Draconic Testament (11 page)

”Easy. Much easier than you’d think when you’re dealing with primitive minds.” Veronica concluded, leaning back.
“How come you guys haven’t taken over the world?” Bastion asked. “Surely, it would be within your power.”
“You overestimate us.” Veronica said. “Any Magi with a little knowledge of magic would easily destroy one or two humans, but we’re not all from Hogwarts. Magic is extremely hard to master, and an unexpected bullet to the stomach could easily kill the average Magi. It’s only when the Magi unite that they are a force to be reckoned with. In fact, most Magi prefer human life. You need only take a look at the Magi in America for an example of that. But enough about that, for now. Next.”
”Who was that woman, the dead woman, in the parking lot?” Bastion asked
”An enemy.” Veronica said
”Care to elaborate?” Bastion sighed
”She belonged to a different faction than I did, when she picked up my Aura, she came up to gloat and challenge me to a fight, to antagonize me. I ignored her, and she ended up dead.” Veronica moaned.
“If that’s so, why did you come and take the Medallion from me?” Bastion snarled.
”There was still mana in that thing. Sometimes, it’s the mana that gives away a Mage’s location, if they’re careless, not the Aura. He could have mistaken you for a Mage and you’d have ended up dead for nothing.” Veronica said, fidgeting in her chair, trying not to make it sound the wrong way. ”So you did it to protect me?” Bastion giggled. “So you DO like me!”
“Anything else?” Veronica asked, ignoring his statement, playing with her hair, crossing her legs on her chair. 
”Yeah, the thing about suppression…” Bastion said
”I can show you how to suppress your magic, so you’d feel normal… but you can’t simply ignore it. It... Can think for itself. Every time you close your eyes, you’ll see through hollow sight. Every time you’re in danger, the magic will surge up and protect you. It cares only for itself, it doesn’t want to die, so in panic, you’ll end up doing things that will hurt other people. Only training can stop that.” Veronica said. “Proper training, not something you can do in a day. And you more you play around with the magic, the harder it will be to NOT want to use it. It’s tricky.”
“I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to ask, but, what the hell is this magic anyway? Where does it come from?” Bastion asked. ”It’s practically a soul, your soul, but it has its own consciousness. It cannot think, but it’s always there with you. It affects you, controls your emotions. If it wanted to, it could make you laugh hysterically instead of crying. People who are not found by us Magi and are the lost children of Magi, or rare humans with magic potential usually end up going crazy because of the magic. Why this is, we don’t know... It’s probably to do with how we got the magic, since it wasn’t a perfect transfusion.” Veronica explained. “But, I told you, I’m not going to talk about that. You have to join us, first.”
”Yeah, I know…” Bastion sighed “Alright, when will you teach me?”
”After school. Nothing better to do.” Veronica said.
”I'm not sure I'm going to actually come with you, honestly…” Bastion said.
”Your choice.” Veronica answered. “Next.”
”Where the hell did that demon come from?” Bastion asked. “That wasn’t a mask, that was a real damned person.”
”It wasn’t a human.” Veronica said, the confirmation of his suspicions disturbing Bastion greatly. “Nor was it a demon, but it was a humanoid mammal. They are called the ‘Cazrians’ named after their planet ‘Cazria’.”
”Planet? You mean that thing is an alien?” Bastion asked, bewildered.
”Yes. The portal leads to Cazria, but do not judge them all the same, that one belongs to a group of Pureblood supremacists called ‘Sanctum’. But, the topic of Cazrian’s is rather complicated, another time.” Veronica groaned.
“I never believed that aliens would be so humanoid...” Bastion said. “I thought all the movie writers were stupid.”
“Well, there is a good reason for that.” Veronica said. “But alas, it’s complicated.”
”One last question. How did you heal me without using any magic?” Bastion asked.
”I did use Magic. My own. You see, your Aura is basically the magic radiating from your Magic Pool. Within the Magic Pool is raw magic, and that raw magic has the power to heal your wounds. To cast spells, such as in a fight like the one we were in not so long ago, you must mix that magic with Mana. You see, Mana comes from one of two places. Either objects created by magic or created to emit Mana, or from the atmosphere of a very Mana intensive planet. You used magic and filled that medallion by charging it at the portal site, which leads to Cazria. There’s still Mana seeping through there, since it’s been closed, but not fully sealed.” Veronica explains “The stone you see here was constructed by the Magi, who can create their own places of Mana, by creating pillars of Mana. The stone stores Mana, and you draw from it, fusing it with magic from your Magic Pool to create a spell, such as Odin, the lightning you used in the assembly hall.” Veronica explains.
”I see… well, thank you.” Bastion said “Sorry for the commotion.” Veronica forces a small half-smile. Something told Bastion that she was rather socially awkward, probably through trauma of some sort. He read that in a book somewhere. It would explain why she goes to lengths not to talk to anyone. “Err, Bastion…” Veronica said, as Bastion turned to leave. “I’m only bringing you to Korreal because it’s what was asked of me, and you... helped me. It would be a shame if you didn’t come to Korreal. I… I mean, you have potential… It would be a waste…” Bastion smiled, apologetically.
”Sorry.” He said. Veronica huffed, and waved him away with her hand.
”I’ll be waiting for the train at the train station, at 2PM on Monday. That will be your last chance to ever contact me.” Veronica said, and with that, Bastion left.
Afternoon exams. No heroics, this was the last exam of the week. After it’s done, Bastion will leave school and be free to follow whichever path he desires, though, for him, there will only be one. The one where he walks off to Germany, to spend quality time with his womanizing best friend, Vander, away from the shrieks of Talia and the nagging of Veronica. Too much had gone on, and he would be happy to just take a week off. However, this school in particular never ended a year on a high note, there was always some drama before those bells rang for the last time. He exited the exam hall last, after packing all his stuff, and headed outside. Straight away, he knew there was a fight starting, with the cheers of encouragement and glee going on. The fights never really interested him anymore. There was a time where he’d be a glutton to see kids swing at each other wildly, but he really didn’t give a damn anymore. After the murders, and seeing a man have his head hacked off at such an early age, his head was cleared of violence. He should be traumatised, but he remembered that Veronica said that his Magic Pool had a hand in his emotions. He came within range of the crowd, when his heart sank. Through the cracks of giddy, excited students, he could see Veronica in the middle of the crowd wiping blood from her lip. Someone had hit her, and he had a good idea who. He ran to the crowd, and pushed his way through, and once people had seen and realized that it was Talia’s boyfriend coming to the rescue of one of the girls, they all started cheering at the drama that was likely to ensue. “Talia!” Bastion shouted, as the students let him into the middle. Talia was boasting and screaming at Veronica, knowing that she could easily overpower and pummel her. Usually, a scene like this would render Bastion embarrassed, but on this occasion, he didn’t exactly care. He couldn’t let this fight happen, mainly because Veronica was not only small and fragile looking, but also a magician. There was no reason for this fight, and if anybody got hurt, it would be his fault. It was wrong, and he was disgusted that everyone would just stand and watch such a thing happen. Talia went in for another shot, as she realized that Bastion would soon stop her revenge, but Bastion shielded Veronica from the blow. She hit Bastion in the chest, hard, harder than Bastion actually knew she could punch. “Bastard!” Talia shrieks with pure fury, angry at Bastion for protecting Veronica. “You want to carry her off to the library, do you? Drag her into dark corners!?”
”I don’t think you know what you’re dealing with, here.” Veronica growls at Talia, almost unwavered by her aggression. “Call the fool off, because if she hits me again, I’ll rip her apart.”
”The hell did you say!?” Talia roars, trying to get around Bastion, but Bastion picks her up and moves her away. “GET OFF!” She screams, shaking herself free from his grip. Once she gets to the ground, Bastion tries to say something, but is interrupted by a thunderous slap. The crowd goes wild at the action, but the two ignore them. Bastion could clearly see Talia was hurt, and she was trying to hold back her tears, but she ended up failing covering her face. Bastion hugged Talia, and she gave in, and he held her for a while before carrying her away from the vile crowd.
”Nothing happened. That was it.” Bastion said, holding Talia’s hand in the Café.
”You could have told me.” Talia huffed, still a little upset, but she had calmed down.
”You were avoiding me…” Bastion said “Besides, I… Oh god, I'm sorry.” He apologized again, kissing her hand.
“It’s alright.” Talia whispers, smiling softly. Then she covered her face with the palm of her hand, embarrassed. “God, I made a scene… didn’t I? I must’ve looked like some primitive cave woman.”
”You did more than that.” Bastion said, trying to hold back his disappointment. “You busted her lip. She’s half the size of you, Talia.”
”She seemed confident enough.” Talia huffed.
”That’s not the point, and you know it.” Bastion scolded her. “Even though it’s justifiable, what you did was still wrong.”
”I know, I know, I'm sorry.” Talia whimpered, “I just… lost it when I saw her. I saw her and said ‘That’s the girl that’s trying to take my man away from me’. I couldn’t help it. It started out friendly enough… I just told her to back off, then she replied with ‘Don’t you dare tell me what to do’”
”Yeah…” Bastion says, almost smirking, thinking that it certainly sounded like something she’d say. “Have I ruined us? She’s obviously your friend, right?” Talia said, quietly.
”No, you haven’t. Though… you should apologize. Leave it for a while, I’ll invite her out on a trip with us someday, you can apologize then.” Bastion said, knowing that it wouldn’t ever happen.
”…Alright.” Talia sighed.
”You know you’re the only woman for me Talia, I shouldn’t have to emphasize that.” Bastion said, with softened features. It seemed to do the trick, Talia regained confidence in Bastion and smiled again, almost too happy. “My parents are out for a while today…” Talia giggled. She was obviously hinting at something, and it wasn’t hard to determine what exactly it was. Bastion thought about Veronica, for a second, that Veronica had waited at the gates specifically for Bastion, and as a reward, she got a busted lip. There was something about her that made him sad, her loner status, her awkward communication, her almost defensive aggressive behaviour… but she was sort of a bitch. Bastion had chosen Veronica over Talia last time she tried to take her clothes off, so he thought that he should give in. Besides, perhaps Talia did his job for him in the whole revenge factor, since the exploding pens went to hell, and he got another cup of water for his troubles. “You know, I think I can spare… say, a whole night.” Bastion smiled, slyly, “Shall we check out your bedroom?”
Monday. The whole weekend was spent, kissing and hanging around with Talia, though Talia was dreading Monday. Bastion had told her and his mother about his trip to Germany with Vander, who didn’t want anybody to know about it, but he felt he owed them an explanation. Talia was content with him leaving to Germany, and though his mother gave him a ton of grief about it, she ended up submitting. Bastion got ready, brushing his teeth, showering, adding gel. Then he packed his stuff. He didn’t take any clothing, clothing was to be provided. He only added things he’d need, and he also took his medallion. With that, he left his room, went downstairs and bade his mum goodbye, kissing her on the forehead. Then he left for the train station, wondering what was going to be in store for him once he actually got there. He arrived at the train station, obviously he got there first. He stood around a while checking his watch. 2PM. “Ah, so you came.” Veronica said. Bastion turned around.
“Yeah, figured I should not only owe you an apology for standing you up on Friday. I figured that the magic isn’t something I should ignore, or even try to suppress. I mean, I besides, I have a rather good excuse for leaving so suddenly and for so long.”
”Is that all?” Veronica asked “I hoped that you’d have had some sort of revelation.”
”No, that’s all… How’s your lip?” Bastion asked.
”You forget that healing is my craft. Your wild friend’s blow was strong, but I didn’t feel it.” Veronica boasted.
”So… You going to tell me all about the Magi now? Because I'm sort of interested… I hope you enjoy telling stories.” Bastion says.
”I don’t mind… I mean, I don’t talk to people much, I try to blend into the background, usually. The killing snapped me out of that mindset, as it got closer. I thought it was just some Magi killing other Magi.” Veronica said
”There a reason why you don’t, err... have any... I mean, hang around with anyone?” Bastion asked, then Veronica went silent. “Forget I asked.”
”Our train is coming. I’ll tell you everything you need to know then…” Veronica said “We’re going to Surrey hills, a countryside where Korreal is located.” And with that, they set off on a journey to a Magi settlement.
Chapter Four – The Magi of Korreal
Sebastian Slater
Bastion and Veronica sat face to face in a private, first class room. The train was relatively quiet from inside, and Bastion thought that this room was practically made for the rich. The privacy was perfect for the types of conversation that they were going to have from within the room. “Alright.” Veronica said, putting away the last of her bags, and leaning forward. “I don’t know where to start, to be truthful. Do you remember I mentioned a planet called Cazria?” Veronica asked. Bastion nodded, and Veronica continued. “Well, over 2000 years ago, the date isn’t known exactly. A kingdom within Cazria called Metholi had a civil war on their hands, it was called the Metholian Civil War. The short version is, it didn’t look good. The current Overlord at that time, Voltrin Elric, had decided that he’d fallen in love with an alien, and wanted to put her on the throne.”