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Post by ianharris on Sept 16, 2009 11:46:59 GMT -5
Dunehelden was a funny place, or so Ian had come to discover. You could do battle with a drugged vampire, spend time in the sick bay, and be questioned by the headmistress, and they still expected you to be back in class on Monday morning with a smile on your face. Ian had debated skipping his first mage class after his encounter with Conall, but he had never skipped a class for any reason in his life, and he couldn't come up with a good enough reason to miss any class. Especially not his mage classes, since he was so woefully behind in his training.
He arrived to class one minute early and when class started, he tried to make sense of what the professor was saying. The worst part of mage classes were the long readings that the mages were forced to do. Ian didn't understand any of the spells and couldn't do most of them, so this part was pretty much useless to him. However, as soon as the readings were over, the group would begin their practical lesson. That was the part Ian enjoyed... creating illusions, and knowing that they were illusions, not just hallucinations.
While the professor explained something to a group of mages surrounding a old-looking spellbook, Ian headed off towards the corner of the room dedicated to practice. He briefly (VERY briefly) made eye contact with the other mages practicing their spells, and then set about with his own work.
Today, Ian decided, I'm going to create a person. See if I can do it.
So he did. He started with the basic shape of the boy. Then, in his mind's eye, he added detail after detail - clothes, hair, nose, eyes, everything. Ian even gave him a birthplace - England - so if he were to speak, it would be with an English accent. After about fifteen minutes of careful detail work, Ian stood face to face with a tall, dark-haired boy who looked almost the exact opposite of his creator. Ian nodded, enjoying the work that he'd just completed.
Now I'll make someone who already exists. Ian thought to himself. See if I can reproduce someone in the mind's eye. He raised a hand and willed the boy in front of him to be gone.
And that's when everything went wrong.
The boy seemed to dissolve into a blinding explosion. Ian was thrown backward and slammed into the wall from the force of the blast. The windows nearest to where the boy had been standing shattered. Ian could hear shouts and screams, and people running. He picked himself off the floor and looked over at where the boy had been standing. Except he wasn't standing anymore.
He was, in fact, lying on the ground in front of Ian. The mage's heart sank. Oh, shit... Ian reached out again, still leaning against the wall and tried to banish the illusion. However, to Ian's shock, he found there was no illusion to banish.
The boy was real.
Oh shit, indeed...
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Post by jonathanharris on Sept 16, 2009 11:51:21 GMT -5
There was nothing, and then there was everything.
He was lying on the floor, dressed in unfamiliar clothes, wearing unfamiliar skin. He didn't know who or what or where he was. He suddenly appeared out of nothing, a freak of nature, and scientific impossibility. And yet there he was, staring at the ceiling, trying to make sense of the newness of the world.
All around him, people were shouting and screaming. He looked over at the wall. A blonde boy was lying there, and he knew, just knew, that this was the reason he was here. He raised his head a bit more and studied the room. He had questions... questions that needed to be answered.
Where was he? Who was he? And why did he exist?
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Fekete Istvan
Ireth
University Junior: Mage
Make believe, close your eyes, I'll be anything for you.
Posts: 140
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Post by Fekete Istvan on Sept 16, 2009 16:59:10 GMT -5
From across the room, Istvan yelped in shock as the window opposite him exploded in a shower of tiny glass shards, and someone slammed into the wall beside him. Immediately he moved to help the boy, taking him by the arm and easing him to a standing position.
"Are you hurt?" he asked in concern. Then, glancing at the boy who now lay on the floor a few feet away, he added, "What did you do?"
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Post by ianharris on Sept 16, 2009 17:05:34 GMT -5
Ian barely felt the other boy steady him. The questions sounded like whispers. It was as if the whole world had gone silent. In the silence, Ian could hear many things he couldn't hear before. He could hear his heart beating, the broken glass still clattering against the floor, and the sound of the boy who appeared from nowhere's choppy breathing.
"I... I don't... I don't.... don't... I don't know..." Ian couldn't even will his mouth to form words. It moved, but no sound came out after that. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine himself somewhere else, somewhere safe, but when he opened them again, he was still in the mage classroom, and the damn boy from nowhere was still in front of him.
Not nowhere. He thought bitterly. Me. The boy I created.
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Zephyros Aetai
Kitty Kat
Academy Junior: Small God
Even the mightest Hurricane started as the gentlest of breezes...
Posts: 1,380
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Post by Zephyros Aetai on Sept 16, 2009 17:10:10 GMT -5
Zephyros heard the glass shattering and skidded to a stop outside the university classroom. Last time he'd heard glass shatter like that, he'd done it. He looked around, seeing the kid... Ian, from the library. He never did learn what the guy's power was... but he didn't think it involved blowing things up.
"What on earth...?" he said softly.
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Post by jonathanharris on Sept 16, 2009 17:38:21 GMT -5
The sounds... the smells... the sights... it was all so overpowering. He had never experienced this before. Like water rushing into a lake as the dam bursts, it all hit him at once. He pulled himself to a sitting position, groaned, and held his head in his hands. It was so new, so surreal... the colors, the lights... it was overwhelming, overpowering, and the most amazing thing he had ever seen.
No one rushed to help him. Someone hurried over to help the blonde boy stand properly, though. People were crowding, staring, pointing. He focused intently on the blonde boy, and a name popped into his head.
Ian.
His name was Ian, then. No, not his name. The blonde boy. The blonde boy was Ian. Than who was he? He didn't have a name. Ian hadn't given him one. At least, not that he knew.
He opened his mouth, and this time, his lips formed a single word.
"Ian."
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Post by ianharris on Sept 16, 2009 17:43:36 GMT -5
"Ian."
Ian clutched tightly to his classmate for support. The name was so simple, just one syllable, but that syllable chilled him to the bone. He felt as though his blood had turned to ice. His hands were like motorboats... both of them were shaking so hard his arms were jerking back and forth. Ian felt all of the blood leaving his face and draining down somewhere close to his feet.
Then he couldn't hold it in any longer. With a violent heave forward, Ian vomited right on the classmate who was helping him stay up's shoes. When he was done, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and looked everywhere but at the boy he'd willed into existence.
"Can... can... can somebody... body... Can somebody go and... and get somebody... get a teacher... knows what... knows what they're... Somebody get the professor!"
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Fekete Istvan
Ireth
University Junior: Mage
Make believe, close your eyes, I'll be anything for you.
Posts: 140
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Post by Fekete Istvan on Sept 16, 2009 18:23:05 GMT -5
Istvan jumped slightly and grimaced as the blond boy suddenly threw up all over his shoes. Not that he blamed him, given the shock of what had just happened... whatever it was.
The person--the boy--who had been lying on the floor was now sitting up, staring at the violently-shaking blond boy. He seemed to have been the one saying "Ian"...
"Are you Ian?" Istvan asked, looking down at the blond boy, who was currently trying and failing to complete a coherent, complete sentence. Finally the boy managed to shout for someone to get the professor. Istvan considered doing it himself, but possibly-Ian looked like he still needed all the help he could get just to stay upright and conscious.
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Post by ianharris on Sept 16, 2009 19:41:40 GMT -5
Ian continued to hang on to his unknown classmate, but after taking a few deep breaths, he managed to put a little pressure on his legs. "I'm... I'm Ian, yes... Oh god, don't let this be real. Please..." Ian knew he was sounding hopelessly confused, but he didn't care. This was just TOO weird. Even for Dunehelden.
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Liam Farrell
Ireth
University Freshman: Not a Sin-Eater, Because We Don't Have Those
Those who are dead, are not dead, they're just living in my head...
Posts: 200
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Post by Liam Farrell on Sept 16, 2009 19:53:06 GMT -5
Liam heard the sounds of an explosion and breaking glass from several yards down the hallway outside of the classroom. Alarmed, he ran to the door which the sound seemed to have come from behind, poking his head in cautiously and assessing the situation. Ian was currently being held upright by a tall, dark-haired boy, who appeared to have been puked on. A few feet away, a cluster of students were all talking at once, looking at something Liam couldn't see.
He slipped into the room, edging between the clustered students and seeing what they were gaping at--a tall, tanned boy with dark hair was sitting on the floor, looking around at the room as though seeing the world for the first time. Who was he? Why was no-one helping him? Liam pushed forward into the middle of the ring of students, crouching down beside the bewildered boy.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "Who are you?"
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Post by jonathanharris on Sept 16, 2009 19:59:25 GMT -5
The boy stared up at this new face. This new kid wasn't even hiding his confusion. The boy didn't blame him, of course... very rarely did someone appear from nowhere. A phrase floated through his brain - Honesty is the best policy. - and so he decided to answer truthfully.
His lips parted, and thoughts became words. What an odd sensation. "I don't know if I'm okay. I don't know who I am. Where am I? Who are all of you?" The boy shut his mouth and started blankly up at the floating faces around him, hoping someone would end his confusion.
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Post by Lamadre Korlianes on Sept 16, 2009 20:00:43 GMT -5
When the commotion did not quickly end, Lamadre dumped the stack of papers back onto the professor's desk and leaped up from her seat, sending the chair wheeling back against the wall. She slipped around the front of the desk toward the cluster of students, peering between the others at the scene.
What she saw stopped her dead in her tracks. Surely, surely her assumptions were wrong -- it could not have been what she thought.
"What happened?" she asked, her voice low. The proper thing to do, she supposed, would be to track down one of the professors. But they would usher them all out, and keep this hushed for a few days, and then one or two sparse details would be circulated secondhand. Lamadre hated being out of the loop. Finding a professor could surely wait a few moments...
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Liam Farrell
Ireth
University Freshman: Not a Sin-Eater, Because We Don't Have Those
Those who are dead, are not dead, they're just living in my head...
Posts: 200
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Post by Liam Farrell on Sept 16, 2009 20:10:54 GMT -5
Liam looked up at the pretty blonde girl who had approached, answering hesitantly. "I know probably less than anyone else, to be honest..." Except maybe this guy, he added silently, returning his gaze to the strange boy as he started to help him to his feet.
"My name's Liam. This is Dunehelden Academy; I'm one of the students."
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Post by jonathanharris on Sept 16, 2009 20:15:58 GMT -5
The boy jerked forward and grabbed this Liam kid's arm. With his other arm, he thrust a shaking finger at Ian. "You want to know what happened? Ask him! He knows! Ian knows!" With that, he shut his mouth again, and the words stopped.
A sudden hush fell on the room and every eye turned to stare at Ian. The boy watched, with no small measure of satisfaction, as Ian vomited again.
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Post by Lamadre Korlianes on Sept 16, 2009 20:26:16 GMT -5
Lamadre pursed her lips. The noise would certainly attract someone soon -- the headmistress, with her luck -- and then there would be no hope for anything. She had only a moment if she wished to find out anything.
Lamadre unscrewed the top of her water bottle, handing it to Ian. "Here, drink this," she admonished soothingly. "Everything is going to be fine. Just relax. Someone will be here soon."
She eyed the strange newcomer greedily; what sort of power could create such a thing?
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Liam Farrell
Ireth
University Freshman: Not a Sin-Eater, Because We Don't Have Those
Those who are dead, are not dead, they're just living in my head...
Posts: 200
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Post by Liam Farrell on Sept 16, 2009 20:31:29 GMT -5
Liam carefully helped the strange boy to his feet, eyeing Lamadre nervously. There was no mistaking the greed in her eyes. Instinctively he moved to stand between her and the stranger.
"Maybe you should go and get the Headmistress," he told her. "She'll want to know what's going on."
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Post by Veronique Poulain on Sept 16, 2009 20:38:26 GMT -5
The door banged open with a loud thump, the headmistress looming in its wake.
Veronique had, these last few days, been in an increasingly bitter mood: between Conall's death, contacting the Athenaeum, and the multitudinous other responsibilities she had resting on her, there was no amount of coffee in the world that could keep her civil. And loud noises, or at least ones not caused by her, were, at present, a capital crime.
"You have one minute to explain to me what is going on in here before I assign each of you detention for a week," she announced darkly.
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Fekete Istvan
Ireth
University Junior: Mage
Make believe, close your eyes, I'll be anything for you.
Posts: 140
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Post by Fekete Istvan on Sept 16, 2009 20:49:22 GMT -5
Istvan jumped at the sound of the door banging open, his pulse quickening at the sight of the Headmistress looming in the doorway like a harbinger of doom. He was suddenly all too aware of the vomit soaking through his pants and into his socks as he stood rigidly to attention, speaking out as clearly as he could.
"We were practising creating illusions," he informed her. "Ian was working near me when all of a sudden something exploded, and Ian was thrown across the room. I don't know how it happened, but I think..." His eyes swept over the blond, mortal freshman and the dark-haired boy he was helping. "I think that, somehow, Ian brought his illusion to life."
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Post by Veronique Poulain on Sept 16, 2009 20:59:30 GMT -5
Veronique stared at the boy as if he had begun speaking in tongues.
"Impossible," she replied flatly. "You can't create a person from thin air." Could you? Veronique knew admittedly very little about magic, but she had never heard of such a thing happening before. Therefore, it was simply not possible.
She turned to Ian, her eyes narrowing. "Please explain to me, as clearly as you can, what happened, and who the boy on the floor is."
Created a person out of thin air indeed! Next thing she knew, they would claim people could be brought back from the dead!
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Post by ianharris on Sept 16, 2009 21:06:53 GMT -5
Ian finished off the entire water bottle and let it fall to the floor. He watched it roll across the room, not daring to take his eyes off of it. Even without seeing her, he could feel the waves of irritation rolling off of the headmistress. Clearing his throat, he tried to form words.
"I... I was practicing. Creating a person... yeah. Creating a person. I... um... I sorta painted this... um... uh... I guess you'd call it mental picture of this boy. I had him in front of me and... um... I tried to... you know, banish him. And there was bright flash and a loud noise and I was on the wall and the windows were shattered and he was still there. I tried to... um... I tried to get rid of him, please... he's just an illusion. I CREATED him. I can DESTROY him. He's just an illusion everyone can see. He can't be real." By this point, Ian was screaming at the floor. "He CANNOT be real!"
The boy on the floor snorted disdainfully. Ian's whole body jerked, and he slipped from his classmate's grasp and fell to the floor, where he lay crying.
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Fekete Istvan
Ireth
University Junior: Mage
Make believe, close your eyes, I'll be anything for you.
Posts: 140
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Post by Fekete Istvan on Sept 16, 2009 21:12:46 GMT -5
A wave of pity broke over Istvan, and he instinctively moved to comfort Ian, who lay sobbing on the floor. He pulled Ian into his arms, rubbing his back, trying to calm him down; after a moment or two his eyes wandered nervously up to the Headmistress's face again.
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Post by Veronique Poulain on Sept 16, 2009 22:08:45 GMT -5
Veronique shook her head at the scene, attempting to make heads or tails of the situation.
"I believe," she said slowly, "that it would be best if Ian and his --" Veronique stared at the boy on the floor. "You, boy, do you have a name?" she barked. "It would be best if the two of them accompanied me to my office." Her eyes lingered on Lamadre. "Alone."
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Post by jonathanharris on Sept 17, 2009 14:29:20 GMT -5
The boy stared blankly at the woman... the Headmistress, his subconscious told him... as she barked orders out at different people. Including him. Well, she wasn't his headmistress, and so for a moment, he debated not moving. But then again, she seemed as though she could do incredibly nasty things to him, so he decided in the interest of self-preservation to do what she said.
"I don't have a name." He said matter-of-factly, standing up and brushing himself off. He was getting better and better at this whole existing thing by the second, he noticed. Now he raised his hand and pointed at Ian. Yes, he was getting better at this. "Ask him. Ask Mr. 'I-created-him-and-I-can-destroy-him.' He never gave me a name."
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Post by ianharris on Sept 17, 2009 15:05:29 GMT -5
Ian finally, with Istvan's help, stood. He took a few careful steps towards the Headmistress and stopped. It took every ounce of his willpower to remain composed. Or something close to composed. Tears were still streaming down his face, and his hands were still going a mile a minute, but at least he could stand unaided. He cowered before both the Headmistress and his own creation.
"I... I don't know..." He shivered. "... office... I'll go... sort this out..." Shuffling his feet and trying not to look at the boy who had appeared out of thin air, Ian walked over to stand near the headmistress.
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Post by Veronique Poulain on Sept 17, 2009 21:06:41 GMT -5
Veronique was beginning to question why in the world she had ever decided to found a school. Really, with each passing year, she was hating children more and more.
"To my office then, both of you."
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