Heirs of Magic

Chapter Seven - Revolt and Suspicion

(one month later)

"[Light that guides my path, appear before me]" said the students in arcane language.

With the conjuring phrase and the arcane writing the magic took effect, the mystic letters came together in the shape of a globe of light, the size varied for each student, the globe also floated above the head about a meter or so in front of the chest in others, but Merilda was already able to make it orbit around her body.

"Soon you will be able to control your movements" said teacher Izora.

"Merilda is always one step ahead of us" said one of the other students "so it's true that light magic runs in her blood.

"It's true that she has light magic user parents, but I never knew that made it easier to master her" said Izora "magic is not something you inherit for free, your talent is yours alone.

"But professor, is it true that your grandmother was the previous dean, isn't it?" asked one of the students "and also that she was a user of light, were her parents too?

"No, my father wasn't a mage even though he was my grandmother's son" she replied "and my mother was a combat mage.

"How strange, a great light magician had a son who couldn't use magic" said one of them.

"No one knows the answer to that, even a couple incapable of using magic can give birth to a baby able to do so" said Izora "and the opposite can also happen, a couple of magicians give birth to a child without the gift of magic.

And that's why the population of magicians was stabilized, about 10% of the population of this country could use magic, in some generations that number varied more or less, this stability gave magicians power and authority within the country, being a magician was a blessing that everyone wanted to receive or inherit, and most of the country's economy was controlled by them.

"It would be perfect if our nation only had mages" said Ashiok "when I graduate I will research the origin of magic, and I will strive so that we can control it from the lineage.

"It would also be great if we could choose what magic we were born with" said another "I got light magic but I really wanted to be a creation mage.

The students started to argue about it, some of them were satisfied with light magic but others wanted different magic, Ashiok mentioned something about magic should only be in the hands of those who deserve it, and that pissed off Merilda.

"Magic should not be an exclusive gift of the elite, everyone should have the right to use it" justified Merilda "if only the elite can use it, those born in common cradles will never be able to make a difference.

"If we control the origin of magic, we can prevent unworthy people from using it" justified Ashiok "most of the dark magicians are unknown, if we could prevent anyone from receiving the gift of magic...

"And who will determine who is worthy of wearing it? Only those born of noble families?" asked Merilda "if that's the case, magic ceases to be a gift and becomes a product to be marketed.

Ashiok and Merilda stared at each other, they were both on bad terms since the incident with Derek, that's why they lived disagreeing with each other, seeing the tense atmosphere in their room Izora clapped her hands calling for attention.

"The idea of ​​controlling the origin of magic is interesting, but no one should have exclusivity over this control" she said "anyway it is irrelevant to discuss who deserves the privilege of magic, unless we already know how to control its origin.

"But at least you must agree with me about abolishing dark magic" said Ashiok "at the very least we should get dark magic out of our midst.

Izora looked at Ashiok and remained silent, she agreed that black magic shouldn't exist, but she didn't want to be the judge of who deserves to use magic, the teacher just asked that this matter be forgotten.

After class ended the students were dismissed, as Merilda was leaving Izora called out to her, once they were alone Izora asked what she wanted to know.

"How's that Derek kid doing?" she asked.

"It's still the same, during the morning he stays quiet the whole class, he only responds when they talk to him" explained Merilda "he eats away from everyone, even his roommate doesn't have that much contact anymore.

"Poor guy, I'm afraid he'll be swallowed by the darkness" said Izora sadly "if things continue like this Onyx might take advantage.

"Do you know that monstrosity?" asked Merilda with interest.

"I met her personally when I was still a little girl" replied Izora "my grandmother came to take care of business after retiring, I was with her, until today I don't know why she took me to see that monster.

Izora was 30 years old and had already been working as a teacher for 10 years, she started right after graduating from the academy, since then she saw Onyx a few times, whenever some urgent meeting happened, for Izora (who knew all of Onyx's history) that creature was the personification of evil and malice.

"Derek meant well, he was a great person" Merilda said sadly "I don't accept that he falls into darkness because of the mistakes of others.

*****************************

"Good afternoon Derek" greeted the librarian.

"Good afternoon Hugo" replied Derek "Did you find the books I asked for?

"They're on the table you use" replied the man "enjoy yourself."

Derek thanked him and went to the table at the back of the academy library, since he decided to isolate himself from other people he found refuge in the library, when he got there he saw the books under a cloth, he sat down and began to leaf through, they were books who gave basic teachings about all the ways of magic in that country, some talked about magic from other countries.

"Isn't it funny? Everyone who is born in our country can only use the types of magic here" commented Hugo while arranging a shelf "but in neighboring countries everyone is born with very different types of magic.

"I noticed that, there is a country to the east of here that uses magic based on metal, wood, earth, fire and water" replied Derek "and in faerie all magic is based on reality alteration.

But that didn't explain a certain mystery, people who changed countries also changed their type of magic, since they had never used magic before, it was as if becoming aware of magic made it adapt to the place he lived, it also didn't explain since and because magic respected borders or ethnicity, people who lived within a few meters of each other could awaken different magics just because they were on different sides of the border.

"Another funny thing is that if each of your parents comes from a different country you can have both types of magic" said Hugo "but the magic you awaken first will be the dominant one.

Derek enjoyed talking to him, he knew a lot about magic, but he was a terrible wizard, Derek couldn't say why someone so smart wasn't a famous wizard and worked in the library.

"Hey Hugo, you're smart enough to be a teacher here aren't you?" asked Derek "So why do you work at the library? Don't you like teaching or do you have another reason?"

"Even having the intelligence, I chose the magic that I wanted to perfect" he replied "as I abandoned my primary magic I opted for the secondary one, but it didn't work out very well.

"Really? And what was your primary magic?" Derek asked.

"It was dark magic" he replied while cleaning the cover of a book "so I dropped it and went to try dimensional magic.

Derek's mouth was open, in front of him was someone who tried to follow the path of darkness, his surprise was such that Hugo was a little embarrassed by it, and Derek with even more questions.

"You gave up dark magic? What made you give up?" asked Derek" didn't want to become a dark magician?

"It wasn't that, I really wanted to become one, although I didn't plan on becoming an assassin or anything like that" he replied "when I found out I had dark magic I thought I could be a mercenary, nobody talks about that but it's normal to hire a black magician to do dirty work.

"So what...

"Onyx broke up with me" he said "I actually let her break up with me.

Hugo told how 15 years ago he entered the academy and also the dark magic course, as soon as he met Onyx he was enchanted by her, in less than a month he became her lover, satisfying her was more important than learning magic, Hugo he said how wonderful it was to go to bed with her, to be enslaved and humiliated, if she asked him he would kill himself for her smiling.

"I did everything she asked, I answered all her desires, I satisfied any lust she had" he said looking at the ceiling "halfway through the year she was already bored, she lost all interest in me.

"And what happened afterwards?" asked Derek with interest.

"She said "you suck, get out of here" and I started crying like a son disowned by his mother" he explained "I begged her to suck my soul, and she said I was no good for that.

After that he paid the fee and left the academy, he returned the following year to try another path of magic, but by abandoning his primary path the secondary one will never reach its full potential, moreover he could not move forward while remembering Onyx and the orgies what he did with her.

"I managed to graduate with a drag, but I was a mediocre magician who couldn't find work or a patron" he said "the only solution was to work here at the academy, I've been a librarian for 8 years.

"I'm sorry about that, you had talent" said Derek heartily.

"I can't say how my life would be as a black magician, so maybe I was lucky" he said "when I heard about you I was curious, the last black magician that graduated here seemed to be much stronger than me, he didn't bow down for Onyx.

"That bastard, she doesn't stop teasing me, making me stay... you know" said Derek "but I'm not going to let her finish me off! I'm going to graduate with honors from this academy, and only then will I go stick the dick in that bitch, because I'm not made of iron!

Hugo had a good laugh when he heard that, Derek spoke without thinking but it was what he really wanted, he just prayed to last 5 years when Hugo didn't last even a month.

"Have determination boy, whether to accept or deny black magic" advised Hugo "if you choose to accept it, embrace the best and worst of it, if you choose to deny it, give it your all in another type of magic, even if never be good enough.

"Thank you so much, hearing your story made me sure I made the right choice" said Derek "because when I took that beating I thought about giving up, but I don't want to end up like you.

"And one more thing, get yourself a girlfriend soon, or at least someone to have sex with" said the other with a naughty look "the more Onyx is interested in you the more she will play tough.

"That's what I was afraid of..." said Derek seeing a dark future for himself.

*****************************************

Time went by and the second month ended, with the arrival of the 3rd month the students were preparing for the next test they would have, those who had difficulty in the first test studied twice as hard to pass the next one, those who were confident relaxed more.

In the general knowledge of magic class, students learned more basic spells, the teacher informed that the first half of the year was for this, and in the second half they would have to improve and completely master the basics, be able to use these spells with a single symbol of conjuration.

"Different from the first test, all classes will meet for this month" explained the professor "this means that during the whole day the 3 thousand first year students will be showing their abilities in front of the dean and all the professors.

"Huh!? Why is that!?" asked an already shaking student.

"The dean did not specify any reason, he wanted it that way" he replied "that means that on the 22nd we will not have a theoretical test, only the collective practical test, on the 23rd the test in its specific courses, and on the 24th the delivery of the results.

The students got excited and complained, they were on the 15th, in less than 10 days they would take another step forward, or they could take another step back if they failed again, in the year they would have 10 tests, if they failed in 4 of them would already have serious problems to pass, failing halfway would mean expulsion with no return.

The basic class time ended, after lunch everyone went to their special rooms, in the basement Derek entered Onyx's rooms and was soon received by Napilla who jumped on his neck.

"Damn Napilla, you don't do this every night!" he asked.

"You've spoiled her," Onyx joked, "and now you just have to be a little late and she's already like that."

"I was studying some books, I got distracted by that" he replied "so let's go to class soon?"

Onyx went back to explaining about dark magic, she liked that his interest had increased lately, he even asked about curses and corruptions which were subcategories of dark magic.

"Dark magic corrupts everything, so nothing is beyond its reach" she explained didactically "dark magicians can fuse black magic with any other category, except light.

"So even if I learn other categories it won't hurt my main category, will it?" he asked.

"Your studies in the afternoon are paying off, you've already gotten smarter" she joked "a dark mage can learn any other category of magic, and his efficiency will be about...60%

Derek was happy about this, for the last month he has been studying combat magic, he already managed to use two of his basic spells (strength increase and speed increase), but he was worried if this would diminish his potential in dark magic, now with the Onyx's confirmation he was going to train deeper in the other styles.

"Don't get carried away, it will take you years to master advanced spells from other categories" warned Onyx "you can learn a basic spell in a week, but you'll never be as good at it as the student in that course."

"I know, but having options is much better than not being able to do anything" he explained "until now you haven't taught me any attack magic, in a fight I look like a helpless puppy!

Onyx smiled and raised her right hand, she only needed to move her fingers to draw a single symbol, as she did so a mass of darkness gathered in her hand, she made a slight movement and with that a blade of darkness hit a column, Derek he was astonished as he saw the cut in the spine.

"Advanced magic {shadow scythe}, perfect for taking someone by surprise" she said "dark magic isn't exactly offensive, it's sneaky, it works best to deceive and corrupt.

"That's cool! And when am I going to learn this one?" asked Derek excitedly.

"A year from now when we enter the intermediate spells" Onyx replied "but this spell is made to kill, so if you want to learn it you need to be willing to take lives.

Derek smiled confidently, he wouldn't hesitate if he had to, so he focused on what he could do now and practiced the magic that Onyx taught him earlier, that's what he needed to do to pass her exam this month.

*****************************

"Did you see? The 5th year students went on a mission" said one of the students "they looked like real wizards, uniform and everything, it was really cool!

"Yes, even though they still need to graduate they are already recognized" said another "I can't wait for our turn!"

"If you're so eager, give it your all for this test" suggested Androuet passing by, "one more reason to look good in front of everyone.

The three thousand new students were in a large savanna, in fact by the power of the dean they were teleported to another dimension, in that dimension they had plenty of space to perform the test of the month.

"Dimensional magic, it's capable of so much..." Merilda was saying "but only the dean could bring us all here at once.

"I guess that's what's expected of someone who's earned the title of archmage," said Derek.

"Archmage? Ah yes, a master among mages" Merilda said "I heard that to get this title you need to master three styles of magic.

Derek looked at Merilda, she was smiling as she talked to him, during the last two months she always tried to approach him, but he always pushed her away, Derek wanted to have minimal contact with the other students.

"Don't you get tired of trying?" he asked.

"You saved my life, so I won't give up on you" she replied "and even if you hadn't, I would never approve of what they did to you.

A teacher passed by announcing the beginning of the test, the students organized themselves in rows and began to demonstrate their magic, in addition to the ones they learned before, they showed the new ones, among them the magic shield more concentrated than the barrier, and the ability to mold Mana, some students were so skilled that they made replicas of themselves with the mystical energy.

Despite 3,000 students gathered, the test was applied in groups, each room showed their skills first, targets appeared floating in the air to be hit, puppets appeared to attack with magic shots, and students defending themselves with barriers or shields, little by little everyone iam showing their ability, the last test was that everyone should unite to make the {magic flame}

"To make the {magic flame} we need to unite our Mana, don't we?" asked one of the students" what does it mean to form a circle and hold our hands to synchronize the Mana.

"Exactly, and what's the problem with that?" asked one of the class members.

"Well, there's him..." said a girl looking at Derek.

Derek was with the group but a little away, he seemed distracted looking at the performance of the other groups, to use this magic they needed to unite and work together.

"Hey Derek, come here" ordered one of them "it sucks but we need you for this.

"No problem" he replied nonchalantly.

The students formed a circle, Merilda offered to stay next to Derek who didn't think it was bad, but to everyone's surprise the other person next to him was Geva, she seemed to have a stupid smile on her face and everyone predicted that the class would it was going to fail.

"It's okay to hold hands isn't it?" she asked with an innocent way " after all we stayed like that for a whole afternoon.

"For me it's great, having two girls holding my hands" he replied with a smile that startled everyone.

Merilda was extremely irritated with Geva's cynicism, but for the sake of the class she revealed it, everyone held hands and closed their eyes, for the magic to work they needed to send equal amounts of Mana to the center of the circle, if someone sent too much he would make the flame grow in his direction, if he sent it less, he would make the flame weaker on his side.

Everyone sent their Mana to the center of the circle, the test also measured how long it took them to synchronize their thoughts, for this class the flame took about a minute to stabilize, ideally half the time.

"Okay, we've already created a ball of fire" said one of them looking at the center of the circle "now we just need to make it grow.

The fireball was at the time 1m in diameter, the last stage of the magic involved making it grow to at least 5m, for that everyone had to keep sending Mana without stopping until it reached the desired size, concentrating on that the group started to send Mana and the fireball grew slowly.

"The students opened their eyes and saw the fruit of their work, the ball of fire was already 3m and kept growing, suddenly it, which was yellow before, turned white, as well as the Mana around Merilda's body, this accelerated the process making the ball reach the desired size in an instant.

"Amazing, Merilda's Mana made the fireball much stronger!" said someone in amazement.

Suddenly the fireball turned red, a red that resembled blood, everyone was scared by that and the fact that Derek's Mana turned black, before anyone could say anything the fireball exploded releasing red flames in all directions, the entire class went flying backwards with the explosion and all the students fell stunned to the floor.

"What the fuck was that!?" asked one of them.

"It was him! It was Derek!" someone shouted" it was his black magic that did that!

"Me? I almost blew myself up too!" he shouted back.

"Who else can do that? Everyone saw the fireball turning that color!" accused another" your cursed magic tried to kill us!

"Wait, that's not right guys" Merilda was trying to argue "he had no intention...

People didn't listen and went after him, when a group surrounded Derek he hit back with a punch, but it wasn't an ordinary punch, his hand was wrapped in a dense black aura, his punch had the strength of a horse's kick and sent a trio flying backwards.

"I didn't do anything, but if you want to come, you can!!" he said showing the two magic fists "I won't be beaten like before anymore!

A group surrounded him and everyone started to cast their spells, that's when the dean appeared out of nowhere between them and Derek, just his look of fury was enough to make many tremble.

"That's enough of that!" ordered him.

"But sir! The Derek screwed up our test!" argued someone" we demand to repeat the test without him!

"I saw what happened, it's true that Derek's magic corrupted your magic" he explained "but that explosive reaction was the fault of Merilda's magic.

Everyone looked at Merilda who was surprised by this, Androuet explained that light magic strengthens all others, so technically they had an unfair advantage over other classes, Derek's magic corrupted the fireball, but Merilda's magic tried to fight it corruption, which made everything go out of control.

"If you want to exclude Derek, you need to exclude me too" Merilda said "as well as any class that has a user of light magic.

"There is no need for that, this result was our fault for not remembering the incompatibility between Merilda and Derek" Androuet explained "only this time we will pass all classes in this control test, then we will think of a test that takes these details into account.

"How lucky for you, everyone got along because of me" said Derek ironically "so can we go now?

Androuet noticed that he was pretty acidic about it, maybe he was already at the point of losing control, besides the magic he used was a combination of combat magic with dark magic, something he should only learn in the middle of the year .

"Very well, I close this month's test" announced Androuet "results will be announced in two days.

He hit his staff on the ground and all the students appeared in the academy courtyard, some were dizzy from the sudden teleportation, as soon as they returned the teachers guided the students to their classrooms.

****************************

"At last the tests are over" said an employee cleaning the hallway "we only have one break a month, it seems to take forever.

"Worse for those who are serving punishment" said a 3rd year student "tomorrow I'll be cleaning all day.

The duo passed in front of a corridor, both looked at that area in fear, it was the corridor that led to the room where dark magic was taught, a place that was forgotten until a new student arrived.

"Have you been there yet?" asked the 3rd year student.

"I can't even go down there if you pay me, this place is cursed!" said the employee" down there are a lot of empty rooms, some warehouses and bending some corridors "that place"

"But is it true that the teacher of darkness is a demon?" asked the student" I think it's an exaggeration, but there were people who tried to go down there, I heard that a monster chased them down here.

"I'll be very happy if I never have to find out, now let's go" the clerk was saying "let's just get this lobby over and go."

The two continued cleaning, one threw water while the other dried, when they got close to the center of the hall they noticed something strange, there was a student sitting in the seats that were right in the center (the seats organized around several plants)

"What is this idiot doing? It's been two hours since we closed!" complained the employee" any student outside the dorms at that time is punished!

"Maybe it's Derek, he's allowed out here at night" commented the other "although at that time he should be in class.

They stopped theorizing and went to him, halfway through they called for the person, but she didn't answer, strange that the two approached, and what they saw left them wide-eyed, sitting in the seat was a dead student, his face deformed from blows, his eyes gouged out and several teeth missing, in addition his skin was pale, as if he lacked blood.

The student vomited when he saw that, the employee quickly ran out of the lobby, he went to look for a magic stone used for communication, giving the warning signal to the board. It didn't take long for some teachers to appear, and when they saw the scene, they were shocked.

"Somebody call Mister Androuet now!" ordered one of the teachers.

When the information reached the dean, he left his quarters, using dimensional magic he instantly arrived at the scene of the incident, when he saw the dead student he soon recognized him, it was Tafai from the combat magic course.

"How long ago did this happen?" asked Androuet.

"I have no idea, we found him like this" said the employee shaking "when all the students went to the dorms we started cleaning and then...

"My god, he was beaten to death, and then they kept beating more" said a teacher examining the body "but what is that pallor? Someone beaten should be purple!"

Androuet approached and used a magic that enveloped the body, it was a magic used to analyze someone's condition, it didn't take long for him to get a sense of what happened.

"He had his mana drained, then he was beaten," he revealed, "and whoever did that used dark magic.

"Mr. Androuet, if I'm not mistaken, Tafai was...

"One of the ones who beat up Derek two months ago, I know," he said, "and by the looks of it he was killed right after the students retired, just as Derek is on his way to his class.

Everyone looked at the clock, it was the 5th hour of the night, after the end of classes the students had two hours of the night to do whatever they wanted, after that it was mandatory to go to the dorms, as soon as the place was empty the employees cleaned everything, that was when Derek went to his class in Onyx's quarters.

"His class must be ending, I'll ask Derek what happened" said Androuet.

"Isn't it obvious that he did this? Only he and Onyx can use dark magic here" said one of the teachers "Onyx can't get out of her prison, and all this happened when Derek was going to class.

"So he beat the shit out of a student, sucked his Mana, dumped his body here and went to class?" asked Androuet "I don't like being made a fool of over something so obvious.

Androuet followed the forbidden corridor and then the iron door, when he opened it he found Derek having classes normally with Onyx, he sighed with relief because everything seemed normal, seeing the dean Onyx ended the class and invited him to sit down.

"Can I help you with something?" Onyx asked.

"I want to talk to you, but first I want to talk to Derek" he said sitting in the armchair "do you have something to do with that out there my boy?

"Are you talking about that idiot Tafai I left outside?" asked Derek" I did, but he started it.

At that moment Androuet felt his heart stop for a second.