"I will tear you to shreds!"
Enraged screams filled the hallways as students gathered round. A fight had broken out between the two factions.
"You disgust me! How can a prestigious Day student study in the same precinct as you!" The usual two-way discrimination echoed too down the halls. The taunt was effective and the opposition struck him with a mighty punch. "Now you've done it!" Screeched the Day student as he tried to counterattack.
He failed miserably. He tripped over his own shoes and landed face first onto the cold dust-filled tiles. Students from the Night faction had to pry the opponent of the bleeding Day student, whose body had suffered potentially fatal injuries.
This was a regular activity between the two factions in this sanction of study and wisdom. And it wasn't just students, adults too acted childish when they crossed paths, which lead to many altercations and injuries. This was common courtesy in the neutral nation of Dawnbreak, located in between the nation of Day and the nation of Night.
I looked away from the history book and looked at the body being taken away, possibly to the nurse's office. I too used to act the same way, that was until I met the strangest individual several days ago.
****
"Run away you heartless void, shoo!" Children yelled as they armed themselves with plenty of pebbles and shot them like canon balls at the shunned Night child. Under normal circumstances, they would have been detained, but it was midday, the time of day when the Day's citizens interacted with the world. There was no one to save her from their inexplicable rage that descended from their ancestors.
They attacked until they lost sight of her, like an apex predator who ends its chase after losing its prey. I walked back out of the shady gloomy alleyway into the sun's warm embrace. The sun's embrace slowly came to an end and the moon's chill touch grasped towards me. Culture changed and now the Night citizens had emerged. Night children attacked any Day kids and suffered no consequences.
A chill crept up my spine, but I brushed it off as wind. But it didn't stop. The chill touch came closer and closer, until it fully grasped me and took me away, shielding my eyes and stuffing me into a dark bag that reeked of potatoes. I tried screaming, but I was out at midnight- there was no one that could save me. My arrogance of staying past the safety time had gotten the better of me and now, my life was in danger.
Still blinded, I could feel my body be transported away to a faraway place, where my parents wouldn't hear me, where my friends wouldn't stumble upon me, and where my enemies would laugh at my state. I laid on a smooth metal table, my bare back twitching and squirming at the sheer cold. But all movement stopped when I felt something thin that smelled like ink slowly carving my stomach.
Oh no. Oh no no no no no.
The inky stench crawled up my nose and burned my windpipe. And then...it pierced me. A sharp metal shard pierced through the inky line art and smoothly glided along, splitting my delicate skin apart.
"MPHM!" I tried to scream in pain, all while the kidnappers continued to cut away at my skin, but my mouth was covered by fabric. Only a muffled sound escaped that resembled a fart. Tears also began trickling down the side of my face. Soon, the taste of bloody metal made its way down my nose.
My body shifted and jerked, kicking away at the endless dark to save me. I long lost hope of seeing my family and only wanted to make it out alive. I kicked and kicked, and at some point, I knocked over a can that contained some sort of sonorous metal. The events that I remembered may be figments of my imagination, but they felt real.
I was able to open my eyes, even while blindfolded, and could see the state of my body. I gagged and nearly vomited. My entire torso had been scalped and my insides were there for display. My kidneys were gone and so was one of my lungs. Besides me were buckets of blood, my blood.
I yelled as a reflex, and to my surprise, I made noises. They were incoherent, yet still noises of pain and agony. On death's door, I had projected my being. The pair of thieves saw my astral form and giggled, for I was deep down underground and had just turned into a goldmine for the duo. I was truly lost.
"Disgusting." Suddenly, a voice spoke from the doorway that scared the pair. It was a knight wearing heavy metal armour with a pristine emblem on the shoulder depicting a crescent moon layered on the sun. At that time, I thought the darkness stole the armour's colours, but as my shining knight hacked away using a large curved cleaver, bright red blood splattered onto the darkness. His armour lacked all essence of colour and positivity.
A third enemy appeared from behind the knight. Clearly wounded, he wielded a mechanical crossbow. He shot it with pinpoint accuracy and managed to lodge the bolt into the knight's skin. Yet the knight remained unfazed. Such fear was sent into the enemy leaving him dazed, while the knight pierced his torso with their fist.
No enemies remained.
I was still in the newly-gained astral form, which the knight saw. "Interesting," is all that he muttered as he placed my organs back into my body and carried me away, which is when I fainted.
By the time I came around, I was again laying in a strange room, but instead of the grim and decrepit table, I now laid on a silk soft sheet.
"Hello?" I called out, hoping for a pleasant voice from a doctor or nurse.
"You're awake." That was no voice of a doctor or nurse. It was the same raspy hoarse voice of my saviour in black, who silently watched while I rested. Before I could speak, an incredible pain befell me. I screamed as the pain picked away at my brain, picking away at my very soul.
I struggled constantly and my body spasmed; my nerves felt like they were in a constant state of rot and regeneration. "Fight it." The knight grabbed a towel and pushed it into my mouth. "Bite." I did so trying to endure the overwhelming pain. The knight said something to me, but I couldn't understand him. Over his voice played a sweet lullaby.
Dazed from the pain, I imagined myself walking to the lullaby sung by the gentle voice of a tired woman. Surrounded by black smog and darkness, her face was covered by rays of light. Before I could take her delicate skeletal fingers, I was brought back to my body.
"Well done young one."
The pain was gone, leaving only a strange pattern across my body, which surrounded a black spot on my back. Additionally, my body seemed to be paler than before, making me look sickly.
"You who were close to leaving this world and came back, have been imprinted by the element of Death." The knight gave me a small glass globe to hold, which turned pitch black and reflected my face slowly rotting away.
"What?" I asked instinctively, knowing what that meant- everyone can become imprinted by elements of the world, giving them powers to control that domain. Those whose will power is strong enough, can force and bind another element to gain more power. Most people are imprinted by Fire or Water, yet I had been imprinted by the element of Death.
"This means you are beloved by Death. She has chosen you to carry out her will. You are on the same standing as an apostle of God." The knight tried to comfort me, while his armour didn't help portraying his kindness.
I was stuck contemplating what to do. I am only 14 and know such an immense task was handed to me. I looked at the knight, longing to know who he or she was, what they were doing down in that deep part of the world. But I couldn't. "...Thank you for saving me."
"Young one," the knight spoke in the harsh and worn down voice, "I have a request. When the time comes, please come to my aid."
I was confused. Why and how could I help this strange and powerful individual. "How could I help you Sir Knight? I'm not even at the first stage of conjuring! My eyes are the same as that of a newborn child. I see no Will in the world around me."
Whereas being Imprinted is a rare occurrence in only 1 out of 100 people, the power of Will is open to everyone. Will flows through both organic and inorganic matter. Those who control will are called Conjurors and the first step in mastering Will is getting your eyes accustomed to the real natural world.
Yes I've been imprinted, but this only made things worse for me. There is a common agreement between the nations that each individual has a duty to report to their respective emperor when they become Imprinted. Would I have to stand before his majesty of Dawnbreak and say that I have been imprinted by the element of Death?
The knight placed their hand on my shoulder, sending a shudder down my spine as the soft leather made contact with my firm skin. "Child, do not fret. I will simply sponsor your growth. Hold out this academic year, the next few months, and at the beginning of the next year we will report it. Having me sponsor you will help immensely, trust my word."
Thinking back to that situation, I never found out anything about the knight. By the time I got back home, my family seemed to not even notice my disappearance. What's stranger was my brother, who I had no prior knowledge of. He seemed to have suddenly appeared.
I sat on a bench pondering the question, waiting for the bell to ring.
"HEY! MORT HEY!" a pair of boys ran towards me and nearly tripped as the two raced. The pair were twins, named Lucien and Adrien and we were childhood friends. Born from a Day and Night couple, people have always held prejudice against them. Me? I couldn't care any less. My parents and their parents were from this neutral land.
"Mort what's wrong?" asked Lucien.
"Yeah yeah what's wrong?" asked Adrien.
I didn't want to lie to my friends, but I had to. "Nothing. I'm just ill. I think I caught a cold by staying out too long. Achoo." Not sure if they believed me, but it was best for the number of people who knew I was Imprinted to stay low. "What lessons have you got next?"
"Maths," sobbed Lucien, "Professor Morgan always picks on me."
"I've got a free period. There's no tutor for history right now. I heard he's been let go after a scandal. What about you Mort?"
"Will study and research."
The two boys gulped. It was to be expected. I was the only one in my year who still couldn't see Will and was teased for it. This was an academy dedicated to nourishing conjurers after all.
What's worse was the fact that I had to still endure the ridicule when I had been blessed by the cursed element of Death, which I wasn't able to find any information about. I scoured through each individual book, through every chapter and individual paragraph.
There was nothing.
Ring Ring. Ring Ring.
And there was the bell. "I'll see you guys later. See ya." I left to get to class early to avoid any interaction between my classmates.
All I could think about was my near-death experience. The feeling of the knife cutting my skin still felt fresh when there was not even a single scar to show that it happened. The class slowly filled. Lastly, the teacher entered. Sir Don Contrer, personally knighted by the Emperor of Dawnbreak.
A remarkable man with many achievements. Truth be told, he was the perfect example of a genius: the first man to create teleportation, the first individual to exist in two places, the only one to harness the power of the sun, and the list goes on. I envied him sometimes when I read books as his name kept re-appearing. But now I had something he didn't, and that small fact made me feel better.
"Okay Class, today we will focus on Will crystals. You may have se-
I lost focus. I knew what he would talk about. Crystals of natural congregating Will streams that mimic natural elements. Simple information that needed to be overcomplicated for the sake of learning. After a while, the teacher handed each of us a crystal that had been modified to be grey.
"The task for today is to identify what element the crystal you possess is made of. Should be simple for most of you." The class giggled at his remark. Ouch. So much emphasis on the 'most'. Nearly made me feel bad for those who found it hard, except that was me. Those who still couldn't see Will needed to use certain artefact to display it. The only one I could afford was a simple glass circle. I used it to see the clusters of intertwined colourful Will.
So vibrant to the point that it made me feel ill, well, more ill than I was, which Sir Contrer noticed. He walked up to me. "Do you feel fine Mort? You look awfully pale. I'm sure the crystal wasn't mimicking Disease and Sickness."
"Uh yeah. I caught a cold recently and it only recently hit me. I feel fine…sir."
"Alright. You are permitted to leave if you feel worse." What an awful facade. It made me sick to my stomach seeing him act like a caring individual. I knew he was hiding his true self but I had no evidence. Only intuition. I focused through my lens and looked at the intertwined strings, and identified the overpowering element to be… strange.
There was an equal amount of fire red and water blue strings keeping in check in an equilibrium. Fire turned water to steam, and water put fire out. I placed my finger on the blue strings and when I lifted it, a large portion of the strings seemed to be missing. Turns out the blue strings clumped up and gave the impression of more blue. I wrote down fire and focused on my own research.
Ring Ring. Ring Ring.
Class ended and students exited in a hurry to go home. I stayed a bit behind until nearly everyone had left. As I grabbed my stuff, the professor came to pick up everyone's work and noticed my results. "Interesting pick." he said as he smiled and took the crystal and paper.
I went home to my poor but loving family that suddenly expanded.
Don Corter locked himself in his office with a large cup of coffee, preparing to examine his beloved student's work. He looked into a mirror to see his displeased reflection; single at 34 and already showing balding as his golden blond hair thinned. The greatest mind of his generation was stuck in an old wooden office marking the most obvious practical. Paper after paper, he ticked them for getting the right elements:Fire, Water, Fire, Earth, Light, Darkness, Fire, Light. Wind.
And then he reached Mort's crystal and the results. "Ah, my favourite student…still unable to see Will yet wishes to be a Conjurer." Don laughed at the idea. "How pitiful! Ahahaha. He probably didn't even realise that what I gave him was something above his knowledge: a man made crystal that could mimic multiple elements. And what did he put down? Fire! Ahahaha!"
Tears trickled down his wrinkled face as he laughed. "Did he not notice the…even amount of…". Don stopped his laughter. He couldn't believe his eyes. Strings of aquamarine Will were missing from the crystal, making the boy's results correct. "W,what? This can't be! I was sure I gave him a Splitstone. What did that brat do?" Don Corter spent the rest of the night trying to find an answer.