"Alice, do you know what magic is?",Todd said. "Shush, shush, lower your voice Alice whispered as she covered Todd's mouth. "Why?", Todd whispered back in a muffled tone. "Anything magic is banned here. Hmm, before you were brought into this home, we were warned never to speak of, or even practice magic.I guess they never taught you this since the batch of children you came with didn't know of magic to begin with. There was a girl named Diana, who defiantly casted some fire spells to her friends. Immediately the mothers found out, they took her away and that was the last time we saw her",Alice said. But who ratted her out to the mothers, Todd asked. We do not know till now. It seems there are spies amongst us or even something to keep track of anyone who uses magic. But how did you end up here? ,Todd asked. It seems you have a lot of questions. Come, follow me. We can't speak here and risk ourselves being heard.
Alice said as she led the way to the back of the tool shed where usually nobody came throughout the day. Okay the coast is clear now,Alice said. She gave Todd a questioning look and said, " What do you mean by how did I end up here? Don't you know why you are here? Todd stared at Alice blankly, not knowing how to respond. "Todd, we are here because our parents died during a battle with the abominations. Our parents were magicians. All such children were brought here to take away their innate magical abilities and if unawakened, they will be monitored till their abilities manifest and stolen from them",Todd listened attentively as Alice continued. I know you were little when they brought you in, but I'm sure you should have known who your parents were at least. Todd continued staring at Alice blankly but seemed interested and wanted to know more.
"A movement happened some few years ago where some civilians revolted against the use of magic or even the mentioning of it. This led to this establishment in the guise of an orphanage. They went as far as killing all magicians in the town." Alice paused to take a breath then continued. Enough with the negatives, let's talk about the more interesting part. As Alice continued speaking, a twig snapped and instinctively they both turned to see if they were been watched. " This place isn't safe anymore, let's leave", Alice said. They hurriedly left the shed and headed to the forecourt. As they neared the forecourt, they saw some of the mothers and Elisa looking at them. " Ah, Todd and Alice, I see you are very close friends, Do you mind coming with me to my office?" , she said as she led them to the office. Todd and Alice walked behind the Mother looking at each other nervously. They turned to look at Elisa but she quickly averted her gaze at them and hurried her pace to walk by the Mother's side.
In the office, the atmosphere was intense and still. The looks Mother Erica and Elisa, as well as the other mothers gave Todd and Alice made them sweat. " We've made some observations lately of you two." " Alice , I expected better from you.", Mother Erica said as she looked at Alice. "Now we'd have to do the TIME OUT, I'm afraid you give us no choice." As soon as she said that, Alice's face stiffend. Todd could sense the terror coming from Alice's face. Mother Erica continued, "You both have breached the rules we gave you. Elisa here has been our informant on all the activities of the children. She has reported that you have left the premises of this home several times and to top it all, you spoke about magic." As she spoke, a security guard entered and dragged Alice away. " Alice! , Alice! No mother, it is my fault. I probed her into talking about it. Take me, not her. Please mother", Todd knelt before the mothers sobbing heavily. " As for you Todd, we have plans for you." Mother Erica said staring him. "Take him". Immediately Todd was knocked out.
The next thing Todd saw was a sophisticated machine placed on a table just right in front of him. He squinted , trying to see who was opposite him. " Oh, Todd. I see you're awake. You got me worried there. How are you feeling? ", he heard the voice of a man speaking. Todd didn't respond, not because he didn't want to but he couldn't. He turned his gaze to look at the machine in front of him. " You seem to not know what this machine is. Well, I don't expect you to", the man said with a sly grin. Todd mustered all the strength he had left to move , but he couldn't again. "What did they do to me?" , Todd thought to himself. "It's no use Todd.You have been stilled." The man responded in sight of Todd's struggle. "Do you know why you are here? You were brought here to receive judgement for breaching the rules. But first let's see if you have any magic in you?" The man moved Todd to the machine, cut his finger and placed a drop of his blood into the machine. The orb in the machine didn't give any glow but popped up a screen showing Todd's details.
NAME: Todd
AGE: 13 years
AFFINITY: Undefined
BATTLE POWER: Inestimable
RACE: Human
The man smiled at the results. " It seems that you have not even an ounce of magic in you . Since the orb didn't even bother to light up", the man said. But the smile suddenly changed to a slight frown which didn't escape Todd. " What is it?", Todd asked. "Nothing!", the man shouted quite annoyed. " I've never seen this machine crack before in all my years of work. Or is it faulty? No it can't be faulty. I checked it before using it and it had no faults.", the man questioned himself even as he moved the machine to his workshop. Later that evening, Todd overheard the man on a call with someone. It was probably Mother Erica, looking at the kind of conversation they were having. " Erica, I think we need to send the boy to the main branch for further studies. I have never seen this before. The details that even came were odd." " Are you sure about this?", Mother Erica asked. " Keep an eye on him. Tomorrow he leaves for the main branch."
" I leave for the main branch tomorrow? No, this can't be happening. What of Alice? What happened to her?" Todd had frustration all over his face. He kept thinking of what to do till he fell asleep. Suddenly he felt a similar sensation, the feeling of being outside of one's body. This time however, he heard no voice. "Am I finally dead?" He turned to look at his surroundings and he found out he was still in the room. He could also here the sounds of metal cling-clanging in the workshop. He then remembered the last statement he heard before he fell asleep. " I must find a way to escape", he said to himself. As he paced to and fro, a thought struck him." Since I'm out of my body, does is it mean I can go outside?", he wondered. He moved towards the walls and reached out his hand to see if it would be blocked. The opposite rather happened, he passed right through the wall.
The excitement he had left as quickly as it came , when he saw the man heading towards the room he was kept in. " Hey boy, I hope you're not causing any trouble.", the man said as he entered the room. He found Todd asleep and turned to his quarters to prepare for the next day. "Phew! , that was close." Todd mumbled to himself. " I must escape tonight.