The Hunter Mage

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Even with the lack of information, he was still the unmagic they knew the most about. He wasn't the most spoken about though, nobody liked him but they all thought he was cool. He has scared at least seventy percent of the students.

Lae was the one who took most of the boys' attention. Vernon had only seen glances of Lae, one thing that always struck him even though it was the sides of her face he always saw, was how pretty she was and it was pretty obvious he was not the only one who thought so.

However, she barely spent her time at the academy and was always at the palace. Nobody knew why but it was easy to figure out that somebody wanted their own personal magic doctor. She came around once in a while but never stayed for too long.

The last one, only very few students have seen him and there were students who had been at the academy as early as age two. Nobody knew his name or what he could do but it was safe to assume it was strange magic since he was in the unmagic crew.

Vernon found it hard to believe that he was really going to be here but he did not completely rule out the possibility and could not help but wonder about what was special about today that all the unmagic would be in one place.

"Good morning, Florence." He said when it got to his turn. He always made sure to say hi to Florence and sometimes he threw in a compliment or two.

"Morning, my little man. How was your night?" She asked him. She always looked genuinely happy to see him and it often helped Vernon with his day.

He shrugged and changed the subject. "We are having bacon," he muttered, acting surprised as if he could not tell from the moment he got in that bacon and eggs was breakfast. "I am sure it will be as tasty as always." He added with a bright smile.

Florence returned an even bigger smile and his serving was as generous as her smile. "Thank you, Florence." He said, still smiling as he walked to the table where Dev was already seated.

As always the boys were about to query him about his relationship with Florence. He sighed as he got seated, they could ask all the questions and make evil jokes but one thing he was sure of was that absolutely nobody was getting even the smallest strip of his meal, he would fork them if they tried to touch his meal.

It did not take long for him to figure out that he had been worried for nothing because all he needed was to take a seat and listen to the conversation and it was easy to tell that their minds were on something else.

"Is anybody really sure that they are coming?" Jay was asking.

"No, of course." Somebody else replied.

"But you can't say that something is not up, even the Madames are antsy," Nevil replied. One could see his excitement, it was as clear as day.

"Yeah, Madame Margaret looks especially on edge even Madame Rebecca is here. There is no doubt that at least something is up if it isn't the unmagic." Dev added.

"But wouldn't it be great if it was really them. I mean, I have been here for a year and I just got glimpses of Lae." Vernon chipped in.

"Wait, what about invisible boy? I am sure you've encountered him at least once." Dev asked.

Vernon pouted and bent his head to look at his food. "He does not count, besides technically nobody has ever seen him. So yeah, he does not count. I am only curious about Lae and the one we cannot name because we don't have a name."

"Is that what you really think, Vernon?" A voice asked.

Gasps flew from the table and Vernon froze with his cutlery midway to his mouth, he could not even move if he wanted to, there was a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, cries erupted from everywhere.

The cries broke the spell of frozen fear and Vernon finally found the courage to glance over his shoulder to look at who the hand on his shoulder belonged to. There was nobody there but he was certain there was a hand on his shoulder.

He did not have time, however, to dwell on it because there was Lae two feet away, he knew if he stretched he could touch but that was not who took his attention, next to her was, he didn't have to guess after two plus two was four.

The last member of the group was nothing like he thought. He didn't look too old and if Vernon had to guess, he was probably a couple of years older than he was.

However, it was easy to calculate his age because if his birth was the exact moment the asteroid had landed on the planet then he was just about five years older than Vernon was because according to his mother, the asteroid arrived five years before his birth.

People called it an asteroid but really it was a big ball of never quenching fire that had burned since the first time it landed, at least that was what his father told him and the fire prevented close contact with the asteroid.

Many have tried and many have failed. According to his father, it has been years and the asteroid was still the exact shape and size it was when it first landed. It also protected itself without destroying its surroundings.

The story of the asteroid's arrival was one of his favorites, only because of how his father told it but the moment his eyes had begun to glow, his father had stopped with the story.

Vernon did not blame him, he knew it was a reminder of what was to come, and even as a little kid, he had been aware of this and did not pester when his father said he would tell another story instead but Vernon made sure to not forget.