Mage Academy For The Gifted

~ Daryn ~

My life as an average teenager has always been a mess. Raised by a single mum, I at times feel very lonely whenever she's at work; I have no friends to visit, I don't do parties and other stuff you might refer to as 'cool'. Often times, I also get bullied at school.

Most times I just wish I could have the adventurous life I've dreamed of since I was a child. Find magic if it really exists, sail across the night sky upon a dragon's back, and save the world together with my team of magical superheroes. But again, all these fantasies can only exist in my head and not in the real world.

********

It was 8:00pm at night, and my mum had not yet returned from work. As usual, I just finished having a nice cold bath and was about to watch some TV, dressed in my bathrobe; I would then probably fall asleep on the couch like always, until my mum came back from work.

However, things took a different turn when a sudden knock was heard on the door. I wasn't expecting any visitor, not at such time of the night. It also definitely wasn't my mum, since she never returned back from work so early.

Cold shivers of fear raced down my spine as the knocks became more vigorous, until I couldn't ignore them anymore. It couldn't be anyone I knew, so I was curious to know who the person was.

I looked through the door's peephole to see whom it was. My eyes widened in surprise when I found out that it was an ordinary delivery man who had been knocking the whole time.

Huh, did mum place an order for anything?, I wondered.

In slight relief, I heaved a sigh as I squeezed the door knob, allowing a cold gust of wind blow into the house.

My gaze was locked upon the delivery man who held a brown package and seemed to be smiling sheepishly at me.

"Delivery for Mary Coldwater."

"Oh yeah, that's my mum...I wonder what she might've ordered this time. Last time it was a set of magical kit for my birthday".

I smiled back at the delivery man.

"Oh, I see..."

"Tell me kid, do you believe in magic?", asked the man.

" Uh...it may seem crazy for someone as grown up as me to say yes, but yes I do... I believe in magic. "

"Okay, how 'bout a cool trick?"

"It's cool", I replied.

" Just keep your eyes closed, wouldya?"

I shut my eyes in excitement, hoping to see what magic trick the man would perform, once my eyes were open again. I would then ask the man to teach me how to do it.

My eyes remained closed as the man flicked his hands in a strange manner while whispering some words - a magic spell perhaps.

The man's fingers glowed with bright dust particles that surrounded them, until suddenly...I fell unconscious.

*********

The man whispered a bit more loudly this time, "Arris xion".

This caused Daryn to disappear first, before the man also disappeared with him, leaving the house empty and unlocked.

The package laid in front of the door. It gave off a golden glow as it transformed into a golden envelope, and flew into the house.

Thud! The door was mysteriously shut.

*******

" Welcome to The Mage Academy For The Gifted. "

I suddenly became conscious at the sound of a lady's voice. I opened my eyes to realize that I wasn't at home anymore, but in a large room which was brightly lit up by a golden light. It was filled with many people who were confused just like I was.

My eyes scanned everyone's faces, in search of the strange man who kidnapped me, but it was futile.

My mixed feelings of confusion and anxiousness grew wilder as I kept on thinking of how worried my mum might be, if she didn't find me at home.

The hall was full of indistinct chattering from the confused crowd. Most of us were dressed in our night wears, making us feel very embarrassed.

We needed to know why we were kidnapped and where we were. But the lady who greeted us earlier neither said nor did anything.

She just stood upon the well raised podium which was in front of us. Her silence probably indicated that she awaited someone's arrival.

The chattering grew louder and louder because everyone was getting more frustrated; it was ten minutes since we arrived, but nothing had happened.

"If you're gonna kill us, just do it already!!!", someone yelled.

My heart pounded faster, making it difficult for me to control my breath. Beads of sweat rolled down my face, while I stood amongst the crowd - it was my own way of expressing my fear and confusion, but I tried to hold it all in.

A sudden silence filled the enormous room as we all witnessed something strange.

The ground beneath the well raised position split into two halves with a loud rumble, and then, a young beautiful girl ascended from underneath the ground.

She was dressed in a long white robe, and had neatly arranged black hair with a few white streaks. She had the looks of a young lady in her early twenties or so.

With a sudden loud thud, the ground was sealed back, and it looked very normal.

I was lucky enough to see everything because my tall height was an advantage.

The young girl waved her hands in a beautiful gesture, with a brilliant smile which was impressed on her face.

"Welcome to the mage academy for the gifted".

Her voice sounded more matured than her looks could tell.

"I know you all are very confused at the moment, and I promise to clarify you as soon as possible.

"But first, I would like you to know that I'm Headmistress Lyra...and this is my personal assistant, Tabitha".

She pointed at the lady who welcomed us earlier.

She waved her hand again, and everyone seemed to enter a trance. She began to speak, and they could all see pictures of what she was explaining to them.

It was just like a VR game or stuff like that.

~ She began explaining ~

Many years ago, a great man discovered that supernatural beings like himself coexisted with the human race.

Most of them lived normal lives as humans did, while the others chose a malignant path - to cause havoc in the world and rule over everything because of how powerful they were.

This great man knew all about those malignant supenaturals and the harm they could bring to the world. So, he decided to gather an elite squad of other supernaturals to stop the malignant ones, and completely vanquish their evil forever.

They eventually became victorious in the war between good and evil, giving humans a second chance of survival.

However, humans got terrified by supernaturals and how powerful they were. For this reason, they used all means they could to fight against the good supernaturals; this forced those groups of supernaturals to hide from the outside world.

But they still loved humans so much, that the showed up to protect the humans whenever a crisis arose.

As a way of keeping the supernatural bloodline from going rogue or extinct, the great man together with his elite squad decided to build the academy - Mage Academy For The Gifted.

Here, our main vision is to train supernaturals to become the best version of themselves and protect the world from colossal dangers.

*******

With a snap of her fingers, we were all yanked out of the trance. Then she asked, "Any questions?"

Everyone remained silent for a while, trying to process what we had just heard. The story was a quite interesting one though.

As for me, a question lingered in my mind, but I was too scared to speak out amidst the massive crowd. Just the mere thought of uttering even a word aloud had my heart racing.

Luck enough for me, the question I had in mind was asked by someone else - it was a girl that stood beside me.

"Does this mean that all of us in this room are supernaturals?"

"Good question miss...", the headmistress began.

"Our sentient AI gave us a list of potential supernaturals, and all we did was to find them. But the test you will take tomorrow will determine how many of you are supernaturals".

Another question was thrown at the headmistress;

"What of our families? They'll be worried about us"

She turned to the person on her left and replied with a brilliant smile;

"The non supernaturals will return to their families, while the rest won't be able to return back until they complete basic level training...or at least achieve a total of two hundred XPs".

Another person was going to ask more questions, but it seemed like she couldn't answer anymore.

"I can't entertain any more questions...you all need to rest cus you've all got a big day tomorrow. I will cast a spell to teleport you to special dorms...feel free to ask Sage, our sentient AI, any questions concerning whatever bothers you about this school".

I wasn't really paying any attention to what she was saying anymore. Instead, I kept on wondering why the voice of such a beautiful young lady sounded like an adult in her late forties. This meant that I wasn't aware of what she said about teleportation to their dorms.

"Xin Sharuk!", yelled the headmistress followed by a flick of her hand.

My eyes flinched as they were hit by a massive burst of visible white energy which was released from her hand.

I felt a heavy rush of energy brush through me as I was plummeted into a void of nothingness.

...........

The headmistress turned to Tabitha and heaved a brief sigh. She was obviously relieved of the stress of answering questions - she didn't like to be asked too much questions.

"This year's batch of freshmen have a lot to learn...we'll use all the best hands we can get, to make sure we teach them what's required to defeat the upcoming terror", she said.

"I agree with you, and the dean will be proud of our work this time", Tabitha smiled.

I appeared in a big and well lit room which had silver curtains, and two beds. The floor had criss crossed silver designs, with some repeating circular patterns.

Its walls were painted with blue and silver colours, and it had a sharp and attractive contrasting light which made the room look more colourful.

My gaze swept around the whole room in fascination, as I couldn't realize the source of such warm lightning.

I eventually noticed the brown wooden table by the corner, which had a bowl full of tasty snacks upon it.

My stomach growled. I was hungry, and craved for some snacks, so picking at least one biscuit won't hurt.

"Stop it Daryn!", I whispered to myself.

I can't trust the school yet, after all they kidnapped me and dozens of others whose families would probably be worried about.

I paced around the room until I got to another door. 'This should be the bathroom', I thought.

My gaze met with the silver wardrobe which stood opposite the second bed. I was probably not going to touch anything in the room, until the 'academy' gained my trust.

I turned again and walked towards the gigantic mirror that hung on the wall, adjacent to the first bed.

I sighed while staring at my yet boring reflection. It was the same old reflection as always, yet they called the school 'magical'.

I scoffed.

Trying to look better, I adjusted one of the stray curls from my long black hair.

"I'm still wearing a bathrobe". I sighed again.

Suddenly, my reflection transformed into what seemed to be another version of me.

This new reflection was dressed in a long black royal robe. It had bright white shining eyes, and radiated some kind of visible energy, judging by its brightly glowing body as well.

With an open jaw, I marvelled at such glorious reflection. I admired the power, its perfect hairstyle, neatly cut beards and perfectly shaped handsome face.

"Huh?"

I looked closer into the mirror.

A voice was heard speaking out of nowhere:

"Our reflection is nothing but an illusion...it's an image of ourselves we always want to see".

"Shit!!!"

I was startled. I scanned the whole room to see if there was anyone with me, but there wasn't.

'It was the mirror', I thought.

I moved backwards from the mirror in fear, but my reflection got more clearer. As much as I loved magic, if it truly existed, seeing a talking mirror for the first time seemed very bizarre to me.

"Did you just speak?", I asked.

"Are you a talking mirror?"

'And why am I talking to a mirror?', I thought to myself.

The voice was heard again;

"Yes, I spoke, but I'm not a talking mirror... I'm Sage, a sentient AI created decades ago...my main aim is to always assist everyone here in the academy in any legal way I can."

"But I heard you speak from the mirror."

"I speak through any object that reflects light such as mirrors or screens...you should get some rest for tomorrow", it said.

I felt a bit relieved at the moment. My gaze remained locked upon my powerful reflection for some time, before I finally turned away.

I picked up the academy's brochure which laid upon the wooden table. While standing, I stared into the paper for some seconds before looking at the mirror again.

"Can I call my mum? She needs to know I'm safe at least", I requested.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not authorized to grant you such access until you have up to ten XPs in your account", Sage replied.

"Fuck! This is stupid."

I was frustrated.

I threw the brochure out of my hand, and angrily fell backwards upon one of the beds. It felt surprisingly more comfortable than the one at home.

I closed my eyes and drifted away in some thoughts about a lot of things, and thus, didn't notice when someone appeared in the room.

The person called out,"Hey".

My heart nearly thumped out of my chest in fright. I was startled by the sudden sound which obviously stole my attention.

"Who are you?", I asked while staring at the person.

The stranger was a bit taller than me as I could tell, with a more matured stature as well. His silver coloured hair was neatly styled in a manner which suited the tiny silver earring he was putting on.

"I'm Henry, and I think we're roommates", replied the guy.

I finally caught my breath, and was able to speak again.

"I'm Daryn...it's nice to meet you".

I smiled.

"Thanks..."