Chapter 5: The Magic

Chapter 5: The Magic

Honestly, Jeremiah was afraid of ghosts, but he was more afraid of a human being that could physically hurt him. He then decided to check who was coming. He walked quickly to the second floor’s foyer while gripping the candleholder tightly in his right hand and observed the library’s entrance.

There, he could see a quite familiar silhouette. It turned out to be Selena Armstrong, who still wore the same white lab coat with a long green dress underneath.

Jeremiah was relief.

“Selena!” He shouted his dear friend’s name and waved to her.

Selena's eyes quickly aimed at the origin of the sound and waved back.

She quickly went to the second floor to where Jeremiah stood, passed the circular stair, making echoes in every step. “I knew that I can find you here.” She said. They went to the nearby reading table; Jeremiah put the candleholder on the table and sat next to her.

“What are you doing here?” Jeremiah asked curiously. “Did you come here often?”

“This is actually my first time here. Besides, I couldn’t even finish reading half of the books in my laboratory’s collection, why should I add more to my misery by reading books that are unrelated to my research?” She responded bitterly, and then took the bandage out of her pocket. “I come here to treat your wounds, now take off your shirt, come on… don’t be shy.” She grinned.

He cringed to the idea showing his bare chest to his friend, but he followed her order. Besides, she already knew that he was gay anyway. So, there would be nothing strange or awkward.

Selena then started to unwrap the bandage, pour the antiseptic on it, and ready to apply it on Jeremiah's wounded skin. But suddenly Jeremiah held her hand because he came with a better idea. “Instead of curing me in a conventional way, let me show you something different. But you have to promise me to keep it a secret.” Jeremiah grinned.

She seemed a little bit confused at first, but agreed, “okay, I promised,” as she shook her head.

Jeremiah closed his eyes and started to chant a healing spell, “brightest of the blessing, surround me with protection, reverse the time and bring me a tender love.” Soon after, white light wrapped on the bruises and wounds on Jeremiah skin, making it back to its former condition.

She quickly rose up from her chair by surprise, “Jemmy, you’ve mastered healing magic? Congrats!” She saluted him cheerfully, didn’t believe what she just saw. It was actually her first time to see magic with her own eyes. But she remembered something, then her expression became serious.  “You know learning magic is forbidden, right?

“I know, that’s why I want you to keep it a secret.”

“You can trust me, but how about the others. You must be careful not to show your power in front of other people, otherwise…”

Jeremiah cut in her friend's sentence, “I will be executed, right?”

Selena paused for a while, stared at her friend on the eye, and nodded. “When did you learn magic? I even surprised you found your way to learn it. Jayden has ordered all magic references and manuals that exist in this Kingdom to be burned into ashes after the…” Selena paused again and think carefully the next word she was about to say, “Event.” She finally said it.

“You mean, when Jayden accused my father and other omegas for treason because we are the only race that can do magic.”  

“Exactly.” Selena pointed her finger on Jeremiah. “And now there was only one omega in this kingdom, you.”

Jeremiah sighed, he tried not to think too much about it and attempted to change the topic, “I found white magic books in one of the shelves here,” while pointing certain bookshelf in the second floor, “I learned it a few weeks ago, initially I just want to fad, but it actually works.”

She rolled her eyes and wondered, “Hmm… I am wondering why the imperial army didn’t destroy the white magic books; do they think it was useless? Or they don’t even know it was here.”

“Beats me, probably because the title didn’t have the word ‘magic’ on it?” Jeremiah giggled. “Because the healing spell that I learned was from a book called ‘Alternative Healing’ or something like that.” Jeremiah paused, “you need to read it, in order to know what’s inside, I bet those armies were too lazy to read. All they care was to train their muscles so it can be as hard as a rock.”

Selena rest her head on his shoulder, “I envied you, Jemmy, I want to do magic too!” She sighed, “Maybe if I can do magic, I don’t have to research about alchemy and make destructive weapons for the war against the magical Kingdom of Paltiti.”

“Well at least you can help me to find one of the destructive magic books that probably still remain in this library, any elemental or black magic would be fine.”

Selena pull her head back from Jeremiah's shoulder and gave Jeremiah an awkward look, “Jemmy... you didn’t know?” She asked.

“Didn’t know about what?”

“That once you align to one of magic discipline, you cannot learn magic from the other branch.”

“What?” Jeremiah felt shocked and miserable at the same time, “so I am stuck with white magic for the rest of my life?” he complained.

“Exactly!” she briefly replied.

“I thought, one day I could pay back the brothers with some kick-ass spell, but it seems that day will never come.”

“Well, the good news is you can use your ‘alternative healing’ -like the title said, to heal people and earn a lot of money from it.” She joked.

“But, isn’t it dangerous to show my magic to other people?”

“I was joking Jemmy, jeez please don’t take it seriously.”

“Noted.” He snorted.

“Honestly, I think that a witch doctor earns more than a scientist in my lab; that stingy old fart just cut half of my salary again this month… how could I even save enough money to buy a wedding dress? Speaking of the wedding, Timothy will probably propose to me tonight!” she giggled excitedly.

Jeremiah's eyes opened wide to hear the good news, “how do you know? I am not a love expert, but isn’t it supposed to be a surprise?”

“Well, this morning I was running out of chemical reagent for my bomb, so I went to his desk to ‘borrow’ some of his chemicals; however, by that time I also saw the wedding ring… which was located inside the box… in his drawer…”

“In other words, you stole his things and snooped into his private belonging?”

“Jemmy, please don’t say that. We are mates, what his is basically mine.”

“And what yours is basically his?” Jeremiah asked with a teasing tone.

Selena fell silent for a moment, she seemed to think of something then began to speak, and “it doesn’t apply the other way…”

Jeremiah just baffled; he knew it would be useless to argue with her. ‘Poor Timothy.’ He thought. “By the way, what time will you have dinner with Timothy?”

“In two hours, why?”

“You probably want to take a deep bubble bath, cos you still smell like a fart”

“Really, well that’s probably a good thing; it means the smell lasts longer and longer is better.” She said while was sniffing her armpit to confirm. “That’s probably why people whom I passed by on my way here were keeping their distance from me...”

‘Poor Timothy.’

She quickly took out a small notebook from one of the pockets on her lab coat. “New progress, the test tube number six could lass 3 hours longer than the previous prototype; even my omega friend can smell it.” She wrote it word by word as she spoke.

“Are you being racist?” he frowned at her. “What it has to do with an omega? Is my race was any less different than Alpha and Beta in case of smell?”

“Of course, you see, when you entered my room this afternoon, you could breathe near the fuming gas, while I, on the other hand, couldn’t. Alpha and Beta’s five senses are more advance than omega’s. An alpha for example could smell a rabbit existence 5 km away without using any mana, and 10 km or more by using mana.” She paused for a while to breathe and then continued. “With this bomb, Alpha and Beta could faint and lose their senses. But the effect won’t be so strong on omega due to their weak sense of smell, they probably only smell it like an unpleasant odor.”

“It smelled like a fart and you can write it down on your notebook!” Jeremiah stressed it out. “But how you can’t smell it now? You seemed comfortable enough wearing your ‘farty’ clothes.”

“Because I used this.” Selena took out a small bottle, which looked like an ointment, “and rubbed it on the entrance of my nostrils after Mr. Whitewood asked me to clean up my room from the smell. This is like the remedy for the bomb.”

Jeremiah shook his head as he understood the long explanation, but something was then bothering him and he couldn’t help himself but ask. “But you said that you will use the bomb as a weapon against the Magical Kingdom of Paltiti, and based on what I read the kingdom only consists of Omega. Thus, make your bomb less effective against them?”

For Selena, hearing Jeremiah's statement was like taking a bullet, “OMG… Jemmy… you… were…so… right…” she said downcast as she realized her own mistake. She then took out her small notebook and began to write, “Jemmy made me realize that I am so screwed.” She wrote it word by word again as she spoke.

Jeremiah felt sorry for his friend. So he offered her a warm hug to cheer her up a little. Although, he regretted it a bit because the smell that came from her clothes was poking his nose. “You can always reinvent another weapon; just make sure to brainstorm it first before you begin.”

“Okay, I will...” She said while was still hugging him.

“I also read that the Kingdom of Paltiti was the land of eternal summer and also the place where the first greatest magician of Wolftopia was born.” He paused and released her. ‘I want to go there at least once; I wanted to know what summer looks like, how warm weather feels like…” he closed his eyes and a gentle smiled slipped away from his lip.

“When the war is over, let’s go there together, of course with Timothy and also… your mate.” She giggled.

Jeremiah just smiled and nodded.    

                              

“Promised?” Selena then asked, her blue eye was sparkling as she let out her pinky finger.

“Promised.” He said and they made a pinky swear.

When they saw the candle’s light became dim, they knew it was the sign for them to leave the library. This time, Jeremiah followed Selena and took the exit from the main entrance. After they got out, it suddenly occurred to his mind to ask about the grimoire. He was wondering whether his best friend knew anything about it.

“Selena, do you know about the grimoire of Armadale?” He asked, while was walking next to her, side by side.

Selena suddenly fell silent for a moment; she tried to recall memories from her school days that she was almost forgotten. “Yes I heard about it, Armadale was once the greatest magician of Wolftopia that was born in Paltiti. It said, before he died, he sealed himself in his own grimoire so he could live in this world eternally.” After she explained, she took a quick glance at Jeremiah who walked beside her. “Interestingly, fifteen years ago, the grimoire of Armadale was used by one of Paltiti’s magician as a weapon during the war against our kingdom. But your father managed to kill the magician and sealed the grimoire away so no one can be influenced by its evil power. Your father, I meant Uncle Ethan, was a true hero and the greatest magician of Blackfrost Kingdom. That’s what I have learned during the history lessons in school.”

Jeremiah didn’t know about this information, because he already became a slave since the age of 4. He couldn’t even get a proper meal, let alone proper education.

“Do you know where my father sealed the grimoire?” he asked curiously.

Selena gave Jeremiah a strange look, “why did you ask about it? No, of course, no one knows, except your Father. Probably it was already burned, along with other magic books in the library or the academy.”

“I see…” Jeremiah muttered and turned is head back to the library. His mind now was infested with fear.

‘Now that you knew your father was the one who sealed me and you are the only one who can release me.’ Armadale whispered into Jeremiah's mind with a sinister eerie voice. It gave Jeremiah chill, made him quicken his steps away from the library.

It was so unfortunate that he favored the library to spend his leisure time, but after the incident with the book, he probably would never consider to ever coming back.

***