An alarm went off. Koi recognized it as the pre-alarm to Deconcentration. It notified the kids in the dorms that the gas would be on, and the lights would go out within an hour. Koi had to work fast.
Sure, the dorms were "Binded areas" but Koi was special. Why? Um, because he just was.
After all, like Ethan had said on the tennis field, "Rules are made for homely, uncreative people, unlike myself!" Hahaha! Koi only wished he had that kind of confidence and moxie. Really, Riconzi was special, not him. It was strong enough to hide from most of the school's detection devices. And that's how he knew that once he mastered this spell book, he would have mastered most of the teachers and other students in this school.
Thus, Rulan Daasraad, blood magic. Koi inspected this particular wizard's "grave," his page within the spell book. He wondered what kind of wizard specialized in blood magic...sounded pretty gruesome. He couldn't help but picture a vampire. He pictured an old horror movie creature, creeping through an old mansion, biting women on the neck, and sucking the blood out of them. A story told in Black and white, about the delicate balance between life and death, and love. And what happens to the creatures who sometimes side with DEATH above all of it.
His spell was peculiar, though. It was like a riddle. He had to take some blood and write a name on paper after saying the incantation on the page, and then, as the spell concluded 'You will know.'
"Know what?" I wondered aloud. I don't like this. It was already creepy and dangerous to take a wizard's signature spell, but when the outcome of the signature was cryptic like this, it made everything even more risky.
But the thing is, I had no choice. Once I started tackling the book, there was no turning back. I couldn't quit now, or page 999 would be sure to overtake me and slowly devour me whole. Then I would be the new page 999, a dead wizard with my signature spell waiting to be consumed by the next owner of the book.
And my signature spell? Well, I had a pretty good one, I thought. Glass manipulation. I can create glass out of thin air. It wasn't as strong as it could be yet, but I hadn't run into any other wizard with the same signature as mine. So I was quite excited to have it and couldn't wait to max out this power to see what I could eventually do with it.
In the meantime, though, I had to stay alive and stay the course.
My only way to fight back and not get devoured by page 999 was to devour page 999 first. Get stronger through each spell until the fight was fair and I could overcome my former teacher, Ketsu. The one who helped me cultivate the glass manipulation powers.
Overthinking would be the death of me. I lifted my pale arm and inspected it. Grabbed a small knife from my desk and chased all thoughts out of my head, all reason, all concern, all warning, GONE.
A small slit on my finger, that's all it would take. Blood. A nice offering to Rulan Daasraad. i hope he was appeased and wouldn't come for revenge for mastering his signature.
I looked down at the blank sheet of notebook paper below me. I had to write a name. Whose name should I write? KOI'S! Yeah, I'll write Koi's name...oh wait, that's my name, ain't it?
I didn't know what the outcome of this spell would be. What would happen? I was too chicken to risk my own name on the page, and overthinking would be the death of me.
K-E-T-S-U
Whatever. The spell didn't say that the name had to be of someone alive. Since Ketsu was already good and dead, he seemed like less of a risk. At least my spell wouldn't kill anybody. But now the nerve-wracking part. I sat and waited to see if anything would happen immediately.
Ed Sheeran started playing, and I nearly jumped a mile in my seat. Aww, fuck! I sighed. Deconcentration was on, that's all. I had completed the spell right in time. The juice was on, and it was time for all the little magic makers on Menzai to get gassed and put to sleep.
Koi felt his head start to swim again. He stood up and walked over to his bed. His head hit that pillow like it was a sack of potatoes. He looked across the room at his roommate, Deacon, who was already in the sheets and snoring hard. He'd been asleep even before deconcentration, which wasn't rare for him. Decon loved to sleep.
Koi tried to wrap his bleeding finger up in a bandage to stop the bleeding. He hoped it would last long enough to help pull him through the night. And it was going to be a hectic night. Koi could already feel it. A new spirit was on him. That spell had done something to him, and he could feel it.
Something wicked this way comes, he thought as his eyes grew heavier and he got pulled under to sleep. But there was nothing else he could do about it now. What was done was done, and battles had to be fought in this world and in the dream world.
All he could do was fall into the silence and hope for the best...