Born of Magic (Channeler Series) (3 page)

Every hiding spot within a two-block radius ran through my head until I remembered the perfect one. Ralph, my gang’s fearless leader, had discovered it when he was on the run while stealing a blanket last winter—a small empty hutch just outside of a worn-down house. The owner had it for storing firewood, but the old man never bothered to fill it, instead relying on a giant collection of large oil lamps throughout his home.

I dashed down the street and to the house and ducked inside the wooden structure while I was still out of sight from Gangly. I peered out the crack in the door and saw his feet pass by.

“It won’t be that easy—” He said with a smile so demonic that my heart almost stopped.

Again I felt a hostile hand grab my shoulder. My mind came back to my body, which was still in the study. I looked up to find Gangly standing over me again. I tried pushing him back again, but this time he was prepared. He grinned and deflected my arms with ease.

“Not this time. Now you’re going to answer my—”

He knew to expect my push, but not my fist flying into his nose. At first he just looked stunned, but then the pain must have kicked in and he cringed and huddled over, cradling his nose.

I ran out of the room, down the hallway, and out the front door. To my relief, there were people roaming the streets this time. Everyone was in a rush to finish their chores before the day came to an end. The sun had already begun to set behind the towering city walls. I blended in with a passing crowd.

Gangly stood at the front door, scanning the crowded street for me. I looked the other way to make it harder to spot me.

Before night came, I met up with Edgar. He had a little bit of luck with work today and had earned a couple of coppers, enough for a small meal. He stopped bragging about his success when he noticed the look of horror that was still stuck on my face.

“What’s wrong, Jas? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”

I wrapped my arms around myself, still shaking off the horrible memory that haunted me. The cold air from the coming night crept up along my spine. I squished my eyes shut and said, “I don’t wanna talk about it.” I didn’t want to force the horrible story on Edgar. “Let’s just get some good food for everyone. My treat.”

The one thing that always sounded good to us was food. How could it not when you were always starving? It was a great escape to a horrible day. And on a day like this one, I needed something exceptionally special. My eyes lit up at the thought. “Chicken stew and cinnamon rolls,” I shouted.

Edgar looked at my wide-eyed grin with astonishment. “Don’t even joke about—” he stopped for a moment when he realized I was serious and placed his hands on my shoulders. “You really have enough for that?”

Finally, a reason to smile, I thought. “And a little to spare.”

We trotted off to one of the few shops that were still open.

On our way there, Edgar stepped in a puddle. “Not again. This keeps happening to me today,” he said as he shook off his foot.

We walked into the inn and were immediately hit with the smell of fresh wheat, honey, milk, roasting chicken, and cinnamon. The innkeeper, who also runs a bakery out of the same building, glared at us as we walked up to the counter. Our heads barely peek over the cherry wood.

“No handouts. Get out of here,” he said as he tossed his arms into the air in an effort to shoo us away.

With a smile of satisfaction, I pulled out the small pouch and showed him the money. “Chicken stew and some cinnamon rolls, please,” I said.

We bought more than enough chicken stew and cinnamon rolls to feed our starving gang with our stomachs the size of fists. We hurried back, skipping with the warm food in hand. Everyone was staring at us as we arrived, hopeful that we might have had more luck than them today. I could tell they were unsure of what to think as Edgar and I stood there with giant grins on our faces. I enjoyed their looks of astonishment and savored their questioning gazes until it looked as though they couldn’t take it anymore.

“We brought dinner,” I said. My voice was filled with pride. I was happy to have made up for the many lousy meals that I had brought back in the past. I knew everyone had probably already before coming back to our usually alleyway for the night, but I doubted that they were too full for this.

“Is that stew? How old is it?” Tory asked with wide eyes and a look of awe on her face. Of all of us, she was the newest to being homeless and still thought with her stomach a lot.

Edgar and I laughed. “No, it’s fresh, and will go well with—” I pulled out the blanket that the five cinnamon rolls were wrapped in. Tory looked as though her heart would jump from her chest.

“How did you manage to get all of this?” Ralph asked in disbelief. “I know you aren’t that clever.”

Ralph was short, but well built for his age. His ragged, shoulder-length, brown hair complimented his sarcastic demeanor. Ralph had been made the coldest by our lifestyle. His father had been killed while out hunting. His mother then committed suicide shortly after, as she couldn't handle the grief. He was all alone by the age of six. He had adapted to the streets so well that he started taking others in, teaching them how to survive. Ralph was the only reason that I had survived. He had found me at the age of three, curled up underneath a wagon during the rainy season.

I shot Ralph a glare. For that moment, I was in charge, if only for a moment. In retaliation, Ralph grabbed the largest cinnamon roll for himself and gave me a devious grin. I ignored his antics and we all feasted on our first nice meal in a very long time.

One by one, everyone fell asleep with a smile on their face and a full stomach. Unfortunately, it was not enough for me. The memories from the day haunted me and kept me awake. The silence became my nightmares’ best friend. I lost all of the distractions that I had been using to avoid these thoughts. My mind was no free to wreak havoc upon itself.

The night seemed endless and unforgiving as every second lingered like a needle in my spine. Every cricket chirp echoed perpetually. What would bring this madness to an end? I just wanted it all to end. I shut my eyes and once again found myself in the weird world that I had stumbled on earlier. Still unsure whether or not it was real, I found the warm silence that it offered comforting. Even though it was nighttime, it was still light out, as the moon glowed bright blue and illuminated the world.

I wandered the empty streets to pass the time, happy to find this place empty now. No gangly man wielding a knife. I enjoyed the feeling of solitude and the ability to roam into any building that I wanted, unchallenged, mapping out different locations of interest. I found a wonderful bed in one of the mansions in the rich quarter of town and decided that in this world, I would sleep there. I could go wherever I wanted, free to live as I chose.

Edgar woke me that morning with a gentle nudge on my shoulder, “Rise and shine, Jas.” His smile warmed me more than the rising sun.

Edgar, the most important person in my life, was the one that was always there for me. Having joined the group around the same time as me, we had bonded while we learned how to survive together. He was always there, watching over me like a big brother. Unlike the rest of us, he chose to be here. He came from an abusive family and one night, when his father had beaten him almost to death, he ran away. Edgar was far tougher than he appeared. He was lean and could endure more than anyone else I knew.

Throughout the day, I gradually lost the ability to separate the two worlds, and everything seemed to radiate a slight shade of blue. I walked along the same streets in both worlds. Wherever I went in one, I followed in the other. Every crowded street in the real world was empty in the mystical one. As I lost my ability to choose which world I focused on, it became that much more difficult to concentrate.

By the end of the day, a splitting headache ravaged through my brain. I couldn’t think clearly and completely forgot to meet with the man that had hired me, missing out on the other half of my hard-earned payment.

After a couple days of living in both worlds, I had learned to split my focus on both locations at will. The mystical world was my getaway, where I could feel warm at night, and go wherever I pleased. At first I had felt headaches from trying to focus on both places, but they had started to subside. I had yet to see another person in the mystical world.

I was relishing the peace I had found, and then my heart stopped. Standing across the street, in both worlds, was another man, staring at me with a grin on his face. His eyes glowed an intense shade of blue that challenged the darkest blues I had ever seen in the sky.

~2~

In the real world we were separated by a dense crowd scurrying through the market as men and women shopped in a panic for the best deals. In the other world he passed through the area where they stood, as we were the only ones here.

I was too scared to move as he approached me. He spoke with a soft and steady tone, yet his voice echoed through the empty streets. “Hello, young one. New to Etherea?”

Thousands of different options screamed at me from the back of my mind; run, hit him, scream for help. Instead, curiosity overtook logic. “Etherea?”

He responded with an amused chuckle, “This world we’re in. Only mages can come here.” That word he used, mages, left an unusual feeling in me. He apparently saw the confused look on my face. “Mages have existed for centuries, though there are very few in this part of the world. In lands far from here, they’re better known. Some even maintain positions of power. We take energy from Etherea and use it for magic.”

“How is it possible for magic to exist without anyone else here knowing?”

“Few stay in this part of the world. The people here are too narrow minded to accept such ways. The ones that do stay probably mask it well, such as magical healers acting like doctors, using their magic in stride so their patients don’t question the rate of their recovery.”

“Why are you here? Why haven’t I seen you before?” My voice trembled. I hoped that he wouldn’t grow tired of my endless questions. It was nice to finally receive answers.

“I’ve been here for some time, you just never saw me.” He winked with a devilish smile as he disappeared before my eyes, in both the real world and Etherea.

He smiled as he reappeared, now standing next to Edgar, who appeared not to even care that a man had just appeared out of nowhere. I made sure that I only spoke in Etherea, “How did you do that? Why did no one else notice?”

He paced around, weaving his way through the crowd in the real world as he did the same in Etherea. His body swayed around the figures that weren’t in Etherea as he walked towards me. “In their eyes I never disappeared,” he said with a confident smile.

“Because they’re not mages?”

“No, it works very well on normal people.” He paused, as though he was choosing his words wisely. “I don’t actually turn invisible, I just remove one’s awareness of me from their mind. By myself, I can do it up to three or four people at once.”

“By yourself?” I asked, noticing that he had placed an emphasis on that part. He wanted me to ask.

“That’s why I’m here. Although I’m not certain about it, and am probably getting my hopes up for nothing, but you may be a channeler,” he said as he leaned against a wall.

“What’s a channeler?”

“Magic isn’t something you just have. We draw our magic from Etherea. Everyone has their own unique way of using it. Some can do multiple types of magic, while some, such as myself, are limited to a single ability.” He made his hand disappear. “We draw magic from here, and our body converts the raw energy into magic.”

My head felt like it was spinning. “Magic, energy, channeler—”

He interrupted, “I know it seems like a lot. Let me get to the point, before I go any further into the nature of magic. You may be a channeler. A channeler can assist other mages by increasing the amount of magic that they can draw and use.”

He sounded like he was speaking nonsense. There was no way any of this could be true. I wanted to blame all of this on my headaches. Trauma induced, probably. I nearly laughed out of relief as I tried to convince myself that this was not real. Deep down inside, though, I knew it was. There was no way I could be a mage. Outside of finding this weird place, I had never shown any sign of significance my entire life.

Before I could write him off, he continued, “Your talent could be useful on my journey, if you’d be willing to help me. That is, if you’re even a channeler. I’ll teach you the ways of the magic in return. As well as put a roof over your head and food in your stomach. However,” he paused, “you would have to leave your friends behind, as well as this town. We would have many tasks to complete, very few of which involve this town. What do you say?”

It all seemed too good to be true; a home, significance, purpose. But how could I go off and live this fantasy life while leaving Edgar and my friends behind? We had never discussed what to do if one of us ever had a way out. We never even considered it as a possibility. I had not prepared myself for the day that something better would come my way, something that would require me to leave my friends behind. I thought for a moment about asking if they could join, but knew it would be naïve. The offer only extended to me, and that was only if I was a channeler. If not, then I was of no use to him, let alone my friends.