Chapter 5: Invitation

Emilio could feel the ground rumbling underneath him. And he knew his father was already in the process of using a spell. Though Baron Florian did not actively practice magic, he had long become an Expert. Earth was his primary core so Emilio knew whatever spell he was about to do was potent.

Apparently, so did the snakes around him. They hissed aggressively at the man. And Emilio could see his father raising his hand. Absently, he noticed another figure standing leisurely behind his father but he had no time to pay attention to that.

"Father, stop!" He screamed.

The snakes hissed in agreement. Some of them curled up around him and some raised their heads higher. Emilion raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"Father, please don't hurt them. They're harmless."

"Harmless? They're snakes!" If the situation wasn't so serious, he would probably have let out a small chuckle at that. As it was, his heart was in his throat. He knew that his father would be able to kill most of these snakes in a flash. Even without being able to talk to them, he had been able to find solace in these seemingly dangerous creatures. He couldn't let them get hurt.

"Father, please," he said softly. "They won't hurt me. See? I have been talking to them."

"Talking?" His father paused and looked at him, a question in his gaze.

Emilio hesitated for a moment. Should he tell him? Could he trust him? If he couldn't trust him… who could he trust? His mother? No way. Jeremiah? He was only 11. Ronald? He would trust Ronald with his life but Ronald, as a person who has only known servitude, would be of little help. He could not make head or tail of his situation. They had no family wizard either. After a moment, Emilio decided to take a leap of faith.

"Yes, father," He nodded before looking down at the snakes. "Guys, come on. Get off of me. My father is scared."

They hissed at him again, protesting.

"No, I don't want to!"

"Why should we get off?"

"This is our place. Tell him to leave!"

"Yeah, ours!"

"Leave, leave!"

They were all speaking over each other, some excited, some heated. He could see his father getting more and more agitated. No doubt, he was thinking that the snakes were going to hurt his son.

"Okay, enough," He said firmly. "He is worried about me. You guys get off and go back to the tree. I'll come back later to play. How does that sound?"

They all grumbled but he gently coaxed them down from his body and herded them all into the tree. He waved goodbye.

"What's that?" One of them asked.

"I'm just bidding farewell."

"Ooooooh."

It then waved back. Or rather waved its head. It looked like it was dancing. A few others saw him and followed suit. It was a comical picture and he threw his head back, laughing, feeling freer than he had in a long time.

He took a moment to calm down and turned around, only to find his father looking at him like he had grown another head. His stomach dropped to his feet and his throat dried up.

No. No. Did I make a mistake? Should I not have told him?

He was already a stain on his father's name. He was lucky to have a loving father who cared for him instead of throwing him out on the streets. But now… being able to talk to animals? Snakes? He had probably become something worse than a Laik. Would this be the straw that would break the camel's back? He wouldn't be able to bear it if his father treated him like some sort of abomination. Maybe if the man had been indifferent, cruel from the beginning… but now, now he couldn't bear the thought of it.

"F-father?" He called, his breath stuttering.

Before his father could speak, however, there was the sound of slow clapping. Emilio's eyes flickered towards the figure behind his father. Now that he was paying attention, he could see a handsome man, a bit taller than his father. Upon a closer look, he noticed long silver hair fluttering in the air and a familiar white bird on the man's shoulder.

"Magnificent!" He grinned. "Coming here wasn't a waste of time after all."

Emilio knew this man. He had seen him in pictures and read his description. His eyes flickered to the white phoenix on his shoulder. There was only one living - known - white phoenix in the world. Caladrius, the familiar of Archmaster Loren.

He looked back at his father, confused. By now, his father had composed himself. He still looked a little shaken but he did not have that unsettling expression on his face. "Emilio, this is Archmaster Claude Loren, headmaster of the Academy. I called him to take a look at you."

"Me?" Emilio asked, trying to suppress the feelings of fear and uneasiness.

Edmund nodded. "Yes. You were unconscious for ten days. But Healer Straut could not find anything wrong with you. We were worried. So I made a request for Archmaster Loren's assistance and he kindly agreed. We were just coming to you when…" his eyes flickered to the tree behind Emilio and he hesitated.

The Archmaster had no such hesitance. "When we saw you surrounded by dozens of snakes, having a full-blown conversation with them."

Emilio had nothing to say to that.

"Emilio, what is this?" His father asked.

Emilio shook his head, looking at the man nervously. "I don't know, father. I woke up… and I could understand what they were saying. The animals, the birds, the snakes… everything. I… I don't know what happened."

"Emilio-"

"I think," Archmaster Loren interrupted the Baron, "it would be best if we took this conversation elsewhere. Somewhere more comfortable and private. No?"

Edmund sighed after a moment and nodded. He looked at Emilio and then, with that familiar, barely there smile full of affection, he extended his hand towards his son. "Come on. Let's go back."

It felt like a huge rock had been lifted off his chest. He slumped slightly and walked to his father, taking his hand as he did when he had been a child.

A few minutes later found them in his father's study. He was sitting on the couch beside Archmaster Loren, who was holding his wrist with a frown of concentration on his face. His father stood a few feet away, looking at them anxiously.

After a few long moments, the Archmaster let his hands go and looked at them. "Well, good new and bad news. Which one do you want first?" But, then, without waiting for their answer, he continued speaking. "Good news is that young Emilio is perfectly fine. There is nothing wrong with him. And the bad news is that, no, he has not suddenly gained mana and deviated into an element."

Emilio turned surprised eyes to his father, who was looking at the Archmaster with the same look. Loren scoffed. "What? Do you think I wouldn't know that was one of the reasons you called me here for?"

After a moment, Edmund sighed. "I see."

After the initial surprise passed, Emilio felt his chest tightening. It felt like something was squeezing his heart, crushing something in there. Had he gotten a sliver of hope? Hope that there might be … the tiniest chance for him to have mana, to be a proper human being? He had thought he had squashed all those hopes. He let out a shaky breath and bowed to the Archmaster.

"Thank you for coming, Archmaster Loren," he said softly. "I apologize for wasting your time."

The man chuckled. "Oh don't look so forlorn. You are far more fascinating than any wizard I have seen." He then leaned down to look into Emilio's eyes. "Tell me. What happened?"

Emilio leaned back nervously at the sight of those unnerving eyes before he looked at his father, feeling out of his depth. The Baron nodded. Emilio hesitated for a moment before turning to the man. He moved back a bit, away from the Archmaster, before speaking.

He told him everything. What he felt during the party, what he heard, the pounding, hammering headache, the horrendous mixture of sounds inside his head, how he passed out and woke up only to find himself talking to the white phoenix. And then… everything that happened today.

"So, you don't have mana. Instead, you have gained a new power. A power unheard of. And a power you don't know how to manage or control."

Hesitantly, Emilio nodded.

The man grinned like a child that got his hand on his favorite candy. "Perfect!"

"Archmaster?" The Baron called, the same confusion in his voice that Emilio was feeling.

Loren ignored him. "Emilio Florian, how would you like to come to the Academy?"

There was a pause.

"What?"

"What?"

The pair of father and son spoke at the same time.

"How would you. Like to. Come to. The Academy?" The man repeated, enunciated every word as if he was talking to a toddler.

Emilio could not find it in himself to be offended. The man had just struck a bolt out of the blue. "But you… you just said I didn't have any mana!"

"Yes!" He snapped his fingers once. "But you have something so much better. An ability no one has ever heard of."

Emilio shook his head. "Still, I can't come to the Academy. What will I do there? I can't do any magic or perform any spells or-"

"Who told you that magic is just performing spells?" The Archmaster raised an eyebrow. "Magic, on a whole, is a discipline far more complex and intricate than just casting spells. That's just one part of it."

"But-"

"It's better if he doesn't go," Edmund spoke up. "He will be ostracized and isolated there."

The Archmaster turned to the man. "He will be under my protection. No one will dare to do anything."

"That's not the point!" Emilio could tell his father was at the end of his patience. "He won't go to the Academy. He will stay here. I will protect him."

"How long will you protect him?" Loren asked. "Will you lock him up in this mansion for the rest of his life? Or do you think you are powerful enough that you can stop gossiping mouths and information about your son from spreading? And how do you expect to deal with his powers? Or the power hungry people that will come after him once they know of his ability?"

The Baron went quiet. Emilio could tell he was contemplating the Archmaster's words. But Emilio, despite wanting to go to the Academy all his life, now felt a strange resistance to the thought of going there. The people here had gotten used to a Laik among them. And they had gotten to know him, Emilio, the soft-spoken eldest son of the Baron who was just doing his best with what he was given. The people at the Academy did not know him. He knew the entire world looked down on Laiks. And he shuddered at the thought of going to a place full of people who took pride in being the elites of the magical world. He could already imagine the disgusted faces and glares he would have to face. Call him a coward, but he did not want to brave that.

"I don't want to go, Archmaster," he said softly, looking down, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"You don't?" Loren asked, tilting his head curiously.

He shook his head. "I… I don't belong there."

Another pause. A sigh.

"I see," the man nodded. "So, you can handle this newfound power by yourself? You won't collapse like before? Or find some new aspect of your power and put yourself or someone else in danger?"

Emilio opened his mouth to protest, but then… he remembered the Banyan tree. The things he saw and felt. How frightened and disoriented he was. He had no idea what this power was. What its limits were. What its strengths and weaknesses were. Would he have to find that out himself? What if it harmed him? What if it harmed someone else?

He shut his mouth.

The Archmaster gave a self-satisfied smile.

"That's what I thought." He leaned forward. "Come to the Academy. We have a research department. And some really open-minded teachers and researchers. They would love to have you. You can learn about your powers with them, slowly, carefully, under expert supervision. And once you think you have learned enough, you can leave." He grins. "Who knows? You might make some friends. Find love, like your father did."

"Let's not talk about that now." Edmund interrupted quickly, making Loren chuckle before he looked at Emilio.

"What do you say?"

Emilio bit his lip, hesitating. He had never been in so much indecision before in his life. He looked at his father, who gave him a kind smile. "It's upto you, son."

He took a deep breath before turning to the man.

"Can I think about it?"