academy before sending Kelly to safety and then headed towards the outskirt where you were fighting the Oik distraction," Uri explained, "I remember everything until I took the armor off and I passed out, probably being drained by the movement and the magical tax on my body, then I woke up in the infirmary."

"That is a lot to unpack, Uri, but you must understand that when you killed those Oik in the fields and in the school, you broke rules but also saved lives."

"I only cared about that, I never cared about what harm would happen to me, especially the harm that could've happened to Kelly," Benjamin smiled, "Your daughter means a lot to me and I wouldn't let anyone harm her, no matter what it cost me."

"I appreciate that, Uri," Owliver placed a document on the headmaster's desk, "I have a proposition for you and that knowledge you have."

"A memory eater."

"Indeed," Uri shook his head, "Why not?"

"I was chosen and shown the path to this magic, I mustn't try to escape what I have done and what I am, I will keep my magic, regardless of the caution I need to take and the pain it would bring to my mind and body," Uri replied, "I have had a long time to think of this and I know what I must do."

"With what it did to your body, you must not cast those spells again."

"You have my word until the situation calls for that sort of sacrifice," Uri smiled and took his cane to stand up, "I appreciate everything you have done for me."

"What will it do if you use it again? Do you know?" The headmaster asked, "If that is even something you could know."

"It will probably kill me," Uri answered as he continued to limp to the door.

"One last thing," Uri turned and looked at the headmaster as he headed to the door, "You will need to check in with either myself or Helena Rosewood every week, for your safety and ours."

"I can understand that," He replied as he turned and arduously walked to the door, "Have a good day, Headmaster Solven," The door opened as he walked out and he smiled, looking at the other students going about their after class lives. They were alive thanks to him and he was alive thanks to the various students who helped him during his recovery. Kelly was leaning against the pillar of the gate that led to the Headmaster's tower, "Are you waiting for someone?" He asked as he made his way towards her.

"Yeah, I was waiting for my hero," She hugged him tightly before her arm wrapped around his, "What do you want to do now?"

"I have no clue, Kelly, simply enjoy the fact that I am alive," He laughed as others looked at him and his cane. The rumors and stories about what he had done that day were both accurate and overblown by Kelly's account and the students who listened to him when he was recovering but none of them were really sure about what was real or fake, but they knew he had done something important.