Lord Tharn Zon

Chapter 3 – Istar, the Useless

Lord Tharn Zon walked next to the nervous woman, and when she opened the door that led to the main corridor, she peeked at both sides and signalled for him to follow her.

As they were walking along the corridor, he was looking at the corridor walls, admiring the paintings of sceneries or Mages that graduated from that School, as it said in the tags under each painting.

Then, a mocking girl’s voice and some giggling made him look back to where the noise was coming from. “Look who she is, girls! Istar, the Useless! Are you ready for another one of your famous blunders in your test? What are you going to do this time? Burn the entire School instead of the Teacher’s robe?”

Tharn Zon glanced at Istar, who was trembling all over. She hid behind him, and the girls approached Tharn, looking at him with curiosity. He stared back at them in silence, memorizing their features while being alert for any sudden movement.

Unlike Istar, they were all wearing a uniform of dark brown trousers and a dark brown shirt, with a dark hooded cloak over their shoulders, tied with strings on the shirt’s shoulders.

The one that spoke was a Cathra like Istar, judging by her pointy ears, but she had white long hair tied in a high ponytail. There was a Humanish girl and two that were probably members of the other major Race, Beastkind, considering one had ears and a tail that looked like a cat, and the other had ears and a tail that resembled a dog.

The Cathra girl asked while poking Tharn’s chest. “And who are you? You are not a student here, and no outsider is allowed to be in this School! You don’t look like a Teacher either, so you are probably a trespasser that shouldn’t be here! Is he your friend, Istar, or do you owe him money? Or were you dumb enough to bring someone here in the middle of the night, and you were trying to make him leave with no one finding out? Because he can’t possibly be your boyfriend! He is too good-looking for that! What is your name, pretty boy?”

Istar spoke in a trembling voice, from behind him, “He… is my Familiar… I Summoned him… I call him Tharn…”

The girl laughed while gently tapping Tharn’s left cheek. “You did what, moron? You expect us to believe such a useless and messed up Mage like you could ever summon a Familiar? And a Humanish? If you summoned a rock and called him Familiar, I would believe you, but him?”

Fast as lightning, Tharn Zon took out his sword from the sheath he had behind his back and put the blade against the surprised girl’s neck. She backed away until her back hit the wall of the corridor, and Tharn kept on pushing the sword against her throat. The Cat-looking girl tried to pull his free arm, and he grabbed her face and placed her next to her friend, behind his sword as well. The other girls didn’t dare to move.

Istar gulped, surprised by his speed and quick reaction, and she tried to calm him down, “Tharn… let them go. They were not threatening me. I am used to them bullying me…”

Tharn looked at her with such an angry face that Istar turned pale. He then faced the two scared girls and their friends and kept on pushing his sword, making them stop breathing from the scare. As fast as before, he backed away and put the sword back into his sheath. When they saw themselves free, they ran in the opposite direction down the corridor, screaming in fear.

Tharn looked at Istar and said, “Why do you let stupid girls speak like that to you? Where is your Mage pride? I have never met such a boneless being like you! And I have met hundreds of people! Say something! Explain to me why they called you Istar, the Useless!”

“I… sometimes I mess up my Magic… I… I get nervous… My mind goes blank… and I can’t visualize anything…”

Tharn grabbed her right shoulder and pushed her against the wall of the corridor.

He looked deep into her eyes and said, “The next time I hear or see someone bullying you, I want you to react. If your mind goes blank, focus, because I don’t want you to mess up your Magic near me! Do you understand?”

“I… I can’t… I… I get too nervous to think… I…”

“Make an effort! Swallow that nervousness! You are supposed to be a Mage! A Mage can’t ever be nervous! A Mage must always stay calm and in control, even in the face of his death! A nervous Mage is a liability to himself and others around him! You can lose control of your Magic and kill everyone around you! I will not die because you are a fool! You have no idea how lose Magic can be dangerous!”

Istar pouted, and her eyes filled with water.

Tharn frowned and spoke in a lower, gentle tone. “Calm down, and focus. No wonder those girls bully you if you start to cry like that any time someone pushes you a tiny bit. What the heck are they teaching in this School? How can you be a Mage if you can’t focus, and you get all nervous? Take me to that main room. I need food. I can’t think straight, and I need to talk to you some more without feeling so distracted.”

Istar vigorously nodded and rushed along the corridor, straight at the big wooden door at the end.

Tharn followed her inside, and they both stood in line to grab cutlery and a tray and get food, gathering all the attention upon him from the students that were already having breakfast.

When it was Istar’s turn, the cafeteria lady asked while putting on her tray a plate with bread, some sort of container with jam, and a cup of a strange turquoise juice, “Who is that, Istar? A new student? I don’t know him, and I know every student!”

“No… he… he is not a student... He is my Familiar… I summoned him…”

Seeing the doubtful look on the cafeteria lady, she continued, “No, seriously! I was up all night in the Training Room, making the Magical Circle and the Rune! It took me all night to gather enough Magic and courage to try!”

The lady looked at Tharn from top to bottom and shrugged. “He looks alright, I guess. Your colleagues already have a familiar for days; you were the last one. Your test is today, right? Why do you always leave everything until the last day? Geez, Istar, imagine if you hadn’t summoned a Familiar? What would you do during the test? Fight alone?”

Tharn gave her the tray, and the cafeteria lady raised one eyebrow. “What? You want food as well? Since when a Familiar… Alright, never mind. Considering who your Master is, no wonder you are also weird! Here, take this, and don’t you dare leave food on your plate!”

He pointed at the pile of bread, and she gave him two more slices, wondering why he was drooling like that. It looked as if that strange Humanish-looking Familiar was starving.

As Istar was walking to an empty table, Tharn was already gulping down a slice of bread. She sat, and he opened the container of the strange jam. He took a knife, and after smelling the jam, spread it over the slices of bread. He ate and used the turquoise juice to swallow his full mouth.

Istar glanced around and whispered, “Do you mind making less noise? Everybody is looking at us!”

“Are you going to eat that bread? Because if not, I don’t mind eating it!”

“Hey! You didn’t finish yours, and you are already looking at my food?”

Tharn whispered as he swallowed another piece of bread covered with jam, “Less talk, more eating! I want to have a look around this School. Does it have a Library? I need information about this World.”

“It has a big Library, one of the biggest in the Kingdom, actually. But… I can take you for a tour, but we can’t take too long, because I have a practical test, remember? Do you think… You can help me with that?”

“I suppose I can do that if you take me to the Library afterwards.”

Istar nodded and said, “I have classes to attend after the test, but I can take you to the Library and you can be there until lunchtime. I will go get you when it’s time to eat.”

“What is that practical test, anyway? Since I am supposed to fight for you, you might as well explain it to me.”

“The Teacher will summon an Elemental for us to fight. You can use your sword against him while I use some spells to cover you.”

Tharn made a slight frown. “I don’t know if I like that idea. If you lose focus and your mind goes blank from nervousness, I will have to do it all by myself. Do you earn anything on that test, besides a grade?”

“If… if I kill the Elemental, his Magic will come to me, and I can go up a Level. It will be hard, because the last Elemental I fought against was kind of weak, and it still gave me a hard time.”

“That Cathra girl that we encountered in the corridor. How good of a Mage is she?”

“She… is the best student… She is not only pretty and has all the boys after her, but her family is also very rich. She is already an Apprentice of Level 12… She uses her Magic flawlessly… Sometimes I wish I was like her… so confident… so powerful...”

Tharn gulped down his juice, and he then filled the cup with the water that was in the jar over the table before asking, “What about your family? Do you have any siblings, pets, grandparents, those sorts of things?”

“I… I have all that… I am the youngest of the bunch... I have two sisters and two brothers. Money was never much in our house. That is why they all started to work when they were younger than me. But… My parents, my brothers, and sisters… they all saved to pay for my tuition so that I could learn how to be a Mage… I… I want to graduate with a high Rank and Level so I can get a good job and help them back.”

“That is very honourable of you. Does Cathras have a long life? I mean, you look rather young, and you could very well be a kid, if your kind lives up to one hundred and fifty years, for instance.”

Istar turned bright red and answered, “Cathras live up to two hundred years… I am almost at a marriageable age, but I can’t marry before providing a better life for my family… Only after they are taken care of, will I worry about me… and a possible husband…”

“Well, unless I can kill that Dark Necromancer or make him leave this World, you don’t need to worry about your future, because this World will be done for in three years.”

The nervous girl slowly nodded and said, in a trembling whisper, “Can you… stop saying those things? It scares me to think about that possibility… I just… want to learn, and get a job, and… make my parents proud…”

“Very well, I will refrain myself from remembering you of the danger ahead. Since you finished eating, what about if you took me on a tour? And while we are walking, explain to me what I am supposed to do, as a Familiar.”

“You mean… you are going to help me?”

“Only until I found out more about this World and what would be the best way to level up, because unlike you, I have a mission waiting for me, and I can’t pretend it doesn’t exist. I have seen way too many deaths to be so carefree. If you wish to play the student game, do as you like, but count me out of that.”