World of Laws and Magic: Through The Gates

Nick finished his breakfast, threw away the trash and left the cafeteria. Based on the directions that he got from his smartphone, High Spirits Restaurant should be a twenty minute walk from his dorm so Nick made his way over, standing at the restaurant doors about twenty five minutes later. Nick looked around and saw that the streets were filled with students, most going into stores and others going into restaurants and cafes; most everybody was with a friend or group of friends in contrast to Nick's situation where he has been at the academy for one year but did not have a single friend.

(That's probably a good thing, not that most people would agree with that.)

Slade chimed in with a mischievous tone:

[Is the woman you're meeting now not your 'friend'?]

Nick replied:

(Not everyone who helps you is your friend, right? That's the situation with Marsha; honestly, something about that woman gives me the creeps.)

[Ha, ha, ha. Well, at least you have some discernment. I may just be a will but I've still retained some of my capabilities with wisdom magic and when you were having your conversation with this Marsha character, my intuition was signaling that we should be wary of her.]

(What's that warning based off of?)

[It could be the information I've gathered from your thoughts or it could be based on something that I am not consciously aware of, intuition from wisdom magic can be obtained from the smallest and most innocuous stimuli. Anyway, do what you will with my small warning.]

Nick walked into High Spirits Restaurant and saw that there weren't much customers in the restaurant at this time, not even Marsha who mentioned before that she liked to be early for events was here yet. Nick went to the female cashier and ordered a chocolate covered doughnut and after receiving the doughnut, he took a seat at the far left corner of the dining area, waiting for Marsha to arrive. Nick wasn't much interested in the doughnut, he only bought it so that the restaurant supervisor wouldn't say that he was loitering and so he mostly thought about what he was going to discuss with Marsha. Nick had a certain intention behind meeting Marsha, it was to get some financial support in order to complete the contract that he got from Carla Jenner. Producing 20,000 high quality magic scrolls was no easy task and assuming that he wasn't going to create each one perfectly, he needed ample supplies in terms of ink, paper and storage devices. All this required money which he did not have but he knew for sure that Marsha was wealthy or at least her family was; it was a long shot, but he wanted to form a profit sharing partnership between himself and Marsha.

Nick kept going over how the conversation might go in his mind and just like that, over thirty minutes had passed and Marsha still had not arrived, although it was well past their agreed upon meeting time.

(Am I being stood up?)

Nick silently shook his head.

(She suggested the restaurant and even helped me with Katherine last night, there's no way that she would put in all that effort and then not show up. I should give her a call to see what's taking so long.)

When Nick took out his smartphone and was about to make the call, Marsha finally walked into the restaurant but she was not alone. Nick squinted his eyes as he looked at the person Marsha had brought along.

"That's...Greg North."

Nick remembered the blue eyed, blonde haired young man whom he had met during the end of year exam.

(This is unexpected, I wonder what excuse Marsha is going to use for bringing him along.)

Nick didn't even have to make himself known as Marsha spotted him not long after she entered the restaurant. Marsha smiled brightly and motioned for Greg to follow her to Nick's table.

"Hello Nick, good to see you, I'm sorry I'm late but I ran into my associate, you remember Greg North from the exam, right?"

Marsha made an excuse and pointed to Greg as if to break the ice. She then walked up to Nick and pat him on the shoulder. Marsha came so close that Nick could smell the fragrance that Marsha was emitting, Nick didn't like Marsha's chumminess but endured it for the sake of his intentions.

"Well, I'm going to order some food and I'll be right back."

Marsha ran to the cashier without even explaining why Greg was even here which angered Nick a great deal but he did not let it show on his face. Greg sat down opposite to Nick and spoke:

"I bet you were not expecting me, right? Sorry to interrupt your date like this but since Marsha told me this morning that she was going to meet the rank 9 student in our year to talk about the exam and magic, I just couldn't resist and tagged along. It's nice to see you again."

Greg reached out to shake Nick's hand and as he was about to tell Greg that he did not want to shake his hand, Nick caught a whiff of the scent that Greg was emanating. A sudden realization came into Nick's mind and so he grabbed his backpack from beside his chair, got up and left the restaurant without giving Greg a reason or telling Marsha why he was leaving. Nick walked quickly towards his dorm. Slade was confused by his actions.

[Why did you leave so suddenly and without an explanation?]

(Their scent?)

Slade grew even more confused.

[What about their scent?]

(Both Marsha and that playboy had the same scent coming off of them. What those people do together are their own business but the fact that he came along with her and that they shared a similar scent is too coincidental, they are likely in cahoots.)

[So what? Alliances between Magicians is nothing new and even intimate ones are common place. Why alter your plans because of this revelation?]

Nick said with a vein bulging from his forehead:

(Look, you've read my thoughts so what I'm about to say should not come as a surprise but anyone who plots against me deserves to die, I don't care who they are or what their reasoning. I warned Marsha once and she decided to pull some bullshit again. She seemed useful but now I think that she's more trouble than she is worth. Those two having some kind of alliance is none of my business but when she starts forcing me to deal with people I hardly know, to me, that is no different than treachery. From now on, I will not be personally involved with Marsha Cassidy.)

Slade was a little caught off guard by Nick's extremeness in this matter.

[You know, kid, I only vaguely sensed it before as you went through the exam but I can definitely confirm it now.]

(Confirm what?)

[That you and I are very similar people. You've got the devil inside of you.]

(Huh?)

Slade went silent.

...............

Greg North sat in his chair, a little shocked by Nick's sudden departure after he tried to shake his hand.

"What could that have been about?"

Greg heard running foot steps approaching him and turned his head to see Marsha coming closer to him, her normally cute face clearly radiating anger.

"What the hell happened?"

Greg shrugged his shoulders and replied:

"I have no idea, I stretched my hand out to shake his and then he just left."

Marsha felt troubled, she had planned to use this opportunity to form some sort of coalition between the three of them but instead Nick who she thought would definitely be an asset left before she could make any serious moves.

(I'm not surprised that he didn't shake Greg's hand, he's not the friendly type...oh. He must have become suspicious after he saw that I brought Greg. When we talked in the library in the past, he told me to be straight forward with him but I did not think that my little power play would illicit this kind of reaction, that's not normal but then again Nick is a Magician, is he supposed to act normal? Sigh, I messed up.)

Marsha rubbed her forehead in frustration and said to Greg:

"My plan failed and I've probably pissed off a possibly very troublesome guy so at least for now, let's leave Nick Capitol out of our arrangement."

Greg shrugged his shoulders again and replied:

"That's fine with me."

................

Nick got back to his dorm room and Slade asked him:

[Now what?]

"Now...I have to move forward without Marsha in mind."

Nick looked at his smartphone and saw three missed calls from Marsha, all in the last thirty minutes.

"Hmph, I won't willingly be the target of anyone's schemes. Slade, when can I start using the corpse to repair my soul?"

[At any time really. The process involves drawing a formation that involves a certain mystical language and it will definitely not be pleasant. You will probably need a day or so to recover from the physical and mental strain of the process.]

"In that case, I'll start tomorrow after I come back from my outing."

Tomorrow the academy would be giving all of its students permission to be off campus grounds for about twelve hours so Nick wanted to use the opportunity to initiate his plans for fulfilling the contract that he had with the General Beast Store.

"The contract will be more difficult to complete without outright financial support like I was planning to get from Marsha but I can think of a few ways to get the ball rolling. When I get back to my room tomorrow, I'll need to repair my soul because I can intuit that my magical capabilities are impaired right now."

Slade chimed in:

[And you'd be exactly correct. I was waiting on you to try to use your magic before explaining things but you haven't up to this point so I hadn't gotten the chance. With your soul damaged as it is, you'll probably find it very difficult to perform a spell. Go ahead and try.]

"Sigh."

Nick tore a piece of paper from his notebook that was on his desk and attempted to use Big. The laws started to form in his mindscape, then half way through, they collapsed. A line of blood emerged from Nick's mouth, going down his face; the spell had failed and he received a small backlash.

"I can't focus when creating the symbols for the laws."

[The mind and soul are tightly linked and at your level, any damage to the soul will significantly impact your ability to perform spells and manipulate magic in other ways so take note and be wary of making deals with strange Magicians.]

Nick could hear the smugness in Slade's tone but he ignored it since Slade was right.

"I'll spend the rest of today meditating and then get some sleep at around midnight."

Nick sat at his desk and started his meditation; the magic energy within his room became turbulent as a rotating whirlpool of magic energy formed over Nick's head.

Some eight hours later...

Nick opened his eyes and the whirlpool of magic energy dispersed. Nick got up from his chair and was immediately hit with a wave of exhaustion. This was supposedly the consequence of meditating with a damaged soul, his mind was put under twice the stress. Nick waddled over to his bed and fell into it, going into a deep sleep.

................

RING RING RING RING

Nick's alarm rang at 5 am and he shakily got up out of bed. Nick ran to take a shower and after that he got dressed. Nick went to the cafeteria to get a breakfast of two servings of eggs, sausages and toast with an orange juice. Nick took thirty minutes to eat his breakfast and then headed towards the academy gates. Twenty minutes later, Nick stood in front of the same gates that he stood at almost one year ago, feeling nostalgic. Nick looked around.

(Why isn't there a stream of students itching to leave the academy grounds.)

Nick walked to the guard post near the gate which he had to report to before leaving the campus. The male guard stationed there sat at a desk in a well made steel booth and looked on as Nick approached him.

"Good morning, sir. I would like to leave the campus today and return a few hours from now. By the way, why are there no students rushing to leave at this time, it seems strange?"

The guard answered Nick nonchalantly:

"That's because most students who intend to leave will do so in a few days, staying with their families for the two months that classes aren't being held. Third years mostly never leave campus unless for a mission and generally only a few second and first years bother leaving the campus today."

Nick nodded in understanding.

"Well, can I just leave now?"

The guard reached for a plastic covered card on his desk that had the academy's logo of a lion eating its own paw and that had the words: 'Student', on it. The guard spoke:

"This card should be worn visibly at all times so the that local authorities know who you are. If you commit any crimes while off campus, the academy will be responsible for administering your punishment and depending on the severity of the crime, that could include execution. This card also has protection properties to keep you from injury as you are not allowed to use your magic against non-Magicians until you are in your third year. This card will also act as a tracking device and if you ever need help just speak the word 'help' with serious intention or tap the card three times continuously and the academy will find and help you within seconds. Be aware that if you do this while not being in danger, you will be charged a fine."

Nick nodded his head and took the card from the guard and pinned it on his left chest pocket, making it clearly visible. Nick then walked through the academy gates.