(Deposit Photos Edited With Canva by Author)

The Legend of Man Book One: Destiny Awaits.

Chapter Two: The Pains of Leadership (Part Two)

Disclaimer: I had to break each chapter down as SOME people told me that they were WAY too long (pfft), so each chapter will be broken into three parts.

Cayaison had a lot to think about, so he began to walk. He was not walking to get anywhere; he just wanted to clear his mind. When he finally looked up, he found himself outside Visiroux’s class. He looked at the large doors. Slowly, he pushed on them to see if they were open.

“Master Visiroux?” Cayaison said as he entered.

There was no response. Cayaison walked down the center of the room, looking at the chairs and tables. The room was calm and quiet, just what he was looking for. He took a seat and began to let his thoughts take over. He remembered his younger years.

Cayaison and his brother were outside their house in the town of Acetrioem. It was a small trade town. He remembered many people coming to trade and buy goods from the merchants.

Cayaison was the oldest of the two. He remembered his mom running behind them. Cayaison turned to get his mother. It was then that he saw something in the sky just above her. It was a giant ball of fire that crashed down onto their house. It exploded loudly, sending burning pieces of wood everywhere.

They ran towards their mother. She was on the ground face down, with a large piece of wood stuck in her back.

“Hello!” he heard as he shook himself free of the memory.

It was Master Visiroux, and he was shaking him.

“You were dreaming,” the large mage said, sitting on the chair closest to him.

“Yes, I was reliving a moment, a memory. It’s the only thing I can remember before I went to my first mage school,” Cayaison said, still in a dreamy state.

“Want to talk about it?” Visiroux asked.

As much as Cayaison wanted to talk about it, there was nothing to talk about. The Orcs attacked Acetrioem. It had been destroyed. He had lost both of his parents in that massacre. Cayaison and his brother were the only survivors.

Cayaison and his brother had fled into the lake, where they hid until the Orcs had left. A few days later, they were both found walking along the roadsides. All knew the rest. His brother became a blacksmith; he had found out he had mage blood coursing through him.

“No sir there is nothing to talk about,” Cayaison said, standing up.

Suddenly, Master Visiroux stopped in his tracks. “Come on,” he said, standing up. “There is a school meeting in the great hall.”

Cayaison knew all the Masters could talk to each other through thought alone. Master Friidian must have told all the Masters about the meeting at that moment.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~

The Great Hall was in the lowest part of Heavstat, just above the stables and the large garden. It was the most significant room. Its ceiling was flat, not vaulted, and it did not have mirrors or majestic paintings.

This room was mainly used when the Masters and teachers wanted to discuss pressing matters that concerned the school. If there was a meeting, it was something that Master Friidian or Master Merladio wanted the whole school to know.

There were no windows either; the only light in the hall came from a few candle chandeliers that hung from the ceiling down the center of the room. The openings at the top, where the walls met the roof, were to let air into the room. Long rows of benches lined the room with tables in front.

The students began to pile in and take seats on the benches. All the seats faced the front, where there was another long table with individual chairs behind it.

The Master’s began to take these positions as the teachers sat with the students. Cayaison found his group and started to head towards them, but two teachers blocked his path.

“Find a seat please,” one of the teachers said.

Cayaison looked past the teacher and saw that more teachers were separating the rest of them. He turned around and hoped that Rameus would not make a big deal out of this. Cayaison found a seat and sat down. Looking around, he saw that they were all remaining calm.

Master Friidian was the last to enter. Behind him came Master Tunadas and then Master Frugaal, a skinny lady with long gray hair. He had never been in any of her classes but knew that she was a mean old woman; he had once heard a classmate describe her.

“Teachers, are these all the students from the seventh level upwards?” Master Friidian asked.

The teachers all nodded.

“Then I shall begin,” he coughed, then tapped his throat softly. “Can you all hear me?” his voice boomed loudly.

“Yes,” Most of the students said.

“It has come to my attention that groups are forming among you. While there is no rule against this, the formation of groups will not affect your workload. I strongly suggest that you pick your groups wisely; there are bad and good groups.”

He looked around and found Cayaison.

“You will not be punished for forming groups. Your group leader will be responsible and liable for suspension or even full dismissal from Heavstat based on your group’s actions!” he smiled, still with his eyes on Cayaison. “Is that understood?” he asked the room, but his eyes locked onto Cayaison.

“Yes!” was the answer from most of the students again.

Cayaison, however, did not say a word.

“I do not believe all of you answered!” Master Friidian said

Cayaison grew furious.

“Yes, Master!” they all said, Cayaison included. He was smart enough not to test Friidian again.

Friidian nodded his approval and took his eyes off of him.

Master Tunadas now stood up and looked at the students. Cayaison again felt the same anger growing inside him.

“Greetings, Students,” he began with the same sinister smile he had from the class. “I would just like to bring up a small matter. While some Masters are away on Council errands, there will be replacement teachers taking their place.”

He kept smiling while he talked, but his eyes began to look around, and Cayaison knew he was looking for him. But they stoppedatn someone else.

Cayaison turned to look at who; he followed the line of sight and found the person; it was Dawain.

“Even though these teachers are only replacements, they should be treated as though they are the primary teachers. Those who do not follow will be liable for punishment deemed fit by the teacher. Today’s actions will go unpunished. Starting tomorrow, these rules will be strictly enforced,” Tunadas turned and sat.

Now, it was the old woman’s turn to talk. Cayaison thought, smiling slightly.

“This is the last message of the day, as Master Friidian had touched on before, the forming of groups is not against any of Heavstat’s rules. In fact, many Mages in the past had formed large groups in and outside of Heavstat. The one strict rule of Heavstat is that actions taken by the Council are not of any student’s concern, students do not need to interfere in affairs of the Council or of its going on’s.”

She scanned the room. She was not looking for anyone, but just to see the faces of the students.

“The punishment for this rule has been changed by the three senior members of the Council at present Master Friidian, Myself and Master Grentton,” she said.

Master Grentton was on the far side of the Master’s table. He was a senior man who most said was just as old as Heavstat itself, which was impossible since no one knew precisely when Heavstat was created.

Master Grentton was a former Head of Heavstat before Master Friidian took over. Getting old in years, even for a Mage of his power, he had given the position up.

“The new punishment is immediate removal from Heavstat and the stripping of all magic with the Kytac Crystals,” Frugaal finished.

There was a loud gasp from all of the students. Even Cayaison thought today’s punishment was minor compared to the new one. Whispers began to fill the room. Frugaal began to raise her hand to silence everyone, but Friidian stood up.

Frugaal sat back down, and the whispers began to quiet.

“Now talk among yourselves. This is a lot of information and rules to take in,” Friidian said, smiling.

Immediately, chatter filled the room. Even the teachers began to talk to other teachers. After a few moments, Friidian clapped his hands.

“That is enough. The hour is late, and we all need to rest for tomorrow,” Friidian said as he walked to the door and out of the room.

The rest of the Masters followed. If Heavstat looked gloomy in the day, the nighttime hours made it scary.

Gormmatt, the caretaker, was a hunchbacked Gnoll, now tamed and living somewhere inside Heavstat. He was going around lighting candles. The rule of thumb wasthat if you ever saw him, you were to turn and walk the other way.

Even tamed Gnoll liked to eat raw meat, and Gormmatt was no exception. He had been known to attack students if they came too close to him.

The meeting had taken a long time tonight, and Gormmatt had already finished the students’ living quarters and was now upstairs lighting the class levels.

Students were strictly not allowed upstairs after nightfall. Ghosts and other dark creatures roamed Heavstat at night, looking for students.

The magic that allowed Heavstat to float and enabled the Master’s excellent skills also enticed other magical and dark creatures to it.

Cayaison himself had once seen a Dark Man outside of his room. They fed on the blood of humans and could turn into bats, even mist at times. He had seen it in the students’ quarters. It did not rush at him but kept walking away from him.

Dawain had once ventured off outside the students’ quarters and saw a ghost of a woman half-eaten.

Heavstat was unsafe once the sun had fallen, and everyone knew it. After they had left the great hall, the students grouped, with the higher classmen up front and behind the younger students.

Jacobsien was the oldest of all the students; he was nearly due to be tested. If he passed, he could choose to stay as a teacher or leave Heavstat and pursue his own pursuits.

He was a tall boy with straight black hair and broad shoulders. He took the lead, followed by a few other upper-class men.

Cayaison and his group took the rear and strolled up the stairs. The glowing purple light of the fairies could be seen flying and swirling around it.

“Come on Hernard!” a girl said to a small boy.

Rameus walked up to catch up with them. The little boy had fallen on the stairs and was too scared to move.

“What is it?” Rameus asked.

“It’s my brother,” the girl said.

“He is scared of the fairies,” she pointed up at them.

Rameus looked at the small boy.

“They will not hurt you, as long as you don’t stare at them for too long or stop them from dancing,” he said, pulling the boy up.

“Really?” the boy asked.

“Yes! Now get a move on before something else hears your whimpering!” the girl said, pulling her brother towards her.

After all the younger students had been walked to their rooms, Cayaison and his friends made their rounds to ensure there were no lingering kids wandering the hall before they shut the main door to the student quarters when they came upon Jacobsien and his friends.

“Nice work Cayaison!” Jacobsien said as they passed each other.

“What exactly does that mean?” Cayaison turned to ask.

The two had never gotten along. Most of Jacobsien’s friends did not like Cayaison or his friends, so the two groups had kept their distance from each other for a while.

“You know exactly what I mean, sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong!” Jacobsien said.

Cayaison smiled. “There was a time I was scared of you,” he said as he walked closer to his elder classmen. “Everybody talked about you when I got here, how you already had mastered most of the magic forms at such a young age, how you would make a great Master one day,” Cayaison continued. “Now look at you the teacher’s pet, one year from the big test and you are scared of me and what I will do,” Cayaison laughed. “You are not worth our time anymore.”

Cayaison turned and walked away from Jacobsien, who stood there.

“I’m not scared of you, Cayaison!” he shouted back, but his tone didn’t make him sound brave.

The truth of the matter was that Jacobsien was scared, even though he was older than Cayaison. Most of the younger students looked up to him, not for his magic, but for his actions and how he cared for them when they were scared.

Jacobsien knew that Cayaison’s group, now only five strong, would eventually get more significant and more prominent in the years to come.

Cayaison and his friends walked together and began talking to each other.

“Kytac Crystals!” Dawain said a bit louder than he wanted to.

“They drain the magic out of the body and the blood!” Alixia said.

She looked visibly shaken by that meeting. Cayaison nodded.

“We will have to be more cautious of our actions from now on,” Violetta said.

“What actions?” Alixia asked. “Did you not hear?” She looked at all of them. “We shouldn’t do anything!” Alixia pleaded.

“You’re right!” Cayaison nodded.

He knew he still wanted to know what the Council was doing, but not if it meant that any of his friends could be expelled or, even worse, stripped of their magic. A slight groan came from one of the corridors.

“Gormmatt must be making the second round!” Rameus stated.

They all nodded.

“We will talk tomorrow,” Cayaison said.

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