Mage Of Shadows - Chapter 11 Rumours

Favian quickly took a last bite out of the apple he had been eating before rushing through the oak door of his room. The hallway that he was greeted with was littered with pictures of portraits with some words written beneath them. One such picture was of a very old black man, wearing a suit and holding himself up with a cane. His eyes seemed to follow Favian wherever he moved, almost as if he was watching him intently. Written underneath this man’s portrait was, “Here rests Baron Samedi, loving and caring father of two. His achievements in magical research shall always be remembered, may he rest in peace.”

After looking at another ten of these pictures, Favian followed the directions imprinted in his mind. The interior of the part of the academy he walked through seemed pretty drab and boring, stone walls covering the whole pathway. There were no windows, and the only lighting inside was from candles placed on the sides of the walls and some chandeliers on the ceilings. This building seemed to have a common theme with medieval architecture, however the differences were that magic was woven into it. For example, the candles that were on the walls were actually levitating next to them when Favian took a closer look at them. Likewise, the chandeliers weren’t hung up against the ceiling, but were rather levitating very close to it. The flames would also never go out, unless a powerful magical influence was used to forcibly extinguish them.

After Favian had walked for roughly ten minutes, he came across a courtyard with a fountain placed in the middle. Beautiful shrubs and plants of a spectacle of different colours were placed near the fountain, and a single path led towards it. The path was made up of a golden sand, ‘Looks like something I would find at a beach in Santa Monica back home on Earth’ Favian thought to himself.

Even though he had previously been in a rush to get to his destination, maybe because of the nostalgia brought back to him by the sandy path or the beautiful and magical vibe the area surrounding the fountain was giving off, Favian decided to take a detour and walked along the path. Sounds of birds chirping soothed his ears and went closer to the fountain, and the nearer her got to it, a soothing fragrance entered his nose. Favian felt completely at home here, and memories from his past life slowly started to reappear in his mind. He had tried so hard to shove down the memories of his past life once he emerged into this new world, as he had realised that surviving would require all of his energy. Yet here, he was finally able to reminisce about the times he went to the pier with his father, or when he would play at his mother’s boutique.

The memories flooded his mind along with tears which wouldn’t stop cascading down from his eyes. He had felt so alone in this new world, and had nobody to rely on other than himself. This was something he knew, and would be the crux of his power in the future. He could never trust somebody else to do what he needed to get done, and he needed to work as hard as possible to be able to find a place in this life for himself.

Favian had now been sat on the edge of the fountain, looking down at his own reflection as the tears slowly started to stop flowing. ‘I will find a way, somehow to get back to Earth in the future, so that I can see my parents again.’ he thought to himself. Friends on the planet didn’t amount to much to him due to his anti-social nature, however his parents meant everything to him. He would keep amassing power until he could finally meet his parents again. What would come after that he did not know, but for now he had a clear goal in his mind.

“I don’t care if it takes a hundred or a thousand years. I will see you again Mom and Dad.” He promised himself, with resolution chiselled on his face. This was a vow he would never break.

Just as he was about to get up, Favian heard a voice calling to him. “Are you alright there?” a deep male voice asked. Looking towards the direction of the sound, Favian could make out a boy who looked to be about his own age. The boy was freakishly handsome, and his ears were pointy at their ends. He looked like what Favian imagined an elf to be, however his skin was blackish-blue. His eyes were a deep purple, and had a glint in them. He looked handsome and manly at the same time, due to his unnaturally chiselled jawline and his hair was shaved to a buzzcut, with the sides faded to half an inch and the top of his head having a bit more hair on it.

Favian had been too emotionally invested in himself as he cried that he didn’t notice that another person had been sat only 5 meters away from him at the other end of the fountain. Clearly this person must have noticed his full mental breakdown. Favian’s face flushed bright red, well if his brown skin allowed his face to portray a blush then it would have right in this moment, and he lowered his head down. ‘He must have seen my ugly crying,’ was all that he could think about in the moment.

*sigh* “Well I’m fine now. I just had to get something off my chest, that was all.” Favian replied with a weak voice.

The boy looked at Favian with a smile on his face and asked, “Need some company? I don’t think I’ve seen you around at the academy yet.” He tried to rack his brain as to why this boy who had just been crying seemed familiar to him, yet he couldn’t tell what it was.

“That’d be nice” Favian replied, motioning for the boy to seat himself next to him. As the boy sat down on the fountain, Favian extended his arm to give him a handshake.

The boy looked very dumbstruck by Favian’s motion towards a handshake. ‘What is he doing?’ is all he could think. Favian had forgotten that handshakes were only the common greeting on Earth and not on this planet. Quickly cursing in his mind, he removed his outstretched hand and simply asked the boy for his name after first giving his own.

“I’m Dunkel, nice to meet you Favian. So, you’re the infamous Favian then are you? The rumours here at the academy have already put you to a legendary status” he replied with a glint in his eyes. He had heard so many rumours and yet this Favian looked a lot more unassuming than he expected, according to what was said about him.

Now it was Favian’s turn to be utterly confused. ‘What did he mean with I’m infamous? I don’t remember doing anything that warrants such a title’. Favian put himself into deep thought for a moment to rack his brain around what he could have done that caught enough attention to have rumours spread about himself, but he couldn’t come up with anything.

“What do you mean about rumours? I don’t think I’ve done anything yet to warrant rumours about me. Wait how does everyone know me then?” Favian spoke with his expressions becoming more muddled the longer he thought about everything.

Dunkel started to laugh hysterically, holding onto his belly as he loudly made a sound more akin to a howl than a laugh. His laugh was one of those laughs that were contagious, and Favian would also have started laughing because of it had he not been the cause of this laughing.

“Wait you’re serious? You don’t know?” Dunkel suddenly let the laughter wash away and instead wore a face of surprise. “So, you don’t remember what happened after you were pushed off the cliff into the portal to the academy?”

Favian nodded, not having a single clue what he was talking about. ‘What on Earth happened.’ he thought to himself.

“Dude you created an arcane rift as you were falling off the cliff. Your body took in so many of the energy particles in the atmosphere in a single moment that the veil separating our dimension, and another was almost torn. Professors Egast, Aria and Mildred all had to combine their powers to save you and stop you from falling into the rift. You literally looked like a meteor on fire as it happened.” He said with a voice akin to a parent telling a story to a child. Dunkel was engrossed in the story and went on.

“It’s rumoured that this type of event has only ever occurred once before by the forefather of all mages. There’s also a rumour going around that you’re the lovechild between Professors Egast and Aria, whom they kept secret until you were of age to study magic.” He read out all of the rumours about Favian, which were seemingly endless.