Wizards

CHAPTER 1: Norris Mansion

Rei Griffin already made peace with the fact that everything was always going to be blamed on her. It always has been for the seventeen years of her life living in the Kid Ranch. And because everything and everyone around her was always ending up in a bad place, everyone in the orphanage called her "blight". Nobody wanted to play with her. Nobody wanted to get close.

     It was just a random thought that came to mind as Rei held on tight to the grocery bag while stepping out of the mini-store. She looked up. Dark clouds were brewing up the sky. The wind blew hard, tossing her brown hair, and would have also lifted her favorite skirt had she wore them — thankfully she didn't. Instinct told her to wear white t's and blue jogging pants.

     Rei decided to put the grocery bag down on a bench in a waiting shed few phases away from the mini-store to tie her hair. It started raining.

     "Of course. . . ." she sighed.

     No choice. She had to stay and wait for it.

     She crumpled a piece of paper and threw it on the side of the road. It was the list of the things she bought — she thought she didn't need it anymore.

     A woman spoke behind her, "That, child, is the number one reason why there are non-stop floods everywhere, aside from the illegal cuttings of our trees, that is one of the top reasons."

     Rei looked back. It was Mrs. Lita Scott who likes to wear floral outfits all the time, and beside her is Mrs. Susan Summer who was more of a bitter winter than summer.

     "Oh — let the child mind her own business, Lita," said Mrs. Summer.

     "I worry about the planet, Susan!"

     "You know what? You should be more worried about what happened to the Norrises! They're much closer to us than that nonsense you're blabbering about."

     "Susan, I told you gas explosion is what happened to that mansion!"

     "Impossible!" Mrs. Summer exclaimed, "It couldn't be! Nobody heard an explosion! What a mystery 'twas!"

     "Bah! That land was over fifteen hundred acres! We wouldn't hear it even if one of those war bombs fell on it."

     "That is non-sense, Lita!"

     "Don't tell me you believe the rumors?" said Mrs. Scott, "That they were sorcerers?"

     "How else could you explain it? I mean — who knows? Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. Too many mysteries in this world, I tell you!"

     "Wanna hear another mystery? My husband, he's starting to care more for me these days! I suspect he's cheating —"

     As Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Summer's conversation furthered, Rei's attention started to focus more on the rain that was starting to ease off. She couldn't stay and listen. She didn't want to anyway.

     Rei grabbed all her things and went for it. A little drizzle won't hurt, she thought.

     "Be careful on your way home, child!" said Mrs. Summer.

     Rei smiled at Mrs. Summer and kept on walking. She couldn't delay any longer, or Sister Annie back in the Kid Ranch would start breathing fire.

     Rei's steps were slowed. . . . Why does it matter? She's days away from turning eighteen — days away from being dismissed from the Kid Ranch. All her life, all she does was chores, be cute, play around with the other kids, and hope someone adopts her. Now she's days away for sudden changes. . . . And she's worried of a little scolding?

     Passing by the final block on her way back to Kid Ranch, she noticed the Norris Mansion. It was burned . . . destroyed . . . wrecked. It used to be a proud mansion — indestructible. Now it was torn in half, and rumors were all the maids, butlers, security guards, kitchen staff, and the whole family was turned into ashes. And nobody saw what happened, nobody heard anything, nobody knew until they saw it torn in half in the morning.

     Rei never did have a chance to see what's inside this dreadful mansion. And while she stood by the gates of it, she distinctly recalled the nights of parties and gatherings of different social beings that walked like they owned every land they stepped on, walked around covered in diamonds and gold, walked around people like her as if they didn't exist.

     Rei grabbed the iron gate, it creaked as it opened.

     If to walk on these grounds felt like this, if being rich and famous felt like this: dark and dull — then she was glad she wasn't one of them. The dark feeling of cold and heavy air worsens as she reached the front stairs. The air got thicker and it was suddenly harder to breathe. Something inside her felt like there was something wanted to crawl out. It got worst as she reached the top of the stairs — her heart pounded harder.

     It was made out of mahogany, the door. She remembered it. She imagined it. That's about the only thing left to do to see what the door looked like — imagine it as though it wasn't replaced by a huge hole, blasted from the outside.

     How can that have been done without causing any racket? She thought.

     But aside from the huge hole and the whole place torn in half, pieces of wood were scattered. Everything — burnt.

     She reached the next room while scanning the area, especially the ceiling that was still intact. Although a bit burnt, a painting was still visible. It was a group of people, raising their bloodied hands on a red sun shining above them.

     She reached another room, still scanning the area. Her eyes were jumping from one burnt material to another. And before she finished her thoughts, a loud c***k echoed. Her foot got stuck between the cracked floors. She lifted her head, and in front of her, eight eyes from four gentlemen covered in black cloak stabbed her like a pointed dagger. They were probably wondering how foolish that a lost lamb like her wondered carelessly into the wolves' den. They stood and watched Rei struggled harder to free her foot.

     Three of them looked at her as if she was fresh meat, ready for devouring. The other one looked at her with shock. It was almost in between surprise and disappointment as though blaming her for something.

     Rei found it amusing. . . . She's about to die (although she hoped not) and yet someone was still blaming something on her. Rei opened her mouth. But before she could utter a word, two of the gentlemen grabbed a long black thin stick inside their cloaks.

     A wand? Rei thought.

     And then . . . a blinding light exploded as a voice bellowed words Rei have never heard before.

     "Ivato Magnus!" said the voice followed by a muffled thud.

     Rei closed her eyes. There was shattering glass and wood breakings, and then there was groaning that was evidence of immense pain.

     "Cendierus!" a distant voice yelled.

     Rei opened her eyes. A huge flame shot from the outside straight to one of the men who were in a black cloak. He was the only one standing there, armed with his own wand. The three who looked obviously sinful weren't there anymore.

     The man in black cloak slashed his wand and the flame disappeared.

     "A spy!" the distant voice screamed.

     The other one shouted something that Rei wasn't able to hear clearly, it sounded like the word "caster". Rei had no idea what it meant. She heard footsteps of people running away and it gradually faded. The man in front of her let out a sigh. With a frown, he looked at Rei. "You ruined my cover," he said.

     He pointed his wand at the cracked floor.

     "Pulvio!"

     The floor holding Rei's foot turned into dust.

     "What did you say?" Rei asked.

     "I said you ruined my cover. Weren't you listening?"

     "That was hardly a cover, mister," said Rei with her hands on her waist, "Your eyes betrayed you — the other guys were just stupid enough to miss it."

     "Doesn't matter," he said, "They wouldn't have seen me if it weren't for your big clumsy feet."

     "You're a magician. . . ."

     "Wizard," he interrupted after looking away from her. "Magicians pull rabbits out of hats. Wizards can kill you with one whip of a wand — but if that's how you want to call us. Be my guess."

     "I knew I wasn't crazy . . . I saw one of you when I was a child. So, people with magic are really . . . real?"

     "If you can't figure out the answer by what you witnessed — then you're as stupid as those men you insulted."

     The man faced Rei, enough for her to have a clear view of his face that has the same features as hers; brown hair and brown eyes — except for the part where his jaws were broad, eyebrows were thick, and his skin was brown, and hers was white.

     The man gazed at her and almost dropped his jaw in the process.

     "What?" said Rei.

     "Nothing," answered the man and he looked away.

     "Your name isn't 'Charming' by any chance, is it?"

     "Eliot," he said, and pulled out his wand to Rei to which immediately triggered her to pose in an awkward fighting stance.

     "What's that supposed to be?" Eliot raised an eyebrow.

     "I know how to fight! I grew up in a tough neighborhood!"

     Eliot couldn't help but laugh — was that supposed to scare him? It wasn't very effective, was it?

     "I'm not going to hurt you," he said, "I'm just erasing your memory."

     "What?"

     "Code 6 demands it," he said, "We can't be seen by a Magicless — that's you."

     Before Rei could utter a word, the tip of Eliot's wand lit up.

     "Dediscio!" he said.

     Rei closed her eyes — heart pounding, heavy breathing. She was waiting for something that'll hit her. She was expecting something hard, or warm, or hot, or maybe something liquid-like. But there was nothing. She was still aware of everything. She was still aware of what happened before and what happened just then.

     She opened her eyes and Eliot wasn't there anymore. Was that just a trick to make a window so that he can escape and that she couldn't follow him? Eliot may have tricked Rei, but she's one tenacious-seventeen-year-old orphan who doesn't know how to quit.

     She just saw evidence that she wasn't being crazy in believing that, apart from animals and humans, other earthly beings roamed the earth. She just dove into something magical and she wanted more. She knew it was real, wizards and magic. The ambers from their fight left a mark on the wooden floor. That was real, and she was not dreaming at all.

     A cracking sound from outside interrupted her thoughts. She followed the sound and reached the outskirts of the forest, quick enough to catch Eliot on her line of sight. His hand was stretched up, holding his wand, and slashed it in a downward motion. The bushes and trees split and gave way inside the forest.

     Rei followed him, trying all her best to stay quiet, to move quietly. Still, behind Eliot, she crouched behind the bush, watching his every move.

     Standing in front of a big tree, he does it again with his wand; slashed the tree straight down in the middle. The big tree became an inosculation. It split in half and made a hole in the middle, enough to fit a ten-foot man if there was ever any.

     Eliot entered and vanished behind the inosculation leaving Rei the chance for observation. It was seconds, was it five or six? Rei didn't count. The tree started to move again, returning from its original form. Rei never jumped that fast before. It was so fast that it happened first before the realization that that was a stupid idea.

     Everything swirled. The trees and leaves dematerialized. Rei had been spinning for eight seconds — she counted. Her stomach was turning upside-down. Her eyes were spinning, followed by a high-pitched ring in her ears. She could easily vomit. But everything returned to its place as she felt the dirt rubbed her face.

     Rei quickly got up and turned her head in every direction. With great certainty, she figured this wasn't the forest behind the Norris Mansion. And then she slapped herself. Because why not?

     "Oh dear, what have I done?"

     Another branch crackings and brushings on grass pulled her out from her own thoughts. She continued to follow Eliot. And while following him — far enough she breathes a little bit heavier — did she thought: What if this guy was a bad guy?

     "Impossible," she whispered.

     If he was a bad guy, she should be dead already. He had a chance back in the Norris Mansion to end her life, but —

     Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud c***k from a branch that she landed on.

     Big clumsy feet! She thought.

     Eliot's voice echoed, "Viniculum!" he said.

     A long rope shot from his wand and wrapped Rei till she fell to the ground.

     She met Eliot's glare as he slowly walked closer to her.

     Rei spoke, if she could raise her hands she would have done it, "Are you gonna kill me?" she said, "Because I'm innocent."

     Eliot waved his wand, releasing Rei from her binds.

     Rei pushed herself up and dusted off the dirt on her clothes.

     "What's your name?" Eliot asked.

     "Rei Griffin."

     Rei stretched her hand to reach for a handshake. And while Eliot stared at it, not reaching back, something sparked. Rei felt a thousand needles pierced her back.

     Everything went black.