Sorcery's Hue (A Malion Series Novel)

Going Sour

For the next few years, I remember having ceaseless nightmares and needing to spend too much time one day a week sleeping. While it wasn't efficient for my body, or my mind, at least my ability to focus on magic as a distraction benefited from it. The rumour that Allister had spread to me that Faric killed Roiven made me distrust him. I grew distant, and he grew jealous.

However much my ability improved, I didn't rise another rank higher than Archmagistrate. It frustrated me in every possible way, and I felt restless. I had become a jack-of-all-trades and master of none. Not even darkness was a mastered skill because I suppressed that too much. I hated my dark impulses, and Faric knew that, so until I could master one spell type, I would stay an Archmagistrate.

Back then, I thought Faric was deliberately holding me back, but I know that it was my fault that I wasn't rising. I used to get so frustrated and upset at him for that ridiculous assumption. Meanwhile, Allister was fanning the fire with more rumours, so he easily overtook me. First, he made it to Silvermagistrate and then finally Goldmagistrate. He was 15 when he reached his goal, and I had turned 14 just a few years earlier.

I resented so many things about that academy while I was there in my last few years. It felt like the more time I spent there, the more I hated about the world and about myself.

I couldn't bring myself to hurt anyone else in my 28 years there. Oddly enough, both my time with the Geth Family and the Academy of Westwine lasted for the same amount of time, and both ended with death. I remember that early morning too well. Allister shook me awake in a frantic daze.

"Darky! Up! Up with you, please, you need to hurry. Come on. Get up." He urged, pulling me out of bed. I pushed him aside.

"What is wrong with you?! Stop that! What's going on, Golden?" I growled. He huffed and grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me close. A sweat broke out all over. Silently, I badly hoped he wouldn't do anything sexual.

"Dark Star, listen to me very, very closely. Master Kallioth Faric wants to kill you. He planned to do it in your sleep. I am over the moon that you woke up. Now come with me. We cannot leave this to fester. We must stop him." He rambled. I shook his shoulders with a violent thrust to shut him up.

"Master Faric will not kill me. What in The Beneath are you talking about? You are a moron! Yes, he is keeping me back, but he wouldn't kill me!" I whispered loudly.

"Will Common Tongue get this through your thick skull? He thinks you're useless, Varitran. Our Master has no use for you. He plans to get rid of you. You killed people. He will repay the favour." He hissed, pressing his forehead against mine in a confrontational manner.

I let out a growl and literally butted heads with him. He stumbled back, and I staggered slightly.

"You don't see him in those lessons. He wants me to learn. If he could only see that I was making more progress, he would understand that I should be on your rank! Now shut up and go back to sleep." I said and got back into my bed. Of course, it was like me to stay awake the rest of the night and flunk the lessons with Faric. He picked up on it immediately.

"Dark Star, did you have another sleepless night?" He asked softly.

"Allister kept me up." I spat and continued. The spell failed, and I growled, balling my hands up into fists.

"Apologies, Master. May I go and Relief this negativity?" I asked, keeping back the emotion. At least I wasn't regressing to the point of complete stone-faced interactions anymore. He gave me a nod, and I thanked him before using Hover to get to the arena as quickly as possible.

There I tried another manoeuvre that Allister had learned a year before.

Taking hold of my focus and twisting it into a small circle, I formed a massive amount of tiny dark orbs that surrounded me. Still fueled with frustration to the point of tears, I sent them out in all directions. They disappeared as soon as they came into contact with anything solid. I had overheard Allister's teacher tell him that this manoeuvre was extremely dangerous when used as a weapon. That's when I got an idea that would send me spiralling into a series of massively misfortunate events.

I heeded Allister's warning and practised cautiously. Faric's refusal to promote me again sent me off for the day, absolutely fuming. I bumped into Fellorte on the way. She looked just as exhausted as I did.

"Sorry, Darky. Can we hang out tomorrow? No time today. Tell Allister I said hi and that I love him. I gotta go." She mattered and rushed off. Since their relationship started, she worked extra hard to get onto his level, even gaining Archmagistrate Status. We were both stuck there, as far as we knew.

I walked into my quarters and slammed the door. Late that night, Allister knocked and entered without my permission.

"What do you want?" I snapped at him.

"You're going to die, Dark Star." He said.

"If he wanted to kill me, why doesn't he just use Extinguish and get it over within the lessons?" I asked, sweeping pages off of my desk.

"He doesn't know Extinguish. He has a blade on his nightstand. That's what he wanted to use. He wanted to wait 'til tonight because it's a new moon. Not many Osrocan can see in the dark in this light." He explained, "no one would see him sneaking over here. You would be doomed."

"Fine. Where do I start? Confrontation? Humiliation? Catch him red-handed?"

"Red-handed won't work. He'll kill you regardless. The man has too much respect given to him to be humiliated, and if we confront him, we won't be able to beat him. We can only do so by striking in his sleep." He said. I glared at him with the sourest glare I've ever given.

"I am not killing anyone else," I told him with a low rumble resonating in my throat.