Knight School: A Mystic Brats Novel Vol. 1

I felt as if my lungs had been crushed and my head split open as tears began to run down my face. I was going to die. I was never going to see my mother awaken from her curse. I was never going to be able to find my grandfather. I was never going to be able to hang out and have all night studying sessions with Barry again. Now I could never have a future with Julie. It was as if that damned sword was a bomb, and I was dying from the fallout. “Mr. Louis... I don’t want to die.”

Mr. Louis hugged me like a father would a son. For a moment, I wasn’t some soldier who lost a war, I was just a fourteen-year-old boy whose life had been cut short. “I can’t tell you everything’s going to be alright, Jason.”

“I failed everyone I cared about,” I sobbed. “I’ll never get to see my family or make things right with my friends!”

“You don’t know that,” said Mr. Louis. “I’ll do whatever it takes to help you, Jason. There may be a way to revive your mother at least.”

“W-what do you mean?” I asked. “The arrow that cursed my mom contained one of the most powerful types of ancient magic. You said that no one in Legend had ever dabbled that deep into curses.”

“That’s right,” said Mr. Louis. “But I know where we can find someone who has. The Heart of Aphrodite didn’t possess Ms. Roman on its own, Jason. Only a powerful sorcerer can take control of a person of Ms. Roman’s ability. This sorcerer might be able to give us a cure for your mother.”

“How do you know where to find him?” I asked.

“He left a message on Ms. Roman’s hand,” Mr. Louis smiled. “It will tell us everything we need to know. So, how would you like to go on one last adventure?”

Mr. Louis brought me and (much to my insistence) Barry to his office, where Nara was waiting.

Mr. Louis cleared his throat. “This mission has to be kept a secret because if any member of the Council discovered our intentions... we would be imprisoned for treason. I would never have dreamed of asking any of you for help in this matter if the circumstances hadn’t drastically changed.”

“Why has it changed exactly?” asked Barry.

I glanced at Mr. Louis trying to tell him without words not to say anything about what little time I had left. He showed no sign of understanding my pleas. “...Ever since Ocron kidnapped Ms. Roman there have been hints of a bigger plan in motion. I believe that the sorcerer who possessed Ms. Roman, through the Heart of Aphrodite, is the same person who hired Ocron to capture her. This mystery mystic will not stop until he/she gets its prize. We have no choice, but to act because the sorcerer/sorceress has already proven that it doesn’t care how many students are killed in the process. Which was shown last week when Ms. Markson and Dr. Demos helped me pry the artifact right off her hand. Ms. Roman, will you please show the others?”

Nara unwrapped the bandages off her hand revealing burnt markings. They were four Celtic runes and one that looked like the kind from Gramps journal.

“Jay?” asked Barry. “What’s wrong?”

“It just looks... familiar,” I replied.

“No, duh!” said Barry. “Those are Celtic runes! I’ve never seen that one before, though. Maybe it’s Norse —?”

I couldn’t listen to Barry anymore as the wheels in my brain started rolling. Mr. Louis couldn’t seriously be thinking about doing this...

“You’re going to use Nara as bait?” I asked Mr. Louis.

“That is the general plan,” said Mr. Louis.

“You can’t do that, Mr. Louis,” I said. “Nara’s my friend — I’m not going to let you put her in danger!”

“Ms. Roman might be our only chance at succeeding,” said Mr. Louis. “This school is about preparing all of you for the mystical dangers we fight.” His tone was calm, but his eyes were glowing fiery red.

“I know!” I said raising my voice. “But all three of us are still students, Mr. Louis! We’re not ready for this mission! We have faced nightmares like Kevin, Ocron, the Heart of Aphrodite, and the Banshee of Aria! Though, the only thing those monsters and enchantments did was make us weaker. We may have won the little battles, but we will always lose the big ones! I was crazy forever thinking otherwise! I’m not going to lose my friends like I lost my family!”

“You haven’t lost your family yet!” said Mr. Louis. “We can still save your family and Eddie! We can still right our wrongs!”

“Don’t you mean your wrongs?” I said. “Because the only thing I ever did wrong was trusting you! All you’ve done is screw over any person you’ve come across!”

“You will never see your mother again if we don’t try!” said Mr. Louis.

“She wouldn’t want me to sacrifice anyone else to save her!” I said. “I won’t let you kill my friends! I won’t let them die like...”

Both Barry and Nara stared at me in shock. Nara had never seen me angry before and Barry had too much experience in this matter — but even he wasn’t prepared for what was happening. I couldn’t let them know that I was dying.

“...like Tabitha! If you keep trying to go on this mission and use my friends as bait, I will tell the headmaster!”

Mr. Louis looked at me as if he wanted to incinerate me. “...You are... get out — get out now!”

The three of us walked down the destroyed hallway. The scars that the magic infected students left on the Academy made the school look as bleak as one of my birthdays. We were halfway to the dormitories when Nara spoke out in a frustrated voice that I didn’t recognize. “Jason, what was that back there?”

“Which part?” I replied.

“What?”

“The part where Mr. Louis wanted to use you as Mad-Sorcerer bait, or the part where I protected you?” I retorted.

“The part where you spoke for me like some chauvinistic pig,” snapped Nara. “I thought you wanted me to help your mother!”

“Yes, but not if that means you sacrificing yourself!” I said trying to explain myself.

“Why do you think I wanted to leave my mother’s castle?” Nara asked me.

“To be free,” I said.

“I wanted to be more than free,” said Nara. “I wanted to make a difference, to be a hero, Jason! I had been sheltered my whole life and told I wasn’t as good at magic as my mother! I didn’t even know that I could be worth anything, but it didn’t stop me from dreaming about the day I could do something that mattered!”

“Then study and graduate after three more years,” I said. “Get a seat on the Council, so you can change the world! But don’t get yourself killed before you get the chance to do it!”

“You don’t get it,” said Nara, “do you? It’s my choice whether I want to risk my life for what’s right, not yours!”

“Nara, I can’t let you die!” I said in one last desperate attempt to make her see my point of view... it didn’t work. Nara turned around and stormed off.

“I hope she doesn’t do something crazy,” sighed Barry after we walked into our room. “You made her furious, Jason.”

“I did it to protect her, Barry,” I said laying on my bed. Seconds later, it collapsed, and I was greeted by charcoaled box springs. Barry ran over anxiously.

“Oh, man, oh, man!” yelped Barry. “Are you alright?”

“Take it easy, man,” I said. “I’m fine. It’s not like you broke my bed or anything.” I started to notice faded scorch marks all over the dorm room and I didn’t even see Barry’s bed anywhere.

“...Hey, did our room get set on fire during the infection?” I asked Barry.

“Uh — well — you see — w-when I was infected...” Barry paused.

“Yes ―”

“...and I was practicing my science homework on how to make a Mystical Bomb,” said Barry. “When I thought the best way to impress Nara was to make the entire dormitory explode.”

“Dude!”

“But nobody died or anything,” said Barry, really fast. “I j-just caved in the right side of the dorms and injured a few people in the process. Please, don’t tell anyone, Jay.”

“Hasn’t anyone come to investigate the rooms?” I asked.

“Yeah, Mr. Louis said he did,” Barry replied. “He didn’t say anything about me being expelled, though.”

“Something tells me that Mr. Louis knows everything going on around here,” I said.

“I’m going to be expelled for treason,” said Barry, “aren’t I?”

“Barry,” I said, “Mr. Louis may be a huge jerk...”

“Please, tell me there’s a but coming up next?” asked Barry.

“...but he does believe in some sense of right and wrong,” I said half-sighing. “So, I can honestly say that he won’t rat on you.”

“Thank goodness,” Barry sighed in relief.

“Unless...”

“Unless what?” asked Barry, tensing up again.

“...Unless the next bomb you make turns everyone into a clone of Mary Markson!” I said in a fake scared voice.

“That was not funny, Jay,” said Barry in protest.

“It kind of was,” I chuckled. It was the first time I felt any type of joy since I discovered I had so little time left to live.

“Besides,” said Barry, “Mr. Louis wouldn’t expel me if I did that — he’d just throw a fireball at me!” Barry and I both started laughing happily. I continued to laugh until another sharp pain went through my shoulder.

“Come on,” I said to Barry. I picked up my burnt blanket from my crumbled bed. “Let’s get some sleep.”

“On the floor?” asked Barry, incredulously.

“You have any better ideas?” I replied.

“Not really,” said Barry.

We laid on the stone floor of our dorm room and pulled the burnt blanket over us. “Hey, Barry?”

“Yeah, Jay?”

“This is weird,” I said, “isn’t it?”

“Got that right!” said Barry. “Want to rip the blanket and we each take half?”

“Sounds good!” I said. I took my sword and cut the blanket in two. “Barry, you didn’t hear how Julie was doing, did you?”

“No,” said Barry, “but don’t worry, Jay, a girl like Julie ought to be just fine. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

I stayed awake all night long, and it had nothing to do with Barry’s snoring. I thought about how short life truly was and how Julie made my whole world brighter. I knew I wouldn’t be able to save Mom if I didn’t sacrifice Nara. I couldn’t let her die in exchange for me or my mother. It was just something I would have to go to my grave with. But I was not going to die a depressed or mad person. No. I was going to live my last days happily — and do whatever it took to fix things with Julie.

The next few days became what my fellow students called “The Blackout”. Every inch of the Knight Academy had been damaged from the spell infection. Male students of all ages lost their tempers trying to get to Nara. The gossip around campus mostly focused on what went down that night. Only Julie, Barry, Nara, the faculty, and I knew the truth. Mystically enhanced generators were the only thing keeping up defenses around the woods, which meant the castle itself didn’t have any electricity.

Classes were canceled as repairs began, but after a couple of days passed more rumors spread about the school shutting down. All of us had even been relocated to the local inn for an indefinite notice. Most of the other students, like me and Barry, didn’t have any other home to go back to. I caught some of the bravest fourth-years having frightened whispers in shadow-filled corners. Barry, especially, was not handling the news well. It also didn’t help that he was still having nightmares about Kevin’s Osiris mask haunting him. Apparently, the dreams had been lasting for months and Barry had even been talking to Ms. Markson about them to no avail.

“What are we going to do, Jay?” Barry asked me on Wednesday, while we walked through the village after eating at Duma’s.

“They’re just rumors, Barry,” I replied. “You don’t need to believe everything you hear. Remember how everybody thought Nara was some super witch when she first arrived here?”

“But she is a super witch!” said Barry.

“Actually, she’s a sorceress...” I stopped after seeing the look on his face. “...but that’s a bad example.”

Julie Brooks had walked into the village. She was wearing a white top, blue jeans, and boots. She stopped walking the moment she saw me. I’d spent the last few days searching for her in vain. When I went to the infirmary to see her, Dr. Demos told me her injuries were so bad that he sent Julie to a specialist. Though, now she was finally back. I looked at Barry, but before I said anything he spoke. “I’m gonna head up to the Academy to see how repairs are coming. Good luck, Jay, you’ll need it.”

When Barry left I walked closer to Julie. “Hey, Julie...” It was weird. For days, I had planned on what I was going to tell her, but none of it had actually helped. Julie had become the person I loved more than anyone else after we started dating, although now it was like the night we first met.

“Hello, Jason,” said Julie.

“...I just wanted to say... I’m sorry,” I said. “And that I didn’t mean anything that I told you that night. I...”

“We need to talk,” Julie sighed. “Let’s sit down at the fountain.”

The village was named Saint Francis after a religious knight who never killed his enemies. In the center of the local shops and restaurants was a fountain made of his likeness. The sun had started to set, lighting the sky with pink and violet colors. I had never appreciated how beautiful this area was. Julie and I sat on the edge of the fountain with a saddened expression on her face.

“You... have feelings for Nara,” said Julie, staring at her feet.

“What — no!” I said, in shock. “Why on earth would you think that?”

“Because the Heart of Aphrodite wouldn’t have affected you if you weren’t already attracted to her,” said Julie.

“Nara is a friend and nothing more,” I tried to assure her.

“I think that there’s a part of you... deep down... that wants to be with her instead of me,” said Julie in a cold, emotionless, voice.

“How could you say that, Julie?” I asked. “You’re the only person I want to be with, the only one I’ve ever felt this way about!”

“Can you honestly say that you’re not attracted to her?” asked Julie.

“If there is some part of me that’s attracted to her, it is deep down,” I said. “So deep that I don’t know about it! It’s in the basement because it’s so low!”

“But it is inside you,” said Julie. “You should explore your feelings — which means we need to break up.”

“Don’t do this, Julie,” I said. “Don’t just turn off all of your emotions because you’re afraid of getting hurt! You promised to be brave and take a leap of faith with me. Don’t give up now.”

“You should admire my restraint, Jason,” said Julie, trying to hold back a tear. “I did take a leap of faith with you, over a hundred of them! But each time we landed further apart from each other, until... I couldn’t even recognize you anymore! I gave you my heart and soul, and you destroyed both... Besides, we’ll probably never see each other again anyway, since the Council is shutting down the Academy!”

“They’re... shutting us down?” I asked Julie.

“Yes,” said Julie starting to cry. “The Council believes that training people at our ages has proven too dangerous and has decided to only recruit various soldiers for Legend now. Whether you like it or not, Jason, the future is now, and we failed to make our mark.

“They can’t do this!” I said. “Where will you go?”

“Back to my mother,” said Julie. “If I can even find her. She’s been on the move constantly, so I don’t know how to get in touch with her.” Julie’s mother was in the protective custody of Legend.

“Can’t the Council —?”

“The Council is hidden from outsiders,” said Julie. “Only Legend’s highest-ranking members know how to contact them. It’s over, Jason. Everything we fought for is gone. We’ve lost.”

Julie had given up hope in the Council, in her goals, and more importantly in us. This couldn’t be how I was going to leave my friends — with their lives destroyed — never being able to see or help them again. I didn’t know how I could change any of this with only two days before my death. Ring. Ring. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I turned on my video chat and was greeted with a terrifying sight. Dozens of dead bodies littered the front grounds of the Academy. I recognized one of them as Dr. Demos. They had all been brutally stabbed. “Julie, you might want to see this!”

“Wh — no!” gasped Julie. “Is this happening now?”

“Hell, yes!”

Barry’s face appeared on the screen looking as fearful as ever. “The Order is invading the Academy! They did this! I — I — saw twenty of them carrying Mystic Bombs — I didn’t know w-what t-to do!”

“Barry — shut up and meet me at Duma’s,” I said.

“A-alright.”

“Be careful, Barry,” I said before I ended the call. I turned to Julie. “If the Council is shutting down the school, then wouldn’t they have moved all the tech and weapons to the warehouse behind Duma’s?”

“Yes, but...”

“Every teacher was up inside the Academy today,” I said, “including Mr. Louis! If we try to contact him or any of them, we would take the chance of revealing their location to the Order! And we have no way of contacting other agents or the Council! We need to gather the students and take back our school!”

The words had come out of my mouth before I had even any time to think. Nara’s words echoed in my head — ”I wanted to make a difference, to be a hero!” It was time for me to believe in what we were capable of — what we could be — what we could do. It was time for the Mystic Brats to win our biggest battle yet.

“Jason, we can’t do this!” Julie protested.

“Yes, we can!” I assured her. “They killed Dr. Demos, Julie, and once they take the Academy — they’ll kill you and everyone else in the village! We have to act!”

“What we need to do is evacuate the village,” said Julie.

“We can’t let them get away with this!” I said. “They have just killed some of the best people in the world!”

“People die every day, Jason!” snapped Julie.

“...My mother is in there!” I yelled. “I know it may seem like we’ve failed at everything in our lives — but this is our real and last test to save what we care about! You may have given up, but I won’t! I’m dying, Julie, I have an injury that will kill me in just two days! I’m going to be dead soon — so I’m not letting my mom join me!”